Hello! My name is Elder Sha (open log)

[erogappa]

Who: Gojyo and whoever he runs into!
What: Snooping around the Far Shore to try and learn more about why they're all here
When: The days following the temple fire (March 27-31ish)
Where: All over the Far Shore and select spots on the Near Shore
Warnings: will update



Gods and shinki both are disappearing, the priest had said. And nobody knows why. As if being told that he was a) dead, and b) a shape-shifting monster hunter wasn't bad enough (although, to be honest, he was really on board with the monster hunter thing. How cool was that?) Without any memories to draw on -- without even really knowing what he knew and didn't know -- he didn't see a lot of options available to him.

(open to anyone:)
1. He could go talk to Amaterasu. She was the head god around here, as far as he'd been able to determine, and given that somebody had just set her house on fire with her in it while papering the neighborhood with DOWN WITH AMATERASU flyers, he was going to go out on a limb and guess that she knew something about the whole mess he'd found himself in the middle of.

Now if he could just find her.

(Open to anyone:)
2. He could -- and he really loved this word -- crowdsource. Whoever was responsible had to be watching the network -- they'd be a fool if they weren't -- so in-person conversations was the best bet. And yeah, okay, he felt a little stupid at the idea of walking up to one random temple after another and asking the gods and shinki there what they knew about the disappearances, but he also turned into a goddamn staple remover, and there was nothing stupider than that.

(Locked to Yuri and/or Neji and/or Hakkai:)
3. He could feel out the resistance. Sharak Sanzo had all but dumped an invitation into his lap, and she'd made it pretty clear that the swamp elf was a part of it, too. Confronting the guy seemed like a potentially dangerous way to spend an afternoon, but he was already dead, right? What harm could it do? And eventually, if he asked around, somebody would have to know where the creepy smiling guy covered in plant tattoos lived.

(Locked to Sharak:)
4. He could blow the whole goddamn plan off, and go find someplace to get a drink.



(ooc: If none of these prompts work for you, feel free to wildcard and make your own!)

Comments

June 29

[reformedsinner]

His lesson had ended at three, and, lost for more useful ways of spending his time, Hakkai had headed back for Yuri's temple. He tried, occasionally, to clear out the nooses dangling from her trees, even if they always reappeared. They'd grown particularly thick lately.

It was an uncomfortable reminder of the forest yesterday, he admitted to himself.

Besides, Ayumu had said she might be interested in macrame. He could bring her a double armful of free rope.

All of which was to say that, when he spotted a familiar lean redheaded figure approaching the temple forest, Hakkai was balancing fifteen feet off the ground on the limb of an old chestnut with a folding knife in hand, sawing through the mossy knot on an empty, dangling noose.


He jolted backwards, and only a desperate last-minute scramble kept him on the branch. Leaves, twigs, and his dropped knife all plummeted to the ground.

[erogappa]

Over the ridge, and you can't miss it. It's the suicide forest. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, but the girl's friend had confirmed it -- Cho Hakkai, the guy with the vine tattoos and the pointed elf ears, lived in the temple in the suicide forest.

As if he needed more signs that this was a terrible idea.

But he'd thanked them, and headed on, doing everything he could to ignore the churning in his gut that -- he could only assume -- was his conscience telling him to turn back. Or maybe he shouldn't eat eggs, he snapped angrily at himself, stop being such a chicken, you're a demon hunter now, act like it! Whoever Sha Gojyo had been before, this version was brave and focused, and wouldn't let a little thing like butterflies in his stomach turn him off his path.

A little thing like a dense, dark forest festooned with nooses, on the other hand...

He rounded the curve in the road, and stopped, staring in horror at the forest before him. Sure, they'd said 'suicide forest', but, well, that could have meant a lot of things! It was the location of a double suicide a hundred years back, there was a cliff that kids joked was a good spot to jump from, old man Victor Suicide had a farm there back in the year dot. Anything other than the quietly creaking horror at the end of the road.

But he'd come this far. The goosebumps were just from the cold. He could do this. Gojyo lifted his chin and stomped onward... but before he could set a single foot into the somehow wet-looking shade beneath the first tree, there was a crack like a gunshot and a rustling of leaves like something was about to leap out of the tree above him. Something bright caught his eye (briefly, since he was in fact leaping backwards himself), and a second later it registered.

