deercountry | And if I need a rhythm

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ichimonji hayato: jami

And if I need a rhythm

Who: Hayato and YOU
What: Open Prompts around Trench
When: The month of February
Where: Willful Machine, The Raccoon Room, Trench city streets.

Content Warnings: Possible event warnings, which will be updated if it happens.

[Prompt 1: Willful Machine]

[Hayato was nothing if not adaptable. He’s lived a preposterously strange and dangerous life and if he was good and stuck here, then he had to make the best of it while he tried to understand his situation better. He was a people person, despite the often solitary life he had to live, and he found he did his best work immersing himself in the people around him. Trench was an endlessly fascinating, if baffling, city, and the people here were equally curious.]

[He’s spent plenty of time flagging down Sleepers for information, so this time he’s focusing a little on the locals. They’re friendly and more than willing to speak to him, which is nice, though a little strange. There’s a weird irreverence for Sleepers from the locals — Trenchies — and he’s not sure what to make of that.]

[For now he can be found speaking to a family just outside a clothing shop. It seems they’re explaining to him a bit about the philosophies of practical vs indulgent, and Hayato is listening with rapt attention. After a moment he asks for a picture, and delighted, the Trenchies oblige.]

[He steps back with his camera.]

Alright now. Say squid legs!

[The kids laugh, and Hayato snaps the photo. Pleased, he stands up and offers them a small card.]

Thanks a bunch for speaking with me. Once I’ve got the means to develop these, I’ll send you a copy, yeah?

[Looks like he’s free now.]

[Prompt 2: Raccoon Room]

[Hayato’s been popping in and out of places around town to get a feel for the atmosphere. He’s seen a lot of interesting places! Lot’s of nightlife it seems like. It doesn’t take him long to stumble onto the Raccoon Room, which he finds out quickly is Sleeper run and owned. That was interesting.]

[Liking the vibe, Hayato finds himself a booth to sit at with a drink. It’s quieter in here for the moment, and so Hayato has his camera, a notebook, and some scattered papers he seems to be pouring over while he looks up occasionally to people watch, or take in any performance that might be happening on stage. You’d think someone wouldn’t be able to get any work done with the noise of a place like this, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him any.]

[A fresh face with a unique sense of fashion, so clearly he is prime bothering material.]

[Prompt 3: He came with the storm]

[Beasts. This is what Anna had told him about. He sees now- they’re oddly far more grotesque than some of the monsters he’s had to fight, and yet, there is something sadder about it. These beasts were feral and vicious, but didn’t appear to be even remotely conscious of themselves.]

[It wasn’t like Shocker, or even Badan. Brainwashed monsters who spoke and acted with purpose. No …there was nothing like that in these Beasts, and so, the kindest thing to be done would be to put them down. He didn’t intend to take up the mantle of Hunter, but if he were in the right place at the right time, he wouldn’t turn his back on those who needed help.]

[And so, perhaps you are one of two options: 1. You happened to be in need of saving when the Beast came from the shadows with a roar. Or 2. You were already on the scene with the Beast and looked like you could use some help. Either way someone is in danger and back up has arrived in the dorm of a masked, armored figure.]

[A masked armored figure that greets the roar of the Beast by clocking it in the face and sending it hitting the ground with a bounce.]

Stay on your guard!

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[He doesn’t sit down immediately, but he does walk up to the bench.]

Yeah. It’s been …a few weeks, I think.

[It’s been a hell of a few weeks, trying to figure out which way was up. Trying to locate friends, find a place to stay, sort out the nature of this place, and what kind of monsters he was going to have to deal with, while trying to set up a means of ‘income’.]

It’s hard for me to admit this, but it’s probably the strangest place I’ve had to misfortune of waking up in.

If you've woken in places strange enough to compete in the past, you must come from a wild world indeed.

[This is a passing comment, not a judgement. Absently, he wonders whether this guy will turn out to be one of the ones who doesn't appreciate the place at all, or one who actually finds Trench to be an improvement, despite its faults. The majority of those he meets here are the latter and Break himself is decidedly the former, even as Trench slowly gets its claws into him. Because of that he can't help but think of people in those categories.

