April catchall + Night Parade

[silentscout]

Who ⬤ Lalli Hotakainen + you
What ⬤ A few prompts for April, mostly Night Parade stuff but some other things too
When ⬤ Throughout all of April
Where ⬤ All over the place
Content Warnings ⬤ violence in a couple of the prompts



Actual prompts in the comments below! If you want to write a starter for us, feel free to do so.

Comments

[silentscout]

[Thaaaat's a gun

To be fair, Lalli has a gun of his own- an old rifle is strapped to his back, in clear sight. But that gun isn't in his hands right now, and he really doesn't want to shoot another person with it anyway. He probably couldn't either, not with his injured shoulder. So he watches Kamui carefully, not making any sudden movements. With his distinctly not-human eyes, he looks rather catlike in his mannerisms right now.]

I don't want trouble.

[Can he dive back out the window? Possibly. But with the youkai running around outside looking for him, it's a risk. Just like staying here is a risk too.

Of course, he could just explain that he's a member of the department of the Enma and that he ran on the wrong side of a batch of youkai during an investigation and he just dove in the first window he found open, but that involves using his words. A skill he's notoriously bad at.]

[metafictions]

[With the gun still in his hand and a careful eye fixed on Lalli-- and his rifle-- Kamui slowly circles around to the open window.]

I'll let you stay for a while if you answer some questions for me.

[Silently, he closes the window and draws the curtains shut. One uninvited guest is more than enough for the night. At least he doesn't recognize the voices of any of his oni comrades out there, so he probably won't get in trouble for hiding... whoever this guy is.

Kamui's keeping that gun on him, but he's also reaching into a different drawer and pulling out a first aid kit. He's back at Lalli's side in a second, opening the kit and digging for something to clean that cut up with.]

What clan are you running from?

[silentscout]

[Lalli's eyes, in turn, are fixed on Kamui. He's still not moving except to speak and to watch the other man, but he's not letting Kamui out of his sight.]

...okay.

[He has nothing to hide, he can answer a few questions. Though he's surprised by a first aid kit coming out, he had thought he would have to wait until he got home to take care of his arm.]

I don't know. I was told to look for any kappa, and that's what I've been doing.

[The orders from the Enma didn't specify which clans to focus on, so he hasn't been paying attention to clan territory. A big mistake on his part.]

[metafictions]

So you’re an agent of the Enma.

[Lucky break. He hasn’t been able to reach his one Enma contact these last few days— not that he trusts Soma to be forthcoming with information, anyway— so he’s certainly very, very fortunate to have a lead stumbling in through the open window.

He’s got alcohol and cotton. Kamui busies himself cleaning the wound: good thing it’s not too deep, but—] This is Shuten territory. Tensions are really high. If they catch a whiff of your blood around here, they’d probably take it as the Enma interfering with oni business, rather than a lost agent. And then we’d all be in trouble.

[Kamui’s tone is neutral enough, now: they may as well be just chatting, guns aside.]

What have you found so far? Any kappa, any leads?

[silentscout]

[Part of Lalli is saying 'that's private information for the Enma', but another part of him is saying 'this guy could still shoot you, it's probably best to give him what you know.' It's not like what he knows is some big secret anyway, except for the part where some of it is.]

That's what I was looking for-

[He hisses at the wound-cleaning, but he steels himself and tries not to flinch.]

...that's what I was looking for: kappa, to get leads from them. I'm not arresting anybody or causing trouble, I'm supposed to look for people and tell the others where to find them.

[A scout, basically. Given his wiry frame and quiet voice, it's probably not surprising that Lalli doesn't want to be the one doing the questioning.]

[metafictions]

Just a pair of eyes, then.

[As much as first impressions can be deceiving (he himself is a smaller, quieter odd one out among the oni) he hums quietly, accepting the explanation. This part's not so secret, after all; no reason to lie when everyone knows that the Enma are after the kappa. At least not yet.]

I guess you have your work cut out for you: the kappa are certainly making themselves scarce. Have the Enma captured most of them already? Or has the hunt just begun?

[silentscout]

I don't know how many. But some.

[But also not all of them, given how Lalli is still out here working. There's something they still want to find out, and Lalli isn't one to ask questions. He just delivers results.]