The Walrus and The Carpenter [FINISHED]

[Oracle]

[This thread takes place immediately after Oracle's involvement in "A Pocket Full Of Posey," located in the Devil Saint sub-board]



Oracle sat on a bench in Tokyo, Japan, playing with the coin of law magic Kouzetsu Gin gave him to keep the chaos magic in his blood stream under control. Knowing that it acted as both a supressive and a tracking device, he figured the best way to attract any attention to either the king of all Heaven or his servant assigned to be his operative, was to simply sit down.

Oracle had been completely active these past few days. As soon as he left Kouzetsu's courts, he went right to work continuing his search for Shadow Akuma and Abbadon Hakaisha. Knowing that he was under surveilance in Heaven, he decided to give his audience something to watch.

His method of action was simple; to stay active is to symbolize that you are still finishing the task at hand. However, to stay still illustrates that you have completed your task and patiently awaiting your reward.

But, he knew better than to just assume anyone who was in Heaven observing his movements would come to him just because a mark on the radar hadn't moved in over thirty minutes. So, he figured that along with sitting still, he would reach out to his assigned operative, and have him meet here in the Ningenkai.

<Toushi,> Oracle called out to Gin's servant through thought-speech. <This is Oracle. I have important news regarding the location of Abbadon Hakaisha. I wish to speak to you in person regarding a situation such as this. Please meet me at my current location in the Ningenkai to discuss these matters.>

Oracle grabbed the coin in his hand as he placed it back in his pants pocket. He rested both of his arms on the edges of the bench as he looked at the flowers he purchased from the front flower shop containing the Hakaisha in question. He chuckled about how he would spend the rest of this day after this meeting as he patiently awaited for Gin's servant Toushi to appear...

[Kouzetsu Gin]

<I hear you Zaihou-san, you shall see me in a matter of moments...> Toushi responded back begrudgingly. If at all possible, one could almost hear the sound of clenched teeth grinding as Toushi responded back to Oracle through the telepathic communique, still displeased at his current situation of being the liaison between the would be mole Oracle and the Ha-ou Kouzetsu Gin, Toushi's loyalty to Gin making this task seemingly bearable.

Having been escorted by his usual Einjheriar guard, who were close by and on guard, Toushi approached the bench were Oracle was seated, fiddling with the Coin Gin had given him as if it were some mere plaything. "Need I not remind you of the repercussions of losing that artifact. Gin-sama would be most displeased with you... more so than he should be now..." Toushi said, uttering the last part only to himself.



Toushi now stood before Oracle, and did away with the look of displeasure to better serve the Ha-ou and his operative, clearing his throat. "How is it I may be of service to you here and now Oracle." Toushi said looking into Oracle's eyes, his loose fitting tunic blowing slightly in the gentle breeze.

[Oracle]

Oracle heard a warning about the Law Coin spoken out of a very familiar mouth just as soon as he decided to place it back in his pocket. He rose his head and saw Toushi standing before him, wearing clothes that not only allowed him to blend in with the mortals, but were actually quite pleasing to Oracle's eyes.

He smirked a bit. Gods, he thought. I never realized just how attractive he was until now...

But even Oracle knew that this meeting was not to satisfy his own needs as far as certain ones were concerned. And if Oracle didn't know anything, anything at all other than one thing, it would be that priorities dominate pleasure every time.

"How is it I may be of service to you here and now Oracle," he heard Toushi utter out of sycophantic lips that Oracle found just as attractive as his body. He raised an eyebrow as he prepared to stand. He placed his hands in his pocket and took at least two steps in front of the man that was about three inches taller than him.

"As I have stated earlier, Toushi," Oracle said as he looked around the park, yet keeping the tone of his voice stern to let Toushi know that he was still talking to him, "I have good news to report upon my mission assigned to me by the Ha-Ou."

Oracle then sighed as he looked up to the sky, his face for some reason showing a hint of distraught.

"Yet, just as well," he continued, "I have rather bad news also." He cleared his throat, as he started to use hand gestures. "Well, I don't know if it is necessarily bad news for you and the Ha-Ou," he said. "You might find it rather pleasing. I only say it is because of the certain situation at hand."

