Shindou Hikaru Intro (OTA)

[lets_go_five]

 Open/locked?: Open
Who: Hikaru and anybody who wants to put up with him
What: Arrival (Auradon)
Warnings: Uh, nothing I can think of offhand, but I'll edit this if I need to?

Hikaru woke up in the snow.

Which was the first red flag, really. It wasn't like it didn't snow in Tokyo, it did, but usually not enough to do anything useful with. So this was... weird.

There were also a lot of meticulously trimmed hedges and things, which wasn't really a thing in Tokyo either. The middle of the city wasn't exactly the greenest of places, not like this, unless you were in a park or playground, but this didn't look like anyplace he'd ever seen. Red flag number two.

Three, and probably the most obvious, was the giant building in front of him. Was that a castle? Like, knights and dragons and stuff kind of castle? He'd only ever seen something like that in fairy tale stories (and Tokyo Disney, once when he was little), and even then, he hadn't seen a lot of it. Royal buildings in Japan were of a much different style, after all.

And four, was the fact that he was absolutely positive he'd been inside last he knew. He'd probably fallen asleep going over a game- it wouldn't be the first time.

Hikaru pinched himself in the arm as hard as he could. This had to be a dream. Never mind that he was freezing cold, it still had to be some figment of his imagination.

"Ouch!" he cried out at the sharp pain on his arm, and then looked back up. Nope, weird castle was still there.

"What the atari-" he murmured, then blinked. That wasn't what he'd said. "Joseki. Gote. Hane." No, no, and no. What was happening? How was he being censored in real time? And Go terms?

There was no way this was real. It couldn't possibly, this was all too weird, even for Hikaru, who had literally been haunted by a Go obsessed ghost. He had to be dreaming still, somehow. Or he'd hit his head on the goban when he crashed and now he was hallucinating? That was a sobering thought. Still, hallucination or not, he was getting cold just sitting here in the snow.

Time to figure out how to get warm, somehow, probably inside. He got up, dusted himself off- oh hey, he had his backpack, weird but cool, he wasn't going to complain- and started moving toward the castle. Maybe by the time he got there, he'd be awake and he wouldn't even have to worry about it.

Comments

[utauhoshina]

Ugh. Utau needed a break from the building. She had to find a good place to sing. Some place she could let her voice free. Some place away from the people who looked at her and saw her past, kept her locked in it.

She was wearing pale pink blouse with a dark red panel down the front and a pair of black slacks, her blond hair pulled up into pig tails. She stopped when she saw him, violet eyes narrowing. With that two tone hair she couldn't tell if he was a goody goody or possibly cool. But either way, when she wanted to be alone, he was mostly just annoying.

It didn't help that her angel chara, El, was dancing around his head. Clearly he didn't see El, which told her a lot... and pretty much nothing at the same time.

She scowled finally and stepped to one side. "Go in if you want, but don't think I'm about to hold the door for you."

[lets_go_five]

Somehow, having someone show up was even more of a surprise, mostly because he didn't recognize her. After all, if this was a dream, you'd think he'd know everybody who showed up, right? He blinked for a moment but then smiled and ran over for the doorway.

"Um, thanks. Shindou, by the way." He inclined his head very slightly. Best to be polite to the dream figments, probably? Even if she hadn't been especially polite herself. She reminded him of Kaneko, a little bit. Not physically but the attitude.

He was neither a goody goody nor cool, but somewhere off on a different tangent altogether. Although, considering the company he kept... he was pretty cool, comparatively speaking? Not that that was saying much.

[utauhoshina]

She narrowed her eyes more at his name. "Japanese?" she asked.

[aquawayfinder]

Shocking no one, snow or no snow, Aqua had been out for a jog. She had been heading back when she heard him and shifted her path and her pace to walk towards him. "Hello," she called to him.

So many new people, recently!

[lets_go_five]

Hikaru blinked again. "Um, yeah, ob-" he started, cutting off the "obviously" that started to come out. Mostly because again, he was trying to be polite to the dream figments. He really didn't need her turning into a demon or something and making it a nightmare. "Yeah."

What was this girl's problem, anyway? She was acting like she had a problem with him and he hadn't even done anything... yet.

