Tangible vs. Intangible

[jon]

He had only arrived in Japan two days before, and since then Jon had done little more than wander Tokyo aimlessly. There seemed to be strange powers at work here, powers that he didn't understand. There also seemed to be demons at work here; and not just the kinds that he had personal experience with. On his first night in the city the man had sworn that he had seen something out of a fairytale, but when he had looked again whatever it was had gone. Most likely he had just imagined seeing the thing. It had been a figment of his imagination; a projection of his own inner demons, perhaps. No matter what it was the mage knew that he wanted nothing to do with it. He only wanted to find the person he had come to look for and then leave before anything bad happened.

Today he found himself once again wandering, not having a clue about where he was headed. After a few hours he ended up at an old shrine on the outskirts of the city. As he climbed the stairs leading up to it he wondered if it was abandoned. The stairs were in disrepair but that was not an indication of much at this point. Once he reached the top he was surprised to find a woman wearing a red and white outfit sweeping. Why should this surprise him, he wondered. Wasn't it natural for someone to care for the shrine? Taking a few steps toward her he called out, "Excuse me, is this shrine in business? I'm interested in purchasing a few odds and ends." Although he made sure to speak in Japanese he was hardly fluent so he knew his accent must be dreadful.

[Sato Yunako]

( something's getting in the way, something's just about to break )

It was a warm morning, but a gentle breeze made the temperature much more bearable. Besides, it wasn’t as though it was too hot yet. Yuna smiled to herself as she began to sweep the courtyard of the shrine she now worked out. The shrine belonged to a kind old lady she had met a few months before who was getting too old to care for it the proper way. Therefore the lady was only too happy to hire Yuna on as an “apprentice miko”. The girl had almost snorted at the irony of her, a real-life miko who had lived for a thousand years, being called an apprentice. Not that it mattered too much. In the end she was just happy to be around a shrine again. It brought back happy memories of her childhood, growing up on her parent’s shrine. She would have loved to take over that shrine, but unfortunately it had been destroyed centuries before. It was alright though, since she was perfectly content to stay at this one. Being a mystic may not be her favorite thing, but at least she had a home and a means of support. Well, as much of a home as someone like her could have at least.

The girl stopped sweeping as she sensed something approaching her shrine. It was a human, but… there were dark powers surrounding the human’s aura that worried her. Those powers… they were… Yuna shook her head. No, at first she had thought they were ordinary demonic energy, but that couldn’t be. They felt too sinister for that. Biting her lip she hurriedly returned to her sweeping as the person got nearer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a tall man walking towards her, speaking to her in odd-sounding Japanese. Blinking she turned to face him, keeping the broom held near her body in case he was dangerous. His question confused her though; why would an evil person come to a shrine? It didn’t make sense. Placing a smile onto her face she bowed her head a little. "Yes, it is in business.” Raising her head she gave him a curious look. ”What sort of “odds and ends” did you want?” she questioned, her lips twitching as she repeated his earlier words.

Words || 381
Music || Diary of Jane, Breaking Benjamin
Notes || Nice first post Lindsay! <3 You'll get the hang of rping again fast at this rate. ^^ Lmao plus every song I played when trying to write this post ended up being too sappy-lovey-dovey. DX
Tags || Jon! Open~!

[jon]

Jon smiled slightly when he noticed that she seemed amused by what he had said. Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly he let out a low chuckle. "I suppose that sounded odd, didn't it? I apologize, I should have been a bit more descriptive." Turning his head he looked around the small courtyard, surprise evident on his face. He had half-expected the shrine to be as rundown as the stairs leading up to it, but no, this shrine was obviously very well cared for.

Trees lined the stone pathway that led to the main buildings, and flowers were planted in hanging baskets at intervals on the buildings themselves. It was pretty, he decided. Not really his taste, but pretty all the same. He gave her another small smile. "Do you take care of the shrine? You do an excellent job." Taking another step toward her he took a stab at guessing her age. Eighteen? Nineteen? She couldnt' be older than twenty.

He felt his powers stir in him, demanding to be used. Pushing them back down with a mental grimace he surveyed her. She was thin, and not particularly tall, but she was pretty. Her eyes were what surprised him. They held so much wisdom that he began to wonder if he had been right before with his guess. Could such a young girl have eyes such as these? It didn't seem possible. Realizing he was staring he quickly looked away. "I'm not really sure what sort of trinket I want. Perhaps you could show me what you have? I would also like to learn more about the Shinto traditions, if you would be so kind as to help me to understand?"

(OOC: Thanks Lin!)