Oracle placed his hands back inside his pockets as he walked toward the bench yet again, eying the flowers he bought from the D. Saint Flower Shop a few minutes ago.

"I shall start with the good news," he told Toushi behind him. "You can rest assured that the Ha-Ou will be happy to learn of my success." He turned his head toward Toushi and smirked.

"I have found Abbadon Hakaisha..."

[Kouzetsu Gin]

Toushi didn't know whether to expect truth or more coy falsehoods from Oracle, so he had grown accustomed to using his racial talents in every encounter he had with the still mysterious angel, the Mercurium listened as Oracle continued to speak. "Where is he now, and why haven't you apprehended him yet." Toushi said, looking at Oracle with a raised eyebrow, unable to help but noticing Oracle's rather incited looks at him. Despite his awkward perversions, his words rang true, and Toushi had to accept this as fact. "Will you require aid in bringing him to us, my assigned guards are laying in wait to serve Gin-sama, that means following my orders. And since I am subject to your authority in this matter. Toushi, looking at Oracle waiting for his input.

[Oracle]

Oracle ignored Toushi's second question, continuing to admire the body made out of the seemingly perfect clay the Shijin crafted him from. Everything was going accord perfectly; he was hoping he would ask a question such as why he yet to apprehend Hakaisha. And since he was now under his authority, he had no choice but to cooperate with him, no matter what the situation.

Oracle looked behind him, turning his back on Toushi, and saw a Cherry Blossom tree above the bench his flowers for Aika rested. He picked one of the flowers and once again faced his operative.

"You know," he started to speak as he began playing with the pedals of the flower, "I asked the Choubatsu-Ou permission to work with you, not only because you are finely dedicated to him, but also because our first impressions of each other were a bit negative." He looked at Toushi with a sincere stare.

"But," he said with a saddened sigh, "It seems that you don't feel the same way that I do about us working together. In all honesty, I can almost sense from you that you find this as nothing but an adolescent chore. So Toushi, you leave me no choice but to enact Quid pro quo."

Oracle once again sat on the bench, staring at the standing Toushi before him.

"Tell me about yourself, Toushi," he said in a voice that sounded like a mixture of a command and friendly curiosity, "and I will tell you of Abbadon's whereabouts."

Oracle awaited Toushi to speak as he plucked one pedal from the blossomed flower in his hand.

"Quid pro quo, Toushi," he said to him as he let the pedal drop. He waited until it gently glided on the ground before he smiled at his operative.

[Kouzetsu Gin]

"Quid pro quo? You can't be serious...?" Toushi said in a shocked manner, familiar with the term in his time from studying mortal language and communication. He watched as Oracle played with the flower petals, complaining in what Toushi found a rather petulant manner. Toushi did agree with the notion that this endeavor was turning into a childish exercise with each passing moment, however this could proved counter productive to the mission's completion.

Despite this, Toushi felt that if anything prevented him from completing his task, he would be personally responsible for the this operations failure, expecting this manner of behavior from Oracle. Sighing in a defeated manner, Toushi sat on the bench next to Oracle, several feet of space between them as Toushi looked at the ground, and then starred into the sky to gather his thoughts.

"Although, I truly do not see how information about my personal life will aid us in this mission, I will comply with the order that I am given Oracle. You already know my name, as you seem to be so fond of saying it, and I am 65 years young. I am the youngest son of my father, Kanzaki Hiyro. I have serviced my Ha-ou, Gin-sama since my earliest days a clerk and information courier." Toushi said, looking straight ahead of himself.

Turning to Oracle, Toushi starred at the other Celestial, trying not to look at him in disdain, "You have to be more specific if you are inquiring about anything else Oracle, what I am willing to tell, and what you want to know may not be the same thing, as I am poor at speaking about my self in a recreational manner.." Toushi said, watching the petals that had fallen to the grow rustle in the breeze.

