Ones Own Time, Part 1

[Music: https://youtu.be/qqpTq9_rf_Q?si=QwQc_kqBjCRFArDj ]

Iku sleeps in a hammock outside her shrine, or at least tries to. Her mind wandered as she looked at the artificial stars in the sky, which were the lanterns of the Canal District's night markets. She wore a basic red hakama and a soft cotton robe as her long black hair spilled down to just above the ground. The City Between had been her home for at least a century... but past 100 years her memory gets hazy, and she was never the type to keep a diary.

Or at least a diary she remembered.

She has some vague memories of home: big men in armor rustling her father up for war, her mother finding shelter at a shrine when men in different colored armor came to take her mother or the house. Even the faces of her parents are the slightest blur, and given her connection with the supernatural and being around so many monsters, a part of her expected to be told her memories were implanted.

She wanted to learn forever, for no human lifespan could ever accommodate the amount of knowledge that she once sought. But this was over 100 years ago, when she had laid away her duties to the large temples and sought a technique none could or would teach her: the ability to manipulate one's age, to alter the years of life you're given. Combined with her talent for resurrection, she assumed she had outsmarted the reaper for herself and others. What was her career to matter after that?

It turns out being a wandering sage in the Spine was boring. But she wasn't going back to climb the ladder of corruption; she wanted to help people. Exorcising seals used to come naturally, but these days her geist and her age manipulation handle even the trickier evil spirits. Would anyone remember her if some gunnery-toting hooligan from the Hellions walked onto her grounds and simply shot her through the head unprepared?

She'd take a student: one who would carry her story and her skills should she fall someday. She could teach another exorcist, but even they could be teased by darkness. Aoi was an upright Overseer, yet she listened to the vile fox whore on her radio doodad, and Miko had already attained her solution to eternal life. Perhaps an unorthodox method would work... one the large temples would never dare try...

On a rooftop of a dilapidated building on the edge of Devil Moon, a gathering of women in red and white (as well as a living youkai umbrella and a man) takes place with a minimum of refreshments, save for a bottle of sake brought by Aoi to be shared between her and Waffu the umbrella. The food being offered was simple salted rice, as Iku still observed Buddhist vows. Tsukuro sits right beside the diminutive woman, while the fox-masked ghost maiden sits at her left. Even the vessel of Pale Demon was here, as disappointed with the preparations as Iku expected.

"Below us is the greatest hive of corruption in the City Between," Iku says as she stands, her wide-legged red hakama catching the wind.

"I'm sure you all have your reasons to hate the Devil Moon, to see it lit up as a tinderbox. But I am seeking a worthy student to pass my techniques onto, and I believe that we will find them down in there," she says as she points her fingers toward the overcrowded streets of monsters large and small.

Waffu's voice scratches to life: "You've gone senile, Iku-kannushi. Nothing down there will use your aging techniques for virtuous reasons. They stand because all we can do is keep the corruption they spread at bay."

"Waffu, such language is uncalled for," Sumire says, her dress a western style but with colors and iconography of a Shinto exorcist.

"But would the Anahata Precinct not at least offer us... a chance at success in this labor?"

"Sumire-seikai, have you ever stepped down into those streets and seen behind the false smiles of the entertainers?" Iku asks.

"I stay where the purity of my Aura may be concentrated, and my work is brought to me, Iku-kannushi. Such tasks are for underlings."

Aoi sighs: "With all due respect, Iku-kannushi, this task is dangerous. Even overseers like myself must rouse a proper force to get things done in the Devil Moon while avoiding the web of gang violence it feeds."

Iku looks over to her seated bodyguard: "Well, Tsukuro-chokkai?"

The man gruffly nods, "I'm to participate in this?"

"What stops you? The debt you pay off by your service to me?"

"Yes. You're looking for a moral student, not one with a marked record."

"I believe I've made the point unclear," Iku says, rolling her sleeves back and looking into the expanse of brothels, bars, and illicit shops below her.

"We are looking for the most moral person among a pit of depravity. The other centers of population and trade are too easy to succeed at; they have learned to lie too well. I am not merely asking for the best karma either; even a lost oni who repents can be holy given time."

"Iku-kannushi, is something the matter with your health? You've never been eager to take students before this," Miko says, her sleeves flapping gently with the rooftop breeze.

"It is merely a feeling that the reaper is closer than I had previously thought. Should the worst happen, I need to have already passed my techniques down. Consider this humoring the careful side of me, Miko-meikei."

"Who did teach you your techniques?" Waffu says with an inquisitive bend of his eye.

"You know my memory isn't what it used to be, and do discard the clever comments about my other mental faculties you have. One must admit their failings even to doorway decorations such as yourself."

"And why did you turn away from the Lunar Borough?" Sumire asks. "The stories I've heard told about you are astounding: A girl who first set foot in the City Between at the tender age of 16 years, devout and pious until she left her ritual finery behind for the life of an.... independent spirit sealer."

"Because no man is more wicked than the one given the power of a god, for he will use it as a toy and greedily hoard access to it."

"Iku-Kannushi, perhaps this topic may wait," Miko says as she stands. "I believe your methodology is flawed. Were I to bring a wicked soul in need of guidance, able to change but weighed down by poor choices, would they be considered?"

"I simply worry such a person would backslide into wickedness again, but with the power to be wicked for as long as they wish," Iku says in a neutral tone reserved for such arguments with Miko. Most exorcists in the know knew they were the oldest around, but by drastically different means and with demeanors that clashed frequently.

"However, if you believe you can sway me, I invite you to try," Iku says challengingly, an invitation gently accepted with a nod from Miko.

"I do have another question, Iku-kannushi: May we partner up? The Devil Moon is not a peaceful place for us, especially dressed as we are," Aoi says.

Sumire looks to the side and bites her tongue while Iku sizes up the players in her game.

"Aoi, thank you for your practicality. I suppose not everyone feels the same rush as I do when thinking on how dangerous Devil Moon streets are. Each group must find one person by dawn, and we will meet back here then and compare candidates. Tsukuro and I will stay together, as is..." she sighs. "…wise. Aoi, you will aid Waffu and keep him from making a mess of this task. And Sumire, I expect you can work with Miko, correct?"

"Of course, it would be a pleasure," Sumire says with a sigh as the groups look toward each other with mixed feelings.

While all knew this was somewhere between a game and a hidden test, Iku was a woman whose words held great weight with Senguru and was one of the only people who had power over one's age in the whole city. Even to those who did like the ageless healer, impressing her with a good student may prove to be a literal lifesaver in the future.

[Chain notice: respective anons may pick up their group's side of the story.]