agoge | >>@ENTERTHEDRAGON

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>>@ENTERTHEDRAGON | @ALL

Anyone else getting a massive wave of culture shock? It's totally kicking my ass right now. I got a nice little gig set up here above a bar, but the catch is I gotta work. But yeah, people are coming and going like crazy around here. Weird outfits, weird hairstyles. Seeing everyone go crazy about freedom is pretty freakin' cool. Nobody needs some stuffy old dude sittin' in a golden high chair sucking his royal thumb and giving out orders all the time.

Not gonna lie, I've seen some pretty big palaces before, but I totally wanna raid the hell out of Versailles.

So anyway, is it like this all the time when you guys get a new mission? I've never been to Paris before, but I kinda know what it looks like from pictures back in my own time? Universe? Good luck getting your head around that shit, it's way too deep for me. I was all excited to see the Eiffel Tower, but apparently it's not gonna exist for like... a hundred years.

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@ACHEELIES Not so sure about bloodshed, but it's so boring just sitting around waiting for something to happen.

Maybe I will go out tonight. Beats staring at a ceiling.

Which district are you staying in, currently?

Some place called "Le Marais"

Le Marais? What the hell are you doing there? That's where all the rich people live.

Yeah, tell me about it. They complain about the stupidest shit.

But, it kinda made sense at the time. No one poor's gonna take me in. I don't really have a trade skill, and if food's tight, I'm not gonna try and take it from someone else and give nothing in return.

Are you saying that someone in that district invited you to stay in their home...?

How did you manage that?

[achilles...

....no]

WHAT? DUDE IT AIN'T LIKE THAT.

There was a help wanted sign at this bar and I took a job. I struck a deal with the owner that instead of gettin' paid, I could eat and stay in the stock room upstairs.

Really? Consider yourself lucky, then.

Well, regardless, you won't find any danger around there. Why don't you come around near the outskirts of the city, near the north.

Hell yeah! Finally, somethin' interesting.

You uh... can't miss me. I got blond hair.

Blond hair, huh?

What's your name?

Yeah, it ain't natural though. I got... no idea how I'm gonna keep this up with all the time travelin' going on.

Name's Ryuji Sakamoto. You?

There's still means of dying hair, if you're worried. We even had dye in my era, which is far before this one.

Call me Rider, Ryuji.

RIDER? That sounds like a codename. I used to have one too. Uh, Skull. But it's cool. Has a nice ring to it.

[He also might be thinking about that 80s show Knight Rider]

Oh shit, no way? I might have to ask how you do that. Usually I just buy it at the store and do it at home when mom's working, but it's not like you can just easily buy bleach around here.

[Mention of his mom...

He scratches the back of his head. Yeah, he did kind of miss her already.]

It is a codename of sorts.

You sound like you're from the 21st century. Am I wrong?

Either way, I'll have to see about getting the ingredients. I can't promise you it'll be as effective as what you can get at the store.

I'll be looking out for the blond hair. Hopefully it doesn't fade by the time I find you. [ That's a joke. Maybe flirting... ]

Yeah, it's just about to turn 2017 where I'm from. You're pretty perceptive to guess that off the bat. I've been talkin' to a few people here and I have to explain... so much freaking stuff.

Thanks! I gotta keep up my image, y'know. It gets black when the roots come out. But that's not for a few more weeks, anyway.

[Is that flirting? Ryuji can't tell, so of course, let him flirt back without knowing he's flirting!]

You'll find me. I'm shine brightly for ya.

[ Achilles is already loitering around the poorer districts north of where Ryuji currently is. The sun is starting to set at this time in the evening, and the impressive, tall buildings of Paris cast long shadows over the dingier, rundown shacks that made up the residential area. Labourers are starting to pack up their belongings to turn in for the night, retreating back into the safety of their homes, however small.

In an hour or two, the streets will be dead quiet, aside from the drunkards who will inevitably be roaming around. Achilles has to bide his time until then, so he taps at the bead at his shoulder, activating the network.

He grins when he sees the last message left for him from Ryuji. He seems awfully naive, so Achilles isn't quite sure what to expect when they meet.

Moving up to his feet, he leads the horse he'd been given by COST down the dimly lit road. ]

[He's not sure what he's supposed to be doing here, honestly. He knows he signed up to do all these great things- protect the world, make a difference... it was all fine and dandy until he actually got here and felt like he wasn't doing a damn thing important or meaningful to the cause. He hates it. He wants to prove something, even if he doesn't really know what that something is just yet. So when Achilles provokes him into heading out at night, Ryuji finishes up his shift at the bar. It's a hellish night, as they always are, furnished with backbreaking labor of washing down tables, cleaning up, taking orders and commands, but honestly? Even this sort of thing is nice enough to stop making him think of things like value or worth.

It's not like he's taken a certain trepidation to leaving the tavern past midnight. He was already asked to help a drunk blue collar worker home, and it wasn't nearly as dodgy as he thought it would be. He's mostly stayed around the rich area, feeling a certain pang of guilt as he passes by the luxury that surrounds them in all directions. Corrupt system, people who starve, and people who flourish off the hard work of others for no reason other than a fucking birthright? It's ridiculous.

Bbut tonight he's going to take a trip farther out than he's ever been. He's ready to get himself a little dirty, to see some action taking place. Not exactly expecting a murder, but maybe a good fight. If anything, the idea of a blade of justice never sat very well with him after the whole... issues that went down in Tokyo leading up to him joining COST, but he wants to experience the world that Achilles is living in, nonetheless.

