thenearshore | 007 | Clean Up Your Act

Entry tags:

007 | Clean Up Your Act

Who: Everyone!
What: Spring cleaning
When: All day April 15
Where: All around the Heavens
Summary: The Heavens don't like things being cluttered, so it's time to clean up a little bit.

Main Hall

While the main hall of the Heavens seems spotlessly clean at all times, that's not the case at all. In fact, it's been at least a decade since the last time they actually cleaned everything out properly. There are a lot of hidden closets and back rooms that have layers of dust and dozens of boxes filled with nothing but junk. Who knows, though! You might find something interesting and useful in there along with all the garbage.

Suprises

Unfortunately, some of the older temples on the Far Shore seem to have some interesting surprises tucked away, ranging from cursed artifacts all the way to magical creatures locked up in long-forgotten rooms. You are free to be creative with this as a way to get your characters into trouble while cleaning.

Complimentary Dinner

After all of your hard work, you deserve to have some tasty food and refreshing beverages. So the Heavens have provided that for you, so that you can wind down after a long day. It's not as fancy as the banquets they often put on, but there is a nice array of food and drinks for everyone to enjoy.

Counselling

As usual, there is a white-robed shinki bearing the gold chrysanthemum of Amaterasu sitting at a table in the Main Hall. There is a small sign that denotes her as the counselling shinki. Anyone is welcome to approach her, and she will smile serenely at anyone passing by as well.

In Summary:

Clean up your home
Help clean others' homes
Get the main hall clean too!
Hope no hidden magic jumps out
Seek counselling if you need it
Enjoy your complimentary dinner
Have fun~

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["I didn't know..." oh, Hakkai thinks, and smilingly produces a plastic bag from his pocket, shaking it out to full size so that he can start to scoop up the shattered pottery shards.]

You must be a new shinki! Please don't worry about it, the first few weeks are always a little difficult.

[And then things get complicated once you've had the chance to settle in. No point in scaring him, though.]

It's a pleasure to meet you, by the way. I'm Cho Hakkai, Elsa Randall's shinki.

I am! It's pretty confusing, heh~.

[He sounds rather cheerful about it, at least, piling up floorcloths in his arms and then sliding the half-full bucket of pink suds in front of him with his foot.

At the introduction, however, Souji once again goes the tiniest bit pink. He drops into a bow, managing somehow not to drop a single cloth in the process.]

I'm Okita Souji, and my God is Hijikata-sama, incarnated as Hachiman-sama. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, and it's really very generous of you to help out.

Edited 2016-08-16 17:56 (UTC)

Oh, it's no trouble at all! It's interesting to see what sorts of things turn up in corners around here, isn't it?

[Hakkai waves his free hand at Souji at the bow -- they are both shinki, but if Souji's new, he's going to have the same problem that Hakkai did with that habit.

And the politeness might be a little excessive, but it does make a good impression.]

I should warn you -- oh, may I borrow one of those cloths? I think they'll be better for this spill than the mop -- I'm a shinki, so it doesn't matter, but you should be careful about bowing. It's considered an insult to your own god if you bow to another god.

It's very exciting. I found a lot of candy earlier... although it made me mute for ten minutes when I ate it.

[He still has some of it tucked in his sleeves. Hey, he can eat it before going to bed! Then he won't actually have to talk.

Then he frowns a bit, tilting his head to one side.]

Ah, really? I just thought that's the polite thing to do regardless who you're talking about. It's hardly as if I'm prostrating myself, right? [Seriously, is all of Heaven weirdly rude??? Would Hijikata really be insulted if he did? He can't imagine that.

Oh, right. The cloths. He hands one over with a smile.] Here you go.

Ah... you wouldn't still have any of that on you, would you?

[Heavenly candy has a bad reputation. At least it does with Hakkai, after the last thing it did.

Perhaps he can see if Kazuma can check it for ayakashi, and if it turns out to simply have some kind of silencing spell on it, well, that's sure to have its uses too.

He smiles apologetically, taking the cloth, dunking it in his mop bucket, and going to one knee so he can begin to sweep the honey-wine mixture up from the edges in.]

It does seem like the polite thing to do, doesn't it? But Heaven's manners are a little different.

Ah... mmmmaybe a few?

[Souji smiles a bit sheepishly, holding up one sleeve which is clearly lumpy with a number of caramels stuffed down it. Look, he just loves candy so much?

But he's not going to let the other man clean all on his own, so he easily drops down on his knees as well, starting to wipe away some of the more far-flung rivulets of wine which are trying to make their way down in between the cracks in the wooden floor.]

