thenearshore | 007 | Clean Up Your Act

Entry tags:

007 | Clean Up Your Act

Who: Everyone!
What: Spring cleaning
When: All day April 15
Where: All around the Heavens
Summary: The Heavens don't like things being cluttered, so it's time to clean up a little bit.

Main Hall

While the main hall of the Heavens seems spotlessly clean at all times, that's not the case at all. In fact, it's been at least a decade since the last time they actually cleaned everything out properly. There are a lot of hidden closets and back rooms that have layers of dust and dozens of boxes filled with nothing but junk. Who knows, though! You might find something interesting and useful in there along with all the garbage.

Suprises

Unfortunately, some of the older temples on the Far Shore seem to have some interesting surprises tucked away, ranging from cursed artifacts all the way to magical creatures locked up in long-forgotten rooms. You are free to be creative with this as a way to get your characters into trouble while cleaning.

Complimentary Dinner

After all of your hard work, you deserve to have some tasty food and refreshing beverages. So the Heavens have provided that for you, so that you can wind down after a long day. It's not as fancy as the banquets they often put on, but there is a nice array of food and drinks for everyone to enjoy.

Counselling

As usual, there is a white-robed shinki bearing the gold chrysanthemum of Amaterasu sitting at a table in the Main Hall. There is a small sign that denotes her as the counselling shinki. Anyone is welcome to approach her, and she will smile serenely at anyone passing by as well.

In Summary:

Clean up your home
Help clean others' homes
Get the main hall clean too!
Hope no hidden magic jumps out
Seek counselling if you need it
Enjoy your complimentary dinner
Have fun~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"What are we supposed to do with it now?"

That, as it turned out, was something he had less of an idea how to deal with than fighting the thing in the first place. He squinted down at it in vague, disgusted confusion, glancing at the placement of King's foot.

"...That's disgusting." And what was that odd smell?

The creature laid there, hurt arm and pinned tongue and glaring up at them. Had it given up or was it just biding its time? King has no idea, all he knows is he's way too scared to move. That was probably actually very beneficial right now.

"...You're telling me..."

He cleared his throat, making sure to keep the shakes out of his tone. "I don't know. I'm new here. Is it one of those ayakashi things?"

Another newcomer. Wonderful. Were ayakashi even supposed to appear on the far shore? Hell if he knew. Hijikata found himself wishing he'd asked a few more questions this morning, while he'd had the chance.

"It looks like... can't remember the name. Some kind of youkai, the one that goes after dirty bathtubs?"

He might be from the old days, but he's never really been one for superstitions. He always just figured it was a silly story to keep your damn kids from being too lazy about cleaning.

"I don't know if it's an ayakashi or not, though. Got here this morning, too."

"Akaname," he answered, keeping eyes locked on Hijikata so he doesn't have to look down and see just how close this monster is. The melting rubber smell was growing stronger and he knew soon he would have to move his foot, but that would be on less limb pinned . . . "My mom would tell me to clean my bathroom so it doesn't show up in the night when I was growing up." Was this karma coming back at him for being so bad at cleaning his bathroom as an adult??

"I'm guessing it's not one, if you were able to touch it, they said touching one would make a god sick--you're a god, right?" He looked at him, not sure if he should be more hopeful to have a god on hand or a shinki. Not that a shinki wasn't useful to him if not his own. "Maybe we can just let it go... Like letting a spider outside."

And maybe it would run away from them and leave them around.

Letting it out is... as good an idea as he's got right now, he supposes. If it's not an ayakashi, there isn't any inherent need to fight it, is there?

"What's the quickest way outside from here?" he wonders aloud, looking down the hall in both directions. Shoving all those long, struggling limbs through a window seems... awkward, so a door is probably better...

Damn, he wishes he actually knew his way around here at all.

"If I hold it from behind by the arms, can you try and make sure it doesn't get me with its tongue?"

The last thing he needs today is weird youkai tongue-related acid burns on his face or something.

