open.

[ex_adept179]

Who: Slaine Troyard adept and you.
What: -1 goddess
When: March 18th
Where: Library at Elsa's School
Warnings: Angst.


[When Slaine couldn't locate Dal Dal, that had been concerning, but it wasn't the first time. As it got later, he tried looking for her only to find that he couldn't. Nowhere he looked and nowhere he tried gave him any indication of where she was...that is, until he finds his kitten batting a crumpled piece of paper around.

And, once he does...

Well. Maybe it's fortunate that he's by himself, because it feels like his insides twist into knots. His throat feels tight, his eyes burn, and in the end he just sits there crying for a time. The note's a half-smudged mess by the time all's said and done, and he doesn't know where to go - or what to do. He's not even sure who he should ask about something like this.

If she's gone, what then? Does he get reassigned - is he already reassigned?

Eventually though, he makes his way to the library in Elsa's school, hoping the red around his eyes isn't as noticeable to anybody else as it is to him. He takes up a seat in the corner as he usually does, and simply buries his face in a book, hoping it's easier not to worry about what happens next if he's focused on something...though that doesn't seem to work as the page in front of him blurs and he winds up wiping his face with his sleeve]


[ooc: Rolling with Dal Dal having left him a note as per her drop message. At this point he's figured out she must be gone but hasn't woken up in his new god's temple. Good stuff? Good stuff]

Comments

[reformedsinner]

Slaine?

[Hakkai pauses on his way to the shelves, frowning as Slaine wipes his face with his sleeve. It's not unusual for the young man to be in that corner with his book. It is unusual for him to be --

... crying?]

What's wrong?

[Abandoning his plan to finish the Kojiki for a little research into the relationships of the Heavenly dignitaries, he starts for Slaine's corner.]

[ex_adept179]

[Slaine stiffens upon hearing his name, trying his best to subtly dry his face as he sits up straighter. Futile as that effort might be, he'd expected to go unnoticed rather than have someone figure him out right away.

Someone doesn't know he can be pretty transparent under the right conditions]

My god, she just...

[He trails off. The words form a lump in his throat, so he instead offers Hakkai a rumpled piece of paper when he's within arm's reach. A note from Dal Dal saying she knows he'll be alright, and taken care of...

No explanation, simply well-wishes. And a smudge that might've been an emoji once]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai takes the note, reads it, and looks back up at Slaine with shock reverberating openly across his face.]

She's gone?

[She's gone and she knew she was going and left a note? That's -- new.

Horrifying, and new. So whoever is making these attacks isn't striking from hiding; the gods know. And yet, they still have no chance to fight back, or to offer any information to those left behind.

Unless the note is forged, of course.]

This writing... does it sound like her?

[ex_adept179]

[He nods, albeit stiffly, lightly tapping the blur that was once a drawing]

She used those little faces a lot... And I've seen enough of her shopping lists.

[Despite his efforts, his voice isn't entirely steady, but he pretends not to notice it himself]

I don't...I don't know when she wrote it.

[Maybe she had when they learned how easily gods could vanish, or maybe more recently than that. It's the part he's unsure of, because Lily found the paper somewhere. He's unsure where it was before that]

[reformedsinner]

Ah... that's a thought, yes. [She could have prepared it in advance.]

My condolences, Slaine. Would you... [He hesitates, not sure how to comfort the young man.] Would you like tea?

[ex_adept179]

[For a few moments he simply considers that.

Tea...it might be good. It's warm. So was his god, albeit in a different way-

He shouldn't think on that]

...Would it be an imposition? I'm sure you have other matters to attend to.

[reformedsinner]

It's no trouble at all. I was only going to read.

[Hakkai smiles gently at Slaine, and gestures towards the library door.]

It can wait. Please, come with me. Do you know if you've been assigned to a new god...?

[ex_adept179]

[He starts to pick himself up, hugging the book he was trying to read to his chest without much thought to it. Once he stands though, he goes still, pondering that]

I'm not... [Biting his lip, he considers] ...How would I know if I've been assigned a new one?

[It probably stands to reason that he has to have been, right? Otherwise, he couldn't be here...probably]

[reformedsinner]

I'm... not sure.

But you might have a new name.

[Hakkai glances at him, thoughtful. Slaine is still here, visibly the same. Would he be that way as a shinki with no god? Would he even remain here if no other god were supporting his existence?

Hakkai doesn't know.]

I'm not certain, though. From what I've learned, we're quite different from normal shinki in a variety of ways.

[He turns to lead the way to the kitchen. It's not too far; on the left, at the other end of the hallway, and he sets a kettle on to boil at once.]

[galactically]

[Sheryl happens to wander from one table to the next when she stops, noticing Slaine in the corner, burying his face in a book. With the sight of a familiar person, this would normally be her cue to start pestering chatting up a storm, except...

Seeing him wipe his face with his sleeve is new to her.]

What happened to you?

[She backtracks, slowly resting a hand on his shoulder with a concerned look.]

[ex_adept179]

Ah...right. I should check for that.

[Although he doesn't make a move to just this moment. He doesn't know if his name would appear in the same place, or if he'll have to undress in order to find just where it is - provided he really did get a new one.

Not the sort of thing he needs to do in front of anybody else, to be sure.

He trails after Hakkai as they talk, still carrying the book...and still not really thinking about it]

How different are we from what was typical?

[ex_adept179]

[So much for playing it cool. Slaine can only imagine if he's drawn attention - concerned attention - he's failed to look convincingly fine. His shoulders stiffen under that touch just enough to be perceptible as he braces himself and looks up, trying his best to appear perfectly composed.

