Open! | Catch-All for August

[darkestbefore]

Who: Yona and anyone!
When: Various points during the month.
Where: Her temple, the Far Shore, the Near Shore
What: Yona has decided this is the month she's going to learn more about this strange world she's been brought to.


A. The Near Shore

[ With most of the excitement over the past few weeks, Yona's in the mood for some distracting, something to keep her busy, or something she can engage in with the new companions she's made in this place. The biggest priority here is understanding more about this world she's found herself in and so she makes several trips down to the mortal world with the intent of exploring and learning more about it.

The place is full of wonders and she's often easily distracted as she wanders, whether it's by some strange new type of food that might catches her attention or a colorful storefront that draws her over to peruse strange wares. The first time she discovers an open market fills her with delight, because this is at least a little more familiar to how commerce is dealt in her world, but then she discovers a grocery store and her mind is blown all over again. She might loose several hours wandering through a bookstore, filled with more tomes than she's ever seen in one place. A colorful candyshop has her stopping to pick out gifts to take back home to her friends, picking out a strange and varied sample, all of them ones she'd never heard of before, but look fantastic all the same.

But as fascinating as it is, it's also a little overwhelming, and all too easy to get turned around. Hopefully, she can manage to not get too lost, or at the very least find someone to point her in the right direction, if she does... ]

B. The Far Shore/Aine's Temple

[ Things at her temple are often lively and filled with laughter. Any visitors are greeted with happy smiles, although on occasion, it's the temple's other residents that beat the gods and shinki to the greeting. Namely a mischievous pair of kittens who answer to the names of Eun and Min and enjoy getting into every bit of trouble they can find. Or perhaps it's one of the horses that make their home among the orchards, an intelligence in their gazes that speaks to much more than just a common animal and hints at fae bloodlines that come as part of Aine's heritage.

Or perhaps you've wandered by and there's a conspicuous lack of a greeting. A little wandering around might lead you to find the temple's goddess seated in the center of one of the gardens, eyes closed and her attention focused on.... something. Occasionally strange things will happen around her, such as a sudden gust of icy wind rushing outwards away from her or a shadowy outline of a bubble around her or a fiery claw slashing downwards, shattering a nearby rock in half before vanishing abruptly. Yona's only starting to understand what her magic can do and learning to master it is proving to be a challenge... ]

Comments

Closed to Goten

[darkestbefore]

[ Next on her list of 'Shinki she owes a thank-you to' is Goten, the one she hadn't met before the Purification, although she'd heard about him from Izumo and Shizuo before. With Izumo's directions, she arrives in front of the temple where he lives, heading for the door to knock, a small, colorful bag clutched in one hand. ]

Hello?

[sonofson]

[It isn't long after the knock that Goten's voice can be heard echoing through the door and through out the door that 'I got it!'. The knob turns and he cracked the door enough to peek out. Blinking up at Yona curiously, it instantly swings wide open when he recognizes her.]

Yona! Hi!

[He beams brightly up at her. They may not know each other that well but she seemed nice and she was Shizuo's god.]

Ah, did you come here to see Aymeric or something?

[That's his guess anyway since it's the temple and well, Izumo and Shizuo don't often come by. If anything he's the one that is usually out and about.]

[darkestbefore]

Aymeric? Is that your god?

[ She shakes her head smiling and crouching down to greet him when he opens the door. ]

No, I actually came to visit you. How are you today, Goten?

[sonofson]

Yep! He's one of the best gods ever!

[It's said so wholeheartedly as if Goten was talking about a super hero or something. Though his face lights up and his smile grows when Yona admits she's here to visit him. There's an excited gasp.]

Really? I'm okay. I was gonna go train soon but if you're here to see me, I'd rather play with you, Yona!

[darkestbefore]

I will have to make a point of meeting him sometime soon, then.

[ She laughs at his exuberance. ]

Well, I would hate to interrupt your training. But perhaps we could mix both of them instead. Here, I brought this for you.

[ And she holds out the brightly colored gift bag to him. Inside he'll find a pair of colorful water guns - something a toystore owner had assured her would delight a boy around Goten's age - and a large bag of gummy fish she'd picked up while she was out. She hadn't known Goten before he'd come to lend her aid, but Izumo had told her he would probably enjoy toys and candy. She'd done her best. ]

[sonofson]

Yeah! I think you and him would be good friends.

[Yona is nice, Aymeric is nice. It's a perfect match to Goten. But so are Shizuo, Izumo, Hakkai, Yukine and everyone else he knows out side of Loki. Everyone just needs to be friends with everybody.]

