cartographie | inbox for golden peacock

[Hiyori and Nami may not be too close, but he likes picking out gifts for people. And after seeing how Rinne's departure affected her, he feels like he ought to do something nice. Even just something small.

On the 25th, Nami will receive a delivery. The first item is an inflatable pirate raft (bottom left design) meant for holding drinks! He's been inside her suite before, and he recalls seeing the huge indoor pool (complete with the equally huge waterslide). He also knows she's a drinker. Now the alcohol can float freely at her pool parties!

As for the second gift? It's a big paper map of Japan. He didn't get it framed or anything, because he figured she'd have other uses for it besides hanging it on her wall. In case it helps with your travel plans, he writes, remembering what she told him about the coordinates.

Merry Christmas!

The note is signed with Hiyori's signature.]

[ Mysteriously, it's at the very second she unrolls the map that someone starts cutting onions in her suite, consequentially making her tear up all over again. Weird how that happens.

She won't hang it on her wall, but the map gets a special place of honor in the private drawing room that's sequestered away from the rest of her suite, where she'll use the coordinates etched on the back of that pendant to find exactly where, on the map, she's meant to go.

If such things were possible, that is – and she knows they aren't.

It takes a day before she sends a reply, long enough to ensure her game face is firmly fixed in place. Hiyori may be among the rare few who've seen Nami contend with An Emotion, but that doesn't mean she's going to make a habit out of it, hoping in time he'll recognize what a fluke that was. She's a con artist, a mapmaker, and a pirate – not someone who'll be forever dented in the feelings because one idiot wandered off. ]

Give me about a day's notice, but you and your partner should use my beach. I can get a dinner made for you two, there's a little pavilion by the shoreline for you to hang out in, it's a huge suite, me and the guys won't even know you're here.

Edited 2024-12-28 04:01 (UTC)

[He's busy celebrating on Christmas, so her lack of a reply goes unnoticed. As long as she got the gifts he sent, that's enough for him!

So it's something of a surprise when she replies the next day with a gift of her own. An invitation to her private beach! How unexpectedly nice.]

A beach trip at the end of December, huh? Why, that sounds perfect!

I'll have to let Jun-kun know. Don't feel like you have to rush to set things up, though. And you and your guests don't need to stay away, either, since it *is* your suite.

[He's not sure who the "guys" are in this scenario. People from her world, he wonders?]

Trust me, you don't want my captain lurking around, at least if you want to eat in peace.

I've been thinking – would you do me a favor?

Now that sounds ominous!

But as for the favor, sure! What is it?

To food, especially. Otherwise, you'd probably like the guy a lot. He's kind like you.

Before I tell you, will you keep it to yourself?

I like people who are like myself, so I'd be happy to meet him sometime!

[Actually, this is only half-true... when people remind him of his own flaws, he tends to react poorly. But he does like cheerful types!]

It's top secret, huh?

That's fine by me. I, Hiyori Tomoe, promise not to tell a single soul. Not even Jun-kun, unless you're alright with that.

[ Save for the kindness, they're not that alike. Hiyori is too smart, and Luffy is too shameless to compare. ]

It's just that it's pretty stupid. I've been wondering what happens if I disappear, and he comes back, so I'm going to give you a letter. Just in case. [ And then she is never, ever, ever going to draw attention to having feelings again. ]

[Ah. Reading that message makes his chest hurt. But he hastens to reply.]

It's not stupid. I've been worried about that happening to me, too. So I already wrote my goodbye messages.

[He's admittedly never talked about it with Jun, though. He knows Jun won't want to entertain the possibility at all, and Hiyori doesn't want to make him feel miserable.]

I can tuck the letter away someplace safe. I'll promise not to look at it, since that's between you and Rinne-senpai.

Did you stash them somewhere safe? I hear your stuff gets emptied out really fast if it happens, that's why I'm giving this to you.

You don't like coarse language, I know you won't look at it.

[ Let him think it's all just her cursing Rinne out, that's fine. ]

So it's that kind of letter, huh~

[An erotic love note.

