songerein | [Open] Snowflakes

▶ COLORS FLYING HIGH

So choose a color to live by

All the pieces were in place. Furniture was ready to be moved, food and hot drinks had been acquired for the bribing, and irresponsible quantities of black paint had been acquired, along with slightly more reasonable amounts of red and white.

The only question that remained, was... who would actually show up?

'I hate my room, help me fuck it up' was probably not an amazing selling point, nor was the offer of tea and soup brought home from Wild Harvest, in his opinion, particularly enticing either... but then, all he really needed help with was getting the damn furniture out. And back in.

Everything else he could do by himself, it would just be a bitch and three halves to do alone- but he'd do it, even if out of spite. It would just take longer. And there was snow in the forecast.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting for someone- anyone, really, to show up and be helpful.

▶ PUNCH OUCH

A little bit of recreational violence

Someone, inadvisably, had given Goro Akechi a weapon. On the plus side, it was only a comically oversized candy cane, there was a referee, and a number of witnesses in the form of a crowd.

On the downside, this was a competition. And the savage grin across his face as he sized up his next opponent was, perhaps, an indication that the Spirit of Festive Joy had been rather beaten to the punch by the Poltergeist of Just Barely Not Caving a Man's Skull In With a Plastic Tube. He'd already been issued two replacements, and been issued a warning for language used while trash talking.

And yet, at least a few people in the crowd loved it, which only seemed to encourage him further.

...

Yes- somewhat alarmingly, to those watching who knew him- this was, in fact, Goro Akechi having fun.

▶ CROSSOVER

Eight million tons of white bullshit

'Snow in the forecast', it turned out, was a gross underexaggeration. Every single day was heaping more and more white upon the landscape, and for someone who'd grown up in Tokyo, which maybe saw an inch or two once or twice a year, this was nothing short of intolerable.

As the month progressed, he could be found in a number of places- quietly seething in the line at Dreambucks while snowflakes melted off his coat, angrily digging himself something resembling a footpath to the main road from his door, or perhaps for the very fortunate viewer, sinking up to his waist in an unseen snowdrift with a string of expletives that, no doubt, had concerned parents ferrying children away with dirty looks.

What the hey. Whether he meant it literally or figuratively, she wouldn't mind lending a hand. It wasn't long before there's a knock on the door, and answering it would reveal the diminutive imp who had taken a moment to cup her mouth and blow a bit of warmth into her mittens and was just finishing up.

"Hi! I'm here to fuck up a room!"

Well, that was one surprise. "I almost didn't expect anyone to come. I appreciate it, Millie."

He looked around at the... frankly sterile room. There wasn't even really anything worth noting, save the lone, mournful pyro jack doll, carelessly tossed onto a shelf and abandoned thereafter. "The plan, more or less, is to move what little shit I had outside so paint doesn't get on it. That's the bit I need help with the most because... honestly, fuck that."

"Okiedoke!" She cracked her knuckles and made a forward march. All the while she was sizing up what was arranged in here. Oh, but that little pumpkin guy was cute!

She stooped before a loveseat and bent her knees. When she stood upright again, she had the furniture neatly propped over her head.

"So, right outside, then?"

Akechi paused, staring for a moment. Then a shrug, and he went to pick up a box which had been somewhat-carelessly filled with dishes and toiletries.

"Preferably under the tree itself in case it rains or snows early, but yes. Will you need a hand with that, or does the half-pint Valkyrie have it covered?"

Edited 2022-12-10 20:00 (UTC)

Millie laughed. "That's a new one! Yeah, I got it covered."

She moved for the door and hopped 90 degrees to side-step and neatly move through the door with the furniture in tow. The imp heaved it high and she hopped down like a dart to catch it before it reached the ground.

After, she climbed right back up and even put a flourish on her flip over the railing.

"Done! Whatever I'm stowin' under the tree, bump it into the middle. I got the big stuff, so don't worry about movin' any of that."

"And yet, I don't think anyone would argue the point." Out the door, down the stairs, onto the sofa and push it in. "Though Hel is traditionally associated with those who died of illness or cowardice, and not just whoever Odin didn't particularly like at the time."

Lady was used to the cold. She had dealt with frost demons, but sustained snow was not something she liked. She sighed and rubbed her hands together as she walked. She really needed to get her act together and find a long term place to stay.

She was dragged out of her thoughts when she heard a long string of expletives from a familiar voice. Glancing around she noticed Akechi and shook her head a bit.

