thenearshore | Bad Idea Theater presents: A Kappa In The Countryside

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Bad Idea Theater presents: A Kappa In The Countryside

Who: Gojyo and Votelli, at least to start
What: After Zelda's info-gathering party, Gojyo needs to warn Votelli that her secret's out
When: December 24th
Where: Somewhere in Chichibu National Park
Warnings: Will update as needed

It’s taken a couple of days, but Gojyo’s finally on his way back up the mountain.

One of the worst things about being a shinki is not being able to lie. Do something you feel bad about, something you know is wrong, and your god (or gods) gets stung immediately. It’s a real pain in the ass.

But, Gojyo’s discovered, if you always feel bad about something, if you’re always feeling guilt over some wrongdoing or another, then those gods get overwhelmed with stings. They can’t tell when a sting is from their emotionally unstable shinki’s memory of causing pain to a friend, and when it’s because he’s sneaking away from the bar he’s been living in to bring snacks and a warning to the little god living up on the hillside. At least, he’s pretty sure neither Hakkai nor Goku will be able to tell what he’s up to. Goku he’s sure of. Hakkai’s a little more suspicious.

But if he doesn’t try, he’ll regret it the rest of his life. Votelli might be a renegade god, she might have powers that kidnapped and nearly killed Hakkai and a dozen other folks, and she might even be responsible for the new name Banri’s been carrying around. For all that, though, she’s still a kid. A sweet little kid who’s been lied to and controlled.

Gojyo knows a little about that.

He’s much less laden down this time -- chips and puffed rice don’t take up much space, and neither do chocolate and buns with sweet stuff inside –- but his breath is still coming in heavy white puffs by the time he reaches the little clearing where he and Goku had previously met Votelli. He made it. But now how to find her?

Oh. Well, it can’t hurt!

“Uh. Hi.” He carefully pats the trunk of a nearby tree, gazing up into the branches as though expecting a face to appear. This is so stupid, but what are his other options? Start shouting? “I’m looking for Votelli. Can you tell her I’m here?”

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"They listen to me," a dubious, youthful voice points out, from no more than a few feet behind him. "They don't talk to me."

Votelli is wearing a different outfit today; this sundress is blue and speckled with white daisies, and under it she has on a too-large pair of athletic pants, tattered at the hem where they drag on the ground. She looks up at him, clasping her hands behind her back.

"You did come back," she adds, and smiles.

He jumps when she speaks, the movement half honest and half intended to make her laugh. She's a god, and a powerful one, and he's not going to forget that any time soon -- best keep on her good side.

"Oi, don't sneak up on me!" he exclaims, slapping a hand to his chest. She's wearing different clothes, he notices with relief. She might be living out in the woods, but she's clearly got somewhere to keep her stuff, and wash up. After living rough in the back of a bar, these are things he's started being aware of! "You're gonna give me a heart attack, kid!"

Is she alone? He listens hard to the woods around them, ears straining for any hint of footsteps on the litter of dead leaves. If her Sensei is around, this whole thing could go sideways real quick.

She giggles at his jump, covering her mouth with one hand. The forest isn't silent, but there aren't any footsteps; crows croak together off to the left, and a brook babbles over stones away behind her.

"I didn't sneak up on you!" she protests, and looks around, to the right and left, and then craning her neck to look around him. "Is your friend here too? With the crown?"

And, with a glance that's half bashful and half covetous, she adds, "... And did you bring any snacks?"

Somebody clever enough to use a little girl to try and take over heaven could probably sneak through the woods without making a sound, but it's still a relief when the only things he can hear are just the regular forest sounds.

"Now I see how it is," he mock grumbles, swinging his pack off his back. "No hi Gojyo, great to see you, it's been awhile, happy holiday, no, you just want the shrimp and these."

His sideways grin belies how happy he is to see her, though. Unzipping the bag reveals a whole pile of snacks, sweet and salty both, and he holds the whole thing out to her. "Well? Don't be shy, I brought all this stuff for you."

