2025-12-14: Worth Remembering
- Log: Worth Remembering
- Cast: Hazuki Nakao, Tsumugi Kujaku
- Where: Shimokitazawa - Peacock Silk
- OOC Date: December 14, 2025
- IC Date: August 25, 2012
- Summary: Hazuki visits Peacock Silk to check on her order and deliver the information about Rin Sasaki's husband being a homunculus. Tsumugi is there to receive her, and they discuss these topics, as well as freedom and Hazuki's own interesting circumstances. A deal is struck to teach Hazuki more about Ateliers in exchange for choice rights on Homunculus parts. Tsumugi decides Hazuki is fascinating.
-================================================ Tokyo/Shimokitazawa Ward ====- Peacock Silk roosts in a restored three-story Taisho building; the front is clad with shiny copper in verdant green, interrupted by a slim front of brick, suggesting the building grew together. A little lacuna brings one past Peacock Silk's windows and into a suddenly-quiet enclosure - surrounded by traditional burnt-cedar siding, with a flower bed, stone benches, trash and recycling (a minor miracle in Tokyo) and a vending machine holding truly eccentric drinks, served cold. Peacock Silk proper takes up most of the street level of the building. The entrance is not on the street, but a bit out of the way -- there is a door, now barred and false, with a tiny placard (too small to be seen from any distance) stating 'That Way' with a helpful arrow. The shop's entrance has double doors, guarded by a wrought-iron gate featuring an Art-Nouveau outline of a peacock with tail in full spread, standing atop a banner reading PEACOCK and SILK to the left and right. The store's interior is starkly modern: light wood flooring and white walls, interrupted with the shop's goods, artisanal tools mounted behind the counter, and - where a vast space of white makes an irresistible canvas - large pieces of black-and-white art, rotating periodically. The register and checkout is on your right as you come in, along with a small display of old-fashioned scales and assaying tools, doubtless for show. To the entrance's left is a ramped platform with stout wooden perches, several of different heights. The store's mascot, a real live peacock, often perches here, peering in judgment on customers and surveying his domain. (The bird accepts snacks.) The back of the shop is ruled by a long counter, loosely split into thirds - one space for glittering jewelry on busts and in glass cases and on twinkling stands. Another for leather goods, white and black and brown and red; purses and belts, chokers and bracelets galore. Towards the back, more complete outfits, with several mannequins bearing signature pieces or unique offerings, often in dramatic poses. The staff maneuver them now and then; sometimes when a customer isn't looking. Towards the far end of the shop, several changing booths have been formed from interior dividers, holding the basics -- some room to maneuver, somewhere to hang up clothes, and several mirrors to check yourself. Stepping right outside of the changing voice is dazzling -- many of the store's modern track lightings are skewed just so, producing a spotlight effect, like stepping out on stage. Alone in the world. The perfect visual baptism to celebrate a new individual. <Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
It's been a bit of a week since In Unizone came into existence. Hazuki Nakao has looked for a base but with NO LUCK, so instead, she's bringing the intention on new Homunculi to some people she's decided to trust, with everything they've done for her.
Peacock Silk's double doors swing open, allowing Hazuki inside. She's clad in her usual Western Fashion clothes, her black jacket with white shirt and black newsie cap. She's touching the basic flower-clasp choker around her neck, as she looks around. No peacock on the perch, no Yanagi... who *is* here?
"Hello? It's Hazuki...! Did I come at the wrong time...?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
No peacock, proudly preening.
No Yanagi, jubilantly welcoming.
No Saika, scandalously shouting.
No, there's just one thing to greet Hazuki Nakao when she walks through the double door'd entrance of Peacock Silk:
https://youtu.be/FkXdPTA5URk?si=k2ZPsECQKlXhF78K
The perky J-Pop serenade of E-Girls' Follow Me, dropped only this very week.
Piped through the speakers, it's shockingly pop sensibilities for such a shamelessly and notoriously counterculture boutique create such a powerful cognitive dissonance that one might - justifiably - think that is entirely the point.
It's certainly enough to be jarring. Certainly enough to demand attention. Certainly enough to distract, just long enough...
