just call, we're all connected

[unbr8kable]

[It is a long, long sail to Hachijojima, but at almost 300 kilometers south of the Imperial Palace, it's one of the most remote places within the city limits, making it perfect for both urban exploration and other dubiously wise pursuits. Surely anticipation and boredom from the trip is the only reason for the frisson of nervous energy Nemesis can't shake even after an afternoon on what even in Hell TV form are gorgeous black sand beaches and lush, tropical greenery that verges on overgrowing the buildings of the port town.

That said, soon enough it's time to get to business, and after a dinner of fresh-caught fish and fruit to supplement the food they'd brought along, Hurricane and Nemesis begin setting things up.

The hotel they'd scoped out for the ceremony (thanks Yahell! Maps) was run down and abandoned even by Tokyo-F standards, its bubble-chic French Baroque architecture salt stained and half covered in vines and ferns and established greenery. Its sprawling beach patio opens straight to the sand and beyond that the ocean, though the promenade of graceful statues are now crumbling, and rather than cafe tables or lounge chairs, only moss and bioluminescent mushrooms venture over the once ornately tiled floor.

There is still plenty of space for candles and salt and whatever else one might need to do with the space, and Nemesis dumps her bag of supplies right there on one of the benches carved into the railing; turns to Hurricane beside her.]

Ready to summon an elder god?

Comments

[crossmyheartandhope]

I know you can... but I wanna help.

[He does take it, favoring the uncut hand - cuts the towel into strips, and then wets one of them with the water]

Lemme see?

[unbr8kable]

[She bows her head and leans in closer, offering her hand. It's not nearly as bad as his, though the skin is more covered in red than not]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[He dabs at it, careful, trying to clean away the worst of the blood and get a better look at the wound]

[unbr8kable]

[There's the same spores-and-sand grime that they'll probably be shaking out of their things for a while after this, and she hasn't let it be long enough to scab over. But between the keenness of the blade and the care in his cut, it shouldn't scar too badly]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Fun times, spores and sand. He has to be less gentle before he's done, to make sure it's actually clean - gets the mess off her entire palm, and then the rest of her hand, for good measure. When he's done, he starts bandaging her up, careful]

[unbr8kable]

[Her hand twitches despite how steady she tries to keep it as he works, though at least he's not stitching this time so it's much smaller of a deal. She keeps her head bowed as if watching him work, so it's difficult to completely catch her expression as he does]

...Sorry.

[crossmyheartandhope]

...what for?

[He finishes tying it off, as gentle as he can]

[unbr8kable]

Underestimating this stuff. Even though we've messed with this kinda stuff before, I didn't think nothing was gonna happen...nothing real, anyways.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah, well... I thought we were gonna get what we were asking for, if we got anything.

Shows what I knew.

[unbr8kable]

...Don't he make people crazy if you talk to him too much?

[crossmyheartandhope]

...was just one question, yeah? One question's probly fine.

[unbr8kable]

I thought just looking was supposed to be enough.

[crossmyheartandhope]

...jesus.




Guess it's good we didn't get him for real.

[unbr8kable]

Yeah. I mean, I dunno how much that stuff's s'posed to be real. But it's pretty good PR either way.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah... guess so.

[unbr8kable]

Anyways--anyways, didn't matter in the end...right? We're fine, and everyone's fine. It's all--fine. So nothing to worry about.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah... yeah. It all came out okay, so - so we're good.

[unbr8kable]

Yeah. And next time-next time, we'll know.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah. Yeah, for real.

Do you think, like... we didn't get him cause he ain't here to get?

[unbr8kable]

Like. He ain't real?

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah. Or maybe... I dunno. Maybe he's out there somewhere, but he don't got access to this place.

[unbr8kable]

Or he's just made up...or not enough people believe in him no more. That was something...right? Like--the reason we gotta have teams--unit themes, or whatever.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah. So maybe we got... what? Something close, but that people still believe in?

[unbr8kable]

Maybe...

[She hesitates, then shifts, moving to sit next to him rather than across. She continues to brush against his unbandaged fingers, however]

Maybe it was like a wrong number or something. So we thought we were calling tentacle guy and otherwise maybe it'd go to whatserface the operator, but instead we got...the mushroom princess.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[He doesn't seem to mind the change in position - leans in against her, careful]

What, so one number off and we got someone else instead?

Or maybe, like... the line was open, so whoever wanted could come through.