Baltus trots off to do a circuit around the park, making sure there's nothing weird hiding out in it for the moment. Break watches the stranger, with a look on his face that is cunning, but not unkind.]

A few weeks is long enough to pick up a great deal. Then, why don't you tell me what you know about the place so far, and I'll fill in the blanks as best I can?

[Hayato thinks to the last thing he remembers. He was in Kyoto fighting the revived Black Shogun who, in his truest form, was a grotesque giant leech creature, sucking out the blood of hundreds of people who’d been put under a brainwashing spell. He remembers being strung up into the air, wrapped in a dozen leech tendrils as his blood got drained while his best friend fought wildly against an entire hoard of monsters, trying to protect a bunch of hypnotized people begging to have the blood sucked.]

[Hayato, for everyone’s sake, opts to simply nod rather than explain.]

[He takes a deep breath and finally sits down on the bench.]

It’s another world. We all washed up as squid which has somehow fundamentally altered our bodies, while keeping other things weirdly the same. I’ve gotten mixed answers on whether or not you can go back, or if it’s even possible.

[He seems to look anxious suddenly, thinking again. The root of all this had stemmed from this fact, hadn’t it? He shifts his grip on his arm as he sucks in a startled, pained breath.]

I’m starting to think that I’ve been placed somewhere far beyond where I’m supposed to be.

[Well. Those are the basics, certainly. And yet, it's so very little, in the grand scheme of things. No wonder this guy was having such a moment back there. Break doesn't need much by way of personal context to know that Trench's antics can get to most anyone, if you don't know what's happening or why.]

...my understanding is that -- this place is something of a split away from an infinite number of timelines, across infinite dimensions. The people it pulls in are mirrored souls, in a sense...those who are still alive still exist in their home timelines and will carry out their stories to the end, uninterrupted. No one has gone missing from any given place. The versions who exist here are something new, created from the characters in those stories. And...squid-shaped, apparently.

Now and again someone is called to return to the sea. I couldn't tell you why, though I've seen it happen. I know that there are those who refer to this as "going home", but -- as far as I'm aware, the ocean is "home" now. With our roles in our old timelines occupied and moving merrily along, there's nothing to truly go home to.

[This is the most important thing: Brutally killing any notion this guy might have that he can go home. It's a cruel thing to have to tell him, but to Break's perspective, also, a kindness.]

[He’s been focused, to a certain degree, on things of a more personal nature. He’s been learning the city itself, and it’s people, but when it came to the big picture, he was still barely putting the pieces together. Hongo had always been more of a Big Picture guy than he was. That’s why they made such good partners, they could cover each other’s blind spots.]

[He’s quiet for a long time after Break explains. He’s gotten, well, what Anna said didn’t contradict this exactly but it left more open to the notion of returning. Or perhaps …that had just been her wishful thinking.]

[This is …no, this is more in line with some of the other answers he’d been given. Something he’s been trying not to think too hard about because if he did, he didn’t know what he would do with it. This implication that he’s not going back- that whatever’s happening here, it’s permanent, this is his new reality. He struggles for a moment with words, which is rare. Hayato is always running his mouth, even when he’s at a loss.]

I …suppose I should be thankful to hear that I’m not actually missing back home.

[He should be thankful, because it means no one’s carrying his slack, no ones looking for him. Hongo isn’t alone, he didn’t abandon his partner after all. All of this should be comforting to hear, but something just won’t sit right with him.]

The people there that are depending on me, I haven’t abandoned them. But …what does that make me here now? If I’m not fighting that war …what am I supposed to do?

[Qrow's expressed a similar sentiment -- that he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he properly "retired" as Break has. The Hunters have too much by way of rules and paperwork for his tastes, but Break knows he still hunts down the odd monster here and there just for the sake of doing what he's always done, and has written deep in his heart. Break himself keeps his hand in, far too paranoid to let himself go even as he claims there are far scarier warriors in town and that means he can fight for fun again, and even thinks in passing from time to time that taking on a proper apprentice might be fun.

