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Asellus     Vessels attempting to enter Region space from the outside have a few different methods, though navigating the dimensional energies is more than a little bit difficult. It's like trying to fly through a storm with clear patches shifting and hiding within the cloud layers, or through a tunnel network where the walls are made of sizzling, mult-colored light. For many, it may take time to properly equip their vessels to handle this new environment, let alone learn the safe routes, as evidenced by several disastrous failures to just fly directly towards various worlds, or 'Regions' as they seem to be called, resulting in getting lost, colliding with invisible walls, being thrown right out of the area, or finding themselves going back the way they came.

    Some report being attacked by some sort of space pirates, and at least one vessel makes some aborted report about a giant mouth opening up in space in a panicked distress signal right up until all of their transmissions abruptly cease.

    However, some still make it through, and most of those find themselves being drawn as though by the tide towards a world-bubble, a Region, that seems to just be one great mass of buildings. A city-world, or a world-city, with many pockets of dazzling lights, other areas of dimmer illumination, but most of it ominously dark and abandoned-looking.

    The port scrambles to accomodate the sudden influx of visitors, explorers, and in some cases soldiers and invading forces, in unrecognized vessels. While there are many questions and much confusion, the workers at the welcome center try to help everyone as much as they can. They are quite overwhelmed though, and there are active efforts by security forces, locals, and other ships to fend off attacks by at least one spaceship that showed up and just started shooting at everyone.

    However, there is also a Warp Gate here now, and those who use Warp Gates like NORMAL PEOPLE find themselves deposited in the middle of the transit terminal. This may draw some mild surprise from some people passing through, but apparently popping in and out of existence is not quite so unusual to the people behind the desks that they bother to comment on it. The Warp Gate, unusually, is invisible. It's there, but there's no visual indicator. However, any attempt at using it immediately causes it to activate and permit access. It seems natural Warp Gates exist here, but they haven't been available to most people before now.
Miari The Warp Gate sizzles to life, depositing a young woman in a regally decorated Kimono, of grandiose emerald and trimmed with gold. She's decorated with a conservative but stylish bit of jewelry- namely, a thin, delicate-looking Orichalcum tiara of Circlet style with a gold gemstone that seems to have an inner glow. It rests neatly upon her forehead.

    "I simply must learn about this strange place. The phenomena surrounding it seems very similar to the Wyld!"
Josuke Higashikata Josuke is not above using the Speedwagon Foundation for his own benefit at times. They tend to do not feel any qualms about using him for their benefit, so why shouldn't he?

In this case, Josuke was curious about a world out there that seemed to be chaotic and shifting. It seemed like SEVERAL worlds, in fact. However, initially the Speedwagon Foundation didn't want to bother with it. Well, Jotaro didn't, anyway. Until Josuke pointed out that the chaotic shifting could start to 'bleed out' into the rest of the Multiverse, and could ultimately affect their world. Jotaro was overruled then -- no one wanted to deal with that. Particularly not Joseph, who had been visiting when Josuke called Jotaro about this 'Regions'.

So, with Josuke using the warpgate, he finds himself in the transit station! He's wearing his school uniform -- purple longcoat with the gold-colored buttons, loose matching pants, navy blue loafer-type shoes. His coat isn't buttoned completely, though; the top two buttons are left undone, but pulled back and pinned to the shoulders of the coat to display his yellow shirt.

The pins look like they might be gold -- on the left is a heart, on the right is a peace sign. And on his collar, one on either side, shapes are embroidered in gold thread -- two hearts on the right, and an anchor on the left. He looks suitably blinged-out. And depending on what time period this place is, just wearing so much purple might mark him as being... well, rich. He isn't, but it doesn't hurt to have people THINK that, right?
Marisa Kirisame NORMAL PERSON, KIRISAME MARISA, has decided to go for a walk.

Sure, most people would consider 'going for a walk' to be a pretty trivial use of one's time, but hey! That's how you discover new things. You close your eyes, take a step forward, and let the random numbers you punched into the warpgate take you wherever it decides to spit you out.

Suicidal? Maybe.

Fun? Yyyyyyep.

The warpgate sputters and then explodes with a sudden burst of incendiary energy as a distinctly witchy silhouette hops out from the portal. "Ehhh, weird!" The very blonde, very ordinary witch says as she stares up at the towering buildings surrounding her on all sides. She is /very/ witchy. There's a big, witchy hat, a big voluminous witchy dress, and even a witchy broom clutched between her legs. She's flying on it! How witchy! "It's like Boston! Except kinda shittier? Huh."

