September Event Log

[kaisoumods]

September Event
Dominant Element: Wind
Waning Element: Earth

※
It's autumn at long last. The summer heat finally ebbs away with cooler temperatures, with the first trees starting to change to bright hues of autumn colors. These cooler temperatures are made even more noticeable by the constant wind that blows throughout the month. Windy days are something of a regular this month. Be prepared for gusts of wind to blow things away that aren't weighed down. The town itself is getting decked out for the season change. Halloween costume shops are starting to open up in empty buildings, and just about every location has some variant of pumpkin spice.

Back to School

With the arrival of fall comes the new school year. Starting September 1st, classes begin at all the schools across the city. Whether you're in elementary, middle school, high school, or at the university - it's time to start the term off on the right foot! The halls and classes are abuzz with students reuniting and talking about what they did during the summer. As expected, most of the students don't seem to remember that dinosaurs walked the earth last month - instead treating those events as bad storms or gas leaks. But there's only so much time to dwell on that, as you're likely more busy with trying to find all your classes and getting a good spot in the cafeteria at lunch.

For those kids who somehow aren't getting enough schooling and wants more, Kaisou High will be holding their annual Spelling Bee competition halfway through the month! Students will go against kids their own age and grade level and asked to spell difficult words appropriate for their age in front of an audience that are abnormally engaged spectators. The spelling bee also has tournaments for elementary, middle school, and college too, so it's open for all ages! There's nothing truly noteworthy about winning the Spelling Bee - just a ribbon, a coupon for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, and an English teacher praising their accomplishments -- but sadly, we know for some of you this is more than enough of a prize, so best review how to spell "vicissitudes" just in case.

If you're an adult, or just looking for some education that covers topics not normally found at traditional school, the Enki Education center is launching their fall classes! You can enroll in these classes to learn more about magic, the Spirit Realm, and other related topics. The Enki Education Center is also proud to have their first puppet teacher! The Professor will be passionately teaching about various events in history, both the mundane and the paranormal. Professor Willow will also be continuing his lessons surrounding magical creatures and pokemon alike.

Up in the Air

With the winds being so strong this month, some have responded by doing some more daring hobbies. Throughout the month, a group is offering hang gliding lessons. This group has situated themselves up atop of Moghome, the floating island above the Kami State Park. They are trained professionals, and be happy to give anyone the ropes. Another group on the same island has also set up bungee jumping for anyone willing to take the plunge. Those those who are more physical minded than academic minded, this might be a great way to blow off some steam. You might want to be careful though, the moogles who live in Moghome might try to pull pranks on you, or at least try to get you to do work for them. They really are lazy and annoying guys.

Taking the train out to Stardew Valley you'll find the season has changed there as well. The trees are in full bright autumn colors and there's fall decorations such as jack-o-lanterns, haybales and scarecrows. It's almost an idyllic fall town, really. Pierre's shop is selling seeds for the autumn - pumpkins, cranberries, corn, yams and the like. If you head to the beach, while it's a bit too cold to swim, you might catch sight of a mermaid if you're patient. Fortunately, these guys are much more friendly than their siren cousins you met in July. While some will swim away at the sight of a human, some will come and chat.

If you want to be more productive and in ways that don't just benefit moogles, there's still clean up to be done from last month's disaster. Buildings that need to be repaired, streets repaved, debris to be picked up. It's a good way to get some volunteer hours in and help out your neighborhood. Every bit helps with getting the city back to normal.

Lost to the Muses

It'll happen with little fanfare. One morning in early September, characters with a creative streak will be struck with inspiration. Inspiration stronger and clearer than any inspiration strikes they've had before. Artists will paint or draw better than they have before, Musicians will think up a song destined to make the charts, cooks will develop new recipes, writers might actually write something-- the rush of inspiration and creative is truly miraculous.

However, there's a danger to this swell of miraculous inspiration. As characters indulge in this inspiration, they will find themselves forgetting other things. At first it'll be mild things, such as forgetting to eat dinner or the other tasks you had to do for the day. Things that are normal to forget when you're in the midst of the creative process, right? However if you keep going, the memory loss will grow more severe. You'll forget details about your life, or the names and faces of the people you know. And in truly worst case scenarios, the ones that truly can't pull themselves away, will find that they can't remember anything but the creative work they're working on. Just how much of yourself are you willing to give up in pursuit of creation?

