Podpop

[cityship]

Instructions: Post your character with one post establishing them as being podpopped. Tag each other in groups of 2's, 3's, and 4's, to get some interaction to start with. If a thread doesn't already have 2 or 3 people tagged in, tag it with your character's podpop popping near the other people, rather than making a new subthread. If you would like

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[tetsuwan_atom]

Atom turned around as he heard Fuu calling out. Boy, she seemed even more lost than he was.

"Hey," he said, approaching her on foot. "Do you know where we are? I can't sense anything. Are we in Japan?"

[monster_san]

Fuu wasn't surprised that the boy would use a term as mystical as sense until he mentioned Japan. She put it aside for now, though. "A spaceship, according to that voice... did you hear it before you emerged?"

How old was he? He had to be eleven or twelve. What was he doing being chosen as a warrior? (Never mind that she was only two years older.)

[tetsuwan_atom]

He frowned. "Yeah, I heard it, but..."

But it hadn't been an actual sound. And if it had been a signal patched through his communications system, he had no record of that activating. Where had it come from, and how?

"...but I don't know if I believe it. An alien computer? And we're on a spaceship? Then what happened to Earth? And how'd we get here?"

[monster_san]

"It's terribly far-fetched, but..." She remembered how the floor of Tokyo Tower turned into water, dropping her and two other girls in a world where magic and willpower governed everything. The only difference here was that the spaceship made this more like science fiction than fantasy.

"It seems that it is possible. I can't remember being taken from Earth," or rather Cephiro, "but the only way we're going to figure this out is to find someone who can tell us."

[tetsuwan_atom]

"I guess so..." Atom could monitor a person for hints that they were lying, but even if they found someone who could tell them 'the truth', the only thing he'd know for certain was whether or not they believed themselves. This could all be a trick, after all.

"There are some lights up ahead," he said, pointing. "I guess we could follow those?"

And if there were any dangers up ahead, who better to face them than a superpowered robot? NO ONE, THAT'S WHO

[monster_san]

Fuu nodded. "That seems to be the most logical thing to do," she said, and started off. They were like the lights along the aisles in movie theaters, except that running into a movie seat wasn't as serious as hitting the edge of this walkway--Fuu kept towards the middle, not wanting to blunder off the edge.

"But we should introduce ourselves!" she said, stopping and suddenly smiling. "My name is Hououji Fuu. I'm fourteen years old, in the eighth grade, and my blood type is A." She left out her astrological sign; it probably didn't matter on a spaceship.

[tetsuwan_atom]

Atom followed her, walking a little faster to catch up and keep pace. He smiled back at her. "I'm Tetsuwan Atom. I'm twelve, and I'm a sixth grader!"

Sort of. I mean, he did go to school. When he didn't have to do other stuff. "You have a pretty cool name."

[monster_san]

Testsuwan. Atom.

The Testuwan--no, of course, that was impossible. Clearly, his parents had just been fans of the show. And she probably shouldn't point out that he was named after a fictional robot boy, because his peers, store clerks, and teachers probably reminded him about that all the time.

(It was true that Fuu's ideas of what and was not possible were probably broader than most people's, having had experience with being taken to other worlds. But there were still limits.)

"Thank you! I like yours as well." And leave it there. "Are you in any of the school clubs?"

[tetsuwan_atom]

Atom was actually surprised how few people seemed to recognize him. As in zero so far. Weeeeird.

"School clubs? Mmm... not really. I play soccer sometimes, though; it's pretty fun. What about you?"

[monster_san]

Later, Fuu might explain it away at her lack of glasses . (Which was true; she couldn't see just how completely he looked like Tetsuwan Atom right now.)

"I'm in the archery club," Fuu replied. "And I study computer programming." She looked around again. No blue, no red. "What kind of friends do you have? Maybe we can look for them, too."

[tetsuwan_atom]

He smiled. "Wow, archery, too? I bet you're really good at it."

"Well, most of them aren't here; I already looked. But let's see... there's my little sister. She's about about as tall as me, and she has pigtails and really likes animals. And there's the Professor; he's mostly bald and has a big nose. And my mom and dad..."

[monster_san]

"Thank you--though maybe you should wait until you see me shoot," Fuu said with a smile. Little sister, parents, big-nosed professor... all right, this was sounding too close to be coincidence, but that just couldn't be possible. Right? Of course.

A world of belief, a Rune God, and a space ship are possible, and Tetsuwan Atom isn't?

...sometimes thinking so much was not good.

"A professor? What does he teach?"

[tetsuwan_atom]

"Oh, he doesn't teach too much any more. He's the head of the Ministry of Science, Professor Ochanomizu. Have you heard of him?"

The Professor was pretty famous, after all.

[monster_san]

Fuu skidded on the slime. Oh. Oh goodness.

It couldn't be, it was utterly impossible, but... well... she had seen and done extraordinary things, and now she was involved in another one, so why couldn't a fictional character be there with her?

...no, it was still beyond belief. But Fuu was determined not to show it.

"Ochanomizu? Oh, yes--the famous roboticist?"

[tetsuwan_atom]

He smiled. "So you've heard of him, huh? Maybe you've heard of me, too?"

Weird as it might seem, it'd be nice to have at least one person know who he was.

[monster_san]

Fuu smiled back. "Yes! I'm sorry, it was just hard to believe I'm actually speaking to you. And I didn't want to be rude."

Which was true. "I suppose it makes sense for you to be chosen as a warrior, since you're already considered a hero."