39 - Where Do We Stand?

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Help the Heavens investigate what remains of the cult and their compound
When: May 2
Where: A converted farm on the rural edge of the Tokyo metro area
Summary: Characters can discuss what they know about the cult, choose how much or how little they tell the Heavens' representative Suijin, and help make decisions about where to go from here.






This place was once a farm, then rebuilt into a compound with a big central building, heavy concrete walls and plenty of outdoor spaces for ritual magic. Now, the rooftop has caved in, and the main floor has collapsed as well, leaving a basement open to the skies above. All around, police tape from a local Near Shore department has quarantined off the area. Amaterasu's shinki, in cooperation with those from Suijin, Fuujin, and Raijin have managed to take shifts warning miscreants and the police away from the area, but left the tape to help with those efforts. Just beyond the tape, they've now put up Borderlines to safely guard against ayakashi for the duration of this meeting, but they're pretty far out of earshot and very focused.

Letter of Invitation

Everyone should have seen the digital letter that Amaterasu sent out, but just in case, later that day each temple receives a single letter, with a wax seal on it with Amaterasu's chrysanthemum as the emblem. It is a reproduction of the same digital letter that Amaterasu crafted the day before; it's not printed out, but rather handwritten with painstaking accuracy. The shinki could be from Amaterasu, Suijin, Raijin, or Fuujin, and they will not force anyone to take the letter, in particular if they're told that the god/dess already saw the message on their phone earlier.

Early Arrival

There's a set time that Suijin will arrive - Noon - but as everyone is encouraged to come early, it is possible you are one of the first or last to arrive among the "early" crowd. How did you get there? Was it by stealth or impossible to miss, even by any Near Shore people in the area?

Topics of Discussion

Now is your chance to discuss with your fellows what you know, don't know, wish you knew, etc. about the cult or their compound. Do your characters think they are still being spied on by Heavens and want to hold back, or are they reasonably confident speaking out with the protecting shinki so far away? At the very least, none of the shinki are making very obvious attempts to return to the compound itself. For the very paranoid, there are little alcoves out of visual range or a small room that still has a door on it, albeit not a ceiling.

Suijin's Arrival

Suijin arrives at the appointed time, stepping onto the compound's front drive and under the police tape at precisely Noon. She comes in the capacity of official counselor for Amaterasu. OOCly, this thread will be free-form individual threading.

After her arrival, we will have mirrored top-level comments with Suijin supplying a piece of information as a jumping off point for discussions about each topic. From that point, it will be individual threading, or multi-character threads if you would like. All of these threads will still be addressed to the group at large, loud enough for them to hear and jump in if players would like.

Redacted April 7th via OOC post: We will run this similar to how we ran the Compound's Second Fight: there will be an opportunity for Suijin and/or her shinki to speak, then characters will be given free reign to respond to her and amongst themselves for a period of time. Then, another "round" will begin with Suijin and/or her shinki's responses to the characters. This structure allows for characters to still react with late comments or reactions to anything being said, or jump in whenever they feel comfortable speaking up.

In Summary:

• Talk amongst yourselves before Suijin arrives
• Check out the damage inflicted on the Compound
• Discuss next steps with Suijin, if you would like
• Have fun~

Comments

[chibisu]

Ginia's outburst in response to this particular subject of conversation isn't particularly surprising. Frankly, what kind of god would Ebisu be if he couldn't even see that coming, in all the time she's spent as his shinki, in what she first came to him for? Still, a part of Ebisu almost feels like he can tell where this is going. He can't remember exactly what his past self was executed for, doesn't have those memories to give him more experience on Heaven....

...But the stubbornness inherit to Suijin's words says a lot.

So he steps up to settle besides Ginia's other side, followed by his own complete and full retinue, exemplar and all. Most of them are doing well enough to keep a stoic expression on to varying degrees, besides Takami who is jittery with nerves and Kimi who is giving his most aggressively chipper smile. It doesn't quite match, however, the full cheer of Ebisu's own smile as he reaches up to take one of Ginia's hands- coincidentally the one that has the phone in it- and looks over to Suijin.

"Disregarding everything else... Do you have any disagreement with the weight of that evidence, Suijin?" he asks plainly, since it is ultimately the most important part.

[unlucky7]

It's a risk. It's a big fucking risk standing up to Heaven and calling them out. If this goes poorly, Ginia hopes she can take the brunt of blame instead of Ebisu or Chris. Let her insubordination be seen as a single shinki speaking out of turn instead of reflecting on the gods. But she can't stay silent either, not with everything she knows, not with who she is.

