jigokulogs | [OPEN] The end of the storm

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[OPEN] The end of the storm

Who ⬤ The team members and ANYONE!
What ⬤ The mission was a success! Time to face the music from friends and family.
When ⬤ Just after the tower expedition
Where ⬤ Outside Kaigo no Bou, probably moving around
Content Warnings ⬤ References to violence and horror imagery

All at once, the rains cease.

The damage remains, both to the city and to her inhabitants, but reality reasserts itself, and the ill wind that's blown through Jigoku-cho has—for now—come to an end.

Emergency services have borne away the injured, including the Daitengu and the freed Enma, leaving a gaggle of people emerging into the night.

[This is an OPEN IC MINGLE. Go forth and icly rubberneck or speculate or collect your friends back home to get some rest or yell at said friends for taking risks without telling them they were chosen for this mission out of some misguided attempt to get them to not worry. Who would do something so stupid, anyway.]

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[ of course shylock's coming in after the blood rain broke, and he's not about to let a couple of human kids stop him either -- but it's all right. he gets the apprehension, seeing how much the people who went on the raid had went through, but shylock comes in good faith. ]

I wonder how your fellow Central wizards would react upon seeing you like this.

[ a chuckle as he hovers over cain's bedraggled self, setting down a beautiful bouquet of roses and, naturally, a bottle of red wine with a cute bow attached to it. ]

Reckless as always... If Lord Figaro were here, he would have healed you up right away like last time.

[Shylock found Cain looking like he'd just woken up from a decades long nap; which he almost quite literally had. He wasn't expecting visitors here, but clearly lit up when he saw the west wizard.

Aurora, Megumi's white wolf had also perked up his head when Shylock approached, seeming to regard the man. Well, it seemed like this person was no threat to Megumi and a friend of Cain's, so the wolf just settled back on his place on the end of the bed.]

Didn't Figaro say he can't heal stupidity? Or at least when you exhaust all your mana...

[He made a face though, at the suggestion of the other Central wizards. Honestly, Megumi and Yuuji (and Fukuda and Lio) hovering was bad enough.]

Please don't remind me of Oz's disappointed stare...I'm sure Arthur and Riquet would lecture me for hours too....

[He's just going to focus on the gifts because they were so pretty! And Shylock always had excellent taste.

He'll save the drinks for later, though.]

I honestly didn't realize I still had some of my magic until the last minute. And I apparently used a ton of it resisting the influence of whatever that was at the top of the tower.

[ not the first time shylock has seen a white wolf hover around cain -- though unlike cerberus, this one looks docile enough. ]

Fortunately, it's just me and Murr here. And normally I would ask of you to stay safe, but if you've gotten important information out of your journey, I'd say it's worth getting a little banged up every now and then.

[ besides, he isn't sure how arthur and especially riquet would survive here. oz would've fit in here just fine as a renowned demon lord, however.

he takes a seat on a nearby chair, listening more to what cain has to say. ]

Most of us have a bit of magic left within us. Murr can still make fireworks, while I can do a bit of levitation magic to make drinks with. [ his smile then disappears a little as he addresses the matter at hand. ] What exactly attacked the tower in the first place?

[See? He knew Shylock was a practical man. Though it was fortunate that Cain didn't have a chance to pull what Cloud did, otherwise things might have ended very differently.

He was happy that his magic was still around, but if doing something that little had drained him completely, it rather worried Cain about his future prospects if he didn't get it back. He still wasn't great with controlling how much he used...

But Shylock's question about what had attacked turned his expression serious.]

I wish I could tell you. Looking at it was hard like...it was there, but wasn't at the same time. The more you tried to make it out the less I was sure of what I was seeing it. It kind of...well, it kind of reminded me of the Calamity. Like how it breaks the rules of the world? It was that feeling.

The Calamity...

