[Closed] Learning Curves

[fixed_destiny]

Who: Xehanort, Zangetsu
What: Prayers.
When: June 23
Where: Hospital, Elsewhere
Warnings: Hollows. Xehanort. Likely a soul being eaten later.



It's high time he actually do his job.

And see about feeding Zangetsu while he was at it, surely there'd be something worth the hollow's interest for a while.

The promise of something to eat was one of the few things Xehanort's determined he can rely on to get Zangetsu to actually do what he's told, and while this prayer didn't seem to directly imply there'd either be something worth killing or something to be found on the way there, it was ... a worthwhile lie for the time being. He was sure he could find something to reward his shinki with later.

But for now there was the prayer. An old mother in the hospital again in declining health and her child understandably concerned. Praying to him though..

Praying to Anubis was asking if it was time for that old mother to go, or not. Nobody prays to a god of death without knowing that inevitability was approaching.

And so he's dragged Zangetsu to the worst possible place to ever bring a soul-devouring monster: the very hospital that the poor lady's staying at, to look over her condition and make a judgment for himself if it was in fact, 'her time'.

It's really a good thing that ordinary people don't notice them much. A seven foot tall jackal god and a bone white reptile-boy really weren't that reassuring. Doctors simply flow around them in the sterile hallways. "If the woman awakes, she may see us, but the family expects Egyptian deities. Remember. At least pretend best behavior, and I'll make certain you get something very nice to eat."

Best behavior had been clarified before. Think of the most polite, pointlessly helpful, dewy-eyed person out there, and act like them. Xehanort doesn't require someone to actually have a change of personality but a good shot at acting never hurt. Pretending got him all kinds of places.

Comments

[moonfang]

Honestly, it was only the promise of food later (some sort of "real" food, Xehanort had promised) that spurred Zangetsu into actually attending this prayer visit. This sort of... humanitarian bullshit, was probably better suited for his other Shinki. But she was infuriatingly scarce sometimes, whereas Zangetsu was almost always at the temple. When he wasn't, he was out hunting (and eating! turns out they weren't as noxious as he'd suspected, and nothing a nice bath in the spring couldn't fix) ayakashi.

No, he doesn't completely buy that Xehanort is going to have anything for him, but he's bored and curious enough to tag along anyway. It can't be any worse than that time he had to find a stupid mutt with Jin.

God, though. This hospital. It's like a fuckin' buffet. It was a real test of his self control to not just... go room to room and put these old souls out of their misery.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. I got it, I got it." Mostly, he just planned to stay in the corner, quiet and out of the way. He wasn't much for acting.

[fixed_destiny]

Comforting the grieving or soon to be grieving is really, REALLY not Xehanort's thing. And it's true, he might have preferred bringing Lilka, who certainly would have a gentler touch and likely not have to be bribed into obedience, but perhaps that reptilian aspect would make more sense if they were spotted, than an ordinary human, alongside his black-furred shape.

"It'll be worth it later. Perhaps we'll get lucky and there'll be an ayakashi around to hunt. This much suffering must surely lure them in."

But he's on his way into the room, darkened for the evening in spite of the television playing some news station or other that's barely given a glance. The old woman in the bed is still asleep, and he's not bothering to try to make too much noise, someone hospitalized would be used to people coming and going. Any pretense of stealth could send her jolting awake.

The chart is picked up and thumbed through. He didn't understand all of it, but what he DID understand said things were only going to get more expensive, and only end in the inevitable after a long time of pointless drawn out pain.

"And if this is typical, no wonder they're praying to my sort. No matter what they try, it's only temporary stopgaps." He sniffs the air, a frown crossing his features. When he can smell illness, and he didn't even have enhanced senses... "Is this what you eat on your world? The soon to be departed?"

[moonfang]

They did make quite a pair when Xehanort took his canine form. The jackal-headed god cut a fierce, intimidating profile, especially when accompanied by draconic teenager.

"You're right. This place does smell like ayakashi. I'm sure they just love the despair, those little shits."

He follows Xehanort into the room and is immediately struck by the smell of impending death. It's not rot, not something long-dead. It was much harder to explain than that. But it was there, clear as day. She was ill, and the illness that grew inside her would be her end. It probably wouldn't be much longer.

Oh, wait, boss is asking a question.

"... Huh? Keh! Like I know. Yoruichi-san said that Hollows of my caliber usually eat other Hollows. I assume the lesser ones go after this sort of prey, maybe," he gives Xehanort a dark, bitter smile. "No memories, remember?"

He approaches the sleeping woman and gingerly, almost tenderly, tucks a lock of her silver hair behind her ear with a gentle sweep of a talon.

"She knows, you know. She knows she's going to die here, in this bed. It would be so easy for me to.. just..." he makes a grabbing motion for her throat, then lets his hand drop to his side with a small chuckle.

