thenearshore | -Overflow- for 015

[Whew. Having his feet planted on the ground again was more refreshing than he thought it would be.]

Yeah, you do. [Blunt as ever. The corner store was fine now, but he was sure going to treat himself to a parfait or two after taking a break. He deserved it, dammit.]

I'm going back first. [Plus he wanted to take a look around Loki's temple on his own, and this gave him a perfect reason to go back early without looking suspicious.]

[[OOC: Prayer Link here]]

[ Now, Schuldig himself is a late riser. Also being a telepath, that means he can find Ross once he himself is all ready to go. He'd ducked out yesterday to this casino he's supposed to bless and found the ayakashi there. Not like he cares if things get worse after another a day... just means more for him to clean up and get some bonus praise for. It also gives him a chance to abide by Ross's stated goal of only being paid every other day. That meant only working every other day too, as far as he could tell. Maybe if he cared more about his followers, it would bother him more, but it doesn't. He just cares about establishing just enough with his new shinki he'll actually come when he calls without using every ounce of telepathic strength he has to make him do it.

So, the Big Question... that afternoon, where is his shinki after all...? ]

[Ross, on the other hand, was always up around the crack of dawn. For that reason, he was unaware of Schuldig's trip to the casino or whatever else he did to fill his time, really. It was a shinki's duty to make sure that their god was acting morally, but as with his previous gods, he took a largely hands-off approach on that front.

...That policy of his might need to be changed soon.

At any rate, by that afternoon he had made his way back to the temple to work on the project he'd been trying to finish for the best part of a month. In other words, interruptions weren't going to be welcomed.]

[Schuldig tracks him down and calls out as he teleports into the central living area.]

Come out, come out, wherever you are~

[Before he calls his vessel name on purpose just to summon him.]

You want paid again?

[And maybe he'll poke around his shinki's mind for what this little project is he's up to.]

[Damn it.

That was the first thing that came to mind when he heard that singsong voice.

The Mana Maker-kun still wasn't quite ready to take along with him. Not only that, but it would need to be activated too. Sure, he was going to spend a lot of time in his vessel form anyway, but it was the principle of the thing. He couldn't escape being a shinki, but at least he wouldn't have to rely on only his boundary to protect himself anymore.

Eventually he emerged from his room and arrived in the central living area. ...While wearing glasses and a lab coat for some reason.]

Is that a serious question, or am I going along with this whether I like it or not?

[Schuldig shrugs.]

You're going along - but it could be now, it could be later, it could be tomorrow for all I care. Not my fault if the ayakashi eat someone in the meantime, right? Because I need an ayakashi to cast that Rend spell. Like you said, gods need their shinki.

[Blackmail usually works, in his experience. If not, he'll possibly go grab someone off the street and nora them. But this is less risky.]

I mean, I see you're busy. I can wait.

[He was fully aware he was being manipulated into this. However, he still wasn't going to stand by when ayakashi were running wild or refuse in an attempt to preserve his pride, as much as his usual behaviour suggested otherwise. That didn't mean he was happy about it, of course. His posture had only tensed in response to those words, but the anger that was not at all hidden thanks to the god/shinki bond wasn't quite so mild.

Ross removed his glasses and dropped them in one of the pockets of his lab coat.]

Where is it.

[It wasn't so much a question as it was a demand.]

Why do you want to know? So you can go take it out on your own?

[Or possible to gang up on it with another god-shinki pair and keep him out entirely.]

All I have to do is call your name and teleport us both there - done in a flash, right?

[And yes he's delaying the process on purpose just to see if he can get Ross very prepared to solve this quickly once they get to the casino.]

[The grimace on his face grew, and he offered no response to those questions. He could think of some specific reasons why Schuldig wasn't telling him anything, and none of them were particularly kind.]

I can teleport there myself.

[Though even if he couldn't, walking was still preferable to being dragged along according to his god's whims.]

What? How?

[His tone is incredulous. Last he checked inside his shinki's mind, he had no such power, but he supposes it's possible he missed something.

Then again, he thought that Ross didn't know basic geography of Earth either so...]

Can you even get your bearings closer to Germany as opposed to Denmark?

[He really couldn't. He'd assumed that their destination was a little closer than that, and even if he knew where it was, he wasn't sure he had the mana to teleport that far. Not yet, anyway. But he could answer the first question.]

Like this.

[He snapped his fingers and teleported right outside the temple. He could still use magic like that, at least.]

[Well that's... annoying. Clearly he needs to spend more time digging around in his shinki's head.

Schuldig follows him after he sets his expression a little flatter than frustrated, teleporting just outside of the temple and into the icy cavern.]

Fine. So we'll go down at the same time.

[And if his shinki ditches him, he'll just summon him anyway.]

Still doesn't answer my question about if you know the geography of Europe that well.