[utauhoshina]

She huffed and turned partially away. "Then just to be clear, I'm not posing for a selfie, and I don't give autographs for free." She just presumed anyone Japanese from modern times - and his clothes looked modern - would know exactly who she was. Even here.

She refused to admit - at all - that it was actually comforting to have someone from home here. At least... someone from home that didn't hate her.

[lets_go_five]

Hikaru wasn't super modern, to be fair. He was from the early 2000's, before selfie culture and before smartphones. He didn't even have a phone. Though it certainly could've been much worse, timeline wise. At least he was from the last twenty years or so.

Needless to say, he was totally lost. "A what?" he asked. "And why would I want your autograph, anyways? I have no idea who you are."

[souls_of_roles]

Kyoko had finally been kicked out to go get some fresh air. She was twitchy over that, she wanted to finish that coat she had been sewing. But now that she was outside she felt so much better.

She didn't see him at first, eyes on the snow all over everything. It all looked so magical. Like there could be a fairy hiding anywhere! She danced through the snow, intent on a bush near him. Could there be a fairy there? Would Mallia know?

Even if the teenager hadn't been heading for him, she was impossible to miss as her work uniform - some sort of jumpsuit with logos over a white shirt - was so bright pink it was like a curse. A colour impossible to unsee. It burned itself into the eyes and brain.

Other than the loud pink jumpsuit the girl herself was kind of plain and unremarkable. "Is there a fairy here?" she asked the bush, then she looked up to a tree. "Or here maybe?" she asked, her smile child bright.

[utauhoshina]

"I'm Utau Hoshina, the singer," she snapped. "The famous singer." She gave him a look about as mature as the one he was giving her.

[lets_go_five]

Hikaru whirled around at the new voice. "Oh, hi," he returned, smiling a little. Still being polite to the dream figments in his own best interest.

[lets_go_five]

Hikaru's blank look should've told her everything she needed to know on that particular topic. Had Akari mentioned her or something? He didn't tend to listen when she talked, most of the time. She totally could've and it wormed its way into his brain somehow. Well. That was annoying.

"I don't really listen to music like that. Too distracting for Go," he said dismissively. "Listen, is there a reason you're here? I'm kinda trying to get out of... whatever this is."

[lets_go_five]

Hikaru happened to love that color and he appreciated the choice. A bold one, for sure, even if he couldn't do that himself so often anymore. He'd gotten lectured about how it was unprofessional and unsportsmanlike to burn his opponent's eyes out before matches, so he'd toned it down considerably. For the most part. Even now, he was in a blue t-shirt with an unbuttoned blue and black plaid over it, and khaki pants. The only thing bright about him was his bleached bangs, and the yellow and black backpack he wore.

Fairy? He blinked. "Um, no fairy. Just me."

[queen_butterfly]

She needed a quick break, a change of pace. Too much sewing, too much of her notebook, too much of getting nowhere with her magic experiments....

It wasn't playing in the snow that she was doing. No, she was just... clearing the path between the school and the castle. And she had to put the snow she was lifting from the path somewhere, right? Perhaps if she even made the moved snow obvious, it would serve to help guide people to one of the two buildings, since more had been arriving again?

So she gestured, and the snow seemed to scoop itself up, lifting up a few feet into the air before moving aside and standing up to add itself to the bit of a tower that was forming, tall and thin, on the yard. Another few steps down the path, gesturing again, the snow doing as she bid once more, and adding itself to the spire. It wasn't the fastest task, but she wasn't exactly doing it to be efficient, pressing the snow into the shape as she was, condensing it. It was gaining in size rather slowly, but the way she was doing it, it might well last a decently long while.

Step, step, step, gesture. Step, step, step, gesture....

She certainly stood out against the white of the wintery surroundings, though. A long black dress with a generous skirt, those large outer sleeves catching the near lack of breeze prettily... hair in her usual updo, some sort of decorative little cape hanging down behind her, disappearing down behind her skirt...

She seemed a bit oblivious to things around her at the moment, though, intent as she was on her task. Which was, perhaps, a bit ironic, considering that she was at least partially intending to do this to make it easier for people to find the buildings and get out of the cold... and yet, there was a newcomer in the area, and she hadn't even noticed them yet.

