[ Open-ish ]

[darkestbefore]

Who: Yona and castmates/adjacent CR
When: The days after the Age-Swap Event
Where: Yona's Temple
What: Catch-all to deal with fallout from the new arrivals and things discovered during the age swap event. Also probably a picnic.


[ The day after time is restored to normal, Yona sticks close to her temple, mind still reeling from what she had learned and the hectic events of the past few days. Between the arrival of her two newest shinki and some of the conversations she'd had with companions over the past few days, taking some time to process it seems the wisest of ideas.

But even though she doesn't venture far from her own temple, it doesn't mean she doesn't welcome anyone who stops by for a visit, clearly happy to greet anyone who stops by. Especially if they are people she needed to talk with anyway.

As for those staying in her temple, she does her best to make sure they get settled and comfortable, answering any questions she can to try and make this new arrangement as smooth as possible. And if there's a sudden resurgence of bad dreams in the aftermath of one particular shinki coming back to live in this place with her... well. She does her best to hide the evidence of it. ]

Comments

[bartenderizing]

[ Talk and chew at the same time all you'd like, as long as you don't spit apple bits at him. It's fine, even if you manage to choke from it. After all, Shizuo is often found smoking when out relaxing like this. He doesn't put it out when talking to people, which some would also consider rude. ]

The only thing you're in for is the stuff that was put into the handouts. Nothing else is really a given or the same for all of us.

[ You know, that handout you crumpled up and didn't read. ]

[thethunderbeast]

[Yeah, no. Maybe if it was an interesting read, he might have taken the time to read it but he still has it in the event that he goes to look at it. There's only so much a brochure can tell you. The rest is all based on personal experience.]

I'm not looking for words on a pamphlet that someone wrote who knows how long ago. It's different for everyone – that's why I'm asking you and not reading something some stranger put down.

[bartenderizing]

... All of us worked on that this past week. Including me.

[ How about that twist. Especially when Shizuo's definitely not the type to take part in these kinds of projects. (It's more that he pushed someone else to go forth with it, and made sure certain subjects were in there.) ]

Yona's probably going to want to try taking us out for a prayer that involves ayakashi, now that she's more familiar with what some of us can do. Otherwise you can do what you'd like. I've got a job at a bar that another shinki runs and do some other things, if you need an example.

[ Yes. Surprisingly he does more than bask in the sun and take walks. ]

[thethunderbeast]

[.... He's just going to blatantly ignore the first part about the pamphlet. Good job, Shizuo. You are doing god's work, 10/10!]

Prayers, huh? I've heard about those. [He's not completely uninformed... only a little bit.] So what is it you can do? Other than punch people really hard?

[bartenderizing]

[ This is why he's going to want to punch you half the time. Luckily, Shizuo will only want to do such half the time. ]

Normally? I'm pretty useless. As a vessel, I can stop anything from hitting Yona. If anything I can at least keep her safe.

[ Never mind that useless part. Hak will eventually learn that Shizuo isn't the biggest fan of himself. ]

[thethunderbeast]

[He'll count his blessings.]

I wouldn't call what you can do useless - that's like saying the skill to wield a weapon is useless. It's just different.

[He sighs because that hit his ego a little harder than he would have liked.]

[bartenderizing]

I don't see them as being at all alike. Skills are learned and trained- They were worked at to get.

[ He clearly has value for skills. It's why he's pleasantly surprised when discovering that he knows how to do various tasks. Like cooking, bartending, construction (to a basic degree,) and other things you had to know instead of just being able to do them. ]

Honestly, what I can do is more problematic than helpful right now. I can't really feel what I'm doing exactly, save for the general awareness, so it's easy to break things.

[ Hak's still pretty new, but at some point it'll be obvious that Shizuo never actually holds or grabs people- Even if Yona took his hand, he would never actually close his. Not when there was the risk of breaking it. ]

Really, it'd be useful if anyone but me had this. Probably.

[thethunderbeast]

[Hak shakes his head, taking a moment to glance over Shizuo's hands. Not that there's anything odd about them, but when he'd felt that punch against his own, even Hak could tell that it was pretty inhuman. He's got quite a bit of strength and endurance himself, and even his fist ached for a couple of days after.]

You really think it'd be more useful if someone else had it? Not like it would change anything about what it does. Isn't it better in the hands of someone who thinks the way you do?

[bartenderizing]

How I think only does so much.

[ Despite the self-depreciation, Shizuo says these things as if they were a simply fact or decision and less a thing to really mope about. ]

There'd be people who would have the same concerns with this, but they'd have a chance to control it better. I figured that out the other day when I was a kid and I could feel what I was doing.

