thenearshore | Pickpocket Problems

Right! The phone!

[He pulls it out, running over to Psyche and handing it to her. She's the one who knows how this works, after all.]

At least we'll be able to tell where it's headed even if we lose sight of it. I wonder if it has a nest where it keeps it all?

There has to be something somewhere. It makes no sense that it wouldn't have somewhere to keep everything.

[Maybe. Ayakashi didn't necessarily have the same logic of animals. However, that gave them more reason to catch up with it sooner than later.

[As they moved, she swiped through the phone and called up the app, revealing a moving dot not far from them as the mob of birbs ducked over a building.]

It looks like it's heading towards one of the older districts.

[Based on their changing surroundings though, it'd be a worn down and largely empty one at that.]

At least we'll have more room to move around...

[He does his best to keep up as she leads the pursuit, looking around above them in case there's another surprise attack.]

[She nodded, absently, as she continued glancing at the screen and their surroundings. There was out of business signs, boarded up areas, with only the occasional sign of life behind the windows and rare passerby.]

There isn't many people around, either. So it doesn't look like we'll draw much attention to ourselves.

[For better or worse. At least with the pickpocket, they'd been able to use passersby to their advantage. Here, they'd probably be in the way...especially as, the further the two progressed through the district, towards a large worn down office building, the more birds would appear. More and more of them would have that sticky black cording, to their apparent discomfort.]

...I hope we don't have to go through them to get to the ayakashi.

That's good. We won't have to hold back.

[Although it also means they won't be able to get help or to a safe spot as easily.]

Let's just keep moving. They may not bother us if we don't attack first.

Right. It hasn't attacked us yet, at least, beyond some scratches.

[Though it did run off with her phone, so fighting them probably hadn't been its main objective. It was hard to tell how dangerous it was, then...

[The office building was locked up pretty tight and the windows were boarded up but there were loosened areas, thanks to age and decay. Psyche reached over to tug at of the weaker ones, grunting as she did.]

We can probably get through here - ah - as long as we're quiet about it.

Here, let me help.

[For as much as he can, anyway. Forrest isn't exactly the picture of physical strength. But together, they're able to get one of the boards loose and open up the window.]

Should I boost you up first?

Thanks. Just a little more -

[The board would 'POP' loose from the building, making Psyche automatically shift her weight back to compensate. Fortunately, that one was all they needed, so Psyche moved towards the window with a nod.]

Okay. Once I'm up, I should be be able to help you through.

[She wasn't as strong as some but Forrest didn't weigh that much...maybe.]

[Forrest is pretty waifish for a teenage boy, so it's not too hard to lift him up. What's a little harder is getting him through the window without damaging his clothing in the process, but he manages.]

Whew... we're in.

[Psyche's muscles would tense under contact, both as he helped her up and as she helped pull him into the window. However, necessity made it easier not to think about it, especially between worries like avoiding nails, slivers, and grim. Once they were settled inside, she waited for a moment, listening around them for movement, before speaking in a low voice]

They're not attacking us right now....it might not know we're here, for the moment.

[Remembering the many birds in the district, though, Psyche wasn't entirely sure. She pulled out Forrest's phone and checked the GPS. Sure enough, her phone was blinking away nearby, in the direction of the stairs upward.]

Be careful where you step. There's a lot of unpleasant stuff around.

[Some of it was simply structural: cracked, creaking floors; areas damaged by water and time; and thick layers of dust obscuring their sight. Some of it was man-made, such as broken glass, torn open drawers (as though someone had been looking for something), and even a faint glint of a needle somewhere.]

[Forrest catches that slight tensing, frowning in worry as he climbs into the window.]

...Is everything all right?

[He does lean over to look at the GPS, though. Gotta stay on target.]

Ah... that's easy enough to take care of.

[Cue Lakshmi's power. With a single wave of the hand, the refuse is swept away.]

It's fine, really. It's just...habit.

[Psyche said, a bit quickly, as she forced her muscles to relax. The rustle of Forrest's power, lifting the dust and refuse, helped - lifting the mood and making it easier to see.]

Thanks. At least glass and bacteria are less of an issue, now.

[Could shinki even catch illness? Psyche wasn't sure, but better than stepping on something and finding out later.

[However, up the stairs was a different kind of refuse. Though there was still dirt, dust, and worn supplies and furniture left scattered around, there was more of that black, inky string lying around. As they followed the trail of the GPS, the thicker it'd get.]

All right.

[He doesn't want to pry any further than that. If she says she's okay, he'll believe her.]

It's the same black substance the ayakashi were surrounded by earlier... we must be getting closer.

[She wouldn't want to worry him, either way - especially not while creeping into an ayakashi den.]

Yeah...which means, we'll probably start facing resistance soon.

[Psyche started to reached hand to clear a strand of black hanging in front of them before thinking better of it. She didn't know if it was the same effect gelatin ayakashi. She ducked under it, leading them up another set of stairs.

[On that floor, the black would be the thickest. It stuck to walls and the floor, making it difficult to move without disturbing it. The biggest sign of light was a broken window framed with more birds caught in that black substance. They eyed the pair intently as they'd move towards what was once one of the nicer offices...with a door almost entirely covered in black and throbbing an unpleasant energy. Psyche swallowed and spoke, low]

Any ideas how you want to do this?

