backyardbbq | Shop Visits! (Open post!)

Shop Visits! (Open post!)

[Maybe you stumbled upon the front gate to a strange house while walking in your neighborhood. Maybe you found it nestled between skyscrapers in a downtown area. Or maybe you didn't stumble across it at all, and instead fell into the backyard or something. The way you got there matters little. What really counts is that you're there for one reason: a wish.

A want. A desire. Something you can't get on your own. Something you want so badly that you would do anything to get it.

Well, you've come to the right place.

There's plenty to see in the house. The foyer is nice, and the kitchen is well-stocked. There's several other rooms as well: a sitting room, a dining room, a couple bedrooms for the people who wander upstairs to look, and a rather luxurious bathroom too. Several rooms open to the outside as well, so it's easy to come inside by many different paths.

But ultimately, you will end up face-to-face with a screen that opens into a room with a table and two chairs which overlooks the backyard.

And in that room, you will find the shopkeeper.]

[What happens now? Well, that's up to you, isn't it?]

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No, but they don't need encouraging.

[He will go ahead and shoo them off, since they're being a distraction. He has time to gather payment for that wish before the payment is extracted from him, but he would still rather collect it early. Especially since Shura seems to be a pain in the butt about it.]

They have their own work to do anyway. Don't distract them.

[So he was admitting that he was a playboy? Goodness!]

You're the one who called 'em down~

[Which obviously justifies her encouraging their mischief. Of course it does. Shura's a giant been in the tush, and she's going to make sure he knows it so he can move on from whatever little plans he had for her. She drinks the water casually, continuing to not tell him anything at all about what brought her here.]

Because part of their work is bringing me things I need.

[God, she's insufferable. She has to be doing it on purpose, he decides.

So he's going to push right back at her, and starts to slip back into that tone he used the first time they met. The slightly smug, aware of everything voice. The one he uses when he does business.]

Did the date go so badly that you decided to just come here and take it out on me?

[Shura says nothing in reply to that. She just chokes on the long drink of water she was taking, having meant to down half of the glass like that. It means there's water going down the wrong pipe, and she sputters, too agitated to form a better response than that. Jerk.]

[Bingo.

And to prove it's not his future-seeing powers that did that:]

A twenty-something woman dressed up nicely, but seeking shelter from the rain in a wish shop instead of with her beau? It's not hard to guess what happened.

[Shura wipes her mouth with the towel, scowling at Watanuki as she hacks up the last drops of water. It'll take her a moment to form a reply, but she snaps it out.]

You're a swindler, ain'tcha? Pullin' somethin' like this...

[A supernatural con man. Well, that was most demons out there, so she shouldn't be surprised. She was just about convinced that he wasn't the average demon, but she can return to her original assumption.]

How can I be a swindler if I am not selling you anything. I was making an observation, nothing more.

[With the water mopped up, he will walk over and put the mop back where he had gotten it from before. Then he turns to look back at Shura.]

Here is another observation for you: you're a forward woman who doesn't seem to have any reluctance in going after what she wants. Someone like you should have no trouble at all finding a suitable partner. And yet here you are, in my shop, harassing me.

I can't help but wonder why.

[What was this? Was he trying to bamboozle her or something so she'd ask for something else while she wasn't thinking straight? Shura's eyes narrow, and she drops her hand down from her hair. He has her on the defensive, and that is completely unacceptable. First off, did he understand that most decent men were already taken??]

You're the one who's chargin' me for a glass of water without mentionin' a price, y'know. Most people would give it out of courtesy.

Least, most humans would.

[Sure, they'd grumble or complain, but it was better to hydrate a drunk and send them on their way than to risk them puking on their front door.]

[He just smiles at that.]

I have already told you, I am a human.

[And he's getting her out of her comfort zone, which is nice. He likes it a lot better when he's the one catching someone else off-guard.]

[he is the worst and she hates him]

Yeah, and I still don't believe it ♥. You're not a hundred percent human, if that really is the case~.

[It would make sense if there was some demonic heritage somewhere in his line. ~~A magical girl isn't quite the same.~~ Regardless of how or when that would have happened, Shura wants out. She hasn't finished her glass, but she'll set it down on the counter anyway, looking towards the door.]

Thank ya for your hospitality, but I've had enough.

[So she's still not ready then. Alright, that's fair. Watanuki is nothing if not patient.

He indicates to the front door after seeing her set down her glass.]

You're free to leave at any time, of course. Though, if I may make a request before you go?

[Excuse, Shura's perfectly ready for everything?? Just not for this cryptic guy's crap. No one was ready for that.]

What.

[She replies flatly, brow furrowing. Clearly, she doesn't want to hear him out.]

Don't waste your time on someone not suited for you.

[Does he know about the marriage-dates-thing? Or is he just making an inference based off of his observations from tonight? It's ambiguous, like many of his messages, so Shura can take from it what she wants.

But regardless of what he means there, the air will get heavy as he speaks next. Not just from the weight of the words he is about to say, but it feels like an actual, physical weight upon the room. As if an unknown force is pressing in, focusing attention onto the conversation.]

'Time' is the one thing that unites every living species across every world in existence. Some live longer than others, but regardless of the actual amount someone gets, there is still a limit. Eventually, everyone's time runs out.

So don't waste it. It's the one resource you cannot, under any circumstances, get more of.

