spellbinders | [DECEMBER INTRO LOG

Entry tags:

[DECEMBER INTRO LOG | WORLD TWO]

Who: All coven members, especially new folk!
Where: In and around the new world’s apartment building where the coven is staying, as well as the rest of Shehui
When: Day 160
Open/Closed: Open to All

How did you get into this building? This apartment room? What the fuck is going on? Let's refer back to this page for a semi in-depth, wow so detailed, explanation of your current situation.

Are you up to speed? Great.

Now, here's the question of the hour: what are you going to do about it?

your

New coven members showing up today are in luck. This week, Shehui is celebrating a Keep the Community Clean event. It's rare that they force jobs on people, but there has been an influx of new citizens and the population growth is leading to more trash. Fulfill your assignment and you'll be rewarded 1,000 credits. Don't? Be fined 500.

Everyone has been sent a job to their ID, be it collecting trash, cleaning their apartment building or holding up signs/handing out literature about recycling. Sweeping, bagging...it's dirty work, but someone has to do it.

not

Speaking of snow! Most businesses and buildings in Shehui have paid to have snow falling every other hour, which coats the city areas in a fine, powdery dust of snowflakes. You may be familiar with snow, or maybe you've never seen it in your entire life! It's unavoidable either way, so you're going to have to deal with it.

snow paintball

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[ Yes, he has noticed all the free drinks are being hogged by one person, but he doesn't really want to say anything except he's freezing and could go for hot chocolate to warm up himself. How does he maneuver himself to the tray without making any kind of a scene? Had he his powers, he could probably just warp-strike to the tray and away without being noticed, but he's kind of stuck at the moment.

That means, trying to engage someone who doesn't look like he wants to be engaged. Fair enough. Noctis doesn't want to talk much either. ]

Come on, you don't need that much...

[ Not the best way he could have started, and he tries his best not to look as surly as he sounds, fingers already crawling to rub at his neck sheepishly, hoping he doesn't earn any nasty stares for seemingly picking on a kid. ]

Mind passing a cup over here?

[ growing up as a parentless lawless kid in the streets of Mars didn't make up for a good upbringing, and that included having any sort of proper manners. Mikazuki figures that, if nobody is bothering him about it, then that was fine to hog the whole tray right? It was there to be drunk..

He could go for some more marshmallows though.

When Noctis approaches, Mikazuki is just going to merely look up and glance at him, his gaze clearly disinterested. If he could use both his hands he'd be holding a cup in both, but as is, the tray is balanced on his lap pretty damn protectively. ]

...

[ it's not really something any decent human beings should even take the time to consider, but that's clearly what Mikazuki is doing, shifting his gaze between the other and the tray of drinks, before giving a nod. ]

Take one if you want.

[ Is he going to make him reach for it while the tray is in his lap? Were it any of his friends, Noctis probably wouldn't think twice about the gesture, but this is a strange kid, a few years his junior. The last thing he wants is to get that up close and personal with his lap, and how is he even managing not to spill the rest of those cups anyway? That's a feat he doesn't really care to investigate at the moment as he reaches out, crosses half the distance with his arm, then lets his fingers curl inwards towards his palm and pull away. ]

Maybe you can just... hand it to me?

[ Preferably in a civil fashion and not throw it in his face. He doesn't know if the kid is the type to do that, or if Noctis has inadvertently set him off, but he doesn't like the odds here. With steam still rising from the edge of the cups, it's likely the liquid would scald the only place in his body that isn't peppered with scars or battered, and even that's a generous guesstimate, considering how many battles he'd narrowly walked away from still alive. ]

Or put the tray down first?

[ Both hands rise in a placating gesture like he's trying to tame a wild cat and not just simply ask for a cup of hot chocolate. ]

[ well, it's more like balanced to perfection on his knees, but .... same thing i suppose.

Mikazuki doesn't have any qualms about personal space or privacy; it's just not something that occurs to him that other people might actually want, since he's grown up where it was you either band together in more ways than one or die. In any case, he is going to give Noctis a Look from beneath furrowed brows, a look that plainly says 'are you kidding me right now'. Can't he even take a cup without being helped out? ]

Alright.

[ first, Mikazuki will free up his good hand by.... drinking what he had in his hand in one gulp, setting it down on the tray before reaching for another one, which he extends out to the other man. It must have been pretty hot, but from his reaction it might have been a glass of milk, really. ]

Take it.

