The freak snowstorm has passed, and Tokyo settles back into somewhat more normal winter weather. Cool rather than actively cold enough to snow, but at least a bright sunny day. The melting of the snow has things perhaps a touch on the soggy side for the greenery, but it's dry enough on the pavement and the stones that it's not exactly a hazard to walking. The city is starting to decorate for the holidays, much more apparent at night than when the sun's still up.
The shrine is gearing up for the expected influx over the New Year's, and even a couple weeks early, there's a fairly steady stream of people here and there. It's cold enough for hat and scarf and mittens and a real coat, and Naru has all of the above, with kitty ears on her hat no less. She's got her satchel slung over her shoulder as she heads up towards the shrine.
Jiaying Maki is at the shrine again! For once she's not banging around on statues trying to wake up anything inside. She's not even trying to cause troubles or anything else! Wearing a warm white sweater and long skirt with tights, the girl doesn't look like she's a huge fan of the cold. Satchel across her shoulders, she's hidden her face mostly behind a black scarf. The fact that there's a decent sized crowd confuses her, but that passes quickly enough. She does seem a touch more tense than usual though.
She's also trailing the telltale mist of magic that clings to her, like she's actively using it, though it's not flashy or even trying to hide anything. It's like she's looking. She almost misses a familiar face because of her focus, but when it clicks, the spell suddenly fizzles and she yelps, shaking her hands and quickly looking around to see if it was noticed. She raises a hand and waves to Naru, her hand briefly trailing steam in the cool air as she calls out, "Heeey." Ducking through the crowd to leave the area, obscuring herself in the crowd.
Every few weeks, a certain head of white hair can be seen visiting the Hikawa shrine. Generally, it's a token trip, a ritual acknowledgment of a particular figure that entangled itself in a friend's life and thus in his, and a wary departure lest that figure get any thoughts in its head about ever doing something like that again. A balancing between due courteous respect and keep your divine politics away from my people.
Today, the token gifts have been left, and Kazuo's still here, surveying the crowds with a distinct small frown. He lacks hat and scarf and mittens, but if anything, the black wool coat makes his hair and height stand out more rather than less.
Not as much as a hand trailing steam does, granted.
Kazuo's frown tightens a tiny notch, and he turns to migrate in that general direction.
Kyouko is here with Kunzite. Not because she has any particular reason to be, just because Kunzite was going and Kyouko likes to spend time with him, sometimes, even if its doing something as generally mundane as making an offering at a shrine (even when that offering is to appease an objectively real being).
Kyouko has never had much truck with shrines, probably due to her general aversion to religion as a result of her childhood, although she also doesn't have anything against them, really. She just doesn't much believe in that 'higher power' stuff- at least, not the sort of higher power that priests like to go on about.
Still, that doesn't mean she's unhappy to be here, it's just an explanation for why she seldom visits. That does make her a bit more interested in looking around, and as Kunzite does his thing, she wanders between the buildings and along the paths. She's wearing the red and black winter coat that Usagi brought her last year from paris, the hood drawn up over her shortened hair, and a pair of black jeans and boots underneath. Her hands are tucked in the pockets.
Naru brightens as she spots Jiaying and a mittened hand is lifted in a wave to the other girl. She almost loses her in the crowd, heading over in that direction to intercept. Its only once she's closer that she spots the K'team and there's a bright mittened wave for them as well. She nearly giggles as she calls over towards Kyouko. "You always have the /best/ coats."
Now that she's nearer to where Jiaying had been, she turns around to try and re-spot the other girl in the crowd.
Jiaying Maki isn't a fan of crowds, still being on the small side and the steady stream of unhappy sounding Chinese is probably a good way to find the girl. However once she's forced her way through the crowd, she's stopped smoking, having managed to dissipate the errant magic. Brushing herself off a few times, she tightens her scarf before replying, "Good morning!" while trying to find a safe place to stand. Kyouko and Kazuo are given a wave as well and then a curious look.
