thenearshore | [Closed] We could spend our whole lives waiting for justice to be done

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[Closed] We could spend our whole lives waiting for justice to be done

Who: Ginia and Shun
When: Some time around November 18th-19th
Where: Around the Near Shore
What: Ginia and Shun pick up and old lead and decide to pay a vice-principal responsible for draining the life out of children a visit... if they can find him.
Warnings: Violence, murder.

It's not that Ginia wants to personally punch the vice-principal. It's entirely possible the creep is long dead from the hands of someone else - Far Shore justice, Near Shore justice, who knows - or has long fled the area. But maybe, maybe he's still around and they can find out whether he was the first sign of bigger problems. And just maybe he'll say the wrong thing and Ginia can put her fist in his face.

It's not that she wants to punch him, but dammit, he was attacking children. There aren't enough punches in the world for that creep.

The thought carries Ginia from the run from Caster's temple to Shun's. Her backpack is a prepared for survelliance; two note pads, several pens and pencils, laptop, camera gear, battery pack, roll of duct tape. As always, her knife is in the sheath at her back, but it's more out of habit than out of a feeling of necessity.

She slows as she approaches his temple, keeping an eye on the vultures in the trees as she sends a message to Shun.

Just outside.

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[Shun's satisfied enough with extensively scoping out the area while they wait, mapping useful routes to get someone somewhere an interrogation is unlikely to be interfered with, and good places to hide or ambush from. He's waiting near the building by the time the man finally emerges, though, and as soon as he can see the face clearly, he knows it's their target.

Letting him get far enough ahead that he doesn't seem suspicious on the off chance the man actually notices him, but not quite far enough to lose him in the crowd, Shun begins to follow the man. He figures Ginia will take the hint from seeing him follow that this is their target, if she hasn't spotted him already.]

[Ginia settles in for the long haul on top of the roof. It's boring and tedious at best, but so goes surveillance. She takes pictures of the surrounding area for reference, plots out pathways and notes where her blind spots are.

When their target emerges, Ginia snaps a few photos of him, tracking Shun's position against their targets as she packs up. Her concentration turning inward, Ginia runs and leaps to the next rooftop, sailing through the air and landing lightly on the next rooftop as she watches them from above.]

[The man seems distracted, absorbed in his own thoughts. He's tracing out a simple route; down two blocks, a left at the light, across another block and a half, to a Lawson's convenience store with its sign glowing blue-and-white above brightly lit windows.

He disappears inside, heading back for the liquor shelves to buy a six-pack of beer first, and then forward to the counter to get a styrofoam bowl of oden and a pack of cigarettes. It doesn't take long before he emerges with his purchases and sits down on the bench outside the store to eat.]

[Shun continues following, maintaining that distance, until the man enters the store and he has to close it up a little to follow. Nothing exactly suspicious in his purchases - it looks like the shopping list of someone with a lot weighing down on them, which could mean a lot of things - and Shun exits at a similar time to the man, heading off to one side and letting himself be swallowed up by those on the sidewalk, though he's still close enough to observe.

Unfortunately, a bench in front of a convenience store is somewhat too obvious to swipe the guy from, but if he traces the same path back to his house, there should be somewhere quieter they can pick him up.]

[It's a good thing people rarely look up and denizens of the Far Shore go unnoticed as is, though Ginia still keeps her profile small as she perches on a rooftop across from the Lawson's. She takes out her camera, snapping a few pictures as he eats.

Even haggard ex-vice-principal's responsible for summoning on ayakashi need to eat, she supposes. Ginia continues to keep an eye on him, in no rush to make a move, especially with Shun already on the ground.

[The beer goes unopened for now, but after the man finishes his oden, he pulls out the pack of cigarettes and lights one, leaning back on the bench and appearing focused on his smoking break. His silence stretches as the cigarette burns down... until, about a minute later, he looks to the side at Shun, among the workers and schoolchildren rushing home along the sidewalk, and his eyes narrow. He raises his voice enough to be heard over the murmur of the crowd.]

Are you following me?

[That shout gets him a few sidelong looks and a lot of deliberately averted eyes from the people hurrying past. He doesn't seem to mind.]

[Shun simply raises a brow at the man initially - he'd had some suspicion he might be sensitive to the Far Shore, given the trouble he'd tangled himself up in, but his yelling isn't making Shun any more noticeable to the rest of the crowd. Trying to dive on him right here and now, however, absolutely would.

He does, however, step forward calmly so he doesn't have to draw attention to himself to respond to the man. There's little point in pretense if the other is aware of him.]

What makes you think that? [Simple enough question. Either he's noticed Shun the whole time, or only just spotted him now. And he figures at this point engaging is probably the better option, one way or another - he may have seen Shun, but Ginia is still out of sight, and Shun would prefer to keep it that way.]

[At her distance, the man's words are lost, but she can see him look toward Shun, his mouth move. A few people notice his words, but no one seems to find a reason to react. Ginia lowers her profile a little more as she observes. Shun's smart and reliable. Until there's some kind of indication she needs to take action, she'll continue to shoot pictures out of sight and study the people around for anyone else that might take interest in the conversation.]

[The man gestures at Shun with his lit cigarette, leaning back on the bench as Shun approaches. His eyes are narrowed, although the skin around them is puffy from lack of sleep.]

Because you've been hanging around since I went out to get dinner. I don't know you. What's this about?

