expiationmeme | (meme) TELL THE TRUTH...

Yes. The mouse. But not some random god with a machine gun, heat-seaking missilets and some extra bear traps and lasers just for the fun of it.

[There is a note of passion in his voice that Douman is usually good at suppressing. He knows those things because those were the cases that were usually fenced off to him. Douman the evil. Douman the unsavory. The one only half a step behind in power of Abe no Seimei, who got his hands dirty because somebody had to. And as a 'Curse Master', as Seimei had been so font of calling him, he hadn't had a choice but to learn the circumstances and origins of the 'evils' he'd had to battle.

He hadn't liked or respected most of his fellow humans for very obvious reasons at that time.]

They exist. I've lived long enough to see plenty of them. Women who sold their bodies and men who sold their lives to be used as cannon fodders in hopeless wars, just so that their child has a chance see another day. Even in modern times a parent's instinct is still nothing to scoff at. ...though I won't deny that there are shitty ones too.

If the humans are being attacked, there's nothing wrong with the humans fighting back.

[... But the rest is making her grimace.]

... Maybe Flora's parents care that much. She had a nice family. But aside from hers... I've never seen anything like that you're describing.

Naturally. Just like youkai and other spirits should have the right to fight back if humans attack them. But there was no fighting back when Seimei got involved.

Flora?

They have the right. So it just comes down to whoever's stronger. That's how the world works.

[... She doesn't sound happy about that, though.]

... My friend. The hero I fought against.

It was. But I didn't like it, so I changed it as soon as Seimei was gone.

[There is a smug little note in his voice that is born out of both pride and fondness. It had taken an eternity and more than just hard work to change the world of youkai from something following the law of the jungle into a civilization that can easily rival that of humans, but Douman had done it. The one thing that even the almighty Abe no Seimei had been never about to do.]

I see. That sounds complicated. Sometimes great enemies can be just as great friends, even if the animosity will never change.

... Tch. I wish it was that easy. I'm still trying to change the world...

[She sounds bitter. She won't meet Douman's eyes.]

... I don't think what we have is animosity. We fought, and fought, but... now I'm on her side.

[Is she now. He could tell her that it'll take way more than the span of a single mortal's life, but that doesn't mean that those sentiments or attempts will be meaningless. After all he has seen it before.]

Mmh. That's quite the different tale than the one between me and Seimei. I was really impressed by him once, but in the end co-existence was just never an option.

... You and Seimei?

I read the storybooks we had about Abe no Seimei a lot when I was a kid. Nuraripyon wasn't in any of those.

Because I'm a youkai who slips past normal mortals notice.

[That's an easy, clean little omission by telling another truth. Douman also notes her misspelling his name, but blames it on her not knowing any better.]

So you really are slimy...

[She isn't even saying it judgmentally. Just like. "Ah, I knew it."]

"Slimy"?

[There's that small hesitation and gently amused curiosity in his voice that'd tell any of his canonmates that they'd just royally fucked up and better ought to pick their words VERY CAREFULLY around him now.]

[Fortunately, she's oblivious.]

That's what your name means, right? The youkai I know about tended to have really descriptive names, so...

[ Siiiiiiiigh ]

I swear, you animals and your illiteracy.... What you are thinking of is "nurunuru", not "nura".

They're the same thing, right?

[weren't we having a moment a minute ago. no we're doing this now.]

Only if you ignore grammar, context and several brush strokes. [Which is absolutely what most animal-type youkai Douman knows always do. Hell, they can consider themselves lucky that she didn't end up calling him "Van Gogh" instead!]

It's "滑" like slip or cunning. Not some silly comic sound effect.

Oh.

... Close enough, anyway. Aren't slimy things slippery? Like slugs and frogs? Though I guess you're a rabbit, if you're 'pyon'...

Hyon.

[ Guess we're at the 'Van Gogh' level after all. ]

Close enough.

It'd still be a failing grade if you did this on a test. Anyway.

The point is that I'm a youkai that humans find generally really troublesome to deal with. I'd daresay that Seimei got a lot of good use out of me before I finally decided to give him the 'slip'.

[Of course he was still Douman and an aspiring Onmyoji himself, back then. Fortunately having to tell the truth doesn't mean that he has to do it chronologically accurate or deliver any necessary context needed to not misunderstand. Hmmm, coming to think of it, he had gotten fed up with Seimei and decided to ditch him really fast even as a kid, hadn't he? The big name and fame hadn't dazzled him long.]

I dropped out of school back in middle school anyway.

... That still doesn't seem right.

Is that so? I'm the Principal of a school for youkai. The biggest and best known, actually.

[Does he talk about himself or his school? It's both, actually. Everybody in the realms of the youkai and the gods know that 'the Principal' is synonymous with "Nurarihyon".]

That I didn't want to be in any stories?

I don't get how or why, but... I met Abe no Seimei here. He wasn't the kind of person you're describing at all.

[They only spoke once, but... She got a good impression of him from that.]

Hah. Isn't the answer to that "riddle" obvious?

That man wasn't Abe no Seimei. He might have been some distant relative getting a kick out of having inherited the name like a title and putting on an act, but I can assure you that his blood was far too mixed to be the real deal. That was a part-youkai if I've ever smelled one.

"Too mixed"...? Part-youkai?

Everyone knows Abe no Seimei was a half-fox.

Oh? Am I to take that he just came over and introduced himself to you as such? Or that they found his bones and ran some DNA tests?

I've met a lot of half-youkai over the ages, and I've known that bastard Abe no Seimei for years. Whatever he was, he wasn't some puny half-animal.

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