thenearshore | Closed

It's always busy at Ebisu's temple, but with a festival for him at his Kyoto shrine in a few days, the workload has exploded. It's an organized sort of chaos and exhausting as things will be over the next few days, Ginia finds it exciting helping out with a festival for her god.

However, understaffed this year, it means they need help wherever they can find it.

"I have a question for you," Ginia asks Romeo as they wrap up their sign language lesson for the week. She keeps her signs slow, spelling out some words and following it up with the sign as needed. "I have a prayer from someone who wants to bring his family back for a festival. Do you know how he could do that?"

Romeo watched Ginia's hands carefully as she signed her question. He was getting much better at it and could understand lots of words now!

Also this was an exciting question! "Does he know where they are? Do they live far far away?" He made sure to sign as well as speak his questions, which slowed him down a little bit but not too much.

"He does. They live far away. Some are older and don't travel as much, others are younger and busy. But he would like to see them."

For some the request seems enough, but if he's offering a prayer, it feels like a bit of a nudge is needed. It's a matter of seeing his family, but it's also a matter of pride too. As the current head priest, Ginia can understand his desire to show his family the work he's accomplishing.

"It's a very important day for him."

"So he really wants them all to come." Romeo nodded and thought some more. "Well if he prayed then maybe we can go and talk to them and tell them how much he wants to see them! He can maybe write them an invitation and we can deliver it!"

After all that's how Romeo had got all his friends to come to his book party, he had invited them all!

A letter inviting his family is the most obvious route, but delivering the letter in person could give the message that extra needed touch. A letter could get lost or easily ignored, but people are a little harder to ignore (even when they're from the Far Shore). Who could resist an earnest kid like Romeo too?

"If I make sure he writes the letters and get the addresses, would you like to deliver them with me?"

"You want me to come and deliver them?" Romeo grinned, that sounded like it would be fun and if they delivered them in person they could make sure to explain just how much it would mean if they went to the festival!

"I would like that very much, miss Ginia!"

Ginia is not above leveraging the cure charm of a child to make someone's prayer come true. It would also be a good experience and it was his idea in the first place. She checks her phone as a few messages from her temple come in and smiles at Romeo.

"I'll talk to him and make sure everything ready by tomorrow. Then I'll come by and we can deliver the letters. Is that okay?"

"Alright miss! That sounds like a good plan!"

He can't wait, he hopes that it works and they all want to come to the festival. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Ginia leaves, heading back to her temple to change and teleport over to Kyoto. Between helping out with other tasks and getting the head priest to sit down and write the letters, it does take the better part of the day to get everything together.

There are ultimately two letters two letters to deliver. With two letters going overseas with no easy way to shrine hop there, the best case was to expedite the letters.

"We have his younger brother and his family in Tokyo, and his grandparents in Kumamoto. I thought we'd visit his grandparents first." Ginia explains to Romeo as they head toward Ebisu's temple to teleport from. Travel sure is easy when your god has tons of shrines to use.

Romeo woke up bright and early and so was ready for Ginia when she came to meet him the next day. He was very excited about their task and he bounced along next to Ginia, listening to her as she explained where they were going.

"Tokyo's the big big city right? The... capital! Of Japan. I don't think I know where Kumomoto is though! Does Ebisu have a shrine there too?"

It was very helpful that he had so many places they could travel to!

"That's right to both. Ebisu has many shrines on the Far Shore. I'll show where the cities are on a map."

Ginia pulls out her phone and opens a map of Japan. She points out Tokyo, then Kumamoto on the most southwest major island. It's a few hours by airplane, even longer by train, so teleporting is definitely easier.

"Here's Kyoto. This is where the festival is. It's at one of Ebisu's major shrines."

Romeo and Elfnien had done a lot of learning about maps when they had been tracking animals and getting them back to their owners. So the map was easy to follow as Ginia pointed out where the cities were!

Three cities so far away from each other and yet they could get there really fast by going to shrines!

That was good, though Romeo did wonder what it would be like to travel in one of the strange carriages that didn't use horses and were called cars and trains. Or even better to fly in one of the air planes.

But that would have to be a day where they didn't have letters to deliver.

"Do you got the address though? Because cities are big!"

He'll get his chance to ride a train. Teleporting to the city is the easy part, but they'll have to catch a train (maybe even a bus) and walk to get to the right location. It's also a good thing shinki can move fast.

Ginia nods and gives a shake of her phone, the addresses already stored and ready once they land. They're also written down and tucked away with the letters in the briefcase slung over her shoulder.

At Ebisu's temple, Ginia stops briefly to check if her coworkers need anything else while she's out on the Near Shore, picking up a few delivery requests to handle after. From there, it's an easy sequence of shrine hopping before they land at Ebisu's shrine in Kumamoto. The location isn't solely for him as it's one of three smaller shrines on the grounds for a larger shrine located on the grounds of Kumamoto Castle. And as they walk out of the grounds of the shrine, it's pretty easy seeing the castle.

With her phone already out to map out the directions, Ginia types and plays a message for Romeo.

"That's Kumamoto Castle. Beautiful, isn't it."

Romeo says hello to the shinki he knows at the temple, there really are a lot of them and yet everyone is always so busy!

"It looks like a really fancy temple!" It really was beautiful. Romeo stood awestruck at it before grinning up at Ginia. Castles were like temples but for humans, right?

"Who lives there?"

