thenearshore | 003 | Save The Boats

003 | Save The Boats

Who: Everyone!
What: It's a few days after Hinamatsuri - time for a party!
When: Late evening (March 5, 2016) into early morning (March 6, 2016)
Where: The banks of the Kamo River
Summary: The Heavens have thrown together an outdoor party to celebrate Spring and ALSO to ask the Far Shore residents to keep the boats from Hinamatsuri from coming to shore.

Hinamatsuri is celebrated in Japan on March 3 every year. It is a festival to celebrate all of the young girls of Japan, not as important as their own birthdays, but certainly a big day for all families with a little girl among their household. It's perfectly normal for all of the cuties to dress up and get all sorts of delightful treats out of the day.

One of the normal festivities is a ceremony during which ornamental dolls are placed on tiers on boats and floated down the river. It is thought that all of the bad luck for the coming year floats down the river with the dolls, taking that bad luck away from their young girls to keep them safe for another year.

But the boats don't always make it all the way down the river like they're supposed to, and the Heavens sometimes like to make sure that the year will be full of less bad luck for the people of Japan. So they have decided to have the almighty gods do some legwork and disguised it as a fun Springtime party! They expect gods and shinki alike to push the boats away from the shoreline wherever they see them venturing near.

New gods and shinki will have been ushered immediately to the party as well, given all of the normal information, and then left to mingle among their new cohorts. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce the newbies to both their co-workers and the kinds of jobs they'll be expected to perform.

Buffet

A luxurious buffet is set up for everyone to enjoy. There are all kinds of foods to enjoy, though they all seem to be of a local variety. The Heavens have apparently used the funding from their own temples to purchase local food and support local businesses at the same time. In particular among the food and copious amounts of booze, you will find some Hinamatsuri staples - hina-arare, hishi mochi, chirashizushi, and a salt-based clam soup called ushijiru. Among the booze you'll find shirozake, a sake made from fermented rice, also a regular fare of Hinamatsuri.

The Boats

As if they are literally overflowing with bad luck, the boats seem to be making a desperate attempt to land themselves upon the shoreline. They are reluctant to make their way back into the water and will gladly run people down if they're allowed to and are happy to ram into someone over and over again to try and get their way. When they are finally pushed back to the center of the river, they will begrudgingly continue on their way. Of course, some of them will simply sink because of the weight of all that bad luck, but who can really blame them.

Children

As expected of a day dedicated to celebrating children, there are dozens of children running around and playing games during the festivities. It's hard to distinguish, but some of them appear to be human children while others are shinki. They are happy to let anyone in on their games and will gladly bother adults to come play with them or to let them try some of the liquor. (Mods will be available to play out any child interactions you may want, just flag us down.)

Counselling

Off to the side, there is a tiny table set up with a small, nicely written sign that reads "Gentle Counselling". On the other side of the table is a sweetly smiling shinki who is willing to listen to your problems and answer any questions you might have. She is also here to help out any gods that are having a hard time dealing with knowing about how their shinki died and any shinki that is having trouble coming to terms with the fact that they are dead.

In Summary:

Keep the boats off the shore
Enjoy the food and booze and spring atmosphere
Have some fun with cute little kids
Seek counselling if you need it!
Flag the mods in the top thread if you'd like an NPC
Have fun~

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I'm not sure it's the bad luck that has all of that weight. I think it's all of the doll racks.

[Hakkai puts a hand on his chin, emulating thoughtfulness, but there's a wickedly amused glint in his eyes.

Before Chome can solve the problem, one of the girls puts on an extra burst of speed and tags his shoulder. He slumps in defeat and slogs back to the starting line, with the girl jumping up and down triumphantly before she takes his spot.]

You think so?

[Yukine looks from the game to Hakkai at that, and promptly wonders what the heck is up with that look in his eyes.]

Even if it were the doll racks, how do you explain the boats having a mind of their own, eh?

[He pauses a moment to let Hakkai-san deliver the next question to the new 'it'.]