She hears Suzaku shout her name, but doesn't acknowledge it. Her eyes remain forward, hands clasped in front, rigidly waiting for Suijin's response. She doesn't move when Komaeda speaks either, though she listens to his points; they're good ones and if she had more faith in the ways of Heaven, she'd like to believe they'd be heard.

She hears Shun's voice, and there's some slight relief to have the backup of a friend. But then there's Ain as well, and when Aymeric takes his place at her side, her head turns slightly to look at him. Her neutral expression gives slightly to a thankful smile, a light tilt of her head as she looks forward again...

Only to look downward as Ebisu takes her hand. She can tell the rest of her temple is standing behind her too and her neutral expression cracks a little more into a grateful smile as she squeezes her god's hand. Looking forward again, her expression falls neutral again, a challenging shine in her eyes.

[sweetspringwater]

"A nora!" Suijin's shinki hisses with disdain as Ginia begins speaking. Suijin, meanwhile, remains unmoving. The shinki looks to her face - a challenge with the veil - but sees something there that makes him take a step back. Ginia explaining how gods are born also gets him to tense up. "Of all the-" However, as he steps forward again to cut in, he looks once more to Suijin. Whatever the reason, he takes the step back again and doesn't say anything else, giving Ginia room to finish speaking. Then the others join in as well. All the while, Suijin stands still and listens.

Only afterwards does she lift her head. "Could it not be a forgery? Have we any evidence that this man has any tie to the rogue god at all?"

She lifts one hand towards Komaeda. "As voiced by Averruncus, any newly born god is dangerous. Whether defending themselves or knowingly conducting their actions..." She turns towards Ain here: "The only newly-born gods who gracelessly use those dangerous powers without appealing to their seniors for guidance are the Gods of Calamity. They are just as unpredictable as the nora."

Then she looks back at Ginia, staring straight at her. She starts making gestures with her hands while she speaks. "And yet, in their unpredictability, even a nora could present themselves honorably before the Heavens and Our Lady Amaterasu. If she chose." Sure enough, her gestures match up with sign language. "For the memory of Heaven is as long as your time in our Takamagahara has been short. In the face of this great threat to Takamagahara, we could appeal to Fuujin's assessment about all shinki - even the nora - on behalf of one who humbles themselves before us."

She takes three steps closer to Ginia and Ebisu. There, she slowly uses both hands to lift her veil up over her hat, then returns her hands to her side. "I find it hard to believe a single letter could prove so weighty a piece of evidence."

Still, she levels a look down at the young incarnation of the old god. "I will examine this letter." She might be directing it to both of them, but she's looking at Ebisu while she says it.

Then she looks out to the crowd again. "What other proof do any of you have, aside from their absence?"

[unlucky7]

The reaction of Suijin's shinki are not a surprise. Ginia ignores them, keeping her attention on Suijin as she speaks. Her brows raise a little as she notices Suijin signing; it's a kind consideration. It will make communicating easier too, though Ginia is also aware she should continue through her phone.

When Suijin approaches, Ginia reaches into her suit jacket and pulls out a plain envelope from her pocket. She holds it out for Suijin or for one of her shinki to take. When her hand is free again, Ginia pulls her hand from Ebisu's so she can type.

"As I was leaving Imai Takeru's residence, I heard him shout for Votelli. Nekhbet can attest as well. I can also provide video footage of Votelli in his presence, being transported by him or in the process of being lectured or scolded in a restaurant."

She pauses to consider if there's anything else she can offer in the moment. There is Votelli's shrine as Torimoto, but that is a gamble. A final resort, perhaps, and only if she can take any possible repercussion all on herself.

[fortunesmiles]

"I personally don't claim to have any proof," Komaeda says lightly, not seeming concerned by having to say as much. "Incontrovertible or otherwise, for or against any of the theories we have. To be honest, I've never even seen Sotero or Votelli with my own eyes. But if I may be frank..." He brushes his hair back. "It does seem as though the old gods are, if not relying primarily on we new gods and our shinki for information, then at least not sharing much information - never mind evidence - that they've gathered themselves.

"I agree that we don't have much to go on, and even less that would satisfy any burden of proof...but exactly what information should we be going off of instead, if not what we've found out for ourselves? We don't really have the luxury of any evidence that isn't flimsy at the moment, and most of us aren't accustomed to being asked to wait decades, or centuries, for results. Especially on an issue that, to put it mildly, seems to be affecting the new gods and their shinki far more directly than the old gods."

He smiles at Suijin. "It just seems to be a strange practice to question what little evidence does exist, without having anything concrete to contradict it. In the trials I've been part of, generally existing evidence is only overturned by new evidence that contradicts it, or by some proof that the evidence was forged. Without that, in this case, it's reasonable to assume the letter is what it appears to be until proven otherwise."

