lucetilogs | Item Shop Expedition!

[When he said he'd leave in a few minutes, Roji wasn't kidding. He practically flew out the door to CH7 and made his way to CH4 as quickly as possible. He's just as excited at the opportunity to find interesting things from home and get away from the big cloud of negativity hanging over the village from recent events.

So when he reaches CH4, he spots Pilouette pretty easily. It's hard to miss the blond hair and cute outfit. He waves, moving a little faster now.]

Hey Pilouette!

Roji! Roji, hi!

[She waves back and begins to trot over to meet him half way. She can hardly stand still and, though it hasn't been long at all, she can hardly stand to wait much longer.]

Omigosh, I'm like, so totally excited I could scream! Oooh, I wonder what kinda stuff we'll find...

[The possibility of them not finding anything at all somehow hasn't occurred to her yet.]

[Pilouette's enthusiasm is certainly infectious, because Roji can't help but smile when she starts talking about their upcoming expedition. He even brought along a grocery bag because he actually thinks they're going to find a good deal of stuff to take home.]

Me too! I hope we find what we want to find, for sure. [He gets something of a dreamy look in his eyes.] I can already picture the happiness that'll come from it.

Yeah, yeah! Maybe we'll even find stuff we weren't even looking for...! Let's go, let's go~!

[Though, that usually happens no matter what it is one is looking for. She's practically bouncing at this point.]

Anything specific you're hoping to find?

Haha, okay!

[And off they go! Roji taps his chin when Pilouette asks him what he's looking for.]

Ever since you mentioned pictures, that's the main thing I've been hoping for. Maybe some letters me and Muhyo got from our past clients...or even a new volume of Jabin. It's a manga back home; I haven't seen one of those show up a while. [He sighs.] I know time doesn't move back home but I still feel like I'm missing out on the new issues.

[Manga? Not a term Pilouette is particularly familiar with, having long held a "comics are for nerds" mindset. But she's guessing it's a magazine of some sort?]

Now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind some magazines from back home...they had so much useful stuff in them and I can never remember it all.

But....you said letters from clients? So, you like, already have a job and stuff?!

[As someone who has always tried to act mature, she finds this very grown up and cool. Especially a job where he has clients! She imagines it's probably a job that's very adult and important.]

Like, what do you do?

Yeah, I have a job.

[Oh boy, another opportunity to gush about the bureau!]

I work with my boss, Muhyo. We help clients who are being plagued by ghosts. See, bothering the living is a crime for ghosts, so Muhyo judges them for their crimes and removes them from the property. I protect him while he does that. [Well...shoddily protects, but he's getting better!] A lot of ghosts don't know they're doing wrong, so we kind of guide them in the right direction and help them move on.

Whoah...

[Her eyes grow wide as she takes all that in. As someone who has been plagued by ghosts (or rather, the belief that there are ghosts in Luceti that have or may actively aggress her) she is both terrified and incredibly interested.]

S-So you like, fight ghosts or something? Like, a ghost exterminator or something?! And they're criminal ghosts?! How?! Isn't that totally scary?!

Something like that! And to be honest, [he laughs sheepishly] it's really scary. I'm glad I'm never alone while on the job.

But to answer your question about criminal ghosts... [He takes a breath because this might take a while.] We practice something called Magic Law. It was established to deal with ghosts who were preying on the living. In our eyes, attacking and tormenting humans is a crime, and we deal with criminals appropriately. Evil ghosts get sent to the Underworld, while innocent ghosts that didn't mean to do what they did get sent to Heaven. They can also be put in prison if they're too powerful to fully sentence.

[It takes her a few seconds to really take all that in. She's sure that she'll never get used to hearing this kind of stuff from people in Luceti.]

So even ghosts have laws...So you're more like a ghost police officer or something. I didn't even know there was a ghost jail. I guess it's good to know... But, even if it's as scary as you say, you must have it really together if you can take on ghosts and stuff. I don't think I'd be able to do anything like even if I wanted to! I get totally freaked out when it comes to ghosts and that kinda stuff.

[She shudders a little. Even the thought is a little unnerving.]

Even though I've been doing Magic Law for three or so years, I'm still terrified of ghosts. I'm still not used to it... [He smiles at Pilouette.] But like I said, as long as you're not going in alone, it's okay.

[Pilouette nods. Even back home, certain situations were easier when she was with a friend, though they weren't exactly on par with taking on a ghost. Rather, they were more along the lines of going to big parties that were filled with people she didn't know, doing presentations for classes, talking to that cute boy at the grocery store...Though, being in Luceti without the people she usually depended on to take the lead has had her thinking.]

Yeah. But it's good to be able to do things on your own, too, huh? O-Oh, but...from what you've said, that's probably not a choice in, um, Magic Law, huh? Because you protect your boss while he like, does all the sentencing and stuff, right? I think I'm starting to get it.

