Just a shinki.

[mostsuitable]

Who: Reisi and OPEN!
When: September 16 ~ September 30.
What: VARIOUS!

A) Shinki Training
[When left to his own devices, Reisi doesn't usually train on his own. However, he's been doing more shinki training like practicing and experimenting with borderlines. While he can perform them with natural ease, he recognizes there's potential beyond what he'd learned about them since his arrival. Unlike the blue aura and the Sword, Reisi cannot tap into that potential without first researching and experimenting with it. As such, he may check out Heaven's Library and other similar resources to learn about shinki abilities.

Meanwhile, at Nekhbet's Temple, others have expressed interest in training. Whether it be armed combat, hand-to-hand, or borderlines, Reisi won't go easy on you if you request him as a training/sparring partner.]


B) Hobbies: Tea Ceremony and Puzzles
[If you know Reisi well enough, you may have heard that his hobbies are tea ceremony and jigsaw puzzles. You may also have learned that he's willing to share these experiences not only at home but at other places as well. He has a portable tea ceremony set for performing it at other temples upon request or if given permission to do so. Similarly, he has boxes or bags of jigsaw puzzles to do at home or in other temples if anyone's willing to indulge him.

Want him to try out your hobbies, too? Well, you need but ask—Reisi typically is excited and interested in trying new things provided they don't disrupt peace and society.]


C) September 20: Broken Bonds
[Feeling Suoh's power surging more erratically than usual, Reisi wakes in the early morning even before Suoh's accidental network post. After that, there's no way he could return to sleep because not even he truly has that much control over himself.

He's caught between a rock and a hard place. He shouldn't have pushed Suoh away and cut him off as he had during the Harvest Moon, but it isn't right to defy his own god by becoming the very threat he protects society from. Yet if he hadn't cut himself off from Suoh, he might be able to help the other man bear this even a little bit. Even if there's someone else who could take Suoh on, he's inherently Reisi's responsibility.

That's why he feels the guilt that he does now that Suoh's powers are fluctuating. He feels the growing urge to monitor the other man's condition and respond to the threat he poses to others at this time. The knowledge that he's forbidden to do any such thing is painful, but Reisi stays himself and suppresses his emotions.

As such, he's somewhat distant and despondent for the rest of the day.]


D) Wildcard.
[Feel free to pitch up a prompt or ping me @artillerate for more ideas!]

Comments

C

[freezetheheavens]

[The power of the Swords has been something he's been keeping an eye on as of late given how frequent they've been appearing. He's seen the network posts, especially Yona's that helped explain why he's felt that familiar magma rise up dangerously that he's felt it all the way at his temple.

While no Sword had shown, it doesn't ease his worries and he remembers the Blue one that he's seen usually paired with it. It's what makes him finally move to check on Munakata, having become familiarized with the shinki enough to warrant a general concern. It had been a while, anyway.

It doesn't take too long to find him and Toushirou immediately takes note of the change of behavior he isn't usually so acquainted with the shinki. He doesn't say anything at first, though, and simply waits for Munakata to acknowledge his presence.]

[mostsuitable]

[Indeed, normally Reisi would be quick to acknowledge the god and greet him with a pleasant smile. Here and now, Reisi instead takes his time composing himself before turning to Hitsugaya wearing a polite expression.]

Ah, Hitsugaya-san. It's been a while, hasn't it? How are you?

[freezetheheavens]

Better than how you seem to be doing.

[Because the little things can easily give you away.

He eyes him for a moment.]

You seem troubled.

B, probably the 22nd

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun is a little agitated on the morning of the 22nd, though it's the kind of agitated that speaks more in his movements than anything else. A restless tapping at his leg as he goes through the BBS, a little aside to hone his knife despite the fact that it's quite well honed already. It's an upset kind of agitated, though not one he particularly lets show through until around the middle of the day, when he goes to have lunch and ends up having coffee brewed in his normal extremely bitter way before anything that's actually substantial food.

It's after he's poured that and headed into the lounge, looking rather preoccupied, that he notices Reisi doing a puzzle. He left him to his own devices a little on the 20th, despite his misgivings, and he feels like he should be doing a little more than he has to reach out with the amount of unpleasant feelings he imagines are between them right now.

