thenearshore | [open]

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Who: Axel (

doestheickyjobs) and you!
What: He's been hanging out on the Near Shore on his own, trying to get a taste of this world. Turns out the world... or, at least, the ayakashi... sometimes want a taste of him back.
When: March 24 /25, evenings - each different thread will be a different ayakashi encounter.
Where: In and around Tokyo.
Warnings: Violence, possible injury.

[And it had started out as such a nice, quiet day.

He'd been hanging out here, on a bridge over a set of rushing train tracks, watching the sun slip behind the artificial horizon of the buildings and light them with red and purple that glinted off the facets of every mirrored window. He likes sunsets: if there's a reason for it, buried somewhere back in the past he can't remember, he'll leave it forgotten, but he still likes sunsets. He's been coming down to the Near Shore to watch them when he can.

Mostly it hasn't been a problem. Today, as the last bits of light started to fade into blue shadow, something grabbed his foot.

At least this ayakashi wasn't giving him trouble by going after mortals: Axel still wasn't totally sure how he'd deal with that, what with the humans not noticing him there unless he actually punched them, and forgetting about it even if he did. No, this one wants him. It's all whippy legs and tiny claws, and three times his size with a bloated body that's broken out in sickly yellow and red eyes like the horror movie version of a teenage acne attack, and it keeps mumbling about how nice he smells, in this high, cracking voice.]

Get out of here!

[A sizzling line of flame springs up, but the ayakashi steps through it like it's not there, and Axel scrambles backwards, swearing. There are humans around, coming home from work or crawling the bars, and they're scattering from the flames as shouts start to go up.

Well, fuck. Axel flings another handful of fire at the ayakashi, hitting it on an eye. It blinks away redness with a weird vertical eyelid, and stretches out a leg, crooning, "Tasty...."

This just isn't his night.]

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[Damn it. Of course. That'd be too easy. Ayumu turns to throw another dart at the ayakashi trailing them, this time managing to pull off a full detonation... to very little visible effect.

This really is not their night.]

I don't know but I can try if you tell me your name.

[She knows Satoshi's vessel name, but not his. Ayumu hurls another dart. It may not be injuring it much but it'd probably be coming much faster otherwise.]

Houki. [Axel darts her a slightly uncertain glance -- so is it going to work? He has no idea. He guesses he'll just stand here and... see.

In the meantime, he slices his hand down in the ayakashi's direction, lashing it with a tongue of flame. It at least slows down when he or Ayumu tries to burn it. It's staying respectfully back. The fire may not permanently injure or disable, but it's got to hurt.]

'Kay.

[Well, she's not going to waste time not trying a possible solution.]

Houki!

[Ayumu has no idea what Axel's vessel form is but hopefully, this will do something.]

Edited 2016-06-17 03:31 (UTC)

[Axel's half expecting the twisting change that took hold of him when Pippa had called that name, but no. Nothing happens at all. His boots stay solidly on the ground, and he has to turn and fling another handful of fire at the ayakashi as it gets brave again and swipes some feet their way.]

Shit. Uh --

[So the name Pippa uses for him won't work for any other god. What's the obvious solution?

Get a new one.]

Give me another name?

[It is an obvious solution and practical way of dealing with their present predicament. Eventually, the ayakashi is going to decide a full on charge is worth the risk of being burned. They need to take it out.

Without hesitation, Ayumu nods in agreement.]

Have one in mind?

[Maybe it's not really the best time to be polite but it doesn't seem right to not ask him for his input. She follows up his fireball with one of her own to buy a little more time.]

Pick your favorite!

[Axel raises one finger in caution, pauses to toss a fireball of his own at the ayakashi, and then glances back at Yumi.]

... Nothing embarrassing, though.

[Look, he has priorities.]

[Is there some sort of ceremony to this? Ayumu doesn't know. If there'd been one with Satoshi, she certainly hadn't been privy to it. She's not one for unnecessary ritual and they're running out of time anyway. Best to just get this done.]

Axel, I name you my shinki and take you into my keeping. I call forth your vessel now. Kitsuki!

[Please let this work. A little good fortune on their side would be really nice.]

[Axel feels a tug, something rooting deep into his bones as she calls out that name, like and somehow unlike the sensation that he had when Pippa had called him as Houki.

He surrenders to it, and his vision blurs as he transforms. His body swirls into smoke, and re-forms as the bond snaps into place between them. Three sleek throwing knives, sharp and polished, with a reddish sheen to the steel, drop into Ayumu's hands as Axel's lost memories open to her mind.]

That's better!