Yes, that's right.

[He looks ahead of them for a moment. Oh, the item shop is within sight now! Time sure flies when you're discussing deep things.]

But you do have a great point there, Pilouette. Sometimes surprises happen, and separation might happen. You've gotta figure out a way to work through it alone and get back to your friends. [He says "friends" because most of the time it wasn't just him and Muhyo anyway.] You've got to be brave and believe in yourself.

Oh, y-yeah! Totally! It's like, even if your friends are always there for you, you can't depend on them forever.

[Pilouette almost says something about it being easier to be brave when that bravery is backed up by something, but decides to keep it to herself. This trip to the Item Shop was going to be fun! She should be positive! No need to bring down a good time, right? She puts on a smile, thinking that maybe it'll boost her positivity level.]

H-Hey, we're almost there, huh? Aaah, I'm so excited!

You got it.

[And with that little discussion concluded, it's time to focus on what their adventure is about in the first place. He grins back at Pilouette.]

Looks like it! Fun new items, here we come!

I bet we'll find all kinds of stuff, especially if we work together... I'll try to keep an eye out for your stuff, too!

[Though, she would really only recognize Roji's photos if he's in them, but...]

Oooh, I hope I can find find my cellphone. It has a ton of pictures on it...Ooooh, ooh, and maybe I'd be able to take some new pictures, too!

Sounds good! What does your cellphone look like? So I can let you know if I find it.

Well...It's kinda small. And it's a shiny pink one with one of those slidey covers! With a cute little crocodile sticker on it

[The whole time she's talking she's make hand gestures to kind of illustrate what she means by "slidey" and to try to give him an idea of the size.]

Besides the pictures, is there anything I should look out for?

Ooh, that does sound cute... Okay! [He smiles.] I don't think there's any way I could miss it now.

Let's see... [He looks thoughtful for a moment. Then he pulls out a pen from his pocket. It's one of those fancy black and gold pens, but it has a red eye at the top with some gold triangles branching out from the eye.] I'm looking for the wards that go with my pen. They're white, rectangle slips of paper with writing on them. If you found those, I'd be really happy.

[Up until now, he's only seen them while he was on draft business, but he wonders if they could appear in the item shop too...]

[She's just going to look at that pen for a second. It looks so business-like and adult! So cool...! She soon looks back to Roji and nods.]

Slips of paper with writing on them...Got it! I'll do my best to keep an eye out for them! This is going to be great...It'll be nice to have some stuff from home!

Great! Thanks.

[And now they're at the door, so Roji pulls it open for Pilouette to go in first.]

Here's hoping, right?

Right!

[She steps inside and takes a second to look over the item shop. Even though everything is pretty much organized, now that she's actually looking for specific things...]

But where should we start? I never realized just how much stuff there is in here!

[Roji follows, and stares in awe around the shop. He's been in here a few times, but the sheer amount of stuff is always amazing.]

I guess we can see if they have piles for the kind of stuff we're looking for?

Yeah...Yeah, that makes sense! Wards and photos and cellphones...

They're not really all the same stuff, are they? I wonder if they'll be in different piles...

[She begins to wander around a bit, skimming the various piles to see if they look like they might contain any of their things.]

[Roji takes to the opposite side of the room, examining the shelves for familiar items.]

Hmmm, there's a bunch of jewelry over here... Did you have anything like that at home, Pilouette?

[He figures he should ask since girls usually have that stuff.]

[She briefly stops her search to look over her shoulder at him before returning to look at the pile before her.]

Yeah, but I didn't have anything that was like, super flashy or anything. Just like, that plastic costume jewelry stuff.

[What's this? Rectangular slips of paper! ...Ah, no, it's just a pad of sticky notes.]

There's probably just about everything and anything in here...

I'll put some aside if I find any. To see if you want anything anyway.

[And so he does that, then shuffles to a shelf to the side.]

Yeah...it might take a little while, but I think we'll find something for sure.

[He's not about to give up hope because the amount of stuff here is a little overwhelming. Daunting, sure, but not impossible.]

O-Oh, um...thanks!

[She's a little surprised, but it's good kind of surprised. She smiles a little at his positivity.]

Right! I bet we're even more likely to find something because there's so much stuff! Like, probability or something like that, right?

[Roji gives a confident nod, though his back is still turned to Pilouette.] Just like that.

[As he starts sifting through the next shelf, he starts noticing small electronic devices. Old-fashioned pagers, headphones, digital pet things...phones! With a gasp of excitement, he whirls around to tell Pilouette.]

Pilouette! I'm think I'm on to something!

[Without another thought, she rushes over to peek over his shoulder. Hopefully, he won't mind that she's crowding him a little bit. She's so excited she's not even really thinking about it.]

Ooooh, what is it, what is it?!

