( semi open )

[dothelokimotion]

Who: Loki Odinson (dothelokimotion) and People Trapped in Arcadia
What: it's a SCHEME
When: Early July, idk time
Where: Inside Arcadia
Content Warnings: N/A

[ if you are trapped in arcadia and musing on a way to take down the authority and bust your way out, then you may notice a green magical butterfly in your vision. it's beckoning you. somehow. don't ask how magic works. you end up following it through arcadia until you set into a room.

a room unlike those in arcadia. it's all golden with red drapes and torchlights. even the view from the windows seems starry, unlike anything on earth. and there's loki, dressed in a black suit, tapping his foot impatiently. ]

Finally. Let's get to business, shall we?

( MEET AND GREET | PLOTTING )

Comments

[bocchitime]

[Hitori jumps a little when this man speaks to her. She really wishes she had caught his name, but unfortunately she's been off in her own little world.

Oh god, a stranger is talking to her. This is simultaneously kind of what she wanted to happen and an extremely frightening thing she didn't expect. It takes her a moment to actually process the question he asked, because she's stressing so much about the fact that she's being spoken to.]

O-oh! U-um, it's the tuning peg o-on my guitar. I-It's kind of old, and I broke it on my last performance.

[She holds the guitar out for him to see. It is an old guitar - a '68 Gibson Les Paul - and it's clearly seen some use in its time. But at the same time, it's also clear that the guitar has been cared for.

It's actually a relatively simple fix. It just needs a replacement peg and some super glue, but Hitori has never actually had to do her own repairs before.]

D-do you know anything about guitars, s-sir?

[vaudevision]

[ vision seems surprised that hitori holds it out for him to examine to begin with, but he doesn’t squander the offer. he steps closer and offers her a brief warm smile before he leans down, skimming a brief and light touch over the glossy wood. his processors approximate the relative condition of the guitar, then hone in on the year, make, model. ]

Someone close to me is a bit of an aficionado.

[ and with tony stark’s affection for classic guitars comes helpful relational information, suggested readings, diy videos for upkeep that whir instantly deep in vision’s mind—and then, at last, diagnostic information. he draws his hand back. ]

So ... a thing or two, yes. [ a pause. ] I think I can help.

[bocchitime]

[That reply comes as a surprise to Hitori - but a welcome one. She had been worried that it was ruined, or that she would never be able to afford repairs for it.]

R-really? Th-that would be great! U-Um, I-I don't really have any A-american money, b-but if you accept yen I can pay you!

[She's already reaching for her little coin purse to offer to him. As Vision might expect, a fifteen year old doesn't have a ton of money, just about 4,000 yen (about 30 dollars) from her part-time job. Nonetheless, she's offering it to the stranger. It literally hasn't even occurred to her that he might be offering to help her for free.]

[vaudevision]

[ there’s a part of vision, gently amused, that wants to point out he’s british rather than american. but also, he isn’t british, and he isn’t not american. baseless pedantry based on confusion of identity. fortunately he’s very good at impulse control.

his hands come up, a slight flail. ]

Oh, dear. No, no need for payment! It’s—no trouble at all, really. And besides, you should only be glad if it works.

[ he accepts it gratefully, with visible delicate care, then shuffles sideways for the brief moment it takes to pull up a chair beside her. ]

Sit with me, please. I’ll be just a moment, looking it over ... Miss Hitori, was it?

[bocchitime]

[He may be british, but as far as she can tell Arcadia is in America. Unless they use some other kind of currency here - Hitori hasn't been here long enough to know for sure.]

O-oh, okay. Th-that's very nice of you, th-thanks.

[As he pulls up a chair, she scoots her own seat a little closer to him, and hands over the guitar. Her social anxiety is still there, of course, but this man offering to fix her guitar has gone a long way to distract her from it.

She still feels bad for breaking it in the first place, and she's absolutely miserable in Arcadia without any ability to play music.]

A-ah, yes. M-my friends call me Bocchi, though, s-so you can call me that.

[If Vision is familiar at all with japanese, he'll probably note that this is a pun on the term 'hitoribocchi,' which means 'all alone.']

S-sorry, what did you say your name was?

[vaudevision]

They call me the Vision. Or simply Vision. A pleasure.

[ he does, in fact, register the pun. it makes him furrow his brow slightly as he—

lifts a hand. in the air above two long fingers, a luminous, seemingly digitized outline of the necessary peg shape begins to form. he tilts his head slightly and a line adjusts at an angle, a subtle fix for a flaw only he can see. and then: it exists, and vision is taking it carefully from midair, touching his tongue briefly to his thumb before beginning to notch the peg into the necessary place.

speaking as he works, as if none of this was out of the ordinary: ]

Do you ... like that nickname? I’m not sure it sounds very friendly.

[bocchitime]

[Hitori is staring, mouth agape, as he just... materializes a new guitar peg for her out of nowhere. She knew people had fantastical powers here, but manifesting things out of thin air isn't the sort of thing she expected.

And with that name... The Vision? What is he, some kind of god?? She's baffled and in awe for a moment - so much so, that it takes her a bit to process the question.]

O-Oh, y-yes I like my nickname.

[It's true that it's a name that teases her about her anxiety, but a real honest-to-goodness friend was the one who gave it to her. That's a huge part of what makes it special.]

I-I only got that nickname a-after I started making friends. A-a lot of them. S-so it's kind of fun, b-because it doesn't really fit anymore. I-I'm a l-lot more outgoing n-n-now.

[She might be a stuttering, anxious mess right now, terrified to talk to the people in the room around her. But Bocchi knows better than anyone that this is her after she's actually made QUITE A LOT of progress.

She still has a long way to go, of course. But she doesn't actually feel 'all alone' all the time anymore.]