Head tilted to the side, she asks, "Why are you guys here?" Not an accusation, just an actual question! "Does it always get this crowded around here around this time?" She feels like she should know this, but it's met with a shrug.
"It's often this busy in December, yes. Most busy on New Year's Eve." Naru confirms for Jiaying with a little nod. "I wanted to do some drawing from further up the stairs, but got too cold just sitting still. I'll have to finish it another day." She gestures a touch, not taking her hands out of her mittens, up the steps towards the rest of the shrine. "How about you? I haven't seen you in ages, but I guess i've been a bit of a hermit too."
Jiaying Maki shrugs, "I was gone for most of October and I've been catching up on studying and making sure Sora's alright since November." She turns her head to look up towards the top of the stairs while shaking her hands a few more times. "It was rather quiet here the last few times I've come, but I was picking quiet times intentionally too. I mean... you know, time of day." She rocks back and forth on her heels and adds quickly, "I've been alright. What have you been up to?" She stops, trying to remember the last time and realizes she can't, not fully and kind of scowls.
As an almost after thought she asks, "Have you seen anything weird around here? I mean the shrine particularly? Like new wards or strange people?"
Kyouko spots Naru's bright-mittoned wave, and she smiles as well, a lopsided, one-fanged gretting. Glancing over at Kunzite, just to make sure she's aware of where he's at, she heads over to where Naru and Jiaying stand talking. "Hey, 'sup?" Is her casual hello.
Catching Jiaying's question about the reason for the visit, she shrugs her shoulders, hands still in pockets. "Nii-chan wanted to come and I wasn't doin' anything else so I decided to come with. Simple as that. I ain't really much for shrines, but it's nice here." She glances at the crowds. "Is a bit busy.. guess it's the time of year."
"Yeah, dodge here New Year's eve night, it will be a zoo." Naru advises with a nod. "How's Sora doing? I've thought of her a few times and wondered, but I've not managed to catch up with either of you to ask." She hrms softly, frowning at her own lack of follow up. "Me? Weird puella dreams.. have you been having those too?" Naru asks with a quirk of her head. "Some people are, some aren't and I haven't quite worked out if there's a difference, but yeah. Weird dreams, killer space plants with a meglomanical dude and studying for exams. So y'know, about the usual."
Naru pauses a moment, glancing around and then back to Jiaying. "Around here? Like today? Not that I've noticed. I mean, people no stranger than usual."
"Hey Kyouko." Naru greets her as she comes to join the conversation.
"This shrine in particular, or shrines in general?" Kazuo inquires of Jiaying as he approaches the group, taking up a place a little behind Kyouko. As usual, that's his version of hello.
Jiaying Maki rolls her shoulders and says, "A zoo? Li-... right nevermind." She shakes her head, mind having wandered a touch. "The shrine does have a nice air and pretty architecture. They're neat." They're also not attached to her religion, but she thinks they're probably something, what with the other fox being a thing!
To Kazuo's question she says, "The last one, I went looking for a kamaitathingy that I Was told was definitely there and, well they weren't there. Did get to help someone though! UH, but that's not the first time I've run into that you know? I Just wonder if they went into hiding maybe?"
Finally to Naru she says, "Wait, puella dreams?" Seeming completely confused before catching herself, "Sora's doing alright, she's still sleeping and resting a lot. She's not trying to light me on fire anymore though, that's a start." Beat, "She was partially frozen the other day. That was.... definitely a snowstorm."
Kyouko smiles to Naru again as the girl greets her. A glance is given back to Kazuo as he walks up, but she seems comfortable with him standing at her back, which says something in and of itself for those tho are familiar with her.
She listens with absent interest as Jiaying answers the other's questions, but without much to contribute herself, her gaze starts to wander. After a moment, she separates from the group to walk over to where fortunes are being sold, pulling a 100-yen coin out of her pocket and plunking it in the wooden box before retrieving the little pouch with the paper fortune in it.