"So you're Hazuki."
For that calm contralto voice to cut through the sugar-pop, smooth as silk.
They're there, when they weren't before: towards the back, where the shop leads into the tailor's atelier; their shoulder leaned lightly against the archway that transitions one area to the next. They're dressed with deceptive simplicity, the white button-up they wear frilled elegantly at the placket, the top few buttons undone to reveal the gold choker wrapped around their pale neck, stylized like a snake with small, bright ruby eyes. Their sleeves are rolled up, hands covered by a pair of black, fingerless gloves revealing gold-lacquered nails; the shirt itself tucks into a black waspie corset threaded in gold, leading to trim black pants and, of course, a pair of black high heels, heeled with sharp, gold stilettos.
Green eyes brought out by smoky eyeliner regard Hazuki impassively for a few seconds. Their head cants. Black lips part.
"Welcome to Peacock Silk."
No -- no Pernelle, Yanagi, or Saika.
Today, Hazuki gets to meet the Peacock's purveyor.
... For the second time, technically.
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
As the pop music filters in, Hazuki's senses are overwhelmed slightly, drawing her attention. But after a moment, while she looks along... she's humming softly under her breath, picking up the lyrics fast. "Follow me, follow me, baby~"
And then she's startled again by surprise Tsumugi! Even so, her gloomy countenance only slides on slightly, as she sheepishly nods. "Uh, yes---"
She gets a good glimpse of Tsumugi... "Oh my gosh." She's shellshocked a bit, just by how strongly, how gorgeously they're dressed.
"Er, yes. I'm Hazuki Nakao... are you the owner of the Peacock Silk? We met once, but I don't think it was a very good meeting..." she says, finger brushing over her choker clasp again. It's clearly an anxious tic.
"I placed an order with Yanagi, but I also had some things I wanted to talk about with your group... I can come back later... if you need me to?" She's not opposed to talking to Tsumugi, though, even if she's very English and therefore will use yobisute on anyone who allows it.
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
Oh my gosh.
It's sublimely understated, the way Tsumugi Kujaku seems to completely fail to react to that shellshocked utterance, save the way their head dips just a little bit towards a deeper angle.
It's an understatement that endures all the way through Hazuki's actual introduction: Tsumugi's expression doesn't shift a single ounce one way or the other past that statuesque calm, nor do they budge from their casual, arm-folded lean against the arch. They just watch, and listen.
We met once, but I don't think it was a very good meeting...
Vividly green eyes drop subtly down to those fingers as they press upon that choker.
"Mm."
And then rise to meet Hazuki's gaze directly. Do they remember that meeting? ... Probably not.
But does it matter?
After all...
"But you're here now," they answer that greeting in lieu of introducing themself,
"and worth remembering."
It's so matter-of-fact that the possible flattery of it might well be enhanced by the sheer neutrality. It's here that Tsumugi moves, the soft shove of their shoulder against its perch swaying them back to a tall, upright position as they approach the main counter with the steady -=CLICK=- -=CLICK=- -=CLICK=- of heels in the boutique's perfect acoustics.
"Sa-ya isn't here today," they say simply as they reach the counter. Drawing out a large, hand-written ledger, they set it on the countertop, cracking it open with an easy ambivalence.
Paper pages fold past one after the other. They only pause that slow rifling as Hazuki offers an easy out: 'if they need her to.' A paper page pinched between gold-lacquered nails, Tsumugi's gaze is focused on the contents scribbled therein... but their words are for Hazuki.
"I need to eat. I need to breathe. I need to sleep. Needs don't matter; they're perfunctory. Wants are much more interesting."
Bright green eyes lift up, focused squarely on Hazuki.
"You can stay. We can talk. If you want to.
"Do you want to, Hazuki?"
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Hazuki blinks at the response, as they answer her greeting. Her dark eyes meet their green. Her? Worth remembering? She often wishes she was. But she's a lonely girl, and she's never heard someone tell her something like that in her life.
"Oh, uh, thank you..." she says, too stunned to process and think and worry.
