thenearshore | [closed]

Entry tags:

[closed]

Who: Ukoku and friends (I'm sure they're friends)
What: luring people into his hell temple to do bad magic for bad reasons, nice conversations
When: some days
Where: aforementioned hell temple
Warnings: crows in a literal pie

[ The enchantment was a little too much. His fault, maybe, for being economical (see also "lazy") about it, but it doesn't really matter. It worked, and it's still working. The question, now that things have changed, is whether it's still useful.

But there's no benefit in being quick to throw away Ni Jianyi. So he shows up at the temple of Dionysus, not a priest (a not-like-the-other-old-guys professor, at best, with a hoodie over a dress shirt and his stupid yellow monkey hair tie wrapped around his wrist on top of an incongruously sober black watch), and knocks. ]

[ Generally, nothing she does really surprises Ukoku—but the text asking after his hangover (as if he had no experience handling them) came close. That was a week and a half ago. He's never expecting her, strictly speaking, but now, less than ever.

The temple has changed since she was last there. The boxes around the perimeter of the atrium are gone, as are the sigils—and the pool in the center. It's been replaced by a crater with sharp, curving edges.

Ukoku himself is out in his makeshift lab, behind the temple. ]

[ It's been days since the pool disappeared, and the most Ukoku has said about it—in passing—is that he made a mistake with some magic. Nothing to worry about! He's been busy, too, either out of the temple or in the greenhouse (which now has zero plants) when Guy's not, and he may or may not be inconspicuously checking whatever easy, boring lab work Guy chooses to do for him.

On this particular day, though, Ukoku actually makes a point to locate him as soon as he gets back to the temple. ]

Guy?

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[She hadn't been avoiding him. She'd just been, you know. Busy. There was the demon attack thing, that was...sure a thing. That happened. She'd had a date (and wasn't it a little fun to play at being normal once in a while?) and there were classes and homework that, strictly speaking, she didn't actually have to do, but it helped and took up a lot of her time. Oh and, you know, the death never stops.

So, you know. Busy. Stuff to do. Pretending to have a semi-normal life with demons and suicides. Fun stuff.

That's what she tells herself, anyhow. It definitely doesn't have to do with the fact she's still embarrassed over the kiss or anything like that. But if she'd wanted to it would've been painfully easy to just cut ties completely and never talk to him again. You know. If she wanted to.

But now she actually had things to discuss, and her curiosity outweighs any lingering embarrassment, which is why she pops over unannounced to say hello. in retrospect she realizes she should've at least sent a head's up, but she liked attempting to catch him in a vulnerable moment. (She also knew that he always seemed to know when she arrived anyhow and makes a mental note adding that to the extensive list of questions she wants answers for from him)

The changes to the temple are interesting though, and she takes her time examining everything (the fuck happened to the pool??) before making her way out back to the only other logical place Ukoku might be if not actually inside.

In retrospect she realizes she hasn't actually been out to the weird definitely-not-meth-lab yet and is noticeably cautious as she approaches. So long as nothing explodes she'll probably be fine. Right??]

Ukoku...? [She's going to be really annoyed if she finally gathered her courage to come over and he didn't even have the decency to be home god damn it.]

[ The door, such as it is—a section of waterproof canvas—has been pushed aside. A sliver of blue screen-light illuminates a table full of boxes with a white coat thrown over them. There's a stuffed monkey toy sitting on top of it, staring back at Yuri. Hello. ]

Yeah, come in.

[ He's not bothering to get up, so she'll find him in an oversize office chair, wedged uneasily between the tables lining either side of the ~~garage~~ ~~greenhouse~~ lab. There isn't stuff on every surface, yet, but the way he has notebooks and coffee mugs and origami animals lying around suggests it's only a matter of time. ]

[Why is it always monkeys. Yuri moves inside and gives the stuffed animal a deadpan look--at least it's better than the skeleton? Wherever that was now.]

Not many plants for a supposed greenhouse. [Because Guy had said it was a greenhouse, hadn't he? Something like that. She looks around curiously, picking up one of the little origami animals in amusement. After a moment she looks to him, waving the animal a little for emphasis]

Working hard?

[ Would she believe him if he said they were kind of work? ]

I don't need to work hard. I'm on vacation.

[ He swivels back to his screen, tabbing through thumbnail images of cells, like the one he showed her weeks earlier. ]

How are the classes going?

Mm-hm... [SureJan.gif.

She moves to peer curiously at his screen, feeling a sort of reluctant admiration to the fact that the classes he'd suggested were, apparently, quite helpful. While she could hardly understand everything, she could at least start picking out what was familiar and recognizable. She hated when he was right.]