[ It's difficult to quell the slightest niggling suspicion at the offered cup, but this kid has no reason to really do him any harm. As far as he knows, they don't know a thing about one another, and if he'd been content to drink any of the cups on his lap, then it's likely that nothing bad has been done to them. He clings to that single thought as he takes the cup, giving him a small nod in return. ]

Thanks. Anyone around here supposed to be looking after you?

[ Just how old is he anyway? Noctis can't really gauge with that face, pinpointing him as somewhere between ten and twenty years old. Thirteen maybe? Probably at least old enough to function without constant supervision.

Probably.

His eyes still can't help sweep around the immediate area, looking for anyone who might know the kid. ]

[ what do you think he'll do to you, noctis?? put roofies??? ]

[ Mikazuki's going to pick up another one himself once Noctis has taken it out of his hand, trying to get the marshmallow that's melting inside it. It's not clear if he's even heard the other's question because he doesn't give any indication as to it at first. ]

What do you mean, 'looking after'?

[ forgive him for talking with his mouth full, he hasn't got any manners.

Mikazuki wipes the foam from the corner of his mouth with a sleeve, raising an eyebrow up at the other once more. ]

[ Look here, sunny, a lot of people are trying to kill him back home.

And a part of him thinks his friend would have a field day if he ever met this kid, but personally, the lack of manners doesn't bother him at all. Rather, he's been known to exhibit some of the same rebellious behavior against all those courtly mannerisms that everyone tried so hard to instill him, so he can't exactly blame him at all.

At his question, his eyes give the room another look-around before he gestures to its empty state -save for the two of them- with his finger. ]

You know an adult... parent, babysitter. Or did they just grab you alone for the whole coven thing?

[ If so, he's beginning to question the nature of this coven completely if they keep abducting kids for little to no reason -which is honestly not the first time he's considered whether or not they pluck people out of their worlds randomly instead of through careful deliberation as to who would actually be a decent fit for all they're demanding of them. ]

[ hey, nbd, everyone's trying to kill everyone these days...

Mikazuki turns his head slightly to scan the rest of the room, following the sweep of the other's gesture. He still looks a little quizzical, like he doesn't quite get what and why he's even asking him any of this. Is that important? ]

I don't have any.

[ short and succinct, like he thinks it's completely ordinary (it is), and that he's taken here alone (true). Sure, there were other people here that he recognised, like Chocolate and the other people from the Gjallarhorn, but...

Mikazuki takes another cup in his hand. ]

I'm not a baby.

[ like that's convincing right now. ]

Says the guy who drank three cups of hot chocolate.

[ Or was it more... he doesn't know how many were on the tray to begin with, but that doesn't seem like a thing a responsible adult would do. He's trying not to judge him, but yeah, he's being a little judge-y.

That still doesn't solve the initial problem of having no one to keep an eye on the kid and him being a very unwilling babysitter. ]

No siblings either? Or guardians?

[ It's not like he has any himself, but he's got a few years on the kid. Maybe. It could very well be that this is a very short thirty year old he's talking to. In which case, he's going to feel really stupid. ]

[ oh, definitely more than three, for sure.

and just because he doesn't act like a responsible adult doesn't mean he's someone who needs looking after, nor a baby. Why was he so obsessed with asking him all these, anyway? Mikazuki will just give the other a slow, careful look back, probably just as quietly judge-y as the look that noctis is giving him. ]

I've never had this before. It's good.

[ Siblings. It seems so long ago now that kudelia had said something similar to him about Orga, that the two of them seemed like brothers. But it's something much more than that. Orga is more than a brother. He's the one to whom Mika technically owes his life to, or that's how he feels about it, at least. ]

No.

[ it occurs to Mika that perhaps this guy might have an entirely wrong assumption about him... People tended to do that, strangers, but it's been a long time since he's had to directly deal with it. It's been a while since he wasn't recognised by the monicker and the familiar presence of Barbatos, the insignia of Tekkadan on his person. ]

How old do you think I am?

[ Uh-oh. Something tells him there's no right answer to this question, and Noctis awkwardly draws his free hand through the back of his hair while he buys a little time by slowly sipping at his hot chocolate. It's not like the guy's age was immediately decipherable between those sullen eyes that look like they've seen plenty (too much even) and the kid's small frame.

