[She’d rather simply erase the source of these hauntings from existence entirely, but Carol is playing along with the request for now. Whatever power she can manage to wrangle from a spirit that transcends death is worth pursuing, especially in this city where she has to improvise so much, with so many of her own powers locked to her. If she can harness the life forces of this strange universe, then perhaps these mysteries themselves will unravel, and she will understand everything and be able to control it.
And she’d prefer to work alone, too, but that isn’t how things happened: When Carol had taken the job, she’d found herself in the shop not alone, accompanied by another hapless prisoner of the youkai city. Not wasting any time on greetings or niceties, she’d looked Sera over for the briefest moment in silent appraisal, then, with a brusque “hm,” turned her attention to the job. The kinds of busy-work they find themselves agreeing to in this place are pitiful…but at least she’s diligent.]
You’d think, being no longer alive, they’d feel less entitled. [Maybe Carol should be impressed with that tenacity, but she can’t help but show a little disdain for something that refuses to die. She’s only done the same thing for centuries, after all.]
The dead are probably just as hard to convince of anything as the living. I don’t want to waste time with negotiations, so let’s just finish this as quickly as possible. I’m not going to be stuck here all night.
[Carol should perhaps be a little more careful about not invoking dramatic irony, but she has no way of knowing that she might really be stuck with this company for the rest of the night, so she thinks nothing else of it after she speaks, just goes back to investigating the eerily silent displays throughout the showroom floor, almost like she’s haunting it herself, looking for any sign of what will get them through this.]
[While Masumi is more than happy to have the help in getting the clothes back from the ghosts, and is willing to put her share of the work in, she’s a bit less than impressed with the idea that they should just get it done as fast as possible. Sure, she doesn’t really want to be here with the ghosts too long either, but she also wants to do a decent job as well.]
Hey, I don’t have much experience with ghosts, but I’d rather not just go with whatever they want to get the clothes back. We might have to negotiate if it means we get this done well.
[For example: Masumi’s trying to convince a ghost to maybe not try and trade a kimono for another kimono, since that would be a bit counterproductive.]
[Carol stops in her tracks. Isn't debating the best way to get the task done just wasting even more time? She's truthfully too short to see over the display she's examining, so it's her blonde braid that's visible at first before she finally leans around it.]
Are you worried they'll escalate their requests beyond our capabilities?
[Grudgingly, she supposes that would be a valid concern. If Masumi really has a point to make and isn't just creating more unnecessary work to get in their way, Carol can at least entertain the suggestion.]
They might. I don't know for sure if they'll do that, but I don't want to end up in a bad trade either.
[Masumi's not keen on letting the spirits escalate things out of control, so she's fairly determined to try and negotiate to keep things fair. As it is, she's still focused on her current negotiations, though thankfully the ghost in question has given up on getting a different kimono for the one it currently has.
The bad news: the ghost instead wants to see her do something interesting. Figuring this has to be better than trading clothes for clothes, she puts on her mask and summons up a kitsunebi, seemingly holding the illusory fire in her hands before letting it vanish again. This apparently works, because the kimono abruptly drops to the ground as the ghost claps and takes its leave.]
[When Masumi's trick does the work and the spirit relinquishes the clothing it pilfered, bargaining doesn't seem like the worst idea. Can kitsunebi even be called an interesting trick?
Having no intentions of letting Masumi "get ahead" of her, as if they're rivals or something, she turns quickly, averting her gaze. She's defensive of her own performance even if there's no reason to be.]
I'm looking for "A pattern that reminds me of the sea I'll never see." [Her fingers pass delicately along the cloth lining the rack. It had seemed easy at first: Just find a color close to water. But none of the materials actually seem right upon examination; nothing captures that sense of longing in Carol's eyes.] Hideously sentimental, isn't it? How disgusting.
[Keeping the mask on for now, just in case she has to do that again, Masumi heads over to see what Carol’s looking for, encouraged by her success with the earlier spirit.]
I don’t know, maybe this one wanted to see the sea in life or something.
[She’s more sympathetic towards them, and frowns slightly at Carol’s words even as she looks over the cloth.]
I’d rather not upset any of the spirits here, just in case. I don’t know what they’d do, but I don’t really want to find out.
dreamwidth played hungry hungry hippos w my gmail notifs hgnghgn
Even if it's what they wanted, it's impossible to obtain. Memories don't come from nowhere with nothing offered in exchange for them, and once they're lost there's no returning them.
[And despite how cruel she'd been about the spirit's desire, there's a tinge of understanding in Carol's voice. It's near-wistful, far more poetic than someone who destroys memories as easily as a fire destroys tinder should sound.
It's a moment that lasts only briefly; just as quickly, Carol's voice has its calloused edge back.]
