thenearshore | (open) ordeal of a traveler

Entry tags:

(open) ordeal of a traveler

Who: Fubuki AND YOU
When: Aug 3—??
Where: Near Shore
What: that is a dress + pranked by fireflies

A.
[So he was just walking by, nothing unusual, when something in a window catches his eye. And keeps his eye; he's staring at it very intently, with the focus of someone who's pondering the most deepest of mysteries]

[Please don't ask why he's looking at girls' clothes. On second thought, PLEASE DO (or ask why the dress he's looking at is so tacky instead)]

B.
[The thing about fireflies—he is so done with them. Twice already he's been victimized by these demonic, malevolent, devious, virulent fiends!!]

[He covers his face with a hand, not enough that he can't see, but just enough that he can block most of them by concentrating on the path ahead and moving forward carefully.]

[But eventually...his hand slips, and lowers to his side, as he continues moving forward. Something's...there, pulling him closer. Something...]

[ SPLASH ]

[ . . . Something watery. The river. He was lured into the river.]

...I wasn't planning on taking a swim today...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Apparently this one is allowed to be the first one, because Shun makes no further remarks on that subject. But as Fubuki corrals in the stray one, he sets the cluster in their sights.]

It's going to throw you off if we run into more than I saw.

[Turns out, rending after using a cutting line does not actually feel any different. Which is...probably a good thing.]

It was just an estimate, right? They could have separated in that time. But if there are fewer clusters than you saw, then we know we have a problem...

[Unless Shun can say for sure that some clusters were bigger than when he'd saw them, but...therein lies the problem... He doubts that Shun would have counted the amount of fireflies in each group (if only because Fubuki certainly wouldn't have).]

Unless some of them merged. [He's mostly just playing devil's advocate there, though. He'd notice if any of them were significantly larger than when he first saw them, at least, but he doesn't have exact numbers.

For now, he keeps going down the edge of the river, looking for the last group he remembers seeing around here.]

[A chuckle.] If that happened, you'd want to patrol the area for a bit just to make sure, right?

[That's not to say that he doesn't think Shun wouldn't patrol it anyway...]

[A flickering at the corner of his sight catches his attention.] Is that it? [Through a cluster of trees. Since it isn't dark, it's harder to see, but night is starting to fall.]

I'd be patrolling it anyway. [Little does he know that's exactly what Fubuki was thinking, but he's the sort to point it out either way.

Since it's at the corner of their sight, Shun doesn't initially catch it - the disadvantage of this vessel form is what it does to his peripheral vision. But once he turns his head that way, he catches sight of it as well, and his eyes narrow.]

Doesn't look like a flashlight beam, and it's still too early for something like that, so probably.

It'd save me a bit of worry, anyway. [Better than not having any idea when it's going to end.]

[But for now, possible Cluster #2. He takes a careful look around, in case this isn't the group that Shun saw by the river, but there don't seem to be any lingering near the water.]

[He won't be able to keep watch while rending, but...they're fireflies. Even during the viewing, the main danger had come from the idea of wading on top of the vent, and they both carry water to wash it off. Even so...] Shall we do this quickly?

Better quickly than drawing it out. [Drawing it out gives them time to scatter, or lure people in, neither of which are particularly conducive to getting this finished anytime soon. So while Shun approaches the trees with at least a little caution to make sure the fireflies don't vanish on they're approach, it's still a fairly brisk motion.

As they get nearer, the swarm becomes more visible, lurking just near the last line of trees. It wouldn't take much to get someone to the river from there if they were luring.

Though a few of the fireflies seem to become aware of them as they get closer, Shun aims the mask's gaze before they have a chance to do much of anything.]

[The "wave" from the mask hits them all dead-on, especially with Fubuki widening the "beam" slightly to make sure.]

[...Come to think of it...pressure and/or air being emitted from a mask is kind of strange, isn't it...? But it's a little late to question that now.]

That's two.

[He glances behind them, then takes a second look, because—]

There's three! [Another cluster has appeared on the other side of the river.]

[Shun would probably be more confused by the mask if he hadn't also dealt with such things as Reisi's vessel form, which is a frustrating neck thing that also channels the most power he's ever felt in his life.

Shun does look over at Fubuki's call, but shakes his head a little.] This side of the river, remember. That's another one, but it's not the third of the ones I saw.

[Still, since it's there, he does head back that way to see if they can get rid of it without actually crossing the river.]

[So...Not-Three, then.]

[He keeps watch on it as he considers. From rending so often, he's learned that his actual range is always shorter than he seems to think it is; in concrete terms...there's a proper distance in his head, and the range he thinks he has is about half that, more or less, and his rend's actual range is maybe half that again. From this distance, they won't be able to rend across the river.]

I don't suppose you could jump across...

[Shun lets out a slight sigh of annoyance.] You're the one who wanted to go out of the way for this one.

[Nonetheless, his pace quickens into a run-up as they get nearer the river, and Shun leaps off the very edge. He gets most of the way across on his own power, but it's a pretty broad river, so he has to catch himself with his god abilities and float about the last quarter to stand on the other bank.

Now that they're on this side, though, he doesn't want to waste any time, so he turns his attention to the cluster.]

[...He actually did it?]

