[semi-closed]

[sharplydressed]

WHO: Sword Sufferers Anonymous
WHERE: Public Library/Hollingberry Field
WHEN: Friday
WHAT: A bunch of people are turning into swords and it's a wild time. Info-sharing session for swords and/or a place for other people regaining swords to stop by and wonder If They're Next™.
WARNINGS: None; will update if needed!

[SO HERE IT IS. The dust has settled from the insanity of the last month (somewhat), and life goes on in Recolle. Mostly.

Maybe you've heard about it through word of mouth - that some other people are having some weird troubles with their regained weapons. Swords in particular. Maybe you've caught wind of a few familiar terms like "Retrograding Army" and you're curious to learn more, or maybe you've just caught a bad case of Sakura Fubuki-itis and you want to know what to do next. In any case, there are two meetings going on today. One at the library - a perfect place to pour through those history textbooks and look up a little more about all those ye olde historical names and terms coming to mind lately!

The other is in the park, since it's a better place for open discussion without having to worry about getting hushed by a frazzled librarian. This is also the place to pick up any sword care items you could need, since Kashuu's brought a metric asston along with him! Good work, team.]

(Feel free to use this to mingle as you see fit! If you need a reason for your character to show, we can handwave a direct or misfired text from Kashuu. Anyone meandering by who'd have reason to poke their heads in is free to, since these are both taking place in public locations!)

Comments

Park OTA

[sakeplz]

[Jirou didn't come to the library because being quiet is for weirdos (unless you're Kenta then you can be as quiet as you want to.) Plus they don't allow drinks there. Who does that?

So he's made his way here with a couple of bags and a blanket and his dog. This is a super important sword meeting thing!

Which means he has a picnic with plenty of alcohol and is currently snacking between sips of sake while his dog snoozes away on his lap. Because this is clearly what everyone had in mind when wanting to discuss weird similar memories and surprise items.]

[sharplydressed]

[After he's done talking about Serious Things - he doesn't chastise Jirou for apparently zoning out because at least he brought food and also he's Jirou - he'll mosey on over. Lean over. Look like he wants to pet the dog.

He'll refrain for now, by some miracle.]

Is he yours?

[sakeplz]

[It's really amazing the stuff that Jirou gets away with on a daily basis, isn't it. Anyway, he smiles at him and waves for him to come sit down.]

This is Kenti. He's definitely mine.

[And yes he's named after his boyfriend.]

[sharplydressed]

[He gets away with So Much it's ridiculous... But over he'll go, sitting down next to Jirou and Kenti and giving him a look over that name.]

Did you pick the name out?

[surprising]

[ THERE'S A DOG... which means that he's sliding over as soon as possible, crouching down next to jirou. as for what he's brought to the sword meeting, his own sword hangs at his side, its sheath glittering gold and white. ]

Hi, Jirou! Can I pet him?

[sakeplz]

[He laughs and pats for him to sit next to him.]

Of course you can! Kenti loves pets!

[Because these two have the best priorities right now. Dog before swords.]

[surprising]

[ this is the best day of his life, he gets to pet someone's dog for FREE... did they meet here to discuss swords? what? ridiculous!!

but he gives kenti a pat on the head, then reaches to scratch behind his little dog ears. for some reason, that name sounds similar to another one, hmm... ]

What breed is he?

park ota!

[sharplydressed]

i;
[Once everyone's gathered, Kashuu will flip his phone outward, showing off a somewhat blurry picture of one of these guys. Two others can be seen somewhat in the background, along with an equally blurry shot of Kashuu himself. It's a still, captured from the video that Maggie had taken when his team ended up having to fight off three yari at once.

It seems as good a place as any to start off, so here he is.]

So... These guys. Anyone else remember anything like 'em? If you do, I'm preeetty sure we might be from the same army.

[OF SWORDS. But he'll get to that part soon enough.]

ii;
[For the beans cursed with People Touch My Sword And I Feel It-itis (or sakura fubuki, or any other weirdass sword connection struggle, Kashuu is here for you. Having already gone through a number of bizarre-ass changes himself, he'll gladly lay his cards on the table for suffering comrades, despite how generally tight-lipped he's been over the last few months. Actually accepting that you might be some kind of weird spirit thing does wonders for evasion.]