The Muses

Within a week, it'll become pretty clear that something is amiss. And to confirm as such, on September 9th, Zodiac will send a message through the app.

ALERT: SHIFTING GATE LOCATED IN UNIVERSITY DISTRICT.
Element Classification: Wind
Danger Level: Low
Designation: The Great Library of Alexandria
A new gate has been detected in the University district. We have reason to believe it's the Great Library of Alexandria, the realm of knowledge. We also believe it's connected to the incidents of memory loss, and should be investigated further. Anyone who goes to the library must bring a piece of knowledge to donate.

Visiting the Zodiac Office, visitors will notice that Professor Willow isn't here for once. According to the Zodiac member, he and the other members of POKEGO have already gone off to see the realm themselves- as of course professors can't resist the draw of knowledge.

When asked about the realm, the Zodiac member will explain that it was a library that once existed on Earth in ancient times built in honor of the Muses, nine sister goddesses that together are the gods of creativity, literature, science, and the arts. However it was famously set ablaze and in order to save it, the Muses recreated it in the Spirit Realm. The Zodiac member is confident that there should be relative little danger about visiting the library provided you make sure to follow the rules of the library. However, they do caution to avoid requesting inspiration from the Muses, and you should definitely not try to challenge their skills.

To find the gate, one simply has to head out to Kaisou University's main campus. Among all the class buildings and libraries, there's a new building front that seems to have appeared. White columns and stone stairs are hardly unusual among a college campus so it might be easy to overlook, except that the entryway is glowing with an bright energy. No doubt about it, this is the gate.

The Great Library of Alexandria

Stepping through the gate, characters will find themselves in a grand marble hall that would put most to shame. Around the hall are statues of the nine muses, posing in different fashions with objects associated with each one. There are signs with the rules of the library. Even though it's written in Ancient Greek, you find yourself able to read what it says like it was perfect English:

I. Take nothing out of the Great Library, leave it all as you found it.
II. Damage nothing in these halls.
III. To obtain knowledge, you must share knowledge.

In the center of the hall is a pedestal that stands four feet tall. It is here that you place the knowledge that you've brought to share. Books, movies, comics, art pieces, fact sheets, personal notes - anything that could technically be considered either knowledge or art are accepted. Once you place your item on the pedestal, it will disappear and a bracelet made of olive tree wood will appear around their wrist. This is their proof that they are allowed entrance into the rest of the library. Anyone who tries to go into the halls without donating a piece of knowledge will find the entryways into the other wings magically blocked.

Once the admission fee has been paid, it's off to explore the rest of the library! There are several wings to explore, each of them chock full of knowledge. A person could easily spend a lifetime in a single wing and not see everything there is to offer. Even though it offers works written and created in countless languages, you'll find yourself able to understand all of them as if they were written in your native language. That said, any cameras will not work while within the hall, so if you want to remember the things you read- you'll have to take notes. Any character with fire magic will find their fire powers do not work while in this realm either - the library has a bad history with fire okay.

The wings are as followed:

The Literature Wing

This wing is devoted entirely to any work of literature that's ever been written. Novels, poems, short stories, comics, fables - anything that counts as a story would be found within this wing. There's even a section devoted to fanfictions throughout the ages, if that's what you're really about. There are braille and audiobooks with headphones, for those who get their reading through that way. Throughout the wing, there are comfortable chairs and window seats to sit in. The wing is managed by a legion of cats, who are clever enough to understand human language. They will carry books to and from their shelves, bring book recommendations, bring snacks and drinks as refreshments on a little push cart, or just curl up on your lap as you read.

The Knowledge Wing

Next to the Literature Wing, the Knowledge wing contains any non-fiction texts or documents that have ever been written. Any topic of non-fiction is covered here: history, science, mathematics, cookbooks - the list goes on. Interestingly, there are more than just books about this Earth found in these halls. It's possible to find textbooks detailing events or information about other worlds as well - so long as it covers events already taken place (meaning before any OU's canon point). Unlike the literature wing, the seating are set up more as study tables and chairs, but are still comfortable enough to sit in for hours on end. This wing is managed by a bunch of owls, who will fly up and down the aisles with books in their talons. You might happen across the Professor or Professor Willow in this wing of the library, surrounded with books of their preferred subject and rambling on to anyone who will listen.

