thenearshore | [Semi-Closed] Wedding Bliss

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[Semi-Closed] Wedding Bliss

Who: Aymeric, Leo, their CR and their +1s
When: April 21st, all day
Where: Odin’s Temple, Glitnir
What: It’s a wedding! Please respond to the top levels provided!

The invitations had been sent, the work has been done (and into overtime after certain events), the orders have been made and the scenes have been set. Trying to plan a wedding without a planner can be pretty tough but the support system both men have did help in the long run. A lot of it even with a computer dying in the process. The point was to have a simple affair, no large fanfare considering this was not one of Heaven’s festivals and just a celebration of love between two people. This what both Leo and Aymeric wished for and they did their dammest to make it come to life, to hopefully a successful and eventful day but for all the right reasons.

They earned this happiness. Today is for them and they can share it with comrades and friends and family alike.

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"I can manage this much - for their sake," Yoon replies with great effort to keep something resembling an optimistic tone. He reaches for the knife and starts to cut the cake. "It's better than being completely useless. At least you did something for the wedding - I should have been the one to make their cake, or... something for my own god's wedding."

But... he hasn't been treating Aymeric much like one of his gods, has he? Not with the respect or attention that would deserve. So maybe this is his own fault.

Initially, without the benefit of a god-shinki connction, Ebisu had been willing to assume that Yoon had been dealing with just about anything. Exhaustion in preparing the wedding, recovering from an illness... It can be anything. People are very complex and the things that affect them vary greatly. Yet as he listens, it quickly becomes clear that there's more going on here.

As Yoon cuts the cake, Ebisu thinks carefully before focusing once again on the shinki. "You should also get a slice and eat with me."

"Ah? Yes, sir."

He feels like he's done something wrong, and is going to be scolded by someone with all of the raw imposing power of Romeo or Nanako. If he didn't know any better, of course. This is still a really powerful old god that he should be respectful towards, completely outside of the fact that he just got done doing Aymeric a huge favor.

So he does exactly that, takes a slice of cake and follows Ebisu to sit down wherever the young god would like, without much else to say.

Fortunately for both of them, Ebisu manages to have no mishaps on the way to the table. That means there's no reason for the two shinki he's brought with him and who are watching in the distance to hurry over to prevent a faceplant onto the floor. Once he's settled, he glances over to Yoon thoughtfully. There's a lot he wants to say, and a cake that he wants to eat, but those things can happen in due time. If there is one thing a god such as himself is not lacking for, it's time.

"There are a lot of things which I am struggling to understand when it comes to matters outside my domain," he says at last, carefully trying to cut through his cake. It's too thin a slice, however, and the cake crumbles into smaller bits. Whups. "However, as I was requested to head this wedding, I did my best to research it. Because it's not within my domain, there is of course always a chance that I am still misunderstanding. For a wedding, are gifts and food the primary reason for its occurrence?"

Yoon isn't coming at this from the perspective that Ebisu is, so he's quick to respond with his own take on the matter. "Of course you're supposed to have gifts and food! The groom's family and the... well, the bride's family... they each have their own responsibilities to the wedding ceremony! Guests bring money too. Everyone chips in something to make sure the event is a happy one, whether it's providing the outfits people wear, the venue, the decorations, the food, even where someone's going to live afterwards."

He misses Ebisu's key word of primary though. Yoon's focusing on the fact that, coming from a poor background, it was a very big deal when people got married. For poor people, it might be the only time that the community rallied around them to set them up for life.

That certainly is missing a very important part of his sentence, and yet Ebisu doesn't interrupt him. Instead, he lets Yoon let it all out while he carefully tries to cut through the cake in a way that doesn't send it flying. Only when he's done does he look up at the shinki.

"Well, of course it should have gifts and food," he says simply. "However, are the gifts and food the reason why the event is happening in the first place?"

"Why the event is..."

He has to repeat it aloud because he's trying to understand what Ebisu is getting at.

"The food and gifts are the event. People get married all the time without events like this, it's just not as fortuitous to the couple in their new life together--"

Yoon blinks.

"... You wanted me to say it's for the couple themselves, didn't you?"

And there's that beaming innocent smile that only manipulative children can really pull off. Not that Ebisu is exactly trying to be that or anything. He swears.

"Am I wrong?" he asks earnestly. "I still don't understand a lot of things about weddings. I did my best to research them, of course, both from a Japanese standpoint and from the view of other places, as the gods I helped marry today are not from the pantheon I'm familiar with. From what I can tell, especially as time has progressed on the Near shore... The marriage's purpose isn't for food or gifts, although they're welcome and encouraged. Right?" He takes a break from speaking to bite into his cake, chewing happily. Well, he can see why it's encouraged.

"I might never be able to understand it, as a god of the Far Shore... But I think there's a reason you were invited, and it had nothing to do with things like that." Another smile appears on his face, this time directed to where Aymeric and Leo are.

"I'm grateful that I was allowed to participate and learn about this kind of thing. I feel I've come to understand a lot more. So, I think it would also be good if you were able to do similar."

"Since you asked..." Yoon looks over at Ebisu, adding very quickly and succinctly: "Yes, I still think you're wrong - because if I've learned two things in my time here, it's that I'm not modern, and that certain kinds of people... here it's gods... are able to do things differently from the poorer people."

