(no subject)

[selkiepaws]

[Here again. Thankfully, he's human today, much more convenient than his seal form.

The mansion seems less crowded than before, or at least he's running into fewer people than last time. Just his luck. In a form where he can easily interact with humans, but none around to talk to.]

Comments

I don't even think these two have met in canon omfg

[tsuburaya_kun]

[Wow what an empty place ahhhh... Mitushiko will just be... Wandering. And taking notes and doodling a wip floor-map while he's at it]

[He will probably bump into you. Oops.

hakuba's experience with conan characters is pretty limited

[selkiepaws]

Apparently, the rooms change position without respect for laws of physics. [Hakuba is just going to stop Mitushiko's map-making before the boy wastes too much time.

it really is :'3

[tsuburaya_kun]

Eh!? [WHO--]

[Oh, person--] Ah... Really? They just change, like magic? [no mitsu dont use that word]

[selkiepaws]

Possibly. [This particular Hakuba is half magic-seal-person.] Either that or some sort of technology beyond what humanity is currently capable of.

i'm just so happy because SELKIES. AH.

[tsuburaya_kun]

Hehhh? So we might be in the future?!

[...No. But hey that'd be cool.]

favorite mythical creature aw yes

[selkiepaws]

That is one possibility, but we have no way of testing the hypothesis.

I like the merrow myself eheheeeee

[tsuburaya_kun]

I see... [Ahhhh... ...Wait do they even know each other--]

Ah! I'm Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko! [Quick light bow, yes hello let's be polite about this--] Pleased to meet you!

understandable

[selkiepaws]

Hakuba Saguru. [He bows briefly in return.] I suppose this is your first visit to the mansion?

[tsuburaya_kun]

Ah... U-un. [He nods.] I just opened the door to my room, and then I was here...

[selkiepaws]

In that case, welcome. I've only been here once before, and that was brief, but it seems to be a pleasant place to stay.

[fishpanties]

[ This Aoko, dressed in (slightly bloodstained) bright blue and with her hair in pigtails, can be stumbled upon in the library! She's thoroughly absorbed in a book of fairytales. ]

[selkiepaws]

[A library is the thought his mind calls up, when it becomes apparent he's not going home any time soon.

An occupied library. Apparently, the mansion has decided he will be social today.

As he walks over to Aoko, the scent of blood catches him off guard and his next few steps are quicker. It always takes a few moments to process the difference between fresh blood danger and old blood concern. But he does manage to wrestle his instincts under control (as always) before he comes into her range of vision.]

Well, I certainly was not expecting to meet anyone I knew.

[fishpanties]

Wha—

Ah! Hakuba . . . Saguru? [ Too late, she remembers she should've tried to make the "I'm still half amnesiac and barely remember you" surprise sound more like "FANCY SEEING YOU HERE" surprise. ] I didn't think anybody else was here . . .

[selkiepaws]

[The pause is odd, potential lack of recognition, and he nods.]

That is correct. I haven't seen many other people, but this place tends to bring in... unusual assortments of individuals.

[fishpanties]

That's an understatement.

[ Checks the page on her book, and sets it aside. Keen eyes may notice that her hands are littered with scars—cuts and small gashes, mostly, caused by broken glass. ]

[selkiepaws]

So, tell me about yourself. [Hakuba's own hands have their own stories to tell. Slits of surgical scars where webbing was removed between his fingers, thick callouses on the palms and pads of fingers.

Still, Aoko's scars draw attention.]

[rubicantare]

[He seems to be gradually attracting them, as this one in particular strides around a hallway corner in his direction. Akako's been investigating the Mansion, doing her best to track down the infuriatingly fickle hints of magic and the supernatural that always seem to be winking in and out of existence. Of course, odds are that they're all simply by visitors, but one never knew...

She's concentrating so hard on pinpointing one source in particular that she doesn't recognize Hakuba as Hakuba until she's nearly upon him — and is interrupted by a new feeling of something off having to do with his person. She stops short, barely avoiding stumbling into him, and blinks twice before eyeing him narrowly.

His aura says that whatever's "off" isn't caused by any magic she's familiar with, and her hackles rise slightly. Beyond that, he looks young, rested. Reasonably relaxed.

Why does she keep running into versions of him that aren't hers?]

...Saguru.

[she manages a calm and politely neutral greeting, but she's gotten so used to calling him by name now that she doesn't catch her mistake until it's already left her lips]

[selkiepaws]

[Akako's existence makes him tense, and the sound of his given name in her voice means he is about ten seconds from running.]

Koizumi-san.

[His hands slip into his pockets, hiding the scarring between his fingers and the thick callouses on his palms that came from removal of webbing.

Hakuba never really got along with the witch. She had an unsettling ability to influence decisions, and a dangerous interesting in acquiring his complete (coerced) loyalty.]

[rubicantare]

[If he pays attention, though, if he looks for it, he'll notice that the usual sense of persuasion that comes with her presence is completely absent.

And depending on how sharp his human senses are, he might not need to look at all to catch the scent of old death hanging about her]

Are you looking for something in particular?

[selkiepaws]

No.

[He steps back, away from the smell of death and the danger of the witch. Selkies are naturally wary creatures, except when the pull of the moon and tide calls them giddly out of the sea. Even ones with a human parent.]

Do you need something?

[rubicantare]

[She gives him another long look, some of the tiredness finally showing in her eyes, then gives the slightest shrug]

No.

[She's tempted, so desperately tempted, to test him, to make certain that the unsettling feeling about him isn't a threat. But she recognizes the wariness, just as she recognizes that she isn't up to a fight with him — she has bigger things to investigate, things that she might have to reserve her power for. And none of it has anything to do with the memory of her last meeting with an undead Saguru and how draining it had been. Of course not.

Even so... paranoia isn't so easily pushed aside, and she hesitates, trying to gauge whether it's worth the trouble to find a way to track his movements]

[selkiepaws]

[Hakuba is not up for a fight with anyone. Close to the ocean, he might stand a chance, pull the water up around him with a surge of tide. In the mansion, all he can do is hope the witch goes away.]

Are you certain?

[Hesitation is never good.]

[rubicantare]

...You could tell me about that otherness of yours.

[yes surely this is the most graceful way out for both of them]

[selkiepaws]

I am nothing other than what I've always been.

[rubicantare]

I know you have it in you to be more clear than that.

Just give me an answer and I'll be on my way.