o v e r f l o w

[ashioki]

Comments

[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

[paperpusher]

Consulting with the other exorcists here about how to resolve the situation without destabilizing it to the point that all of the guests' lives are at risk.

[ashioki]

[ look he was just checking...., ]

good that you have others here to help you then

[paperpusher]

Haha, why? Because I can't handle it on my own?

I'm kidding. Even if this situation was one tenth the size that it is, we'd be pulling in exorcists from across the country to deal with it. I mean it when I said I've never encountered anything at this scale before, not even in our family records.

[ashioki]

[ don't make him instantly regret being nice (?) to you! ]

well hopefully you guys find something out soon
in the meantime i'll make sure to stay out of your way

[paperpusher]

Actually, it'd be helpful if you could keep us appraised of anything particularly unusual you come across! By which I mean, there's a background level of supernatural activity happening here that anyone can see, but if you experience something that seems to be less widely known, please share it. Even if you're over inclusive, it's better to make sure, right?

[ashioki]

i don't know i'd be able to figure out the difference
i haven't been here very long and everything supernatural is just... weird to me
but if something feels especially strange i'll shoot you a text i guess

[paperpusher]

I guess what I mean is: if anything seems to contradict what the others have told you about this place, or if you end up in a conversation with someone affiliated with the hotel and they let something slip, let me know! Of course you can feel free to ask general questions too, but those are the things I'm most interested in.

Oh, what's your name? I have a better way of getting in contact in an emergency. 

[those two things are connected, even if they seem like nonsequitors.]

[ashioki]

okay, i'll see what i can do

it's oushi
you have a way to communicate outside of these watches?

[paperpusher]

[Natori doesn't reply on the watch. Instead, a few minutes later, a simple paper doll finds its way to wherever Oushi is-- flying through the air like it's propelled by its own individual gust of wind, circling around Oushi as if confirming his identity, and then hovering at eye level for him to read what's written on it.

On the front is Natori's extremely neat handwriting, with plenty of space for Oushi to write underneath:]

If you hold this and will it to find me, it will come back to me. You can write on it too.

[...If he flips it around to the back, he can see that this doll appears to have been made from the title page for an erotic novel called As the Hotel Turns: My Adventures in Hot and Sexy Wonderland.]

[ashioki]

[ ...............................................

before too long, natori will find the little paper doll floating its way back to him. just beneath his own handwriting is oushi's scrawl, somehow curt despite it all. ]

Please invest in a proper notepad.

[ that is to say: that was a really neat trick, and one quickly undone by natori's choice of paper. lowkey, oushi is convinced he had done it on purpose. ]

[paperpusher]

[A fresh doll comes back soon enough! This one looks like an end chapter page of a different book, one equally as erotic but apparently set on a submarine. He's not got a lot of options for pages with at least one blank side of the paper.]

Your test worked! It came back to me as planned!

[because obviously that was why Oushi would immediately send the emergency contact doll back, right?]

Beggars can't be choosers.

[and weirdly enough, shortly after Oushi receives this second doll, he gets a new text from Natori, who clearly can tell when his dolls have arrived.]

Nice to meet you, Oushi-kun! What did you get from the hotel when you arrived here? I received an awful lot of gifts, so I'm happy to offload some.

[and he attaches a photo of a lot of gifts piled in the basement hallways. There are an astonishing number of trashy erotic novels in the pile.]