open post, cuts ribbon to musebox proudly

[kbcctv]

[The Citadel is huge, so it's a good thing they have all the time in the world to dick around.

--Well, no, they don't. But the point is, it's a free day. There will be absolutely no work done at all. Unless you want to or something. If you do, you're pretty weird.

The dojo is always open for sparring and practice. If there's any sparring errand you've slacked on, now's the chance to make up! The horse stables are also full of activity, whether the horses are being tended to or rode around-- be careful not to let them trample the fields, though, which is full of rice sprouts and budding cabbage. The lake in front of the saniwa(s)' room has tiny frogs jumping about, and you could catch them in the palm of your hand.

The kitchen is full of food, if you're volunteering to make lunch or have decided that meal time cannot possibly come any later and you simply must prepare something before you die from starvation. While there has been a considerable effort made to make the Citadel look as homely as possible to the swords which come from Japan's past, there's speckles of technology here and there.

The TV room is a good example, with a huge screen sitting on top of a few console systems. Don't break them, you'll only be getting this luxury once. Take turns and play nice. The swords may also find themselves tending the fields with water sprinklers and hoses instead of watering cans, for instance, or heating up some leftover pie in the fridge instead of making another one from scratch since there's technology to preserve food well over a week. The armory and smithy are definitely a little bit more modern than they'd be back in the past, though much is still made by hand-- nothing beats the fine work of a master. Perhaps you'll have a few new friends today, or you want to try creating a cute little soldier spirits to die for you accompany you in battle. Make sure they enter the orb completely, or else it'll turn brown and crack.

Or perhaps you're one of the unlucky swords still stuck in the repair room, sword body still being re-smelted and fixed. Hope the saniwa is good at making you all shiny. If you want to skip all that waiting, perhaps you can try to use a helper token... but they're all in the saniwa's room! Guess you've got to use that Camouflage stat...

But if you truly cannot bear with staying in the Citadel, the time device the saniwa(s) have isn't locked away. You can go on sorties or expeditions to fill your time with something productive.

Just a warning: don't change the past. You won't succeed.

...You could always try, though.]

Comments

i hope you don't mind if i tag you here too..! (it's b. because why wouldn't it be)

[tanchozuru]

[ Tsurumaru barely holds back the laugh threatening to spill from his lips at the sight. He's no connoisseur of dancing--except by way of sword, ducking between enemy lines and striking as quickly as his size allows him--so he has no right to find the movements as funny as he does.

And yet. There it is, the short intake of breath that comes just before his loud, crooning laughter. He steps past the door and tries to stop it after the initial bout, but it still escapes in giggles while he makes his way over. So much for surprising the saniwa like he'd planned.

...he can't even talk, if he does he's going to laugh. This is terrible. Help, Saniwa-san. ]

never! always bring me surprise sword...

[swordsitter]

[ WHY THIS?! he'd thought he was alone! he was supposed to be alone! but suddenly there's an old man laughing at him, and haru is totally mortified that the crane-sword saw him bobbing around like a moron. he can't help it, he loves upbeat music, and upbeat music makes him want to move, and before he knows it, he's dancing, and--

and now they're here and he's never going to live this down.

he whines pathetically, burying his face in his hands, ears feeling like they're on fire. ]

Noooo, what did I do in a former life...

good! your saniwa's so adorable, i can't resist making fun of him

[tanchozuru]

[ This isn't helping!!! If anything, it's worsening his laughter, and Tsurumaru has to lean against the counter top to keep himself steady. Oh, oh but it's too good. The look on the saniwa's face--that whine--the fact Tsurumaru can, closer now, hear exactly what his master's listening to...

It's too much. Is it possible for sword spirits to die of laughter? Oh, but to have a happy passing at last-- ]

You might have been a frog-- [ Hold on, he can speak. Tsurumaru tries to convince the giggles to subside for at least a moment. ] You might've been a frog that was accidentally dropped into someone's tea and cursed for the rest of your lives, for not hopping out quick enough.