That's what make this task challenging, if not impossible. So, if you're going to help, you can't just look for something blue or something embossed with scales. It needs to be something that looks like a dream.
( he had noticed the change quickly — never having been a fighter, moreso an incapacitator by the will of his ability, Rohan's strengths have never been in his fists or in brute force. no stranger to activity or fitness still, it wasn't ever a significant piece of his entire composition. he didn't boast the intent or capability of strength that others that he knew did.
but something in this place had responded to his prior visit, and his first offering, and with the staggering discovery of something new imbued in him, it was all the proof that Rohan Kishibe needed.
the added strength helped in the fields, giving him ability and stamina to move debris and work longer, to get dirtier... but clearing detritus from the forsaken farmlands was half the battle. those fields haven't the vitality needed to make their sorely-needed comeback, to soothe the revenge of the dorotabou from before. Rohan knows their legend, knows exactly what stirs them into existence — the crumbling farming lands need more.
it's his third visit, for a second prayer. he's beginning to remember the pathways to the forest shrine by his own memory now, not entirely reliant on Nanase's natural familiarity of the landscape. with the spider's ability and this pinch of new strength, he can make it a quicker trip inward.
but something unexpected greets him as he moves closer in toward the forest shrine... music. the plucking hums of a...stringed instrument of some kind. Rohan becomes elusive and cautious instantly, sensing something new and unexpected ahead of him — but this doesn't make him retreat. above all, it drives him further toward like a pin being pressed in.
it's easier to climb trees now as well, and he has the stamina now to remain especially covert while he moves. he gains height to get a good view over the shrine, and closer now, he can hear it's a harp being played. Nanase is intrigued by the sound, captured by it. Rohan seems a little inconvenienced. perhaps he can wait it out...which isn't the worst option. the technique is good, the playing isn't off-key; same as the instrument itself, it's a dreamy sound that rolls gently through the air like a transparent smoke, and the air itself feels as though every one of the thousands of leaves in view is somehow aware of the music, and taking it in pensively.
but as the minutes go on, he's closer to the realization that this stranger is in no hurry. )
Not bad. ( Rohan hasn't descended from the ancient, tall tree standing as a canopy overhead, but from where he sits, trousered legs crossed one over the other as if this were a waiting room, the rest of his body bundled in a seasonally appropriate work-wear kimono and sketchbook hanging from his back on a long strap, he certainly isn't mysteriously invisible if she follows for the source of his voice. his tone is flat, almost as if bored, but his proceeding words at least speak a little differently. ) Did you compose that tune yourself, as well?
[Dur da Blá is an instrument of slaughter. Its song is made to be the frequency that brings the apocalypse of the world. Carol knows that with her normal power, the energy that flows through that harp would be enough to level all the farmland immediately. And they could start from scratch there, as long as the bitterness of her swan song didn't salt the earth entirely. Well, desperate times -
Regardless of the rest, it is still an instrument. Carol has never played it for the sake of playing it - has never needed to - but she knows it has a tune as fine as it is powerful. She's familiar with the process of offering now, and with material goods less accessible and her youkai's instruction to give something unique to herself as offering instead, she'd made the trip to the shrine a third time. Without flight or teleportation, the harp was heavy to carry, but she made it there.
Perched next to the shrine, Carol has been plucking out an old folk tune half from memory, needing to improvise to cover all the holes there, all the notes she's burned away. Useless information, and so easily synthesized. She doesn't remember why this song is so soothing to her, why she feels compelled to hum the tune, or where she might have learned it in the first place, but at least it serves her now. She isn't paying attention with the kitsune's voice vibrates in the back of her mind, warning her that they might not be alone for long.
All peace breaks from Carol's posture the moment an unidentified male voice speaks. Defensive, she stands up immediately, hands moving to draw on magic that she can't even access.]
Don't you have any manners? You shouldn't just interrupt someone's devotion.
[It's hypocritical at best - she doesn't really give a shit about the prayer. He seems to not be an immediate threat, and he's paid her a compliment...She doesn't try to guard herself yet.]
Music is a mathematics of scales and progressions. [She flips her long braid back over her shoulder, using the confidence to cover for being take off guard.] Of course, for me, it was easy to put together the rest. I hope you weren't expecting to get a free ride because of my offering.
You're dedicated. It's been a while since I responded to any of those chain letters of harebrained theories, let alone replied all.
[Carol talks an exceptionally nasty game about the information collecting that's been happening over the email chain letters, but she's read them all with a sort of manic fervor, furious that so many answers are just the stem of another question waiting to entrap them.]
[ that's - almost funny. here he necessarily wouldn't want to admit to digging that thoroughly for information on people; at least, when it comes to benign, social circumstances. ]
Not sure how closely I should scrutinize that lack of space there or not. You sure you're fine?
