thenearshore | [Open] Don't just stand there in one place

Who: Yuri, Open!
What: Yuri is trying to get this god thing figured out
When: June 14th
Where: Various
Warnings: None!

[A - Bastet's Temple, early morning]

[Even though there's not really any need to keep up with his training, Yuri isn't taking any chances. What if he gets sent back and it's two weeks until Nationals again? He can't risk not being on top of his game. Which is why he still goes for a run every morning.

He's just returned when he gets to the main entrance of his temple to find a huge tiger stretched out asleep in front of the doors.

Shit.]

Hey. Hey. Move it.

[He can speak cat now, but that doesn't mean it does him any good.]

I said MOVE IT!

[It looks like he's going to try shoving it out of the way. If you're just passing by...this looks like something you might want to discourage...]

[B - Osaka, afternoon]

[Seated on the roof of a store in a busy shopping district, Yuri watches a group of middle-aged women with an intense interest. It's like everyone here has the best fashion sense he's ever seen, but especially the old ladies for some reason. He's never seen so many great shirts. He even got one for himself, all bright yellow cheetah print with a cheetah's face taking up the entire front of the shirt. Totally badass.]

I gotta build a temple here. I gotta be the god of this place.

[It's not like anyone can see or hear him, so he's free to talk to himself as much as he likes.]

But how?

[That's the part he's trying to figure out.]

[C - The Far Shore, evening]

[There's someone he wants to visit, but he, uh, neglected to ask for directions. And now it's been long enough that it's kind of embarrassing to admit he doesn't know how to get there. Which is why he's wandering around, looking at every temple he passes and trying to look nonchalant. Like this is exactly what he meant to do. Like he's just out for a walk, no big deal.

Usually, he'd start yelling at the top of his lungs, but then someone would know he's sort of lost.]

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[Why is he not remotely surprised?]

Of... Osaka? Or of this shopping arcade?

[Either way...]

I suppose we could try answering more prayers in this area...

Then that's what we're gonna do, especially old lady prayers.

[The fact that he's chosen to say "lady" instead of "hag" speaks volumes to how much respect he has for his chosen people.]

Old ladies like that, you can talk them into all sorts of weird religious shit, right?

[He doesn't know why he's asking Katsudon for advice on this, but he's here and he's Japanese and he knows some old ladies, so it can't hurt.]

[Yuuri's still not sure talking about how easy they are to talk into believing is... all that respectful, either, but he should probably be happy for some slight sign of progress, honestly.]

Older people do seem like they tend to be more spiritual, if that's what you mean.

[That at least seems more flattering than assuming he meant they're more gullible...]

Anyway, that shouldn't be too hard, right? You wouldn't think old ladies would have too many really outrageous prayers or anything, at least...

[Maybe Katsudon doesn't know as much about old ladies as Yuri was giving him credit for because even with his frame of reference of basically just Lilia, he's pretty sure old ladies can come up with some crazy shit to pray for.]

I don't care if it's hard or not, I just care if it's possible and I wanna know how.

[He's barely even looking at Yuuri, eyes laser focused on the women in the shopping district instead.]

We don't really show up on their social media, right? But what about giving them something? Temples give out charms, right?

[All he knows about religion in Japan comes from getting dragged around to wherever Viktor decided he wanted to force him to visit during his short visits to Hasetsu to ~~see how everyone was doing~~ make sure the whole town wasn't burning down.]

[He gives his god a look that's a little bit surprised, and possibly impressed. I just care if it's possible and I wanna know how, huh? He wishes he had half this kid's confidence, some days.]

Temples sell charms, typically. Usually from around 300 to a thousand yen, I'd guess, depending on the size and purpose and how famous the temple is? But Osaka people do like a good bargain...

So I bless cheap cell phone charms or something . The kind you stick in your headphone jack, since they probably don't use those.

[You can see the wheels turning in his head.]

I gotta get them to buy them, though.

[He's already expecting to do most, if not all, of the work himself, but he has to plan it out first. It's surprisingly difficult because, honestly, he's never really had this much control over his daily life before. There's no one calling the shots but him and though he's always thought he'd prefer it this way, it's kind of daunting.]

That's actually not a bad idea.

[...He hopes that didn't sound surprised enough to offend Yuri. Oops. Anyway.]

If you make them cute and price them well, they could probably get pretty popular around here. And if... if you needed to get customers' attention, you could always try using me?

[Even now that he's gotten a little more used to the power he has as a shinki, he sounds pretty shy about suggesting it. Like he's worried that the idea that he'll be useful for once will turn out to be stupid.]

[That's...actually not a bad idea. Katsudon has no confidence in it, though, which pisses him off.]

We'll do that. And we're not telling Viktor because I don't need him fucking it up.

[So he couldn't quite get a compliment out, but no one should expect anything different from him. And he's 100% serious about preventing the inevitable chaos that will result from involving Viktor in the planning process. Or the actual selling of the charms. Or the making of them. Or anything, really.]

[Yuuri doesn't feel like that's quite fair to Viktor, a thought that niggles uncomfortably at his conscience even as he nods compliantly.]

Alright. Hopefully once we've started selling a few of them, they'll catch on with people... I can look into finding the materials we'd need to make them in bulk, if you want.

[Hey, it's a goal to focus on, and it's sensible enough, as a way to get followers for his particular god.]

Yeah, do that. I'll look up how to make them.

[He's never going to say it out loud, but it's not a bad feeling, working together like this. The whole situation has been pretty overwhelming, but having a clear goal makes it easier for Yuri as well. Something nebulous like "do what's expected of you as a god" is just too big and he's been more worried than he'll ever let on about how he's ever going to manage it. This, though, is something he can do that feels like it will actually be a step towards that goal. It makes him glad he brought Yuuri with him today instead of Viktor. They both need something like this right now.]

Once I get enough followers out of it, they'll start making them on their own.

[There's no "if" about it.]

[Open] Don't just stand there in one place

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