onegreeneye | OPEN RP POST (wip)

It was a clear day.

Finding himself in unfamiliar countryside wasn't anything new for James Walter. Walking stick in hand, the man stood out like a psychedelic sore thumb against the countryside in his purple shirt. Not to mention the antlers. They were a thing, six tines in summer velvet. But it was JW who was doing the staring.

He'd never seen a rice paddy in his life and stood for some time on the ridge, looking at the strangest ditches he'd ever seen. What were the people doing down there? Catching frogs?

Shaking his head, he traveled on, leaving his strange sneaker prints in the dirt, until he noticed a well on the other side of the path. Weeds grew up around it and it stood in the shade of tall weeds, but he couldn't help himself. Sometimes people threw money down wells and by God he was going to go see if there were any! Unbeknownst to him, this well was inhabited by Suiko.

When Ginko was first asked to come here, all he was told was that people had been disappearing under "strange circumstances". It wasn't until he arrived that it became clear that the situation was actually pretty clear-cut. An infestation of Suiko in the area's water supply had resulted in numerous infections - leaving Ginko with little choice but to try to figure out which wells were infested and have them blocked off.

This one, though, hadn't been touched in years, anyway; as such, nobody had thought to mention it to him, or point it out, and so it wasn't until that day that Ginko was actually getting around to testing the water.

He didn't see the strangely-dressed man at first, focused on holding a small glass jar under one arm as he pulled on his gloves, just to be safe. Then he happened to glance up.

Dammit.

"Hey!" Ginko sped up, all but running toward JW, clutching the jar in one hand. "Get away from there, that water isn't safe!"

James had already pulled up a wooden bucket by the time Ginko's shout came echoing down the slope. He paused, hand shoved into the bucket and frowned at the white-haired man.

"I'm not going to drink it."

This guy better not be after his wishing well pennies.

As he got closer, it got harder not to notice how odd this guy looked, even by Ginko's standards. But that wasn't something to think about while he was sticking his hands in a possible mushi nest.

"Good. Ideally, you shouldn't be touching it, either." He leaned over to examine the water in the bucket as he got closer. It looked perfectly normal, of course. But that didn't mean anything. He set about unscrewing the cap on the jar to scoop up some water, making sure his gloves were on all the way first.

JW actually pulled the pail away slightly. He was here first and he didn't need some bottle bleached weirdo over his shoulder.

"Why?"

Wow. Ginko glowered at him, reaching for the bucket again. "I need to check it for Suiko."

He figured he would have remembered seeing this guy around the village, so he didn't expect him to know about its current mushi problem. But he didn't need someone stopping him from doing his job.

That got the tall man's scowl to uncrease as he loosened his grip on the bucket.

"Suiko...that some kind of chemical?" His mismatched eyes flicked down to his gunk covered hands. Who knew how long the green stuff had been sitting on the surface of the water?

"No, it's a type of mushi. A dangerous one." He took that chance to grab the bucket, scooping up some algae and water in his jar. He lifted it up to the light, examining it carefully for a few seconds with a frown, and then a glance at the stuff on JW's hands.

James just stared at the man as he worked and waited patiently for him to explain what the hell a mushi was and what was it doing in the well in the first place and also maybe what those weird ditches that he passed were.

But one thing at a time.

After a few seconds, Ginko noticed the look on his face and sighed quietly, lowering the jar. That was not the expression of someone who suddenly understood why he had been so insistent on checking the water.

He took a small knife from his pocket and started to prod experimentally at the algae in the jar, as if he was looking for something, as he explained. It would have to be brief, unfortunately; he still needed to decide whether this well was safe or not. "A type of organism that a lot of people can't see. Most aren't dangerous, but a few can be.

"Suiko are one of the latter; they just look like water, but any living thing that ingests them will become increasingly dependent on water. Eventually..." With a small, satisfied hum, he lifted the knife, balancing a couple blobs of algae on it. The bits that had been closest to the water, previously hidden by the greener parts on top, had already turned transparent. "After this happens, it's not usually long before they turn to water entirely, and evaporate."

