Cho Hakkai (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
reformedsinner) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thenearshore2017-07-21 07:56 pm
reformedsinner) wrote in thenearshore2017-07-21 07:56 pm
open/catchall: a sensei's job is never done
Who: Cho Hakkai and you!
What: Kicking around the Heavens, refereeing pet conflicts, providing an education and continuing to test his new medication powers on unknowing human subjects
Where: Various
When: August 6 - 10, 2016
Chicken Feed - August 6
[Hakkai owes a few thank-yous for the help he got while he was sick. As annoying as it is to have needed so much help, he can't exactly ignore it; so he's gone the domestic route, made up a truly astounding number of small fruit baskets and other little food gifts, and is paying visits to the temples of his helpers to leave them by the front door.
He knocks first, of course, to deliver his thanks in person, but if no one answers he'll just leave the basket with its little thank-you tag.
At Sharak Sanzo's temple, he encounters a slight snag, namely, the fact that he can't seem to get anywhere near close enough to leave the basket on the front stoop. It's shielded, and he's going to have to wait until a resident wanders by.
A few of the resident chickens notice his presence, and peck their way thoughtfully in his direction, and Hakkai considers them, and considers the basket he's brought Sharak... and opens up the large bag of freeze-dried mealworm treats to start tossing them to the chickens. Until someone notices and lets him in, passersby may notice Hakkai crouched on the roadside surrounded by a dozen eager hens, offering little dried worms to each one by hand. It's only a matter of time before he starts convincing them to do tricks.]
Reading, Rites & 'Rithmetic - August 8 & 10
[Hakkai's at the school for his classes as usual, but before and after class, he's also putting up some hand-written flyers in the downstairs hallway. They read,
Seeking Shinki & Anyone Willing to Teach Shinki Spells
Practical Daily Lessons: Borderlines, Spellcasting, Shinki Combat Advice
Knowledge Shared is Knowledge Gained. Contact Cho Hakkai If Interested.
They're also illustrated with helpful hand-drawn ayakashi in a creepy, technically proficient but over-detailed style that makes the creatures even more grotesque. Hakkai, when not teaching or pasting up flyers, can be found in the library on the ground floor grading math workbooks.]
Herding Cats - August 9
Kishi, he doesn't want to play with you.
[Hakkai is standing in his temple's entryway, doors thrown wide, addressing a black-and-white cat in an exasperated tone. The cat is on his hind legs, pawing at Hakkai's knee and patting his thigh entreatingly as he meows at the white dragon curled up on Hakkai's shoulders. Another cat, a grayish tabby, trots up to the tableau, sits down, looks up at the dragon and adds her demanding meow to the first cat's.
Hakkai looks like he's developing a headache.]
Musha, no. Kishi! Down.
[Reluctantly, the black-and-white cat drops back down to his haunches and meows again. Hakkai lifts a finger scoldingly in their direction.] Go play.
[Suddenly, Jeep flares his wings, catches the wind, and drops from Hakkai's shoulders to soar up and a few feet further away from the entryway, into the front street. Musha and Kishi tear after him, eager paws kicking up dust from the roadway.
Jeep, midair, transforms, and a jeep thuds down onto the street right in front of the cats' noses. They yowl, hiss, and break for the safety of the temple, moving so fast there's nothing but a few floating hairs left in their wake. The Jeep's headlights blink on and off in something that looks a lot like silent, smug laughter, and Hakkai sighs wearily.]
Well, that's one way to teach them.
Heavenly Delivery Service - August 6 - 10
[When he's not otherwise occupied, Hakkai's still taking his homemade, and divinely powerful, medicines down to followers praying for healing. He has a large and carefully sectioned toolbox, padded with folded cloth for the glass jars and bottles, that goes with him, and a long handwritten list of prayers. Even with teleportation taking him to the general area, he's having to do some walking around and asking directions before he finds the proper house.
It doesn't help that quite a lot of them are in apartment buildings, although, at least, gods don't need to be buzzed in by a resident.
