Episode 3 - The Ills of Potent Motivators

"We should at least head back to the safehouse. I hate this auditorium and I hate this stupid city, but we can only leave one of the two at the moment," and because she also hates how she feels, and remembers how much better it was in the safe house she is eager to get there.

"I want to know if Dan knows anything about Pandemonium. Or maybe Matty... uh, Matthew I mean." She flushes slightly and clears her throat.  In all of the emotional tumult, she was sure that he would have been a much needed source of steadiness. If he had been here. Which he is not. He was so quick to take off and leave them and this miserable, forsaken city.

"And we have not even been to the convenience store or the karaoke place, so we still have some leads.  Hell, maybe we should put some pins in a map and see if it makes an arrow or something. Either way, being somewhere other than here. "

As much as the cozy happy feeling of the safe house tempts, Mangas says "We have to get ahead of this damn thing, or it's never gonna end. Pull yourself together, Eshe, we have no time to cuddle with Dan. Let's go to whatever place is closest." The fear and paranoia were gone, but it just made room again for the annoyance and the anger. Mangas kicks one of the artifacts on the floor away and starts towards the exit. "You coming, or what?"

"Me? Pull myself together? Ha! That's hilarious coming from you!" Eshe is fuming, but does not want to waste time trying to get Mangas to stop and think instead of running headlong into another fight, as it seldom if ever works.

Following Mangas, she calls the safe house and leaves a message for Dan. "Dan, does the word Pandemonium mean anything to you? Or, uh, hold on... Hyakki Yagyo? A scary, bone thin, likely court-member said that it was imminent. Call me back," she hangs up and pointedly ignores Mangas, which is difficult to do since she is on his heels.

INT. DAY - SUV

Eshe and Mangas are sitting in the Custodes-provided SUV, the silence between them only broken by the tinny sound of unbearable pop music oozing out of the speakers and what's happening outside their little bubble. They have to go slow as they head for the Karaoke parlor. Many of the streets are blocked by stopped cars, drivers and passengers out of their vehicles as they argue and, sometimes, come to blows. The sound of car horns echo from all around them from dozens of brewing incidents of a similar nature.

Eshe's phone vibrates. Dan is calling her back. She picks up. "Hey! Sorry for missing your call earlier. I was in the middle of something." Eshe has no doubt it must have been a bucket of fried chicken or something of that nature. The tanuki was putting his feet up and stuffing his face while they were doing all the work, and he couldn't even be bother to put down his food to answer the phone and do his one job: give them answers. "So, about the Hyakki Yagyo, uh, yeah, I know of it. Been to a few myself. They're... uh... pretty wild parties," Dan has the gall to sound wistful.

"They happen whenever enough Yokai are gathered in one place. If this onmyoji keeps summoning them, leaving doors open for more to slip in... Yeah, that could do it." He's blessedly silent for a moment.

"Say, is Winnipeg an important city? Like, would it be missed?"

Dan's voice comes through clearly over Eshe's phone's speaker. She puts the call on speaker immediately, because she refused to be the only one to put up with Dan's grating, smarmy voice.

moarhair wrote:

"Say, is Winnipeg an important city? Like, would it be missed?"

"Well Dan, while I am not personally attached this miserable, forsaken place, I cannot help but feel that a city of some three quarters of a million people would be missed... Especially not for a freakin' Yokai keg-party!" She is proud of how well she is keeping a lid on her annoyance; she is being far more understanding than that giant trash-eating rodent deserves.


"So we will go to this karaoke bar to clean up whatever mess was left there, and head back to the restaurant to close the door that was left open. And try to find a way to get ahead of the onmyoji instead of constantly picking up after him. Do you have any thoughts on how we can do that?"

She looks at Mangas expectantly, wanting to know if he had any questions of his own and if he was satisfied with her line of questioning.

"Eh... Find out who is, maybe?" Dan says unhelpfully. "He's just a human. He has live somewhere." No wonder he'd come to Eshe and Mangas. Eshe ends the call with a sigh of annoyance.


EXT. DAY - KARAOKE PARLOR

The parlor is boarded up. Broken glass litters the ground, looking like ice crystals on the snow. Police tape is stretched across the entrance. No one steps near the building, pedestrians absentmindedly crossing the street before they get close to it while clutching to their winter coats.

As they stand in front of the parlor, the Hunters hesitate. Deep down, they know this place will hurt them. It's evil. They feel exposed, as if naked for all the world to see. Mangas looks around and catches furtive glances from the people across the street. They know a beast lies within him. They know of the blood on his hands and the rage in his heart. They know of the shame he feels for it all.
Eshe feels countless eyes boring into her. They know she's the Trickters' Chosen, and they know the Spirits chose wrong. She doesn't deserve this gift and she can't handle this responsibility. Save the world? How conceited. Even her family knew she wasn't good enough to be part of their business. Her bleeding heart would've kept her from making the necessary hard choices, and it would in this role too.

