(no subject)

[darkestbefore]

Who: Yona, her shinki, and others happening to be wandering by her temple.
When: Mid-to-late July (following certain conversations among her shinki)
Where: Yona's Temple
What: Information (and volatile emotion) is being shared among Yona's three shinki and it has some less-than-pleasant side effects for their goddess.


[ It had been a few days since she'd revealed the truth behind her nightmares - and the happenings that haunted one particular chamber within her temple - to Shizuo after he'd pressed for her trust and it had given her a lot to think about as well, revisiting that place and the memories of that night. Not that she didn't still see it so vividly in her memories and nightmares, but here... she hoped that being here might be able to give her new perspective on that night.

So far, she wasn't having much luck finding it. But she hadn't spoken any more about it to anyone either, spending a few days quieter than normal and immersed in her own thoughts as she dealt with her own emotions and the grief Shizuo told her she needed time to accept. It's distracting enough that she doesn't immediately realize how much it's affected her first shinki until she feels the sharp stinging pain that she knows come from him, but feels it much more intensely this time than she has before. Giving a yelp, she drops the book she'd been holding (and definitely not paying attention to enough to be reading) to rub at the sharp pain in her upper arm.

Well. That had been decidedly unpleasant. And far worse than the stings she'd gotten from her shinki before. Troubled by that, she debated what to do and whether or not to confront him over this one, but as it seemed serious, she finally pushes herself to her feet to go looking for him. Unfortunately, he proved rather difficult to find (because she hadn't thought of the roof) and while she looks, her other two shinki have, in the meantime, discovered him. And the hole he'd left in the wall. And then got the story directly from him about why it was now there.

Which is why, in abrupt succession, There is more stinging, each more painful than the last but still annoyingly in the same spot on her upper arm as tempers flare and the negative emotions created by the information has a direct physical effect. Shizuo's own is still mixed with the guilt of having damaged her temple and the effect rebounds between the three until Yona gives a soft cry, clutching at her arm near the entrance to her temple as she staggers for a moment and leans against one of the bright crimson pillars.

Her arm throbs in a way it's never done before, the pain deep and aching, and without thinking, she draws the sleeve of her dress up to reveal the dark discoloration of Blight now staining her skin and she stares at it in alarm, completely caught off-guard. ]

Comments

slides this in here

[thethunderbeast]

[He waits until much, much later to confront her, having noticed Yona being more emotionally distant than her usual self the last couple of days. He isn't sure why but he has a few guesses in mind and is willing to place his bets that at least one of them is correct, and as much as he wants to approach her right away, he gives Yona her space... not for long, though.

It's when the sun is completely set and the moon is out in full force, bathing the temple in its white light that he finds her at the ponds alone. When he'd caught a glimpse of the discolouration on her shoulder, it made his stomach twist and turn uncomfortably and had almost made him turn around and leave, but... there's no point in him hiding that he's there. She could probably feel his presence coming from a mile away, so he approaches loud enough to make himself known, just in case she hadn't been paying attention.

When he pipes up, there's no effort to mask the displeasure or disgust in his voice. Not with her, but with himself. His anger and jealousy played a part in this and it only continues to spiral out of control as he tries to figure out why.]

It's ugly.

[He's talking about the blight...]

[darkestbefore]

[ Yona had felt him coming, even if she hadn't heard him while being lost deeply in her thoughts, so at the very least, his voice ringing out of the darkness behind her wasn't as much of a surprise as it would have been otherwise. Instead, she just sinks down a little lower in the water, glancing over her shoulder at him.

The movement submerges the angry patch of Blight on her pale skin a little more but still doesn't succeed in hiding it from his eyes entirely from where it's spread back around her arm and up along her shoulder. ]

I don't think it's meant to look pretty.

[thethunderbeast]

[He stops shy of a few feet from the pond and finds himself staring for a few seconds too long before realizing he has to look away when she shifts in the water, frowning to himself as he averts his gaze up to the moon instead. As if this couldn't get any more awkward...

