hotelcaelum | Event Log #002

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Event Log #002

EVENT LOG
number 002

The hotel humbly hopes that you're settling in well and are taking advantage of the various pleasures on offer for your stay. In Mr Bennet's opinion, things have been going quite well and he doesn't think that the guests are unhappy at all. New guests have arrived, some have left, it's all going along perfectly. So, of course, this is when the next troublesome thing pops up.

SHADOWS

One morning, characters will find the hotel to be a little dimmer than usual, a little more shadowy. Yet if anyone asks Mr Bennet about it, he will claim to not have noticed anything different than usual. Either way, as the characters move on with their day, they'll start to notice a few odd things start to happen.

PHASE ONE: Initially, characters will notice their shadow beginning to move a little out of sync with them. Discreetly at first until eventually, their shadow takes on a life of its own, mischievously playing with characters and enjoying their newfound freedom. Very Peter Pan, and completely harmless.

PHASE TWO: Now, shadows might disappear entirely, roaming the hotel to their own discretion and ignoring the characters they belong to. As the shadow takes on this free will, characters will begin to feel slightly off balance and have a hard time feeling whole without their shadow around. The shadow may become slightly aggressive as well if told they should return to their characters, fighting back in their own way from knocking things over to outright attacking other characters. It's a little hard to fight back though when your opponent is a shadow, isn't it?

PHASE THREE: The shadows have become fully aggressive now, fighting anyone who tries to get them to return to their original person. Characters will find themselves feeling weak and low energy as a result of losing their shadow. Eventually, the shadows will come back to their owners but the characters will find themselves sinking into their shadow, eventually changing places entirely with their shadow. The only way to rescue a character from this fate is for another character to pull them out of their shadow forcibly. The bright side is once a character is pulled out of their shadow, it all returns to normal and their shadow is no longer sentient.

These phases will last over the course of the week and it is quite alright to stay in phase one/two/three. Not all shadows will become aggressive, not all shadows will be playful. Feel free to manipulate your character's shadow in the way that's most fun for you.

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[ She sinks to her knees, and he is quick to follow — he would have, even if their joined hands didn't more or less necessitate him staying by her side. The rules of his domain are not so imprecise that she would be in danger of being hit if he wasn't holding onto her, especially when he isn't aiming to hit any other targets. Still, this is a situation he will take absolutely no risk in. After all, he's only pulled civilians into Unlimited Void once before.

Quickly, his free hand is reaching for her chin, urging her to tip it up to he can get a better look at her neck, to see if the shadow's attack left any mark or injury behind. ]

...Yeah. I'm back. Sorry I took my sweet time and kept you waiting.

[ He shouldn't have. None of it should have happened, and yet, here they are, within the confines of his ultimate technique, simply because he was so fed up with being so beside himself that his frustration left little other recourse. It was absolutely overkill, to employ something so powerful for the purpose of ridding them of a shadow, yet it was a decisive and effective action. Like cutting a thread with a saw.

And if nothing else, maybe the captivating otherworldliness of the void will be enough to distract her away from...you know. The everything that just happened. ]

[ As far as Sumina can tell, there's no danger to be found here at all, unaware as she is as to what Domain Expansion means or even is... She's likely to have frozen up entirely if she'd known, but as it is, she needs this moment to not be on her feet, to catch her breath, to just talk to Satoru without his damned shadow interjecting.

She is pliable in his hand as he inspects her neck; blessedly, the contact had been all too brief to cause anything worse than perhaps some bruising, but more than anything, as he keeps his grasp on her hand and on her face, Gojo would find—

Sumina is shaking, from the unsteadiness of her hands and legs and shoulders to the quivering in each expelled breath.

She has said it so many times before, hasn't she? She doesn't have an adventurous bone in her body. Rarely has she ever faced real danger, much less danger like this, danger that feels mind-boggling and impossible even given all that is made possible by her very magical upbringing and surroundings.

Which, by the way, includes somewhat-regular jaunts to the Astral Plane, a starry sea not too unlike where they are now... And as such, despite its otherworldliness, Sumina still thinks of what just transpired, above all. All she really needs to know about this place for the moment is that the shadow isn't in here with them, and that Satoru is back. ]

Good, [ she pants, ] I'm glad...

