[open] take it from me

[kokuyoyo]

Who: Chikusa Kakimoto and you
What: Staying at the Li Tieugai temple is becoming too annoying lately. Fortunately, Chikusa has plenty of things to investigate, from the library to the blighted spot.
When: Throughout the latter half of November
Where: Heaven's Library, the blighted area, other places
Warnings: Heavy violence in the Add thread, death (temporary)



A - Heaven's Library (constant)

The price of information, to Chikusa's great misfortune, always seems to be effort.

It explains why anyone visiting the Library throughout the month will seem to always eventually run into Chikusa if they're browsing around between the shelves long enough. On one hand, it's not particularly unusual. For months, now, Chikusa has been a constant presence within the library ever since the goblins which maintained it passed away due to that strange time warping event. Most of the time, however, he's been distant to anyone else that's been there with him, and not always looking for anything in particular. In fact, he seems to always be working in his unofficial capacity as one of the library workers there trying to keep it some idea of organized. (Which isn't always particularly successful...) Anyone who's seen him before in the library has likely seen him at work, staunchly ignoring all other shinki or gods, for the most part.

For the next few weeks, however, he's clearly searching for something. Instead of dully pushing around a cart full of books (or slumping against them in what is apparently extreme exhaustion from such an arduous task), he can be found carefully thumbing through the various titles before he organizes them. He can be found leaning against one bookcase with his eyes roaming the spines of book, taking in every title or lack of wording. Sometimes, he even reaches upwards, searching out what appears to be bits of loose paper or scraps that have somehow slipped on top of or inbetween books. Rarely does there seem to be anything worthwhile on the stray papers, judging by his quiet sighing, but occasionally he pauses to stare intently down on what seem to be random scribbles. Perhaps someone will even get to see him doing so.

....Alternatively, they may see him find what's apparently a blank piece of paper, take a pen out of his usual bag, and scribble something on it that's almost definitely rude before putting part of it underneath the strange door in the back of the library.

Fuck you, mysterious presence.

Other times, he's actually sitting down, a small stack of books around him. One is always open, his hand laid out against it to keep it that way, and he occupies his other hand with writing down what are apparently notes in a simple notebook. While Chikusa can be a little hard to read even on good days, he doesn't particularly seem pleased with what he's finding... or, perhaps, not finding.

While he's otherwise busy, he won't stop anyone from approaching him, and will even pause in the middle of what he's doing to level that dead eyed stare of his onto whoever has come near enough, whether they mean to interrupt him or not.

B - The Near Shore, the Blighted Zone

If the library won't give him the answers that he wants, then that means he really has no other choice but to go investigate himself... Well, by peering in on what exactly Heaven is doing in its own investigations on the area that became so badly blighted during the night of the God Meeting. After all, looking into the forest is clearly going to be a little harder.

For anyone else just passing through or perhaps even trying to look into things themselves, Chikusa's lanky figure is an easy one to spot, and not only because he tends to tower over other people even in a dead slouch. Rather, it's probably the shark finned beanie that he's wearing... It's not particularly subtle, but sometimes Chikusa rarely bothers to be. What has more of his attention is apparently ghosting throughout the neighborhood, pausing to take in a particular spot he can recall, or leaning against a wall to overhear what look like some of Heaven's shinki. With the amount of time he's spent in the Far Shore and his own skills of observation, he's learned to pick up familiar faces, after all.

C - The Near Shore, Asakusa

It's late at night. Why anyone would be out at such a time is a mystery that can only be answered by the individual themselves, but then, that's Asakusa for you. There are a lot of festivals held throughout the year in this place, and the amount of temples and other such things means that it's an enjoyable place for travelers of all sorts. Yet the recent ghost stories have apparently been creeping people out. In the dark streets, where various buildings and apartments have gone dark... The sound of footsteps echoing... going faster... and faster....

And bursting out of the doorway of a nearby building in the form of a frantic pair of shoes moving all by themselves, hastily dodging a borderline suddenly shooting out from inside the building. That sure is Chikusa, eyes sharp and his fingers still borderline ready.

Hopefully no one is in the way. That would be just horrible.

Comments

[kokuyoyo]

...Not.... quite.

[He really doesn't want to reveal something like this... but Judar is obviously in the library for one reason, with the magical prowess he's already displayed.... Chikusa sigh.]

...There are spells shinki can perform that affect things besides other shinki... and which don't require names.

[kuroi_taiyo]

[ Well, he's there for two reasons, but the one Chikusa realized isn't wrong. The other was considered history homework in some ways. He's got his own little pet projects aside from all the magic.

