[OPEN!] At least this maze has plenty of escapes...

[fire_water_wood]

((OOC: S-sorry it's taken so long to get this posted, guys!  I really did think I'd done this already...  OTL))

Characters:  Harlequin and the people of the Winding Way
Content:  With this conversation, Harlequin has agreed to help Gintoki with that HVAC project by mapping out the air circulation ducts throughout the ship . . . from the inside . . .

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[fire_water_wood]

The carpenter jumped, head snapping up from his work, then growled as he looked back down. Good - his hand had slipped, but somehow the carving tool had failed to put an unwanted gouge in the design he'd been working into the side of the chest in front of him. Satisfied, he turned that half-glare up on the young intruder. What part of "tomorrow" had he been ambiguous about? He grunted and thumbed over his shoulder at the workbench. "Haven't finished. Told you I wouldn't have. It's over there." He frowned in mild curiosity as he spotted the food bag the kid was carrying. What, had he brought his lunch to come spend with his puppet? ...whatever, so long as the kid didn't get in the way of his work

[fire_water_wood]

Harlequin couldn't help a small, almost wry grin to himself. He could tell Ichigo was going to be a . . . critical audience, at least. But that really was all right. If he could entertain Ichigo...

"Okay!" He nodded . . . and started into an oratory he'd practiced in his head a number of times, starting off with inviting his listener to make himself comfortable while he told the tale of Darrik and the Bandersnatch.

He couldn't move and stand in ways he envisioned for himself for a "real" performance, and he only had one arm to gesture with, but he adjusted and made do, putting all that much more effort into his voice and word choice. The whole story took about twenty minutes . . . though one might only realize that if he actively checked a clock.

Performing, after all, was the Living Marionette's specialty!

[flight_15]

Huh. Ichigo found himself actually engaged in it -- though it wasn't something he'd normally go out of his way to see, it was entertaining enough. He shifted up to sit on the workbench a minute or two into it, watching the puppet talk. He couldn't help but wonder if the movement hurt the guy, and if he should be moving quite so much, but obviously the pain wasn't bad enough for him not to do it, so Ichigo would let it pass without comment.

When the story was over, Ichigo had a pensive look on his face. "That's pretty good," he said. Especially since listening to folktales wasn't really Ichigo's cup of tea, it was a high compliment.

[fire_water_wood]

Harlequin grinned, taking that for the high compliment that it was, as he'd already guessed Ichigo was probably not normally a "theater person" despite serving on the ship he was. "Thank you! I had never heard that story until I read it in the book Miss Sophie gave me. I have a few more, too, if you'd like to hear another." He leaned over, stage-whispering as if sharing a secret. "One of them is a pretty spooky ghost story. Do you like ghost stories, Ichigo?" Yes, he was being just a little bit dramatic but, hey, he was a performer!

[flight_15]

Ichigo's eyes went flat. Honestly, it was a knee-jerk reaction to ghost stories in general. He could count on one hand the number of ghost stories he'd heard that came anywhere close to how things actually worked. Besides, being able to see the real thing took a lot of the bite out of most tales of unexplained lights or appearing bloodstains or disembodied moaning.

He glanced at Harlequin, debating whether to stop this one before it started or give the guy a chance to practice.

Against his better judgment, he found himself saying, "Sure. Hit me with it."

The kid was hurt, after all, and obviously wanted to tell it. Ichigo could sit through it for his sake.

[fire_water_wood]

O-okay, that, um, was not a reaction the little puppet had been expecting, and he found himself verbally backpedaling. "O-or there are plenty of others I can think of. Various kinds..." Goodness, but he must have hit a nerve of some kind. It made him incredibly curious, but he got the feeling it was something really best left unquestioned.

[flight_15]

"No, it's cool," Ichigo said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "What's it about?"

Had he developed some kind of trainwreck syndrome? What was he doing?

But Harlequin had been excited about the story. He needed the practice. Ichigo could sit through this. It wasn't a big deal, really -- not enough to kick up a fuss about, or ask Harlequin not to tell it. That was just silly, and selfish.

[fire_water_wood]

"Ah . . . w-well, it's about a-" He paused. Was he going to summarize the story or tell it?

He pulled a deep breath. Something was wrong, but it didn't seem like Ichigo was going to tell him, and . . . he had been told to go ahead with the story itself, so . . .

Working a grin onto his face and his mind back into the mindset it'd been in a moment ago, he eased into the story, determined to do the best job he'd ever done.

He really did want Ichigo to enjoy it, after all.

[flight_15]

And Ichigo listened. He did his best to forget that a ghost that was haunting a place would have chains binding it to the building, and that it wouldn't be able to touch a normal person, much less pick up objects and throw them. He just listened to the story, trying to pay more attention to how Harlequin told it than nitpciking the details.

"It's a good story," he said when Harlequin had finished. "You should tell it to the crew on Long Night. I think Jean likes stuff like that," Ichigo advised. "She'd enjoy it." He tossed an apple idly up and down in his hands -- he'd been toying with it through the whole story.

[fire_water_wood]

Harlequin perked. "Thank you! You think so?" He nodded, thoughtful. "I think I can come up with a few more, too." He looked up at his friend and decided to venture it. "So, you've heard ghost stories before? Or . . . have some, ah, experience? Y-you don't have to tell me, of course," he was quick to add, and his eyes fell to the apple as a diversion if needed. "Heh . . . saving that for later, or just waiting for a bad story so you can throw it at me?" he asked with a sheepish, playful grin.

[flight_15]

Ichigo looked sideways at the puppet. "Depends on what you mean by experience," he said cryptically.

"What, this?" Ichigo looked down at the apple, then back at Harlequin. Okay, from the look on his face, it looked like he was kidding. Though Ichigo wouldn't be above throwing it at someone else if he was annoyed with them, Harlequin didn't need to know that. "You'd have to tell one hell of a story to get me to chuck this at you."