thenearshore | 26 - The Gods' Month

Entry tags:

26 - The Gods' Month

Who: Everyone!
What: Helping the Heavens prepare for the yearly Meeting of the Gods
When: October 20 - 21
Where: Around the Heavens (and maybe some mortal shopping trips, too!)
Summary: Amaterasu has been told that the newly arrived residents of the Heavens want to take a bigger part in security and administration, so she's convinced her shinki to let them help with preparations for the big yearly gala. It's also time for shinki to rate their gods and gods to find out what their shinki really think of them....

Security Precautions

Help clear out any small spirits who might have sneaked back into the Meeting Hall after the spring cleaning, from sootsprites to nekomata, animal spirits from the park or well-camouflaged plant spirits.

Check the magical writing worked into art or inlaid in wood all over the building to protect the Meeting Hall from attack, and make sure none of it is scuffed or damaged.

Join in on the patrols around the building or spend some time guarding one of the gates. It's boring, but the shinki appreciate the help.

Test the integrity and extent of the magical protections with glass balls that turn purple outside the protections on the Meeting Hall and clear inside them. But don't drop your glass ball! They're fragile.

Event Preparation

Rate Your God

might

Heavenly Record Keeping

In Summary:

Help protect the Meeting Hall
Lend a hand cleaning and shopping
Rate your gods
Help Heaven keep its records up to date
Have fun~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Shun's not actually helping with the flower arranging, but he is occasionally passing through the area on his patrols. His godly role has meant he's had to learn how to arrange funeral flowers during his time here, and he's guessing there's going to be at least one person who tries it despite being completely lost on how to do it properly.

Ginia, in particular, doesn't strike him as someone who'd be familiar with it - he doesn't know her well, but from their first meeting he got the impression of someone a little too much like him, all duty and very little else. So when he spots her sitting down to arrange some flowers on his way through, he pauses briefly before heading over.

Once he gets close enough to draw attention, he signs:] It's harder than it looks.

[ A lot of things can be learned through observation and mimicry. As it turns out, flower arranging isn't one of those, at least not without a base understanding of the philosophy, base elements of flower arranging, and a sense of aesthetics. Flowers cut too short and stripped filler lay strewn across the table in front of Ginia, a simple tall white vase empty.

It's not a complete disaster; the flowers she's cut short can still be salvaged for other arrangements and there's enough filler plants that a handful lost to inexperience is bearable. It's mostly Ginia that's a bit of a mess, brow deeply furrowed, lips pressed tight. Her head snaps up when she sees Shun and she swallows hard, a flash of fear crossing over her eyes.]

I shouldn't have tried.

[Her signs are quick, small, as honest as she'll ever be before she begins sweeping the cut plants back into sorting boxes.]

[If he didn't get enough of a gauge of her out of their first conversation, that brief sign of fear tells him all he needs to know. His eyes narrow a little, and he watches the way she hurries to clear up the flowers before putting a hand on the table in front of her, blocking the path for her to just sweep them away before lifting it up again to sign.]

Stop. [He nods towards the flowers, to indicate he means to stop sweeping them away rather than stop trying.] I can show you.

[He's not the best person in the world at it, but stripped of the details of the reactions and what he's beginning to suspect might be the core problem here, it still reminds him of himself, a few months ago. If nothing else, he knows what might work to teach her about it.

After a moment of gauging the space, he sits down across the table, reaching for one of the boxes she brushed the flowers away into, pulling out the short-cut ones and setting them aside before glancing up to her and signing again.]

These can still be used. [Just not for the vase. He's never actually worked with a proper vase before, but his shrine does have some similar decorative bits to it that he's had to arrange around before.]

[Ginia goes still as his hand blocks her. Any previous emotion bleeds away into a neutral expression, the only movement from her eyes tracking his hands as her head remains still. Her shoulders and back are tense, her fingers curl slightly as she rests her hands on the table, feet bracing against the floor. Even as he sits across from her, she remains coiled on herself, heart pounding furiously.

It doesn't make sense. She failed. Why...? Why didn't he... why...

The expectations of a lifetime ingrained in her clash with the missing memories providing valuable context. Her jaw sets and she swallows slowly, minimizing the motion as much as possible. Her eyes track to the flowers he pulls out, the ones she cut too short. Her mistakes. Her failures.]

[That reaction, too, is telling, and Shun shifts his motions accordingly - making them a little more clear, nothing that could be misinterpreted as about to become an attack or retaliation. He continues like that until he's set the short-cut flowers aside, then pulls out two uncut ones from the boxes, laying one in front of her and one in front of himself.

