laeradr: (02)
william VANGEANCE. ([personal profile] laeradr) wrote2020-10-27 11:24 pm

[ ic inbox. ]

"... this is Vangeance. Please leave a message."

text | audio | action
paperpusher: (keep you in the dark)

text; un: akeboshi

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-23 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi Vangeance-san ✨✨✨ Hope you've been warm and dry for the past few days.

I learned a little more about the problem with my shiki that I think might be of use to you. It's not good news, but I thought I'd pass it on all the same. Should we meet up somewhere to discuss it? I have a strong preference for somewhere inside and floodless, but I can be talked into something else.
paperpusher: (and I keep on smiling.)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-23 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
My home's fine. Give me a few minutes to put the kettle on.

[read: give me a few minutes to make sure my hideous new body pillow is as well-hidden as possible]

I'm at Stepford Cottage. Feel free to come in when you get here, I'm the only one home.

[it's also fully decked out with ofuda and shide hanging strategically on the walls, along with a slightly-plumper-than-average couch.]
paperpusher: (and I'll be alright)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-23 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[Natori's just taking the water off when Vangeance arrives (despite his objections; making tea is one of the few things in his very limited kitchen repertoire, please let him have this) for the two mugs waiting expectantly with cheap teabags inside (maybe "making" tea is a stretch). He turns to look over his shoulder as Vangeance steps in.]

Sorry, I should have asked-- the wards shouldn't give you any trouble if you're an invited guest either way, but if you're not human I can take them down if you'd prefer. [It's easy to say this matter-of-factly; it's a weird place, this Fogtown, and he's not taking anything for granted anymore. With its normal slurping wet sound, the lizard crawls from under his collar to sit on Natori's face as if checking out their visitor.] This is just meant to keep uninvited spirits out.
paperpusher: (listen)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-24 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
Mm, well, my apartment back home has a similar level of protection, I've just taken the time to make it less visible. [Not like he's super concerned about visitors, but incorporating them more subtly into the condo is more permanent. Exorcists be paranoid. He carefully maneuvers the mugs over to the janky cottage table and gestures for Vangeance to sit.] But since you mentioned it, there's a skeleton that appears in the middle of the night on your birthday to badger you into naming a present to fulfill an unspecified contract. Unfortunately it didn't trip the wards.
paperpusher: (I'm still fighting for peace)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-24 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, it's fine. It was the day the flood stopped, so I'll just accept it as a birthday gift and move on. [Besides, his birthday has never been that important a day to him; he never did anything when he was younger, and now it's spent being polite for cameras and fans. The insult of the present he was given was way worse than just the fact that the calendar said November 12 at some point.] But that actually brings us around to what I wanted to talk about.

[He dunks his teabag up and down in the mug, skillfully sidestepping the intent of the question and getting down to brass tacks instead.] I asked for my shiki, but it refused. I reached out to the Admin for a justification. It turns out this is more complicated than I thought-- it's not just an active barrier that's stopping them from coming through, but something the Admin is doing to prevent them from reaching me. Them specifically, because our bond puts us all in more danger from... the possible possession that pays attention when you say its name.

[Does Vangeance... know about that, actually? He knows that Vangeance, unlike Matoba, has at least figured out how to use a cell phone, but...]
paperpusher: (and another one bites the dust)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-24 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
That's right. Or at least, that's how he describes it. But he said something else that concerned me too.

[He keeps idly playing with the teabag, looking down into the clouds of tea seeping out into the water in an extremely anime reaction shot; for maximum impact the teacup reflects his face with the lizard on it, slightly distorted.]

There are other people here who have shiki of their own. At first I thought that they could still summon theirs because, while mine are independent entities who I've formed a contract with, theirs are created from the human user's own aura. But specifically, what the Admin said about them was that they're "risking themselves, not other people."

[He looks up, adjusts his glasses higher on his nose.]

In other words, it's not just the risk that the infection could pass from me to my shiki or vice-versa, but that something specific about the bond between me and another complete consciousness makes us more of a risk to the other residents if either of us were to get possessed. I don't know about your own situation, but as someone else who came up against the barrier, I'm wondering if you've got any ideas when you hear this.
paperpusher: (keep on moving.)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-27 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
...I see. [そうですか. Except not really, he's a そうか too.] You don't have to apologize for something like that. It's something important to you, right? It's important to follow your instincts on when to share something precious to you, and I can hardly hold it against you that you didn't spill all your secrets after just a few polite interactions between us.