"I'm glad to see you too!" She's leaning over to look at the snacks, though, wide-eyed and excited. Her hand hovers over one brightly colored wrapper, then another.

"-- I just wondered, because you were here together last time."

At last, her hand descends on something bar-shaped and wrapped in blue, and she picks it up, tearing it open with her teeth before she carefully sniffs it. Chocolate? She takes a bite.

"Is it a holiday?" Chew, swallow, and a bashful grin before she adds, "Thanks."

"Yeah. It's, uh. Christmas." She doesn't seem upset at all, he notes with relief. She'd come right out to see him (although she'd probably been watching him for some time -- he hopes so, anyway), she's not injured, and she doesn't look tired or stressed out. He got here before the rest of the heavens did, and thank fuck for that. "You eat cake and give each other presents." He gives the bag a little shake, and offers her a mock-apologetic grin. "Sorry, it's not cake."

She's the same age as Amaterasu, more or less. Amaterasu was killed, and reborn into a kid's body with no memories -- or at least, that's what they've been told. If Votelli's been here in the woods with this Sensei for the same amount of time, then she has to have been killed when Amaterasu was. Which means that Sensei might be the killer... or Sensei might be somebody who got her out of heaven before whoever killed her could try again. Amaterasu's temple hadn't burned down on its own, after all.

It all hinges on Sensei's identity.

"Hey, nobody else has come up this way in a couple days, right?" He drops down onto his heels again -- the leaf litter is damp and cold so he's not sitting there, and he's not about to ask Votelli to ask the trees to make him a chair. Squatting will work for now. "No gods? No strangers?"

"It's still good," Votelli assures him, through a mouthful of chocolate. The chocolate bar Gojyo had given her is rapidly disappearing. "Even if it's not cake-- and there's been a couple of humans. There usually are."

She shoots him a half-guilty look, and adds, her tone prickly, "I didn't talk to them or bother them at all. And I hid from the ayakashi I saw. I can take care of myself!"

"I don't doubt it!" he laughs. "I've seen what your tree friends can do."

But then he sobers. "And that's why I'm here, kiddo. Sorry, but your secret's out." It's possible she'll panic when he tells her this and flee, and he won't get to learn more about her Sensei... but her safety has to come first. "Some of the gods you talked to a couple days ago told heaven all about you, and it's only a matter of time before they come trompin' back up this way to find you."

It's too much to put on a kid, even a godly kid. Leave her home? Leave everything she knows? There's no other option, though. "You've got to get out here."

"They told Heaven?" She doesn't drop the chocolate bar; instead, she hikes up the edge of her sundress and shoves it into the pocket of her oversized pants, scrubbing her hands clean on the hem of the dress as she takes a step back.

Slowly, a scowl is developing on her face. The trees above tremble, leaves whispering together in the absence of a breeze.

"Who did? When?"

Or maybe, instead of panicking, she'll be ready to fight. Gojyo can't help it -- he admires the hell out of her even more for her reaction.

Still, he's not going to throw anybody under the bus.

"Three days? Four?" Time can be strange in the Far Shore, he's found. He's pretty sure it hasn't been longer than four days, although he couldn't swear to that. "I tried to get here sooner, but I'm a shinki, you know? It took awhile to sneak away."

The hairs on the back of his neck are standing up, but he's careful not to let it show on his face. She won't hurt him -- he sure of it. "Do you have someplace you can go?"

"I'm not going anywhere. This is my home." She takes another step back, and reaches out behind herself, pressing both palms against the rough bark of an oak. The branches seem to curve around her, not too close, but in a protective arch.

For a long moment, she's silent, staring at him.

"...What about you? You're a shinki."

It had taken him a while to get away -- right? And the Heavens haven't come after her yet, but that doesn't mean they won't. It doesn't mean they won't go looking for someone to blame if she hides, and they can't catch her.

