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

[cloakedinruins]

A little. I doubt that the people who enforce some of the rules would come marching here to haul me to prison.

[ Considering that he was also the person who usually was tasked to do so, he doubted anyone would dare. Those that would, well, they didn't have the fire power to bring him in if they really tried. ]

Ah... [ He had mentioned pieces about Haixing, and about other things and it seemed not to have affected Zhao Yunlan. Shen Wei looked over at him and worried at his lower lip, wondering if he could say it and not have him lose his senses to a piece of the past. Maybe because he was talking about himself it would be okay? ]

...we once had a name for ourselves but it was lost over the years. We just use Dixingren like the rest of humanity these days.

[wildguardian]

Dixingren. [Zhao shows no signs of exploding into some kind of monster; instead, he just looks thoughtful, absorbing the information.]

Do you actually live underground?

[That sounds... uncomfortable. He's not an outdoorsy type himself, but to live without the sun, without the stars? That would be hard. Maybe it's different for Shen Wei's people. Then again, maybe it's not.]

[cloakedinruins]

[ A knot of fear slowly loosens itself, but he still was going to be careful. Just because one word wouldn't do it doesn't mean the rest wouldn't cause him harm. ]

For the most part. As far as I recall, our home world had a weaker sun and stronger gravitational pull, and the ancestors had felt more comfortable in the hollows underground.

[ And the radiation of their new home held the same kind that they had back home, giving them the strange powers that had them labeled as mutants among common people. Those in certain sectors of the government knew better, but then again, they had to work with the Dijun Regent in creating their treaties. ]

[wildguardian]

[Yunlan nods, fascinated, and breaks into a sudden grin.]

-- So is that why you're so pale, Prof?

[Because there's no way he can resist teasing just a little.]

[cloakedinruins]

[ He snorted, eyes narrowing a little at the tease. Of all the things to point out, Zhao Yunlan had to comment of his fair complexion. He almost expected the former officer to add other observations about his appearance soon. Like his suits or the fact he wore sleeve-garters. ]

I work inside and don't do a lot of traveling. Of course I'm pale.

[wildguardian]

I'm just teasing. [Aw, he got kind of defensive about that. The underground thing might be a sore subject, Yunlan notes to himself, and spreads his hands in sheepish apology.]

I guess you won't have to work inside quite so much here, will you?

Outside of library research.

[There's only so much they'll be able to get off the public shelves, he's sure.]

[cloakedinruins]

I know. It's just-- [ How do you explain that Dixingren do not really talk about being Dixingren? Does he just say it? ] -- we don't talk about it.

[ Even though he was perfectly aware that he wouldn't get into trouble. It wasn't that he didn't think anyone from Dixing was here, no, he was the enforcer of the rules himself. He couldn't just place himself under arrest and then jail himself. That would be just ridiculous. ]

Probably not. I need to clean out my temple area and try to get it look in somewhat repair.

[wildguardian]

Right, I bet not... but I don't think any of us count as human anymore, so you don't need to keep it a secret.

You might be an alien, but you're a god too, right?

[QED. Zhao shrugs easily.]

You're not stuck in one of those run-down places, are you?

[cloakedinruins]

I suppose... though I'm not sure if other humans I encounter here will be as accepting that fact as you are.

But for how long?

[ Because if this system collapses or the old gods decide to clean this mess up, what will happen to all of them? ]

It's in fair condition save for a few neglected areas like the gardens.

[wildguardian]

No, I mean I'm not much of a human anymore, either. I'm a shinki. [The corner of his mouth tilts up around his lollipop stick, and he casts Shen Wei a sidelong glance.] So, why throw stones?

Glad to hear your place isn't too beaten up, though. I've seen some of those empty temples, and they're not livable.

[cloakedinruins]

But will others feel the same way about themselves like you do?

[ A person could still consider themselves as human even though they were technically a dead soul. Not that Shen Wei would judge them any differently so long as they did not make it a problem. ]

I'm not. It's just a lifetime habit to not really say anything about it.

I suppose that it changes when someone appears to use them.

[wildguardian]

No, no, I didn't mean you were throwing shade, Prof, I meant there's no reason for any shinki to have a problem with someone else not being human. Though I guess you're right that we might not all feel that way.

[He shrugs, dismissing the question, and leans forward in interest.]

But, you know, I never thought about that. Do you think we take over an old temple that gets itself magically restored when we pop in, or do the new temples just pop out of nowhere? Because I haven't seen a lot of empty temples in good shape just sitting around to be moved into.

[cloakedinruins]

I'm not sure but it might be something to ask those that have been here longer. I'm pretty sure someone said that the temples disappear for some?

[ He goes scrambling for his brush before realizing that he had already sent everything but his notebook back. This he frowned down at due to his carelessness. ]

I don't recall writing it down though. Maybe I overheard it somewhere?

[wildguardian]

[Shen Wei goes looking for his brush, discovers it gone, and gives his notebook an adorable little scowl; Zhao, grinning, sits up and flips his pen towards the professor to use.]

Here.

-- I heard something about temples disappearing, too. With most of the stuff in them, so I'm gonna have to get myself a place to keep things I'd rather not lose, just in case.

[cloakedinruins]

[ He catches the pen and then gives it an equally disgusted frown before sighing and using it to make another note with everything else he had written down. ]

That would be a good idea, although it would have to be somewhere that isn't going to vanish. I don't know how it will work in the Near Shore since we are suppose to not be noticeable, but maybe one of the ruins around here?

[wildguardian]

Cameras spot us just fine. I haven't walked into a single automatic door since I got here.

-- So a nice cheap storage unit might be just what I'm looking for.

[He shrugs, grin tilting up at one edge, and adds:]

More weatherproof than a ruin, too.

[cloakedinruins]

That's true. So long as it's paid for, it would be fine.

[ And he knows that Yunlan has a part time job in one of the many temples around here. At least some things will be provided for, though he does worry a little. He hands the pen back to him and closes the notebook. ]

Though you shouldn't waste your food bill on storage space until you have a steady paycheck.

[wildguardian]

[Yunlan tosses the pen back onto his own notebook-and-scrap-paper pile, and leans back in his chair, grinning.]

Aw, are you worrying about me, Prof? Don't -- I earn decent money. There's plenty for the grocery bill.