thenearshore | [open + 1 closed + 1 semi-closed] a pocket full of posies

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[open + 1 closed + 1 semi-closed] a pocket full of posies

Who: A + B: Shun and anyone! C: Shun and Ren, D: Shun and existing CR
What: Shun attempts to relocate a substantial portion of his temple garden to his Near Shore shrine. This goes about as well as you'd expect.
When: June 22nd
Where: A: Nekhbet's Temple and surrounds, B + C: A seemingly innocuous Near Shore park (a.k.a. Nekhbet's shrine), D: Network/anywhere!

A + B: Open

[A: Morning, Nekhbet's Temple]

[There are a lot of things Shun could say about having a rapidly growing garden of funerary and death-themed flowers, and most of them are some form of complaint. However, with recent events on the Near Shore and disappearances on the Far Shore, he's decided it's about time he made his shrine look a bit more lived-in, and if there's any good way to do that, it's hitting two birds with one stone and thinning out his garden to use for decorative purposes. Ignoring the fact that he has no idea how to decorate anything these days, because he'll deal with that hurdle when he reaches it.

The strange hill-shaped temple isn't difficult to spot even from a distance, and the large, tree-enclosed garden to one side even less so. The dwelling vultures are a little agitated today, rustling wings and hopping from tree to tree as they try to get a better look at Shun, who's moving along the edge of the garden with a dagger in hand. With how much the flowers have grown out, there's only an incredibly narrow strip for Shun to walk on between them and the shallow pools flanking the main path, but as always, he walks as if his every step is certain.

At certain plants, he'll stop, either taking one flower stem or a few at once and pushing neatly through them with the knife in his hand. Apparently nobody ever told him pruning shears were a thing, or he just didn't want to bother with that.

There's already a budding line of flowers down the middle of the garden path, loosely arranged by type and then colour, which Shun goes back to add to each time he cuts more. It's probably obvious to most people that he has far too many cut for any purpose other than maybe starting a florist's, but he doesn't seem to care, and the garden barely looks like it's been pruned.

He'll acknowledge anyone who comes to the mouth of the garden...just maybe try not to do it while his back is turned, since he is still holding a knife.]

--

[B: Afternoon, Park/Shrine]

[There's a lot of nice parks around on the Near Shore, and the quiet ones can be especially nice. This one in particular is off a small and relatively low-density street, the entrance flanked by currently unlit lanterns, and looks like the kind of spot someone might elect to have a picnic. There's tables, a large and venerable-looking tree over near the back...and, of course, the tiny shrine building (more the size to house vultures than any kind of human) that looks like it was made by some very dedicated follower, built and painted simply and surrounded by offerings of flowers. Today, there's also a very eye-catching one lying across the shrine "balcony"; a large arrangement of purple and orange flowers, done with not the skill of someone who actually knows what they're doing, but the care of someone determined to do it anyway and make it good.

Also in the park today is Shun, who's commandeered a picnic table with his excessive amount of flowers and is currently sorting through them with a rather critical eye. When he comes across one that looks on the dead or dying side, he runs his fingers carefully up the stem, focusing intently on the flower, and after a few moments, the petals liven up and heal, the natural decay reversing to return them to full bloom.

Unfortunately, the need for focus means Shun isn't in a particularly welcoming mood towards distractions right now, so any Far Shore residents hanging around the park may or may not feel upon them the kind of stare that could probably bore through concrete given long enough.]

If you're just going to be a distraction anyway, you might as well put it to some use over here. [Translation: he's...asking for help. Kind of. Not really, but still.]

[C: Closed to Ren, late afternoon/early evening]

[After several attempts at putting together certain flowers and getting the impression they just look wrong (and that if even someone like him who doesn't really give a damn is noticing, then others certainly will), Shun decides to cut his losses and text maybe the one person he can trust to help with this and be a tolerable presence for the amount of time it will probably take.

So sometime later in the afternoon, Ren gets a text containing a picture of the table overflowing with sorted flowers, and Shun's shrine in the background in the hopes that he'll recognise it from that evening they walked back there.]

Need someone who knows more about how flowers go together than me. I'll explain why if you help.