"They might hurt you if they catch you. You should stay here," she decides, aloud, and the tree behind Gojyo shudders into movement, reaching down to hold its branches over his head in the same protective arch.

The trees arching over her, he half expected. The trees arching around him?

He rises to his feet slowly, carefully, and takes a step back, gaze darting from branch to branch, trying to gauge just how protective the trees are feeling. "Nah," he grins unevenly -- she wouldn't really keep him here if he didn't want to stay, would she? -- and brushes some invisible dirt off his pant leg. "This is your home, and I belong back there."

If he backs up any more he'll have his back to the tree trunk, and that's not a position he wants to be in. "Thanks, though, honey. It's good to know you're lookin' out for me."

"You don't have to." Her mouth twists into a defensive frown, and she does lean back, resting against the tree trunk behind her with comfortable affection. "You can stay. -- I could name you."

It's an impulsive offer, or it sounds like one; there's a thread of childish neediness in her voice. She adds, tripping over her words, "That way they wouldn't hurt you without me knowing about it and I could keep you safe."

A slight hesitation.

"Probably."

Damn, but he wishes he could hug her.

"I'd blight you, honey." His voice is soft, all traces of his earlier stress gone. She must get so lonely up here, with nobody but the trees to talk to. There has to be something he can do about that! Something that isn't staying himself. "I'm a really awful shinki! And I..."

His voice trails off. He might be an awful shinki, but there's shinki who wouldn't blight her, right? Shinki who don't ever feel guilty, or lie, or cheat? There's a whole temple of them, back down in heaven, and not all of them are creepy-quiet like Banri is. Some of them, he understands, are actually pretty nice folks.

He looks at her, appraisingly. It might be a little like playing with dolls, having a house full of soulless shinki, but at least she wouldn't be alone.

"But I might know somebody who could use a brave, strong god like you."

She stares at him, expression blank and a little confused.

"You're not an ayakashi," she says, pats the tree trunk as if comforting a protective dog, and walks towards him with one hand out, reaching to prod uncertainly at his forearm. He's not an ayakashi-- right?

"So how would you blight me?"

What?

"Huh?" She pokes him in the arm like he might be made of smoke or something. Has she really never heard about shinki and guilt? "No, I'm just a shinki, but..." Is the guilt blight something only the new shini do? That doesn't sound right. He's sure the older ones do it too. Don't they?

"If I feel bad about something, really bad, you know?" Bad in a way he doesn't think she can understand. Bad in a way he hopes she doesn't entirely understand. "Then my gods feel it as blight." And, gently... "All shinki do it."

So maybe she should be more careful about offering to name strangers in the future.

"Really? My -- um." She pokes his forearm again, and inspects her fingertip for blight, playing for a little time. "I mean, I've never had a shinki before. Why would you feel bad? About what?"

There's definitely no blight on her hand; she laces her fingers together in front of her, looking up at Gojyo.

"You've been nice."

Was that a lie? Did he just catch her in a lie?

"Actually, I was wrong. There are shinki who don't feel bad about stuff," he offers, zipping the bag closed and holding it out to her. It's all candy, and it's all for her. "They don't feel guilty, or sad, or happy or angry or anything. They're just empty."

If he did just catch her in a lie and she does have shinki... if she really did name all those soulless a couple weeks back... then did she even know what she was doing? He doesn't want to believe that she's been lying all along -- it has to be that she just didn't understand what was happening. "Folks in heaven call them 'soulless'."

She reaches out, almost automatically, to take the bag, staring up at him with a conflicted expression.

"And they just do what you ask them to," she says, more a statement than a question. "But they won't really talk to you, will they?"

That's what he thought. Gojyo nods.

"Yeah. You've met 'em?"

He brushes his hands off when she takes the bag, then sticks his hands deep into his coat pockets. It's damned cold up here!

Edited 2018-08-20 14:39 (UTC)

"Yeah. When you all were coming in here."

