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?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ohoho, don't get soft on me now!

[Shura, a grown woman, has difficulty with sincerity. It's so much easier to brush that kind of thing off, even without Hachiro's contract weighing on her. She had plenty enough on her shoulders as it was.]

'Sides, it's as much my fault as anythin' else. I shoulda anticipated that this place wasn't defenseless.

[ But she will take a more serious tone as she moves to her feet. She couldn't anticipate what was going to happen, but she should have thought her plan out better. ]

Well now you know for next time, at least.

[Next time. Because there probably will be a next time, if she keeps coming around here. Watanuki tends to get hurt a lot.]

I'll have to cook something for you later, too.

[As a 'thank you for stitching me up.']

There ya go, assumin' there's going to be a next time. You really are a baby-face playboy.

[Nope, she doesn't need him to cook for her or do anything in return.]

I assume those girls can take care of anythin' else you need. If that's the only spot on you that needs stitches, then I'll be off.

[And by off, she means inspecting the grounds and looking to see if there's a way she can help boost or strengthen any seals or wards the ground may have on them. The guy might be some ~sorcerer~, but it wouldn't hurt to add an extra defensive layer or two.]

Well, this is the third time you've been here already. There's no reason to think there won't be a fourth.

[Or a fifth, or a sixth, and so on.

But yes she can go inspect the grounds. The place is pretty well-guarded, actually! Lots of spells and barriers to keep stuff out. The problem is that it's not completely closed off, since he has to let customers in.]

Oh, ya seen it in one of your visions?

[Well, she doesn't intend on coming back. He should be strong enough to bring his friend over to get his stitches taken out. Maybe she'd walk by to check on the ward she plans on adding, but nope not again.]

Not this time.

[Truthfully, he hasn't. He's just getting a handle on the kind of person Shura is.]

Maybe it's a bit of hope on my part?

[Because as annoying ad Shura is, she doesn't seem as bad as he thought she was. A bad person wouldn't take the time to patch him up like this. A bad person wouldn't even care that he had gotten hurt.]

[Maybe it's the pain and shock of his injury that's making him talk a little crazy. Shura doesn't hold back a snort.]

Ah, I'm on to ya, playboy. I ain't that easy, y'know.

[Definitely not coming back. Even if she was in the market for a decent guy, someone who's traveling dimensions or worlds definitely is not someone she needs in her life for her platonic or romantic needs. Instead of considering her options, she defaults on what's easiest for her, simply dismissing him.]

I never said you were.

[You don't have to want to sleep with someone to want to see them again, Shura.

But he's getting drowsy now and will probably pass out soon, so he says one last thing before that happens:]

At least consider it?

[Visiting, he means. Because saving his life = buddies now, clearly.]

[Like this, he's almost cute. Almost.]

You're a lonely guy, aintcha?

[Since he's being good and resting, Shura will only just murmur that as he drifts off. Well, now's as good of a time as any to head out. Hopefully those girls will be nice to him when he wakes up.]

[Lonely is an apt observation tbh.

The girls are nice to him when he wakes up, and his doctor friend does come and visit and makes sure he is alright. But still, Watanuki ends up thinking about Shura quite a bit as he recovers.

If Shura doesn't stop by on her own, then 14 days out from the day of the injury a small demon will bring Shura a letter, inviting her back to the shop for some tea. The letter is nice and written on fancy paper, but there is no magic within it. It's just a normal invitation.]

[It isn't that coming by doesn't cross her mind as the days go by. But she's busy, demons to exorcise and Okumuras to worry about. She can't even make it to the mixer she kinda-sorta wanted to go to one weekend. There's just too much going on for one woman, and Mephisto still hasn't given her a damn demotion yet.

When that little invitation shows up, Shura accepts purely as a way to step out of the chaos for a bit. One cup of tea, then she could go to the spa. Besides, what was that guy doing, having demons run errands for him when it was hard to tell sometimes just who worked for who around here? He must be getting desperate for some company if he was going this far. Even if there wasn't some kind of magical signature on it, it still posed a risk.

