001 | The Welcoming Feast

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: A little bit of explanation, thank goodness.
When: Early morning. (February 15, 2016)
Where: The Heavens. Specifically in the Meeting Hall.
Warnings: Exposition is coming your way, sit back and enjoy the show!



The Heavens have summoned you. And there is no way to turn down a summons from the Heavens. Of course, some of you know where you are and what you are probably doing here, but most of you might be completely confused as to what is going on. All gods have been ushered into the meeting hall, where every person suddenly becomes anonymous and obscured, while every shinki has been gathered up outside in the hallway, both sets to listen to the same message sent by Amaterasu herself. And while you cannot see her properly or really figure out what her voice sounds like, you definitely know that it's her speaking:

'Welcome, one and all, to Takamagahara. There are many new gods and shinki here today, and I hope you all find your stay pleasant. I wish that I could explain to you exactly why you find yourselves here now, but I am unsure of the details myself. Please make use of the shinki dedicated to our services in order to make yourself more acquainted with your new position. You can find them by looking for my golden insignia.

As compensation for the trouble you are all being put through, I have had a wonderful feast prepared. I only hope that it is to your liking. Feel free to eat and drink as much as you would like, though please do not leave before the clock chimes midnight, for that is when your homes will be prepared.

I ask that all pre-existing gods please help those new to our ways. Let them know what is and is not acceptable and what duties will be expected of them. I am counting on your all to support the Heavens in this confusing time as we attempt to sort things out.

Thank you all for your time. And I am truly sorry that you have found yourselves in this situation.

With that, the figure that is Amaterasu bows deeply and disappears from their sights. The gods are released from their chamber and the shinki are allowed to roam. All exits are manned by a white-clad shinki, bearing a golden, embroidered Chrysanthemum on their chests. So, technically, there is no way out. You can't even seem to teleport out by any means.

All that's really left to do is enjoy the food and hope that you'll actually be able to leave after the clock chimes midnight. Though the clock doesn't seem to work on a minute-by-minute basis either...



Banquet Hall

There is food from literally every culture and walk of life here. Everything is prepared gorgeously and deliciously, no expenses spared. There are shinki bearing the Chrysanthemum carrying out new platters of everything as it's eaten up and nothing seems to go hot or cold as time passes - it always at the perfect temperature for eating and it never tastes anything but delicious. Maybe there's a little magic making it taste so good...

On top of the delectable dinner, there are plenty of desserts and every kind of alcohol available and constantly being refilled. The liquor is being offered to gods and shinki alike, no matter how old they are/look. Let's hope that you can hold your alcohol.

Counselling

In the main hallway, there is an innocuous door with a small, nicely written sign that reads "Gentle Counselling". Inside the door is a small room with a few sweetly smiling shinki inside who are willing to listen to your problems and answer any questions you might have. They are also here to help out any gods that are having a hard time dealing with knowing about how their shinki died and also any shinki that is having trouble coming to terms with the fact that they are dead.

Did Someone Say Games?

A large room connected to the back of the banquet hall has a wide variety of games set up for everyone to enjoy. There are old-fashioned board games (like chess and Othello) as well as newer ones (like Candy Land and Sorry!). On top of that, there is every kind of console available with every video game ever made - and plenty of handheld devices for everyone to be able to play. The devices don't seem to work outside of this room, though, so you'll have to stay there if you want to keep playing. Gaming is, after all, a great way to get to know new people!

After Midnight

Finally, the clock starts to chime. It seems like it's been days and yet only minutes at the same time. Time seems to work so strangely here in Takamagahara and it's hard to keep up with what's going on. But now that the shinki guarding the doors have left their posts, you are more than welcome to leave. In fact, the Heavens seem to want you to leave because all of the food has disappeared, none of the games work anymore (including the board games, which keep flipping over when you try to play...), and the friendly shinki are smiling as they usher you out the doors.

You are welcome to start wandering around Takamagahara, but it's an ambiguous sort of place and might just take you straight home anyway. Feel free to go home and start bonding with your partner. Or sneak home with someone else because your partner is a meanie-pants. It's up to you!



In Summary:

• Amaterasu says you're stuck here and she doesn't know why. Sorry!
• There's lots of food to eat, though! Eat your fill.
• Oh, and there's booze too. Try not to get TOO drunk.
• Guidance/Grief counselling is available, if you need it.
• Use gaming to get close to others!
• Try to start bonding with your god/shinki. Or just form new friendships. Whatever you feel best doing!
• Have fun!

