thenearshore | -Overflow- for 015

Just because you've got bad manners doesn't mean I can't say thank you. Arguing about it wastes a lot more breath than "you're welcome," anyway.

Who's looking into the whole fire thing? I mean, Amaterasu's probably the one who's telling people what to do about it, right?

[That'd make sense. She's the boss, so she hands out the jobs. Right?]

I've stopped bothering most of the time. If people can't figure out it's a waste of time after trying it once, that's their problem. [He's mostly just doing it with Tsuzuki since he'd already seemed to be taking particular umbrage with his attitude, so it had seemed stupid to Shun to assume he'd just take the thanks.

There's not actually a great deal Shun knows about the search surrounding the fire, so he shrugs a little.]

I've been around there a few times since it happened, there's probably some other new gods and shinki looking into it. Bishamon mentioned she'd be looking for the culprits as well, so if you want something organised she's probably the best person to ask.

Bishamon, huh. I ran into her already... so she really is kind of running things with the newbies?

[That's what she'd said, but it does sound like she's got a pretty important position. More than he'd have expected just from her famous name -- isn't she supposed to be a war goddess? But if she's the one to ask, at least he'll recognize her.]

Basically. She's the one who has the most contact with us, and she's been making more of an effort to look into our issues than most of the other older gods.

[Suijin and Amaterasu are all well and good, but they're too busy to get hold of nearly as often as Bishamon. And the less said about the other advisors, the better, as far as Shun's concerned.]

Why Bishamon? I mean, it doesn't seem like a war god is the kind of person you'd pick for diplomacy, right? Did she get in trouble or something?

[Or maybe it's just her personality. She'd seemed friendly, and helpful, too, which isn't the kind of thing Tsuzuki would've expected from the idea of "war god." So he could just have the wrong expectations.]

Just because she's a war god doesn't mean she doesn't know how to be diplomatic. She wasn't forced to keep an eye on us, as far as I know. She just did it, and more of us are familiar with her and know her because of it.

[So it's less of a godly role thing and more her having taken the initiative where the older gods hadn't really bothered to start with. It doesn't make that much difference to Shun, as long as she keeps doing it.]

Huh. Okay.

[She'd said she was assigned, and that's why they told her all the newbies' names... maybe Tsuzuki'd misunderstood something? Or maybe Shun just didn't know about it.

Either way, he figures he won't argue.]

It's pretty nice of her to go to all that trouble, then.

[Shun would likely have the same opinion even knowing she was assigned, because there's more than enough people here who just don't bother doing their jobs, or are terrible enough at them that the result is the same.

In any case, he shrugs at the matter of it being nice.] It's what all of the older gods should be trying to do. They're just going to encourage the divide that already exists between us and them by keeping a distance and keeping their hands off. At least some of them have figured that out by now.

New gods have only been showing up for a few months, though, right? And there's not that many of us yet?

[What he's saying is: he's not that surprised that they're still standoffish. At the moment the new gods are just kind of the weird new kids on the block.]

I mean, if they're just staying hands-off, that's not bad.

[It's not like they're making trouble for the new gods, even.]

There's enough of us and it's been happening for long enough that they should be at least making an effort by now. Some of them are, but others still don't trust us or think we should be locked out of the loop of information.

[If they were just staying hands off, it'd be better, but Shun can't help but feel that the majority opinion of the older gods is the reason it took until the temple fire for Amaterasu to promise to keep them informed. So he doesn't exactly sound convinced by that remark.]

Staying hands-off doesn't mean they're not making things harder than they need to be when there's another enemy we should be focusing on.

I mean, you're not wrong. I guess I can see why they wouldn't want to get us involved, though.

A couple months isn't that long for gods.

[What with that whole immortal, eternal thing....]

Almost all of us weren't gods before we came here, and they know that. We've been vocal enough about our impatience anyway. [Shun doesn't consider different reference points an excuse here. The gods know they're dealing with largely former humans, so they should be adapting as much as the new gods have had to.]

We're involved, whether they like it or not. The enemies of the Heavens aren't going to differentiate between old and new, they've proved that already.

I mean, you can't expect them all to adjust to you guys that fast, though! [He laughs a little self-consciously.] But I'm just a shinki, so I guess it's up to you.

It'll probably work out.

I'm not expecting them to adjust fully. But this can't be the first time they've seen combat. If you can't adapt, you don't survive, and they're refusing to adapt. [And given Shun considers the Heavens' current situation as a state of war, as low-key as it might usually be, he doesn't feel the need to elaborate on the rest of that.

There's a disbelieving sound from Shun at that last remark.] That's naive.

More like they're not gonna trust us to be a lot of help when we don't know the ropes yet. Just 'cause they don't want us on their side doesn't mean they're not doing things on their end.

[Maybe it is naive of him to want to trust that the gods basically have things under control, but he knows he's clueless about the situation, and taking on somebody who can cause major problems for a god as powerful as Amaterasu is way out of his range.

He shakes his head.]

I mean, maybe, but it's not like it'll make a big difference whether I think things'll work out or they won't. So why worry?

If the excuse is us not knowing the ropes, they should be making an actual effort to teach us instead of leaving us to our own devices and only intervening when things go to hell. Most of them don't even do that, either. [He doesn't know how many older gods are here, but it has to be more than the handful who've presenteed themselves so far.

Tsuzuki's attempted explanation doesn't do him any further favours with Shun, and he offers a derisive hiss this time at what he sees as wilful ignorance.]

Don't cry to me when things take a turn for the worse and you weren't prepared for it, then. You're only harming your own chances of survival.

Yeah, because complaining that the bigwigs aren't spending enough time keeping a bunch of clueless newbies in the loop is how real survivors act, right?

[Tsuzuki scowls at him. Man, okay, maybe he should've gone with that first impulse. Not only is this guy rude, he just doesn't know how to relax!]

I've talked to the "bigwigs" about it plenty of times, and inform newcomers myself when I have to. I've had a lot of people make stupid assumptions of me based on first impressions, but I think yours is the most misguided so far.

[And that's saying a lot, given the amount of people he's had deciding he's nice on first meeting. He doubts he's going to be able to salvage the conversation at this point anyway, and doesn't really consider it worth the effort, so he turns away with a slight shrug and the very obvious intent of heading off back into the crowd.]

If you'd rather not worry, then I won't waste my time on informing you. Someone with more patience can deal with that.

Fine.

[Tsuzuki resists the juvenile, but tempting, urge to stick his tongue out at Shun's retreating back (because, seriously: what a jerk) and turns away, instead, to go head back into the crowd. He's got a goddess to find.]

-Overflow- for 015 | Sky Full Of Stars

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