ioduanlogs | [OPEN] Ilda’s April Catch-All

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[OPEN] Ilda’s April Catch-All

Characters: Ilda, you, your bibiru, anyone!
Date: April 16th to 30th
Location: all over Aifaran
Situation: selfies, putting up advertisements for/with Yato, affinity things
Warnings/Rating: none, but will update when something comes up

A - IT’S SELFIE TIME! (open)

[ Perhaps her friends would regret encouraging her. Or even simply giving her the idea in the first place. But Ilda, barely a month in Aifaran, has decided that she has a life goal: to be queen of Xa Xa! As she’s told Bakura before, if she’s gonna be laughed at anyway, why not make money out of it and have fun at the same time?

So she’s been exploring the city, during various times of the day (and night) and in varying weather conditions, looking for interesting and unusual things and places and even people to take selfies with. Rooftops! Under bridges! Under tables! Beside a stranger’s feet for his mismatched pair of socks!

She’s not even asking permission. She just comes zooming in, a quick clickity click, then poof! Off she goes, laughing at her own selfies!

They’re not even pretty. Some of them are blurry. Most of them either have too much of her face, or too little of it. Like just her forehead. ]

B - DOUBLE TROUBLE (Meta 1, open)

[ Wait, is that Ilda again? What does she want now? Another selfie? And why can’t she use her own yimo for that?

But now that you think about it, the first Ilda actually seemed kind of... off. By Ilda standards. This one looks more like her usual self - bubbly, chatty, with no care in the world.

A wild Ilda approaches! ]

C - EXPLORADVERTISING (closed to Yato)

[ Ilda remembers what she and Yato are supposed to be doing today, but she can’t quite recall if he’d said that he would bring the posters. So she’s taken the initiative to procure some customized ones! They’re basically large printouts of a really adorable cat poster she found on Xa Xa, and she’s handwritten Yato’s name and a message on each of them.

She sticks up one on a random wall, then leans back to look at her work, quite pleased with herself. Fitting, eh? BELIEVE! IN YATO! MAKE A WISH NOW! ]

D - WILDCARD (open)
[ Hit me up at

notanybunny for a specific starter! :D ]

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[Oh, that was a lot of worrying things said very quickly. X sits and blinks at Ilda, for a moment completely lost for words.]

A god? I don't -- wish-granting? What does that mean? [concern concern concern.] Charging one copper rhinn for what?

[Even worse than my last crush completely fails to escape X's attention, but let's. Let's deal with one thing at a time. In pursuit of that goal, X ignores Ilda's last question, because what does she mean there are gods in Aifaran.]

[ She doesn't notice that he's not answered her last question, and willingly provides the answers to his own. ]

Yes, a god. [ She kind of rolls her eyes at that. It's not too harsh a reaction because she's spent some time with Yato and she's decided he's pretty decent, but still, she's not a fan of them godly types in general. ] He does favors for people and calls it wish-granting. All you have to do is pay him one copper rhinn to do... well, whatever. As long as it's within his power, I think.

Shrines are expensive, though! It'll take forever. I think I might go to the market next week and just... shout at people to avail of his services. [ It's not as bad as it sounds, X. It's worked before. Ilda can be quite persuasive. ]

[This is not the conversation X was expecting.

Doing favours for people is very different from wish-granting, though, at least in X's experience, and he visibly relaxes. That... doesn't sound quite as bad. With so many different worlds represented in one place, 'god' might mean something entirely different for Yato.

At the last, X laughs, one of those fondly indulgent laughs of parents, his head resting on one hand.] I see. Charging a little more for favours, or... shouting at strangers in town squares, and you choose shouting? Yato must be some god.

Not without trying to get him to charge more first! But he’s totally made up his mind about the price. If there’s one “godly” thing about him that I can believe in, it’s that. Unchanging, unyielding... that’s them divine types. [ She says that with a mix of amusement and bitterness. ]

Oh, and he can go to places instantly! It’s so cool, he doesn’t have to walk at all!