She waves her free hand around, indicating her forest, and tucks the bag of snacks into the crook of her arm.

"So," she adds, faux-casual, "if a god asked to name a shinki like that, they'd probably just say yes, right? Because they don't have feelings about it one way or the other?"

The trees are still looking over them in a way that Gojyo isn't entirely comfortable with, but if he's going to maintain Votelli's trust then he's going to get comfortable with it. He takes a step back, and leans against the tree behind him, forcing himself to relax against the rough bark.

"Probably," he agrees. "They don't think about much, as far as I can tell, except wantin' to be good shinki. I think they'd say yes to any god who offered to name 'em."

There's an important conversation about shinki consent that should happen here, but it's not one Gojyo's equipped for. The best he can do is shrug.

"They don't get to have a choice about it, you know? Heaven broke 'em when they got made, and now they can't even say no."

"Then Heaven shouldn't get to keep them."

Her tone is cold, and she glances over at Gojyo as he leans back against the tree. The branches droop a little further down around him, shielding him from the chilly wind.

He's good at keeping secrets for her. He'd even told her, when someone else wasn't.

"You can't tell anybody, because they might hurt those shinki. But I named some of them when they were here.

"It's because I've never had a shinki before. I wanted somebody to stay with me. But they all went back, anyway."

She sounds half apologetic, and half more as though she's trying to make excuses.

The tree closes in overhead, but Gojyo forces his breathing to stay slow and even. She won't hurt him. He has to trust that.

"Did you ask 'em? The shinki, did you ask 'em if they wanted to to stay with you?" Because Banri's never spoken, as far as Gojyo knows, and he's heard that the other soulless are the same. Quiet, mostly mindless, like obedient sleepwalkers. Barely alive.

"They all let me name them. When everything started catching fire, they all disappeared too fast for me to ask. -- And I can't go to Heaven.

"Maybe they'll come back," she adds, audibly unconvinced.

"Maybe they will." He doubts it, but there's no reason to be a dick about it.

"When I go back, do you want me to ask 'em?"

She shakes her head.

"You said they don't really care, anyway." Absently, she shifts the bag out of the crook of her arm, and hands it off to the tree next to her, which cradles it with its branches, and looks at Gojyo again. "You're sure you can't stay?"

They don't have the ability to care, but that's not something he can put into words in a way that he'd understand fully, much less trying to translate it into language an isolated kid could follow.

With a sigh, he shakes his head.

"Ask me next time, okay?" And, since it seems a good place to bring it up... "Next time I want to meet this Sensei of yours, too. Do you think you could set that up?"

"No!" The bag creaks as the tree freezes up as abruptly as Votelli, and her fists clench. "He can't know I talked to you!"

"Whoa, whoa, it's okay!" He's got his hands up, half to comfort her and half for defense. "We don't have to tell him, okay? This can be our secret."

Shit. Shit. What the hell hold does this guy have over her, that she'd be willing to name him as a shinki but won't let him meet her Sensei? Gojyo runs a hand through his hair, brain whirring.

Is she not safe? Is that it?

"But Votelli, honey, if he's threatened you you've got to let me help." He glances up at the trees, their canopy gone still. "I know you're strong, kiddo, but you don't have to face him alone."

"You can't fight him, either," she says, crossing her arms as though she's suddenly feeling the cold herself. She's avoiding his gaze, drawing circles with one toe on the ground.

"Nobody else believes in me."

"Maybe you're right."

He toes the edge of a root, gently tracing the gnarled rim where it protrudes from the soil. Sensei's stronger than trees, strong enough to kidnap somebody like Hakkai. That's no joke.

"Maybe I'm not strong enough, but what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't try?" She's lonely enough that she named a bunch of soulless shinki in the hopes that they'd stay and be her companions -- no matter what else this Sensei is doing to her, keeping her isolated is bad enough that Gojyo's seeing red at the thought. "There's got to be something I can do to help."

