Chikusa (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kokuyoyo) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thenearshore2017-08-20 12:53 pm
kokuyoyo) wrote in thenearshore2017-08-20 12:53 pm
[open] this too shall pass
Who: Chikusa Kakimoto, Ken Joshima, three different animals, and you
What: When a god leaves, there's always a few people who end up left behind. Chikusa and Ken deal with it in the only way they know how- badly.
When: August 16 to start with and some days after it
Where: The empty clearing where Hestia's temple used to be
Warnings: A closed ablution will be happening in one thread, so some mild body horror at the least. Also a pair of teenagers in mourning dealing with loss unhealthily.
Hestia's temple has never outwardly been impressive. It had been small, and white, and done in the traditional Greek style- no bigger than a small house at best. The most memorable part of it, for anyone who has passed through the Far Shore, has been the recent addition of a goat tethered right outside its front door where it kept the grass in check.
There's no front door for it to be tethered to now. That would be because there's no temple at all.
For those passing through the Far Shore, they might come across a completely empty clearing which now holds nothing at all. And for those not inclined to wander? They might be drawn to it instead by the sound of what sounds like a dog or wolf howling.
That would be Ken.
All that's left in the clearing which once held Hestia's temple would be a pair of teenage boys, a roaming goat, a split-tailed demon cat which eyes any intruders warily, and Bon the Tibetan Mastiff who occasionally joins in with Ken's howling.
Oh. And the piles and piles and piles of various canned goods, snacks, and other such non-perishable foods that are scattered everywhere with no apparent rhyme or reason. The god and his temple may have gone but not, for some mystical reason, the literal hoards of food his shinki gathered throughout it.
To the side, Chikusa is curled up by a pair of large but simple duffel bags, his arms wrapped loosely around his long legs and his head bowed.
Ken is nearer the center of the clearing, on his knees. Once anyone who's come to investigate the din gets closer, the howls that sounded so purely canine at a distance become less so. From up close, they sound more like a strange cross-breed of a howl and a scream of pure anguish - with the tears on Ken's face suggesting the latter is closer to the truth. The impressive volume he's achieving further suggests that he'll continue until he's either heard by his god - wherever he's gone - or until his throat is so bloody and raw that he can't actually make sounds anymore.
A particularly close observer may be able to note that, on Ken at least, there's hints of blight already visible - a faint dark bruising creeping up the back of his neck, peeking out over the collar of his shirt. It's hard to tell if either shinki is aware of it.
[OOC: Let us know if you want Chikusa, Ken, or somehow both of them to respond to.]
What: When a god leaves, there's always a few people who end up left behind. Chikusa and Ken deal with it in the only way they know how- badly.
When: August 16 to start with and some days after it
Where: The empty clearing where Hestia's temple used to be
Warnings: A closed ablution will be happening in one thread, so some mild body horror at the least. Also a pair of teenagers in mourning dealing with loss unhealthily.
Hestia's temple has never outwardly been impressive. It had been small, and white, and done in the traditional Greek style- no bigger than a small house at best. The most memorable part of it, for anyone who has passed through the Far Shore, has been the recent addition of a goat tethered right outside its front door where it kept the grass in check.
There's no front door for it to be tethered to now. That would be because there's no temple at all.
For those passing through the Far Shore, they might come across a completely empty clearing which now holds nothing at all. And for those not inclined to wander? They might be drawn to it instead by the sound of what sounds like a dog or wolf howling.
That would be Ken.
All that's left in the clearing which once held Hestia's temple would be a pair of teenage boys, a roaming goat, a split-tailed demon cat which eyes any intruders warily, and Bon the Tibetan Mastiff who occasionally joins in with Ken's howling.
Oh. And the piles and piles and piles of various canned goods, snacks, and other such non-perishable foods that are scattered everywhere with no apparent rhyme or reason. The god and his temple may have gone but not, for some mystical reason, the literal hoards of food his shinki gathered throughout it.
To the side, Chikusa is curled up by a pair of large but simple duffel bags, his arms wrapped loosely around his long legs and his head bowed.
Ken is nearer the center of the clearing, on his knees. Once anyone who's come to investigate the din gets closer, the howls that sounded so purely canine at a distance become less so. From up close, they sound more like a strange cross-breed of a howl and a scream of pure anguish - with the tears on Ken's face suggesting the latter is closer to the truth. The impressive volume he's achieving further suggests that he'll continue until he's either heard by his god - wherever he's gone - or until his throat is so bloody and raw that he can't actually make sounds anymore.