The Hunters avoid each other's gaze, afraid of what they'd see in their partner's eyes. They look back up at the building. It was all it's fault. It was responsible for stripping them in front of everyone. The fact it was still standing was a crime. It should be burnt to the ground.

They know it's all in their head. Whatever the onmyoji did here was doing it to them, but the feeling is so strong. They clamp down on it as best they can and walk to the door. Forcing it open is child's play. Not ripping it off it's hinges is a Sisyphean task.


INT. DAY - KARAOKE PARLOR

The inside of the parlor is trashed. There are holes in the walls, broken windows, smashed counters and tables. It looks like a tornado has stormed through the place. Good. It deserves all of it and more. The wires should be ripped out of the walls, the pipes broken so they flood the place, they should piss on the floor.

The ground floor is a café and host's desk. Stairs lead up to a second floor where the private karaoke rooms are. The hunters can hear faint music echoing from upstairs, punctuated by quivering, hesitant, off-key singing.

She enters the parlour, shoulders hunched and head down as if braced against the cold Winnipeg winter, grateful for the excuse to cast her away from every and anyone.

Eshe wants to ask Mangas to wait for her before heading up to investigate the singing. She raises her head and starts to turn towards him, then stops. She wants him to know that he does not have to go through this miserable place alone, that she'll have his back; only she does not believe it. He has never actually needed her for anything, and here she is about to slow him down - again.  It was no wonder that he wants to leave her.

Swallowing a few times to ease the lump in her throat, Eshe goes over to the host's desk and tries to see if there are cameras, log books, or any other method of finding out who was in the Karaoke parlour. "Maybe I can check it against credit card receipts and table bookings from the restaurant", she muses softly before chiding herself for wasting time.

The desk is a mess. Its surface is caved in, the papers that were on it ripped to shreds and spread around it like discarded confetti. A laptop rests on the floor nearby, snapped in two, its circuit boards bulging out of its cracked casing.

Eshe walks towards the computer's wreckage. Maybe she can plug its hard drive into another one and get to its contents. As she steps forward, her foot hits an empty bottle lying on the floor and sends it skittering across the floor. In the quiet of the ground floor, it sounds like a church bell has been rung.

The quiet singing coming from upstairs stops. Eshe feels tears of frustration well up in her eyes. This fucking place was ruining EVERYTHING!

OOC for Eshe:

Mangas was quiet on the drive to the karaoke parlor and on the way inside. Listlessly he follows Eshe, like a faithful dog. The emotional drain is leaving him tired and empty. For centuries he was fighting down the emotions, the rage, the loneliness, the paranoia of people hunting him. The amplification of these feelings during the last few days punched all strength out of him. He is ready to give up. Give into the rage and despair. It's just meant to be this way.

Ignoring the Eshe's shattering noise, Mangas just continues towards the stairs. His shoulders slouched, gazing into the distance in front of him. He does not walk fast. Step by step, seemingly unawares of his surroundings.

This fucking place's ruining EVERYTHING! She swipes at her eyes, hoping to hide her tears before Mangas notices, but need not have bothered as he is ignoring her. Tucking herself under the host desk, face crumpling as she tries to choke back sobs, Eshe balls up her feelings of frustration and heartache. The result, a seething core of misplaced emotions, is a searing tightness in her throat. She is failing

Again

As usual

Disgusted with how pathetic she is, the “Chosen” emerges red-eyed but determined. She kicks the offending bottle into the wall with brutal force, deriving some small pleasure at destroying it. There is something else that needs destroying - whatever the onmyoji had released this time - and she would be the one to do it, even if it killed her. At least then the Tricksters could find their real hero, and Mangas would finally be free of her.

Fueled by the promise of self-destruction, Eshe heads over to Mangas on the stairs, sanjiegun in hand.  “You can head back stateside, like you wanted… Try to enjoy your life, k?” she gives him a sad, loving smile before continuing dashing up the stairs, and then out of his line of sight.

Eshe slips past Mangas and bounds up the stairs after delivering her tearful goodbye. She arrives on the upper landing and sees a scene of devastation similar to the one downstairs. Doors have been torn from their hinges, detritus and broken glass litters the floor, sticky pools of dried drinks form glistening ponds... She sees multicoloured lights dancing out of one of the gaping holes where a door used to be. Faint music fills the air. As she draws closer, she can make out that it's the melody to Total Eclipse of the Heart. She clutches her staff as she nears the entrance and pauses. She can't hear anything but the music. She steels herself and pivots gracefully, weaving into the room like some sort of mythical predator pouncing on her prey and...



Mangas' relentless slow tread finally delivers him to the top of the stairs. It stings, being abandoned by Eshe, but it was only a matter of time. Everyone left him in the end. Why wouldn't they? He wasn't fit for companionship. A rabid dog ought to be put down, not walked alongside.