[Oracle]

Oracle chuckled as he heard Toushi's insecurity. It was kind of cute in a way; for someone as faithful as to have such a disability. From just the little that he told Oracle, others would be proud enough to gloat about themselves and their history. Oracle knew how much that little bit of information was helpful to him, but he knew he could get more.

"That's completely understandable, Toushi," he said as he continued to fondle the blossom in his hand. He paused a bit, looking on the ground where the first pedal fell. His smile slowly started to remove itself from his face as he started to dwell on Toushi's first facts.

"I always wanted a father," he said to Toushi without directing his gaze. "That's one thing I always envied from mortals and other celestials. Every time I'm here, I see children happy and loved and there was always a parent there to give them that love. I envied that so much because I never had that experience. I was made; I wasn't born. I wonder if I even have a soul sometimes."

Oracle looked up and sighed, still refusing to look at Toushi until he knew his confessional was complete.

"It's difficult, Toushi," he told him. "It's difficult to live like this; to be this way. If I had parents of my own, I know I would have turned out better than... this. To have a father is to have a future. I can only hope that I am an exception to that statement."

He looked at Toushi with a more friendlier face than before. With a smile, he brushed back his locks of white hair after bringing the bouquet of flowers to his other side.

"You say you are the youngest," he said to Gin's servant. "How was your relationship with your father?"

[Kouzetsu Gin]

Despite his generally sarcastic and crass manner of speaking, Toushi did not need his racial ability to know that Oracle was actually being sincere with his words, and Toushi began to partially empathize with Oracle's rather lonely past. The more Oracle spoke, the more grateful felt for having a close relationship to his family, as well as his friendship with the Ha-ou Kouzetsu Gin and others throughout this life, unlike the displaced Celestial next to him. After Oracle finished speaking, Toushi thought to choose his words carefully, to prevent himself from offending what seemed to be a sensitive Oracle.

"My relationship with with my father was as normal as it could have been, yet strained at times because of his job as well as the need to cater to my other siblings. My father is an old, yet prominante figure in Heaven, being one of the most prominante speakers in any of the Seven realms, and has helped translate and record nearly every single language in the archives. This line of work does not leave much time for bonding and such, and I found most of my time spent with my father was at appearances or during my education by his hand.

"Despite this, I revere my father and admire him, just as much his greatest student dotes on about him. This man would go on to become the Choubatsu-ou and current Ha-ou, and as a gift to my father, he allowed me to serve as one of his top advisers despite my age and relatively low rank. This is how I came to become friends with Gin-sama, and why we are as close." Toushi said to Oracle, hoping this serve to sate his queries.

[Oracle]

Oracle smiled, satisfied with both Toushi's response and his cooperation in the situation that he placed himself in. He nodded in response to Toushi's explanation to the bit of Gin's origins, understanding what was taking place right there at the moment along with what was being comprehended within the mind of the Zaihou at that moment.

"Thank you, Toushi," he responded after he realized he was finished talking about his father. He looked at the Cherry Blossom in his hand and prepared to pluck out another pedal. When he did, he waited until it joined the other on the ground before he started to speak.

"Abbadon Hakaisha is in the flower shop a few blocks from here. It's a front for a bounty organization called the Devil Saints, run by a man named Shadow Akuma."

He looked at Toushi out the corner of his eye as he rested his elbows on his legs.

"A bit of an interesting fact, yet I don't doubt you are already aware of this, since your family works within the archives in Heaven," he started. "The organization's leader, Shadow Akuma, is the mortal incarnation of an Archangel named Shadow Seijin, who was his best freind in Heaven and a Lieutenant in Abbadon's rebellion forces against Tsubasa.

"From what I have seen, Akuma is starting to relive some of his memories of Abbadon. And if the situation is mutual on Abbadon's part, he might be a little neglectful because of the fact if you plan on immediately presenting Hakaisha to Gin."

Oracle looked up in the sky, noticing that the sun was in the midst of setting.

"But," continued Oracle, "like I stated before, there is bad news as well..."

