Welcome to the land of Yokai

[gegege_no_ge]

Through the portal, past the Torii gate, and there they are. The Yokai village is a bustle of strange and unusual entities, living life as they always have -- here, a Karakasa-obake takes out its trash, there a water weasel plays with his kids. A group of Hitotsume-Kozo -- bald-headed, one-eyed children -- chase each other gleefully. It's a

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[gegege_no_ge]

"Eh?"

Nezumi Otoko sort of stares at Rae for a bit. Then looks at Kitaro, and points.

"[...this is a joke, right?]"

Kitaro sighs. "[I'm afraid not. Father and this girl ran afoul of some of the strange magics surrounding that Nexus that was found, and they ended up like this,]" he replies.

Nezumi Otoko grumbles. Darn, there goes the possibility of American tourism spicing up his money coffers. "[Bah. Poor, unlucky me, having to clean up after your messes.]"

He looks to Rae, and hears her question. A devious look, and spooky maneuvers. "Ah... yes yes! She is scary woman! Be afraid! OOF!"

Kitaro apparently can grasp what Otoko is saying by his mannerisms, and has elbowed him as good of one as he can considering their considerable height differences. "Ah... joke? Joke. She is good friend. She will not hurt you. [Even though she's a grumpy old Grandma.]"

Kitaro nods. "[Tell her we might get some ideas about how to handle this when we see her,]" he requests. Nezumi Otoko sighs a long-suffering sigh (oh, poor baby), and relays this in his awkward English.

[bunnyraebit]

By the time these exchanges are all done, Rae is feeling better. And knows to be wary of Mr. Smelly.

"Okay," she says. "Okay." Reassured, she'll take a little more time now to get a good look at the scenery.

[gegege_no_ge]

It's not New York, that's for certain. Everything has an odd energy to it that isn't present in the human world. And there are DEFINITELY no humans. Oh wait, maybe that woman -- no, no, that long neck pretty much disproves that idea.

They walk, Nezumi Otoko remaining in the background. At length, they come to what can only be called a yokai apartment building; various yokai can be seen occupying the rooms. The bottom floor has an open storefront, and the shelves in it have hundreds of different jars lining it. An old woman tends to the stock, her unnatural coloring indicating she is just as human as the rest of the residents.

She turns around. "[Ah, Kitaro! It's good to see you again. How have you been?]" she asks warmly, shooting a disapproving glance at Nezumi Otoko, who looks innocent. "[Ah, and Medama Oyaji. You are well too?]"

Kitaro rubs the back of his head. "[Actually...]"

[bunnyraebit]

Rae looks around at everything with great interest. And then there's an old lady. But okay. No sand yet. That's good. And she does seem nice.

"Hi, ma'am! I'm Rae."

[gegege_no_ge]

"[Eh?]" Sunakake Baba looks a bit bewildered at this, or at least she does until Kitaro explains the situation a little.

"[I see... Hmm, it seems your father and this girl have quite the predicament here...]" She eyes Nezumi Otoko. "[Especially if you have to use THAT rogue as a translator.]"

Nezumi Otoko just sticks his tongue out in reply.

She sighs. "[I have heard some about this 'Nexus.' I would imagine the effects will pass with time, as do most of them. You'd do best just to make sure the girl is comfortable until this time comes.]"

Kitaro nods. "[Nezumi Otoko, if you could...]"

Nezumi grumbles something about not even being paid for this, and then relays, "Ah... so sorry, old bag can not do anything, but says it should go away soon."

"[Are you talking poorly of me, Nezumi Otoko? My EARS are burning.]"

"[Ahahahaha, don't be silly, Sunakake Baba! Now why would I do a thing like that?]"

"[Hmmph.]"

[bunnyraebit]

"Okay. Well, I can wait. Your village is really neat!"

Rae stares at the shelves. "What's in all those jars?"

[gegege_no_ge]

Nezumi Otoko relays this -- with some prodding from Kitaro, naturally. Sunakake Baba chuckles. "[Just some of my specialty sands, my dear. Never you mind."]

She tends to her jars. "[Oh, and Kitaro, if you see that shiftless Konaki Jijii, tell him to stop lazing about and do something about paying me that back rent,]" she adds, grumpily.

