destinystrings | but you didn't die this year I guess that's good enough

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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...

[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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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?

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.

...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?

... 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.

[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.

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.

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.

... Well that's rude of them. Why'd they do that?

...They might have been riled up by something.

[Atsuro gives a small shrug.]

Or they might have just really disliked humans. I'm not sure. ...The only other way was to take control of them. Kind of... forcibly.

... Yeah, most people I know wouldn't do that. The ones that would... the Underground does have a sort of volunteer police force. But that's pretty unusual.

[He shakes his head.]

You were... okay though, right?

I'm still here!

[In no timeline that he was aware of had he died. ...He was pretty sure.]

It got pretty intense near the end, though. And to be honest, without the demons I can summon, I'd be long gone, too.

Well, I'm glad they helped you out. You seem like a pretty cool guy.

Heh, thanks. ...And you are a cool... tanuki. Who is also a guy.

[Very smooth. Atsuro grins and heads towards the registers with his new game.]

[He just laughs and leans against the counter, watching him.]

...You are a guy tanuki, right?

[This is probably in jest as Atsuro doesn't wait for an answer before he walks up to the cash register. The transaction is completed soon enough.]

So, er...

Do you want to come over now or do you have other things you'd rather be doing?

[Gaming buddies had been scarce since Kazuya had decided to take some time to himself to work things out.]

Yeah. Female tanuki are... pretty rare, from everything that I've heard.

[He shakes his head.]

Nah. I did what I needed to do today, and anything else I'm planning on doing isn't for five or six more hours. Bars aren't really open yet.

...

Oh. Right.

[Atsuro manages not to stare at Taro's crotch this time as he is busy paying for his purchases which are handed to him in a tiny bag.]

I'm over on the first residential floor of Libra.

[And I never have anything else to do besides bum around on the Internet and play games.]

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

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