"Hey!" he hollered up into the canopy, where he could just make up a pair of legs wrapped around a branch. "You asshole, did you just throw a knife at my head?!"

[reformedsinner]

"I didn't hit you, did I?" Hakkai called down, clinging to cheerful bravado as his mind whirled through panicked options. The knot was almost sawed through; he leaned over, grabbing the rope, and severed the last few strands with a neat stroke of his claws. Having that fall on Gojyo's head wouldn't make him feel any more welcome.

Was he welcome? Hakkai wasn't sure. It felt too soon. He couldn't imagine why Gojyo was here; their first encounter had been so brief and unwelcoming, and Hakkai had been trying to avoid him since. Had Ekko sent him? The young man had seemed more interested in his shinki's safety than anything else, but -- it was hard to be sure, after all. He was no mind-reader.

He slung the noose over his shoulder, judged the distance, and swung down to the ground.

"Sha Gojyo," he said, and straightened up, dusting the bark fragments off his palms. "--isn't it? What brings you here?"

[erogappa]

Of course it was that Cho guy throwing knives at him. Of course it was.

Gojyo took a step back when he saw it was Cho in the tree, and he took another step back when Cho jumped down and landed in front of him with a noose half wrapped around him like some kind of macabre scarf.

"Sanzo sent me," he offered, still fixing Hakkai with a dubious sideeye. The second the other man lunged, or made like he was going to throw that rope, or anything else that looked suspicious, Gojyo was going to punch his face in and take off running. Probably in that order. "So you're a youkai, huh?"

June 29th??

[bussounoshima]

["The resistance" is a whole lot less organised than Sharak would like, and whole lot less active. For the most part, as far as she can tell, it involves listening and putting yourself in a position to listen. For most, the best way to accomplish that would be... being a well-behaved, reasonable, hard-working member of society. A good goddess. She has to rebuild credibility- no one here gives a shit about "Sanzo". Being polite and friendly in public is easy and a habit (according to her). Prayers are still new, but Aditi doesn't get anything too objectionable. Mostly parents worrying about their children, or family members worrying for a pregnant person. There's not much she can do for some of them, but she can make an effort. She can show up.

It's not like she has anything better to do.

But after a day running around, doing what she can for Aditi's followers, she figures she's owed a some quiet on her own. The temple is a little too quiet at the moment, but a bar where everyone ignores her but continues to chatter around her is just about perfect. Sharak has found a small tavern on the Near Shore with decent drinks and claimed a spot at the bar where she can people watch. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, with nothing but nameless strangers and her own thoughts to keep her company.]

Sure! What is time, really.

[erogappa]

[ He couldn't say what drew him to the bar. There's a club a few blocks to the north that has flashing lights and scantily clad girls and a base thump that you can feel all the way on the other side of the street, and the idea of getting lost in the noise and heat of a crowd sounds better with every step he takes toward the entrance.

But then he keeps going, hands stuffed in his pockets, face turned into the cool evening breeze -- he wanders aimlessly until the club is nothing but a memory and the sidewalks clear of people. There's a neon sign in an otherwise blacked out window up ahead, the white and green of a martini glass blinking the international symbol for come drink here. It looks like the kind of place that nobody outside of a three-block radius would ever look twice at, where the regulars all know each other's faces but not their names, and where every shelf is the cheap shelf.

He couldn't tell you why he goes in. But he's got three bills in the local currency burning a hole in his pocket, and they'll spend here as well as anywhere.

The door squeaks when he enters, and he makes his way straight to the bar, slapping down two of the bills to get the bartender's attention. ] Beer. [ He's discovered already that Ekko had been right -- the living really don't see them, so if he wants a drink, he'd better get it in that brief window while the bartender's still looking at the door to see who's coming in.

Being dead is a pain in the ass, sometimes. ] And keep 'em coming! [ --he calls, as the money vanishes off the bar. He'll go nab a bottle from behind the bar himself if he really needs to, but it's better to try and do things legally first. It just feels right that way. ]

Vaguely at some time around these days, I don't know what she's up to okay

[bussounoshima]

[Sharak and the bartender look up at the same time towards the door, but the reactions are slightly different. The bartender mumbles something and goes to do his job, Sharak tenses up and closes her eyes for a moment. Damn it. So much for a relaxing evening.

