771/Business Hours - Soryuu 2

Business Hours - Soryuu 2
Date of Scene:	01 November 2023
Location:	The Book Nook
Synopsis:	Himeko's mother comes crawling to Kiseru's doorstep after the destruction of her youkai body. Takes place after scene 750.
Cast of Characters:	Kiseru, Pyrite
Tinyplot:	Inner Conflict
Tinyplot2:	Silver Crystal

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Kiseru has posed:
    The Kiseru Lady is wearing an abbreviated red silk robe, tied closed with a black satin sash, and drinking some tea somewhere. The back room is a bridge between more than just the front and back of the store, and sometimes she just likes to go sit up in her enormous library and drink some tea, and read from her collection. The pale-skinned woman is just enjoying relaxing in her own space, on her own time, with no pressing obligations or jobs due at the moment.

    There is no possible way it can last.

Pyrite has posed:
    A frigid fog, spreads through the alleyway outside of the Book Nook's rear door. The one that Special customers enter through. At least part of this fog is a mass of snow and ice, more slush than solid crystals, that lurches and sloppily makes its way towards that special entrance, and throws itself bodily forward, trying to just bash its way in. If at first it does not succeed, it tries again. And again.

Kiseru has posed:
    Yes. It couldn't possibly last. As Kiseru feels the presence at the back door, the one she would ordinarily ignore, and the attempts to forcibly enter a space that has been sealed off from everything outside of it, she sighs in annoyance. They can come back when she's open. But the slamming against the door over and over is still there in the back of her mind. Simply ignored.

Pyrite has posed:
    The slush creature starts leaking into the edges of the door, unable to pass through, but freezing itself in place. It gradually spreads across the outside of the building, icing over not just the door, but the window, the entire outer wall, and creeping up onto the roof. All the while a voice is yelling, "KISERU! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"

Kiseru has posed:
    Taking in a breath through her nose very slowly and then letting it out even more slowly, the Kiseru Lady eventually puts down her tea, closes her book and sets it aside, and gets up to deal with this problem. It takes a a minute or two, but eventually the door cracks open, shattering any ice in the gaps of the frame. The Kiseru Lady looks through the small opening and says, "The store is closed. Come back in the morning."

Pyrite has posed:
    The slush monster hisses as it collapses and slides off the roof and melts off the walls, pooling on the ground in the alley, until it can amass something resembling a humanoid shape. "This cannot wait." the abomination gurgles out.

Kiseru has posed:
    If this fool damaged the roof... Those are not exactly cheap. "Incorrect. You cannot wait. I can wait until the morning, and your problem can wait until I feel like dealing with, if I feel like dealing with it. Find a gutter to melt in, and get off my doorstep. You'll ruin the welcome mat."

Pyrite has posed:
    "You don't even have a welcome mat!" the increasingly humanoid mouth snaps back. "I have what you asked for! Your butcher's price is ready to be paid! Step out of the threshold and grant me entry!"

Kiseru has posed:
    Kiseru just stares down at the creature. She stares flatly, emotionlessly, and yet somehow also with contempt. She ponders just ending this thing here and now. In the end, she shuts the door. A few seconds later, it reopens, and the Kiseru Lady is wearing tight black pants, a white t-shirt, and a black and gold vest with dragon designs overtop of it as she turns and walks over to the counter. The current set-up is extremely basic. Grated floor with rubber mats over it, a single desk in the middle of the room, and a standing lamp off to the side as the sole source of illumination.

    Kiseru sits in a generic office chair, elbows on the desk, hands folded together beneath her chin, cold eyes watching the 'customer' patiently.

    "So?" she says simply. "Where is it?"

Pyrite has posed:
    The creature continues to congeal and gain human features, until what appears to be a girl inside of some kind of membrane crawls across the floor, slowly entering the shop. "First, I need to reconstitute this body. I will pay you when I can stand."

Kiseru has posed:
    Kiseru's eyes narrow instantly at the refusal to hand over what she asked for. "No. Pay now, or leave."

Pyrite has posed:
    "How am I to do so when I cannot even stand!?" the girls yells out as the slimey coating thins out as it spreads to her missing lower body. From about the ribcage down, there's just nothing but a thrashing, severed spinal cord. "Grant me the power to repair this body, damn you!"