[ ...and then imagining the quiet, fairly reserved saniwa as a frog sets him giggling again. Terrible. ]

sdlfkj ////// i'm glad you like him

[swordsitter]

Tsurumaru-san--! [ it's a miserable, pathetic whine. noooo, stop laughing at him, you're going to draw attention, and then every blade in the camp will realize just what an enormous dumb nerd their saniwa is.

his face is just getting hotter and hotter, the blush traveling clear down his throat as he fumbles to turn his music off. ugh, this isn't fair. of all the blades in the camp that would have to come across him making an idiot of himself, it would have to be the one least likely to just let the experience die.

it just makes it worse that he was just compared to a frog. ]

You-- You can't tell anyone else you saw this--! [ some saniwas might make that an order. haru just sounds pleading. ]

[tanchozuru]

[ He almost takes pity on his saniwa. Almost. Very close.

But that just isn't him--it doesn't suit him, it doesn't seem like him, so the thought is discarded in favor of a friendly hand on his master's shoulder. ]

It looked like a very fun dance, Haru-san. I think it would be fun to teach the rest of the swords. [ Rest in peace, saniwa-san's reputation. ] Perhaps I'll call for all of them now and you can show off your moves.

[swordsitter]

[ scrawny little body practically vibrating with embarrassment, he hastily brings up both hands, clapping them over tsurumaru's mouth, shaking his head insistently. ]

N-No, don't you dare. I'll-- I'll run away! [ like.. to some other part of the camp. where tsurumaru can't find him for a few hours. where he can quietly sink into the ground and die from mortification. ]

[tanchozuru]

Retreat is never an option. [ It's a little muffled thanks to Haru's hands, but there's a distinct Offended tone. How dare he!!! say something like that to a sword!!! The only honorable retreat is death, though Tsurumaru prays he'll never be the one to take his saniwa's life.

And first off, that his saniwa will never see a need for it. This can't go unpunished, anyway, and so Tsurumaru just. Licks those hands. Get off his mouth, come on. ]

[swordsitter]

Retreat's an option when you're embarrassing me! [ he yelps a little at the lick, though, jerking his hands back instinctively. it's one thing from a baby sibling, another entirely from a grown man(/sword).

frowning faintly, still quite red, he picks up a piece of carrot and shoves it between tsurumaru's lips. there, chew on that. ]

[tanchozuru]

[ What is he, a horse!! Fine, he will chew on it.

And then reach for another piece when he's done. You made him remember he was hungry, okay. ]

Are you going to be done soon? [ ... ] Can I help?

[ He's at least fonder of working in the kitchen than he is with the fields. Less dirty. He's still not used to it, but at least he's not a certain old man who can only make terrible-tasting rice balls. ]

[swordsitter]

[ this look is the most unsure. tsurumaru in the kitchen... not sure if want. for a few moments, he stares, clearly throwing some shade the sword-spirit's way, but at last he reaches to roll his ear-buds around his ipod, setting it aside and planting his hands on his hips. ]

.. Can you behave and not add any surprises to dinner?

[ if so, he wouldn't mind the company.. ]

[tanchozuru]

[ He feels like he's getting scolded... he feels like he's gotten scolded ever since he joined, honestly. It isn't terrible; actually, it's kind of nice. He rolls up his sleeves with a nod, mimicking Haru's pose. Or mocking it. Mockery in mimicry. ]

Not without your permission, Haru-san.

[swordsitter]

[ he huffs quietly, but shifts to help tsurumaru secure his sleeves. he doesn't particularly want the other man to get his clothes stained while helping him, after all. ]

.. Yeah, right. Like you've ever needed my permission to surprise people before..

[ still, when he glances back up, that tiny quirk of his mouth that indicates a smile is there. he pats the sword-spirit's arm, then moves to hand him a knife. ] You can finish chopping, I guess. I just thought a hotpot might be nice tonight..

god i'm too tired to do capitals /joins you and everyone else in lowercase land

[tanchozuru]

[ that tiny quirk is something he enjoys seeing, and it's something he's come to look for. not actively seek out or try to achieve, but just looking for it on the off chance one of his surprises might just tickle his master's fancy.

he takes the knife carefully, nudging the young saniwa over so he can gauge how thick he's been slicing them so his own can match. ] You're not just saying that because you have to put less work into making it, are you?

