Drinking alone is no fun at all

[sake]

It was one of those day where autumn's grasp on the world was finally making itself known. The air was cooling, leaves were turning, and the sun was showing itself less and less, preferring to hide its face behind a dull grey wall of clouds. The people, having grown used to the gentle warmth of summer, found themselves startled by this seemingly sudden chill, and for the time being had grown to prefer the confines of their homes and shops, safe from the annual unkind breeze of fall. They still came and went on their daily chores, of course, but the streets in the human village was markedly less busy as it had been a mere two weeks passed.

Of course there were those who took great enjoyment at the cooling of the seasons. Taisui was one such person, and the tengu had been more than happy to lounge outside the tiny village inn, partly propped up into a sitting position in a dusty disheveled mess, nursing a gourd that undoubtedly contained the inn's sake that he oh-so-adored. This was a common place for the tengu to be found, regardless of the season or weather. He rather liked sitting outside the inn, where he would call out to familiar faces and study unfamiliar ones, and where he could easily be kept up on the latest snippet of this or that. And the booze, of course. Oh, how he loved the inn's special brew!

Alas, at this time of the day there seemed to be no one out on the streets in this corner of the village. Hmph. This had soured his mood somewhat, and Taisui's flushed face was twisted into a frown as he sipped moodily from his gourd of liquor. Quiet days were lovely, to be sure, but Taisui was one of those who preferred to have at least some noisy reveling at all hours of the day. Hn. Maybe he should pack up and stumble off to a more lively area...

[Kitten4u]

((This thread comes before It's not Stalking, it's Investigating!))

Aya had come to the human village to stock up on some supplies she needed. Most of her writing untensils had gotten destroyed in one way or another. Some were heavily used, while others were just too wet from the recent storms to use. She probably could have gotten most of this from the tengu village on Youkai Mountain, but she had other buisiness further south towards the border, and the shop in the tengu settlement was more out of her way than the one in the human village. Plus, it was always kind of fun to come and see the humans. The tengu village was small enough that most everyone knew most everyone else, so it was kind of fun to see people she didn't know and learn things she might have not otherwise known about. Like many tengu, Aya loved gossip and rumors.

Recently, there was an intresting rumor spreading amoung the humans mostly. It was rumored that some that some weak youkai were trying to cross the border so they could attack humans in that other world they were sealed off from. Just why they would waste their time trying to penetrate such a strong border Aya didn't understand, so she intended to find out. Once she gathered everything she needed from the village she inteded to fly south and investigate.

As she gathered the last of the items from her shopping list and prepared to leave, she stopped when she noticed someone sitting outside of an inn, and it wasn't human, it was one of her kind. The streets were pretty empty, so he wasn't exactly hard to spot. Aya had already asked several tengu about what they knew about the rumor she wanted to investigate, but it couldn't hurt to ask one more.

"Hello," she greeted him after walking directly in front of him. "There's been a rumor spreading amoung the humans that youkai are trying to cross the border to find weak humans on the other side. Do you know anything about this?" As usual, she was clear, easy to understand and polite.

Aya didn't really bother to introduce herself. He was a crow-tengu like herself, so there was a good chance he knew her face already. Her newspaper, the Bunbunmaru, was famous amoung the tengu, and was growing in popularity amoung humans as well. Though, if she was wrong and he didn't recognize her she would be very embarrased and likely apologize for her arrogance. Regardless, she was curious to see what he knew.

[sake]

Despite the lack of bright sun, Taisui squinted and shaded his eyes as he saw someone approach him. "Hnn?" His dark eyes blinked blearily, as if trying to chase the distorting fog out of them. That, he decided, was the problem with booze. It made him see things funny.

"Whozat?" He half muttered to himself as he tried to make the person out. When she finally came into some semblance of focus, he blinked. 'nother tengu? Girl. Did he know her?

His confusion gave way to a pleased air of delight as he recognized her. "Aya!" he slurred, waving. He didn't know her exactly, but he'd been fond of her newspaper for ages. "What'choo doin' here? Wanna drink?" He held out the gourd to her. Stingy though he was with his alcohol, Taisui was known to offer a free swig or cup if it meant getting him a drinking partner.

As she spoke, he lowered the gourd to rest on his knee, frowning once again. Aw. All business and no fun. How dull!

"Dunno nuffin'," he replied with a shrug. "Been here since... ehh. What day izzit? Ehn. Dunno nuffin'."

He fell quiet for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Keine might know summat. Keine Kamishi---shiwasa. Yah." He staggered and swayed into a standing position, grabbing at his staff to hold himself erect. Swaying on it slightly, he nodded towards Aya. "Wanna go ask her?"

[Kitten4u]

"It's Tuesd--" Aya started to say before she was cut off by his rambling.

Aya was honestly a little shocked by his current state. Tengu could drink a lot before the effects started to show, even a little bit. How much he drink anyway? It was just shocking to see an tengu like this when he wasn't at a party or having a drinking contest with an oni or another tengu. She wasn't at all disgusted, he looked like he was enjoying himself, it was just odd to her. Really, if he hadn't backed the gourd away she might have accepted his offer to drink with him.

After he asked if she wanted to see Keine, she looked at him for a moment, shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?"

