thenearshore | oh someone is noticing all that theft

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oh someone is noticing all that theft

Who: Chikusa Kakimoto, Lavi, and Shun Kurosaki
What: Prayer #42. Also known as: Chikusa stop fucking shoplifting.
When: Backdated before Axel's drop
Where: A store on the Near Shore

It's been driving the local manager up the wall. No matter how much time is spent pouring over the video footage, he never seems to find just who is regularly stealing from the store. Just once, and it'd be easy enough to shrug off. But again, and again, and again.... What if it's all in his head? What if it's one of his employees? Frustrated, all he can do is pray to the gods....

Chikusa is oblivious to any of the torment he's been inflicting on the local populace. He's busy standing in the spice aisle, bright yellow beanie in place, squinting at the racks as he tries to decide what would taste good on dinner.

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[Though this prayer isn't really Shun's area, that hasn't stopped him from hearing and following them before. If the shoplifter is that elusive, Shun isn't going to discount the chance that it's one of their own, and if that's the case, then they need at least a verbal ass-kicking. He doesn't care that much about shoplifting itself, it's more the principle of the thing here.

When he walks past the spice aisle and spots Chikusa, he shoots Lavi a sidelong glance somewhere along the lines of of course. In this case, though, he pauses to observe first.]

[There's a time where Lavi would usually just stare in a bit of disbelief, but concerning that this is Chikusa, he can't even bring himself to be surprised by this at all.

He notes the sidelong glance Shun gives him; instead, he covers his face, almost in a semblance of a facepalm, and sighs quietly.]

[Y'all ain't subtle, just so you know. Reaching up to take a small container of shichimi, he turns on his heel to start shuffling down the aisle turning it over in his fingers before he glances up.]

...Lavi. [His gaze slowly goes between him and Shun.] ...I didn't think that was your god...

I'm not his god. [Shun wouldn't have an issue if he was, but Lavi seems rather fond of his existing god, so Chikusa's remark seems very misplaced to him. As soon as that's said, Shun levels Chikusa with a long look.]

You realise stealing from this place when the owner can't figure out who's doing it means they're praying for people to track you down. That's why we're here.

Definitely not my god. [He has two gods already. He's not looking for a third.

But he rubs the back of his neck.]

You couldn't have found another place to do this?

[JUST STRAIGHT TO IT. OKAY.]

[It's just... Chikusa's been doing this for ages and, save for that time with Zero, no one's really called him out on it. Even then, it was after he'd clearly stolen from the place, not.... standing in the spice aisle. Holding a container in plain sight with no attempts made yet. (It was going to happen, but still.)]

[So for a second he just stands there and blinks a couple of times, slowly.]

...You couldn't have waited until I'd actually done it? What if I wasn't the person at all...?

[Is this Shun's plan? Just interrogate random Far Shore denizens going out grocery shopping until he hit the one about to shoplift?]

[Chikusa...

Shun's expression somehow gets even less impressed, which given how unimpressed he already was, is an achievement.]

Even if you hadn't been called out for doing this before, you just admitted you're the person anyway. ["What if I wasn't" pretty well implies he is, even without the whole public callout issue.] We could've waited, but it was obvious who it was as soon as we saw you.

[Lavi gets a significant look at that - given his expression when they'd found Chikusa, he can't imagine he considers it likely to have been anyone else either.]

[Lavi gives a light shrug at Chikusa's words.]

You're the only person who doesn't seem to give a damn about shoplifting. [A pause and then a look directed at Chikusa's beanie.] And the only person I know who actually wears those.

[So, yeah, he's not even surprised. If anything, he just looks between being amused and at the same time, not very impressed.]

I didn't exactly plan on denying it....

[What is guilt or shame? ~~The stuff he reserves for losing his god.~~ Chikusa knows that Lavi also doesn't really give a shit about what he does, as evidenced by the fact that he outright just asked why not do another store.]

[And while Chikusa could point out that he's met other shoplifters... Lavi's look at his beanie makes him pause.]

...I don't think you can talk against anyone's fashion sense. [seriously, rude] So it's just this store that's the problem?

[Shun can pretty much see where the line of logic is going here, and...doesn't really care that much, honestly. He doubts another telling-off is going to make Chikusa actually stop shoplifting, so if they can point him at a store ideally making enough money that nobody's going to notice a few things missing, he's okay with that.]

The problem's probably going to show up again if you keep stealing from smaller stores, but if you find somewhere bigger they should have enough waste that they won't really notice anyway.

[Or at least they're not going to get a manager taking it so personally he needs to pray about it.]

