[ OPEN ] double trouble

[watermemory]

Who ⬤ Tamamori, Minakami, and whomstever (that's you)
What ⬤ Substory 2 and 4, and a couple other options
When ⬤ Throughout May
Where ⬤ All over
Content Warnings ⬤ None that I can foresee. Will edit if it crops up.

This is a duo open post involving fuckdogramagra and watermemory, because these two idiots are stapled at the hip at the moment. Harass one or the other or both, though let us know if you’d rather not have threadjacking occur.
Starters are in prose, but can tag in brackets if you prefer.


[ A: Substory #2: Vend Me A Dream ]
[ Location: Various (see below) ]

If anyone asks, this is Minakami's fault for agreeing to lend the shirime a hand—in his defense, he was startled and doesn't know how to say no to these things. Also in his defense, it sounded like a simple favour at the time.

Minakami and Tamamori can be found going round in circles downtown:

— ...in an arcade, trying to win a specific plushie from a crane game for an inugami's chew toy.
— ...at a drugstore, looking for a particular brand of hair conditioner for a nozuchi (What's the difference between regular and leave-in? Did it say what fragrance it wanted? What does hair porosity even mean?).
— ...down sidestreets and alleyways, chasing down a hapless tsurubebi to catch in a lava lamp. Sounds like some cabaret owner is redecorating and insists she needs it for atmosphere.
— ...trying, and seemingly failing, to help a hinnagami take a selfie. It’s likely they’ve forgotten exactly why they were doing this one, but they sure are giving it their all still.
— ...and generally getting hopelessly lost. Tamamori’s complaining that his feet hurt and Minakami’s usual good humour is bleeding away at the seams.

-

[ B: Substory #4: Haniwhat? ]
[ Location: A plaza in Sutoku territory. ]

Well, this one’s Tamamori’s fault, though Mina’s not free of sin for going along with it either. Despite getting cranky and tired by the end of the shirime’s runaround, it’s done its job at getting them situated in Jigoku-cho, and Minakami’s unease at seeing yokai everywhere (when he’s only been told cautionary tales about them and has had nothing but bad experiences with the one spirit he’s had contact with) has somewhat abated. Maybe things are less weird and bad than they seem!!

Which is why the duo can be found at an outdoor table not far from Tamamori’s apartment building. Normally there’s street performers or some kind of noisy event at this plaza, but right now it’s relatively quiet. There’s the remains of konbini snacks and onigiri on the table, and way too many soda cans for just two people.

Minakami has a small stack of books next to him (he’s already found a lending library willing to give a Lost Soul a library card), peacefully reading up on burial customs and ancient pottery. Tamamori has one of the haniwa figurines propped up on the table, rather having a very intense staring match with it, or trying to examine it. Not that he has any reason to be more suited to that than Minakami, but he’s apparently taken this self-appointed task very seriously. At odds with that is maybe the haniwa’s ‘embellishments’—the clay figurine appears to have a very small black felt cap, that looks like it would be from an old-fashioned school uniform. There’s even a tiny badge on the hat brim made from foil.

Spiritual sensitivity? Awful nightmare vibes? What’s that? It’s just a little guy.

-

[ C: Other: this was easier to pull off when they were kids ]
[ Location: Around the Sutoku apartment complex; the hallways, or lobby, or wherever else. ]

There’s no real rule saying that people from other factions can’t hang out. However, ‘hang out’ is a little too generous of a term for the ongoing shenanigans in Tama’s shiny, new Sutoku apartment. Mumbling voices at all hours, that quiet down just before the building superintendent makes their rounds, Tama poking his head out of his room’s door and checking down either end of the hallway before opening it for any reason at all... there’s even an incident with music playing a touch too loud, complete with the muffled sounds of people trying desperately to quiet it down.

It’s all pretty suspicious, and frankly, painfully obvious to his neighbors, no doubt. You could say something, give the duo tips on how to actually pull this stupid grift off, or just complain about the noise.

