[DECEMBER INTRO LOG | WORLD TWO]

[spellbindmods]

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? A ▢ Unlike the other coven members, the newbies are coming into the apartment building with non-empty apartment rooms. Depending on how polite or cautious you are, your first instinct may be to find your apartment and knock on the door. But it is your apartment now, too, and you do have an ID card that'll get you in. What horrible calamity will you walk in on? What eccentric roommates will you happen upon? The wacky situational comedy scenarios are ENDLESS. B ▢ One of the jobs on the job board this week is fundraising -- neat, right? Before you even make it up to your apartment, you may be accosted by an excited citizen -- coven member or no -- that is trying to push something onto your character. Chocolate bars? Cheese logs? Cookie dough? Some other luxury item or overpriced snack food? Because this fundraising task is based on commission, the citizen in question may be a bit pushy...or you may be inclined to buy ridiculous amounts of goods and not know what to do with yourself.

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. C ▢ Cleaning up trash on the street might be hard, but it's fulfilling! Okay, that's a lie. It's demeaning and a lot of citizens don't really care about the minimal littering credit deduction as they toss trash from their cars or miss throwing it into bins. Volunteers are outfitted with gloves, vests and a roll of trash bags, but it doesn't prevent them from being rudely splashed with snow or having to pick up nasty things. Have fun! D ▢ For those who decided to pass out literature, you did pick the better job! It's a lot easier to avoid getting nasty, but it's also awkward...having to hand out fliers, be cheerful, regurgitate boring facts about recycling. Please sir, stop and listen to this exciting speech about why should put your cans in the red bins, not the blue ones! E ▢ There is a bright side to these jobs: local businesses are getting in on the outpouring of people out and about to try and get them into seats and buying things. Free samples are abound! There's a local coffee shop, Mooncents, that is handing out free small drinks to anyone who is actually working today. Come inside, regardless if you "volunteer" or not. It's warm inside with all that snow out there...

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. F ▢ Children in Shehui are usually in a school building somewhere, but snow days call for some leniency. School is pretty come-and-go anyway, so don't be surprised that there are quite a few kidlets out and about on the streets. They're also fully into the spirit of snow, throwing snowballs at unsuspecting strangers. Will you get in on the action, or will you plan the murder of innocent children today? G ▢ While it's unadvised to just go lay out in the street and make snow angels, there are plenty of parks in which to examine or play in the snow. You won't be the only one acting like a fool -- it's Shehui. You're allowed to live a little! H ▢ Finally, Coins! has bought the most snow as a means for their seasonal activity -- snow paintball. If you're looking to have a good time and enjoy Shehui for what it is, you'd best be inclined to sign up. A massive field with snowbanks and excellent areas for hiding, snowball paintballs that hurt twice as much as usual. What more could you ask for? I ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[fixdown]

Uh, yeah... Looks like it. [He scratches at the back of his neck a bit awkwardly, still kind of embarrassed that he just sort of barged in without warning. He appreciates that Mikazuki doesn't seem too bothered by it, though.] My name's Josuke Higashikata. I'm from Morioh, in S City, in Japan.

[He's not sure if he has to say all that, but he's not really sure how you go about greeting people potentially from other worlds?! This is weird. Still, he's as polite as ever, bowing as he introduces himself.]

It's nice to meet you!

[deusex]

[ during Josuke's fidgeting and general awkwardness Mikazuki continues to stand there and watch him without speaking, waiting patiently for him to finish. He doesn't give out an air that he's annoyed or impatient, really - it's kind of a bit creepy, maybe. ]

Mikazuki Augus.

[ simple and succinct, but Mikazuki pauses a little bit after saying his name... What else does he have to say? ]

Tekkadan, from Mars.

[fixdown]

Mars? Like, the planet?

[Bro... Less awkwardness now and more awe. Honestly, the idea that there are people here from other worlds is kind of wild, but somehow, he doesn't have any problem believing that this kid is from where he says he is. Maybe it's because he's already met someone from another planet before (p... probably??), but it's not just easy to believe, it sounds kind of awesome?!]

[deusex]

[ in the age of interplanetary travel and colonies in outer space, Mika's taken to the idea of people coming from different places pretty well, even though he doesn't really understand it. ]

Yeah.

[ he is just going to casually reach into the sling and pull out a date to munch on. sorry, he hasn't got any manners to offer him some!!!!! ]

Where is 'Japan'?

[fixdown]

[It's okay... Josuke doesn't even think about it. In fact, he'd just feel like he was troubling him if he offered! So it works out for the best—]

It's on Earth. I've never been to another planet before... But I guess this is kinda like that, maybe.

[Did that mean they were aliens now... B r o.]

josuke is too cute I can't handle this.....

[deusex]

[ they are aliens, my grasshopper... ]

On Earth, huh...

[ he doesn't remember hearing about anywhere called Japan, but mikazuki's has never been much of a person for keeping that sort of information around in his head. ]

It's a good place, I guess.

asdfkj I'M SO GLAD... These two are already my fav, tbh.

[fixdown]

I think so, too. I mean, I guess I don't really have anywhere else to compare it to... But it's where my friends are, so I can't complain.

