[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

[khuimods]

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.

Comments

[choseanidiot]

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.]

[priforprince]

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....? ]

[choseanidiot]

[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.

[priforprince]

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?? ]

[choseanidiot]

... 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.]

[priforprince]

[ 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? ]

[choseanidiot]

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.

[priforprince]

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.

[choseanidiot]

[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.]

[priforprince]

It should have been fed before the event.

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

Impossible! ]

[choseanidiot]

[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.]

[priforprince]

[ 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....? ]

[choseanidiot]

[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.]

[priforprince]

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...? ]

[choseanidiot]

[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.]

[priforprince]

No other option seems possible.

[ Ah, well. Hibiki turns to try the other way, then. There is no sign that she thinks she might have picked the wrong way to begin with. ] Hold the creature fast.

[ If you don't take proper care of the snake, then there's no point in them finding the staff. ]

[choseanidiot]

Ain't no need for that. Not like it knows where to get food aside from people.

[So while the selys is getting more restless where it still is in his sleeve, it's not about to wriggle out and start to slither away. Which means Rokuta can once again get distracted by Hibiki's... amazing... clothes and wonder why.]

... Are those really the clothes you usually wear?

[He just couldn't help himself.]

[priforprince]

In PriPara, yes.

[ She straightens her tie, which had gone slightly askew in her distress. ] Some system must have maintained them.

Why?

[ "BRILLIANT," her back continues to announce. ]

[choseanidiot]

Where? [Cocking his head, nose scrunching briefly in confusion, Rokuta shakes his head.] Just not the sort of clothes I've seen outside of one spot... even entertainers where I'm from don't quite look like... this.

['Brilliant' indeed. The colours might be that, but he's not convinced of the rest.]

[priforprince]

I'll soon bestow this puniverse plenty more opulent spectacles.

[ These are her casual clothes, after all.

They're approaching the fork in the hallways now. Hibiki walks right past it into the other hallway without blinking. No remorse or reflection. We are simply Going This Way Now. ]

[choseanidiot]

Dunno 'bout opulent... [A little eyeroll. Spectacles, yes, absolutely. And while it's a little annoying she's now simply charging in the direction he'd known they needed to go at first, at least they are now going this way. That's good enough.] But I'm sure you'll surprise people.

[He might sound a little dry as he says it, but it's not really intended as an insult. As long as she's having fun, he supposes, and since with this proof that the outfits showcased in the fashion show isn't some sort of one-off anomaly but rather something that fits her... she'll probably not settle when it comes to getting more clothes.]

[priforprince]

[ A calm, leisurely walk this direction. A calm, matter-of-fact agreement. ] My charms don't disappoint....

[ .....Her steps slow further. Are those. Voices? From down this hallway? Already?

How did everyone end up here so quickly!? ]

[choseanidiot]

Uh-huh. [Just soft, amused agreement. She might not even be wrong, he doesn't know! He hasn't seen her perform, in whatever fashion she does that. But, the thought it brief, as voices start to filter down the corridor and he perks up.

Finally. So while Hibiki slows down, Rokuta's steps lengthen until she's caught up with her, coming alongside and snatching a sleeve to tug.]

Come on. I'm sure you've got other things to do, right?

[Well, as much as any of them have things to do, newly arrived, settling in, and on a festival day, to boot.]

[priforprince]

Of course I do. [ Hibiki brushes off that tug and moves forward of her own accord. ]

Prepare the animal.

[ She needs to show what excellent care she's taken of it. By handing it to somebody else.

Yes. ]

[choseanidiot]

You heard that?

[That, of course, is addressed to the selys and not Hibiki, Rokuta looking down at the brilliantly-coloured serpent in his sleeve with a raised eyebrow. though he does reach in to fish it out. He is more than ready to be done with this.]

Didn't take too long, at least.

[Rokuta says with a shrug as they round the corner to find what he assumes are at least some of the people that worked on the fashion show and supplied Hibiki with the outfit(s) and selys. And honestly, he's... pretty sure it took more time for Hibiki to change than it had them walking the corridors.]