Still, he's not sure how much people want to be interrupted while doing this sort of thing, so he makes a compromise, sitting in a nearby chair and observing for the moment. His gaze in particular follows Reisi's movements - it's not really making him any less agitated, but he's curious to see whether it does anything in particular for Reisi.]

[mostsuitable]

[Before the incident at the Temple of Ra, Reisi used to put some degree of effort into becoming close to Kurosaki and Tenjoin. After all, the former is his god while the latter is the exemplar shinki. It made sense to foster good relations between them. However, Reisi's become more distant from the two since the night of the Harvest Moon in particular. While he performs his responsibilities with his usual efficacy and professionalism, he's extremely formal and polite toward them. In that way, he limits their relations to strictly work and business because his personal thoughts, feelings, and interests have no place with either of them.

Lately, he's been indulging in his hobbies of tea ceremony and doing jigsaw puzzles, usually doing so with others not only at home but also at other temples upon request. These things bring some measure of peace to his overactive mind. But no amount of peace can wash away his guilt over Suoh's power fluctuation just a couple days ago, which means the time will come that Kurosaki may come to speak with Reisi.

It looks like that time has come.

Although he'd noticed Kurosaki coming in and taking a seat, Reisi continues on with his puzzle as he collects his thoughts. He completes the puzzle as usual—taking one piece at a time and holding it up in front of his face to study it before placing it down exactly where it should be. Using this method, he can quite easily clear puzzles with hundreds of pieces.

When there are but a few pieces missing here and there, Reisi finally regards his god and uses an even more formal title with him than before.]

Kurosaki-shi. Might I be of service to you today?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun seems content enough to watch, setting aside his coffee when he's done with it. There's a method to it, it seems, though Shun doubts many people would have the skill to map and calculate where a piece would be in an entire puzzle as it looks like Reisi is doing.

As soon as he's addressed that formally, though, Shun turns an extremely dry stare on Reisi. He hates being addressed formally anyway, but going that far just makes him seem exactly as contrary as Mikoto always is, just in a different way.]

Save the formalities. If I was planning to sit around and keep letting you wall yourself up like this, I wouldn't be here. [It's...really pretty obvious that's what he's doing, considering the shift in the wake of everything that had happened earlier in the month.] Same with the idea that I'd only be here if I needed something out of you. You're guilty. I can feel it. Letting that fester is going to do a lot worse things to you than it would to me.

[As ever, Shun's not wasting any time getting directly to the point now that conversation has been broached.]

B

[letteropener]

[Despite rumors to the contrary, Celestia likes tea.]

[More than that, she's very curious about this hobby of his. "Tea ceremony" sounds like quite the different beast than the sort of formalized serving she's used to, which is fancy and has numerous rules but is not constrained to just tea. So on hearing that he was willing to show it off...]

[Celestia doesn't literally show up with bells on, but her eager interest shines from her with radiant clarity as she enters his home, all smiles.]

[mostsuitable]

[Tea ceremony as Reisi practices it is formal in its own right, but hopefully Celestia won't find it as restrained as that in Equestria.

When he answers the door, he's wearing civilian wear rather than his usual blue uniform.]

Princess Celestia, it's a pleasure to see you again. Please, come in.

[He gestures for her to enter Nekhbet's temple before closing the door behind her. After that, he leads her to where he'd prepared his tea ceremony equipment in the living room. He's cleared out an area near a low table where they could sit on the floor or some soft cushions.

As he himself sits seiza, and begins heating some water,] Have a seat, make yourself comfortable. Is tea ceremony a traditional practice in Equestria?

[letteropener]

[Seeing him in ordinary clothes is a little strange to her, honestly. Not that she's complaining, merely taking note.]

[She paces in after him, taking her seat with all the regal grace and serenity she possesses. Not because she's being excessively formal herself personally, but because this ceremony seems to ask that she responds to it with elegance.]

Not in this way. We have formal food services as part of the daily routine, but nothing devoted entire to tea.