Probably every veteran of anything has those sorts of thoughts here. The world is so inherently dangerous, and you can't just escape what you've always been.]

Whatever suits you, really. [This comment sounds flippant, but he's not without sympathy.] If you're the heroic type, there's always something to do. The Hunters focus on bringing down the beasts and things that plague the place, if you're keen on being on a local team. Mm, but -- there are plenty of endeavors led by Sleepers, too. A particular young lady of my acquaintance and some of the friends she's made here focus on keeping safehouses about the town, for example, so that people will have safe and well-stocked places to go in the event of a crisis.

[He braces his hands on the back of the bench on either side of him, so that he can lean back a little. The next thing he says comes in a somewhat brighter tone. Break was uncertain of himself too when he arrived, but the path he's chosen has treated him well, and he's confident in it now.]

Me, I'm retired, these days. At home I was one of the strongest fighters around, but this place is just crawling with folks who can say the same, and with much weirder and greater powers than mine. Since no one will miss me on the field and I've a pile of kids to look after, I've spent these past several months learning to cook. It's always good for frightened kids and tired warriors to have a soft place to land in at the end of the day, you know?

[During Break’s spiel, Hayato has turned to watch him. There’s a lot to unpack about all this. There’s so much he’s not sure where to start, but Break seems a patient sort, and he did drop a veritable truck load of things to consider just now, it’s no surprise Hayato’s quiet again.]

[After a moment, Hayato cracks a smile, and addresses the easiest thing.]

I know someone like that, who makes it his job to look after …those of us who have to fight. He always made sure we had somewhere safe to go when we dragged our injured, sorry asses back home.

[He hopes Pops is doing okay, too. If anyone deserves to retire, its him, but Hayato knows he won’t until the last Rider retires, too.]

It’s admirable.

[Hayato takes a deep breath and finally pulls his hand away from the wound on his arm. It’s …nasty to say the least. It might not be bleeding as much anymore, but he’s ripped his skin open, and exposed what was underneath. Fiberous material mixed in with the unmistakable gleam of machinery.]

Where I’m from, there’s maybe a small handful of us who can stand up against what’s currently trying to rip our world apart. It’s always been like that, just us against them. An organization of monsters trying to take control of the world vs a few of their failed experiments trying to hold the line so humanity doesn’t plunge into destruction and despair. We’ve fought for years without resting, because faltering would cost human lives.

[Break gives him time to organize his thoughts, occupying himself with giving Baltus ear rubs in the meantime, once his omen has trotted back out of the underbrush. When Hayato does speak, it's probably the least surprising thing he could say, honestly. Break felt it himself when he arrived, the sudden shock of a quest that had guided him for fifteen years abruptly over. He knows very well that if he hadn't had the kids to stand up for right away, it would have taken him months to sort himself out.]

Mm. I suppose that...part of the beauty of this place bringing in people from so many different worlds is -- you'll find, I think, that there are a great many people here who understand how it feels to be in exactly that sort of situation. The place seems to have a taste for such people.

[He doesn't bother to clarify that he is one of them. It's really only true on a technicality. Things didn't solidify into "holding the line" like that until the very end, and when they did, Break served as support to the real stars of the story. He also stops just short of saying that Hayato isn't truly alone here even if he is without his team, because that's gross. But it's what he means.]

Only a few against a much larger enemy with no respite, monsters out to destroy humanity, those who would take control of it all with no regard for who it might hurt, even awful experiments on innocents...I have heard of all of these things since coming here. It's dreadful to think of such things being so common, but -- it means that those who stand up against them are common, too, right?

[He manages a smile at that. The knowledge that regardless of what opposition arises, there will always be those willing to stand up to it. It is a comforting, bittersweet thought. Hayato hates that there has to be a need for it, but it’s a great show of fighting spirit to know, either way. That he’s found himself in a city of people like this is certainly something.]