Enough about me and Yato though! I-I mean, not together in some great romancey way, because, uh, it’s Yato?

How are you? [ This conversation will probably take a while, if X keeps derailing her like that. ]

[In X's defence, who wouldn't be caught off guard by someone's casual mention of befriending a god who charges money for granting wishes.

Ahem.]

Are you asking because you want to know how I am, or are you asking because you're hoping it'll remind me that I promised to tell you about my family? [Resignedly fond. He couldn't keep putting off the conversation forever, after all, and maybe talking about happy memories will do him some good.]

[ Ilda at least has the courtesy to look sheepish... but only for a moment. She tries, but she really can't do subtle. Why else is she so good at getting people to buy her stuff by shouting at them?

Don't get her wrong, though, because she's cares for you, X. Enough to stalk you and hunt you down so she can finally meet you! ]

Well I figured if you weren't okay you wouldn't be sitting here where people can easy come up to you and bug you and send you selfies and talk to you to the point of boredom, and you wouldn't have laughed when I sent you a selfie and revealed yourself... although I'm making an awful lot of assumptions there now that I think about it. So, yeah, I guess I should ask. How are you, as in how is your general state of being and are you eating and sleeping and doing all the things you should be doing in life?

[ Then she just goes into chinhands mode and looks up at him fondly. She doesn't need to whip out the puppy eyes, does she? ] But, yeah, I was also hoping it'll remind you. I love family stories!

[She's adorable. And, it seems, physically incapable of not saying whatever crosses her mind. X likes that; he wishes more people felt safe enough not to worry about what they say to others. Asri knows his life would have been very different if he'd felt safe enough.]

I think I'm as alright as I can be.

[Minus sleeping. As far as X is concerned, he's never going to sleep again. But that's a conversation for another time.]

Where do you want me to start? I'm -- sorry, that's a silly question. Hmm... how do all the great romance stories you've heard start? 'Once upon a time'?

Good! Although... [ She lifts her yimo. ] I already stocked up on funny selfies to send to you, in case you need some cheering up!

[ She sets the yimo down again and refocuses on him, her eagerness to hear his story just radiating out of her. ]

It's 'In the old days, in the Old World' where I'm from, but that sounds more romantic! Sooooooo. Once upon a time...?

[X laughs again. Really, he doesn't think he'll ever grow tired of the selfies.]

Once upon a time, in the old days, in the Old World, there were two different places that existed in the same space. One was magical, and one was... not. The mundane place strived for equality wherever it could, and the magical place...

[Didn't.]

Let's just say it needed help. Two of the people in our romance come from the magical world, and the third person comes from the other. With me so far?

[ Ilda looks positively enamored. A love triangle! But not. At least, not in the "traditional" sense. She likes how X combined the narrative starters, too, and she makes a mental note to start using that from now on.

She doesn't bother to try to understand the bit about different places existing in the same space. It's too complicated, and besides, it's all but secondary to the ROMANCE! Priorities, priorities. ]

I have sooooo many questions already... but! Please continue. You'll be introducing the three, right?

Of course! [With a smile.] What great romance doesn't introduce the main characters? Let's see... one of the people born in the magical world -- let's call him Unlucky -- was actually born a very long time ago. Even he doesn't know how long, but he thinks it's about three thousand years. He's immortal, you see, and...

[A short pause, here, as X considers whether or not to say something he's known for a while and never voiced out loud. But in the end:]

... and he's an angel.

[This is soft, like X is testing out unfamiliar words, and it's full of quiet affection. The fact that 'Unlucky' still doesn't believe X knows would be insulting if it wasn't so adorable.]

Do you have angels in your world?

[ Ilda's eyes widen at the revelation that Unlucky is an angel. She's imagining him now -- all glorious and good-looking, with grand wings. ]

I've never seen one, but people say they exist! At least, the traveling people do. I've heard all sorts of stories about them. They're supposed to be very beautiful! So Unlucky is very beautiful, then?

[ She pushes her face a little closer to him, grinning knowingly. ]

[X grins back.] Oh, yes. Very beautiful, when he wanted to be.