Hiyori has spent a lot of time trying to puzzle out Rinne's relationships with other people. Despite Rinne's disappearance, he hasn't stopped trying to understand him; if anything, his efforts have grown more intense, more frustrated. Hiyori is curious about Rinne's relationship with Nami, too. But he did mean it when he said he won't look. He'll respect their privacy. (And honestly, he figures reading such a letter would probably make him feel miserable, anyway. Not what he needs the day after Christmas! ... or ever, tbh.)]

People's possessions seem to turn up in that first-floor storage room. It took me a while to find anything of Rinne-senpai's, but eventually I managed to get back two gifts that other people gave him. I've been telling people to check that room for my stuff if I ever disappear, but I guess it might be a good idea to make back-up copies. It's not too easy to find specific things in there, since it's huge and filled with adult toys! Plus you need a way to distract the guards.

I have a surefire way, though. So if there's ever anything you want me to look for, just let me know.

[ 🙄 ]

The kind where I tell him exactly what kind of moron he is, yeah.

You can get in there?

I can, and I have!

Thanks to the Proprietress. She gave me a cheat!

I was just going to break in, but – can you take me?

Sure! We can make a date of it.

Just as a heads' up, though, my birthday gift only works on me. I'm guessing you don't really get in trouble at your rank though, do you?

I'm in, name the day.

Not really. Nothing I can't talk my way out of, at least.

Well, we could ring in the new year with a break-in. That seems like the kind of thing Rinne-senpai would do to celebrate. But they also say there's no time like the present, so if you'd rather do it sooner, we could just go tomorrow!

And that's good. Sounds like we have skills in common, which should make us an even better duo! 😊

[He, too, is good at talking his way out of trouble. He's done it a few times in the resort!]

Tomorrow it is. I'll have that envelope for you to hang onto.

Don't read it.

Got it. Then I'll see you tomorrow! 👋😊

[He'll be there right on time.

They agree to rendezvous in the lobby. "Next to the giant tacky gold statue of two birds kissing" is what Hiyori suggests as their meeting place. He brings his birthday gift as promised, but he's wearing a trenchcoat over it: one with deep pockets that can fit the envelope she's bringing. Because the coat obscures most of his outfit, no staff members are staring slack-jawed in helpless desire at him yet.

They will be in a minute, though. All he has to do is unbutton it!

He smiles when he catches sight of her, waving a hand in greeting.]

Why, if it isn't Agent Orange~♪

[... yep. He thought it'd be fun to use silly spy nicknames during their break-in!]

Ready to go on a treasure hunt?

Agent Orange? [ She has no frame of reference, but Nami smirks anyway. It sounds mysterious and cool, and way more above board than Cat Burglar, a more familiar title from back home.

Leaning up away from the wall, Nami looks over the trench coat he's opted to cover himself with, her eyebrows raising dubiously before she hands over a plain envelope with Rinne's name printed on the front. ]

Hopefully you never have to give it to him. [ And with the terrible business of owning her feelings even a little out of the way, Nami can focus on what really matters – treasure. ]

Always. I'm a pirate. [ She answers, matter-of-fact as ever, save for the glint in her eye that's brightening up her expression and hinging on mischievous.

It's been a while since she's had a heist job, after all. ]

Come on, if you're ready to work your magic, let's get out of here. [ Nami adjusts the strap of her satchel, already doing a mental inventory of the location of the lockpicks concealed on her person. ]

[He nods cheerfully.]

I thought that could be your spy nickname! Spies usually have those in the movies. And they often speak in code to each other. For example, "The fox is in the henhouse!" That's a classic spy phrase.

[But enough of that silliness.

It really does feel like they're in a spy movie when she passes over the envelope and he slips it into his pocket. Rather than government secrets or other classified information, however, he knows there's something even more precious inside: a woman's feelings for the person she loves. (Or one of the people, anyway. He's not sure how many spouses Nami might have had.) He gives a small, faintly sad smile when she says she hopes he never has to give it to Rinne, and he chimes back:]

Mhm~♪ This is just a back-up plan. It's normal for spies like us to have those.

[Someday, he hopes she's able to tell Rinne her true feelings in-person. That would be the ideal happy ending. But he also knows there are no happy endings guaranteed here, in this place where no one he knows has gotten out yet. That's why he's entrusting his final wishes with Loki. Why he told Baizhu to look for his stuff in the storage room if he disappears, and told Leona to look after Jun...