Kitaro nods, and chuckles. "[Always the same...]"

Nezumi Otoko, hands behind head, looks annoyed. "[You're not going to need me the ENTIRE night, are you? I've got more important things to do that to stick around helping you interpret,"] he says. "[Far more important --]"

"JYAAAA!"

Several fast scratches later and Nezumi Otoko is laid out, his face a mesh of fine red lines. "[I didn't even do anything this time...]"

A little girl straightens her dress. She is not really a looker in the traditional sense, and there's something off about her, if the claws she'd just whipped out weren't a dead giveaway. "[That's for being self-centered.]" She turns to Kitaro, looking much friendlier. "[Hiii, Kitaro!]"

"[Ah, Neko Musume! Hello.]" Kitaro smiles at her.

Neko Musume grins, and then blinks, sniffing about a bit. She sniffs, and sniffs, and finally sniffs around Kitaro's head. "[Eh? Kitaro, Medama Oyaji smells wrong...]"

"[There was a body swap; Medama Oyaji's elsewhere for a bit, I'm afraid. This is Rae. Ah...]" There's that awkward English again. "Rae... this Neko Musume."

[bunnyraebit]

"She's a kitty! That's awesome! Hi, Neko Musume!"

The minor violence doesn't seem to bother Rae. Not with what her aunts and uncles and cousins get up to.

[gegege_no_ge]

"Eh? She speaks English?"

Well there's another surprise for the day. Neko Musume speaks English -- and apparently better than Nezumi Otoko does (though still accented, as to be expected). Kitaro seems surprised to.

She looks at him. "Ah... I learned some in order to talk better with some of the Western tourists. It's quite handy, ne?"

She looks over at Medama-Rae and grins. "Hello, Rae! You must be the first person from the Nexus Kitaro has brought here! ...even if it's sort of an odd way to do it..."

Nezumi Otoko coughs. "[Can I go now?]"

Neko Musume turns to him, her yokai features MUCH more prominent. "[Yeah, beat it you lowlife.]" And then just as suddenly she's a sweet girl again. "So you'll be staying with Kitaro tonight? That's good. He's a very nice boy," she says. There's just the slightest hint of an admiration that could be best described as a crush underlying that voice.

[bunnyraebit]

"Well, it was an accident. But your village is really neat, like I was just saying. And Kitaro's great, yeah!" Rae then switches to a 'confidential' sort of tone. "I'm glad the rat guy went away. He wasn't all that helpful." Pause. "I can look like a rabbit sometimes, but not right now."

[gegege_no_ge]

Neko Musume grins wickedly. "Yes, he is a jerk, isn't he?" she asks. It is fairly obvious that there is absolutely no love lost between Neko Musume and Nezumi Otoko -- which makes sense, when one thinks about it. "I don't know why Kitaro lets him hang around."

Kitaro looks at Neko Musume curiously, having caught his name, and Neko Musume waves him off sheepishly. "[Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing! She's very cute, even if she looks like Medama-Oyaji right now.]" She turns back to Rae. "You can turn into a rabbit, you say? Are you a magician then?"

[bunnyraebit]

"Not a real bunny. It's a psychic illusion. It's a genetic thing. Where I come from, real magic is hard and you have to study a lot."

[gegege_no_ge]

"Psychic? Genetics?"

Neko Musume ponders this. "Ahh, sounds too much like the comics. Ah well."

Kitaro clears his throat a bit. "[Neko Musume...]"

She startles. "O-oh! [I'm sorry, Kitaro! I was getting too into practicing my English. I don't do it much.]"

The young yokai boy smiles. "[Don't worry about it, Neko Musume. I'm just glad you two are getting along so well.]"

Neko nods. "Nn! [She's a really sweet girl, Kitaro! You HAVE to bring her along sometime when she's normal. Ah! What are you going to be feeding her, anyway? If she's a human girl, you know she's not going to like what your father likes.]"

Kitaro suddenly looks sheepish. "[I, ah, I hadn't thought of that.]"

"[You're so hopeless sometimes, Kitaro!]" She turns to Rae. "Rae-chan, would you like something to eat?"

[bunnyraebit]

"Oh! That'd be great, thanks!"

...the Kitty-girl so totally rocks.