"They /are/ pretty. I sometimes wish I was a photographer, so I could get all the pretty spots quickly, but art is slow. Worth it, but slow." Naru smiles about the pretty architecture.
"A.. kamaitathingy?" Naru hazards with a soft uhhh of puzzlement. "Good about gettin to help people, though. That's always nice." She mmms softly as she watches Kyouko wander off and then returns her attention back to Jiaying. "I'm glad Sora's not lighting you on fire anymore. That's always nice. Um. Well. Yes.. the dreams. About a puella. I think they've mostly stopped now." She pauses and then nods a little.
... kamaitathingy. From Kazuo's expression, this is not a term he's familiar with, either. "I trust you'll have pity on the nontechnical," he says in echo of Naru's puzzled noise, and with an inclination of his head to Jiaying. "Would you explain...?"
Fair is fair, though. "When Naru says 'puella dreams,' she means 'a particular magical entity was broadcasting images into some people's sleep for a month or two.' We're not presently certain why. I'm pleased to hear about the relative lack of arson. Though less so about the freezing."
He shifts a little more as he's speaking, keeping half an eye on Kyouko as she wanders.
Jiaying Maki hooks her hands and does little half slashes with them while saying, "The wind weasel things with sickles. I wanted to meet one to see if they're as bad as myths say. I mean I'm sure some of them aren't all evil right? Myths are wrong about all sorts of stuff. You should see some of the stuff we have back home to compare notes with."
She shakes her head after a moment and asks, "If you see anything weird, let me know please? I mean like uh... I guess that's a hard sell isn't it?"
Kyouko unfolds the little strip of paper. She eyes it for a moment, then cackles, tucking it into her pocket. Three more coins are produced from the other pocket and plunked into the box, and three more small paper packets are retrieved.
She humms as she walks back over to the group and holds them out in her hand. "Fortunes? I got Good Luck, so I can only assume Mako-chan is cookin' dinner tonight." She grins lopsidedly.
"Hunh. Wind weasels with sickles." Naru nods a little, as if wishing to meet one of these seems perfectly normal. It rather does, all things considered. "Myths are weird. Sometimes they're so right about every detail, and sometimes? Not even close."
Naru laughs softly and nods. "Right, so weird winds, weasels and stuff at shrines, let you know. Will do. I seem to be mostly killer plants and freaky dreams at the moment, which is the wrong flavour of weird for what you're asking about."
"Ooh, thanks Kyouko." Naru takes her mittens off to be able to pluck a folded strip of paper out of Kyouko's grip. "Well I'm not cooking dinner." She grins brightly, teasing.
"Wind... weasels." The sickles are comparatively easy to grasp. Kazuo gives a brief shrug, after. "I don't come here too often, but some people I'm acquainted with do; I'll let you know if I hear anything."
He's about to say something else to Jiaying, but then there's Kyouko, and he raises eyebrows briefly at her summary of her expectation. Then, perfectly gravely, bows Jiaying ahead and takes whichever she leaves behind. And leaves it unopened as he adds, "Lacrima seems to think you might have heard something interesting yourself. Or otherwise perceived it."
Jiaying Maki tilts her head and asks, "Heard something interesting?" While looking at the others doing the shrine charm thing. There's a moment of thought at the offered charm, then she flips it over a few times in her hands and eventually pokes it with a faintly glowing finger to see if it really is magical in a bout with curiosity. "Thanks" she offers before peeking inside.
Looking to Naru, she shrugs, "I think most myths are too muddled anymore. I mean Norie doesn't count rice if I spill it, neither my mother or I did bad things intentionally. I haven't met one of the jumping jiangshi even though I know the charm to make them stop." She pauses, "I wonder if it actually works though. Y'know, since I haven't used it." she continues with a shrug, "Just weird people at least. I doubt a kamathingchi is coming out here, even if they were friendly."
Finally back to Kazuo! "I've been trying to talk to ghosts and a few others, but they're rare around her weirdly. You'd think this place would be super haunted like some other big cities right?"
