[Open]

[detectiveofthewest]

Characters: Heiji and [open]
Location: Luministi Greens West, near B11
Time: Opening of Season 3
Summary: Heiji reacts to his new surroundings by running around and yelling at people, because that's how he rolls
Warnings: None

For a little while, Luministi Greens West experienced a sort of quiet peace. And then Hattori Heiji woke up.

After registering that yes, he was awake, and that yes, he was in some unfamiliar house with no real explanation save for that delivered via vidscreen, he charged out the front door and into the complex at large, the largely forgotten gift basket clutched in one hand.

"If this is some kinda joke, I ain't laughing!" he shouted. Time to find a pay phone or something, and call 110. What was this, some kind of set? Whoever'd made it put a lot of effort into it, all right, but why'd they just dump him in the house without even bothering to tie him up?

Comments

[tactilekonesis]

Heiji wasn't the only one incredibly upset about the turn of events. After getting a quick briefing from another kidnappee, Kon had immediately torn out of his house with his own vidscreen. It wasn't unusual for him to get mixed up with weird stuff - it kind of came with the territory of being Superman's kid - but it was unusual for him to not be the only one.

Having immediately picked up another person's voice - and boy was it loud - Kon ran to meet it. Screeching to a halt, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and offered Heiji a smile.

"It'd be a really stupid joke if it were," Kon agreed. "But I think we're legitimately been kidnapped for other purposes."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji turned around and... whoa, where had this guy come from? And more importantly:

"That don't make any sense. Who kidnaps someone and then just leaves 'em out in the open like that? The whole point of kidnapping someone is to get something out of 'em, so how're they gonna get what they want if they're not even keeping tabs?"

There was a slight pause. "Your Japanese sure is good, though. You studying abroad or something?"

[tactilekonesis]

Kon shrugged. He'd been the victim of kidnappings before, but even he knew that most captors preferred to keep their victims within their arms' reach.

He started to reply, "God only---"

Wait. Japanese? Kon awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Not really... I mean, I know a little bit from anime, but I thought we were speaking English here."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Huh?" Heiji looked like he was trying to decide if Kon was putting him on or not. The guy seemed serious, but...

"I can speak English, all right, but you got your Tokyo-ben down pretty pat. You sayin' you don't hear it?" It took study and time to get a language to the level of fluency he was hearing from Kon -- how could he be speaking another language and not realize it? It wasn't like the two could be easily confused.

"You know, I'd ask if Kudou'd put you up to this, but that guy ain't much for jokes."

so sorry for the slow!

[tactilekonesis]

How could they both speak their respective languages and still perfectly understand each other? Kon wanted to believe it was a joke, but he knew very well that he and foreign languages weren't on the best terms.

"I've never even met this Kudou guy," Kon admitted. "I'm pretty sure it's an effect of being here.... like, our words're translated into each other's languages or something."

As to how that would work, he didn't know. That kind of technology was super complicated! "I mean, it'd be kind of inconvenient if they kidnapped us but couldn't understand us."

No problem :)

[detectiveofthewest]

"That'd explain it all right," Heiji said, crossing his arms in thought, "But far as I know, no one's got that kinda technology yet. Well, guess for now, it's as good an explanation as any."

That, or Kon was a really good actor. Either way, it didn't change the fact that Heiji didn't particularly want to be here. "With all the trouble they went through to set this place up, you'd think they'd already be deliverin' their demands. ...So why'd someone want to kidnap you, anyway?"

♥

[tactilekonesis]

Good question. Kon laughed nervously. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell Heiji the truth about him being half-Kryptonian and thus valuable to anyone in the galaxy, but it was probably better if he kept that part under wraps.

"I'm not sure," He lied, though it was a little obvious by the way he nervously glanced at the nearest townhouse. When in doubt, admit to some other truth, right? "One of my dads is pretty rich, so at best I'm probably being held for money or knowledge or politics or whatever crap people want my dad for this week."

Re: ♥

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji gave Kon a look that said he didn't much buy the excuse. He wasn't actually going to pry into that, but something Kon had said piqued his curiosity. "'One of your dads'? How many d'you have?"

If Kon's identity was important enough, it would come out in the end, anyway.

[tactilekonesis]

"Two." Kon shrugged. (He kind of felt like that girl from that book, I Have Two Mommies, whenever he said so outright to people.) "But I've only got one mom." The less he discussed his incredibly confusing family life, the better.

"It's... kind of complicated, but one of my dads is kind of a billionaire. Multi-billionaire, probably, but I don't really keep count."

[terezi_pyrope]

Terezi is already out and in about, performing her investigative duties, as is required for her now that she's in a very unknown place obviously sent here by force with people containing questionable motives. So far, in person she's met individuals who seemed content with their lives here and it's made her very suspicious of actual person to person contact.

But, the Seer wants to experiment with some more interaction and so this is why when Heiji is charging out, Terezi deliberately makes it so he walks right into her. Especially with how quickly she seems to come out of nowhere.

"Rude! Don't you know to watch where you're going?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji didn't quite bowl into her, but it was a close thing. "Oh, sorry. But you shouldn't hide around corners like that, kiddo. Sooner or later you're gonna get yourself hurt."

Then he blinked. "What's with that getup? Cosplay?"

[terezi_pyrope]

"I wasn't hiding, silly! Then again, I'm just a poor blind girl who wouldn't be able to tell where she's going, hehehe~"

The young troll already notes his response is at least somewhat better than the other "residents" she's encountered in person here. Terezi then ends up givomg Heiji a shark-wide grin when he asks about her appearance.

"What get up? I was born this way! It's nice to meet another actual living human face to face though.

