[Open]

[ghost_bait]

After Lirath, Miku had tried her best to keep from being too far underfoot. So, she'd retreated to the Meiji Shrine. Sitting on the steps, and turning her hairpin in her hands, an abandoned broom at her side, Miku tried to think of ways to be more useful. She even had prayed a bit, but it seemed as if the Emperor and Empress were concerned with

Comments

[craaazyisland]

"Hey, Miku."

Steve had only just finished another lesson with Kaylee, and decided to go look for Miku out of sheer boredom. There were only so many places to find her, and the shrine was always a good bet. Steve liked the place too. Even in its weird foreign abandoned state, it was peaceful and quiet, and it was always at least a little bit soothing to help Miku clean or sweep or dust off the place. Even if she always ended up going back over his work.

"Man, does this place ever stay clean?"

[ghost_bait]

Miku jumped guiltily and turned to face Steve. "It's the trees, they're always going to drop leaves. At least it isn't as bad as it was!" Considering how long it took for them to clean it when she'd first discovered it on Religion Row.

"Where were you? A lesson?" Miku tried not to fidget, and instead poked at the shaft of the broom with her fingers.

[craaazyisland]

"They have to run out of leaves sometime..." Steve reasoned. Though he wasn't actually sure if there were seasons around here. Stupid Stacy.

"Yeah, Kaylee was teaching me about, uh... what are they called. Circuitboards," he said. "It's kind of cool. Way too hard for me to do by myself yet, but now I at least know the basics."

[ghost_bait]

"A circuitboard?" Miku's eyebrows knitted together, completely at a loss. "Doesn't that go inside a machine?" she asked, but the tone of her voice sounded rather unsure. Hadn't Yuu spoken about that once? Or maybe Rei as she'd considered buying a word processor? Miku chewed her lip and stepped towards Steve.

"Or am I wrong?"

[masterofnun]

Punchy's exploring the city, and while he doesn't seem the type to have interest in religious buildings, something about them always reminds him a little of his childhood. He even takes off his boots when he enters and sees...

...some fine shawty with a broom! Who'd have thought, in a shrine? He secretly hopes she isn't a nun and tries to remind himself that it's rude to hit on people on sacred ground.

That doesn't mean they can't have a conversation, though.

"Yo. This uh, this your god's crib?"

[ghost_bait]

Miku stopped sweeping. She hadn't been aware that any yanki had been released from the pods, but this person's very rough accent seemed absurdly foreign to her polite sensibilities. So, imagine her surprise when Punchy turned out to be not a yanki at all!

"My god's... what?" Miku asked, unsure if she heard him correctly. The a warm, City-born wind stirred Miku's hair and short skirt briefly.

[masterofnun]

"You know. Crib. Crash pad. Spot for the G's," he says with an eyebrow waggle. "What's your name, shawty?"

[ghost_bait]

What were these words and why were they coming out of his mouth?

Maybe he wasn't from Earth, she reasoned. And "shawty" was some untranslatable word. Going with it, she looked a little confused as he continued to explain what he'd meant. She bowed neatly, "My name is Miku Hinasaki, it's very nice to meet you."

She hoped.

[saint_sami]

Sasami had a bit on her mind following the mess on Lirath and her time stuck with GLaDOS. Mostly her place on the ship as a fighter. She wanted to expand her own skills, but at the same time, she was starting to realize just how much of a hindrance she was to others.

Wandering the City, she spotted the Meiji shrine and, with it, Miku.

"Miku!" Sasami called out, brightening up.

[ghost_bait]

A breeze picked up some of Miku's hair as she turned to see who it was that called her name. Her gloomy expression brightened (after all, it would do no one any good to look less than her best self). "Ah! Sasami-chan! I see you're alright! Have you come to pray?"

[saint_sami]

"Heheh~! I'm glad to see you're doing well, too!" Sasami said, that same breeze causing her pigtails to sway as well.

"I hadn't planned to at the moment, but I think I should. Maybe it would help me think a little better. Especially after getting caught up in the fighting."

[ghost_bait]

"You were in danger?" Miku asked concerned. She hadn't imagined the Captain would have let Sasami on the field, but stranger things had happened.

[carrieswar]

Jr. made his way through the city. A small bundle of clothes were draped over one arm that was held up next to his ribs, a set of guns (different from the two holstered at his sides) resting atop of them, giving the obvious impression that he was going somewhere for a while. He held his omnicomm in his hands in a great balancing act against the items he held, starting to type something out.

But he wouldn't finish typing whatever it was he was typing when he spotted the shrine out of the corner of his eye. Slowly lowering the omnicomm, he stared for a moment before deciding to get a closer look. Was this a legit Japanese shrine, or one of the many replicas on planets across the star systems? Spotting Miku working away, he was at least glad there was someone there to ask about it.

[ghost_bait]

Miku stopped sweeping for a moment and turned to watch Jr.'s procession up the steps to the temple complex. The red hair had thrown her off, but the size of the person coming up the stairs was too small to be Steve. When he arrived she bowed politely, "Hello."

[carrieswar]

"Hey," he greeted with a wave of his free hand and a smile. "I don't think we've properly met yet." After all, he didn't want to just wander around checking things out and asking questions without an actual introduction. "I'm Gaignun Jr."

[ghost_bait]

Miku kept herself bowed as she introduced herself, "I am Miku Hinasaki. It's very nice to meet you." She straightened. "What brings you here? Are you Japanese, too?"

[starlight_ace]

Miku hadn't been the only one who had been busy in recent moments, of course. What with getting married and all that, Nanoha had been hard pressed to keep on top of everything even before the big battle at Lirath (not that it kept her from trying). Of course, that didn't keep her from trying to stay in touch with her friends, either - and she called out to Miku from where she hovered in the sky above.

"Don't you think there's only so much you can sweep the same steps?"

[ghost_bait]

Miku looked up, banished the gloomy expression from her face and waved, "If you leave things sitting too long, they get dirty anyway, Nanoha-chan!"

[starlight_ace]

The wings on her heels faded as she fluttered down to the ground. "But sometimes all you're doing is just pushing dirt somewhere else," she teased.

"Or are you just trying to keep busy?"

[ghost_bait]

"A bit, but the shrine needed tending to, you know. The Emperor and Empress need as much care as any living person."

Not that Miku was sure she was doing thing exactly correct, but nothing terrible had opened up under the shrine, and she hadn't seen a single, disapproving ghost. "How are you?"