-

[ D: Other: happy birthday to the ground ]
[ Minakami-specific ]
[ Location: Shuten apartment foyer. ]

Despite the fact that he's made other living arrangements, Minakami been ducking back into his assigned flat every so often, whether to keep up appearances of abiding by the residency rules, or respond to Shuten obligations when they come calling, or store stuff that doesn't fit in Tama's place, or—in this case—to check his mailbox. There's rarely anything there, which he supposes is a consequence of doing everything through the telephone thing, but this time...

Jigoku-cho has adapted fast to the influx of "Lost Souls", and for a functioning, thriving modern city, that means marketing. And mailing lists. Truly, Hell is where data harvesters go. Somehow, his personal details got into the system, and after a little confusion of dates (it's June where he comes from, but May here), eventually the backlog of spam had to go somewhere.

Minakami can be found at the dingy foyer, his mailbox open and overflowing with advertisement fliers and promotional cardstock. He's carrying a shoulder-bag with one hand, and in the other hand he has a cheery-looking card recommending he spend his special day at a Tamamo-run spa (price 25% off for couples!). A tinny little mechanism is singing a legally-distinct version of Happy Birthday.

While his face is a difficult read at the best of times, it is more inscrutable now than ever.

Comments

[fuckdogramagra]

[ Tama makes a face, about to wonder aloud what the heck the Enma department was doing then, but. Well, his pride is now on the line!!! He puffs up his shoulders, proving that it is his lot in life to be bullied, and he knows this song and dance. ] I-I'm helping..!! Minakami just reads way faster than I do! [ ...which isn't a lie, but probably sounds insane. For all the supernatural stuff he's seen, nothing has explained Mina's capacity to read hundreds of books in like a couple days. ]

I'm trying to see if I can 'get' anything from Ka- from the haniwa. A bunch of people here are exorcists and spiritualists and things like that, and if I'm their junior, then I need to learn how to do things like that. [ He missed a step, explaining that he's been told more than once he could do that, but it's Tamamori and that's normal. ] They don't 'feel' great, but it's kinda hard to tell when everything feels crummy.

[watermemory]

[Hey, he's also had a lot of free time and... okay, no. Minakami just shrugs at the statement, taking his speed as a matter of fact with a simple:] I like reading.

[He does put a hand protectively over the stack of said fucking books.] W-well, even in our time these are a very old tradition, and the local calendar says it's been another hundred years... In some of these they're hardly more than a footnote.

...People with powers like that, to sense and dispel these things -- if they exist in our world [which he does believe, though the idea that Tamamori could be one of them is a new one] they aren't common. What about your world, miss...?

[killtime]

[ The Department was destroying them, somewhere. That was the word anyway. Andy hasn't actually seen anyone do it. She's on retrieval duty, and she's not particularly curious about how her own faction conducts its affairs either way. That'll probably come back to bite her someday, and probably sooner rather than later, but fuck it. She's never been well-known for her sound decision-making anyway.

Truthfully, this talk of exorcists and spiritualists is outside the realm of her expertise either way. She'd known people who claimed to be such things. Back in the old days, it was common to blame spirits and demons for things. It was a respectable occupation in some places. But she's always been the type that solves problems with her axe and her fists, which seemed to have less utility with supposedly supernatural entities. ]

So, this guy's reading an entire library on the subject, and you're what — picking up the fucking vibes? [ She relentless with Tamamori. Maybe if he'd ever stood up to her, even once, but as it stands... At least she doesn't really mean anything by it. Might even be her way of being friendly. ] We don't have anything like this back home that's distinctly real. No magic. No supernatural shit.

