INBOX

[overstrain]

TERRENCE NOWELL

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» Yo, it's Terry! Leave a message. «

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TEXT / VIDEO / VOICE / ACTION

© EFRYNDIEL

(Note: Terry gave Kido his phone. Bought his own flipphone on 8/26!)

He has a stall set up in the market street for locating things. Feel free to thread it out with an inbox action thread or handwave it!

Comments

[overstrain]

[ Terry had to throw out his clothes and take a shower, but he's walking up the stairs to the shrine and he smells... Jiro. Yeah. Then he hears some fox noises? Jiro's probably talking to a fox, is Terry's guess but he doesn't know that he can actually... legit talk to them. He forgot or hasn't figured it out yet. Either way, he stays on the stairs, only barely peeking at the shrine grounds, because he's... honestly not ready to talk to Jiro so soon again. But that fox is there and he doesn't know what to feel. He hates foxes. He notes the incense and inarizushi since he can smell those too. ]

[cicadashell]

[The fox never comes back, so Jiro pockets a piece of the sushi and keeps the incense sticks. It's evidence of... something. He'll look for the fox again later. He's now heading back to the castle to see if there's any foxes on the mural no one looked for. There was one hanging around that day when everyone turned into children. It's suspicious, and he's starting to wonder if the offerings are for the fox and not the Kotengu. The weird shit happening seems more like the work of a kitsune trickster; just getting amusement out of them.]

[overstrain]

[ "What are you hesitating for?"

Terry immediately shushes Orien, who's only a little snake inside his hoodie pocket no longer than several inches for now. Jiro has to go down the stairs to go back to the castle and Terry doesn't have enough time to hide, so he just stands there. There's a flock of crows following Terry too. One is perched on his head and some more are resting on his shoulders. Others are flying. The flying crows notice Jiro and are all like "hey it's the ham sandwich guy!" and fly over to him. ]

[cicadashell]

[Jiro stops at the top of the stairs. Terry. What the fuck is he doing here? Ditching work, it looks like. He doesn't have any time to throw an insult because the crows are flying over. Jiro regrets talking to them already. They're everywhere, crowded around his feet and a couple digging their talons into his shoulders.]

I don't have anything!

[But he does. One crow pulls the sushi out of his pocket and drops it on the ground. A few others join the first crow in quickly devouring the evidence.]

[overstrain]

[ rip inarizushi... you will be missed. Terry can't understand crow, but he walks over there to grab them with his hands. He knows he could handle them more gently, but he doesn't care right now. None of them get hurt though, and now Terry has a bundle of crows in his arms, all staring into space. Caw. The crows spout something like "oh right we're supposed to follow this guy", "but this guy doesn't have any food", and "i miss the breakfast bars he used to feed us".

Terry looks exasperated as he looks down at the crows and spares a glance at Jiro, mumbling an apology, before Orien grows slightly larger to its default size of several feet long and pokes his head out of Terry's hoodie pocket. Orien only recognizes Jiro as the guy who called everyone in the meeting "assholes" and was generally not being cooperative. He's always willing to look over first impressions though.

"Were you here to pay respects to the shrine?" ]

[cicadashell]

[They're supposed to follow Terry? That's what Jiro's eight cats told him yesterday. Weird. Jiro gestures to the shrine, looking at the crows.]

There's more over there.

[It's the fox's, but the fox was a dick. The crows can steal the rest of his sushi. Jiro is ignoring Terry and his apologies for the most part, instead focusing on Orien. Whom he thinks is a regular snake.]

The fuck do you care? What do you know about it; know who's it is?

[Maybe the snakes know more than the crows.]

[overstrain]

[ There's a long, slow blink from Orien as Jiro speaks snake to him, and ironically, he doesn't understand despite being a snake.

"I'm sorry; I don't understand what you just said to me. You look injured. I can treat you right away."

With that, Orien has disinfectant and a roll of bandages coiled on the other end of the pocket to show Jiro.

Meanwhile, the crows look ecstatic about food!! However, Terry keeps the ones in his hold at bay. The others seem more comfortable about perching on his head and shoulders as they stare at Jiro. ]

[cicadashell]

[What the fuck is happening? Jiro stares at Orien and his stupid bandages. Snakes, crows, everything sounds the same to him; and he doesn't know what he sounds like to other people. Apparently hissing or something. Orien now gets addressed with human speech.]

I asked if you knew who's shrine that actually is... Terry, what the fuck's with the snake?

[Is this Terry's weird way trying to make amends? Snake first aid?]

[overstrain]

... He's Orien, a friend of mine. He can treat your injuries if you allow him to.

[ That's all Terry says about that while continuing to stand there with the crows on him. Orien plops down with the first aid kit and such.

"The Daitengu that you recently fought had the title of "Guardian of the Shrine". However, if you would go by the sign that was possibly in a different Hirajiro, the deity enshrined would be the "Everlasting Long-Crying Bird that Crow at Dawn", which could be referring to the Kotengu."

Terry knew this too, but it would probably be better if Jiro heard it from Orien instead, so he'll keep quiet unless addressed to. ]

[cicadashell]

[There's just a glare at Terry, and he won't bother with treating injuries at the moment. Then he's back to listening to Orien. Jiro knew all that already; he'd collected the memories from the other Hirajiro people. Where did Terry think his notes came from?]

You're behind on this shit, snake. Wouldn't "guardian" mean the shrine isn't his? And who cares what the sign in the other Hirajiro said? It doesn't have to be the same here.

[He decides Orien isn't going to be helpful at all, especially since he's with Terry.]

I've got stuff to do.

[He will leave them to the shrine.]

[overstrain]

[ Orien just gives Jiro a look as he leaves. He decided he won't bother with him either if he's like this, and looks over at Terry.

"I didn't think being associated with you would have this much of a drawback to the point that an injured person would refuse treatment."

Terry just lets the crows go, so that they can freely fly. He thinks that even if it's from a different Hirajiro, parallel worlds are parallel for a reason, the basics are all the same, so the sign should be too. Not like they have any way of knowing that now with a 100% visual proof, because the sign won't recover unless they slot in the ofuda. He thinks back on what the Daitengu had said, which pretty much confirms that this is the Kotengu's shrine, even without Jiro's notes.

...

He doesn't think Jiro will listen anyway, even if he went back to catch up with him. ]

Whatever he does isn't my problem, and it shouldn't be yours either.

[ Orien slaps Terry's face with his tail and retreats back into his pocket. Time for shrine investigations... ]