Well. Best to start flying around. There's gotta be ~something~ here worth finding/borrowing/pawning.
Staren     Recieving word that a new area of space has unified, Staren FTL jumps to the area... and then sees the hazardous conditions others are flying through. He's sure not piloting his ship through THAT. Instead, he deploys the Star Hawk, and possibly ends up helping fight that jerk who ends up shooting at everyone.

    Once he's gotten a chance to land, his efforts to find someone to talk to lead him to the transit terminal, where he sees some familiar faces. "Miari! Josuke! And Marisa, long time no see, where've you been?" Staren waves. He's not in his labcoat for once, but removed his helmet before calling out. "And... how'd you get here? Any idea what this place is? I thought it just unified..."
Sarracenia      Warp gates? Warp gates are for normal adventurers! Princess Sarracenia is anything but normal!

     Two of her Galleon-sized wooden airships are headed toward this Region, and no tides or crashes or strange phenomena are going to stop her! The two ships stay close, aiding each other in navigating. But, despite their efforts, one of the ships collides with one of those invisible walls and goes off course, ending up barely making it out of the turbulent sector of space without being destroyed. Pirahna plants can be seen scurrying about the deck trying to hold down broken planks and reinforcing the masts of the large propellers.

     The remaining ship is tossed and turned and battered plenty, but the princess's ship manages to get through to the more calm area and follows the current toward the city-world. The tall royal in the red dress stands at the bow of the ship with a grin on her face. When they make it to port, Sarracenia doesn't wait for the ship to be docked. She just leaps off and plummets to the ground, riding her oversized hammer down and causing a bit of a shockwave when she lands. Then, she hefts her hammer against her shoulder and smiles. "Tell me, where is the shopping district!" she demands of the first person she sees.

     Even as her second ship starts to list to one side and threatens to crash or drift back into the turbulence. The pirahna plant sailors' leaf-arms flail above their heads as they too run around like chickens with their heads cut off in attempts to stabilize their ship.
Marisa Kirisame Marisa stares at Staren.

She stares for a long, long time.

Her head tilts under her hat, eyes kind of narrowing a bit.

"...Uhhhh," Marisa rubs her chin, "...Who're you again? Your voice is kind've familiar, buuuuut..."

D-does she not recognize him without the labcoat!?
Ryu     Ryu steps out of the warp gate, but he is invisible to the naked eye except for the gentle ripple of light around him. He examines his surroundings warily as he proceeds forward, following his sense of smell and generally trying not to be noticed by anyone in here. His invisibility can be disturbed by anything like a moderate jostling or startle, and so he's trying to stay out of trouble. But then he spots someone he knows here, and he approaches that person to stop nearby him.

    The dragon seems to just... appear, the invisibility melting away like a layer of liquid. Ryu then promptly reaches out and briefly scoops Josuke up in a hug, and then lets him back down, smiling brightly and happily.

    "Hey!"

    "This place looks really gloomy, right?" he mentions to Josuke, looking around with his big gold eyes.
Asellus     When Sarracenia jumps down, she, like Staren, find themselves in a chaotic mess of ships crowding around a limited docking space, with people from all sorts of worlds and universes, as well as the locals. While they sometimes get strange visitors, including a variety of distinctly non-human beings (is that an actual literal walks-on-four-legs boar wearing a fur coat who just met up with a slime to go get drinks? Yes. Yes it is), the sheer volume is unexpected, as is the number of ships in need of repairs.

    The jerks shooting lasers and cannonballs at people are soon hammered into submission by local defenders, other visitors, and the help of Staren, though it requires taking out all their guns first in some cases. When some larger ships show up and start drilling holes through anyone being violent with Massive Over Kill Cannons, sending the wreckage toppling down into the dimensional void to be spread around Region Space forever, most people get the hint and try to avoid being identified as part of the problem.

    By the time Staren joins those still in the lobby, Sarracenia is already there and pointing at people. One of the people behind the very busy reception desk answers, "Uh, just go down those stairs. All of the surrounding area is the shopping district, I guess." The person next to them says, "Just stay in the well-lit areas. Beyond that, it can be pretty rough."

    They also address Staren, while eyeing the assortment of other figures that just popped out of thin air, with, "This is Koorong. It's a major transit nexus for the other Regions. Would you like a brochure?"

    Marisa would likely see there's a pawn shop directly to her right the moment she goes down the stairs. They also seem to sell and buy gold. The signs are mostly in Foreign, though some are in Japanese, some version of Korean, at least one form of Chinese, and Cyrillic. Litle or nothing is in English. So there's some sort of similarities with Earth cultures. That should make things easier. It seems to be night out, with most of the illumination coming from neon signs basically everywhere. A fruit stand lies just past an alleyway with some shady looking figure in a hat, with his back to the street, standing in it. And beyond the front stand, to the south, some stairs lead down to an even louder and more light-strewn street.