Enjoy that new information, James.

JW, for all his attitude, was actually a pretty good listener when it came to what stood between him and wishing well pennies. After the stranger's explanation, he slowly started to wipe his hands off on his jeans.

"So that's your word for fae in this place..." He tried to ignore the squeezing sensation in his heart. Oh, God. Oh, shit, he just put his hands in a faerie well. He could have died. It was that same sensation you get after somebody cuts you off in traffic and you managed to break at just the right moment. "Ah..." The word wasn't easy to form and tasted weird in his mouth. "Thanks."

Fae? Ginko frowned slightly, but didn't comment on it. Really, what he got from that was that this guy was probably a foreigner (which he had already suspected) and that he had heard of mushi before by a different name. Interesting.

"No problem." He leaned over carefully to carve an "X" into the old, rotting wood of the well. He would let the village elder know later, have someone come up to board it up. "Guessing you don't live around here...? You may have just gotten unlucky, wandering into an area with a Suiko problem."

JW bit the inside of his lip and turned his hands over a few times to make sure he'd gotten all the green stuff off. What he'd give for a bar of soap.

"You could say I'm from a world or two away...I've dealt with water sprites before but none that do what you're describing."

Ginko finally pulled his gloves off, checking to make sure they were dry before dropping them back in his pocket. He glanced up, raising his eyebrows slightly. Now that sounded odd.

"Water sprites...? And don't worry about the Suiko too much; any that's left on your hands by now will probably just dry up."

"Water sprites," he repeated. "Beautiful men and women that lure wanderers to a watery grave. Otherwise, just mess around in ponds and take care of frogs."

He punctuated himself with a shrug.

"Don't eat anything they hand you."

Huh. "Can't say I've heard of anything quite like that, either. ...Though some mushi have been known to take human form."

"Really? Luring people to their deaths with convoluted rules is their jam." JW shoved his hands in his pockets and started to climb the steep incline back up tot he road. "Don't touch this rock, don't eat those berries, don't whistle by this tree after midnight or you're fucked."

He hummed thoughtfully, following behind now that he was done checking and marking the well. "That's interesting. In my experience, mushi don't tend to be actively malicious. Usually, they're just doing what they need to to survive."

JW wasn't sure he wanted this guy following him...even if he did probably save him from a serious infection. But the way he described the mushi...they didn't sound like his fae foes at all. James turned, glancing back at the stranger with his bad eye.

"I don't...think we're on the same page, stranger. Fae are powerful, mischievous, and heartless." He tapped one of the fuzzy tines on his antlers. "I'm pretty sure they didn't saddle me with these in order to survive."

Hey, the guy had caught his interest, and it wasn't like he needed to rush to get back to the village.

Ginko raised an eyebrow. He could imagine mushi causing a human to grow antlers, certainly, but... "Maybe not. It's not as if mushi never make odd changes to people's appearances, but it is starting to sound like these fae are something else entirely."

With the road under his feet, he turned to face Giko and the slope that led to the well that did not have any money in it.

"Phooka, nixie, gnome, wanting deer, siren...none of that rings a bell?"

JW was starting to think it might be a good idea to head back the way he came.

Edited 2015-08-05 23:38 (UTC)

He frowned. "No? I've never heard of any of those."

A thoughtful frown worked its way onto his face and he moved his hands from his pockets to his hips, casting a long look down the road.

"I guess I should be glad then...if the closest things you have are more like animals."

"Hm. Maybe so." He watched James thoughtfully for a few seconds. There was something odd about the way he talked about locations - it certainly seemed like he was used to traveling a lot, in any case.

"...Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Worlds away," he repeated and threw in a smirk for good measure. He didn't often bother explaining the multiverse to strangers. "Nowhere place called Hawksaw. Not bad far from Shiloh if you take the right roads."

ONE FINE DAY

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