open

[invocate]

WHO: Tatsuo Kihara (thisloveisjustice), Li-Na Yiu (invocate), & OPEN
WHERE: all over town
WHEN: throughout the month
WHAT: I'm being lazy and mushing open logs for both of them into one post
WARNINGS: n/a

TATSUO

A -- let's paint this town tonight

Finding and painting back into existence his apartment had been priority number one for Tatsuo at the beginning of this month. Shortly followed by the police department and crime lab. That... had taken a while. With both of those objectives met, Tatsuo went in search of the dojo, but it's proving a bit elusive. What he found instead was the pet shelter.

Which he'd almost walked past except he heard the animals inside and couldn't really just leave them there, white and blank. So he spent a good afternoon getting the exterior mapped out, snagging any passersby to help.

"Hey, do you have a minute? It's going to take more than one person to get this done."

B -- wrong color

Someone was kind enough to paint back one of the supermarkets in Tisse, though not everything had been restored to its proper color yet.

Except the bananas. Sitting there, bright yellow in the middle of the produce department.

For some reason, that just irked Tatsuo, so he pulled out his paintbrush and recolored them a mild shade of blue.

Sometimes you wanted blue bananas, okay?

C -- feeling a bit blue

It was about halfway through the month when Tatsuo realized he's not heard from or seen certain individuals on the network. A few he'd bumped into in person on the street or at work, but been too distracted to realize they hadn't still been on the network. Something had felt off, but it took a while for him to put together exactly what.

When he did, it hit a bit hard. He was used to one or two, maybe three people getting reset at a time. But this time it'd been five. And some of them he'd been quite close to. Sure, he could still talk to a few of them, but it wasn't the same. It'd never be the same again unless Retrospec put them back on the network.

That evening he found a bar that's been outlined back into existence and ordered a drink. Liquor still tasted the same, even if didn't have color.

LI-NA

A -- the grass is greener pt 1

Li-Na quickly got the hang of how to paint outlines with her paintbrush, but actually painting things green was a little trickier since it required someone else with a green paintbrush. Maybe you just painted that grass green with her, or maybe you were just walking by after her partner departed, but one of those brush creatures was currently sweeping away said green. And Li-Na was not having it. She waved her paintbrush at the creature, trying to chase it off.

"Stop! Leave that alone! We just finished that!"

B -- the grass is greener pt 2

It was fairly easy to paint back the buildings are ground level, and even a story or two up if you had a good arm. But Recolle had a number of skyscrapers and frankly painting them from the bottom up was a bit daunting if you weren't sure where they ended. So Li-Na loaded up a bag of paint filled water balloons and used her boots to locate the tops of buildings. A few splashes here and there until she located the very top and then lobbing balloons in each cardinal direction to locate the buildings around it.

So if you looked up and spotted Li-Na perched on seemingly nothing, it's just a building she hadn't fully marked the top edge of yet.

C -- is that your real...?

Between repainting the city and sleeping, Li-Na made sure to go to school (the high school having been one of the first locations she helped paint back). Finals were coming up, and even though Li-Na technically did not actually need to graduate from Recolle High, she still wanted to put in the proper effort until the end of the school year. Especially in her more difficult subjects.

But with the collapse of the layers, some of her classmates had taken renewed notice of her hair and eyes.

"There's no way she grew her hair that fast. It was chin length before Christmas." "And who would want to wear extensions that long every day? It would get soooooo heavy." "Do they even make extensions that color? I bet you it's a wig." "How does it never slip? She even wears it in gym class." "She's so weird, wearing a wig. And did you see her eyes? Purple contacts."

Li-Na could mostly ignore the whispering behind her in class. But must they do it during class? She was trying to listen to the teacher!

D -- relaxing cup of tea

For the most part, Li-Na kept herself busy. Painting and school and dance classes once the studio was painted back. One afternoon she found a bubble tea shop and decided she could use a short break. White bubble tea is better than no bubble tea after all. It took almost an hour to properly paint back the interior of the shop, but once it was done she ordered a coconut milk tea. Alas, no jellies, because without color they couldn't tell which ones were which.

Comments

li-na ▸ a!!!

[hairstroke]

Fortunately, Leon had just finished painting a few places with his blue paint brush and was looking for another partner to mix colors with. As he was in the middle of passing by, he hears a very familiar voice and turns his head towards the sound. The sight he witnesses is poor Li-Na attempting to chase away those stupid broom things.

This immediately causes him to frown because he's not having none of that. Those monstrosities have been messing with him all day long and he sure as heck wasn't going to let her get harassed by them as well. NOT ON HIS WATCH!!