Challenging. [She won't lie.] I never really got far into science things before I dropped out of school before. But since I've gotten a better handle of abilities I can concentrate more. I don't know if I'd call it fun, but I'm learning a lot so I suppose it's about the same thing.

...But it's made me a bit too busy to drop by all the time like I used to. [Yuri trails off a little, clearly not entirely happy with that, though saying it out loud gives her a way to give her semi-apology/excuse for totally-not-avoiding him.]

[ Oh, is that how it was? Ukoku just smiles at her for a moment that drags, knowingly. ]

But here you are, in spite of your busy schedule! What'd I say I'd tell you? I can't remember. Was telling you things only after chess?

[She very pointedly does not look at him, but that doesn't mean she isn't painfully aware of his gaze on her, nor is she oblivious to the fact her face starts turning red, starting at the tips of her ears and working its way down.

God damn it.

But her gaze cuts to him quickly, eyes narrowing. Of course he'd remember the chess game and of course she'd belatedly remember that she's hardly found time to fit chess practice into her schedule. Ugh!!]

You said you'd include me more in your research if I started taking classes. [Alright so that's not exactly what he said, but it's what her goal's sort of been here; to dig her nails in more and figure things out and get involved. She didn't like being kept in the dark, not when there was something this interesting dangling just within reach. And if he's giving her an opportunity to lie and try to potentially get more out of this than what was originally offered, she'll take it.]

Did I?

[ He swivels his chair a little, back and forth, watching her with a spark of amusement in his eyes, and his voice is mild, not accusing. ]

Well! Sounds fair to me. Here, sit. [ He gets up and glides past her, as little space as there is. ] I had this program looking for genetic differences between a god and people from the, um, Near Shore. I didn't expect to find anything—it's almost too obvious—but I did. It's probably nothing important, but now we have to make sure.

[ "We," please note. ]

[For about 2 seconds Yuri thinks he might be suggesting she sits in his lap and her face goes blank as she tries to figure out how to react to that. Then the moment passes when she realizes with irritation that it's definitely not that and silently curses her own kneejerk assumption.

She sits in the chair, leaning in as she examines the screen.] It makes sense. The humans--the normal humans--can't do the things we do, so our bodies would have to compensate for it somehow. I'm sure the shinki would be different from them and us gods too, since they transform. [She thinks suddenly of Neji (and thinking of that is slightly painful but she shoves it aside) and his animal form and sits back slightly, looking upwards thoughtfully] ...I wonder if the shinki that turn into animals, if their animal forms are different from the normal animal too...

[Her body's a little more animated, an excited sort of tension at the different ideas and theories this opened up, but then she suddenly looks a bit embarrassed, sparing Ukoku a glance] ...I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, though. [Solve one ting before jumping on a million others, Yuri, jesus.]

[ He leans against the table next to her, arms crossed, looking pleased—with her or with himself or both, maybe. ]

You might think so, but don't assume there's a relationship between two phenomena because there should be. Gods have a set of abilities. This— [ he pauses, examining the screen, and waves it off; the anomaly in question isn't actually up there— ] wherever it is, there's something here. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. You don't want to base your work on bad conclusions, yeah?

[It doesn't feel like a scold or a reprimand exactly, so Yuri doesn't feel particularly embarrassed at this flaw being pointed out-- as she said herself, she shouldn't be getting ahead of herself.

Instead she worries her bottom lip between her teeth, considering.] So we'd have to collect more samples first to see if there's an actual correlation, right?

More samples will tell us whether it's an anomaly or a constant. If everyone has it that's promising, but if it's the same every time, it's probably not worth looking at.

[ He watches her for a second, tapping his fingers on the edge of the table. ]

Is that what you're curious about? How we can all do these things?

[Her attention is drawn to his fingers, watching them move and tap. The question startles her a little, but her expression just grows confused rather than surprised.

She hadn't thought of it quite like that. She was curious just by nature, but she hadn't thought to question why she wanted to know beyond 'why not?' Yuri looks away, taping idly through pictures on the screen]

I'm not sure...I suppose, a little. I hadn't thought of it. I guess I just got excited thinking about all the things I could start discovering or looking into now that I'm building a base. [Yuri pauses a moment, then shrugs, admitting] I'd like to know that too, though. But it's just one thing on the list.

[Which provides her a perfect segue into a casual, innocent:] Where's your sutra, by the way? I haven't seen you with it yet. [She keeps her eyes on the screen, but her body is tense with anticipation]

[ The casual innocence is wasted on him. He peers at her in the blue light, pointedly silent. ]

Do you know what a sutra is?

