鋼の迅鉄 ⚙ hagane no jintetsu (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jintetsu) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
riverviewlogs2018-09-26 10:19 am
jintetsu) wrote in riverviewlogs2018-09-26 10:19 am
open | no sunrise finds us where sunset left us
who: Jintetsu, OPEN
what: Jintetsu runs errands and takes names, and he's all out of names.
when: middle to late September, after this but before this
where: all over town! but notably: hardware store, clothing store, restaurants, and a gate to the Abandoned City.
format: starters are prose, but brackets more than welcome!
warnings: none
what: Jintetsu runs errands and takes names, and he's all out of names.
when: middle to late September, after this but before this
where: all over town! but notably: hardware store, clothing store, restaurants, and a gate to the Abandoned City.
format: starters are prose, but brackets more than welcome!
warnings: none
0. state of mind (closed)
So not too long ago, less than a week into his stay in Quarantine, Jintetsu got into a
fight
with a 12-year-old girl on a murderous rampage, and he lost.
Actually, he's lucky to be alive.
The irony isn't lost on him - he only stepped in to try and save Lola's life,
and instead she wound up saving his.
Probably. We'll finish that thread.
It's... kind of an embarrassment. Or rather, the latest in a string of embarrassments. Ever since he got here, he can't seem to do anything without making a fool of himself. He's threatened a bunch of refugees, he can barely work the technology, he manages to get lost practically every time he steps outside, and now he's nearly gotten himself eviscerated by a child. She had weird powers, sure, but what does that matter? It's still humiliating.
He should be able to handle this. He's Jintetsu of Steel, after all. But he can't get it out of his head - that sensation, her claws sliding cleanly through the steel of his left arm like it was paper. No impact vibration, hardly any sound. A slight difference in the angle, and she'd have taken his hand clean off.
He hadn't been prepared. He was careless.
"... You still beating yourself up over that?" says Haganemaru's voice, quiet in the dark. They're back at the common house, commandeering one of the beds in the unused half of the room, as usual. Jintetsu opens his eye, but says nothing, of course.
"She wasn't a normal kid, Jintetsu. You couldn't have known this would happen."
Doesn't matter. Everybody around here's got some weird power or other, seems like. For gauging a fight, his normal instincts are useless.
"Well, you could have stayed out of it," Haganemaru adds after a moment, his tone mildly admonishing. "Just saying."
But they both know he really couldn't have. In the moment, that's not how Jintetsu's mind works. All he can do going forward is learn from his mistakes, and try not to repeat them.
It's... kind of an embarrassment. Or rather, the latest in a string of embarrassments. Ever since he got here, he can't seem to do anything without making a fool of himself. He's threatened a bunch of refugees, he can barely work the technology, he manages to get lost practically every time he steps outside, and now he's nearly gotten himself eviscerated by a child. She had weird powers, sure, but what does that matter? It's still humiliating.
He should be able to handle this. He's Jintetsu of Steel, after all. But he can't get it out of his head - that sensation, her claws sliding cleanly through the steel of his left arm like it was paper. No impact vibration, hardly any sound. A slight difference in the angle, and she'd have taken his hand clean off.
He hadn't been prepared. He was careless.
"... You still beating yourself up over that?" says Haganemaru's voice, quiet in the dark. They're back at the common house, commandeering one of the beds in the unused half of the room, as usual. Jintetsu opens his eye, but says nothing, of course.
"She wasn't a normal kid, Jintetsu. You couldn't have known this would happen."
Doesn't matter. Everybody around here's got some weird power or other, seems like. For gauging a fight, his normal instincts are useless.
"Well, you could have stayed out of it," Haganemaru adds after a moment, his tone mildly admonishing. "Just saying."
But they both know he really couldn't have. In the moment, that's not how Jintetsu's mind works. All he can do going forward is learn from his mistakes, and try not to repeat them.
1. hardware store (ota)
At any rate, the situation's left him with some errands to run. First up: repairs.
His metal arm is in pretty sorry shape. There's two deep parallel gashes across the outer side, where Laura's claws gouged clear to the bone. She definitely hit something in the inner workings, too. His third and fourth fingers on that hand are locked awkwardly at full extension, and while the others still have most of their range of motion, moving them too fast makes something inside grind and shift in a way that sets his teeth on edge. The structural integrity overall is questionable at best. Normally that arm can stand up to some pretty solid hits, but now he's worried that even banging it on a table or something could render it dead weight. If he gets in another fight, he could lose it altogether.
But... he has no idea how to fix it himself. That's way outside his wheelhouse. And he doesn't know where to start looking for someone who can. In theory this would be a great thing to ask the message board, but the phone they gave him won't turn on anymore.
So a stopgap it is. He tried binding it tightly with some cloth at first, but that turned out to do nothing. What would you do with a real broken arm, though? Splint it. He asked someone about wood, and that got him as far as a hardware store; trickier is finding something that'll work as a splint, since most of the wood they have is like 8 feet long. But here's something that might work even better - rebar.