Well, she's not about to run off. Not only would that be suspicious as hell, but she was here first. Anyway, she's talked to shinki without turning them into blight monsters before. The tenseness is gone within a few seconds and when the bartender turns back to put a beer in front of whoever just gave him some money for one, she takes advantage of it to lazily raise her hand and get his attention.]

Here too, again.

[Not acknowledging Gojyo just yet.]

2- this can straight up be any of the days

[bartenderizing]

Really, the responsible thing to do when you first arrive, get assigned to some god and get placed in a 'temple' was... Well, really there was two things. Get to know the person that you're supposed to help and protect, and make sure the place that you're going to be living is comfortable. At least enough to get settled, and make sure that no one was about to fall through the floor or something.

Something like that.

The important thing is that Shizuo was aware that there were things he should be doing. Except it was so nice and sunny out, and just warm enough that he could just lay down on the lawn and soak in the rays.

In fact, that's exactly what he did.

It had been long enough that someone managed to put up another of those flyers on the gate. So, by Gojyo's luck coincidence, he would've just been walking by when the blond had started to wake and notice. And oh, what an awakening. He's had to deal with enough of those papers that the very sight of them was enough to bring his anger to a boil. There's little that he does to hide that when calling out at the redhead. "Hey! Are you the asshole leaving all this crap around?"

[erogappa]

The flyer on the gate had caught his eye all the way back at the turn of the road. Those Down with Amaterasu! flyers had been everywhere the night of the fire -- was this one a sign that the tenants were part of the conspiracy? It seemed too simple -- it seemed to stupidly obvious -- but it couldn't hurt to check.

He was at the gate, just about to ring the bell (assuming there was a bell) when some jerk started shouting at him. This was his luck, apparently.

"The only crap I see here is some blond jerk with a big mouth!" he hollered back, and damn. Apparently he's got a fiery temper. That's a good thing to know about himself!

[bartenderizing]

What neither knew, or could remember, is that this was essentially the run of luck they had when alive. Misunderstandings rise further because there wasn't any denial of responsibility for those damn posters. The idea of how the girl, whom he's supposed to protect, would react from seeing this stuff come up again... He's not completely thinking.

"And I see some jackass that has no problem upsetting some new kid that's got enough on her plate!"

Not that Gojyo knew about that, much less the fact that this 'kid' was actually a teenager. Fiery temper meets explosive as, despite the fact that this guy is a twig, with a single hand he manages to pull up a tree (which was a good amount more grown than a sapling) out from the ground. Roots and all, and it might take a couple of seconds for him to wind into it, but it's clear that the blond was about to spear-throw the tree- dirt and root side first.

June... (makes unintelligible noise)

[onerous]

[It's really a good thing Yuri's been warned ahead of time that Gojyo's back or her reaction might've been a little different upon seeing the shock of red hair around her forest.

It's also a good thing the surprise she still shows (because it is still shocking to see him, regardless of how prepared she thought she was) can be easily explained away. After all, it's not as though she usually gets visitors or anything.]

Um.

[Eloquent. Yuri's brow furrows slightly in uncertainty and she looks around as if half-expecting someone else to come rescue her from this situation.] Are you lost? [Unless he's here to see Hakkai or something, but from what she understands the meeting hadn't gone too well the first time...]

[erogappa]

[ she doesn't get many visitors? To her temple in the middle of a nightmare forest full of hangings trees? Gosh. You don't say. ]

That depends. [ He's paused in the doorway, not really wanting to come inside. Not really wanting to do anything other than turn and flee back to someplace that smelled less like despair. ] Does Cho Hakkai live here?

[onerous]

[Shocking, right? At least the home itself was warm and inviting, and there's a scent of fresh brewed coffee hanging in the air. Yuri looks over her shoulder, as if half-expecting Hakkai to come waltzing out with an explanation so Yuri wouldn't have to keep this up, but he doesn't, of course.]

Yeah, he does. I'm not sure he's here right now, though I'm sure he won't be too long. [She looks back at him, eyeing him slowly. He looked... good. Better than she would've thought, really, and that's a relief.]