Hak slides his robe off of his shoulders and tosses it in her direction, and it lands in a messy pile on the ground near the water, close enough that she should be able to grab it.]

Put it on when you get out or you'll get sick. It's chilly.

[It really isn't, but that's his awkward way of telling her to get out of the water.]

[darkestbefore]

[ Her temple always has the warmness of summer, even at night, but she doesn't argue with his offer, merely glances from him to the robe he'd tossed at her. They've been in a situation like this once before, but he won't remember that, and for the moment she remains where she is, hidden by the dark waters of the pool for several moments longer before she starts to swim towards shore. ]

Alright. I'm getting out. [ That's all the warning you get to avert your gaze as she does so.

Her own clothes are not that far away but when she steps out of the pond, she reaches for his robe anyway, wrapping herself up in it and clutching it to her. It smells like him, and there's a sense of comfort in that. ]

Thank you.

[eternalshield]

[Look, periodic wellness checks on his king-miss is part of his job as a dragon warrior. Especially with a murderer running around. Shizuo, Hak, and Jae-Ha are all very cute and very capable, but none of them can shield her the way Ouryuu can.

So he feels a strong chill deep in his bones when he sees her leaning against the pillar staring at her arm.]

Miss!

[Zeno breaks into a run. And when he sees the blight for himself, he... recognizes it.]

...if one of those boys is jealous of Zeno spending time with miss, Zeno will go knoc some sense into him.

[That was the case when Kaya blighted him, after all.]

[darkestbefore]

Zeno?

[ She'd been so surprised by the Sight of the Blight that she hadn't even heard him approach until he was there beside her and she shoots wide, startled eyes at him, still struggling with the confusion of how this could have happened. ]

Jealous? What? [ Who would be jealous? And of what? ]

[eternalshield]

'Swhat it was when Kaya blighted Zeno. She was jealous of Zeno hugging missy. But it worked out, she gets kisses and hugs both now.

[All of this said rather casually as he reaches for her arm. One of the problems with his strong body is that it's left him unable to accurately judge the seriousness of injuries and things on other, normal humans. He has to sit down and multiply it back out compared to the way he suffers from it. And if it takes him about half a day to heal from this... well. That's rather a serious thing.]

Zeno is about to knock sense into them anyway.

[darkestbefore]

Kaya.... Kaya was jealous because you hugged me? Enough that it Blighted you?

[ Yona's mouth drops open in surprise because for a moment, that's far more distracting that what had just happened to her. ]

But you don't... She doesn't need to... Oh, dear. At least you worked it out with her.

[ But that just has her looking back down at her shoulder once more and wincing slightly as she sinks down on the steps, leaning against the pillow she'd sagged against when it had caught her so off-guard. ]

I don't know what happened.

[toremainbehind]

[Honestly, it's not surprising that Izumo would be around Yona's temple on some days. Whenever he needs a break from his own temple and whatever else, he's always around Yona's temple at some point. It's just luck so far that he's managed to avoid Hak and Jae-Ha, occasionally Zeno and Ki-Ja, whenever he stuck around.

However, when he also happens to be nearby when he hears her cry out, immediately walking over to her.]

Yona? What's--

[He stops once he notices the blight on her arm.

A frown appears on his face before he walks closer to her.]

Come on, let's get you inside and seated.

[Don't tempt him into carrying you, too, Yona. You look like you could barely walk due to the pain.]

[darkestbefore]

[ It takes her a moment to answer, because the pain and the understanding of the Blight on her skin had caught her wholly by surprise that his words don't sink in right away.

This was no ayakashi's fault, she was certain of it. but that left the stinging of her shinki...? Just what had happened?

Her expression hurt and confused, she lifts her gaze to Izumo's face as she drags herself back out of her own thoughts, still clutching at her arm. ]

Izumo? I don't know what's happened. Something must be wrong...