[ She shuts her eyes tightly. It's going to be okay now, right...? ]

What happened back there, Satoru? Your- your shadow...

[ It wasn't quite like the others she had encountered. It almost seemed an entirely different person its own... ]

[ In the grand scheme of things, some light bruising isn't anything to worry about, and Gojo is more than used to seeing his students and colleagues take both minor and major hits in battle. But they're trained for this, have accepted injury as a part of their lot in life as sorcerers. Sumina isn't like that. She was only trying to help him...

And more than the redness at her neck, she is trembling, too, and before he's even thought it through, he kneels down more fully in front of her, his hands gliding over her arm and sweep of her neck, so he can grasp her shoulders, steadfast and reassuring. He doesn't quite pull her into a hug, or anything like that — he knows better than to cling too tightly to someone who is having an extreme response like this, but he offers what he can with his presence, with the weight and warmth of his hands.

This is his fault. She wouldn't be in this situation if not for him, so he owes her answers, as much as he wants to run from her question, from memories that even now dance across his mind, fresh and indelible as they were the moment they happened.

His gaze falls away, distant and inscrutable. ]

My shadow...must have known it couldn't take me in a real fight, even when I was out of it. So I guess...instead, it decided to use someone I cared about against me. Someone I lost.

[ A dirty trick someone else had used against him not that long ago, either. His heart is his greatest weakness, isn't it?

Love really is the most twisted curse of all. ]

[ It's her fault, too, she thinks in that moment. Shouldn't she be prepared for just about anything, doing what she does? Even if she is herself rarely in danger, has she not helped many others who were...?

No, not quite like this. She has never had to personally, literally pull someone out of peril. She's... only an ordinary, humble innkeeper, yet still, she wishes she weren't quite so shaken, to the point that the person that she'd tried to help now has to help her.

...And he does help, his grounding grasp on her shoulders enough to allow her to focus on her breathing rather on the trembling of her body. Before long, she lifts her own hand to rest on top of his, and lifts her gaze to meet his, although she is unable to given that he looks past her, into the void that surrounds them. He had looked that way at last week's party, too, hadn't he...?

Where does his mind go, when he looks so far away like that? He doesn't leave her wondering for long. ]

Someone you— [ Lost. Oh. ] Oh, gods. I'm... I'm sorry, Satoru.

[ That the shadow played such a cruel trick on him, that he knows such a loss to begin with. Little wonder, then, that he was so shocked every time that person's voice cut through... And moreover, what the shadow kept saying... No, she won't ask about it, yet, about the 'lying' it kept mentioning. How could she, in any case, when her heart is twisting with sympathy? ]

He must have been so important to you...

[ As soon as he's said it, he realizes there's a sort of irony with his words, calling Suguru someone he lost, when in fact, the shadow had called him out for being the one responsible for his death. For all it twisted its words, the shadow hadn't lied about that. Really...it hadn't lied about anything.

Maybe that's the worst part about all of this. It all came from him, in the end.

He takes in a deep breath, reigning in his emotions with deft precision, as he's had to do as a sorcerer so many times before. Thoughtlessly, his thumbs smooth over the fabric of Sumina's top at her shoulders, an attempt to soothe her as much as its one to soothe himself. ]

He was. [ Best friend, lover, enemy, now his shadow — where does it stop? ] Pretty cheap trick, if you ask me.

[ Were those things he would have really said, if he were here? Or is it just how Gojo himself perceives it? What a mess. ]

We...went through a lot, and weren't exactly on the best of terms when he died. Still, I never stopped caring about him, and my shadow knew that, too.

[ Cheap trick, he calls it, yet Sumina is quick to chime in, her brow furrowing and lips drawing into a thin line. ]

A heartless trick.

[ As Satoru goes on, Sumina listens dutifully; and listening, as it turns out, is something that she is rather given to, with the life she leads as an innkeeper. And really... No matter where the inn goes, no matter who walks through the grand doors of the Elderflower, some things simply stay the same. That much is true here, too.

