[open] purple burst of paper birds

[revolutionfalcon]

Who: A: Shun, Temeraire and you, B: Shun and you
When: A: Backdated to September 16th, B: September 19th
Where: A: Central District, B: Heavens' Library
What: Shun reads the news to a dragon, and practices making ofuda that actually work.

[A: Central District, September 16th]

[Ah, an autumn morning. Birds chirping, leaves starting to change, the sound of...something extremely large and scaly in the grass...

Shun usually does this in his garden, but his vultures appear to be having some kind of congregation there today, so instead, he's sitting on a large rock near the main path that runs in front of his temple. From a distance, he probably looks uncharacteristically distracted, thumbing through his phone, and especially so considering that taking up the grass in front of him is an extremely large, black dragon.

The dragon leans over more closely, massive head tilting close to Shun's as though he is conspiring, or possibly as though he is about to bite Shun's head right off like an hors d'ouvre.

He rumbles curiously, and tilts his head again, one eye's pupil dilating until the blue is almost drowned in black.]

Is catnip particularly good to eat? Does it taste of cat?

[Shun blinks and looks up from his phone at that, looking like he hadn't expected the question, but still giving it somewhat of a deadpan response. Slowly, his gaze travels over to the nearby path to spot for any passerby.]

I don't suppose you know anything more about catnip than what it does to cats. [Save him from this disaster he's resigned himself to.]

--

[B: Heavens' Library, September 19th]

[Ever since he mercifully managed to find this book after several days of finding corny shojo manga instead, Shun's been trying to decipher the not particularly clear instructions on how to make functional ofuda. He's been interested ever since Obon, and even more so since Wendy suggested she was looking into it, but ended up getting impatient enough to go looking himself. At least it paid off in some way, though there's still the most important point of practice, practice, practice.

Which is why he's taking up a rather large table in the library, most of it being covered in strips of paper, some of them already marked. He doesn't feel there's a great deal of point in completing the charms until he knows they work, so there's no fabric slips to put them in for now; he's just working on the charm itself. He seems to be going through different varieties of ofuda in sequence, but protection against evil and accidents seem to be represented a bit more frequently than the other charms, considering he figures those are the most broadly useful against ayakashi for if he can get them working. Letting out a slight hiss through his teeth, he dips his calligraphy brush into the ink again and writes another set of kanji on one of the slips. If nothing else, he's getting neater - the first two dozen or so charms are written in incredibly rusty handwriting, as if he hasn't had need to write, or at least write neatly, regularly in a very long time.

As usual, though, Shun is extremely prone to noticing any approach, and if anyone comes out of the shelves near him, he'll immediately look up from his work to eye them off.]

If you're looking for a table, find somewhere else. [He's not moving all this mess now that he's started.]

Comments

[minogame]

( Urashima's isn't any better. You don't have to write much when you're in a display case and even when he got a body, he rarely ever had to write reports. He opens the book and begins to flip through the pages. It's not impossible but reading sure does make his head hurt. What's all this kanji? With Shun's notes, he's able to understand it a little more but... )

... So none of these work?

( He's honest, albeit, blunt. )

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun isn't really paying attention to Urashima reading, which is probably reasonably noteworthy of itself. His almost aggravated focus on his work may give away how bothered he is by the fact that he hasn't managed to get it working properly yet.]

I wouldn't be doing it here if they were. [He'd likely be making them individually in his temple instead. There's just more room here to throw things across a table, and less to worry about if something goes wrong.]

[minogame]

I dunno... ( His attention strays from the book to the charms themselves. Reaching for one, he doesn't quite pick it up but traces the shape with a finger, ) I guess I thought this was something gods could do easy...

( He's thinking out loud, really. )

There are always a bunch at the shrines... maybe you can ask a shrine maiden for help?

[revolutionfalcon]

Apparently not. [It does beg the question of how the ones at shrines are usually made, but Shun would figure that's something they learn in training. Hardly any gods here are going to have had previous ritual training, so that causes a bit of an issue where things like this are concerned.

Shun's jaw clenches a bit at that suggestion, and he pulls a blank slip of paper towards himself.] If I've gone to all this trouble already, I might as well figure it out myself.

[Which is basically an obtuse way of saying he doesn't want to ask for help, as usual.]

[minogame]

( It doesn't make sense to him. Why not ask for help? There's nothing wrong with that but he also knows Shun has a harder time talking to people. He's quiet for a moment, )

Can you show me what you know? Maybe it'll help....

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun just taps the piece of paper with the instructions on it.] That's basically what I know. The instructions are ridiculous, but I still managed to prepare everything like it said.

[No matter how inconvenient it might have been at times. Even now, when he dips his brush in the ink, he taps the excess off a particular amount of times before he starts writing.]