But then, as Tsumugi goes to rifle through the counter paperwork, steady clicking of heels rhythmic in her ears, Hazuki watches carefully, taking in every motion, all of the atmosphere.
Needs don't matter... wants are more interesting. Does she want to?
"...yes. I want to speak with you. Your name is... Tsumugi Kujaku, right?"
Stepping towards the counter, she considers. "Your team really helped me back in Nakata-kun's Atelier. I wanted to repay the favor..."
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
Yes.
I want to speak with you.
It's all Tsumugi needs to hear; their gaze drops back down to the ledger.
"Then stay."
Their work resumes. And though their focus is not on Hazuki, they are listening. So when she asks about their name, without looking up, they remark a simple and easy, "Yes," that rises above the crisp turn of a page.
And when she talks about the Atelier - and her encounter with the rest of Peacock Silk within, and the debt owed for their assistance, even though there is a lingering silence after her last sentence trails off, eventually, inevitably, they answer:
"A choker with a stylized comet. Right?" ... Which isn't exactly what Hazuki was speaking about, and yet, all the same: "Sa-ya had another commission request come in at roughly the same time, but it's almost done. I'd say the work is three-fourths of the way there."
For a time, it seems like that might just be it. Confirmation on Hazuki's order, and little else. Silence lingers just long enough--
"Sa-ya told me about you, too," Tsumugi suddenly speaks, and those bright greens lift towards the leader of the freshly-minted In Unizone once more. "Pernelle and Saika, too. That you woke up in the Atelier." Gold-lacquered nails 'thmpthmpthmp' as they fall from pinky to index finger on top of the ledger.
"You sounded interesting."
There are questions that beg to be asked about that, but as is so often their wont, Tsumugi instead tables it to instead pivot back to something Hazuki expressed earlier:
"How do you plan to?" Their head tilts, leftwards. "Return the favor."
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Hazuki chooses to stay. Tsumugi Kujaku... they seem interesting to her, too.
"Yeah, that's right," she says about the choker. "Okay, I'll pick it up when it's done then. Thank you..."
But there's more to talk about. Hazuki's face flushes at the words 'you sounded interesting', because she rarely thinks that about herself. "Yeah... it changed my life."
But before they can talk further about that, Tsumugi asks how Hazuki plans to return the favor. She swallows, hoping this is enough.
"I have a lead on another Homunculus. The husband of a Rin Sasaki - I don't know his name. She came to Rumormonger Merry, having realized he was 'different'. She's Unawakened, but Merry pointed us to each other... and the Kuzunoha Detective Agency confirmed our suspicions. I... told her about what it is we do."
She wonders if that was wrong, but...
"I want to save her husband. But I thought the information may be useful to you, too."
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
"Opening your eyes for the first time should change you."
The ledger closes with the weighty thud of ink-scribbled paper on ink-scribbled paper, as if to punctuate Tsumugi Kujaku's point.
"Congratulations. You've experienced your first taste of true freedom."
But right now - for now - Tsumugi seems most interested in how Hazuki plans to repay that perceived favor. That Peacock Silk would have eliminated Taro Nakata's Homunculus is no nevermind to Tsumugi in this moment; so, too, the fact that Hazuki's efforts made their own work that much easier.
No -- they're most interested in what Hazuki has to say in this moment.
And for as understated as they so often are, that interest is such a palpable thing. It's in the quiet intensity of that stare; like the world was a stage and now that stare was a spotlight shining for Hazuki Nakao, and Hazuki Nakao alone. The store - the neighborhood - the city - the world might as well not even exist until the moment she offers her trade: a favor for a favor. Information for assistance.
I... told her about what it is we do.
And black lips curl into a rare smile, all for Hazuki.
"Ara."
The proprietor of Peacock Silk shifts. Ledger put away, they maneuver around to the front of the counter before gracefully sliding on top of it, adopting that comfortable and confident lounge they so often love to take up.
"Very few people want to know this world. They're comfortable in the lies that embrace and bind them." And as if they read Hazuki's mind, they address that private worry head on. "Most of the time, when the danger passes, they'll simply return to the preferable contentment of their blind world and treat it like a distant fever dream."
A brow lifts.
