Description: In another trip to the ashen forest the guntoting, split-souled psion meets up with a performer on her downtime. Friendship is made, drinks are bought, and insights are given. More at 11.
Daylight struggles to filter through the ash cloud looming overhead, a gray umbrella of soot and burned debris clinging stubbornly to the sky and forming a blanket of a few centimeters over the treetops and ground. Uniform shades of gray coat most surfaces in the forest and obscure the floor from view, more than a few tripping hazards are rendered invisible from the eyes. A muggy, persistant heat bakes between the thick clouds and ashen ground, contrasting the usual season's climate in Japan.
A young woman in white is idly walking through the forest, taking time to eye the greens struggling to peek through the covering the sky has given them. She doesn't seem dressed for this type of heat, but it does keep her skin out of (most) contact with the soot resting in the air and on the trees.
In all honesty, no one should be outside. But it's not really much better -inside- either, with the constant tremors causing fluctuations in the power grid, even the lights and air conditioning aren't that consistent. Sometimes, it's better to just get outside and away from it all -- even if 'away from it all' means exposing oneself to the dangerous conditions.
Honoka is one of those people who decided to thumb their nose at authority and go for a stroll. Even if one did not recognize the Bright Sun Circus' star juggler from her appearance, it'd be pretty tough to miss the pair of diabolo that twirl about in front of her as she walks. As opposed to her circus performances, the motions of the diabolo are actually taking on a utalitarian purpose today, the wide circular motions agitating the airflow in front of her to such a degree that fresh air is brought to her, ashen particles blown off to the side.
She's apparently lost in thought, though, as she's only about a hundred feet away from the other young woman before noticing her. The two diabolo stutter in mid-air as a small frown flickers across her features, but the moment is short-lived, frown turning into a faint, aloof smile.
Jira wasn't really worried to begin with, a japanese native with an upbringing like hers adopts a healthy dose of 'it cannot be helped' attitude towards quakes and dramatic natural occurances. She's already used to and capable of wobbling with the shudders and rocking of the planet beneath her during the tremours. And an eerie space of 'emptiness' forms around her immediate person, the ash being pushed away from her subtly. The most interesting, and persistantly attention-seeking part of her person is the glowing firearm hanging from her left hip. The material shimmers and glitters in a way that does not match the ambient light. She doesn't seem to notice the other person, or their objects of preference nearby while she herself is mentally withdrawn. Such can be seen by the way she walks, her motion is an afterthought if anything.
The catch with a traveling circus is that it's always, well, traveling. Honoka does not generally get to stay in any one area long enough to get to know people in particular, but with the circus rooted in place courtesy of the seismic conditions, well, she's got plenty of time to meet the locals now.
And she's pretty sure she's not met anyone with a glowing gun. Not yet anyway! The artifact is strange enough to merit Honaka's full attention; she draws to a halt to give it a more steady look. The look could even be considered staring, as her diabolo change from a simple circular orbit to a figure eight, as she seems to be lost in thought for a moment. Has she -heard- of a gun like this before?
No matter, she concludes. She'll learn more about the artifact in a more socially appropriate fashion. "Um... hello?" she calls out. "Excuse me! I... am sorry to disturb you, but I seem to be a bit... lost." A shy, awkward smile, the diabolos' whirling grinds to a stop, as the young woman bounces the objects into the air, just high enough to catch them, one in each hand. "I'm not from around here, forgive me..."
Jira freezes in her walk and calmly turns around, flashing a warm smile at the newcomer and locking her luminous eyes onto them. They seem to be shimmering and sparkling in a similar manner to her weapon. She takes a moment to quickly once-over the stranger and fully faces them, offering a polite bow.
"Hello, stranger-san. Where are you going, maybe I can lead you there?" she replies in a kind, light tone. Her hands rest before herself, resting and folded with one another with proper posture and friendly expression continuing to persist against the other.
"Where are you from, if I may ask?"
"Oh..." Honoka steps a bit closer, taking care to stow the diabolo back upon a convenient belt clip at her hip. "Hokkaido, originally, but our circus travels all across the country." She offers a warm smile and adds, "I had been trying to find the convenience store, but I got a little sidetracked. All the trees here actually kinda reminded me of home..."
She looks up at the trees for a moment, seemingly lost in thought for a moment, before her eyes fall back upon Jira's. Honoka wasn't sure if the appearance of the young woman's eye was just a trick of the light, but now that she can get a better look, she can tell that something is certainly unusual.
The juggler realizes she is staring, though, and lowers her chin in apology. "I... I'm sorry," she stammers, cheeks staining dark from embarassment, "I couldn't help but notice how pretty your eyes were."
Beat.
"Oh! But... yes. There's a convenience store near here, yes?"