So fine, she'll show up. But only for one cup.]

Heey, Playboy Prophet~ You still in one piece, huh?

[As the note promised, there's tea! Watanuki has it set up in a room in the shop. Not the wish room, but another room. Because this isn't about wishes, this is about visiting.

Still, Watanuki's face brightens a bit when he hears Shura arrive.]

For now, I suppose. Doumeki said the scar won't be that bad either. You did a good job with the stitches.

[What was with that face, was he some kind of dog or something? He looks more like a puppy than a prophet. It'd be endearing if it didn't feel so strange. But loneliness could do that to a person. ]

That doctor of yours? Ah, well, I guess that's good. Ain't like I want to leave my mark on you or nothin'.

[She can take a seat wherever he shows her, feeling just polite enough to sit properly. No sprawling just yet for her. ]

But why didn't you have him for tea? Things that slow around here?

There's still going to be a mark, but it will be less noticeable.

[Not that anybody can really SEE it, since he wears ridiculously complex clothes all the time. He's got style but that style is 'the only skin you see is my face'.]

I did have him over for tea a few days ago. But that time and this time are different things.

[Between his style and Shura's usual lack of clothing, they almost average out.]

They're different? Ah, don't give me any weird ideas or nothin', 'kay playboy?

[This was just a friendly tea. Recompense for her help. She could work with that easily enough.]

But I guess it would be different. He took your clothes off an' everythin', right~?

[Since he had to check out the wound and all. Totally innocent!]

Of course it's different. We even made out and everything.

[Such frank language. But that smile of his is probably a good indication that he is teasing and no making out actually happened.]

[Oho, so he did have a sense of humor!]

Aah, that's good, that's good~ Makin' out with lots of tongue, right? I'm sure he used his mouth in plenty'a nice ways for you ♡

[Time to see just how far he could take it. He rebuffed her talking about his actual partners, but his pretend ones, that might be different.]

[Pretend partners are absolutely fair game as far as he's concerned.]

Of course. Do you really think I would go for anything less than complete tongue action? I'm a divorcee, lewdness comes with the territory.

[Talking about past partners is not for joking conversation like that, but his marital status apparently is.]

[Divorced, how scandalous! But it's okay, Shura's tried to sleep with her teacher. They can reach new lows together.]

Aah, might as well! No man's gonna take you if ya don't get a little wild, right? A lady on the streets, a tiger between the sheets an' all that. Ah, they're so terrible!

[She may or may not be venting just a bit with that last bit.]

[He can tell that's venting, at the very least.]

Men really are terrible, aren't they? They want everything from you, and then they go and break your heart. It's enough to make you want to drink.

[It's a good thing Watanuki is bi, he can talk about stuff like this. He might be venting a bit too, there's a reason why he said 'divorcee' and not 'widower'.]

[he said a magic word]

Ahaha~, should we?

[Drink. He has to have more booze hidden around here somewhere, right???]

You want to drink around me? My tastes don't only include men, you know. Who knows what my immoral hands might do with my inhibitions lowered.

[The answer is 'nothing', because Watanuki is a sleepy drunk. But still.]

Nyaaa~, you think I'm cute~? Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look. I'll just break your wrist if ya get too lascivious.

[So maybe he was a dimension traveling sorcerer. Shura can still fend for herself most days. ]

I'm more surprised that you think people wouldn't find you cute.

[That answer right there, that's a more genuine one. Definitely a different tone compared to the teasing from moments ago.

And he's going to give her a moment to mull over that as he goes to get some booze from the kitchen. As usual, he's got the Good Shit and a couple glasses for sharing it.]

Drink this one slowly, chugging it will knock you out.

[The problem was that too many people thought she was cute. A cute face with big tits. The hard part of this dating thing was filtering out the weird guys who seemed okay at the beginning.

She cheers when he returns with a bottle and glasses. This is the best thing she's seen all day.]

Yay~! Ah, but don't tell me that! That's almost a challenge, y'know!

[But she can take small sips... for now.]

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