Before they start, though...he signs to her again, expression as neutral as ever. It betrays no indication of sympathy or concern, but the words he forms are clear.]

I'm not going to do anything to you if you make a mistake.

[It seems to be what she's expecting out of this. After leaving that on the air for the moment, he continues, nodding to the flowers and vase.]

How much do you think should be taken off? [He stands up the flower he'd set in front of him next to the vase, so the height of it in comparison is obvious. It's not too far oversized, but it could do with an inch or two off the bottom.]

[She sees and comprehends the words, but doesn't believe it either. Reassurance is a weapon best used to break someone's guard and leave them vulnerable for another attack. Even as he moves on to the flowers and asks her a question, her posture doesn't change.]

A few inches?

[The answer seems obvious enough, but it still takes a few seconds for her to sign, her movements measured. It can't be that easy, there must be a trick.]

[Shun doesn't expect her to relax immediately - he wouldn't in the same situation, since it's not as if they're familiar with each other. Still, he figures the best way to prove he's not going to do anything is by not doing anything anyway, so he proceeds despite that.

At that answer, he gives a short nod, bringing the flower back towards him. Reaching into the pocket of his pants, he turns to one side so he's not facing front to her when he slides a dagger out of it. All he does with it is first make a slight mark on the stem, then cut the bottom off.

He stands it up next to the vase again - it's not quite right, but it's just slightly too long now, and he puts it down and signs again.]

It's better to take too little at first. [Then, he indicates the shape of the vase.] Tall and thin means not much room. So find a tall flower first too.

[He rolls over the ones he picked to demonstrate that - they're gladiolus stems, with long clusters of flowers near the top.]

[Ginia nods slightly as she watches him work. A little at a time. Of course, it was so simple Ginia wonders why she didn't think about it, but the easiest things are easy to miss when inexperienced.]

The flowers are beautiful.

[Her signs are still small and she pauses, gauging his reaction toward her speaking out of turn. But as he does nothing, she adds on:]

What are they called? You can say the name, I don't know if flowers have individual signs.

[Shun doesn't nod or anything similar when she remarks on the flowers being beautiful - instead, his head tilts a bit as he looks at the flowers, as if in confusion. He's at least recovered from his previous inability to see the beauty in anything to some degree, but it's still not something he tends to observe off-hand except in rare circumstances, so he's trying to see the same thing in it.

As for the name, he knows these ones from his garden, and as she requests, he says the name out loud, though also signs it so she has the spelling.]

Gladiolus. [Then he switches back to sign.] I see them in these a lot.

[That particular phrasing implies that despite his ability to arrange flowers, he doesn't know all that much about arranging in general, and what people use or don't use.]

[Gladiolus. She repeats the spelling, memorizing the way the letters flow into each other. It's a lovely name. It's a lovely flower. Gladiolus]

Is it because they're taller than other flowers?

[Ginia pauses. It's a distinctive flower, the long stalk of clustered flowers in a column. They stand out against the single stalks of flowers with a single blooming head. It's a logic she can understand and piece together, but the basic elements are still missing.]

How do you decide what to put with it?

[With something new to focus on her posture relaxes slightly, though her eyes still fix on his movements as much as the flowers.]

I think so. [The main context he sees flower arrangements in is funerals or other mourning procedures, due to his godly role, and they're definitely popular for those. He has to imagine that factor has something to do with it, since they're noticeable but not too overwhelming to look at.

As for how to pick what goes with things, his knowledge of that is much more basic, but he does answer after a few moments of considering.]

Colour. Size. Don't want to draw attention from the main thing. [The gladioli are orange in this case, so he picks up a box that seems to be primarily purple flowers and picks through it with some caution.

Eventually, he pulls out a stem of a flower he doesn't recognise as verbena, with small purple flowers growing in tight clusters. After frowning at it for a few moments, he places it alongside his own cut gladiolus stem, sliding it down a little to see where it sits best. It rests well a little way under the lowest flowers of the gladiolus, and the smaller, tightly gathered circle of flowers makes an interesting visual contrast to the tall, straight stems of the gladiolus.

Setting it there for the moment, Shun signs again.]

What do you think? [It's in part because he figures there's very little point to this if she's not thinking on her own about it, but it's also because he still doesn't trust his aesthetic sense in any way and prefers to have a second opinion on this sort of thing.]

[Color, size, not drawing attention from the centerpiece. Ginia commits them to memory as she watches him work, freezing slightly when he asks for her opinion.

