thenearshore | [open] purple burst of paper birds

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.]

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[He nods at Shun.]

Guy's right about that. No friends for the scary youkai.

[But he turns to the dragon in kind, since apparently it can speak - and at this point it's just so weird to him his tone is kinda incredulous.]

What about you? A friend of Shun's?

We are certainly acquaintances.

[Is friend too strong a word? He gives Shun a sidelong glance, not quite certain. He is certainly scarier than the other small human, after all.

Who -- he returns his gaze curiously to Dokugakuji. Who really does appear human. Two arms, two legs, not an unusual shape or size, and although there are markings on his face, he sees no reason why markings should make a difference. He has markings on his wings, after all.]

... You do not look like a youkai.

[Aren't they supposed to be strange creatures?]

[Shun hums slightly in agreement with Temeraire's summation of the situation.] It takes a while for me to use "friend" for anyone. Being "scary" doesn't come into it.

[Said in the tone of someone who doesn't consider either of them particularly scary. They're definitely both significant threats if he ever had to fight them, but that's a different matter.

With that remark, Shun's gaze turns back to Dokugakuji. It is true that he doesn't really look like the traditional image of a youkai, but then, this isn't new information for Shun.]

The other one here looks even less like one. Must be different in some worlds. [He'd like to know how Hakkai suddenly went from sharing those odd features of Dokugakuji's to looking human, but he's never actually asked considering what their relationship is like.]

Other one? Do you mean Celty, or... what was that girl's name...

[He keeps forgetting that Hakkai is youkai at all, truth be told. Probably the way Hakkai would prefer it. The girl, Hannah, he eventually decided might not be youkai at all. Celty however admitted that Dullahan and Youkai might share some features.

And not like he was about to volunteer Gojyo being half.

Dokugakuji crosses his arms in thought, leaning up into his full height as he considers the dragon's point and Shun's agreement.]

Well, you're right at any rate, that even humans can look different from world to world, so I guess it makes sense youkai would too.

Yes, I suppose so.

[Temeraire blinks, and adds:] I am a shinki, so I am not sure if I have ever known a youkai before, but I am sure I have seen ink paintings here, and you do not look like any of them.

Are you from a different world?

If I meant dullahan, I would've said dullahan. [Shun knows what Celty is as well, but he tends to differentiate mythological creatures a little more than that. But if Dokugakuji isn't going to specifically raise the person he means, he's not just going to give out the name. He might not like Hakkai, but he's not quite that much of an asshole.] Not whoever else you're thinking of, either.

[Hannah or Grell are his first thoughts, since Hannah is a demon anyway and Grell not exactly an ideal demonstration of a death god, but it's not either of them anyway. For now, he'll just listen to Temeraire quiz Dokugakuji about youkai.]

That's how you say it - I've only seen her text it.

[He appreciates that much.]

I think I know who you're thinking of, but I certainly look more like a youkai than he does. And on purpose.

[He turns back to the dragon.]

I'm not sure what ink paintings you're thinking of, but we're all from not around here, so that shouldn't be much of a surprise. I've never seen a dragon like you around where I lived either - they were much smaller, the size of horses. Just big enough for someone like me to ride on across a desert.

What is a dullahan?

[That's a word he's never heard before, and he rolls it thoughtfully on his tongue as he pronounces it, before glancing back at Dokugakuji.]

I'm sure there are small dragons, too. For a dragon, I am quite large.

[He speaks with confidence that may be unwarranted; he's sure he knows this, and, after all, every dragon he has heard of from someone else has been smaller than he is.

But it's rather nice to think that he is an unusually large dragon, nonetheless.]

When you say the size of a horse, do you mean the same height? Or weight? If it is the same height, wouldn't carrying a human -- or a youkai, of course -- be a little difficult?

[Well, maybe one human-or-youkai. If they did not sit up too straight and interrupt the airflow, and if it was a particularly small desert....]

I had to look it up. [Which means he can answer Temeraire's question fairly accurately.] It's a spirit from Celtic mythology. A headless horserider.

[Or, in Celty's case, motorcyclist. Shun's not going to question something like that too much considering how rare horseriding is these days outside of sport. In any case, though, when the conversation turns back to dragons, he merely listens in. He has some experience with dragons, but only in the context of Duel Monsters, and he can't imagine trying to explain that to a dragon from a few centuries ago and a god knows how old youkai going well.]

... Headless. [He hadn't questioned why she kept the motorcycle helmet on before.] No wonder she has to type on her phone and show it when she talks to people in person.

I, uh- [Doku's kinda lost for words as he tries to describe the horse discussion in light of Headless Horseman.] I guess the Hiryuu are probably the same height as a horse, longer, and easily heavier. They were able to carry me a very far distance regardless.

Oh. I suppose that makes sense.

[He eyes Shun, and adds, uncertain:]

But she is not really headless, is she?

[Being a spirit is one thing! They are all supposed to be spirits, and so it is not too strange. But he, at least, feels alive enough to suspect that if his head were cut off it would be a problem.

So it should be a problem for other shinki. Shouldn't it? Maybe?]

She is headless. [Just putting that one out there without any real concern for the subject, since he's quite used to seeing it by now and he doesn't think she makes any particular secret of it.] She wears a motorcycle helmet to cover it up, since that covers a person's entire head anyway. But like he said, she can't talk, and I don't think she can eat either.

[He's honestly curious enough as to how she can see and hear, but at this point he just assumes it's some kind of magical oddity.]

[Doku shrugs.]

At least she's still able to communicate at all. I'd worry for her and her goddess both if she couldn't, like she was Soulless.

[Then he gestures vaguely to the two of them.]

If I interrupted something important, I can head out again. I was just curious if I'd be seeing a dragon around more often these days.

[open] purple burst of paper birds

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