    A view from above, if Marisa takes it, shows that though the crowded area full of light and music and action is very intense, it is comparatively small next to the huge swaths of darkened streets and abandoned buildings. The air isn't great, but it isn't pollution-filled either, indicating a lack of cars or factories. Most people, even some kind of hovering mecha-plane, seem to stick to ground-level. There's no sign of aircraft, though there are... Things flapping around. Silhouettes in the darkness, outside of the light's reach, that seem to have free reign of the skies. These two factors are probably connected.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke hears his name called, and turns. He sees Staren and smiles broadly. "Oh, hi!" he greets brightly. Turning fully now, he sees the rest of those who have appeared in the station. Staren and Miari he knows, but Marisa he does not. However, he offers a polite wave and a smile in their direction, as well as a bright, "Hi there!" He's a friendly guy until he has reason not to be.

And then suddenly he's being PICKED UP! "Gah! What--?!" He's a pretty heavy guy, considering his upper body's bulk. But then he realizes what -- or rather, who -- it is. And he grins. "Hey there. Ryu, right?" They'd met once, so he's confirming the name. Gloomy? "Maybe, a little. But it's a little more familiar." Because it doesn't look like it's COMPLETELY in the medieval era, of course.

He may or may not be aware what's happening in the skies/space above this place just yet. Since he came through the warpgate, he sort of bypassed that. And he doesn't own a spaceship/airship, so he wouldn't have been able to participate in the fighting!
Sarracenia      Sarracenia is just about to head toward the shops when she realizes she actually knows someone here. "Oh! Staren! How lovely to see you again. Let me see...I believe the last time I saw you I saved you from some cybernetic horror?" she says a bit smugly. "So! Are all of you here to explore this area as well? I was just about to head to see what kind of things I could buy on a world like this." She lifts her hammer up...and slides it somehow into her small purse before smiling. "Would anyone like to join me and claim the honor of carrying my shopping ba-aaah?!" She jumps back as Ryu suddenly appears and hugs Josuke. "Great Goombas! Do not scare a princess like that!!" she exclaims a bit loudly.
Ryu     Ryu grins toothily at Josuke, and nods a few more times. "Yeah. Reminds me of home." It might be disquieting to think that Ryu's home world looks a bit like this. The dragon doesn't give much time to think about it, "That's my name," he confirms, remembering to do so before he gets distracted elsewhere. Sarracenia is given a look of absolute confusion. Since the invisibility is something for his own comfort, he didn't even think about it spooking anyone. So, he decides to try to help her. He steps over to her, and dips his head respectfully, and smiles to her.

    "I'll carry your shopping bags." Penance for startling her, but he leaves that part of it out.
Staren     Sarracenia's here too. Great. Staren still has a dim view of her. The variety of creatures here is encouraging, if anything -- if humans and talking(?) boars and slimes can all get along, then that means this world won't turn out to be horribly speciesist.

    Staren smiles at the offer of a brochure, pleasantly surprised. "Yes please!" He'll look at it between talking to people. "So you're Ryu. Nice to meet you, too!"

    Staren's ears splay his and tail droops at the lack of recognition by Marisa. "Some jerk with a golden flying palace was burning Gensokyo with eternal sun, we kicked their ass... Or was that a different Marisa?" Not that he's close to Marisa, obviously, but he sees in her someone who is refreshingly willing to solve problems with explosions when called for, so, nice to have around.

    Oh great Sarracenia saw him. "Nice to see you too..." he almost mumbles.
Marisa Kirisame Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Ping!

"Oh!" Marisa ohs, "Right! You're the... The one with the robots? Yeah. I uh. Didn't recognize you without the... dress? It was white. Huh. Ah well. Nice to see you! It's been a while. I've beeeeeeeeeeen..."

Marisa squints and glances off-camera. It's highly suspicious.

"Busy."

Yep. Very suspicious.

More people begin filtering in. Some kind of dragon man and some dude with really crazy hair, and someone who is probably definitely a princess of some kind. "Hey there! As I am not properly equipped," Marisa gestures vaguely at her everything, "One of the gents will have to carry your bags. Don't worry, I'm sure they wouldn't let a lady deal with her bags all alone. I--"

Marisa... Points into the sky. "See something interesting up there! So I'm going to be right back. Okay?"

