Open

[hippocarnival]

Who: Yuya and anyone
What: Shenanigans
When: First week and a half of Feb
Where: Campus and Soleil
Warnings: Probably none?

[Early Feb | Bless You | Library]

Yuya is, out of his usual character, buckled down in the library at a table with books piled for... study, research? Something like that.

It's been a short time since Yuya intercepted that monster that was after Kano. Even if things seemed fine at the end, Yuya hasn't quite stopped worrying--what it was, how it got onto the campus... what it was after.

He's never been the most diligent student, but these few days he's pouring over books on monsters, ghost, stories from the Outlands to try and find something familiar in them. An answer. There are teachers he could ask directly, but that would be admitting to those teacher he retained exactly nothing in their classes. He's not quite brave enough for that embarrassment.

"Ah--choo!"

Yuya sniffs and flips another page.

[Bad Luck | Lumiere Dorm]

Yuya and Toki's dorm has acquired a new cat, as of the end of the previous month--a thin adult (barely) with soft black fur that was waiting too long to be adopted. They were lucky to find a cat that wasn't afraid of people, but... less lucky to find one who was on a constant search for freedom now that they were out of their tiny pet shop cage. Yuya tries to be care, but once or twice their new pet ends up far faster than Yuya can shuffle into the room. And then Yuya has to turn and bolt after them.

"Mraow~"

"I know, but you're not supposed to be up there!"

--

Once Yuya's captured his cat, he feels at least a little bad about having to keep it in the small enclosure of their room while both he and Toki are gone. So he sits down on in the second floor common room, holding it in his lap and letting it roam only short distances to work off some of that curiosity.

[Wildcard]

Aside from the excitement of Valentine's that Yuya gets caught up in, he's regularly around his classes, visiting and practicing with his large dragon familiar outside on campus, and generally isn't hard to get ahold of.

[Jan 26 | Closed to Toki + Orihime | Soleil]

Yuya keeps to his word to Toki from the morning, collecting a coat and his money and the list before meeting up with the two of them in Soleil at around one in the afternoon. The cold hasn't let up yet and show crunches under Yuya's shoes. Their goal is simple, but since Toki mentioned that Orihime had been wanting to have lunch sometime, too....

"Do we want to eat while we're out? I told Toki before, but it'd be a good idea to do that before getting the cat if we do..."

Comments

[leekspins]

Orihime kept her hands in her pockets, silently and fretfully tapping a finger against her phone. Her text conversation yesterday still left a sour feeling in her throat, and she wasn't really sure how to handle it yet.

Her furrowed brow leaped up as she snapped her attention back to Yuya and she smiled. "That sounds good. There are a lot of restaurants I haven't tried yet, and if we smell like food, we'll be more appealing to the animals in the pet store, so they'll be much friendlier."

At least, it wasn't a completely unreasonable theory in her mind.

"So maybe we should eat fish?"

[yokeye]

"Cats like fish~!"

That was his way of saying that fish would be fine. Toki hadn't been to any restaurants in town, or really even been to town more than once. He didn't care what they ate, or if they ate, but it's what people did when they went on outings with friends.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya grins. "So we'll attract all the cats with fish breath?"

That's probably not what anyone is going to appreciate. He glances around. "I can think of a couple places that have good salmon... um, there's a really small sushi place that way too. But Orihime, did you have somewhere you already wanted to try?"

She's new compared to Yuya, and hasn't had the same time to experience everything.

[leekspins]

She perked a little at the mention of sushi, it had been a really long time since she'd had anything like that. Not only were sushi restaurants hard to find, but they were usually really expensive.

"Oh, er...those both sound good! I love salmon, and sushi's always a nice treat!"

Mostly, she didn't want to take complete command of the outing, especially since she would eat anything pushed in front of her. "What about you, Toki, what's your favorite?"

[yokeye]

Sushi was fine, salmon was fine.

"I'll eat anything~!"

He pulled his hat down more over his ears. It was too cold to debate restaurants for very long.

[hippocarnival]

It's definitely more expensive here than back home, but it makes a nice quick meal and includes fish.

Yuya laughs, waving his hands. "Okay, okay! Let's get sushi, then."

He gestures for them to follow him, starting to go straight ahead.

[leekspins]

"Yosh!" Orihime seemed to have a bit more pep in her step, having secretly hoped that they could all eat sushi together. If they were lucky, there would be a conveyor belt, and the sushi would therefore be nice and cheap!

"How are your guys' classes going?" she turned her head to ask, making small talk as they made their way to the sushi bar. "Any recommendations I should take for the next semester?"

[yokeye]

[Classes. Oh. Toki is honestly unsure which classes he's signed up for, and he only attends them, or different ones altogether, sporadically and without much thought or planning. He's probably failing every single one.]

They're going great~! You should take something with Professor Valvatorez, he's amazing~!

[There isn't anything to note at all regarding his lack of academic endeavors throughout the entirety of January. Really, between him and Yuya, classes aren't likely to be an interesting subject.]

