[OPEN] moving day!

[watermemory]

Who ⬤ Minato, Eiichi, and anyone
What ⬤ July substories in a get-along “shirt” / knb camera footage / catchall post.
When ⬤ July to August because it’s already middle of the month orz
Where ⬤ Various
Content Warnings ⬤ Substory 2 has the naked guy? The camera threads may discuss elements of violence and horror imagery.

[ Around one of the Sutoku residential buildings, it’s a nice peaceful morning broken by the sound of an argument. What else is new. ]

[ The excuse for Minato’s presence this time (not that anyone in this building is buying it now) is he’s helping Tama with packing and moving. It’s a relatable plight to many others, honestly, after their residences were made uninhabitable after the cursed month. The arrival of their mutual friend Eiichi has only made the move that much more urgent. ]

[ That isn’t the cause of the argument. But it might be easy to guess, considering that for the rest of the day, Minato and Eiichi can be found together. Quite… literally together. Is… that a set of handcuffs…? ]

[ The sight of them makes for an odd mirrored effect, given their similar appearances. The only real difference is their expressions: Minato looks distinctly harassed, Eiichi has a permanent scowl — they do seem to be agreed on one thing: Doggedly go on with their day as if there is nothing weird about the situation. ]

(( All Substory logs below are duo threads with both Minato and Eiichi handcuffed together and trying to play it cool. Though if you’d rather only tag one or the other, it can be handwaved that they’d gotten out of this daft predicament at some point. If there’s something else you have in mind, hit us up or pm watermemory / frogmarched. ))

Comments

[frogmarched]

[Eiichi turns to look at the new interloper with some degree of irritation; mostly because he was in the middle of a very important argument, and he was going to finish it, thank you very much.

But, it seemed to be someone that Minakami recognized, and he just sort of looks back and forth between them, an eyebrow quirked.]

If it was someone from Sutoku, wouldn't you have recognized them if they were close enough to drop something in your stuff? [Yeah he refuses to play it cool.] Minakami keeps insisting we waste all day finding who it belongs to. As if whoever lost it couldn't afford to buy a new one that looks just as tacky.

[tonguecutter]

[ She shifts her gaze between the two young men, back and forth, to and fro, sneaking another glance at the handcuffs, before it rests on the diamond-encrusted watch, taking in the details. She's no proper appraiser, of course, but it does indeed seem valuable. ]

I haven't heard of anyone in Sutoku missing something like that... It's not always a matter of buying a replacement either, chirp. The watch may have some sentimental value attached to it. Whatever the case may be, the proper thing to do would be to return it to its rightful owner.

[ She's siding with Minato on this one, Eiichi. ]

[watermemory]

[ Siding with him or not, Minato wilts under the glance. He also doesn't want to be doing what he is doing. If "being the victim of a well(?)intentioned(?) prank gone wrong" is something one can be an active participant of. ]

I-Is that so... [ Back at square one, then. ] I'd just rather not be implicated as a thief, if the owner comes looking for it.

Oh, um, Ka- Eiichi, this is Beni-Enma -- she's a sparrow oni, but she's a Lost Soul, like us. Beni, this is Segawa Eiichi, a friend of Tama's and mine from home. [ He doesn't actually emphasize Tama's name, but he mentions him in the (futile) hope that it might temper Kawase's rudeness. ]

[frogmarched]

Seriously...?

[He lets out an impatient sigh, faced with another person that had an absolutely sane reaction to finding a missing object. Or not being seen as a thief. Absolutely annoying.] You two are too worried about nothing.

[He quirks an eyebrow at Minato, when he's so specific about the emphasis, and then turns his attention back to Beni-Enma.] Like the story of the sparrow and the old man? I guess it makes sense you'd be such a goody-two-shoes like Minakami. [He will not be less rude thanks.]

Do either of you even know where to start finding the owner?

[tonguecutter]

[ She nods in acknowledgement of the introductions...which Eiichi seems to have injected a touch of rudeness into. ]

Cheep, you're correct, Eiichi. I am the very Tongue-Cut Sparrow you speak of.

[ Not like that story, but is the sparrow from that story. Complete with severed tongue and all. The thought of the old man flits through her mind, a brief moment of wistfulness flashing across her face before she manages to compose herself once more.

To be honest, she's impressed by just how quickly Eiichi caught on despite not introducing herself as such (as she normally would, back at the inn). Tama is intelligent, she figures, so it stands to reason that his friends are just as keen. As for the more immediate pressing concern... ]

Minato, if you don't know any details about the owner, posting a lost item notice of some sort might be a good first step.

[ That particular route might fail to attract the actual owner's attention, or worse, attract attention of the less savory sort, such as those who are most certainly not the original owner in question. ]

[watermemory]

He also tilts his head at Eiichi, at him remembering that old parable. Being called "goody-two-shoes" does basically wash over him -- as far as things Eiichi says goes, it's practically complimentary. ]

Putting up signs probably is the best route. Somehow I don't think appealing to Benten will work this time. [ Inasmuch as it did anything for the haniwa before. Though, who knew? Maybe having one of the Seven Lucky Gods looking out for them did make a difference. ]

Anyway, her shrine's a long detour from our itinerary-- ah, wait, has Tama told you about the move? Eiichi and I were helping him pack. [ It's not like he thinks Beni-Enma is going to tattle on people living cross-faction, considering no one has narced on Minato all this time, but habit is habit. ] That's why I wanted to hand this off to its owner, while we were still in the neighbourhood.

[frogmarched]

[He blinks, his face going mostly neutral in his surprise (though his eyebrows still persist in making him look eternally suspicious). He tries to cross his arms while thinking, though when resistance comes he at least remembers himself, and drops his hand so he didn't drag Minato along with him.

The actual Tongue-Cut Sparrow, though? He didn't she'd actually be the thing live and in person. It's kind of weird, to think about talking to someone you only knew as a story. At least he doesn't say anything rude about it.

Though his genuine surprise and curiosity is suddenly replaced with looking at Minato with... absolute bewilderment.] Eh? We had to go through your stuff too, you know. I think we found it in one of your boxes...

[Honestly he doesn't even know this is a thing they could possibly be hiding?? He's not even trying to be an asshole for once.]

[tonguecutter]

I see, I see, chirp.

[ She can't blame anyone for wanting to find new lodgings after that particular debacle and its aftereffects. Fixing the place up is going to be a task and a half, though she also has half a mind herself to help fix up what she can in the complex as well, if this is where she's going to be living, too.

The idea of an expensive item just suddenly showing up in Minato's boxes would usually be enough to raise an eyebrow from anyone else. However, she's mostly sure that he's an honest young man, and if he really was trying to make off with something that wasn't his, there would be absolutely no reason for him to ask around to return a lost item. Not to mention that in a place like Hell, where spirits and curses and all sorts of mischievous yokai like to run about, having an item suddenly show up among one's personal belongings is completely plausible, like onmyodo gone awry.

Peculiar, though. Still peculiar. ]

From one of Minato's boxes? That's strange. It would be hard to overlook a watch like that getting mixed up in your items. ...Do you think someone might have snuck it in?

[ He doesn't seem like the type of person to simply stroll into a shop and make large, luxurious purchases to accidentally get a watch like that mixed up in. ]