[Time is a precious thing to Shura. She had wasted so many years because she saw little point in making the most of such a short life. Building walls and sharpening her tongue to fend off any potential intruders, she did her best to keep people at a distance. It was just better that way. She hadn't been as successful as she might have hoped, but in the end, it was those bonds that gave her the will to save herself.

So it's a sensitive spot, one that she doesn't anticipate him finding, intentionally or not. It has her bristling, a little more sober than before, a cold shiver going down her spine.]

Goin' on like an old man, what's up with that? What, you tellin' me I should just ask you for a decent guy or somethin'? You really are just a hustler.

[She won't be conned into doing something stupid like that.]

'Sides, I ain't got your twenty grams.

[She does, though, and it glitters at her throat.]

Of course not. I'm not a matchmaker.

[He WOULD grant that wish, if she asked, but she might not like the idea he has in mind for that if that's what she ends up asking for.]

Time is rather precious to me, that's all. I thought I might pass along the same warning that was given to me many years ago. It felt like something that might help you.

[See? He can give help without strings attached when he wants to!

Then he indicates to the brooch pinned to Shura.]

Not that it matters much, if you aren't going to make a wish, but you did bring the twenty grams with you anyway.

[ Her glare remains sharp. Great, now she was getting unsolicited advice. It was one thing to get it from Shiro. He had been her teacher, after all, no matter how much it hurt her each time her threw her out. But this guy? It just pisses her off. ]

Tch.

[But wait, what was he talking about, she brought the metal with her? She didn't have anything like that on her, not even Fang's scabbard--

Her hand lifts to her throat. Her brooch? But that was just nickel or something, wasn't it? Shoot, she had worn the stupid thing on missions before. She'd have to be more careful with it. ]

What are you even tryna' convince me to ask for? You have to know since you're already makin' demands.

If you decide to make a wish- and that is still a pretty big 'if', as you do not seem intent on making one at the moment- it will be needed. I cannot enter your world, not without drawing unwanted attention to myself. So if you want a wish to be granted, you would need to bring the materials here.

[More vagueness on his part. Because while he did see a vision of the future, and of Shura's wish, it is just one of many possible futures. She could still refuse the wish, or ask for something else entirely.

Watanuki has a feeling that won't happen, though. He doesn't invoke 'fate' as much as Yuuko did when she was around, but even he can see the signs of fate intervening. And their meeting twice now? Definitely fate. Though he's still not sure what this fate will bring for them, should Shura not lose her spine and run away from it all.]

The brooch would be payment for your wish, of course. Unfortunately, if you do decide to make a wish, I will have to ask for payment upfront from now on.

[Why is he so vague? Why can't he just... tell her! She's really just annoyed that he's so insistent that she has a wish he can grant, but he won't even tell her what he thinks it is! Sure, Shura had lots of things she liked, but wished for? That wasn't the same. What, did he want her to ask for a guarantee of Rin and Yukio's safety? While that was one of her central desires, she didn't believe a guy who didn't want to become involved with their world's problems would be willing to go that far.]

You should be askin' for payment upfront anyway!

[This is why she thinks you're a demon, bro!! Demanding payment and being all vague and crap. He's too much for her to handle.]

I do, normally. The price of each wish is exact, and once someone says what their wish is then I tell them the price. Then they decide. It's not a real Payment if the person doesn't understand exactly what they are paying!

[Honestly he's offended here. Way to crap all over his business, Shura.]

And before you bring it up: the cost of a glass of water is inconsequential enough that I would have been fine waiving the fee. And I haven't told you a price for your real wish, because you haven't told me what that wish is!

You're already telling me to bring twenty grams of precious metal to ya!

[And now she's pointing at him, because seriously!! This man is going to drive her crazy. She should just walk out, but whatever. And also, he just admitted there was a fee to giving her a glass of water. If she wasn't so frustrated, she might have to worry about the fact that there was a fee and that maybe there was something more behind it, but it'll take some more sobering up and cooling off for her to catch that.]

That ain't cheap! I didn't even know that this thing is made of anythin' special. I don't know how you even could tell!

It's nice enough to make jewelry out of, it would work. Or if you do decide to make a wish, you can bring something better next time.

[Or just unexpectedly significant in this particular moment.

Also the water fee also covers 'bothering him after-hours' because he totally has fees for that. Only friends get to bother him after-hours for free.]

Now if you're done making a mess in my kitchen, I will have to ask you to leave. The shop is closed right now.

[On the one hand, she really wants to yell at him some more. One the other hand, she really doesn't want to be here anymore. Her pride can only fuel her for do long, and her head's pounding from dealing with this weird guy. So fine. She'll huff, open her mouth to say something, then shut it. If he wasn't just so frustrating--what was it with four-eyed men and being stubborn?]

Tch. I don't know why I even bothered.

[Because you wanted a drink, Shura... But regardless, she will leave with that. She hopes he can't sleep the rest of the night!!]

[Why did she bother indeed? Shura is proving to be one of Watanuki's more frustrating clients.

That said, if she ever does return, he won't outright refuse her. She's a customer, after all, and customers deserve respect. Even if they're clearly shitheads.

Well...she's not as bad as some of his other clients have been. She's rowdy and loud, but not a horrible person. So she has that going for her, at least.

And since she hasn't made a wish yet, the shop still remains.]

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Shop Visits! (Open post!)

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