Kyouko grins as people take the charms. She doesn't put much stock in them herself, and Jiaying's probing is unlikely to find any real magic there- like most teenage Japanese kids, it's more of just a fun novelty to partake in when you do find yourself at a shrine.
She notices that Kazuo doesn't open his though, and gives him a bit of a glance, perhaps wondering if getting one for him was the wrong thing to do, though she doesn't say anything for the moment. "Well, what's it say?" She prods Naru lightly.
"It's probably a /good/ thing I'm not cooking dinner tonight." Naru laughs softly, shaking her head as she unrolls and then shows Kyouko. "Although I suppose I should be grateful for only a small curse. Perhaps I'll lose my pen while I'm studying or something. I'll go tie it off in a moment."
"Well, the whole idea of mythology is fascinating, I'm not sure they were ever expected to be literal word for word fact, even if some are surprisingly close." Naru looks between Jiaying and Kazuo. "How /is/ Lacrima doing? I haven't seen her in ages either. Man, I really do need to get out more."
"You'd think that," Kazuo agrees to Jiaying, "but in practice that means that there are also predators drawn to the area. Some benevolent, some less so. The easily located have likely already caught something's attention."
He inclines his head slightly to Kyouko's look given his way, but answers Naru instead. "I met up with her the other night - apparently she's interested in 'weird pizza' at the moment, or was then." He did not attempt to feed her any ghost pizza. Just for the record. "She seems to be keeping busy, though she mentioned she'd had a few interesting incidents lately. For instance, apparently a certain person attempted to draw her into an astral confrontation, but it didn't precisely work as expected; she said that Jiaying conversed with part of her that remained behind."
He glances toward Jiaying directly, and says, "I'd be interested in talking with you about that, if you're willing. If not, I understand."
... he's still holding the fortune. Still unopened.
"I'd offer to tie it off for you," Kyouko says to Naru, with a faint smirk, "But it don't work if you don't do it yourself. Ah, c'mon Naru, you dun really believe in this crap anyway, right?" She laughs, shaking her head, brushing a strand of red hair back off of her face under the hood she still has up.
A faint quirk of lips to the side as she shoots Kazuo another glance. "Accourse, I suppose it's always wise to hedge yer bets when it comes to this sorta stuff, given all that we know an' everythin'. Still, I've shouted enough curses at enough deities in my time that a paper fortune at a shrine hardly seems fit to doom me."
Jiaying Maki rubs the back of her head and opens hers eventually, having a neutral luck one, which means she's probably still got some bad luck going. She flips the paper to see if there's anything else connected to it, then grins and folds it carefully to place it in a pocket. Patting it a few times, she says, "Thanks." wondering if she can use that as a basis for a spell later. Anything to help!
Turning to Naru, she offers with a faint hint of humor, "Just a lost pen? That wuld be too easy right?" The question about Norie gets a bit of a shrug, "She's uh... doing about the same I think? We haven't done much lately really."
She tilts her head and asks, "Weird pizza? By your standards, my standards or hers?" She then shakes her head a bit and adds, "Talking to me about what weird things I've heard? Pick a spot maybe?"
"Astral confrontration?" Naru quirks her head, apparently not /quite/ understanding all the nuances of that statement. "Are.. bits .. supposed to stay behind? I'm guessing not, if that's a point of interest." She hunhs softly and then turns towards Kyouko.
"Hey, I'm willing to tie it off myself.. just in case. No sense avoiding doing something simple that might keep things slightly more on even keel." She grins to Jiaying and nods. "I figure if I seed the universe for small curse to be on that scale, I might get away with it. My life /has/ been fairly quiet of late."
Besides the nightmares, weird dreams, killer plants and psycho minions of witches, of course. Quiet!
"Some people can do very interesting things with a bit of paper," Kazuo says to Kyouko, solemn, and managing not to glance in Jiaying's direction as he speaks. He '"does turn her way to answer the weird-pizza question. "She found the abalone with crayfish dressing and volcano crust acceptable," he says, "but decided against the melted-chocolate-and-toasted-marshmallow. Which degree of weirdness that encompasses, I will not attempt to guess." There's a slight nod following that, but he doesn't give a further response to her invitation right now.''