So here comes a very angry man stomping over with two paint buckets in his hands.

"Hey! Go away and leave her alone you little jerks!"

In an instant, he's swooping over to help shoo them away, waving his own paint brush in the air after he sets down his buckets.

[invocate]

Li-Na appreciates the help as the brush creatures were pretty set in ignoring her protests. It's pretty easy to ignore one person, but maybe between the two of them they'll be able to herd the creatures away from the grass.

"Go clean the sidewalk. There is always rubbish there. Go brush the rubbish away."

She finally gives in to the urge to poke the brush creature and does so, poking the tip of her paintbrush against the side of one of the creatures. But instead of moving out of the way, the creature starts brushing away the paint dripping off the end of her paintbrush.

At least it's not the green grass?

[hairstroke]

"Exactly! Don't disturb our work if you want to clean up something so badly."

Of course, he full well knew that his scolding wasn't going to work as irritating as it was. It's so frustrating that having to paint everything is already a huge pain, but of course Retrospec had to make things even more frustrating.

Admittedly, Leon is a little nervous when Li-Na pokes the broom creature and is getting ready to jump in just in case it tries something funny but he stops and stares at the thing in disbelief as it starts sweeping away her paintbrush. It's good that it's not the green grass, but he's still irritated at how cheeky this thing is. He's certain that it's doing it on purpose!!!

So out of frustration, Leon picks up one of his cans of paint and tosses it on the sidewalk, letting it spill all over the place. This causes the weird creature to stop and stare at the spilled paint mess that Leon made. With his eyebrows furrowed, he watches as it looks torn between the paint mess and Li-Na's brush.

"Hopefully that will distract it."

[invocate]

"Ah!"

Li-Na yanks her brush away from the creature, so it only manages to white-out about six inches of the bristles. As Leon distracts the brush creature with a bucket of paint, she quickly checks the end of her brush. The light green color just trickles back down the bristles, covering the parts the creature had turned white.

"Thank you, Leon."

She sighs.

"This is going to take all month, if not longer. Especially when these things around."

[hairstroke]

“You're welcome. I'm so sick of those creatures and I can't stand the sight of them bothering you.”

In all honesty, if it was someone else he wouldn't care that much but since it's Li-Na, he wants to help her out in anyway he can. Leon won't admit it, but he would even leap through a ring of fire since she's one of the few people he's grown very attached to.

“Right? Retrospec makes us to this but then they add in dumb obstacles like those broom things. I think we'll be lucky to get it done in a month.” He lets out a sigh of his own as he begins to swirl his paintbrush in the paint can that he didn't toss. Although he has blue, he hopes that maybe it will be enough to help her out with the remaining grass. “Is there anyway I can help you out with this area?”

[invocate]

Li-Na looks at Leon's blue brush and her own green one.

"After having grey grass for so long last year, I think having blue-green grass is better than nothing. As soon as I find someone with green, I can come back and fix things properly. But for now, just about any color will do."

[hairstroke]

"Very true, at least blue will add some much needed color."

Plus he's just really biased towards the color blue in general. Leon will always stan that color forever and ever.

"Sounds good to me. Just getting the grass painted is what's most important right now. I'll start putting down one layer of paint, then?"

After dipping his brush into the can, he begins the process of slathering it on the grass that got erased.

Tatsuo C

[blondferret]

[Derek has just entered the bar when he sees Tatsuo is at a bar. Alone. In the way back. That wasn't normal. As far as he knew, Tatsuo didn't go to bars alone, at least not when he was in a good mood. Derek remembers the last time he walked into a bar and saw Tatsuo. Tatsuo was not in a good mood. Derek walks over, pulls out a chair, and sits in front of he friend.]

Mate, you OK? It's not every day I see you in a bar... alone.

Re: Tatsuo C

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo looks up from his half drunk coke and rum... and gives a small frown when he recognizes Derek. Yep, he should have gone to a bar further away from their apartment complex. This is what he gets for being lazy.]

Five. That's how many people I know directly that got reset this month. Five.

[and he knocks back the rest of that coke and rum]

Re: Tatsuo C

[blondferret]

[Five? Really? Yikes! Derek grabs the glass away from Tatsuo and takes a whiff of it. Rum and coke. Could he get more boring?]

So you deal with it, you're drinking? You know, the last time I saw you in this kind of mood was back in March in that town. Is this what you do when you're in a bad mood? Drink alone?

