And so it goes, and on it goes...

[mithrarin]

Who: Dust and open
When: Dec. 2 & 3
Where: The former temple, the shinki sanctuary, and around.
What: Dust discovers he has no name.

1.

Turned earth, the smell of soil already fading in the cold air, an obstinate breeze brushing over the soil like sterilization. Dust, eyes ever-hidden, stood where a path had once led to a temple, motionless even as his cloak and his tail drifted loosely behind him when the stronger gusts played with both.

What was he supposed to feel? Loss? Grief? Sadness? Two halves of him warred, the younger offering all this and more, with sincere regret for the god who had helped him in his mad crusade for justice, while the colder half simply said it was nothing, that gods were means to an end here, that Dust himself was a weapon long gone rusty from disuse. Neither were quite right.

Dust lifted one hand, drew it into a fist against his chest, and wished Takumi the best on whatever the next step of his journey was.

He might have stood there for hours, lost in his own thoughts and feeling so distant from everything that he might as well be wandering in a fog, save that the skip of something brushing against paper made his ears twitch and brought his head back up. A dozen feet away, a string of arcade tickets dragged against the ground, caught in the breeze no matter how obstinately they tried to fight it. His tickets, from the time he and Chinatsu had gone --

Dust pounced, dropping to a knee to slap a hand down on them before they could escape. A moment later, he was sprinting for the corner of the field that corresponded to where his room had been. He'd lost something, but he hadn't lost everything!

2.

With a suit on its hanger slung over his back like someone else would carry a duffel bag, Dust made his way down the streets of the Far Shore with striding purpose. Not as fast as an arrow, he'd nonetheless make his destination as surely as one. And he did have a destination, to no one's greater surprise than his own.

He could have simply wandered, would have been quite comfortable with that honestly. What memories he had of his own life recalled quiet nights camping, watching a nimbat sleep over the uppermost curl of a map, and though he had no company to speak of he didn't think making a fire was past his ability. Ayakashi? Let them come, he welcomed the chance to fight. The gods in charge of that sort of thing would eventually get around to assigning him a new god, so long as he kept showing up at the trainings like clockwork. Which he would. Hadn't skipped one yet.

But -- he had a friend, who had gone to every effort to make a home for people in his situation. Or at least a safe place, a sanctuary. Dust couldn't turn his back on that, not and live with himself. And, he admitted, a couple other people would probably care if something happened to him. They'd want to know he was safe.

Through the arch of the shrine to Amaterasu he stepped, putting foot on the ground of the Shinki Sanctuary. With a little noise of discomfort, he finally brought the suit off his shoulder and straightened the arm he'd kept bent for way too long.

"Home for however long it takes," he said, soft but carrying as his voice always was. But quietly, he would be happier with a campfire here, and a nimbat to keep him company.

3. (Dec 3)

The new day found Dust outside Bishamon's temple -- the building he was most familiar with in the Far Shore now, all things considered, and the one he felt most comfortable with. That was not good, as people had stressed to him; his life, or death, shouldn't revolve entirely around fighting. And he was trying to embrace that, trying to adapt, but --

--but right now, he thought he could be excused, just a little bit, for seeking comfort in the familiar and refuge in his purpose. But also right now, he didn't think he could go in, some unaccompanied and unnamed shinki just strolling on to try out the training area. That seemed wrong, unwelcome, unacceptable.

So he paced, weighing his options. Go in and likely be unwelcome? Stay outside and fidget? Find something else to do, but what? He was lost, thrown off his narrow path by an unexpected boulder, and now he was wandering trying to find his way back to it and worrying that every step took him further away.

((I'll match format!))

Comments

3

[doodlebuginette]

Marinette had yet to miss a single training day since she'd arrived here. Maybe it wasn't quite as important for her, a god, to show up to all of them, but she'd decided a while ago that she wanted to help. Sometimes she brought food, and sometimes she just showed up to help out wherever she could. It was how she'd found Snake, after all, so she had to be doing something right.

She didn't often feel the need to wander this way between the training days. Today, though, she found herself heading toward where the training was usually held. It was odd, and she couldn't really explain it, but she'd felt the need to come this way. Tikki hadn't been able to sense anything, either, and now the little kwami was hovering along behind her just in case. She'd told Snake and Adrien that she was taking a walk, and after a couple minutes of insisting that she'd be fine for half an hour without them, they went back to their movie.

They hadn't been walking long when Marinette spotted someone up ahead. She's pretty sure she doesn't recognize them, but this is a big place so that's not terribly surprising. As she approached, she realized they were pacing, and made sure to approach in such a way that she'd be spotted ahead of time. It was never her intention to sneak up on people, but she could sometimes be quieter than she realized, and she had a feeling that that might not go over so well this time.