[X, of course, is not biased in the least.]

But unlucky. He was -- pursuing something, and it took him a really long time to get anywhere in finding it. Like the whole world was against him. Then, one day, he had a dream, and in his dream, he met a man who'd lost everything and could help him find what he was looking for. That man was called...

[... damn. Giving up one's name was no picnic. The next thing X says is, helplessly, humorously:] ... X. Pretend that's an alias.

[ Ilda makes a squealing noise at the introduction of X into the story, made even more adorable by the fact that he’s asked her to pretend it’s an alias. Can he be any cuter? ]

Finally! [ She’s kicking her legs excitedly under the table. ] It’s Mr. Mysterious Great Romance!

... but he’d lost everything? How tragic. You make him sound like unluckier than Unlucky.

[Ilda is the single best listener to his stories X has ever had, and this includes his own children.]

Well. At the time, it was everything.

[This still isn't easy to talk about, and it takes X a moment to go on -- partly because the memory hurts, and partly because Ilda's nickname, well-intentioned though it is, sends a tremor down his spine and makes him flinch.]

There was a... a villain, for lack of a better word, who killed X's family. Unlucky tried to stop it, but in the end, X was the only person he could save. And X didn't trust him at first, because he'd been pretending to work for the same people responsible for what happened to his family.

[ Not really sure about the best, but Ilda is definitely a very expressive listener. She looks positively dismayed at the thought of X having lost everything, and distraught and angry at the villain who killed X's family.

Unfortunately, it doesn't occur to her that his flinching is related to her nicknaming him rather than his own emotions as he retells his life's story.

At that last bit, though, she can't resist squealing. ] Oh my goddess that is so-- [ And another squeal. ] You weren't kidding about a great romance! This is so... so... [ Not having the words to properly express how the story's tickling her insides, she just bounces on her seat and squeals some more. ]

... oops, that was too much. Okay. Sorry for interrupting! Please continue.

[X can't help smiling. Ilda has that effect; as painful as recounting those memories are, she sees the good, she fixates on the good, and her excitement is near infectious.]

You don't need to apologise. The best stories are the ones you can interact with. [Juuuuust saying.] Where was I -- right, pretending to work for the villain. There was an odd thing that kept occurring in the months after that rescue. Even accounting for grief, and reason, and time, X still couldn't trust Unlucky. Even after knowing the truth, even after knowing how old he was and how hard he was fighting to try and make the world a little better for everyone living there, I still couldn't... X still couldn't. It got to a point where X realised on his own that something strange was going on, and he asked Unlucky what it was.

And, well, to make a long story short, it was still that villain. X had a name, back then, and the villain had magic that could influence everyone in that magical world through their names. Subtly, nothing grandiose or showy, but consistently. It made it hard, to trust anyone trying to tell them anything the villain didn't want them to hear.

[ It's impressive for X to be able to continue narrating even though Ilda's right in front of him, reacting very expressively to the various turn of events. There's definitely some thrill there, anticipation, a gasp every now and then at the revelations, emphatic nodding, wide eyes, and of course, confusion. ]

Wait, wait. So... X stands for something, after all? But because of the villain's magic that influences names... so you're not using the actual name? That's why it's just X?

[ Her eyes shine with curiosity, but she's frowning. ] How does that kind of magic work? If someone guesses your real name, you like, die or something? [ She's heard a bedtime story or two about that before. ]

No one remembers my real name.

[With a sad smile, and apparently abandoning all pretence of this story not being about him.]

It got... erased. From everywhere, and everyone. I have no idea what would happen if someone could guess it, but I think I'd be very impressed. 'X' is a placeholder. If anyone calls me anything else, it... hurts.

[For lack of a better word.]

But it meant I couldn't be influenced anymore. I can't begin to describe how that felt, Ilda, it was... it was like waking up for the first time, being alert for the first time. Coming out of a fog, seeing bright light up ahead, knowing immediately who you can trust and who you can't. There's... there's no feeling like it.

