midpointsaloon | Big City Living (Midpoint Mingle)

The town of Midpoint: called thus because it is at the exact center of the game arena, a busy little Western town full of strange people, many of whom don’t look remotely human, because this is where all the players gather and live. Midpoint Saloon: called thus because it is the only bar in Midpoint. It’s also the biggest building in town, four stories high, dotted with windows, painted a jaunty yellow and decorated with red and green flowers in all the window boxes.

This is where your veteran teammate points you. Or just stomps off to and hopes you follow.

Downstairs is a bar and tavern, Old West style, right down to the upright piano in one corner and a raucous crowd of locals - largely locals, but with a healthy smattering of unusual or downright alien faces that clearly indicate the presence of other Players - eating, drinking, gambling, and getting into trouble. There’s a broad, bearded man behind the bar, waving cheerfully at you as you enter.

The rest of the night and the next day is yours to do with what you see fit. Explore the town, take a long nap in your new room, try to get to know people... everyone is here for the next twenty-four hours before travel to the mission site, so it’s a good chance to scope out the competition, at the very least.

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The mantis is all too happy to chat, much to Hajime's eternal chagrin. "I'm from Questing Country! Is magical land of wishes and dreams and adventures!"

Hajime's honestly feeling like he's letting his chatty toddler bother a random stranger, and yet it is too late. There is no stopping this. He's got to engage in the conversation before Ryo somehow drags him into it anyway. "We've been traveling a lot."

"Never heard of it, but that sounds a lot more exciting than Louisiana!"

Enthusiasm: meet more enthusiasm. The chair across from her is toed carefully and invitingly out for them, far from a subtle proposition. "Presuming it's a little more...hospitable than here, one way or another. We do not have talking mantises where I'm from, so that's a huge leg up. Settling in okay?"

"Oh, is very exciting! Lots of adventures! Don't know what a Louisiana is, but I'm sure it's nice too!"

Hajime can see where this is going, sighs, and goes to take that seat. Ryo will anyway, and he's not about to leave the friendly little mantis alone and unsupervised. "I guess we're settling in okay. He's enjoying it." Which is obvious.

"I'm glad to see it, really." Nothing but truthful, there's some creeping relief in her otherwise earnestly-lost-to-oddities smile. "Louisiana's near an exact opposite, at least where I'm from. Swamps, used to a lot of humidity, lot of water. I'm still not used to all the dust. Where'd you start from, before you were traveling?"

"I'm from Questing Country!" Ryo says excitedly. "Is magical land of wishes and dreams and adventures!"

Hajime sighs. "I've been living in Japan. Before the whole. Traveling everywhere thing."

"Was born when Hajime visited Questing Country! Been having adventures right from the start!" Ryo seems to think this is all perfectly normal.

"Would it be rude to ask what you...are, exactly?" She asks of Ryo, with a generous glance spared for Hajime; she could imagine some censoring of the more cheery party being deemed necessary, and the goal isn't prying. "I don't think I've ever seen anybody or anything much like you, and if I did it they weren't half as cheery."

"Am Hajime's Spirit Companion!" Ryo says proudly. "Was supposed to be a guide in Questing Country, help him use the powers he had there to fight bad dreams!" His antenna wiggle. "But now not in Questing Country, so Hajime teaches me things! Am enjoying the ride!"

Look, Ryo can chatter on about Questing Country all he wants, as far as Hajime's concerned. So far, at least, there's nothing Hajime's about to try to censor. Yet.

"Does everyone have spirit companions in Questing Country?" She asks, relieved to know what exactly she'd like to ask first. "Or just people with-" it hasn't been specified, so, "Powers?"

"Questing Country is place of dreams!" Ryo says excitedly. "Everyone gets powers when they get there, even if they had them before like Hajime! Meant Hajime learned real fast! Fought lots of nightmares!"

"You'd normally have to be asleep to get there," Hajime says. "Powers, Spirit Companions, everything would pretty much stay there. But I...got in through a side entrance, you could say. I guess that's why he was able to come with me. Nothing else of the world did."

More literal than the name has her imagining, then. Propped on an elbow and leaning slightly forward, there's nothing at all strategic about her curiosity. It's just naturally interesting.

"Is it like, a place everybody goes when they're dreaming, or is sleeping just the way to get there?" Afterlives are a far cry, but some of the same principles likely apply and she's some experience with those.

"I've traveled to several worlds," Hajime says. "It's...sort of attached to one as a dream-dimension. You'd normally sleep to get there, but I have no idea how anyone in my group made it there without the sleeping thing, honestly. In that world, we arrived directly there instead of the waking world."

"Children get there easiest!" Ryo says. "Got to have strong will! Believe in magic! Usually don't show up as old as Hajime! And even then, usually not Champions like Hajime was!"

Some traveler, damn. She nods attentively along, humming at the explanation.

"What's a Champion?"

Hajime braces himself for the excited mantis chattering that is to come. There is no stopping this. Not when Ryo is being asked about Questing Country. It is inevitable.

Ryo puffs himself up a bit before excitedly going on, "Champions have power of hope to defend worlds from nightmares and bad thoughts! Go out and fight and defend! Different from an Adversary that fights for themselves! Or an Oracle that just guides! Or a Pillar that just sort of mopes around and can't much feel magic anymore!"

Ryo is rising through the favorite ranking amazingly fast. So few people want to talk and explain, and even fewer do it with anything resembling...pep. This is delightful, and she listens closely. It reflects positively on Hajime at least.

"Is this a career choice, or a sort of destiny deal?"

"I did it for about eight weeks while I was in his world," Hajime points out. "Nothing too extensive." He frowns slightly. "And destiny's always something to be fought, anyway. You make your own fortune."

"Hajime is Kamen Rider rest of the time! Normal times!" Ryo says very seriously before Hajime can stop him. "Fights monsters! Protects people! Important!"

Between the sentiment and the enthusiastic hype talk from a mantis, everyone's leaving this conversation a winner.

"It sounds cool," she eventually manages to say, trying to process that more seriously than she might a television show premise. "Noble, I mean. I don't think I've heard of anything like a 'Kamen Rider', but probably a sign your world's a lot cooler than mine."

Hajime shrugs. "It's...a good world, but after a while, you really start to appreciate the quieter ones."

"Kamen Riders fight monsters and protect people!" Ryo's very proud.

Big City Living (Midpoint Mingle)

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