thenearshore | [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

Mmmm, no his god has a different temple, I think. I flew over it once. That one's really nice, too, but I think Izumo had this one before.

[ She squints, trying to rememebr when that had happened, but she knew Izumo had stayed at his bar one of the times his god's temple was destroyed. That seemed to happen a lot. Or at least more than anyone else's. ]

But I still want a picture of you! It's important!

[That sounds more sensible, and Shun nods slightly, even as one of the vultures hops impatiently into his lap. Apparently it wants to get its checking over with.]

Then that's probably fine. As long as it isn't going to be lost for the same reasons as the people you're trying to preserve.

[And it's as good a reason as any, so he finally concedes with that. Which...really just means he stays sitting on the hill with the vulture in his lap anyway, and the others crowding around him a bit.]

Then go ahead and take one.

Okay. [ She smiles and lifts the camera to frame the picture just right, giggling when the vulture hops around in his lap to find the best place to perch. She waits until the bird stills before snapping a photo of it and Shun together, smiling brightly at the result. ] Oooh, I think that's a good one!

[It doesn't take much for Shun to guide the restless vulture to a more appropriate seat, which ends up being on one of Shun's legs. Which has the advantage of not obscuring his face, at least.

He doesn't smile for the photo, but that shouldn't be unexpected by this point.]

That's surprising. I don't let people take photos of me often.

[ That's not surprising.

She lowers the camera again and then holds it up to show him on the little digital screen. ]

Don't you like getting your picture taken? I know some people here don't. [ She'd gotten a couple 'no's' after all. ]

Not really. I've let Ren do it a few times, but that's about it. [He posted a picture of himself on the BBS all of once, but that was to draw attention to vultures that needed collecting anyway. And it seems like a decent chunk of people didn't even bother checking said picture.]

I prefer not to draw attention to myself if I don't have to.

[ She considers that a moment before glancing back up at him. ]

I'll be careful with the pictures. But I'm glad I have some of you, too.

Ideally you won't need them. [He has a war to get back to, but...well. If time is waiting for him in his world, then it will keep waiting. If it isn't, then four and a half months is long past when the war would be over. They were already getting close to the end when he left.

One way or another, he's had to prioritise things here for now.] But if it's just a display board for people to remember other people, then that's careful enough.

[As long as they're not all nametagged or something.]

I hope not. I would miss you if you left.

[ The thought is a sobering one. She's already lost important friends here. Sora and Roxas were just the latest of them, and part of the reason she was so eager to help Izumo with his photograph project. ]

[There's a brief blink of what's probably mild surprise at that before Shun bends his head a little to focus on checking over this vulture for injuries or issues. This also has the helpful effect of concealing his face slightly.]

I'd miss you as well. I think we all have people we'd miss if they left. [However much Ren might want to see his friends again, Shun would be torn pretty badly between being happy for him and being deeply upset if he left.]

Yeah... [ She comes and sits beside him, being careful not to jostle the vulture in his lap and being careful about how close she got in case it didn't want her there. ] I have a lot of friends I made here. I'd be sad not to see them again.

[ Especially when some of them were shinki. She's still not sure where they go if they leave here, which is even more upsetting to her. ]

[It seems as if the vultures are used to Nanako a bit now, because they shuffle around to accommodate her even if a few are still cocking their heads a bit at her as well. Or occasionally hopping slightly closer and then back to investigate this unusual appearance of a small human.

Shun, meanwhile, keeps up with his work, though he does glance over to Nanako to make sure she's not getting too upset.]

We'll all have to go home one day, but I suppose it depends how. There might be a way to travel back and forth between the worlds.

[ She holds out a hand, a little timid, letting the birds investigate her if they wanted, although she glances up at Shun to make sure that's okay. While she might used to be dealing with cats of varying degrees of skittishness, Shun's birds are something different.

His statement gets a surprised blink and a suddenly intense look, though. ] Really? You really think so?

[Most of the vultures don't get too close to Nanako, but a few of them lean in to inspect the hand. Possibly to see if it has any food in it. While Shun keeps an eye on them to make sure there's no beak snapping happening, he doesn't seem overly worried.

While Shun doesn't want to be too optimistic about this, he nods a little.] In my world, we can travel between dimensions. And there's already someone looking into how we get here in the first place. So it doesn't seem impossible.

[ She thinks that over with a look of fascination. ]

Does that mean that even if I go home, you could come visit me?

If we could do it, then that should be right. I'd have some things to sort out at home first, though.

[Like if he's even alive or not, though he's definitely not having Nanako be the first person he brings that up to.]

[ She's too distracted with excitement over the possibility to realize what things he could be referring to anyway. Eagerly, she tosses her arms around him again. ]

Oh, do that! I want you to come see me, when we get home again! I can show you my town and my house and everything!

[As usual, Shun tenses a little at the sudden contact, but at least Nanako's done this often enough that he's now in a general state of low-key prepared to be hugged suddenly when she's around.]

I'd like to see it as well. And the other worlds people here come from. [Some because they sound interesting to him personally, others because they just sound generally odd. It would be an interesting trip to make after the war comes to an end.]

[Open] All that I have are these

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