Omi looks at his pockets
Drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, salt… more drugs
They all looked identical…
He realizes he doesn’t even have a card.
“Heyo
My name is Omi, I am the ultimate Tra-
I mean I’m uhh a high school student… if you couldn’t tell.
Don’t worry I don’t do drugs… I deal them
Say those cards… the last thing I remember there were those weird people… they looked like me… idk what those cards are I never got them. Let me check em out”
Omi comes closer to examine the cards
@min @WindwardAway @Intensify @Magnus
“My, haven’t you all made yourself comfortable in here… To be casually introducing yourselves in quite a remarkable situation, you are courageous indeed.”
Another blonde woman appears, smiling angelically as she landed gracefully on the floor. Her eyes’ a sparkling emerald, she conjures up a throne upon which she sat upon on the top of the statue. Her ears are pointy, and an ephemeral beauty she was.
“Now, welcome to the Gateway. It is not very often that I meet my guests in person.”
Her eyes scanned in every direction, scrutinising each and every individual.
“As all of you are distinguished guests, you will now surrender your less desirable items.”
She snaps her fingers, and Omi’s pockets feel lighter, robbed of the substances he so gladly traded in. All his drugs have been replaced with sand.
“How curious. Humans seem to depend on these like it’s their life. That only shows me how fickle they really are. And yet, humans are capable of creating weapons that rival magic in terms of power.” The beauty sighs, and just as she did…
The sound of 3 gunshots ring through the air. Loud and crisp.
“Oh my, it looks like there has been an uninvited guest. Everyone has two choices, stay here and ask me questions, or go through the door to see for yourself.”
Intermission (Continued)
“It hurts! Aagh!”
I don’t know what I’m doing. It hurts, so very much. Every part of me, feels like it’s on fire. The smell of blood assaulting my nose… nauseating. I hate it. I hate it so much.
My hands are filled with blood. He’s dying. Why aren’t they saving him? He’s AGHH!
"It hurts. IT HURTS! LUNATICS! IT HURTS! AAAAGH!"
Why… why is this even happening? What is happening to me?
I want it to stop.
I want them to stop
Please stop.
Please
“KILL! AAAGH”
“Friend, or foe?” I heard a voice.
They smell… friendly. They aren’t with those men. Can they help me?
But… it hurts… it really hurts.
“It… doesn’t make… sense…”
The jarring noise resounds through the hall. Impulse takes over, and Taisto immediately makes his way to the door. Before he reaches it, he stops and glances behind at the others. “…Should we go?” he suggests, waiting for their responses.
Of course, the idea that it’s dangerous occurs to him after he acts and not before. Does he rethink his options? Not really.
Omi thinks for 2 seconds… before asking the very important questions
“Wait wtf you turned my cocaine into sand!!! Does this mean you can turn sand into cocaine? Can you turn the entire Sahara Dessert into Sahara drug lands?”
“Christ, this better not just be another dead end…” Daigo mumbles to himself as he walks in through the unhinged doors of the run down apartment building. This was the 6th missing persons case he’d received this week. People were vanishing like cookies in an elementary school cookie jar. This one was going to be different, or so Daigo hoped.
The one he was looking for this time was a 13-year old boy. Yesterday, he and his elder siblings were playing in this abandoned building. They took their eyes off him for a moment and he vanished, as if into thin air. Not a lot to go off of, but Daigo figured this was better than hunting for someone who didn’t show up to work or vanished in an alley. While normally this case would fall under police jurisdiction, the rapid rate at which people are disappearing likely have left the police undermanned and unable to respond to every incident.
As soon as he entered the decrepit lobby, Daigo was immediately irritated by the overwhelming scent of dust. He flicks on his trusty flashlight and begins to look around. The front desk had collapsed, one of the far end legs looking as if it had given out under the weight of time. “Li, can you hear me? Are you here?” Daigo calls out. The only response his own voice echoing down the timeworn halls. Well, nobody said it was going to be easy.
Daigo began to ascend the stairs of the building, figuring it’d be easier to start from the top and work downwards. It takes a while to ascend all 8 flights of stairs, but eventually Daigo reaches the top. He arrives at only a single door. “Must be roof access.” Daigo mutters. He turns the handle and enters. Daigo only expected to see the city skyline, the night sky maybe. Instead, on the derelict rooftop he’s greeted with the familiar sight of death.
The boy’s face had been mauled as if by a wolf or bear. The left half of his face torn open completely. Long scratch marks run deep down his chest, tearing through his clothes and into his flesh. Daigo quickly rushes forward through the doorway, the cold night air hitting his face.
As he steps through the doorway, a figure on the corner of his vision shifts. Before he has a chance to turn and face it - CRACK. Something hits the rear of Daigo’s skull and everything fades to black as his consciousness crumbles.
He winced at each shot, covering his ears and yelping loudly. He looked around, seeing if anyone got hurt and let out a relieved sigh.