Three hundred and fifty divided by five!

[Hakkai turns his attention back to Yukine.]

Well, there's the wind and the river currents. Without a pilot, they'll do whatever the eddies want them to.

[Is he serious? Is he just teasing? It's very hard to tell.]

. . .

[He smells BS.]

You haven't been out in the river at all today, have you.

[Hakkai's poker face dissolves into snickers: oh my, he's been caught.]

I helped with a boat or two! See. [Look, there's a mud stain on the knee of his pants still. Proof!]

Maybe there's something a little supernatural about them.

[He could have gotten that stain from kneeling in the grass while playing games with the kids too. But sure.]

Hmh. Damn straight there's something supernatural about them! I'm glad we at least get food out of the deal. [He takes a huge bite of the last mochi in his hand.]

Heaven does feed us well at its events! Ah --

[He raises a finger as if to pause his conversation with Yukine while he calls another math problem out to the children.]

-- How does that work for the individual gods, do you know? Is it up to them to provide?

[Or should he start thinking about how he can earn money on his own? Would it be a problem for a mortal shop to hire a ghost?]

Of course, the god has to provide for the shinki he takes on! [He turns away to irritably chew on his mochi around his grumbling-] Ug, it was brutal, starving every day, sleeping outside, going dumpster-diving, him stealing money from me... [Please pardon his flashback into Yato hell.
But after a moment he turns back to Hakkai looking a little calmer.]

Your conditions will vary depending on how rich your god is, but yah, they should be providing for you.
Your god didn't tell you to go get a job or something? You can if you want to, but you don't have to.

I certainly wouldn't mind if it was needed, but she hasn't ordered me to do anything at all yet.

[In fact she seemed to be trying not to give orders.]

... I, ah, I take it your god isn't very wealthy, Yukine?

Not at all.

[The heaviest, most pained delivery.]

100% poor and mooching off the kindness of others. [(And recently stealing money from Kazuma, too it seems... bastard.)

But even around his griping over Yato, a flag goes up in his mind.]

Your god hasn't asked anything of you yet? Has she at least called your name?

Oh dear. My sympathies.

... No, she hasn't. I did suggest she could, but apparently this isn't the place for it.

[Hakkai crosses his arms, considering the sky.]

I suppose I don't mind! It's better than a taskmaster, isn't it?

[Thank you. He tries so hard. ;; ]

I suppose so... [He crosses his arms too, but he’s more troubled than contemplative.]

I think... no, I know it’s really important for a god to call their shinki’s name and get to know them. Shinki are here to be helpful and used, right? So when we aren’t, it’s like... we're useless. Like what is our name even for.

Then are we only useful as our gods' servants?

[Hakkai's hand goes to his collarbone absently, as if he could feel the character inscribed there through his clothing. He can't, of course. It's as unobtrusive as an old tattoo.]

I'd like to think there's more to who I am than that.

[He doesn't mind serving his goddess. He owes her his continued existence, after all, but that doesn't mean he only exists to serve her.

Or does it? Yukine seems to understand more about a shinki's life than he does.]

Mmm- [Yukine scratches at the back of his head, making a faintly disgruntled sound.] Not- not so much as a 'servant', but-- there is more to it than that.

[His hands now empty of mochi he crouches down to absently pluck at the grass as he thinks of how to word it.]

See, one shinki per god is their exemplar. The one who lights the way and guides the god. But there's lots of ways to do that duty. I've only met a handful of other exemplars, but they all have different ways of wanting to protect their god.

But that- that's only half-way. The god has to accept the exemplar too. [He frowns for a moment, his eyes distant. He rips up a fistful of grass, then with a blink comes back from his thoughts.]

A-anyway, what I'm getting at is that just recently, I was able to really find out who I am and what my meaning to life is. So for you too, Hakkai-san. And all the other new shinki. Doesn't matter if you're the exemplar or not. You kinda... have to figure out how you want to do that on your own. But you're for sure more than a servant.