Marisa is not right back. Marisa has decided to go flying ~up into the abyss of the sky~ to where those strange, flying creatures seem to be lurking. The broom audibly screeches to a halt mere inches from some invisible threshold, beyond which the chiropteran shapes lurk, casting an ominous shadow across the cityscape.

Marisa makes a curious noise.

And then she... fires experimental lasers into the sky.

'Experimental' meaning 'actual goddamn magic lasers.'

Poke a monster with a stick, Marisa! For great justice, Marisa!!
Miari "Koorong, hmm? I'll take one!" Miari hurries over to the kiosk qucikly but strangely smoothly, somehow managing this while retaining perfect composure! But... only just barely. She'll start flipping through it in no time at all, paying very little mind to what's going on around her...

    UNTIL, that is, she catches sight of Ryu. Because of all the STRANGE THINGS roaming around here, a Tiny Dragon is definitely one of the oddest. Not that she recognizes that as 'dragon' quite yet. Her idea of Dragon is a bit stranger, to say the least.

    "H-...hmmmmm?"
Asellus     Marisa has to do very little in the way of provoking monsters. The moment she leaves the lit areas, the flying monsters start converging on her. Some kind of bird about as big as Marisa herself comes flapping towards her wildly until it enters combat range. The laser she fires illuminates it, revealing its head appears to be just some kind of boney structure, with no eyes visible in the sockets. Its head is like... A mining pick almost. Probably nasty to get pecked by.

    Combat begins.

    ============

    ||Pickbird||

    ============

    The Pickbird appears to already be injured from taking Marisa's laser, but still more than able to fight, as it tries to drive its pick-shaped beak into her!

    Meanwhile, down below, where people are not provoking the locals the moment they show up, Miari is provides a tourism brochure in some language or other that provides a brief descriptor of how Koorong is the central travel hub for other Regions, a list of places that can be reached by Region Ship from here, and some general descriptions of the most well-established restaurants and businesses and entertainment venues, which likely do not account for transient market stalls and travelling merchants or less-than-legal purveyors of likely-not-legal goods.

    It's not SUPER helpful, but it's a starting point. It also doesn't address the overwhelming majority of this planet-city-place that remains lightless and abandoned except perhaps to criminal elements, monsters, and those who can't afford to live somewhere safe.
Josuke Higashikata Even Josuke seems a little sheepish when Sarracenia jumps at Ryu's sudden appearance. Though even if the sentence isn't finished, he knows what she's about to ask, whether someone can carry her bags. Ryu volunteers, and Josuke kind of... winces. Because he's betting there's going to be some serious baggage. So, he takes a breath, steels himself, and offers, "Need some help?" Because he's sure Sarracenia's going to end up buying out like fifteen stores. Besides that, he also has a second pair of hands in the form of his Stand. But at least he's not paying for it...

Though he looks up as Marisa suddenly starts FLYING?! "Wha...?!" He blinks. He is unaware that there are monsters up there -- and even if he did, he'd have no way to reach them. Though he notes, to the group at large, "...I hope she'll be okay..."

Oh hey, brochures! He nods to whoever's offering them. "That's probably a good idea," he notes. "I'll take one, too." Hopefully he can actually READ it. Assuming he CAN, he'll find it just that -- a starting point. None of the shady stuff is going to be talked about in a brochure like this, Josuke knows. So they'll have to keep an eye out.
Marisa Kirisame This poor, unfortunate Pickbird. It has no idea that Marisa's spell list is supplemented by the high-tier dodge passive: DANMAKU EXPERT.

The bird darts in, trying to ram her. Marisa clicks her tongue against her teeth and deftly barrel-rolls right out of the way. The Pickbird ends up sailing through the air she had only a split second ago been occupying.

For its trouble, it gets...

EVEN MORE LASERS!!

Marisa unleashes a spray of emerald energy after the winged critter. Should they make contact, they'd burst on contact, popping into brilliant, magical flak!
Staren     Okay, so Marisa just has a bad memory for faces and clothes. Honestly, without recording all his interactions with people, Staren mightn't do much better. With Marisa flying off and Sarracenia going shopping, Staren looks through the brochure, and then turns back to the travel agents. "Where could we find, like... history and encyclopedias and stuff?" To get a better idea of what this world is and what they consider important enough to write down.
Sarracenia      Sarracenia smiles and gives a firm nod as Ryu offers to carry her bags. "Good. It is the least you can do for startling a princess." she says, crossing her arms over her chest. "Would anyone else like to join me?" she asks, even including Staren. She also takes a brochure when it is offered and looks through it until Marisa blasts off toward the sky. "I suppose there is something to be said for fighting monsters, but I much prefer to shop." she says, then motions to Ryu and the others. "Come along, we shall all go shopping!" Oh yes, with a dress and an attitude like hers, there is sure to be LOTS of baggage.
Asellus     Marisa's attack slays the monster causing it to fade out of existence in a dull prismatic hue. Some sort of energy is released that may tingle on Marisa's skin. It doesn't seem to hurt her at all, nor is it retained. And since she took no damage, she might not realize its healing properties. Well, the Pickbird was slain.