A sound cuts through his dark thoughts. The singing has resumed, but it sounds different to his keen ears. He steps deeper into the hallway, his eyes scanning the dark rooms as he closes in on the lit room. The singing feels familiar. He knows the song, of course, but the voice... He leans forward to peek into the room.



Eshe hands shake as they clutch onto the microphone for dear life. The tears filling her eyes makes it hard to see the words on the screen ahead of her. "Turn around..." the speakers croon. "Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never coming 'round," she croaks, off-key. She can feel her "friends" eyes boring into the back of her head, their snickers filling the brief gaps between the song's notes. She doesn't need to turn to perceive their malicious grins. Being in a crowd has never felt more lonely.

"Turn around..." the karaoke machine commands again. This time, Rory Dodd's soft entreating is joined by a chorus of mocking voices. "Every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears," Eshe responds, fighting the lump in her throat to squeeze the words out. "Yeah, us too," someone quips. More snickering.

"Turn around..." "Every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by." Was that true? Was that it? Did her life really peak in grade 7? Was High School and College going to be worse than this? Her parents certainly didn't look happy. Maybe childhood was all the time anyone had to be happy. After that, it was all sharpened knives and the hunt for weakness. And she was weak. Prey. And like prey she wanted to run. To hide. To vanish into the underbrush. But she was surrounded on all sides. The lights were on her, all the eyes and ears focused as they gorged themselves on her humiliation.



"Turn around..." The room is empty except for Eshe. "Every now and then I get a little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes." Mangas watches as she blubbers out the lyrics to the corny ballad playing on the karaoke machine. His friend looks so vulnerable, pinned on the spot like a mouse in a cat's paw. She needs help. He may not but worthy, but in this moment, all she has is him.

Mangas watches Eshe jerk in clumsy attempts to dance to the music while singing along to the music. The cacophony of her youth is frightening.
He steps into the room, picks up some piece of debris and smashes it into the karaoke machine. He then continues to tip it over and kick its mechanics, hoping that its creepy music will croak out.

"Turn around, bright eyeeeees!" Mangas' fist punches through the screen. "Every now and then I fall apart." Eshe crows behind him as the music is joined by the percussive expression of the werebear's anger. He, too, can hear peals of mocking laughter echoing in the melody. Fuck this place! He thinks as his fist punches deep into the wall. His rage is joined by jubilation as he tears it apart.


Eshe blinks. She's back in the abandoned karaoke parlor. In front of her, Mangas is a flurry of motion, punching, kicking, tearing at the wall and the machinery powering this miserable place. "Turn around, bright eyeeeees!" the song slows, the sound of it getting deeper before sputtering out. It's over, finally, she thinks. Her relief, however, is short-lived. "Every now and then I fall apart!" Mangas bellows as he throws himself at, and then through, the wall, leaving a large hole as he passes into the next room.

OOC for Mangas:

Mangas continues his rampage in the next room. In his deep baritone, he continues to sing a capella. "Every now and then I get a little bit restless and I dream of something WILD!" He tears a TV out of the wall and flings it at another one, cackling in a very un-Mangas-like fashion as the electronics explode into pieces.

Her face hot with the flush of embarassment, Eshe clutches the mic in a crushing grip, desperate to have something to ground herself. This place is terrible, and she feels so alone. I want to go home! A voice inside of her wails, while she struggles through a song that she would never have picked. It's like from the 80's that's SO OLD.

Just when she is sure that being swallowed alive by the stage would surely be better than continuing to be eaten alive by her "friends", Eshe remembers that she is not that awkward pre-teen (anymore); and then she hears Mangas. Normally, she would be happy to hear him sing. She actually really liked his voice - a secret that she would happily to take to the grave - but her recent time in the limelight, and his current rampage were a dead give away that something was up.

She can still feel the heat of blood rushing to her face, but this time she is being made florid with anger. It was bad enough that she had to go through that hell, but she can hardly fathom what it was that Mangas was experiencing. Though from the looks of things, it might actually be middle school, she thinks ruefully.

There is definitely a spirit messing with them; the question was how could she stop them and what they were doing to Mangas without getting caught back in their trap?

Eshe takes a beat, taking in the scene and trying to ascertain how best to help her comrade. That moment of hesitation proves to be a mistake as Mangas rips a screen of the wall and tosses it over his shoulder. In the darkness of the now wrecked karaoke parlor, Eshe doesn't notice it in time and it comes crashing down on her.

OOC for Eshe:

Mangas' enthusiastic destruction of the parlor continues. "Every now and then I get a little bit angry and I know I've got to get out and-" His singing is interrupted by the sound of a bell ringing, loud and enticing to Mangas, barely perceptible to Eshe. The werebear stops his rampage and turns to face East, feeling inexorably drawn in that direction. He must get to the water. He takes a step forward, but then, something tears itself out of him.

The ghostly form of a teenage girl flows out of Mangas' body, visible only for a moment before she disappears through the wall. With her goes the strange feeling of embarrassment and self-consciousness that was permeating the parlor, as well as the feeling that was pulling Mangas towards the East.

