thenearshore | [semi-open] i reached out my hands and seized something shapeless but precious

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[semi-open] i reached out my hands and seized something shapeless but precious

Who: Temple Nekhbet residents, visitors, and concerned parties after the event (basically anyone who Shun is on good enough terms with to feasibly be allowed into his temple. If you're not sure, ask!) There'll be a couple of closed prompts in toplevels too.
When: November 15th-17th
Where: Temple Nekhbet
What: Post-event temple mingle, for concerned parties, some in-temple problems, and the grand effort to actually get Shun to sit the fuck down for a few days.

[The vultures on the grounds of Shun's temple are a little calmer than usual in the wake of the recent incident, though perhaps that's courtesy of their usual meticulous care being taken over temporarily by Kotori, who is much more willing to keep them off people on the grounds than Shun is. In a slightly different, but equally carelessly-worn kimono to the one she was wearing in the video post, she's grooming a couple of the messier birds, who seem very attuned to her presence.

If anyone comes by intending to visit or at least look in on Shun after what happened, she'll invite in people she knows happily, or even those who responded helpfully to the network post and seem to know Shun well. However, she may tactfully suggest they not stray too much further than the well-lit visitor's room furnished in plain white linens until she can bring him in...or track him down, as the case may be. He's probably tried to sneak out of the temple at least once since he's been up to getting out of bed.

However, he's certainly not the only person about the temple, so feel free to take the opportunity to meet other residents or regular visitors as well.]

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[There are no hard laws of etiquette when it comes to visiting another temple, but Ginia believes in following some level of decorum. The visit is unannounced and she's not sure how Shun feels about social calls, but if she's dropping by to check on him, the least she can do is bring some food for him and the rest of his temple.

The bag hanging off her arm is quite large. Between Archer's help and her own indecision, there are several large bento boxes with a variety of dishes as well as a box of Japanese snacks. Hopefully there's something for everyone to enjoy.

Ginia was unaware everyone would also include vultures. She slowly raises a hand in greeting at Shun as she looks between the vultures and him, unsure of how to approach.]

Archer and I made food for your temple.

[At least sign language is easy to read across long distances.]

[Shun's presence means the vultures don't actually go for Ginia, though they're still certainly giving her beady-eyed stares from the trees. He looks a little bit exasperated when he reads her signed message, though, and lets out a faint sigh.]

That was unnecessary. [But that's a pretty large bag, and if there's one thing Shun dislikes more than accepting gifts, it's wasting food, considering his past. So he somewhat reluctantly drops out of the tree, Kotori watching him rather closely to make sure he doesn't try to hare off somewhere suddenly.

One of the vultures starts shuffling its wings a bit as soon as Shun leaves the branch, so he raises his arm. That particular bird - a metre-tall griffon vulture with a pale, downy head - promptly glides out of the tree to land there instead.]

[Ginia gives Kotori a friendly wave and a small bow on her approach. She smirks at Shun's statement. Expected, really. But his temple is not a temple of one and certainly someone will appreciate not having to cook or get food.

She stops short as the giant vulture flies down to Shun's arm. Cats, she knows how to deal with. Dogs too and small birds. Giant birds? Not so much. Ginia watches with a degree of trepidation and awe.]

They're magnificent birds. And if you don't want food, how about information? I have pictures from the forest to show you.

[Keba might break the majestic illusion a bit by immediately sticking her head under her wing and starting to preen a bit, but Shun doesn't seem to care. He also doesn't seem to expect Keba is going to do anything untoward, considering he chooses to approach Ginia.]

The only thing you have to worry about from this one is her wanting attention. [Since Keba is the only one of the flock that was actively hand-reared for any length of time, she's by far the mildest one of the lot when it comes to outsiders.]

Pictures of what? [The sigils are obviously one option, but he doesn't yet know about the paper dolls and spell tags.]

[Ginia takes out her camera, pausing to snap a few pictures of Keba before pulling up the photo gallery she set up and handing her phone over. The gallery is an assortment of pictures; the paper dolls and spell tags attached to the trees in the forest, a few field shots of the dolls and tags taken down and held in hand, detail shots of the tags laid out on a table with good lighting, and similar for the straw doll including a careful dissection of the doll.

She waits patiently for Shun to finish looking through the photos, signing when she can get his attention again.]

I was going to bring a set for you, but Archer advised against carrying them around. We still have a set at the temple though.

((ooc: Mod info on the appearance and findings.))

