Turning a planned thread into a catch-all, just think of the savings

[asano_san]

WHO: Keigo + Tonbokiri; Akira, Wuxian, Nero, and Keigo ; and Keigo + other people, probably related to eggs and the dragons that come out of them, also a possibility of mistletoe
WHERE: Keigo's house, mostly
WHEN: Various
WHAT: returning a lost item becomes an unsettling conversation about lost memories, the egg hatches, and...things related to eggs and the dragons that come out of them, and maybe mistletoe
WARNINGS: There may be mention of injuries in future dragon threads

Comments

Tonbokiri

[asano_san]

Keigo sits in his house, staring nervously at his probably monster egg. It's lonely work. Will anyone come visit him?

[youwillbeunequaled]

This guy will come visit him!

Tonbokiri's always a little worried about how Asano's getting along with the egg after all the ... strange advice he'd gotten on the forum.

And besides that, something had turned up suddenly in his room that he's certain belongs to Asano-dono, but he has no idea how it got there... But either way, he had best return it.

There is a firm knock at your door, Asano. Hopefully it doesn't startle you.

[asano_san]

Keigo is startled, but he would swear it's the normal amount of startled anyone would be when there's a sudden noise and even though you know there's some terrible magical monster waiting to hatch from the egg in your room, it's oddly quiet about it.

But he likes company, so he hurries to the door and is pleasantly surprised to find Tonbokiri there.

"Hi! Did you want to see the egg?" Does he even know about the egg? Keigo's not sure sword spirits hang out on internet forums.

[youwillbeunequaled]

"Hello, Asano-dono. Ah, yes, I was a little curious about it... You received a lot of advice about it, didn't you." (This sword spirit only hangs out on the forum once a day, if that. But he tries!)

"I'd be interested to see it, if you have time."

With that, the monochrome cloth wrapped package in his hand is left at his side for now. It can certainly wait.

[asano_san]

Oh, he got advice all right.

"A lot of bad advice, and now I'm stuck hatching a magic monster!" Keigo makes a motion towards his room and walks as he rants, though. "But I can't do anything else now. I'll feel too bad!"

When they walk in Keigo's room, the current state of the egg is: still black shell, sitting in a nest with a blanket wrapped around it and a blood-inked talisman stuck to it, and noticeably warm approaching too hot to touch.

[youwillbeunequaled]

What a home, that egg has! And what a conscientious minder.

Tonbokiri approaches the egg but stops before touching it, his palm extended.

"It is impressive, how warm it is on its own. Indeed, an unnatural egg."

He turns to face the boy seriously. "I was hesitant to offer advice as well, but having seen it... If something hatches that is dangerous to the point of being harmful to you, do not hesitate to cast it out, Asano-dono. I respect that you feel some responsibility for it, but there are many creatures with a nature to be self-sufficient right out of the shell. So please do not hesitate to take care of yourself foremost."

[asano_san]

"Unnatural is right. It just keeps getting warmer and warmer."

He may be a city boy who's never set foot on a farm or even known a friend who had a pet bird lay an egg, but he's pretty sure that isn't normal egg behavior. Tonbokiri's serious concern just highlights the oddity of it.

"There are a few people who volunteered to help me out. Someone who replied to my forum post offered to come guard the egg when it was close to hatching, and that paper is supposed to let three others know when it hatches."

[youwillbeunequaled]

"Oh, that is what the paper is for? What an amazing ability." He peers at it in interest for a moment longer, but turns his focus back to Asano.

"I am glad to hear that you have many comrades who will help you with this. I hope that all will go well for you, Asano-dono. Thank you for letting me see the egg as well."

And with that issue addressed, on to the next.

"I have one more reason that I came to see you today." Unwrapping the cloth package he'd been holding, he (easily) holds out two hand weights.

"I am fairly certain that these are yours. They are from the set we brought back from your waking dream, are they not? I apologize- they appeared in my room the other day, and I cannot explain how... But I thought it best to return them to you."