Anyone near enough to one of his prayer delivery locations might find themselves approached by a young man in a monocle, clearing his throat politely as he shifts the extremely large and heavy toolbox he's holding, and glances down at a memo pad in his free hand.]
Excuse me. Would you happen to know where...
[He flips a page.]
Happy Takada Apartments is? It's supposed to be somewhere in this neighborhood.
What: Kicking around the Heavens, refereeing pet conflicts, providing an education and continuing to test his new medication powers on unknowing human subjects
Where: Various
When: August 6 - 10, 2016
Chicken Feed - August 6
[Hakkai owes a few thank-yous for the help he got while he was sick. As annoying as it is to have needed so much help, he can't exactly ignore it; so he's gone the domestic route, made up a truly astounding number of small fruit baskets and other little food gifts, and is paying visits to the temples of his helpers to leave them by the front door.
He knocks first, of course, to deliver his thanks in person, but if no one answers he'll just leave the basket with its little thank-you tag.
At Sharak Sanzo's temple, he encounters a slight snag, namely, the fact that he can't seem to get anywhere near close enough to leave the basket on the front stoop. It's shielded, and he's going to have to wait until a resident wanders by.
A few of the resident chickens notice his presence, and peck their way thoughtfully in his direction, and Hakkai considers them, and considers the basket he's brought Sharak... and opens up the large bag of freeze-dried mealworm treats to start tossing them to the chickens. Until someone notices and lets him in, passersby may notice Hakkai crouched on the roadside surrounded by a dozen eager hens, offering little dried worms to each one by hand. It's only a matter of time before he starts convincing them to do tricks.]
Reading, Rites & 'Rithmetic - August 8 & 10
[Hakkai's at the school for his classes as usual, but before and after class, he's also putting up some hand-written flyers in the downstairs hallway. They read,
Seeking Shinki & Anyone Willing to Teach Shinki Spells
Practical Daily Lessons: Borderlines, Spellcasting, Shinki Combat Advice
Knowledge Shared is Knowledge Gained. Contact Cho Hakkai If Interested.
They're also illustrated with helpful hand-drawn ayakashi in a creepy, technically proficient but over-detailed style that makes the creatures even more grotesque. Hakkai, when not teaching or pasting up flyers, can be found in the library on the ground floor grading math workbooks.]
Herding Cats - August 9
Kishi, he doesn't want to play with you.
[Hakkai is standing in his temple's entryway, doors thrown wide, addressing a black-and-white cat in an exasperated tone. The cat is on his hind legs, pawing at Hakkai's knee and patting his thigh entreatingly as he meows at the white dragon curled up on Hakkai's shoulders. Another cat, a grayish tabby, trots up to the tableau, sits down, looks up at the dragon and adds her demanding meow to the first cat's.
Hakkai looks like he's developing a headache.]
Musha, no. Kishi! Down.
[Reluctantly, the black-and-white cat drops back down to his haunches and meows again. Hakkai lifts a finger scoldingly in their direction.] Go play.
[Suddenly, Jeep flares his wings, catches the wind, and drops from Hakkai's shoulders to soar up and a few feet further away from the entryway, into the front street. Musha and Kishi tear after him, eager paws kicking up dust from the roadway.
Jeep, midair, transforms, and a jeep thuds down onto the street right in front of the cats' noses. They yowl, hiss, and break for the safety of the temple, moving so fast there's nothing but a few floating hairs left in their wake. The Jeep's headlights blink on and off in something that looks a lot like silent, smug laughter, and Hakkai sighs wearily.]
Well, that's one way to teach them.
Heavenly Delivery Service - August 6 - 10
[When he's not otherwise occupied, Hakkai's still taking his homemade, and divinely powerful, medicines down to followers praying for healing. He has a large and carefully sectioned toolbox, padded with folded cloth for the glass jars and bottles, that goes with him, and a long handwritten list of prayers. Even with teleportation taking him to the general area, he's having to do some walking around and asking directions before he finds the proper house.
It doesn't help that quite a lot of them are in apartment buildings, although, at least, gods don't need to be buzzed in by a resident.
