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[ashioki]

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[ashioki]

[ the fuck. ]

exorcisms?
like — on demons?

[ is this his truth question? guess so. ]

[paperpusher]

I haven't had to deal with any demons, actually! Youkai, ayakashi, spirits-- whatever you want to call them.

[and because he can't help enjoying himself, he is going to purposefully treat that as the truth question!! so]

Okay, your turn. Truth or dare?

[ashioki]

[ ..............................fuck that's so cool though. ]

uh

[ fortunately, this isn't in person so there's no way natori could ever see the look in oushi's eyes right now. ]

truth

[paperpusher]

[Natori assumes the "uh" is just another "what is this weirdo doing" reaction, which was of course what he was aiming for! So he doesn't think anything special about it.

Also... unfortunately for Oushi, he's the first person to have texted Natori since he received this dare, so.]

Alright then! So tell me honestly: do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?

["again," as if he's walked by at all, or they've laid eyes on each other at all???]

[ashioki]

[ how quickly that just snaps oushi right out of his daze— ]

are you trying to do a two-for-one?
no

to both questions

[paperpusher]

I don't have any idea what you're talking about ✨

[ashioki]

sure you don't
doesn't matter to me, that was your question to waste

truth or dare?

[paperpusher]

Was it a waste? We learned important things about each other! See, I'll do truth again, so you can ask more.

[ashioki]

[ important things....... ya ok ]

what made you get into exorcism

[paperpusher]

It's a family business. Or it was. I'm the first Natori in many generations who's been able to see ayakashi, so I restarted it.

[ashioki]

did you do it because you wanted to? or because you felt like you should, because of that ability?

[paperpusher]

Well, that makes it sound like those are opposites, doesn't it?

What you need to understand is that ayakashi live much, much longer than humans, and they don't really distinguish between individual humans very well. To them, the Natori living today might as well be the same Natori from hundreds of years ago who exorcised or sealed their brethren. There's some degree of protection in not being able to engage with them, but not total. So imagine you're an ayakashi out to get revenge on a family that wronged you, and all of a sudden one of them can look back.

[ashioki]

so you wanted to do it... because it was your responsibility
got it
so you're a pretty upstanding guy after all

[ "after all"??? wow ]

[paperpusher]

["after all???" time to lean in.]

Not at all! I wanted to do it because the ayakashi teased me all the time when I was a kid.

[ashioki]

being humble doesn't suit you

i'll take another truth

[paperpusher]

Haha, too true! It's impossible to downplay my shine.

What about you? What do you do, back home?

[ashioki]

nothing

[ oushi ashioki, everybody! the resident Just a Guy. ]

i'm a college student, i have a part-time job
that's it

[ nbd not like being around all these other extraordinary people is giving him a complex or anything nbd ]

[paperpusher]

Haha, you're just a normal kid, huh? [as if Natori isn't in his early 20s too.] Sorry you have to put up with all of this.

[ashioki]

[ honestly... oushi would be the first person to agree there is a world's of difference between him and natori. what does age even matter, when someone fights actual monsters for a living? ]

don't waste your sorries on me
compared to other people's daily lives outside of this place, getting stuck here is barely even noteworthy

[paperpusher]

I wouldn't say that. This is by far the largest incidence that I've ever heard of for something like this; it's atypical even in exorcist circles.

[But then again, he has heard of things like this happening before-- just not at this scale.]

[ashioki]

something like this?

getting trapped in a new world? that's not new to you either?

[paperpusher]

Well, getting trapped in an ayakashi domain. It's much more common to have humans accidentally wander into the ayakashi realm and not be able to find their way out than it is for something to be actively "taking" people like this hotel is, but it can happen. It's alarming that this has been going on for so long without the exorcist community back home becoming aware of it, but time also works differently in the ayakashi realm, so that probably has something to do with it.

[ashioki]

maybe it has nothing to do with ayakashi
have you been able to sense anything since you've been here?

[paperpusher]

There are ayakashi absolutely everywhere. The basement floors are haunted. Each of the suits is an ayakashi. This hotel itself is an ayakashi.

[ashioki]

[ ..................................... ]

ok



not to sound ungrateful or anything






but what are you doing about it