[asano_san]

"Thanks. I hope so, too." And with nothing more to say about the egg (but truthfully so much more to say about the egg, hours and hours of material if he got it into it), he focuses on Tonbokiri unwrapping the package he brought with him. Keigo recognizes the weights instantly. They're ones he brought back from the portal into his school and used to try to build some muscle during extra motivated moments until they disappeared about a month ago.

"Those are mine! I wondered where they went!" Keigo takes them and while they aren't too heavy for him, the way his arms drop when he grabs them is obvious compared to how easily Tonbokiri held them out. There weren't a lot of extra motivated moments. "But what do you mean, we brought them back? You didn't visit my school."

He has no memory of it.

[youwillbeunequaled]

(At least there were some motivated moments!)

Tonbokiri is pleased that Asano-dono was wondering where they went, which means that he must have been using them to miss them.

But his pleased smile falters quickly.

"Of course we did? You told me about school life, and showed me Karakura from your school's roof. There you had the idea to bring back sports equipment for everyone. I helped you carry it, and you yourself took it across the threshold back into Chroma.

[asano_san]

"No. I brought back the sports equipment with-" Keigo looks confused, and then worried. He can't bring up a name. Well, it was a busy few days, with lots of people coming and going.

The specifics of Tonbokiri's description are so...specific, though. Maybe he mentioned the name Karakura to Tonbokiri at some point, but how would he know he took everyone up to the school roof when he gave them a tour of the school? Do swords even have schools to know anything about the buildings? Someone must have told him about it.

"Did Shiho put you up to this?"

[youwillbeunequaled]

Tonbokiri is honestly getting more worried.

"I'm afraid that I have not met someone called Shiho yet. And besides that, I would certainly not lie to you for any reason."

The boy is generally straight-forward and honest, if prone to elaboration. So, is this some trick of the town? Or has he fallen ill? Or- he'd heard about the things that can happen if you lose colour... He peers at Asano-dono carefully.

"You truly do not remember it? Do you remember how we went to my waking dream of Honmaru afterwards, though?"

[asano_san]

It checks out. Tonbokiri is always so straight-forward and kind. Even if someone tried to get him to help play a prank on him, he would probably say no. That doesn't make Keigo feel any better. If Tonbokiri isn't lying, then the problem is with him.

"Oh, I remember that. You showed me around and the baths were amazing." Keigo tries his hardest but can't remember anything about them going to visit Karakura High together. "But I don't remember the rest! For real! I learned my lesson about playing jokes on people when I pretended to be a ghost and got attacked with bees because of it! You just came over that day and we walked to your portal together."

Akira & Wuxian: Dragon Guardians. Or Keigo Guardians because they're guarding him *from* the dragon?

[asano_san]

[As soon as the egg progressed from oddly warm to burning hot, Keigo had called on Akira, his first promised protector. He didn't know what was going on, but it had to mean it was going to hatch soon. Either that, or the egg was just going to burst into flames as the next step and burn his house down.

He could still use someone to protect him from that.

Without Keigo realizing it, mostly because he doesn't want to think about it, the monumental increase in heat is due to the egg's steadily increasing magical power. And so Wuxian's talisman is activated and the carolers also receive an APB (Asano Panicking Bulletin).]

[lacrimose]

[Akira takes his promise to protect Keigo seriously, but when he gets the message that the egg is hatching, he's also excited. One of his (many) soft spots is baby animals, so he can't help but wonder what kind of creature might be inside the egg. How dangerous can it really be as a hatchling?

That said, as soon as he gets the message from Keigo, he runs the whole way there with his unnatural devil speed. As soon as he arrives, he's banging on the front door and yelling.]

Hey, Keigo! It's me, Akira!

[asano_san]

[Akira is so fast, Keigo doesn't even have time to hover in the doorway waiting for him to get there. In his delicate condition, willing to believe the egg could do anything at any moment up to and including explode, he could have done without the pounding on his door, though.

