The Bark! from far below the Rig took Taylor off guard, though not as much as it did her Wards escorts of Gallant and Clockblocker. A quick look over the railings confirmed that, yes, that was Sunny way down at the base of the Protectorate headquarters and, yes, that was indeed a giant lilypad she was floating on. Taylor sighed; Sunny gonna Sunny.
So, the lilypad just enables Sunny to go down safely?
She made a quick request of the Wards while they were too confused to deny her,
A skill Ms. Piggot is willing to be apprenticed to her, I reckon.
"Did you forget to arrange for a way to get back up, you silly wolf?"
Hey, she acknowledges Sunny as a wolf!
...Normally that will raise eyebrows, but then, we have things like Siberian and Simurgh (and Bonesaw). A couunterpoint of
those is always nice.
A sad whiiiiine floated up on the breeze in answer. "That is a yes,"
"...So, is it depends on frequency, tone, or what?"
"...I'm sorry?"
"...I mean, how you interpret her... bark?"
"...I just know?"
"...I mean, it's languange. There should be a pattern to it, even on animals. Like crows, for instance...."
[3 hours on discussion on animal languange]
"...Tell you what? I just record her for the whole week, trying to interpret her, and gave you the result."
"...That would be lovely."
[That's before the languange decoder somehow end up with
The Tales of Genji with all those barks. Somehow.]
Employing her allegedly parahuman powers of Pattern Recognition, Taylor sketched a quick cat on the sticky note and slapped the paper onto the railing
Sunny whined again, far below, and Taylor pried up the paper square and flipped it upside-down before sticking it back onto the metal bar.
...So.... question.
Can it work on any cat pictures?
Can it work on living cat?
Can it work with Vista with cat ears and ta-
THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK
It was a good sketch for something so quick, if she did say so herself; she was getting a lot of practice lately with making the Emas.
Fun fact: 35% of those Ema end up in Ward's members hands. Unsurprisingly, Vista got the lion share (20%).
Surprisingly, only 5% ends up with something related with Dean-sempai.
More surprisingly, 10% (half of her Ema) basically asking for good fortune for various PRT members.
Vista is a Nice Girl.
She then stood back and waited patiently as the two Wards had a quiet freakout over Sunshine slowly jump-chaining her way up the main support of the Rig until the wolf managed to scramble over the guard railing.
PLATFORMING, HO!
"Hey Sunny, welcome ba… Sunny?" The happy bark or smug loll of the tongue Taylor had expected were nowhere to be seen. Instead, Sunny was giving her the Sad Dog Eyes and, after a moment, pressed her furry body against Taylor's and buried her face into the girl's stomach. The wolf made a low, mournful sound, and refused to look up.
"This is Weather Forecast of Brockton Bay Radio. Today..., ah, that's strange. NAOA predicts today will be sunny all day long, but instead we started with a rather cloudy morning."
Taylor instead dropped down to her knees, and pulled the wolf into a hug. Sunshine hooked her muzzle over the girl's shoulder, so Taylor traced her fingers through the red marks that spiraled over her friend's shoulders. Was she… scared? Afraid for her, now that they weren't going unnoticed by the city's rougher intentions?
So,
- Taylor can definitely see Okami's marking.
- "Uh, I have been kinda overblown with Merchants, whack everyone fought me to hospital with 2nd degree burn, and planning to make Skidmark walk to Death Valley until his death, but then Yoshimo-san was there and talk with me and review the facts, and then I realizes Skidmark not actually telling his men to mess with you, so I kinda blew up on him for the wrong reason. I mean, it's usually Susanoo who did screw up with this. I mean, sure, Yoshimo-san reassures me about 'what comes around, comes around', but I'm usually the wise, forgiving ones, not the angry smithing ones.... Uuuuuu...."
Taylor thought back to summer, just a bare few months ago, and her own desperate request.
"...silly wolf, Sunny. There's nothing to forgive."
SUNNY SOCIAL LINKS, COMPLETE!
...Or maybe it can be raised 1/ 2 levels more?
Getting off of the Rig and back to her own life was a trial, or at least Taylor thought so. Dad was against it, of course, because if the Merchants had gotten the idea to target her after seeing her on the news just doing her own thing, there was no telling what could happen now that Sunny had gone and done… something to the Merchants.
To be fair, at the moment, with Sunny Shenanigans, the only ones brave enough to do something to her can be sorted on two, (maybe three) categories.
Cauldron.
Endbringers.