"Lemme help you," she said, offering a hand to help pull him out of the snow. She was a lot stronger than she appeared to be.

It was probably his own fault, really. Stepping off the road had not brought him to what he'd assumed was level ground covered in hard-packed snow- but a ditch. With predictable results.

At the very least, he wasn't too proud to accept the help for what it was- and grabbed hold. "Dammit. Thank you. Apparently, there's a drainage ditch on this side of the path."

It didn't take too much effort to pull him out of the snow. Once he was out, she gave him a small smile.

"Are you all right? Besides being cold that is," she asked. Just because he seemed to be ok didn't mean that he wasn't injured. Falling in snow could be rather dangerous.

With some effort, he righted himself, working in vain to dust snow off his legs. "I'm soaked and I'm freezing my ass off, but otherwise fine. I'm not used to seeing this much snow in one place."

"Neither am I," she was lucky that she hadn't frozen her ass off just yet.

"Do you live nearby? You could get sick if you're in those clothes out here for too long," Lady usually wasn't one for telling anyone but Dante what to do, but hr seemed to care about this kid so she would keep an eye on him.

He snorted. "I'll be fine. I had things to do today- it'll be uncomfortable, but I can deal with it."

What seems to be the trouble this time? Are you merely looking for a change of aesthetic, or are you continuing to use destroying things as a convenient coping mechanism?

[Yes, that all-too-familiar and chronically exhausted voice.]

[Emet-Selch's sharp eyes scan the scene - taking stock of the situation -- furniture (easily managed), and a ghastly amount of paint. Unless Akechi is hiding a mansion somewhere, he thinks it will take weeks alone for it all to dry. But rather than lifting a finger to help, he instead pours himself a glass of hot tea first - anything at all to chase off the damnable chill that has begun to permeate the air. This may not be anywhere near as frigid as he's become accustomed to over the years, but that does not mean he has to like it.]

Unless I'm mistaken and this is meant to be a social activity?

Color Goro Akechi genuinely surprised. Emet-Selch?

He did try not to let it show too much, though. "While there's a lot of catharsis to be found in breaking things, I probably wouldn't be inviting other people over to my place for that. Certain other people, were they here? Probably. But no, the one thing that I can't handle by myself would be getting the furniture out. You're welcome to stay past that and help me make interior design decisions I'm probably going to regret later, but you're by no means obligated."

[Surprise, surprise. Look, he was bored. And had nothing better to do with his time at the moment. Such things tend to happen when you shift your focus from planning the next calamity to indulging in a brief moment of personal happiness. Though Emet-Selch is no more or less pleasant than when he first arrived, something about him seems to have mellowed out slightly.]

[A sip of tea, and then:]

Is that all? Moving furniture? You might have been more specific in your message.

[A pause as he sets his cup down.]

And you would save the only interesting part for last. Fine, then. Where do you need this furniture moved to?

Edited 2022-12-13 18:42 (UTC)

"In my defense, it's not as though I have any experience with anything like this," he gestured vaguely at the room around him. "I don't know what the proper protocol is, and honestly I didn't expect anyone to willingly show up, even with explicit bribery. That said, thank you for your help."

He carefully selected a croissant from the bag on the counter. "Just outside, preferably underneath the tree since there's supposed to be snow in the forecast and while I hope to be done before then, things rarely go the way I plan."

Hythlodaeus is busy taste-testing some new concoction for Madhuri and I just so happened to be in the area with little better to do.

['Tis the man's story and he is sticking to it. Though, truthfully there's any number of other things he could be doing if he wished, whether it be related to magical and technological advancements within the city or simply sitting in on a script reading at the theatre for a worry-free afternoon.]

[He frowns at the tree through the window.]

If you've realized that, you're already one step ahead of most. Moving all of this is the easy part, though I cannot guarantee the furniture will remain dry. Should it begin snowing again, even tucked away beneath a tree, you will only be one rambunctious nutkin away from finding a snowdrift in your bed.

Akechi snorted. "Well, it's a lesson that's taken a lot of beating in. Dare I ask what a nutkin is?"

Mm. Croissant. As it turned out? Baked goods were excellent motivation.
"Either way, nothing a few hours with a heating crystal can't fix. Paint, on the other hand, is much harder to remove, and I'm expecting it to get everywhere." Shall we?"