The Music Wing

A wing designed to have perfect acoustics no matter where you go within the hall. Here you can find every music piece ever composed as well as any type of instrument ever created. There's plenty of practice rooms for any size group (all of which are soundproofed). In the back of the wing, there is a concert hall where you can either perform your own shows, or watch astral recordings of any concert that's ever taken place. Want to see Beethoven perform his famous 9th symphony? You can do that! All the musicians past will appear as ghostly apparitions as they perform. Songbirds are the maintainer of these halls, who will fly by on errands or maybe even stop by to sing along with your performances.

The Theatre Wing

Next to the music wing, there is the theater wing. This area has play stages and movie theaters all set up. You can either watch any movie or show in existence (no worries about streaming rights here!), or rewatch any theater performance that's happened in history in the form of ghostly visages's. Find out how Hamlet was performed when Shakespeare was still alive, or see the first greek tragedy. Mice and Rats are the maintainers of this wing, they will help out pick out movies and also run a concession stand with any movie snacks you'd like to consume during the show.

Of course, not all shows are ones that we passively spectate. Besides the theaters, there is a room devoted to be a fighting simulator. Take any kind of weapon you'd like and choose to fight spectual foes from history and legend. Trade blows with the greatest samurai or battle a beast of legend. While it feels real, no actual injuries will come from these fights. And for those who prefer their battles to take place in the digital plane, there is a relatively newly added room with all the video games you could possibly want.

The Planetarium Wing

The planetarium is the wing devoted to astronomy and the heavens. While there's plenty of shelves of books here with information about space, the main event in this hall is a planetarium. A massive dome that can be set to display the night sky as it appeared at any time or day- and not just on Earth either. You can find out what the sky looks like on any number of worlds. All of them feel hyper-realistic, like you're looking at the real night sky. Bats help run this part of the library, the dark starry skies doing nothing to hinder their assistance with visitors.

The Museum Wing

The museum wing covers all artifacts that relate to knowledge but wouldn't quite fit in the other wings. Dinosaur fossils, vases, paintings, tapestries, all of them are carefully displayed with information about each item. These items have been collected across different worlds and throughout history, with all of them carefully preserved. One room of the museum is devoted to divine donations - donations given by deities when they came once came to visit and clearly the shining gem of the museum. Items such a Dharma Wheel, an apple from the Tree of Knowledge, an actual eye (thanks Odin), and other items relating to knowledge have all been carefully put on pedestals. While trying to steal from the other wings will have magic measures that simply prevent you from doing so, the consequences of trying to steal from this part of the library will lead to much more dire consequences. To reflect that, this wing are patrolled by crocodiles who will guide you to exhibits, but will also snap their jaws anytime they feel you're getting too close to an artifact.

The Mess Hall

With so much to see in this library, it'd be a shame if hunger got in the way. Just head down into the basement, where an expansive dining hall and kitchen await you. The goats that run this part of the library will be happy to cook you up any kind of meal that has ever existed. Or if you're the type to want to cook for yourself, you'll have free access to the kitchen which is full of any ingredients you could possibly want. The walls are lined with cooking tools and cookbooks to help you along as well. Cooking is a form of art, after all.

The Records Wing

The final wing contains records of every person who has ever lived and died. Each person's life is recorded in a hardcover book that is decorated in ways to reflect the person. The length of a book will depend on how long the person has lived, and it will cover events that happened throughout their lives. While you can access records of people that live in different worlds, you can only access records of people who have died (the permanent kind). Not only that, but the keepers of this wing (ghostly apparitions of scholars) will only allow you access to the records of people that are part of your family or somehow related to you.

Hauntingly, AU characters will be able to find books of their past selves among these shelves, as well as the records of their past selves relatives. It will detail their lives in their previous worlds, the events described lining up with memories you've experienced. The causes of death will vary. Some will go on to live long lives before dying of old age, while others will be killed abruptly by something either within or out of their control. But if these books say anything: it's that these memories you've been getting? They're coming from a past life.