[ He shuffles around behind the chair, and then his fingers are gliding around her throat, gently tilting her chin up. ]

[For a second she thinks those fingers might curl around her throat and choke her; the thought of that happening doesn't even scare her so much as the realization she's not sure what she'd do if he did.

Ruefully she concludes she needs to pick the locations of these surprise attempts better. SHe is, effectively, trapped if she doesn't just teleport away and it's reminding her of all the stupid heroines that go to directly confront the serial killers in their own homes in movies without telling anyone where they're going or what they're doing. Is that where she's fallen now? To the level of B-horror movie heroine??

Despite how close she is to Ukoku, more so she'd dare to think than anyone else in this place, she couldn't forget that Ukoku is dangerous; and while she's reasonably sure that so long as things remain entertaining and interesting between them he'll let her keep coming around, she's also just as sure that he could kill her with no hesitation or second thought.

Right, okay, no time to think about that. Her breath hitches slightly and she stares up at him, feeling extremely vulnerable and exposed with her throat bared like this, but she presses her lips tightly together and reminds herself to breathe. Yuri carefully keeps her voice steady]

A Buddhist scripture. [She can google, you know.] I know it's powerful-- magic, of some kind. [Probably, anyhow. That she assumes herself] And something that Sanzo priests are supposed to have-- you're supposedly one of those priests, aren't you? But I haven't see you with one.

I have one.

[ But, you know, quid pro quo. He taps his thumbs against the soft line of her jaw, smiling down at her. ]

Who've you been talking to about Sanzo priests?

[It's hard, sometimes, to discern if he's annoyed by her questions or her finding out or something. She wets her lips with the tip of her tongue and belatedly realizes that little gesture gives away her wary nervousness.]

How badly do you want to know that answer, I wonder... [She muses quietly] What are you willing to give me to find out? [She'll probably tell him anyhow regardless, but she's curious]

[ To her credit, he wasn't expecting baby's first extortion attempt—but he laughs anyway, in part because it was unexpected, and lets go of her, half-collapsed over the back of the chair. ]

What am I willing to give you?

[ Nothing of consequence, naturally. He pushes his hair out of his face and takes a sweeping look around the little room. ]

Hypothetically, let's say you can ask me for anything— [ he pauses for wording— ] anything it's within my power to give. What do you want?

[She twists in the chair to look at him, not sure how she should feel about the laughter--a little embarrassed, a little annoyed...]

Oh. [She looks away again, expression thoughtful. She certainly hadn't thought that far ahead, having never believed he'd ask or let it get to the point of asking to begin with. Well, she still owes him a favor, so it's probably only right to ask for one in return.] I'd rather just say you owe me a favor--I like the idea of you owing me something.

[ There's no way this will result in a life lesson at some point. ]

Good. [ It's a quick, easy response. ] Deal. Who was it?

[Well he's dishing them out left and right if Sanzo and Sharak's shenanigans are to be taken into account.

She narrows her eyes at him a little as if to say 'what, that's it?' before she moves on. She'll think of something later to actually ask for, maybe.]

Sharak Sanzo. She thinks I'm a friend of Genjo Sanzo. [She taps her fingers idly against his desk and leans back in the chair] I know him, at least, so it's not that much of a stretch. [Yuri pauses a moment and turns in her chair again to eye him skeptically.]

Do you have a clip-on tail too? [THIS IS IMPORTANT]

I have a bunny tail.

[ He's kind of smiling. Moving on: ]

Did she say anything interesting?

[ He shoves away from the chair and ambles toward the door, stopping there by the box with the stuffed monkey. He tosses it elsewhere, into some other box, and shakes out the white coat underneath it. ]

[SQUINTS AT HIM. She turns the chair to watch him, tucking one leg underneath her to get comfortable.]

She said her sutra was called 'Kouten.' And that she's disappointed the tannery she used to go to is gone. [Yuri looks a little amused at that. Why are sanzo priests so weird.] We mostly just talked about a few things--how different cultures and religions can form, life and death... [YOU KNOW. CASUAL SHIT.] She doesn't seem to hate me though, so I can probably ask about more when we meet again. About the sanzo priests and all, I mean.

["When" not "if" because Yuri is curious, so of course they're going to meet again. She'll make sure of it. She tilts her head and watches him.] If I find anything interesting out, I'll probably tell you. [Probably. Now she's just teasing.]

You were smart not to mention me. She and I don't see things the same way.

[ Leaving aside that he asked her not to. She did say she wanted praise! ]

Come here.

[She hates how pleasantly surprised she feels about that and looks away a moment as if suddenly distracted by another origami animal to hide how pleased she is.] Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Professional differences?

[That doesn't sound concerning at all. She gets up from the chair and walks over, curiously eyeing the coat he'd pulled out]

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