Shut up! Do you think it's easy to type on such antiquating technology or do you just hammer your fingers on the keys like a gorilla until something comprehensible comes out?
I'm in a hurry. If you're going to be sentimental, you'll just hold me
But I'm sure this animal does. I'd rather be as far away from that place as possible, in case she gets any ideas about dragging us there.
[This body is weak enough as it is right now; no one can know that her strength is waning or that the kitsune linked to her mask seems to have gone insane rather than malicious; even now, there's an echo of her voice in Carol's mind: All I can do is protect you.
But the source of her sloppy typing may be more obvious now.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(action, closed) eternal style!
And she’d prefer to work alone, too, but that isn’t how things happened: When Carol had taken the job, she’d found herself in the shop not alone, accompanied by another hapless prisoner of the youkai city. Not wasting any time on greetings or niceties, she’d looked Sera over for the briefest moment in silent appraisal, then, with a brusque “hm,” turned her attention to the job. The kinds of busy-work they find themselves agreeing to in this place are pitiful…but at least she’s diligent.]
You’d think, being no longer alive, they’d feel less entitled. [Maybe Carol should be impressed with that tenacity, but she can’t help but show a little disdain for something that refuses to die. She’s only done the same thing for centuries, after all.]
The dead are probably just as hard to convince of anything as the living. I don’t want to waste time with negotiations, so let’s just finish this as quickly as possible. I’m not going to be stuck here all night.
[Carol should perhaps be a little more careful about not invoking dramatic irony, but she has no way of knowing that she might really be stuck with this company for the rest of the night, so she thinks nothing else of it after she speaks, just goes back to investigating the eerily silent displays throughout the showroom floor, almost like she’s haunting it herself, looking for any sign of what will get them through this.]
no subject
Hey, I don’t have much experience with ghosts, but I’d rather not just go with whatever they want to get the clothes back. We might have to negotiate if it means we get this done well.
[For example: Masumi’s trying to convince a ghost to maybe not try and trade a kimono for another kimono, since that would be a bit counterproductive.]
no subject
Are you worried they'll escalate their requests beyond our capabilities?
[Grudgingly, she supposes that would be a valid concern. If Masumi really has a point to make and isn't just creating more unnecessary work to get in their way, Carol can at least entertain the suggestion.]
How are...negotiations going for you?
no subject
[Masumi's not keen on letting the spirits escalate things out of control, so she's fairly determined to try and negotiate to keep things fair. As it is, she's still focused on her current negotiations, though thankfully the ghost in question has given up on getting a different kimono for the one it currently has.
The bad news: the ghost instead wants to see her do something interesting. Figuring this has to be better than trading clothes for clothes, she puts on her mask and summons up a kitsunebi, seemingly holding the illusory fire in her hands before letting it vanish again. This apparently works, because the kimono abruptly drops to the ground as the ghost claps and takes its leave.]
Well, I just got a kimono back, how about you?
no subject
Having no intentions of letting Masumi "get ahead" of her, as if they're rivals or something, she turns quickly, averting her gaze. She's defensive of her own performance even if there's no reason to be.]
I'm looking for "A pattern that reminds me of the sea I'll never see." [Her fingers pass delicately along the cloth lining the rack. It had seemed easy at first: Just find a color close to water. But none of the materials actually seem right upon examination; nothing captures that sense of longing in Carol's eyes.] Hideously sentimental, isn't it? How disgusting.
no subject
I don’t know, maybe this one wanted to see the sea in life or something.
[She’s more sympathetic towards them, and frowns slightly at Carol’s words even as she looks over the cloth.]
I’d rather not upset any of the spirits here, just in case. I don’t know what they’d do, but I don’t really want to find out.
dreamwidth played hungry hungry hippos w my gmail notifs hgnghgn
[And despite how cruel she'd been about the spirit's desire, there's a tinge of understanding in Carol's voice. It's near-wistful, far more poetic than someone who destroys memories as easily as a fire destroys tinder should sound.
It's a moment that lasts only briefly; just as quickly, Carol's voice has its calloused edge back.]
That's what make this task challenging, if not impossible. So, if you're going to help, you can't just look for something blue or something embossed with scales. It needs to be something that looks like a dream.
—ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ʟɪғᴇ.