"Now what?"

[fixed_destiny]

"I assumed you'd been eating since arriving here and trial and error would produce that information. If it works here.." It would work there! But perhaps they'd kept him on a far stricter diet. That explained the chicken wings and sand eating, honestly. Yet another thing to tend to, but in what fashion?

The old woman is studied silently for a long several minutes. He could sense shadows on her heart, but not enough where he would call her even half dark. Far less than that. Perhaps she'd led a decent life, he wouldn't know. If he did have the job to weigh a heart, he supposed this one would be bright enough to deserve a pass.

The chart is put back. "Nobody prays to Anubis without knowing what's going on. Although I have absolutely no say in what happens after a person dies, there's no reason I can't lie about it." What. "If her offspring want comfort, there's ways to provide it. We'll save the killing and eating for those who are considerably darker. No-one said I had to limit my prayer-answering to comforting the soon to be departed."

Murder didn't really phase him if he were honest. "Time to backtrack and I'll work on figuring out how to tell someone their soon to be dead mother is light enough to pass onto a good reward instead of being devoured by Ammit." That jackal's head turns slightly to regard Zangetsu thoughtfully. "You don't really look much like a croc-lion-hippo, but I'm willing to bet you'd take her job."

He turns and heads back out, thinking. He didn't really want to make actual contact that was tedious and maybe he'd have to hug someone. Something else..

[moonfang]

"I've been avoiding it. Pissing off Heaven seems like a bad idea and I'm not strong enough yet to take them all on by myself. I'm starving but I ain't stupid."

Because as easily as they granted him this new (albeit sort of shitty) life, they could take it away. Until he's 200% confident in his abilities, he's not going to defy them too openly.

... What, seriously? Xehanort was going to find him some actual souls to snack on? Not animals and not ayakashi? Well damn. Awesome.

"Hehehehe! What, so Anubis has some sort of soul-eating pet? Ain't THAT a coincidence! I'll happily do that job in place of some weird hippo beastie."

He then shakes his head, "Uh... you could... leave a note or somethin'?"

[fixed_destiny]

He shakes his head, exiting the hospital; it's quicker to teleport but he's not good at it yet and people flow around them effortlessly anyway. "Just be more careful. If nobody knows you're doing something, nobody can be upset about you doing it."

Wait that's terrible advice, isn't Xehanort supposed to be a goodguy?

Still it seems like he knows exactly where he's going, and if there's something.. wrong .. with the hospital or anything near it he's simply not noticed. "Ammut. She's fed the hearts .. which is roughly the 'soul' in this world, of the unworthy and unfit. Anubis judges them, and anything not worthy of the afterlife is simply ... handed over as a meal. It's the job I've been given, I have no issues with being a bit more proactive about it."

Especially if it means keeping one of his shinki fed and healthy. They are his responsibility after all.

A note was doable. He doesn't say anything, but there's a thoughtful noise and a certain tilt to those huge ears that suggests he's thinking about it.

[moonfang]

It's strange, how people move around them. Like water around rocks in a stream... but as if they didn't even notice the rocks. Sure, Zangetsu could make his presence known if he wanted to. But they always seemed to forget so quickly.

Being dead had it's ups and downs, it seemed.

"Ha! It ain't illegal unless you get caught, is that it? I'm good with that."

Isn't Zangetsu supposed to be helping his god learn morals? Uh oh.

He can't help but chuckle at how nicely all of this came together. Pieces of a puzzle. "It sure seems like this match worked out a lot better than either of us could have imagined."

He turns to looks back at the hospital, with just the very tip of his tail twitching. Something was up, here. He could definitely sense something. Ayakashi maybe? They were hiding, though, if they were here.

[fixed_destiny]

Xehanort found it exceedingly handy, and sooner or later it was likely to be abused. When not on the clock and trying to actually do a job. This one he simply isn't suited to, and it would likely involve lying as he had no control over where a soul went to begin with. A note didn't seem .. reasonable somehow for even a modern believer.

"Sometimes luck seems to be better than any divine assignment from gods." Zangetsu suited him well even if he spent an inordinate amount of time worried that the Hollow was going to do something terrible and he wouldn't even notice it. Zangetsu didn't seem to have much in the way of morality.

Which was fine. He'd heard of other gods being stung and blighted by their shinki. "Besides which, laws are only based on current culture, and if we were meant to be chained by Japanese social mores we would not currently be beyond mortality would we?" Rules and laws and customs are friendly suggestions. "Speaking of not getting caught-"

He pauses, noting Zangetsu's attention elsewhere, turning also to look. His senses for many things weren't as sharp, he wasn't as practiced, and whatever might have been there.. simply eludes him. "What is it?"