So he finds himself in the seediest part of Paris, shoulders hunched downward and gaze set toward the floor. It's not before long that he comes across someone asking for directions. Not like he knew. But he's weary- he knows any contact with these sort of people is asking for trouble. This guy was definitely looking for something more from him.]

[ Poor Ryuji.

Achilles isn't around to come to his aid just yet. He's probably about a few blocks away from this scene, whistling to himself as he strolls past closed doors and curtained windows.

The poor boy has probably signed up for more than he bargained for. Because he's going to be... straight up knocked the fuck out by the seemingly kind stranger, given the chance.

I mean, he's an "exotic" person, wandering around alone, with no one around to actually help him. He's an easy target for "recruiters" hoping to score something unique to present to their boss. ]

[Ryuji tries to walk away from the situation as the man starts getting more aggressive. His fists clench up into balls, and he tries to smack his hand away. He's not into being touched by a stranger, and he's certainly not okay with how far this conversation is going.

He digs into his pocket to finger around for the feeling of his mask.

Oh. Shit.

How could he be so stupid? He left it back in the storeroom.]

Yo, creep, I don't know what you're tryin' to do, but get your fucking hands offa me!

[It's a gut punch that gets him- cheap, easy. He reels forward, grabbing his stomach before the next thing he feels is something bludgeoning, sharply against the back of his head.]

Edited 2017-11-14 06:35 (UTC)

[ This probably isn't the first time this man has ever kidnapped anyone, so let's not discredit Ryuji's skill. He caught him off-guard, and now he's being hoisted up onto the back of the Frenchman, who mumbles something about having to cart his ass all the way back to his place.

Which happens to be in the direction Achilles is coming from. They cross paths soon after the whole ordeal, and it's the striking sight of Ryuji's blond hair that grabs his attention.

With his spear, he blocks his path and questions him.

"Put the boy down," he demands, but he's met with a lie about how the boy was a ward of his and had too much to drink that night.

Things get more tense as Achilles persists, basically cornering the man up until he relents and starts putting Ryuji down --

Achilles isn't dumb. He can put two and two together, and noting his ethnicity and hair colour, he knows the kidnapper is full of shit.

And that's all the reason he needs to thrust the point of his spear right into his face. ]

[ It's like killing two birds with one stone. He's found the person he'd been talking to on the network, and he's also extracted the mana he needs to maintain his strength a day longer.

The corpse is left on the road, surrounded by a pool of blood that drains from the cavity in its face. Achilles picks Ryuji up from the ground and heaves him over the saddle of his horse.

When Ryuji wakes up, he'll be safe and sound inside a small hotel room that looks as cheap as it had been for Achilles to pay for. The bed is small, just big enough for one person to lay in, and the windows are open, letting the chill of the night are drift in, as well as leaving room for Achilles' horse to poke its head into. The sound of its snorts are probably what roused the boy in the first place.

Achilles is nowhere to be seen for now. So Ryuji can get his bearings as he regains consciousness without having to deal with the shock of dealing with a stranger invading his space. ]

[Current HP: eh, somewhere just above the point of blacking out again.

It's several hours that he's lost consciousness for, but it feels like everything had just happened, and it's by the grace of a horse's labored sounds that he eventually comes to again. He sits up, looking around immediately. Ryuji doesn't know that he's been saved, only that he's in a room he doesn't recognize, surrounded by unfamiliar walls that feel out of place from the warehouse attic he'd been renting.

Ryuji's breathing starts picking up, almost at an alarmingly quick rate. Had he just been shoved into this room, awaiting whatever was in store for him after being kidnapped?

No, that... that doesn't seem right. Wouldn't his hands be bound or something? This isn't the Four Seasons, but the hotel room looks vividly enough like a temporary stay type of facility that he knows it's not someone's dingy maison. He stretches forward, sighing as his throat tightens up. There's pain, all around his stomach and his head, emanating from both sources until he feels sick to his stomach. And as much as a tough boy that Ryuji keeps up the pretense of being, he feels like crying. How could he be so dumbly naive, to just let this sort of thing happen to him?]

[ Achilles returns with a bucket of warm water tucked underneath his arm.

It'll probably be alarming for Ryuji to see a man suddenly open the door and emerge, clad in a ratty tunic. He isn't the same man that had attacked him, but he doesn't offer any immediate reassurance when their eyes meet.

But, after a drawn-out moment: ]

So you shined a bit brighter than for your own good.

[The door opens.

He narrowly avoids a heart attack. Immediately, his fist clenches into a ball in his sheets. If he needs something to soften the blow against his knuckles as he comes out swinging, might as well be a shitty old bed sheet.

And then, like a weight lifting right up from his shoulders, he lets out an exhale of oxygen that he had kept furled up into his chest- something he learned to do while sprinting so that it would give him an extra stamina boost.]

Rider?

[Well, no shit.

He looks over at the other, confused. How the hell did he get here?]

[ The confusion is plain on his face and it's almost amusing. He offers a quirked brow when he says his name, actually impressed that he managed to recollect and put two and two together so quickly. ]

You picked a fight and lost before I could even find you. Guess you were eager.

[ He moves over to the bed, setting the bucket down on the nightstand beside where Ryuji is sitting. ]

Here. Wash your face. [ He produces the cloth that had been draped over his shoulder, dangling it over Ryuji's head. ]

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