Why not indeed? Aya was planning on traveling to the border today, but that could easily wait until tomorrow, or even later in the evening. Keine might actually know something, she is human after all.

"I see you know me, but I don't know you. I am Aya Shameimaru, and you are?" she extended her hand both as a common courtosy, and to help him stabalize himself. He looked a wee bit wobbly still.

[sake]

What? Tuesday already? Wait... if he'd been here since Tuesday... Was it still Tuesday? His Tuesday? Or was it the Tuesday of next week? Ah, who cared? Taisui had no need of knowing the days anyway.

Ignoring Aya's hand, Taisui started forward. His first few steps were wildly off-balance, and if it weren't for his staff he would have fallen. However, with each step he seemed to either sober up or get his bearings, and soon he was walking in a relatively straight line. He still relied heavily on his staff, but at least he seemed in no immediate danger of falling.

"'s this way, I think..." he muttered, his voice still slurring, though not to the point of near-incomprehension as it had been only a few minutes previous. He paused, remembering that oh yeah, someone was following him. He squinted over his shoulder at Aya as she caught up.

With her introduction, his head bobbed in a nod, a smile spreading across his face. "I know, I know. Love the paper. When I get it, 'course." he shrugged. "Oh. 'm Taisui."

[Kitten4u]

He didn't have to worry about her not being able to keep up. Aya was very fast, so even if she did fall behind a little it wouldn't be difficult to catch back up. Except for a few shops she frequented, she wasn't all that familiar with the human village. Most of the time she just flew over it, or flew directly to her destination, so it was good that she had a guide.

"Nice to meet you...Taisui..." Aya hoped she said that right, he was rather difficult to understand. "Glad you like the paper~" she smiled. "I'm hoping that I can cover this rumor in next week's paper. It's not quite a juicy as some of the other stories I've written, but there hasn't been much going on lately. This is the best one I could find."

The other two rumors drifting about the humans weren't at all interesting to the tengu. One was about the oni. A human apparently sighted one coming above ground, but the tengu knew that they moved underground, and that they've been there for some time now. The oni used to more or less rule Youkai Mountain, so it was almost impossible for the tengu or the kappa to NOT know that they moved. The other was about the kappa's new energy source. She might cover that at some point and write about the specifics, but she felt that the youkai trying to cross the boundry was more interesting.

[sake]

Taisui's head bobbed as he listened to the female prattle. "Oh, but it is interestin'! Thinks of the stir it'd cause if it's true! Tensions rise, fights break out, and... er..."

Wait. That... that wouldn't be good. Brains were not something Taisui had in abundance, but even he could figure out that raised tensions between humans and youkai would lead to a fairly difficult time for him, considering his preference for the human village... and the fact that he made no secret over what he was. Problematic indeed. And Taisui hated dealing with problems.

Unlesssssssssss.... Hrm. Maybe if he helped eliminate the potential youkai problem. This made him pause in mid stride, contemplating this dark issue. Finding out the answer would mean he would have to tear himself away from his drinking spot and work (blegh). But if problems stirred up, he might have to pay more for his precious sake, if they would even allow him to set foot in the town. Unacceptable! Absolutely unacceptable!

Besides... come to think of it, if he actually helped take down these rude little troublemakers, he might be even considered something of a town hero. WITH DISCOUNTS. Oh yeah, and admiration and stuff. But! Potentially free or cheaper alcohol prospects made his dark eyes gleam.

Oh yes. Stuff of glory indeed! A sly smirk slid over Taisui;s face as he remembered that he was supposed to be heading to the schoolhouse. As he started up again he glanced at Aya, his smirk widening. Never being one for disguising his intentions, Taisui's drunken greed was all but written across his face.

"Think you'll be needing some help with this? I know folk around... could be useful..."

[Kitten4u]

"Well, from what I've heard so far it's mostly youkai that aren't strong enough to beat humans. Though, due to the nature of rumors it's very possible that tensions will rise and that fights will break out. I also wonder just how strong these youkai are. I mean, no one is stupid enough to attack the village directly anymore, which probably irritates the youkai that do feed on humans. That might mean that even strong youkai that aren't strong enough to take on the entire village might be searching for another source of food. That seems more likely to me. I mean, most weak youkai are kind of stupid, thinking up a plan like this seems way beyond their ability. I mean, I guess it's possible to be weak and smart, but...Eh, I don't know. That's why I'm looking into it. At this point it's just as likely to be false as it is to be true," Aya nodded.

She was looking towards the sky and tapping her fan against her chin while saying all this, so she didn't notice that Taisui had stopped moving until he started talking again. It wasn't that Aya wasn't paying attention to him or her surroundings, she was just piecing together the facts that she knew and that distracted her for a moment.

Help? Certainly two people would gather information faster than one. Actually, this was quite convinient. Aya could investigate people on the border, and he could more details from the humans in the village. This was assuming he could remember the information accurately enough to relay his discoveries to her. He was clearly wasted after all, and she didn't want to put any lies into her paper. Well, she could always check with a few people after she investigated just to make sure.

"Sure. Two people can gather information faster than one~ Why don't you ask the people here what they know while I investigate the border? We can meet back at that inn in..." she thought for a moment, "About two days? Does that sound good?"