Shop Visits! (Open post!)

[foundfate]

[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?]

Comments

[foundfate]

[With one last shove, Watanuki finally gets the blankets into the closet. Then he slides the door shut.]

Right now? Advice, probably. You don't look like the kind of person who would ask for a material want.

[Watanuki is usually right, but he has been caught off-guard before too.]

My usual skills include 'cooking' and 'cleaning', and I'm not too bad at advice, but ultimately it's up to you.

[He's about to leave it there, but he remembers his conversation with Shura, and-]

And before you go on about some 'deal with the devil' nonsense, let me say that I am not a demon. I'm completely human.

[reflash]

I don't need anything a human can give me. [Yukio isn't getting all the information, that much is obvious.

And he doesn't want advice. He's making his own choices and dealing with his problems by himself.]

[foundfate]

And yet you are standing in the middle of a shop that is only visible to customers, so there must be something here you need.

[Sorry Yukio, that's kind of a sticking point for him.]

What is it you're looking for?

[reflash]

Power. [He shouldn't be saying this, but... what's it going to hurt? He already knows he's a selfish, disgusting person. It doesn't matter if anyone else knows it either.]

If you know what a demon is, then you know what they can do. I need the power to fight back.

[foundfate]

And why do you need to fight back, exactly?

[Watanuki doesn't doubt that Yukio needs to, he's trying to lead Yukio towards understanding why he wants the power in the first place. What he's trying to protect, basically.]

[reflash]

I promised that I would protect my brother. [The response is automatic, the same thing he always tells himself, what he's told himself for years. Understanding isn't part of it, just the same repetition as always, like a fatal verse.

[foundfate]

And the only way to protect your brother is by gaining power? And what 'power' are you looking for, exactly? 'The power to lift heavy objects' and 'power over a crowd of people' are very different things, for example.

[reflash]

[When did this turn into an interrogation? The conversation is already getting ahead of him, and he viciously pulls it back.]

You said you were selling advice, not physical strength.

[foundfate]

And my advice to you is to think about exactly the kind of 'power' you want to get. I'm not selling some cure-all to get you stronger, but there are plenty of people out there who are. And if you're not careful in your wording, then they'll sell you the kind of strength that benefits them, not you.

Anyone who offers you 'power' without telling you what that power is does not have your best interests in mind.

[reflash]

I already know that. [And he's going ahead anyway. He's 16, and has the confidence that comes with that age. He'll be able to twist anything to his own goals, he knows it.]