The Hunters, sore from their injuries and exhausted from the overwhelming emotions they had, until a moment ago, been forced to deal with, look around at the wreckage of the karaoke parlor. They no longer long for its destruction. Rather than the hateful house of misery it looked like before, now it's just a sad, sagging ruin.

The bell rings again, this time dim and distant to both Hunters, heralding a whole new heap of trouble. Instinctively, Mangas knows its meaning, perhaps from a remnant of the ghost's possession.

The sun was setting, and the yōkai were being called to the Hyakki Yagyō.

As the ghost of the young girl leaves his body, Mangas feels like she is taking something of him with herself. His mind screams Nooo! and he desperately tries hold on to it. But he cannot see what it is, she is taking. He cannot feel it. She just leaves behind more darkness.
As the bell rings again, the darkness in Mangas pulls him towards East. He suddenly knows where he has to go. But he cannot feel relief, knowing where their opponent is. The costs were too high.

He slowly gets up and, with slumped shoulders half turns to Eshe. "Come." , he says with a resignated voice. Then he starts trotting through the debris towards the door. He is in no rush. They are too late. They already paid the price. He no longer needs to find the monster. The creature pulled him closer to the darkness and he can feel the dark hordes. Despair spreads through him, as he realises how many of them there are. Oh, Eshe. If you only knew what we are up against. Today, tomorrow, forever... He won't tell her. She must not feel the same despair.

Soundwaves from the bell's faint ringing lap at Eshe's consciousness. When they flow, she is called, and their ebb pulls her towards Mangas. She seems unaware that this is happening at first, and does not resist it; there is nothing particularly odd about wanting to close the literal gap between them before leaving the angst and embarassment of this place behind - besides he is literally calling for her to do so. With each step towards him, however, the physics of the room become more alien, until somehow she is back in her vision. Countless doors stretch out behind Mangas, and she feels certain that if she could just reach him... and then what exactly? She is not sure, but she reaches out towards him regardless.

Mangas can hear the sounds of flowing water and of wind through trees' bare branches. He feels the cold in the air, piercing due to the ambient humidity. A park, near the river that flows through the city. A new sound behind him, metal wheels on tracks: a train. He takes out his phone and checks Google Maps. Whittier Park, he's sure of it.


Time seems to slow down for Eshe as her vision takes hold. Mangas moves like a snail towards the parlor room' s door. Behind him, in the endless hallway, a few meters away, or perhaps a few dozen, or hundreds... anyway, another man stands. A long trench coat, a wide-brimmed hat casting shadows on his face... He'd be right at home in an old Clint Eastwood western. His hands are stuck in his pockets as he appraises the doors around him.

At last, he turns and faces Eshe. He smiles when he sees her, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there," he says with a raspy voice. His yellow eyes glint with amusement. He gestures at the hallway of slightly ajar doors. "What a mess. So many uninvited guests."

He tilts his head towards Mangas' slow moving form. "Your friend is right to be despondent. You'll never get there in time. Not without help." He shrugs, takes a step forward and vanishes. "I could do it, of course," Eshe hears from right behind her, the man's warm breath on her neck. "For a price. Nothing much, just a bit of your masters' power."

OOC for Eshe:

The man's presence is disconcerting and Eshe tries to hide her discomfort behind more formal language.  

"While I do not and cannot claim responsibility for the doors being open, I do apologize for any inconvenience." It did not hurt that working for her employers had taught her that in situations such as this, she would be best served served by questions and politeness.  

"To whom would I be paying said price?"  Know thine enemy pandora's box.

The man chuckles as he walks around Eshe to end up in front of her again. "Trading names is dangerous business. There's power in names," he says, his eyes straying to a nearby doorway. They flick back to Eshe and the corner of his mouth tilts up. His gaze is piercing and the Chosen can't help but shuffle uncomfortably on her feet. It reminds Eshe of how Auntie C would look at her after asking a question the matriarch already knew the answer to.

Before she can reply, the man speaks again. "The people here used to call me Nanabozho. It'll do. Now, do you want my help or not?"

"It would be foolish of me not to want your help. But the bag you're askin' for ain't... um... I understand that there may be a cost, but I do not believe the funds mine to give." She is not sure if that is true, but it feels true. Nanabozho asked for some of her boss' power, and that didn't sound like something that she had the latitude to give... at least not without consequences that she is deeply disinterested in experiencing.

"More importantly, if anyone should be made to pay a price, should it not be the onmyoji? The man whose magics is wreaking this havoc? The one who is making a mess without a whit of care for who it bothers, what land or life is destroyed, who must clean it up, or whether there is a lesson to be drawn from it. Should not such a one be made to learn a lesson in turn?"

Eshe knows little of Nanabozho other than they are a Trickster. There are simply too many gods and spirits (and manifestations thereof) for her to know them all. She can only hope that this particular Trickster might see the appeal in giving a haughty mage quite the commuppance.