[He falls quiet again for a moment, as a thought crosses him, and as he tries to stamp it out, that pain reverberates through him once more. There it is, there’s the root of all this, he thinks. He recovers from what looked like a full body shudder as he tries to catch his breath.]

Is it really okay to be Ichimonji Hayato in a city that doesn’t strictly need Kamen Rider?

[He will never put down the mantle, he thinks. It’s impossible when he knows he’ll forever have a body made for fighting, but without the threat of Badan, and a world that’s never heard of Shocker, is it really just a matter if protecting the people from the thread of wild beasts? Could he really do good as himself in addition to that? It’s so overwhelming to think about.]

I can do good as myself, as it wrong to want that?

[Break is watching from the corner of his eye, so while he hasn't caught what was going on within the seeping wounds the man's inflicted on his own arm as of yet, he does spot him pausing to shudder and collect himself. To launch straight into a statement like that right after, only a little ways into their conversation here -- does that mean he's already sussed out that this place terrorizes you until you talk about serious things, or is he just the sort of guy who is totally willing to unload onto a complete stranger? He can't help but approve in this moment, either way. If Hayato were as cagey as Break is, no doubt sorting him out would be a lot more difficult! Funny how convenient it is for other people when someone isn't Xerxes Break.]

Well. A great many people do refer to this world as their "second chance", you know? An opportunity to start over. Those who come from worlds where their circumstances had trapped them to this role or that role often say that they prefer this one over their own, for all that it certainly isn't a kind place. Because...for once, they get to choose.

[Break's own kids are in this position. Technically, so is he, but -- well, the kids, the kids are what's important here. Some are handling it better than others, but all of them are taking advantage.]

I think that, if you were to seize such an opportunity for yourself too...you'd find you certainly weren't alone in that, either.

[He might have stood to be cagier, and maybe in a different circumstance he might have held off on alluding to ..pretty much all of this, but the pain was getting to him, and so was this place. If talking was going to help, then he'd have to just trust this stranger. Besides ...there was no Shocker here, no Badan. Kamen Rider didn't mean anything to the people here. What has he got to lose at this point?]

[After a moment, he gives a quiet laugh. A lot of the pain is already receding, which tells him he guessed correctly on the cause.]

Choice is such a cruel thing to dangle in front of people.

[He takes a deep breath, looks up for a moment, and then starts to untie the scarf around his neck. He should do something about his arm.]

But I'm adaptable if nothing else. If this place needs something different from what I'm used to doing, then I just need to figure out what it is. That's a good place to start.

[Be it Hayato or Kamen Rider, or maybe some mix of the two. Changing methods was nothing new to him.]

You've come around quickly.

[Whether that speaks to the adaptability this guy is claiming or it's a matter of this particular idea being something that has haunted him for a long time, something he's only too eager to cast off, Break does not question. Not aloud, anyway. That seems rude.]

It's not difficult to contribute to the good of the place, I think. In a world so intent on being terrible, and where it's crucial to keep corruption levels down...most anything that can bring a touch of peace about matters.

[He gives a short laugh, wrapping the scarf around his arm now. It's not bleeding super bad anymore, despite how nasty the wound is, but it will need to be tended to later.]

It's more that ... [He trails off a moment, wondering again just how much he should say. ugh, he's already spilled his guts to this guy already, what's the rest going to do? Hongo would probably reprimand him for this, but Hongo isn't here.] When you've gone as long as I have without feeling pain, only for this place to somehow turn all your pain sensors back on, and then afflict you with some kind of honesty curse that makes it about a hundred times worse, you start making some compromises.

[Sometimes you do what you have to.]

[Break gives a gentle, thoughtful hum. This is something that -- well, he's never experienced it directly, but he has an idea of it, perhaps. Given his own tendency toward chronic pains, thanks initially to the Mad Hatter and these days thanks to some sort of irritating darkblood issue he probably deserves, Break does know what it's like to get used to hurting, have that hurt taken away, and then to be totally blindsided by it when it returns. Even if you were entirely accustomed to your own aches before, it all starts over when they're fresh and new again. Break imagines it must be astronomically worse if pain is something you weren't even capable of.

