Pssst didja hear? [Sound test]

[all_that_glimmers]

Who: Yuuko+Mineto
Where: After game start
What: Gossip swap~



When most people talk to their plants they don't expect the plants to talk back, let alone lean into water like a cat looking for attention. It had been a hot day and humans and youkai weren't the only ones feeling too hot. One of these days Yuuko would remember to install air conditioning in the shop but her water magic was keeping her cool for now. Other people in the shop would be less fortunate.

"Have you heard the news?" Yuuko asked lighty as she fussed over the plant.

Comments

[warbringer]

In an amused, happy sort of way Mineto chuckled to himself. "Now why doesn't that surprise me? How did you know?"

[all_that_glimmers]

"It seems like you," Yuuko replied with her own laugh. "Sword spirit thing aside.

"So the guy or gal you experimented with was this sort of double-edged sir or lady?"

[warbringer]

The conversation was going along at a crackling pace. Mineto looked like he was thoroughly enjoying it. He was smiling, which was how Yuuko could be sure.

"Not exactly. She was his wife."

[all_that_glimmers]

Yuuko whistled. "So you 'experimented' with the wife of your boss? I think there's some netorare doujin that follow that idea.

"What was she like then, if she wasn't the double-edged type then?"

[warbringer]

Mineto shrugged. His arms crossed over his chest and he bowed his head. He knew what he'd done, but her description just wasn't coming to mind.

"I don't really remember," he said. "It was a long time ago. Over a thousand years."

[all_that_glimmers]

"There has to be something about her." Yuuko pushed off the counter and approached. "Given your ridiculously high standards, she must have hit something on the list. Was she pretty? Had a sharp tongue? Really quiet? Have talented fingers? Had a certain scent to her? Allergic to flowers? Anything?"

[warbringer]

The air was thin. And the silence that descended was cold and heavy. But only then.

"Doubtless what you think our relationship may be, this isn't something I wish to discuss," Mineto said, and it was probably the most unfriendly he had ever been.

[all_that_glimmers]

As flippant as Yuuko was, she knew on a personal level, if not survival level, that pressing this would probably reverse some cosmic relationship bar. So she backed off, figuratively and literally. She stepped back and instead brushed her fingers across the plant again.

"I'd tell you about my romantic entanglements but they'd be sooo boring. Even when you date a youkai they're just like human guys, but with more restrictions and worries they may try throwing a curse at you for breaking up with them."

[warbringer]

"No. Please, tell me more."

As Mineto yawned his boredom, he brought out a rather disapproving look, in the way that he was admonishing a child. He decided to speak to her in the way that he was used to.

"That happens to the desperate people who date those sorts. It's quite common."

[all_that_glimmers]

"I wasn't desperate," Yuuko pouted. "He was an attractive and seemed normal enough at the time and that's what people do - they date to see if there can be anything more. Unfortunately he was clingy and kept leaving hair in my shower and would not take the hint that it was over. He was still nice in a pathetic way, until he tried that love curse." Smile. "Then he had to go.

"My first boyfriend though, he was a winner on the douche scale. Sure he was popular and fairly good looking but no one should be supporting the hair gel industry that much. And the arrogance! Assuming just because it's him forgives everything makes me laugh and laugh when I remember he too also went at some point."

[warbringer]

Mineto was a little disapproving of her choice of men too. The tale of the hair in the bath left him with a slightly uneasy feeling. Were-creatures were something he should have made more examples of.

"Went? What do you mean?"

[all_that_glimmers]

There was that look again, the one that said 'I have a secret - now wouldn't you like to know?'.

"There are apparently vengeance youkai very partial to the plight of young, innocent teenage girls for the right price. They took him on a field trip to correct him of the error of his ways. When they brought him back he was a better person for it though when I saw him a few years ago he ran away." She sighed. "So ungrateful."

[warbringer]

Mineto seemed to grow a few inches shorter. His shoulders were slumped and he seemed to be caving in on himself. He looked almost disappointed?

"How weak," he said. "You should have been more ruthless and executed him as an example."