...I'm Kozukata Yuri, Hakkai's goddess. Did you want to come in? I have coffee. Maybe a beer if that's more your thing. [But she's not going near wine anytime soon, just in case, and she steps aside so he can walk in if he'd like.] ...Sorry, I'm not really used to playing hostess.

[Yuri's fairly certain that everything about her awkwardness can be explained away like this, and she makes a gesture out to the surrounding forest with a on apologetic little smile. 'As you can probably guess,' she seems to be saying.]

June 30th

[royaltyloyalty]

It's Gojyo's 5th day back and Dokugakuji has been trying to think about how his meeting with Gojyo should go this time. If he'd been cautious around Hakkai, he's absolutely dead set on not hurting his own damn brother. And sure, Hakkai and Sharak managed to talk to him already, but that didn't guarantee him the same privilege. Their family had shit for luck after all.

Then one day, Gojyo wandering the temples brings him to the little valley that is The Shrine of Kshitigarbha's Vow. There's the long steps leading down to it that normally Meji and Masaji would be tending to, but the two Soulless shinki are elsewhere when Gojyo shows up. Doku is heading towards the stairs and Gojyo down them when Doku feels his presence.

He's still wearing the long white coat, but no hat covers his head. He's long since figured out it doesn't matter. So there are his ears and youkai marks on display. "Ah... Yo." Lame start, but he's trying to act like this is just a stranger coming to his temple. He knows Gojyo's a shinki. So maybe his shock at seeing Gojyo be the one to approach him can cover his ass. "Lookin' for someone?"

[erogappa]

Gojyo pauses briefly on the stairwell to consider the man below. Another youkai, huh? Interesting. But this one looks a lot more friendly than the Swamp Elf, so Gojyo offers the man a big smile and continues down the steps.

"Yeah, hey," he waves. "I'm Gojyo, a new shinki here." He nods at the greenery behind Doku. "Is this your temple?"

[royaltyloyalty]

At this point Doku's not even sure which name he should use. He's pretty sure from what he understands of the situation with Hakkai that Dokugakuji had been a safe bet this whole time... and now Hakkai's told him that at some point, Gojyo had told Hakkai his original name too. So surely the other person with intimate knowledge of his past should also be safe with the name his prince gave him.

"That's right. The Shrine of Ksitigarbha's Vow, they said. That's my godly assignment too." He turns away as if appreciating the temple's beauty but really any moment he can get is a good one right now, before turning back to Gojyo with another neutral expression. "Gojyo, then?" He reaches out a hand to shake. "You can call me Dokugakuji."

2

[cyberfly]

So while he's been away, things happened. No surprises there. In Nagi's experience, there was a cycle to this sort of thing here. Like regular chaos. He has no problems with it, in particular. If someone decides to kill Amaterasu, that's got very little to do with him. As far as he as ascertained (what little information he's been able to gather anyway), she has no real power with the goings on here.

And so he hasn't really looked into the matter of her house getting torched. Nevertheless, he might look into it if there's nothing else to do. If anything, he hates being idle.

He's back at Omi's temple and has settled in with his equipment and so on when he's interrupted by a knock at the door. He checks who it is before opening the door.

"Gojyo."

This is unexpected. Did something happen?

[erogappa]

The kid who opens the door couldn't be more than sixteen. There sure are a lot of young gods and shinki around, Gojyo can't help thinking. He can't have seen more than a handful of folks he'd place over thirty -- most everyone seems to be between just past puberty and about twenty or so. Wonder why that is?

But then the kid says his name, with clear recognition. How...?

"Yeah?" How could this kid know his name? "I'm Sha Gojyo. Did somebody tell you I was heading this way?" He has been making a pest of himself at all the nearby temples, poking in and asking the residents questions about being shinki and who might want Amaterasu dead. It's not that big a stretch to think that somebody might be warning the other temples in the area about the nosy redhead!

[cyberfly]

This is not the reaction he was expecting. But even when he's confused, Nagi's face doesn't really show it. He just stares at Gojyo for a bit as he processes this information.

He's heard of people disappearing and reappearing. Maybe this is what happened with Gojyo. Does this mean he's a god again or a shinki? Is Nagi knowing him from before going to blight him?

"No," comes the suspiciously delayed response.

