!H8UfLAg.DQ 2011/02/19 (Sat) 23:59 No. 134902 ▼ File 129815999372.png - (465.01KB, 900x900 , HI FLOATING TEXT.png)
“So, c'mon, out with it already!” Yuugi presses, as the bridge 'princess' beside you quietly grumbles. “There's gotta be a reason you started in on the whole 'evil jealousy spirit' thing, right?”
“I'm not evil!” Parsee snaps back, visibly offended. “I do my job! I make sure everyone gets across who needs to!”
“Really, now?” says the smirking oni.
“Yes. really!” Parsee replies, crossing her arms. “So, maybe a few people run into a little trouble along the way. So, maybe there's an accident every now and then! So, maybe some adorable little couple finds themselves suddenly breaking up for some reason! It happens!”
“And you had nothing to do with any of that, huh?”
“I do my job.” Parsee scowls.
“Of course ya do.” Yuugi says, taking another sip from her cup. “The job of a bridge princess.”
“Ough! You-!”
“So, Parsee, why?” you speak up, hoping to cool things off a little between the two.
“...I said why! It's my job to-”
“No, no, I mean, why are you so unhappy? Guarding the bridge, and all.”
“...huh?”
Parsee looks at you in confusion, though you're not sure if it's confusion at what you asked, or the fact that you asked it at all. Taking advantage of the moment, you press onward.
“Well, it's just that you're doing a good thing, right? Keep people out who need to be kept out, keep people in who need to be kept in, and make sure anyone who goes one way or the other gets there safely, right? You're protecting people.”
Parsee simply scoffs and rolls her eyes at your explanation. “Oh, sure, it sounds so nice when you put it like that!”
“Well, yeah. It's a nice thing to do for someone.” you reason. It's a perfectly reasonable reason, after all. People need help, you help them.
“Psh! Right, it's so nice to look after all those happy little people on their happy little journeys in their happy little lives. So happy and carefree, paying no mind to how quickly, how easily they could lose everything, but don't. And why?”
“Because you're protecting them, right?”
“Yeah.” “Because I am protecting them. I keep them safe. I keep misfortune from raining down on their happy little heads, and for what? Nothing! No payment! No thanks! Not even the slightest bit of gratitude! While they get to come and go as they please, enoying the parties underground and the sunlight of the surface, I am here.”
“...in an oni bar?” you ask.
“In an-...NO! At that fucking bridge! At my fucking bridge!”
“Oh. Right.”
You're not sure what else to say., at this pint As hung up as she is about her 'job' and her bridge, she seems quick to forget that she's no longer at her bridge. Unless being away from it is what's making her cranky, like some strange sort of separation anxiety. Fortunately for you, Yuugi is quick to pick up where you stop.
“So, what, the reason you got to be the way you got to be is because you got cranky seein' everybody else havin' fun? Even though you're the one who was always such a stick in the mud? How boring.”
“What?!”
“Well, is that's what it is, isn't it? People were havin' fun, you weren't, and then you became this. That's it? The way you were carryin' on with this little guy, I'd have thought there was more going on with you than just that.” the oni woman says, pouring herself another cup. “Or is thre more to it than just that? Some guy caught your eye and broke your heart, maybe?”
“Well, t-thats...”
“Or did he just ditch ya?”
“Um, Yuugi? I think that's enough...”
“...left...”
“What was that?”
“They left me, okay?!”
“So, there is more to you than just that, huh?” Yuugi smiles, swirling the liquid in her cup around before drinking it all down.
“Parsee, I'm sorry, I didn't-”
“Oh, do not start fucking feeling sorry for me!”
“So, why'd you let 'im go in the first place, Princess?” Yuugi asks. “You had a guy you liked, right? Why'd you let him get away?”
You're not sure if she's intentionally redirecting Parsee's irritation away from you, or if it's just forunate timing, but you're certainly not going to complain.
“Weren't you listening?! He left me!”
The bottles clatter with another slap to the table from the bridge princess.
“Then why didn't you go after him?” Yuugi says, plainly, in the way anyone would ask 'why didn't you do this thing that was completely obvious to do?'
“Eugh! Are you trying to piss me off?! I had my job! I had my duty! I had to guard that stupid fucking bridge! Do you even understand what any of that means?! To have an obligation?! Responsifuckingbility?!”
“Of course we do! We-”
“You punch fucking spirits and then drink! That's it!”
“Well, we sometimes drink while we do it.” the oni woman says, shrugging.
“You-...just...shut up! The point is, I didn't go chasing some futile, doomed-to-fail romance is because I can't. I have my wonderful little duty to-”
“Give you an excuse to be miserable?”
“Ghckt!”
Parsee sputters incoherently for a moment, as Yuugi smiles the smile of one who hit the proverbial nail on the head. Or, the literal nail on the head, when you're really bad at hitting nails.