A particularly close observer may be able to note that, on Ken at least, there's hints of blight already visible - a faint dark bruising creeping up the back of his neck, peeking out over the collar of his shirt. It's hard to tell if either shinki is aware of it.
[OOC: Let us know if you want Chikusa, Ken, or somehow both of them to respond to.]
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Unsurprisingly, his voice is hoarse when he speaks.] Axel-sama's gone...everything's gone...!
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...yeah.
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We don't belong anywhere now...we don't have a purpose anymore...
Why are we even still here?! Why'd they leave us?!
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There might not be a reason why you're still here while he ain't, but you belong an' ya've a purpose, ya just need'a find it, make your own decision on what it is. Where an' what that'll be ain't something them people from the Heavens can decide.
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They took him away, just like they took Hibari... [His voice breaks.] I warned Hibari...I told him he'd get in trouble and they'd take him, and then they did. But Axel-sama didn't do anything wrong, he wasn't even here to do anything wrong...and Chikusa always knows the right stuff to do...so it's 'cause of me, right? They took him 'cause I did something bad, or 'cause I'm a bad shinki...
[The blight's progress is sluggish on his skin, but it's actually visible in its advance as it slowly starts to curve around the sides of his neck. This is definitely a bad case.]
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I don't think it's cause'a you, nor'a him nor'a your god or the other lad. I get why ya might think it's someone's fault an' that it's easy to blame oneself, but it sure as hell ain't any 'a yours fault this happened.
[ How the hell is this sort of thing supposed to be handled? (Kairi and Yukine's post went up just a few days after he arrived, and phones and electronic bulletin boards and those things are still more or less beyond him. He knows very little about ablution.) ]
An' there are more people that would be willin' to take care 'a you both, I know that. An' I'm fair sure you ain't a bad shinki, neither. You're a good kid, an' you seem loyal, and I'd say that makes you a good shinki. So it ain't any of your fault this is happenin'.
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[His hands fall into his lap.] If it's not 'cause I screwed up, or anyone else screwed up...why would they take Axel-sama? Why make people disappear for no reason? [He scrubs roughly, absently, at the tears on his face.] Hibari disappeared right after he started attacking temples...so it's a punishment, isn't it?
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[ He shakes his head. ] Frankly, I ain't got no clue why they're makin' people disappear, but if they made him disappear cause 'a that, they're doin' this punishing thing wrong. Whatever reasoning they have, it's flawed an' damaging. That means it's only their fault, not any'a yours.
[ Repeating that the boy and his friends were not at fault might be redundant to some people, but he has a feeling that the boy needs the repeated assurance. ]
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[For all that Ken can be wildly disobedient on an interpersonal level, he has a bad habit of not questioning those he respects, or those who are an authority well beyond his level of understanding. He'd never questioned Axel for the former reason, and he'd never considered the heavens could be flawed in their judgments for the latter. He doesn't know who they are, where they are, or how they make their judgments; questioning them feels like questioning the weather. The weather may not be pleasant, but it's a force of nature; it can't be wrong.
But Butch has sparked the realization in him that if there's some form of judgment, then it must be gods who are making it - and gods in the Far Shore are people, who can be flawed, and so their judgment can also be flawed. Not that Ken's really thinking all this out, certainly not in those terms; he's just being hit, suddenly, with the possibility that Axel could have been taken even without anyone doing anything wrong on their end - that the wrong might've been on the side of those doing the taking.
There's no guarantee. But the fact that the possibility even exists allows, at the same time, the possibility of relief from his guilt.]
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They might’ve been wrong, yeah. I think they probably are.
[ Butch, on the other hand, learned to question authority from a young age. When was the first time? When his family secretly helped polygamist Mormons out of the country, or when the priest judged against his father in a land dispute just because his father didn’t go to church? It’s been a long time, at least. He was bound to go the way he went, probably. ]
Nobody’s ever right in everything, even gods in the heavens. Any person’s got flaws, so they ain’t perfect neither. Nobody is.
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He'd considered the workings of the heavens to be in the latter category until now.]
...so if they're wrong, what do we do?
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Right now, we can't do anythin' much about it, not until they admit that they're wrong. We can try to make 'em do that, though it might not be easy, iffen they're real stubborn in refusin' to believe that they are wrong in the first place. I'm guessin' them old gods might have a lot trouble with doin' that.