[Sato Yunako]

( something's getting in the way, something's just about to break )

Although she was still a bit wary of this man she couldn’t help but to return his infectious smile. ”No, it’s fine. Odds and ends does describe what we sell here, in a very general sense.” It was strange to her that he would apologize so easily for something that wasn’t his fault in any way. Foreigner mentality possibly? No, more likely he was just a nice man who felt the need to apologize for a perceived slight. That in itself was almost enough to make her want to smile. Whenever she met truly nice people she always remembered why she had decided to become a miko in the first place; to help people and to make life better for them. It had always been a letdown to learn that someone she had saved was really just as greedy and undeserving as the demon she had to kill for them. But this man… no, what was she thinking? She was losing herself.

Yuna tilted her head to one side as she listened to him speak again, complimenting her work on the shrine. Smiling brightly she nodded happily. ”It is true; I do look after this shrine since its owner is no longer able to. I enjoy the work.” She looked over at one of the trees, which had looked half-dead only a few months before but now was green and thriving. ”I enjoy the work. It… it makes me happy that I can do even a little for nature.” A faint flush rose to her cheeks, a sign that she was embarrassed by her rambling. ”Forgive me, something overcame me for a moment.”

He spoke again and she nodded, eager to have a change of subject. Showing the man around the shrine would also give her a chance to try to understand his powers better. ”Of course, sir. I would be only too happy to show you what we have and tell you of the Shinto. Please, follow me.” Leading the way to the small store, this in reality was little more than a small annex that had been converted in order to sell things. Several items were displayed on racks, coming in all different colors and sizes. ”This is a magatama,” she said, picking up a blue object. ”It’s a good fortune talisman symbolizing the avoidance of evil or the magic of good fortune. Depending on which you would rather believe.” Yuna smiled slightly. She had no idea whether or not these things were actually effective, but people kept coming back to buy them so someone had to find some use for them. ”We also sell O-mamori, and O-inori. What each is for is written on it.” The multicolored talismans she pointed to were little more than trinkets, as he had said, and to her knowledge didn’t hold any real power.

Words || 472
Music || Diary of Jane, Breaking Benjamin
Notes || Yay, you wrote a long one! ^^
Tags || Jon! Open~!

[jon]

Hmm… interesting. So this girl was just a helper at the shrine. It seemed to him that it should be the other way around as she was so knowledgeable, but it wasn’t really any of his business. He smiled when she blushed, amused at her embarrassment. Shaking his head he laughed. ”It’s quite alright, miss. It’s nice to see someone so young so interested in their work.” Though now that he thought about it he wondered why she wasn’t in school. A pretty young thing like her would do well learning as much as she could, not just working at a shrine. In this day and age shrine work was hardly going to cut it living-wise.

But again Jon kept his mouth shut as it wasn’t any of his business what the girl did or didn’t do. He followed her silently as she led the way over to a small storefront, and listened as she described a ‘magatama’. To him it looked more like a necklace than a talisman, but who was he to judge ancient craftsmanship? Besides it was the description that made him interested. Avoidance of evil, indeed. Now if only something like that worked than he would gladly buy a whole dozen. But since he highly doubts its powers it wouldn’t be of much use to him. Though it would make a nice gift for his grandmother.

”My name is Jonathon Tomlinson, by the way. Forgive me for not saying so earlier,” he said after she had finished showing him the other charms. Normally he would have held out a hand for her to shake, but seeing as how this was Japan and not Great Britain he gave her a courteous bow, which he knew to be the custom in this country. ”I must say,” he said calmly, rising from the bow, ”that I’ve never seen such a wide variety of talismans. However I’m not sure any of them would suit my needs. I would like to purchase a few as gifts for family, so if you would be so kind as to recommend some?” He knew at least one of his relatives would love having one of the flashy charms.

[Sato Yunako]

( something's getting in the way, something's just about to break )

Someone so young, hmm? If Yuna were really as young as she appeared she would have flushed red and fidgeted awkwardly. Not because it was a compliment from a handsome man, but rather the words themselves. Besides, she wasn’t entirely sure that those words should be taken as a compliment, given what they implied. As it was she had dealt with that sort of comment for so long that it really held little meaning to her anymore regardless of implications. A relief, because on the rare occasion that someone discovered her secret, things always became very uncomfortable and awkward. There were those even rarer moments when the person who found out acted normally, as though there was nothing at all strange about what she was. But for the most part people became scared, hateful, distrustful, or worse, envious.

The envy was perhaps the worst of all the reactions she had ever received when they found out she would live forever. She had one vivid memory that stood out among all the rest, haunting her. Fifty years back or so a middle aged man had learned her secret when she used her powers to save him from a demon. He had been on his way home from the hospital after an appointment, and Yuna wondered if that prior occurrence was what had made him react to her the way he had. For the man had asked her, pleaded with her to make him into an immortal as well. Apparently e had been diagnosed with an incurable disease and had but a short time to live. All the same…it had been horrible to have to tell him that no, she couldn’t do that for him. He had sobbed and begged her to reconsider; that he wouldn’t abuse the power and that he only asked because he was afraid. That he…didn’t want to die. It made her heart ache and she had cried with him.

