An Aside: Mobile Gaming

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

They had hit a lull and Mob was fussing.

Of course it didn’t look like fussing to anyone else, but Reigen was fine-tuned to Mob’s nearly-invisible displays of emotion. A tiny line on his forehead or by his mouth conveyed deep befuddlement, and all of it was aimed at his phone which he hadn’t put down for the last fifteen minutes.

Reigen would have ordinarily been inclined to have him do something more useful with himself, but this was unusual enough that he gave it a few more minutes of observation, glancing up from behind his screen, before saying something.

“Is your phone on the fritz or something?” ’Please say no.’

Comments

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I don't know, that sounds a little sad to me." But maybe Reigen was right. Maybe what Mob had with his family was pretty abnormal.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

'Ouch.'

"Oh, come on. Do I seem sad to you?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Yeah, sometimes," Mob answered honestly.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“The times when the client’s check bounces doesn’t count.” Regardless if that’s what the kid meant or not, Reigen released his hand to take what meager shelter he could under a tree with a low canopy. He turned away with his back to his protege to give his phone as much cover as he could, covertly pulling up the map on the tiny screen.

“Stay there, Shigeo-kun. I’m, uh, communing with the spirits.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Okay," Mob said obligingly in his usual neutral tone as he gazed listlessly at his master's back.

[mp_npc]

The wind began to pick up, blowing the rain sideways. Reigen’s coat flapped loudly and he swore under his breath, finger slipping on the keypad.

“…’ver here…” A small, croaking voice whispered from somewhere nearby, just barely audible above the din of the brewing storm.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob brushed his wet bangs out of his eyes and turned in the direction of the voice.

"Hello?" he called out quietly as he stepped towards it.

[mp_npc]

A sudden billowing gust of wind ripped through their patch of forest. Mob’s hood went flying off his head and suddenly wrenched itself back like it had a mind of its own, swiftly dragging the small boy down an incline. Even as he barreled away from his mentor his feet didn’t touch the ground and his body somehow avoided the trees even as densely packed as they were. His good luck didn’t last long, though, as he was suddenly released from the strange force to be sent rolling.

It was dark where he was, but the wind and the rain was distant. It was a shelter, dusty and smelling of cedar.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob stood up and dusted himself off, unphased by the sudden supernatural event that spirited him away here.

"You're here, right? Why don't you show yourself so we can talk face-to-face?"

[mp_npc]

"Over...here..." A weak voice called from somewhere behind Mob. The voice repeated itself until it got closer, rolling up to his muddied feet. It was a plain umbrella upon first blush, nothing but bamboo and washi paper--until it struggled with one final turn to reveal a singular giant eye to stare up at the boy.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Oh, hello," Mob said in the same tone he'd use for a classmate. "You're a Tsukumogami, aren't you?" No psychic powers necessary for this one, even though normal people probably wouldn't be able to see it the way that Mob did.

[mp_npc]

The umbrella's grand eye blinked and squinted. The paper forming its canopy trembled. "Yes...can you...open me? I used a lot of energy...bringing you here..."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Sure." Mob picked up the umbrella and opened it without so much as a second thought.

[mp_npc]

"HA! You opened me!" The umbrella's voice suddenly boomed, glowing bright in Mob's hand as the canopy moved to envelope him. "Your energy will be MINE--"

Fsh.

The umbrella screamed again, but this time out of fright--one of it's tips had caught fire and it flew out of Mob's hands to and it rolled around on the floor in panic.

"Sorry about that, boy." A gentler but tired voice spoke from above. A dim glow was cast over the room, revealing them to be in an old foyer. The voice came from a lantern hanging from the wall. The creases of its paper face and the glow emnating from within created weary shadows across its visage. Smoke enmated from the split in it's seam that formed a wide mouth. "Kasa's too hungry for his own good lately. Please don't hold it against him."

"It's...Karakasa-sama..." The umbrella panted, lying defeated on it's side as it's singed body smoldered pathetically.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Hm," Mob acknowledged passively, regarding the lantern with his usual neutral expression. "If he's that hungry, I don't mind giving him a bit of my energy. I don't need all of it."

[mp_npc]

“Oh, no!” A softer voice called from the doorway to the kitchen, both words punctuated by a clank and a chime. A bronze teapot on two legs bowed deeply to the boy. “You’re an honored guest! It would be shameful to ask anything of you.”

“How…the heck…is he honored…” Kasa wheezed, even more drained by the fruitless display.

“He’s our first guest in an age.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I feel like I'm more of an intruder than a guest," Mob admitted.

[mp_npc]

“Kidnapped, really,” the lantern chimed in tiredly.

“Chōchin, you haven’t forgotten your hospitality entirely, have you?” The teapot chided him as if she didn’t hear his remark for what it was at all, instead prompting Mob to come to the tea room. “Please come, you look terribly cold and wet. I’ll brew you something warm.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Thank you," Mob said appreciatively, following the teapot further in. He did not question what the teapot might have to brew when no one had lived here in ages (according to his master) or the safety of venturing further into a place where he had previously been attacked. Mob, as always, took everything at face value. To him, he had no reason to distrust these spirits -- though Reigen may have felt otherwise.

[mp_npc]

A series of yawning lanterns lit up for Mob as he entered the aged tea room. It was far from decrepit, but it was rather dusty despite the efforts of one-legged hataki duster shakily bouncing around the room, tossing its silken head against the tatami mat that yawned and unrolled itself for Mob to sit.

The doors to the tea room were closed, but the windows offered a view of the raging storm with the rain now pouring sideways.

"You should take that damp coat off. Ittan-kun, please see to our guest." The teapot instructed, and a large cotton cloth shook itself off, flew from the wall and wrapped itself around the boy as he did.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Thank you," Mob said as the cloth swaddled him warmly. Were all spirits this warm and he just didn't realize it? Mob wasn't sure.

"I'm worried about my master, though," Mob said, gazing out the window. The rain was really coming down now. "He's still out there."

[mp_npc]

"Your master?" Kasa grumbled as he dragged himself up the small steps to the tea room, now seemingly having caught his breath. "I thought that was your dad." What kind had something like a master in this day and age anyway?

"And you kidnapped him anyway?" Chochin groaned.

"I wasn't kidnapping! I wasn't going to do anything bad! I just needed a little pick-me-up...all of us do!"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

His father? Mob never even considered that someone would think Reigen was his father. The two of them were so different. Not just in appearance, but in personality, too.

"Do you just need human energy? Or is there something else?"

[mp_npc]

Kasa, gruff as he was, had the decency to look embarrassed at being forced to explain it.

"Look, kid...do you know how Tsukumogami are born?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob nodded. "My master and I went over it earlier."