I guess I have a lot to learn. I mean, I would never want to disrespect my God. He deserves much better than that.

It sounds as though you're happy with your god, then?

[Good. Not that he'll have had much time to get a sense of the man, of course, if this is his first day here. At least it's a decent first impression, though.

Hakkai returns the smile, pleasantly, and wrings his rag out in the bucket. Dark red trails of sweetened wine swirl in the soapy water.]

That's lucky. Ah -- would I be able to borrow one of those candies? I'd like to see if I can figure out why they had that effect.

Oh, yes. Of course I am. [Look at him, he's so earnest about it too. And there's a hint of devotion there which far exceeds what is honestly reasonable after just one day together.] He is my God, after all. If I didn't think he was worthy of following, what kind of example would that set?

[And ughhhh he hates sharing candy because he's a brat, but this guy is nice and helping him out, so it's only right to do so. And so he fishes one of the brightly wrapped candies out of his sleeve and hands it over.] There. They are pretty odd, but rather tasty too.

Thank you. [Hakkai slips the candy into his shirt pocket for safekeeping, dampens his rag again, and returns to attacking the spill. There's something about that intense devotion in Okita's eyes that reminds him of Yamato; it's not the look of someone who's just met a person who made a good impression. It's more the look of a man ready to lay down his life for a master.]

Not every god is necessarily a good person to work with, but if you've found someone you're happy with, I'm glad for you. You said his name was Hijikata?

[It's an unfamiliar name. Perhaps he's just as new as his shinki.]

[That thought doesn't sit well with Souji, because the very idea of thinking badly of his God just doesn't work in his head, and thinking about anyone else doing so feels almost as bad.]

That's right. And I'm not sure he'll always be easy to work for. I've only met him briefly so far, but he seems like the sort of person who only will accept a compromise if he really has to.

[Souji shrugs, scrubbing at a stain where the wine seems to have already seeped a bit into the fibers of the floor.]

But I know it will always be my pleasure to serve him, no matter what. That is what I'm here for, after all.

[I hope he deserves your loyalty... isn't the right thing to say to someone who feels that way about the god/shinki bond, is it? Hakkai smiles politely, instead, and scrubs at a darkly blooming stain where the wine has seeped through the wood on his side of the spill.

He still hopes that this Hijikata's worthy. Or that, if not, Okita finds himself reassigned to someone who is.

It's unpleasant, doubting your god.

(And it's not even really Elsa's fault; it's just that he'd felt so terribly helpless....)]

Perhaps so! But I hope you take a little time to enjoy yourself, too. A shinki's life doesn't have to be all work and no play.

[Souji honestly wouldn't even understand such a statement, because again, of course Hijikata deserves his loyalty. He would not have become the God he is unless he did, right?

He knows he's right.

Washing the wine out of the cloth, wringing it hard to get it all out, he gathers some wayward pieces of pottery shrapnel together in a pile before setting to work on yet another stain.]

Oh, I can't imagine I won't. The temple is so beautiful, and I like walking around the Heavens so far, even if some places are a bit... [He gestures at the mess with a small laugh.] We have a really nice dojo for sparring too! [...because that is how you relax. Yes.]

[Hakkai raises his eyebrows, impressed, at the mention of the dojo.]

Oh, do you really? What sort of sparring -- hand to hand, sword...?

[Okita had moved like a martial artist with that leap, but without seeing him fight, Hakkai can't tell anything more than that. He drapes his own rag over the edge of the bucket and sweeps up Okita's pile of broken pottery with the side of his hand, scooping the pieces into his trash bag.]

There's a kendo class that meets at our temple a few times a week, but I'm afraid we've just had them practicing in the courtyard.

[Not that he's volunteering you and your dojo!

But he might be planning to refer Yamato in Okita and Hijikata's direction, that is, when Yasusada's recovered enough to consider teaching again.]

Well, I am a sword.

[He giggles, but then hesitates for a moment, looking thoughtful. First, he holds out his arms in front of him. Then he frowns, shaking his head, and reaches past the other Shinki toward the broom standing next to it. Taking a firm hold of it, still kneeling, he takes a perfect stance, every line of his body seeming to flow into the broom. The stance probably looks rather familiar to anyone who has seen Yams wield a sword, too.

Then Souji nods emphatically, handing the broom back.]

It looks like I can wield one too. Ah, and I'm sure that if the weather is bad, Hijikata-sama wouldn't mind people using the dojo instead... provided everyone is mindful that it is in his temple, of course.

