ᴋᴀᴍᴜɪ ᴜᴇʜᴀʀᴀ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
metafictions) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
jigokulogs2022-05-08 10:53 pm
metafictions) wrote in jigokulogs2022-05-08 10:53 pm
[open] open 24 hours
Who ⬤ Kamui and you
What ⬤ The extremely cursed 7/11 night shift
When ⬤ throughout May
Where ⬤ that one Sutoku/Shuten 7/11
Content Warnings ⬤ n/a for now, will update
Notes ⬤ please see Kamui's permissions to opt into having him sense your character's criminal power!
A. convenience store;
[It's 2 am, or thereabouts, and you are on a street where Shuten and Sutoku territory just barely overlap-- so it's a bit of a dodgier visit tonight. However you managed, you've finally bypassed the oni punks squatting outside the automatic doors and made your way into the waiting fluorescent arms of the 7/11, only to find...]
Welcome.
[this guy, dispassionately welcoming you to the store. Like, has he even blinked? It's like they've seated a cryptid behind the counter in a silly uniform. His lack of enthusiasm, his unbroken stare, and the strange presence his silver left eye seems to radiate all combined make this late night convenience store visit feel especially unnerving.
Sometimes, he pauses to stock the shelves, but it always sort of feels like he's watching you. Not that he's a rude cashier, or treating you like you're going to shoplift: he'll ring you up just fine. It's just his terrible vibes. Sorry.]
B. toilet dungeon;
[There's also a public restroom in this 7/11... if you can find it!]
Oh, welcome back. [says Kamui breezily, as his customer emerges from the 7/11 back door for the second-- or third?-- time.] Did you find the WC yet? I'm sorry for the inconvenience, it was cursed last week, so the hallway has gotten longer. You need to follow the directions exactly or you'll just be sent back here right away.
[In one long, breathless sentence, Kamui repeats the directions:]
Go through the door in the back, take a right, go through the fourth door, turn through the first hallway on the left, then keep going straight until you take a right at the intersection, go through the second door and you'll get to a staircase, so go all the way down and through the emergency exit on the right, take the stairs all the way up to the top, and you'll hit a T-shaped hallway, and you'll find the WC just past that.
[He blinks, head canting ever so slightly to the side.]
Please take your time.
C. hani-uhh???;
[There's a haniwa figure that has cropped up right next to the magazine aisle. Fortunately, this is one of Kamui's earlier shifts, so he's not the only employee around and won't be abandoning the register for this-- but they've still got to figure out what to do with this distinctly-cursed looking little guy before one of their oni regulars kicks it over, right?]
Erm...
[Except that, especially with his ability reactivated, it really, really feels like a bad idea to touch the clay figurine. And yet, he definitely can't just leave it there, can he?
Kamui's brows knit together with concern as he stands over it, armed with one of the tongs for hot food. He clicks them together, uncertain, before he crouches down to get a better look at it. He might be poking it with the tongs. Give it a few moments-- he's making up his mind.]
D. wildcard
[here for a vending machine substory task (or another substory)? just wanna generally harass your friendly neighborhood 7/11 cryptid? go wild my dude]
What ⬤ The extremely cursed 7/11 night shift
When ⬤ throughout May
Where ⬤ that one Sutoku/Shuten 7/11
Content Warnings ⬤ n/a for now, will update
Notes ⬤ please see Kamui's permissions to opt into having him sense your character's criminal power!
A. convenience store;
[It's 2 am, or thereabouts, and you are on a street where Shuten and Sutoku territory just barely overlap-- so it's a bit of a dodgier visit tonight. However you managed, you've finally bypassed the oni punks squatting outside the automatic doors and made your way into the waiting fluorescent arms of the 7/11, only to find...]
Welcome.
[this guy, dispassionately welcoming you to the store. Like, has he even blinked? It's like they've seated a cryptid behind the counter in a silly uniform. His lack of enthusiasm, his unbroken stare, and the strange presence his silver left eye seems to radiate all combined make this late night convenience store visit feel especially unnerving.
Sometimes, he pauses to stock the shelves, but it always sort of feels like he's watching you. Not that he's a rude cashier, or treating you like you're going to shoplift: he'll ring you up just fine. It's just his terrible vibes. Sorry.]