[Calmly, rationally; he takes a sip of his tea and keeps a steady, easy-going eye contact with Vangeance through the mask. As if he didn't notice the signs of Vangeance's reaction, the creases in his pants, the angle of his lips. As if he isn't deeply, instinctively, intrusively curious.]

So your companion [no hesitation, lightly repeating the word that Vangeance chose with a small smile] is more sealed away than stuck on the outside? If that's the case...

[He puts the cup down on the table, taps his thumbnail against his lips as he looks slightly up and to the left. A perfectly choreographed performance of being in thought; he is an actor.] There was something else that the Admin mentioned that struck me. Part of my contract with my shiki is that they protect me from harm. The Admin brought it up while saying that everyone 'reacts differently'-- whether to a bond like that or to the risk of the corruption of that bond. I'm wondering whether that's part of the risk-- that because my shiki will act to protect me, if one or all of us get corrupted ourselves, that task could be turned against the rest of the residents, or coopted in some way. But maybe I'm overthinking it.
paperpusher: (to hear sounds of people;)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-11-28 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm. Well, what we know about that entity isn't all that different from the sort of possession you might come across in my world. Ayakashi-- spirits-- are drawn to the weaknesses in the human heart; infecting a person and feeding off their negative emotions wouldn't be out of place at all, though it's unusual for something to pose the same threat to my shiki as it would to me. That said, someone described it in a way I thought was useful-- the rules here are written differently than they are back home, just as my 'rules' are different from your own.

[It's not a new concept to him-- the ayakashi world operates on its own rules separate from the human one, both in terms of legality and the actual laws of physics. He used to think being an exorcist meant he understood the limitations of the entities that live alongside humans, but here he's realized it just means that he has some tools to try to apply to a situation much larger than what he's used to seeing.]

With that in mind, I can really only speak to my shiki contracts, and we have to guess about the rest of it. But... forming a contract is an agreement between a human and an ayakashi that the ayakashi will fight for, protect, and obey the human. It doesn't strip my shiki of their free will-- that would only be possible if I knew their true names. But in forming the contract, I give them a name that they agree to be bound by, and that arrangement gives us both power. The longer we're connected to each other, the stronger we both become. I don't know if it's... that it's capable of tapping into the increase in power through our connection, or maybe that having control over both of us would make it stronger than having control over two unrelated people. It could also be that it could use the terms of the contract itself against the rest of the residents.

[It's all very theoretical, but it's a way of thinking out loud about what the key factor could be-- describing the contract to someone who has no concept of it could help him identify the weak points in it. For what purpose, he doesn't know-- to argue with the Admin more, maybe. To identify other potential problems before they start.]

Haha, I'm just talking your ear off, aren't I? But I wonder. My shiki are tasked with protecting me. If that "me" is also host to another spirit, my shiki might then be bound to protect that spirit as well. Fight back against other exorcists trying to remove the possession, maybe even actively work to spread it if that could be considered preemptive protection. If everyone's infected, then no one will try to stop mine, right?
paperpusher: (what had you expected?)

[personal profile] paperpusher 2020-12-06 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
Mm. So we could be feeding it instead of fighting against it, if we had access to those that we normally do.

[The fact that Vangeance has put that much thought into breaking it says a lot, Natori thinks-- that and the way he phrases it. "What's been done to us." Maybe it's because Natori is used to coming across barriers that block his shiki, whether visiting other exorcists or coming across a particularly well-warded property; it's something that irritates him, being cut off from them, but it's not something he thinks of as being done to him rather than to the island itself. What Vangeance is describing sounds a lot more like... meddling with some part of him.

(He can feel exactly where the lizard sits on his face as he takes his next sip of tea. He got rid of the note a long time ago, but he still remembers exactly what it said. If you'd like us to get rid of it, we can.)]


They have a habit of sticking their noses where they don't belong, don't they? The people in charge of this place. [It's light, almost inconsequential, except for that they're talking about their uncomfortably well-informed captors interfering in something deeply personal, and how serious his eyes look.] That said, I don't like the idea of simply taking their word for it. They say there's a good reason; they also claim that they've brought children here for their own good. It could very well be that there's something about my shiki and your companion that are dangerous to the people in charge, rather than to the other residents.