[open]

[doestheickyjobs]

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.]

Comments

[kagenonadeshiko]

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.]

[doestheickyjobs]

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?

[kagenonadeshiko]

[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.]

[doestheickyjobs]

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?]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[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.]

[doestheickyjobs]

So you're in the family business.

[Axel's expression goes distant for a moment. Family business. That sounds nice. Like continuity, or at least like the kind of life where you always know who you are.

That might be tricky if your family business is espionage, he guesses.

Not like he knows what his family's was.

It's weird, talking with her about her life like this. It makes him feel even more like a blank slate.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[It's weird for her, too, partly because she knows more about Axel's past now than he does and partly because she's just not used to talking about herself. She's much more accustomed to maintaining illusions of opening up than the real thing.]

Yes. Ever since I was a small child.

[She'd begun her training very young, learning the kunoichi's trade at her mother's knee. Her tone's a little sad, wistful.]

It's the only life I've ever known. There's so many new things here.

[It's a little daunting but she can only keep moving forward.]

[doestheickyjobs]

There sure are.

... It's kind of exciting, though, you know? Anyway, I think so. Beats being dead.

[He shrugs. That's his other option, so this amnesiac servant business? Might not be his first choice, but it sure as hell beats the alternative.]

We get to figure out what we'll make of it.

[kagenonadeshiko]

You're right. It's a second chance, isn't it?

[Literally so for Axel and the other shinki with new lives after death. But perhaps she's been dwelling too much on what she's lost instead of what she's gained. She's lost her family but she's gained more freedom than she's ever had before.

And it is a little exciting even if she doesn't really know what to do with it.]

Funny. Never thought I'd have one, too.

[doestheickyjobs]

Yeah, it is, if you want to take it that way.

[A second chance. Axel can live with that.

It feels like... something he didn't expect to have, even not knowing why he would feel that way: his expression is distant for a long moment before he snaps back to the present and grins at her.]

I know I do!

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu grins back and shoots him a warm glance. It's certainly a nice, enjoyable moment, one she's tempted to linger in a while longer but it is late and she does have a sleeping child to get back to.]

We should probably get back to the temple before something else decides we look tasty, though. And you can pick out a room if you like.

[Making sure Axel has a comfortable place to sleep in is as much her responsibility now as it is Pippa's after all.]

[doestheickyjobs]

Hey, you know you don't have to, right.

That was just to get rid of the ayakashi.

[Axel waves a hand, his expression shifting from the smile to something more dubious. It's not like she's responsible for him now or anything.

Not any more than Pippa is. He can take care of himself.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

I know. I just have more room than I know what to do with. So the offer still stands if you ever need a place to call yours.

[She won't push, though. It's a choice she's leaving entirely up to him. In the meantime, she'll just have to figure out what to do with the rest of that space. Maybe she'll ask Satoshi for some suggestions. He's proving himself more capable than she'd initially thought him to be.]

Either way, have a good night, Axel-kun. And take care.

[She turns to leave.]

[doestheickyjobs]

Well -- okay. Thanks.

I might take you up on that sometime. And, for now, just give me a call if you need a hand fighting!

[He smirks, back on more secure ground.]

That was fun.

[kagenonadeshiko]

A call? I suppose I could try sending a messenger to Pippa-san's or Deku-kun's if there's time.

[But if Ayumu has time to send a messenger, she'd have time to escape herself.

Poor technologically challenged shinobi.]

But it was fun, wasn't it? It's been a while since I've had a good fight.

[Perhaps she can turn that one big room in her temple into a practice hall.]

[doestheickyjobs]

Same -- wait, don't you have a phone?

[Axel produces his, an older, smallish touchscreen model, from the pocket of his coat.]

Don't send a messenger, that'd take too long. Just call me.

[kagenonadeshiko]

What's a phone, exactly?

[Ayumu stares uncomprehendingly at the device in his hand. Is it more magic like at Sheryl's place?]

I'm sorry, Axel-kun. I don't know what that is. It's for calling, right?

[doestheickyjobs]

Yeah. You've seriously never heard of one before? Look -- [He taps though to he dialing screen and turns it her way.]

Every phone has a number. Type in the number here and you'll be able to talk to the person with that phone. Simple!

[kagenonadeshiko]

Oh! I see. That sounds simple enough. Where do I get one?

[Was there one of these in the temple? Ayumu doesn't remember seeing anything like it but perhaps she missed one.]

We didn't have anything like this where I'm from.

[doestheickyjobs]

Probably somewhere in the temple? That's where I got mine.

[Axel shrugs.] Or you could just pick up one around here, but I think they'll charge you for it.

[There are some things, like food, that you can just walk away with. There are other things, like phones, that seem to have dedicated stores with a lot of complicated papers to sign before they let you walk off with one.

And since he's not quite clear on how they work, just how to use the basic functions, he's not risking it for an upgrade.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

Hmmmm. I'll take another look around then and see if there's anything else I may have missed.

[She's had other things on her mind and wouldn't have known what to look for anyway.]

Give me your number and I'll call you from mine. That's how it works, right?

[It looked easy enough from his demonstration.]

[doestheickyjobs]

You've got it!

[Axel reaches for a pocket, coming up with a scrap of paper from a list and a pen. He scribbles his number down and hands it over.]

There you go. Talk to you later, Yu -- Ayumu.

[kagenonadeshiko]

'Kay, Axel-kun.

[She tucks the paper into her haori.]

Talk to you later.