IC INBOX / BUSINESS CARD ( ARCHIVE AS OF 12/13 )

[manuscripture]

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[ Somewhere around town-- at the bookstore, the Tomoe-Kaname Bakery, attached to posts and notice boards --you find a small white notecard. On it is printed a little message and some numbers in ornate lettering. If you look closely, it reads the following: ]

Rohan Kishibe, Mangaka & Visual Artist
Owner Pro Tempore of Ebony Threads Tailor Shop
Highly Experienced.
Commissions & Advertising For Hire
Pay Negotiable.
Contact At: 512.66.730.91 for inquiries
Castle Lüvchaque - Directly North of Bavan per appointment ONLY.

(( feel free to use this as an action-based prompt too. any random interactions will MOST LIKELY take place in the form of walk-ins at the tailor shop unless it's pre-planned. just drop a starter in here! ))

Comments

[manuscripture]

[ oh what the fresh hell nO MORE PEOPLE WHO USE EMOTICONS. ]

I wonder if your name is Ibuki. I don't know what gives me that vibe.

I am looking for one more tailor to work on a long-term basis with flexible hours. Between myself and the other full-time one I have, there is wiggle room for one extra.

What experience do you have...?

[creativedifferences]

[BUT THEY'RE SO CUTE!]

GOSH Ibuki doesn't know either! Ibuki thinks you must be super-smart to figure that one out.

Ibuki has been making her stage costumes for some time now and none of them have fallen apart mid-show. And trust me, Ibuki doesn't go easy on her threads when she's performing!

[manuscripture]

I don't see why we can't meet. I like to have employees with performance backgrounds because these clothes need to be able to take a lot of abuse from changes and not rip apart or become impossible to alter.

You're new, you said? As in: The newest batch of Eventual Monsters new? Getting a head start at my shop will let you see some of what you are in for.

[creativedifferences]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! Just drop Ibuki in a room with all the things she needs and she'll show you her mad skillz!

Buuuuuut...oh! So Ibuki gets two head-starts? Man, at this rate Ibuki's gonna be at the finish before she's even started!

we can swing this right into an action thread here if u want!

[manuscripture]

We'll see how your opinion sways when your changes start.

I am around until about 10:30PM tonight and the rest of the week. I have some orders to fill for the holiday but you may come by at your leisure and we can sit down and have a chat.

The sign will say Closed but the door will be unlocked and I will be in the back to meet you in the storefront. Does that sound fair, Ibuki? You already read my name on the card at this point.

[creativedifferences]

I sure did!

[And sure enough, once she manages to get Mahiru to let her go stretch her legs for a while, Ibuki makes her way down to the store. It takes her longer than she expects because Ibuki can get lost even in places she knows, but eventually she's strolling through the door like she's right at home.]

YOO-HOO! Anybody hoooooooooome? Ibuki's ready to show off her stuff!

[And until she gets a response, she'll amuse herself by poking around the shop and seeing what's there.]

[manuscripture]

[ Ah yes, Ibuki. Welcome to Ebony Threads. The storefront itself isn't as much of a clothing store as it is an art gallery with a few mannequins sporting black snakeskin crop tops and skirts embellished with a natural skull pattern that is a little too out of season. Another is a bedazzled sequined werewolf-skin winter coat, and last but not least is a kelpie fringe jacket and boots ala an Old Western.

The walls in the storefront are plastered wall to wall in hanging paintings featuring price tags. There are dozens, featuring monsters and landscaping of the Ryslig proper. Manticores impaling victims on their tails, lovingly detailed harpies preening each and every feather, so many different monsters-- there are two above the desk on the wall: One of a silver and black mermaid with piercing gold eyes, and a purple and gold gargoyle tearing up shingles off of a roof as he runs, poised to jump and take flight. Every painting looks like it it will jump off the canvas. Gorgeous, and real. ]

Coming. [ A voice calls from the back room. Whatever Ibuki is expecting has probably been blown out of the water because the first thing she is going to hear is the sliding of something across the floor that is just so very not natural. Like leather running over the floor with a weight. What comes into view is most certainly a naga. Half-man, half-snake, all black and white down his back with white bands over the black ones. He has an elegant air about him with his dainty-looking claws done up with gold rhinestones and his fingers holding a wine glass filled with a black ooze. He is wearing a high-collared sweater with gold and silver chains draped around his neck and shoulders. A bigger piece around his neck falls regally over his chest sporting skulls and crucifixes. Little crucifixes hang on chains from each ear.

He's... Something. ]

Ibuki... [ He sizes her up. ] It's a pleasure to meet you. I am an artist in my spare time. What do you think?

1/2

[creativedifferences]

[It's safe to say Ibuki doesn't really feel the wait, for how much there is to look at in this place. So far, so digging the vibe this place is giving off and she's excited to meet the person behind it all.

