Open-ish ♔ Un, deux, trois

[priforprince]

Who: Hibiki & YOU! (prompts for Maria, Elfnein, Kuroyukihime, Lavi, & Chinatsu)
When: August 29 - September 1
Where: Far Shore Library, Apollo's temple, the Near Shore
What: Missions, prayers, and the sun's short fuse getting even shorter.

[ I. Library - Open, followers/exp for Maria, Elfnein, Kuroyukihime, & Lavi ]



[ Didn't this place used to have more staff?

Ah, well. Hibiki is sequestered at a table, attempting to read the largest, most ornate book on Pr--ugh, Greek mythology she could find. Other books are open on the table to various pages, most of which show things like people staring up at the sun in awe, satyrs gamboling merrily, and a woman being turned into a tree.

Hibiki may not be Narcissus, but she sure is reading up on herself. And a stack of the books are, inch by inch, moving as if of their accord towards the edge of the the table....

If they tip over, and they will soon, there's going to be a tremendous crash.

Alternatively, you could check out the other side of the table. There, Hibiki has her laptop open to pricing...the Japanese stock market, it seems...and has a bunch of thick books of business history. One of them has a purple bookmark with a gold tassel in it, which opens to a chapter about Sendai. ]

[ II. Apollo's temple - Open ]



[ There is a barricade in the hallway.

You walk into Apollo's temple, head down the path that takes you to living quarters and not to the amusement park (though you're welcome to use that, too - the noise of the rides being open might attract an audience), and you will find your path blocked by a whole bunch of tables, ottomans, chairs, and loveseats turned on their side and stacked up atop each other.

On the other side of the barricade, someone is coughing. They do not sound happy.

And the air is full of jangly wind chime noises. ]

[ III. The Near Shore - Open ]



No. This car. Credit, check, or cash is no object.

[ Hibiki is arguing with a station assistant in the subway, pointing at a train that's now boarding. ]

I'm willing to sell it back afterwards, so direct me to the authorities! Doesn't this organization pride itself upon service?!

[ She's missed a piece of paper that's fallen out of her pocket. She won't notice if you pick it up to read it.

It says:

"Dear box office god-sama,

Thank you for the lozenges before my audition. They were my favorite flavor!

Thanks to those, my throat relaxed, and I managed to pass!!! Now I have one last round, but it's in the big city, and I'm scared of being alone on the train. Please, please watch over me." ]

[ IV. The Near Shore - Closed to Chinatsu ]



Are you ready?

[ Hibiki has been waiting, in a tuxedo, for Chinatsu to open the door after being given a prom dress to wear for this outing. Whatever kind of dress Chinatsu has always dreamed of wearing, even if she doesn't realize it, even if she's forgotten - that's what was in the box Hibiki brought for her.

Genius comes in many forms. Mostly useless, aesthetic ones. ]

Comments

I

[lostinshadows]

...What are you doing, Hibiki?

[Lavi reaches forward, preventing the stack of books from actually falling over. Stop making his job more difficult, damn it.

At the same time, he steps around, peering down at whatever it is she's reading.]

[priforprince]

[ Something drips on Lavi's foot. There is not, mind you, any source of liquid in the visible area. But there are the drops, all the same.

Hibiki, for her part, hardly looks up from her book. ] Planning a stage.

[ With a book of mythology.

There's probably time to be halfway around the world, even as a shinki, before anything comes of this.

Probably. ]

[lostinshadows]

[Hibiki, he thought you were done with the ghosts.

His foot jerks instinctively.]

With a book of mythology?

[That's...new.

Lavi blinks.]

You're looking up Apollo?

[priforprince]

He had certain festival days.

[ She turns a page. ] Failing to celebrate them would disappoint the original audience.

[ There is also a wax tablet on this table. With a carved picture of a bunch of young women in ancient garb making a distinctly non-ancient peace symbol with their fingers.

Hibiki was sent a selfie. ]

II.

[impetuouswind]

[It's the sound of the wind chimes, actually, that attracts Temeraire first. It's musical, relaxing, and very pleasant, because even though he does not mind the heat much, when he is trying to go for a walk or fly rather than basking in the sun, he seems to get tired more easily, and it's very annoying. He had had to land after only soaring for a little while, and he'd been walking back to Alex's temple when the sound of the chimes caught his ear.

Unfortunately, he can't fit inside the building, so he's nudging the front door open very carefully with one claw and leaning his head all the way down so that one wide blue eye can peer through the crack.

Is that furniture?

Surely furniture shouldn't be all jumbled up on its side like that? And he's sure he hears someone coughing now, too....]

Excuse me!

[His Japanese is perfect, although his voice is a basso rumble that could wake up the back row in a stadium of 50,000 seats.]

Excuse me, are you all right in there?

[priforprince]

QUIET DOWN!!

[ Whoever is behind the barricade is conscious, at least.

And really sick of all this noise in the air even without giant booming voices reverberating through her temple. ]

[impetuouswind]

Oh!

[After that startled exclamation, Temeraire flattens his ruff down, half-embarrassed, and lowers his voice to the quietest that he can manage. It's a good approximation of human conversational volume.]

Is this better?

[priforprince]

[ A snort, barely audible over the wind chimes. ] Start like that from the beginning.

Who's there?

[ This is a human with its priorities well-sorted. ]

I, here for the harassment

[kokuyoyo]

...You're going to put those back.

