(no subject)

[thesettingsun]

So I'm not a big laws guy, but I'm pretty sure walking around with a giant scythe would be against some kind of law, despite that being a shitty kind of weapon.

Does it make a difference, not-getting-arrested-wise, if that scythe is a book at the time?

[He'd say something about wanting it a month or two ago, but he can't lift it when it's a scythe, so it's not that useful.]

Also Retrospec doesn't care what your legal address is, but I don't think that should surprise anyone.

Comments

[thesettingsun]

Magic or something. It's thought-activated.

It's a novel that past me wrote, which I can't read very well because I'm not good at this dialect of Japanese.

[loudmouths]

oh wow... that's gotta be a hazard... what if you accidentally were thinkin about something that triggered it?? it could take someone's head off!!

oh... the "past you," huh? what dialect is it in?

[thesettingsun]

It's not something I plan to have with me more than I absolutely have to.

Tokyo dialect. I can understand enough to have a basic conversation, but not enough to read a pretentious novel.

[loudmouths]

well, that's probably a good idea...

ah, i'm from tokyo! if you have any like... desire to figure out what the book's about, i could probably gloss over it for you!

[thesettingsun]

Are you sure? Based off what I can manage of the first few pages with my shoddy Tokyo dialect and decent Tsugaru dialect skills, it's depressing as hell.

[loudmouths]

well... what isn't depressing about this place, if you think about it?

[thesettingsun]

Real life being depressing is all the more reason that you might not want to read depressing books.

[loudmouths]

maa, it's fine, don't worry about it.

unless you don't want anyone to translate it, that is. i'd understand.

[thesettingsun]

I don't know. Even if he wrote about himself, that should mean it's personal to him, not to me, right? But I'm not sure I actually want a lot of people to know.

[loudmouths]

well if you can detach yourself enough from it, it shouldn't be a problem, right? and i wouldn't go around tellin people or anything like that.

[thesettingsun]

Detaching is easier than it sounds. But if you want to, you can read it - he thinks he's a pretty good novelist, and maybe he actually was one.

[loudmouths]

I have to admit, I'm kinda curious... Somethin like this would be hard to come by. actual stuff written by your past self, or whatever... i don't have anythin like that.

well, whenever is most convenient for you, i can swing by. just lemme know where to meet ya.

[thesettingsun]

Now that I have it, I don't think I could just let it go unread. It's kind of like knowing where your Christmas presents are hidden ahead of time, except they might be terrible.

RU library work for you?

sorry for the delay ;;;

[loudmouths]

oh... man, that's a terrible way to put it, but i can definitely see what you mean!!

but yeah, that's perfect! i can swing by after class!!

no worries, now we can text to action without worrying about ac points

[thesettingsun]

I'll be there! Probably in the science fiction section, text me if you can't find me.

this is true! in which case, IT'S ACTION TIME

[loudmouths]

sweet, will do! see you soon!

[ keigo made good on his word; after class let out, rather than head back to his dorm like he might have normally, he made a beeline for the library. he didn't often spend a lot of time there, but he knew his way around it well enough to get to the science fiction section without much incident.

finding shuji was a bit harder, since he really only had his retrospec profile picture to go by. but when he thought he found him, he approached with an amicable smile, lifting his hand in greeting: ]

Yo! Shuji, yeah?

[thesettingsun]

[It might help that very few people have the obnoxiously red, obviously dyed hair that Shuji does. He sticks out somewhat.]

That's me. Keigo, right?

[loudmouths]

Un, I'm Keigo! Nice ta meetcha!

[ with that, keigo took a seat beside shuji, settling in easily. ]

So, you wanna have me look at this book, then?

[thesettingsun]

[Shuji pulls a book out of the bag he'd been carrying and hands it over.]

Have at.

[It's probably obvious even a little bit in that it's super depressing. At least, it's obvious if you're decent at reading Tokyo dialect.]

[loudmouths]

[ keigo looked it over, blinking as he began to page through it. as he scanned the pages, his expression seemed to dim, brow furrowed. ]

Oi... this guy's writin'... it's really depressing...

[ he continued, exhaling softly. it would be one thing if this was just some random book someone found, but this was something this guy got from retrospec, wasn't it? that... put a very different spin on things. ]

It looks like it's about a guy who's havin' trouble expressing himself in a way that's genuine. Like he can't wrap his head around how to talk to people or cultivate relationships, so he ends up acting like a different person entirely just to connect.

[thesettingsun]

I thought it would be something like that from what I could make out.

[His problem was mainly that he couldn't read a novel like this easily, and had to look up Tokyo dialect words almost every sentence.]

It's not necessarily autobiographical.

[loudmouths]

[ keigo continued to page through it, skimming along. he wasn't about to sit there and read a novel for hours while this guy sat there, probably bored out of his skull, but he was getting the gist of it. ]

Mmn, well, that's a good sign, then. It'd be kinda awkward, otherwise.

[ he glanced shuji's way, frowning. ]

And you said you got this from Retrospec, right? Does it appear in your like... visions and shit?

[thesettingsun]

It's in one of them, in scythe form mostly. And a few others I've gotten glimpses of it when I was carrying it around.

[loudmouths]

Huh... So, I'm guessin' it's probably really important to...

[ how did he wanna phrase this... ]

...the guy in your visions, yeah?

[thesettingsun]

He's the one who wrote it, and I haven't seen any of his other books, so... This might be the most important one.