Except, well. She's still getting used to the idea that most people here aren't necessarily people-shaped. How, when she's living with three people who've been here long enough to transform, is anyone's guess but safe to say she was not expecting 'slither' to be the best adjective to use to describe her potential new boss' approach to her.

And boy is she not afraid to show it.]

KYAAAAAAAA! Giant half-snake in the store?! It's not quite snakes on a plane but it's got Ibuki's pulse aflutter all the same! This is...this is...

2/2

[creativedifferences]

[And now, as the inital moment of shock starts to wear off...]

THIS IS HELLA AWESOME! Of course someone with such good taste would rock the half-snake look like this. Ibuki's not sure why she wasn't expecting this in the first place.

[At least she recovers quickly?]

[manuscripture]

[ He is definitely used to the Holy Shit, It's A Snake thing by now, don't worry. He'll just wear the default Flat Expression until she gets over it. They usually do. What comes off as shock?? Terror?? Whatever that first one was????

His eyebrows rise up on his forehead once it all jolts away into being "Hella Awesome". ]

I didn't get a choice in the matter. It worked out well in the end. I try to keep it as fresh as possible. [ Preening, as always. He beckons her over to the desk under the mermaid and gargoyle pictures. ] You have a unique sense of fashion too. I love it. Bold and in your face, but in the good way. [ He might be at the desk but there was a whole lot of him that didn't come with. The lattermost part of his tail thumps idly on the floor while rifles around for his notebook--

There it is. Bound in black and white snakeskin itself. ]

You said that you have a background in costuming. What I am looking for right now-- Since Winter is upon us --are designs I can put on the floor for monsters who need things NOW. Jackets, gloves, scarves. Simple things.

However, in lieu of following those patterns, you will be designing your looks on paper with specific conditions as a test of your ability to adapt.

Simple enough, yes? You will be changing too soon...

[creativedifferences]

Aaaah, so kind! Obviously a tailor has to know style when he sees it and so far Ibuki is not disappointed.

[She's not exactly immune to the desire to preen herself and she loves praise. Which is probably partly why she almost trips over the tail that doesn't follow them to the desk, along with her just plain not being used to thinking that she needs to watch out for a tail.

And okay. It takes her a moment of looking between the book and him to get it but she does figure out the deal with that snakeskin cover. Resourceful, and it casts a new light on everything else she's seen around here. Which keeps her distracted until he mentions the test and she snaps to attention.]

Weeeeeeeeeell, Ibuki doesn't plan ahead all that often. But Ibuki's made paper patterns before so lay it on me!

[Of course Ibuki would only use as many steps as absolutely necessary for something like this.]

[manuscripture]

[ He can appreciate the 'style' comment out of her. Someone so ostentatiously put together such as herself can have an opinion in his eyes. His vanity is kicked into high-gear and his posture straightens with a little coiling of his tail drawing him ever closer to where he has settled.

Yes, wonderful, Snakebutt is Pleased. ]

I'm not going to have you actually work on anything today. The shop has been in a state of disarray since I reverted back to being a snake after becoming human again for a month. It turns out that I needed a three-day Disco Nap to recover. [ It was one Hell of a Disco Nap. ] Right now is just catching up on orders and making sure everything gets out on-time for the holiday.

[ A holiday he doesn't even celebrate.

He has produced a pencil from somewhere between himself and the notebook and he is scribbling away at the page. His wine glass is just suddenly on the desktop with nothing indicating that he had put it down in only one swoop. ]

Enough about productivity woes. Tell me about yourself, Miss Ibuki. You look like a musician. You have that aesthetic, what with the clothes and the hair. I can always value someone with more than one talent. Do you play something?

[ She's going to find that this interview is more like 20 Questions To Anxiety than something for a job. Still, he's polite enough about it. His eyes flick up and down from the paper to the girl and back again. If she is paying any attention to anything in her peripheral, his tail end is drawing itself up like another hand and delicately picking up the wine glass in it. Gently, gently... ]

[creativedifferences]

Oh maaaaaaaaan Disco Naps sound like the best naps. Were there glitterballs?!

[Leave it to Ibuki to home in on perhaps the least important part of that statement. Instead of, perhaps, the part where she might help with playing catch-up because that would give her something to do and she likes that.

She's also paying less attention to the tail and more to trying to peek at what he's writing, which means she doesn't notice the wine glass right away. Especially when the topic turns to her former career.

Anxiety? What anxiety?]

Goooooooooood eye! Ibuki knew she was right to come here! Ibuki is singer, songwriter and guitarist who doesn't compromise when it comes to making the music she wants to.

[Which is why she's now a solo artist. Still, better to stay true to herself she thinks.]