The heart is such a delicate, but precious little thing.

And as such, she often meets people, adventurers especially, who tend to hide their hearts, who keep theirs tucked away for safety when they lead such perilous, tumultuous lives that would see their hearts fractured until they break. She doesn't blame them. And she doesn't blame Satoru, either, for hiding his beneath his bright, flippant, eccentric personality, even though she thinks she has glimpsed past it from time to time.

She's never before experienced a loss like what he speaks of. But she has met plenty who have. It feels very much like she's overstepping, here, but at the same time... Perhaps they're past that point, when the shadow of his past quite literally has attacked her. So she takes a deep breath, and casts her gaze out towards the cosmic void that surrounds them. ]

No matter what the magic of this place is capable of... Your shadow will always be exactly that - your shadow. It will always be tethered to you, in a way, but... it doesn't need to engulf you like yours tried to, today. It doesn't... It doesn't need to be your only company when you're lonely.

[ "Satoru will be lonely again," that's what the shadow had said, hadn't it? Has he been alone since he lost this person? ]

[ They are past that point, the nature of their situation forcing him to lower his walls, though perhaps he could have attempted to brush off what happened as something to laugh about now. It would feel disingenuous, however, and Sumina deserves better than that. Has earned more than that, for all the time she's put up with his antics, and even more now, for offering him her aid in his time of need, even if it downright terrified her to do so.

She's made of much sterner stuff than she realizes.

His hands at her shoulders slip down to the crooks of her elbows instead, still holding fast, though his gaze remains downcast. It doesn't need to be your only company when you're lonely.

If only it were so simple...but then again, she would understand loneliness well herself, wouldn't she? Given how transient the people in her life must be, by the very nature of her work. Like him, she's defined by that, too, even if in wholly different ways.

He doesn't respond back to her right away, instead letting his eyes flutter closed, white eyelashes pressing into a tight line, as the void around them starts to recede, cracking like a sphere to reveal the hotel hallway around them once more. Even as his domain gives way, he keeps the both of them grounded, rooted to this spot. If he moves, he might lose his nerve, might lose the meaning of this moment. Just...what is she offering him? ]

Sumina? [ Not Mina-chan...just Sumina. ] You...you're lonely too, aren't you?

[ The veil of stars around them begin to fade and melt away; later, she'll surely have to ask him what this all was, but for now, no explanation feels as important as... Well, letting Satoru know that he's not alone. Even outside of this hotel adrift in the multiverse, he has his students, too, right? And his allies in other sorcerers...

Just like she has her family, and her precious guests. Even if she doesn't get to see them all too often... Even if it does make her lonely. Even still— ]

...Mm. Lonely, yes. But never alone.

[ There's a difference between lonely and alone... right? She's not so sure, herself, but she'd like to think that there is. The contemplative, poignant look on her face, the hooded gaze of her eyes as she at last draws her attention away from the veil that no longer surrounds them - to try and look at him, though she doesn't quite make it there, instead looking somewhat off to the side. ]

Even though you've lost this important person, you still have your fellow sorcerers, and your precious students, too. [ She moves her arms in such a way that she can then take his hands into hers, instead, if he would allow it. ] In my family, we have this notion that... When a Heartleaf passes on, after hundreds and hundreds of years, their adventures continue through the people they met over their long life. But, you know, I don't think that idea fits only to my family. You understand, right? What I'm trying to say.

[ That even though this person has gone, he lives on in Satoru, and in turn in his friends and students. Perhaps especially his students. ]

Edited 2023-11-12 01:30 (UTC)

[ Lonely, yes. But never alone.

That's all he needs to hear to know — she does get it. She understands, all too well, how you can be surrounded by people, even people you care about, and still feel like the only person in the room. Whether its duty or status or infinity that separates them, there's just something that sets them apart as the other, and how do they ever fully address that?

That's an answer he's searched for for a long time, and will continue to search for, as much as he allows himself to, for fear of never finding something satisfactory, instead stuck at a pinnacle no one else can reach, elevated further away from the ones that do try, that do come close. Isn't it easier to just keep his distance in the first place?