[Hakkai stays still, arms crossed as if against a cold wind as he watches Yukine. An "exemplar"? Someone who guides their god?

He finds his spirit rebelling against that concept almost as much as it had rebelled against the idea of the meaning of his life being to serve. Yes, he wants to be of use. Yes, he wants to do good.

It's his "meaning" being bound up so closely with someone else that seems wrong to him, almost... almost frightening. He wants to make his own choices, freely. To live freely without needing someone else. But if he had been able to do that as a living man, then that time is done now; he has lived and died freely.

And his existence now dictates a different path.

He'll just have to decide how it is that he wants to follow that path.]

... Thank you, Yukine.

[He reaches out to offer the boy a hand up.]

I think I still have to learn what the meaning of my life is. But I'll have time to do it now, won't I?

[Yukine takes the offered hand up with a smile.]

Heh, for sure. You only just got here, after all. Don't worry too much. I didn't even know I was an exemplar until months later.

I hope she calls on you soon. I admit, I'm kinda curious what kind of vessel you are. Is your name here too? [He points at his own left collarbone. It looked like Hakkai-san hadn't been thinking about it, but he'd touched that place earlier.]

[Hakkai returns the smile.] Yes, it is. I'm curious too! Our vessel form doesn't have anything to do with our names, does it?

[If it does, he supposes he might be some kind of armor. That might be a useful function, but he'd prefer to be a weapon.

Especially since he seems to be his goddess's only shinki so far. It's no good to have a means of defense if you have no means of attack.]

[It's kinda like... they have something like that in common, so he feels a bit of kinship - or ... something. You know.]

Nah, pretty sure not. Heh. At least, I don't have any snow powers that I'm aware of. [He shrugs.] I'm just a victim of my god's uncreative naming.

Oh, it really is "Yuki" like snow, then? [That's cute. Hakkai can't help but grin. It seems fairly creative to him -- or at least he can't see the connection. Maybe it was snowing when Yukine was named?]

It's too bad about the snow powers! Imagine, being able to freeze ayakashi in a huge block of ice....

[He wonders if he'll have some sort of power to use as well. Thoughtfully, he studies his hands, as if looking closely will unlock a new ability. They remain resolutely normal.]

Yah. It was snowing, and Hiyori said I looked like snow too. [He's seen her sketches of him. (They're cute, but like heck he'll admit it.)

Don't worry, Hakkai. The borderline comes from your hands after all, doesn't it?]

Heh, well although I don't have snow powers exactly, I can do other things. But that's for after you master the borderline.

[Hakkai sighs dramatically.]

Ah -- I'll keep practicing, then....

[He still can't do it without summoning some sort of reason to be disgusted by his target, which takes much too long.]

Mm? Dramatic sighing doesn't suit you, Hakkai-san. Are you really having that much trouble with it?

[He was proud of Hakkai for drawing the borderline so quickly. If he's having trouble, he really wants to know.]

Well, not trouble precisely. It's just that I seem to have to come up with a reason to despise my target.

[And while despising ayakashi isn't particularly hard, Hakkai finds it makes him... nervous. There's something in his own capacity for hatred that feels as though touching it is pressing his fingertips to a hot coal.

It's trying to use something that he can't control.

There's no rational reason for him to feel so strongly about it, except that he'd already tried to kill Hibari when the boy attacked him, hadn't he? Hakkai flinches from the thought of what might lie behind that reluctance. What he might have done with his anger as a living man....]

Is that normal?

When you start, yah, that's normal. But you'll get faster and be able to draw the line no matter what you're feeling with practice. [He makes a bit of a grimace-] I know- saying to just 'practice and you'll get better' is cliche and awfully boring, but it's true. I can't tell you how many lines I drew before I got fast at it.

[Hakkai laughs, his studied thoughtfulness breaking into real relief.]

It's a cliche because it's true! I'll keep practicing, then.

[The sooner he manages to master the borderline, the better he'll feel.]

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