[ He knows of far too many people who never did come around to admitting they were wrong about something, because they were too caught up in themselves, in the old ways, or in not considering other people at all (among other things). ]
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[He looks up at Butch, and the depths of his despair are fully evident in what he says next.] If I made 'em mad, would they send me where they sent Axel-sama and Hibari?
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I don’t know, there ain’t no guaranteein’ that they would or wouldn’t. They ain’t reactin’ reasonably, either, so knowin’ how they’re thinkin’ ain’t that easy to figure out.
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Anyway, I probably can't do anything without a god...what do shinki without gods even do?
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I can’t tell ya that but, iffen ya ain’t opposed’a it, I’ll take care’a you.
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Despite his questioning, though...with the possibility there, and someone he already trusts without reservations making the offer, he's already longing for it. Ken's always sought purpose and validation, and the feeling that he matters to someone, and Butch has offered him that without hesitation from the first. His grief over Axel hasn't killed any of those desires, and if the truth must be told...Axel had been absent from his temple so much during Ken's time as his shinki that Butch has already given him more affection and support than Axel ever had the chance to.
Becoming Butch's shinki won't erase his grief, but it'll make it easier to bear.
However, after a moment, he looks over at Chikusa, expression troubled.] ...I can't just leave Chikusa, though...
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Butch glances over at Chikusa as well, and then looks back to Ken again, with a small smile. ]
I’ll take care’a him too, long as he don’t say no.
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The only thing preventing definite guilt - and he hardly needs more right now - is that he just can't see how continuing to not have a god would somehow be a more loyal choice. Ken's more pragmatic animal instincts are butting up against more human sentiments, the abstract idea that his apparent disloyalty in moving on from Axel so quickly could possibly mean anything when Axel is either gone or dead.
He looks over at Chikusa again, then back to Butch. He's vaguely aware that convincing Chikusa to go with a new god may be harder, especially when Chikusa doesn't necessarily know Butch the way Ken does...but he thinks he can do it. And with that thought comes another.]
If you're gonna make Chikusa your shinki, too...you should make him your exemplar. He's better at it. [He doesn't know that Butch already has a shinki; he hasn't even considered the possibility yet.]
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He reaches out to gently ruffle Ken’s hair. ]
I have an exemplar already, but in the first place, I don’t think it matters who’s better or not. It’s who’s willin’ to do it. Iffen he wants to be exemplar, and dependin’ on my current one wants, it’s somethin’ we can discuss. But later, once you kids are feelin’ better.
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In incantation.. [ One he technically doesn’t like because the phrasing is...well, sort of pretentious-like. ] I’m gonna say it now, so you know.
My name is Epona. Grasping thy true name, I bind thee here. With borrowed name, I dub thee my servant. The name answers, the vessel to sound. I call thee as my divine instrument. The name, Kemono. The vessel, Juu. Come, Juuki.
[ He is washed over with a pain, unfamiliar but, he manages to not let how much it hurts show. The images washing into his head, too. He doesn’t want to let it show how concerned they make him. As if he wasn’t concerned already. ]
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And Ken's vessel is rather large.
Butch will find himself, upon calling Ken's vessel name, looking at a creature that's nearly as tall on all fours as Butch is standing upright, with three bemused heads - a maned lion, a scaled dragon, and an incongruously normal goat - blinking at him. (No, four; a tail that is literally a snake lifts itself up from over Ken's body to peer at Butch as well.) But this baffled regard only lasts for a few seconds before the heads are moving every which way, looking at each other, the feline body they're all attached to, and the draconian wings that flex themselves experimentally.
If Butch is well up on his mythological creatures, he might recognize a chimera. Otherwise...he just appears to be looking at a mishmash of animals. Which, to be fair, tends to describe Ken even when he's not in vessel form.]
What? What's going on? [Ken sounds confused, and well he should; he's never taken a vessel form before, despite having been a shinki for quite awhile now. The entire experience is new. Not even in his channels has Ken's body ever changed this much.]
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...woah. That’s somethin’, alright...
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As the clonked heads try to shake off their daze, Ken flops his hindquarters on the ground and emits the particular sort of unhappy whine that only a big cat can. There are clearly some issues to be worked out here - with basic coordination, at the very least. It shouldn't be hard for Ken to adjust, really; he's always been good at picking up on new skills provided that they're physical and don't require much more than trial and error to teach. He's just adjusting to quite a bit of disorientation all at once.
Honestly, aside from Ken's whine and the pathetic tone of voice - and, of course, the pressing issue of blight - it's kind of funny.]
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