Curiosity killed the... [open]

[wildguardian]

Who: Zhao Yunlan & OPEN
When: The second week of February
Where: Far Shore - the library, near Ebisu's temple, the Western District; Near Shore - the ruins of a burned-out department store
What: Exploring, unwisely.

Library

[Zhao Yunlan is becoming a regular sight at a corner table in the library; he's accumulating a stack of books, filling them with bookmarks, taking copious notes in a cheap black notebook, swearing at them and not putting them away again when he leaves.

Research! He hates it. He needs an assistant who will do it for him, but in the absence of that helpful whoever, he's stuck hitting the books himself. It's going to age him posthumously.

Hopefully, no one minds the fact that a largely useless pile of books keeps being renewed on the corner table, and filled with paper scrap bookmarks that have to be removed before they're put away.]

Ebisu's temple

[Since he's died young regardless, Zhao is seriously considering switching from lollipops to cigarettes. There's something enticing about the smell of burning tobacco, and, besides, importantly: smokers can take smoke breaks. As a non-smoker, he's having to find some other excuse to sneak outside and see the sun every once in a while during his workday.

His excuse today is picking flowers. He doesn't recognize the flowers sprouting from the grayish soil clinging to cracks in the temple's modern-looking concrete courtyard, but they're bright, colorful, and have a non-zero chance of brightening the day of the poor white-collar workers typing their fingers to the bone on either side of his temp desk. Fresh flowers, an important part of office feng shui: or something like that.

(He's considering bringing in a houseplant. Those also make great excuses to take a break.)

He nips off the stem of a bright red daisy-looking thing, considers it, and turns with a shameless grin. Whoops, there's somebody, has he been caught skiving off?]

Here! It goes with your eyes.

Western District

[It's late on the night of the 12th, and Zhao had been working his way back home to Bakugou's place after a long day doing accounting and a few drinks out afterwards, except, annoyingly, his stomach is killing him. All right, so he'd skipped breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and: all right, the last time he ate something was yesterday when Bakugou'd made breakfast. But it's not like he ever gets more or less hungry no matter what he eats! He'd thought it was no big deal.

Apparently even dead men can get heartburn from strong liquor on an empty stomach, he reflects, and slumps down onto a comfortable rock at the edge of the road, indulging his solitude with a wince as he bends over and puts his head on his knees.

This is really embarrassing. He'll just give it a few minutes, and once he feels a bit better, he'll just drag himself back home to bed....]

Department Store

[Mysteries abound. These mysteries, though, don't look like they're going to be solved anytime soon. Zhao ducks under plastic disaster cleanup sheeting and looks around the dripping, ice-cold, smoke-blackened floor of the unlucky department store, and shakes his head. Any clues that might've once been here are long since gone. If the fire hadn't gotten them, the months of abandonment and subsequent investigation would've.

Maybe he can sneak in and pull the investigation files somehow. Shinki do tend to go unnoticed, so he's willing to bet he can shadow a cop into any police office he wants. Getting keys to get into their files might be a little trickier, of course....

Sighing, he turns to go, just in time to spot a pale, whitish, sheet-like thing that's not plastic lashing out towards his ankle across the debris-strewn concrete floor.

With a shout, he jumps back, landing in a puddle. Filthy water splashes everywhere, and the sheet rears up like it's been possessed by a cobra, striking out at him again. The edge of it brushes his hand as he scrambles out of the way, raising an instant, aching, purplish welt.

Well, fuck. He's just found his first ayakashi all on his own, he realizes, turns, and bolts for the stairs with a possessed sheet in hot pursuit.

This is making a lot of noise.

Hopefully someone's passing by.

Help?]

Comments

[galrarm]

[ Ah. He laughs lightly, twirling the flower between his fingers. ]

I'm getting in my usual weekly walk. It gives me a little time to think about things.

[wildguardian]

Oh yeah? Good thing it's warming up, then. A few weeks ago the only thing I'd have been able to think about on a long walk is how much I couldn't feel my ears.

[From that expression, Shirogane doesn't want to talk about what his long walk is giving him time to think about; Zhao's pretty sure he remembers, if vaguely, a blank place that should have had a lot of other people in it.

Maybe it's better not to bring that up, too. Dreams are personal.]

[galrarm]

[ He smiles a little wryly. ]

The cold doesn't bother me too much. But it's definitely more comfortable now than a few weeks ago.

[ He considers the flowers. ]

I had no idea you were into flower arranging.

[wildguardian]

Who, me? Zero skill. But those of us who don't smoke have to get our outdoor breaks somehow.

[He waves the bouquet casually, shedding a few petals.]

So, it's good for office morale to have fresh flowers on the desks, right?

[galrarm]

Usually.

[ He smiles slightly, crossing his arms. ]

Planning on sprucing up the workplace?

[wildguardian]

Exactly. I figure I'll bring in some houseplants later -- those actually last, whereas these, not so much.

Of course, if I stick with flower arranging, I'll get to keep taking my breaks outside. If I go for houseplants, I might have to take up smoking.

[galrarm]

[ He makes a thoughtful sound, considering. ]

Why not take in a few houseplants, while still taking care of these?

[wildguardian]

That's a thought! There's enough space in there for flowers and houseplants.

[Shirogane is taking him seriously. That's adorable. Zhao makes his best very serious face.]

Thanks, you're saving my lungs.

[galrarm]

[ He lets out a laugh, lifting his shoulders in a little shrug. ]

I just do what I can.

[wildguardian]

[Laughing in return, Zhao shakes his head.] Nah, I don't have the money for cigarettes anyway. Not if I want to keep my temple in groceries -- we'll see how that goes once my god gets to be a bigger name.

You're a god yourself, right?

[galrarm]

Hah, well, I wish them luck.

[ He nods. ]

Yeah. Serapis.

[wildguardian]

Thanks, I'm sure he appreciates it. In absentia.

[Serapis; Zhao files that information away. He's been trying to get as many god names as he can, since that's how all of the phones and the BBS list people.]

He's Mars.... I don't think I've heard of 'Serapis' before.

[galrarm]

Egyptian god of the afterlife. [ And there's a pause, in which Shiro clears his throat. ] And fertility.

[wildguardian]

[Zhao has seen some fertility temples. All right, not Egyptian ones, so he's not sure what that might entail, but he's barking a laugh anyway.]

So, now you have to tell me, your temple doesn't feature [he waves a hand] -- giant dick statues over the mantel or something, does it?

[Sorry for your lot, Shiro, in the way where he definitely hopes it does because it's funny.]

[galrarm]

[ That pulls a laugh from Shiro, and he shakes his head. ]

Thankfully, no. I wouldn't be able to hang out in the lounge if it did.

[wildguardian]

Aww, I'm a little disappointed. I've been reading up on mythology -- with all these gods around I've got a lot to catch up on -- and fertility temples can get wild.

[Still chuckling, he shifts his little handful of flowers to his off hand, and reaches down to pick something like a big yellow poppy to add to it.]

Granted it could be embarrassing to entertain if that's what your lounge looked like.

[galrarm]

It's not a bad idea to do that. Honestly, I've been thinking about doing the same.

[ He laughs again. ]

I'd never live it down. Or be able to look anyone in the eye.

[wildguardian]

The library's got a decent selection. Terrible organization, though.

[His grin is swift and easy.]

Don't ask the tall kid with the beanie to help you out, he drives a hard bargain, but anybody else'll give you a hand.