Nanabozho narrows his eyes, but there's an amused glint hidden in the scowl. "Bold. And clever. I can see why the others like you." The glint disappears. "Especially Plutus," he grunts.

He shakes his head, then looks at Eshe and grins his sharp-toothed smile. "Best of luck to you," he says, before shoving the Chosen, hard. Eshe stumbles backward...


EXT. EVENING - PARK

... into Mangas. The Hunters blink in surprise. They find themselves standing amidst a growing crowd in what appears to be some sort of fair in a park near a flowing river. People have climbed up int he trees and are busy stringing paper lanterns in their branches. The Hunters' ears are assaulted by a cacophony of shouted conversations, instruments being tuned, barks of laughter and what sounds like two very large people wrestling.

The people around Mangas and Eshe are off, somehow. An assortment of tufted ears, fangs, odd-coloured skin, tails poking out of coats or skirts... yōkai, gathering for the Hyakki Yagyō.

The hunters push their way through the crowd, trying to find a place to catch their breath and plan their next move. As they finally emerge from the throng, they spot something a hundred meters away or so. A man, kneeling in the snow on the river's bank. He's talking to a half-submerged woman. He's holding an open book. The onmyoji.

He doesn't seem to be aware of them for now.

Mangas briskly walks towards their enemy. He grabs a bottle of liquor a oddlooking creature with hooves is holding (how? Not important). Captain Morgan Rum. It'll do. He takes a deep pull, the warmth of the liquor spreading in his chest. When he reaches the onmyoji, he slaps him heartily on the shoulder, almost toppling the fragile looking man to the floor and then tries to hold the bottle to his mouth. "The day is here. Rejoice with us and celebrate." he says with fake joy and enthusiasm. Whether it sounds like he means it, he does not know.

The man, despite his small frame, easily pushes Mangas away, making the big man stumble a few steps. It's an unfamiliar feeling for the werebear, one he has grown unaccustomed to. The man stands from where he was crouching and turns to face Mangas. He looks taller than he did, like he grew a few extra inches as he unfolded. He grew wider too, to match opponent's size. He has a kind of exaggerated handsomeness, like a caricature of masculinity.

"I'm busy. Fuck off!" Mangas feels like a weight has fallen on him and a hand has grasped his heart, squeezing it. The dread he felt near the portal in the stadium pales in comparison to what he feels now, pinned liked a bug by the onmyoji's glare. He needs to go, to escape...

OOC for Mangas:

The miasma of dread oozing off of the the onmyoji feel intolerable even at a distance.  Heart beating out of her chest, Eshe curses herself for not having asked for more from Nanabozho before being jettisoned into the Yokai keg party to take on a sadistic bully.

To be fair, she only assumed that the magician was sadistic, but either way he was definitely a jerk. onmyjerky she thinks with a weak chuckle at a weak putdown.

Now if only there was... the thought tapers to silence as she looks at the assembly, at a loss for what could possibly help them at this juncture.

Eshe looks around at the assembled yokai. The party is starting to get rowdy. Loud conversations, drunken bellowed songs, some pushing and shoving... Amongst the chaos, she spots a tall woman striding through the crowd. Her arms are unnaturally long, her knuckles almost reaching the ground. She's weary a polka dot jacket and... wait, did one of the dots just blink? Surely not. The woman's arms move as she walks, gently pushing people out her way. Every time, though, she pockets something. A wallet there, a watch here, some jewelry.

She notices Eshe watching her. She smiles conspiratorially and winks, before bending one of her incredibly long arms to bring her finger to her lips and entreating the Hunter to stay quiet, then going back to her pickpocketing stroll. For some reason, something her cousin once said comes back to her when they snuck into her auntie's kitchen to raid the pantry for cookies on one of their sleepovers. In and out, quiet as a mouse. She won't even know they're missing.

Mangas had managed to get right up to the onmyoji without that twerp noticing until he was right next to him. The jerk had picked up super strength, some sort of fear power... and he'd used his shapeshifting to make himself bigger, for crying out loud. Flashy, showy stuff. And, apparently, nothing to enhance his senses...

Eshe smiles back at the woman, nodding with amused gratitude. This felt like a plan, or at least the beginning of a plan. They knew that the jerk was dependent on his spell book, and so it is time for a bit of plagiarism! She grinned stupidly, happy to misuse the term for stealing intellectual property, afterall what is a book if not intellectual property?

She and Mangas have some planning to do, and she is finally feeling hopeful that they might be able to come out on top of this after all.

Mangas, with a mixture of confusion caused by the unfamiliar sensation of having been thrown to the ground and inexplicably strong dread, turns around and crawls away.
This creature is worse than anything he faced before and it... Scares him. He looks around and finds Eshe in the crowd of bizarre looking yokai.
Maybe she has an idea on how to approach this brewing catastrophe.

"Eshe, what do we do?"