    =====================

    ||Received6 credits||

    =====================

    Also it dropped some money, apparently???

    When asked about encyclopedia and history and stuff, the person behind the counter squints at Staren. "Uh... This really isn't part of mu job description..."

    Their slightly more veteran co-worker says, "Most people don't come to Koorong for the history lessons. If you want information, I recommend asking around outside."

    And that appears to be all they can give. What do you expect? They charter flights. They aren't travel agents or librarians.
Staren     Staren expects that maybe they'd know where the library is! He gives them a surprised look, and then turns to head outside. Searching for a wireless signal while he's at it -- maybe there's an internet here that can tell him things.
Josuke Higashikata "Monsters?" Josuke blinks, then looks in the direction Marisa flew up towards. "Now I '''really''' hope she'll be okay..." Still no way to assist her. But with Sarracenia verbally tugging Ryu away towards the shops, Josuke realizes Ryu needs help too! So he falls into step behind the princess and the dragon!

He does hear the issues that Staren appears to be having with the locals. Though he offers, "Well... that means you get the satisfaction of finding it yourself?" He's really trying to find something positive...
Sarracenia      With Ryu and Josuke in tow, Sarracenia heads out the door to the shopping area. "Now, where should we shop first?" she asks before hearing Staren's plight. "I am sure there are book stores, Staren. Or maybe even a library. What better place to put a library than an area that is visited every day?" she says as she makes her way down the steps, her heels clicking with each step. "Of course, I will be looking for the nearest jeweler~" she sing-songs. "And then perhaps the clothier!"

     She shows little concern for Marisa. Most people don't go after monsters unless they think they can handle said monsters. "I'm sure she will be fine. Look, that creature already exploded." she says, handwaving dismissively toward Marisa.
Marisa Kirisame Marisa is Victorious!!

She gets... Money?

Weird. It just kind of appeared in her hand after the monster disintegrated. And then there's the strange feeling of ~energy~ drifting into her body from places unknown. Marisa blinks as she feels all kinds of tingly. What was that?

INT UP
PSY UP

H-huh.

Well. Whatever.

Marisa whistles a cheery tune as she descends, deciding that there are probably more dangerous monsters somewhere else. And besides, she's missing shopping!

SHOPPIIIIIING.
Asellus     There are quite an assortment of places selling clothing. On the lower of the main streets there are people selling boots of various kinds, including... Jet boots. There's also someone buying leather goods. Apparently the kind of networks used around here are not quite comparable to wireless intent. If they have something linking up different planets, separated by Outerspace Equivalent Of Ambiguous Properties, then they might need something more sophisticated, more powerful, or that just operates on sufficiently different technology to cut through the obstacles to Inter-Region Communications.

    However, asking around provides a quick series of directions to specific people. First, a boar says, "I can't get enough of this high-class life style! Check out this fur." And then, "Huh? Oh, yeah, there's a guy down by the inn. You should ask him."

    And if/when Staren asks the guy down by the 'inn' (a shack with two 'rooms' separated from the 'fron desk' by ragged flaps of cloth, with an old lady in a red dress and flower-hat out front to tell people it's an inn), the man says, "There's an information center behind the chicken. Just go in." And there, indeed, is a chicken pecking at the ground and strutting around, with some alcove behind it.

    And inside that alcove is some kind of office-looking place, dark, and jumbled, but with a computer terminal inside that seems ready to provide him with the information he seeks! If he can just... Figure out how to work it. It looks like some mad haxor cobbled it together. The screen doesn't show images, just text, and the formatting is terrible. But maybe it will be helpful!!

    Meanwhile, as Marisa descends, there's shopping to do. Just as the lower street has shoes, the upper has hats (and helmets), and surplus military goods (armor and shirts), and also there's a manhole with a ladder leading under the street that apparently some people are going into like it's no big deal so maybe there's something down there too. There's also a dress shop, with some of its goods on display in the window, alongside a restaurant, and some other assorted stores of less identifiable purpose. It's got basically everything packed into a small area.

    Everything except a library.