But that...isn't what he wants. Not in his heart. It isn't what Suguru would want for him, either. His shadow was right about that one thing.

Sumina's hands around his own are warm, and draw his gaze to her face, even if she herself is looking elsewhere. He understands, and even if it won't be a lesson he learns in a day, she has reminded him of something important, something he had almost forgotten in Shibuya. ]

Mm. I sure as hell won't be the one to let his legacy down.

[ What Suguru had once hoped for, and what he stood as a cautionary tale of. He doesn't quite think of it as Suguru still being with him, but it's what he can cling to for now. ]

[ Patience is all she can offer him now, as her words no doubt percolate, as they both come down from the tension of the encounter with Satoru's shadow and the emotions that followed while they were hidden away beneath that starry veil.

For a moment, Sumina closes her eyes, brows creased, her countenance disquieted. What if her words don't reach him? Could she truly have overstepped, now? What if—

What if he pushes her away, while their newfound friendship is still budding...?

But soon enough he responds, and though it feels selfish, she also feels relieved that what she'd said seems to have resonated with him enough. Her expression softens at once, and her lips curl into a faint smile as she at last meets his gaze, looking through the tint of his sunglasses. ]

Of course not. You are a persistent man, after all, Satoru.

[ She squeezes his hands once more before her grasp loosens along with a sigh that escapes between her lips. ]

I'm glad... That you'll be alright, now.

[ With the rush of urgency and danger dwindling, Sumina is reminded just how heavy her own body has been feeling, too, in the absence of her own shadow. But it's probably fine. ]

[ He'll be alright. To him, "alright" feels a little different than "okay" — is he "okay"? That feels like a little bit of a stretch, given he's not even sure how to define "okay" for himself anymore. But "alright"?

Yeah. He's alright. His body and shadow are one again, and his wayward strength has returned to him. He will no doubt be thinking about the implications of this encounter for a long while yet, and just how easily he was laid out by a shadow, of all things, but...

Alright is enough for now.

He doesn't let her hands slip away completely until he gives them an appreciative squeeze of his own. ]

...Thanks, Mina-chan. [ He's lucky, to have a friend like her. ] You're still missing your shadow, too?

[ That hasn't escaped his notice either, even if dealing with his own was the more pressing matter. ]

[ Dealing with Satoru's shadow had indeed been the more pressing matter, but with his now returned to form and his domain dismissed, that Sumina's is still missing is plain to see. Perhaps even more so when the last thing that could have been out of place - the radiance over her heart which has since dulled to a soft glow - fades away entirely. ]

Mm... Glad I could help.

[ It's just how it is with a humble innkeeper, isn't it? That she should always render assistance for others before ever worrying about herself.

Overcome by the weakness that settles fully into her body and soul without her shadow, she slumps forward and leans onto Satoru's shoulder and chest, or as much as Limitless will permit her to. ]

[ When Sumina slumps against him, she will find no resistance from Limitless; instead, the hands that had grasped her own instead move around her shoulders. He's always been someone who expresses physical affection easily — been starved for it, really, for all he feels like he's an infinity away from everyone most of the time, but there's still something within him that stirs at this contact. Supporting another person like this isn't something he often gets to do.

He probably shouldn't be enjoying it, given what they just went through...he'll just think of it like this making them even, or something. ]

Hey...we should get you back to your room. Your shadow is giving you grief too, huh?

[ No one should have to go through that, if he can help it. ]

[ Fully feeling the absence of her shadow and the listlessness that has settled in its place, Sumina can't help but seek more, her hand absentmindedly lifting to curl into the fabric of his shirt. It's... warm, like this. He is warm like this, in what feels like the very coldness of the space itself within their hallway. ]

It's... Nothing to worry about. She's harmless, like me.

[ Smash cut to her shadow throwing an absolute rager on the Ren Faire floor. ]

I'd appreciate the help getting to my room, for now... I'll - I'll search for her again later. You need to rest, too, Satoru...