[toremainbehind]

Calm down.

[Placing an arm around her shoulders, he carefully leads her inside.]

Was it an ayakashi or one of your shinki that blighted you?

[Because yes, this is a very important question. He's blighted Mikoto before, so he knows what a shinki can do to their god even without an aid of an ayakashi. At the same time, he tries to think about which of her shinki could have done this to her. He's not familiar with Hak or this Jae-Ha, which means there's Shizuo.

But knowing Shizuo, he might have felt bad about something anyway since his facetwin always seemed to feel bad about something.]

Do you have any holy water around?

[darkestbefore]

There was no ayakashi.

[ Which eliminated that as an option.

She lets him lead her inside, still clutching her arm and moving carefully, because it stung and burned and ached and she bit her lip to stifle any involuntary sounds when it throbbed at her painfully. ]

I don't know. The pool in the garden, maybe? It's supposed to have healing properties, but only after dark. [ Which won't do her much good right now, as it's still early in the day. ]

They were stinging me earlier. At first, I didn't think much of it. [ Because Shizuo does that on occasion and she'd been doing her best to adapt to it as best she could. ] But it started getting worse. And then.... this.

The end-game

[bartenderizing]

[[ OOC: If anyone would like to confront Shizuo about this situation, either before or after he and Yona come across each other, feel free to toss that over at Shizuo's log or reply under here. Either way! ]]

[ There was a post about a kind of blight that came from shinki, and it honestly wasn't so long ago. Given that they hadn't even been around a month, everything could be considered pretty recent. Yet Shizuo couldn't say if it warned that the behavior that would sting their god could spread to other shinki doing similar.

Either way, Yona had learned this personally.

Yet there was a different kind of shame- not from the actions or thoughts he already had, but the ones he planned. Having resigned himself to probably crossing that line, should Soo-Won show up, Shizuo didn't particularly feel like being seen by Yona. Conveniently, there was a time they had crossed paths, but he already had to go out for other reasons. Aside from training, he's also been trying to work on fixing up Izumo's bar (now that there's a second floor.)

Depending on how long it is before they manage to catch each other, it's also been getting easier to pass off a few tiny lies- Shizuo's started to realize that, when he wanted to be, he was a pretty decent actor. It helped to alleviate some worries. ]

... Hm?

[ He was coming back late, the actual summer and temple's summer being enough that he had pulled his shirt off while coming up the stairs. Just to cool off a little before getting to his room- But something seemed to be nagging at him as he got to the 'communal square' sort of area. Something in his instincts.

It's certainly not the small, dark bruise below the base of his neck. ]

[darkestbefore]

[ Bathing in the pool had not helped, despite the bright light of the moon overhead. So she had spoken first to Hak and then to Jae-Ha about what had occurred earlier. Shizuo, however, had been nowhere in sight and after searching the Temple, she had eventually settled down on the front steps, knowing that he would have to come back eventually.

She looks like she might have dozed off, cheek resting atop her knees and arms wrapped tightly around them to ward off the evening's chill, but in truth she was just deeply lost in her thoughts. But she hears his footsteps on the paved stones and lifts her head, eyes seeking him out in the light cast from the moon in the otherwise dark courtyard.

The Blight is hidden for the moment, but she's still obviously favoring that entire side anytime she moves, the Blight having spread up her arm and down the back of her shoulder over the course of the day, burning and throbbing with pain at random intervals. ]

Shizuo.

[bartenderizing]

[ It was strange, most days he didn't see Yona hanging around on the stairs so late at night. While his instincts could scream that something serious was going on, there was a settled stubbornness which reasoned it into the probability that the other shinki were giving her a hard time. It wouldn't be the first time that Hak riled and teased their goddess into wanting to get some fresh air.

Yet her face seemed a little pained-

As it was already off, he wasn't going to put the shirt back on. Instead it was slung over a shoulder to hang around there instead.]