[He takes another drag on his cigarette, and lets the smoke trickle out through pursed lips.]

[Shun gives a faint snort at the observation, looking over the man in the brief, calculating way he's prone to. Wary, sleep-deprived - either he's haunted by something or expecting something, or both. It's clear no amount of honeyed words are likely to convince him to be helpful, so Shun elects to be blunt.

It's not as if fleeing is going to work out for him if it comes to that, anyway.]

April 5th. The school you used to work at. You remember, don't you? [There's nothing overtly hostile in his tone (yet), merely a blunt clarity.]

Why wouldn't I?

[He starts to make another, sharper gesture, but stops himself halfway and settles back onto the bench again. His attempt at a casual posture isn't working very well.

He doesn't invite Shun to sit.]

I'm guessing you don't just want to ask me if I remember.

[Shun's not the sort to take an invitation to sit anyway, so he remains standing, watching the man as if to check for things like tells or signs of potential retaliation.]

I want to know who led you down that path. If you can see me, obviously you perceive things from the other world better than most people, but the kind of magic you were working doesn't seem like the kind of thing to just fall into someone's lap, even with research.

[And now that there's certifiably someone working against the Heavens who's rallying humans to their cause, there's the question of what exactly this was born from.]

So I want to know what happened from your perspective. [He's curious, as well, whether the man has genuine regret - his manner is clearly different and there's presumably something eating at him considering his condition, but the question is whether it's guilt or fear of something catching up to him.

If he doesn't have some level of regret, then...well. Shun and Ginia may turn out to be that something.]

Study, research...

[He waves his hand, airily, drawing a red line across the twilight air with the burning tip of his cigarette before he returns it to his lips.

Silence, for a moment, as he inhales.

Then his gaze cuts back over to Shun.]

... selling my soul.

[That gets Shun's attention very quickly, and his eyes narrow. There'd always been one thing he'd wondered about the similarity of that draining spell to something that came later...]

To a demon? [He's sure gods could do that sort of thing if they had the right powerset, so he might as well ask.] Looks like you've figured out how that sort of thing usually goes.

[The guy doesn't look like someone who gained anything out of the deal, that's for damn sure.]

Let's just say, I made a deal without reading the fine print. Those brats wouldn't have been any great loss, but it didn't turn out the way I expected.

[He gestures impatiently.]

So, now what? Are you going to try to torture me with commercial jingles too?

[Shun's manner changes in a subtle, but noticeable way as soon as the man mentions the kids being "no great loss". It's the shift from trying to speak to the man on as equal ground as he was willing to offer to holding himself as confidently the more powerful party here.]

I want to know more about who you sold yourself to. "Let's just say" I don't consider people who prey on children any great loss either.

[If he tortures this guy, it sure as hell isn't going to be with music.]

[Lip-reading isn't a perfect thing given the way people don't tend to enunciate their words, but from watching through her camera, Ginia picks up enough of the conversation.

Selling his soul.

Wouldn't have been any great loss.

Anger flares through Ginia as her teeth grind together. She should hold her position, wait for Shun to give her a signal, but fuck. That. Ginia maintains enough calm to pack her camera back into her bag without breaking it before she hosts herself over the edge of the building, climbing into an alley. She takes up a position at the base of the building she was on, ready to cover which ever direction he may run in. If he chooses to run.

If Shun doesn't get him first.]

[The man scowls at Shun as he draws himself up. The anemic neon of the convenience store sign reflects in the former principal's sunken eyes, giving them a feline green gleam.]

You think I have a name? You lot really don't talk to each other, do you?

[That explains a lot, though Shun doesn't look as if he's intimidated by it. If the man had sold his soul and was capable of perceiving the Far Shore from the start, it had always been a possibility he wasn't human.]

Apparently not. But I'm guessing you're the demon someone tried to summon a few weeks after what happened at the school.

[He'd been there to see it, at least, even if he hadn't been one of the ones to fight it. It's the only demon he knows of having crossed over in his time here, and the spell effects had been similar both times.]

[Ginia holds her position, casually leaning against the building. Her left hand strays toward her back in reach of her knife, right hand free for a borderline.]

Wait, what?

[The man stops, and stares up at Shun, his attempt at bravado abruptly falling apart into confusion.]

What the fuck? Why do you think I'm a demon? They're bigger. And less mortal.

You did just point out that the old gods are useless at sharing useful information. [Shun puts that somewhat dryly. It's information, one way or another.]

What are you, then? If you can barter for souls then you're obviously not some entry-level spirit.

What do you mean, old gods? I'm human. I borrowed power from a demon. Those brats were its price.

[His gaze darkens introspectively for a moment, and he takes another long drag on his cigarette.]

Turns out it didn't like not getting them.

[Shun just gives the man a lengthy aside glance at that. Considering the raving about names, he would've assumed the man was being possessed, but apparently he was just being an idiot. Or is trying to throw them off again.]

So what did it do? [Nothing the man wouldn't have deserved completely, especially considering he's still alive.] Like I said, someone tried to summon what was probably the same one not long after what happened at the school.

I wouldn't know about that. A bunch of weirdos like you showed up to kick me around a few weeks after things went bad at the school, trying to get more information about the demon out of me. I never had much, though. I had a ritual to summon it, it showed up, it told me to make a contract...

[He scowls defensively.]

But ever since, I keep seeing things. Monsters nobody else notices. That demon must've done this to me.

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