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

[wildguardian]

[He nods easily, letting the subject go. 'Open' doesn't have to mean open to the kind of relationship Ginia might want, especially if her we're friends comes right before he has a boyfriend, after all.

Her look at him is thoughtful; he shrugs back at her, smiling.]

I'll keep that in mind! I admit, it's tough keeping up with my god sometimes.

[He's not helpless in a fight, but he doesn't exactly fly on the force of explosions from his palms, either.]

I've mostly been drilling my borderline.

[unlucky7]

[Friendship is by no means a downgrade of any kind, but when your ex's boyfriend is also your ex, she's happy they're happy but also sad she's not with them anymore. There's what she wants and there's what she deserves and she still hasn't shaken the thought they're happier and better off without her. Archer cares enough to cook her lunch everyday, that's the part she can hold onto.

Ginia puts a smile back on as the topic drops.]

Drilling borderlines are good. Anyone show you the finer points like attacking with them?

[wildguardian]

I did hear you can cut with them if you aim them at the enemy instead of between you and it.

[Zhao's not yet sure that his own borderlines are strong enough to be trusted that way; they tend to break under a determined attack, and he hasn't held one longer than a minute. With practice, though, he's improving.]

Seems like it'd be hard to aim, though.

[unlucky7]

You can cut anything if you put your mind to it.

[Ginia gives a lazy wave of her hand with her fingers in the halberd position. She may not have full accuracy when it comes to precise slicing, but so far she hasn't needed anything more than hitting to do enough.]

That's where practice comes in. I'm always around if you need someone to spar with or to give pointers.

[wildguardian]

I'm more worried about cutting what I don't want to. Those lines tend to be pretty wide. [It's not like a sword; it's more like taking a cheese cutter to the world, which is... challenging.

And dangerous.]

And I might take you up on that, Ginia. I've chatted with Chikusa about helping me out with some magic, too.

[unlucky7]

[Chikusa, huh? The teen is acerbic at best and lazy at the worst, but Ginia is fond of him.]

He's a good resource for magic. I can help with magic too. I've picked up a few spells too, though I do cast them differently than most people.

[wildguardian]

Oh yeah?

[She'll probably give him less of a hard time about it than Chikusa.]

I might ask you for help too, then. Though - how do you cast them differently?

[unlucky7]

[Glad you asked. Ginia gives a challenging smile his way.]

Ritsuki, Saki, Umbra!

[Ginia signs fast, each letter flowing into each other as she signs the invisibility spell, holding onto the need to disappear and be unseen, and the fact she's an experienced shinki catching him off-guard.

In a blink, Ginia vanishes from sight.]

[wildguardian]

What--

[Her hands fly, sketching the syllables so fast that Zhao can't follow them, and she vanishes completely. He sits up straight, eyes widening, and reaches out to check for her presence.]

[unlucky7]

[The fact Regal is resting her head against an invisible lap is a sign there's still something there physically. Ginia taps his hand before he can accidentally poke her face, her presence invisible but solid.]

[wildguardian]

Well hello there.

[He can feel her hand touching his, but he still can't see anything. Shaking his head, with the surprise on his face slowly fading to amusement, he sits back.]

Now, that spell I like.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia wiggles her fingers against his hand a little before dropping the spell. She instantly pops back into existence, grinning broadly.]

It's called Umbra. Surprisingly easy to learn. But as you saw, while most people say the spells, I sign all of mine. Works with song spells too.

[wildguardian]

[He grins back at her, and nods understanding.]

Makes sense. I thought you had to sing for a song spell, though -- how do you manage that?

[unlucky7]

[Unless he's begin dabbling in magic faster than she thought, the tune Ginia whistles is unfamiliar. She's very good at whistling, each note clear and crisp as they flow into each other in the tune of fire fighting.

When she finishes the tune, there's a small bit of applause from the far end of the room. Yes, of course everyone is listening in on everything they can. Ginia smiles sheepishly and waves over at them.]

That and signing work fairly well.

[wildguardian]

[It's an unfamiliar song, but her whistling is surprisingly clear and pretty, better than Zhao could manage by far. His eyebrows stay up, impressed, as she finishes the tune, and he joins in with her officemates' applause.]

I'm still a beginner -- what's that spell for?

[Still a beginner, and going to have to put plenty of extra work in, it seems. He has a lot to learn.]

[unlucky7]

That one is called song of fire fighting. There's also one for warding lightning but that's harder to practice.

[Pretty easy starting fires in a bowl or fireplace and practicing putting it out. Lightning? A little bit tricker. She remembers someone asking for help, but she plans on putting more time into that one before asking someone to throw lightning at her.]

The is also one that creates fire and another, presumably, that creates lightning.

[wildguardian]

You might not be able to get a thunderstorm to show up for your practice sessions, but if you just need a good shock--

-- You know those tabletop generators they use for physics classes? That make your hair stand up if you touch them? What's it called, van der, van de something.

[He doesn't know where he might have run into a tabletop generator like that, but, he reflects, if it was in school apparently he slept through the parts of physics class that didn't involve cool sparks. Oh, well.]

They'll generate a pretty solid spark if you need one to practice on.

[unlucky7]

[With a largely skewed education far removed from any school system, Ginia blinks at the reference to physics classes. But he gives enough to work with and she turns to her computer, pulling up a search for "van der lightning" and quickly finding results for Van de Graaff generator.

Huh! Yes, that would do it. A tabletop version would serve well. She smiles at Zhao and signs 'thank you.]

I wonder if I can get accounting to buy it for me? It counts as professional work development, right?

[wildguardian]

[He signs back a 'you're welcome,' grinning: he does like having good ideas.]

It's worth a shot! Especially if the temple can keep it around for all the shinki who're working on that spell to practice with.

[Completely useful in-house training equipment. He'll sign off on it if it crosses his desk.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia looks around at her fellow coworkers who are working very hard and certainly not listening in on the conversation at all.]

I feel like the shinki either know or have already passed. Could be good setting up something at the training session though.

[Finding a source of fire to try to extinguish via song is easy. Lighting, a bit tricker.]

You want to take the rest of the food? I should get Regal heading back in case she has more deliveries.

[wildguardian]

Ginia, Ginia, don't ruin my excuses here. They might get other new hires!

[C'mon. He nods, though, and reaches for one last rice ball.]

Thanks, I'll take you up on that -- and see you later?

[unlucky7]

[New hires would be nice. Ginia can't help but look pass Zhao at the empty desks surrounding them. After seeing Takami's dream, she's more angry than sad now.]

I take back my statement. For the sake of the new hires, let's get some equipment in here.

[It's not hard clearing the remaining food. Boxes picked clean, Ginia wraps them back up in a wrapping cloth and gives Regal the bundle to carry in her mouth. With a nudge of her head and a final wag of her tail, she trots off to the elevator.]

See you later, Zhao.

[wildguardian]

[Interesting face she's making there. Zhao hasn't yet heard the full story of the empty desks, but he's seen the way his coworkers look at them; and the way Ginia's looking at them isn't quite the same.

It's angrier.

He's going to have to see if he can ask the next time he's got her away from quite so many listening ears. For now, he waves a casual goodbye, and heads back to his own department.]