but you didn't die this year I guess that's good enough - wait

[hachitaro]

Who: Taro and OPEN (backdated to the 29th)
Where: Capricorn (Naganaki shrine), Virgo (Junes), Taurus (Nyx's Bar), Taurus streets (13th hour)
Summary: It's Taro's birthday! Or the approximate date he thinks he came into existence since he was never actually born. Either way it's time to do the 'appropriate' thing, cruise by a store, and then get drunk. And then stumble out during the 13th hour and get ambushed by a demon. As you do.
Warnings: Is being drunk a warning? idk that I guess. Talk of death. Also probably screaming and swearing for the last prompt.

[Capricorn]

[Okay, okay. Time to do the appropriate thing. Taro stands in front of the shrine in the Capricorn district, hands tucked behind his back. What can he even say to the gods? Considering that they're behind all of the mess at home, nothing nice. He sighs, and just bows his head slightly.]

Right. Just... hopefully you guys here aren't as dickish as the ones at home, huh?

[Taro heads over to pay for a fortune... he might as well. In goes the coin, and...]

[Small curse.]

Seriously?!

[Right, time to tie it to this tree...]

[Virgo]

[Taro heads inside Junes, marveling a little at how big it is. He's used to department stores, but this one is pretty huge. He heads over to the grocery section and picks out some basic foodstuffs, before grabbing a roll of duct tape. Hey, it's got a light side and a dark side, and it keeps the universe together. Much like something else.]

[He pauses in front of the video games, though. It's been a while since he's seriously played games - he's been too busy recently - but it's tempting. ... But he doesn't have a job, so he can't justify it... but it's his birthday. He stands there a bit, trying to decide.]

[Taurus]

[Right, after his stuff is put away, it's time for the bars. Taro wanders around, the evening air refreshing as he tries to find the most appealing-looking bar. No... no... that one looks boring... that one has an oni and he's not ready to play 'ride the oni' again... ah. He grins as he spots a bar with a number of demons milling around inside. It looks like a nightclub, so he heads in.]

[... Fairly soon, Taro's laughing, trying to lean on a succubus and laughing harder when he gets brushed away. One eventually ends up cozying up near him, and he buys her a few drinks. No point in wasting the pretty girl's time, right?]

[Taurus streets]

[Soon enough, Taro realizes that he's got to get out before he drains his entire account. He stumbles along the streets a bit, but he's okay. His body processes alcohol pretty fast, even through the illusion. ... It's surprisingly dark, though. A chill runs down his spine as he looks around.]

[A bird-like monster swoops down at him, clawing him in the back and sending him sprawling to the ground. He looks up and attempts not to pee his pants as he scrambles to his feet.]

Shit shit shit shit shit!

[He already died, he's not ready for round two! He attempts to run, but the alcohol is making his steps slow and unsteady. It wheels around again, and Taro raises his arms in front of him to try to protect his face, when...]

[A woman in a robe appears in front of him. He lowers his arms, staring.]

I... am Ame-no-Uzume.
As your laughter lights up the world,
So too shall I shine a brilliant light upon your enemies...

[Right. No time to waste. He instinctively realizes she's not a fighter, but there's one thing he can do.]

Gale Slash!

[There's absolutely no reason to call his attack, but it's cool, okay? The goddess lashes out, attacking the beast and dispersing it. Taro grins, and heads out towards the Libra ward again.]

Comments

[otakuro]

...True. You could be some kind of thief, and my games are pretty important to me.

[Atsuro squints for a moment or two.]

I'm Atsuro. Atsuro Kihara.

[hachitaro]

Hey, hey! I'm an honorable thief!

[... Maybe he shouldn't have said that so loud.]

... Well okay. Maybe not as much... but I don't steal video game stuff, that's just rude.

I'm Taro. Taro Watanabe.

[otakuro]

[blink]

...It's nice to meet you. But, er... when people joke that you might be a thief, it might not be a great idea to confirm it like that.

Are you really?

[hachitaro]

Not here. Here I can work and make an actual honest living. It's a problem at home.

[He rubs the back of his head.]

Here I don't have to worry about getting run out of work for being... uh. Not human. Everyone's been pretty chill so far.

[otakuro]

...Huh.

[Atsuro blinks for a moment or two.]

That's not exactly how I thought you were going to finish that sentence. So, er...

[He was practically begging to be asked with that statement, right?]

Do you mind if I ask what you are?