[lets_go_five]

Hikaru wasn't the most observant person ever, but she was kind of hard to miss, what with all the magic and all.

Then again, it was a dream, at least Hikaru assumed it was anyway.

Regardless, he assumed this strange person was in his dream for one reason or another, so he figured he was supposed to talk to her. She was kind of right there by the path anyway.

"Um, hi?" he said. He didn't sound particularly sure of himself, but he was out of his element. He should probably get used to that.

[queen_butterfly]

She turned to see who'd addressed her, and smiled. Well, he was certainly new! "Hello, poppet! I don't believe we've met yet...? Oh, you must be cold out here!" Which she notably did not seem to be, despite her dress seemingly being of some sort of very lightweight material. No coat, no scarf, no gloves... she even had her hair up, so it certainly wasn't helping hold any heat to speak of to her either....

She gestured to simply set the current giant glob of snow aside; she could add it to the growing tower later. No, best to tend to the newcomer first. She turned to head his way, gesturing for him to come toward her as she did.

[lets_go_five]

Poppet? What was a poppet? Did she just mean puppet? But why would she call him a puppet? Hikaru blinked at her, unsure how to respond to that.

She wasn't wrong about him being cold, though, and that snapped him out of it. He at least had long sleeves, but considering he was all wet, it wasn't doing a lot for him in terms of warmth. He was definitely going to need a coat. And gloves. And all of that stuff.

Someone else might've been more suspicious of her to begin with, but Hikaru had been getting hauled around by grown adults for years now. If anything, her approach was a lot more gentle than he was used to- typically there was a lot more grabbing, and often yelling. She seemed nice enough. Maybe if he was polite, she'd let him out of the dream or whatever this was. He stepped forward to her.

"I'm Shindou, by the way," he said, with a slight bow of his head.

[aquawayfinder]

"Are you new here, perhaps?" she asked with a warm smile as she drew closer so they could speak more comfortably.

[utauhoshina]

"To distracting for... what?" she asked, baffled for a moment. And a little disgusted.

[souls_of_roles]

She looked startled then blinked. "Oh!" She gave him a very proper Japanese bow. Formal with perfect posture. "I am very sorry, please forgive me for failing to notice you," she said with polite formality. Then she stood and smiled brightly at him. "It's just such a beautiful day. It rarely snows like this in Tokyo, I couldn't help but think there might be some snow fairies around!" she said cheerfully. "I'll have to ask Mallia!"

[lets_go_five]

"Oh. Um. Yeah. Where's here, by the way?" he asked. He crossed his arms over his chest, subconsciously trying to hold in any warmth he still had.

[queen_butterfly]

"Mallia," she said, giving the same little nod in return, seeming well pleased with this. "We should get you indoors... but in the meanwhile...."

She lifted her hands, still making her way toward him, and shook something out in a little motion. There was absolutely no way she'd just been holding that in either hand a second ago -- she'd not reached into any pockets, if that dress of hers even had pockets to begin with... and even if she had... she was holding a long hooded cloak of some kind now, a purple thing of thick, fluffy-looking fabric that would reach almost down to the ground once around his shoulders, and probably reach well enough across his chest to be bundled up in the center, easily held closed from inside. She held it out, turning it in an offer to help put it around him as they neared one another.

"This should at least do until then...?"

[lets_go_five]

He stared at her. "Go. You know. The game? I play professionally." Not that she'd have any clue about him if she wasn't into the game.

[nadenagi]

The person picking a delicate path through the snow seemed to be a pretty young girl, maybe all of 12 or 13, with purple hair in a high ponytail that seemed to sway gracefully as she walked. Even in her snug coat and boots everything about her seemed to be graceful.

She gave a warm friendly smile. "Hello! Are you a friend of my brother's?" she asked.

[aquawayfinder]

"This is Auradon Prep, a school in a city known as Auradon. Come inside, we can get you warm while I answer your questions," she offered.

[utauhoshina]

"A game?" she scoffed. "Must be nice to have such an easy job... playing little games for a living."