[thethunderbeast]

[Hak respectfully disagrees and shakes his head to express as much.]

Maybe, but have you been practicing to control it better, then?

[bartenderizing]

Two kinds of training for this in particular, but there hasn't really been much improvement.

[ At least, that's what he thinks. Shizuo is pretty biased towards whether or not he's good at something, because he's too harsh a judge on himself. ]

One's with a monk to understand and try to get finer control. The other is mostly sparring with a couple of people to get better at fighting, but it's not really controlled.

[thethunderbeast]

Controlled? What's there to control in a spar? Two people hitting each other, it doesn't get simpler than that.

[He raises an eyebrow at Shizuo.]

Unless you mean you're just throwing punches without really thinking. I feel bad for whoever's on the other side.

[bartenderizing]

... This kind of sparring includes them with fire and energy blasting powers.

[ Look. He has to improvise. ]

I just react how I can.

[thethunderbeast]

Mm, alright. Doesn't sound very controlled to me.

[What the heck kind of powers do these people have, other than what they're capable of as gods or shinki!?]

I'd offer to help but I like my face enough to want to avoid getting blasted with fire.

[Look, it's a pretty decent face, alright?]

[bartenderizing]

[ It really is a mixed bag, Hak. Someday you may meet the headless woman, so be prepared. ]

Izumo knows better than to hit people in the face, but it's probably best you don't get involved. I barely keep up with them.

[ In his opinion, that is. Has Hak realized how that tends to lean, though? ]

[thethunderbeast]

No way you're going to learn if they go easy on you. Best that you can't keep up with them.

[He was never one for 'going easy' on someone. He doesn't believe in that.]

If you're going to learn to fight, then learn how to fight like you're up against a worthy opponent.

[bartenderizing]

[ Then you can fight the child with all your strength and speed. Shizuo has hangups on all that. ]

I dunno if I believe all that exactly. All I know is that I keep ruining the flow and shit like that.

[ Then again, Hak (and his hand) know exactly how Shizuo tends to mess with the flow of a fight. He'll never do well as a stuntman. ]

If that counts for learning how to fight, then I guess I'm doing that in my own way.

[thethunderbeast]

Ruining the flow is just another way of saying throwing someone off.

[And it had certainly done the trick enough to throw Hak off the first time around, and he's made a mental note to himself to not piss off the man. He likes his hands as much as he does his face.]

[bartenderizing]

Maybe in an actual fight.

[ He shouldn't be disrupting something that's essentially practice, right? ]

It'd be easier, but something is giving me trouble about one on one spars.

[ Which... Sounds kinda right to him. That'd be because he was designed for gangs on one fights. ]

[thethunderbeast]

Trouble?

[Hak takes a loud and unceremonious bite of his apple.]

What kind of trouble?

[He'd offer a hand with it, but... you know. And he isn't about to go pushing his help on other people unless they ask for it. He doesn't seem to appreciate it when it's done to him so do unto others, etc. He'll happily lend an ear, though.]

[bartenderizing]

Not sure exactly.

[ Well no, that's not completely true. Part of it is that when things are one-on-one, he's prone to actions that completely separate the fight instead of continuing a spar. Which doesn't exactly work against ayakashi or other Far Shore people. ]

It's just easier to deal with things when there's more than one person and attack coming at me.

[thethunderbeast]

Not like that's a bad thing, is it? Being able to handle multiple attacks.

[At least, he doesn't see it as a problem. Trains the eyes to see where to look and when. Not that he considers himself an expert or anything – Hak doesn't even know much about himself past the fact that he seems to be a seasoned fighter and is good at it. The knowledge is there, but why it's there is still missing.]

[bartenderizing]

Maybe when there's multiple people.

[ Shizuo doesn't even see himself as a fighter, amusingly enough. Despite the things Hak has dealt with personally, the Shizuo went along with the motions at an easy pace. Easy enough to nap and get all the good sun basking spots. ]

I don't know how to focus and stay on the fact that it's just one person, I guess.

[ Even his body anticipates something coming from the back or side, even if there's no reason for it. There was no reason for crowd-control type moves when there wasn't a crowd. ]

[thethunderbeast]

[Hak debates his next comment for a while, shifting so that he's more on his side than on his back now, and he finally responds with a sigh.]

I can offer up myself as a practice target if you want. [Just avoid his face.] It gets boring around here some days and I can only tend to the horses or practice by myself for so long.

[bartenderizing]

'Target'?

[ He doesn't really like the sound of that word being used in this context. Yet the rest sort of... put things into perspective. ]

Ah... So you're lonely. Honestly, I'd be afraid of hurting you.