Meeting the Muses

While the animal and apparitions do most of the running of the library, the true masters of this place are the Muses. Spend enough time in the library, and you may have a chance to come across any one of the nine sisters. While they are gracious hosts, they carry themselves with a pride that feels dangerous to step on. When asked about the memory loss suffered by some characters, they will explain that them or their sister simply wanted to give them the gift of inspiration and the memory loss is an unfortunate side effect mortals sometimes suffer from their divine gift. However, the damage isn't permanent! All one must do to return their forgotten memories is destroy anything they created while they were under that divine inspriation, and the Muses will return their memories. Doing just that will return their memories as promised, though some might find that their memories have been altered some - as if the Muses were inspired to tweak your past.

That said, the Muses really do love sharing inspiration, so anyone who is tempted to gain their divine inspiration may be offered to do just that. If you take the offer, the muses will draw upong your character's past and your character will gain a free regain that's worth up to 4 points - but in exchange they will permanently lose a memory of equal value (so if it's a 1 point regain, a small memory would be sufficient, meanwhile a four point regain might make them forget their most important person). Just how much are you willing to give up in order to gain?

Overall, the Muses will be happy to have the characters enjoying their library. That said, the Muses take great pride that they are the greatest at the arts and creation. Should you try to challenge them at their craft, expect them to not hold anything back. And whether you win or lose, they will be angry enough at your audacity that you might wind up cursed. So maybe be careful with these ladies.

Aftermath

With memories returned (or taken), the Great library will be available for the rest of the month. Take your time exploring and enjoy this great marvel. Zodiac will be willing to pay anyone who is willing to take notes on their findings in the library, as well as any notes copied from books they think will benefit them. Characters that attempt to take anything out of the library will find themselves unable to leave until they return the item, and anyone who causes damage to the library will find themselves removed from the library and forbidden to return. But all and all, it's shaping up to be a peaceful month.

You should probably enjoy it while it lasts.

OOC Notes

The dominant element this month is Wind! Anyone with an affinity to the wind element will find themselves boosted throughout the month. This could mean a boost to their power, having more energy, feeling more inspired with creativity, having better luck on different attempts -- the boost can manifest in all sorts of different ways. By contrast, anyone with an affinity for Earth will be experiencing the opposite. Perhaps their powers will be weaker, they have less energy, they're having a creative block or general worse luck - again it can manifest in all sorts of way and players are free to play with this mechanic as they'd like.

Players can use this event to modify their AU histories if they so desire! If you decide to change AU histories, please comment with the changes here so the mod team is aware! As for people willing to take up the deal for losing memories in exchange for a regain, please comment detailing what memories you intend to lose.

The original OOC plotting post for this event can be found here. Another Zodiac Post will be going up September 15th to serve as an intro post for new characters and allow characters to react to developments over the network.

Comments

Suzume Kujo | JJBA AU | OTA

[suzume_odori]

[Schoolhouse Rumble]

It's Kid School, for KIDS

Suzume is going back to school after a nice long summer, and it seems that on top of that she's going to a new school at that. Kindergarten was great and all, but she's bigger now! Older! A whole six years old by anyone's guess, something which is made no easier by the fact that when asked about it she has no idea when her birthday is.

Maybe someone will pick it out for her eventually. As it is, it's time for FIRST GRADE! An exciting achievement and one that should surely have her full attention as she walks toward scho- anddddd she's already walking off course to chase after a rabbit.

Might be. Best to help her get back on track there.

The Grass Is Always Greener - Enki Education

For the most part, Suzume doesn't really get a lot out of the Underground. Being a fairly small child, shopping trips are things she gets brought to more than anything else, and frankly taking small children to any shopping establishment is a great way to exhaust anyone. But she does go there sometimes, if only because every time she drops in with Mooland the Stoutland to see 'Mister Professor Willow', she tends to end up getting a candy, so she's definitely doing that now!

Except, something is different today, and that something is small, fuzzy, and blue. Suzume spots someone who frankly looks like a strange teddy bear, and she's determined now.

Which is to say anyone especially near is getting a pantleg tug, shirt tug, whatever is in reach enough to grab some attention, because-

"Umn....I need stuff for Mister Professor..."

Suzume has not made it remotely clear to Zodiac that she'd like Professor History Lessons. Actually she hasn't made it very clear to anyone. But she is very small, and has no money, and so.