Just when he's 'sipped' about most of the cup down, he finally answers- ]

Uhh...fifteen?

[ Because the kid does look about Iris' age, maybe give or take a year. She'd also be really excited about hot chocolate and snacks. ]

There's no way you're older than I am.

[ Which makes him feel somewhat responsible for the kid, at least until he can find someone to look after him full-time, though it's not like he hadn't lived on his own at fifteen -albeit still under regular supervision and someone constantly nagging at him to clean up after himself. ]

[ Oh.... Noctis, don't go around feeling Responsible for any younger kids...

Mikazuki waits patiently for the other to answer, polishing off another two cups of the frothy sweet drink while doing so. Somebody stop this child before he eats this cafe out of business, please. When the answer (guess) finally comes, he breathes out a short huff of laughter, a quiet sound that barely meets the mark of one. That was pretty close. ]

How old are you, then?

[ He makes a show of skimming his gaze over the other again, popping another handful of marshmallows into his mouth. ]

You don't need to worry about me, you know. I can take care of myself.

[ It's difficult not to get a little defensive about that as Noctis likes to think he looks his age. His shoulders straighten almost immediately, trying to make himself appear just a bit taller, more mature. ]

Twenty. How old did you think I look?

[ Only one of them here is pigging out on marshmallows, and it ain't him. Noctis has at least enough class to do that in the privacy of his bedroom. Though he can't help but feel a little envious at the kid -maybe not so much at the stomach ache he's probably going to have later, which prompts Noctis to move the tray away. ]

I think you're one more cup away from bursting open. Take it easy, kid.

[ mikazuki has never tried to make himself appear more than he was; it's not in his nature to do so, to be deceptive (in a way) or to impress others (selectively, if at all). they were always so surprised, then, to find that this child was known as the devil of Tekkadan, the one who tore through others like nothing — but then, he had a goal, a promise to keep.

He gives Noctis another scrutinising look, and reaches out to grab for the other's wrist when he moves to put the tray out of his reach; hand too big for such a small frame, and even though he doesn't grip hard, there's noticeable strength in it. ]

You aren't much older than Orga.

[ he continues calmly like nothing out of the ordinary is happened, like he isn't holding onto the other's wrist. ]

I'm seventeen. You don't need to treat me like a child.

[ Noctis can feel the grip acutely enough, his eyes darting between his own wrist and the kid's eyes, noticing that look again -the one that indicates he's seen far more than anyone his age probably has. Those are still the eyes of someone harrowed and tired, who's had to slog to the end of the world and back.

It's incongruent to his childish petulance which reminds Noctis so much of himself -words he'd have uttered to his own friends not too long ago, but the difference is that he doesn't feel as though he's seen everything there is to see yet. He knows he's still naive in a lot of ways, still raw and inexperienced.

It's what ultimately makes Noctis crack a small, amused smile as he shakes his own wrist loose and leaves the tray. ]

Got it, got it. You can watch over yourself. Still swiping a second one for myself, though.

[ And with that, he snatches the cup, showing the kid's not the only one with lightning fast reflexes here. ]

Got a name, seventeen year old?

[ Harrowed and tired, but not giving up just yet. Seen too much, but not yet. They still haven't found the place where they belonged. No magic words to stop him in his tracks. There is a little bit of the petulance, still, a flash of annoyance, but they are all momentary things. Even with one eye blinded, sightless though it would be hard to tell, the clear blue of his gaze more than makes up for it.

The corner of his mouth twitches slightly, a maybe-smile, and Mikazuki lets the other snatch a second cup, saying no protest. He isn't that greedy to deny some sharing. ]

Mikazuki Augus.

[ The cup is risen in a mock-toasting gesture before Noctis takes a sip. He waits to swallow before returning with- ]

Noctis.

[ He'll give him that much, though he's sure the rest of his name is floating around since the witches have decided nothing is meant to be concealed. How long before everyone finds out the rest? Does it even matter here? He's wrestled with the thought so many times, knowing his title, his name, his bloodline, it might not matter anymore -but that scares him more than he'd like to admit.

Maybe because it offers an escape, the way out he's been dreaming of for years, but he doesn't want to take it if it means more people will die.