[mithrarin]

Dust had pretty keen senses. Not necessarily because of his species, though the position of his ears could help, but more out of the necessity for a warrior to know what's coming. So when one of those ears twitched, he turned slightly, to figure out who was coming.

Not that he had anything to worry about, this deep in. How could ayakashi get this far? It seemed unlikely, and if not for ayakashi, what else did he have to worry about?

Well, one thing. "Sorry... am I in the way here?" Loitering or just general unwantedness of a shinki with no god and no purpose by the Far Shore's standards.

[doodlebuginette]

It was a little odd that the first think out of his mouth was an apology, and to worry about if he was in the way. But she supposed it could have been worse. She's just smiling at that, and shrugging a little. "We just got here, so you're certainly not in our way," Marinette informed him. Though it occurred to her after the fact that most people wouldn't be able to see Tikki unless she wanted them to.

"Why would you be in the way?" Maybe it wasn't the right thing to ask, but she was curious, and he'd looked almost guilty when he'd asked her. As far as she was concerned, everyone had the right to be here.

[mithrarin]

"You know how the old gods are about shinki." At least, he presumed she knew. A lone shinki, especially an unnamed shinki, would have no right to interfere in the matters of -- well, anything. That sure was how Fuujin came across, which is why he'd needed Takumi's help back then. "For all I know it's a heavenly crime for me to be here..."

[doodlebuginette]

There was that, yea. "I have an idea." Then again, the old gods seemed to be a bit ... weird about a lot of things. But it was hardly her place to judge them, considering she's just filling in at best. "Hey, I don't think it's a crime for you to be here. You have as much right to be here as anyone else," she assured him.

"I'm Marinette, by the way. Or Fortuna, if you prefer." Personally, it didn't matter to her either way. Most people referred to her as Marinette or some variation. Adrien was probably the exception to that. She wasn't going to bother introducing Tikki, because she's not entirely sure that he could even see her.

[mithrarin]

"Then I guess the question is, how much right does anyone have to be here?" Dust turned to look back at the temple, mouth turned down in a frown. Bishamon allowed everyone here when new shinki and gods arrived, but... Urgh. Why did it have to be so hard just to find a way to work off his frustrations?

Belatedly, he realized she'd given him her name, and he was being rude. Dust turned back quickly. "The name's Dust."

[doodlebuginette]

That was a good question, but Marinette was just shrugging. "I don't see anyone rushing out to shoo us away, so it seems like we're allowed to be here for now," she supplied. She's glancing up at the temple as well.

Sure, everyone was allowed to wander around here during the training days, but now? She had no idea. Why would it be a problem now, though? She nodded and smiled when he gave his name, and it struck her that she'd heard it somewhere before. "It's nice to meet you," she told him. "Were you thinking about going in... or?"

1

[swordofzero]

It was a painfully familliar sight. Suzaku knows now that when a god disappears their temple just... vanishes. Reduced to rubble like it never existed at all. It was strange, it made no sense but then again what did? Suzaku paused when he saw the boy in the rubble because he can guess...

After all it had only been three days since he stood in the ruins of Kali's temple trying to come to terms with the fact that Lady Grell had disappeared. He knew it happened often here and he guessed that was what he was seeing. A shinki stood in the ruins of a place that had been their god's.

He stepped forward, not entering the ruins themselves but stood close. "Do you need help?"

He might not. Or he might find it difficult to accept it. Suzaku had found it hard to agree to stay with Marinette, Adrien and Snake. Still did. Still felt like he was imposing, that he didn't deserve the immense amount of kindness they were showing him.

So he is half expecting the answer to be no, but it might not be. Suzaku knows he cannot walk past this scene without at least trying to help.

[mithrarin]

Dust had an intense amount of pride, it was true, and hated thoughts of pity or people needing to clean up after him.

"Yes -- please!" he called out, without even looking up from his frantic hurry to collect his mementos. Pride he might have, but these mattered more. Far more.

[swordofzero]

Even if the words were unexpected Suzaku did not hesitate. He rushed over to the boys side and saw in an instance what he was doing. He hurried to help, grabbing anything that was not rubble. Anything that might be important to this boy.

When he had grabbed everything he could see he handed them over worldlessly.

[mithrarin]

Dust had only one item of any bulk: a suit, which of course was simple and quick to grab and account for, even if it will need washing after this adventure. Everything else is knickknacks. Trinkets. Souvenirs, stuff like that. A photo of him and a girl (maybe Suzaku'd recognize Chinatsu) on a roller coaster.

