thenearshore | [Closed]

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[Closed]

Who: Psyche+Jakob
Where: Near Shore, Mall
When: July 3
What: Book Club Social Link Go
Warnings: N/A, will add if needed

With Tanabata and Obon around the corner, places normally bustling with people were curiously emptier than usual. Psyche overhead some high school girls complaining about exams as she walked by while an older man complained about overtime with all the rentals being placed for festival season, causing her to smile a little. It looked like things were about the same down here as they were in the Heavens.

It did also mean certain areas of the mall which were usually crowded were vacant now, though. Psyche debated for a moment as she stared at BakaSuki, a fairly large store for goods and books. She usually didn't really go into places like this, partially because she stuck out by the usual crowds and partially because she just snagged whatever books she could find lying around or forgotten. However...

...She did want to know how the cliffhanger of that last volume ended. Especially with regards to who the traitor was. She didn't have to be back to the temple immediately, right? It probably couldn't hurt to take a peak or something, until she managed to pick up her own copy.

Which is how she found herself browsing through the brightly lit and colourful rows in the store, flipping through shelves to find a copy of Sailor Earth. Despite her limited kanji, according to the store catalogue there was one copy of it somewhere here, but she frowned as she failed to find it categorizred right

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The upcoming celebrations notwithstanding, he was far more interested in shopping for more practical items like groceries and other household amenities, and would have been content to leave the place with nothing but said amenities, except…

That gaudy-looking book shop had caught his eye, and despite himself he’d thrown glances over his shoulder, as if someone might recognize him, and quickly shuffled inside. He’d recalled that magazine Psyche had lent him a while back and he really should return it soon, before it seemed that life in the Far Shore was one near-endless wave of chores and missions and parties, and he simply hadn’t found the time.

Not that it mattered now. Now he had an opportunity to see if the next installment of that story was out and find out what had happened next. He would just take a peek, and be back before any of his god’s spybots caught him.

So he moved about the shelves, quickly scanning for that particular volume he’d been hoping to maybe purchase and take back with him, until he found her in the next aisle and let out a soft, startled cry.

In a mortified whisper: “Psyche?”

Psyche's shoulders jumped up and the book she was pulling out nearly slipped from her fingers. She fumbled for a moment before snapping it between her hands, drawing a faint breath of relief, before her head turned in the voice's direction.

"Jakob?"

She blinked in recognition. It was a little weird, seeing him there, especially in a store like this, but remembering how much she stuck out, especially while holding a very cutesy book with vampires and giant eyes on it, drew a flash of awkwardness.

"Oh-um, sorry. I wasn't expecting to see anyone here, really." Anyone from Far Shore, at least.

“No, no.” He quickly shook his head, glancing about them to make sure no one they knew was watching. Because yes, the fact that he’s very much out of place here wasn’t lost on him, but part of him was relieved that it was only Psyche and…after all, she’d been the one to get him started on…this.

Whatever this was.

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” he sighed. “Though I regret to say I haven’t brought your book with me.”

"That's fine, really. I'm not in a hurry to get it back," she replied, a bit more evenly with the familiar topic. She shoved surreptitiously shove the offending book back on the shelf, as though to dispel some of the awkwardness. "And I've still got your books anyway."

Though his would probably take longer to get through, with how much technical knowledge was in them. After a moment, though, she tilted her head a little, curious,

"Did you come here for something too?"

That question made him start, and he gripped his bags of groceries all the tighter.

“Er, I was…curious.” He’d finished her book way too quickly, in fact—the sparkling illustrations were nice and all, but it still made for a pretty quick afternoon teatime read. Not that he could put it down anyway.

“About…” He felt himself flush as he looked away, as if he was a child caught doing something naughty and trying to hide it.

“I was given to understand that they would reveal the traitor in the next installment.”

Psyche blinked. Once. Twice.

And then, a giggle escaped her before she could suppress it. She almost did, but the look on his face (especially as she remembered how she'd just been acting) and the sheer coincidence kept it going for a moment, before she recovered.

"S-sorry-um, actually, I was trying to find the next volume to find out the same thing. I haven't found it lying around anywhere so I figured it couldn't hurt to find the follow up."

He turned back to her with a frown at that giggle, his temper only partially assuaged when she admitted to being here for the same reason.

“Hmph, well, I won’t be here for very long.” That much was true enough—he’d let his guard down once already, and he could still run into someone even worse than Psyche. There was no telling—

“But I haven’t had much success in finding it, regardless. It must be quite popular to have vanished from the shelves so soon.”

"Yeah... According to the catalogue, there should be one more copy here somewhere, it just doesn't look like it's in the right place," Psyche replied. Her fingers absently traced over the shelf but, sure enough, every volume of Sailor Earth seemed to be there except for the latest volume.