[Clearly, these two are the best pair to stop Chikusa from stealing.

Lavi just doesn't want to get dragged into another prayer where some manager complains about someone shoplifting and knowing the other shinki--it's bound to happen.]

Usually one of those high-name stores would be good to steal from. They have everything in multitudes so no small thing would really be missed. It's a pain to hear some guy praying to to the gods about needing help stop a shoplifter.

[Hilariously enough... Chikusa has had a very similar conversation with someone else once upon a time, but without the agreement that larger stores were fine. He thinks about it, briefly, even as he considers the other two's words.]

....Alright. It's troublesome to go all that way.... but it's more troublesome to have to deal with Shun...

[So. You know.]

[...Still, after a second, he lazily reaches out to try and take Lavi's hand.]

[Shun definitely agrees with Lavi in that this is mostly a pain in the ass taking away from other things he could be doing. He can respect that it's bothering the manager to not know, but it's not as if this is a tiny store. Chikusa would have to be stealing more than he could reasonably carry for it to be that big an issue.

There's a faint snort from Shun at the notion that dealing with him is more troublesome.] I'll remember that. Though you keep being unlucky enough to be around when I'm ordering people around anyway.

[...And then Chikusa reaches out for Lavi's hand, and Shun just kind of watches with a raised brow. At this point he's assuming Chikusa's expecting to be literally dragged to another store.]

[He snickers.]

At least we now know that arguing with Shun seems to be something no one would really want to do. [He means that as a compliment.

Really.

But he gives Chikusa a glance when the other shinki reaches out and takes his hand. He doesn't stop him, but then it does spark enough of a curiosity.]

...Don't tell me you want me to actually drag you to another store to steal from.

[Or he's just stealing all the time but whatever. Problem solved, right?]

[Regardless, Chikusa sort of shrugs.]

I mean, if you want....

[Chikusa wouldn't object. He still has to get things for dinner tonight. But no, really, he's just sliding into Lavi's palm the shichimi he was totally going to steal.]

[What do you mean he could just shuffle back and put it where it belongs himself- ]

[Compliment or not, Shun doesn't seem at all bothered by Lavi's observation - it's the kind of thing he prefers to have be the case anyway.

The exchange of shichimi gets watched by Shun with a rather dry look, until it travels up to Lavi's face instead.]

You'd better put that back. [At least Chikusa didn't make him do it this time. And this way they can be sure Chikusa doesn't just slip it into a pocket or something instead.]

[Look, he has every right to make that observation in the first place.

Even he can find it tiresome to annoy with Shun sometimes.

Almost scoffing, he waves the shichimi lightly.]

Right, right. [And he'll go and put it back to where it belongs.]

[Now that he's been freed of responsibility, Chikusa seems to think they're done here. At least, he certainly does shuffle around Shun in an attempt to leave if no one stops him.]

I'll try to make sure the next store is managed by an atheist....

[Less annoyance for all of them.]

[Shun could point out that that's kind of a difficult thing to gauge on sight, but at this point he mostly just wants this situation resolved as soon as possible. So while he's not exactly going to stop Chikusa leaving, he sure is going to be supervising him out of the store to make sure he doesn't steal something else.]

As long as it's bigger and not here, I don't really care. [Normally Shun's a bit more dedicated about prayers, but he can't really bring himself to give too much of a damn about this one.]

Either an atheist or a bigger store - doesn't matter.

Just try not to get caught or make things too suspicious next time.

[And Lavi really would rather use his time not to get dragged into prayers like this.]

Both.

[He says it over his shoulder as he shuffles to the exit, pausing right at the doors as he looks at Shun. Really...]

...Satisfied?

[Both works. And Shun just gives Chikusa a level glare as he stops at the door.]

Mostly. I have things to get back to, so you might as well move on anyway.

[Because woe betide probably everyone present if Shun has to get called out for this a second time.]

[Wow, what's with the animosity?

Lavi walks back over, looking somewhat interested at how the two of them seem to dislike each other.]

See you around then, Chikusa.

[Don't ask Chikusa, he's just being your average thieving shitteen.]

[Still, with that done with, he waves half-heartedly to Lavi as he shuffles away. It's going to be annoying to find another place, but....]

[Shun.]

[So he guesses the effort is worth it.]

[Dislike is a bit of a strong word, since Shun's mostly just being such a grouch because he was interrupted.

Nonetheless, since Chikusa's shuffling away, Shun inclines his head to Lavi.]

I'm going back to my patrol. [And without an actual goodbye in there anywhere, he starts heading off.]

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oh someone is noticing all that theft

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