He spends some time holding the pins up against the damaged arm, trying to decide which will work best. This one's too long, that one's too short - the thinner ones ought to be fine, right? Meanwhile, Haganemaru tsks distastefully at them. "Don't they have anything less rusty? Gross."
Well, he's a sword. Of course he'd think that.
His metal arm is in pretty sorry shape. There's two deep parallel gashes across the outer side, where Laura's claws gouged clear to the bone. She definitely hit something in the inner workings, too. His third and fourth fingers on that hand are locked awkwardly at full extension, and while the others still have most of their range of motion, moving them too fast makes something inside grind and shift in a way that sets his teeth on edge. The structural integrity overall is questionable at best. Normally that arm can stand up to some pretty solid hits, but now he's worried that even banging it on a table or something could render it dead weight. If he gets in another fight, he could lose it altogether.
But... he has no idea how to fix it himself. That's way outside his wheelhouse. And he doesn't know where to start looking for someone who can. In theory this would be a great thing to ask the message board, but the phone they gave him won't turn on anymore.
So a stopgap it is. He tried binding it tightly with some cloth at first, but that turned out to do nothing. What would you do with a real broken arm, though? Splint it. He asked someone about wood, and that got him as far as a hardware store; trickier is finding something that'll work as a splint, since most of the wood they have is like 8 feet long. But here's something that might work even better - rebar.
He spends some time holding the pins up against the damaged arm, trying to decide which will work best. This one's too long, that one's too short - the thinner ones ought to be fine, right? Meanwhile, Haganemaru tsks distastefully at them. "Don't they have anything less rusty? Gross."
Well, he's a sword. Of course he'd think that.
2. clothing store (ota)
Next on the list is a cloak, since the one he brought from home is now ribbons.
Fashion and luck aren't kind to him here, though. He's tried several stores, but only found a handful, all of them either uselessly thin or unacceptably gaudy. Also, they're all in the women's section, for some reason?
"This is such a farce," Haganemaru grumbles under his breath as Jintetsu thumbs through a rack. "Do people actually wear these? Look - that one's nothing but holes." It's a crocheted shawl with tassels ending in colorful beads. Decorative, but not comfortable, warm, or quiet. "Sheesh... how hard is it to find one normal piece of cloth?"
Jintetsu, completely deadpan, takes the shawl off the hanger and slings it over his shoulders. As expected, it looks fucking ridiculous, but it serves its intended purpose - to annoy Haganemaru. "O-oi, what are you doing?! Put it back, it's terrible."
Boy, sure glad no one is around to catch them goofing like this.
Fashion and luck aren't kind to him here, though. He's tried several stores, but only found a handful, all of them either uselessly thin or unacceptably gaudy. Also, they're all in the women's section, for some reason?
"This is such a farce," Haganemaru grumbles under his breath as Jintetsu thumbs through a rack. "Do people actually wear these? Look - that one's nothing but holes." It's a crocheted shawl with tassels ending in colorful beads. Decorative, but not comfortable, warm, or quiet. "Sheesh... how hard is it to find one normal piece of cloth?"
Jintetsu, completely deadpan, takes the shawl off the hanger and slings it over his shoulders. As expected, it looks fucking ridiculous, but it serves its intended purpose - to annoy Haganemaru. "O-oi, what are you doing?! Put it back, it's terrible."
Boy, sure glad no one is around to catch them goofing like this.
3. restaurants (ota)
Another problem he keeps running into: food.
In particular, he's had terrible luck finding anyplace that serves something normal.
The first place that even had rice put all sorts of weird spices in it,
and like - he did still eat it, he paid for it, after all, but -
he didn't like it.
He's trying a variety of places, at least, but he's got a pattern. He sits alone, as far in the corner as he can manage, facing away from other diners, leaving his hat on - but flipping up his mask to eat. It's the only time he has to remove it, but it doesn't mean he has to show his face.
Of course, he can't always get that furthest table, and some people are willing to approach someone even when all their body language says "leave me alone," yeah?
He's trying a variety of places, at least, but he's got a pattern. He sits alone, as far in the corner as he can manage, facing away from other diners, leaving his hat on - but flipping up his mask to eat. It's the only time he has to remove it, but it doesn't mean he has to show his face.
Of course, he can't always get that furthest table, and some people are willing to approach someone even when all their body language says "leave me alone," yeah?
4. the gate (ota)
Jintetsu's finally found the way out.
The fence itself he found a while ago, and he quickly learned not to touch the lasers. Only later on did he overhear that there was a gate, but the city's still sort of a maze to him, and even with directions it took him a while to make his way over here. But he's found it, and now the Abandoned City lies open before him.
The question is, should he go?
His injuries are doing better; if that were the only issue, he'd be well enough to travel. But his mechanical arm is still held together by rebar and plumbing clamps, and he won't be in full fighting shape until he can get it repaired. Plus, he's heard there are monsters out there, and he can't even stand up to the ones in here. He could be signing his own death warrant.