[hippocarnival]

"Uh, well..." He's not failing, and that's good enough in his book? He's dangerously close in half of them, though, and his grades in general are nothing to write home about..

"I might be able to learn to summon more familiars in class, soon!" It's something particularly difficult for the way he's bonded Odd-Eyes to himself, even if he's felt a little ahead of his introductory summoning courses.

He nods to Toki, latching onto his recommendation. "Professor Valvatorez teaches a lot of self-defenses classes. They're pretty useful."

[leekspins]

"Valvatorez?" She shifted her backpack off of her shoulders, rifling around inside of it until she managed to dig out a pad of paper and a pencil. 'Valvatorez' was printed in neat letters. "That definitely sounds like a necessary class, thank you!"

She put the backpack on again, but kept the paper and pencil. "I was trying to decide between him and Professeur Atchison, since both of their classes were in the same time block. I thought Daemon Contracting sounded really interesting, so I picked that one." She rubbed the back of her neck with a wry grin. "He really doesn't like Valentine's Day!"

[yokeye]

"He really doesn't~! Did you get detention for talking about it too~!?"

Toki hadn't made up his mind on Atchison yet. He was fun, but also hard to pin down. Daemon Contracting was intended to be a class he actually went to or learned something in, but like the others, he'd lost interest immediately and didn't show up half the time.

He started walking a little a faster, just in case Orihime intended to get into more about Daemon Contracting. He figured he'd already missed the window for mentioning the contract without her taking it as hiding something.

[hippocarnival]

"He doesn't?" Yuya raises a brow. He's imagining this in the same way Imelda hates music (and is closer than he realizes). "Why does he hate it?"

[leekspins]

She shook her head at Toki, no, she didn't get detention, before answering Yuya. "He didn't say it outright, but it seems like he got dumped or rejected on Valentine's Day. I guess that would sour a lot of people."

Her shoulders hitched in a light shrug.

"I'm surprised he gave you detention about it, Toki. That seems a little extreme! What did you talk with him about?"

[betheman]

Does Gongenzaka expect to see Yuuya in the library? Certainly not. The only reason he's here in fact, is.....well.

Actually the same reason Yuuya is, not that he realizes. For all that White Chain is on the case, he just wants to be sure. Sure about what's going on. About who is even in this mess...about everything, truly.

The sneeze catches his attention however, and with mild surprise he comes over. "Mnh- Yuuya," he begins, blinking. "I, the man Gongenzaka, did not expect to see you here at this time of year..." ....And hold on-

"...Did you catch a cold, somehow..?"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya looks up from the book, perking up a little when he sees it's Gongenzaka.

"Uh... yeah." He rubs his nose. That's as much as he has to say about that right now. Instead he offers Gon a crooked grin. "I can study like everyone else, right?"

But they both know he doesn't.

[betheman]

"You certainly can, but it is rare to see you do so, particularly at this time of year," he snorts, crossing his arms. "...Exactly, what are you studying for?"

[hippocarnival]

"Maybe I want a head start on my extra credit?"

He can't play this game forever, though. He sighs a little as he sets the book down."I'm looking for a monster, kind of like a doppelganger. Have you heard of any that wear a white mask?"

[betheman]

There is a look of disbelief-

And then he freezes, colour draining from his face.

"..A White mask?" he repeats, slowly moving to take a seat near the other. His eyes are wide, and he chokes. "...A white mask, and a doppelganger, you say?"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya nods, calling quiet as Gongenzaka looks at him with... fear? He figured it was bad, but he didn't think so bad that just the idea of looking for it scares Gon like that.

"Do you know about it?"

[betheman]

"Kn- Know?! I-"

He quiets himself quickly, glancing around to make certain the brief shout didn't disrupt anyone. "...Yuuya....where did you encounter this? I, the man Gongenzaka, was only barely able to force it to tumble, before fleeing for life..!"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya wasn't going to lead on that he actually saw it--but Gongenzaka's assumed away, and he's not wrong.

He stifles a cough as Gon worries before quickly waving his hand. "It was on the campus, but--you saw it too? Do you know what it was?"

It'd save him having to parse through all these books for answers.

[betheman]

"....No," he admits, swallowing anxiously. "...What is more, it was able to escape White Chain's sight after she was called for aid. ....Yuuya," he manages, worry in his eyes. "When was this, and where on the campus? How did you even escape..!?"

[hippocarnival]

"... A few days ago." Yuya waves his hands quickly, pausing when he has to sneeze. "I'm okay! It showed up in the dorms, but... me and Kano managed to lead it to the mountains and drown it away in a river."

He hopes so, anyway. It didn't resurface anywhere near them at least.

[betheman]

He sighs...but he also shakes his head. "In the dorms..? That... ...That is greatly concerning," he swallows. "Before, it did not even know where their true target lay...

"Yuuya. Please, tell me that you and Kano reported this..!"

[hippocarnival]

"We... dealt with it before we had to." So that's a no.

Yuya shoves a book Gon's way. "Help me look up what it was!"