Watanuki Kimihiro (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
foundfate) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
backyardbbq2018-04-17 02:38 pm
foundfate) wrote in backyardbbq2018-04-17 02:38 pm
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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[Watanuki is over by the rice paper door that leads to the porch. It's open wide enough for him to smoke and have the smoke drift outside instead of lingering in the room. Something else important to note: the sun is setting by now, and it will be night soon.]
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[He quirks an eyebrow at that, mouth further drawn into a thin line. This is a shop. This is the shopkeeper. But it doesn't look like a store, as far as he sees. No wares, no goods, just...that man.]
I am very tired. [He says, as if this single sentence explains entirely why he just had a nap attack on the lawn. He turns to look at the ceiling - he noticed it's already getting dark. He should be getting back, but...well, it's not like he has has a time limit, with his job.] What do you sell? I do not see anything.
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[He says that single word and then takes a slow drag from his pipe, giving Lovecraft time to stew on what that word really means.]
Or, more accurately, a customer tells me what they want and I find ways to connect them with that want. But 'granting wishes' sounds more interesting, doesn't it?
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[He repeats the word as if he doesn't believe it.]
...That's a very valuable thing to sell, you know. [He, too, provides "wishes" of a sort, though they're more destructive, more in the lines of "please kill this man for me so that he'll never bother me again". He drums his fingers on his chest.] Why do you think I am your customer, anyways...?
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[Yup this is some Magic Shit. Must be an ability, maybe.]
I'm sure you can think of something you want. You wouldn't be here otherwise.
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[He recalls the tugging feeling he had felt before he had wandered into this boundary of this strange house. Lovecraft closes his eyes - yes, he can't doubt that. Whatever brought him here is far beyond some sudden sense of wanderlust.]
Now that I think of it...it did feel like being summoned.
[He opens one eye to peer at the other.]
What I want? I want...........to sleep.
[Yep.]
I really want to sleep...
[That isn't your real wish and you know it, buddy.]
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[No, the problem is something deeper, and Lovecraft might want to think on it. This shop owner is a benevolent one, but even he can make mistakes if the wish itself isn't clear.]
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...My wishes are too great to grant. [He stares, sullen, at the wall across from him.] Even if you have some ability for it...I do not think you'll be able to manage it.
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If I can't grant your wish, I will tell you. I promise you that much at least.
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[Then it's not a loss to just say it, then. He shakes his head, expecting that this all will be for nothing.]
I want to be free of my contract. No...not just that. [He raises a hand, splaying it over his own thin chest.] I wish that no one would be able to contract me again.
[He grimaces.]
But for as long as I have lived...I have been tied to the affairs of others. It is an inescapable fate.
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[Watanuki can at least recognize when he is talking to an Old One. He uses old magic, and is well over a century old himself, but he's still a baby compared to some of the others. So he speaks respectfully when he talks here.]
I can free you of your current contract- [Lovecraft's contact with Fitzgerald, he means.] -but making you unable to contract with anyone is beyond what I can do. The personal cost for that wish would be too great for you to bear. You wouldn't be 'you' anymore by the end of it.
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And what would that cost be?
[There's the hints of a rueful smile on his usually stoic face.]
What would I lose of myself...?
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[Yeah, let that sink in for a moment.]
Giving up a name would not be enough, since others would find another name to call you by. And if they can summon you, then hiding somewhere won't be enough. The only way to sleep and never be disturbed is for you to not exist entirely, and to never have existed.
However, if you are open to it, I may have a solution for keeping your summons to a minimum?
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[He says, casually, as if simply ceasing to exist is as relieving an experience as, say, getting a massage.]
[His eyes slide over to the man, eyebrows raised.]
Speak, shopkeeper. What would you suggest?
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[At least if he holds the contract, then nobody else can contract Lovecraft? And Watanuki will be nice and let Lovecraft sleep as much as he wants. He has plenty of power on his own, he doesn't need Lovecraft's.]
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[He hadn't been expecting that sort of suggestion - he blinks owlishly, tilting his head to the side - his neck cracks.]
To contract with me would require sacrifice. A price. [He tilts his head to the other side.] You, a shopkeeper, are wishing to buy a contract from me. You would become my customer...
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[That's pretty much what all of the wishes he grants are anyway.]
It seems like a mutually-beneficial contract like that would have a small cost, though. Since we would be customers of each other, the cost of our respective wishes would balance out.
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[It's so strange, to think of being in a contract that would only benefit him in the end. Sliding his legs off the bed, he wrings his hands in his lap, excited and agitated and nervous all at once.]
That could work. I suppose it could work. If my price is your wish, and your price is my wish...
[A pause.]
But I would need to break the contract I have first. That would be an...extra wish. I suppose.
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[He can handle the actual breaking of the current contract, all he has to do is offer something of similar value as a payment to the person currently holding Lovecraft's contract.
...which probably means a 'free' wish for Fitzgerald, but Watanuki can deal with that.]
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[Though yes, he would need to appease Fitzgerald. It would be much like discovering that his goods had been lifted by another buyer under his nose - he would most certainly throw a fit.]
You'd have to talk with Fitzgerald. That man... [He sighs.] But I suppose I'd like such a deal. If you keep your word...
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In the meantime, would you like to rest here for a bit? This shop exists between dimensions, so you should be relatively unbothered for the time being.
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[He still is on the mindset that Watanuki is akin to an ability user - it's not unheard of to have a few with abilities this powerful.]
Or is your ability merely to "grant wishes"....?