[open] hell is empty and all the devils are here

[cyberfly]

Who: Nagi and open
What: Stalking a goddess; comforting the grieving; breaking(?) and entering
When: April 10-13
Where: Outside the temple of Amaterasu; somewhere in the Near Shore; temple of Mahakala
Warnings: n/a


[ooc: Prose always welcome! Will match style. ]


[open] April 11: Surveillance

[ He's been here for about an hour. He sits in a well concealed location in a tree where he can see the gates of the temple of Amaterasu. He's come here frequently since he discovered its location, and has found it exceedingly difficult to get past the security. It must be some kind of magical barrier, because nothing in his repertoire of hacks could break whatever it is that's sealing the doors. So, it's up to old fashioned stake-outs like this one. He would much rather be able to get electronic eyes on the inside and peek and listen, but this will have to do.

He notices the same set of gods coming and going with a full entourage of shinki. Are these the original gods? Not the pretenders that have been brought in from all over to 'substitute'? Nagi pulls out a camera with a zoom lens and snaps a few photos. He might have to put a tail on one or all of them. Maybe their temples won't be so impenetrable? It's worth a shot. ]



[closed: Omi] April 10: Gone but not forgotten

[ The trip over to the Near Shore is quick and uneventful. Nagi has done this many times already, on his own. He hasn't had much opportunity to come out with Omi though, and certainly not for this particular purpose.

A mission. Or prayer, as Omi put it. Gods can answer them if they see fit, and apparently this one piqued Omi's interest. Someone, a human, needed their help.

Nagi isn't quite sure what gods can do, aside from killing a few ayakashi. This mission doesn't look like one of those. He's also not entirely sure why people ought to be helped. Why do people pray to some invisible force they can't even prove is there? It seems entirely silly and an unproductive waste of energy. Nevermind that gods actually do exist that might be deigned to answer. Nagi has a feeling he's never prayed to a god in his life. (When he had a life, anyway).

They arrive on the street where their client lives, and he falls into step beside Omi, peering curiously at him from the corner of his eye. ]

What exactly are we supposed to do?



[closed: Ukoku] April 13: Like Schwarz, but not

The place with unhealthy trees, he'd said. Nagi had wondered whether this meant dead trees, and it turns out he is right.

There are rows of them, brown and lifeless, lining the walk up toward an equally dead garden that's hemmed in by a stone wall that's falling apart. Maybe it's fitting for the bringer of death, the destroyer of all elements. Nagi only did some brief research into the god, but not that much. After all, this man is not him. He lives in his house, though. And the house is decrepit. Nagi pauses for a moment to look up into the trees, where crows blanket the sky like a dark cloud. The theme of black seems to run throughout this place, and for some reason Nagi finds it weirdly comforting.

He steps in through the wide-open doors and takes a moment to look around. Nothing seems to be booby-trapped or under surveillance. He checks for bugs anyway, just in case. Then he heads to the kitchen where he opens the fridge and helps himself to some sodas. He sets up the laptop, hacks into the Wifi and sits in the kitchen, clicking through various things on the screen. And he waits.

Comments

[dancermai]

[ There's a girl, quietly sneaking up behind Nagi because she's noticed him being sneaky and she also wanted to be sneaky. But she's not very good at it. But at least she's trying to whisper. ]

What...are you doing?

[cyberfly]

[ He can hear you, by the way. Nagi doesn't do surveillance half-assed. He is constantly aware of his surroundings. Besides, he has a feeling she's not very good at sneaking up on people, by the way the twig snapped under her feet.

He sighs and peers down. ]

What does it look like?

[dancermai]

[ She has a quick look over where they were and then at the camera he appears to be holding. ]

Practicing at being a paparazzi?

[ What else would someone be doing hiding in a tree outside of what looked like a well guarded home? ]

[cyberfly]

[ Paparazzi...like the stupid photogs who run after celebrities, hoping to catch them with a illicit lover or in the midst of a wardrobe malfunction? As if Nagi had the inclination for anything half so useless. He snorts. ]

No. I'm doing recon.