[The lost memories flooding into her mind leave her a little dazed. She's seen Satoshi's death, too, and though tragic, it didn't strike this type of chord in her. Ayumu feels strangely moved, even a little proud somehow. Some things she doesn't completely understand because there's unfamiliar sorcery involved but she knows noble sacrifice when she sees it. It's a dignified death, worthy of respect, in Ayumu's mind.

She's chosen well.

That he transforms into weapons she knows so intimately as if he was somehow meant to be wielded by her just reinforces it.

Ayumu smiles at the ayakashi, eyes shine with excitement and a cold, fierce light that suggests the scales just tipped substantially back in their favor.]

Much better.

[She doesn't immediately attack the ayakashi though. Instead, she assesses it with a critical eye, seeking out weaknesses, possible vital points in its anatomy, and how it moves.]

Hey, I'm a different shape! ... Please tell me you know how to use these things.

[Her grip seems confident, and she's got that gleam in her eye of somebody walking into a fight they know they're going to win. Axel figures she's got to know what to do with these little knives... but it's always worth asking.

This should be fun.]

[The eyes are the largest, most obvious target but burning them hadn't seemed to do much good. Ayumu continues scanning the bulbous creature for a promising target. She settles on its legs. One usually can't go wrong with crippling an opponent in a fight. It's a good place to start as any.

Ayumu responds to Axel's question by aiming and throwing one of the knives hard at the ayakashi's leg where it looks like its joint might be weakest. Then she throws another one at its open eye just to be thorough before ruling it out entirely.]

I do.

[Ayumu holds the third one in reserve for now until she sees the effects. If she's nimble enough, she should be able to retrieve them and escape.]

[The blades fly true, and Axel fights back disorientation as he feels his point of view separate: he slams into the ayakashi's leg joint in a spray of purplish plasma, feeling his edge grate and sever tough hide and the gelatinous flesh below. And, almost simultaneously, he sinks home in one big, yellow eye that pops at his touch, goo and that weird purple blood spraying everywhere.

And then he turns, twice simultaneously. One blade severs the leg entirely as it spins to fly back to Ayumu's hand. The other leaves a long, ugly slash in the creature's eye socket and out through the skin on the other side.]

[Ayumu smoothly snatches the returning blade out of the air.

That went better than expected. Ayumu's confidence in their ability to win this fight grows. Monsters are beyond her training and experience but the sight of this noisy, disgusting thing in clear agony from its injuries cheers her up. As the ayakashi lunges haphazardly toward her, she dashes forward into what she calculates to be its blindspot now. It tries to twist its massive body and swipe at her with its claws.

Ayumu chooses that exact moment to throw both of the knives she's holding simultaneously at the thrashing limbs. One blade heads for what seems like an elbow on one arm and a wrist on the other.]

Tell me which joints feel weakest.

[Axel has a much closer perspective on this than she does. It just makes sense to her to ask him directly.]

[This is bizarre. Axel can barely keep track of where he is (three places! How is anyone supposed to get used to that?) but he's starting to get the hang of the fight.

Wrist. Elbow. Turn and cut. One arm falls, severed at the elbow joint, and his blade jars against something like a bone inside the wrist. He tries to turn and scythe through, but it doesn't quite work, and he has to turn the other way before he's free of flesh and able to fly back to her hand.

His perception seems to snap back into focus when all three blades are back with Ayumu.]

Definitely that elbow. Or the first one you threw me at.

[So the elbow and the knee, definitely. There's one more target Ayumu wants to check but it's risky because she'll have to throw all three at once.

In the meantime, she'll continue disabling it for a little longer. Its movements are growing clumsier but it's still moving a little too easily for her liking. As the ayakashi continues to turn, trying to get a fix on her location, Ayumu keeps dashing forward, staying in its blind spot.

As fast as she moved when she hiked up her kimono the other day, Ayumu's twice as agile today in her haori. She shoots a quick glance at the creature, memorizing the location of three of its legs.

She throws the knives one after another at its knees, entrusting Axel to know what to do next. It's odd being the one directing the flow of battle and working with a partner when she's so used to fighting alone under the command of others. But Ayumu has to admit this is kind of fun.]

[It's a good thing Ayumu's handling the aim, because Axel loses track of where he's going again every time the knives fly to different places. It's a new sensation, and if he had a stomach, he'd be sick to it.

Slamming home into three joints in three perfect throws, though?

That feels good. And Axel's blades slice with comfortable ease through the softer space between the bones, leaving the ayakashi collapsing on the ground with only one leg still intact, and that one wounded at the wrist. It bellows, thrashing, as Axel's blades fly back to Ayumu's hands.]

