[closed]

[chibisu]

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.

Comments

[unlucky7]

So many of the shinki of their generation are. There are too many things Ginia's seen about herself and parsed out the most likely reality. She's like an egg, slowly cracking, unknown whether she'll break free herself or as a rotten sludge of an ayakashi. As long as she doesn't press too much, she can keep herself and her temple safe.

So she likes to think.

"Different upbringings. Different personalities." It's the most honest and safest answer she can give while still knowing it falls short.

[dredefulchilde]

"I wish I could remember. To answer some of these questions. And yet, I don't want to. Do you feel that way? Not only because remembering feels like poking at a sleeping bear, but also because I...almost like myself as I am now." He's being truthful. Only Ginia is able to know him like this. She's the only one he can be vulnerable around. "Maybe I can even be seen as a person instead of a monster if I try hard enough. Even if it feels unnatural."

[unlucky7]

A silence follows, punctuated by a slow sigh. Oh, Joscelin, you found the feelings Ginia struggles with all the time. It's a curse wanting to know more but fearing what you'll find. Ginia knows her instincts lean toward violence, to solutions that carve a path through point A to point B. She knows her strengths and her deficiencies and when weighed together, it's not hard to guess what she's done in life.

What she can still do in death. What she thought she could only do. It's changed now. She knows more, can do more, but is this really a second change, or is she deliberately ignoring all the signs right there?

Ginia checks Aomi's position, relieved he's far enough away he can't hear their conversation. He can't read her signs, but he could hear Joscelin and she won't risk causing him to question anything.

"All the time. Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually a danger to everyone around me. That with all I know, all I can infer..." her signs trail off and she shakes her head. "Maybe I'm the monster keeping people safe."

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin cuddles closer to Ginia. He doesn't feel quite as alone now, after she's confessed her own fears to him. He's glad he's not the only one worried about this.

"At least you're keeping people safe. I'm just the monster. Couldn't even keep them from taking Ayumu or Nari away."

[unlucky7]

"Did you know my first god disappeared the day after she released me? I thought it was my fault she disappeared. It wasn't, just as Ayumu and Nari aren't your fault."

It's nothing they can do anything about. Or, if there is something they can control, no one knows it yet. As for who is to blame for people coming and going, recent things now point more solidly away from Heaven.

"I don't think it's even Heaven behind things now. It's possibly the cult plaguing us responsible for sending people away."

[dredefulchilde]

Now that piques Joscelin's interest. He's heard of the cult, usually in hushed tones and sidelong glances. He remembers the cold day by the river, fishing out the dolls. But he doesn't know details.

"Tell me more."

[unlucky7]

"There were more dolls found at the compound. On a altar surrounding a crystal, intact instead of damaged. These was one of me." A paper doll, unmistakable brown curls, a jacket she doesn't wear as much but still undeniably hers. Her hands still for a moment as she thinks about the doll's location. Safe, if she hasn't disappeared or felt any more pain, but it's barely a comfort too.

"After the fight, I asked Ebisu to take the doll with us. When it was moved away from the crystal, I felt intense pain all over. Ebisu said he could see my vessel form disappearing. Once the doll was put back, the pain stopped."

There are still more questions about the dolls. Why protect them instead of attacking them and destroying all of them in one go? Who is making them? Who is passing on information about them to the doll maker and cult?

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin's eyes widen. More dolls? He still has the straw Ayumu, carefully dried and kept secret and hidden in his room back at Hakkai's temple. He takes it out sometimes when his loneliness feels especially acute--not that he'd ever tell Ginia that.

"Did...did you see me there?"

It seems like a silly question, but it's the first thing that pops out of his mouth. Are they really just dolls? Dolls controlled by some other force, outside of Heaven? Suddenly, his hatred of Amaterasu and all that she stands for feels somewhat misplaced. Could it really have not been her fault that Ayumu and all the others vanished after all?

A plan begins to form in his mind.

"Tell me: what happened to the dolls after you had finished in the compound? What about the crystal? Where are they now?"

[unlucky7]

Ginia's brow furrows in thought as she tries to remember the dolls she saw. Freckles on a doll would stand out, but she's not sure she would have noticed at a distance. Chris and Tsubasa definitely, though their hairstyles are very distinctive. There was mostly enough time to focus on her doll and the few she could pick out before fighting broke out. And after, she was only thinking of herself.

"I don't think so, though that doesn't mean it wasn't there. I only recognized a few in the time I had."

As for the crystal and dolls, a slightly more complicated question.

"A friend said Heaven locked down the compound after and has everything in their control. I can only assume everything is still secure as there wasn't a mass disappearance."

But it's not entirely reassuring either. Ginia sighs and smiles weakly.

"Sorry I can't offer more than that."