Finding a House in this Market is... HARD....

[sakatree]

WHO: Hatsu, and YOU
WHAT: Hatsu's carving his room outta the ice! ...Probably.
WHEN: ONE DAY A CALENDAR...WILL EXIST.
WHERE: Sealeo Inn
WARNINGS: Noneeeeexcept for Hatsu's mild cursing. Bad tree.

This way mister, end of the hall is over here!

[Finding the Inn in Illumina wasn't especially difficult. Outside, it was an enormous building carved right from the ice, with strings of lights moving directly up to it. Inside, it was also rather simple. There was a dining hall, a number of rooms available for rent, an office...

...And plenty of space for more, or so he was told. Sealeo had sent their daughter as guide when Hatsu came in, and he was now following a rather eager little one that was literally rolling around with a torch in her mouth.]

Ahaha...you might want to calm down kid, that fire is kind of...

Yeah make sure you don't touch it mister, you're grass type!

Gr- [There were types?! Before he can so much as ask he's shown a wall, the torch somehow slipped into a hook at the side.]

Here you are mister! Just carve yourself a room and it's all yours!

Er...carve..?

Yep! Good luck~!

AUHHHeY HEY WAIT! [Hatsu's shouts fall on deaf ears-or rather, no ears at all, as the spheal has long since rolled off back down the hall by the time the phantump can start protesting. In her absence, he's left turning back to sigh at the wall.] ...Right...let's get started I guess...

[..........................

....About a few hours later, cursing can be heard from the hall.]

COME ON BARELY A CHIP!?

[Along with the sounds of something hitting the ice.] AUUGH I'm giving it everything I've got just. CRACK. BREAK. SOMETHING, I need a room!

[....]

Come onnnnnnn...

[.....]

OOOOHhhhh this would be SO much easier with my guns..!

[This is not going very well, as one can see.]

Comments

[stoogesofsanfran]

You too, huh?

[Don't mind the very annoyed looking Disco bird trotting down the hall with a green Rattata at his side. Shouting and cracking can be heard from the way he came, where someone's apparently letting out a lot of frustration on the wall.]

Who tells people to carve out a room and then gives them bupkis to do it with?



You'd think we'd at least get pickaxes or somethin'.

[sakatree]

[A bird and a rat-and here he figured he'd gotten the short end of the magic stick, these two looked like all they had were claws at least.] Ugh, this feels like a scam when you add more to it...

[He glances at the torch.] ...Where's that fire bird when you need him... [he mutters, crossing his arms.]

I get the idea of free board for making a room but this is ridiculous..!

[stoogesofsanfran]

[The rat sits up on his hind legs and crosses his forelimbs in a huff.]

Yeah, we ain't all giant chickens that can kick holes in the ice without breakin' a sweat.



Man, I bet they know we're desperate and are just using us as hard labor so they'll have more rooms to rent out once we find somewhere better to sleep.

[sakatree]

[Chickens?!] ...I can't tell if that's better or worse than a robin WHY ARE ALL THE FIRE POWERS GOING TO BIRDS?!

[There's a pause, and he looks to Finn.] Present company excluded obviously.

I don't know about you but I sure didn't see anything better out there-nothing for rent at least...

[stoogesofsanfran]

[He just sort of spreads his wings in what would be a shrug if he had proper shoulders.]

Didn't say we had a better option, that's why it works.



Yeah, it ain't like we got no money to pay for one of the rooms they already got.

[sakatree]

Well the way they go on about it out there we'll find cash lying on the ground... [The sarcasm is clear-won't they be surprised when it's true!] Geeze...

At least before I could just brute force my way through with a tree or something...

[stoogesofsanfran]

Heh, wouldn't that be convenient. Whatever it is they use for money around here...



Did you get shrunk a lot here too?

[sakatree]

Eh...hard to tell, I can't really figure what the average size around this place is, [he shrugs, adjusting the bark mask he's wearing as it frowns.]

Best as I can tell I'm a lot less living and a lot more legless.

[stoogesofsanfran]

What, you're some kinda...tree ghost or somethin'?

[sakatree]

Best I can tell! Watch!

[BEHOLD, his hand can be forced through the ice.]

Be a lot greater if everything else wasn't getting stuck. Intangibility feels skeevy as hell too, I'm not sleeping like that if I can help it, [He adds, shuddering.]

