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 Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:12 am
 
This is a private roleplay between Youhei [Izayin] and Enlei [danse-hexe].
Setting
By chance, Youhei finds something that belongs to Enlei.
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Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:43 am
Youhei cut through the warm throng of people milling around the northern entrance to the Western Quarter, cursing the snow and crowded hour. Several well-known artisans had taken advantage of the weather to show off their wares; it was congesting Main Street and he had dozens of laughing, mittened children hanging around his heels. He moved past them, would have moved through them if he could, their patter of feet and bodies pressing into his space like tiny thoughtless invasions.
Youhei did not share their excitement. He had never seen the point of ice sculptures, in building something that couldn't last. It was the sort of useless thing he'd expect Enlei to like; simple as she was, he couldn't seem to make sense of her, particularly her need to jeopardise her own happiness by antagonising her future husband.
Because there'd been a storm in his head since their last meeting, not helped by Akahana's coy, maternal hands on his shoulders and belittling comments on his taste, he'd resolved to fix it. Problems that eluded elimination had to be dissected, their secrets and weaknesses dragged out into the light. His trip to the docks should help to rectify the situation; a hired trail ought to at least remedy the lack of information on the girl to whom he'd become affianced.
It wasn't until Youhei reached the end of the street that he realised he'd gained a trail of his own.
A white, overweight pigeon was stepping in his shadow. It stopped in its tracks when he spun around to look at it, lifting its wings in an unsettled way, as if it meant to fly away but wasn't quite sure it could manage it. Not a homing or racing bird surely, with that figure.
Youhei's eyes narrowed a little. It was the only warning the pigeon received before it was grasped quite firmly (and strangely docile) in his hands. In other words, the pigeon had no chance, for lately Jirou had been complaining about the lack of roast fowl, and Youhei would go far to spare his eardrums.
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:32 am
She did not call out, because it was silly to call out to a pigeon and even Enlei knew that. Regardless, the girl was frantic, pushing past the crowd of people in search of her pet.. or a flat white pancake on the ground. She shuddered at the thought; Er Ge would be fine, wouldn't he? He was smart enough to sit somewhere in a corner and avoid too much attention (or even cats), wasn't he?
Biting her lip, Enlei tried not to think too much. Earlier today, she'd been half-asleep when feeding the pigeons, and hadn't realised she'd left the cage door open until she passed by again and saw only one bird. A quick search of the Zheng estate didn't turn up a single feather, and distraught, the young girl had run outside to search the streets. Where could her poor baby possibly have gone?
Doing her best to avoid looking stalls selling roast fowl, because just thinking about it made her sick, Enlei ran down the main street, keeping her eyes on the ground. There was still no sign of her beloved pet, and when she rounded the corner, she realised she'd gone in one big circle- should she turn another corner, she'd be back at her house.
Squinting, she also recognised the black-clad figure with the white scarf loitering suspiciously around.... but more importantly, what he was holding in his hands. For all that it was the middle of winter, Enlei's wrath burned hotter than the summer sun. Fiance or not, he'd laid hands on her baby and he was going to get it good.
Kneeling down, Enlei gathered a chunk of snow, shaped it into a ball, then hurled it as hard as she could.
"Put that down right NOW and step away, Araki, or you're going to get it a lot worse."
What Enlei might have wanted to take into consideration... was that she looked about as threatening as a cat with a poofy tail.
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:31 pm
The pigeon was not trying to escape.
On the contrary, it rested comfortably in his palms as though it was used to being carried and every so often bobbed its head to offer a hiccuping coo. It seemed almost... content. Youhei glanced down at its rotund body and oddly clean feathers as he walked, wondering if its lack of protest could be attributed to resignation in the face of a great predator or a serious deficit in survival instincts.
He was leaning towards the latter. Either way, he'd made a promising catch - he could feel the bird's bones, but there was enough meat on there for a good meal. Certainly enough to make Jirou shut his mouth for whatever brief respite they could catch between then and his next craving.
Between Enlei haring into the street looking out of breath and crazed, hair flyaway and loosening from its braid, and the snowball he narrowly sidestepped by virtue of seeing it coming, Youhei remembered why he was rarely in high spirits. The crash coming down was hard and punishing.
His sleeve was sodden where the ice had brushed past, his range of motion limited by not wanting to let go of the bird. The previously compliant pigeon had awakened at his sudden movement, making a fuss, straining and clawing at his hands with vigour.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" he bit out, and even he couldn't say in that moment which one of them he was addressing.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:26 pm
There was a moment of silence; surprised by the question (and his reaction, in general, Enlei couldn't do anything but stare at Youhei. He looked so comical, so much unlike his usual cold stick-up-the-somewhere self. He... looked almost like a real person.
"Re..claiming lost property?" The girl tried to hold back her giggling, but they burst out between words anyway. Reclaiming lost property, she reminded herself sternly, and took a deep breath to calm herself down before striding over to him.
"That's mine," she announced, her voice still shaky. "Return it."
Enlei held her hand out, waiting.
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