[ She fully intends on resolving this by herself, but we all know how that's going to go. ]

[ He can't help but scoff at the insistence that her shadow is harmless, given the state she is in just from its absence. Not all shadows he's encountered seem to be as barbed as his own, but that doesn't mean they're not causing problems in their own way. Sumina's is no exception. ]

Ehhh, after barely being able to move for the last day or so, the last thing I want to do is just lay around resting. C'mon — up and at 'em.

[ You know, in a metaphorical sense, since he isn't expecting her to get up at all, as evidenced from the way he winds his arms around her back and beneath her knees and pulls her against his chest. Princess carry!! ]

I'll have you there in just a sec. Comfy?

[ Or, comfy enough for a quick teleportation trip. ]

[ Perhaps it will attest to just how exhausted Sumina is, that when Gojo wraps his arms around her to sweep her into a princess carry, she is utterly pliable and gives no sign of protest when she otherwise might have insisted on being able to walk. Instead, she simply leans into the gesture, resting her head against his shoulder once more. Why is this beginning to feel... familiar...?

At his question, she nods her head. ]

Mm. I'm in your hands, Satoru...

[ Quite literally. Her grip on his shirt tightens as she braces herself for the impending teleportation. ]

[ "I'm in your hands, Satoru..."

Ah, it may be something of a blessing in disguise that she's as out of it that it is. Maybe it's the emotional rawness that they've experienced these past few moments, but the implicit trust in her words stirs something fond in his heart, heat rising to his cheeks in an unfamiliar way.

Or...no, it's not familiar. Just...exceptional, the sort of thing that doesn't happen often, or hasn't in a long while. ]

Okey-dokey! Let's get you to your room before I go knock the daylights out of your shadow.

[ It's the least he can do, now...

With a gentle squeeze of his arms around her, the pop out of existence in the hallway where they had fought his shadow, and appear just inside the door of her suite. Normally, he wouldn't just, you know, go right in, but desperate times, and all that. ]

[ And from just inside the door of her suite, he would find... that her place is in a state of disarray unlike any other time that he's visited her here.

Her shadow, it seems, has terrorized and wreaked havoc upon this place above all else, and naturally, Sumina simply hasn't had the energy to tidy up after it. Strewn across the coffee table where they'd once had their big breakfast are numerous journals and parchments, the throw pillows and blankets and upholstery on each couch disheveled in a way that spells both the shadow's mischief and Sumina's tendency to take naps there rather than, you know, actually sleeping in her bed. Her actual desk, too, is practically buried beneath precariously piled books and stacks of paperwork, and that's to say nothing of the clothes that look like they've been flung from her dresser, all of the decorations just slightly adjusted out of place, and so forth. A veritable nightmare for Sumina, were she feeling whole.

But as it is, with each passing moment she is finding it difficult to stay awake, though the reminder that her suite is in shambles causes her to groan. ]

H..Here is good, Satoru. I can get to my bed from here...

[ She doesn't want him to have to walk or even teleport through this mess. ]

[ Oh...gurl u live like this

But no, Gojo has been to Sumina's room more than enough times by now to recognize that this is hardly typical for her. She's such a tidy and organized person, and this is...the opposite of that. No doubt the influence of her shadow, taking advantage of her malaise. They really do know where to strike them where it hurts, don't they? Hers has made her important space an absolute nightmare, like his had used Suguru's voice against him.

He doesn't make even the slightest move to set her down where they are. Is she kidding?

...No, of course she isn't. ]

I don't believe youuuu.

[ So he keeps ahold of her in his arms, stepping deftly into the air before just...walking right over the mess mid-air, with Sumina clutched close to him, making his way toward her bed.

She took care of him...now it's his turn to return the favor. ]

But—

[ Ah, now they're floating mid-air and crossing over her room just like that? The protest dies on her lips.

The little corner of her suite where her bed is, notably, has been used since the earlier days of her stay, though not quite as much as those couches... But it's a start. Once they're there, Sumina would remain entirely grateful and willing however Satoru chooses to deposit her onto the bed. ]

You really didn't have to... But thank you, Satoru.