It's okay! I train a lot 'cause it's fun.

[He perks a bit, looking at the bag before taking it. Like any eager child, he's quick to open and dig through it for the hidden treasure inside. There's another gasp of delight as he pulls out the pair of guns and then finds the bag of candy too. His smile is huge!]

This is really for me?!

[Candy or the water guns, he's not sure which one he's more excited by! But it's when he looks back up at Yona with wide eyes that he sets the items down just long enough to leap at her for an impulsive hug.]

Thank you, Yona! Wow! This is so cool!

[darkestbefore]

[ She gives a surprised laugh when she suddenly has a small boy flinging himself at her, but she catches him all the same, spinning him around with a grin. ]

You're very welcome, Goten. But really, I'm the one who came to thank you. That you came to help Shizuo and I means a lot to me. I'm in your debt.

[sonofson]

[The spinning instantly draws laughter out of Goten. He's thrilled. How could Shizuo not bring such a friendly god to the bar to meet them before!?]

Huh? But of course I'd help you. You're Shizuo's god and he's one of my best friends. It wouldn't be the same without Shizuo around and if he needs help, me and Izumo will always help him. Same for you, Yona! You just gotta ask! Hey, I wanna be friends with you too. Can we be friends?

[darkestbefore]

[ When the momentum winds down, she just settles him on her hip, smiling at him fondly. ]

You're right, it wouldn't be the same without him, would it? He's a pretty great friend to have around, huh? [ Now if only she could manage to convince him of that.

But Goten goes on to extend that to her and her smile brightens and she laughs. ] I would love to be friends, Goten. Those are important to have, especially here.

[sonofson]

Ahuh! He's like a big kid!

[That's how Goten sees him anyway. Despite his height and age, he could easily group Shizuo in with him and Nanako just because it seemed right]

Then we're friends! [And Goten is clearly thrilled by it, grinning at her as he nods his head quickly]

Yep! I like all my friends, they're all really important to me.

[darkestbefore]

My friends are all really important to me, too. And I'm happy to count you as one of them. [ Laughing softly, she sets him back on his feet, grinning at him. ] Why don't you fill up your new toy and we can see how good a shot you are?

[sonofson]

Okay! There's a pool in the back that has holy water in it but it should still work fine, right?

[Even as he asks he's already picking up the beg with one hand and grabbing Yona's hand with his other. Another smile and he's gently tugging her around the temple to what he just calls the back yard. There's a garden, area for training with a couple worn dummies and maybe a crater or two in the ground from accidental mess ups. He makes a beeline for the water though and lets go of her hand once they're there so he can take out the guns and get them all set up.]

[darkestbefore]

I don;t see why not. It's still water.

[ She laughs as she's tugged back into the backyard, gazing around to take in the sights as she goes. ]

So this is your god's temple. hmm? Do you like it here?

[sonofson]

Ahuh! I was worried at first 'cause everything looks really fancy and stuff but Aymeric is great! He's the third god I've had since I first woke up here. Even if his temple looks really fancy it feels homey too. There's me, Maddragonra, Sokumi and Aymeric.

[And the pool isn't a long walk away, he lets go of her hand once they're in front of it so he can use both hands to open on of the guns and lean down to fill it with water.]

Your temple is really fancy too. I've never seen so many stairs.

[darkestbefore]

The third god?

[ This isn't the first time she's heard something like this, but her expression falls slightly when she realizes Goten was one of the shinki who'd had to go through this. ]

I'm sorry you had so many, that must have been upsetting. But I'm happy you've found a good home here with your god. Aymeric sounds like he's a good one to belong to.

[ She crouches down beside him, wrapping her arms around her knees as she watches him fill his water guns in the pool. ] There are a lot of stairs, aren't there? I'm not sure Chikusa's going to forgive me for that. Maybe I should have someone build me one of those elly-vators, what do you think? [ She asks this with a laugh. ]

[sonofson]

Yeah...I was really worried about Aymeric disappearing before. I thought maybe my gods disappeared was because they didn't take me on prayers or use me cause I'm little.. So I took one of his prayers without telling him and tried to do it with another shinki friend. We both got hurt and it could have gone really bad....when aymeric found out he wasn't mad, he was just happy I was okay.

[Goten says it all with a small smile. He may have lost two gods but he did gain Aymeric as a god because of it. Aymeric is here and he'd like to think he always will be.

With one gun filled up, he moves on to the next one.]