He answers Naru instead. "When it was done to me, no, no stray bits. My consciousness was shifted entirely; I had no memory of what happened in the room I was physically in. Apparently it was otherwise for Lacrima." ... not answering the invitation does not mean not giving more information.
"And some people can do really interesting things with spears, but that doesn't mean you should be terrified of toothpicks." Kyouko says wryly, giving Kazuo a little poke in the arm.. then grinning and shaking her head. "Still, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. So you better tie it off before you leave. Sorry Naru-chan! I didn't mean to bring bad fortune down upon you, even if it is just losin' a pen."
She doesn't join in with any comments about Lacrima- which is probably for the best, considering her relationship with the vampire-girl consists solely of traded death-threats. This is not entirely unusual for Kyouko though, so she doesn't appear offended that the others discuss her.
Jiaying Maki taps her chin a few times while saying in response to the implication, "I use the paper as a focus. My mother does a lot of it without." She shrugs and doesn't seem too embarassed there. "That's not the worst thing I've heard of her eating at least. Some of the stuff she eats puts me off of eggs and thats' impressive I figure."
Looking to Naru, "Bits? Of people? Ghosts? Because I wonder if that's what most ghosts are usually. Sometimes more bits than less? I don't know though."
Glancing to Kyouko, she says, "If they're being weilded you have a good reason to be worried about them though, right?" Hands in her pockets finally, she huffs out, "I need to go buy gloves I think."
"Melted chocolate and toasted marshamllow pizza sounds /awesome/." Naru puts forth into the opinions on weird pizzas with a bright smile. "That'd be fun, actually. Pizza night with dessert pizzas after. Hunh." She quirks her head at Kazuo, thoughtful a moment, as if something is just almost tickling at her thoughts, but not really getting a good grip.
"I'm not terribly concerned, Kyouko." Naru turns to her and giggles softly. "Although if its Wraiths, I'm texting you first, and then /your/ good fortune comes up too."
"I.. okay.. so I think I need more definitions on 'astral' beyond like guessing from the root word when one's consciousness gets to go visit there." Naru admits after a moment, glancing between the three of them.
More definition. Kazuo glances at Jiaying. "Would you prefer we discussed these things later?" he says. "Given that you've suggested elsewhere, and that you seem to need gloves. Or do you find now acceptable after all?" Even if it's cold. And minus acceptably weird food. And plus pokes in the arm; Kazuo's hand comes up to try to catch Kyouko mid-withdrawal from that, but she has several kinds of advantage, and he gives her an amused look instead.
"I'm gonna have a hard time takin' somebody seriously who comes at me wieldin' toothpicks." Kyouko says, with a smirk. "Then again, I'd probably be mildly offended that someone would make such a half-assed attempt on my life and let them try again with a real weapon so I could at least have a little fun beatin' 'em."
She then grins to Naru. "Aww, thanks Naru-chan! You're the best. See, an' if that happens then you'd be cookin' dinner for me anyway, right? Just not the physical kind. But nourishment for the soul is just as important." Especially to a Puella.
Kyouko pulls her arm away from Kazuo before he can snag her, giving him a teasingly-superior look. Then she laughs and nudges up against his side for a moment, just to show there's no hard feelings.
Jiaying Maki holds her hands up and says, "Sounds like poison to me." Literally, she's trying to tell a joke. She's not sure if it will carry though, the chocolate pizza idea that is. Looking around left, then right, she slips a piece of paper free of her bag and murmurs, "I hope I don't get yelled at for this" as she burns a spell into the charm and cups it in her hands, murmuring, "I think this should work at least. It's warm for now either way."
To Kazuo, she shrugs and says, "Well... I'm fine with either. I'm not entirely sure which weird thing you're suggesting I've heard, lately I hear a lot of weird things." She's not trying to be obtuse! "If you mean the split Norie thing, then yeah, we should figure something out there."
