aoex_dressing | AND NOW IT'S OLD MAN O'CLOCK

[ It's Yaozou's one day off.

All the boys are out. Renzou is with their young master off at school. Kinzou and Juuzou are with Mamushi on a small expedition to catch some unidentified minor demons making a fuss in a nearby village. His wife is with their remaining three children on a much-needed vacation, according to her, and Yaozou had been all too willing to volunteer himself to hold down the fort with Uwabami while they were all out.

Uwabami only just left after they'd had themselves a game of shougi and tea.

Yaozou had been inches away from settling himself down to do some much-needed weeding in his vegetable garden. Utter peace and quiet had been promised to him for at least another two days.

This. This is unacceptable.

He glances around the academy grounds with a stern eye, maintaining his composure. (Although there is a distinct twitch beneath his eye now. Buddha has it out for him. There is no other explanation than that. He must have been a murderer and a rapist and a child-killer in a past life, sent into this one purely to atone for those sons. ) ]

Demons, show yourselves!

[ Because if it's not a demon who did this to him, boy are they going to wish that they'd been born with the regenerative capabilities of one. Or possibly never born at all.

ooc note: Yaozou's taken from much prior to the Impure King incident because having him hobbling around on crutches, while badass like nothing else, seems a bit cumbersome. Also boils. ]

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[ He hasn't done the incense thing in years and he's reminded of the time Mamushi did actually try to do more or less that by summoning Naaga. Oops.

At any rate, Kinzou feels like this conversation has taken a very odd, very sharp, very wrong turn somewhere. Clearly, the best solution is to raise his volume, too, though it lacks anger of any sort. He's only being louder for the sake of being louder. ]

But you were, and Mamushi knows it, too! We were doing some heat sterilization when I wound up here!

[ Maybe he should have tried clearing up what he already said instead of throwing more variables in there, but. Eh. Everything should wrap up nicely in the end. ]

[ That causes Yaozou to blanch slightly and give Kinzou a somewhat incredulous stare. His fourth son was a decent Exorcist in his own right, but that didn't necessarily make the boy smart. In fact, Yaozou can't remember the last time he caught his boy with something that had pages that didn't also have naked women on the pages. So for Kinzou to be using words like 'heat sterilization' and to even know off the top of his head that the Impure King would be weak to fire--

There had to be a situation at hand. ]

Lower your voice! [ Of course now Yaozou is shouting right back. This is just how things work in the Shima household. ]

--Kinzou, do you remember that mission you went on with Juuzou and Mamushi? Your mother went on vacation around the same time.

[ Kinzou promptly shuts up and lowers his volume when he speaks back up, creasing his brows and racking his brain for the time his father is talking about. He remembers numerous missions with Juuzou and Mamushi, and counting the occasions his mother went on vacation . . .

It clicks, though the implications behind the question have yet to reach him. ]

Oh, that? That was months ago.

Months--

[ Though he'd suspected something along those lines, that still doesn't fully prepare Yaozou for the idea that either he's been in a coma for the last few months or something extremely powerful is afoot here. ]

That's the last thing I remember, Kinzou. You all being out, and me going to tend my garden. Then I opened my eyes and was here.

[ Kinzou stares, taking the words in slowly. That doesn't make sense, because time doesn't pass by that fast with one blink and Yaozou's been active as ever in those months in-between. A pregnant pause, then he asks in a grave tone. ]

Are you senile?

[ There's an equal pause on Yaozou's part before--

Suddenly there's a fist in Kinzou's face. On the cheek, though. Wouldn't want to break the kid's pretty nose-- That face is about all Kinzou has going for him in life. ]

What did you just say to me?!

[ Kinzou sticks one foot one behind him to maintain his balance as he's unexpectedly struck in the face. Ow. Bent at an angle awkward from the force of the punch, he springs back into place, largely ignoring the red spot on his cheek. ]

That hurt, Pops! And isn't that what it's called!?

NO!

--I mean yes! I mean-- I AM NOT SENILE!

[ That familiar vein in Yaozou's forehead is throbbing and he brings a hand up to try to soothe it before he bursts an artery and has an aneurysm. ]

Look around you! If we've been summoned to True Cross Academy somehow, don't you think whoever's responsible might also be strong enough to be snatching people from different times?!

[ Like the obedient son that he is, Kinzou takes a second to look around, turning his head both ways in an almost exaggerated fashion. He comes right back to Yaozou when he hears the rest of the short lecture. ]

You mean you're just from the past and didn't forget anything? There's an actual power to do something like that?

[ THIS IS NEWS. ]

There is no comprehensive list of powers that exist, Kinzou!

For all we know this could be a new class of demon-- Would it kill you to use your head once in a while?!

[ Now Yaozou's entire face has gone red, but Kinzou tends to have that general effect on him. It's all he can do not to reach out and shake the boy, but Yaozou has the distinct feeling that shaking Kinzou will only serve to make matters worse. ]

[ Indeed, the occurrence is such a common enough one that Kinzou isn't too alarmed by the redness of his father's face; as well, the words of exasperation fall on deaf ears for their redundancy. However, the mention of demons straightens him right up. He grins. ]

Then there has to be a dangerous demon on the prowl. I'll exorcise it!

[ Son. There are some people who make a decent living out of being barely functional morons.

Those people generally do very simple jobs, possibly involving making sure all the labels are facing out at a supermarket or stacking boxes in a warehouse. Those people more or less are thus able to live perfectly normal lives, which can be exactly as fulfilling as the lives of their intellectual superiors.

You are not one of those people. You are an Exorcist, a job which involves being quick on your feet and able to adapt to highly volatile situations. You are, furthermore, from a family of Arias, a discipline which requires constant mental training and memorization of passages out of religious texts, as well as wield full command of an extensive mental index of these religious texts to summon the relevant text upon a moment's notice where a single hesitation, pause, or blink of an eye will result in your bloody and gruesome death.

'There is a dangerous demon on the prowl. I'll exorcise it,' really doesn't begin to cover what needs to be done here, and your father is exceptionally worried about being down to two Exorcist sons right about now. ]

...Kinzou.

Come here.

[ See this bush? He's about to tie you to this bush. ]

[ ?

Ever the (largely) obedient son, Kinzou steps forward towards his father. It's a rather random demand, but who's he to doubt Yaozou? Totally clueless of what his father is actually more or else thinking, he flashes Yaozou an innocent look. Maybe he needs a weapon. Kinzou has his k'rik; he can hand it over! ]

Yeah?

[ What up, Pops.

Nope, he sees no bush. ]

AND NOW IT'S OLD MAN O'CLOCK

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