Bleak thoughts left for another time, another day. A feigned expression replaces his bemused one. ]

You're not so bad after all.

[ Maybe because they have something shared, some unspoken understanding between them. Maybe because Noctis just has a soft spot around kids. ]

If you ever get tired of drinking this place out of hot chocolate, there's an arcade a few blocks away.

You're not so bad either.

[ things like titles have never really meant anything to mikazuki. They are just that, titles and monikers; things given by others either willingly or otherwise, meaningless unless you want them to.

The devil of Tekkadan — is it meant to be an insult or a praise? it doesn't mean anything to him, but it keeps them from snapping at their heels too much, letting the lesser bold ones scatter in front of them. It makes things easier, and that's as far as mikazuki thinks of it. ]

What's an arcade?

[ ...right. He forgets there are people who apparently inhabit all sorts of backwards dimensions without cell phones or video games apparently. Still, he can't help but feel his eyes nearly bulge out of the rest of his face, wondering if this kid is being serious right now. ]

You don't know what an arcade is?

[ He can't keep the incredulity out of his voice because this kid doesn't know what he's missing out on at all. How has he lived for seventeen years like this? Noctis needs to fix this.

He deserves at least some minuscule amount of joy in his life. ]

Tell me I didn't just hear that. It's a place with lots of game machines, pinball machines, air hockey, first-person shooters, fighting games, flight simulators.

You did just hear that.

[ is he being serious right now, or just pulling Noctis' leg a little bit? It would be hard to tell with the impassive expression on Mikazuki's face, barely blinking an eye at the show of incredulous surprise on part of the other - someone teach him poker, he'd wipe the floor with his skills.

he continues to sip at his drink passively, listening to Noctis list out the Joys of Arcades. Things like simulators, he's familiar with -- but not in a context of it being some kind of a game. It's always been training for them, a part of their daily life at CGS in the earlier days, then same still in Tekkadan, used more for the purpose of education and necessary survival rather than for any kind of entertainment.

What a curious place, this is. ]

If you're done, we can go.

[ Hell yeah, they're going. This kid doesn't know what he's missing, and Noctis is here to Enlighten him. Or at least kill the next couple of hours trying to get the top score on the latest fighting game release. This kid also needs to learn the joy of avoiding responsibilities.

He quickly downs the rest of the hot chocolate then tosses his paper cup into the trash before beckoning the kid to follow. ]

You're going to thank me after this. They got food there, too. Might as well get something else to live off that isn't hot chocolate.

[ While he shouldn't feel responsible for him after being told off, he still is just a teensy bit worried what several cups of hot chocolate is going to do to his stomach. ]

I'll show you my favorite bass fishing game too. You'll get hooked.

[ Cheesy grin, of course, because that was a damn good pun. ]

[ He wants to eat more??? Wow, what a guy... Not that Mikazuki can say anything, since his stomach is apparently composed of a black hole instead of normal human organ. He could probably eat anything that Noctis could throw at him and be fine. ]

Alright.

[ Mikazuki stops long enough to finally relinquish the free drinks platter (which is then immediately whisked away by the shop attendant, who was hovering around in the vicinity), and gets to his feet. If he thought that Mikazuki was young, it would be even worse to find that he comes to barely over five feet tall standing up in boots. It's not an uncommon mistake to make...

The fishing pun, unfortunately, doesn't get Noctis any visible reactions apart from slow, careful blinking by Mikazuki, as he waits for the other to direct them to this 'arcade'. ]

[ Noctis still has his doubts about whether or not the kid was lying about his age especially when he stands up and barely comes up to his own chin, but you're never too young or old to enjoy the arcade. Might as well enlighten him on the finer points of living while he's here, especially when the next world could be a total dump by comparison.

He motions to Mikazuki to keep following, leading him down the street with the edge of someone who clearly knows what he's talking about for once. Mikazuki better thank him for this later -or at least look less grouchy, though he can sympathize, having been pretty surly himself at that age. Occasionally, he still is sometimes, mostly when anyone tries to wake him up before noon.

Maybe he might spill about whatever his deal is -maybe not. Noctis won't force it out of him, but whatever happened to him, he looks like he could use an escape. ]

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[DECEMBER INTRO LOG | WORLD TWO]

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we can FTB here. he'll teach Mikazuki how to have fun and play videogames