Comments

[leggierissimo]

[... ah. A little bit of poking around reveals things that he's not quite sure how to swallow. It seems someone has been playing around inside their heads. Playing around with them, not just with memories, which is deeply unsettling and makes him feel like he needs to take a good hour-long soak. It's like they've been reshaped and fitted into a carefully-formed niche in this place, completely without their consent or awareness. And him, deified. His ego would normally be swelling, but right now, it just feels like a bitter taste in the back of his throat.

There will be words. As soon as he gets hold of Sanae. For now, there is a need for clever dodging and redirecting, because there are things that Neku can't know, and a need for choking down the anger and the feeling of his own privacy and being having been horribly, horribly violated.]

Mm, you don't recognize your own god, Neku-kun? How cold~

[He very casually flicks some hair away from his cheek with his fingertips. It's so easy to put on a front again. So terribly easy.]

My name is Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto. But, if it's easier for you, just call me Joshua.

[ijustwonthegame]

[The pause is kinda weird, but... at least the explanation-via-question makes some sense. The people that seem to know what's going on are all gods with at least one shinki with them or more, so the confused stragglers are probably leftovers just until they figure out who makes their matching set.]

[...He just happened to get stuck with one that's either obnoxious or happened to miss the memo that they weren't exactly told who they were in the service of.]

...Tsukuyomi. Moon god, right? [It's rhetorical, of course, just testing to see if his general knowledge is still intact. He's not sure how to feel about knowing things without remembering how he learned them.]

[If this is for real, though, then he's working for Amaterasu's ex. She's the boss around here, so what does that mean for god politics? Does that make it his job to make sure his god doesn't go killing people for making food he doesn't like?]

[...He hopes that's not why this guy seems to be avoiding eating any of the food that's been put out. Eyeing his targets? Nah, that's ridiculous.]

But okay, Joshua. Should I even ask how that nickname came about?

[leggierissimo]

[Well, even if Neku's forgotten everything else, he hasn't forgotten his boundless amounts of random knowledge. No doubt due to his benefit as god, of course!]

Ah, so you do know. Bravo, Neku-kun. I knew you could do it.

[He would clap, but he's not about to bring undue attention to himself. He's perfectly happy to remain relatively off radar.]

Call it personal preference. I'm rather fond of it.

[ijustwonthegame]

[Neku is pretty sure he knows things because he knows them and that's all there is to it. Joshua's ego has nothing to do with it, and his belittling praise even less so. That's making him sigh and frown a little.]

...Personal preference. Right.

[leggierissimo]

Something wrong with personal preference?

[Really, Neku. You're all about personal preference! Or, you were. But he's not going to tell you that! Instead, he'll turn his focus on that glass of soda that's likely going flat. Or not, considering this is Heaven, and they probably have eternally fizzy soda. It wouldn't surprise him.]

I can't quite bring myself to eat any of this stuff, you know. Granted, it all looks delicious, but you just never know what might be in it.

[ijustwonthegame]

Forget it; it's nothing. [More like he's annoyed with the patronizing, but it looks like that's eased off for now. Enough that he can snort, anyway.] If it makes you feel any better, I haven't seen anyone throwing anything up. Or, uh. Worse. [Hopefully myths are just myths because that one is really gross?]

Haven't seen in the kitchen, though. If there is one. [Should he stretch that joke into bathroom territory? ...Nah. Best not to think about it that hard and pointedly gulp down some of his drink instead.]

[leggierissimo]

Mm? That's good to hear. I'm still not sure I want to, though. But you're more than welcome, if you like. [He, for one, won't be throwing up. Or... worse. Eugh. Delightful mental image there, Neku.]

So, how much have you found out?

[ijustwonthegame]

[He's still not sure if he's got an appetite when everything's so... aimless? Ugh.]

Just that some of us are newbies to this whole shinki thing - and some of the gods, too, it sounded like? - and... for some reason it's weirder that it's normally supposed to be. Makes me wonder how this stuff is usually supposed to go. I just know that I'm dead and weirdly okay with that. And my name, obviously, even if it's a lot longer than the single-kanji names some of us have. [Or maybe all of the shinki have those, and that's why everyone at least knows their own name? His isn't anywhere he's been able to spot, anyway.]

So, uh. What about you? New god or old hat? [Tsukuyomi myths might've been around for ages but there's also that "reincarnation" word being thrown around. Fuck but it's frustrating to not even have all of the pieces for his own half of the puzzle.]

[leggierissimo]

So we've heard the same, then. Good, good. [He's not telling Neku all of what he knows, of course. There are some things just better left unsaid. ... and the information that springs to mind is rather startling, considering it's all new, but it feels like he's known it forever.] Shinki have two names. 'Neku' is just the name you've been given. [By him? Sure, he'll let you believe that.] Your other name is... mm. I suppose we'll find out sometime when we're not at a party, hm?

