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

...I hoped to make whatever takes people away stop.... before he could disappear....

[If it sounds a little bad and putting too much weight on himself.... Well. Yes. But it's an improvement from his views during the ablution, when "I hoped" was "I should have". After a few moments, he eases up his already loose hold on her.]

....I need to watch over Ken now..

[ She knows how that feels, and lays her head lightly on his shoulder. ]

It wasn't your fault. You're a good shinki, Chikusa. Maybe there was just something important he was needed for somewhere else.

[ She glances up to his face again. ] You do. And he needs to watch over you, too. You're still family, it's important.

...I wish we could have gone with him...

[But whatever force is behind the seemingly random disappearances doesn't listen to what anyone wants. He knows that much. So all he can do is look down at her.]

...He doesn't think he does well as a shinki... so I have to figure out how...

Maybe there's something important you still need to be here for. And I'd miss you if you were gone, Chikusa. Maybe it's selfish of me, but I'm glad you're still here. [ She confesses this softly as she gives him another light squeeze.

Peering up at him, she considers those words. ] Ken, doesn't? Why not?

[Being told that he'd actually be missed seems to trip something up in his head, and Chikusa can't find the words to say in response. In fact, he doesn't have any idea of what that would even look like. So all he does is blink and stare down at her, before she looks up at him with another question.]

[At least this one he knows how to answer.]

...He doesn't make borderlines very well... And Axel-sama hadn't used him before he disappeared, so he thinks it's because he wasn't good enough...

...I've been trying to find things he can do....

[Like hunting down murderers.]

Aww, that can't be true. I'm sure he's still a very good shinki, even if he can't do Borderlines very well yet. It took me a long time to figure out how my powers worked, too, and I'm still trying to figure them out. He'll get it if he keeps practicing, I bet. But either way, there's probably other things he's good at. Is there anything I can do to help?

Ah....

[What could a small child do for Ken? Chikusa... isn't really sure. So all he does is shrug.]

If you figure out something that needs someone who's really good at smelling...

Smelling? [ She blinks in surprise at this strange request. ]

Yeah.

[And no further explanation comes. Instead, Chikusa head bobs a little, almost as if he's nodding off, before he looks down at her camera.]

...What were you doing?

I will try to think of something he can do with smelling. Maybe he can... find things?

[ When Chikusa nods at the camera she holds, she glances down at it before remembering why she had approached in the first place. ]

Oh! I'm taking pictures!

Just of anything...?

[That seems like a thing kids would do. Probably.]

No! Of people. All the gods and shinki that have come here from other places. I'm helping Izumo, he's making a Memory Wall with pictures of everyone.

[There's no need to ask what a Memory Wall is- the name is pretty self explanatory. Still, he gives a slow blink.]

...Couldn't you just go through the BBS?

Mmmm, maybe. but I like taking pictures of people. And this way they're special. And I can get ones of people doing things like they normally do, too. Prompto called them 'candids'.

....I wasn't doing anything.

[Which is often the case with Chikusa, when he's not practicing things he thinks are relevant. Which... isn't much now.]

[Open] All that I have are these

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