[Kouzetsu Gin]

Toushi was happy to find Oracle was cooperating in accordance to their verbal agreement, memorizing the name Hakaisha Abbadon, and using his racial ability to indeed ascertain whether he was indeed the man who held the sword of Darkness, a relic Gin informed Toushi to be specifically mindfully of during this operation. But this information did not come without a terrible truth being revealed, as Toushi soon came to find that it was indeed Oracle who was involved in the man known as Abbadon and his escape with the relic in question.

Even more distressing was hearing the name of Tsubasa, and the supposed rebellion that attempted to curb her influence as her ambition and thrust for power propelled her to change politics in heaven. Toushi was unaware of the exact details of the rebellion, taught at an early age to not completely trust Archival information that may be privy to tampering due to subject sensitivity, but as he listened he began to wonder if Tsubasa still possessed the same will that would have her attempt to overthrow Gin. As Oracle finished speaking, his speech was paused, but he had clearly not finished his train of thought, informing Toushi that their was information yet to be revealed of an unpleasant nature.

"Oracle..." Toushi said, looking him squarely in the face for the first time, "I cannot refute the things you have said today, for they are true. But, as far as Tsubasa and the rebellion it is said to have been no more than a small uprising of Fallen supporters of Sanada Tomo, no more. However, this event is not particular documented within the archives, so my information is partial at best. But you, as I have been informed by Gin-sama, were a personal agent of Tsubasa, so you are the best source of intel on this event.

"If it would not deter the conversation to much, please disclose to me the reasoning for Tsubasa's secrecy and deception, for this may prove to be disastrous to all the work Gin has put into restoring Heaven if they were to manifest again." Toushi said to Oracle, his voice softer, attempting to plead to Oracle for the information without losing face.

[Oracle]

Oracle chuckled at Toushi's words when he asked about Abbadon's rebellion, since it was not recorded within the documents of Heaven.

"Yes," Oracle responded. "An event as epic such as Abbadon's rebellion wouldn't necessarily be recorded within the archives, would they?"

Oracle looked at Toushi, who he found out was looking at him directly in the eyes. The sight caught him off guard at first, but as he heard his plea for information, he knew his plan had worked. Already extracting what he needed to know about the operative, he nodded in response to his question. Plus, Oracle couldn't turn down such an adorable looking face with a voice to match...

"Everything I found out about the rebellion," Oracle began, "I found out after I received my orders to eliminate Abbadon. Tsubasa was responsible for all of the political upheaval back in Heaven's past, and at the time there was a vacant throne in Heaven that she wanted for herself.

"Finding this evidence true, Abbadon formed a small rebellion with followers of his cause while he served under Heaven's military, his chief commanders being Lieutenant Seijin, the man I spoke of earlier, and Kanjin Taiyou; another Archangel whose skill in fire magic showed no bounds. I am almost convinced that Abbadon was his pupil in the art after my first confrontation with him."

Oracle slid closer to Toushi, not out of making him purposely uncomfortable, but so that prying ears could not hear what he was about to utter.

"If you care anything about Gin; anything at all," Oracle said in a mediocre whisper, "you cannot allow Tsubasa any more power than what she is limited to now. I do not know why she has been graced with another chance at life; she will not rest until her lust for power is satisfied. If she is back to her old ways, then Gin is right to want both Abbadon and the Sword of Darkness as his allies only because if I did not interfere, Abbadon would have stood triumphant that day."

Oracle scooted away from Toushi, back to his original spot on the bench and pulled off another pedal from the cherry blossom in his hand.

"And now for my disturbing news," Oracle said as he watched the pedal fall. When it joined the others on the ground, he looked at Toushi with a frown. "One of Heaven's Most Wanted is here in the mortals, no doubt after the Sword of Darkness. His name is Mishiranu Arashi..."

[Kouzetsu Gin]

It was as if Toushi was being bombarded by a flurry of disparaging news all at once, as Oracle gave information, advice and warnings all in one swoop. Toushi could dismiss the warning of Tsubasa's potential treachery, for he knew many of Gin's future plans and machination, some of which included Tsubasa, and others that did not. The other things, such as the archangels named Kanjin Taiyou and Seijin Shadow could be dismissed outside of a small coincidence of knowing Abbadon personally. But would he could not dismiss was that Heaven's most wanted fiend at the time, one Mishiranu Arashi was loose in the mortal realm, and was aiming to capture the Sword of Darkness.