See, those kinds of spells sound useful. You've got his attention now, on a more inquisitive level than before. ]

Yeah, and what kind of spells are those?

[ He might already have an equivalent formula. ]

[kokuyoyo]

...Song spells.

[He meets Judar's eyes squarely as he says those two words. A part of him sort of wonders if he'll be called a liar or something. He knows what it sounds like, after all.]

[kuroi_taiyo]

[ Does it sound any more incredulous as having so many voices screaming magic formulas at you that have all those different effects? Which is why he's parsing out how song spells were supposed to work...

Actually, when realizing how much of the 'magic' here relied on words and things, it didn't seem to be too far of a reach. It made more sense than a flying carpet, that's for sure. Which just leads to a different kind of response, with amusement in that expression. ]

So you can sing too, huh?

[ Is it a straight up assumption? Yes. He's assuming that Chikusa wouldn't be positive of any research like that unless he could do it himself. ]

[kokuyoyo]

[....Yeah, this guy is really annoying. Out of all the things to ask... Chikusa stays silent, clearly annoyed even if it's difficult to tell with how his dead eyed expression doesn't change much at all.]

...Apparently.

[He's only practiced it in karaoke bars, far away from anyone he knows. Well, besides Kairi.]

[kuroi_taiyo]

[ Well, he doesn't think you're lying. What else would he comment on? ]

You seem so low energy on everything, you didn't strike me as the type that would put that much effort into casting something.

[kokuyoyo]

I put effort... into things that matter.

[And skills he wants to master. Poisons, cooking- and spell casting. It's all the same thing in the end.]

There are even more complex spells than that... but apparently some of them can take decades to learn..

[kuroi_taiyo]

[ Ah, so he actually has a criteria. There's a surprise every day. ]

Yeah. The hag and her shinki kept telling me that learning the wards and security used for the meeting hall would take years and stuff. Maybe for someone low class and without any skill...

[ Why yes. He did call Amaterasu a hag. ]

[kokuyoyo]

[Hag...? Whatever, Chikusa doesn't care.]

So you think... you'll be able to do that kind of magic immediately...?

[kuroi_taiyo]

Not immediately, but it's not gonna take decades or a bunch of years. Thing is, I might already have a similar enough spell that I can figure out even faster.

[ He's got books upon books that he filled out to go through in order to find out. ]

[kokuyoyo]

A similar enough spell to what, exactly...?

[After all, hey, if Judar wants to babble out more about his abilities...]

[kuroi_taiyo]

Plenty of things.

[ Is it really babbling though? He thought he's mentioned how much he has ready. Yet being put on the spot seems to get him to clam up.

Probably because he still doesn't know what 80% of the magic formulas he wrote down actually do. ]

You've already experienced enough examples as it is, haven't you?

[kokuyoyo]

What... fire and dumping water on my head...?

[To be fair, the fire was apparently weird magic fire, but, whatever.]

[kuroi_taiyo]

Ah- You're ignoring the ice and flying that easily?

[ What about his awesome shield? They were all pretty cool. ]

[kokuyoyo]

....I mean.... Flying was how I was able to learn your vessel name...

[So. It kind of backfired there.]

[kuroi_taiyo]

That wasn't flying. You knocked me back with a borderline.

[ He didn't learn how to fly until later. You shattered his shields while they were all weak and new. ]

[kokuyoyo]

Well, you went flying either way, right...?

[ h e h ]

[kuroi_taiyo]

Don't be so full of yourself for being an asshole to a new arrival. If you tried it now I wouldn't even budge.

[ But if 'asshole' were a spell, you'd be the master of it. ]

[kokuyoyo]

I'm not.... It's just funny.

[What do you mean his sense of humor is messed up-]

[kuroi_taiyo]

About as funny as you with a soggy mop on your head.

[ No, wait. That's also pretty funny.

They're both messed up. ]

[kokuyoyo]

[So, fuck you, basically. Chikusa huffs a little, because his hat are the only precious thing on this motherfucker of an earth.]

....So, in other words... You're just as much of an asshole.

[kuroi_taiyo]

[ At least he was nice to your dog? ]

... Yeah. Pretty much. The only difference is that I didn't know I could do that back then.

[kokuyoyo]

[He doesn't (yet) know about any interactions between his dog and Judar, okay?]

So.... upset because you don't have the crown of king asshole then...?

[kuroi_taiyo]

[ This is probably for the best, all things considered. ]

Nah. You can keep that all to yourself. I'll just stick with being the Heaven's bad decision. A bit of the Near Shore's too.

[kokuyoyo]

And how are you going to do that, exactly...?

[Besides, you know, just existing]