B. toilet dungeon;
[There's also a public restroom in this 7/11... if you can find it!]
Oh, welcome back. [says Kamui breezily, as his customer emerges from the 7/11 back door for the second-- or third?-- time.] Did you find the WC yet? I'm sorry for the inconvenience, it was cursed last week, so the hallway has gotten longer. You need to follow the directions exactly or you'll just be sent back here right away.
[In one long, breathless sentence, Kamui repeats the directions:]
Go through the door in the back, take a right, go through the fourth door, turn through the first hallway on the left, then keep going straight until you take a right at the intersection, go through the second door and you'll get to a staircase, so go all the way down and through the emergency exit on the right, take the stairs all the way up to the top, and you'll hit a T-shaped hallway, and you'll find the WC just past that.
[He blinks, head canting ever so slightly to the side.]
Please take your time.
C. hani-uhh???;
[There's a haniwa figure that has cropped up right next to the magazine aisle. Fortunately, this is one of Kamui's earlier shifts, so he's not the only employee around and won't be abandoning the register for this-- but they've still got to figure out what to do with this distinctly-cursed looking little guy before one of their oni regulars kicks it over, right?]
Erm...
[Except that, especially with his ability reactivated, it really, really feels like a bad idea to touch the clay figurine. And yet, he definitely can't just leave it there, can he?
Kamui's brows knit together with concern as he stands over it, armed with one of the tongs for hot food. He clicks them together, uncertain, before he crouches down to get a better look at it. He might be poking it with the tongs. Give it a few moments-- he's making up his mind.]
D. wildcard
[here for a vending machine substory task (or another substory)? just wanna generally harass your friendly neighborhood 7/11 cryptid? go wild my dude]
no subject
[With his senses still not at full power, it's impossible to tell whether the very risky energy that he's feeling is coming from the haniwa... or from Harry himself. Knowing what he knows about hell thus far, it could really go either way.]
What exactly does the research entail? [Setting aside the tongs; he'll remember to, uh, not use these again for food later.] I was an investigator myself before I arrived in Jigoku-cho, but never a paranormal one.
no subject
The research is vague and all knowing. It requires connecting with the subject to communicate through the veil, glimpsing at its inner-most thoughts. Very complicated stuff. [ He scratches his beard and his lips curve into a haughty smile, clearly knowing something that his friend doesn't. ] Do you believe in the supra-natural, Kamui? I certainly hope so by now, but everyone is skeptical to some degree.
[ *Kim*. ]
no subject
[He folds his arms now, looking up at Harry (and avoiding the dead fish stare of the haniwa).]
Yes. Yes, I do. There are a great many things that are just beyond the comprehension of what normal humans can see and experience, and I know it for a fact. [He's not exactly a normal being himself, even if, for now, he's nothing more than a friendly neighborhood conbini worker.] Any guesses on what you might learn from that thing?
no subject
Not one. But that's ok. Sometimes the best expectations are no expectations. [ A real gem, to be expected from a man full of them. ] You've made me curious now in your lack of surprise and casual attitude. Have you had run-ins with the para-natural in the previous life you led, man I have never met?
no subject
'Run-in' is putting it extremely lightly. I'm steeped in it, you could say. [Kamui smiles lightly, pulling his bangs back from the left side of his face to reveal his odd silver eye.]
Hey, stranger... how would you like to hear an old folk tale? About my eye?
no subject
[ Not *a* eye, but his eye? Harry -- *The florist* pauses and then carefully leans in, welcoming himself into Kamui's personal space to get a better look at his eyes. A much better look. ]
icon pov you are harry and VERY close
[Kamui doesn't budge; he was the one who invited Harry to take a look, after all. Most people notice the colors at a quick glance already-- his right the deep brown of any other average Asian man, the left so strikingly silver that it's nearly milky-white-- but up so close, that's not the only thing that sets the silver eye apart. Its pupil is slightly slitted, like a cat's. The effect is somewhat uncanny, as if it doesn't quite belong in a human's socket.]
Far, far away, on a certain island, live a tribe of indigenous people called the Sundance. For many years they've followed an ancient ritual. If a child was deemed worthy, he'd be given the eye of one of the island's native hyenas. The eye, when transplanted into his socket, would turn silver... a sign that the natural processes of death were stopped within him.