(I want to include Slaughterhouse Nine, but besides Boss Storm said the won't appear in this fic, my headcanon is that at this moment they're too busy keeping themselves from getting 1/8 shorter. I mean, when you had someone that can stabed Siberian to death [Somehow, Manton's power notwithstanding] on your trail, and had uncanny abilities to pop up when you think you up to shenanigans, you'd like to keeping low.)
Oh, and the whole 'attacking her and Chessman at home,' thing.
...Yeah, actually, that's pretty solid. I mean, Danny doesn't exactly knows if Shrine had adequate bed, kitchen, baths, etc or not.
I mean, we all know, but not Danny.
That was going to start fires that Taylor was honestly not sure she wanted to be around to watch.
"...Myrrdin was here?"
"...Nope."
"...So why this place is on unquenchable fire?"
Better to focus on the things she could accomplish, instead of worrying about matters that were beyond her direct reach, she reasoned.
I like how Taylor still shows some Young Kid sensibilities. I mean, Danny tried his best, sure, but when Papa went scary, then Papa Went Scary. Nothing in the world can change that.
Things like restocking the shrine's basket of charms to sell,
Bamboo papers had a charm, a
Gravitas, that sticky notes can't match, sadly.
and negotiating a ceasefire with the non-Merchant factions of the city,
Well, that shouldn't be too hard-
"Bitch? Bitch? Rachel, why are you curled up like that?"
Oooookay, maybe a
bit hard.
and getting her brand new, signed, 4x6 glossy print of Legend framed and up on her office wall ASAP.
Reason A: "I have Legend's Backup".
Reason B: It's Legend! *hopping like rabbits on crack*
Secondary priorities included asking Old Mrs. Henrick if she could borrow her neighbor's kitchen,
See? Valid point about kitchen and stuff.
calling Kayden to check in,
"...Uh, Mom, do we really need all the guns?"
"Better safe than sorry~"
and logging in to PHO to see how long it would take someone to make a .gif of Sunny leaping into Legend's arms.
10 minutes after the video get uploaded, tops. The betterquestion: How much .gif variants already made in the last 24 hours?
Even with all of those justifications, there were protests, and they were starting to wear on Taylor's patience.
Oooh, she's on the path of becoming an Ojou! Exasperated on her babysitters!
rofl:
rofl:
It wasn't safe to go back to the house, there'd probably be reporters everywhere ("But I've already been on the news.").
Agree, The Sun's management and reporter can burn in sun for eternity for all I care.
THWACK
The Merchants might be out for retaliation ("You think they're getting past Sunny? And weren't you just there to handle them? Are you saying you didn't do a good job?")
Considering their head honcho is in Memphis, Tennessee, and not in exactly good shape (body and mind) to do retaliation, she actually had a point.
There might be other villains out to capitalize on the situation ("How many are even left?").
Well, Cauldron and Coil are still out there, to be honest...
The PRT had questions for her and Good Dog ("We've been here for around 10 hours already and you haven't mentioned anything of the sort, so they can't be crucial, but go ahead and ask Sunny right now. You don't speak dog? Neither do I, what's your point?").
"...Armmaster, I need your help to build this Barking Translator-"
"GOOOOOOD DOOOOOOOOG!!!"
"-Okay, see you after M/S containment."
"Mr. Dauntless, I understand your concerns and I acknowledge your position, but do remember that I am the caretaker for both a non-profit business and a neutral zone under truce, and I have obligations that I must attend to; foremost among these today is that I am expecting Oni Lee to stop by before evening. So, I must ask you..." Taylor straightened her shoulders and fixed her gaze on the Grecian hero's helmet-shadowed eyes. "Are you going to make me late for tea?"
"Miko, I'm sorry for intrusion and the impoliteness, but I had excuse myself. Are you alright?"
[Taylor stares at Oni Lee, while entire PRT compound is on Red Alert. PRT officers in combat gear and military weapons start to appears and taking position.]
"...Uh, I'm fine, really. Uh, Miss Piggot, can I have access on officers kitchen, please?"
[Somewhere in multiverse]
"That's one Crazy Tea Party, and I'm a best at making Crazy Tea Party. ...
Was."
[Mad Hatter gave The Seal of Approval]
The last item on the packing list was to roll up a couple blankets and a pillow with the sleeping bag, and then plead with Sunny until the wolf agreed, with an exaggerated eyeroll, to carry the plush bundle on her back.
Not that doG minds, of course, she just being a bit Tsun-Tsun. Appearances is important, y'know.
"Oh! Taylor, sweetie, come in! Oh, we've been worried, there was a terrible commotion in the night, are you okay?"
"That sounds more like a warzone-"
*dopeslap*
"Don't mind him, sweetie, he likes his WW2 channel too much."