She nods at thhe mentioning of location, and a travelling circus. And a small chuckle at not finding a convenience store, this -is- Japan afterall! Jira was an excellent model for being stared at, she doesn't seem to mind it at all, and at the compliment she chuckles.
"Usually I'm telling people to aim their compliments and stares over my neckline." she teases with a wink. But in her current attire, one might have mistaken her for a male at a distance, if the hair and facial features weren't a strong enough hint. Absolutely none of her build can be ascertained under her current clothing, which doesn't look inexpensive.
"There's always a convenience nearby in this country, isn't there?" she adds, another tease. She offers her hand to the other girl, maintaining her smile. "I am Kasagi Jira, but feel free to call me Jira."
"These... so-called 'people' must not appreciate what they're missing." Honoka offers with a brief grin.
Honoka tends to dress a bit understated, as well. The circus... does not pay well, really. "Honoka." she offers with a deep bow, refraining from giving a family name. "It's a pleasure to meet someone so friendly and kind here." She takes a few steps closer, offering a mild shrug. "Back in Hokkaido there are actually quite a few places without a convenience store. Not so much here, of course, I just have a poor sense of direction."
Jira's smile brightens at the response Honoka has given. She withdraws her hand and turns to her left.
"Shall we go on, then?" she offers, motioning ahead and pointing out the way for Honoka. "Shouldn't be too far away, there's one set up near the treeline back towards the bordering district if I recall."
"Oh, please. Thank you so much!" Honoka ambles along afterwards, smiling faintly. And since Jira's leading the way... there's a bit more time for Honoka to get a better look at that unique firearm, without arousing too much suspicion.
"What do you think could be causing all of this freakish weather, anyway? It doesn't sound... -natural- to me..." Honoka's smile dims, but only faintly.
Jira's weapon responds to the staring of its own accord, the cylinder clicking and giving a brief twist, then the whole thing flips in its seated position to aim itself at Honoka. Jira herself doesn't seem to be aware, until she spats out something incoherent and gives it a smack, picking it up and stuffing it under her jeans so that only the vivid red cylinder and the green handle are visible.
"I apologise, my partner's a little skittish. And as for the weather, all I've heard was that some twisting of nature brought this out.. Maybe someone strong is making their presence known." she murmurs out the last bit, not too confident in her assumption. She starts walking on and taking the lead, narrowly avoiding a few stumbles on exposed roots.
Honoka's eyes narrow, ever so slightly, at the sudden motion from the apparently living weapon. "Your partner," Honoka repeats in a level voice, not entirely sure to make of that explanation. Pausing for a moment of reflection, she links her hands behind her back, jogging forward a bit more rapidly to walk alongside Jira. With a smile that borders on mischievous, she asks, "Well, I didn't mean to be rude. Reckon I was just a little surprised. Does your 'partner' have a name?" Every now and then she glances down to make sure she doesn't trip.
Jira nods affirmatively in reply to Honoka at the mention of being partnered with her gun. But, Jira nods again in reply to the question.
"Yes, his name is Akabara. I'm not sure if I'd be too comfortable to let him out right now, though." she states and tilts her head. "I'll answer any questions myself, unless they're too hard to convey."
The juggler spends a moment staring at the path in quiet contemplation -- as the alternative would have her looking at Jira's gun. Which is hidden. And that'd be creeepy. Deciding against her desire to tease the young woman for concealing the object of discussion, Honoka chuckles softly instead. "... I admit, I -am- rather curious! But I don't mean to pry." Pause. "Akabara... just, er... caught my eye the same way your eyes did, ain't much more than that." A light chuckle, she shakes her head. "I'm just a simple hick girl, don't mind me, really!"
Jira chuckles quietly. "Kind of hard not to notice a performer with keen eyes once they're sizing you up." she muses, turning her head to keep her eyes on Honoka, politely for the eye contact.
"Something tells me you're far from simple, Honoka-san. Neither I nor he mind questions." she half lies, it's obvious that her firearm dislikes having Jira freely spread information about it to strangers.
Laughing a bit too hard at the comments, her eyes go wide, hand clasping to her chest in pretended shock. "Oooh, you -caught- me..." she cries, before breaking into a gentle grin. "C'mon, you make it sound like I followed you out all this way just to ask you about your gun or something." Sparing a few glances forward as she walks so as not to trip -- that -would- be embarassing -- she notes, "I -was- lost, y'know."
A small sigh, and a self-deprecating grin. "... I don't make friends easily. ... E... especially not with guns? It's not something I have a lot of experience with, bouncing from one town to the next all the time."
Jira makes a sudden stop and takes a moment to examine the trees, and the sky, before making a small turn and moving off in that direction. Her focus returns to making them both un-lost, and giving a small pat to her weapon.
