Dana Katherine Scully (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
skepticstarbuck) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thenearshore2017-04-26 08:00 am
skepticstarbuck) wrote in thenearshore2017-04-26 08:00 am
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Who: Dana Scully and Jay
What: Pictured: the oddest couple ever to help out an elderly flower-arranging artisan looking for a student. (Prayer #26)
Where: An older neighborhood in the Tokyo suburbs.
When: July 8, 2016
Warnings: Definitely discussion of kidnapping and violence. I mean, Farf's in this log. Will update as necessary.
[There's some brightly colored paper flowers melting in the gutter under the rain, not yet cleaned away after a wind took down the festival decorations on this half-residential street. The low wall in front of a few of the homes' tiny front gardens is streaked with black stains and patched with emerald moss that stands out brightly against the stone.
The shop that Jay had pointed out is small enough that it almost blends with the homes around it, except that its awning is still a bright blue-and-white and an ancient neon sign glitters behind the front window, reading Open.
She blows out a breath and looks up at her companion.]
So. This guy needs a student. For....
[She's learned her first-grade kanji by now, which means she can make out the sign: Yamada Flower Shop. Thank goodness for old men with easy-to-read family names.]
... Flower arranging?
[That's an art? Okay, okay, it surely takes some skill. She raises her eyebrows and starts for the front door.]
Let's talk to him first and see why he doesn't have one now.
What: Pictured: the oddest couple ever to help out an elderly flower-arranging artisan looking for a student. (Prayer #26)
Where: An older neighborhood in the Tokyo suburbs.
When: July 8, 2016
Warnings: Definitely discussion of kidnapping and violence. I mean, Farf's in this log. Will update as necessary.
[There's some brightly colored paper flowers melting in the gutter under the rain, not yet cleaned away after a wind took down the festival decorations on this half-residential street. The low wall in front of a few of the homes' tiny front gardens is streaked with black stains and patched with emerald moss that stands out brightly against the stone.
The shop that Jay had pointed out is small enough that it almost blends with the homes around it, except that its awning is still a bright blue-and-white and an ancient neon sign glitters behind the front window, reading Open.
She blows out a breath and looks up at her companion.]
So. This guy needs a student. For....
[She's learned her first-grade kanji by now, which means she can make out the sign: Yamada Flower Shop. Thank goodness for old men with easy-to-read family names.]
... Flower arranging?
[That's an art? Okay, okay, it surely takes some skill. She raises her eyebrows and starts for the front door.]
Let's talk to him first and see why he doesn't have one now.
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His kanji is only slightly better than hers, but he doesn't need to read the street signs to locate the place. The angels guide him, smiling and chiming and dripping fragrant petals as they surround the shop door; the sunlight reflecting off that lovingly maintained awning is dazzling. ]
Wait. [ It's a bit more of a snarl than he'd intended, but what's done is done. ] That's not why we're here. [ The angels bob and weave in approval above Scully's head, and Jay basks for the space of a heartbeat in the visual proof of his god's love. ] He will provide us with the names of his missing students, and we will bring them back. That is our purpose today.
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Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye?
She shakes her head in the negative.]
He needs them to start coming back for lessons every day, not just to have them dragged back once. We need to find out why they stopped coming.
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[ The small bells on the door tinkle brightly as he turns the knob. ]
We will correct them.
[ Inside, the shop is just a shabbily proud as the exterior. The immaculately swept front room (clearly once a living room) is split down the middle by a cracked but clean white countertop. On the other side is a elderly man in a traditional striped yukata, dozing in his chair. There's the hum of electronics from the back room, where at least one ancient fridge is whirring and clicking away. It's a cozy, brightly lit little shop, but hardly the kind of place high rollers would come to buy roses for their sweethearts. It's not surprising that the old man's assistants have left -- the shop doesn't look profitable enough to pay its own rent, much less anyone's salary.
Still, to Jay's eye? It's a glittering shrine to Tot.