[Hakkai's chuckle is light and brief; Souji's certainty of movement does suggest he knows what he's doing with a sword. He moves like Yamato, in fact. Kendo, then.]

I'm a sword, too, but I tend to prefer hand-to-hand! I suppose it would be harder to be a hand-to-hand shinki. Perhaps if your other form was a set of gloves.

[He smiles.]

I'll let Yamato know about it, then -- he's our teacher.

Well, in a sense... when you are a sword, you are using your body in battle, right? So it's not as strange as all that.

[It makes sense to him, at least, on a deep level that could probably be called spiritual in someone more introspective. Any warrior, regardless of their skill, is in themselves a weapon too, right? The thought feels right somehow, and makes him nod emphatically at the tail end of that statement.

Ah, but then he brightens up happily.] Yamato-kun? As in, Yamato no Kami Yasusada? [He looks so pleased.] If it is, I've already become friends with him. [That was... fast.]

Why, yes, that's right.

[Hakkai blinks.]

Ah, I'm not surprised you get along! You seem to have quite a lot in common.

...Huh. Yes, I guess we do.

[He frowns, as if he hadn't really thought about it still, even though they both even look kind of alike, to the point where they could probably trick people that they're brothers.]

I'd love to join in on the lessons. It sounds like it could be a lot of fun. [And he can find out another way he's very alike Yamato: He doesn't hold back during sparring. Well, Yamato probably got that from him, not that he knows.]

Oh, it is! Ha ha, I've been trying to grow a bit more accustomed to the sword myself.

It feels like I should if it's my own other form...

[He swipes up the last bit of puddled honey and wine, wrings the rag out firmly into the bucket, and starts working again at the remaining soaked-in stains. It might take bleach to get some of these out.]

I guess just being wielded in battle isn't really the best way of learning.

[Souji laughs. Of course, he hasn't been wielded in battle yet and doesn't actually know what it's like, but the thought is still extraordinarily silly to him.]

Ahh, but what kind of teacher is Yamato-kun?

[Look, he wants to hear more about his new friend! He made a friend all on his own within the first hours of existence that he actually remembers, that is really exciting to him.]

Oh, it's very different. [Hakkai raises his eyebrows thoughtfully, considering the question as he dunks his cleaning rag to wash it out again. It's stained with wine that stubbornly refuses to rinse clean.]

Hmm, let's see... he's quite serious! I'm impressed by his instincts.

[He can only imagine. So far, all he's done is to be briefly held in his god's hands, and he isn't sure at all how he'll perform in that kind of battle. Oddly enough, though, he doesn't feel particularly nervous about it. The whole thing feels completely natural to him, somehow.

He hums softly, nodding.]

I think I can see that. Since he takes his duties and loyalties so seriously, he'd want to put that same attitude into teaching others... I think. If you hold back or act like it's not real, you're not actually teaching real fighting. It's just a game. [He smiles a bit sheepishly.] It's strange, really, to understand the way someone is thinking so well. I guess in the same way there are very similar gods, there will be some Shinki who are quite alike. [Explains everything, that does.]

And sometimes gods and shinki who are very alike, too.

[Hakkai looks up from his work on the last remnants of the stain to give Souji a very long and thoughtful look. There's no real way to tell when they're both shinki, of course. But is this another case of reincarnation? Of two different versions of the same soul coming here for the Heavens' pleasure?

What on earth are they doing to the Great Wheel?]

I guess so. That seems a bit stranger, somehow. But then again... the purpose of Gods and Shinki has to be the same in the end, I suppose.

[He dabs his own cloth over the little pieces and crumbs of pottery which are too small to pick up, and then gingerly brushes those off in a small pile, careful not to cut himself.]

There's always a bond between those who lead and those who serve.

Hmm... do you think so?

There certainly can be.

[It all depends on the quality of the leader, in Hakkai's opinion. He reaches over to collect Souji's tiny heap of pottery bits, sweeping them cautiously into the bag with the larger pieces. They're very nearly done with the mess, now, apart from the few faint discolorations where wine has soaked entirely into the wood. Those will take bleach, Hakkai supposes, or planing.

Well, it's only a storeroom, this certainly hasn't been the first bottle of something fumbled and broken on this floor, Hakkai supposes.]

I suspect there's less difference between gods and shinki among the newer deities than the older.

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spes_phthisica - 2016-09-01 11:40 (UTC) - Expand

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