[D: Closed to existing CR, evening]

[So as it turns out, Shun absolutely cut way too many flowers, and though he definitely knows one person who'll want them, there's still a ton that aren't really spoken for. So anyone Shun knows the name of (or god name, in those cases) and doesn't hate stands a chance of getting a very brief text containing an image of a table still covered in flowers, but with vastly less than there were earlier. There's quite a variety - roses, lilies, crysanthemums, orchids, and so on - and it might be hard to pick up on the funerary and death associations of every single one of them unless one is very well-versed in flower language.]

Trying to get rid of these. Pick some out and you can have them.

[[Any kind of death or funeral-associated flower is fair game to request, even if it's not listed there.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[As the workload slowly shortens and Lavi's pile gradually grows slammer, he figures it's probably time to either excuse himself or get to know this guy.

As he adds the last dying flower to the batch, Lavi pulls away a bit.]

So, I never did get your name. My name is Lavi.

[There's a sense as if Shun's been expecting the conversation to start - his attention turns immediately to Lavi, even as he moves to start fixing the still substantial pile of dying plants.

However, he can't begrudge it after this long of a silence, so he merely listens with a somewhat impassive look before replying in kind.]

Kurosaki Shun. Nekhbet, when this place insists on it. You can probably imagine that funerary gods like me have had a lot to listen to recently.

[There's an urge to chuckle, but he holds it in.

Instead, he musters up something of a crooked grin.]

I'm sure. [He glances down at the flowers before looking back at Shun.] How did everything go since the last time we met?

[Rather, how did everything go with the mass suicide?]

[Whether it's because he just doesn't find the topic amusing or doesn't find much at all amusing, Shun's expression remains neutral even as Lavi grins. He does note the reaction briefly, though, because there's very few people who'd be capable of finding even a dark humour in that sort of thing.]

Apparently the culprit was dealt with while we were all cleaning up the fallout. Suijin and I discussed it when I reported in to her afterwards.

[There's a somewhat reserved note to his voice there; it's hard to tell if he's not providing all the details, or feels that not all of them were provided to him.]

[While it's good that the culprit has been dealt with, that other name is what catches Lavi's attention.]

Suijin?

[One of the older gods, perhaps? If Shun was discussing the incident with her.]

One of Amaterasu's advisors, and the least painful to deal with. She was the one at the helm of dealing with that incident.

[There's a note to Shun's voice of not exactly respect, but at least some kind of appreciation for the fact that it had been her there rather than either of the other two. He can't stand Fuujin, and having any faith in his ability to handle something like that is out of the question, and Raijin had seemed more puffed-up than he'd like in the short time he'd had to meet him.]

[Ah, Amaterasu's advisor, or at least one of them.

It irks Lavi just a bit that he's missed her, but he supposes it's something that can't be helped. Judging from the way Shun's voice is, though, there is some sort of...appreciation? Almost like respect, but still not close enough.

Lavi tilts his head.]

Do you trust her?

[Because that is the better question. She might've been at the helm, but trust is a completely different matter entirely.]

[The fact that trust is an entirely different matter is immediately echoed in Shun's reaction to that question; he grimaces slightly in something like frustration, as if he's used to people confusing respect with trust.]

Trust is a strong word, and not one I use often. Suijin is more competent and less infuriating than the other advisors, but I don't know enough about her and her motivations to say I trust her.

[At the very least, he can probably say she cares more about their situation than the other two do, but that's only because she bothered to ask him directly about it and go out of her way to do so.]

[He hums a bit.

So not trust but at the same time, there is appreciation for this Suijin enough to deserve some grudging respect.

At least Lavi can understand that.]

So she's someone you can talk to about these things, but someone you're not sure if you can tell everything to.

[It seems to be that way because Suijin is an advisor.]

[Lavi appears to have hit the nail on the head, if Shun's nodding is any indication. Not everyone gets the difference all that well, and others seem to think that trust should come more readily than respect, so at least he doesn't have to argue it this time.]

Basically. She's been here longer than any of us and has information none of the newcomers do, but if some game-changing piece of information came up that she didn't know already, I'd have to think about whether I'd tell her or not.

[It would depend on the circumstances, really, and who it was changing the game for. If it was to do with their enemies, he could probably at least give her the benefit of the doubt on doing everything she could to get rid of them.]

[So that's exactly what it is.

Lavi frowns a bit.]

It does make things a bit more challenging in that regard, doesn't it? [To know whether or not to trust an advisor. To know whether they can trust any of these older gods.

It's almost as if they're trapped in some twisted game.]