Anyone near enough to one of his prayer delivery locations might find themselves approached by a young man in a monocle, clearing his throat politely as he shifts the extremely large and heavy toolbox he's holding, and glances down at a memo pad in his free hand.]
Excuse me. Would you happen to know where...
[He flips a page.]
Happy Takada Apartments is? It's supposed to be somewhere in this neighborhood.
no subject
[She said, a bit absently, from a place of unconscious memory. Then, after a moment, slowly]
What about...Asshole?
no subject
[Hakkai sighs, pulling a displeased face.]
I wish I could convince him to answer to a different name. For a soulless shinki, he really is stubborn.
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I guess so...
[If that was a personality trait of his and not something like imprinting - Psyche wasn't completely sure how to feel if it was the latter]
I don't suppose asking him makes much of a difference at that point. But...there's probably an eternity to see if he changes his mind.
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[He trails off, and shrugs, still smiling.]
I'm not going to count on being here too much longer.
[What he needs -- what he feels he always needs -- is more information.]
no subject
Is that intuition or just based on the trend?
no subject
... It seems foolish to depend on my escaping it.
[He's been lucky so far, from a certain point of view, but that doesn't mean anything about his future luck.]
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Technically, there's nothing that says it 'will' happen but without knowing what causes people to disappear or not, there's not exactly anything preventing it either.
[If the fact he now had a few new 'roommates' had anything to say about the situation. She looked at the cat and dragon again, before gingerly reaching her hand over to scratch at the cat.]
Um...have you thought about what you want done if you do disappear?
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[Kishi bats at Psyche's hand, then leans wildly out from Hakkai's grip to sniff at it before settling back and allowing her to scratch his ears.]
Mostly, I hope someone would look after my shinki. The pets too, I suppose.
[And then there's the information he's accumulated, but he's doing his best to share that with Sharak and Ayumu. Someone's bound to stay who still knows.]
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I guess it says something when, even in the afterlife, people still need a sort of 'will'.
[Among other things. After a moment]
Though...I guess that applies to other things. Like wondering where you might go in the end.
[With her...maybe back to her 'original' god, Labukas? Or maybe no where, really.]
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[He's silent for a moment, and then adds, briskly:] But our souls aren't divine, so I suppose it's back to the wheel of reincarnation. Or Hell.
[But that's just his expectation. It does seem a bit strange to postulate a Heaven for mortal souls when they're both standing in the abode of the gods together.
But who knows, really? There's certainly an underworld.]
All you can do is keep moving forward while you're here.
no subject
[There was a flash in her eyes over that. The new gods....didn't exactly seem anymore durable than anyone else. Even she had a feeling that a snap to the neck could be enough, for some. At the mention of reincarnation or hell, she paused]
Possibly. If your soul stays in this world instead of going back to where you came from. [However, she added] You're right though. There's no real guarantee over anything, really... though it would be nice if there was a little more heads up at times.
no subject
[He sighs, long-suffering patience in every line of his posture.] But I suppose no one gets too much warning of what life -- even afterlife -- has in store.
I'd be surprised if souls return to our home worlds, though, when we disappear. Or perhaps that's just my hope.
no subject
[She didn't have enough memories back to tell for herself. While Prism had differing opinions on the afterlife, none of them particularly had to do with a particular 'god' or force of order. And Labukas....was nothing like the god here. Old or new.]
If you had a choice, where would you go?
no subject
[He spreads his hands in a tiny shrug, and smiles.]
Of course, I've also recently been fired, so perhaps I'm not as important as I think I am! Ha ha.
Sorry for lateness!
[It wasn't a guarantee, but it wasn't a bad hope. Tilting her head a little]
Fired?
np!
[Kishi struggles, disturbed by Hakkai's little hand movement, and Hakkai stoops to set him down. Jeep settles in more comfortably on his shoulders as he straightens back to his full height, and Kishi scampers away, chasing the other cat.]
Yes, the local temple had hired me and a few companions for a job halfway across the continent, but it seems we've taken too long on the way -- our severance notice just caught up with us...
