thenearshore | [semi-open] don't eat the pomegranates

[How long is too long? Tsuzuki worries his bottom lip with his teeth, watching the cave. It still seems as quiet and placid as it had when they went in.

Clouds are gathering along the horizon as the midafternoon heat starts to fail towards an evening chill. He swallows, and glances around.]

... They've been down there a while, huh?

[Vector said a month. It hasn't even been six hours. Maybe he shouldn't be worrying. But he's worrying.]

[ Hisoka's lost track of whether his anxiety is entirely his own for a while now. He's been increasingly on edge since they'd gotten there, quietly tense, and keeps gravitating towards Tsuzuki despite his empathy.

Or maybe because of it. ]

Mm. [ He crosses his arms to ward off a chill that has nothing to do with the fall in temperature. He shifts until his arm bumps Tsuzuki's, catches himself at it, and leans away. ] I don't like it.

[Tsuzuki leans back towards Hisoka, too distracted to think better of the gesture, and bumps his arm back against Hisoka's in return. It's comforting to feel him there.]

They haven't tried to communicate yet.

[Or they can't. If something happened to the entrance... but he's only saying it to reassure them both. He hadn't expected the reassurance to sound so thin out loud.]

[ He's been against it from the start, but it's too late to keep on about how it's a bad idea. If they end up with several people rather than just potentially one trapped down there...

This time, he doesn't move away from Tsuzuki. He looks down, his expression shuttered. Had he made the wrong call? If the group had run into trouble, could it have made a difference if they'd gone in with them? ]

[Tsuzuki winces at the sudden pang of guilt reverberating through from Hisoka, and lifts an arm to put it around his shoulders.]

Hey. This is why they needed somebody out here for backup, right?

[It's not their fault for not going in. If someone needed to get them out...

It's going to take some time to get here from his shrine by train, but Tsuzuki can teleport there. He pulls out his phone, and selects one of the handful of numbers already in his contacts list.

Hey, I need you to come give me a hand with something important. I'll owe you a big favor.

He presses "send" and looks back up at Hisoka.]

I'm going to go get my priest. It should just be a few minutes, but if you see or hear anything funny here, call me. Right away. Okay?

Edited 2016-06-19 02:25 (UTC)

[The elderly priest now carries his phone with him everywhere, at all times. It's a means of divine communication, after all! And if his god should need him, he will be ready to answer the call. Literally.

So at the buzz of a received message, he is on it. In only a couple minutes he sends a reply back to Tajimamori-sama:]

Of course. Anything you ask.
(You don't owe me anything at all, Tajimamori-sama! It's always my pleasure.)

[ Hisoka looks up, startled out of his worry. That's right. He can't just doubt himself here. He straightens up, his expression schooling into something more determined. There's no more time to think about what-ifs. ]

I've got it. [ His voice is firm. ] If anything changes, you'll know. Go.

Okay.

[Tsuzuki squeezes Hisoka's shoulder, and vanishes into thin air.

He pops out, stumbling a little as his feet hit the ground, in the courtyard of Nakashima Shrine, and promptly leans over his phone to text back.]

I'm in the shrine courtyard. Are you here?

[A moment after the text is sent, Tsuzuki might hear a soft thump followed by the sound of a sliding door being quickly opened from the direction of the office. Then the priest comes around the corner of the temple, hurrying towards him.]

Tajimamori-sama. An honour to see you in person again. Forgive me for brief pleasantries, but you said it was important?

Hey! It's good to see you. [Tsuzuki's smile fades to worry, and he glances to the west, towards Ise.]

... Yeah. It's a big favor, but we need a mortal to help us out. [He looks back again, meeting the man's eyes. Yato'd told him, too: don't risk a mortal, if you take one with you, don't let him be in any danger. Tsuzuki'll keep him back, where it's safe, but this? This still seems dangerous.]

Three gods went into Yomi-no-kuni this morning looking for one of our missing colleagues, and we're afraid that they're stuck down there. To help them get out -- if nothing bad's happened to them already... [He bites his lower lip, and continues.]

We need a human to call their names at the entrance.

It could be dangerous, but I'll do my best to protect you.

[Yomi-no-Kuni? Three gods? The priest shakes his head slowly. He cannot presume to know the doings of gods in the least. But when he answers he meets Tajimamori's eyes for a moment.]

I am at your service, without reservation. [He smiles self-effacingly.]

I'm not so foolish as to put little value on my life by not heeding your warning about the danger, but if this one old priest can help so much, it would be my honour.

[Tsuzuki reaches out to clap a hand on his shoulder.]

Thanks. [He smiles brilliantly.] Okay, so, hold on--

[-- and the world blinks out around him, reappearing as the outside of the cave. It's still quiet there.

The old priest isn't with him. Tsuzuki's jaw drops. Wait, he's sure he was bringing him along. Can't he? Does teleporting not work for him with mortals anymore?]

Oh, crap!

[Tsuzuki disappears back to the shrine in an eyeblink, a step away so that he won't stumble into his priest.]

... Uh, so. [He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed.] I, uh, I guess I can't just bring you there, I hadn't tried to take a mortal anywhere yet, so.

[He clears his throat.]

Do you have a car?