How is that even possible?

[ A name is just something you call people and things, right? Or maybe there's some truth to that bedtime story, after all. She tries to recall what her father's said about it, about names and their power... but there's just a little too much going on right now, so she concentrates instead on the conversation she's currently having.

Just in time to catch X tell her that it hurts to be called something else. She gasps in realization. ] So you mean... like a nickname— [ She flails. ] Oh no! Did I hurt you I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU WHEN I CALLED YOU MISTER— [ She realizes what she's almost done and promptly covers her mouth, eyes wide and a little panicked. ]

[And there it is.

He exhales the brief flash of pain with Mister, but since Ilda cut the name off, it's nowhere near as bad. The exhale turns into a chuckle.]

It's okay. It's okay, Ilda, really. It's a pinch, nothing more. Intent matters; if you don't know what you're doing, it's not as bad as when someone deliberately gives me a name.

[X pauses, then tilts his head in concession.]

Having said that, it... does get a little worse each time, and now that you know, I'd appreciate it if you stopped?

[It sounds a lot more like a question than an order, or even any kind of a statement. X has lived without a name for years, but Ilda's only just discovering it; her feelings are a lot more important.]

[ Ilda doesn’t say anything, outright refuses to say anything, in the moments that follow, terrified at the thought of having hurt and possibly hurting someone she cares about deeply. X has become family to her, a second father, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her family. Not if she can help it.

She nods mutely at his request, her head bobbing a little too enthusiastically, her eyes a little too afraid.

When she finally speaks, it’s clear she’s chosen her words, her approach, with much care. ]

Okay, so... just so I understand this name deal because we don’t have anything like it where I’m from... So like, if I have a friend, let’s say her name is Ann, and that name gets erased, so I can’t call her Ann anymore, or any other name, because it’ll hurt her? Even accidentally? What if I say, “Hey gurl!” — would that hurt her? Basically all I’m allowed to call her is her, well... official nickname? Like A?

[X blinks. 'Hey gurl!' is not a phrase he's heard before, and at first, he doesn't know how to answer.

Maybe he should start with what he knows for sure.]

You wouldn't remember that her name is Ann. No one would, not even her. Everywhere it was ever written or recorded, it would get replaced with... yes, let's say A. And yes, calling her anything else, even accidentally, would hurt. The degree of pain is different, though, when it's accidental. It's not so bad.

[He exhales a short, self-deprecating laugh.]

You can probably guess that most people wouldn't choose to give up their name for no reason.

Possessive descriptions, though... I'm not sure. My children can call me their dad, and that works. My wife can call me her husband. You could probably call her your friend just fine. If -- well, if hey gurl is anything like that, then yes, it would probably work.

[ She lets out a whistle. ] That's a lot of power.

[ Names are so widespread and common and so easily taken for granted that the thought of anyone managing to just erase a name from existence is... admiringly terrifying. Especially when it comes with the repercussions X has mentioned. Well, disappearing along with the name would also be bad, but to live with pain even from the accidental mention of something that's supposed to be yours? Wow. ]

I understand now. I never really thought much about it before, but... yeah.

So, um, just to make it really clear... if I tell someone about Ann and call her "my friend," that's okay? But if I'm talking to Ann and call her "friend," it's not? Like if I run into her in the street and say, "Hey, friend!" or "Hey, you!" that will hurt her?

[ She's trying to think of all the possible ways she might accidentally call X with a name, so she can avoid them. Somehow. ]

[Again, X has to stop and think about it. He's never been interrogated about this before. That seems like an oversight on someone's part, now that he's wondering about it.]

I don't know.

[A sincere tone, and thoughtful, and a little surprised.]

Not... not 'hey you'. Someone somewhere has said that to me, I'm sure, and I don't remember it hurting. I think -- I don't know. Believe it or not, I don't usually give it this much thought. All I really know is that intent matters, and... and the act of naming. 'Hey friend' might work as well.

[He smiles slightly.]

Do you want me to finish the story?

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[OPEN] Ilda’s April Catch-All

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