Kiseru has posed:
    The Kiseru Lady's eyes narrow to slits at the continued refusal. "Soryuu..." she says in a warning tone.

Pyrite has posed:
    "My daughter is the key to obtaining what you desire. She is connected to him, and thus to the crystal. That is information enough to deserve aid rendered. So, render it." the phantom hisses from the floor.

Kiseru has posed:
    There is a long silence as the merchant continues to glare down at the monster on her floor through slitted eyes, appearing to just be gleaming points of gray, catching the light only barely. Then she closes her eyes and sighs in exasperation. She unfolds her hands and places her palms on the desk, then rises, and moves around so that she is closer to her guest. But not too close.

    "That body is a loss. You would be better off finding a new one." she says calmly. The youkai is already dead, and barely attached to its wintry flesh. Soryuu is essentially inhabiting a corpse and animating it like some sort of necromancer.

    "This will not help you in the long run." she warns as she scoops up a bowl from behind her. Was the bowl always there? Doesn't matter. It was there when she reaches for it. "Golden flower broth. Allegedly made from the ground petals of an immortal blossom stolen from the gardens of the Jade Emperor himself." She holds the bowl out over the ghost, and then turns it upside-down, dumping it all out on top of her.

Pyrite has posed:
    The broth of the Immortality Blossom washes over Mariko Soryuu, and her youkai body immediately begins to regenerate despite being no more than a ruined hide in terms of quantity and quality. Ice and snow and frigid winds swirl around, forming new limbs, new flesh... Even if that flesh is only spirit stuff. The youkai is still dead, but it is stable as it can be for now. It will not decay immediately, and the ghost inside feels renewed.

    Soryuu, looks down at herself, and scowls. She is back to looking like a child. A white-haired version of her daughter. "Was there not enough broth?" she demands in annoyance.

Kiseru has posed:
    Kiseru rests her rear against the edge of the desk, and folds her arms, as she watches the transformation from flayed hide to child of ice and snow. "There wasn't enough youkai. I told you. That body is a loss. Find a new one as soon as possible. Otherwise you will be fighting a battle you can't win to retain it." Kiseru waits a little while, then says, "So? Where is it? You said you had it."

Pyrite has posed:
    Soryuu brushes herself off, as though it was the floor that was dirty instead of her, who has been crawling around on the ground. "Yes, well, I lied. I know where it is, and how to get it. That's more than you knew before, isn't it? But it will be difficult to get what you want if I lack a body. Especially given their allies..."

Kiseru has posed:
    Kiseru glares at the ghost possessing a reanimated yuki-onna. "Soryuu." she says, again in that warning tone. "If the item you desire is ever going to be in your possession, you must become a bit more reliable of a trading partner. I do not give out anything for free. Not ever. It's against my policy. And you are already skating dangerously close to what I consider fair profit margins as it is. Do not lie to me again, do not threaten me again, and do not expect me to bail you out again if you come crawling to my doorstep."

    The Kiseru Lady plonks down the ceramic bowl that once held a broth said to grant immortality to mortals, the black exterior and bright red interior making it rather striking. Especially when paired with the golden lotus designs adorning that pitch exterior.

    "And, because it benefits me to do so and for no other reason, I again strongly recommend you get another body. As soon as possible. There are still youkai roaming the city. Take one." She starts walking up some stairs that are... Apparently where the door to the backroom is, in this particular room layout. "Otherwise you'll regret it."

    Once she is half-way up, she calls back, "I am sure you can see yourself out, but this room will spatially collapse on you if you aren't gone in thirty seconds as a way of speeding up the process."

Pyrite has posed:
    Mariko Soryuu is already starting to feel more like herself as the Golden Flower Broth flows through the shell she has claimed, filling it with life and energy. More like herself... What exactly is like herself again? She has the vague concept that neither this youkai nor her ghostly form are like her old self, and that she has not been behaving or thinking in the same manner as when she was alive.
    But she isn't alive. So, some deviations are to be expected.
    It won't matter once her daughter becomes Himeko-no-Mikoto, and the new Death Goddess who rules the underworld of Yomi. Then she can watch over Himeko forever.
    And every single person, creature, and organization that has failed, harmed, or abandoned her daughter will finally receive the vengeance that Mariko has craved for five centuries.

    She shows herself out. She has work to do.