[Perhaps that shoulder clasp had been just a prelude to ... whatever it was the ~~young man~~ god was trying to do. (Although, the way Tajimamori-sama has been so familiar thus far, who knows?)

And then... it seems his god has an embarrassing confession to make.
Ah. Well. The priest adjusts his glasses and tries to smile reassuringly. He is a god of sweets. Perhaps moving people is not his specialty?]

Yes, but is it possible to drive to Yomi-no-Kuni?

Yomi-no-Kuni, no way, I wouldn't ask you to go that far! But the entrance is on this plane.

Here, lemme give you the address--

[Tsuzuki gets one of his business cards out, produces a pen and starts scribbling on the back of it. It's less an address and more a spot on the map on the unoccupied side of a road, but Tsuzuki marks both nearby intersections on the road, and the city and prefecture, before holding it out.]

Here. I'll be waiting outside.

[Driving to the entrance of Yomi-no-Kuni... what is this day becoming...?
He watches Tajimamori-sama draw out the map carefully - after all, it would not do to get lost along the way! Satisfied that he'll know how to get there he takes the card with both hands.]

All right. It's- it's in Ise though. It'll be at least three hours from here, I think. [Is that really all right? ... Well, he wouldn't be asking this of him if it wasn't!]

I'll see you there as soon as I can, Tajimamori-sama. Please forgive that you have to wait upon this mortal although time is of the essence.

... Oh geez, that's a long drive. If it's okay with you to drive that far, we can wait!

[He winces apologetically.]

Hey, drive careful, okay?

[This was supposed to be a lot faster, but if Tsuzuki can't teleport him, then there's no helping it. He'll just have to go the long way.

Boy, it's lucky that he's got a car. Tsuzuki rubs the back of his neck, looking around, and forces down his worry about Bishamon and the others. They'll be okay. Definitely. They'll get back just fine.]

Call me if anything goes wrong, and I'll be there.

[The edge of his mouth curls up slightly - does that include speeding tickets? But no, he'll drive carefully.]

I will. And I'll try to have you wait as little as possible.
If you'll pardon me, then.

[And with a deep bow he steps away and turns towards the back of the temple again. It takes only a minute for him to get going, driving his truck (-ish thing) down the sideroad beyond the courtyard.

See you in a few hours!]

[It absolutely includes speeding tickets. This is a divine mission. Tsuzuki's on call for anything... but for now, he is just going to have to wait.

He takes a deep breath and teleports back to the cave entrance.]

Hisoka?

-- So, uh, it turns out I can't bring mortals with me when I teleport. Good thing he's got a car!

[ Hisoka stops mid-text tirade before he can hit send, looking up in baffled confusion. ]

You didn't test that?

I didn't know I'd need to!

[Tsuzuki's flushing with embarrassment, and with equal worry: three hours will be okay, it has to be okay, they haven't heard that the others are in trouble or anything, but --

He'd have felt a lot better if they didn't have to wait that long.]

And I don't know a lot of mortals to test it on.

[Apart from a couple he'd met on jobs, since hardly anyone here could remember he existed for long. Where is Hijiri, anyway? It's been almost two decades for him. He'll be approaching forty. He could even be overseas somewhere, if he's as good with the violin as he'd been shaping up to be... but, anyway, not available for last-minute crazy trips with the death god he met as a student.

Plus, Tsuzuki wouldn't want him to start talking old times around Hisoka.]

You have your priest! [ He huffs in exasperation and purses his lips briefly. His next complaint is entirely sincere despite the seriousness of the situation. ] We're going to have to give him money for gas. It's expensive now, too...

I know, I know! I'll come up with something. [Tsuzuki winces, and confesses:]

...It's a three-hour drive.

[So, they're talking a lot of money for gas. And Tsuzuki'll probably have to disguise it as a gift so that he doesn't try to turn it down.]

[Three hours-ish later...
The small white truck makes an appearance, slowly coming up the dirt road. (Is this even technically a road?)

The priest feels immense relief at finally having arrived, and without delay parks and comes out to meet them.]

My deepest apologies for the wait, Tajimamori-sama.

[He bows towards his god, as well as towards the other with him.]

Hey! You made it! No, seriously, don't apologize, I really appreciate you coming all this way--

[The others still aren't back, and Tsuzuki's been chewing his thumbnail and staring at the cave as the silence stretches. The joy on his face as he jogs towards his priest is absolutely genuine.]

-- Oh, yeah, this is Kurosaki Hisoka, my shinki. Hisoka, this is --

[He pulls up short, and adds, flushing:] Uh, I. I think I forgot to ask your name.

[He's got the man in his phone contacts under "Nakashima," but he can't exactly call him that!]

[There is something satisfying about making his god this joyful, and getting to see it with his own eyes!

He bows at the shinki Kurosaki Hisoka, quietly wondering at there being a divine vessel in human form?

And then-
Ah.

The god of sweets is not omnipotent or omniscient. But that's all right. He supposes this is why Japan has a god for everything.

And he never did properly introduce himself in the first place! He bows more deeply towards them both.]

My deepest apologies for neglecting to properly introduce myself. My name is Yamamoto Yousuke, and I am the head priest at Tajimamori-sama's Nakashima shrine. Please regard this one kindly.

[semi-open] don't eat the pomegranates

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