"People used to live in it many centuries ago, but now it's like a museum where people can learn more about the history."

If they weren't on such a time crunch, she'd suggest they take a detour and check it out. It's a place she's always wanted to go to herself, may will one day if someone wants a tour in sign language. But today, they need to move on.

"Why don't you and Elfnein come back and check it out? You can use Ebisu's shrine to get here."

Romeo opened his mouth to ask what a museum was but Ginia answered his question before he could even ask it. It was a place where you learned history? That sounded like a really interesting place!

He nodded at her suggestion. "I bet Elfnein would love it! She likes history and learning things!"

He would ask her and they could come here one day!

"I'll leave a list of places you two can go."

There are all sorts of museums, zoos, aquariums, and historical sites they could both enjoy without going too far away from Tokyo.

Ginia finishes mapping out the route and leads the way through the grounds and out toward the nearest station.

"Ever been on a train?" she asks through her phone, keeping Romeo close by as they reach the busy station. With how most people seem to teleport around or run across rooftops or fly, it feels like the people who actually use the transportation system are fairly low. A pity, it's a nice system.

A list of places! They could have a really fun day out and learn lots and lots of things. He keeps following her sticking pretty close, he doesn't want to get lost!

He shook his head, wide eyed and excited. "No! Are we going on one now?"

Ginia nods and walks him through the step of buying a train card (she pays, it's the least she can do) and shows him how to use it to enter the gates. It's usable even on the train system closer in Tokyo so it'll serve him well.

With only a few minutes between trains, it doesn't take long for one to arrive, the station chime playing as the train pulls up to the platform. There's an open spot near a window; Ginia lets Romeo take the seat so he can look out the window while she stands. With several stops to go, Romeo has plenty of time to enjoy the city scenery passing by as the train rolls along.

Romeo watched as she used the machine to buy a ticket. He doesn't have any money to give her in return but maybe he can find another way to repay her at some time, or ask Elfnein, she will have a good idea. They went through barriers that opened and closed on their own and soon were on the platform with lots of other people. He stuck close to Ginia and watched open mouthed as the train came into the platform.

Once on the train he knelt on the seat looking out of the window. "We are going so fast!"

Yes he's flown on a magic cloud and regularly teleports but this isn't magic, this is something humans do and it's amazing!

Romeo's joy is a delight, though even Ginia can't deny there's a charm to them. The whole system is a feat of human engineering and precision and something to be respected. But even if shinki can leap along at a fast pace, there's something nice about watching the scenery go by.

The train slows as it approaches the next station, coming in at a precise stop. The station's jingle plays as the doors open, people getting on and off the train.

"We have five more stops to go and then we're going to walk a little to get to the house. We'll take the train back to the shrine too."

They were stopping? Romeo looked around at Ginia but it didn't seem like they were there yet, they were just picking up more people and dropping some others off. A good job because Romeo wasn't sure everyone was going to fit on the train!

Five stops! Romeo counted them as they continued, keeping up a running commentary at the exciting things he saw from the window. The city was really interesting and it was different seeing it out of the window of a train rather than on the street in amongst all the hustle and bustle.

Soon they were drawing to a stop for the fifth time!

"Is this where we get off, miss Ginia?" The train had been exciting, but now the task of delivering the invitations was about to begin!

Indeed they are. Ginia keeps an eye on Romeo as they leave the train, making sure he doesn't get lost in the crowd heading toward the exits. There are several exits and she makes sure they have the right one before going through the turnstiles. They're in a slight more suburban part of the city. Apartment buildings are still scattered around as well as some small stores, but there are also some houses too.

Their first destination is a small house with a small stone wall around the perimeter. The small area inside is full of potted plants - flowers, vegetables, and herbs - and a soft-looking moss lawn. There's a paved path up to the front of the house.

Ginia makes sure the letter is ready and a message typed on her phone to play. She straightens out her suit jacket before knocking on the door. There's barking from inside, the scrabbling of paws on wood.

"One moment, one moment," calls a voice from inside. There's quiet hushing from behind the door, a few more barks, before the door slides open. An elderly man looks out, adjusting his glasses as he peers at the two of them. At his side, an excited terrier paws at the ground and barks again. "Can I help you?"

Ginia bows and offers the letter to him, playing her message.

"Good morning. We're here to deliver a letter on behalf of your son, Ryosuke, and come bearing his wishes."

"Thanks for agreeing to meet!" The gardens at Ebisu's temple are a nice, relaxing place to meet and chat, especially with everything in full bloom. There's an assortment of cookies and cake stolen from the kitchen as well as a pitcher of lemonade. Having helped Kairi with a similar gift-related issue a few months ago, turning to her for help with a similar request feels right.

"Ebisu has a festival in a few days and I've been helping out the family that runs his shrine. They have family traveling in and want to figure out a meaningful present to give them. They're also trying to figure out a present for all the volunteers helping out."

"Suzaku, I need your help." Ginia looks a bit harried as she drops by Suzaku's desk, signing fast. It's impossible to miss how much extra work there is at Ebisu's temple with festival preparation well under way. It's carried over to the part-timers too, and truly, everyone is thankful for them for picking up some extra work.

"Can you help me research and brainstorm some ideas for Ebisu's upcoming festival? The family in charge of the shrine is trying to find ways to keep the festival interesting while still keeping within traditions."

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Prayer C17A: A prayer for holiday revival

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C17B: A prayer for holiday gifts

C17C: A prayer for holiday traditions