"Sorry. Some Merchants attacked our house last night, but we're all okay. Sunny and I are gonna stay at Pawprint Shrine for a few days, so if Dad calls, that's where I'm at."
"Wh-- you didn't tell your father?"
"I told his co-worker!" Taylor protested, "And since the company gave me a ride over here, that means they're now complicit and he can't complain." Because that was how it worked, hopefully.
One: Entire PRT management.
Two: Chessman with QA shards and potential 2nd trigger.
All PRT Officers and Management at this moment: "We made a Terrible Mistake".
She shook her head to banish the vision of Chessman's myriad forces descending upon the shrine en masse in a fit of paternal worry.
"Dad, it's okay, everything is under- Is that
hinamatsuri dolls set?"
"...Yes?"
"...Dad,
those are not weapons! They're for sacred ritual for celebrating life of young girls!"
"...Bodyguards?"
"Vultures, the lot of them. Good to see you, young lady, we're glad you're okay."
"Now, the case is opened, of
Accipitridae and
Cathartidae family representatives against Rupert Murdoch, on accusation of slanders."
The census Lung had requested had been completed to his satisfaction, and though there was friction among the ABB at being moved between peer groups, trade guilds were being formed.
It was a
bitch to make Chinese and Japanese carpenters agree to work together (and sadly, even Lung can't force them, even if Okami isn't involved).
They, and a handful of merchants from the peasantry, would have the honor of being the first recipients of Lung's new venture.
And the sacrificial lambs for Lung's drunken rant at karaoke. And witnesses for ensuing shenanigans. I
almost feel sorry for them.
He nodded and followed the cobblestone pathway to the small building, then entered to see that the Miko had spread a number of mats over the open area of floor, so either she had entertained guests inside already or he was expected.
Actually, the guest is herself, but yes, you had the routine, so you'd been expected.
Or he just forget that he makes a call?
...Memory mess is a bitch.
"Sorry it's a little ramshackle, it's just getting too cold out to be sitting on the grass."
"Perhaps a kotatsu is called for."
"The word sounds familiar, but I can't place it…"
"It is a small table, with a heater and blanket."
"Oh! Yes, that does sound familiar. And cozy! I bet Sunny would definitely approve. I'll tell her about it when she wakes up, she's off in the haiden having a nap."
Japanese Winter Diplomancer Trap Card. It's SUPER EFFECTIVE.
The Miko walked carefully over to where he was and set the now-full teapot in front of him, followed by the cups and a large plate holding some manner of green cake, shaped like a ring, and lightly covered in a clear glaze; Oni Lee could faintly smell green tea and lemon. "I was trying out a new recipe-- sorry it doesn't look fancy, I'm still working on that-- and I thought maybe you'd like to try it, and tell me what you think?"
....
...But I'm more like chocolate guy~ T_T
Why you tempt me like this~ T^T
She was shaping up to be a fine hostess and caretaker for the shrine.
Just... never let Danny heard the word 'hostess'. I mean, technically, it's a neutral word, but still....
"I am glad that things are going well for you, Oni Lee, and equally glad that you stopped by to share such news… especially as there are a few matters I would like to discuss with you." Oni Lee felt a small thrill of alarm when the Miko looked up at him and smiled. "In particular, I have a few questions about the youkai I've been hearing about, and the sudden need for exorcism slips for the ABB that has followed."
...Just small?
"What in particular did you desire to know, Miko?"
She sipped at her tea. Oni Lee was not fooled; this was not a visit, it was a negotiation at best and interrogation at worst. "Well, to start… I confess, I didn't know the ABB recruited its members so young."
A statement framed as a question, and Oni Lee had to take a moment to figure out if the Miko had suddenly shifted topic or not. She hadn't-- he quickly recalled the young man he'd instructed to purchase ofuda from her. Yuuta, he thought. He… had been a man, hadn't he?
Damned American Nutrition *grumble* *grumble*
"I knew that a few of the upperclassmen at school had been recruited, but I didn't know the first and second years were ever allowed to do more than run errands. It was Yuuta, um… Suzuki, right-- I'm sure you'd recognize him if you saw him, Yuuta is here pretty often to help me work on the building next door. Oh, did I mention that? His family wants to run a bakery, so I'm going to rent the property to them."
Come to the Light, Yuuta, there is no escape! Seek in your heart, you know it's true!
So that's where the premonition of doom was coming from. He had carelessly poached both a minor and someone under the Miko's direct authority.
Look, I'm sure there is still some lingering premonition? No?
"I… see. Gomenasai, Miko, I did not know."
