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Who: Ebisu, Aomi, and various out-temple workers
What: Time for a relaxing trip to Kanagawa, before the next thing blows up.
Where: Kanagawa
When: Sometime after that compound mess

Kanagawa Prefecture has a lot of good points. There's an opening to the ocean, a lake for touring, beautiful views of Mt. Fuji wherever you look, and all sorts of interesting museums or temples. Aomi, the organizer of this little trip, agrees for everyone to meet at Iiyama Kannon an hour or two before noon. An easy famous place that people hopefully won't get lost going to, and all. Until then, well, people are free to go wherever they like. They don't even have to stay in Atsugi, where the meeting area is supposed to be. There are beaches not that far off, zoos to enjoy various animals, parks where carefully cultivated flowers are in gleeful bloom, a bustling Chinatown, and even the little island of Enoshima.

When the time comes to meet up, however, Aomi can be found alongside Ebisu with a bulging backpack and he does a quick headcount to make sure everyone is there before continuing on. The ultimate destination isn't any of the many tourist attractions in Kanagawa, but rather he leads away from the cities and towards the forests of the prefecture. Aomi would have made sure to remind everyone that morning over text to wear hiking boots.... so hopefully they all remember to do that, because the path chosen is one that has no actual path at all. Hopefully no one gets hurt, although it shouldn't be too hard.

What's the destination? That much becomes obvious once they hit some more even land, where a small stone monument has been placed at the base of a fully blossoming Japanese wisteria. Here, Aomi will let everyone know it's fine to take a break, and settle down. It's here that he'll help spread out some various picnic blankets and begin unpacking from his enormous backpack. He's been courteous enough to pack lunch for just about everyone, and a good variety in case any one dish doesn't suit someone. There's delectably spicy yokosuka curry, juicy shirokoro horumon, rare to get shonan pork sausages, and a variety of sushi that takes full advantage of being from a seaside prefecture. Everyone is free to relax beneath the wisteria blossoms and enjoy the view peeking out from the trees.

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"All of them?" That was interesting. Suzaku knew Ginia was a nora but he had not known any of the others were. As far as he had been able to understood the old gods had many issues with Nora that the newer gods for a large part did not share. It was interesting that Ebisu as an old god and a god of fortune at that would have only nora as his shinki.

He watches Ebisu, he doesn't want to be nosy even if he is interested.

"As far as I understand. Of course, most of my shinki don't seem to past or other gods of theirs, so I may be wrong on that front." Ebisu shrugs casually at that, not seeming to mind. All of his shinki have different circumstances. He's not had the time or inclination to ask about everything on that end, not yet. As long as they're content to be in this job, then it's fine.

"From what I understand, however, it's only knowledge that was made public with this current incarnation of mine. I'm surprised it's not more common gossip, but I suppose there is a gap between the two generations."

"Ah I had not heard it." So perhaps it was that the gossip had not filtered down to the new gods and shinki yet, or perhaps it's that the only person Suzaku ever hears gossip from is Ginia and her gods are about the only thing off limits.

"I don't know many of the older generation though."

Any of them actually. Lord Ebisu and his shinki were the only ones he knew in anything more than a strictly formal information giving sense.

"Gods often do keep themselves reclusive to some degree," Ebisu muses, poking some of his food around. He really is doing his best to pick it up. He promises. "Unless it's someone directly important to them, they won't go visit very often, and that can be dependent on if they're a major god or a minor one as well. Things such as that."

Finally managing to get a piece, he smiles over to Suzaku. "And with the generational gap, that's probably felt even moreso. I would like to see that change, however. I believe that the younger generation that has come into being recently would be able to bring some interesting ideas, if only some of my own were willing to listen. But, from what I understand, I'm unique to such views."

Suzaku ate his own food slowly, Ebisu seemed to be struggling a little with his chopsticks but his shinki seem to consider this as normal. He is a child god after all. Even if he's actually hundreds of years old.

"I think you are sir. Though I imagine there are many in the new generation who would be willing to have a closer relationship with the older."

"It's merely a problem of finding proper personalities to mesh with everyone." The piece of shirokoko horumon successfully manages to find its way into his mouth, and he beams. The little victories count a lot, sometimes. Give him a second to enjoy both the moment and the food.

"Getting along with some of the more minor and restricted gods, such as land gods, could possibly help, but I don't know many gods on that scale. At least, right now. I might also have difficulty introducing everyone properly, considering the status of my shinki even if it is, in the end, my temple. The other Gods of Fortune are also often too busy for these sorts of things."

"I understand, sir." He smiles as he watches Ebisu relish in his victory as he managed to eat a bite successfully.

"I am sure everything you are doing already is making a difference. You cannot be expected to bridge the gap by yourself."

After all most of the new gods new Ebisu, better than they knew any of the others and just being an approachable figure helped a lot, Suzaku thought.

"Hee." Looking far more the child than old god, Ebisu beams in pleasure. Even with all his influence, it's still good to hear a compliment now and then. "I'm glad that you believe so. However, I can't be satisfied with only this much, you know?"

Pausing for a moment to let Aomi clean up his face, Ebisu continues. "I think when we stop striving for things or looking in on ourselves, that's when we hit stumbling blocks or stagnate. If I'm honest, I feel that it's a problem Heaven has been dealing with for a long time."

Suzaku smiled at Ebisu's pleasure and concentrated on his food a moment. It was true, he thought, what Ebisu was saying. They should always strive for new things and trying to move onwards. Was that a problem heaven had?