He hurries across the house to open it.]

It's this way!

[No time for hellos. He takes him to his bedroom where the egg is still in its nest and covered in a blanket, for as little as it currently needs warming.]

It got hotter and hotter and now you can't even touch it.

[lacrimose]

[Akira follows him up, not trying to seem too eager considering how scared Keigo is. Still, it's difficult to contain his excitement as he sees the egg, crouching down to shift the blanket enough to get a better look at it.]

This is so cool... [He's already reaching as if to touch the egg when Keigo warns him, so he quickly withdraws his hand. It probably wouldn't burn Akira, but he has to at least pretend that it would like a normal person.

He turns and looks at Keigo.]

How long has it been hot like this?

[asano_san]

[He thinks it's cool.]

I was leaning more towards...I don't know...terrifying!

[Cool! He'll probably think whatever terrible monster comes out of the egg is super neat. As long as he does the protecting thing he said he would do at the same time.]

I sent you the message as soon as it almost burned me. The blanket slipped and I was going to rearrange it. I don't know how long it was like that before I noticed it.

[lacrimose]

Okay. I'll stay here with it until anything happens. If you're scared, just leave me to keep watch, and I'll shout if anything happens.

[To show he means it, he sits down cross-legged next to the egg and its nest. He won't budge from this spot!]

crashes in

[neronian]

[ Thanks to Wuxian's talisman, the Asano Panicking Bulletin(tm) is successfully sent out, like a siren in the night, to the bad carolers, who, to their credit, are actually very competent combatants in case things of the more...harmful variety hatch. And so, because time is of the essence, Nero grabs her unfortunate roommate, and dashes out the door, leaping on top of the rooftops of various homes at a great and inhuman speed, in order to get to their destination in record time.

An imperious and loud voice rings out at the front door, and opening it reveals Nero, clad in a red Santa outfit with a skirt (and appropriate hat, the hat is important) carrying Wuxian in her arms, quite easily at that. Poor guy. ]

We are here, we are here! Just as we swore!

[espritdecorpse]

[ He's also festively dressed, in a furry red hooded jacket, trimmed in white, with matching boots. In keeping with the season, he's also wearing green. On his face. His face is green, from being unceremoniously grabbed and dragged anime-style from rooftop to rooftop.

Whenever she lets go of him, he's going to sink to his knees and try very hard not to retch, as he asks, weakly: ]

Did it hatch?

[ He really hopes so, otherwise they might have to do this mad dash thing again. ]

[asano_san]

[Keigo wants to run somewhere far away, but he also doesn't want to leave and come back to a destroyed home. Being in shouting range also implies not running to the far side of Flavo. He's saved from having to make a decision by a new visitor. He'll have to go to the door instead of doing anything else.

Make that two visitors. In Santa costumes. And how is she so strong?]

It hasn't hatched yet, but it got so hot it'll burn you. That means something will happen soon, right?

[neronian]

[ Nero sets Wuxian down at the first opportunity, steadying the man with a hand. Her strength and speed are Just Servant Things, don't think too hard about those. She nods. ]

I believe so.

[ She looks over to Wuxian, who's the creator of the talisman and a mage in his own right, so he might know more about these things than she does. ]

[espritdecorpse]

[ With difficulty, he stands, grateful for Nero's help. And then he rubs his hands together, grinning madly. ]

Yes! Let's not miss it! Come on, come on!

[ He's not quite recovered enough to bowl Keigo over, but he very clearly does want to be let inside, straining his head to one side to see past the boy. ]

[asano_san]

[Keigo doesn't wait to see if he's going to get stampeded again and moves out of the doorway.]

It's still in my room.

[It's true. The egg has just gained one Akira sitting close to it and staring with his face only inches away. Keigo hasn't been back long enough to be sure, but he might not even be blinking. He was only out of the room for a minute. Did the egg put him in a trance? Is that something else to be worried about?]