He folds his arms, standing firm in his belief. It would've been outrageous, in his opinion, if a close family member who was fully capable of helping - no lost limbs, no illness, etc. - simply did not do so. They'd have been seen as incredibly rude! So too would it be seen as rude for someone to get married and not ask a close family member to be involved somehow.

And perhaps that was old-fashioned, perhaps it was unique to poorer people and shinki from a much older time like him... but he didn't think he'd be swayed either. A marriage that didn't involve both families setting the couple up for success was looking down on the couple, or even alienating them on purpose. It was a kind of enforced dishonor that Yoon felt like he'd unintentionally shown to Aymeric and Leo, and he really wanted to make up for it, whether they - and Ebisu - saw it that way or not.

If there's any good side to this conversation, it's that, despite Yoon's stubbornness and blunt manner of speaking, Ebisu doesn't seem to take any offense. If anything, he leans forward in the kind of immense interest of someone with a curiosity so large that it devours any new information it can get its hands on. The books and sites he's been reading have all been helpful, of course.. but it's not quite the same as speaking with someone. It's just so much easier.

"Although you say that, it feels as though that line of thinking is very familiar to many of the gods I know." Ebisu grins a little bit. How long has it taken for so many of the older generation of gods to get cell phones...? "Do you believe this way of doing things is because Borel-sama and his husband are gods?"

It's definitely a relief to not be badgered while still in his down mood, despite his best efforts not to be. Ebisu's question at least merits an answer from Yoon, albeit one more stream-of-consciousness in response.

"Well I think it helps," Yoon confesses. "Since they're gods, they can do what they like. And what they like, they remember from their homes. And neither of them were poor where they came from either; regardless of what titles they had, they had them. That means they weren't peasants or farmers or artisans or traders or anything like the lower classes. So in all aspects, their way of doing things is different to the way I know." At least, that much he feels he can explain.

There's another simple nod from Ebisu. All of this is still making sense to him. "It's very foreign to myself as well. Gods don't often marry in this fashion, or at least it's not particularly common." Not unheard, but also not really done a lot. "So I was quite surprised when I was requested to officiate! I'm not a god of romance, and I have been told the contract of marriage is very different from a contract between businesses."

It took a little bit of conversation, but. They got there.

"However, I had to trust hat Borel-sama and Leo-sama had their reasons for choosing myself for that. I'm sure, then, that there has to be a reason that chose to include you into this event, even if you couldn't help assist them. They are people that you trust, correct?"

"I don't know Leo well at all, but Aymeric for sure. And if Aymeric has been with him as long as I've known him, then I trust him a great deal, yes." It was kind of like how he trusted Hak before he remembered anything about him - and even after he did, Yona still knew him longer, and Yoon trusted Yona more than Hak in the end, but... he trusted Hak by extension of Yona's trust in him.

"And I'm not sure why they asked you either... but like you said, I'm sure they had a reason." Then he speaks up again: "I guess it just feels like if I did know why, or if I had done something to help them today, it would feel like... they trusted me more too."

He shrugs in Ebisu's direction. "Maybe I don't like feeling like I'm being treated like a kid. You know?" Surely that much Ebisu could understand. Yoon understood very well that he was young - but he also knew how much time he'd spent being a homemaker, and that made him feel like he deserved to be treated the way adults were.

"When you put it that way, I suppose I can understand to some degree..." Ebisu's gaze drifts a little upwards to the ceiling, a fork in his mouth as he works through another piece of cake. It's a fairly decent comparison, he supposes. On a surface level, he would imagine it works very well. But...

He lets the fork go back down to rest along the plate. "I think the circumstances between us may be different in that regard, however." It doesn't take much to look through the crowd and find his two shinki again. Unmi seems to be nearby enough just in case anything goes wrong, although he seems to mostly be complimenting the shinki at the bar, and Kimi is happily dancing with Jitsumi. He's glad to see them enjoying themselves; it's not something that happens nearly enough.

"I know for a fact that, for some of the things my shinki do, it's because it is their way of making it up to me." Ebisu can think well enough on why. "For your gods, there is undoubtedly something different." Shaking his head, he looks over to Yoon and smiles. "Well, it can't be helped. Your connection to one another is still new, so these sorts of misunderstandings will inevitably happen, not out of malice, but because of care. I can't imagine their explanation- that's something you will have to openly discuss with Borel-sama yourself once the festivities have died down. Still, I'm certain that, for Borel-sama and his husband, your presence here is as valuable as anything you could have given or done. I hope gives some solace to you until you have a moment with Borel-sama." With that said, he reaches over for Yoon's hand.

...And that's... about all he can do. Reach. His tiny little hand can only flail, since his short little arm lacks the length required to finish off this moment.

The expression on his face slowly shifts from that concerned contemplation of Ebisu's words to appreciation for them. He responds by extending his own hand.

"Thanks - for taking the time to talk to me about this." Even though they had such vastly different insights on the matters at hand, he was spoken to on an even footing. It helped, a little, giving him time to process some of his own thoughts on what had happened. That was good a gift as any.

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[Semi-Closed] Wedding Bliss

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