In effect, that child would become... immortal.
[And abruptly he moves his hand away, letting his bangs fall back down in front of his face. (He should see about getting a trim sooner or later.)]
Sounds almost like a fairy tale, doesn't it?
no subject
CONCEPTUALIZATION - Yet, there is always a truth to the fable. That is how they endure without being lost to time. ]
Are you saying your eye makes you immortal?
[ His tone is a mix of incredulous and curious blended together as he assesses the eye before pulling back. How did he miss this detail? He should have paid better attention. ]
no subject
[Kamui smiles. It's a bit cheeky, actually-- he even winks that strange eye as Harry moves back.
His eye comes to him from elsewhere. Not a lost island somewhere in Micronesia, but a cold, sterile white room; bright lights; tall strangers in masks; the searing memory of nothing but pain before a return to utter darkness and quiet.
His smile seems to fade slightly. He'd like to tell Harry the whole truth, but the whole truth is something very sore in his heart.]
I've never been to the island itself, either. It's called Lospass: an island that's lost its past.
no subject
Similar to Ubi Sunt?, then. [ The inflection of a question at the end is an intentional one. He smiles, deigning to explain. ] Ubi Sunt? is an archipelago on the Mundi isola, bordering Vesper and the Pale. You may notice I inflect a question to its name and that's because it is *disappearing*. An impoverished land on the verge of entroponetic collapse.
And what does "entroponetic collapse" mean, you may think? [ He reaches up to his red shades and slips them off, eyes twinkling darkly. ] It means it's disappearing into Pale. Where are they? Not even the people whose families are from there know.
no subject
[This is fun, actually. He does love a good mystery. It’s his turn to stare intently at Harry, looking totally riveted by the prospect of whatever the Pale is.]
What is it? The Pale, I mean. Is it some means to another plane of existence? Like another side of reality?
no subject
I'd be happy to tell you, but... [ He brings his head back and lowers his voice with conspiracy. ] Kim really doesn't like it when I talk about the Pale. I don't think it exists here, but I think it bothers him.
[ He could be wrong. Kim treats it like a fact, something that is and cannot be changed, which is fine and well. Harry just assumes there must be more to it than that. Everyone has an opinion, whether they share it in full or not. ]
no subject
That's okay. I'll respect Kim's feelings, then.
[But also, the secrecy makes him want to know even more, somehow. Filing that one away for later.]
Is there anything else strange like that in your world?
no subject
no subject
[Not as exciting as the alive umbrella Kim had also mentioned running into during his first week here, maybe, but as basically a cryptid himself... he wants to know.]
Like... Bigfoot and Issie, and the Jersey Devil?
no subject
INLAND EMPIRE - Focus on the Jersey Devil one!
CONCEPTUALIZATION - No, no. Issie! What's an Issie? ]
I have literally never heard of any of those.
no subject
[Oh yeah. Alternate universe.]
Okay. The Jersey devil is a flying, hoofed beast from the forests in a certain part of America; Bigfoot is a big, hairy man-like creature, also found in the woods; and Issie is sort of like a Japanese Loch Ness.
[Wait. He wouldn't know about the Loch Ness if he's not from Earth, either. Kamui rewinds.]
Both of them are reptilian, dinosaur-like creatures that live in lakes.
no subject
RHETORIC - Do people from "America" call themselves Americanese or something else? ]
Ok. Bigfoot feels very straight-forward. Loch Ness and Issie less so, but if they're in lakes... maybe they are named after the lake? [ Asking this like Kamui would have all the answers to his questions. ] But I'm lost on the Jersey Devil. Is it from Jersey? And what is Jersey?
...
I think you've given me more questions than answers.
no subject
[Aren't we still pretending he's not Harry, Kamui???
Harry is more or less right about the water ones, but he. He has to explain New Jersey now, he supposes?]
New Jersey is one of 50 states in a large country called the United States of America. Jigoku-cho resembles my world's Japan, so if we were really in Japan right now, America would be across the ocean and on the opposite coast of the land mass.
[a beat.]
Maybe I should stop confusing you, now.
no subject
--But, hey! I still learned something. Sort of. [ Then, after a beat, he puts the shades back on. ] You didn't see me here today.
no subject
Thanks for coming in, sir. Your secret's safe with me. Just... be careful with that thing.