"But there's always someone who can't see the world the same again the second they know it's false. The people who claw their way out of the cave, rather than return to its comfort. Ambitious people. Curious people."
Is Rin Sasaki ambitious? Curious?
What will she do, now that she knows?
Tsumugi is very interested in knowing, themself.
But for now--
"Why?" they suddenly ask, and for a moment, that nebulously singular question lingers without context, before they clarify:
"Why do you want to help her and her husband?"
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
True freedom... is that what it is? Sometimes it feels restricting... at others, Hazuki does feel free. It's interesting.
Hazuki feels that intensity of the stare. Normally, she'd probably break under it. But there's an interest there, not demeaning, not cruel, that in many ways mesmerizes her.
Her posture rises minutely as she breathes, as Tsumugi explains that very few people want to see this world. But there's those it changes.
"It seems... sad. That we can't share this with everyone else," Hazuki says. "Doesn't everyone deserve the power to make a difference?"
But then, that question. 'Why?' Why does she want to help the Sasakis?
She could say 'it's the right thing to do'. Or that 'well, he's gonna die'. She considers it, even. But she feels naked under Tsumugi's gaze, and in a way, she feels any dismissal like that would be noticed easily. Or pried into.
"...it's my belief that people are connected. That we're all... a part of a greater system. Stars in a constellation. The things I've seen, the visions I've had... it's reinforced that I have the power to make a difference. I want to help everyone I can. If I have to fight Homunculus after Homunculus to make a real difference, a real change... I will."
A vulnerable pause. Hazuki takes a breath, before finally smiling.
"I'm not sure it's purely selfless, though. As much as... I've found meaning."
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
Doesn't everyone deserve the power to make a difference?
"Everyone deserves to be free," is Tsumugi's simple answer. As disaffectedly stated as anything they say, those five words still have a certain sort of weight to them.
A certain sort of significance.
"But how do you free someone who's lived in bondage for so long they don't even see the chains?"
It's a question that doesn't linger -- at least, in terms of the time that Tsumugi spends on it. Whether the sentiment lingers otherwise seems not to concern them as they pivot toward the matter of the Sasakis proper, and what piques their curiosity about that. To whit, that one, simple yet profoundly complicated question:
'Why?'
One leg lifting to about chest level, Tsumugi drapes their forearm over the upraised knee as they regard Hazuki with that seem, piercing stare past the barrier of flesh and fashion. They certainly seem to strike the impression that they would see right through her if she tried to offer some truism or platitude in that moment. And as she answers...
That we're all... a part of a greater system.
Stars in a constellation.
"..."
It's a contrast, truly, how difficult Tsumugi is to read in this moment in comparison. The way they listen in absolute silence; the way those bright eyes hood. The way they glance aside, after a long moment, within that poignant pause.
Everyone, connected.
"... Yes," they say, in that ineffably level tone of theirs,
"They are."
And it'd be so easy to interpret as them acknowledging Hazuki's beliefs that it could be easy to overlook how it says nothing about how they themself feel about them.
It, too, is something that Tsumugi doesn't allow to be dwelled on for long: "We'll help you," they suddenly say. "From what I've heard, you've come quite a way from where you started already. But there are things to Ateliers and Homunculi that you need to know if you're going to continue this path."
One, fingerless gloved hand turns over, palm up, as if the empty air that rested against its palm could hold infinite possibilities Tsumugi is offering in that moment.
"You and your friends can learn what you need to know from us. Peacock Silk can help remove the Homunculus in this woman's husband with you." Their head tilts. "In exchange for first choice harvesting the materials the Homunculus leaves behind."
They say it plainly. Make their wants known immediately, and without hesitation. Without shame. After all...
"There's no such thing as pure selflessness in the world, Hazuki. And you shouldn't want it.
"Self-interest is the proof that you exist freely in this world."
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Hazuki can feel the weight of those words. Everyone deserves to be free... she agrees with the sentiment, even if it's possible they have entirely different perspectives on it.
"Bondage..." Hazuki tilts her head at that, though it's unlikely to be addressed. It's gonna resonate with her for a bit.
