Jon and Nightcrawler and the fine shrine

With the ceremonies under way, Reverend Tanaka led us to our next challenge.

“You have two choices,” he said as his arm candy stood next to him. “Choose wisely.”

“A float or a shrine?” Nightcrawler mused. “Float or shrine?”

“I have an idea,” I said. “In fact, I think that I have…”

“Vhat is it?” he asked.

“Time is of the essence, chum,” I answered. “I’ll explain along the way.”

Quickly, we gathered together items needed for this task. We started with the wood, building the basic framework for the shrine. We then (very neatly) stacked the other items, creating a beautiful shrine.

“What the hell is this?” Tanaka asked.

“It’s a shrine,” I beamed. “All of these items are of great significance. They invoke a very deep meaning.”

“A what?” he guffawed. “This is a load of junk. It looks like you just unloaded a nunch of crap from the back of a moving van.”

“Or space ship,” Nightcrawler chuckled quietly.

“Hush,” I said.

“This garbage does not pass,” Tanaka said angrily. “I cannot believe that you would insult my heritage so crassly! I would make you do this again but I am afraid that you would make something far uglier and far more distasteful.”

“No, see let me explain,” I said. “You see—,”

“I do not want to hear it!” he interrupted. “In all of my days, I cannot believe that—,”

“Hey grandfather, great ceremony, huh?” a young lad ran up to Reverend Tanaka. “Whoa! What’s all this cool stuff?”

“That is a mess,” he replied.

“This is our shrine,” Nightcrawler quickly added. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah! What’s that comic book there?”

“That is a very rare four color reprint chronicling the adventures of one of Ithor’s greatest heroes.”

“Ithor?” the boy asked.

“Yeah.” I leaned forward and got a little bit quieter. “It’s actually from another galaxy.”

“Really? That’s so cool.”

“Say,” I paused for a moment. “You want the comic?”

“Boy would I! Can I, grandfather? Can I have it?”

“Oh I don’t know,” Tanaka answered.

“Please, please grandfather?”

“Let ze nice boy have it,” Nightcrawler urged.

“Very well,” the reverend conceded.

The kid cheered and grabbed the comic.

“Wait wait,” I said. “Before he takes it, would you be so kind as to bless this shrine?”

“I knew this was coming. I cannot bless this atrocity.”

“Aw come one,” I said. “Do it for the kid.”

“Please, grandfather?”

“Oh, very well,” he grumbled. He then raised his hand and blessed the shrine in his native tongue.

“Vhy is your hand like zat?” my mutant teammate asked. “Are you OK?”

“Yes, yes, just a bit of arthritis,” he answered. “Now just get out of here.”

With our task completed, we quickly ran for the Pit Stop.

“Vow, I quite surprised at our behavior here in Japan,” Nightcrawler said as we ran. “Could ve be any more offensive?”

“I suppose,” I said. “Maybe we could say penis a bunch of times.”