thenearshore | The Heavy Weight of Stone

The Heavy Weight of Stone

Who: Zero + OPEN
Where: The Far Shore
When: April 17 (8/20)
What: Zero finds himself lost in the sea of stars floating above
Warnings: Someone's begun to contemplate a past he can't remember

Dusk came and went leaving Zero to stand alone at the water's edge. His eyes fell skyward lured by the ocean of lights scattered above. Hours passed in this manner yet the passage of time remained an elusive point. He was dead... maybe that's why he couldn't feel it - the construct of time.

".... Zero."

The name rang in the distance carried by the silence. It was the only thing he knew about himself. A name and nothing more. Why? Why couldn't he remember? Was this what death was then, an endless shadow with nothing but a name to ease the silence?

"......"

In the near distance, Zero picked up the heartbeat of another. This again.... what was it? Weren't they all dead? It couldn't be a heartbeat, but then... what? His senses nevertheless picked up the pulsating sound marking the presence of another.

"You don't need to hide. I can hear you."

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"Oh, you know..."

She waves a hand vaguely.

"The whole god and shinki thing. And I guess stuff about ayakashi too."

"I'm not interested in that stuff."

"Really? You're not interested in a bunch of people being spirited away to become gods and weapons?"

Huh. Hiyoko had assumed anyone in their position would at least be curious. But to each his own.

"So... what are you interested in?"

"We weren't spirited away. We're dead."

Blunt.

"There's nothing left for us."

This place was nothing but limbo and he wanted an end.

"So spirits can't be spirited away?"

Weird. Wouldn't that just make it easier? Not that she knows how spiriting away works. Maybe she should look into that.

"Um, actually I think there's a lot left for us. I mean, as afterlives go this one is a lot nicer than I was expecting."

No one's explained anything to him so he only knows a handful of information, even less so about the shiki and gods this place seemed to have gathered. But it doesn't mean anything to him. Why would it when he can't remember anything.

"....."

A look. Did she know more than she was letting on?

"What do you know of this place?"

"Only what they told me when I got here. And I guess what I've figured out for myself over the last couple weeks."

Which isn't a whole lot, but she might still be able to help him out.

"They brought me here to be a goddess. I'm guessing you're a shinki?"

The talk about being dead was sort of a tip off. Also there's a sort of... uncertainty in him that she's been seeing in a lot of shinki. Maybe it's the lack of memories.

"What have they told you so far? Maybe I can help fill in the blanks."

"A goddess?"

His eyes narrow before he shakes his head.

"I don't know what I am."

He's quite for a moment, his face set in stone as he goes over that information. He'd heard of the gods and shinki but... why did she think he was one of them?

"I died."

A perfect way to start out any explanation. "Back in my world. I don't remember...." his brows crease as a force compels him to away from this train of thought. "Who I was... how it happened... I don't... remember except for my name."

He looks at her.

"Zero."

"Nice to meet you, Zero. I'm Hiyoko."

Definitely a shinki then. And the second one she's met that didn't get a proper explanation when he arrived. Somebirdie in heaven is really slacking off. Probably some guy in middle management. She might have to write a very strongly worded letter to his supervisor!

But first things first...

"Okay, we'll start from the beginning then. In this world all the gods started disappearing so the god in charge decided to kidnap a bunch of people to replace them. I was brought here to replace a goddess of the hunt."

She is just not sugar coating the fact that Amaterasu is essentially pressing people into service.

"A shinki is someone who died and lost all their memories. They sort of act as assistants to the gods. Without one, a god can't beat an ayakashi. Ayakashi are these evil spirits that mostly like to harass the living."

Goddess of the hunt. She meant -

"Artemis--"

Pain immediately flashes through his mind as a hand instinctively presses against his temple. ~~Artemis, Yuuki's weapon~~. No memories break free but they ebb too close to the surface causing him pain until he lets go of the string.

Hiyoko shakes her head.

"Nope. Mielikki. It turns out there's actually a lot of religions with hunting goddesses."

She watches him rub his head with a worried frown.

"Are you okay? I know this is a lot to take in."

He lets go of the string of memories and they float back down into his subconscious allowing the pain to slowly fade.

"Pain..." His hand slowly leaves his temple. "I didn't think I could feel pain here."

"Oh..."

One more important thing about being a god or shinki that she should've mentioned.

"Yeah. We can still get hurt. And even still die. It's weird. And before you ask, I don't know what happens if the dead die again. It's probably not something you want to find out."

His brows crease at the confession. They could die. Again. He didn't like that thought so he focused on another.

"Your a goddess." A statement. "Who is your Shinki?"

He looks past her as if he could glimpse the figure in the background.

She follows his gaze before realizing what he was looking for. Then she shakes her head with a smile.

"His name is Barry, but I didn't bring him with me today. You should meet him though, he's a good guy."

And frankly Zero seems like the type of person who could use some friends.

"You should visit us sometime. I make a pretty good elk roast, if I do say so myself."

[ OOC: Sorry this is so late! I was fixing up this fool's new journal! ]

Barry. It wasn't a name he'd come across in his short time here.

"...."

He kept quiet neither accepting the offer nor denying it. Frankly, he didn't know what to do with it so he focused on the facts instead. They were easier to deal with, this at least he could handle.

"You shouldn't invite people to your home so easily." A warning. "For all you know I could be your enemy."

Hiyoko tilts her head a little, considering that possibility. It.... honestly didn't even cross her mind. It's true that something about him says 'predator,' nothing about him says 'enemy.'

"Well.... for all you know I could be your enemy. Since we don't know, we might as well be friends."

In a lot of ways, she is a simple girl.

"You're not my enemy."

An immediate response, terse in its execution. This at least he knows to be true. She had not given him a reason to ever fight her and no matter his god Zero would not harm an innocent. As for the offer of friendship.... he's not quite ready to touch on that subject just yet.

Have an eye roll.

"And you're not my enemy."

She sounds vaguely amused.

"So now that we've got that all cleared up, we can skip right to the friends part."

He steps aside and turns his back to her.

"We're not friends either," he tells her before walking off.

If anything, he didn't dislike her. A rarity.

She calls after him as he leaves.

"If you need anything, look me up! Okay?"

Her offer of friendship still stands. But she's dealt with prickly loner types before. They need their space.

He stops long enough to look back but instead of refuting her words he simply turns around, the simple gesture a silent acknowledgement on his part.

Hiyoko... His steps echo in the moonlight while his mind lingers on the girl he left behind. Why would they choose her to replace a goddess of the hunt? His eyes drift up... there was something he was missing. He'd have to pass by her temple to figure out.

Another time.

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The Heavy Weight of Stone

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!!!

no worries~

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