But no matter how many tears were shed there was nothing she could have done. She didn’t have the power to remove her own immortality, let alone grant it to someone else. Not that she would ever even consider doing such a thing. It was a curse, not a gift. Though she had long since accepted her fate and being along there was no way she would ever think of it as anything other than a curse. Not again, anyway. Once she had, but that time was long since passed. Smiling ever so slightly, her lips barely rising at the corners, Yuna inclined her head before speaking.

”My name is Sato Yuna,” she returned his introduction kindly, returning his bow. ”It is a pleasure to meet you, Tomlinson-san.”

She hesitated, unsure whether she should be calling him this as he was not Japanese. It was traditional, and logical for her to do so, but wouldn’t it also make more sense for her to call him ‘Mr Tomlinson’ given that he was foreign? On the other hand, as a foreigner, he would no doubt expect her to speak to him as any other native would. And it wasn’t as though he didn’t seem to understand Japanese, because he did. So, her mind made up, she straightened and nodded, that same tiny smile on her face.

”I can make some recommendations if you would like.” She hesitated for a beat, and then added, ”Um… I know it may be improper of me to ask, but…wouldn’t the gifts mean more if they were picked out by you? ‘It is the thought that counts.’ Isn’t that how the saying goes?”

Words || 598
Music || Diary of Jane, Breaking Benjamin
Notes || Since we're going to continue this so you can get more writing practice, I thought I would prolong it a bit and also practice some~. I'm aiming for 1000 words in my next post, so be warned that I'm upping the ante, so to speak. <3
Tags || Jon! Open~!

[jon]

After he had spoken, the girl had given him a long stare, a slight smile on her lips. Her smile was cute, just like the rest of her, though a bit on the guarded side. This confused him. Although it was normal to be reluctant to open up to much to strangers, this girl seemed almost… trained to remain nonchalant, never revealing more than she wished. Jonathon mentally shook his head. He was reading too much into her behavior; why did it even interest him how the girl acted? He was in no position to consider flirting with her, and even if he was she was far too young for him. A high school girl, nothing more.

He noticed now that she still hadn’t spoken, which was an odd thing in and of itself, though he was probably still reading more into it than he should. Had he said something to upset the girl? It was true that he didn’t have the best track record when it came to speaking with women. Although he could hold his own well enough, and although he could be a gentleman when the occasion called for it, there were always those awkward moments that seemed…utterly inescapable. And this silence, as she observed him, was one such moment. If he weren’t so used to odd stares he would have no doubt shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny.

When finally she did spoke he found himself releasing a breath of air he hadn’t known he had been holding. Sato…Yuna… So that was her name. It fit her, he thought to himself, smiling slightly. And it was also oddly…familiar. Of course it could have just been that he recalled a video game involving a young lady name Yuna, but there was something more to it than that. It was a deeper recollection that spurned his current state of confusion and thought. Where had he heard it before? In a journal of some kind, perhaps? That would be a logical conclusion, given how much he read.

Yes, that seemed right. Now, if only he could remember the contents of the journal. Blinking he realized that she was asking him a question. Meeting her eyes he frowned slightly at her impertinence. Despite the manner in which she was speaking to him now he knew that she was, technically, correct. It would mean more if the gift was from him. He had only asked her to help him because he was afraid he wouldn’t choose something a girl would like. Obviously that had been a mistake on his part. Slowly he forced his facial muscles to smooth and then to smile.

”Ah yes, thank you. You are right of course,” he commented in a light tone.

Reaching out towards the charms he picked out two love charms and two good fortune charms. He then reached to pick up one of the magatama’s, which would be a perfect gift for his grandmother. However, just before his fingers could actually touch it he felt a shock of energy in the air that hit him like a lightning bolt. He could feel the demons stirring within him, seeking to escape into this world by possessing him. Flinching he withdrew his hand from the magatama, smoothly hiding it behind his back so that the girl wouldn’t see the burns that had appeared on his flesh.

Though the girl did seem kind, there was no way he could explain what had just happened or why his skin was now singed. No way. Jonathon clenched his wounded hand into a fist, barely able to control the powers within him that were still threatening to escape. If he wasn’t careful the demons would break through his defenses now, and, he feared that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill Yuna. Forcing a smile he let out an apologetic laugh.

“I think I will just take these charms than. They should do well enough on their own.”

{{OOC: x.x I hate you. Lol no, but seriously, you know I have a hard time writing this much! O.o btw can we do an rp after this with Jon and Sara? I still want to see how they'd react together. ><}}