Re: Tatsuo C

[thisloveisjustice]

[don't be such a snob Derek]

I'm not in a bad mood.

[yes he is]

I'm just saying good-bye.

[waves at the bartender to send him another drink]

Re: Tatsuo C

[blondferret]

[Derek waves to the bartender to ignore Tatuo's request. Good grief, drink something better than coke and rum.]

At least drink something decent mate. You know, there is this new pub near by, called The Three Broomsticks. I actually remember it from my memories. Apparently went there as a student, though he only drank the non alcoholic stuff there. But I do remember that there is something called Fire whisky. Want to try it?

Re: Tatsuo C

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo starts giving Derek a dirty look until he mentions the pub.]

It's actually from your memories? Like, from his world?

[that is pretty interesting...]

Okay. Sure. I'll try it.

Re: Tatsuo C

[blondferret]

Yup, it's exactly from my memories.

[Derek stands and points to the door to the pub over his shoulder.]

Let's blow this Popsicle stand shall we?

Re: Tatsuo C

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo digs out his wallet and lays a couple bills on the counter to cover the drinks he's already had]

Lead the way.

Re: Tatsuo C

[blondferret]

[Derek leads Tatsuo out of the bar and out into the streets of Tisse. They walk for about ten minutes until Derek stops in front of a very unique looking building with three broomsticks above the entrance. Derek extends his hand out in a very presentation like way.]

Welcome to the three broomsticks. A pub for everyone, even the for the kids who can't legally drink.

li-na - A.

[fabrefactions]

[ Ah yes, the dreaded brush creatures. His mortal enemy over the past week as he has battled to both paint a path to his home and beyond, and not lose the path to the meddling of these creatures.

As soon as he hears someone yelling in frustration, he stops what he was doing - painting, naturally - and hurries in the direction of the shouting. When he sees the little creature, ruining all this young lady's hard work, he reacts.

Well.

A little instinctively.

One summoned Persona later, and the brush-creature is rather pathetically straining against the ice that has bound its lower half to the ground. A temporary measure, yes, but one that should work. ]

There. Now you may seek to undo the damage this creature has wrought.

Re: li-na - A.

[invocate]

Ah... thank you.

[It all happened so fast Li-Na barely got a good look at the summon. Which was a good thing, as she probably would have activated her boots.]

I do not know why they are so... determined to undo everything.

[She swipes her brush over the sections of grass the creature had erased, though they are only outlined in black for now. She looks over at her rescuer.]

What color is your brush?

[fabrefactions]

Perhaps it is something separate to Retrospec? If we have lost the "layers", whatever they were and these things can undo our attempts to rebuild them....

[ He glances down at his brush. ]

A light blue. It is a pleasant colour, or at least I feel it is.

[invocate]

Hmmmmm, and I have a light green. So unless we want blue-green grass, I suppose those spots will be recoloured later.

[she turns her attention back to the brush creature and pokes the ice gently with the handle end of her brush]

You think they could be related to why the layers collapsed?

[Li-Na squints at the brush creature, but can't fathom how it could affect the layers]

Or maybe they are like the Christmas decorations. Random chaos.

[mostly because she doesn't like the idea of anyone or anything being able to mess with the layers]

[fabrefactions]

... Blue-green grass sounds rather pleasant, come to think of it. Vibrant, yet soothing.

[ Lovely. He could get behind that idea. ]

I am merely speculating. Something had to have caused all of this to happen - perhaps not these creatures precisely? But something acting in a similar manner, on a much larger scale.

After all, the world does look a little like someone liberally applied white spirit to it.

[invocate]

[Were it not for living with Chiyo for almost a year, Li-Na would have no idea what 'white spirit' is.]

It does look like all the color was washed away. Layers have to do with how we... 'see' the world... I think. So when the 'layers collapse'... not being able to see anything at all, makes sense.

[Li-Na gets a slightly mischievous look in her eye.]

Speaking of seeing, I suppose we could paint the grass blue-green. If someone else does not like it, they can colour it something else.

[fabrefactions]

Until someone tells us otherwise, I feel we can do whatever we wish to do. Within reason.

[ He motions his brush at the grass. ]

Shall we? I think it would be a quite striking sight, even if it may be temporary.

[invocate]

[Li-Na flips her brush bristles down and sets it next to Yusuke's]

Yes. We shall. Maybe someone else will find it amusing too.

[and since they're going to embark on this endeavour together...]

My name is Li-Na. What is yours?

[fabrefactions]

Yusuke. A pleasure to meet you.

[ This is going to look charming. He can't wait. ]