Old Yamada doesn't budge when the door opens, still leaning back against the wall and snoring quietly. Jay frowns at him a moment, then turns to Scully, stepping out of the doorway so she can enter. ]
You wake him.
[ Tot's his god, but Scully is less frightening than he is. No need to send to old believer to his reward quite yet, right? ]
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Blowing out a breath, she crosses over to the old man.]
Excuse me, Mr. Yamada? Mr. Yamada!
[The man starts, jolting forward with enough force to rattle the legs of his chair against the wooden shop floor. He blinks up at Scully, blearily, and pats his shirt pocket, searching for his glasses. She sails ahead, hoping to get in a question before he notices Jay, or before Jay can start demanding names.]
We've heard that you've recently lost some of your students. Can you tell us about what happened?
[The elderly fan behind Yamada's counter clicks and wheezes counterpoint to the sounds of the fridge in his back room. He finally discovers his glasses on top of his head and pulls them down to rest on the bridge of his nose as he looks up at her.]
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They're good boys, Yamada assures her -- he doesn't seem to have noticed Jay lurking against the far wall like a stereotype of hired muscle. Or perhaps he's just politely not commenting on her need to bring that level of protection into this neighborhood. They're good boys, but they lack discipline. Kids today only want to run around with their friends, and they'd rather burn their eyes out with their video games than learn a skill with a long proud history. He goes on in this vein for some time -- there's been a Yamada selling flowers in this part of town for generations, and it's vital that the pretty foreign reporter lady hears in detail about the business's rich history.
But kids these days... let him tell you, Missy, about kids these days. ]
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When Yamada pauses for breath, Scully jumps in on the opportunity, giving him her best blinding smile.]
Can you give me the addresses of a few of your students? I'd like to interview them too!
[He seems to think she's writing some kind of story about the shop, after all. Whatever works, she thinks, and keeps the smile in place.]
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Jay beats him to it. He can move with surprising speed and stealth when he wants to -- he's got the address book out of the desk in the back and placed into Yamada's hands with a passable bow in the time it takes the old man to stand up.
Yamada blinks at him in surprise, but that's all the reaction he allows himself. Yes, thank you, here it is, he continues, turning back to Scully and picking up right where he'd left off. Their addresses. Ah, that's a fine street that young Ken lives on. There used to be another florist on that street many decades ago, in the time of his grandfather. And this other florist was only interested in money and making bouquets for silly young girls -- he slowly settles back into his chair -- and there was no respect for the serious nature of the craft.
Jay stands off to the side, hands folded inoffensively behind his back, and seems to be happy to wait the old man out. ]
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Besides that, though, he's being quiet and patient, without a hint of the aggressive rudeness she's seen from him on the network, which is really better than she could have hoped. She copies down the address, bites her tongue against the urge to comment on the fact that not scorning potential customers because they're "silly girls" would probably improve both his business and his attitude, and tosses Jay a glance.]
Thank you for your time, Mr. Yamada. We may be back if we need any follow-up information later.
[She starts to offer her hand, then remembers that's not the local custom, and bows awkwardly instead before she heads back to the door. The address he'd given for the Ota household was no more than three blocks away. It wouldn't take long to drop in on "young Ken."]
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Scully makes their farewells and heads for the door, but Jay pauses, just for a moment. He waits until she's out of earshot, then leans over and murmurs to Yamada: The god of flowers has heard your prayer. Be strong in your faith.
Yamada gasps, and moves to rise, but Jay's hand on his shoulder keeps his old bones sitting. It's no small thing that he's done here, and he knows it. Every true believer whispering prayers in Tot's name is one more piece of security should the unthinkable happen and she fall. One day she'll be bigger than Jesus and rise untouchable on the flames of the world's devotion. One day.
But today he's got teenagers to chastise. Without so much as a glance back he follows Scully out the door, letting her take the lead toward the first address.
How much further?