"He's a little triggerhappy while I'm up is all, he much prefers talking one on one than having me work as a median." she says, though it's mostly to taunt the clicking implement at her left hip. "So, what's being with a circus like? Never been to one myself, I spent all my extracurricular time at the firing range."
"... Wow, I'm so glad you know your way," notes Honoka once Jira stops suddenly. "I'd never've found my way back..."
The juggler takes careful note of the verbiage used; she knows the words, but she's not used to hearing them put together in such a fashion. And just as she's about to form a question...
"Oh, the circus? It's a lot more work than you'd think. We only put on two shows a night, three on weekends, so you'd think we have a lot of downtime! But it's not that much, really. Whenever a performance is going on, of course it's -insane-. Hearing all the audience roaring when you get something right, hearing them laugh or sigh when someone gets it wrong..." She shrugs cheerfully. "It's a living though! I love making people happy."
Craning her neck over towards Akabara, she smiles faintly. Her attitude is definitely lighter now than before -- perhaps due to the tremors being less bothersome. "So, quid pro quo! You both function as one? You mentioned being a medium, is that an odd feeling for you?"
Jira chuckles at the mention of knowing her way, looking around at the ash coated foliage and ground. She listens intently on the blurb about circus life, and nods in agreeance to making other people happy. She starts her reply to the questions by holding her left hand out expectantly. Almost as if on cue her gun seems to phase through her jeans and flies into her hand. A brief flourish and unrealistic amount of twirls ensue before she grips it.
"Since I picked him up, yes, we've both been sharing the same.. thoughtspace, in my head. He even generates and solidifies some of his energy into a weapon that I know how to use. It took a bit to get used to another voice in my head, independant of my will and influence, but his help is certainly worth it." she replies. "On occasion I'll let him take over and have more direct control- generally during a spar in close quarters or advanced training." is further explained before she places the gun back on her left hip and lets it hang there.
Honoka had the good sense to be watching just as Jira raised her left hand, and in just a bit more good sense, hastens her pace so that she can see the gun materialize. Clasping her hands together with an ebullient grin, she nods her head. "Wow... for a moment there I wasn't sure, but now that I can see it for real, yes!"
Walking backwards for a while so that she can keep her eyes on that gun (it's already proven to be triggerhappy, after all), Honoka clasps her hands behind her back once more. Smiling cheerfully, she nods, "I know it's not -exactly- the same, since my diabolos don't have a habit of sassing me back or anything, but I can definitely feel... -different- when practicing. In my case, I get a bit more into the 'zone' as it were whenever I listen to music. It's... again, not a voice, but something I can respond to."
As she turns, it looks like she might trip over a stray root, but the younger woman raises her foot just far enough, just barely clearing it without incident. "Performing is nice... but I've always found that I enjoy practice... well, -almost- as much."
The lights of the city glitter across Honoka's eyes. The young woman's jaunt through the forest was undoubtedly nice, but her stomach voices a small complaint at being ignored. "So, uh... that's it just ahead, hmmm?"
Jira is glad that the other woman didn't bolt at her gun being drawn, such occurances happen even without her drawing it. She listens and nods to hearing about practice, and smiles warmly. She gives and affirmative nodding to the directions request.
"Looks like it to me!" she chirps, idly stretching her arms and her back. "Sounds like your, diabolos, are your tokui waza. You sound capable and proud of your talents with them, maybe later on we could have a friendly spar."
Honoka's a weird one, at that. Running TO danger, running FROM safety... yeah.
"You could say that! I've tried a lot of different, uh... " She waves her hands as if that can help her conjure the word. Apparently it works: "... techniques! And diabolo just seems to be the right blend of panache and ease of control."
Laughing musically, Honoka takes another two steps further towards the convenience store. "Sorry to drag you all out this way with nothing to show for it... Oh! Do you want something to drink? My treat! It can't be easy breathing in all this ash." ... Or can it?
Jira maintains her kind and soft expression and posture as she listens through that pause, then nods. And at the end she smiles.
"How about I get you a drink, and maybe something to nibble on, and you can make it up to me later?" she offers calmly, tilting her head and seeming rather pleased. Mostly shining through the twinkle in her eye.
Honoka raises an eyebrow, managing a playful level of skepticism. "Twist my arm, why don'tcha? I guess that'll have to do." Door-to-door service -and- free drink and grub? "I should get lost more often," she offers with the brightest smile she can manage.
An honest laugh comes from Jira at Honoka. "Just be careful, next time I might not be around to find you." she teases and quietly leads the other woman off to the nearest convenience store to make good on her promise of food and drink before parting ways, with another new friend under her belt.
Log created on 18:34:00 08/18/2014 by Jira, and last modified on 23:42:24 08/18/2014.