First Drive - [Video]

[dontquestionme]

[So in addition to wandering around trying to figure out what the hell is going on, Ryu eventually finds someplace to post]

My name is Terui Ryu.

What the hell is going on here?

[Yes, he's a lot more blunt that the other Kamen Riders you've had here.]

Comments

[Video Forevah]

[thisclinchesit]

The better question is what isn't going on he--

[thisclinchesit]

Terui?!

[dontquestionme]

...Hidari?!

What-

Okay.

My patience is getting pretty thin in this place...

Start explaining.

[thisclinchesit]

Well.

We're stuck in this tower. Whoever's running it has been pulling people from all over. Different realities, even.

I don't even know how long I've been here. Lost track. It's not the best place.

[Which may be obvious. Mr. Half-Boiled has a weary look to him - worn, frayed.]

What's the last thing that happened to you?

[dontquestionme]

It was just a normal day. Nothing unusual for once. I had just gone home after work, the Chief and I went to bed, and I... woke up here...

That can't all be gone now, it-

[He stops, staring at Shoutarou for a moment or three.]

Hidari...

How long have you been here...?

[thisclinchesit]

A...long time. Months, at least. Maybe a year by this point, I'm not sure.

[A beat.]

_{...went to bed...} You and Akiko finally, ah, tied the knot?

[dontquestionme]

...Hidari, what are you talking about, you were... there...

Months...

[And another beat.]

I just saw you and Phillip the other day!

[thisclinchesit]

[Shoutarou's eyes dart back and forth. He's thinking this over.]

Different time point, maybe...

Philip's here - he says he's from a point before you two ever met, from when Kirihiko was still alive, so you could be from our future. Last I remember, you and Akiko were just dating, but...

[He raises his head, and there's a serious, solemn look on it.] How could you have seen Philip? Before I came here, it had been...about a year since we took down Museum.

[The implication is there - how could you have seen a man who was dead, Terui?]

[dontquestionme]

...

[Shoutarou is receiving one of the longest blank stares ever.]

The future.

Hidari. You and Phillip just helped me take down a Dopant. A corrupt officer. He was using the Commander Memory.

You don't remember that? Any of it?

[Another pause, as he leans back, and stares up for a moment. He squints, and then looks back down.]

Okay. Let's say I believe I'm from the future. [He says that like HE doesn't even yet believe it.]

Phillip's been back for months.

[thisclinchesit]

The only corrupt officer we've took down that I recall is Aya. [He frowns a bit.] The woman with the Triceratops memory.

[He shakes his head at the inquiry about remembering.] The last thing I remember before coming here was going out on a run to get Mick more food.

[His eyes widen a bit when that bomb gets dropped, though.]

...what? How?

[dontquestionme]

No, that's... not right.

[Unless, of course, Shoutarou's right. Ryu knows he doesn't have any reason to LIE... So, he hangs his head a bit at the last question.]

Sonozaki Wakana, that's how. Her power.

Phillip was brought back about a year after he vanished.

[He recognizes that, at least, Shoutarou's reaction appears genuine. He grunts, irritably.]

Maybe I am from the future, then.

[thisclinchesit]

[For several moments, there's a look of confusion and disbelief. On one hand, it doesn't make sense. On the other hand, a lot of stuff involving the Sonozakis didn't make sense.]

Well... That's good to know for whenever we get out of here properly.

[dontquestionme]

Properly...

[He sighs, holding up a crumpled letter.]

What it says in this letter... That can't be right then, can it?

[thisclinchesit]

That, I'm not certain of.

While I spent a long time in what looked like a ruined Fuuto, for all I know, it could have been a trick, orchestrated by the people in charge.

[He swallows, and turns his head just enough to hide hie eyes under the brim of his hat.]

It's seeming more and more like a distinct possibility, though.

[dontquestionme]

...and yet I come from a time where nothing of the sort like that happened, at least up until I appeared here...

...

[He pauses, looking around as he thinks.]

If you went back to a place like that, who's to say it was your world? Our world? There are other worlds, aren't there?

I can't just sit here and accept that everything would just ... go away without even noticing it!

[thisclinchesit]

There are - evidenced more by the things I've seen here. Races I've never heard of. People who've never heard of Kamen Riders.