[ oh jeez, that's even more of a threat than shylock had realized. on one hand, there's only a handful of sage's wizards in this circle of hell, but on the other they've both met all sorts of people from different worlds who could fight off this supernatural catastrophe. so they should be fine, for the most part.

shylock is no worrier, except when murr is involved. but he can't help but place a hand on his heart nonetheless.

no smoldering flames yet. that's a problem. ]

Well, isn't that a conundrum. [ he tries to laugh it off. ] And what of the Enma himself? Now we know why he hadn't made an appearance at the beach party...

[Cain did notice Shylock's hand to his heart. That's right, all of them had come here with their wounds. Or at least he'd assumed. Owen never stayed put long enough for him to ask, and Murr has been like that as long as Cain remembered him.]

Has your affliction been bothering you too? Megumi-the kid here with the wolf familiars-[ Aurora raises his head and wags his tail once before settling down again-]said he wanted to look into it, but I'm not sure how successful he'll be.

[The mention of the Enma, however, didn't cheer Cain up at all. His expression almost darkened as he answered.]

The Enma said nothing. I plan to go find him in the hospital but-I don't think he'll be very forthcoming.

As I figured. The Enma resembles more of a shut-in more than ever, now.

[ shakes his head at that, and the heart in his chest. ]

No, it hasn't flared up since. [ he smiles sadly. ] It'll be a problem if it comes back to me at an opportune time. But if your wolf friend can somehow find a way to abate these afflictions from us...

[ a sigh. ]

I wouldn't want a solution to it. But thank you for your concern.

[Well, at least Cain was becoming an expert on annoying those higher up on the food chain from him. But now it was Shylock who was fixed with a genuine look of concern.]

I know I should expect an answer like that from you. But it still hurts you, does it not? You needn't suffer for such a senseless reason.

[Not that he expected to convince Shylock any different, but he was nothing if not truthful about his feelings. ]

[ shylock has the gall to laugh softly at that. oh, cain. ]

Is it truly senseless? I'll enjoy any and all sorts of emotions, Cain. Even the ones that do hurt.

[ it's a western kind of thinking that he simply doesn't have the words to say. that's the difference between him and cain, a central who may go off the rails, but within reason and judgment. ]

For now, focus on getting better. One step at a time.

[Cain didn't look particularly pleased with the answer, but he knew there was no arguing Shylock out of that. He just hoped it didn't show up at a bad time...]

It's really not me that anyone should be worried about. I just over-exerted myself. I'm fine now.

[He laughed, though it was a bit humorless.]

Maybe I did spend too much time pretending to be human. I didn't even realize I had magic until the last possible moment.

Our magic will never go away until we break a promise. Which is why we must stay vigilant in these trying times, Cain. As you grow closer to your peers in this world, it'll lead to the opening of your heart, and who knows -- you might be tempted to make a reckless promise with them.

[ with someone as amicable with both humans and nonhumans such as cain, the younger wizard might be more prone to that fatal mistake. his personality certainly doesn't help either, which is why shylock is reminding him of this. ]

But it's all right. You no longer have to pretend to be someone you're not while you're here. You're free, in other words. [ he smiles. ] That said, you should take another nap just to make sure you'll well-rested. Shall I help you with that?

[ a little bit of sleep magic goes a long way. ]

[He knows the dangers, he really does. But he'd spent so much of his little time alive pretending to be something he was not. And that...was the issue here. And it wasn't something he was sure that Shylock would even know about.]

I'm not..worried about promises. I know the dangers, though it's not my style to shut people out. But, it's gonna be hard to get any stronger like this. I shouldn't have hesitated in the tower at all.

[The last sentence he spoke was quiet, very quiet, and Shylock would have to be paying attention to hear. He hadn't told anyone about the creature attacking them first turning into the dark beast, then a simalcrum of Nicholas in front of his very eyes. At least it wasn't very clear from the video footage either...

But he shook his head. He did feel tired still, but he didn't want to keep sleeping for now reason.]

I'm fine now, though. You don't need to help. Honestly, it's about time for me to get up.

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[OPEN] The end of the storm

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