"I guess someone could've just walked off with it or dumped somewhere else?" It was a pretty big store, though, so it'd probably take a while to find out either way. "If I couldn't find it here, I was probably going to scope out the other stores to see if they had it."

He clicked his tongue at that. "I'm not surprised. The way they arranged their merchandise here is rather messy."

And we all know how he felt about messes in general. That said, "But I suppose we have both wasted enough of our time here. And I…might have time enough to venture out to a different store, if you are willing."

He wasn't going in another one of these alone, okay, and she seemed more comfortable in a place like this anyway. Surely his own god would make fun of him if he knew where he'd been…

"Really? That'd be great, if you don't mind." She smiled. "I mean, we'd actually probably draw less attention in places as a pair than rooting around on our own."

Especially with previous awkwardness.

"According to the mall directory, there's a few other places around. Like a general bookstore and, um a speciality collectibles store."

The latter was tucked into a corner of the mall for some reason, so Psyche hadn't thought of checking there first.

Jakob was sure there was probably a very good reason why that other store was all tucked away where no one could find it easily. If nothing else, it helped to make their little excursion a touch stealthier. Not that he cared about what other gods and shinki might think of him, but he had to keep up appearances for his own god’s sake as well.

“Lead the way,” he sighed. “I don’t suppose Lord Forrest will be missing you?” He’d hate to take her away from her duties to chase after a manga, after all.

"It should be okay, at least for a little while longer. He's been pretty busy with the festivals coming up. A lot of people have been placing orders recently."

Considering what a big deal the events were, it made sense. And Forrest did really good work, for anyone interested in that sort of thing. As she led the way out of the stacks, she absently glanced around as they walked, in case the volume materialized, before asking,

"Um, how about you? You look like you were doing some shopping before coming here." Based on the bags of groceries he had....she wondered if he'd been running an errand for his god or something.

He’d figured that Forrest would need some help given how much of a big deal the event was, but if Psyche was taking some time off of that then Jakob wasn’t going to complain. He’d been intent on just rushing home to relax himself, until she’d come along.

Not that he minded, really… “I can spare perhaps a few minutes for this.” Time off from his own crazy god was generally a good thing, after all, even if Jakob’s intense sense of duty wasn’t going to keep him away for very long.

“In any case, I don’t have anyone else to discuss those books with. I…” Was he going to fanboy over Sailor Earth?—“Er, I hope the books I lent you were to your liking?”

"I see." Psyche smiled, resisting the odd urge to giggle again. She did agree, though, "I mean, I don't really know many other people in the Heavens who've read it and it's not exactly easy to chat up people from the Far Shore about it."

Partially because it was difficult holding their attention in the first place and partially because...well, she seemed to be in a different demographic for the most part. "I am glad you seem to like it, though."

At the mention of his books, she replied, "Yeah, I am actually! I'm not through them all yet, but they're really interesting, from what I've been able to get through." Reading through the medical sciences books, she realized she must've had some more knowledge about first aid than she really thought (making her briefly wonder what she did before she died).

With some amusement, "Plus, if I find myself getting stuck on something technical, I take a break and read a bit from the cat book."

It’s not easy to chat up anyone from the Far Shore period—or at least, it’s rarely worth the effort, in his opinion. But he can totally identify with the main male love interest’s undying devotion toward the lead character, for some reason.

Perhaps he simply finds such aggressive displays of devotion to be somewhat…cathartic.

“Oh, er…that’s good.” He glances away a little as he says it—he hadn’t perused the cat books much, mostly because they had been meant for his former master, and they tend to bring up rather…painful memories.

“Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I don’t really see the appeal of them myself, however. The cat familiars in Sailor Earth were most irritating.”

"I see... I actually kind of find they're pretty cute," she admitted, a bit sheepishly. But then again, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise with how she was in places like the cafe or such. "It adds some counterbalance to the tone of the rest of the story. Like... the part where Sailor Earth is debating about whether she wants to cancel her contract and return to being a normal human girl, after the traitor's confirmed. The tone's pretty bleak, until the cats show back up to encourage her to finish her duty...even if it included comic relief to get the point across."

If asked, that was, on some level, unconsciously the thing Psyche would admit she identified a bit more with. The difference between what you 'wanted' and what you 'should' be doing, and how tempting the former got sometimes. Tilting her head, a bit curiously,

"Um, what sort of things do you find appealing, then?"

He clicked his tongue in her defense of the cats, muttering—“But they treat duty like such a trifling thing, sometimes…” He didn’t like it when questions of duty and responsibility were treated so lightly, but there wasn’t any of his usual testiness behind that statement, though. It never bothered him that she cared more about cats than he did, anyway—this world took all kinds.