O-kay! Gimme a rundown of what you're going through and I might be able to help prep you for what's coming up later down the road.

iii;
[OR catch him afterwards, sorting through his... literal wagon of sword cleaning supplies... He really just stacked them up in a wagon he borrowed from work, normally used to tote around milk jugs.]

You can take whatever you need, okay? Let's see... These things are uchiko balls? The powder's over here, you have to replace it kinda often. That stuff's choji oil, this one's some kinda wax--

[He has all the supplies that might be necessary! Steel wool, different types of waxes for the scabbard, metal polish, soft cleaning cloths, on and on - about six months of total supplies, so he's certainly willing to share. You'll probably need a better teacher if you want to know how to actually go through the cleaning steps properly, though... He's still learning.]

wildcard;
[Anything in particular you want Kashuu to mention? Come at me!]

i

[toobigtohandle]

[Those.... he's definitely remembered those, after that chat with Kashuu during the cleanup last month, actually. He still has no idea what they are, but now he clearly remembers those shapes.]

What are they?

[sharplydressed]

They're swords, I'm pretty sure. And definitely enemies we used to fight. They called themselves the Historical Retrograding Force and these guys- [Tapping the screen!] -were called the yari.

[Which he definitely had to google after remembering the term... He's on the fast track study course for random sword knowledge.]

[toobigtohandle]

Historical Retrograding Force?

[That's a mouthful for you.]

And yari... I suppose they were carrying spears, then.

[Who needs Google when you already are a sword enthusiast of sorts before even remembering you are one.]

I have a clear memory of seeing them and fighting them, but I haven't actually seen any here.

i

[surprising]

Yeah, I fought one exactly like it. They're from something called the Retrograding Army, right?

[ he goes over the word slowly; it's still unfamiliar on his tongue. ]

I also remembered them coming in lots of different colors... I don't know what that means, though.

[sharplydressed]

Mmhm, that's it. Historical Retrograding Army, if you wanna get super technical.

[The historical part is probably important since OH YEAH THEY'RE ALL ALSO TIME TRAVELERS in addition to being swords, what a struggle.]

I dunno what the colors mean, either... I've seen the purple guys and some red ones, but that's it. Yasusada said he saw a blue one when he was out in the unreality or whatever, too.

[Little do they know it was a kebiishi who wrecked his shit...]

Anyway, these ones are yari, I'm pretty sure. I remembered that there are a bunch of different "types" like that in their army.

[surprising]

That's a weird name. But I saw a red one, too — it even had a best friend that was a cactus monster.

[ which is probably irrelevant but now we know that the time retrograding army members can form friendships, apparently... also rip yams, wrecked as he lived.

he'll get back on discussing the types of army members in a quick moment, but he needs to confirm something first: to be honest, he's only spoken to yasusada once, and the occasion was, oddly enough — ]

Yasusada... Do you mean the guy that wrote that weird book report on the network? The one about Gatsby going out like a shooting star because he was shot?

[arahoushi]

[He's got all the sword supplies he needs, he's already talked a little bit to Kashuu about some of the stuff he's dealing with and while he doesn't specifically remember the picture Kashuu shows around he remembers something like it. But Toshi's even more tight-lipped than Kashuu is, so he waits until the gathering has mostly died down before he even shows up, much less talks to anybody.

He very pointedly (lol) did not bring the spear. It's still hidden in a closet. Sorry, spear.]

Guess we've got more in common than we knew, huh.

[sharplydressed]

[Toshi be good to your spear self...

Though Kashuu understands, at least, and he won't be getting any shit from this punk.]

Looks like it, huh? [A somewhat lopsided smile follows, like he's trying to decide whether he should find this funny in a Shitty Retrospec Way™ or convey sympathy first and foremost.]

You doing okay?