Like I said, Terui. I'm not certain about what happened. All I can say so far is something happened. It's something bad. And it needs to be fixed.

[dontquestionme]

Clearly, yes...

[Of course, what he WANTS to say is just openly express the reasons for his denial. That if everything they fought for, Akiko especially, was just GONE... There'd really be no point to it all anymore. The confusion of how to really process that thought probably shows through on his normally stoic expression, as at this point he's having a very hard time masking it.]

...then that's all we can do for now. Search. Figure out what happened.

See if it can be fixed.

[thisclinchesit]

No.

[He shakes his head, and puts on a mostly confident look.]

We do fix it. It's a bad situation, but turning it around is what we do. It might take a while, but we can't give up.

[dontquestionme]

[Ryu just sort of stares for a moment, before bowing his head poorly covering a half-hearted smile. It's exceedingly brief before he looks back up, nodding.]

Of course. You're absolutely right.

Good to see that, if anything, your resolve hasn't changed any. It's ... reassuring.

[Don't worry Shoutarou, he's not going to fluff your ego too much - but is doing so more than usual simply on account of the fact that it's one of the things keeping him from losing his damned mind at the moment.]

[thisclinchesit]

[Hey, if it keeps them both grounded, all the better. That partial confidence from before is bolstered a bit by Terui's reaction.]

It's definitely been put to the test here, though - so it's not gonna be easy.

[dontquestionme]

[Now we rejoin our regularly scheduled Ryu stoic-face.]

It never is easy, is it?

So that's not even important.

All that is important is what we need to do.

[thisclinchesit]

[Now we're back in business.]

And this time, it'll be done right. The next time I go back to Fuuto, I'm going back to the normal one.

[text]

[beknightedheroine]

man i should keep a counter of how many people ask that this week

as for what's going on right now it's actually pretty slow other than all the new faces

in recovery as you could say it

Re: [text]

[dontquestionme]

...I guess there's a lot of people in the same situation as me then, looking at things.

...

Recovery? From what?

[beknightedheroine]

from our recent trip to awfulstown (¬_¬)ﾉ

this is generally a pretty cruddy place but ~every now and then~ it gets especially terrible

the other week was pretty much the worst yet with this.. sick death game thing
other people know more about it than me, i was uh
little bit out of it

[dontquestionme]

...a death game.

...evidently, this is worse than I'd considered.

[beknightedheroine]

..welcome to the tower (´_｀)

[dontquestionme]

What sort of power do these people have? If they can keep ... someone like my friend here...

[beknightedheroine]

..they have the power of not being anywhere we've been able to reach them at yet

[dontquestionme]

Then how do they maintain this? What's to stop everyone from just rebelling?

[papshooshing]

HOW DUMB CAN SOME PEOPLE GET.

[dontquestionme]

Hn. If you don't have anything useful to add, I don't care to hear it.

[papshooshing]

AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU DON'T CARE.

[dontquestionme]

So why waste your time?

[papshooshing]

THERE'S NOTHING BETTER TO DO?

[...in all honesty, I can't argue with that logic and neither can he.]

[dontquestionme]

...so it would seem.

well it IS called trolling >_>;

[papshooshing]

NO, REALLY.
THERE'S LIKE FUCK ALL TO DO HERE.

[dontquestionme]

...really.

You've been here how long, exactly?

[papshooshing]

IS THE LENGTH OF MY PRESENT STAY REALLY SOMETHING THAT MATTERS WHEN IT COMES TO BOREDOM?

[dontquestionme]

I'm the one asking the question here.

It's just curiosity, though.

[papshooshing]

OH, HOW FEARSOME.
JUST TIE ME UP TO THE CHAIR AND FLASH A BLINDING LIGHT IN MY EYES
GO TO TOWN ON MY SORRY LITTLE NUBS AND GIVE ME WHAT IS CALLED "THE THIRD DEGREE."

[dontquestionme]

I sincerely doubt you're worth it.

[papshooshing]

THEN DON'T BE A LITTLE SHIT WHEN THE TABLES ARE TURNED.

[fracta_anima]

You'd know about as much as the rest of us.

[dontquestionme]

I am gathering that.

I'm sure it's a common question, as well.