He accepted them with overt relief, tucking them into his pockets quickly. "Thanks. I think that's pretty much everything. Guess I should keep this stuff in a box..."

[swordofzero]

He tries not to pry but he sees the photograph, he thinks he recognises the girl, has seen her around probably at the training sessions that happened semi-regularly.

"Perhaps. I'm glad you managed to gather it all though." They were clearly all important to the boy and Suzaku was glad he hadn't lost them on top of everything else.

He looked around the ruins again falling silent, he's not really sure what to say, there isn't really anything he can say.

[mithrarin]

"Yeah, this stuff is..." Important. Irreplaceable. Mostly junk and trinkets, but nonetheless.

Dust straightened up slowly, pulling the suit out of the dirt to make a token attempt at brushing it off.

"Guess that's a lesson. Keep your things in a box."

2 (how the fuck did the month pass so quickly)

[nopixiedust]

As usual, Wendy has made herself right at home in the sanctuary, although she's only a passerby in the grand scheme of things. Hibiki is still around for now, after all, and she has a second god as well. That's some sort of safety net, at least. But that doesn't mean she'll ignore the Sanctuary's state, no matter how much it hasn't gotten used yet. It's just a matter of time, after all.

She's flinging food at the chickens, little bits of grain, when she hears someone step out near the shrine to Amaterasu, and she immediately makes her way over with a small pack of walking feathers following after. "Dust!" she calls, glad to see him, before her eyes pick up the minimal luggage he has with him.

"Oh, bugger."

[mithrarin]

"Hey, Wendy." Circumstances aside, Dust managed to crack a smile nonetheless. He'd joked once or twice by now that Wendy would legitimately kill him if he blew off the sanctuary in his current state, so seeing her here was a little bright spot. "I'm here to validate your hard work."

[nopixiedust]

"Well, considering what my hard work is about, it kind of sucks sometimes to have it validated." Heaving out a sigh, she comes over. There are still chickens. Hope you don't mind them, Dust. "But it's better to have than not have it. Come on, let's get you settled in. We can put your stuff out of the way where regular people won't see it."

[mithrarin]

Dust didn't mind chickens... or any animals, recently. One quirk of being the Sen-Mithrarin was being a little inoffensive to even the more timid beasts of the world.

"It's a fact of -- here." Not life. They're dead. "Nothing you do will change whether a god disappears or not, but everything you do matters to the one left behind. And I don't have much." The suit was the bulkiest thing, and it could easily be rolled up or hidden.

[nopixiedust]

"That's still something!" The chickens only seem to be multiplying as they walk along. How many can one temple have? Don't worry about it. The temple doesn't own them anyway. "Do you want something to eat, too? We have food."

And food deserves to be eaten, one way or the other.

[mithrarin]

"That's a heck of a question to ask a shinki." Dust could still joke and even laugh despite the circumstances -- honestly, they felt more like the door closing behind him than being thrown out. "Aren't I supposed to eat a gallon of ice cream or something at a time like this?"

Peripheral exposure to pop culture has given Dust some very confused ideas.

3

[redmare]

Chinatsu didn't find Dust in their usual training spot. She even went to check his temple, but there was no temple to find. Eventually, she managed to find him outside Bishamon's temple. It took a while, if it was evident by how out of breath she was. She watches him for a moment before speaking.

"What happened..?"

[mithrarin]

"Takumi's gone."

Dust tried to say it lightly, and failed. In his darkest times, a sort of intensity clung to him that practically made him seem alien, a testament to his nature as someone, something, not quite natural.

[redmare]

Just like that? Not that she would say that out loud. What could she say? She knew what it felt like when she lost a god, and that last thing she wanted was pity.

"So what are you doing moping out here?" Her arms cross against her chest, resting her weight on one foot.

[mithrarin]

Chinatsu's lack of sympathy brought a smile to his face, unexpected but warm. That was just like her, and considering the time he had gotten her to be supportive and helpful, helped put things in perspective just a little.

"I thought I'd go in and train," he said, a little more life to his voice. "Take my mind off of things. You know how I am. But then I didn't know if it would be okay... since you also know how the old gods are about shinki and all. So I kind of just... got stuck thinking."

[redmare]

"Uh-huh." She flicks her hair behind her shoulder and walks past him, pushing open the door. "Well, while you're out here thinking, I'm actually going to train."

[mithrarin]

Dust's hand twitched at his side, out of an absurd desire to swat at her hair as it flicked past him.

"That makes it easier," Dust said, catching the door behind her. "If anyone asks, I'll say I'm with you."