[A-Musing Muses]

Having convinced a poor exhausted 'Tenmei Kakyoin' (who being of the Earth Element has been having a right time this month) to bring her to the 'new gate place' this month, Suzume is having a blast at the Library of Alexandria. Most of the time anyway? A lot of the time, certainly. She can't exactly read that well after all- she's just started grade 1, and sometimes, words are hard, and new, and a Lot. But she can be spotted in the many...Many wings of the Library, getting up to a few shenanigans.

With or without her beleagured babysitter of course.

LITERATURE WING - In the wing which for many may just be the primary draw when they hear Library, Suzume can be seen actually treating it like a...well. Library! Audio books make reading anything her age level far easier, and the cats are all too happy to assist.

She inevitably of course, also just falls asleep entirely in the middle of one though, curled up in a beanbag and gently snoring- with a small clowder of cats curled beside, near, or on for a nap of their own.

...Get those phones out, start snapping.

KNOWLEDGE WING - In contrast, the knowledge wing requires some snappy intervention if Suzume's going to be allowed to stay for very long. It happens, fortunately. Empowered by nonsense items discovered at her door last month, the halls of the Knowledge Wing are big, grand, and tall. And Suzume is slightly faster than others. And Wind Element Aligned.

And wearing Anti-Gravity Boots.

"HwhWHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEEEEE..!!"

Which is why the silence of your studying might just be broken by the screeching laughter, followed by concerned 'whoot'-ing as a six year old streaks by pursued by a number of harried owls.

MUSIC WING - By the time she's ushed away (permanently) from the Knowledge Wing, and her Anti-Gravity Boots are (temporarily) confiscated, Suzume's much calmer and far more ready to interact with the Library as intended! Song plays through the halls beautifully, and as she carries what looks to be a perfectly normal frog around with her, she sometimes even does some dancing! ...Or at least whatever the little ones call dancing these days.

Though, eventually, she's found just frowning at the frog while a few songbirds stop to check in.

"....he sings when it's bed time..." she can be heard whining, and the frog, for its part, just gives an incredibly normal Croak.

THEATRE WING - Unfortunately a child's attention span and energy levels are very variable things, so while she started in this place with watching a movie, it doesn't take long to find the BATTLE ZONE- which the rats and mice fortunately rush to make sure will be appropriately run for someone of the child's size and skill.

But much like any small child empowered by a foam swoard at a ren-faire knight tournament, it seems like it might not matter that she's pitted against a large and grotesque beetle instead of a dragon. For now-

"RrrrRRRAAAAAAAA..!! RRRAORAAAORAAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA-!"

A strangely purple Suzume (evidently THIS is what an aesthetic demon form entails) gleefully screams and tries her best to hit the thing, tiny fists doing very little to actually leave a mark.

It's fine.

PLANETARIUM WING - Perhaps, by this point, Suzume's actually burned her energy out. She's still purple for a little bit, but eventually after wandering around the massive planetary dome a few times and poking at the hyper realistic skies, she'll go back to being her regular non-purple self. She seems to be quite entranced by the planetarium, suffice to say.

MUSEUM WING - She's much the same in the museum, though for a very...different reason.

Rather than getting too close to the displays, it seems she's gotten much too close to the guards. And really, they're not sure what to do with that. While the crocodile is all too eager to carry the little one back and forth between different displays, it doesn't take long to realize that she seems far more interested in the ride itself than...anything else. And also, in giving little 'pat pat pats' on their head.

Eventually, the crocodile is just sort of left sitting beside a display, mouth half open, eyes wide with only one emotion.

Bafflement.

(Help!)

MESS HALL - A kid's gotta eat, and a crocodile's gotta work, so eventually Suzume is separated and carted off to get something to eat somewhere other than the Literature wing. The child can be found, at various points, yammering and chattering a way with the goats, trying to describe something she likes eating.

"There's curry...but...it goes in the bread...and then the bread is round..."

They'll get there.

RECORDS WING - And then...there's the Record's Wing.

Suzume isn't very interested in reading these, mostly because they don't look like very fun books to read. One of the scholars of course helps her to find 'her' book- a rather short thing, to no surprise, littered with pictures and drawings and having hardly any dialogue at all until the end- but it's while they're standing near another shelf that she seems to start getting in an argument with thin air.

"Hoshiiiiii... ...Hoshi I'm boreddddd..."

The girl starts poking at the air, continuing to whine.

"Hoshiiiiii..."

Evidently Suzume's 'invisible friend' doesn't want to leave- while there's nothing floating that proves anything substantial is going on, the whining isn't stopping.