Thancred could also be found around town in the snow, but having an easier time of it than Akechi. Between Ishgard and Garlemald, this wasn't much in comparison to those places. He'd been around, doing some shoveling to help people out, and now found himself at the Dreambucks getting something to warm himself up.

And it seemed a familiar face was there with the same idea.

"Hey, kid. You doing ok out there in this?"

Kid? Ugh.

"Freezing my ass off. Not having heat, I'm used to, but Tokyo very rarely gets this cold and never gets this much snow."

Akechi, you could be his child. Therefore, you have to live with 'kid' once in a while.

"Well then, let's get some drinks and you can tell me what was going on with that message about fucking up your living area. Along with staying warm."

Akechi blinked. What?

"I... suppose. The message was just because I felt like painting it and I didn't much care how the end product looked, that's all. As for the lack of heat, Tokyo doesn't get very cold in the winter and most buildings don't have central heating or air conditioning. It's nothing to be concerned about."

He hadn't had access to space heaters or anything else, either, but he wasn't about to get into his life story."

Thancred placed his order while listening to Akechi. He pauses for a moment, his face looking a bit confused.

"So, no fires? And I have to ask... Central heating and air conditioning? We don't have that in Eorzea."

Eorzea? Same as Madhuri and Emet-Selch? Really, now. Well, that was just a mental readjustment. "Air ducts that run throughout a home. The air is heated or cooled by a device in one location and then pumped through vents into all the rooms at once, keeping temperature stable. Nobody really uses fire for heating anymore unless their house is very old and doesn't have power- chai latte, thank you-"

He stepped back, leaning against a pillar. "-but there's certainly some homes still dependent on wood or oil-burning heaters, I suppose. I've never lived in one."

Yup, exact same. Just... don't mention Emet-Selch to him much. Bad memories.

"I see. That definitely isn't something we have back at home. We rely on fireplaces and opening windows during the different seasons. What you're describing sounds much better then relying on the will of the weather."

He grabs his drink and thanks the barista as he does so.

"I'm assuming then, you aren't a fan of the snow, considering your home doesn't get that much of it?"

"There's tradeoffs, I suppose. It takes a lot of infrastructure to maintain the power requirements, and the people supplying the power may be killing the planet." He shrugged. "But no, I'm not a fan of the cold in general."

He took his own drink, sipping quietly for a moment. Mm. "Japan isn't quite tropical, but it's close. Heating and cooling like that is seen as a 'luxury' item, and winters weren't usually very pleasant, so I'm afraid I don't take to the cold very well."

"Hmmm. Eorzea has a bit of everything. From Ishgard, which suffers from a permanent winter due to the calamity, to Ul'dah, which is a desert city. So if you don't like one area, you can move to another."

He pauses for a moment to take a drink.

"I lived in an ocean town, then the desert for a while... I can deal with the cold, but it's not my favorite."

Ask him about how much he just LOVED Garlemald.

"Calamity? That sounds ominous. Neither Madhuri nor Emet-Selch saw fit to mention it."

Oops.

He chuckles though.

"The one I speak of was the Seventh Umbral... It's a bit of Eorzean history and a bit of a long story. If you want to hear a history lesson."

Akechi considered. "You know, I don't have anywhere to be. Let's find a table, and I'll join you for a history lesson, sensei." Just the ghost of a smirk, there, a little joke. "Hopefully I haven't become that much worse of a student since... Technically December, but I also skipped six months coming here somehow, so who's counting?"

"My specialty was less history and more espionage, but I think I can teach that lesson easily. I was alive for this one."

He walks over to a nearby table, before unstrapping his gunblade and setting it on a spare chair, sitting down next to it.

"And before you ask, no, I'm not that old." He thinks for a moment to give Akechi time to sit down and get comfortable. "Do you want the long or short version?"

Something to consider, surely. "I don't have anywhere to be," he decided, after a moment. "I'll admit I'm fascinated by the idea of worlds apart from my own, but I haven't exactly pried too deeply, before."

"Well then, another world's history lesson won't hurt things." He thinks for a moment of where to start before talking, starting with a bit of pre-calamity history before talking about the calamity itself. It's going to take a bit, and he hopes they both have enough coffee for it.

"If you want more of the history of Garlemald... well, ask Emet-Selch. That's his territory, not mine." He pauses to take a drink. "The calamity caused some major issues for a lot of Eorzea, in the end."

[Open] Snowflakes

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Colors Flying High

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All the white bullshit

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Colors Flying High (Just a Visit from an Old Teacher)

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White Bullshit

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