Cold and Clean and White, Shining Diamond Bright

[shutter_hime]

⌛ Who: Kokoro and Everyone That Loves Not Dying from Heat
⌛ What: An unseasonably snowy day
⌛ When: July 3rd
⌛ Where: A Park in Tokyo
⌛ Warnings: N/A until they are



[The whole business with people (like her) being kidnapped and forced into bondage against their will sucked. Anyway, Kokoro wanted to forget all that, even if the tattoo around her arm wouldn't come off. (She'd tried to freeze it off, but nothing worked when you were immune to the cold.) Anyway, the summer in Tokyo was oppressively humid and hot, enough to make the yuki-onna want to cry and figure out a way to run to Hokkaido.

So the next best thing would have to be implemented. The extra energy she'd received through kizuna was more than enough for her to do this and also not need emergency kisses. A cloud appeared over the park she'd chosen, as she transformed into her full yuki-onna form, blue fingertips and lips and all floating white hair. Snow began to fall from the clouds as the temperature in the park dropped from oppressively hot to chilly, to nice and cold, just like she needed it.

With the extra kizuna, she could freeze more than 100 yards of the small park, further than she'd ever been able to before. That finished, Kokoro sat down on a blanket and picked out her favorite onigiri from a basket she'd brought along with her. Now all that was left was to let everyone know:]

As promised, I've got a lovely snow day for all of us who are melting from the heat. Please come to the park I've indicated on the map I've made! Let's have a nice day!

Comments

[dreamvour]

Heeh . . . [she draws out the sound, it getting muffled as she takes another sip] If you ever need help, you can ask me. I have life energy to spare.

[she's not doing anything with it]

Yeah, like that. I can't describe the taste that specifically, but - it's that gross.

[shutter_hime]

Aw, thanks! I'm glad you don't mind that I'm a girl.

[There were some yuki-otoko that she'd heard of, but they seemed to live shorter lives.

Kokoro could only chalk it up to the idea that they thought they were invincible.]

[dreamvour]

[a slow headtilt, cup held up to her mouth as she pauses]

Am I supposed to mind?

[shutter_hime]

[Kokoro shrugged.]

Sometimes people do; they either don't realize or don't care that it's always coming off them.

[dreamvour]

Huh.

[another pause, her head tilting the other way]

Technically speaking, I don't have a gender. I just chose this form because I like cute clothes.

[it might sound like she's joking but no, it's true. At least part of it]

[shutter_hime]

[A kindred spirit!]

Cute clothes are very worth that. I'm planning on being a fashion photographer when I graduate college, so I'm hoping we get everything resolved soon. It's not that it's bad here, really - weird, but not bad - it's just that I have plans.

[dreamvour]

[kindred spirit!! Almost literally!!]

A fashion photographer seems like it'd be lots of fun. Have you ever seen them down in Shibuya? Sometimes they do shoots.

[a wry smile] I hope it's resolved soon too.

[shutter_hime]

My parents do wildlife photography, and have some friends that do fashion work. They said if my portfolio is good enough, they'll consider taking me on as an intern when it's time for me to do that in college.

SooooOoooOOooOoo, I've been practicing here with some of the refugees. They're mostly thirst traps, though. I've gotten really good at those. Which, I guess works for how a lot of people develop kizuna around here.

[dreamvour]

That's - good, right? I don't think I've heard of a thirst trap before.

[she's from 2014 ok she hasn't caught up on all the cool slang]

[shutter_hime]

It's a type of suggestive-without-being-explicit sort of picture. Like a pin up?

[dreamvour]

[processing . . . ]

Suggestive - oh! Like those posters some of my friends hang on their walls.

[shutter_hime]

More or less, yeah. And I get paid in miso, rice, or seaweed, which saves my stipend for other things.

[Honestly? Probably the smartest thing she's ever done.]

[dreamvour]

Heeh . . . that's smart. Do you know how to cook, then? Is that why you ask for those in particular?

[shutter_hime]

That and making sure what I have means that I don't have to worry about secret meat or meat adjacent things get into my food. I'm a vegetarian... except my energy consumption which requires human energy.

[dreamvour]

Human energy isn't meat-based. Ghosts don't have meat and they retain their human energy. So you're still adhering to vegetarianism. [her eyebrows furrow] What is secret meat?

[shutter_hime]

Mm, it's meat-adjacent since they're made of meat.

[Kokoro wrinkles her nose.]

I didn't phrase that right. But it's like honey, which I do eat, and milk. Secret meat is like... putting bonito in dashi. It doesn't look like it has meat in it, but it does.

[dreamvour]

Huh. [...] I wonder if dreams are meat-adjacent. I've never considered it before.

[bonito in dashi sounds . . . ] . . . ew. So it's literally secret meat.

[shutter_hime]

Exactly! It's really hard to figure out sometimes. Like chips? Sometimes have secret meat in them. I mean, I guess my options are healthier sometimes, but I don't really want to eat puffed cauliflower.

[dreamvour]

That seems . . . why do they put secret meat in things? For flavor?

[she makes a face] I don't eat a lot of regular food but that just seems . . . weird, to me.

[shutter_hime]

Yeah, I guess that has to be it, because you don't really taste bonito in dashi.

Ramen sometimes has secret meat in it; when I go home there's a place I go to specifically to have it vegetarian-style.

[dreamvour]

Ahh. I've had chicken-flavored ramen . . . when I do eat, it's mostly basic stuff. I buy meals from the conbi and don't really think about it.

Meat's kind of gross, though. The rarer kind.

[shutter_hime]

Mmm, I like to buy pizza buns from one place, since they don't put any meat inside them. They're nearby our school and a buddhist temple, so they make it really easy to get snacks from.

[Though, no one ever seems to be able to find it when she gives them directions...]

[dreamvour]

[she hums a little] Good food always seems to be by temples - or that's what Shishi says. I think he's full of it, but he eats, not me.

[shutter_hime]

It really is; it's sort of like... if there's going to be a lot of people around, make sure the food is good so they remember to come back for other things later. Like charms.

[She sighs wistfully,] My mom got me a good luck on exams charm from our local shrine. I hope it works.

[dreamvour]

Ahh, Shishi says a lot of people get those . . . as long as you keep it with you, he can send you luck.

[she says it as though it's perfectly normal] Sometimes Kara helps, if they have spare energy. But it's usually him.