( he had noticed the change quickly — never having been a fighter, moreso an incapacitator by the will of his ability, Rohan's strengths have never been in his fists or in brute force. no stranger to activity or fitness still, it wasn't ever a significant piece of his entire composition. he didn't boast the intent or capability of strength that others that he knew did.
but something in this place had responded to his prior visit, and his first offering, and with the staggering discovery of something new imbued in him, it was all the proof that Rohan Kishibe needed.
the added strength helped in the fields, giving him ability and stamina to move debris and work longer, to get dirtier... but clearing detritus from the forsaken farmlands was half the battle. those fields haven't the vitality needed to make their sorely-needed comeback, to soothe the revenge of the dorotabou from before. Rohan knows their legend, knows exactly what stirs them into existence — the crumbling farming lands need more.
it's his third visit, for a second prayer. he's beginning to remember the pathways to the forest shrine by his own memory now, not entirely reliant on Nanase's natural familiarity of the landscape. with the spider's ability and this pinch of new strength, he can make it a quicker trip inward.
but something unexpected greets him as he moves closer in toward the forest shrine... music. the plucking hums of a...stringed instrument of some kind. Rohan becomes elusive and cautious instantly, sensing something new and unexpected ahead of him — but this doesn't make him retreat. above all, it drives him further toward like a pin being pressed in.
it's easier to climb trees now as well, and he has the stamina now to remain especially covert while he moves. he gains height to get a good view over the shrine, and closer now, he can hear it's a harp being played. Nanase is intrigued by the sound, captured by it. Rohan seems a little inconvenienced. perhaps he can wait it out...which isn't the worst option. the technique is good, the playing isn't off-key; same as the instrument itself, it's a dreamy sound that rolls gently through the air like a transparent smoke, and the air itself feels as though every one of the thousands of leaves in view is somehow aware of the music, and taking it in pensively.
but as the minutes go on, he's closer to the realization that this stranger is in no hurry. )
Not bad. ( Rohan hasn't descended from the ancient, tall tree standing as a canopy overhead, but from where he sits, trousered legs crossed one over the other as if this were a waiting room, the rest of his body bundled in a seasonally appropriate work-wear kimono and sketchbook hanging from his back on a long strap, he certainly isn't mysteriously invisible if she follows for the source of his voice. his tone is flat, almost as if bored, but his proceeding words at least speak a little differently. ) Did you compose that tune yourself, as well?
no subject
Regardless of the rest, it is still an instrument. Carol has never played it for the sake of playing it - has never needed to - but she knows it has a tune as fine as it is powerful. She's familiar with the process of offering now, and with material goods less accessible and her youkai's instruction to give something unique to herself as offering instead, she'd made the trip to the shrine a third time. Without flight or teleportation, the harp was heavy to carry, but she made it there.
Perched next to the shrine, Carol has been plucking out an old folk tune half from memory, needing to improvise to cover all the holes there, all the notes she's burned away. Useless information, and so easily synthesized. She doesn't remember why this song is so soothing to her, why she feels compelled to hum the tune, or where she might have learned it in the first place, but at least it serves her now. She isn't paying attention with the kitsune's voice vibrates in the back of her mind, warning her that they might not be alone for long.
All peace breaks from Carol's posture the moment an unidentified male voice speaks. Defensive, she stands up immediately, hands moving to draw on magic that she can't even access.]
Don't you have any manners? You shouldn't just interrupt someone's devotion.
[It's hypocritical at best - she doesn't really give a shit about the prayer. He seems to not be an immediate threat, and he's paid her a compliment...She doesn't try to guard herself yet.]
Music is a mathematics of scales and progressions. [She flips her long braid back over her shoulder, using the confidence to cover for being take off guard.] Of course, for me, it was easy to put together the rest. I hope you weren't expecting to get a free ride because of my offering.
raptor@hakagemachi.co
With everything that's been going on, how have you been holding up?
tiffauges@hakagemachi.co
How did you find this address?
[I'm so sorry. It looks like he'll have to wait to have his questions answered.]
no subject
I [..] found it. On the network?
no subject
You're dedicated. It's been a while since I responded to any of those chain letters of harebrained theories, let alone replied all.
[Carol talks an exceptionally nasty game about the information collecting that's been happening over the email chain letters, but she's read them all with a sort of manic fervor, furious that so many answers are just the stem of another question waiting to entrap them.]
We're fine. I'mfine.
no subject
[ that's - almost funny. here he necessarily wouldn't want to admit to digging that thoroughly for information on people; at least, when it comes to benign, social circumstances. ]
Not sure how closely I should scrutinize that lack of space there or not. You sure you're fine?
no subject
I'm in a hurry. If you're going to be sentimental, you'll just hold me
[...Back? Up?]
no subject
Didn't realize this technology was antiquated. Does that explain it?
[ he's going to resist guessing which one she meant-- ]
Where are you going that you're in such a rush? It's not that lake, is it?
i actually made a typo that was not intended bc i'm so used to typing my fucking plurk handle
But I'm sure this animal does. I'd rather be as far away from that place as possible, in case she gets any ideas about dragging us there.
[This body is weak enough as it is right now; no one can know that her strength is waning or that the kitsune linked to her mask seems to have gone insane rather than malicious; even now, there's an echo of her voice in Carol's mind: All I can do is protect you.
But the source of her sloppy typing may be more obvious now.]