But... it's so tempting. Jintetsu didn't even like cities in his own world, and those were serene compared to Riverview. There's so many more people, so much noise. Music everywhere, unlike anything he'd heard before this, but no one playing it. Videos, and phones, and cars, and trams, and heavy machinery, and barriers made of light, and aliens, and people...
And out there is silence. Until now, he never realized just how much he missed it.
The fence itself he found a while ago, and he quickly learned not to touch the lasers. Only later on did he overhear that there was a gate, but the city's still sort of a maze to him, and even with directions it took him a while to make his way over here. But he's found it, and now the Abandoned City lies open before him.
The question is, should he go?
His injuries are doing better; if that were the only issue, he'd be well enough to travel. But his mechanical arm is still held together by rebar and plumbing clamps, and he won't be in full fighting shape until he can get it repaired. Plus, he's heard there are monsters out there, and he can't even stand up to the ones in here. He could be signing his own death warrant.
But... it's so tempting. Jintetsu didn't even like cities in his own world, and those were serene compared to Riverview. There's so many more people, so much noise. Music everywhere, unlike anything he'd heard before this, but no one playing it. Videos, and phones, and cars, and trams, and heavy machinery, and barriers made of light, and aliens, and people...
And out there is silence. Until now, he never realized just how much he missed it.
5. wildcard
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What if I were to tell you there exist several clothing options that afford you ease of movement as well as protection from the elements, and far better than a cloak?
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I think a cloak'll work fine...
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[no, he does not, but he was openly and willingly embraced the fashion of the Quarantine.]
You may be able to find a seamstress to fashion one for you, but it may be a tad costly for a new arrival.
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But, fine. As long as he's already here, what could it hurt to explore his options.]
... What's in fashion?
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[And he's very pleased Jintetsu asked. He'll be more than happy to show him, and give the newcomer a hand, after all.]
But certainly not homeless vagabond, which you're currently sporting.
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I travel a lot. I'm not interested in showy junk that won't hold up to life on the road.
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[Just how new is this new arrival?]
Just where will you be traveling here?
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... Anywhere.
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[His arm creaks quietly.]
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[He does frown down at that arm, though.]
You really ought to have that looked at, you know.
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At the comment about his arm, he glances down and tries to roll his sleeve down a bit to cover it (mostly futile, since it's not a full-length sleeve, but anything helps). The motion's a little sharp, like he's annoyed at having it noticed, or at the advice, or both. He knows it needs looked at, thanks.]
Look. If you want to help me with the cloak thing, that's fine, but what I do with it is my own business.
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If you're so set on a cloak, this is not the place.
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Anyway. That means they're leaving? Okay, works for him. He picks up his well-worn straw hat from nearby and puts it on. (Yes, there's a screw poking out of it for no reason.)]
Kind of figured.
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[If he wants an answer to that question, though, he doesn't seem to be giving Jintetsu enough time to actually...answer it. Instead, he steps out on to the street, waiting for the man to join him.]
What is it you know of the Quarantine thus far?
[Because that answer is clearly nothing, or at least not much.]
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... They told me the basics.
[The stuff they tell everyone on arrival. How it's another world and all that, in case the looming shape of the Capital World overhead wasn't proof enough. And he's picked up some more details over the past couple of weeks, just in the course of exploring the city and listening.
But Dorian isn't wrong. There's still so much he doesn't know, doesn't understand. And that's a dangerous state of affairs in and of itself, as he's all too aware. Things that look monstrous are harmless, and things that look harmless are monsters. He's jumping at all the wrong shadows.
It pisses him off, to be honest.
After a moment he adds -]
Any advice? You seem like you've been living here a while.
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Ask questions, assume nothing. You were offered a profession upon arrival, yes?
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Yeah, something like that. But I'm not gonna just blindly sign on with the first place that offers. Especially when they're the ones who dragged me here to begin with.
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[Huh. Well, that's not any harder to believe, and it's not the important part right now.]
... Even so, I'd have refused anyway. Getting tied down to any organization isn't a good fit for me.
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[He knows a few of those.]
Maker, that could mean anything. Still, have you thought of the guard? Their primary goals are keeping us all safe, after all, and they are paid. It would give you an opportunity to see the Quarantine and its surrounding environs as well as a pool of existing information from which to draw.
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At first, Jintetsu doesn't answer. Frankly, joining the guard never even crossed his mind. Before the Quarantine, an honest job like that had been out of the question since long before he was old enough to apply. What town in its right mind would let a guy with his issues live there, much less trust him to protect them?
No way, man. He wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have him as a member.
... Buuuut let's stay far away from the meat of the issue there, shall we? Not when there are so many other, less depressive excuses he can use. He tugs his hat slightly forward.]
Thanks, but I don't know that I'd be much use to them right now. You saw the state my arm's in.
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And as I've mentioned, there are several engineers about how might help you with that problem. Otherwise, the guard does more than, well, guard. They also patrol, survey.
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