I think you're a good god too, Yona. Everything you told Shizuo and how nice you are...you have a really nice smile too! So you better stay a long time too. Okay? You're not allowed to disappear either. I think it'd make a lot of people sad...

[He knows she has no control over that but maybe if he says it like that, she won't dissappear. Even if he hasn't known Yona that long, he likes her and Shizuo needs her. So she has to stay]

Elevator would be cool! If I knew Chikusa was gonna be there I would have flown him up there.

[Goten grins, standing up as he picks up the two guns and holds one out for Yona]

[darkestbefore]

[ She listens to all this as he fills the water guns, a serious expression on her face. When he turns to her, she reaches out, resting a hand gently on his head. ]

I hope you know that they didn't go anywhere because of you, Goten. I'm sure any god would be lucky to have you helping them. But I'm glad you weren't hurt on your prayer. That was a very risky thing to do. And people would be very sad and upset if you had gotten hurt, so I hope you'll think carefully about taking care of yourself in the future, too.

[ Still, her words are gentle and she smiles again at the end of it, accepting the toy he hands back to her. ]

But thank you, too. I'm happy to hear that you think I'm a nice god, too. I've been trying very hard. I'm not planning on leaving just yet, not when there's so much work here to do, so I'll do my best not to disappear, alright? I don't want to make anyone sad, either. Besides, someone's gotta keep Shizuo out of trouble, right? [ She laughs softly at this, because so far, she probably hasn't been having much luck. ]

[1/2]

[sonofson]

[The weight of her hand makes him blink and stop rambling for a moment. His smile falls as he just stares up at her, listening. There's something about her words that does strikes a chord. He's heard Aymeric say something similar before. Izumo too and he believed them but the odds were stacked against it with the young shinki being down two gods. If Aymeric ever disappeared....he didn't even want to think about it.

There was always that faint lingering worry floating in his otherwise carefree nature. Hearing the reassurance from another god, one he'd seen fight and not give up despite having to endure so much painful blight and having to breakthrough Shizuo's stubbornness. It's really something.]

[sonofson]

[Gripping the water gun a bit, Goten smiles at her.]

R-Right! Aymeric said that too. I still wanna be the best shinki for him....and I'm a lot more careful now. Lots more careful.

[It isn't strange for Goten to befriend people quickly but there's something different about Yona. She's got to be one of the nicest gods he's met thus far next to his own, Hitsugaya and Nanako. She's really good! No wonder Shizuo was with her. He grins more gives a firm nod.]

It's okay, Yona! You won't make anyone sad for long cause if you disappear then Shizuo, Izumo and me will come find you! Shizuo needs you and I bet your other shinki too and you're my friend so I need you too and Izumo too!

[Don't question that last one. Izumo is his best friend in the whole wide world and far shore, of course he's going to be tossed into it too.]

[darkestbefore]

[ Yona can't help but laugh at that, warm and bright and touched by the sentiment. ]

Will you, now? I can count on the three of you to come rescue me then, can I? That makes me feel much better, thank you. I am sure if anyone can do it, the three of you can.

[sonofson]

[He grins at that, standing up a bit taller.]

Yep! We're all really strong and we've trained together too! Izumo is one of the smartest people I've ever met! He's strong and his fire is amazing. Nothing can take Shizuo's down and he's always there. I've never seen someone fight like he does! They're my best friends. No matter what happens, Yona, we'll protect you!

[Of course that doesn't apply to water guns as he points it at her and pulls the trigger.]

[darkestbefore]

[ She laughs as she suddenly gets squirted from his gun, lifting her own and fumbling with it a moment before she figures out how to work it - being unfamiliar with guns in the first place, it takes her a moment. but then she's aiming and squirting him in return. ]

Ahhh, but now you are armed and dangerous! Who will protect me from you? I guess I shall just have to defeat you myself!

[sonofson]

[Goten's face lights up as he tries to shield himself from the water. He beams at her, looking determined.]

You can't beat me, Yona! Not when you can't hit me.

[It's cheating but he jumps up, floating just over her head as he squirts her with the water gun again. Pew pew!]

[darkestbefore]

Ahh, but if I can hit you, you are in trouble! [ She returns fire, aiming up at him even when he floats. ] You have to come close enough to hit me, after all, and that makes you vulnerable as well!

[sonofson]

[Goten moves higher up, narrowly dodging the return of water]

I donno Yona. Are you super, super fast? I train with Shizuo a lot and I don't think you're faster then him....

[He could be wrong. There may be more to Yona that meets the eye. But overall this is just a fun game. Tauntingly he does do a quick swoop down at her, firing the water gun]