[ He thinks it's pretty obvious. But then again, Mai doesn't strike him as particularly adept at spycraft. But he also knows she wanted to help... He sighs. ]

Can you climb up?

[dancermai]

Uhhhh...

[ Climbing trees wasn't something she was particularly good at but from her morning training she's getting braver at doing things like this. It takes her quite a few tries and a few almost slips and she's at least trying to keep her surprised/distressed squeaks muffled.

Eventually she settles herself in the tree nearby. ]

What do you mean by recon?

[existentialcrisis]

The kitchen is small, cramped, cold, and dark. One window provides most of the light; apart from that there's only a blueish fluorescent fixture above the oven. All the surfaces are clinical, utilitarian stainless steel—except the little table and chairs, which are intricately carved wood. At one point they were painted, though the images are faded and worn: tigers, snakes, crescent moons.

It's only a few minutes before Ukoku knocks on the frame of the open doorway as if this isn't his temple. "You found me! Good." He takes the chair opposite Nagi and leans over to swipe a dish towel off the stove. There's a smudge of dark grease on his wrist. He's wearing what could be teacher clothes, again, sans the dinosaurs: his shirt is just black, sleeves rolled up, a little disheveled. "I can't remember if I got your name."

[cyberfly]

The place is an odd mishmash of styles. It doesn't have the most useful lighting around either, but there's enough sunlight coming in from the window at this time of day.

Nagi hears the man coming. He glances up from the laptop screen but looks otherwise unperturbed to be sitting in someone else's kitchen helping himself to their internet and beverages.

"You didn't," comes the reply. Tap tap tap, goes the keyboard before he pauses. He follows up after a moment with: "Naoe Nagi."

[existentialcrisis]

Ukoku deliberates for a moment, while he scrubs the grease off his wrist, on how to go about this.

"Ni," he says finally, pausing to chuck the towel at the counter. It lands half in the sink. "Jianyi. Shall we?"

The teenage apathy is almost palpable. He came alone for an endeavor to find ayakashi, so he's a shinki, on top of that. Good.

[cyberfly]

Ni Jiyanyi. Nagi files the information away. He wasn't going to ask him, but it's still useful to know. He looks up to see him wiping grease from his arm. He doesn't ask about that either.

"Sure."

He packs his laptop away and secures it into his shoulder bag.

"Where do you wanna start?"

[existentialcrisis]

He drags an almost identical bag out from under the table and slings it over his shoulder. It's stuffed full of things that clink.

"I'll show you."

Seconds later they're in the home of the Near Shore's shrine to his particular version of Mahakala, a quiet park. No buildings rise above the trees. The shrine itself isn't much more than a six-armed statue leaning up against a boulder, hidden by undergrowth. A bowl containing a small collection of items sits at its feet: wilted flowers, drops of wax from a candle, a few coins.

Ukoku pauses for a second to peer into it—never anything interesting!—and points as he speaks: "There's a hospital that way, temple this way, high school, cemetery. What do you think? You're in charge."

Surveillance

[birdstheword]

Hello~ Hello~! Are you having any luck up there?

[Don't mind this overly cheerful voice calling up to him in a harsh whisper. It's a wonder she could really spot him at all. Nagi isn't exactly easy to spot but she's smiling right up at him. She shifts a bit as she drops her backpack to the ground and digs through it. She pulls out a water bottle after awhile and holds it up at him, giving it a little incising shake]

Are you thirsty? It's sorta hot out, you know!

[cyberfly]

.....

[ Nagi is very well concealed, which is the whole point of this mission. But clearly he's not invisible and this is daytime, after all. Night-time surveillance would make him less obvious but he'd miss anything interesting that might happen in the afternoon.

He glances down. Well, it's not like there's much going on up there anyway. The people have gone inside and he's gotten their faces on camera at least. He stuffs his things back into his bag and then climbs down the tree. He stares at the water bottle for a minute before he finally takes it. ]

...thanks.

[ He takes a sip. ]

No one followed you in here, did they?

[birdstheword]

[Hajime perks when he takes it, her smile growing that much more as she is clearly pleased.]

Nope! No one! I'm solo! I can double check if you're worried though!