Right as she turns to look for her friend, he is at her side. "Great timing! She beams. "In a weird way, this place really reminds of the Court, you know? Not so weird when you think about how many Yokai are probably members! Anyhoo, that jerk," she tilts her head towards the spellcaster. "Is exactly the kind of stuffed shirt that they would love to play a trick on, and I think that we should honor that. When in Rome and all that jazz."  Eshe grins impishly at Mangas and leans in conspiratorially. "We're going to steal his book."

"How are we going to do that? That 'shirt' is freakishly strong! I'm sure I can distract him, as I already had his attention, but what then? "

"He does not have magical sensing abilities, or you would not have been able to walk right up to him.  We could work in tandem, with you shoving him in the water while I grab the book. Or maybe it should be the other way around, since you will have to use the book to close the portals and/or strip him of his powers.  Though holding him off while you do that is going SUCK!  At least we have alcohol, and these," she fishes out the soy beans that had been collected from the restaurant what felt like a lifetime ago.

Wilted and bent from a day spent being jostled around, they were looking pretty damn sad; hopefully the state of the beans mattered less than their nature.

"So yeah... Get book. Throw the world's grossest smoothie at him and then run like hell. Undo whatever weirdness he's been doing and keep Winnipeg from being erased off of the face of the planet!" She looks at Mangas, trying to sound convinced of the soundness of her plan. It was wobbly, but it had good legs... like a baby giraffe.

As the hunters discuss their next move, the party gains in intensity around them. They have to rase their voices to hear each other over the din. A great crash draws their attention, and they see a tree topple over a few dozen of meters away from them. A group of large people cheer the one who brought down the tall maple. Based on the state of the woman's horned forehead, it looks like she headbutted it to the ground.

They turn back to their quarry. The onmyoji is standing up, his deal with the yokai in the water concluded. The man turns around and frowns, seemingly noticing the rowdy party for the first time. He glares at it. He grows bigger, squares himself up, and begins striding towards the crowd with a if-you-don't-move-I'll-move-you look in his eyes.

Light from the lanterns reflect in his eyes, making him look like the spark racing towards the powder keg.

They had a plan. Eshe was certain that she could draw the onmyoji's attention long enough for Mangas to grab the book. The question was how could he be held off while they undid his spells? Despite their time in Winnipeg having been emotionally exhausting, she tries to stay positive. Psyching herself up, she gives the Spellcaster a once-over; they'd only have one shot at this, so every detail mattered.

The onmyoji stomps towards the crowd. He gives the male yokai defiant glares. When you looks at the females, it looks more like hunger mixed with hatred. His posturing makes him look like a petulant child costumed as the platonic ideal of the Internet's concept of a Chad. Eshe had met men like this before. Their ego was always their biggest weakness.

Despite all this, there's something intoxicating about him. She finds herself understanding the women who are drawn to serial killers, which is something she didn't feel looking at the mage before he concluded his deal with the woman in the water. It gets stronger the nearer he gets.

The feeling is embarassingly familiar; she had felt similarly as a sophomore when one of the most vicious seniors had started being... well not nice exactly, less mean to her than to a lot of other people. The casual certainty that everyone was beneath him, the callous and unnecessary shows of strength; he was mean and dangerous. Then as now, the appeal is atavistic - it feels safer to be well-liked by him than to be the target of his ire.  Eshe catches herself reaching up to fix her hair, and smothers a mortified groan. I need this to be over, like yesterday.

"He's picked up another power. I think maybe that of a siren, or a mermaid or something?  Something that makes him seem..." Blushing furiously, she forces herself to complete the thought. "Kinda hot? In like a douchy kind of way. You know what, ignore that. Ugh!  Anyhow, he seems to be full of himself, and hopefully that can be one more thing that we can use to trip him up. Okay, I'm going for it. Wish me luck!"  


Walking so as to get into the onmyoji's line of sight without actually getting closer to him, Eshe spins her staff a few times, ending in a flourish, pointing at him.  

"Honored guests! May I present to you the opening act!" She projects her voice so as to draw as much attention as possible. Not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others!  He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.  A man so foolish as to dare to STEAL FROM YOKAI!  But can you blame him?  Don't let his looks deceive you, beneath it all, he is a small, lazy, petty, man.  How petty is he? So petty, that rather than be the bigger man, and simply laugh off what I am saying, he is going to get all huffy and attack me!” Eshe's laughter rings out in heart-felt peals. If this didn't work and they were stuck at ground zero of a disaster, she should at least have fun while it lasted, right?

"Wai... Erm... Good luck!" The last part Eshe can likely not hear anymore, as she is already making her entrance. Mangas can't help but be impressed by his small friend making a big appearance, especially in front of the onmyoji. Then Mangas realizes it is his turn to act. Quickly! He starts towards their opponent and tries to shield himself against all the feelings overwhelming him. If he can just get close enough to snatch the book. Without consciously making the decision, with every step closer to the onmyoji, Mangas turns more and more into his bear form. He feels the cacophony of smells and sounds wash over him. It is extremely discomforting, but helps distract him from the onmyoji's influence.
If he can just get close enough to grab the book with his teeth...