“…Um. I don’t think I’m checking that out, as those are gunshots! I dont need to put my life into danger…I just need someone to lend me a phone so I can call my parents to pick me up out of here.”
“Suit yourselves,” Arthur-Oliver said to the rest of his party, obligated by his sense of duty to investigate. Old habits died hard, and as far as he had seen, the Gateway Hotel wasn’t particularly odd. Outside of replacing the Police Department, that is. “I”m going ahead.” For a moment, he yearned for a weapon of some sort… not a gun, he disliked guns, but maybe a knife or even a pointy stick.
Without a backward glance, he went ahead to go through the door, towards the sounds.
“Awake, aren’t you? Well well, Fucking A.”
A voice greets Daigo as he comes to, as he awakes inside a hospital room. He awakes to see one of his childhood friends sitting by him, a bespectacled man whose only defining feature is his spectacular jawline, Yulan Hatsuda.
Despite Yulan’s handsome face… He had an unfortunate streak of spewing vulgarities.
“Are you a fucking idiot? You should have scouted the fucking dog kennel beforehand, or called someone to help you damn hardass. See? You drank shitting dogwater!”
Yikes… but hey, at least there’s someone there for Daigo.
Though, when Daigo look out of the window, in the trees, there’s a Daigo on the tree… except it’s pale and ghastly, and red eyes…
2 have chosen to follow the gunshots. 2 have chosen to ask the questions. You may now split.
@Ami may now post in this thread. They are in the hotel, somewhere. They were the ones that shot the 3 gunshots.
@TrustworthyLiberal may now post in the thread. They can be in the hospital with @Marluxion, or any other place excluding the Hotel where the 5 are.
“Hey, wait up.”
As Arthur-Oliver strode past him, Taisto slipped through the door as well. “I’m heading in, too,” he reiterated, hoping his company wouldn’t be unwelcome. He had to figure out what was happening, and the fastest way to find out was to explore for himself.
Damn, okay. It appears Akio was the only normal one. He watched people walk away, while he stood in the same place, squeezing the straps of his backpack.
“Nobody even listened to me…”
The day had been going well, pick up some leads, commit what could be only considered a war crime to a man to get him to squeal, fire off 3 shots, learn enough to have the job be considered complete and a success, yet they still desire more. More knowledge, who were they referring to, what even happened to them? as they prowl the halls of the hotel, weapon in hand and body slung over shoulder, they keep searching, searching for people, searching for answers.
Arthur-Oliver glanced back at Taisto, and his expression shifted to something similar to surprise. “If you insist,” he murmured, and closed the door behind him. “I wouldn’t mind some company.”
Sitting at a desk stuffed I in corner of her rooms sits Kamo leaning forward sitting in a food up chair. She reaches over for a blue plactic cup slowly taking a long sip before putting it back down. Right after she does a beep comes from her computer as a new ticket is formed and she immediately starts typing once more.
Kamo speaks up “This should be my last one guys.” In response a voice emits from the speakers. “No problem kumo I hope your day goes well.”
With that she stands up and walks over to her bathroom and washes her face off with a face cloth. Returning she throws up her purple coat and grabs her keys and wallet from the desk before heading to her going out and closing it behind her. Walking down from the third story and out the the building doors hanging a left down the sidewalk as she walked down.
It’s a nice, cool morning. The wind blows forth, creating a refreshing spring breeze that sweeps through Kano’s hair. As she stepped out onto the street, the bustling business of the morning hours sweep past Kano. It’s going to be a journey back home indeed.
What greets Taisto and Arthur-Olivier, is a huge hall, with several huge arcs supposedly representing doors. Each other corridors is massive and it’s splendid decorations of gold and rose envelope the area. The place looks sparkling clean… How do they even clean near the ceiling? That’s gotta be at least 10 metres high…
It seems that the doors you came from are labelled “Zero”.
There are other doors labelled “One”, “Two” and “Three”, to the East, North and West respectively.
Something is up. The place feels cold, unfeeling.
“Child, I am one of the few capable of doing that. However, I am forbidden from interfering with the modern world. I am only allowed to spectate everyone there. Here, I hold some power, at the very least.”
“Poor child. There is no way for your parents to find you here. There is more to this world than you think. If you can step into this domain, you have a spark.”
Daigo sits up, head pouding. He puts his hand to his forehead, gently feeling the gauze bandage wrapped around his head. “Is this the best nurse this place had to offer? I’d like a refund.” He smugly replies to Yulan.
Daigo surveys his surroundings until his gaze falls onto the nearby window. His eyes meet with his red-eyed reflection and he freezes for a brief moment. He stammers “Y-Yulan…” and raises his right arm weakly to point at the window.
Arthur-Oliver glanced around at the doors, biting his lip. North, East, West… and only two of them, if they split up to cover more ground. Which seemed like a terrible idea, somehow, considering the strange properties of this place.
“You feel lucky?” He said to Taisto.