[He doesn't mind at all, but he does move a little so she can get a better look.]

There's a bunch of electronics here. I see phones too! Maybe yours is buried in here.

[She squeals.]

Ooooh, I just knew we'd start finding stuff soon!

[She scoots over a little and starts digging through them alongside him.]

[After an agonizing minute of hopeful searching, success strikes!]

Ooh! I think I found it!

[Roji holds up a pink cellphone with familiar charms.]

[For a moment, she just stares at it. She almost can't believe they really found it. Besides her clothes, it's the first thing she's seen from home in her entire time in Luceti. After a second, she takes it from him and turns it over in her hand, almost as if she has to make sure it's really real. She slides the cover up and fiddles with it for a moment, quckly scrolling through the various menus, until she comes to the photos.

Her breath catches in her throat for second. It's definitely the real deal.

She grins broadly hopping up and down a bit in glee, holding the cell phone close. She almost feels like she could cry, but...only kids cry over things like cellphones, right?]

Roji! Roji, you found it! Roji, you're like, totally the best!

[Roji can't help but jump himself. He's super happy for Pilouette, and happy to see her excitement over it too!]

Awesome! Is everything still on it?

[Excitedly, she scrolls through the various photos...photos of her friends, her grandparents, her father, her classmates...]

Y-Yeah! I think so!

[Having found her precious cell phone, she suddenly has a whole new level of confidence about this whole thing beyond just being positive. Her grin grows just a little wider, as she looks back to him.]

Roji! We'll definitely find your stuff for sure! I just know it! I mean, if we found this then something really important like your wards have got to be here!

Glad to hear it!

[Roji can't keep his curiosity at bay, so he sneaks a few peeks of Pilouette's pictures. What a lovely-looking bunch of people... He doesn't doubt one bit that Pilouette misses them as much as he misses his own friends.

And in response to that second bit, Roji nods with determination. He pumps a fist.]

Yeah! I bet they're even in plain sight too and we just haven't gotten to them yet!

Yeah! They're bound to be around here somewhere!

[With that she enthusiastically begins rooting around one of the shelves nearby.]

Hey, Roji, you said there was writing on them right? Like, what kind of writing is it?

[Roji lingers for a moment, then moves to a shelf he hasn't been to yet.]

Yes. Some of them have Japanese writing on them, but some might be blank too since I have to write my signature on them to use them. Usually there is some sort of symbol at the top. Maybe you can look out for that.

Edited 2012-08-23 15:17 (UTC)

Japanese writing...Got it! I guess if you have to sign them they'd probably be pretty dangerous in the wrong hands, huh...?

[As she sifts through the various items on the shelf, something catches her eye. It's flat and glossy. There doesn't appear to be any writing on it, though she reaches to pick it up anyway.]

Wonder what that is...?

If they also had a Pen of Wards and knew how to use Magic Law, yeah... But so far I haven't found anyone who even knows about Magic Law.

[Which is unfortunate, but he's enjoyed educating others about it at least.

He turns to see what Pilouette has picked up.]

Find something interesting?

Maybe...

[She picks it up and looks at it for a moment, before flipping it over. A photograph! While she doesn't recognize most of the people in the photo, one familiar face stands out. She holds it up to show it Roji, smiling.]

Hey, Roji! Friends of yours?

[Oh, Roji really perks up at that question. He rushes over to check it out, gently taking it from Pilouette's hand.

Holding it with both hands, he stares at the photograph long and hard.]

Oh my gosh, it's one of Nana's photos!! [The excitement in his voice is apparent.] And the gang's all there! Muhyo, Yoichi, Biko... Oh. Oh. This is from after Enchu...

Edited 2012-09-15 04:36 (UTC)

[As his thoughts trail, he starts to tremble a little and tears begin to well in his eyes. It's overwhelming enough to see his friends-especially Muhyo-again, but knowing what was going on during that time and what happened soon after brings all the emotions rushing back to him.

It's a happy kind of overwhelming, but also sad. Basically it's complicated is what we should go with. Either way, congrats on bearing witness to how easy it is to make Roji cry, Pilouette.]

Thank you, Pilouette. This was just what I needed.

[It takes her a second to notice his tears, but when she does she smiles a little. It would seem that this trip to the item shop, as well as is something that they both needed. She, with just a touch of awkwardness, gives him a pat on the shoulder.]

...I'm glad I could help.

We're doing pretty good in here so far, huh...?

[Roji breaks out of his little moment when Pilouette pats his shoulder. Rubbing the tears out of his eyes with his sleeve, he nods in Pilouette's direction. He's blushing a little because wow, how embarrassing to randomly start crying.]

Yeah. Just a few more things and we'll have gotten everything we came for!

Right! And with the kind of luck we've been having, we'll definitely find them! We just need to look in the right place...!

Item Shop Expedition!

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