thenearshore | [Open] All that I have are these

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[Open] All that I have are these

Who: Nanako and anyone!
When: Mid-August
Where: All over the Far Shore and wherever she can find other gods and shinki.
What: Nanako is on A Mission.

A: Photographs and Memories

[ After talking with Izumo a few days before about his plan to make a wall of memories in his bar of all the gods and shinki who have come and gone, so they'd be remembered, Nanako can be found wandering through the Far Shore and near the temples she comes across, borrowed camera in hand. While she's quicker to approach people she knows with her request, she will often wander up to strangers as well, trying to hide her shyness and nerves behind a hopeful smile. ]

B: Practice Makes Perfect

[ Nanako has been very determined of late to get better at her abilities, whatever they may be. So it's not unusual to find her practicing at her temple, or perhaps out somewhere on the Far Shore for a change of scenery. There might be a tiny girl wielding a bow and arrow, taking careful aim at her target as she practices again and again on improving her aim.

Or perhaps it's the light show that's drawn you in, a tiny hovering angel surrounded by a warm glow and occasionally trying to figure out how to direct that light where she wants it to go - with varying degrees of questionable success, though she remains looking determined, even when she fails. ]

C: Safe and Sound

[ Nanako is crouched beside her shrine, peering underneath the planks of wood that make the walk that surrounds it, looking distressed. And apparently pleading with someone - something? - hidden in the deep shadows underneath. ]

[ Or perhaps you've stopped by on a sunny afternoon to find her sprawled on her stomach on the dock that stretches out over the lake, bowl of crumbled bread crusts beside her as she feeds the fat lazy fish circling beneath her. Watch out for the pelicans, though. They sometimes like to swoop at unexpected visitors. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Geeze- Already Shizuo doesn't know if he can say no to this kid. She looks to be about the same age as Goten, too. Actually, wait, now he's a little concerned. Is that murderer still out there? ]

They want you taking pics of people you don't really know?

Well... [ She looks a little dubious at that, because Izumo hadn't really specified. Besides, she didn't really know who he knew and didn't know. And wasn't the point of a memory wall so everyone could find a memory? ] I think he wanted pictures of everyone.

[ Things would make all the more sense if Shizuo actually had the context. Without that, he just sees this as someone who sent a kid to go off and approach everyone. ]

D'you know why he wants those pictures?

Oh! [ She smiles brightly at this, because that's a question she has an easy answer for. ] Izumo is making a wall! With pictures of the gods and shinki who get brought here, so we have memories after they go away again.

Oh, it's for that.

[ By the way Shizuo said it, he was very familiar with that wall. He certainly fixed it well enough before Izumo started that project. ]

You got limited space on that camera, yeah? I actually work at the bar with Izumo, so you don't have to worry about getting me in that collection. I'm probably there more than enough already.

[ He's not even aware of how much he's managed to avoid direct photos, or even decent ones, with him in it. Glancing over it had him see enough pics with a blond in colored sunglasses to assume that a good amount was probably him as well. ]

How about people that rarely go to the near shore- you know a lot of those?

If you work at the bar with Izumo, then there's even more reason to get a picture of you.

[ This makes perfect sense in Nanako logic. ]

He wants them to save memories, so he'd definitely want one of you! Pleeeease?

I mean- like I said, there's probably a bunch. You've seen the wall, yeah?

[ The fact that a kid may be familiar with the decorations on a wall isn't so strange when you know the place's rules. Also the fact that Goten practically lives there.

While not saying no, the blond's certainly rubbing the back of his head in being unsure. Not that he even realizes that he was unsure, that he'd hesitate around the whole camera thing. ]

I mean, if you really want, but I don't want you to run out before getting pictures of people that aren't up on it.

Yeah, I saw it, but I don't think there were any that were just you.

[ She'd looked at it a lot, okay. ]

Don't worry, I made sure there was lots of room this morning, and one picture won't take up that much space. Yeah, I really want one of you, I promise it won't take long!

Hah? I thought there were a few. Huh.

[ Sometimes it's really tough when you have a lookalike and are too lazy to really be observant of that kinda thing. Of the people he checked to make sure they were on the wall, he wasn't on the list himself. ]

Right. It's not like I care how long it'll take or anything like that... Guess I'm just not the type that usually gets his picture taken.

[ Here, give him a second to sit on the ground. That should be easier with the kid's height and everything, right? ]

It's okay. A lot of people here aren't, I don't think.

[ She's assuming just from the sheer amount of confusion and skepticism she keeps getting. But the sitting certainly does help, because she hadn't been sure how to fit all of him in otherwise. He was really tall. ]

I'm Nanako, by the way. You work at the bar with Izumo?

Maybe it's a shinki thing...

[ Or a 'not from a time with cameras' thing. Really, there's a few reasons why they seemed to not be the 'type'.]

Yeah, as one of the backup bartenders. My name's Shizuo.

[ She doesn't think it's a shinki thing. She's taken lots of pictures of shinki over the past few days. ]

Oh! [ She blinks at him, recognizing that name. ] Goten's talked about you! He said you're really strong.

[ ... Geeze Goten. Are you going around telling everyone that? ]

Goten says a lot of things, really. I'm really not that great. Just a little stronger than average.

[ That might be an understatement. He doesn't want to scare some kid he's only just met. It's different when it's someone your own age- this is different. ]

[ Possibly?

She doesn't look convinced. ]

I dunno. Goten's pretty strong, too, so if he was impressed, I think that means there's a reason. [ But she gives him a bright smile, because that doesn't really frighten her. ] He's been helping me train!

[ Yeah, he's not about to demonstrate or show off around the kid. Instead, he'll take that chance and move on to the related subject. ]

Yeah? Training you in what?

Mmmm, I asked him to teach me how to throw around the balls of light like he does.

[ Sort of. ]

Those energy blasts?

[ Man, how is it that all these people have actual powers and can do things like that? ~~He doesn't have powers, just accidents.~~ ]

Then you got the same kinda powers as him? Huh.

Oh! No, I can't do what he does. [ She's quick to shake her head. ] He's way stronger than I am. But when I got powers here as a god, I can make light, and sometimes it scares away ayaskashi - some of them don't like it very much. But when I first found it, I could only make it around me. I'm trying to learn how to throw it at them like he does.

[ ... Oh good. This means that Goten won't be bringing a small girl to their training sessions. Shizuo already feels bad enough going against Goten, despite how he obviously can take it well enough, but he couldn't do that to someone like her. ]

Ah, that makes more sense. Have you been making progress with it?

[ I mean. Probably. Although that would be hilarious in its own way... ]

Mmm, not very much yet. [ She looks disappointed about that. ] But I'm still practicing anyway. besides, it took me a long time to figure out what my god power was to begin with so maybe if I keep practicing, it will help.

Well, it can take a while to find new ways to do something with a power you don't completely get. You'll figure it out.

[ Kids seem to be pretty good at doing that. Then again, Goten was his only reference for someone that young. ]

Did it take you a while, too? [ She peers up at him curiously at that. ]

Still working on it, even.

[ Then again, he's got a lot of work to go through for even the basic ways of using his 'powers' ]

[ That makes her smile, a little shy as she ducks her head for a moment before glancing back up at him. ]

That makes me feel a little better. So you practice with Goten and Izumo, too?