    Also, if Sarracenia is looking for a jeweler, she's probably going to have to go into dark back alleys trying to find a fence for filthy lucre, or maybe that pawn shop back there, or something.
Staren     They have space travel, but a shack is all they can manage for an inn? Huh...

    Upon hearing 'behind the chicken' Staren assumes it must be a statue or something, but upon finding an actual chicken he wonders at the ephemeralness of such directions. What if the chicken doesn't stay there? Still, there's a computer terminal. And while it may not be much of an interface for your average computer user, someone who can program robots can probably figure it out.

    He starts out querying some of the unexplained details mentioned in the brochure, but once he sees what he's dealing with he ALSO tries to get the location of the nearest library or school. Still, simply by querying everything he can think of, scanning it with his eyes, and letting his support AI OCR it and save it for later, he can start building up a database of info for this world.
Josuke Higashikata Sarracenia indicates upwards as the monster explodes, and Josuke looks up. "Oh." Well, still! It could have been dangerous! But as it is, Marisa is descending from the sky now, and Josuke offers a smile and a thumbs-up. He resists the urge to ask if she's okay -- she seems the type that might take offense to an indication she might not be able to handle it herself.

For now, though, there's shopping to be done. See though... Josuke is not the typical teenage boy. He's not just going to follow Sarracenia along and look grumpy because he doesn't want to be there. Particularly not when they pass that shoe shop!

No, Josuke's attention is attracted to that shop once he realizes what's being sold there. Though he's not sure they'd have anything he'd normally wear; for being a punk, he wears pretty fancy shoes. Fancy socks too, but those are all but impossible to see thanks to his pants. "Oh, hey," he observes, steering his steps in the direction of the shoe store. "Wonder what they're selling..."
Sarracenia      No proud princess would be caught getting things from a fence, and especially not a *shudder* -pawn shop-! So, Sarracenia gives up on jewelry for now and tries one of the dress shops. It is the most frilly and froofroo dress shop available, sure to make anyone who is masculine feel a bit overwhelmed. Or at least, that is what she is aiming for. Not so much for the discomfort but because they usually have the best dresses. Staren goes off to do nerdy things, and Sarracenia is just as happy to let him. She has dresses to look at and possibly try on! "Excuse me, she says to the shopkeeper once she is inside. "What sort of materials are used in the making of these dresses? I of course can only accept the best in quality. I -am- Princess Sarracenia Sundew, crown princess of the Sundew Kingdom, after all." She seems rather proud of that title.

     She really hasn't paid much attention to whether Ryu or Josuke have followed her, but when she turns to ask Josuke to hold a dress she pulled off a rack, she blinks. Then huffs and puts it back before stomping her way back outside. She looks around and spots his big hair in the shoe shop, then stalks that way. "How are you going to hold my things if you aren't with me?!" she exclaims. Does she even know his name?
Marisa Kirisame Marisa is indeed okay! She is just fine. After all, if she /was/ hit, she probably would have exploded into a bunch of point items, and since there aren't any strange red talismans falling from the sky, that clearly hasn't happened yet.

Marisa does give Josuke an almost Fonzie-esque double finger gun and wink as she sails back down to meet with the others, but... Apparently, she's very easily distracted.

Because she's immediately starting to float down towards that manhole over in the corner.

What is with this girl's attention span...?
Asellus     Down the manhole is...! A sewer! Or part of one anyway. It has been closed off in places, both to keep the odor out and probably to keep monsters out. Because it seems highly likely the sewers are infested with monsters. Why wouldn't they be? There are also, however, a couple of robots selling swords and guns! ...Because of course there are.

    Staren's operation of the terminal starts outputting loads and loads of text. It pauses every once in awhile, giving the chance to read what has assembled on the screen.

    orpus navium viminubus cont

    The ruins of an ancient civilization has been discovered!? There are many ruins deep in the jungles of Shingrow. For years, many ancient artifacts of a pr

    ted at Shingrow. This time they've dug up something completely different. They found a mec core. Apparently many years ago, there was a civlization farmore advanced than Trinity.

    f a dark angel all black and with a bloody mouth. He carries a viper coiled about his right hand and he rides an infernal dragon. The correct expression of the diagram can be understood by a

    ck all possibilities in this method

    Leonard B. Edison (04992.73) A Machine specialist at the Manhattan Research Center. He originated many new robotic concepts such as the "Alpha Theory" and "Gaze=Belork Phenomenon".

    nother institution... 9620 Nakajima Robotic Inc. Main Office:Shrike Border Area Great Slope 211 Status:Factory was once shut down by a Trinity investigation, but today it has been reopened.

    o connections with other Regions but it is rumored that the lab in Shrike has obtained samples of Mystics

    Poverty and chaos on the rise in Koorong. Tremors have begun to shake the city, growing more violent, but there has been little interest in researching the seismic disturbances by researchers due to the dangers of Koorong and the low-status of its residents

    Yup. That sure is a thing.