"No, I mean... nobody else believes in me. Shinki don't count." She darts a curious glance up at him, before going back to staring at the circles she's sketching in the cold dirt.

"So you can't fight him, because if he wins he'll hurt you and if you win I won't be around anymore."

If he wins, she won't be around? "What?" That doesn't make any sense. Is she saying she'd leave if he hurt her Sensei? He gets that she'd be mad about losing her asshole friend, but why would...?

...Oh.

"He's human." Oh, that's it, isn't it? He believes in her. He's her worshipper, keeping her alive through his prayers. "Shit, that's serious." He's never known a god who disappeared because they ran out of believers, but he's heard about it. That's why they have to answer prayers, all of them. That's why they have shrines.

"Where's your shrine?" Well, okay. If she only has one believer, then the solution is obviously to get her more believers! That shouldn't be too hard! Humans will believe in anything. "We'll get you some more believers, okay? Answer a couple of their prayers, flash a bit of magic, and you'll be fine."

"I don't have a shrine." She laces her fingers together, eyeing Gojyo sidelong. "Because if I did, Heaven'd know about it."

"Oh yeah, I guess they would," he concedes... but he's not done yet.

"But you don't need a temple, right?" He's not actually sure how the whole 'believers' thing works, but there has to be a way that she isn't stuck relying on one person!

Relying on one person never works out.

"If you answer somebody's prayer, then they'll have to believe in you."

"Not if they weren't praying to me in the first place. They'll just think whoever they prayed to answered it instead."

Fingers still laced together, she swings her hands briefly, and then separates them, shrugging with an elaborate show of unconcern.

"Nobody knows about me, so it's not that easy to make them worship me. Anyway, if they did, Heaven'd definitely find out.

She's right. Dammit! This is a hard one!

"Okay okay," he tries again, waving his hand around in a flutter as though he could stir up an idea that way. "Okay, hold on, I'll think of something, just give me a second."

There has to be something! There has to be a way to help her.

He can't leave her like this.

"What about another name!" He snaps his fingers, nodding as he works through the idea. "Everyone in heaven's got at least two names, right? So use a different name, but it's still your name." He might be grasping at straws a little now. "What do you think?"

At that suggestion, she pauses, wide-eyed and thoughtful.

"Lots of gods have more than two names," she agrees. Heaven shouldn't know her name anyway... but if she looks like she's just any minor forest spirit with a regular name, it shouldn't matter, should it?

Probably? She chews her lower lip.

"Could you help me set up a shrine?"

"Of course!" What goes into setting up a shrine? He's got no idea... but he's sure that he can find out. There's got to be a book about it in the library, if he can avoid running into Chikusa. Or, hell, he could just ask anonymously on the BBS. "What name do you want to use?"

The lip-chewing lingers for a long moment as her face screws up in thought, and she mutters to herself, before looking up.

"Torimoto. Like, the bird from the zodiac, and 'forest.' I don't know how to write those, though."

His grin gets bigger.

"Magic forest bird, huh?" What a good name for her! "Don't worry about the characters. I'll find a dictionary and make sure I get 'em right."

This is good! This is really good. He's going something he can do to help, and he's got a lot of good information about Votelli and a little good information about Sensei, he knows about the soulless shinkis' new names... it's been a really good trip. Something's finally going right.

He raises his hands, splaying them out in front of him like he's picturing a banner in the air.

"Torimoto! Goddess of trees, leave offerings of chocolate and red bean buns."

Edited 2018-08-22 16:23 (UTC)

She giggles, pleased, and picks the bag of treats back up from its spot on the tree.

"Thanks, Gojyo. If you do need to come out here, I'll take care of you, okay?

"I'm good at hiding."

It's all he can do to resist patting her on the head.

"Good. You stay hidden, honey." So he pats the tree trunk instead, as he ducks out of their tree-cave. "I'll see you soon as I can."

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Bad Idea Theater presents: A Kappa In The Countryside

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