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

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! ]

[Surely Hibiki never doubts herself!]

Event was pretty long, though, wasn't it? And tiny things need to eat more often.

[A shrug. He doesn't care, really. Truly. It's so exceedingly fun wandering these corridors looking for people who aren't in this direction.]

[ Hibiki lifts a hand. ] Leave everything to me and it'll soon receive respite.

[ Except.

There. Doesn't seem to be anyone around the longer they travel this way, does there....? ]

Edited 2018-01-25 02:28 (UTC)

[If things were left to Hibiki, Rokuta wonders if she'd have walked out of there with selys and outfit both at first, then remembering she had her own clothes. Either way...]

... Might wanna backtrack.

[Rubbing a temple, Rokuta casts a sideways glance up at her. Technically he could just run off - she's changed, so the only thing on either of them that doesn't belong to them is the selys - but she should be given the chance to finish what she started, shouldn't she?

Maybe.]

Peculiar.

[ Hibiki pauses to think about this, a hand on her chin. ] Could they have taken some other passage since we started walking...?

[ So that when she picked this direction, it was correct, but now...? ]

Edited 2018-01-26 02:12 (UTC)

[It's a good thing she's in front of him, so she misses Rokuta's eyeroll.]

Maybe. Might be making rounds through the building... wanna try in the other direction?

[Hopefully she'll agree they do need to check the way he'd wanted to go first, too, before the people here really do start moving around. Wouldn't that just top the rest of this.]

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