thenearshore | [closed]

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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"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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