Because she can see how the arrangement works. In terms of colors, the cooler purple balances out the rich orange while the red innate in both colors help them match. The different natural shapes of both respective flowers and the difference in height also create a visual contrast. The clustered nature of the verbena also fills in space but without being too distracting.

But she doesn't have the words to explain any of that nor the confidence to trust in her judgment. But with an answer expected of her, Ginia nervously taps her fingers together as she pulls an answer together.]

I like it. The colors are pretty and the shapes look nice.

[Shun nods in response to that, the movement subtly relieved that he didn't screw up the explanation out of not knowing what he was doing. He's had a lot of opportunity to practice since first learning the basics of how to pair and arrange flowers from Ren, but he's still never been all that sure of his ability to do it himself besides the fact that his followers never seem to complain. And if they're praying for something to honour their dead with, he imagines they don't have much space to question what they get.

After a moment of considering, Shun takes a third gladiolus stem and sets it alongside his first, cutting the bottom to the same length. Checking them against the vase again, he shaves a centimetre or two more off the bottom of each, then passes one to Ginia.]

Line up yours and cut. Same length. [She probably has a better tool for it than the dagger he's using, but he's too used to the dagger as his tool for it to switch to something else off-hand.]

[If the shinki hadn't provided scissors to use, Ginia would be using her knife too. As it stands, her weapon remains nestled in its sheath, though she keeps an eye on his dagger. Assume everyone has a weapon, don't take your eyes off it if it's out.

She cuts a gladiolus stem as ordered and sets the two down. With a box of green filler plants nearby, she slowly pulls out some delicate thin ferns and holds them up.]

What about these? Can they be used?

[Shun is very aware of that attention to his dagger (again, because he'd probably be doing the same thing in her place), and keeps his motions with it small and subtle as he takes a few more stems of verbena and starts to mark the lower ends. It's an oddly-shaped thing, small and with an almost ovular blade, and a handle that speaks more of something ornamental or ceremonial than an actual weapon. However, it's also clearly well-cared for and extremely sharp.

He glances up when she pulls out the ferns, looking them over, then the verbena before nodding slightly. Since his hands are busy, he speaks rather than signs this time.]

They should work. The length of them will probably go better with this than a shorter one would.

[He pretty clearly doesn't know the actual terminology used for filler, but it's obvious enough as it's said.]

[Ginia pulls several more similarly sized ferns out of the box and begins to place them on the table in a careful pile. With the ferns separated out, she begins to organize the rest of the box, sorting out all the plants by size and appearance. It's busywork, but it occupies her hands and mind and seemed useful when she was doing it earlier.

It's nice seeing all the different plants. Some she recognize from the botany books in Nona's library or the garden, others are entirely new. She takes out a few long strands of a plant with round leaves growing horizontally--a eucalyptus baby blue--and turns it around in her hand.]

Do you know what this one is? It looks interesting.

[Shun notes the disposition towards sorting rather than doing the more creative part of the work - he can't imagine it'll go astray when there's probably a hell of a lot more arrangements to be made, but it does strike him as more something mindless to distract oneself with.

He's just starting to cut the stems of the verbena plants when she finds the baby blue stem and he glances up when he sees the question being asked. After a moment of looking over it, he shakes his head, speaking again since he's still holding the dagger in one hand and holding a stem in place with the other.]

I've never seen that one before. Most of the plants I know are ones used for funerals, because of the prayers I get. [He does look it over a bit, though.] It'd work for something that green wasn't right for, I suppose.

[Those last two words are more out of doubt in his own ability to remark on the subject of colour than anything. He still mostly sticks to tried and tested combinations.]

[She takes out her phone and sets the plant down, snapping a picture of it for reference. Praise the internet, an endless fountain of knowledge. For good measure, she snaps a picture of the gladiolus and verbena too before putting her phone down.]

What kind of plants are used for funerals?

[The actual question on her mind is "what kind of god are you" but, that feels a bit too close to prying about his abilities. It doesn't hurt to ask and get shot down, but now feels like a moment for treading lightly. There's a delicate balance to navigate and even if he hasn't done anything but show her how to make flower arrangement, it still feels like any wrong step on her part will send everything crumbling down. His dagger's design is unusual; she'd rather not test how well it can cut into flesh.

At the same time, she can infer from his words his domain is something related to death.]