"...Why would they?"

am i late

[tuishou]

[If it's been said once it's been said a thousand times: the suicide forest doesn't know visitors. It doesn't welcome them. Those who are invited are (for the most part) escorted through the winding path and at least partially shielded from the shadows and rope through company and talk. There may have been a wanderer or two, or someone genuinely lost, some time ago but Neji can't quite remember the last time someone just decided to walk in.

And no, he can't remember this one's hair or figure or what-the-hell ever, because he's reasonably certain he's never before come across Sha Gojyo. So to the watch dog this is only an intrusion. This is his goddess' terrain being mapped by some homely unknown, and Neji thinks he can't be the only one who that'd strike a bad chord with.

He wishes he could be in his vessel form. Be unseen and see everything at once. As it stands, however, wishing helps nothing and Neji can't let the gross trespassing just go on. He approaches from Gojyo's left and doesn't quite mean to be silent but there's only so much a person can do for trained instinct.] What are you doing here? [He also doesn't mean for his brows to be knit together in not-quite-suspicion and displeasure. But. What can ya do. The boy's standing aloof. Y'know. Just to round things out.]

no later than i am

[erogappa]

[ The forest is wrong. Gojyo can't quite put his finger on it -- it's like something out of a dream, maybe, or like trying to remember something he was told years ago -- but there's a definite feeling of... of just wrongness. Forests should be full of birds and things rooting around in the crackling leaves underfoot and the creak of trees swaying in the wind. But this place is too silent. He keeps catching movement in the corner of his eye, and it keeps turning out to be another noose (which really isn't better than it being a person or a wolf or something -- it's really not). With every step further in he's becoming more and more convinced that a ghost is going to leap out at any minute, or the nooses will start having bodies in them, or.... or something even worse.

He could be stuck here until nightfall. That would be worse. He actually hesitates at that thought, and it takes a hell of a lot of courage to take another step, and another.

He doesn't make it to a third, however, because some asshole sneaks up behind him. Gojyo shrieks and runs a good ten feet away before turning to face whatever monster or ghoul or...

Or snotty-looking kid just spooked him. ]

Don't sneak up on people! What's wrong with you?!

[tuishou]

[He's not a kid, damn you, he'd died practically-an-adult. And because of all the commotion Gojyo just made, he decided to look (if even possible) even less impressed with the intrusion and would-be invader.

If this was a joke, then the man was a great actor.

Neji doubted it was one, though. He's frowning. Was that already said? That's... too bad.] It wasn't my intent to frighten you. [Seeing as the only reason to 'sneak up' on someone is to maim and-or kill them-] But if you have no business here, I suggest you turn to leave.

It could be easy to get lost after dusk.

guess who else is late

[dominatriarch]

[ Going around random temples seems like a good idea, doesn't it? It's as good a time as any to check on what the "locals" are up to and see if there was anything noteworthy going on.

Unfortunately should Gojyo decide to venture over to this rather oversized manor's gates, he's not really going to find anything of note going on. Just a bunch of kids running around (the younger ones decided the weather was nice enough that they could play tag). They're being watched over by a shinki with glasses ("Hey! Don't run too far! Slow down!" "Let's play keep away from Tsuguha!" "You little brats!!!") and what seems to be a lion.

Yes, that lion.

And he's coming right for you once he sees you lingering. What do? ]

[erogappa]

[ Most of the temples have been all but deserted. Oh, there's gods in most of them, and nearly all the gods he's met have had a shinki or two, but this is the first temple he's seen that really feels like a home. Are all those kids shinki, he wonders? He can see a mark on at least one of them, so the answer is probably yes. Dead kids, then. Dead kids who turn into weapons to fight monsters with.

Suddenly it feels less home-like.

He's stuck in his musings for long enough that he doesn't initially notice that the lion isn't romping with the kids like a giant dog anymore. The lion is in fact heading his way, and looking much less playful. Shit.

Gojyo takes a step back, hands raised with an innocent smile. ]

Nice kitty?

[dominatriarch]

[ The shinki do seem to glance at him a moment but they don't seem to pay him too mind. Clearly, if Gojyo was any trouble, they'd count on said lion to take care of him.

Or they'd leave it up to their master?

Bishamon does approach the moment she notices Kuraha on edge. Thankfully, she does recognize him. She steps forward, placing a hand in front of the lion. ]

Gojyo? What brings you here?