The red around his eyes from rubbing at them so much betrays him however]

It seems I can't find my god anywhere...

[He manages to sound forcibly calm, but his voice wavers around the edges. frayed by his mounting concern that perhaps something he had done resulted in her winking out of existence]

[galactically]

[Slaine can try to appear as cool as a cucumber, but the redness around his eyes is so noticeable to Sheryl that she'd have to be blind not to see it. A look of surprise crosses her features as she carefully removes her hand from his shoulder, arching an eyebrow at him.]

Not even at her temple?

[She says slowly, cautiously. Something drastic must've happened, otherwise Slaine wouldn't have been crying.

Her hand curls inward, feeling it tremble, and she presses it against her chest while her owlish gaze remains locked on him.]

[ex_adept179]

I checked there first, and once again before I came here.

[He glances down then, tugging a rumpled piece of paper from his pocket. After taking pause to watch it cautiously, he offers the paper to Sheryl for her perusal.

Simply a note in Dal Dal's handwriting with her well-wishes. Things like saying she knows he'll be okay and that he'll be treated well, ended with her signature and a smudge that was once a drawn emoji]

This is all I found...and I've no idea when she wrote it.

[reformedsinner]

Normally, gods chose their shinki and chose to give them a name. We seem to have simply been ... assigned.

Furthermore, it seems that we don't die.

[And, from Yukine's post, that is not normal. Hakkai waves Slaine to a seat at the kitchen table as he takes down the teapot and cups.]

[galactically]

[Once Sheryl takes the paper from Slaine, she skims through the message with a curious look, then her eyes turn narrow as she finishes. "Dal Dal"? The name is barely familiar... Ah, that one person Sheryl deems irrelevant if she can't remember anything else about her, aside from calling that girl "unprofessional" over... something.

Yeah, she pretty much forgot.

Idle thoughts aside, there's a grim look over Sheryl's face as she returns the paper to Slaine. He's clearly affected by his goddess's lack of presence, whoever she is, and this is starting to remind her of what happened to Yuuki over the BBS.]

Does she usually leave goodbye notes like these?

[ex_adept179]

So...we can't be... [Excuse him while he mentally sifts through ways to express this, only to give up and roll with-] double-dead?

[That certainly is a thing. He takes the seat, only seeming to notice then that he's been hugging a book in the manner a child seeking comfort might a teddy-bear, and he quietly sets it down on the table]

I wonder why the system changed that way... Do you suppose they were taking too many losses?

[That final word comes out a bit strained, but he tries to ignore it]

[ex_adept179]

I've not been around that long, but...no.

[Shopping lists he'd certainly seen in abundance, and they'd quickly become a collaborative mess of her demands and his counters to them, but... Nothing like this. And being as new as he is he can't say he expected it.

One day, Dal Dal was there, and the next she wasn't.

He has to wonder if something he's done caused this]

[reformedsinner]

I really don't know.

[The teakettle begins to rattle, and he takes it off the heat, preparing the tea with quick, efficient motions.]

I suppose it could also be an effect of whatever is keeping us here. We weren't made shinki by our gods' choice, and so, perhaps, there's another force involved....

[Hakkai shakes his head helplessly, arranges a handful of cookies on one of his smaller plates, and brings the cookies and tea both over to the table.]

Here -- ah, please be careful, it's hot.

[galactically]

... I see.

[With Sheryl being warned that gods can disappear, seeing a farewell note only evokes suspicion from within herself. The mentions of knowing that her shinki will be fine and that he'll be treated well... could it be that she's being replaced? Tsuzuki did say that the Heavens don't care about human laws, so making a god say farewell to their shinki isn't out of the question.

As she takes a seat next to Slaine, a worried expression settles across her features. She pauses, trying to think of the proper words to say.]

I have a guess as to what might have happened to her. [A pause.] I'm not sure.

[ex_adept179]

Gods...sometimes they vanish, don't they?

[The words leave him with a clear, grudging reluctance. Slaine doesn't want to believe it and doesn't want to think it. But if he can't find her anywhere and can't reach her by phone, and found a note like this, it seems there is only one conclusion to be drawn.

One that he hates the notion of, but denial of an unfortunate reality doesn't make it go away]

[ex_adept179]

Thank you.

[Is naturally the first thing he says, though he refrains on reaching for the cup for now. If it's quite hot he doesn't mind being patient, watching the tea for a few moments before he turns his attention back to Hakkai]

That seems like a possibility... If it's the Heavens I question their reasoning, though I doubt we have anything to go by.

[reformedsinner]

I'm afraid I really don't yet. [Hakkai settles across from Slaine with his own teacup, wrapping his hands around it. He breathes in the steam.]

It seems strange that they'd keep us around in that way, and not use that ability on their own shinki, though.

Doesn't it?

I can't imagine that it's deliberate.

[galactically]

[All Slaine is getting is a slow, reluctant nod out of Sheryl in response. It's not something she wants to say in full confirmation, but it's there nonetheless; he said it before she could.]

It's strange how one god couldn't leave a note to her shinki, but yours could.

[Almost like separate workers from the Heavens could be handling it, but it's just a guess. There's nothing concrete. Nothing makes sense.]

[ex_adept179]

Could there be something strange, about us? Something they didn't create or influence - something that came before that...

[Strange as the notion is, it's one way to account for the fact that they don't do the same with shinki from before. Not being able to lose them would after all be an advantage...

While he awaits Hakkai's thoughts on such a notion, he collects one cookie for himself]