[There's a slight hum of agreement from Shun as he takes a few moments on a particularly half-dead looking flower, considering the question. He has to admit that he finds gods like Bishamon and even Yato a bit more...sincere, so to speak, and even Amaterasu herself seems more genuine than playing a long con using her appearance as a child, but there's something about the advisors that throws him a little more. It might just be because of how rarely he sees them, but he'd be more prepared to say he trusted Bishamon at this point than he would Suijin.]

Nothing here is easy. It's just another twist to what we already have to deal with.

[He finally says that as he places the now-healed flower onto one of the piles.]

Sounds like you've handled quite a bit twists yourself.

[But with their work now done, Lavi admires the healed flowers.

Though, with Shun talking to him, he feels the need to see if he can get a few more answers.]

So Suijin was at the helm during the incidents; do the other advisors ever show themselves at all?

I've been here a few months. I've had plenty of time to experience the twists this place has to offer.

[Not to mention the twists of his life in his own world. He expresses no overt emotion on his face as he moves on to another flower, though, simply focusing on the work for the moment.

Lavi's question is rather obviously one of gathering information for himself, but given Shun has no problem with sharing general remarks on the situation here with others interested, he answers the question with no issue, looking up from the flower back to Lavi.]

I've seen Raijin and that idiot Fuujin once each, both at the picnic in late April. So they don't seem to come out nearly as often as she does.

Sounds exciting.

[He's sorry for the dry sarcasm, but if that's the case, then it's not something he wants to experience.

It's good that Shun has no problems answering him, though, so he absorbs the information.]

Then that makes Suijin a bit more dependable. [It still makes him uneasy.] Though trusting any of the older gods seems difficult to do.

That's one word for it.

[While Shun picks up on the sarcasm, there's probably people here who'd legitimately consider it exciting, if perhaps not for the best reasons, so he can't argue that point too much.

Even as Lavi brings up the point of trusting the older gods, Shun nods slightly as he sets down the next flower.]

At this point, the only ones I'm prepared to even think of that towards are Bishamon and Yato, because they actually come among us regularly enough to have some idea of our problems. The others don't, and though Suijin and Amaterasu seem to care, their information on it is never more than secondhand.

[A thoughtful look masks Lavi's face, but it's gone within the moment.

Bishamon and Yato—

Seems like Lavi should seek them out at one point.]

At least there seems to be some people genuinely concerned about this—

[While Shun does somewhat catch the change of expression, he doesn't think much of it. Honestly, he reacted about the same when he first heard about the older gods who were actually accessible.

With a brief incline of the head, Shun picks out another few damaged flowers.]

It's not that reassuring that they have actual concern about the situation but genuinely don't know how to handle it, but it's better than outright malicious intent.

It means they'll listen to us a bit more.

[He watches Shun work, quiet.]

Even if all they want to do is probably get rid of us. [Or any of the newer gods. He's not sure where shinki exactly fits into that equation.]

It does give us something to work with there. [At this point, they've been working on this long enough that Shun at least seems marginally more at ease having Lavi watch him at work. Meaning he's not glancing upwards every two seconds.]

I have things to do in my world, so the only problem I'd have with leaving here is leaving behind anyone I've chosen to trust.

[Lavi blinks a bit.

It's the first Lavi heard anyone mention about their own 'world', so it piques his curiosity a bit.]

Well, I'm sure the people you've chosen to trust would be upset if you ended up leaving, too.

If all of us left at the same time, it's not like there'd be an issue of leaving anything behind, at least. [It'd still hurt, but they'd all be going back to what they came from and the friends they left there.

There's a brief pause before Shun goes on, placing another healed flower back on a pile.] It'd at least help if we knew for sure whether the ones that are already leaving go home.

No, it'd probably make it easier on the old gods.

[But.

There's a pause as Lavi frowns.]

If not home, where would you think they'd be?

Probably, though I doubt they'd complain about just having the situation resolved. [The general gist of his communications with all of them have been that they want this entire situation dealt with as soon as possible.

Shun can't really answer that question with anything certain, so he shrugs.]

Could be anywhere. If it's the same people taking us away as it is bringing us here, they're probably not that invested in our wellbeing.

Probably not.

[And the questions just continue to be raised.

A soft sound before Lavi nods.]

Not especially if they might be using us for their own amusement.

[open + 1 closed + 1 semi-closed] a pocket full of posies

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