BONUS - TIME TO LEAVE - Eventually, it's time to say goodbye to the Library- but not before Suzume presents to the Muses a great big crayon drawing she's done in her free time while there. On the biggest paper she can find, with all nine muses drawn and slightly color coded in all their big headed, objects-bigger-than-the-rest-of-them glory, and each one even has a few of the animals from the wings drawn around too! ...Except the last one who just sort of has attempts at very small scholar ghosts. She tried.

And apparently they appreciate it, because even though she's sad about it not really coming out the way she wanted it to, the Muses love it! It's going right up in their museum!!

Awwww.

School

[speaksanimal]

Meanwhile, Antonio happened to be a wallflower. As exciting as it was to go into first grade, he still wasn't sure about meeting his classmates. Glancing down at the ground, he wondered if he should say something. And yet, he wasn't sure if he should stay quiet.

Lately, he's been having a lot on his mind. Between his "family" members going back home and trying to get them to meet his actual family? It was a lot. Especially now with the announcement that they may or may not be able to go home? He didn't know what to think.

Instead, he'll just keep to himself for now.

[suzume_odori]

Well, somehow and someway, Suzume's being guided back onto the proper path at least. Which of course means that Antonio is getting something said to him whether he likes it or not.

"It's you..!"

Yes! You, she definitely knows your name! Probably.

In her defense she tends to not really use anyone's name, so that's a low bar to miss. Still- tearing around the corner with enough speed that she basically teleported (or more accurately, just ran around the corner really fast), she clutches her backpack straps and looks to Antonio.

"You're here too..!"

What a concept, the Both of them in First Grade. Almost like that's how it works.

[speaksanimal]

The moment he heard a familiar voice, his eyes widen before slowly raising his head up. At first, he wasn't sure where he had seen her before but he definitely knew her from somewhere.

"Ah...it's you too!"

He wanted to say her name but he didn't know what it was. He found himself staring at her before blinking and tilting his head to the side. He didn't want to seem rude but he knew that he had to ask.

"I'm sorry but what is your name again?"

[suzume_odori]

"Oh-"

She knows exactly what to do when you're asked about your name- the answer is bow, hands in front, and say- "Suzume Kujo! Nice to meet you!"

...wait. "...Again."

Yeah.

The girl frowns a bit. "..I don't think Haha thought about when you have to say names more than once when she said that..."

[speaksanimal]

With that, Antonio gave a small smile before nodding to himself. "Then it's nice to meet you again!" Although, now he found himself not sure what to say back. He had no problem talking to those older than him but now that he was talking to someone of his age once more?

He gave a slight pause before responding. "Then do you want to know my name? My name is Antonio and it's nice to meet you again!"

[suzume_odori]

As a matter of fact she would love a name, names are important-

"An...tonnnioo..." she sounds out, slowly nodding.

How long it lasts before she comes up with some kind of nickname is a mystery. "Okay..! Do we um...do we get to learn things together again..?"
That would be ideal, but also, there's a lot of rooms here and she's not really sure. What if there's two grade ones?? Or more, even! Imagine.

[speaksanimal]

With that, Antonio gave a nod. If she was having trouble saying his name, that was fine with him. If he was having trouble writing his entire name at times, why not the same for saying it.

That said, as he looked around the area, he gave a small frown. "I guess so! But I'm not even sure what room we're supposed to be." Then he pointed to one of the nearby rooms. "How about that one? Maybe we need to go in there?"

[suzume_odori]

Suzume also looks toward the room, and even starts to walk toward it. "..maybe...." There's just so many, how do they know at all, ever? It's just so-

Rather abruptly, while Suzume seems to be trying to keep walking, she's just sort of walking in place, a tiny bit off the ground.

(The kids might not know, but Suzume's 'invisible friend' sure does, and it isn't This way.)

[speaksanimal]

The moment the both of them walked into the room, he didn't seem to notice Suzume wasn't walking with him at first. However, after a few seconds, that's when he turned around. Raising an eyebrow or two, he simply looked at her and then back on the ground.

"Uh...why are you walking like that? Is everything okay?" He said before pointing to said floating gap between her feet and the ground.

[suzume_odori]

"MmmMMmmMmmm-"

Everything is not okay! Her pout is intense and strong.