[ The first address better not be on the other side of the city. ]
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[She flourishes her notebook, looking up at the next intersection sign. This is the second, and the boy's on the fourth; she picks up speed along the sidewalk, expecting Jay to keep pace.]
Why don't we talk to his parents first? They can make sure he's more diligent about attending class.
[She's really not sure putting the fear of the goddess of flower crowns into a teenager is going to help, she thinks, glancing at Jay from the corner of her eye.]
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If they could make him attend his classes, we wouldn't have been summoned.
[ She's right, though. Chances are that the kids all just got more interested in being kids, and angry parents will go a long way towards controlling that sort of childish laziness.
However. This isn't just about laziness, or adolescent priorities. This is about disrespecting the one true god. Jay easily keeps pace a step behind Scully, his boots clomping heavily enough to draw a brief stinkeye from the old lady across the street. ]
What is Crawford's domain?
[ Here, have a non-sequitur. ]
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[That question is out of left field, and she pauses for a second, blinking at him.]
-- Reason and intellect, I believe. Why?
[Not that he's shown much interest in defending his domain; but it's the sort of thing Scully feels right at home with.]
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Arrogance and pretension, more like. [ They have another block or so to go, so why not fill the time with some casual conversation wherein he bashes the hell out of her god? ] I don't know how you can tolerate him.
[ Also there's the part where he's a false god and will eventually be destroyed as part of Tot's elevation, but really, that should go without saying. ]
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["Arrogance and pretension," huh. Jay must have spent plenty of time around the man.]
It could be worse. He respects my autonomy.
[Some gods seem to think that they own their shinki, instead of merely working with them. That's unacceptable.
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[ And even if she did, what of it? Nothing matters here but duty, and Tot's eventual elevation as Queen of All. Jay carefully shortens his step to avoid crushing a tiny spring of ivy-like dokudami sprouting from a crack in the pavement with the ease of long habit. ]
Why did you agree to come today? [ The plant is considered a weed, and will be plucked as soon as its discovered, but every day's growth gives the roots that much more time to sink deeply into the soil. One day at a time, it spreads beneath the surface until it cannot be removed without scorching the earth around it. Also the leaves are quite lovely. ] Do you wish to pledge your devotion to Tot?
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[That's a very sharp glance she's shooting him. Is this some kind of unsubtle trick question? For one thing, she hasn't even met his goddess yet. She shakes her head after a moment, and looks up again at the street signs. Here. She takes a left.]
I'm here because you asked for help, that's all.
[The boy's home is a compact, new-looking two story home, with a boxy van in the driveway and a bike leaned against the side of the walkway leading to the front door. There isn't much of a yard: just a few feet between the wall at the front of the property and the front door, but someone has filled it with a planter and filled the planter to bursting with brightly flowering daisies.
It's a nice place. Much nicer, she has to admit, than the old man's shop. Maybe the parents' wishes are part of the reason this boy's not been going to his classes.]
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Nora only applies to lesser gods. Tot's service is above such things.
[ They had luck with Scully taking lead, so it only makes sense that she does so again here, right? The family is clearly home -- the place is shut up against the heat of the day but there's movement in both one of the upstairs windows, and from behind the sheer curtains in the big window downstairs. Although, maybe it would just be easier for him to go talk to the boy himself? He could easily scale the siding at the corner of the house, and window latches rarely secure tightly... He stares up at the top of the house, debating the best way to enter without arousing suspicion. ]
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[Nora are nora, and the problem is the possibility of conflict, not any flimsy excuses about loyalty or superiority. She can't help but wonder if Tot is actually encouraging this bizarre obsession of her shinki's, or if it's all him.
Surely it couldn't all be him, could it? They don't show up here with obsessions.
She shakes off the uncomfortable reverie, and heads for the front door, squaring her shoulders before she knocks, twice, loudly.]
Excuse me!
[She gestures to Jay: come on, stand with her. Stop waiting out by the road as if to case the joint.]