[ She doesn't even have the energy to really tuck herself into her blankets, but... the moment that he so much as turns to move away - short of teleporting - she reaches out, her fingers alighting upon and tugging delicately on his sleeve. ]

[ No, he didn't have to...but that's exactly why he did it. Satoru Gojo seldom is someone who does things out of obligation alone. Instead, he does them because he wants to. This...was something he wanted to do. Because they're friends, right? Not just acquaintances or across-the-hall neighbors, but friends.

He doesn't only set her on the mussed bed and turn to leave, either, instead drawing back the blankets and sheets enough that he'll be able to tug them back over her. Her shoes, too, ought to go, so he tugs those off as well, leaving them in a heap at the foot of the bed. It's not until he's tugging the blankets back over that he reflects -- when was the last time he actually got to take care of someone like this?

For all people rely and depend on him, it's...never like this.

Fully prepared to leave her be now, the tug of her fingers at his sleeve catch all of him but his Six Eyes by surprise.

Turning back towards her, his surprise gentle on his features: ]

Mina-chan?

[ She's too dazed to be bewildered by all that he does beyond her expectations, so Satoru would find it easy to fuss over her shoes and blankets and sheets, though she is not too dazed to feel embarrassed by how helpless she is at the moment. It's clear in the way he brows are knitted together, how her cheeks are flushed that she's not... used to being treated like this.

When was the last time anyone took care of her like this, anyhow...? Even when last she caught an illness severe enough to confine her to her bed, she'd had to turn guests away and deal with it by herself. She remembers the ache of loneliness in those days when she had no one to rely on but herself... The fear of loneliness, too.

Perhaps it's that realization which suddenly spurred her to reach out for Satoru. She can scarcely believe what she's done, herself, as her lips press into a thin line and she hums with an uncertain quiver to her voice. ]

I...

[ Her fingers tighten against the fabric and tug once more. ]

If you could... Stay, just a moment... please? I still feel scared...

[ Stay. She wants him to...stay?

It's not like when they were influenced by the spa — first, him, holding fast to her hand and asking her to stay with him in much this same way, but then he'd offered her the same, when she'd needed the physical contact herself. Now, however, neither of them are under such a stipulation, and given it was his shadow that had attacked her, he might have expected her to be ready for a break from him for a good while.

That's usually how it goes, when he wears out his welcome, when being around him becomes too much for others. When he is too much.

Stay.

Something playful rests on the back of his tongue, but he isn't in the mood to even entertain it, instead offering a softened smile as he winds his fingers around her own and sinks down onto the edge of her bed. ]

Okay. I'm here for as long as you want me to be.

[ Sumina looses a sigh while her eyes slip shut when he joins her at the edge of her bed, when he stays. What a relief, to not be alone at this time, to be able to close her eyes against the sight of complete disarray around her without feeling like she might wake up to an even worse mess. At least some of her lingering fear can be attributed to what Satoru's shadow had wrought, surely, but maybe...

More than that, she's relieved that she was able to help him become whole once more, that the Satoru beside her is safe, for now. ]

Hmm.

[ Her features crease into an expression of worry once more even as her grip at last loosens against his. ]

I'm sorry. I really am helpless, hah... Thank you.

[ And then she's out, that emptiness from missing a part of her and the exhaustion of it prevailing over her at last as she sleeps into something like slumber, but one that is not wholly restful, either. At the very least she's not alone, just this once. ]

[ If she's helpless, what does that make him, the person she saved?

But he doesn't voice his thought, given how quickly she slips into that fitful unconsciousness that will deprive her of the feeling of really being rested. He's going to keep his word and go drag her shadow back to her immediately —

After he tidies up around her room a bit, first. He doesn't know exactly how she likes things, but he has a good enough idea, after being here a few times now, and some clean-up is just common sense. If it'll ease her worries just a bit, then it's worth it.

But even getting to that waits a moment longer, too, as his gaze falls on her features at rest, at the pillow of her pink hair behind her, and then at last, at her slack grip around his fingers.

...Hah.

Even if she won't be able to feel it, he offers her hand a reassuring squeeze, before he's off to tend to her room, and then to track down her shadow. ]

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Event Log #002

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