"Hoshiiiii...!!!" the girl whines, still not being moved. Eventually, she scowls, and stares at her shoes.

"...I don't think I'm supposed to go in that room..."

Perhaps her first clue was being invisibly barred from it. That definitely didn't help.

[speaksanimal]

Meanwhile, Antonio kept staring at her and then the ground. She wasn't sure who she was talking to but from what he remembered? She did mention something about having an invisible friend of sorts.

"Then do you think we're not supposed to be in this room? But we still need to talk to the teacher just in case we are here!"

[suzume_odori]

Unfortunately, Suzume is still stuck there! Floating a whole sad inch off the ground.

".............can you ask..?" is her morose request, looking all too despaired for someone whose greatest problem is the fact that she's stuck in a hallway.

Records Wing

[kokaiwanai]

[Kakyoin managed to catch up a while ago, if the way he's settled in is any indication at all.

Now. Whether he's settled is another matter entirely, thanks to the record in his hands.

He gives Suzume an apologetic look.]

Sorry, Suzume, but would you mind staying here just a bit longer? We can go back to the section with all the cats after this, if you want.

[suzume_odori]

[Suzume is seemingly oblivious to any lack of settling going on, merely blinking at her friend and babysitter with wide eyes. Hoshi, whenever spotted, is assuredly Not oblivious, and keeps looking at Kakyoin with a fair amount of concern.

Idiot.] Umn...do you have a lot to read in this spot..?

[kokaiwanai]

Still a fair bit, yes.

[If Hoshi cares to look, Kakyoin is currently about halfway through "Noriaki Kakyoin"'s record.]

[suzume_odori]

Okay...

[Well, if that's what he wants!

And oh, Hoshi has definitely noticed. It's half the reason Suzume looks maybe a little nervous.]

Is it...a good story..?

[Why does it feel like it isn't?]

[kokaiwanai]

[For a moment, he's not sure. But more or less he's not sure what to call it.

A good story? He doesn't know. But...]

... It's kind of a sad story, but I think it's an important one.

[Important, perhaps, in how insignificant it probably was in the grand scheme of things. Or maybe just important to him.

He has a feeling he knows how this ends--given the rather short length of the record, there's really no other way.

(There's another record he'd been allowed to access that yet lays untouched.)]

[suzume_odori]

Mnnhhh....

[Suzume, of course, just sort of swings her arms a bit as she goes back to Being Bored. Honestly what's even fun about this place anymore!

...

There's the feeling of what could be a hand, on Kakyoin's arm. It's not Suzume's,
of course.] Important stories shouldn't be sad...

[kokaiwanai]

[Yeah, that hand is... too big to be Suzume's. Huh.

He's quiet as he murmurs--] ... Thank you, Hoshi, but I'm alright. I appreciate the concern.

[... Because who else could it be? Even if he can't see Hoshi... there's nobody else around, not at the moment.

He turns his attention back to Suzume, an apologetic smile on his face.]

I'm sorry. I'll be finished soon, I promise.

[suzume_odori]

[.....the feeling of the hand fades.

Suzume, for her part, is grabbing other books.] You should read, a happy one, like...ummm...

[She grabs one. Hoshi puts it back. Grabs another. Same thing!!!

She is pouting.]

[kokaiwanai]

There's plenty of happy stories in other wings, I'm sure. We can see about one of those when I'm done.

[Maybe the theater wing.

He falls quiet as he resumes reading, and after a while... he finally closes the book, not quite having gotten to the end.]

... I think that's enough of that for now. Why don't we find somewhere else to go, Suzume?

[As Hierophant Green emerges to put the two records back.]

[suzume_odori]

Mmmmhmhhhh...

[...Well for all that she was bored, well.]

...you didn't finish it though... ....was I too loud?

[She was too much of a lot of things frankly, but whatever.

Hoshi for his part, is looking to Hierophant. How you hanging there green-guy.]

[kokaiwanai]

It's alright. Sometimes it's just not very fun when you already know how a story's going to end.

[Hierophant offers Hoshi a thumbs up! Could be better, but at least Tenmei did not actually finish going through that record.]

[suzume_odori]

Ohhhhhh....

[And naturally before Hoshi can cover someone's mouth-]

...does that mean, um...'s it the same as Nori's..? He was really sad...

[............................................nori huh]