[revolutionfalcon]

"I'll back what Ginia said about Votelli. I heard it too - and I was one of the ones who went through the security footage of that guy meeting with Votelli. There's several gods who should be able to back that up," Shun says, though it's already obvious that he looks severely unimpressed with Suijin's assessment. Granted, it's probably better dealing with her than Fuujin or Raijin, but it's still not exactly ideal.

"The issue is that as far as I've heard, a lot of the evidence we have is from conversations people had with those gods, many from before you lot announced them as enemies. If Amaterasu's going to do things like claim anyone who's had communication with these gods at all, under any circumstance, is a traitor, why would anyone who's spoken to them come forward? Why would anyone who legitimately believes they can change want to risk bringing the Heavens down on them, when the Heavens' highest powers have shown in the past that they place their own baseless assumptions higher than evidence and information we've gathered?"

Shun is very directly addressing Suijin on this one, because he does know that in the past, she's been one of the more reasonable of the advisors, and had tried to rectify the schism to some degree. His last argument with Amaterasu hadn't exactly been flattering, but it had been very public and her refusal to concede any sort of point had been pretty clear to everyone. "It's been like this for too long for people to trust that anything's going to change."

[chibisu]

Even as Ginia holds out the Takeru letter, a couple of different things happen in regards to the small group of businessmen (plus one child) that are around her.

The first is that Ebisu makes a quick gesture, smooth if a little bit harried, and Unmi- the oldest looking of his shinki and the oldest overall- actually reaches around to place his hand over the top of the letter where Ginia is holding it outstretched. He takes a quick glance at his god before seeming to understand something, upon which he gives the water goddess a polite and even contrite smile. "Please pardon this humble nora, Suijin-sama. However, my god recommends that perhaps it would be a wise course of action to make copies of this letter before giving it to you and your temple simply as it is. He believes that, this way, there is less chance of losing this evidence completely, and it can be better passed around through the temples of the gods whom this matter concerns as well. If it would please you, then it would be his pleasure and our honor if you were to accompany him to his temple afterwards to get this matter settled with."

Why Unmi says this in place of his god is simple, as Ebisu is instead listening to another one of his shinki. Aomi has crouched down besides him, hand covering his mouth as he whispers something to the young and old god. It lasts throughout the commentary by both Unmi and the other gods such as Komaeda and Shun, whereupon Ebisu nods to Aomi, acknowledging and dismissing him.

Despite the length of the slight exchange, Ebisu appears fully aware of the other comments that have been made, considering the way he looks up towards Suijin to meet her gaze squarely. "So that appears to be the consensus among this newer generation of gods," he says simply, still holding onto one of Ginia's hands. Just... in case. "Then may I make a suggestion, Suijin-san, in the event that this does not constitute enough evidence? I will nominate myself as an intermediary between the two different generations, if that's what's required, and assist in gathering the evidence that both groups have gathered. That way, we can say it is properly balanced, can we not? This would allow all of us to feel that the job is being done properly and that nothing is missed due to preconceived notions."

And with that, he directs an almost confrontationally polite smile over to the shinki who first seemed surprise over one of Ebisu's being a nora. It last only for a moment before he looks back up to the other god. "I believe that is a valid concern."

[unlucky7]

Ginia lowers her hand and turns away from Suijin to look back at Unmi. His concern isn't wrong. A letter written by Imai Takeru with reflections on the god he'd created and his goals is a valuable piece of evidence. It's disappearance or any changes to it would be unfortunate for their case in defending Votelli and Sotero and perhaps how Heaven handles future rogue gods.

That Unmi thinks she hasn't considered that... well, Ginia can't blame him considering how much she's kept all of her research and knowledge to herself. She can't blame him for speaking over her choice, even if it prickles her pride a little.

She pauses to type out a message and holds it up for him to read.

I understand your concern and this is the original copy, but I've already made several physical and digital copies since obtaining the letter. Please trust I know what I'm doing.

So maybe her pride is more than a little prickled.

[sweetspringwater]

"If you wish to frame things in a manner such as what needs evidence to be proven, then I will point once more to their attacks upon the Heavens. You ascribe far more motive to their actions than we have seen borne out in any of our own investigations. If you say we rely on you for evidence, then perhaps it is because so little of it exists to prove your theories. That is the concern I must weight out in answer to Our Lady Amaterasu." She raises her head in Shun's direction. "And it is only by her grace and wisdom that the restrictions have been softened in the face of what our investigation bore out - that while the rogue gods are a threat, they are but a part of the problem. Whether their part is willing or not... this evidence will show."

Still, she turns back to look at Ebisu. "I accept your proposal. Until the letter is in my hand, we can move on to other matters."