He's happy not to think about all that right now, though. On with the treasure hunt!

He smiles more broadly when she says she's a pirate—truly the perfect heist partner!—and moves away from the statue.]

Great! Then it's "Mission Start"! ♪

[And off he strolls through the lobby, towards the doors that will lead to the storage room.

They pass the main desk on the way, where a concierge sits and a bellhop stands at the ready. Both swivel their heads towards them, eyes on the Queen. One of them opens their mouth: "Is there anything I can get you, Miss Nami?" Hiyori is barely a blip on their radar in comparison; not a true low-rank worthy of being spit on or ignored, but he hardly leaves an impression next to her.

That's about to change.]

We're not here to be pampered, actually.

[He addresses the staff himself, causing their eyes to flicker over: there might be the faintest hint of reproach in their gazes, for speaking on behalf of the Queen when he's not even a face card. But then his hands, already working on the buttons of his trenchcoat, finish their job, pulling it open dramatically, and their expressions change at once.

Their eyebrows lift. Their jaws unhinge. Cheeks suffuse with red, eyes become wide and sparkly. Hiyori Tomoe just went from being a pauper unfit to talk on behalf of the Queen to the most dazzling guest they've ever seen.]

We're here to take a stroll in that storage room! Just a fun little evening walk~♪ That shouldn't be a problem, should it?

[He waits, speaking cheerfully. No rebuttal comes out of their mouths; they're just gaping, until one of them breathes out, "So... S-So handsome..."]

Yep, didn't think so! ♪

[He turns to Nami with a smirk, trenchcoat now draped over his shoulder. Underneath he's wearing a fancy embroidered suit, and if she has an eye for detail, she might just notice that the stitching looks faintly reminiscent of the type of embroidery Jin Mingming wears. But he doesn't call anymore attention to it, nodding towards those double doors at the back of the room.]

See? Thanks to my seduction power, this should be a cinch...♪ I'm not sure we'll need all the tools you brought. But if there's anything inside that's locked away in a safe, maybe then they'll come in useful. Anyway, let's go! ♪

[ Circumstance saw fit to make it so that Nami knew Hiyori well enough to trust him more than she trusts mosts of the folks at the resort, despite not knowing too much about him. She gets the career as an idol, the way he worries about his counterpart, and the fact that he shirks and bristles when things get too crass and lewd, but she wouldn't say she's a vault of Hiyori Tomoe knowledge.

And she certainly never, ever expected him to handle a situation with so much hustle and swagger.

In fact she has to make an effort not let so much as a smirk cross her face as he pulls off his coat and woos the resort staff standing between them and the store room she's been itching to look through since learning of its existence. When the staff back off, she can finally look up at him, visibly impressed as she shakes her head in surprise. ]

Holy– [ Shit, she stops herself from saying. ] That is a good suit.

[ A criminal's dream, even, and it's the practical uses a look like that might have that draws her gaze to sweep over him, taking in the details although failing to catch the significance of the embroidery. More than a handful of questions pop up in her mind, but instead, she tears her eyes away and shoots a pointed glance down the hall, finally letting herself smirk when he brings up her tools. ]

I wouldn't complain. It's been a while since I got to crack a safe. [ No sense letting her talents get rustier if the opportunity presents itself within the room they're heading towards, her hand already reaching out to pull the handle on the door to usher them both inside.

And it's a very impressive sight in there, rows of shelves piled high with labeled bins, each teeming with intriguing odds and ends, some more valuable-looking than others. ]

So is your suit magic, or something? [ Now that they're away from the staff, she has no problem prying, determined to multitask as she veers off to the nearest shelf to start rifling through things and reading over the names on them. ]

[He beams back at her.]

Isn't it? ♪

[He can explain where he got that suit from in a minute. For now, he's focused on entering the storage room. She says she wouldn't mind getting the chance to crack open a safe, and says:]

Spoken like a true spy! ♪

[Then steps inside ahead of her when she holds open the door.]

Why, thank you~♪

[It's safer for him to go first, he figures; if there are any guards milling around near the entrance, hopefully they'll be too busy going ga-ga over the sight of him in his suit to notice her slink in after him. But in a stroke of luck, there is no security hanging around at the moment, and so they're free to look around.