[She lifts her hand high into the air before bringing it down in a two finger salute]

What were you doing way up there anyway?

[cyberfly]

[ Okay...Nagi is confused as to why she's smiling so broadly. Was it something he did? ]

Um. No, that's okay.

[ Even if someone did follow, it's too late now. They would've seen her talking to him. She doesn't seem to belong to the Amaterasu entourage, but Nagi looks at her warily anyway. He doesn't give away too much. ]

Taking pictures. [ That much is obvious, so he goes ahead and says it. ]

[birdstheword]

Oh? Do you like taking pictures? I do sometimes too! They're great for collages, you know?

[Hajime lowers her hand slowly, looking at him with curiosity before glancing around. It's an odd place for snapping pictures, inless he's really into nature or likes how the building in the distance looks. Hajime doesn't judge though. Everyone has their weird hobbies, right?]

[oneblackcat]

It's a quiet night on the street of their destination. Technically, they probably don't need to do this, but when he saw this one's plea, it was hard to turn away from it. Maybe the daughter is still alive somewhere and maybe she's long dead, but that's beside the point. Her mother wants her back, and wants to hope that someday she'll see her again.

If only his parent had felt the same way...

But that's why he wants to try. Just in case the girl is still alive, because you never really knew. Maybe she was, just like he'd been.

"We just need to reassure the mother that there's still reason to hope... She wants to keep believing, so I don't think it will be too difficult."

[cyberfly]

The girl had disappeared a year ago. Nagi knows that the likelihood of her being alive still is exceedingly low. He wonders whether Omi is aware of this, or if he is just as naive as the mother seems to be.

They turn the corner and find the house. It looks fairly normal from the outside, with just a small walled-in yard and a driveway for one car out front. On the gate is tied a yellow ribbon.

"Why does she want our help? Wouldn't it be better to talk to the police?"

At least they'd have something to add. Assuming their investigation is still continuing.

[oneblackcat]

"I'm sure she's already been to the police many times... Aside from that, I don't think the police can give her what she really wants this time."

Police were there for preventing and solving crimes. Hope and inner strength through adversity wasn't their specialty. That was the realm of religion, and religious figures. Which... Omi guesses is him now. What a weird concept.

He approaches the front door and rings the bell.

[cyberfly]

What she really wants still makes very little sense to Nagi, but he nods and comes along beside him to do what he can.

The door opens after a minute. A woman stands there, blinking at them. If Nagi is surprised that she can see them there, he doesn't say anything.

"Yes?" she says hesitantly.

[oneblackcat]

Well, here we go.

"H-hi... I realize this is unexpected, and I probably don't look like you imagined... but my name is Diana. I'm here for your prayer... about your daughter."

mid-post-surveillance??

[bighand]

[Whenever Nagi decides to hop out of the tree, Kija just so happens to be there. When did he get here? What was he doing? There's no answer to that besides "just walking around," so never mind it... He's here now, and looking only sort of surprised someone was just up in a tree.]

What is this?

[cyberfly]

[ On the other hand, Nagi is not surprised that someone is at the foot of the tree when he jumped down. Well, sort of jumped. He cushioned his descent by slowing himself a little, and lands quietly on the grass like he just came off of a step. Nagi would have waited until the coast was clear, but this guy clearly is just lost, and not some security detail from the temple he's been staking out. And besides, there are gods to be followed. He can't just loiter around in a tree waiting for this guy to beat it. ]

What is what?

[ Confused. ]

[bighand]

[Kija, not being the one who just came out of a tree, is now doubly confused as to why he's also being asked a question. Huh?]

You were in a tree! Why were you in a tree? Were you stuck?

[cyberfly]

No.

[ Why would he be stuck in a tree? He just jumped down from one, which contradicts the idea of stuck. Nagi tilts his head at him. ]

I was looking at something.

[ It's a vague enough answer to mean anything. And since answers are being demanded, he asks a question of his own. ]

What are you doing here?

[bighand]

[Suspicious... but not suspicious enough for Kija to follow up on that, apparently. He's just a boy, surely he just likes to climb trees...]

Walking. I'm improving my mental map of the area.