[arahoushi]

[He refuses you can't make him nobody can make him

It's funny in a Shitty Retrospec Way but the lopsided sympathy smile is good, too. He offers one back, equally lopsided and just as uncertain with just a tinge of desperation there, too.]

Not great. But I'll live.

[Sword memories kind of suck.]

Y'know, at first I hated the memories, but now I think I hate how disjointed they are even more. I mean, I don't remember that thing-- [The yari in Kashuu's picture.] --but I remember a little one and a huge one and I figure they're probably all related. I just don't remember it. And I remember people's names but not any of the faces they're connected to.

[SWORD MEMORIES REALLY SUCK.]

Park, OTA

[toobigtohandle]

[Since receiving that package in the mail, Kenta has had a weird feeling about the sword. Mostly because it's just so absurdly big, and also because the sheath and the sheer size make it rather similar to Jirou's and so Jirou's talk or 'being swords together' is starting to be less and less of a fancy and more something that could actually be true.

Kenta is sitting down on the blankets Jirou brought and has laid down the sword at his side. As weird as it is, he does feel better having it nearby.]

[surprising]

[ and here rindou thought his own sword was big... one day, he'll remember that tachis are just the middle standard.

he makes his way over, immediately setting his sword down next to kenta's for a side-by-side comparison — and frowns at the large difference. ]

I know you're good with a sword, but this is... Can you actually wield that?

[toobigtohandle]

Of course not.

[Don't be ridiculous, Rindou, have you seen the size of that thing? It's longer than Kenta is tall, and that's saying something given how tall Kenta is.]

It's much too big for a human to wield. Not only the length, but the weight as well. It's almost ten pounds.

OTA!

[okitactless]

The Library

[So, this meeting may have been Kashuu's idea, but Yasusada (through some Retrospec-flavored miracle) hasn't lost his job at the library just yet. He doesn't work in the history section, but as a long-time history lover, he's very familiar with it. So he'll be here, wandering around and approaching anybody who seems to be searching for something specific.]

Hey, do you need help finding anything?

The Park

[Ah, the park... Yasusada has spent many hours out here with his trusty bokuto, and it's nice to be back here again, now that things have finally calmed down (more or less). He'll mostly be sitting with Kashuu, his own vessel at his side, and he'll mostly let Kashuu do the talking for all the serious bits. He's open to conversation, though, and he'll gladly volunteer information about the monsters he's fought, the memories he's seen, or the abilities he's gotten.

(...That is, if you can distract him from playing with Jirou's dog, because Yasusada has priorities and they come in the form of cute puppies.)

He's also willing to spar with anyone who wants to! He's healed up from the jungle, this is fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE. Feel free to chat him up, or to challenge him--he's good to go.]

park

[surprising]

[ after confirming with kiyomitsu that this is yasusada, the same person who wrote terrible book reports for retrospec, rindou makes his way on over. ]

Hello, hello! You're that guy with the weird book report, right? You know, the one on Gatsby for bingo?

[okitactless]

[WHY IS THIS HIS LEGACY this is the worst thing (maybe because you've literally never posted anything else to the network yams)

He doesn't argue that it was weird, at least, though he does look Tired for a moment, because Retrospec is the worst but he also kind of misses the days when stupid book reports were his biggest concern.]

Yes, that's me. I'm Yasusada, nice to meet you. [His smile is friendly, in any case; they're all here for the same reason, after all.]

library

[arahoushi]

Yes.

[That's accompanied by a little cloud of...well, gray storm clouds. Someone's frustrated.]

Japan has too many famous bridges and I'm not even sure if the one I'm looking for is famous but none of them look right so far.

[Grump grump]

...That said, unless you've got an encyclopedic memory of bridges in Japan, I don't know if you can actually help me find the one I'm looking for...

[okitactless]

[THOSE ARE definitely storm clouds... Yasusada smiles at him sympathetically before his face shifts into something thoughtful. His own thought bubbles aren't much help, as he sorts through his memory of the books they have that might be helpful, but it's true--there are a lot of bridges in Japan, and without more details, he can only offer a few vague places to start.

Still, he's here to help, so help he will.]

Can you tell me more about it?