[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

[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.

[desertdaggers]

Who would ever suspect it? Hawk nodded, looking thoughtful. "Well… that must mean you're quite successful, with that kind of reputation! Though… I suppose whoever's supposed to look after the area doesn't appreciate it."

Hawk blinked at him for a moment before sense kicked in again- of course someone who was new wouldn't know everything about Luministi, or believe without evidence. "Ah… people haven't just been pulled here, they've been pulled from different worlds. I've been all around mine, and I can tell you for sure I've never been to anywhere called Japan, or Ingary." He smiled as disarmingly as he could.

[detectiveofthewest]

"Nah, it's all right," Heiji said, laughing. "I got a pretty good relationship with the cops. They know they gotta get along with us if they want a taste of the old lady's cooking." Which apparently was a pretty strong motivator, though not the only personal connection he had with local law enforcement.

He gave Hawk a look like maybe the guy'd grown two heads all of a sudden. "Okay, I admit this situation's a little weird, but you been watching too much sci-fi or somethin'? I never heard of Ingary, either."

[desertdaggers]

"That's good, then," Hawk said, and- well, for someone in the kind of position he imagined Heiji was, he was sure it was. "It sounds almost like they're like extended family, when you say it like that." He grinned.

At that look, Hawk couldn't help an exaggerated sigh, and shook his head, making a brushing motion with one hand. "Even if we had that kind of thing in Navarre, I'd have been too busy with other things. Haaah…" He considered Heiji for a few moments, head tilted to one side. "What kind of world is it where you're from?" he asked. Maybe he could find some difference to prove.

[detectiveofthewest]

He grinned. "Ha! Guess you could say that. Seems like I bump into 'em enough, anyway. Pretty handy for when I need a ride, too!" Heiji was not above requisitioning a squad car for carting visitors around the city, nope.

He stared at Hawk for a moment. It wasn't like he couldn't humor the guy, but no one ever asked him to describe 'the world' before. Did he mean Osaka, Japan, or the Earth in general?

"Uh... I live in Osaka, over in western Japan. It's got plenty of stuff for tourists, like Osaka Castle and Tsuutenkaku. But gettin' around's a real pain, since a lot of the streets are one-way."

[desertdaggers]

That startled a laugh out of Hawk- he couldn't imagine many of the law enforcers he'd run into giving anyone a ride. Maybe to someone else entirely. "That must be quite helpful, then!"

Hawk smiled back brightly, showing only a little bit of teeth. Any of that was fine, by him, though probably the parts closest to Heiji would be the best. "Ah, then… Natsuo said he was from Japan, too, though I didn't ask which part." He nodded to himself, and focused on Heiji again. "There's probably a few cities, right? How big is it?" He tilted his head to the side. "Tsuutenkaku? Because of the transports you have, you mean?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"Yeah. And when traffic gets bad, you can just turn on the siren!" And obviously there was nothing at all wrong with that.

"I'm talkin' about the city; Osaka's one of the biggest in Japan. Tokyo's way more crowded, though. it's like there's a holiday on all the time or something. Wait, you never heard of Tsuutenkaku Tower? Guess Tokyo Tower's taller..." Heiji crossed his arms, looking none too thrilled about the apparent difference in fame. "...but Tsuutenkaku's way more stylish!"

"Pretty much. You do know what a one-way street is, right? Cars can drive on it, but only in one direction."

[desertdaggers]

Hawk nodded. "Very handy, then," he agreed, wondering a little about what everyone else thought about that. Possibly they were used to it.

Recognition showed in his eyes when Heiji mentioned Tokyo. "Nn, but they'd all have places to be, still, right? Even with that many people…" If he remembered right, there were more people there than in all of Navarre, and probably a couple of the other countries, as well. He shook his head, flapping one hand and grinning. "Ahhh, well… it's not so much that- one of the people I've met here, Fuu, she's from Tokyo, so we talked about that… I'd be more than happy to hear about Osaka from you!"

He nodded again. "Well, that's straightforward enough… it's not so much a problem when you're walking most of the time." He shrugged.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji laughed. "Walkin' is nice and all, but it'd take you an awful long time to hoof it from one side of the city to the other."

Then he sobered a little. "But enough about that. You know a way out of here? Or do I have to start walkin'?" While he didn't mind talking a person's ear off under normal circumstances, these weren't exactly normal circumstances -- he wanted to get out of town and back home as soon as he could.

[desertdaggers]

Hawk straightened up, frowning a little. "The way out's in the lab, through the mayor's house," he said. "But… from the sound of things right now, and given how things were in the past, I don't think that's something we're going to be able to access too easily. We can see how far we'll get, though."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Lab? ...Hey, how long've you been here, anyway?" Not that Heiji thought the idea of trying all the known exits was a bad idea or anything. Far from it!

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see this way out of yours. Uh... where's the mayor's house?"

[desertdaggers]

"In total, you mean?" Hawk waggled one hand for a few moments. "About… six months or so, I think. I went home for a period after the first time, so it wasn't continuous."

He nodded, and glanced around to orientate himself and turn. "This way," he said, with a follow me hand sign. "And- the CAT has a map, in case you ever get lost. Though- this is probably a lot smaller than you're used to."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Six months?" Heiji did a double take as he followed Hawk. "Guess you must know this place like the back o' your hand."

He held up the communication device. "This thing, you mean? I ain't really used to carrying around anything more than a cell phone." And his last one had broken, so.

[desertdaggers]

"I do try to get to know a place!" Hawk said, laughing. "Particularly if I'm going to be there a while."

He nodded. "Yeah, that's it. It'll stick with you, so you don't really need to think about it." He cocked his head. "A cell phone? What does that do, something similar?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji crossed his arms. How to put this...?

"Well, uh. It's kinda like this thing here, 'cept you can really only talk on it or send text messages. None of that fancy holographic stuff. And generally speakin', you only talk to one person at a time."

[desertdaggers]

Hawk was fairly sure he got the gist of it- there wasn't much technology like this back home, but he was fairly used to the CAT by now. "It sounds a bit simpler, then," he said, and considered for a moment. "Maybe they took the idea from that kind of thing."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Guess so. It ain't like no one knows about holograms. It's just that no one's got the know-how to stick 'em in a cell phone like this. That I know of, anyway."

And even if the technology did exist, it should be nowhere near the level of crispness that the CAT displayed. Also the CAT should weigh like fifty pounds or something.

[desertdaggers]

"Well, you never know, someone might! Maybe you could look into it, if you wanted to." Hawk spread one hand a little and smiled. "It's got to be easier for you guys than it would be for us."

He turned again, onto the road leading to the mayoral residence, and he eased up a little, shoulders relaxing- they were going to be able to make it there, at least. That was good news. "It's not much further."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji kept up the pace, looking about at the unfamiliar scenery as he went. "Unfortunately, gadgets ain't really my thing. Sure is a tidy place, though. Almost like no one really lives here or somethin'."