"I think there's a balcony down that way," he pointed in a way that was supposed to illustrate down the all and around the left corner. "I think. I know I passed by some sliding doors that led outside on the way here."

His face soured at the man's suggestion. "Seriously, you're going to have me handle the acid tongue? I don't have glass hands here." He's impressed with his own ability to keep the panic out of his voice, but he can feel sweat starting to bead at his temples.

If he didn't see that the stranger was frightened now, that snappish comment certainly clues him in. Do they really have time to be arguing, while the thing is just lying there squirming?

"If you want to be the one who has to stay close enough to hold onto it, be my guest."

King was torn between fear and just the logistics of how he was going to do what this guy was asking. He definitely wasn't going to pick up the thing, but surely Hijikata wasn't stupid enough to pick up a tongue that was coated an acid, no matter how brave.

Maybe he could find something in the bathroom it came out of. Brooms or something that he could use as prongs.

"Step on the tongue, I have an idea." He needed to get off it anyway, he was pretty sure he was feeling tingling coming through the soles of his shoe.

Hijikata raised both eyebrows, incredulous, then looked down pointedly at his own straw sandals. He didn't think they'd last more than a few seconds, certainly not as long as King's shoe had been.

"You want me to step on it."

Yeah, sounds like a great idea.

"You want me to hold onto his tongue," he shot back. Straw sandals would last longer than human skin.

"I didn't say hold it," he snapped, losing his patience as the thing squirmed. Who on Earth would do that?

"By all means, think of a better way to keep it off of me, or you can hold this thing while I try to keep it occupied, but we don't have all night to argue about it!"

He almost wanted to keep arguing, because how else was he supposed to keep the tongue away from him if he wasn't supposed hold it down or at least facing the risk of being touched by it? Instead, he said, "Okay, okay. Once you got a hold of it I'll think of something."

He'll think of something to not have to be anywhere near the tongue.

Finally, they were getting somewhere. Or at least they might not spend all evening standing around shouting at each other.

"Go on ahead a little bit, and I'll hold it here. Maybe you can find something to grasp it with, or get it tangled around, or something."

He leans down to grab for the creature's arms, trying to pull them behind its back so he can keep it restrained without being seen clearly enough to make too good of a target.

"Thanks. I think I have an idea," he said as he stepped off the tongue, a litany of "thank god thank god" going through his head now that he was getting far away from that shoe-melting tongue. He started to run, a normal run for now as he's still within the other man's sight, shouting, "I'll be back!"

But as soon as he rounded the corner, he took off running the run of a man wanting to get far, far away from danger. He had absolutely no intention of returning. Just go home to his temple (he was so panicked he didn't even stop to think he could just teleport there) and hide for awhile and pretend this wasn't shameful.

His mad dashing was interrupted by him tripping over someone's cleaning supplies they had rudely left out in the middle of the hall. He all but face-planted to the ground, the sound of broomsticks and mopsticks clattering to the ground. Cursing in pain, he rolled over and seeing all those sticky tools remembered his earlier idea of using them as maybe some kind of tongs, as stupid as that would look and as dangerous it would still be. But technically Hijikata would be inbetween him and the tongue, at least, if he did it from over his shoulder. . . .

He stared at the cleaning supplies long and hard, to the point Hijikata has to be suspicious by now that King hasn't returned. After weighing many pros and cons and thinking about how someone like Saitama would be disappointed in him, he cursed again, picked up 2 brooms and a mop and started to run back the way he had just come.

By the time King returns, it's clear that a rather awkward impromptu wrestling match has been going on for quite some time. Both Hijikata and the akaname look a little bit worn out, and they've both clearly had their ups and downs -- on the one hand, Hijikata seems to have been able to somehow manage to pin the creature's tongue under its own head, but in the process, he's dissolved half of his shoe and several portions of his yukata, and he has a few developing bruises where it managed to get in a lucky, panicked elbow.

"Oh, you're back. Nice of you to -- stay down, damn it!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

007 | Clean Up Your Act

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