ioduanlogs | [EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

Characters: ALL
Date: January 15
Location: At the Dreaming Bridge and all over Aifaran!
Situation: A large influx of Dreamfolk arrive in time for one of the Lunar Festivals, and they're all invited!
Warnings/Rating: N/A

A surprising amount of Dreamfolk have arrived within a short time frame - a peculiarity remarked upon by a number of Aifaran's residents. It is unusual in that it coincides with a lunar festival, one which only happens every fifty or so years.

Newcomers will find the streets packed with all sorts of people, stalls of fried and sugared foods, carnivalesque games and rides, and all other manner of things to do. Merchants are very keen to get their wares out there, and the stipend given may just burn a hole in your pocket when you see what's for sale.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's pretty impressive, regardless of which it is, and he has to clap a hand over his mouth to swallow the next bout of almost laughter. Then he shakes his head and rolls his eyes, taking advantage of the gap given when the Arybar moved aside to come close.]

Come on. [He's smirking, still, as he catches the colourful lizard's gaze, reaching a hand up.] Pretty sure there's better-tasting toys out there.

[It doesn't immediately let go - even yanks once, before it does, but then slithers in one graceful movement off Hibiki until Rokuta has it pooled in one sleeve.]

Where does this thing go, anyway?

[Now he looks back up to her, eyebrow cocked. Unless it's hers, in which case she'll get it back and it can... probably go back to chomp on her hair. He won't mind.]

The owners are backstage.

[ And she's still in their clothes, too, to match the snake. She can give more details in a moment; she just...needs....to rub....the side of her head......and breathe....a little.... ]

[If her clothes and the selys didn't match so well, he'd have thought they were hers, but with the comment about how the owners are backstage, he's pretty sure the outfit literally goes with the snake.]

Should get it back, then. Looks like it's hungry. [Watching her rub her head like she was just assaulted by something much larger and heavier, Rokuta snorts, rolling his eyes.] Want it back? You had it last, after all.

[Oh so innocently.]

....Follow me.

[ SHE'S FINE, THANKS.

And she will indeed turn and head towards the backstage area without checking to make sure he's following. When she tells someone to follow, they follow.

In her experience. ]

[Oh, did she want an expression of concern? Sorry, that happened when he freed her from the selys' terrible grip. Throwing a look after her, Rokuta rolls his eyes, throws a grin to some of the now-dispersing Arybar, and then follows her at an easy trot.]

You always order people you don't know around?

[He sounds amused, though, not yet annoyed; he's fine with lugging the little bugger around, and it's not as if he can leave with it... What he doesn't feel like is walking around the backstage area trying to find the owners, so since she knows where they are, following it is.]

Of course.

[ Turn this way, then that... ]

Being the master to all servants of society is the natural lifestyle of the elite.

[ She says it perfectly calmly, as if this is self-evident. Humans require oxygen to breathe. People do what celebrities want.

Her dressing room is right over here... ]

[It's a good thing Hibiki is walking in front of him, otherwise she'd be getting the full effect of a thoroughly unimpressed scowl, right then. Of course, she's young and can thus hopefully learn better.]

And if you don't care for those under you, you don't deserve your privileged position.

[Snorting sharply, Rokuta glances down at the selys in his sleeve, which has its head cocked up at him. Yes, a bit insufferable.]

Noblesse oblige does apply.

[ Here we are. Hibiki is going through the door first, so she supposes she'll hold it open - she is escorting, after a fashion. ] In exchange, my trustworthy judgment is always -

[ Wait

did they

did they already clear out this room

where is everybody ]

[He does not know French, of course, but that doesn't stop him from understanding what the words literally mean, and picking up some of the metaphorical intent in what she means. Rokuta snorts, but says nothing as he precedes her inside - her attitude still leaves things to be desired, and anyone can repeat platitudes, but at least she knows there's some obligation. It's a place to start if nothing else.

And then it's quite clear the room is empty, and he sighs. Apparently they're not quite done yet.]

I suppose we'll have to go looking anyway. Did you want to change?

[Looking at her outfit, he sure is glad he didn't end up here in his court clothes.]

...I suppose I should.

[ Fortunately, her things are still folded off to the side, here. Hibiki grabs the pile of fabric - is that...black and white camouflage?....and heads for a changing area that is, thankfully, still set up. ] Wait there.

[ She is going to take her sweet time. Genius cannot be rushed. ]

[Another eyeroll and this time there's definitely a muffled groan that Rokuta has to bite back, but he obligingly leans back against the wall, one arm up behind his head while the selys settles down in his sleeve, though there's a suspiciously wet spot where it has apparently been tasting the cloth.

He honestly has no desire to walk around this place randomly, so with a whispered call for Yokuhi, he sends her off to find where most people might still be... and since Hibiki takes time as if she's an Empress being dressed for coronation in many more layers than those clothes she took with her have, Yokuhi is gone and back before she's out from behind the changing area.]