    The dress shop that is the fanciest and most princess-like is also the only dress shop. While the streets may not be pristine, the shop is pretty high-quality (for Koorong) and the proprieter gushes about her wares and the fine materials used and about how nice it is to have such an esteemed customer, right until Sarracenia stomps out for some reason!? She is left aghast. Maybe the flattery was too effusive. Alas.

    Josuke's investigation turns up boots with hover jets, leather shoes, armored boots, and various other types of functional-and-protective foot wear. Most of it seems geared more towards protection than fashion, but even the fashionable stuff seems to serve the dual purpose of combat armor. This must be a pretty dangerous place!
Josuke Higashikata Flying shoes?! Well, sort of. They're probably dangerous if used improperly. Can you imagine slamming headfirst into a wall at top rocket speed? Ouch! Josuke's not too impressed by the fashion, but if he needs to go somewhere in this place (like the SEWERS, ew!) he'll know where to get new footwear so he won't mess up his own shoes!

Josuke winces at Saraccenia's shout, and hurries over to her side again. On the way, he notices Marisa heading for the sewers?! He winces a bit; yeah, she's not going to like it down there! But yes, angry princess -- go fix! Once he's back with Sarracenia, he bows deeply, in the way a Japanese man would do during an apology. "S-sorry!"
Staren     That terminal sure is a thing, alright. Still, it provides plenty of text to pore over and be frustrated at typos and formatting mistakes in later.

    Manhattan Research Center and Nakajima Robotics sound promising. But are they even on this planet?

    Staren sighs, disappointed at the mention of 'low status'. It's not an enlightened egalitarian society after all. Not that the Concord is the most egalitarian organization either, but you don't see Concord researchers refusing to study things because 'eww, that's where the plebs live'.

    If the machine won't tell him where these places are, or where a place of learning is on this planet, he may have to go back to asking people. Starting with the chicken -- he's not sure it can't talk, after all.
Marisa Kirisame There are robots in this sewer.

They are selling guns and swords.

...

...

Unfortunately, Marisa is the type of magician who fills almost all of her skill slots with magic. The upside is that she gets the Half JP bonus. The downside is that she really has no need for... Any of this.

"Hey," Marisa yells over at the robots because why the heck not. "Any of you guys know where a girl can find some weird and interesting magical, mystic types?"

Just because Marisa has no use for guns or swords doesn't mean she has no use for intelligence...!
Sarracenia      When Josuke bows in apology, Sarracenia smirks lightly and gives him a pat on the head. "All is forgiven. And do not worry, we can come shop for shoes after I have picked out a new dress." she says, then makes her way back to the dress shop with Josuke in tow once again. Sarra again engages the shop owner. "Hello again! So, you said your dresses are made from the finest materials? Would you be so kind as to take my measurements and select a proper dress? Usually I would not select a dress from a rack, but as it is the first time I have visited this shop I would like to sample the craftsmanship before I invest in any custom dresses."
Asellus     Staren tries talking to the chicken. The man who directed him to the information center before says, "Uh, the Manhattan Research Center is probably in Manhattan, and so's Shrike. You can get a ride two both Regions easily from Koorong. Just head over to the transit center and board a ship headed for either. You really aren't from around here, huh?"

    The downcast shopkeeper brightens when Sarracenia returns and cooperates to the best of her ability to make sure that the princess gets the best fit possible, and the best new dress, assuming it is within the princess's budget. But of course it must be, right? She's a princess after all!

    And Josuke gets to hang out and watch. Or talk to boars, robots, and slum dwellers, whichever seems more interesting. Looks like this a pretty crazy place that will take a lot longer to look through just to scratch the surface of all the shops and secrets of Koorong. But it's a starting point. And there's a whole lot more that these 'Regions' have to offer.

    One robot says, "I deal in awesome guns, miss. Mecs don't have much use for magic."

    The other robot says, "Sword user here. If you want info, have you tried the info center? It's behind the chicken."

    Wh-what kind of place is this where a chicken is a landmark.

    The robot that is basically some sort of high-tech drone or plane or something makes an admirable attempt at scratching its chin considering it has rigid wings without hands, and also no chin, and responds, "I guess you could always try the Magic Kingdom. I've never been there myself, since they don't really care about us Mecs, but it has 'Magic' in the name, so maybe it has something useful."