Eshe draws wide attention with her theatrical speech. The yokai draw closer to her to listen and look at the target of her mockery. The young man fumes, his eyes boring into the hunter, but the numerical disadvantage he finds himself in is not lost on him and he hesitates. "I didn't steal anything! We made deals!" he yells back. His voice cracks on the last word. The assembled yokai hoot and jeer at the onmyoji.

The energy from the crowd is electric and the yokai seem emboldened by the Chosen's speech. Behind her, Eshe can hear the sound of the crowd getting rowdier. She hears a big crash. When she peeks over her shoulder and sees the clouds above them are growing orange, as if coloured by the reflection from a great fire... She blinks and its gone. For now. The words echo in her mind and her chest tightens.

Mangas seizes the opportunity to get up close and snatch the book with his teeth. Despite his size, the onmyoji's focus on the crowd doesn't falter. The yokai can obviously see the werebear, but they're no narcs and none of them draw attention to him. The book begins to slip and Mangas feels a stab of panic. He draws upon his power, making his teeth sharper and stopping the book just before it slips through them. A shiver runs down his spine as he feels a bit of his remaining humanity slip away... He puts some distance between himself and the onmyoji.

The onmyoji grows agitated as more and more yokai join in the mockery. "I'll show you not to mess with me!" the onmyoji spits. He reaches for his coat pocket, but finds it empty. Panicked he starts looking around for the thief...

As Mangas searches for a place to go with the book, he spots the woman on the water sitting on the shore. She gestures to him, urging him to come closer.

In lack of better options, Mangas hesitantly gets closer to the lake, making sure to keep respectful distance to the water and the lady even more so. He stops and looks at her, indicating she has his attention. For now.

With the roar of the yokai's amusement as the back drop, Eshe speaks to the onmyoji in a conciliating tone. "I am so sorry! They just acted so butthurt! I can make this up to you. But first, do you think that we could maybe prevent the end of the world? You might be the only one who can save us all! " Eshe winces internally at, among other things, the idea of giving Winnipeg such importance, but for all she knew, Pompeii would have been the equivalent of a flyover state if not for being wiped off of the map.

While buying time for Mangas would be nice, Eshe is hoping against hope that the magician, aflame with frustration and embarrassment, would be interested in being a hero. Unless of course, this is a part of his desired outcome.

The woman lies against the embankment, her arms crossed, her head resting on them, watching hungrily as Mangas approaches. She seems unbothered by the cold, even though the water in her hair is starting to freeze. The werebear stops a few meters from her, safely out of reach. The woman pouts. "Aw, and here I was hoping I could warm myself up against your luxurious fur," she says with a melodious voice. She sighs dejectedly. Her eyes swivel to look at Eshe tries to cajole to onmyoji. "Your friend is in a lot of danger. If you'd like to help her," she purrs, raising her head and looking meaningfully at the book in Mangas' jaws, "then give me back my name. It will strip him of what he got from me."

Carefully, watching the yokai suspiciously, Mangas puts the book down to examine it. Jutting out from within it's confines, he can see a number of paper talismans. "The one on top is mine," the woman says, giving Mangas an expectant look.


The onmyoji stops his frantic search and turns to look at Eshe, his surprise plain on his face. "What? The end of the world? What the hell are you talking about?" his confusion appears to be genuine. There's an eagerness to his questions. He seems enticed by the odea of being a savior. For now, Eshe has his attention, but with the yokai getting more agitated behind her, she knows it won't last long.

The onmyoji's visible, honest confusion is a relief to Eshe - at least he is not going out of his way to make this happen!

"For some reason, after a deal the door between here and wherever the other guy's from isn't closing. Kinda like having a few people over, and then their homies decide to roll through because the door isn't locked.  This assembly?" She fans her fingers to indicate the yokai, "It's like a massive keg party that goes off the rails, only instead of some jerks taking a sledgehammer to the Ferguson's toilet, and others squirting mustard up Sir Isaac Mewton's bum, that's the Ferguson's cat - this kegger wipes out cities! If Sir Isaac Mewton didn't like the mustard, he would have hated Pompeii!"  

Eshe was only in middle school when the notorious Ferguson house party entered into the annals of their school's history, but by the time she was a senior the story had taken on a life of its own, as these kinds of tales often do, with classmates who had definitely not attended (and would have gotten the tar beaten out of them for trying to sneak in), making claims of having personally witnessed the feline mustard enema.  Her older cousins all agreed that while it seemed cool at the time, that it was all pretty dumb in retrospect.

"I wasn't at that party by the way! Poor Sir Isaac Mewton..."

She wonders belatedly whether the Ferguson houseparty gone awry was the best example to give the wizard - much like the party itself, it feels a bit silly after the fact.

"So, um, yeah... Closing the doors will literally save countless lives!"

