https://edomedpeddler.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] edomedpeddler.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] hh_mirror2010-05-18 03:53 am

Office Hours--Divinations

Kusuriyuri decided it had been long enough since he had opened his office. There were other factors influencing this decision, but a good part of it was he felt he was neglecting his duty.

Outside his office door and several other places around the school, signs appeared declaring the Divinations office open for any students who wished to talk, to consult, or who just happened to wander by.

Kusuriyuri knelt behind his table, shincha brewing as it was the season for it, waiting for any who would come in, wondering if a particular one would come in.

OOC: Yeah, this is a 'trap' for a particular character, but is also regular office hours. And, if you're particularly interested in a type of divination or anything else you'd like to see Kusu teach, feel free to mention it :D

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"He doesn't think very much of people," Coraline said. "Human people, I mean. But I suppose people very often don't think much of cats either." She knew how frustrating it was when people thought you weren't worth listening to. It must be even worse if they didn't think you could talk at all. "And he's certainly not a monster."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"He did." Back to the story. "He was the one who told me to challenge the other mother to a game. He said her kind of thing loves games." This was not quite a question. The cat had never said what kind of thing that was. It hadn't mattered at the time.

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"An exploring and finding-things game," Coraline explained, sipping her water. "That was after she locked me up behind the mirror, with the children she'd taken before. They were all trapped in there because she had their souls. So when she let me out again, I made a deal with her. If I could find my parents and the ghost children's souls, she had to let me go. And if I didn't then I'd stay with her forever."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-23 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Coraline looked down at her cup. It was suddenly quite difficult to speak again. "There was nothing else I could do."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-24 09:45 am (UTC)(link)
"They're my parents. I couldn't have left them." She looked up again, ready to continue now. "And I had help. I had the cat and the ghosts and the stone with a hole in it, that Miss Spink and Miss Forcible gave me. Because the first time they read my future the tealeaves said I was in danger but not what sort of danger, and Miss Spink told me the stone would be 'good for bad things'. And - I didn't really believe her then, but she was right. When I looked through it it let me see where the souls were."

She decided to skip over most of the details, now. The story was long enough as it was. "So, I found everyone, and I tricked the other mother into opening the door again, because she wasn't going to let me go, even after I won. We all escaped and shut the door behind us, and I locked it, and I thought it was over then. The other father said there was only one door and one key, and I had the key on my side, so she couldn't get out. Only - this is what I was saying about the hand. The other mother swore on her right hand that she'd let me go if I won, but she lied. And when we pulled the door closed, it closed on her arm. Her hand was still on my side, following me, to get the key back."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-24 12:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Coraline shook her head. "I trapped it down the old well at the bottom of our garden."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-24 01:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's down in the well too," Coraline explained. "I used it as bait." She put the cup down to gesture, describing the shape of the well with her hands. "I put a tablecloth over the top of the well and put the key in the middle. And then I pretended I was just having a picnic, with my dolls, and we'd brought the key along for good luck, so when the hand came and saw it it jumped into the middle of the tablecloth and fell down the well. And then I put the planks back over the top, that were supposed to stop people falling in. They're extremely heavy. I almost couldn't lift them."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-24 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Coraline nodded, slowly. "I thought I might have, at first. But it didn't seem like a trap for me, just a place that was already here and I ended up in. It felt real. And most people had proper eyes and looked human. When I got out of the Sorting Room I went to see whether the grounds would fade away if I walked too far, to make sure, but they didn't."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-24 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"It really isn't," Coraline agreed. "I didn't expect anyone else to know about it," she added, quietly. It had been her own secret for a long time.

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-25 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
"...is that what the other mother was?" Coraline asked. "A - mononoke?" The word didn't translate, although she thought she could make an educated guess based on knowing what 'exorcise' meant.

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-26 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh. Okay. That doesn't sound like her." Coraline sounded apologetic herself. She hadn't meant to embarrass him. "I hope you don't ever have to meet her."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-27 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Coraline smiled. "Yes, please." Beside her, Berry let out a string of enthusiastic clicking sounds, which she translated. "Berry wants to hear too."

[identity profile] braveexplorer.livejournal.com 2010-05-27 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"Um, no," Coraline admitted. She knew what incense was, but not how you'd have a battle with it.