D -- the 22nd

[monkeyblue]

[After waking up with a sword in his bed, Fushimi is determined to track down Munakata. Hadn't Munakata mentioned a sword before? And Munakata had that blue sword, which Mikoto had, so even if he hadn't mentioned swords he might know something about this sword. If not, oh well.

Either way, Fushimi is at Munakata's temple around lunch, looking for him.]

[mostsuitable]

[It's been a while since Reisi has seen Fushimi, who seemed to be doing well enough on his own here at the Far Shore and wanted little to do with the past. In order to respect Fushimi's wish, Reisi made few to no attempts to contact the other shinki. So it's naturally a surprise seeing him here at Nekhbet's temple.]

Oh? Fushimi-kun. What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?

[monkeyblue]

This.

[He pulls the sword off his hip and presents it to Munakata.]

Do you know anything about this?

C

[heartshutter]

[ Izumo is gone.

Izumo is gone, and Mikoto took it about as well as anyone in HOMRA would, were they to remember the man. Thus, the Temple of Ra lies in ruin; its resident god, the Red King, in tatters. It wasn’t murder -- nothing like what happened with Johan -- but it hits home in much the same way nevertheless. The Red Clan is, at its core, a three-headed beast, after all; removing just one of them upsets a delicate balance.

Perhaps Tatara could have stopped his king’s anguished tirade, and perhaps not. He’ll never know, however, since as before, he hadn’t even been there to begin with. No -- he arrived some time later, with the damage already done, far too late to assist. And what helping hand he had offered had been all-but-smacked away. Mikoto told him to leave, forced him out -- and that much isn’t unusual. Except...

This time, there’s someone inviting him in, too. For the first time in his life, perhaps, someone has asked for him. And he’s accepted.

In the wake of Izumo’s departure, a time of the Red King’s great need, he’s left with inner turmoil over his position. So, naturally, he handles things in the most quintessentially him way possible: Slaps an optimistic face over it all, and disconnects. Distancing himself from things that bother or upset him is just how he copes, after all.

Beneath his disguise, a safe distance away, (so to speak), he worries for the state of his king. Still wants to assist him in any way he can, too, and is left with feelings he won’t acknowledge about being openly, repeatedly turned away by Mikoto. Outwardly, he’s fine; but inwardly... maybe he’s seeking a bit of refuge. That’s why, when he finds the shinki, there is only a soft call of his given name and a hand on his shoulder to announce himself to Reisi before he aims to gently tangle their fingers.

...But, Reisi doesn’t seem quite himself, either, at first glance. A curious look is cast up to him. ] Is something wrong, Reisi?

[mostsuitable]

[While Reisi might be able to feel Suoh's power nearly summoning the Red Sword, he wouldn't have any idea why that was the case. At any rate, he'd noted Tatara's presence even before the other man called his name and tapped him on the shoulder. As soon as he feels Tatara's hand on his, he quickly but carefully laces laces their fingers.

He hums in response to the question, not out of surprise nor curiosity but out of acknowledgement. The other man isn't wrong, after all.]

Earlier, even before that video was up on the BBS, I felt Suoh's power.

[heartshutter]

[ A blink, benignly intrigued. ]

You did?

[ It’s fascinating to learn. He’d never known for certain that the kings could feel each other, after all; only that clan members could.

For that reason, ’we feel it too’ is what he wants to say; and for a brief moment, nearly does. But to utter something so vague to Reisi would only inspire more dangerous curiosity. Tatara has to hold his tongue. So instead, his head lowers. ]

Mm, well... [ a sheepish tone matches his expression ] ...he reacted about as well as anyone could expect, for waking up to find Kusanagi-san gone like that.

[ It flattens then. ]

I don’t think he was killed, however. I think he went home, like Shouhei did.

a

[kokuyoyo]

[While Reisi is going through the library, well, he's not the only one to be around. After all, there are volunteers who help there.... and Chikusa is certainly going through everything for his own reasons.]

[It's as he's rearranging books for the fifth time that he runs into Reisi in the aisle he's in, and he pauses, quietly taking in what the other shinki might be looking for. A knit and pale pink beanie is all that announces his presence.]

sometime after the dream ayakashi log

[mostsuitable]

[It actually takes Reisi a moment or two to recognize the young man wearing that pale pink beanie. But when he does, he greets the other shinki with a polite smile.]