[manuscripture]

[ His guess was correct-- not that he likes to judge on appearances. He can't and shouldn't do that anymore. Ibuki has spunk and charm that he hasn't seen in many other people here. It's obnoxious, yet refreshing.

Obnoxious is just SOMETHING HE IS USED TO BY NOW. ]

I'm flattered that you jumped to come here after just finding my card. I haven't had such enthusiastic walk-ins in a very long time. [ He has only just gotten back on his no-feet after last month. ]

If you are a musician, why would you prefer to be working in a tailor shop? There are a few places around here that cater to performers-- [ WELL, OFF THE TOP OF HIS HEAD THERE IS THE MONSTER-THEMED TITTYBAR SO MAYBE NOT................. ] I'm not judging you on that, by the way. It's merely a question that I am interested in hearing the answer of. [ He motions around the room to his paintings and over his shoulder to the vastly personal gargoyle and mermaid pictures up over his head as bookends on the wall behind him. ]

I am a mangaka at home. Since coming here, I have become a painter, a tailor, and a writer. What benefits do you believe working here can bring you?

[creativedifferences]

[It's a question that, with just a little more thought put into it, Ibuki might have known to anticipate. It would make far more sense for someone to seek something in line with their original livelihood but there's a few problems with that.]

Well, it's true that Ibuki would love to keep performing. But, to do that Ibuki needs a good instrument and even if she could afford one she's not sure it'd be the right kind. Plus, if Ibuki did that then she'd probably have a lot of free time on her hands anyway and Ibuki gets bored easily.

[Which he can probably gather from the way that, even when she's stood here talking to him, she's never quite entirely still.]

So then Ibuki thought, what other skills could she use to get a job that wouldn't make Mahiru-chan and the others worry. And that's when Ibuki found your card and it was like a message from the gods!!!!!!

[That last part spoken in an appropriately booming tone, of course.]

And so here Ibuki is figuring she should use all this time she has for something constructive and then she can help to buy things for the castle. And, you know, making sure she doesn't get super-bored.

[manuscripture]

[ A Message From The Gods!

He'll take it.

He'll take her answer too. ]

I have good news: You can buy instruments around here. There is also a way to get BETTER ones after you have spent some time in Ryslig. You can meet with a woman who can grant you one that you wouldn't be able to find here due to time period-based restrictions. [ Such as Jotaro's HELL GUITAR and his own Sass Mirror.

Rohan has decided that he likes her. Her interview went WAAAAY better than Karamatsu's did, but that was also an ego-neutering the faerie desperately needed. ]

I pay fairly well. It will be based upon the effort you put forth as well as your hours. You can work with Karamatsu Matsuno in the daytime to get acclimated and learn how we do things here. He is my assistant manager of sorts... I handle most of the business aspects but he is primarily a designer himself. Four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. If you want to work on the weekends, I am here on Saturdays in the late afternoon.

[ He speaks as though she's got it. ]

Designs are pitched to me for approval for floorstock and made by you once they have been critiqued. In addition to this, we work on commissions and general fixes for customers who need something special done... Like an outfit that routinely gets destroyed during transformations. I will teach you the practical knowledge of filling and giving me orders to work on in the back.

Then I can show you how to work my ancient as Hell sewing machine. [ He downs the last sip of the Not Wine in his glass, sets it on the desk, and brings his tail down in a heavy THUMP. ]

My lack of feet gives me a little bit of trouble.

[ His pencil stops moving on the paper and he turns the book around to show her. Not a schedule but a vibrant picture of herself that nearly leaps off the page: Ibuki in all her glory caught mid modelesque-spin with her arms flung out and showing off something invisible. It's the fiery expression of impishness and passion that jumps right to the eye from the grin on her face to the wrinkling in her skirt as she twirls. ]

This picture is for you.

[creativedifferences]

[That is an awful lot for Ibuki to try to take in at once. She's trying, and she knows the days that were mentioned, but there's every chance he's going to have to repeat at least some of that down the line because even as she's trying, there's only so much she can concentrate on at any one time.

And of course, right now she has nothing on her to write things down with. And she's also having to fight the distraction of there are instruments here which is really difficult when music is her life so much.

At least the thump of his tail brings her focus back to the current moment and she doesn't hide how startled she is. Still, it encourages an actual response, at least, and even a relevant one.]

Oh yeah! Ibuki never really even thought about trying to use a machine without feet. And it sounds like it'd be hard to get that same level of control with a tail...so how do you manage it?

[And then he gifts her that drawing and oh. Oh it's a good job Mahiru isn't here because the squeal she gives is deafening even to normal ears.]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOAH, Ibuki's never been given such amazing art before! And it's of Ibuki herself, too, which makes it even more awesome! Ibuki likes it here already!