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The angel sitting at the peak of the roof smiles down at him, and he bows his head in gratitude. Tot is always with him, praise her.
As he comes up to stand just behind Scully the door opens, and a very posh and put-together housewife greets them both with flawless suburban manners. Her first thought is clearly that they're lost, and her second, that they're selling something. It's only when Ken is mentioned that her expression changes to something harder.
Whatever you're alleging that he's done, she says... and it's quite a jump to get from "are you Ken's mother" to an alleged crime, isn't it? -- he's innocent. He's been here with me all day, and it's only her perfect manners that prevent her from closing the door in their faces. ]
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We're not accusing him of anything, ma'am. We spoke to Mr. Yamada at the flower shop for, um, a travel article about local institutions. Is your son, er, available to talk to us a little about the experience of studying with him?
[There. She only stumbled a little over the bullshit, but this woman doesn't look like she's open to hearing the truth. Not if she's that quick to defend her son from an accusation no one made. How many people have showed up at her door with accusations?]
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The front room is immaculate -- small, to Jay's eyes, accustomed to the lofty temples of the Far Shore, but definitely comfortable by Tokyo standards -- and she offers them seats, and drinks, and lunch, and cigarettes, to amuse themselves while she fetches her son. He's upstairs doing homework, she promises them, heading for the stairs. A good, studious boy.
Jay watches her go with a snake's dead stare, expressionlessly amused at her attempts to prop up her family in their eyes. Once she's vanished up the stairs, he turns to Scully and bares his teeth in a grin. ]
Still think we won't need to drag him back?
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[Her opinion of the woman and the woman's attempts to make her family look good in the eyes of the foreign journalists she thinks she's invited in might be rock-bottom, but that doesn't mean the plan isn't to get a better idea of the boy's motivations first. He might just be a delinquent; he might have found other interests; but Yamada can't take him in and lock him in an upstairs bedroom to force him to learn. For one thing, Yamada probably can't catch the boy if he tries to make a break for it.
For another, Scully signed up for supporting education, here, not kidnapping.]
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It will if we impress on him the consequences of his actions.
[ The mother, for instance, he thinks, following the distant echo of her feet across the floor unstairs. She seems very protective of the boy. Surely the boy wouldn't want any harm to come to his loving mother. ]
Fear is an excellent motivator.
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[He'd better not. What kind of argument gets through to someone who thinks threatening a teenager is appropriate? She can't even begin with that, so she leaves it at a flat statement.
Footsteps cross the floor upstairs, back and forth, and back towards the stairs. Scully smiles politely as the woman reappears, with a teenage boy shuffling behind her. He's wearing what looks like the casual remnants of a school uniform, white T-shirt and black slacks over a slouched posture that belies his neat schoolboy haircut.]
Good afternoon. Ota Ken, isn't it? Has your mother told you what we're here for?
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Ota Ken half-nods, half-shrugs, earning him a passive-aggressive A little louder, please?. With a sigh he half-bows instead, and replies, yes, she said you're here to talk about working in the flower shop. He glances sideways at his mother, clearly not eager to have this conversation in front of her. I like it okay, I guess. ]
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Excuse me, ma'am, I think I hear a car outside - it might be our photographer...? Would you be able to check and see if he has the right address?
[That should give them a few minutes. There is the occasional traffic noise outside. As the woman heads for the front door with a faintly baffled look, Scully leans forward and clasps her hands together on her knees.]
Ken, Mr. Yamada told us you weren't going to classes anymore. What happened?
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You can't quote me by name, okay? Call me an anonymous source or something, you promise? So eager is he to spill his story that he doesn't wait for Scully's agreement.
It's haunted. He shoots another glance at his mother, who is still peering out the front door. I know how it sounds, okay? But that shop is haunted, that's why I'm not going back. You can ask Ariba about it, Ariba Kaito, he'll tell you it's true. ]