[He waves a hand at the question, though.] Oh, I've been around a while. [Not a lie! Not a lie at all. Just an act of omission.]

[ijustwonthegame]

[Two, huh? But... that still doesn't sound like Josh means a given name and a surname, and he's pretty sure that's what the 'Sakuraba' pinging around in his head is. Might as well leave it alone for now, though, since it doesn't really give him much more to work with here.]

[He's relaxing, though, because if his god's got experience with all this already it might be easier to figure out what to do from here.] So what do we do next, then? After they let us out of here, anyway. Did any of your other shinki come with you?

[leggierissimo]

[Ah. That. Hm. Not a question he was anticipating! Even so, Joshua is quick to come up with an answer.]

Actually, at the moment, you're my only one. I'm very picky. So, I'm counting on you. No pressure.

[ijustwonthegame]

[...Wait, what-- He's only just met this guy, god or not. How could he...?]

...You're picky, [Neku's echoing, a little deadpan.] You don't even really know me, so how the hell did I make the cut?

[He might've been flattered if this guy didn't strike him as so goddamned weird.]

[leggierissimo]

[Ah, Neku, you're asking too many questions.]

I can tell when someone is particularly talented. And you have great potential.

[But, to ease his mind... hmm.]

I did have one not long ago. But we didn't quite see eye-to-eye, so I let him go. He did try his very best, though, so I expect no less from you.

[ijustwonthegame]

[Good, you lying liar.]

Right. So it's just you and me, then. What're we supposed to do once the party breaks up? They didn't exactly go into the daily grind of your average salarygod or anything. [He's pretty sure that he never really believed gods or anything supernatural was even real, without proof like this whole mess in front of him. That's less a hunch and more just the slowly growing self-awareness he's got.]

[leggierissimo]

[He's not lying. He's dancing around the truth for your benefit.]

What do you do when any party breaks up, Neku-kun? You go home. And once you're settled in, we'll see about something a little more exciting. [He has no idea, actually. But! That will give him a little time to find out, or find a way home, one of the two. Preferably, finding a way home without damaging Neku's memories too badly.]

[ijustwonthegame]

[Lying liar liarface.]

[That... sounds a little awkward. Just, what, BAM, you live with a person you just met? It's better than not having anywhere to go, don't get him wrong, but it's going to be a while before he's gonna accept that as normal.]

[The whole sentiment's just coming out as a slight wrinkle of his nose after a long pause, though. Might as well keep playing it all by ear.] How you keep me in suspense.

[leggierissimo]

[Oh, believe him. He's used to not sharing a place. At all. A night, he might be able to manage, but he'll just have to see about any longer than that.]

Aww, why the sneer? Life is full of surprises, you know. Or the afterlife, in this case.

[ijustwonthegame]

[...As long as he gets his own room, he's tentatively sure he'll make do. Joshua's weirdness doesn't make him the most glowing ideal of a choice roommate, but he could be worse. Right now he's mostly just difficult, enough to make Neku sigh.]

That's kind of a package deal when your past is a blank slate dotted with giant question marks. But I guess at least one of us is having fun.

[leggierissimo]

[Well, of course, silly. Joshua wouldn't dare share a room. Wherever this residence is that's being prepared for him, he's sure that it has separate sleeping quarters for shinki. But hey, at least this gives him the opportunity to keep an eye on Neku. He's not under someone else's thumb.]

You can't have fun by making new memories? Really now, Neku-kun. Utilize that brain of yours.

[ijustwonthegame]

[Great.]

I'm not saying that; I'm saying it's easy for everything to be a surprise that way.

[leggierissimo]

[Waving a hand!]

We'll just fill in those surprises as we get to them! For now, you should make the best of your eternal youth~ I doubt it will be too often that you get to enjoy a party like this.

[ijustwonthegame]

[Joshua's getting a fantastic snort at that last remark.]

Good. I don't mind a couple people here and there, but I'm finding out that I'm not really a party person.

[leggierissimo]

[Ahh, it feels just like old times. ... just a couple of weeks ago, but shh.]

That makes two of us. The moment they let us leave, I think I'll take them up on their offer.

[ijustwonthegame]

[Amnesia and all! Only this time not by Joshua's machinations. (That must sting.) He's grumbling in agreement, though, and downing the rest of his drink.]

I know they said midnight but I definitely haven't seen a clock anywhere.

[leggierissimo]

[Everything here stings, actually. Not in the literal sense, though. At least, not yet.]

That is true. How do you suppose you tell time in a place where time doesn't matter?