[all_that_glimmers]

Yuuko laughed, so hard she pulled off her glasses to wipe at her eyes.

"In my defense, I was only seventeen at the time. A young, innocent girl-" but she still laughed at that, as though not fully believing that. "-and in the human world, saying you killed your boyfriend because he was a douche gets you locked up instead of fear and respect! The bakeneko, unfortunately, was also pretty early into my magical life.

"You also forget that having a living example does have it's pluses. They live, yeah, but they have to live with what they've seen and experienced while everyone else is stuck wondering just what went and caused that sort of fear and retribution."

[warbringer]

Mineto shook his head. Thinking about it, he saw that even in revenge humans could be young and foolish.

"Useless," he began saying, "a person uninformed is a person who cannot fear you." He was looking at Yuuko studiously. "Even you should know it's easier to replace a dead person than to accommodate them."

[all_that_glimmers]

"That would have made a wonderful headline," Yuuko replied. "'Age 17, female high schooler murders dick in blood cold blood. Short, cute and simply adorable, even as she demands she be known and feared as killer of all enemies to women'. It's not impossible but that would be such a taxing role to build for myself.

"Plus, you don't use a hammer for every job. It works wonderfully to like, kill your enemy, kill their family, and then the their friends and pets for kicks sometimes but it's so inefficient for every job. In this case, the power of human imagination works perfectly because they're better at coming up with whatever freaks them out the most without me having to set the bar. For little hob goblins or other youkai pulling pranks, they already have a high bar. Then I would need a hammer."

[warbringer]

Meanwhile, Yuuko had lost Mineto's attention so fast that his studious expression was giving way to boredom. He did not trust this human to understand what it was like to remain on the shelf. He had brought himself down from it with his own power - although it had become nice not to think about it.

There was also another truth. Many youkai knew better than to lecture one of his age.

"Tell me, do you always show such disrespect to your elders?"

[all_that_glimmers]

"Constantly," Yuuko quipped instantly. "Refuge in audacity works better than you'd think! It's easy to just smile and nod but that's impolite and I think too highly of you to fall to that mode."

[warbringer]

Blatant as though that was, Mineto looked like he didn't mind. He shut his eyes and seemed to be loving every moment.

"Are you sure?" he asked. He gestured at the bottles on the shelves. "You really think I don't know you just want to siphon me off?"

[all_that_glimmers]

"I do but not that way!" Yuuko laughed and smiled wickedly. "I'd prefer other ways to siphon you off. More comfortably. Like in bed."

[warbringer]

This comment left Mineto with a few moments of peace in which to wonder what he'd do. He spared her a surprised glance. He did manage to not smile. But then, the stiffness of the comment wore off when he threw his head back and laughed, over and over again.

"So! That's what you're after!"

He fell into using a quieter voice, and a wry smile appeared on his face. He stared into her eyes.

"Oh, you are a wonder. You know you are such hard work, don't you? Perhaps I just need to lie down." He looked tired and thoughtful, though he was perfectly healthy.

[all_that_glimmers]

"You are somewhere over a thousand years old, Ozaji-san," Yuuko replied, but she returned his gaze with something something lively and inviting. "My place is just up the stairs. You're free to that bed if you like and if that's not too much work."

[warbringer]

"I do need to rest," Mineto said with the weariness of age.

The offer sounded perfect; but he would prefer it if they got into a bath and lost their worries together in the warmth. He wanted sincerity. But this did not seem like something he would ever obtain. He knew what it was like to stay young and have people die in front of him.

He put the emotion he had shown back in its bottle, and returned to looking a little stiff.

"How warm is it?"

[all_that_glimmers]

"As warm as you can expect from a summer day's beams," Yuuko replied. "Perfect for catnaps. And other things if and when they pop up."

She shrugged, looking less stiff than Mineto; relaxed and inviting.

"All you need to do is ask."

[warbringer]

There was a long and ripe silence. Mineto was dusting down his shoulder, cleaning himself of his awkwardness.

"I ask nobody for nothing."

It was evidently too much to have his control slipping out from under him.