november catch-all [open]

[reflexio]

WHO: (reflexio) & you!!
WHAT: November catch-all and obligatory "where tf am I" log
WHERE: Everywhere (Welcome Diner, your an apartment, city park, etc.)
WHEN: Early November
WARNINGS: adjusted as needed






a. diner.

[ Wandering about proves to be fruitless. Instead, Yi Sang retraces his steps to the station.

Only then does he notice the flyers with their bold headlines. "LOST? NEW?" Yes, those two adjectives certainly describe him. He glances at the message posted on the flyer, memorizes the directions printed on it, and follows them to --

He inspects the building before him. Definitely a diner, though he's not sure what he'd expected given the flyer's notation of "The Welcome Diner."

It's difficult to tell whether anyone's inside, but the restaurant gives off a warm vibe. It's just enough of a nudge to encourage him into pushing the door open. After all, a lead is a lead.

...something warm to eat would be nice too. ]

Excuse me. Is this The Welcome Diner?

[ The flyers said it would be The Welcome Diner. The sign outside also reads "THE WELCOME DINER." Ergo, this must be The Welcome Diner, but one can never be too cautious given the bizarre city. ]


b. your an apartment.

[ The first door he'd opened revealed an empty living room. Its white walls and freshly-vacuumed floor are welcoming, but there's something terribly unsettling about the empty room too.

Yi Sang shuts the door to avoid thinking about it too hard.

He leaves the building and tries the one next to it. Just like the previous apartment complex, there's no trace of a soul in the lobby. He wanders to one of its doors, slowly turning the door knob and it's... unlocked?

Perhaps there has been no need to install locks on these apartment doors.

He steps into the living room and, immediately, it's apparent someone lives here, or at the very least, someone had lived here. Should he have knocked? Well, too late for that. He spies a picture frame on the coffee table, lifting it into his hands. There's... nothing in it. Odd.

Something shifts behind him. The sudden noise catches Yi Sang off guard, picture frame slipping through his fingers and shattering on the hardwood floor. ]

...my apologies. The door was unlocked.

[ Which isn't really a proper excuse, but it's the truth. ]

... Do you live here?


c. city park.

[ The expanse of lush green feels a bit out of place compared to all the buildings Yi Sang passed on his way here. And despite all the life contained within the flora, the lack of birds chirping is troubling.

Nevertheless, he's developed an affinity for the park over the past few days. It's peaceful for the most part, allowing him to recount what he's discovered so far: City Hall's record rooms? Empty. Tourist Center? Nothing of note. Greenhouse at the poison garden? Bad. Stuffed full of carnivorous plants.

A bound notebook lies open in his lap, a pen resting in its spine to mark his spot. Yi Sang uses one of his hands to keep the notebook flat. The other one, bandaged a bit haphazardly, rests in his lap.

Perhaps if one were to yell, he would lift his head to see who is calling for him. Otherwise, he appears deep in thought, a pensive frown on his face. ]


d. wildcard.

[ if none of these work, feel free to hmu for something more tailored! A PM is good or you can lmk here o7 ]

Comments

a....

[wordchain]

[ Once again, new residents are brought to this city, and Yesod reports to The Welcome Diner as a substitute information kiosk, alternating between the establishment and City Hall Station — with the intention of providing genuinely useful information, as much as anyone can here, unlike the kiosks that have since vanished. On this day, too, he's stationed nearby to supplement the written resources compiled for newcomers to peruse. (Ostensibly, he's also greeting people, but others have that handled with a more welcoming manner.)

What he isn't expecting is this particular newcomer's need for additional confirmation of something that would have been mentioned on multiple flyers, as well as the sign outside. That said, it's possible that the stranger only learned of this location by word of mouth, in fact illiterate. ]

Yes. This is The Welcome Diner.

[ Welcome, Yi Sang. Even if Yesod continues to stand there with his arms crossed. ]

How can we be of help?

b

[nutkick]

[ well— this is not really the scene you'd expect to walk into as soon as you step out of the toilet in the privacy of your home. it's one of those moments that would catch anyone off guard and denji looked a bit taken back, staring at the intruder as he, slowly, locked the door behind him. a bit of steam from the hot shower escaped before it was sealed shut, now staring at the man down the hall.

his hair is soaked, a towel rests on his shoulders. he is (thankfully) modest in a t-shirt and sweats. a frown sobers up his features, straightening his back. ]

... Yeah. [ and now for the very valid, justified question. ] What the hell are you doing here?

b.