Are your clothes that complicated?

Now, now.

[ Don't rush genius.

Finally, Hibiki emerges, having done everything at exactly the pace she most prefers. As for the end result, well....

You tell her whether it was worth the wait. ]

Has anyone stopped in?

[Sorry, Hibiki, the look you get goes from incredulous to an exasperated eyeroll. But he can see that she probably didn't just not need to be convinced to feature in the fashion show... she probably threw herself at the chance.]

Nope. Don't think waiting around here is gonna be very helpful.

[He wonders if they are looking for her and just gave up on the changing area for now - she did have both an outfit and her last selys, after all.]

They can't have abandoned the venue entirely.

[ Hibiki brushes past on the way to see what's going on here. The selys tracks her motion, intrigued.

Her jacket says BRILLIANT across the shoulderblades, above a golden crown.

Why wouldn't it? ]

Doubt it. Don't think they'll have forgotten, one of their selys.

[Or, you know, this girl, for that matter. Staring at those letters for a second or two, Rokuta... can't say he's surprised, but still. Seriously? Though to be fair, he could see his idiot of an emperor wear something like that. If just to piss certain people off. Shaking his head, he follows her out and then gestures down the corridor with the arm the selys has claimed the sleeve of, making it swing gently.]

That way, maybe?

[Hopefully reverse psychology isn't necessary here, otherwise he's taken the wrong tack and they're going to be walking for more than necessary, if Hibiki decides on another direction.]

No, this way might prove more fruitful.

[ Trying to do as little as necessary and ending up doing more is also Shikyoin Hibiki's Style.

Not on purpose, but it's how things work out. ]

Let's go.

[ Now, will Hibiki or Rokuta turn out to be right....? ]

[Oh no. Muffling a groan since he has no way of insisting that he's right without explaining, Rokuta turns the way Hibiki wants to go. Because he's not going to say he sent his chimerical monster bodyguard through the shadows to find out where the people still around here are. He wants to keep Yokuhi as much in the background as possible, which is definitely her preference as well.

Dragging a hand down his face and glaring narrowly at her back, he grunts in assent.]

We could end up walking around for way longer than we have to, if you're wrong.

If there's no sign of anyone, either choice has an equal chance of accuracy, correct?

[ Except. Hm. He raises a good point. She'd rather not be stuck wandering around trying to return this snake. So Hibiki reexamines the two options, eyes flicking from one to the other. Focus. Think. Nay - sense.

Which? Which is it?? ]

... Usually. [He has to concede that, as much as he'd rather not, but she's not wrong, but what is he even supposed to say to try and lead her the way he knows they want to go? Glancing between the two directions of the corridor, Rokuta frowns.]

... You got any idea where the rest of the changing areas are? Maybe they're going through these in order?

[Since he doesn't know that, he sure hopes he didn't just suggest the wrong way and they're actually elsewhere doing something else. He has to bite back a sigh at the thought, but if that's it, it'll be his own fault.]

[ Hibiki, unfortunately, is concentrating too hard on her own methods of problem-solving to hear this helpful inquiry. ] This way? No.....this way?

[ The selys, poking its head out, yawns widely. Tilting its head in one direction.

Hibiki pivots the direction the snake was facing. ] That way! We'll proceed hence.

[ Which way was it? ]

You're gonna let the snake decide?! [Raising a look somewhere between frustrated and beseeching towards the (covered, since they're indoors) sky, Rokuta groans. Especially so since it's the way Hibiki had wanted to go to start with, which means it was the wrong direction.

Rokuta just hopes they'll meet someone on the way and before they've walked too far that can point them the way they need to go. It's about enough to make him miss Shoryu. As if he doesn't... miss him already anyway.]

Pretty sure there's gotta be better methods to decide direction than consulting a snake as your oracle.

This "selys" creature is bred for luxury and excellence. Its judgment must therefore be impeccable.

[ The more exclusive something is, the better. This is the Shikyoin Hibiki Way.

As is, apparently, this (incorrect) hallway. ] Come along.

[Barely able to hold back a snort and the mumble that wants to escape about how if that was true, then his judgement should definitely be better than the selys' (even if he wasn't bred), Rokuta just grunts.]

Dunno, this one just looks kinda lazy... and hungry. [He smirks a little as he says it.] I wouldn't trust the judgement of a hungry animal.

[Hungry animals want food, and this one clearly needed to be fed. It certainly wasn't fighting to get out of his sleeve to go hunt anything, which, honestly, is a relief. They didn't need to go hunting after an escaping snake, too.]

It should have been fed before the event.

[ Though. Is that doubt in her eyes when she surveys the snake?

Impossible! ]

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