    "What he said, but hey, don't forget to check behind the chicken if that doesn't pan out."
Josuke Higashikata Josuke automatically checks his hair when Sarracenia pats his head. It's not enough to trigger him, thankfully. That would be a lot of damage! Finding it still in the configuration he keeps it in, he returns to looking around the dress shop. Too bad he doesn't really know how his mother's size would translate to sizes here. When else is he going to have the opportunity to find a dress for his mother that would make her look like a real princess?

But he'll wait for Sarracenia to get a dress, and assist her in carrying her bags, though, like he promised! And he won't wander off this time either!
Staren     "It might've been a talking chicken, I don't know!" Staren retorts. Then he calms down a bit. So, Manhattan's a Region (planet?) "Look. Like you say, I'm not from around here... this world just Unified. It's part of the Multiverse now, which I guess is like an infinity of other Regions kind of? So, I'm basically an alien from another universe. What's this place's _deal_? I'm pleased to see humans and talking boars and slimes all coexisting, but the information terminal said people look down on you. Is it because of that? Just..." He sighs. "I guess there's no reason for you to care. I can't promise we'll make things better until I know what's even going on here. The terminal information is... scattered, and everything's written from the mindset of someone who's FROM here, anyway. I don't know that common knowledge stuff, I don't know what I don't know, I need to talk to a _person_, can you help me out?"
Marisa Kirisame 'Magic Kingdom?' Marisa scrubs at her chin. "Huhhhhh. Well. I always say, if you don't know what's lurkin' behind the birds, you're probably going to be eaten by a grue or something. Something like that? Whatever!" Marisa waggles her hand over her face dismissively. "I'll go check it out! Thanks, awesome robot guys! I like your sewer shop. Real spacious. Though you know, not having noses, you probably wouldn't realize that the smell probably keeps customers away. Maybe you should... Move somewhere with better ventilation?"

"Just--" Marisa shrugs! "Just sayin', you know? Kind of smells down here. Well! I'm off to go hunt down a chicken and a Magic Kingdom. Thanks for the info! Ta~!"

And with that... Marisa zooms right back out of the hole. Time to go find out how to get to a Magic Kingdom! Maybe the chicken will know.
Sarracenia      Sarracenia's eyes sparkle at the dress with which she is presented. "Oh, it is lovely! I will take three!" she says, and Josuke immediately has an armful of three dresses of various bold colors, none of which are pink. In fact, she seems to be avoiding pink altogether. "Well, I think this has been a productive trip!" she says, then smiles to Josuke. "Thank you for your assistance, sweetie. Now, if you would be so kind as to carry these back to my ship I can return to the Sundew Kingdom and make my report." She thanks the shopkeeper and reminds her that if these dresses are satisfactory that she mind have more business in the future.

     Of course, the ship that carried her here is hardly in any shape to leave thanks to the storms. When she gets to the port and finds that her ship is not ready to leave, she looks to Josuke (assuming he actually followed her all the way with her dresses). "Well, I suppose you will just have to escort me home." And without waiting for an answer she makes her way toward the warp gate, assuming that Josuke will follow her all the way home.
Asellus     The robots seem unimpressed by this revelation. "Space comes at a premium here!" "Yeah, we save tons on rent, and most of our customers are groups of random people with mis-matched-but-distinctive-outfits and tons of credits to spare!" Ah, so they cater specifically to adventuring parties. The sort of people who would absolutely go into a sewer to buy rare weapons from robots. At least there is a method to their mechanical madness!

    "Still, I guess we could put up some air freshners or something." The drone-Mec concedes as Marisa vamooses.

    Staren gets a blank stare from the purple-haired dude as he taks about multiverses and 'helping' and so on. "Okay." he replies, apparently not understanding at all. "Let me explain something: We aren't squishies. We might not be all 'cultured' or whatever, but we have our own way of doing things and it works. If you want information, do your own legwork. And some info you can't get if you don't ask the right questions. If you want it easy, go to a different Region. You can go look at the list of ships heading to your destination, pick one, and catch a ride. Travel is fast and usually safe, especially sticking to known routes. I've heard the Magic Kingdom has tons of books, since they're all magicians there. If techy places like Shrike or Manhattan aren't your digs, then try there. Can't do much more for you right now, mister. When you know what you don't know, you can ask me again."

    Three wedding dresses! Sarracenia has made the shopkeeper very happy! Koorong is not a place known for its rich clientelle after all. On this much, she can afford to eat this week, and maybe even get OUT of Koorong and set up somewhere more prosperous!