You smell like a type who likes to seek out justice. Am I wrong?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"You are, huh? Sorry to hear that; must be awful rough." Come to think of it, did she have a cane on her person? Or was she just wandering around without one?

Well, whoever she was, she was clearly into the act. He settled back a little on his feet, hooking a thumb back at himself. "Guess you could say that. Hattori Heiji, at your service!"

[terezi_pyrope]

She does, actually, although it's currently being held behing her back, in case she decides to give Heiji the drubbings. At his own introduction, she tilts her head a little and gives a smile, saying, "I'm Terezi Pyrope, future enforcer of the LAW! We should work together to root out the criminals who have forced us here and have only nefarious plots in mind...and then punish them!"

She points dramatically with a wink and a grin. "Makes sense, doesn't it? We just need evidence and clues to point us in the right direction!"

[detectiveofthewest]

He blinked a little. "You mean you wanna be a cop?"

Well, he was just going to reach over and try and ruffle her hair, then. "Hey, that's pretty cool. Before we go out and punish evildoers, though, I think we better figure out what's goin' on. My cell phone got swiped and I can't call out on this brick they replaced it with."

Yeah, stupid communicator device. He jammed it back into one of his pockets. "This sure is an elaborate setup, though. I thought someone was pranking me when I woke up."

[terezi_pyrope]

His hand gets licked, for his efforts. She giggles, pretty sure he's definitely not one of the regular people here after all now. So, she responds thusly, "Luckily, you've come across an incredible investigator like myself! I've already figured out some things, so write this down! First of all that this whole situation was first planned out by a guy called Resarci. Who has apparently been disposed of, so the resident I questioned was confused as to why we were here in the first place.

This means people have been brought here before and made to return at least twice.

Anyway, the resident also mentioned that they had been "put on TV" and made to "experience weird things" because the regular townsfolk here enjoyed it. I am assuming he means tortured and forcibly done as a public display for all to see in the name of some twisted enjoyment.

Apparently we're in a place that's "made to look like a town" and there's a abandoned research lab on the other side. Which probably means this is some kind of weird experiment that's going on."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji grimaced a little, pulling his hand back and shaking it a little to dry it off. "Hey, don't just go around lickin' people. You're gonna get yourself sick. Also it's gross."

Terezi's explanation didn't make much sense to Heiji; he held up a hand (the clean one). "Hold your horses, kid. Who's this Resarci guy, and why's he goin' around kidnapping people? If someone's offed him, the murderer needs to be caught."

[desertdaggers]

It was impossible to miss someone shouting at that volume, and Hawk took his time wandering over, in the hope that they'd have yelled most of it out by the time he got there. "It's not a joke, I'm afraid," he said, and offered a smile. "Unless you'd rather it wasn't, I suppose."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Hey, either it is or it ain't." Hawk got a quick once-over.

"Mind explainin' what's going on? I got a video presentation when I woke up, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense. You'd think a fellow'd be a little more thorough about laying things out for his kidnapping victims."

[desertdaggers]

"Then the final answer is it's not," Hawk said with a nod, his eyes flicking over Heiji in return. He raised one hand to dust himself off a little- he was pretty sure most of the sand had stayed back at home, but it never hurt to be sure.

"They might be entertained by the prospect of everyone trying to work out what they're up to, though." Hawk spread his hands out and shrugged. "Is it a situation you're familiar with, then?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"It's more like I've gotten my share of people gunning for me." Heiji leaned back a little on his feet, crossing his arms.

"But like I said, usually when you get kidnapped and wake up in some room, someone's around to tell you what's up. Or at least issue demands or something. Gloating's one thing, but what's the point of swiping someone and lettin' them wander off?"

Even assuming they had all the townspeople on their side, it wasn't like this was a town on a cliff or in the middle of nowhere or something. Right?

[desertdaggers]

"Because of what you've done, or who you are?" Hawk raised his eyebrows, curious.

He tucked his hands into his sash and frowned. "Ah, well… the first time they wanted to run experiments on the people who'd been brought here, and the second time it was for some sort of television show… I imagine that they thought telling us would ruin it all. We certainly didn't find out because of them. And, well… I'm not sure we could wander off." He smiled a little, wryly. "I certainly don't know how to operate a space station, do you?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji blinked for a moment before breaking into a wide grin, waving with one hand as if to shoo away the suggestion. "Nah, I ain't a criminal or anything. It's all part of being a detective, you know? Sooner or later, you're bound to make some enemies. Or just people who wanna use you for something. I can't count the number of times I've been attacked. And the weird letters, man -- I don't even know how these guys get my address."

He sobered instantly as Hawk went on. "Experiments? Television show? Space station? Hey, hold on a second, there. I know a couple shady criminal organizations, and I even know a couple with their hands in some pretty slick research. But you get space travel involved and that's government-level stuff."

[desertdaggers]

"It's possible you might not want to know either," Hawk said, tilting his head a little and grinning to hide the crease in his brow. "Some people are a little… well. And if you're going after them… but then I guess you know that already, right?"

He scratched at his cheek with one finger, and shrugged. "I don't know that there's any kind of government involved. It might be more commonplace here than it is in your world- we've got nothing like it where I come from."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Eh, well. I figure if you get famous enough, folks are gonna find you if you like it or not. Really wish they'd stop sending me investigation fees, though. I keep telling 'em I don't charge for cases and sometimes they live wayyy out in the middle of nowhere, so I gotta trek allll the way out there and give it back." Going off on a tangent? Heiji? Nooo.

He paused. "...Say that again?"

Multiple worlds thing. Does not compute.