Ah, if it isn't Chikusa Kakimoto. What a place to run into each other.

[Not to say he didn't expect anyone else in the library, but he honestly doesn't know much about Kakimoto to begin with.]

I'm doing some research on shinki abilities. Have you come across anything of the sort? And are you looking for anything in particular yourself?

A.

[redmare]

Reis-san, are you really alright with training with me?

[She knew she wasn't close to the guy or anything, and she didn't want to take up his time. But she really wanted to get the hang of this as soon as possible. It also made her feel restless, not moving her body around somehow.]

sorry for replying almost a week later :c work be killing me

[mostsuitable]

Of course, I am.

[It isn't difficult for Reisi to tell it'd taken Hiyama some effort to ask if he'd train with her. From the looks of things, she wants to get to know Kurosaki's other shinki but doesn't want to impose on or burden anyone. But since she clearly wants to be an effective shinki, Reisi hopes he'll be able to draw out her potential.

Still, he speaks to her with confidence and a rather pleased smile.]

Otherwise, I would've declined your request. Now then, did you want to focus more on training borderlines, or physical combat?

B. After Sept. 22? After Izumo returns?

[sing_for_me]

[Somehow she had agreed to meeting with Reisi at the park to do some jigsaw puzzles. It seemed like a strange place to do an indoor type of activity, but it was beautiful out today, and Alex preferred to be out of the temple when Temeraire wasn't around. Mikoto hadn't been by yet either, and while he didn't do much in terms of keeping her company, he made the temple less...empty.

Spotting Reisi, she smiles and heads over to him.]

Hey, I didn't keep you waiting, did I?

[mostsuitable]

Ah, Alex-san.

[Reisi greets her with a pleasantly welcoming smile. He's situated at a table and bench set that's tucked under just a bit of shade. It's a little windy, but fall weather can still be pretty warm at times, especially when the sun's out.]

Not at all. I haven't been here all that long myself.

[Gesturing at the table, where two or three boxes of jigsaw puzzles are stacked up,] Please, have a seat and make yourself comfortable.

How has your day been so far?

A; probably around 23

[futhark]

[ There is always an opportunity to learn something new, widen the horizons and so on. Especially when magic mumbo-jumbo grants you the skill to not only speak but also read in a different language.

Local gods and they lore were an important knowledge, but the magic related seemed as an even more useful field of study- if one had as much time and dedication to go for it, that's it. Unfortunately, he doesn't, at least not right now. But it's good where to look for it in the future-

Caster just skims through the book he's holding and returns it down on its place, which is when he notices another person in the vicinity. ]

Not sure if it's useful or dangerous to have all that written down... [ He says in a conversational tone, and then moves closer to check the book in Reisi's hands ] Got anything good?

a reply like a million years later! T^T

[mostsuitable]

Useful or dangerous? [Reisi hums in response, carefully closing the book.] I'd say a little bit of both.

[However, it's incredibly difficult to find books on shinki techniques in Heaven's Library simply because of its nature, which seems itself to hide information that may prove useful to new gods and shinki. Reisi's only lucky to have found this particular book, though in spite of its wealth of information...]

This one would be better if it weren't incomplete.

[He turns to regard the other man.]

I don't believe we've met before...

B

[redstray]

[ Eric stares at the massive pile of puzzle pieces, his head tilted in thought. There seemed to be a lot, how was this a game? He points to them. ]

Why do they make these things?

[ He's curious, but he also can't really understand the point. ]

[mostsuitable]

[It's one of those lazy afternoons when Suzugamori has come by the temple to train with Kurosaki, only this time Eric has come by, too. So Reisi figured it was time to play a little game, one of his hobbies done for relaxation.

He picks up the box that the puzzle originally came in, turning the picture on its face toward the other shinki.]

It's a way to pass the time, putting the pieces together to form this picture.

[This one has quite a few pieces, though.]

Do you want to give it a try? [Hmm, perhaps Eric doesn't know how this works. Maybe he doesn't even know where to start...] I can answer whatever questions you have.