[Oh, look. It's the library's resident lanky ghost, looking exhausted and deadeyeing that highly questionable book stack.]

[He's spent so long helping to get this place into even halfway functioning order...]

same tbh

[priforprince]

Someone will.

[ She's not particularly concerned about that step of this process. Or about looking up from her book to address you, since it's just, you know.

You.

The pile of books scoots ever more precariously towards the edge of the table. It begins to wobble. ]

[kokuyoyo]

[Slowly, Chikusa narrows his eyes at the wobbling stack of books.]

You will. Especially if they drop to the floor...

[He does enough work, he is not doing more.]

[priforprince]

Why would they -

[ AHAHAHAHAHAHA

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Teacup ghost gives a mighty shove

and the books fall to the floor

right!! on!!! schedule!!!

the true genius here is not the one seated at the table ]

III

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata is passing through the station on the way to one of his shrines when he overhears the commotion. Even though he's only encountered Hibiki briefly on the BBS, he's somehow rather unsurprised to see that she's at the middle of it. She seemed like a bit of a headache. Truth be told, he's about to be on his way and let her deal with her own problems when the flutter of a piece of paper catches his eye. He steps in nearer, scooping it up and skimming the text briefly...]

[Hm. Maybe she isn't being as self-centered as it seemed like.]

[He tosses his cigarette aside while the station staff is still overlooking him, then steps up beside Hibiki from behind, taking full advantage of his height, staring the station assistant down with an oddly cold sort of intensity. There's something about his voice -- deep and calm and powerful -- that conveys an effortless sort of command.]

Is there a problem here?

[priforprince]

[ Ah, someone who sounds in charge. Hibiki turns to them without a second thought, stepping slightly in front of the assistant as she does so. All eyes here, please. ] Are you the stationmaster? I need to purchase a train car.

[ She produces her wallet, and, for good measure, her checkbook. And a dip pen. Don't ask how she can use a dip pen without the inkwell. She's a genius. ] Immediately.

[ The assistant fumbles for where to begin and decides on "S-sir, unfortunately, the cars are....not for sale..." ]

[koukai_kirai]

[Well, that's... that certainly explains the station attendant's baffled reaction. And very little else. Hijikata's brow furrows, and for a moment, even he's at a bit of a loss for what to say.]

[He recovers, though, with his impeccable aura of in-charge-ness back in place by the time he does open his mouth.]

And what do you need the whole damned car for, exactly?

[priforprince]

That is immaterial.

[ Hibiki flips open her checkbook. She doesn't seem to see anything wrong with this situation, aside from it taking this long to connect her to the right person. ] Name your price, please.

I, sorry this took so long orz

[declamando]

[Maria doesn't exactly frequent the library, but now that books can be taken out for more than a day without being stolen back, she finds it enjoyable to pick out random volumes from the shelves and take them back to her temple to read. It means she ends up finding both some very interesting and strange things, though today she just has one or two books in her arm so far. One appears to be pulpy science fiction of some description, while the other is a period romance.

Initially, she's not planning to bother Hibiki's study session, but she catches the movement of the books in the corner of her eye. Considering how close they are to falling, she hurries over to straighten the pile with her free hand.]

You might want to split your stack up. It's going to fall over if you leave it like that.

np~

[priforprince]

[ Something clicks an invisible tongue against nonexistent teeth. Hibiki looks up, as if noticing the books for the first time. Huh. How did they... ]

Rearrange them as you like.

[ Why would they fall? Actually, why are they so close to the edge? ]

[declamando]

[With a slight nod, Maria sets her own books down on another part of the table and starts looking through the pile to see if she can divide them by subject. They all seem to be about the same main thing, though, and after about a half-dozen, Maria is sensing a pattern.]

That's quite a bit of research on Apollo. Though I suppose a god like him would have a lot of material to work through.

[The question is more why she's doing it, but Maria will wait to see if Hibiki presents that information herself before asking.]

[redmare]

Hibiki-san, are you sure we shouldn't be in regular clothes..? That are easy to move in?

[Although the way Chinatsu had styled her hair showed she had no problems with dressing up at all. She definitelt didn't hide her excitement when Hibiki handed her the dress too. She peeked out from behind the door, looking over Hibiki's outfit.]

..I guess I should've expected you in a tux, huh?

[priforprince]

We're attending a formal, are we not?

[ Hibiki is completely sure she is doing this right. Where most kids learned to hold doors open for people and to take their shoes off in the foyer, Hibiki's upbringing inspired.....other things. ] This level of attire is required.

[redmare]

I guess...

[She finally steps out.]

Thanks for the dress. I'll try not to mess it up.

I

[alchemists]

[ This is the first time Elfnein has seen Hibiki so interested in books and research. Though that pile of books about to fall is a different matter, books need to be put away if you're not using them. ]

Do you need help with putting those away?

[priforprince]

Hm?

[ Oh, those? How did they get over there...

Well, that's not her concern, at present. Hibiki looks back down at her current choice of reading material. ] If you'd like.

[ The stack is scooting towards the edge more quickly now. ]

[alchemists]

[ Just as Elfnein is about to grab a book off the pile there's a gust of wind and down everything goes. ]

[ There's a small hand sticking out of the fallen tower, poor Elfnein is under all those books. ]

Can someone help me up?