[Shun looks over the images with a sharp eye, but it's the dissection shot and the laid out tags that get his attention most, and his eyes narrow as soon as he gets a good look at them. He does turn his attention for Ginia's signing, though, and he nods slightly at her words.]

He's probably right. [Staying on a picture of one of the tags, Shun pulls his own phone out of his pocket and unlocks it. He's got less than a page of photos, and most of them look like they're of significant, potentially relevant objects. He taps one in particular to open it up before showing Ginia both phones side-by-side.

The image on Shun's phone is of an ofuda, the fabric casing carefully slit open to reveal the contents. There's a piece of oddly-coloured acrylic...and an inner charm paper with writing on it that looks markedly similar to the writing on the spell tags, enough that they might be the same language.]

This is one of the bad luck ofuda that were set up around a department store a while ago. Caused chaos while we were investigating, and the place burned down a few days later.

[Ginia studies the photos side-by-side, eyes narrowing. From Shun's history post, the department store was only a few months ago. Certainly enough time for numbers to grow and another plan to go into motion, if they are connected. The coincidence is unsettling, the idea there are two possible factions even more so. Her arms cross over her chest, fingers tapping against her arm.]

Has this script been seen anywhere else? Or maybe other incidents that seemed isolated, but maybe had similar items involved?

I haven't heard anything about the script being seen in other places. We did have another sort of bad luck charm incident a while back, but it was during Obon, so that could have just been seasonal.

[It feels a bit weird to him to say that, but he couldn't deny that Obon had seen a marked increase in spiritual activity, mostly of the bad kind. It's entirely possible that that incident hadn't been so much planned as a side-effect.]

I looked into the department store a little myself. There were a couple of humans being used as pawns for that one too, but the orders seemed to be coming from somewhere else.

[Ginia knows from Archer the cultists in the forest were serving some god, all in the name of bringing around a new order. The only reason she doesn't mention it to Shun is because she knows Archer plans on paying Shun a visit himself. Why waste Shun's time with second-hand information when they can discuss other things?]

Let's not discount Obon, but this and the department store definitely have the strongest connection through the tags. Do you recognize the language? Some of them look logograms of some sort, but most if it seems like a mess.

Not most of it. These look like outdated kanji or Chinese, which weren't on the original ones. [Shun points out the couple of more identifiable symbols on the forest tags.] The rest I haven't had any luck finding out more about, and I've asked a couple of people since then.

[Not a huge number, but enough familiar with things like magic that he has some confidence this isn't some kind of established magical language he's unfamiliar with.]

I plan on doing some research at the library and talking to Hakkai about the writing. Do you have any suggestions on who else to talk to or avoid?

[This information would be useful to everyone, but the more people who know, the more likely the wrong people can find out too. Even the most well-intentioned can let something slip.]

Lavi would be one, but I should probably ask him myself, since he has more language knowledge than just about anyone else I know here. I wouldn't say there's anyone to avoid specifically, just don't tell anyone you don't trust to keep their mouth shut.

[In Shun's experience, most of the competent people here do know how to do that, so it shouldn't be too much of a concern anyway.]

[Lavi. A meeting with him is long overdue. She'll have to find time to visit after talking to Hakkai and regrouping with Archer.]

I'll let you know once I have a translation for the words on the spell tags.

[Ginia pauses to look over him, face drawn with mild worry. He's on his feet but still looks tired. If he's injured, they're either patched up or he's handling them well. Certainly faring better than Caster, still sleeping solidly.]

Do you remember anything from when you were taken?

[Shun simply nods in response to the comment on the spell tags. That sort of thing is going to take at least a small amount of time to find someone familiar with the language, but once they do it shouldn't be too difficult.

He can see the way she's looking at him, too, and returns her gaze with a very steely, almost challenging one. He might be tired, but he's determined to demonstrate that it takes more than this to lay him low.

His mouth twitches partway into a grimace at her question, though.] ...I was patrolling with Kotori. People have been getting lost in that forest for a while, so we were checking inside. I remember hearing the trees start to move, and thinking it sounded like an oncoming attack - that's when I sent Kotori back, and they struck right after. I couldn't teleport out, it just put me somewhere else in the forest, and it drained me enough that I lapsed and the trees managed to get hold of me. After that...I was awake in that clearing for a while, trying to fight it off, but I must have slipped under the fireflies' magic at some point. I just remember waking up and seeing Ren, Chinatsu and Munakata and realising what must have happened.

