thenearshore | [open] take it from me

Entry tags:

[open] take it from me

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.

Threaded | Flat

It's taken a lot of careful thought, planning, testing.... and a frankly exorbitant amount of tuna. Still, all of it is worth it. It's been long enough, he thinks, that he's faded into the background of existence once more, or at least he's been forgotten enough that Add hasn't tried anything again. (Of course, he might also have just lost track of where they live. Chikusa isn't entirely sure which.) All that matters, now, is putting everything into motion.

First step:

There is a cat.

Add is free to notice it at his leisure, although the cat in question has made sure to prop herself nearby to where he's working on his usual community service. She sits quite properly, split tail almost able to mistaken as one with how they're wrapped around her feet while she daintily cleans herself.

Cats usually look like they're casually pretending not to want attention while also putting it in neon that they super want it. In this case, that's especially true.

[Zelda is also here today, carrying a notebook of her own as well as a few vaguely sorcery-related tomes as she looks for a place to sit and go over the things she's collected. The library's generally messy atmosphere inevitably leads her to where Chikusa's cleared out a space for himself, and, hazarding an educated guess, she asks:]

Are you researching the kind of magic they used in the forest as well?

[Their morals might be extremely different but it seems their drive for information has led them down similar paths.]

[ Sorey's a pretty constant presence in the library. In fact, it's rare not to see him either there or the other rather large library. Reading about history and the like is more or less a passion for him, but he's always interested in reading other genres, too.

It's why he doesn't fail to notice Chikusa there through the month. However, it's not difficult to notice that he's been there to help. When he seems to be searching for something, Sorey offers a small smile in his direction. ]

Can I help you with something?

[ Gojyo is new to this whole library thing. Arguably, being a shinki, he's new to everything, but while drinking and fighting and getting his stupid ass into trouble seemed to come more or less naturally, reading thick books for hours on end clearly wasn't something the living Sha Gojyo did much of. It takes real effort to keep his ass in the chair and his eyes on the page sometimes. Sometimes that effort takes the form of pacing. Sometimes it's swearing at the book's author. Frequently, let's not lie, it's both.

But sometimes he falls into the zone where the words make sense and stick in his brain even after he's turned the page. Sometimes he can sit still for an hour, even, ignoring the demands of his body to move as he absorbs page after page of the book in front of him. And sometimes, just as he can feel the threads of the thing pulling together, some asshole with a squeaky trolley breaks his concentration. ]

Oi, fuck off! [ But his snarl trails away at the end -- he really wasn't expecting the librarian to be Chikusa, of all people. Blinking in confusino, one hand steals up over the page of the book he was reading, hiding it from sight. ]

You work here?

[ Judar was actually here, returning some of the books- Some later than he needed to (given he mastered Silence a while ago)- and ready to skim through the awful organizational mess that this hellhole was. Once again he was ready to look and see if that weird person was still holed up behind that door.

Instead he sees someone- an asshole- crouched over, stuffing something through the crack underneath, wearing a stupid beanie. Because this one is clearly would've suffered immense back pain in their future, had they not died, it was obviously Beansprout, and not Loudmouth (Yata.)

However, this is a place with a lot of things he needs, and he'd rather not risk damaging something he'd actually want just to vent out some frustrations, as tempting as that truly is. So he'll hold back and go with the common ground and behave for the time being.

Being bitter at some mysterious person. ]

Even if you put something on that paper, he's not going to react to it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he uses all of it as scraps, no matter what's on it.

Chikusa is honestly pretty easy to find at the school, considering that he's put himself into the makeshift library right there on the first floor.... face down against a table, the pompom of his black and white striped beanie giving away his position. Listen... Sometimes you just have to do that. Lay face down. The exhaustion life chose him.

Set up before him is his own laptop. If this girl is like she says, then she probably has her own and far better equipment... but hey. It doesn't hurt to bring something else, just in case. Either way, he's there, waiting.

[Archer has been in the library a few times, but this time he's not looking for books. Once he spots Chikusa he approaches him without hurry. As much as he wouldn't mind taking some time to browse the huge collection he's on a mission.]

Any luck?

[Ginia has a stack of books in her arms as she passes by the mysterious door in the back. She stops to watch Chikusa slide paper under the door, shifting the books so she can take out her phone. She types up a message and plays it.]

Get a reply back yet?

Threaded | Flat

[closed to Add] some vague ass time after the training log

library;

library;

...to the library!