It did seem that many of the old gods seemed to dislike change. That was what the new gods represented, change. Not just in that they worked differently but that as they came from many different worlds they brought those ideals and cultures to the heavens.

"Change can be frightening I think, it's difficult to find a middle ground between stagnation and things going too fast."

Maybe that was another blessing of being a shinki. Everything was new.

"Sometimes I feel as though going faster would be easier to stop than trying to get things moving at all," Ebisu huffs. "Still, we are at least moving to some degree. I'm glad that there are finally temples that are getting more into using things like cell phones. That should be a basis for every temple, honestly. Perhaps then we'll be able to form more genuine connections among temples."

"There are those that don't?" He's surprised at that considering all new gods and shinki were given mobile phones when they arrived. He would have thought it was something given to all of those in the heavens, especially when they seemed to have a space on the internet only accessible to from the heavens.

Ebisu sighs. "There are those who don't," he grumbles, clearly annoyed with the situation. "There are temples who do, of course. For example, I'm fairly certain that every single God of Fortune has a cellphone." Even the ones that... don't use it as much as they should.

"But a lot of people still stay stuck in the past. I suppose I can't blame them too much. After living for so long, time can pass in the blink of an eye sometimes. Still..."

"I guess if they aren't used to them." They might find them difficult to use, or be so used to communicating in different ways that a mobile phone was the last thing they thought of.

"Perhaps that could be something the newer gods could help them with, if they were willing."

A sort of bridge.

"I'm certain you could all do a very good job on that, and possibly have a much easier time of it." Ebisu eases up a little, beaming. Certainly, while they are a strange lot in more ways than one, they don't have the background his own temple seems to carry with it no matter how much his reincarnation should wipe things clean. That's just what happens when one's temple is primarily nora, he supposes.

"It's simply a matter of finding the most appropriate people. It's not surprising, with your connection to humans and new as you all are, but some people do tend to be a little rowdy."

"That's true." There were certainly people less suited to speaking to old gods than others, but Suzaku was sure it could be organised that people who were not going to cause trouble were the ones to do help show the old gods how to use technology.

"I am sure there will be people suitable though."

Frankly, Ebisu already has a list of people who should be outlawed in the back of his mind, with Shun at the top of the list. Possibly even Ginia, as much as he thinks the world of his shinki. All of his shinki are still the best in all of the Far Shore, of course... but that doesn't mean they can't be specialized.

Getting another piece of horumon, he chews thoughtfully. "If I had to name someone... Hakkai-san seems like he's very skilled at this sort of thing. Iskandar-sama is also well versed in politics, I believe."

"Hakkai-san is the person I would have though of too. I'm afraid I don't know Iskander-san so well." They had met but it had not been the greatest time, the best first impression or indeed how Suzaku thought Iskander would have wanted Suzaku to have met him at all.

He will take Ebisu's judgement on whether he is well versed in politics. Suzaku ate as he thought quietly.

"I recommend speaking with him in a calmer setting such as this one," Ebisu says brightly. "He's proven to be a very interesting individual, and clearly a fascinating example of a human who has become deified." Aomi gently lays a hand on his shoulder while he's speaking, and Ebisu blinks up at him before he realizes what's up.

"Oh, I apologize. I was starting to direct the conversation towards more business-like affairs. I've been told that it's a problem of mine." As a god of commerce, it can be a little hard for him to relax.

Suzaku nodded, he had been wanting to speak to him again anyways. Though a lot had happened in the aftermath of the cultist raid and they hadn't ran into each other again since.

Suzaku glances up at Aomi as well but unlike Ebisu cannot read the unspoken message on his face. He smiles at Ebisu though when he apologises. "No apology is necessary, I didn't mind the conversation, though it is important that you relax and perhaps think of other things." If that's what today is supposed to be, a time to be away from his work.

"Mostly, it was meant as relaxation for other people," Ebisu muses. He doesn't really mind constantly working after all, although his shinki keep him on track. Truly they do their duty well. "The timing of things simply leant itself well."

His hand gestures out to the expanse they can see from the mountainside. "It would be nice to do these sorts of things more often, but I'm afraid I need a great deal more help for it to be viable with my temple."

It was important for Ebisu to rest as much as it was for everyone else. But Suzaku won't lecture a god and Ebisu has enough shinki of his own to lecture him, including Ginia. Even if none of the others lectured him Ginia was enough.

"Hopefully there will be more help in the future, I can ask around others of the newer shinki to see if they want a part time job."

He knew Ginia did a lot of advertising to, but it might come across differently from someone who really did just work part time for Ebisu and wasn't named by him. Might encourage others to do the same.

"I would appreciate it. Even if it doesn't turn out to be fruitful an effort from word of mouth, I have other ways of encouraging people to help out." And he grins a little bit, as if that isn't slightly disconcerting to say. "However, I'll wait until the right time. After all, everyone has been very busy with this business concerning the cult. I hope that it ends soon."

Suzaku smiled back, even if that was a little disconcerting, hopefully it was just a quirk of Ebisu's to not quite realise how the things he said sounded and not as worrying as it seemed to be.

"I hope so too, it seems people are making good progress on figuring things out though."

"As long as progress is being made, then I can't complain at all." Finishing up his own meal, he waits patiently as Aomi cleans his face just in case.

"As a god of commerce and the ocean both, it would worry me if things stagnated."

Suzaku smiled as he finished his meal and nodded politely at both Ebisu and Aomi. "Indeed, I am sure it won't. Hopefully things are progressing."

He leaned forwards to start tidying up the things they had been using.

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