[Log/Open] savor every drop

[sakaya]

Who: Shuten-Douji and You!
When: December 1st - 13th
Where: All around; the Flophouse, dives and bars at nighttime, the docks, and Dogtown (Widowmaker).
Summary: How is an oni settling into this gloomy slice of Americana? Let's find out together.
Warnings: Copious amounts of alcohol consumption, depictions of animal cruelty/death for Entity feeding. And just Shuten in general. Will update if things change.

i. Let's Find a Bar, So Dark We Forget Who We Are

[ It's very funny, to Shuten-Douji, that she's been quite tolerant with the people around her. The crisis that looms over everyone doesn't weigh as heavily on the oni as it should. Though if worse comes to worst, she'll figure out how to proceed from there.

It should be great fun either way.

But for now, the past few weeks have been nothing more than downtime and a period where she takes a backseat to see how things unfold. However, she of all people, can't possibly do that without a good drink or two. Or rather, more.

In the early evenings to the very late hours past midnight, the small young-looking woman of Japanese origin can be found in a bar or a dive trying out the Western nibbles and foods and drinking more than her weight in alcohol, so much so that intrigued locals have started to attempt a drinking contest with Shuten. She's taken on the challenge gladly. So if you happen to be enjoying the nightlife of Gloucester, one can happen upon an amusing scene of a contest in progress, or the terribly messy aftermath of one with patrons either passed out or on the brink of starting a drunken fight with the smug Shuten-Douji. Join her, make a bet, it's all well and good as long as it's enjoyable for her and if you pay for her drinks. ]

ii. In the Dark, Our Truths are Revealed

[ At the Flophouse, Shuten is taking up space in the communal space, lounging all over the sofa, just seeing who is coming in or going out. Here, her true visage, horns, and sharp teeth are on display and it appears this is where she's fairly relaxed despite finding ways to enjoy the outside.

So if you're a resident of the Flophouse or visiting a friend, there's an oni who's either napping peacefully or fully awake, nursing some sake (sorry, the room smells like booze), and waving to you cheekily, her voice ever so slightly slurred. ]

Welcome hooome. ♥

iii. CW: Animal cruelty, death | Our Bodies Bound by This Land

[ There's nothing out of place about a dead seagull on the the Docks. Not even two dead seagulls. More than that starts to become a concern and a concern it is because the appearances of the dead birds start to ever so subtly increase over the next two weeks and then pauses.

One is found floating in the water around the docks. Another, its head smashed against the side of a boat. A few days later, a seagull can be found pathetically flopping about, its leg and one wing are broken. It seems to have escaped a rather nasty fate (or someone had let it escape).

Another bird has simply been ripped open with some effort, blood and guts spilling all over, its corpse left to rot on the northeast side of the harbor. This can be blamed on the local gangs that are present around this area and yet this is uncharacteristic of them on the whole. Surely it is just some sick hoodlum trying to get a rise out of everyone?

Anyway, if you happen to be at the Docks during the daytime, Shuten's found a nice space for herself, dangling her legs on the edge and staring up at the sky. There's still a lot of seagulls to watch after all. ]

Comments

[sakaya]

What else? Hot sake of course.

[ Of course. ]

Though in addition to that, cozying up with another warm body is quite appealing. The way you speak of such frivolities though, you strike me as rather indulgent for a priest, Father Abel.

[inutilis]

Do I...? I suppose I simply have a healthy appreciation for the simple things in life... being able to relax and smell the roses~? Is quite nice!

[ considering Shuten is a self-professed hedonist, perhaps this enjoyment isn't a stretch for her, either. ]

That isn't so strange, is it? And it's hardly my fault if there's more to enjoy this time of year than most, right? Who doesn't like a nice cup of eggnog, you know?

[sakaya]

I suppose it isn't at all strange.

[ Shuten is silent for a few more seconds before glancing around to see if there's anyone who may be listening in on them. They're in the clear for now. ]

I enjoy myself wherever or whenever.

[ And very casually she adds on: ]

I've already died before. More than once at this point I'm sure.

[inutilis]

[ oh. well.

...that is-- not precisely the sort of answer he had been expecting; Abel blinks in an almost quizzical state of shock, mouth working a few times before he can make his throat produce something akin to words, ]

You've-- died...?

[ the casual nature in which she's stated such a thing is both unnerving and more than vaguely worrying. SHUTEN???? ]

[sakaya]

Hm. Well, it sounds like you're not familiar with the tales I'm in. I suggest, that if you're not averse to it, that you do some studying Father Abel.

[ The reign of terror brought about by the oni of Mount Ooe was so strong that even if humans did not believe in their existence anymore, it's not a stretch to look up her name online or in a local library that may have some sort of resource about fairytales around the world. ]

I made quite a name for myself back then you know! You don't get away with being a man-eater without it leaving some kind of impression.

[inutilis]

[ considering it's been a good 800 years since Japan existed where Abel's from, and such tales were not exactly in his curriculum when he had been a boy before it vanished off the map-- he might not have thought to look up the legendary oni, perhaps. or oni in general, really-- curious though he might be.

...m-maybe he will be inclined, now.

but what worries him fare more than her renown or fame is the whole dead part-- not because of anything tied to her legend, either. ]

I don't-- I'm afraid I don't quite understand, Miss Shuten... Is it-- is it possible for you to return from death? Maybe because of being an oni?