"This cannot come to pass." Toushi said, standing to his feet abruptly, as he pulled a small device from his trouser's pockets. Activating the device, he sent a signal to his armed escort, Gin's personally trained guards the Einjheriar, who would soon be here to confront both Abbadon and Arashi in retrieving the sword of Darkness. Looking back at Oracle, Toushi placed the device back into his pocket. "Unless you have any other information or desire to ask anything else of me, I must leave you now Orace, I cannot risk being injured in the upcoming altercation. I shall report everything to Gin-sama as you have reported it to me, and he will be informed of your cooperation in this matter." Toushi said, waiting for escort to arrive.

"Do not fear, no harm shall come to you today, for they have been advised to protect you as well as reduce the possibility of civilian casualties." Toushi said in full confidence of his protectors.

[Oracle]

Oracle loved how well everything was falling into place. From the way he found out about his operatives past to the way he immediately set up Arashi's ultimate demise, there was nothing else as sweet this moment could offer than the sugary taste of victory.

Well, after realizing it, Toushi was definitely an exception...


Oracle watched in concern facial-wise as Toushi stood up, disturbed by the news that the wanted chaos user was after the Sword of Darkness. He watched as he fiddled with a device he pulled out of his pockets and gave the Malakim direct eye contact, telling him that if there wasn't anything else he wanted to know about him or inform him of, then he had to make his leave. Oracle smiled.

Bingo...

"Just one thing," Oracle said as he leaned on his knees, staring into Toushi's eyes. "The next time we meet, don't think of it as a chore. I can honestly say that I enjoyed your company, Toushi, and look forward to our next meeting."

Oracle smiled warmly, awaiting a possible response to his compliment...

[Kouzetsu Gin]

"You have my word and my appreciation Oracle. Next time we met I assure you my demeanor will be more amiable, in gratitude to your awkward, yet truth aid to the Ha-ou and myself." Toushi said closing his eyes as he finished speaking to Oracle. At that moment, the Einjheriar Murasaki appeared next to him, placing her hand onto Toushi shoulder.

"The others are on there way to apprehend Abbadon and anyone else in connection with him, are you ready to depart Kanzaki-kun." she said, her serious face almost hidden behind a crop of green hair.

"Yes I am, farewell Oracle..." Toushi said as he turned back to his escort. The pair glew with a deep purple light before becoming intangible, and then disappearing altogether, leaving Oracle as Toushi found him by his lonesome on the park bench beneath the falling leaves of the tree next to him.

[Oracle]

"You have my word and appreciation, Oracle," was all that he needed to hear. Oracle continued to watch as Toushi's attention was then attracted by a green-haired female, possibly one of Kouzetsu's guards he heard him speak of.

When Toushi told Oracle farewell, the Malakite only nodded once with the same warm smile that bared his face after his compliment he gave. But once he watched them disappear in a deep purple light, that warm smile became malicious.

Finally, one of his plans was falling into place. Out of the many sheer failures he had encountered every time he plotted even the most simplest of things, this concoction of Oracle's gave the idea that it just might work.

Out of habit now, Oracle placed his hand in his pocket once again to grab and feel the essence of the coin of law magic. He could not afford the chaotic essence in his blood to mess up anything that he worked so hard for. Although it was through the chaos in his blood that granted him the knowledge of knowing the fallen Arashi that put this plan into place, he was too far gone into his plans to have chaos screw it up.

With a simple alteration of his hand, Oracle dropped the remaining Cherry Blossom leaves onto the ground beneath his feet. He watched them as they glided down while he grabbed the small bouquet of flowers. He stood up, catching the time on his cell phone provided by his Markus Bleache' disguise, and looked near the area of the sun only to discover that it had already set.

"Time flies when your having fun, I suppose," Oracle said as he sent his fingers through his white hair.

Oracle then headed west with the flowers in his hand, hoping that when he reaches his location, a beautiful woman would be there to accept them.

Little Lotty, let your mind wander...