"Hm? Oh, there's no need to apologize, Oni Lee. I take it to mean you didn't know he wasn't a member already? I'm sure it's a simple mistake…" Translation: The Ōkami will overlook your transgression. Do not repeat it.
Especially the 'minor recruiting' parts. You're not Hitler's Youth, you're better than this.
...Just make a legal Scout Organization or something.
"...and Yuuta told me a few things about Youkai already, so it certainly sounds like you do need the ofuda. I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner, really. I'm usually around Sunny and I don't think any spirits have tried to bother her… and, I'll admit, I didn't even know they were real until Yuuta told me. I'm still trying to learn Japanese, so even when Sunny had me copying down the designs in the book of charms, I wasn't sure what they were for."
Taylor just admit she follows the School of Schmategy Strategy. Which, actually, consiring her position, actually a good move.
"About that… I've been thinking. Selling exorcism slips--especially in bulk--to the ABB directly… isn't that really supplying the ABB? I was kind of worried that would be a violation of the shrine's neutral status between the gangs." Oni Lee tensed up, but the Miko just sipped at her tea again.
...No, not that. NOT THAT!
"But… the ofuda are important, right? Especially around here, it seems. So I was thinking-- what if the ABB could purchase them from someone else? It's a bit of a loss of business for the shrine, but it would hopefully get around the neutrality clause and free me up to make things other than just all exorcisms, all the time."
So she was offering a compromise? That was… a little odd, at first glance. He'd intended to buy the ofuda at a good price, so that was a noticeable loss for the Miko if she did not receive the payment. The Miko must have valued the spirit of the shrine's neutrality over its monetary success. Well, that was fitting.
D'Awwww
There was a bit of a flaw in her plan, however. "That would be acceptable, if there were another to purchase ofuda from. They would need to be effective, as well. Ink on paper by itself is worthless."
"Well, that should be easy enough!" The Miko smiled, and a bit of the tension leached out of the room. "I gave Yuuta a few supplies and my first practice books, so he can do it. Sunny thinks he's making great progress. I'll keep making some extra slips in the meantime, and when Yuuta's ofuda are up to par, you can buy them from him directly. Sound like a deal?"
...Why this remind me of Kungfu Panda? I mean, a talented son of a cook and a master martial art-in-training?
rofl:
So the Miko escapes the neutrality clause without breaking it, and the individuals under her patronage reap the rewards, with no loss of face or safety for the ABB. Lung was right to be wary. "That does seem agreeable, Miko."
...I think
you need to be wary. Oh well.
The Miko kept conversation light after that, and plied him with tea and her matcha cake to soothe the sting of her earlier reprimand. After an hour or so he thanked her, but it was time to return to his work. She accepted this readily and walked him to the torii, still speaking.
"Thank you for visiting, Oni Lee. And thank you for trying out the cake! I'll see if I can find some ways to make it even better… it might be a while, though. Sunny and I will be staying here for a while, so I don't have as much access to a kitchen. The Merchants blew ours up last night."
Just casually drop the nuke, aren't you Taylor? And Oni Lee, you can't say I didn't warn you.
What.
"What?"
"You… might see it on the news. Oh, that reminds me! The Protectorate is interested in a temporary ceasefire with the ABB, so they can focus on really clearing out the Merchant territories. Could you let Lung know? If he wants to speak to me directly, you know where I am. Oh, but please call first, don't just let him ambush me, please?"
"I-- yes." The Merchants had attacked the Miko at home? And the Protectorate was getting involved? What was this?
"Thank you! Well, have a good night, Oni Lee."
The entire shenanigans and fallout need to be made into one long omake, titled "The Melancholy of Oni Lee". With the Final Boss... PHO Forums.
"...Yuuta-san."
"...Yes?"
"...Why I can't use my name as my name?"
Taylor walked calmly back to her office, shut the door behind her to keep out the chill, then sat down at her desk and fished a brown paper bag out of one of the drawers.
A minute of hyperventilation later, she slumped over her desk and let the bag tumble to the floor-- she could clean up later, when her legs weren't made of jelly. "I-- I did it. I did it."
Waaait. So some of her schamtegy actually intentional?
...Well, at least she's not into Death Note or somehing like that.
"I want to help you, with… whatever you're doing. Will you teach me?"
Taylor sat up, and turned to look at Sunny. The wolf was smiling, and from the look in her eyes, Taylor got the sense that Sunny was proud of her.
"They grow so fast..." *sniff*
Taylor wrapped her arms around the wolf's thick neck in a hug.
"It might be scary and weird, but-- I won't let you down, Sunny. I promise."
D'Awwwww
good hostage 