[And being extremely pissed off with himself for not being able to resist longer, but that doesn't really need to be pointed out.]

[It lines up with Kotori's account, not that there was any doubt there. It's slightly disappointing there aren't any other leads to work off of, but hell, he was in the process of being kidnapped. There's always asking Caster when he wakes up, but Ginia has a hunch his story won't be much different.]

I'm glad you're okay.

[Anyway, with that bit of sentiment out of the way, back to business.]

Do you know if there is any particular kind of symbolism behind maple leaves?

[Shun seems a little thrown off by that first statement, and he narrows his eyes slightly, though it seems more like confusion than suspicion.] Were you that concerned?

[Granted, while he wouldn't yet describe Ginia as a "friend" considering his towering standards for the term, she's still an ally, and he probably would've been concerned had their positions been reversed. Still, he feels it takes more than that to come right out and express relief.

He goes along with the change of subject to maple leaves, though, frowning slightly.] In what situation? There's a few things it could be.

[Ginia shrugs noncommittally, but considers the question. He is kind to her, he's a good ally, and she respects him. Speaking practically, he's reliable and it would be a shame to lose that. It would be easy to say it's purely out of practicality too.

But he is kind to her and he's one of the few people she can sign at and be understood. Maybe that is enough of a reason. Who knows.]

The spell tag wrapped around the leaf in the straw dolls. I think it's a maple leaf of some kind.

[That makes Shun frown a little, because nothing he can think of himself seems to fit that.] They're associated with autumn, and balance of nature, but that's all I know. If it's not a maple from here, it could mean something else.

[Shun only really knows plant symbolism related to the flowers in his garden and the more common local ones, so if it's not a Japanese maple, he's not going to be very helpful on that front.]

[None of the symbolism stands out as anything that would create a direct connection. Why a maple leaf? What not something else? Or is the leaf nothing special? It's hard knowing what's real and what isn't.]

I know all the signs point to various things connecting together and there could be a cult trying to create a new god, but I worry it's all a distraction to something else. That while we're looking for clues, we're missing the bigger picture. I hate it.

[She's not wrong about that, and Shun lets out a lengthy hiss himself.] I know. There's definitely something in the background here - there's no way that cult formed out of nothing, and no way it was them doing some of the things we've been dealing with so far. But it's one of the clearest leads we've gotten yet, so we can't just leave it.

[As much as he'd prefer being able to go straight to the cause, that's just not possible for them, so they have to do it this way.]

If there is a cult, it's more disturbing they were able to get this far without anyone noticing at all until after the fact.

[But maybe that's the problem with eight million gods; how do you keep track of the activities of so many? The heavens are confused enough with the presence of new gods and their shinki, what's one more new god acting on their own?

But hindsight is easy to remark on. All they can do now is keep moving forward.]

I don't have anything else to share, not until I begin crunching some information. I'll let you know once I have more information or other leads to follow.

It's definitely got some connection to the previous times people have gotten into the Heavens unnoticed. The problem is there's so many gods that trying to track down a traitor is going to take them slipping up.

[They can't just constantly put surveillance on eight million gods, or even if that's not literal, whatever high number happens to be accurate, because there were certainly a hell of a lot of them at that party. Chances are they're entirely reliant on clues and what little slips of information they get.

In any case, this is probably all they can do for now, so Shun just nods at Ginia's dropping of the subject.] I'll see what I can do once I get out of here.

[There's a pointed sidelong glance in Kotori's direction at that.]

Don't push yourself too fast. I get you want answers, but let yourself rest up. Don't make trouble for your shinki.

[Yeah, yeah, it's nothing he hasn't heard over the last few days and she gets why he's raring to go, but that forest was bad and there's no telling what's next. She nudges the boxes of food she brought.]

Don't worry about returning the boxes, you can keep them or I can pick them up later.

I don't need that much rest. I'm fine. [He's certainly much better than he was the first day or two, especially compared to when he was having trouble staying upright for more than a few steps. As far as he's concerned, upright and moving is fine enough for his purposes.

As for the food, he lets out a faint hiss through his teeth.] I suppose with as many people as there are in the temple right now, someone will go for it quickly enough.

[Sure, sure, whatever you say. Ginia nods her head at Kotori and the vultures again.]

Take care. I'll let you know as soon as I have any information of note.

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revolutionfalcon - 2018-06-12 13:01 (UTC) - Expand

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