jikan_rpg | make life take the lemons back

Ares' search to satisfy his bloodier urges eventually leads him to find work in the Port Market. Banditry had certainly taken on a more interesting form here, but it was banditry nonetheless, so it naturally aligns with his tastes. For this new employer he takes on a mortal guise; the lord of War need be nothing more than a man with a preference for crimson clothing and a more gruesome type of work. Also swords. He very much liked swords.

And so, their particular team is at the end of the steam-car drive towards the more abandoned parts of Kanto. The buildings to be destroyed lie a few minutes ahead in the distance. They were decrepit and rusted, the walls waterlogged by the flooding that plagued the outer ruins. It is a bit of a miracle the roads were put-together enough to use them. The rain that had lightly showered the area luckily appeared to be clearing up, at least.

"Shall we make a round to excise any threats once we arrive?" he asks Akutagawa, putting away the dagger he'd been polishing for the better part of the trip.

Ever since that incident with Higuchi, it's a miracle the Port Market still allowed him to work here but here he was still. This particular job was more of a simpler one and with someone he was familiar with, as well as a newer face which was interesting due to the energy he seemed to radiate.

His eyes shifted from the outside and over to the other man quietly, surprised he'd even spoken up but it wasn't a bad thing or anything like that. "If there happens to be any who pose any real threat, yes. The sooner they're taken out, the better." His tone spoke of someone used to killing, though it wasn't as if he did it nearly as regularly.

The one who posed a problem was Kajii. He did get a bit carried away at the best of times.

"Oho! So those are the buildings they need leveled, hmmm?"

Meanwhile, Kajii is having a grand ol' time, the back of their vehicle completely filled with his explosives, and Kajii himself practically vibrating in excitement. The work wasn't as exciting as his terrorist days, but given the special upgrades the Port Market has afforded his usual lemon bombs, he can't exactly complain.

"So close to the water... ahh, hopefully it doesn't just slide in! What a shame it would to end such a magnificent show with only soggy ruins and not a brilliant display of fire and changes flames! Do you suppose there would be any squatters inside? If we could avoid alerting them, why-- what a beautiful symphony of screams we could hear before BOOM!"

I'm sorry he's like this.

The Flesh-Piercer himself would quite enjoy a symphony of human suffering at the centre of a fiery ball of death. Much to his chagrin, this particular job's requirements made a protector of him. How does Athena manage this!?

"Any visitors inside will need to live, for the time being."

The 'unfortunately' could practically be heard in his barely-masked disappointment. It goes against Ares' very being to put a stopper to mortalkind's violent impulses. Let it never be said that he is incapable of self-control.

If there was one thing that was deadly, it was Kajii's bombs but they'd somehow managed to improve upon them so it was going to be even louder and more destructive.

Akutagawa mostly was listening but focused on his surroundings outside the vehicle, though soon frowned a bit and sighed once Kajii finished speaking. Hell, he was about to tell him that they had no need to kill any of those inside but the other man with them beat him to it.

"Precisely. We should do what the job entails and not create any more casualties than necessary for it to be completed."

Kajii lets out a loud whine, clearly disappointed-- but it's fine.

"Very well, very well... I'll tell anyone I see they have ten minutes to run for their lives. But if they ignore my warning-- that's negligence! Not murder! So it doesn't count."

Where there's a will, there's a way to still be a serial murderer and get away with it, sorta.

But all that said, he starts loading up his explosives -- all lemon shaped, of course, because he's just like this. As tempting as it is to blow up the building with himself inside, this one is going to be more of implosion than an explosion, so he'd just get buried that way.

"Well then! It's almost time for the show, I need to get set up! Now if you'll both be good and make sure nothing horrible tries to eat me again, I would most appreciate it! These abandoned areas are pretty rife with strange looking creatures."

Again, he says.

Well, that seems like a good enough middle ground for Kajii. Fair warning before death is more than Ares tended to offer, most of the time.

He steps out of the car with them, watching Kajii as he unloads his lemons.

"And what manner of creature attempted to eat you the previous time?"

"Fair enough."