I can try to burn some of it away with my magic, but I think eventually we're going to have to face whatever is inside.

[Forrest frowns, looking the inky mess up and down and clearly not feeling terribly happy about that prospect.]

I think that's all we can do. At best, we can try avoiding contact with this stuff as much as possible and go straight for the ayakashi...At least, if we take it on here, it shouldn't be able to run off again.

[A closed office space would still be a closed office space, right? No matter how much the ayakashi warped it.]

Can you aim for around the hinges? If the fire doesn't wreck it enough, it might weaken it enough I can help bash through.

Yes... that sounds like a good idea.

[Forrest takes a deep breath as he takes out his book, flipping it open.]

All right. Get ready. Here I go.

[And after a moment's concentration, a blast of flame shoots out, headed for the hinges of the door just as she directed.]

[As Forrest's fire approached the inky substance, the darkness peeled backed, shirking away from the light. Briefly uncovering that section of the door.

[CRACK

[The force of the blast cracked and blackened the door. Splinters hit the went flying and the door creaked and bent, exposing gaps filled with inky black tentacles..which gripped what was left of the door and threw it at the pair.]

Look out!

[Psyche shoved Forrest as she darted left. Behind the door, many strings of black remained taut and extended, attached to the shadowy creature inside the room. It'd be difficult to make out at first, in all the darkness, but it was a fat blob of shadow crouching protectively over a pile of objects and a weave of spider-like tendrils. It pulled at at one of the strings and one group of birds suddenly took off, talons and beaks aimed at them. Psyche felt a brief sense of anxiety and pity before it circled her hand as power - she fired a blast at some of the tendrils, sending the birds flying careening and stretching the tendrils taut. The creature groaned, yanking back on the weave to get the group back under control.]

Aim for the tendrils!

[Forrest is grateful for the shove, because those tendrils would certainly have ensnared him if Psyche hadn't acted so quickly.]

It's... controlling them like puppets?

[He comes to the same conclusion she does at roughly the same time, nodding as his fingers flicker with fire from his tome.]

So we need to cut the strings, then!

[And he fires a blast of flame at one of the tendrils.]

[While Psyche's blasts stretched and ripped at the tendrils, Forrest's fire devoured. The appendage flinched away too late and the flames burned through the tendril in seconds. The ayakashi let out a voiceless shriek as its tendril flailed, cut, through the air, while the birds in its grasp instantly flew away in a panicked flurry. It tried snatching its puppets again but it was too weakened to catch them. The tendril fluttered, desperate, and then dissipated into dark mist as it crashed into the ground.

[It tried redirecting another group of birds in Forrest's direction, and Psyche shot another deflecting blast, careening into a wall. When it tried batting back, she grunted and sent it flying away again.]

I'll keep them off you! Just focus on cutting.

[The cuts were having an effect, if they dared look back at the ayakashi and its weave. With each string cut, the ayakashi's many limbs were forced to abandon a thread and the weave became a little smaller.]

A... all right! I'll do my best.

[Forrest takes up a defensive position behind Psyche, trusting her to deal with the birds. In the meantime, he keeps targeting the tendrils with as much accuracy as he can muster, sending bolt after bolt of fire careening toward the monster.]

[With each fire bolt, another snip of shadow burned away, with each shadow burned, another scream, driving the birds in the hallway crazy - both freed and ensnared.

[Shockwave after shockwave fired, fast and instinctive in a blur of motion, responding to the beat of wings and stretch of string. Psyche couldn't afford to completely aim at the darkness alone at this point and, occasionally, she saw more feathers fly in unintended ways. However, she couldn't afford to stop - feeling the scratch of wings and talons, she couldn't stop all of them from getting through but if she held out they'd be through the worst of it.

[After all, it had to run out of shadow eventually. And sure enough, Forrest would see the ayakashi beginning to run low on shadows, revealing more of the room itself and its stolen goods. He'd see a growing panic as it began bleeding shadows from itself to attack.

[It began throwing new strings, aiming for Forrest.]

Hyouki, to me!

[Forrest transforms Psyche into her vessel form, crouching low to make himself as small a target as possible now that she isn't there to run interference for him. Reaching up to remove the ribbons from his hair, he lashes them out in front of him, focusing his power.]

REND!

[It happened within seconds: one second, she was blasting back the mob of birds and the next, she was light and cloth; in the second second, while birds and shadows broke past where she'd been towards Forrest, she whipped forward from Forrest's hands and sped towards the grasping strings; in the third, most of the projectiles shot over Forrest but others attempted to weave downwards, scratching and flapping against his head and shoulder, while the ribbon-

[It collided with the shadowy string and slashed through it with hot, crimson light, bisecting shadow, cutting all the way to the ayakaeshi and its weave.

[There was an explosive burst of shadow and negative energy as the creature let out a final shriek and then the strings all went limp.]

[Once Forrest can hear and see the strings slackening, he lets out a sigh, his own posture doing the same. He's mostly untouched, save for a few cuts where the shadow strings had sliced open his shoulders, but right now he's just relieved to have this over with.]

Psyche... we did it.

Pickpocket Problems

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