We've got it! Just strike the final blow.

[How she's going to do that with knives the size of the ones Axel's become, he's not exactly sure, but she seems to know what she's doing. He'll leave it up to her.]

Yes!

[Three knives and only two hands to work with will be a little tricky but Ayumu can manage it. She was the strongest shinobi under Hijikata's command and the hand he played when he had something to lose.

Ayumu stops running, still in the ayakashi's blindspot. After quickly pinpointing the possible vital point she spotted earlier, she tosses one knife high up in the air. Now that she has both hands to work with, she quickly throws the remaining knives at what seems to be what passes for a neck on this creature. She catches the third knife as it descends and throws it, too.

The knives travel in an almost perfectly spaced trajectory, all headed for the ayakashi's figurative throat. If none of her throws were off, they should impale in a cluster.]

Leaving the rest to you.

[He'd done well with separate targets. Let's see what he can do with one big one.]

Edited 2016-06-19 00:07 (UTC)

[All three knives slam home into the ayakashi's throat, one right after another, as it starts to toss its head back in another bellow. The sound is cut off into a choke.

Axel knows where he is, with all three knives so closely placed, and so as each knife whirls to fly back towards Yumi, he feels each one slicing through its neck, deeper, and deeper.

The ayakashi's head collapses back, almost completely severed from its body, as gouts of phantom blood spray from the wound. It's already starting to dissolve into nothing more than supernatural muck on the pavement as Axel returns to Yumi's hands.]

You've got a knack, Yumi.

Thank you. So do you! Couldn't have done it without you. And please, call me Ayumu!

[Still, she can't help but glow under the praise. It's always nice to have her work appreciated - particularly when it's her real work. But with their enemy vanquished, the battle is over, and it's time to turn him back.]

Axel, revert!

[The knives go to mist in her hands, and Axel re-forms from it a few paces away. He runs a hand through his hair, tucking a few flyaways back into their spikes.]

How about that! So, I guess I get to roll the dice on a new shape for every name. You've used something like that, I guess.

[She'd been good with them, her aim perfect. Axel smirks, pleased.]

Yes, I have and some other weapons, too.

[She gives a surprisingly girlish giggle, casting him a sly but affectionate sidelong glance.]

The life of a cook can be very dangerous, you know!

[Her mood's definitely improved from what it has been since arriving, enough for her to crack lame jokes. A job well done always does wonders to cheer her up.]

It seems like the life of a shinki is full of gambles.

[She sincerely hopes if he's named by others, they treat him well. There's no doubt in her mind that Axel's valuable.]

That's how it goes when you don't remember anyone. I get to take a gamble on all of you.

[Axel snorts, darting her a knowing sidelong glance.]

So, just a cook, huh?

Under which name?

[That dampens her mood ever so slightly and her expression clouds over. Not enough to deflate it but just enough to give her pause.

Really how long has it been since she's been completely honest with anyone? Even at home, she lied constantly to nearly everyone she knew. Only Hijikata knew her and even then, their relationship had been almost entirely professional. To live as a true shinobi, to be useful to her commander and the shogunate, she'd had to sacrifice the luxury of friendship.

But Ayumu's more than just a shinobi now. She's a goddess. Like it or not, her life has changed. Maybe even enough to allow herself to have a single friend?

She could try, at least, and see how it goes.

After a bit, she speaks, consciously slipping into her natural Osakan drawl. It's a little hard but if she's going to do this, she's going to do it right.]

Sometimes as Ayumu. Most of the time, under other names.

[She sounds tentative, unsure.]

Edited 2016-06-19 05:43 (UTC)

Sounds like you've had an interesting life.

[...and like Ayumu might be her real name. Cook definitely isn't her real occupation, though, not if she's that good at faking accents and personas. Maybe she was a spy. Assassin?

Maybe Axel shouldn't be so comfortable with those possibilities, but then, he's found there's not much that makes him uncomfortable here, outside of not really knowing what's going on. And that would bother anyone who's not too dumb to care, he's pretty sure.

He gives her a quick grin.]

And now you're a goddess, huh. -- What's that name again? Vesta? [Something like that?]

[Ayumu nods, smiling back.]

Yes, Vesta.

[The more she says it, the easier it is to pronounce. Though she still hasn't quite gotten that 'v' sound down yet and it's still coming out as 'Besta'. The 'b' sound's softer now so that's progress?]

You could say that.

[A pretty lonely one, too, but Ayumu usually keeps herself too busy to think much about that. People can't choose what families they're born into or the obligations that come with them.]

My family's line of work is different from most.

[Both that of her blood relatives and her adopted ones.]

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