[hachitaro]

[He doesn't mind, he's pretty open about it here.]

I'm a tanuki.

[otakuro]

...Tanuki.

[Atsuro blinks for another few seconds before, quite unconsciously, his eyes flicker down for the briefest of moments towards the space between his legs.]

Er. Uh. Huh.

What, er, kind?

[hachitaro]

[Fortunately for Atsuro's sanity, nothing seems amiss down there.]

That kind, yeah. This is an illusion - but it's really useful. I have thumbs like this, for one. Probably the best part of walking around like a human is having thumbs. Thumbs are great.

[otakuro]

You have thum -- But you just said -- ...Illusions can't... Uh.

[Wait he had seen the guy touching the games earlier hadn't he maybe he couldn't remember. Atsuro bites on his tongue for a moment or two as he decides on the best way to approach this question.

Shortly afterwards, a finger is thrust out to poke Taro in the shoulder.]

[hachitaro]

[It's solid.]

The trick is both making the world accept the illusion and also making it so everyone who sees me has the illusion work for them.

... There's other people who know the technical details more than I do.

[otakuro]

[poke poke po -- ok that's good]

...Wow.

[Atsuro backs away a step or two and continues to squint suspiciously.]

So you can play video games with an illusion?

[hachitaro]

[He chuckles a little bit.]

Basically. I'm sure there's some kind of scientific bullshit that goes along with the magic that involves the transformation of atoms into some other kind of atom, but yes.

[otakuro]

[Atsuro nods thoughtfully to this (lack of) explanation before he outstretches a finger.]

...OK! Then I've decided.

I'll lend you my really old games, but... you've gotta let me watch you for a little bit and take notes! This kind of thing could be incredibly useful! Tanukis are supposed to be able to make all sorts of illusions, right? If you can just imagine something into reality...

[hachitaro]

[This is why there's no scientific character as a protag in his canon, yep.]

Uh... sure. Just as long as you don't try to dissect me or do anything weird, okay? Hiding's a pain, and I don't wanna have to go back into it.

[otakuro]

You don't have to worry about that. If I'm a scientist at all, I'm a... computer scientist.

I think you'll be pretty safe here, anyway.

[hachitaro]

It seems like it. Most people don't seem to really care about what I am, which is a nice change.

[otakuro]

It must be some strange side-effect of living in the same city as 5 story tall robots and tiny pixies.

[Atsuro gives a small shrug as he begins to head towards the registers.]

...So I'm guessing you're from a Japan, right?

[hachitaro]

Point.

[Following along, yep.]

Originally, yeah. I sort of... attached myself to a family, though... and they headed to - well, Hawaii wasn't part of America yet, but they headed there in about... hm.

[Math, math, how does he math.]

- Right. Around 1883? Something like that. I ended up on the mainland a few years later. So I've been in America for over a century.

[otakuro]

A Japanese Tanuki in Hawaii!

You could make a movie out of it. I've been hearing talk on the network recently of someone who was a movie star or something.

[He's surprised by the date, but he's spoken to enough strange people here that he tries not to act too unsettled about it.]

Was this family friendly towards you or did you just sort of... hitch a ride?

[hachitaro]

Huh, really? Neat.

And they were. I pretended to be a lost child. After a few years they figured no one was coming for me, and so they adopted me.

[otakuro]

...Oh.

[It wasn't really his business what this guy -- this tanuki -- did with his life, but that seemed a little... manipulative.]

Did they... ever find out the truth?

[hachitaro]

... I couldn't tell them. They'd drive me away. But it was nice to have a family for a while. I'm lucky - most people like me don't get the chance to do that, or they're kicked out of their families when they start to realize what they are. My best friend got thrown out of her village like that. But even after I left them, I did what I could to help them.

[otakuro]

[A short pause.]

...I guess that's fair. I've met... people like you before, and it's hard to kind of wrap my mind around how things might work from a... youkai perspective. ...Honestly, none of them are very much like people at all.

[hachitaro]

Huh?

[He shrinks back a little bit.]

They're people. They're not human people, but they're people. A lot of them don't mesh with human worldviews very well, but that doesn't make them not people.

[otakuro]

Ah, right, right. How do I put this...

[A short pause.]

See, you're more like the classical youkai that we learned about growing up. Like people, but with different morals, right? But... the only youkai I met back home were 'demons'. Mostly, they ran around trying to murder everyone they could find.