[Closed] Home is Wherever I'm With You

[kyoumibukai]

Date & Time: During the rebellion, Nov 17-19

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Characters: Philip and Shotaro Hidari

Summary: Coincidentally shopping for tech components while the rebellion is going on, Shotaro has to keep his partner from walking into walls in the Library. 

Warnings: None that I know of!

Shotaro is somewhere ahead in the crowd, and Philip feels like it's just fine to go into the library while the two of them walk. He's by no means good at walking while referencing the library, especially not in Tokyo crowds, but staying away for even another moment while he knows that he does have access is unimaginable. He's like a thirsty man being told not to drink so much water that he gets sick... But he won't get sick, he'll just walk into strangers he doesn't care about. Win/win. 

He goes into the library without his customary flourish, murmuring keywords to himself as he walks ahead like a man in a trance. Their first check upon arriving was paltry, insufficient. As the infinite bookshelves swirl around him, he feels a sense of calm. His walking in the crowd mirrors his walking in the library, and he soon comes across a series of unfamiliar shelves. They look strangely redacted, the words are unreadable, even though he knows every past and present alphabet. He picks up one of the books and pages through it, but nothing within makes sense.

He frowns. "Hmmm... Curious..." he mutters aloud, and then puts it back, feeling someone sliding by him in the real world. He begins to walk again, distracted. There are many of these unreadable bookshelves. As many as the readable ones. He lifts one of the readable books and finds familiar Earth history in the pages. "I see..." he says with a grin. The books he can't read must be this world's knowledge. He's not upset about the lack of information, really. The fact that he knows is more important to him. His libarary is the one he was resurrected to be the avatar of, anyway. Not the library of this alternate Earth. He just pages through the book he's picked up, reading about the various hybrids of viola tricolor hortensis, walking into people without really caring about it at all. 

Comments

[kirifuda]

"You say that now," Shotaro answers, focus now on the second half of that. He stops, shifting closer. The crowds can skirt around them, right now: he's in one of those moments where the only thing that matters to him is Philip.

"You think it's just from being here, instead of home?" he asks, and then sighs, shaking his head. "Guess it'd be too easy if you had all that knowledge to read, huh? We'd have this war over in a week." An estimate based mostly on knowing how easily Philip could get sidetracked, really. But it doesn't sound like Philip's been shafted into being an outsider in the library, and that's relief enough. "Let's go buy the stuff on the list, all right? We've got plenty of time after that."

[kyoumibukai]

He's glad now, for the fact that they're in Tokyo, and someone else's Tokyo. Shotaro is usually not terrifically demonstrative in public. So nervous, sometimes. He straightens his partner's tie, intimately, obviously.

"Perhaps. I can't really research something like that, by the nature of the problem. It might be as simple as my computer analogy." He smirks. "It would be too terribly easy to solve the problem..." He presses his fingertips to his chin, considering. "Not that this is much of a handicap."

Then Shotaro calls him to action. "Of course. I miss the library, of course. But I miss spending private time with you much much more." He smiles and settles the tie again. "Yes, let's go."

[kirifuda]

Shotaro swallows when Philip adjusts his tie, his grip shifting on Philip's wrist to something more gentle, more 'just because' and less 'guiding hand'. "Yeah," he says, his tone lighter with relief. "Makes sense. This world's kinda screwed up, ain't it?" Their history is strange in places, no doubt from Transport meddling, not to mention the lack of monsters and the Kamen Riders who battled them... It's something frustrating, to know that finding keywords and thus an easy solution wasn't going to be the answer, but Shotaro wouldn't be much of a detective if he couldn't think on his feet, and they wouldn't be very good Kamen Riders if they couldn't think bigger than 'easy'.

He nods, lifting his hand to brush at Philip's shoulder with light fingertips. Two could play the touching in public game--at least, in little ways, like this. As Shotaro turns to walk once more through the crowd, his hand remains soft on Philip's wrist.

[kyoumibukai]

He smirks, straightening up to kiss Shotaro's forehead. "I've seen quite a bit of that history in the archives that the AI allowed me to access. There's no one simple solution from what I've seen, but I think we can figure this out, given enough time."

"Shall we buy these components we need? I think we should be able to clear this out in no time." He clears his throat and brushes his fingertips over Shotaro's lips. "Then perhaps we can do something about this tension."