[INTRO; OPEN]

[bokor]

The tall thin man was standing more or less near one gathering of gravestones in the evening dusk. Most people would be avoiding a place like this, and truthfully so should Facilier have been, if defiance hadn't temporarily overridden his common sense. He reasoned that the place wasn't so frightening even to a man who'd so mightily pissed off the spirits and so deeply overdrawn his finances that they'd dragged him off when he'd made the mistake of blurting that he couldn't pay them.

Maybe this was payment, or punishment, or maybe it was a third thing altogether, but Facilier knew second chance when he saw it and he knew landing on his feet when he had to. He could flourish in the sidewalk cracks like a weed, or he could... spend his time outside the castle assessing it nervously from a graveyard in which he paradoxically just felt more comfortable. That was right. Plenty of room around here to see anyone coming, plenty of space to escape if he felt uneasy, and no bokor had anything to fear from the dead that they didn't owe.

When he'd calmed his racing heart enough to actually pretend to be casual, he decided to make his way closer to the castle proper. Maybe there'd be a newspaper. Creepy Gothic Herald, with a date, which was about all he was interested in. He bothered with nothing like brochures, and this was far from New Orleans, but the same rules applied. Talk to people. Get friendly, pick up whatever unbiased, usable information presented itself and pick up the biased stuff too, but it might be harder to sift through that here.

He'd have to hope folks here were friendly enough to avail himself of their hospitality, a fish completely out of water as he reluctantly left even the shadow of familiarity with the graveyard and went people hunting.

And what that meant was lurking in shadowy halls, shuffling his tarot deck and keeping a look out for people who looked like suckers. Or at the very least like they wouldn't just attack him.

Comments

[bokor]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained - in this case, something like music was innocent enough, even desirable, to track. It wasn't like following creepy laughter or chain rattling or anything else one might expect to find in an ominous, cobwebbed castle.

But nothing in this place could be normal, and he had to admit there were a lot more humans back in America where he'd come from. Kind of creepy music, but at least the shamisen didn't look like it was made of human bones and skin or something. Standards were fast dropping in Facilier's mind about what he could deal with, by necessity.

He listened politely to the music for a bit, only so he didn't immediately interrupt, but soon enough his nerve demanded he actually figure out what this being was, and risked speaking to him, "'Scuse me?"

[ifyoumustblink]

He looks up a little quickly, having not been expecting company. Much less company so… strange. The lullaby has come to an abrupt end on a wheedling, fading note.

It probably looks weird on Facilier's end, an unmoving expression facing up to see him. Which is exactly the problen--it's not exactly easy to tell if he's curious or irritated, or maybe something else. Or both.

[bokor]

"Oh. Didn't mean to interrupt you, just couldn't miss you playing. Never heard anything like that," Facilier pointed with his cane at the shamisen, as if that was the most peculiar thing about this situation, but then he outright admitted, "Or seen anybody like you, truthfully. Now don't be alarmed, I don't mean to hurt you."

That last comment was more of a covering-his-bases than anything. The paper puppet's expression was indeed almost impossible for Facilier to guess, but he'd sooner not open with intimidation anywhere but his home turf - it always worked much better when he actually knew what was going on.

"You do speak English, don't ya?"

[ifyoumustblink]

Don't confuse the boy, he thinks everyone here is speaking ancient Japanese.

He can't say Facilier isn't intimidating (oddly tall, strange voice, necklace of bone?) but he doesn't seem to bent on harming anyone, at least. He must not be from around Kubo lived... or his world, actually. He's been told of the interdimensional qualities of the Castle. Which would explain the lack of recognition of the shamisen--to Kubo's knowledge, it should be quite popular, but hey. He hasn't really left Sun Village or the area around it.

Kubo puts a hand over is mouth, shaking his head lightly. He has a hole there, but no voice.

[bokor]

Facilier might apologize if the obvious fact occurred to him that demons and skeletons and origami folks should probably not be speaking American English, either. Whoops.

"Oh, I see." Facilier considered the hole in Kubo's throat, then shrugged, "And even if they got sign language where you're from, I don't know that. But at least you understand me, somehow." Magic was definitely looking like it had more to do in this place than he'd assumed, or hoped, given that he didn't understand it very well.

"Well, good of you not to be a bloodthirsty monster." As if that were a conscious choice. Really Facilier. "I'm guessing a one-sided conversation's not very attractive to you." But, with the knowledge that Frisk, the first person he'd met in the castle, had given him, he guessed suddenly, "Wait a minute. Did this only happen to you after you got here? Were you human before?"

[ifyoumustblink]

As the stranger talks, Kubo shoulders the instrument over his shoulder where it belongs. He eyes him over, listening. So strange. And oddly purple, and black, which didn't exactly bode well. The Japanese folk back in ancient times tended to be rather superstitious, and Kubo has seen those gods and demons and superstitions firsthand. He will not disregard them because he is somewhere new.

He nods at the question; yes, he was human once.

[bokor]

"Bet you're hoping it wears off." Facilier mused, not as sympathetic as he could have sounded at all, but not seeing any particular help for the situation in being sympathetic, either. Whether it wore off or not, and he didn't see much reason for it to, it wasn't like his being there was going to change it. The castle's abilities or tendencies or whatever they were easily trumped his own skills, even with the lwa assisting him in whatever endeavors he sought. And he was okay with that, for now, but only because he wasn't actually in danger or personally thwarted.

Kubo's situation was no skin off his back.

"I'd offer to help you out, for a fee, but this is a little beyond me, right now." Probably forever, honestly, but why undersell yourself. "Shame you can't tell me your name or how this happened, or... anything else about yourself. ...Do you write?"

[ifyoumustblink]

He shakes his head, considering. Can't write. A little embarrasing, but illiteracy is A Thing in backwater villages like Kubo's. Not that he'd be able to read modern-day English.

He does, however, bring the shamisen back to his front to play. His fingers roll over the strings, and the chord he plays shivers in the air.

A sheet of paper flies from somewhere behind his back. In the air it folds into a little red samurai, who points his tiny tword at Facilier.

[bokor]

"Shame." Facilier offered, "Not unheard of where I'm from, but..." But he was already getting more of a sense that people here might have been very different from what he was used to even before arriving at the castle.

"Oh..." He couldn't help but look delighted at the trick. "That's nice. That a magic thing?" He was careful not to say 'magic trick'. He knew how annoying it was to have his business reduced to parlor tricks, worked hard on what he did and even despite the chameleon cover, it'd be nice to be taken seriously.

"I imagine you could keep even a tough crowd entertained with this."