But her question gave him pause, and he had to mull over his answer for a second or two before replying with, “Sailor Earth’s choice between love and duty, I suppose. I find that sort of thing oddly compelling.”

Duty comes in many forms, Jakob. Some sillier than others. "I think that's part of why it worked? I mean, if someone treats something serious pretty seriously, it tends to make you realize how important it was. And....the miniature art of characters during the scene was pretty cute."

In response to his answers, however, she fiddled with her hair thoughtfully. "I see. I guess that would be a big draw point, since a large part of her desire for a normal life comes from things like...just being able to go on dates and not worry about monster attacks or to not have to worry about him getting skewered or kidnapped because of her." It was a concern brought up often enough, at least, though Psyche knew what she'd pick between the two.

"Kind of like shinki business in some ways, I guess."

He wasn’t sure he could agree with her on the seriousness thing, in the end—not treating things with proper gravity irked him, but he decided to hold his tongue on that note. If Psyche could be happy with such things, well…he guessed he didn’t mind if she did.

At least Sailor Earth’s similarities to the life of a shinki were something he could more readily agree with: “Precisely. Such decisions come with a heavy price, particularly as she has the burden of her memories.”

Or mostly clean, anyway. He pursed his lips at the memory of his childhood—the only one from his past that he’d somehow managed to dredge up out of the blue—and decided that, “Memories are after all pesky things better left buried. They only interfere with one’s duty.”

For some reason, Psyche found her steps falter for a brief moment, as she felt the unconscious tension in her head. Without seeming aware of it, she replied without missing a beat, "I don't think all memories can be bad for that. The right memories would probably be a good reminder of what you're working for, exactly..."

However, she admitted,

"...But I guess those usually aren't the ones people think about. With Sailor Earth or with Shinki." She remembered Jae-Ha, who'd regained memories of his former mentor, and how he'd looked when he talked about it. "If the memory isn't there, you don't have to think about the feelings it brings. It's like...how Sailor Earth isn't completely sure of if she's serving the duties to people she made in her first life or the duties she's made in the present. They're okay in themselves, until they start to conflict."

“See? The past shouldn’t matter,” he replied, a little somberly. “It’s given Sailor Earth nothing but grief.”

Which wasn’t entirely true, else the heroine in question wouldn’t be struggling as much as she was in the story, but looking back on his lone memory of the past, he decided that nothing good came of it, regardless.

“In any case,” he added, with a huff, “We’re working for our own gods now. Nothing else should concern us.”

"Maybe." It might be a big conundrum for Sailor Earth for the sake of narrative but, rationally speaking... "When it comes down to it, a past life is still the past. If you can't go back to it there's not much point worrying over it too much.

If there was one positive to not remembering things from before they died, there was that. Or at least, it seemed like one 'advantage' shinki had over gods, here.

"Oh-I think that's it," she exclaimed, as she noticed a human-sized, cute female model long the pathway. It was holding up a sign: 'OTAKINS COLLECTIBLES->FOR COMPETITIVE DEALS'.

Looking in the direction of the arrow would help point out the store tucked in the back corner. It didn't appear as well-lit as the bookstore, at least from the outside. The windows appeared to be plastered with promotion posters and fliers, if they weren't framed by shelves filled with figurines and goods. The price tags for the latter, if either of them were familiar with this sort of thing, would be curiously high.

He could see why it wasn’t well-patronized. But at least it gave him an excuse to talk about something other than the past. It would never be a comfortable subject for a shinki, no matter if he’d remembered anything good or bad from his previous life.

“I don’t care for the look of this place,” he remarked, as the uneasiness he’d felt earlier returned in full force. “This looks even worse than the last store we’ve been through.”

"Well...yeah." There wasn't much point pretending otherwise. Where the last place had been well-lit and colourful and welcoming, this one felt... "It feels like it's meant for a very different audience."

'Exclusive' would probably be the nicer term for it - especially with the additional signs ("PRICES ARE FINAL", "NO TRADES OR REFUNDS", "DO NOT REMOVE MERCHANDISE FROM BAGS - THIS IS NOT A LIBRARY") Then again, shiki were a special sort of audience in themselves.

"But, it looks like they have some Sailor Earth stuff here so it couldn't hurt to check? If they don't have anything, we can check out one of the other stores."

Exclusive, and intensely questionable. With the proliferation of signs about, it would be a miracle if they ever managed to find anything worth their time in here.

“Ugh…” He sighed. “Very well. If nothing else, this is not a place for a woman to venture in alone.”

He’ll fight off all the creepy mouthbreathing otaku for you Psyche.

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