[ he's onto you. he's also onto the fact he's been given a job that isn't easy to do surprises with. well--he could, but they'd be incredibly mean-spirited and he might actually give himself a minor injury attempting one. ]

yes join us in laziness...

[swordsitter]

[ he waves a spoon airily in tsurumaru's direction, brows lifting. ] I'll have you know that sometimes, I really appreciate an easy night. [ especially after practically raising four children himself. ] And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, Tsurumaru-san.

[ he starts putting together the broth as he speaks, paying only minor attention to it. he's.. clearly done a lot of cooking in his short lifetime. ]

Besides, there's so many of you now that it's hard to make sure everyone gets something they like. This way, everyone can pick what they want.

fine...!

[tanchozuru]

[ tsurumaru can't do the same; his attention has to be mostly focused on his work, not entirely used to the whole "you can't cut vegetables the same way you cut down an enemy" thing, but he can spare an ear and partial conversation for his master. ]

Aa, true enough. You're becoming quite the collector. [ and as long as he's used, he doesn't care how many swords haru revives. mostly. as long as none of them are stolen either-- ] I wonder if we'll have another fight over the meat.

ugh clearly i have to teal deer a little everywhere

[swordsitter]

Mostly of necessity. [ he's so glad that tsurumaru has dropped the subject of his awful dancing. this must mean there is a god out there.

he taps his spoon off on the side of the big pot, setting it down and glancing back up at the white figure, pale eyes flickering over his hair and face, down to his hands. ]

.. I feel really bad about it sometimes, though. [ his hands curl in the half-apron he's wearing, fabric twisting through his knuckles. ] I mean, I know that most of you miss your old owners. And then there's the ones like Yamanbagiri-kun, who's so convinced that I'm disappointed with him, and-- and like Souza-san, who's so unhappy. [ he thinks about these things constantly. but he's always been an older brother and a stand-in parent, too, so it would be inevitable that it would weigh on him.

he uncurls his hands, one reaching up to rub the back of his neck, ruffling up the short hairs there. ] .. Ugh. [ he hadn't really meant to say anything like that. ] .. Anyway, if there is a fight, you guys are cleaning up and replacing anything you break. [ he whips the spoon back up, wielding it with the familiarity of someone who's smacked the backs of a few hands in his time. ] .. And it had better not be the TV this time. It was hard enough explaining how the last one was busted.

it's ok i love teal deer. ALSO you don't have to reply to this or the other if you don't want to

[tanchozuru]

((i know they're kind of really late tags orz))

[ there is a god out there for now. tsurumaru listens quietly, then chuckles at the end. all of that worrying, and he wants to end it with waving a spoon in his face! ]

Then we shouldn't take dinner in the TV room tonight. [ but then where... ] Why not outside? The fresh air could be nice. Not to mention it could clear those silly thoughts from your head.

[ he sets the knife aside, just for the moment, to gently tousle haru's hair. this is a touch more serious than he'd like to be, but his master is a sensitive sort this time around. ] Those aren't the things you should be worrying over, Haru-san. Yamanbagiri-kun is stubborn, seeing issues that aren't there. It can't be an easy thought to know that if you were to revive the Yamanbagiri that he was modeled after it, he would have someone with the same face and name as him walking around the encampment. Souza-kun is only unhappy because swords are meant for battle, not for sitting in cases or being presented as shows of power, and he's convinced that he'll be fated to be nothing but a pretty face until the end. [ tsurumaru pauses; he has his own share of worries, protecting a past that isn't even written down. none of his masters live too long either, and he wonders if it'll be the same for his saniwa...

but he slips his hand from haru's hand to around his shoulders instead, pulling him closer with a laugh. he can't be too serious, you know. ] Yes, we should definitely dine outside today to clear the air. We can catch fireflies by the lake after we're done eating, and you can read your book and stop thinking about unnecessary things. It sounds good, doesn't it? I'm sure everyone will agree, since it's so nice outside tonight.