[sakaya]

[ Shuten shakes her head letting out a puff of breath to create cloudy tendrils out of the cold night air. ]

My circumstances after death are somewhat more... Convoluted? Yes, that's a good word. I may need a minute or two throughout our pleasant conversation to find a way to shorten it as to soften your skull.

[ Also, because effort?? She don't got time for effort. Only when she feels like it. ]

I'm more of a magical familiar in my current state. Many important figures throughout history or in legends, who are able to carve out a unique existence are like me.

[inutilis]

[ ah yes, please dumb it down for him, Shuten; Abel is painfully smol brain so please give him the Explain Like I'm Five version,

...his brow has knit, some; he isn't sure he is catching what she's tossing his way considering how differently things work where he's from. even things like 'magic' are nothing more than fables to him. Gloucester has been eye-opening, for sure. ]

A 'magical familiar...'

[ he echoes it like it's a foreign term-- it is. ]

What does that mean for you? That-- you can keep returning, even after you've been... ah.

[sakaya]

[ She wags her finger at him as if giving an educated lecture. ]

Only under specific circumstances, mind you. It takes a special mage to be able to summon a spirit such as myself!

[ Patting her chest a little proudly on that note. ]

Think of it this way; right now my current physical manifestation is just a copy. A high-level one of course! I remember everything from when I was alive and I have all these neat powers I use to serve my Master. I can bleed, be injured, and die and now with these outer forces beyond any of our control I'm a lot more vulnerable than I usually would be.

[ Though if the 'current' Shuten, this one summoned by Chaldea were to die here... Hmmm. No, she won't entertain the thought. If she doesn't know what happens, that's that. ]

Don't look so glum, my dear Father Abel. If you become so concerned, I'll become softhearted towards you! Perish the thought.

[inutilis]

[ a great deal of this, admittedly, goes over his head. it might take a bit of Deep Contemplation to try and puzzle out what this means, and you know what? he doesn't have those brain cells left to fry,

...but what he's taking away from this? is that Shuten has been granted something of a 'second life' (if it can be called that; if 'second' is not the correct number, if any of this make sense at all) and is, perhaps, more 'human' than she's been in a while. ]

Miss Shuten-- do you mind if I ask you something?

[ and though he's asked permission-- he isn't waiting for it, gently nudging at his glasses where none of the concern has bled out of blue eyes. ]

Having a 'master', being a-- ah. A 'magical familiar;' was that something you chose?

[sakaya]

[ Shuten-Douji certainly has humanoid features, aside from her (currently hidden) horns and teeth. She speaks with an odd charming quality in a voice consistently colored with alcohol and in a way that makes her even friendlier on the surface. ]

Mm. No, it's more like an assignment I happen to be qualified enough to volunteer for.

[ Something, something, Counter Force, the greater good to preserve human history, something something. ]

But the fact that I can answer a summons probably says something about how willing I am? Though I have said it before, I just do as I please.

[ And if it pleases Shuten, she's happy to serve her Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru until her mission to restore the world is finished. There's plenty to do, many things to see, so many other Spirits to drink with and fight with...

Shuten-Douji is an oni, through and through. And for better or for worse, she just happens to like the human who summoned her. ]

[inutilis]

[ the way she's described it and what he was able to glean from her explanation has him grasping at least some surface level understanding of it, he thinks.

...Shuten is quite the interesting person, isn't she? Abel cannot deny his curiosity. ]

And... what are you made to do, as a familiar? What is this task you're called upon for, if I might ask?

[sakaya]

Oh, I'm an ally of humanity for the time being. The state of my universe is also needlessly dire.

[ She glances over her shoulder at Abel and gives him a toothy grin (well, the glamor hides it, but the quality is there regardless). ]

Whatever my Sweetie asks for within reason, I'm just along for the ride until the end. She's a hard worker, so I try to make sure she and the other Servants have some fun. We're a riotous bunch of spirits and I can't help but tease the ones that I find interesting while we fight alongside each other.

[inutilis]

[ oh, whoever Shuten calls 'master' is sure to be cut from an equally interesting cloth, if not - perhaps - for the same reasons as Shuten. ]

...I see, I see! [ something in his expression has softened, slightly, in the way of fondness. ] Protecting humankind... hm, I wonder if that's why you ended up here in Gloucester at the behest of ADI? Maybe there's a softer side to Miss Shuten I have yet to unlock firsthand...? Ah, ah, very interesting...

[sakaya]

Softer side...

[ She repeats his description of her in a contemplative manner. Perhaps that's what it is; Shuten does admit on occasion that she may be a bit too sentimental for an oni. But she never found it a total hindrance to her usual savageness that lies beneath her sweet and alluring veneer.

And so she asks him lightly, but teasingly. ]

Well, Father Abel. Do you want me to show you my soft side? Though I'm afraid if you find yourself being charmed by a demon, I'd have to be true to myself in that regard.

[inutilis]

[ a-aha...

Abel puts on a contemplative look as if he hasn't quite caught the underlying connotations of that """innocent""" question... hmm, HMM, ]

Oh, is this an invitation to get to know the hidden facets of your personality...? Wouldn't I be a fool to turn you down? It's like achieving a deeper level of friendship, wouldn't you say...?