thenearshore | -Overflow- for 016

Compared to how it started, there's been a lot of progress. [There's only so much Hakkai can do, unfortunately. ]

It's challenging, but it's also one of the few upsides to the situation. Though I wouldn't call it a fair trade. [She has enough weird magic powers without something that doesn't even really count as flying.]

I'm glad to hear that. It's inconvenient, but under some circumstances it's a fair instinct.

[Some adults are shitty.]

Edited 2017-05-26 18:56 (UTC)

I can imagine. It's usable, at least.

[He smiles cheerfully. Some adults are shitty, after all: he can't deny that it's a good instinct. He'd had it himself, and he's still barely willing to accept the goodwill of adults.

They're at least a little less insufferable than his peers. Teenagers are the worst.]

Hopefully I'll gain their trust before they end up setting the place on fire trying to make lunch.

[Did someone try to steal your lunch money, Gonou? Did someone shove you in a locker and steal your glasses? Is that someone dead?]

Maybe try to encourage them to use an outdoor fire pit. That's more fun anyway, and probably safer than trying to teach them how to use a stove.

[It shouldn't be, but somehow an actual kitchen invites more disaster. Besides, nothing wins kids over like toasting marshmallows.]

[Those someones are not dead. Most of them don't even have broken bones: he's been swallowing his anger and counting on the future for a long time now, and it seems like it may all work out for him in the end.]

That's a thought. Perhaps once I've convinced them not to bite me.

[Fire pits do sound like something that would appeal to children! And they probably won't put their hands on the fire accidentally, which they could do with a hot stove.

It's all going to have to wait for him to win them over from active hostility to listening-more-or-less, though. He has hopes. He's recruited some under-ten allies.]

[Just keep turning the other cheek, Gonou. Surely that will all pay off eventually.]

Set it up in easy view of the window and look like you've forgotten they're there. [That's an old trick for troubled kids.] ... And maybe see if someone's left a pair of heavy gloves around.

[To prevent the loss of fingers.]

[He casts the old priestess a dryly teasing glance.]

I'm sure there must be gardening gloves around here somewhere. And goggles.

[Safe handling of these particular children may require protective gear, yes. He shakes his head after a moment, a smile beginning to tug at the corner of his mouth.]

I'm sure I'll handle it eventually. Is there anything I can do for you, ma'am?

[A hot dinner? Childcare for wayward shinki? Or maybe he could just walk her across the street. Look, he may have resisted being raised well, but he did learn those lessons.]

[What an upstanding young man, helping the elderly.]

It's "Sanzo", not "ma'am". Sharak Sanzo. [Call her ma'am again and see how much good it does you.] Trying to get rid of me already?

[Rude. She hasn't even finished her cigarette.]

Of course not-- [He barely stops himself from another ma'am. She's quite intimidatingly scarred. Not that he's afraid, but he couldn't bring himself to fight back if an elderly woman hit him. Who could?

Instead, he clears his throat.] Sanzo.

It's just that I appreciate you stopping by to check on us, and wondered if there's anything I can do for you....

[See! He does have manners. More or less. When he wants to.]

[Yeaaah, still got it. The day she's too old to intimidate teenagers is the day reads her own last rites.]

That's very kind of you, young man. [She takes one last drag from her cigarette before stubbing it out on the ground and heading inside the building. See, she has enough manners to know you don't smoke inside a school.]

How are your supplies looking? I know there's a kitchen here, but I don't think the building was intended to be a boarding school.

[And Gonou appreciates it, because, again: he is not sure he could bring himself to reprimand an elderly religious woman if she did. He was, after all, raised by nuns. It instills certain reflexes.

(Maybe after he gets to know her a little better.)

He trails after her, arms crossed as he thinks over the question.]

I stepped out for a few minutes earlier to shop, and there are more than enough dry goods.

[Also, what seems to be a built-in, oddly rustic refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen; he suspects it might be magic, and isn't questioning it, just in case that makes a difference somehow.]

I'll have to recalculate if I wind up boarding too many small children, but I should be all right for another day or two.

[Careful, if she picks up on what the cause is, she might bring out the habit and get the full effect.]

If you're lacking resources, they'll probably go elsewhere to forage for food and other supplies. They're here because it's convenient and more neutral ground than an official temple.

[The school is run by Hakkai, but Sharak doesn't think he technically owns it and it's been treated as fairly public ground. Kids can sense that sort of thing. Besides, the concept is probably familiar to at least a few of them.]

So you could always starve them out, if you're feeling particularly cold-hearted.

I'll keep it in mind.

[That statement sounds extremely dubious. They're children. They might be independent enough to go steal food from someone else, but they're still children, and Gonou's not sure he's willing to starve them out.

Well, maybe if they annoy him enough. He'll wait and see.]

Anyway, I'm hoping whatever's going on will blow over soon.

-Overflow- for 016 | The Good Old Days

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