Had a rough practice at the archery range?

[darkestbefore]

[ She shakes her head and hesitates for a moment before reaching up and sliding the sleeve of her dress aside, revealing her shoulder. It was dark and discolored now, the Blight having spread much further over the course of the day. ]

No. I wasn't practicing today.

[justclaws]

Princess? You forgot your book.

[This--

[No. No, he has no idea what is going on. He knows only that he found a book in the temple gardens, that he can think of no reason why any of the other occupants would have been reading such a thing, and that the Princess, therefore, is probably wondering where she must have left it. It is a pleasant day - a little too pleasant, if anything - but even morning dew is enough to seriously trouble a book. It is only correct that he should return it.

[He is not expecting to find the Princess by the temple doors, one sleeve drawn high. Of course Kija knows it is merely an arm, but he averts his gaze anyway. She would not be doing such a thing, unless something troubled her, so it is much better not to look.]

You have not been stung, have you?

[Bugs.

[Why were they permitted?]

[darkestbefore]

[ What a loaded question.

She'd been so caught up at staring at it in disbelief that Kija's question catches her off guard and perhaps the reason for the hysterical bubble of laughter that slips from her lips, disbelieving. ]

Stung?

[ She makes a sound that is very much not a laugh and sinks down on the step, her legs feeling shaky. ]

[justclaws]

Princess?

[It really is not that book's afternoon: now Kija drops it as well, and forgets all about it.

[He drops to his knees, rests his hands on her shoulders - to steady her, just that. What if she falls further, or strikes her head? Can the heat be affecting her? Have they been seen? He has his hands upon the Princess, and yet Kija would be glad of it. She needs help.]

Princess, are you unwell? Should I call for help?

15 minutes late with Starbucks

[fadingsunshine]

[Kaya had gone to Yona's temple since she had cooked too much food for three people in class, and she was getting better at making rice balls. There was also some chocolate cake from the supermarket, like the one she bought for the picnic. Yona's boys seemed to like it.

As she sees Yona's strange reaction, she runs to meet her friend.]

Yona! Are you okay? What is the--?

[Kaya's now close enough to see her arm, to see what the girl is looking at. She feels her stomach churning.]

Oh, no! Is that...?

please tell her it's Irish at least, she could use one right about now

[darkestbefore]

[ Yona had just sagged down onto the steps as Kaya rushed up, still leaning against the pillar, her face pale. She glances up with wide eyes, her expression disbelieving. ]

They... I think they Blighted me?

[ She sounds more confused - and a little hurt - over the realization of this than anything ]

The one in charge of the drinks is Zeno now. GODspeed

[fadingsunshine]

[She's torn because she wants to hug Yona, but doing so would only blight herself, and then Zeno as well. She gulps the knot in her throat.]

Oh, no! You... do you know which one? They all seem good guys...

[But being good has no relation, she knows. If anything, being a good person should make blight more possible since they would experience guilt easier.]

I-I'm sorry, I don't have any experience dealing with blight. I've read a little about it on the phone, though.

For Jae-Ha

[darkestbefore]

[ Her conversation with Hak had been... complicated, at best, but Yona knew she had to speak with each of her shinki before she could get this mess cleared up.

So after leaving one of her companions at the pool, she slips back into her temple to search out Jae-Ha next, hoping he wouldn't be too hard to find. ]

[leapinglizard]

[Fortunately for her, he hasn't wandered terribly far today-- in fact, most days he seems inclined to stick close to home, unwilling to put himself too far from Yona's sphere of influence. He's out in the garden when she finds him, training against some invisible opponent, but as soon as he catches a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye, sees her unusual bearing-- he knows something isn't right.]

Kiddo?

[darkestbefore]

Jae-Ha.

[ She tries for a smile, but it's considerably less convincing today than it normally might be. Still, she motions to a nearby bench with her good arm in invitation. ]

Do you have a moment? We need to talk.