[Ditching? Him? Well, in any other circumstance, that wouldn't be such a bad idea. As it was, his hands were tied as long as he didn't know exactly where to go.]

You're right, I didn't answer.

[And judging by the subsequent silence, he wasn't going to answer either.]

[That puts a grin on Schuldig's face.]

Then you don't know. Otherwise you'd tell me.

[Or at least think about an answer - and thus tell him unintentionally.]

So you can go on your own power but you don't know where you're going.

[He looks down at his wrist at an imaginary watch.]

Good thing there's not ayakashi running around down there hurting people.

[Hoo boy. He didn't do well with being provoked, and he especially didn't like being on the defensive like this. Not to mention that Schuldig had made it very clear just now that he didn't mind that much if people got hurt.

The kicker was that if he hadn't left his Mana Maker-kun behind, the anger he was feeling might have been just enough to activate it.]

You haven't said where we're going in the first place.

Sure I did. Germany. Also 'not Denmark.' Since you don't know the difference between them, I know you have no idea where that is.

Can't have my shinki getting lost in the big wide world of the Near Shore, now can I? Then I'd have to call you back to me by force just to find you again.

[Which of course would have him twisting his own arm. Not.]

That's not specific enough. [Sure, he was totally right that Ross didn't know the difference, but there were hairs to be split here, damn it. And he still wasn't going to admit that he didn't know where that was.]

Or you could let me go. I want to use my vacation time after this. [Despite the off-hand remarks, that anger was still very much bubbling below the surface.]

Fine, I'll see you when you get to München then.

[He waits to see where Ross ends up, tracking his position telepathically as both his shinki and with his powers.]

[Oh boy. Now he was really in trouble, though he was pretty sure that was the whole point. While he could just wait and ask for help--actually no, to be frank that thought never even crossed his mind.

If he hadn't learned how to Google on his phone he really would have been sunk, though. His best guess at his destination was Munich in Germany, and wow that was a long ways away. He looked over the latitude, longitude, elevation and any other information he could find quickly, and that at least made it feel like his chances of ending up in the general area weren't abysmal. Whether his mana would hold out was another story. Even if it wasn't complete yet, he had to use it to have any chance of getting there and back. His anger from earlier might have even been enough to activate it, even.

And so, when he showed up...uh, somewhere in Germany, he had a peculiar flickering blue flame perched on his forehead.]

[He's on the other side of the city from their true destination, but he teleports in next to him.]

Glückwünsche.

[He says it in German just to be an ass about it.]

You made it to the city. Can you sense the reason we're here? Should be about, oh... three of 'em I think.

[He set his jaw after that latter statement. He wouldn't know the exact reason for that reaction, but he didn't--couldn't--think about it.]

Ayakashi, huh. Then I'm going. [Ross wasn't about to wait before taking off, either.]

[Days like this he misses having Jennifer around. But to compensate, he teleports a little ahead of where Ross is heading and watches the direction Ross runs, then waits for Ross to catch up, then teleports ahead again in the next general direction.

Finally they get to the spot that Ross should be able to sense. A nice casino center in Munich, plenty big enough and successful enough to attract the people that ayakashi prey on, with enough churn through the day to attract 3 of them. Two are spread out inside, but one is closer to the front entrance. ]

"Please let the gods bless my casino," the guy said. Seems to me like the casino got plenty blessed with success already - a little too much, in fact.

[The teleporting wasn't the worst of what Schuldig had done; not by a long shot. However, he was quickly reaching 'straw that broke the camel's back' territory, if he hadn't already.]

I don't want to hear your opinions on blessings.

[He leapt forward, taking rare advantage of his inherent nimbleness as a shinki. Once he closed the gap between the ayakashi at the front entrance, he swung his arm with an flat palm, as if he smacking it against a table. In response, the ayakashi fell to the ground. While he hadn't damaged it, it was struggling to even move thanks to an invisible force from above. Ross was already rushing inside, but even then the ayakashi had no better luck at moving.]

[Schuldig makes a Tsk sound in his mouth.]

Idiot! If you wanna destroy those things so bad, you gotta be in vessel form to do it first!

[Not about to play around, he calls Ross' name, trying to force the shinki to come back to him.]

Senki!

[They can solve this quickly, but not if Ross tries to play hero and do it all on his own.]

[He glanced back as he heard his vessel name being called. It was not a friendly glance, and not just because the spell keeping the ayakashi pinned down wouldn't hold if he was changed to his vessel form. Regardless of what his thoughts or feelings were though, before long he was in that pauldron armour form once again.]

...

[Wow. He was even at the point where he didn't snipe back at Schuldig's words.]

-Overflow- for 015 | Sky Full Of Stars

15/15 woo!

Prayer #38 - Two days later (1/20)

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o7

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Turning it in now that we've beat them, woo