[stoogesofsanfran]

Man, and I thought astral projection was useless. I don't wanna think about getting stuck in a wall.



Ghost things here can't possess people, right?

[sakatree]

[There is a long, long stare to Ratso, as if to consider it.

And then he grins.] NAHHHH probably not!

I mean I'm still able to eat and all that, so I'm probably not ACTUALLY dead right?

[stoogesofsanfran]

[Don't mind him just. Scooting back a bit. Looking a bit unsettled.]



Yeah...let's not put that to the test. Don't wanna risk getting stuck half inside someone else, right?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun's managed to find his way to the inn as well, and carving out a room isn't nearly as daunting a task to him. He already knows he can set himself on fire, he just has to figure out how to do it again. All thoughts of that get pushed aside temporarily, though, when he hears the distant yelling of that tree stump ghost not-Yuya he met earlier. It's...kind of funny, he'll admit, hearing him flip out after all that casual glossing over of how elements of the system worked earlier, and he's just rounded the corridor and about to interrupt regardless to point out the entire inn can probably overhear him when he makes that comment about guns.

In the context of Real Solid Vision, that would be intriguing enough, but given what he heard earlier...]

I don't think bullets would do you much good. [Assuming these "guns" even use traditional ammunition.]

[sakatree]

[Ah, woah-

He turns abruptly, beaming.] Kurosaki~ ...Just who I need...

...Ehh, realistically I'd need a working point with those anyway, I don't think I could make anything grow here... [??????????????] But I saw you before, on fire right?

[That is not how you ask for help.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That sure is a flat look the tiny firebird is wearing right now.] Ask me like an actual person, then, and don't waste my time dancing around it.

[Regardless of how unimpressed he looks with Kashiwa's handling of the situation, though, he nods in answer to the question.]

I don't entirely remember how I did it, but yes. [And now he's just going to give Hatsu a rather dim look until he asks for help like a normal person instead of pretending he's actually pleased to see him for any other reason.]

[sakatree]

[Still just as sunny, he sees-the ghost brings his hands together in a plea motion, ducking his head.] I've been trying to carve a room from this ice for hours-please, please, please help..?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Well, he has to carve his own room as well, so one way or another he'll have to work out this fire thing. Still, he frowns at the plant for a moment before he actually says as much.]

If I can figure out how to do it again, I should be able to help you. [He doesn't exactly sound forthcoming about it, though.]

[sakatree]

[That's enough for him.] Something to combine efforts on then! What happened the first time you went up in flames?

[revolutionfalcon]

[It's not the clearest given the circumstances it happened in, and it takes Shun a moment to dredge up the details of what was happening right at that moment, a slight downturn to his beak.]

I was out in those snowy wastes between here and the glacier, trying to fly here. My wings went numb and I started falling, but I didn't want to give up that easily. I think that's when it happened.

[Determination as the trigger, maybe? Or it could just be the desire to achieve a certain thing...]

[sakatree]

[Fueled by DETERMINATION ey?

He seems to consider this. And then.] So basically you got...

Fired up?

[....Smack him.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[If plants could be withered by a look, Hatsu would be a shrivelled wreck right about now. On the other hand, it almost looks like Shun might set himself on fire by sheer irritation alone.]

Make another comment that stupid and I'll leave you to freeze. [...Okay, he's not that petty, but by god he'll make empty threats if that's what it takes to make him not have to deal with this level of ridiculousness.

He sighs in irritation, then opens his eyes again.] Just keep the wit to yourself, and I'll figure it out.

[sakatree]

Here I'd hoped you'd get pissed enough to burst into flames instead...

[A sigh.] If you want me to be quiet though, alright...

[revolutionfalcon]

I'm not that quick to anger over people making stupid comments. [With that, he turns his back on the ghost plant and closes his eyes, trying to get the feel of what happened back there when he first did this. For a half-minute, it seems like it's just wishful thinking, and they're going to have to dig for it, but there's a sudden spark, and Shun opens his eyes...

...just in time to see what seems to be a visible heatwave burst free and weaken the entire front of the wall instead. That can't be right.]

...That's new.

[sakatree]

[You know what's also new?

The 'THUNK' that says Hatsu just collapsed.

A wheezing voice comes to the air.]

You say that but somehow I don't believe you.............................