[Besides, he probably wasn't going to be visiting entirely different planets back home, so maybe it was hard to compare at all.]

It'd be pretty cool to see other worlds, though. I wonder what kinds of places we'll visit.

IM SO GLAD!!!! i love them so much

[deusex]

[ Where his friends are ...

Mika stares a little, the corner of his mouth turning down slightly into an almost-frown. ]

I don't care where we go. I need to get back.

protect them... ;_;!!

[fixdown]

W-well, yeah. We can't be stuck doing this forever. I bet everybody we know would be worried about us.

[At least, he assumes that's the case for Mikazuki, too, because why else be so concerned about going back?]

But it's not like we can leave right this minute, so...

[If they're stuck, he didn't think there was any harm in enjoying it while it lasts. But now he kind of feels bad?! Because he thinks he can understand where Mika's coming from. So he lets the thought trail off, keeping the rest to himself.]

HOLDS ONTO THEM FOR DEAR LIFE

[deusex]

[ it's not that they would be worried about him. It's more the other way around, in Mikazuki's case. But he isn't about to say anything along that line to a complete stranger — well, a complete stranger now roommate. ]

Mm. We can't.

[ But they had said something about it being possible, as long as they're helping out with what's required. Mikazuki will find out soon enough — he can't be gone for long. He needs to be there to protect them. So for now, all he can do is just do what's required.

First things first. Mikazuki turns his gaze to the doors presumably leading to their rooms. There are labels on each door indicating who it is for... I don't know, I'm just making this up as I go.

A slight, slight frown starts to develop on Mikazuki's normally placid expression. It always took him too long to figure out how to read these characters... ]

[fixdown]

[Josuke decides to take the fact that Mikazuki's attention has gone elsewhere as something of an opening (and he shall seize it, lest he accidentally make things awkward or something—). He doesn't immediately notice that Mikazuki seems to be a bit troubled, but the fact that he looks but doesn't particularly say anything makes Josuke wonder if something's up.]

Uh, is something on your mind?

[Maybe he's curious about the other person staying in their room? Because that'd make sense, he thinks.]

[deusex]

[ mikazuki's attention swerves back to the other, and he gives a little shrug like it's not that big a deal — and it isn't, really. ]

No.

Which one's mine?

[fixdown]

[Oh... Huh. That explains it. That wasn't quite what he expected, but Mikazuki is so nonchalant about it that Josuke isn't overtly surprised or anything.]

Oh. It's this one. [He points to his name.] Here's mine, and this one is Ms. Camilla's.

[And he points out theirs, too.]

Have you never seen it before?

[Maybe it's kind of rude to ask, but he's curious.]

[deusex]

I've seen it before.

[ like that ... explains anything, really. the truth is, he's very black and white in his interests and the things he puts time and effort in, like it's a precious commodity that will be used up too quickly. He's always been this way — most of his reactions seem curiously muted, a shade or two away from the real thing, distant like he's somewhere miles away already.

maybe it's baseless prejudice but he doesn't very much like the look of the characters either, anyway. Figuring out his name in print was always a hassle, even when he was actively practising how to write.

but Mikazuki doesn't really elaborate any further on the point. ]

It just takes too long.

[fixdown]

No kidding, right? It's so much easier to just say it.

[He doesn't... really get it, he thinks. It's obvious there's more going on here than he realizes, but it doesn't feel appropriate to pry too much. Still, he can't disagree that names can be needlessly difficult to read sometimes, so he just rolls with that.]

Well, as long as you can remember which room to go to, it should be fine. Since you'll see it every time you come back, maybe you'll get used to it.

[deusex]

[ HOW IS JOSUKE SO GOOD. WHAT A GOOD BOY. ]

Yeah.

[ he doesn't know how long they will stay in this city for - they haven't really said anything about it, and Mikazuki assumes that they will go back to the island when they are done with doing whatever Qri and her two servants want them to accomplish...

Maybe a month, maybe more. It's hard, when he doesn't even really know what it is that she wants. ]

Thanks.

[fixdown]

[TOO GOOD, TOO PURE FOR THIS WORLD... I can't believe they're best friends now, tbh.]

Hey, man, no problem. I got your back.

[Maybe they'd only just met, but he had no reason not to. They were both stuck in a really weird situation that they didn't want to be in—it just made sense to do what they could to help each other out. (And, honestly, Josuke felt much more inclined to help somebody like Mikazuki over the ones responsible for bringing them here.) It was a good idea for them to stick together, he thought.]

Have you been outside yet?

[deusex]

Yeah, I have.

[ maybe it's got something to do with the intuition that Mikazuki has about people, that intrinsic sense that he seems to notice everything and anything about them, but he doesn't think that Josuke is any dangerous or mean anything more than what he says. It's nice and easy and simple, which suits Mikazuki just fine -- he means what he says too, without any shred of doubt or hesitation. ]

It's snowing.

[ they had said that this snow, it's specially paid for by someone. How strange, to find out that this world is, in some ways, completely different to Earth still with all its soft, generous abundancy. The inertia that stems from having everything one could want. ]