[semi-open]

[windsongs]

WHO: Hibiki and assorted
WHERE: Various places around Stygia and the Shadowlands
WHEN: The first half of November
WHAT: General catch-all post
WARNINGS: Drunkenness and depression, and some really, really bad movies. Will add more warnings as needed

Open starters coming soon! If you would like to plan a thing, feel free to message me over Discord (Pearl#7619), Plurk (impearls) or by PMing this journal!

Comments

@zangetsu

[windsongs]

[ Surprisingly enough, despite working at any other number of places, somehow movie theater attendant doesn’t make the list. But a job is a job, and the idea of having to go through a bunch of old film cans (see: her expectation of what this will be) looking for some old classics sounds fun! It’s like one part archeologist, and another part… movie theater attendant. But it sounds interesting! Horror isn’t really her thing, but she can find a couple of supposedly well-known films, right?

Right? ]

Uuuuugh, is this guy actually a film collector or a film hoarder? Seriously, at least label the files or something… How’s it going over there, Kurosaki-kun?

[ Calling from the other side of the projector room, sitting cross-legged amongst two piles of USB drives, Hibiki connects another to her phone, waiting for it to boot up. This wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t take at least a few minutes to get to a movie title on each one of these, but at this rate they’ll be at it for days. No wonder this guy doesn’t want to look for it himself.

Holding her phone up and scowling at it, as if her clear displeasure will make it load faster. She already assumes that it won’t be any of the ones they’re looking for, so she’s only half paying attention as the video starts. Come on already, show her the name card– ]

…Whoa, wait, really? He’s got the Super Force Nova Five movie?! No way!

[ What the hell even is that, Hibiki? ]

@heavenstorm

[windsongs]

Hey Cedrik, where do you want this?

[ The moment the Viera told her what he had in mind, Hibiki was all too eager to volunteer to help get things settled, even if that included picking up the first few supply orders for the establishment. Bracing the door with her back, the small blonde, carrying two large, wooden crates, peers her head in to see where the proprietor had gotten off to? With no immediate answer that she can hear, she backs inside, letting the door thud closed behind her. It doesn’t take long for her eyes to adjust to the lights, and as she slowly walks toward the counter and sets down the supplies, she lets out a long sigh. ]

Pretty sure they packed this thing to the brim, so you should be good for a while. Hopefully we can work out a better deal with the other Restless around here for supplies once this place is established.

[ Do enough good work for people and they are bound to pay that kindness back in ways other than coin. ]

Still, this place is really nice. How’d you manage to snag such a good location? I might need to pick your brain.

@dodgeouttahell

[windsongs]

[ How does the old saying go–be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home? And as someone who hasn’t felt like she’s had that in years, the storage space that she’s renting from one of the marketplace shops… well, it doesn’t feel like that either, but outside of her Door, it’s the only place that feels remotely hers. A former attic storeroom that some enterprising shopkeeper realized they could capitalize on, the flat was one of the few spaces that Hibiki could find that was at least somewhat furnished. She would have to wait until the carpenters finished her bed (but she can cry about how much it cost right away! :D), but at least the mattress was there, sitting in a far-off corner on the floor.

It isn’t much, but it’s at least partially hers. Also, incredibly drafty, but she’ll sort that one out later. She doesn’t plan to stay there much outside of heavy work days anyway, so it’s fine.

She has told a few people about her new abode, with Zagreus being one of the first. There was a reason for that, something that she had been planning while not having a complete crisis of self care of her shadow. A little treat held in one arm, wrapped smartly with brown butcher's paper and fastened with twine. That would be for later, as a thank you for being there for her after the Ritual a few weeks ago. On the table it goes, to be enjoyed once he arrives. Which should be about any time now. ]

@coherer

[windsongs]

[ Day… god what day is she on now for this job? The shit she’ll do for 30 coins and a free movie rental. Clearly narrowing down their list, it seems like for the past few hours, the pair has been in the middle of a giant horror and general monster flick block, which bodes well for the job! But while Hibiki isn’t necessarily bothered by either, managing to maintain a good suspension of disbelief; thank you, Tokyo, for being Really Freaking Weird.

But she isn’t the only one combing through the archives here, and while Jonas was reasonably chatty for the first hour or so, he’s gotten noticeably quieter as time goes on. From time to time, the blonde will look over to check on him, to make sure he hasn’t fallen asleep or something by now (she certainly wouldn’t blame him). But she would have to be blind to miss the clear body language of someone who is not having a good time. Hmm, maybe he isn’t good with this kind of thing? Well, now she feels bad for asking him for help.

She can’t call him out on it, though. The last thing she wants to do is potentially embarrass him.

So instead, she slowly and (not so) subtly makes her way toward the section where she remembers seeing a lot of schlocky monster films to “broaden her search”. She’s trying to find something specific, a movie she knows that won’t be too bad, but something else gets her attention.

Mostly because, as the title card comes up, she sees a very pale man wearing the world’s worst bald cap and fake nails making a weird biting face(???) at some buxom blonde, courtesy of the 1950s. What? ]

“The Vengeance of Dracula”? Hey Jonas, ever heard of this one?

[ You mean the super cult classic that’s so obscure that probably no one has actually seen it? Or have they? ]

@nagano

[windsongs]

[ If it wasn’t for Ritsuki periodically noising at and flopping against her, Hibiki might not have gotten up at all. While there were times in the week or so after the horrific Ritual gone wrong that the blonde tried to conduct her unlife as usual, the events leading up to that bloody event clung to her. While not quite reaching the fever pitch that it had while she was stalking through the Oakwoods, her shadow had found a way to worm its way deep into her self-consciousness. At first, she would only disappear for a day or two, retreating to the world behind her Door and losing track of time. She could pull herself out of it, but the breaks away from her fellow Restless became longer and longer.

Until she seemed to disappear altogether. Scheduled to perform a few songs at one of the local dives in Mirth, she simply never showed up.

She isn’t even sure what day it is when she finally comes to, waking up curled up at the foot of a great big tree like a lost child, petals falling slowly toward her before winking from existence once they land. It feels almost nostalgic–if it wasn’t immediately apparent that this wasn’t Shizuoka. This wasn’t her tree; that place that felt like it was hers. Her shadow’s voice, normally warm and comforting, feels like television static in her head, as her mind focuses on the fact that this isn’t really Her Place. That isn’t even her own voice in her head, but something else trying to take that from her as well.

(...Wait, where the hell did that thought come from?)

Getting up, Hibiki finds her way to her Door, standing there for a moment as the voice that’s hers but not quite hers hums quietly in her head a melody she’s known her whole life, but hasn’t heard since arriving here. But it isn’t quite right–isn’t her voice, isn’t quite that song–and for some reason this sets her off. Her hand turning the handle, she steps outside into the Shadowlands. Takes one step, then another, until she starts briskly walking away from the line of Doors deeper into the expanse.

That’s not her home behind that Door, that isn’t her voice in her head; and while Hibiki knows she will probably never return to her own world, there is still something that is hers (and will always be hers) that she keeps in this gods-forsaken place.

Her voice. Her pace slowing before she stops, Hibiki takes a deep breath. She has no clue whether the calming effect it’s had on others will work on her, but it doesn’t matter. Standing still with a hand to her chest, she slowly starts to sing, doing everything she can to focus on the sound of her own voice in her head. ]