Big City Living (Midpoint Mingle)

[midpointmods]

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.

Comments

[unofficial_ambassador]

She gives him another, more dubious look. "He's armed, you know."

The mantis might have really scared her at one point in time, but she knows a lot of weird-looking aliens now and most of them are decent enough. "Oh, hello. I didn't see you."

[chalicejoker]

"Won't be the first time I've been shot." Not even the first time he's been shot in the last 24 hours, really.

"Hi!" The mantis, at least, knows how to be polite. "I'm Ryo! This is Hajime! Hajime likes fighting a lot!"

[unofficial_ambassador]

"That's not really something to brag about." Why. Why is everyone like this.

"Ryo, Hajime. Nice to meet you. I'm Inara." She inclines her head in a small bow to acknowledge them. Between herself, this ruffian and an insect child she's clearly got the higher status.

[chalicejoker]

Bragging? Who's bragging? He's just stating an obviously badass fact. At least the bow and the status thing has totally gone over his head. That's for the best.

"Is nice to meet you too!" It is very clear that of the two of them, Ryo's got all the manners. "Have you been here long? We just got here!"

[unofficial_ambassador]

"Yes, I thought so, what with your friend here scoping out the nightlife." She's a little heavy on the sarcasm, but the poor child probably won't understand that anyway. "I've just arrived as well."

[chalicejoker]

"Did you get into a fight in the jail when you got here, too?" Look, Ryo's just trying to make conversation, he's got no concept of sounding incriminating.

"Ryo, she doesn't need to know about that." Hajime does. Thanks, little buddy. Thanks for that.

[unofficial_ambassador]

Inara had told Pepper once not to include Mal in any plan where she couldn't afford for things to wind up on fire, and Hajime seems cut from the same cloth.

"No, I have to say I haven't been in any fights so far."

Not that she hadn't considered it, but she'd quickly realized that Soldat wasn't her jailer, and isn't her enemy yet.

[chalicejoker]

"Probably a little quieter that way," Hajime allows, in part to stop Ryo from saying anything else incriminating. "Even if they're going on about having to fight whether or not you want to."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"I’m sure I won't be able to stay out of it forever." Especially with the whole being forced to kidnap a woman thing. "But right now there aren't any enemies we can reach."

[chalicejoker]

"Sounds like it'll really get going whenever their...whatever the hell is going on starts." He doesn't even know anymore. "Soon as we can reach one, I'm going for it."

This should probably surprise no one.

[unofficial_ambassador]

"My... handler? He told me that people have left, but no one's ever escaped." It may take him a while to run into one of their overlords.

[chalicejoker]

"Yet." That's the operative word, isn't it? Hajime will roll with it.

"Got out of last weird game place and right into another," Ryo says. "Sensitive."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"Ah." That actually does explain a few things. "I was somewhere else before this as well, but not a game like this."

[chalicejoker]

"We'd visit other worlds and have to do a thing while we were there," Hajime says, scowling, "only we weren't told what that thing actually was."

"And sometimes you wouldn't be you! You'd be a different person from the other world! Just temporarily them for a little bit!" Ryo's clarification is probably anything but.

[unofficial_ambassador]

"That sounds terrible." Having her mind controlled briefly by another person from the ship had been bad enough, becoming a completely different person is unimaginable. "It was a game, for spectators?"

[chalicejoker]

"For weirdo cosmic-beings playing some sort of game among themselves and using us as the pieces." Hajime shakes his head. "One world actually was a game for spectators but we ended it before being whisked off on our own game again." His expression darkens. "It wasn't a particularly nice world."

Ryo pats his shoulder. "Is okay, you can wreck things here."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"I see. More of a 'bet among the gods' sort of thing than this." Annoying, but in an entirely different way.

[chalicejoker]

"Yeah." He shakes his head. "At least whatever's behind things here should be a little easier to kill."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"Good luck with that." She's heard that people’s powers can be shut off on a whim, but decides not to mention it. They can use a little hope right now.

[chalicejoker]

"Don't need luck!" Ryo says proudly. "Has lots of stubbornness!"

[unofficial_ambassador]

Ah. One of those. "I can see that. You must have a lot of responsibility."

[chalicejoker]

"I run a restaurant," Hajime says flatly. "Lots of responsibility there."

[unofficial_ambassador]

Inara had been addressing Ryo about keeping Hajime from smashing up every bar he passes, but is too polite to say so. "A restaurant?" she asks instead. "What kind of food did you serve there?"

[chalicejoker]

Really, it's a shame that Ryo lacks the vocabulary to tell her that being Hajime's impulse control is all sorts of an important responsibility.

"Japanese food, mostly. It's where my family's from." And he'd really rather be back home with them after finally getting out of the last place he was stuck in, thanks.

[unofficial_ambassador]

"Japan." Somehow it never really gets easier, meeting people who had lived on Earth-That-Was back when it, well, was. "I admit I'm not very familiar with Japanese food. What kinds of dishes did you serve?"

There are areas on her home planet of Sihnon that still practice some form of Japanese culture, but generally, they didn't like people like her showing up there as they'd employed a competitor of sorts.