Seven broken figers was all it took for you to realize you were not cut out for carpentry, no matter how much your parents insisted otherwise.
“That's all it really is, y'know. An excuse.” Yuugi continues, motioning towards the still-sputtering woman with her cup. “So you have a duty or whatever. It doesn't mean you don't gotta do what you gotta do to be happy, Everyone does.”
“Everyone doesn't-”
“But they do. They absolutely do. Happiness? Love? Really good booze? You don't just get that stuff handed to ya! If ya want it, ya gotta grab it! All that 'if you love it then let it go' nonsense is just an excuse, just like what you're doin' right now. Like sayin' that bottle on the top shelf probably ain't that good, so it's not worth tryin' to reach it anyway, so you'll just stick with that cup of water you already got!”
“It's not that-”
“Simple? Of course it is! It might not be easy, but it's sure as Hell is hot that it's simple! You want that bottle? You climb and climb and climb some more until you get it! It doesn't get more simple than that! Otherwise, you only got yourself to blame if someone else goes and grabs it while you're busy grumblin' and sipping that water!”
“But...that...”
“That's all there is to it! You want something bad enough, you gotta be willing to grab it and never let go of it! That's all there is to-...huh?”
Blinking and rubbing your eyes, you briefly wonder if your repeated head injuries from the day have finally taken their toll on you, as your vision suddenly flashes white. The sudden silence of the rest of the bar, however, quickly removes the fear of brain damage from your mind. As your vision returns, the quiet murmurs of the other oni slowly rise in volume, and you see just what the fuss is all about.
“Well, what do you suppose that's all about?” Yuugi asks, rising from her seat and turning to get a better look at the bright light now streaming in through the windows and doors of the building and the assorted oni now streaming outside. “This really is turning out to be an interesting night, isn't it?” she says, turning back to you and grinning more broadly than you've seen her grin all night.
“Uh, Yuugi? Where are you going?” you ask, as she picks up her cup and steps away from the booth.
“Hey, I gotta see what's goin' on, right?”
“Well, I guess, but-”
“Don't worry, I'm not gonna ditch ya here or anything! Just sit tight and I'll be right back, okay?”
“But-!”
“Besides, it looks like you two got some more stuff to sort out, and I don't wanna get in the way.”
“Um, what do you mean? It's just, uh...” you ask, turning to find a pair of green eyes staring back at you You don't know if Parsee has even noticed everything else going on or not, but something about the way she's looking at you right now is...worrisome. “Er, wait, Yuugi? Yuugi!” you call out to the oni woman, but to no avail.
Watching the blue-robed woman excitedly shoving her way out the door, you cautiously turn back to the woman beside you.
Yep, she's still staring at you.
“So, um, what do you suppose that light was?” you ask, wanting to at least break the silence that had now engulfed the now-empty room.
Without looking away from you, Parsee grabs the nearest bottle she can reach, knocking several others over in the process, brings it to her mouth, and tips it upward. Even as her head tilts further and further backward, the contents of the bottle rapidly draining as it goes vertical, she keeps at least one eye on you all the while.
A faint pop can be heard as she pulls the bottle from her lips, and a single drop trickles down her chin.
“Um, Parsee, you have a little...uh...” you point, uncertain if you should hand her a napkin or offer to dab it off yourself.
“...gotta....grb...” the green-eyed woman mumbles, her eyes seemingly to slip in and out of focus as she continues to stare at you.
“Er, I'm sorry?”
“...gotta grab it...huh.” she mutters, leaning towards you. “Like...like it's really that...that simp-”
You feel a pair of hands suddenly grasp you by the shoulders, as Parsee pulls you closer to her, your foreheads nearly colliding in the process.
“Huh.” the woman says, blinking. “...guess it is. Huh.”
For what feels like an eternity, she holds you there, her eyes staring right into your own as the smell of alcohol wafts across your face. Then, with a soft grunt, she begins to push you away from her.
You feel a slight sense of relief at this, until you notice something amiss. Even after you feel yourself sitting straight up, her hands do not leave your shoulders. Neither, for that matter, does she stop pushing you.
Further and further back your body goes, until eventually you realize you are not being pushed back or away from her.
She's pushing you down.
The strange look in her eyes now back in full force, you find yourself helpless under the youkai woman's grip now crawling onto you, as you are pressed down onto the seat of the booth.
“Er, Parsee? What are you doing?” you nervously ask, fully aware of what it seems like she's doing as her arms slide under your body.
“...mmm...m'takin'...” the woman mumbles, her face now hovering closely over your own.
The last thing you hear from her, as her head comes down.
-------------------
Partial update for now, sorry for being so late.
Part 2 coming later, possibly after work, and probably in a new thread.