Mangas hesitantly pulls out the powerful parchment. By the shape of the lettering, he can tell it is written in Japanese, but the meaning remains a secret from him. He slowly walks towards the lady on the shore, suspicious of her every move.
When he reaches the shore, he once more looks at the talisman and then over to Eshe who is in... casual conversation with their adversary?
He turns towards the lady in the freezing water. "How will I know he lost his power?"

The onmyoji frowns as he listens to Eshe's rambling tale, understandably confused about why he's hearing about mustard and cat butts. He shakes his head, as if to clear the extraneous information from his brain. "So, the summoning portals are staying open, and more yokai are wandering through. You need to get better at conveying information. Why do women always talk so much to say so little?"

He straightens up and surveys the crowd with narrowed eyes. He nods to himself. "Alright, I can fix it. I just need my book back, so tell your thief-of-a-friend to bring it back. I'm guessing it's the jock who tried to cockblock me earlier. Quickly, now. You don't want things to get nasty, do you?" His tone is dripping with so much paternalism, Eshe is surprised he didn't end his rhetorical question with "toots" or "missy".



The woman eyes Mangas appraisingly, then shrugs in surrender. "If he tries to charm her and fails. Which could happen any second now, so how about we stop with the foreplay and get down to business?" She smiles and, even stripped of her power, Mangas feels his heart beat faster and warmth spread through him. If that's just a hint of her power, Eshe is in real danger...

Mangas listens to the woman and after everything is said, not knowing who and what to trust anymore, he passes the parchment to the woman, hoping he is doing te right thing. "Here, undo it!" he says in his usual charming and eloquent way.

"That's exactly it. You're really smart!" The embarassed flush that colors her cheeks feels like fire. As painful as it is to admit, she knows that a touch of fawning is her best bet if she is going to keep him in this "cooperative" mood.  She is not al that great at flirting, and so hopes that she will not have to actively hit on the onmyoji.

"Why not allow the jock do the grunt work for you? It could be his penance for," she lets herself die a little inside in order to continue. 'Cockblocking' you."

The onmyojji narrows his eyes. "No. You will get him to bring my book-" As he speaks Eshe finds herself uncontrollably drawn him, the desire to fulfill his desires irresistible...


The woman takes the talisman and shudders. The writing vanishes from its surface. She smiles and sighs contentedly. "Thank you, darling..."


"- now." As he finishes his sentence, the pull Eshe felt evaporates. His compelling demand putters to a whiny tantrum.


"Now, how about that swim?" The woman's smile is intoxicating. Mangas wants her more than anyone he's ever been with. He's burning up and the water would cool him so well, and in such good company... He takes a step forward, despite a dim voice in the back of his voice shrieking annoyingly at him not to. The woman laughs, then holds up her hand. Mangas stops. "On second thought, maybe some other time." She winks at him and, without another word, she dives down and disappears in the river's dark waters.

Woven through with power, the onmyoji's voice encircles Eshe's consciousness and tightens, drawing her towards him heart and soul. Unlike countless other creatures that have been caught in a snare, she does not pull against it or otherwise struggle.

"Anything for you," she says dreamily just as the coil of magic that was holding her mind snaps and dissipates. Mortified, she looks around for Mangas, hoping against hope that he had not heard her. The big guy was generally not one to tease, but she was sure that a single smirk would cause her to spontaneous combust. And would that be so bad? She brings her eyes back to the spellcaster and gives him her kindest smile; if she was feeling embarrassed, maybe he was too and a little sympathy can go a long way.

"We're not thieves you know. Just trying to stop a lot of people from getting hurt."

The onmyoji blinks in surprise at Eshe. She sees the wheels turn behind his eyes. The confusion is quickly replaced by rage. "Then stop stalling and GET ME MY BOOK!" He looms over her, his aura that of a domineering God that has run out of patience. Fear like she hasn't known since being caught spying on family business by her Great Aunt grips her heart.

OOC for Eshe:

As Mangas sees his friend in distress, he takes the papers with the pacts and stuffs them into his pocket. Then he quickly rips a few pages from the back of the book and puts them loosely in, where the talismans used to be. After closing the book, at first glance it won't be obvious that anything is missing, or so he hopes. He holds up the book and waves to her.

If he only knew what to do with the pacts. How was it with the lady? Did she get her power when he returned the talisman, or when it was destroyed... Or was it destroyed at all? Better hold on to the papers for now.

Mangas returns to his human form to have a pocket to stuff the talismans into. As he handles them, he notices that something is wrong about their texture. Though they are undeniably paper, they also feel kind of like rubber. He pulls a bit at one and sees that it stretches and then returns to its form. The magic suffusing them must have altered their properties. Destroying them would be no simple matter.

However, each of them seem to carry a different scent. He can catch hints of those same scents on the wind coming from the crowd. Finding their owners shouldn't be too difficult with his bear-like senses... if the onmyoji doesn't notice they're missing and they can keep him distracted for long enough.