Tilting her head to Kyouko and her toothpicks comment, she asks, "I bet there's some magical sort out there with super toothpicks. I just wonder if they spit them or throw them though." There's a brief shrug. "Could go somewhere warm?"
"I will keep that in mind when I'm drawing weapons. Scale is a thing, no toothpicks." Naru grins and blows a theatrical kiss to Kyouko as she calls her 'the best'.
Naru chuckles softly to Jiaying and pffts with a smile. "You don't each chocolate. Which really just says more for me. I will throw myself upon that and eat the chocolate on your behalf." She clutches the mittened hand to her chest that just recently sent a kiss off to Kyouko, as if chocolate dessert pizza is some sort of noble sacrifice on her behalf.
"I think the specific weird in question is the split Norie thing, yes." Naru nods in agreement of narrowing down the weird.
"There's a cafe not far from here that doesn't pay too much attention," Kazuo comments. "I don't know if they have anything that wouldn't sound like poison to you." ... even odds whether anyone here can tell from that that he caught Jiaying's joke. It probably helps that Kyouko snugging up against his side lets him ruffle her hair a bit, which... leaves her looking pretty much the same as she did pre-hair-ruffle.
He shares a nod between Jiaying and Naru, then. Split Norie. "If you managed a look at what's actually going on, that's more than anyone else has done. And might give us an idea of whether it's possible, in the long term, to pull her back out of this. I'd been working on the assumption that the original personality was gone, and merely being reconstructed regularly, but it sounds as if that may have been wrong."
Kyouko scowls playfully as her already-artfully-mussed hair gets further-mussed in a potentially less artful way, tugging away from Kazuo again and making a great show of re-mussing it in the correct way while the others continue to discuss. She mildly perks at the mention of a cafe, however.
Naru blows her kiss, and she pretends to catch it out of the air and chomp it, before winking at the other girl. "I've always been a 'bigger is better' kind of girl, but that's probably just the poor-girl in me demanding overcompensation for past woes."
Jiaying Maki holds her hands up and blows into them before rubbing her hands together. The charm's turned to ash in the brief amount of time. She fumbles for a moment and clenches the ashes and says, "I'll... uh, hold onto these." There's a quick shake ofh er head. "I can't eat chocolate, kinda different. I should try it one day just so I know what I'm missing."
This leads her to Kazuo's comment, "I can drink a lot of teas, a few other things too. I can probably handle it." She shrugs and holds a finger up, some ashes scattering before she catches herself, "And pastries. They're always good."
The stuff about Norie gets a nod though. "It was definitely a different personality. Uh, purification still hurt her though- so I think even if we fix the whole evil supressive side, she'll be stuck as what she is. Sort of? Maybe?"
Naru is clearly still listening. She just doesn't have a whole lot to add on the whole cafe potential and even less insight on astral anything, nor on details about Norie being split. She does wander over to the rack, only a few steps away, where she can tie her bad fortune off and, if the gods are kind and superstitions hold at all, all of her misfortune will hang out there rather than with her.
Hasn't really panned out for her so far, all things considered.
"This totally doesn't surprise me, Kyouko." Naru grins. "Extra large toothpicks for you."
As something of an afterthought, Kazuo unfolds his own fortune and regards it for a moment, then displays the good-luck mark on the paper to Kyouko. "You see?" he says. "It worked. Obviously I owe you a pastry to see you through to Makoto's cooking." Possibly of the bigger-is-better kind.
"Make sure they have olives on 'em, and I'll love you forever." Kyouko quips. "Ooh, or bacon-wrapped shrimp." She pauses, and then her eyes widen comically. "Can you draw food into existence?!"
Those still-hopefully-widened eyes turn on Kazuo. "It's supposed to be your good luck, not mine. However, if you enjoy buying delicious pastries for your lovely sister, then I suppose I can't stand against fate."