[closed] a tea party for the emotionally compromised

[dredefulchilde]

Who: Joscelin and Ayumu
When: December 23
Where: Temple of Vesta
What: Everyone's favorite homicidal child shinki and a traumatized god meet up to discuss nora-ing.

Google Maps doesn't exactly work in Heaven. It had taken Joscelin an appallingly long time to get to Ayumu's temple because he kept getting turned around. Even with her instructions, he'd had to resort to calling her twice and then waiting next to a landmark for her to come find him.

The whole mess has put him in a rather pissy mood. He doesn't like looking incompetent. What if she decides he's not worth the effort and doesn't name him after all? He can't have that. She's the only god who's shown any interest in letting him be a nora and letting him fight as much as he needs to stay fed and happy.

Speaking of feeding...Joscelin's stomach growls. He hasn't eaten anything physical since breakfast, and it's been so long since he's absorbed any energy that it isn't taking the edge off his deeper hunger any more. He needs a good meal, and then he needs to be let loose on some unsuspecting ayakashi until he's had his fill of energy. Otherwise, things might get dire.

He looks up at Ayumu when she rounds the corner.

"I hope I wasn't too far away. I'm still learning my way around."

Comments

[dredefulchilde]

You seem to die on a disturbingly regular basis, Mistress, Joscelin says, deadpan.

However, what she is telling him leaves open some interesting possibilities. What would it be like to die and then become a god? Have all that power, and a shinki of his very own?

It's alluring, to say the least.

If I were to become a god, would I remember my life from before I died?

[kagenonadeshiko]

Dying here is a bad habit to get into. I don't recommend it. Most don't come back and it's impossible to predict what you'll return as. In many cases, people return with no memories at all. It can cost you everything with little to no reward.

There's a quiet severity to her tone but also the kind of pained wisdom one gets only through bitter life exerience.

It don't believe it's worth the risk, even to become a god. We're not all powerful. We're servants, too, to a power we cannot see yet continues to govern us. And our memories can still be stolen from us when we die.

Just the suggestion of Joss's little body twisting into some horror like her own had become seconds before she'd died makes her heart race and her blood run cold.

If you can find a stable home with a strong, kind, and competent god to guide and look after you, you can live a good life here as a shinki. Or at least, that's what I've discovered.

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin's "voice" turns quiet, thoughtful.

I don't plan on dying just yet. He has friends now. People who care about him. It all feels very foreign to him, to be cared about. Especially when...

Are you going to be that kind of god for me, Mistress? It's terrifying, the idea of being so connected to someone. He doesn't know how to respond to it. Even now, with Ayumu bringing him food and then naming him so that she can keep his powers fed, he wonders when the other shoe will drop. It has to be transactional. People are only kind to other people when they expect to get something out of it in the end.

But still, there's a small part of him that hopes he's wrong. Because he's lonely.

Let's cut the sentimentality and find another ayakashi. I want dessert.

[kagenonadeshiko]

Ayumu's kind by nature and it's a small miracle that the harsh, lonely life of a kunoichi hasn't killed that trait in her completely. As trauma after trauma occurred throughout her life, she'd cut away piece after piece of herself to survive, only to whittle herself down to a hollow shell of false smiles and fake cheer until the day she met her fate.

They'll just have to see how much Ayumu Yamazaki remains and if the pieces can be put back together.

Dessert, it is, then.

She falls quiet, intent on her search. Eventually, Ayumu spots one, about the same size as the previous one slain.

How about that one? Big enough portion for you?

[dredefulchilde]

Perfect.

Their fight is more of the same. Joscelin drinks his fill of the ayakashi's lifeforce with every strike and slash. He's being too greedy; there isn't all that much left of the creature before he remembers to pull back and attempt his experiment.

Instead of taking the energy for himself, he tries to channel it to Ayumu. It seems to work, but he may need a little more practice in the execution. Instead of focusing it on healing her eye, the energy goes everywhere. Ayumu may be left invigorated and refreshed, but the scarring and blindness would not be noticeably better.

[kagenonadeshiko]

The energy flowing into her surprises Ayumu. She's in the process of rending the ayakashi when it starts coursing through her body like a second wind. She feels good, more energetic than she has since she'd come back. After a quick look around, she doesn't see any more ayakashi so it should be safe enough to transform him back now.

"Joscelin, return."

[dredefulchilde]

When Joscelin reforms, he looks infinitely better than before. There's color in his cheeks and all of the scrapes and bruising left over from his fight with a wall Shin have vanished.

If it weren't for the fangs still in his mouth, he might almost be mistaken for a normal little boy.

He bounds over to Ayumu, surprised at the amount of energy he has. "Thank you, Mistress. Are you feeling any better? I decided to experiment with an idea I had."

And next time he'll actually get it right.

[kagenonadeshiko]

The fangs are kind of cute to her, really. They add a bit of extra character and charm. At his question, she beams.

"I do. Thank you very much. I didn't know you could do that."

Ayumu's touched by the gesture, truly. When she'd promised to help him, it'd been simply because he'd needed it. She hadn't expected to get back anything in return.

"I'm just glad you're feeling better and that I could help you."

[dredefulchilde]

“I didn’t either, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try.” And he did feel a sense of obligation to her. He still does. She’s the first adult—real adult, not teenager—he’s met so far who seems to give a damn about him.

Joscelin looks at one of the store windows and sees a Christmas tree in it. Oh, that’s right. He knows about Christmas, doesn’t he? He can’t say why or how, but he does, probably the same way he knows how to read and fight and play the piano. Christmas Eve is tomorrow, so he’d better figure out what to get Ayumu...and his other friends besides. But definitely Ayumu. He wants to buy her something special and make her smile.

“Mistress, may we stop in that art store for a moment before we go back? I want to buy something...”