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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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.

[Shun hadn't heard about that part.] Did the "weirdos" mention their names? [It could be useful to know who kicked the guy around, just to see what information they might have.

He has to give the man an extremely unimpressed look at that accusation, though. This definitely isn't helping his likelihood of getting out of this meeting unscathed, as far as Shun's concerned.]

Did you consider you did it to yourself, messing with things like summoning demons? [It does beg one question, though:] Don't you usually have to know something's name to summon it? Or was it just calling for any demon?

[The man sniffs, glancing away not quite in time to hide a small malicious smile.]

One of them went by Tsuzuki, and another one by Kiryu. Don't ask me about the other guys, though a couple of them looked like high school kids themselves.

They asked me the same question. The ritual I got didn't include a name.

[Shun silently curses their luck - that must've been before Tsuzuki became a shinki, considering the timing, so he wouldn't remember any of the details regardless. While he keeps an eye on the man's shifts in expression, he's confident enough that between himself and Ginia on standby, he's not going to offer any real trouble.]

Then where did you get the ritual from? [Lose one lead, follow another. It seems like they're not getting a name, so the source of the spell itself is probably the better follow-up.]

An old book. I'd been searching for years for that kind of thing. Mostly a hobby, 'til this thing showed up at my door.

And no, I don't have it anymore.

[He's frowning again; his cigarette is burned almost to the filter, and he flicks it out into the street, where a passing car smashes it flat in a shower of sparks.]

It vanished the day the spell went wrong.

[Well, that's one way to come across it. Shun's eyes narrow again, only briefly following the movement of the cigarette before they return to the man's face.]

Were there any signs of where it came from, or who put it there? [He'd guess it "disappeared" courtesy of them as well, but he's thinking it's not going to be nearly that easy.]

Someone must have noticed what you were doing.

It came in the post. Unmarked package, no return address.

[He leans back against the back of the bench.]

You want the guy who sent it to me? I'd sic you on him in a heartbeat if I knew who he was, but I don't.

You sound pretty certain it's a "he". [Long shot, but maybe there's something the guy's overlooked that might give them a lead. Or he might be presumptuous about who sent it. It's hard to tell.]

Why'd you quit and hide out, then? You're clearly not guilty about what you did.

You think a woman would do that? [Setting up an occult researcher, ruthlessly, based on superior knowledge? The man sounds surprised at the suggestion.]

I couldn't keep going. With those monsters everywhere? I had to find a way to get myself out of this deal.

Besides, there was backlash from the spell, and then that last lot of weirdos tracked me down... I needed a fresh start.

I think it's an oversight to assume one wouldn't. [Shun's met plenty of nasty women in his time on the battlefield, including the ones who wiped out his entire division of the Resistance, so he's definitely not predisposed to think this couldn't be one.

The man's attempt seems woefully lacking in light of all that, though, and Shun eyes him at length.] How long did you think that was going to last, with what you got yourself mixed up in? Someone was going to track you down again. Whether it was the monsters, or the demon, or us.

[The look he gives Shun is flat and a little hostile.]

I didn't think quitting my job would get me out of the deal. It gave me time to put in the research towards getting out of it.

And at least I didn't have to listen to those whining brats anymore.

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