[He sighs.]
I suppose we'll manage to handle things without an income somehow.
[It's not as if there are many surviving towns that care about the economy in the mountains. They're too close to the Ox King's castle by now, and outside Sharak Sanzo's protection, the best case for human settlements is utter isolation and the most common is destruction.]
no subject
Oh...so you already had a bit of a religious slant then? [She didn't think that was a qualifier to coming to this world, based on everyone else who was there, but it was a bit interesting, considering what Hakkai was.]
Probably. I mean, you had to have managed somehow before then. And if not, I guess you could always try teaching?
no subject
["Companion to a priest" is religious enough, isn't it? He'll avoid the more sordid details.]
Tutoring is one of my usual part-time jobs, but it's a bit tricky on the road. We'll -- we'll manage somehow!
[Trading on Sanzo's fame, for instance, assuming he and Hakkai are both still alive by the time they head back... and assuming that he ever gets back the the journey from this strange side trip.]
It's a bit academic at the moment, until we discover how to get back, anyway.
no subject
[Whether you actually had a chance of going back or not, it didn't change the fact disappearances was a definite possibility. Even if Psyche herself wasn't sure how she'd broach the topic to someone like Forrest. She shook her head, brushing away the thought, replacing it with logic]
The question is, you'd have to find out the source - or at least, what's powerful enough to do it - for what's making people appear or disappear first. And that seems like something even outside the Heavens' abilities or they'd probably just get rid of most of us anyway.
[Given how many conflicts seemed to pop up between 'old' and 'new' gods and shinki.]
no subject
I've wondered if Amaterasu's advisers know more about it than she does... but she's still a child. They may be keeping some things from her until she's older.
[Which is worrying, if only because Amaterasu herself seems to be the greatest ally that the new gods have among the powerful. Bishamon is helpful, but not at the same level as the advisers, and even the advisers who seem open to their assistance don't seem too trusting.
He glances at Psyche, with a cool, thoughtful expression, for a second before he continues.]
Suijin asked me to investigate an unusual blighted spot some months ago on the other side of the world. She believed it might be related to the activities of that group of mortals who were distributing fliers.
I couldn't find any information about how it was created, but it looked like it must have been the mark of some powerful force -- the land itself was blighted and dead, and ayakashi were swarming over it. If there's some force acting to bring our souls here, perhaps that's the kind of strength it would exert.
no subject
[Hakkai's explanation causes Psyche to pause, as those facts went through her head. It was a long moment, before she replied]
That's...[She thought of the school. Then, the festival, which she quickly banished to the back of her mind] ...A scary thought, but would say a lot about the being. Since the blight is intense impurities...you almost have to wonder if the Heavens has some opposite capable of that or if it's something else entirely.
[Much like how Labukas - Order - had its natural opposite in Nelabasis and Chaos.]
no subject
[He's silent for a moment before glancing over at her, expression carefully neutral.]
... The underworld is swarming with ayakashi. I don't know if I could say that it's truly blighted in itself, but it's certainly, shall we say, friendly to impurity.
I wouldn't accuse Izanami of being responsible. There's no evidence, but she does have reason to distrust Amaterasu, I think.
[She'd seemed furious at intrusions into her domain, Hakkai thinks, even when they hadn't met her directly. The response of her demon protectors had been swift, and vicious. At the time, he'd been unable to match it. Even Bishamon had been in danger, but they'd managed to escape with only one shinki dead.
He slowly shakes his head.]
She's the only god I can think of with control over ayakashi, but she doesn't leave the underworld, and I can't imagine why she'd try to take action on the other side of the world if she did.
no subject
But it does mean it can technically be done. It just has to be someone or something else at that ability. Kinda like...the incident at the school or even Sho. Just on a larger level.
no subject
[He glances at her with interest.]
-- Perhaps the incident at the school is the most like it, after all. If a creature like that drained energy from more than just humans....
no subject
[Not to mention, less noticeable, but still. After a moment's thought]
Though, for all we know, it just means they're working around different parts of the world? Like that blighted area.
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