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
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.
no subject
[Hakkai's frowning thoughtfully now.]
The vice-principal wanted that power for himself, but I still don't know what he would have done with it. He was... unhelpful.
[As if he was confused, in fact. He'd had plenty of spite towards children, but no clear goals. Hakkai wonders, still, if something about the failed spell had damaged his memory in the process.]
If that sort of thing has been going on around the world, there must be a reason for it.
no subject
That's the motivation part of it. I mean... if you believe the fliers and the attacks that happen, they want to take down the Heavens' establishment. But the question is how they're doing it, exactly, and why they'd need all that energy to do it.
[If you believed the new souls, including at the festival, were a part of it, Psyche could understand why there were suspicions about the new gods and shinki.]
It could just be a case where they need the power to do a proper attack, instead of their current tactics. Or if they wanted to set themselves up as a proper alternative to the Heavens. But without evidence, that's just theory.
no subject
It's more convenient to assume that they are, but I haven't seen any evidence either way yet. It could just be that whoever wants to depose Amaterasu is taking advantage of the confusion of our arrival.
[He shakes his head, but adds, fairly:] It could be that they're gathering energy for an attack, though. Even Amaterasu's advisers are much more powerful than gods like myself. If so... we may want to find them before it's too late.
no subject
[Not to mention, not everyone had to be as showy as Sho had been to cause dissent - plus, Sho's had been put down immediately, while this was still an ongoing problem. However, she nodded]
The question is, where to start. You'd have to follow up with the humans distributing fliers, look into how someone or something can gain enough power, or if there's a pattern to how they operate...
[After a moment's consideration] You said you investigated that blighted spot a while back, right? Maybe even just knowing how that spot was created exactly could help.
no subject
[He tilts his head thoughtfully to one side, and adds:]
In fact... we do have a time traveler among us, don't we?
[Gojyo's god is gone now, and perhaps that had something to do with his time travel attempt. He'd been blown up, not simply vanished: it could easily have been a genuine assassination attempt, although it could have been the accident Gojyo wanted to believe it was, too. But Add is still here, and if he can recreate his earlier attempt alone...]
Add used that ability to witness the disappearance of a god. Perhaps he could use it to witness the creation of a blighted spot, too.
no subject
[It was strange to think about, considering the abilities other people had here. Enough that, any other time Psyche wouldn't have really thought about it out because it was so out there. However, if they had someone who could do that (and he was Jakob's god - despite Jakob's complaints, he probably wasn't that bad, right?) why not take advantage of it? She nodded, thoughtfully]
It couldn't hurt to ask. Actually, if it works, we might be able to see other things, too.
[Such as, the fire at Amaterasu's.]
no subject
[Just, you know.
It probably shouldn't be used to answer everything.]
no subject
[She paused, briefly, as she considered the many tropes and warning tales of messing with time, combined with that knowledge. However]
If he's okay with it though, this time sounds like it could be worth it. It's not like we can easily sleuth around with.
no subject
[Hakkai shrugs, and adds:] Suggest it to him if you see him? I'll do the same.
no subject
[She nodded, firmly. There was no guarantee that Add wouldn't disappear before then so the sooner the better. With that said]
I should probably let you go for today, though. [The cats were already gone but she turned to Jeep and said] And...nice meeting you.
no subject
Yes, I should go make sure the cats aren't destroying anything inside... thank you for the chat! It's been interesting.