[yyds]

[ guess who has two thumbs, is currently lying in the centre of the apartment floor that yi sang's just walked into, and is smiling like a wayward sunbeam when he walks in? yes, this thing. this thing over here.

in truth, hong lu had known it was yi sang. it's not difficult to. once you've been on a bus with strangers for a good part of your journey in the outside world, it's not difficult to notice such things. hong lu has always been good at telling footfalls apart. after all, back at the estate, that was often the only way to differentiate people from one another, and hong lu had, in his boredom, gotten used to listening to the footfalls outside of his room. the quick pitter-patter of the servants, gossiping as they go along. the butler's stately steps as he makes sure that the perimeter is clear and that hong lu's door was properly closed. the light heeled steps of his mother, the heavier, angrier footfalls of his second aunt. the careful dance of an assassin's slippers.

it had been a game. hong lu played with himself, so of course he always won. yi sang has footfalls that remind hong lu of a bird. less nervous in the sense of fear - rather perched so tenuously upon this earth that hong lu wouldn't be surprised if he took flight. but that was only after yi sang had gone through his memories and resolved that knot in his heart.

today's yi sang is like so. light-footed, with care born not from an abundance of caution but of a need not to disturb. hong lu, who can't be disturbed, lifts a hand to wave at him. ]

No, but I could. Yesod said that you can simply choose one of these apartments. Are you sure they're an apartment, though? They're a little cramped.

[closed: hong lu] i felt sent here from another world

[reflexio]

[ Two keys had mysteriously appeared one day in the apartment Hong Lu and Yi Sang called their home. When Hong Lu insisted they determine what room these keys unlocked, Yi Sang simply could not say no.

Rarely can Yi Sang find it in himself to decline Hong Lu's suggestions.

Ultimately, they'd found themselves in the university dorms with both their keys matching the same lock. And upon opening the door, Yi Sang realizes this must be intentional, given the dorm room appears large enough for both of them.

His gaze lands on one of the beds. An old, leather bound book lies nestled on the blankets. His fingertips itch; the tome calls to him, and before he can wrest his focus away from it, his hands have already flipped it open.

The walls around him bend out of shape, twisting as though they were crumpling sheets of paper. Yi Sang glances over his shoulder, prepared to call for Hong Lu, to apologize for his carelessness and to warn him of the room's twisting dimensions. But Hong Lu is gone, nowhere to be found as the room continues to warp.

And then it stops.

The dorm room is no more, and instead, the sounds of leaves rustling and birds chirping fill Yi Sang's ears. He's... outside? Immediately, he realizes his shoulders feel lighter because his coat is gone, vanished -- in fact, he doesn't recognize his his new attire at all.

But it's rather kind of whatever entity's responsible for magicking him here to have given him a sword, considering the stampede of Peccatum Luxiriae and Peccatum Irae galloping his way. The blade is heavier than his saingeom, and he's not used to its length at all. Nevertheless, his body knows precisely how to wield it, and he manages to cut them down, albeit unable to escape from being soaked in gore.

Yi Sang sheathes his sword and presses onward. There's no time to question where he's landed, nor is there any time to clean his blade. He needs to find that tower; he needs to find Hong Lu the princess.

He pauses. Tower? What tower? What princess? But his feet press onwards, depriving Yi Sang from contemplating this strange turn of events.

Fortunately, his feet do carry him to a tall, stone tower. He gazes up, noting that there's only one window all the way at the top. Yi Sang stands at the base, craning his neck to see if he can get a better view of what might be there.

He cups his hands and calls out to the top of the tower: ]

Princess Hong Lu, can you hear me?

[ Yi Sang blinks. He could have sworn he'd shouted Hong Lu's name, but his tongue seems to refuse to cooperate.

...hopefully this is where Hong Lu ended up, and hopefully Hong Lu would realize who's calling for him. So he waits patiently at the base of the tower, soaked in Abnormality blood and not looking very princely at all. ]