But Tsumugi agrees(?) with her, and she smiles at them. But there's no time to dwell on it; Tsumugi controls the conversation so casually that she doesn't even realize it's happening.
"Really?" Hazuki says, as if the deal sounds... *too* good for her. But a moment later, she nods. "I'll accept that. I'd probably be bringing the materials to you all either way, so..."
A deal struck.
But there's no such thing as pure selflessness, and she shouldn't want it...
"...the proof you exist freely..." she nods, but she might not quite get it.
It doesn't matter. Even if she agrees with it on her face, she's already come to the idea of the world *she* desires. One where people can understand each other... this path is the best way to get there.
At this point, the gloom is mostly gone, just lingering in small amounts.
"Thank you so much. I look forward to learning from you all."
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
Really?
"Really."
It doesn't seem like much. But for Tsumugi?
It's all that matters.
Yet, for however too good a deal it might be, Hazuki ultimately accepts it. If Tsumugi was a person who placed value in the inherent well-being of others independent of their own interests, they might very well stop and warn her against simply accepting such agreements so easily.
"Then you'll have our help."
But instead, that's what they say, and that's all they say. After all...
Hazuki Nakao is free to make her own choices, now.
So they only offer that one, final piece of advice, because it interests them. That she might not understand is not especially surprising, or worrisome.
"Mm. I'm interested in seeing what you can achieve."
After all.
"I'm sure it'll be memorable."
They're certain she'll see the truth, in time. One way or the other.
With that, their hand turns palm down, falling on the countertop. Lacquered gold nails clik-clak-clik across glass as they look down on Hazuki.
"We'll be in touch. And Sa-ya will get ahold of you for the choker. Feel free to send the Sasaki woman our way, if you want." Their head tilts. "You can set the pace for dealing with this Homunculus, we'll show you the steps. After all... I want to see what you can do." It seems like that might be that, for now. But...
"One more thing, before you go."
They lean forward, slowly, until their chin rests on their upraised knee, looking down on Hazuki from their perched position with intent interest.
"What was it like? When you awakened.
"What did you see?"
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Hazuki still has no idea not to trust people so easily. No one has told her to be more careful. But even so...
"Thank you," she says towards having their help. Interested in seeing what she can achieve... what *can* she achieve?
Hazuki nods about the choker, about sending Sasaki to them. "Okay, I will."
But before she can leave...
"What did I see?" she repeats. She can recall it instantly - it seared its way into her mind.
"I was... in the cocoon. I saw myself in a dark void. I felt like I was drowning. I floated forward, and saw lights - no, stars - that formed together. I felt I had a choice..."
"Approach the constellations that shined so brightly, and my life would be different. Hide in the comforting darkness... and it would always be the same. I chose... the light. I chose to try and change."
She looks over to Tsumugi as she finishes recollecting. She wonders what they'll think, as hard as it is to pierce their aloof mask.
<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.
Some of this is obviously familiar.
Tsumugi seems to take most of it in with that same, placid expression.
No -- it's not until Hazuki reaches this part,
... saw lights - no, stars - that formed together. I felt I had a choice...
that their brows lift. Just so. Just enough to be noticed.
Constellations. It echoes with that belief that Hazuki espoused, the imagery she evoked to explain her motivation.
It's...
"Fascinating."
It's something different. Distinctly so. And combined with what Yanagi told them about the fight with Nanghaithya, and its aftermath...
"I was right. You are worth remembering."
Is it a good thing? A bad thing?
That much is so hard to tell just glimpsing at Tsumugi's expression, with the little they offer with their words. Just that simple praise. And a suggestion:
"Let's talk again soon, Hazuki. I'd like to get to know you more."
Because if nothing else, for good or for bad, they mean it:
Hazuki Nakao is fascinating.
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Hazuki should maybe not take the remark of 'fascinating' or 'being worth remembering' as positively as she does, but it does make her feel good. To be noticed, to be recognized...
Isn't that what every teenager wants?
"I would like that," she says about talking again soon. "Take care! I'll be in contact!"
And when Hazuki leaves, it's with a spring in her step. This was a worthwhile visit for her... perhaps she's finally found her calling.