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

you dont seem like the kind of guy to have a garden so you have a fost sid eto you after all

where is your temple anyway

It came with the temple and mostly maintains itself. I wouldn't have one if it wasn't already there.

It's the giant hill with all the vultures around it. It's hard to miss.

i will be there soon

[And sure enough, after maybe around an hour, Wendy is making her way through the temple, hopping occasionally as if that will help her see better, and perking up whenever she sees a vulture.]

[Since Shun doesn't feel it all that necessary to confirm the fact, he simply reads the message and sets it aside, keeping an eye on the window looking out over the temple grounds as he sorts the remaining flowers again. There's much less of them than he started with, but he still thinks he's going to have plenty left over for the first person who requested them.

The vultures eye Wendy as she passes, one or two of them flaring wings or cocking heads a little more aggressively, but none of them come near. Apparently, they don't see her as enough of a threat right now to do so.

Seeing vultures means she's close enough for Shun to see her through the window, though, and even as she approaches, he opens the temple door.]

Most people don't look that happy to see vultures, but I suppose it's better than the idiots who think they're going to attack on sight.

Well, I don't know if I've ever seen them before, so they're interesting to me. Besides, even in the Near Shore, you don't usually see birds like that, right? They're huge!

[Definitely not pigeon or sparrow sized. Hopping up to the door, she looks up at him expectantly.]

And probably not flower birds, if I had to guess.

[She has a point on at least one of those fronts, but Shun still doesn't look particularly impressed.]

There are bigger birds than vultures, even if they're big compared to what you see in cities.

[His tone isn't dismissive, at least, though that might just be because he doesn't want to insult his vultures. In any case, he shrugs and stands aside to let Wendy through the door to the short hallway behind it.]

They don't mind the flowers. They just don't pay much attention to them unless they're standing between them and food.

Have you ever seen them before, then?

[The whole world is her oyster when it comes to experiencing new things, and that includes going into an Egyptian god's temple. As curious as ever, she glances around, trying to guess what way they'll go.]

Some. When I'm named after one, I owed myself at least that much. [Implying Shun isn't fond of birds in his own right, but then, he tends not to let on that he's fond of anything in particular.

Wendy won't be left guessing long - though unsurprisingly, one of the most noticeable things about the hallway other than how short it is is the lack of decoration. The walls are some kind of pressed earth, giving a very underground feel, and there are large, stylised outlines of what appear to be more vultures on both walls of the hallway, but other than that, it's pretty much blank.

Passing by the drawings without a second look, Shun heads left when he reaches the end of the hall. There do appear to be a few more rooms and a set of stairs leading downwards off to the right, but the left instead presents a loungeroom, with a few chairs and couches scattered around along with some mismatched cushions. More noteworthy is the long coffee table, though, which is covered in flowers.]

[Somehow, the lack of decoration fits Shun perfectly: it's dull. Doesn't this guy enjoy anything at all...? Wendy finds herself wondering the question as she follows after him, hands behind her back. His shinki certainly has their work cut out for them.]

[As they finally enter the lounge, she leans around him, and whistles.]

It's even more impressive in person. You really went to work, huh?

[It's dull, but at the very least, it's not sterile. The earthen walls at least give everything more the feel of a home than anything else, and there's still those little quirks everyone has in their living space; the dints in the couch cushions (that could almost be mistaken for more the shape of someone sleeping on them than sitting on them), the small kitchen across from them with dishes peeping above the edge of the sink.

For the moment, the flowers are part of that too, and Shun goes to sit down on one of the couches flanking the table with a short nod.]

Even though I was using them for something else, I also wanted to get rid of whatever was overgrown. It turned out to be more than I thought.

I guess that just shows you need to take care of your garden more carefully.

[But it’s a light tease as she starts to pick through the flowers carefully, looking at each one.]

Although, while flowers are nice, a vegetable garden would be better, right?

I didn't ask to have a garden. And I don't trust any food grown here not to get contaminated, even if it was mine. At least contamination in Near Shore food isn't going to affect me as much.

[At least, he assumes so. It'd be a bit ridiculous if a "god" could be laid low by food poisoning that easily. For the moment, he's just watching Wendy go through the flowers - one noteworthy thing might be that they're all in remarkably good condition, as if picked at the peak of health.]

I've been watching someone else arrange flowers for half the afternoon, so if you want any of them put together, I can probably manage.

There’s a pause, and she has to blink at him. “Contam…. What?” She’s a little girl- okay no, not really even if she doesn’t know that, but that word is a lot fancier than anything she’s heard before. That she can remember, anyway. Sure, she hasn’t missed the offer of flower arranging, a fact she’ll more than happily talk about… but after this is cleared up.

Contaminated. [While Shun is fairly clever, he also hasn't been near a school that wasn't being used as a wartime shelter in several years, so it takes him a moment or two to land on other words he can use to describe the same thing.] Tainted, or spoiled. Something that's become dangerous because some kind of disease or poison or whatever else has gotten into it.

Oh. Why would you think that? Do you really have dead bodies around here, then?

I'd think that because the Heavens managed to let a bunch of chocolates get tainted with ayakashi not long after all this started happening. If that's possible, then I'm not leaving myself open to an attack like that.

[It might be a bit on the paranoid side in terms of reasons to entirely write off food from a certain area, but Shun isn't exactly known for his level-headedness when it comes to things like that.]

What, seriously!?

[Immediately, her face twists, and she sticks out her tongue.]

Can they really not do anything right!?

I've heard several people who were there at the time mention it, so yes, "seriously". Apparently they caught the shinki responsible recently, but there's nothing saying something similar couldn't happen again.

[Not to mention how suspicious Yuri had been when he'd been messaging her about the flowers as well that the old gods might've set someone up to take the fall. Shun might get on better with Suijin than most of the old guard, but he's still not fully ready to trust her.]

At least they can do that much.... But who was it?

[Hey, a girl can ask, can't she? And anyway... It's good to know who to look out for, when it comes to these kind of things. She's still new and young here- she doesn't want to waste this second chance at life she's been given.]

According to Suijin, one of the old shinki, not any of the newcomers. She didn't give a name or an associated god, but apparently they were controlling the ayakashi with the ultimate aim of finding another way to get rid of them.

[There's a very obvious note of disbelief in Shun's voice when he reaches the part about the shinki's aims. Suijin isn't exactly unreliable, but he can't trust that the whole thing might not have run deeper. Or that the shinki might have lied about their motivation.]

Oh! [Her eyes widen in surprise, flowers drooping in her grip.] I wouldn't have guessed that... I didn't even know shinki could do anything like control ayakashi somehow...

Neither did I. They might have been working with someone, or been experimenting with it until they found something. [Either way, Shun highly doubts this is as open and close as it had been framed to him. But this is all he knows, so it's all he can share.]

And nobody knows anything else… Jeez. I mean, if they were trying to find out better ways to get rid of them…

[She turns back to the flowers, winding some of the stems together.]

That doesn’t sound that bad, does it?

Their end goal wasn't bad, but that doesn't excuse throwing away the lives of innocent people to get there. [There's a firmness and immediacy to that answer that says this is something Shun has strong feelings about from more than just this situation. It's not something he particularly wants to discuss, though, so he glances over at her fidgeting with the flowers.]

You're going to damage them at this rate, and all they're for is to look at. [The implication being that they're going to be useless if she damages them.]

[She sort of wants to ask more about it- it sounds like a lot has happened and she'd rather not be stupid about this kind of stuff- but then he points out the flowers and she raises an eyebrow at him.]

I'm not damaging them- have you ever seen a flower crown?

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