[Shun continues cutting the verbena stems as he considers what the ones he sees most commonly are.] Lilies are common around here, and chrysanthemums. [They're the easiest to call up, and the others are a bit more disjointed, as if rattling off an itemised list. If it's in his garden, he can comfortably assume it's used somewhere.] Roses. Tulips. Orchids. Carnations and daffodils. Sometimes people give hydrangeas as gifts.

[It doesn't sound like he's strongly invested in the topic, but he also clearly knows it, and doesn't seem to be outright bored talking about it. Either it's a matter he puts himself somewhat distant from, or he mostly considers the matter of arranging part of work rather than an actual hobby or interest.]

[A few of the flower names she recognizes from Nona's garden and the books in the library, the ones she doesn't recognize she writes down in her phone. There are so many varieties of flowers, so many meanings, uses beyond aesthetics.]

I want to learn more about flowers.

[The signs spill out and she pauses, hands hovering as she recollects her thoughts.]

I'm trying to learn more about flowers. They're beautiful and they make people happy.

['I want to make people happy.' She sees the way other shinki react to flower arrangements as they're finished, complimenting the design and designer, sharing it around. Maybe it's a selfish, foolish idea, but Ginia wants to be a part of that. Because if she can learn something new, a skill that isn't related to combat and has uses, then maybe she can be useful.

Maybe she can be useful to her god.]

[Shun keeps watching as she signs, the change in manner on her part very noticeable to him. It seems, then, that she might at least have routes to slip back into some kind of more normal life with time, if she already wants to do something for a reason like that.

Shun turns his attention back to the verbena stems for a few moments before speaking.] I don't know much about them, and most of what I did learn was from someone else. Or just basic things anyone could research. I only looked for as much as I needed to know for work, but there are people here who'd be able to help you with something like that.

[He's aware that flowers make some people happy, and that it's because they're beautiful, but he never really considered it himself beyond what he needed to make specific people happy, whether that be his followers or his partner. He wonders, himself, if that's a selfish thing to have a focus that narrow.]

Would you care about flowers if they weren't related to your duties?

[She pauses and shakes her head, lips pressed tight, back tensing again.]

No. You don't need to answer, it was out of line.

[It's not her place to judge or pry the interests or disinterests of someone else, much less the affairs of a god. In need of a distraction, Ginia picks up the gladiolus stalk she cut under Shun's direction and pairs it with verbena in mimicry of his arrangement. But she also picks up a fern, placing it within the bunch and seeing how the natural curl of the plant causes it to drape. She places it one way, studies it, then adjusts it slightly, continuing with tiny adjustments until the placement seems right. She places another fern in the arrangement, mirroring it on the other side, the two ferns curving over the verbena and slightly framing it.

Satisfied, she turns it toward Shun and waits for his opinion.]

[Despite her remark, the question doesn't seem to bother Shun, even though he doesn't answer immediately.]

You have a weird idea of "out of line". [Shun has definitely had people ask him things that are out of line, but usually it involves pushing into his traumas and not taking hints to back off. Compared to that, this doesn't even register.]

I wouldn't have as much of a reason to care about them if they weren't related to my duties. But I also wouldn't have had to learn how to work with them if they weren't. If they stopped being involved in my duties now, I'd probably still care a little, at least.

[Not as much as he has to now, but there are still people he cares about who appreciate them, so his ability to work with them wouldn't be going to waste even if all he could do was make those people happy.

He looks up when she finishes adjusting that little arrangement, and looks over it for a moment or two. Despite his lacking aesthetic knowledge, he can usually tell if something like this looks outright bad, which this one doesn't.]

It'll draw people's eye. [Which is the point, to him, and essentially the same as him saying it looks good, since that's usually his reasoning for saying it.]

[She flinches slightly from the rebuke, but settles easier than earlier. It's a fair answer.

At his sparse approval, she places the arrangement in the vase, carefully fixing the plants. She gets up from her seat and takes a few steps back, studying the arrangement from a distance and different angle.]

It feels like it's missing something.

[But what? She crosses her arms and stares at her arrangement, then looks at the other arrangements being worked on, lips turning into a frown.]

It's very plain, isn't it.

[Shun moves the verbena stems into the middle of the table as he finishes cutting them, which doesn't take him all that long. Once he does, he puts the dagger back into his pocket, and looks over the arrangement once she airs her concern about it.

He can't really see the problem, but then, he knows his opinion on this isn't ideal. So he shrugs slightly, switching back to signing now that his hands are free.]

Can't tell. Too much is a bad thing as well. What specific thing is missing?

[If she figures that part out, she might be able to hit on a way to make it look more complete.]

26 - The Gods' Month

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