Huh.

[But he does manage to cast the rend before the fireflies catch on, eradicating the cluster without issue.]

I didn't know you could float.

[Now that he's thinking about it more carefully, teleportation might have worked, too. Ahaha...]

Neither did I, until about two weeks ago. [There's a higher-up rocky outcropping on the other side of the river that would be pretty much impossible to jump to normally, and Shun focuses for a moment. Once he feels that characteristic lightness, he swoops through the air and up to the little cliff without the pretense of starting with a jump.]

Yukine mentioned it as if it was some matter-of-fact thing all gods should know, but Ren's been here even longer than me and he hadn't heard that gods were supposed to be able to fly.

Hmmmm~? Must have thought it was obvious. [But then again, it's not like it's a thing most people would test, and if it's an entirely new sensation to gods, then muscle memory or instinct or whatever wouldn't take over.]

[But everyone seems to know about teleportation, so...] Maybe they didn't think it was important?

More like it's just them not giving us any information they don't have to. As always. [Shun would have thought it was some kind of test if he hadn't had enough conversations with Suijin about the old and new gods' relations to know it's likely distrust.]

It has its uses. Teleportation can be a bad idea sometimes.

It's less...intrusive than teleportation, though, isn't it? [He can't imagine anyone that distrustful wouldn't already have wards against the powers that they know about... Temple Nekhbet does not in fact have anti-teleportation wards, as has been proven, but he can see that as something a distrustful old god might want to keep away from the, er..."untested initiates," as it were.]

You sound like you know of a few. [Times when teleportation is a bad idea, that is.] Is it from theorizing, from experience, or...?

So there was no reason for them not to tell us. They're just obtrusive. [There had been no reason for them to conceal the consequences of telling shinki their past until people died, either, but they still did that.

At that question, Shun just shrugs.] A little of both. You can't pick a target teleporting somewhere you don't know incredibly well. I've never seen anyone get unlucky enough to not teleport into open space, but there are a lot of ways that could go wrong. [Teleport into the space another person is occupying, teleport into the space a wall is occupying...]

Heh...probably. It's good to know now, right?

[But as for the other thing—] Glad you haven't had a mishap! [A teleportation mishap sounds...painful? Yeah, that's a good word for it. Haha...]

They didn't tell you the dangers of teleportation, either, I take it.

It would've been better to know earlier. [Shun is just refusing to give the Heavens any sort of benefit of the doubt on that one.

Unsurprisingly given that fact, Shun shakes his head in answer to the inquiry.] Obviously not. They never make it that easy.

Well, what else do you think they're hiding? [Healthy suspicion is one thing, but when someone is the source of information, the line has to be drawn somewhere, right? Even if that line is as skeletal as "can be confirmed without absolute doubt by oneself."]

Anything you suspect in particular? I can watch out for it on my end, too.

[Though, the last time they'd had to "watch out" for anything was masked ayakashi, which...is still a danger, he supposes, but it doesn't seem to have panned out like they'd feared. Which can only be a good thing, as far as Fubuki's concerned.]

A lot more than we know, but I can't make a good estimate when it could be anything. At the least, I'd say Amaterasu's advisors are hiding why there's a splinter group revolting against her, and hiding what progress they have or haven't made on finding out why we're here.

[They haven't had an update on that since something like May, if Shun's remembering right, and even that was only issued to the gods. If nothing at all has been found since then, then the gods just aren't trying, and if it has, then they're not being told about whatever it is.]

...Those aren't things I can keep an eye on, you know...

[He doubts he'd be able to get past Amaterasu's temple security, especially after the fire, not to mention he doesn't know where the advisors hold their meetings. His fault for asking, he supposes.]

[But at least it's better to go big. Heh.]

I'm a shinki so I'd just go back to being dead...what'll you do if I don't want to investigate why we're here? [He is absolutely joking, and it's reflected in his tone. He hasn't quite thought through the ramifications of that statement, though. (He isn't saying he doesn't want to get Shun and the other gods home, but.)]

You asked me what I suspected. I told you. [The question hadn't been connected enough to the second point for Shun to not address it just because Fubuki said he could try keeping an eye on things. And it's a fairly major concern nonetheless, so it's not one any of them can really keep an eye on.

That comment that follows just gets a rather sour expression out of Shun, even if it's clear it's a joke.] Do it myself, obviously.

[Shun...will admit he doesn't want to leave as much as he used to. He has important people here now as well, and if time has passed in his world, it's long past when he could hope to impact the end of the war. And if it's stopped, it shouldn't matter how long he's here. But he does at least want to get back to see which is the case, and how it all ends.]

Hrm...? Well, in that case, I'll just have to make an opportunity for myself.

[Trying to investigate that temple's security would be too conspicuous and trying to get close to any of the advisors would be too suspicious, but he's sure he can think of something.]

[He half-chuckles half-scoffs half-smiles ruefully at the answer to the joke question.]

Figures you'd say that.

Try not to do anything stupid. [Shun's not overly concerned, since he doubts investigating that would end too badly, but Fubuki's not exactly experienced in either combat or covert operations.

It's hard to let that other remark slide so easily, though, and Shun shrugs rather obviously even though his tone is much more blunt.]

What were you expecting?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject