thenearshore | 40 - May Event: Mystic Messengers' Mark

40 - May Event: Mystic Messengers' Mark

Who: Everyone!
When: May 15th
Where: Votelli's Forest
What: The boar and deer population of Japan has boomed in recent years as hunters age and people move away from rural areas. The people have called upon the gods to help with this "pest" issue.

All over Heaven, gods receive invitations stamped with the chrysanthemum of Amaterasu. Each and every god has been invited to join the old gods on an old-fashioned hunt to do something about the boar and deer populations on the Near Shore. Votelli's forest has been chosen as the location of this sacred hunt, as it offers an expansive landscape for the sport as well as opens up the opportunity for many of the gods - both old and new - to speak to Votelli herself face to face. Other activities are planned for those who do not wish to hunt, such as an archery contest and a demonstration of Takagari - the Japanese art of falconry.

Face to Face

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Face to Face (Before/After)

Before:

After:

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Gathering for the Hunt

the Hungry Forest event

seems

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Ready Aim Fire

archery range

archers

marksmen

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The Great Hunt

not

all

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A Different Sort of Hunt

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In Summary:

Join the old gods on a hunt
Enjoy the meal and activities
Speak to Votelli or Sotero
Participate in the hunt - whether your prey be two-legged or four
Fight the giant boar ayakashi
Have fun~

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[Hey, look at that; a smile. Ginia isn't sure if she's ever seen Shun smile, but that it's because of Ren seems fitting. People leave, but the memories still stay. It's better than nothing.]

You're no Mr. Sunshine, but you're not that bad. I'm glad you two found each other. I'm glad he still makes you smile.

Even if you say I'm "not that bad", I still feel like finding someone else who considers trying to throw each other across the room a bonding activity was a lucky break. [They'd gotten to know each other largely through the sparring sessions Shun had started with Ren early on in the piece, back when Ren had a dangerously violent shinki and little actual training in defending himself. To Shun, it had initially just been desire not to leave him in that situation, but the problem shinki had left soon after and it had simply turned into something pleasant and regular.]

I guess it just means now I have two kinds of unfinished business whenever I leave here. It's not like my world is a stranger to interdimensional travel.

I'm going to wager more friendships and relationships around here were formed or based on two people beating on each other.

[Ginia can't even say she's an exception. She met Chikusa when he ambushed her with borderline attacks, turned the same back on Suzaku, Pyrrha, and Waver. She's certainly bonded with Shun over beating up people as much as flower arranging. Kimi she met through helping him with a prayer, but she's also pretty sure he'd like it if she threw him down and pinned him in the gym.

...Their generation is a weird one.]

If it's still possible when it's all said and done, after you find Ren, swing back and say hi to me. Or leave a message through the offerings at any of Ebisu's shrines.

You can't really say the people here are a normal group of people, though. [Shun will concede that, because he's observed on multiple occasions that the majority of people here come from fairly rough or violent backgrounds and are used to that sort of thing. There are exceptions, obviously, but even those people tend to be adjusted to that kind of oddity in some way. Even if they don't participate, they don't really bat an eye at it.

At her suggestion, Shun nods a little.] I'm wondering how this is all going to end, but I wouldn't say no to coming back here to visit the people I got to know every so often. Once I've sorted things out back home, obviously.

[He's at least going incommunicado until that's sorted out, though hell knows how long that's going to be. He isn't even sure if he'll be able to help deal with it considering when he left.]

[There's a slight tilt of her head in agreement. The fighters, the rebellious, maybe ones a little bit broken in some way. With hindsight, Ginia realizes the opportunity she wasted with her first god. She needed someone who wouldn't use her as a weapon, but could see her as a person.]

Worst case? We all go back to where we came from. Or I guess for anyone dead, some other kind of afterlife. [Or nothingness. Ginia tries not to think on where dead shinki go.] Best case? The ones that want to stay can, the ones that want to leave can and maybe choose where to go. Maybe come back once in awhile. I'm not holding my breath it'll work out like that but... [She drifts off into a shrug. It would be nice, but how often do things work out that way?]

I can't see it working out that way with how different our generations are though.

I suppose it depends on who it was in the first place. [Current evidence has called the cult into question, but Shun's not really the type to put all his eggs in one basket these days. The last time he did that went far too wrong for his liking.] It'd be better if people who actually wanted to stay could and people who didn't could go, but at this point I'm not really assuming we'll get that good an outcome before I see it for myself.

[He was already jaded in coming here, but with how obstructive everything here is and the trouble that's been caused by the conflicts between generations, he can't imagine the Heavens are going to open their doors for them to stay or return if they can help it.]

The next few training sessions might serve as a good metric. If the cult is completely put away and people keep coming in, then it's a firmer sign they didn't have complete control.

[It's possible they set things into motion that couldn't be easily shut off or stopped. As long as they aren't controlling things on an individual level, there's some peace of mind there.]

On the other hand, if the rate of people suddenly increases with the cult put away, I'd be worried. Same with if people stopped arriving and people continued to leave.

[They're confusing in different ways. Ginia doesn't want to get hung up on implications, but studying patterns is important. It might get them closer to understanding the system around them. But maybe it's a way to gain control when it feels like there's nothing solid to hold onto. Ginia laughs dryly and shakes her head.]

I'll be happy when we don't have to deal with the cult anymore, but I worry what's ahead of us.

I suppose. If people kept disappearing and stopped arriving before we even found out how this happened, I'd be starting to wonder whether that was on purpose too. [Like someone thinking they were getting too close to an outcome and deciding to stop the whole thing right there. It'd also most likely destroy anyone's chances of staying or returning if they ever wanted to.]

What's ahead of us will have to wait until after the cult is done with. I'm not usually the one to say it, but for now, I feel like it's better to focus just on the cult and what's happening now and worry about what's next when it comes.

[Shun doesn't like exclusively focusing on the one thing in front of him like nothing else is going to blindside them, but there's only so much they can worry about at once.]

[Too many questions, not enough answers. An annoyed huff directed at the overall situations escapes. But their current target is pretty clear; they'll all be able to breathe easier once the cult is out of the way.]

Hopefully without Sotero and Votelli, the cult will be easier to deal with. I don't doubt there are more masked ayakashi on their side, maybe even more gods. Still, I like to think we've hit them hard with this change.

[Perhaps they'll even disband without the support of their created gods, though Ginia worries what that means for the two rogue gods as well. Votelli has her shrine and an opportunity to be seen by others, but what about Sotero? Shinki cannot sustain a god and the hot-tempered god doesn't strike her as one that socializes much elsewhere.]

[Shun is somewhat less concerned about the masked ayakashi, since they're just a bigger annoyance to kill, but the gods are definitely a point worth considering.]

I'm hoping so as well. Sotero and Votelli are formidable enough, so if they choose to fight against the cult outright, it's definitely an added advantage to us. And they've lost Talos as well even if she didn't defect. They can only have so many gods under their control.

[He can't imagine the Heavens would have been able to completely turn a blind eye to the creation of dozens or even hundreds of new deities, and Sensei's records, at least, indicated that his sect had only made the two. Assuming only one or two gods per sect of the cult, there's a good chance there's not that many of them overall.]

By pure numbers and power, we should have the advantage already.

[The so-called "eight million heavenly hosts" is a formidable amount and if even the paltry fraction here today shows up to ride against the cult, they would win. However, fights aren't carried out with two sides rushing against each other. They're carried out behind closed doors and with plenty of subterfuge.]

But Heaven won't move against humans and I don't doubt there's something else planned. What if forcing Heaven to make an appearance is their end goal? What better way to take down Heaven then gathering them all in one place?

[Beat.]

Heaven is arrogant enough in their power and the way they underestimate humans that it'd work.

The problem is their stupid rules about going against humans, like you said. If it's obvious the humans involved are a threat, they shouldn't be treated any differently to any other threat.

[The issue is that ultimately, even the powerful members of the cult don't really seem to be considered a threat by the Heavens, and thus they've dug their own grave to try and climb out of by not even considering them as potential enemies until very recently. He's wondering how the hell they actually plan to get rid of the cultists if they can't cut off the head of the snake, so to speak.]

It wouldn't surprise me if someone had planned something like that, if they knew the Heavens well enough. But it depends on how much they know about the Heavens' inner workings besides what they got from that traitor.

[He has his doubts Sabimei would have been angling for the fall of the entire Heavens, so if he was the only point of contact, they might only have a certain amount of information. Then again, if they'd had points of access to the Heavens, there's a chance they could have acted independently as well.]

On the broadest level, I can understand not wanting to interfere with the lives of humans.

[At least that seems to be the rule of the Japanese pantheon. Judging by the mythology of other cultures - Greeks and Romans, for example - gods there certainly have no issue whatsoever interfering with the lives of humans. In some regard, the relative chillness of the Japanese pantheon is probably appreciated.

(And it's not as if there isn't there own brand of drama. It just involves humans less often.)]

But when you know your enemy and know they're actively seeking to take you down, seems foolish to leave them be. [Ginia sighs a little. But where's the line for that? If harming humans is okay, what's stopping a god from killing people as they wish? Eliminating the followers of a rival god sure would be a good way to seize power. Ginia wouldn't be surprised if it happened already.]

Sabimei sure was a fool for using his name instead of an alias. Still, in some small regard, I feel bad for Amaterasu. I get why she'd have complete faith in her shinki and fully believe they can do nothing wrong. [She smiles faintly, hand tapping against her stomach.] Ebisu says his shinki are the best and can do no wrong. I can say with certainty no one in the temple would ever think of betraying him, but he has complete faith in us. If someone tried to tell him one of his shinki was a traitor, I think he'd push back as hard.

That's the problem. I can understand the overall intent of it, not wanting anyone to go mad with power and start killing people, but being too lenient when there's clear dangers involved is too much. [Shun is the last person to advocate for people with too much power having freedom to run roughshod over whoever they like for the sake of more power, but in a situation like this, he feels they're making a bad decision. Honestly, he's surprised it's taken this long for it to become an issue.

He can't say she's wrong in her summation of the situation with Sabimei, but Shun shakes his head a little at the idea of feeling bad for her.] I might've some time ago, but the number of times I brought it up...there's trusting your allies and then there's lashing out at anyone who tries to tell you that the most logical outcome is that there's a traitor in your midst. And half the time she was ready to accuse the new gods of something else for even bringing it up unless I could refute her right there.

[Once upon a time, he'd had a reasonably cordial relationship with Amaterasu, but at this point, he can't be sympathetic towards her plight when, as far as he's concerned, it's one of her own creation.]

How many times have you met Amaterasu?

[Having only personally met Amaterasu once under much calmer circumstances, Ginia defers to Shun's experiences. It doesn't change her slight sympathy, but her relationship toward the young goddess is generally under flux. A lot depends on whether the current incarnation is responsible for Ebisu's execution or whether it was the doing of her predecessor. If there's anyone she's a bit more vengeful toward, it's Amaterasu's shinki. They're the ones that know and carried out her orders.]

Did she or her advisers used to make more appearances?

[Shun considers that for a moment before coming to an answer.] Six or seven, and then I've spoken to her over the BBS a few times as well. They definitely used to be around more, even for a little while after her temple burned. But now even Suijin is rare to see, and she used to be the advisor I saw most often.

[To the point that she'd come to his temple for a discussion quite early on in his time here. These days, he couldn't imagine most of the old gods going to that extent to try and understand their point of view.]

[That's far more than Ginia expected. Ginia always assumed the old gods were generally more hands off. From what she's heard from Ebisu's temple, she knows the old gods don't often work together the way her generation does. But if communication suddenly fell off, what happened? It would have been understandable if it was because of the attack on Amaterasu's temple, but that doesn't seem to be the case.]

Is this around the same time Bishamon, Yato, and their shinki went off on a mission?

[Maybe there's a connection, maybe not. Either way, it's a timeframe worth trying to understand.]

[That gets a shake of the head, because he remembers the timing of all of those pretty well.] The last time I spoke to Bishamon was about that serial killing string that happened in the middle of last year, so that was a while before Amaterasu became less available. Yukine and Yato left a few months after that, but I'd say there was still at least another few months before I definitely started to notice her and the advisors being around less.

[It would be a lot easier to pinpoint reasoning if there had been a clear timing to all of them breaking off, but he'd been pretty sure what Yukine and Yato had been doing, at least, might not have necessarily been a greater Heavens sort of thing.]

Damn, so much for that theory.

[An annoyed huff escapes. It's still hard not wondering if Bishamon and Kazuma's departure on a mission, and Yato and Yukine's subsequent departure are connected. Given the months between things and a better understanding of how busy a god of fortune can be, it feels a little more like poor timing. All they have is speculation and what good is that?]

The serial killings, I remember hearing about it. Probably not a lot of good looking back on it, but was that an isolated incident or do you think it's connected to the cult too? Or some other thing?

Isolated incident - it was a shinki who was using loyalty to his god as an excuse to murder anyone he perceived as a threat. Which was just anyone unlucky enough to be an easy target. [Shun definitely sounds bitter about that, in a way that can't really be concealed. At least one of the deaths in that string had led to strong personal repercussions for him and his temple, and there's definitely more than that who were killed that he would have much preferred not to lose.]

Not that getting information out of him went that well. He felt his god disappear halfway through the interrogation, and I had to kill him before he turned into an ayakashi.

[Unfortunate, maybe, but Shun sure doesn't sound disappointed about having been the one to kill him.]

[A relief there. Ginia wonders who was murdered given Shun's tone, but it doesn't felt worth asking. She's driven by curiosity, sometimes tactless, but even she has her limits in breaking decorum. Let the past be the past. There's a an appraising look as Shun mentions he was involved in the interrogation and killed the shinki himself, but it doesn't surprise her at all. Nothing about Shun suggests he'd remain idle with a serial killer on the loose unless he was dead.]

I suppose it's fortunate enough it was an isolated thing. A good thing no one has tried to copy the idea.

[To their knowledge at least. With how spread out the old gods are, who knows what problems go unnoticed by them.]

I've talked your ear off enough. [A dry smile slips at the joke.] Shall we get hunting again?

The guy responsible was completely deluded, so I suppose it's more luck that more than one person like that hasn't been dragged in. The other assholes we've gotten have been more subtle, usually. [Like Schuldig, but he ended up dead eventually as well, which Shun definitely considered no loss considering what he'd gotten up to before that.

In any case, it's not a topic he's overly interested in plumbing the depths of, so he nods slightly at the suggestion and turns back out towards the direction he'd been heading before encountering that ayakashi.]

I was headed this way, so we might as well keep heading the way we know hasn't been covered.

[Ginia didn't know the serial killer was a new shinki. She hadn't really assumed one way or another, but it comes as a surprise. They're all lucky indeed problems within their generation seem far and wide. At least since she's been here, she can't think of any major problems that weren't related to the cult. Probably better that way, but who knows what might change. Maybe there won't be anything to worry about when they're all gone.

Forget the past. Hold onto the future. Ginia nods at Shun, stretching lightly before bounding back into the tree. Let the hunt continue.]

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40 - May Event: Mystic Messengers' Mark

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