[ That's not true. There's her. And her immortality. But it's a small omission in the grand scheme of things, right? ]

[fuckdogramagra]

[ Unfortunately, he's pretty used to the crass language from Andy, given how he first met here. So where he might normally wilt or look even more awkward, Tama's instead adjusted to it, though he does wag a finger and look at her as deadpan as he can. ] Worse. I'm doing a poor job of it, because I've never done this before. I'm a writer, not an exorcist. [ He levels his face with the haniwa, trying to stare in to its vacant little eyes. ] I can tell they're giving something off...I've had enough weird dreams to confirm that. But it's hard to tell if they're doing it on purpose, or if it's just because they were disturbed.

[ Sorry that the 'weird dreams' thing is news to you, Minakami, but really this shouldn't be too surprising. ] Nothing at all? Hrm... [ Instead, Tama has moved on to what has him way more curious: how someone would end up in this stupid Hell when they are seemingly just a modern woman. Maybe someone who enjoyed the usual vices, but that's hardly a crime to him. He doesn't remember sutras. ] Then this whole place must be even more bizarre to you. We're from Japan, so all of this is at least familiar, even if not to this degree. The motorcars and little phones are the weirder part, if anything. But it must be the reverse for you...how does a soul end up supposedly 'stranded' so far from home...?

[watermemory]

[Minakami -- actively in the process of picking his book up as he's about to get back to it and let Tamamori talk to Andy -- lowers. the covers back down. and turns over to his friend.]

When you say "weird dreams..."

[Besides this, Andy's blunt description of her world does pique his curiosity. He really has no idea what the world beyond his country looks like outside of the newspapers or imported books -- for whatever reason, his reincarnated lives have stayed within a rough geographic region -- but he has a hard time imagining Japan is the only place with strange phenomena.]

This is, at least nominally, our afterlife, despite the-- futuristic nature of it. I wouldn't be so arrogant as to think that Westerners or foreigners would "default" to our cosmology. So...

[killtime]

[ There's a lot of things she could say about her thoughts on this being the real afterlife — of all the ones she's pictured in her lifetime, this is probably not one she either expected or hoped for — but the topic is more sensitive for her than it might be for someone else. She's almost seven thousand years old now, and that's a long damn time to wait only to be disappointed. Honestly, she hadn't coped well at first. Hence all the drinking. And the vomit on Tamamori's shoes. ]

Hell if I know. Maybe someone fucked up my paperwork. [ It's a half-sarcastic and entirely ineloquent answer to the question of "how," but it's honest. She'd never known why she was immortal either. Sure, she calls it a curse, but there's no proof of that. Or some higher power. Or magic. She just... Never died. Until now. ] Doesn't change that I'm stuck here, running errands for Enma.

[ She nods at the little clay figurine. ]

You said something about dreams?

[fuckdogramagra]

Well, I don't think they're that big of a deal...my mind plays tricks on me a lot. [ It's a much more gentle way to mention that he has hallucinations, but being fair, Tama's not used to being the one having to bring it up, even when its warranted. ] I've woken up from seeing other people's faces wrong in my dreams. Like, hollowed out, the same as a haniwa.

But, it has happened when I was awake, too, so I think they might just be on my mind too much? [ He's only had Kawako for like, half a day, but it's not like the Sutoku apartments are full of the damn things. ] I know that at least one of those times was my mind being the way it was, because I heard a hissing giggle sound, and I'm pretty sure a haniwa can't make noise.

[killtime]

[ That doesn't feel like a thing a person should mention so casually — the fact that their mind plays tricks on them, and often — but fuck it, Andy's not judging. Her own head has been unreliable for centuries. The human brain simply isn't equipped for a lifetime of several thousand years, and her skull continuously leaks memories she doesn't even know she's lost. So, sure — maybe Tamamori's head is a bit jacked up too.

But dreaming about faces like that — ones that look like the haniwa, that's a bit too on the nose, isn't it? And despite his phrasing, the fact that he's seen them while awake definitely makes it more suspicious. ]

Are you really trying to downplay the fact that you've been seeing haniwa faces all over the fucking place right now? [ Her hand finds her hip, her eyebrows pinched. ] That's not your brain being quirky. Those little bastards are off somehow.