It's the same old storage room as last time. Shelf after shelf stocked with a mixture of hotel supplies and what appear to be guests' personal items. He spent a lot of time poking around the place in November, searching for two items of Rinne's that Reign and Keita had wanted back, and he discovered all sorts of things in the process... including varieties of sex toys he hadn't known existed. There are a lot of those in here.

He steps in between two shelves while she rifles around, keeping his voice just above a stage whisper.]

Seems that way! I'm not sure what sort of enchantment it was, though. You'd have to ask Jin Mingming—she's the one who gifted it to me for my birthday. And she even threw in a matching one for Jun-kun ♪ Though his doesn't seem to have quite the same effect as mine. It's hard to outshine me, I guess.

How'd you get Jin Mingming to like you that much? I drink at her bar all the time.

[ Maybe that was why. Between the two of them, Hiyori's definitely more upstanding than Nami could ever hope to be. Still, a connection like that is enviable, and even though she's extremely into the idea of digging through this storage room, the idea of what someone that prominent among the resort staff has going on is intriguing on another level. Thankfully, the idea of finding things belonging to Rinne, or anyone else who's turned to stone not yet crossing her mind. ]

I bet she's got a lot to say about this place.

[ Looking over her shoulder at Hiyori, Nami doesn't bother to mask the curiosity on her face, her shrewd blue eyes sizing him up in the low light. The suit is very distracting, and she catches her gaze drifting back to take in the garment rather than the guy wearing it more than once, but that doesn't let it slow her snooping at all.

Still, better not to seem obviously prying. Nami has the sense to look back at the bin she's going through before she speaks up again, not bothering to keep her question coy. ]

Did she tell you anything good?

With my dazzling charm, of course~♪

[A cop-out answer, said with a wink. Before he admits:]

I think she might've felt sorry for us, given our situation here. So I thought perhaps she made us those suits to cheer us up. But then it turned out mine was enchanted, and then I wasn't sure what to think.

[Is there a mystery she wants him to solve? Something hidden that she wants him to uncover...? Is it remotely possible that maybe, just maybe, she thinks he can help untangle the secret behind this place, or gather ammo against the House? The longer he's trapped here, the more he worries they're all doomed—that there is no way out, other than winning that 52 game (and that's if the game isn't rigged). That they'll all turn to statues before they can complete their decks, anyway.

But he hasn't given up all hope. If Jin Mingming did enchant that suit in hopes that he'd accomplish something, then he wants to accomplish it. Even if the only thing it's helped him do so far is get Rinne's stuff back from the storage room, that's still something worthwhile.

At any rate, he tells Nami with a smile:]

I'm sure you'd look good in her embroidery, too. But as for why she didn't make you something, perhaps she thought you didn't need it to snoop around. You're already a pirate, after all~♪

[One who can pick locks, at that.

He'd be curious to hear what Nami did get for her birthday, but he doesn't ask, since it's clear her mind is elsewhere. Her interest isn't well-disguised; as a performer, he's sensitive to other people's gazes. Not that he's bothered by her question, or by the curious look in her eyes. He doesn't mind if she wants to get information out of him—he's happy to share. They are partners in crime for the night, after all.

She can look into the bin, which has (what else?) sex toys inside. He'll look at her as he explains what the proprietress told him back then.]

Depends on what you'd call "good." She did confirm it's not just sex this place runs on. "What the resort takes from us is our fate," she said—apparently meeting people from different worlds, who we wouldn't have met otherwise, and being intimate with them changes our "fate." She also said people who are destined for great things in life have more fate to give than those who aren't—like an emperor who runs a country versus a servant who's destined to die young. That was her example, anyway.

[There's more, but he gives her a moment to process.]

(no subject)

cartographie - 2025-03-24 05:18 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

tfy - 2025-03-26 14:54 (UTC) - Expand

inbox for golden peacock

Backdated to 12/25

it's kind of hilarious, how many times hiyori has made her cry

Whoops... he needs to make her laugh at some point!!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

to action?

no subject

lmao change of plans nami is here to be a problem for another month

Nice 🎉

i am so sorry, feel free to ignore bc it's been 100 years

No worries!

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)