No wonder this guy was in such a state back there, even if it's been relatively easy to talk him down from it.]

One of the first incidents to happen to me here...was getting kidnapped by a flock of ravens who tossed me into a decidedly unromantic boat ride with a guy I'd met exactly one time, where we were shown illusionary corpses of our loved ones. Fortunately, he's been in this place a great deal longer than I have, and -- told me right away that if we talked of those painful things and got it over with, the illusion would resolve itself. I've found this to be the way it is over and over again since.

[So, there's the reason Break was so willing to swoop in here, if Hayato is able to read between his lines. Someone who understood things was there to help him as he found his feet, and it made all the difference. Thus, Break is here, paying it forward.]

...shall I help you with that arm?

[Hayato sure makes a face at that. The idea of that entire incident offends him on a level, to be sure. He'd take the pain over that any day probably.]

Do we really not know of there is some higher entity toying with us? All of this seems weirdly purposeful.

[He already knows the answer to that question he thinks. Either way, there wasn't anything they could do about it, not yet, at least. Hayato plans to do a lot of investigating here, but this place was a lot bigger than just beating up a monster and detonating a secret base.]

[Anyway, he does pick up what this man is putting down, though he decides not to comment on it. He pauses a moment on his arm and here is where he truly seems to hesitate. For all the talking he did, he did much of it without context or explaining, but this would surely remove a lot of doubt to his nature.]

[However, trying up an arm one handed is kind of a huge pain in the ass.]

...If- You wouldn't mind. Could you tie this once I have everything back in place?

[That's a weird way to talk about a wound but, once Hayato brings the arm and scarf over, it'll be clear there's a lot going on under his skin.]

Oh, I'm certain there has to be, and whatever it is can see right into our souls. But the most obvious culprits are the Pthumerians, and I don't believe for a second that they're the primary problem.

[Break has theories, but mostly because he can't really help but have theories. This is the part of retirement that truly does suit him well. He has seen to it that the whole "eldritch little girl with the entire Core of the Abyss attached to her soul" problem has been solved and whatever eldritch power core nonsense is going on here is not his problem. Not when there are all these Deerington veterans around who have more context than Break can ever dream of and it's not as though he has anything to go back to if this dimension collapses in on itself or something.

He might feel a little more motivated once he stops being massively depressed, but today is not that day. More importantly, that is a weird way to talk about a wound.]

Ah? You make it sound like you've got bits loose -- oh! [Leaning over to peer at the injury, he perks up with interest. Enough so that his omen pops up over the back of the bench to peer too, ears erect in horse mode.] Why, that's metal in there, isn't it? Then -- what's the newer word for automaton, "robotic"?

Cybernetic.

[It's a quick correction, and his voice is mostly even. He hates reactions at all, honestly, and he's trying not to let those prying eyes get under his skin, not when he'd volunteered the chance for him to see. It's hard to break habits, though.]

I'm not a robot. My body started off human.

[He works quickly to reset some of the parts under his skin that he'd ripped loose earlier. He winces, as he does. It hurts like hell, but it needed to be done. Once finished, he replaces the skin back over top. It, too, is torn, and it does look very convincing, but there is something not entirely natural about the way he can just. Stick it back in place.]

Oh.

[He'd gotten excited because this is clearly some sort of future thing, and he sort of recognized it. Break backs away a little, sensing that the reply is something of an admonishment -- to be human and become something else can't have pleasant memories attached. However, he's too curious to look away entirely. After all, he doesn't like people being nosy about his missing eye and whatever else, but he also doesn't actually blame them for it.]

We haven't got such things at all, where I'm from. I'm told that, in the equivalent timelines of a great many worlds, I'm something called a "Victorian". [Not everyone has these, but it seems to explain things immediately for those who do.] A friend from a world far ahead of mine introduced me to...ehhh, the concept of this sort of thing.

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And if I need a rhythm

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1/2

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cw: cybernetic gore and skin injuries

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