Those terms seemed reasonable to him as it was, plus Kajii had a point in that after a warning it was their own fault if they got hurt. He then stepped out and brushed off his black coat, a fitting item to be wearing when it came to doing work of this nature. This wasn't the most exciting work ever but he suspected the Port Market was giving him this type of work for a very obvious reason.

Akutagawa looked between Kajii and Ares briefly before nodding in agreement. He was already listening for any signs of life or if anything was trying to approach them. "I am curious to know this as well." His brows narrowed a bit as he thought something over briefly. "I assure you nothing will have the chance to devour you this time, however."

A broad-winged vulture soars high over the buildings of Yokohama, surveying the concrete landscape from above.

With its large size and feathers stained a bloody red, it looked unlike any buzzards or other carrion feeders that typically made Kanto their home. The sight is a deathly omen for the poleis Ares drowned in battle, though it luckily need only be a curiosity here. Another odd flying creature alongside the Tengu that occasionally passed.

Maybe it was out of mere convenience, or Ares simply missed the cloudy peaks of Olympus, that made him opt to take flight in the form a vulture that day. Of course, the god of war would never admit to such sentimentalities outright. He lands on the roof of a building in Zhongguo, scattering away some rattle pigeons with a few strong wing beats. Bye, pigeons, this was his perching place, now.

He wanted to get a good view of the Yokai below that caught his interest, mingling about their lives. These ones of course, he would leave be, but how long until an opportunity arrives for him to have one as a foe? The thought fills him with fascination.

Fascinating is a word Setsura might use to describe the particular energy signature that has effectively captured her attention in the midst of her leisurely flight above Zhongguo. A curiosity, certainly, in a world where the signatures of the gods number far fewer than that to which she is accustomed; and yet, this is a stark concentration in motion without a care as to subtlety or camouflage. No one she knows, she's sure, but that's scarcely enough to deter her from turning her path in search of this god.

And she's a sight to any eyes that might catch her. Sparrows are not at all uncommon throughout Nippon, but there's nothing common about that small, blacker than pitch bird flitting from shadowy place to shadowy place far faster than any normal bird has any right, shadows stretching behind her, to meet her.

She doesn't quite pause even when unnatural, deep violet eyes find that that unfamiliar, handsome vulture resting atop his claimed perch. He isn't a native species, but then, that isn't wholly surprising given that the source of that energy is undoubtedly him.

Perhaps most people would think to exercise greater caution in the face of an unfamiliar god perched and poised as some great predator with an energy that radiates bloodlust, but Setsura isn't most people. Rather than circle about in some overly cautious manner, she chooses to alight directly in his shadow. The sun is strong, after all, and his gaze and intentions had not been trained on her, but hers rests on him now, head canted as she looks him over, settling into his shadow for the moment.

Should she need to move or retaliate, after all, she can.

She's quiet for a moment, looking at him, then following where he was looking.

The vulture appears indifferent at first, plenty occupied with its own violent contemplations. He was observing two tourists squabbling over some minor grievance or another, wondering how he might inflate such things in this drearily peaceful kingdom. The argument ends with no blood, much to his disappointment.

While there was no exact equivalent to Yokai, Ares had interacted with enough nymphs and other nature gods to recognize the difference between a beast and a supernatural being in disguise. This sparrow, who looks as if she emerged from the starry robes of Night herself, was certainly no rattle pigeon.

"Is there a reason you feel the need to lurk here?" he says, voice ringing from seemingly nowhere. If his aura had not been blatant enough, the divine ring in his voice, brassy like the striking of a bronze shield, certainly added enough proof to provide. Despite his innately gruesome nature, the war-god could be surprisingly polite, even with the authoritative echo every Olympian used to address those outside their circle.

"Are you not reason enough?"

Setsura cants her head just so as she continues to regard him, unmoving save for that sudden, sharp gesture. There are those would be cowed by his voice, that authoratative echo alone, but she isn't one of them.

"Or was I meant to such a blatantly obvious presence? Surely you're aware you've drawn eyes."

She's proof enough of that, after all.

make life take the lemons back

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this is a catch-all log now; 4 setsura

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