thenearshore | (Open) Well hello world

Entry tags:

ω masaki kurosaki | bleach

(Open) Well hello world

Who: Masaki and you!
Where: Near shore town, Tezcatlipoca's temple Near Shore, Calico cat cafe
When: May 9-10
What: Masaki slowly getting the ropes with cleaning up and exploring the Near Shore.
Warnings: TBA

May 9, the Near Shore:

A: Outside Tezcatlipoca's temple morning:

[Perhaps you were visiting the area; perhaps it was on the way to your own temple. Either way, there comes in sight a young woman, who has found some improvised tools to give the Near Shore Temple a good cleaning up. She wasn't dressed as a priestess-she was wearing pretty modern clothing in fact-but noticing the company, she perked right up.]

Oh, hello! Have you come for a visit?

[Her smile was bright and girlish, nevermind that she might have looked like a bit of a mess.]

I didn't realize we'd have people coming by!

[Do they even have supplies for gods and shinki visits? Like tea and cookies? Ah...she can't remember...]

B: Within the surrounding town afternoon/evening:

i: Benches

[She'd been going around, trying to get a good idea of how the area was but...yeah, she had to stop, and watch the people go by for a bit. She felt tired, and she didn't quite realize why until she saw someone go by with food. From the near drooling, she remembered.

She hadn't eaten since she arrived. Drank water, but eat? She didn't know if she could. Or had to.

But when the next person went by, her stomach gurgled. Loudly. What a mess...]

ii Music Store

This is...music?

[It mostly had movies, items related to that and music, but there were head phones too, and codes they said for downloading music. What was downloading? Why would you want to download music? She was baffled.

But they had music samples. She tentatively put on the headphones, and listened for a few moments, her expression becoming...more or less baffled.

She gave a wave of her arm, trying to catch attention.]

Hey, have you ever heard music like this before?

[She'll offer up the headphones, eyes gleaming. She's learning something today.]

C: May 10, Morning, Cat Cafe Calico:

[Since she didn't know about the whole prayer system per se, she wanted to make sure that there would be grocery money. She didn't know what Dio liked, but she was going to make sure of one thing: she wasn't going to put too much pressure on her god. So she looked for work on and off yesterday, and found...well. A cat cafe.

Which was something she had never heard of before, and found amazing. So she applied, and when they figured out she was there, she had an interview on the spot and...found herself surprisingly hired.

So this was her first day. She was in a cute dress, and wearing cat ears (because for some reason one of the other servers thought it would be a good idea if she wore them) and was going around, beaming. It hadn't taken long to get the gist of what she was supposed to be doing.]

Nya, welcome to Calico! How may I serve you today ♥?

D: Choose your own adventure!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She did seem to live in her own world. Or...so she assumed.]

Huh...it would make sense for her to help with the fire.

[She would have complete control over it, Masaki thinks. But...still, she has to wonder what she was like, and what she said to Shun. But some things can wait.

Especially when he looks so disgusted at the mention of souless shinki. She feels a little queasy herself.]

That does sound...horrible. It's like they're not supposed to exist. At least your shinki now can make his own choices.

There was a post a few weeks ago where me and a few others mentioned her lack of presence when disasters happen here. It seems like she listened to that, at least.

[Though he has to wonder where she was during the curse on the town. He saw two of the other old gods there, but with the apparent cause of it being a known enemy of the heavens, it's hard not to question her not being there.

With the moment of revulsion over, Shun gives a slight shrug.]

Who the hell knows whether they're meant to exist or not? In this place, there could be any reason they ended up like that. [He can't entirely shake the deeper fear that the soulless ones might be normal shinki having gone through something horrible, as much as he'd rather not think about it.]

Guess she really did.

[She might have even been worried about losing face, but Masaki would rather keep that to herself. Though she did have to wonder what the old gods were doing. Were they hiding? Panicking? Researching? It was hard to know.]

...and you might be right about that too. Do you think...they were made that way on purpose...?

[It might be easier, for some gods. They don't have to worry about getting stung, or blighted by their tools. It's a little chilling to think about.]

[While it's hard to be sure of most things here, Shun has more suspicions than most probably do, and it's kind of gratifying to hear someone pick up the point so quickly. Most people take that as a cue to call him paranoid, which isn't entirely wrong, but still gets old very quickly.

Regardless of how long he's suspected it, though, he still looks somewhat unsettled by the concept. When he knew a shinki before this world, it's even more cause for worry than it would normally be.]

I wouldn't say for sure, but the decent old gods I've met - other than Amaterasu, and that could be something about status - people have always specifically mentioned that they have shinki more like you and the other new ones. It's possible the older gods think it's more efficient to have shinki that don't question.

[He says the word with clear and unmistakeable bitterness and derision.]

[Paranoid? Possibly. Aware of things could go badly? Very much so. He's not the only one unsettled by the possibility. She's certain that Dio wouldn't want her that way, but what if he didn't have a choice? What if the Heaven's decided for one reason or another to have a blanket policy on shinki?

The idea was chilling.]

The decent gods. I guess...the only thing I could be hopeful for is that the opinion of the gods want shinki like us. We're likely painful sometimes, but that's also life.

[Still...she has to wonder.]

What happens when you...release a shinki? Do they move on to the next life?

[Though it's a horrible enough concept for Shun having a close friend as a shinki, he knows it can't be any better of a thought for someone who's a shinki themselves. But as much as it's difficult to consider, it has to be said. They can hope for the better option, but it's not always going to be the case.

After a moment of consideration, though, Shun's expression becomes a little less disturbed.]

It at least seems like most of the new gods prefer their shinki this way. I have seen one network post where someone tried to find a way to strip their shinki of "inconvenient" emotions, but most people treated the god involved with the derision he deserved.

[In response to the question, he shakes his head. He's not fully certain of what happens to freed shinki, but he knows they don't move on.]

As far as I know, they wander until they find another god to name them and take them in. Some of the new ones ask for certain gods to take them in before or after they're released.

[All things considered, she'd think it'd be horrifying for anyone who bore witness or was part of it.

But hearing that, she relaxed.]

Good. Emotions aren't inconvenient or anything. They just are.

[She bites her lip though.]

Are there certain gods that take in souless shinki in, or just their friends?

[She can almost picture a souless shinki shelter...]

The shinki involved was part of it as well - most would probably fight back against their god trying to do something like that, but this one let it happen.

[There's a note of distaste in Shun's tone, because as much as it's the god's fault for having the idea in the first place, he can't sympathise with someone who couldn't even bring themselves to disagree with having something like that stripped away.

Shrugging, Shun quickly recalls the soulless shinki he's known of so far.]

Not that I've seen - they probably go back to the older gods. I haven't seen mine since I released it, someone else I know who had one doesn't seem to have seen his since he did the same, and a god I know who disappeared recently had one that looks like it vanished when he did.

[She shakes her head a little.]

That sounds awful. I wonder what shinki would want that-or at least accept it and allow their gods to just...run over them.

[It makes her worry for that shinki; there might be a reason why the shinki didn't object. Maybe they had...she wasn't sure. There was a part of her that wanted to ask more, but she also didn't want to know too. Maybe there would be a way of finding out, if she ever decides to do something about it.

For now, she'll let it rest.]

Sometimes, people do foolish things. But...in any case, let's hope the souless shinki go back to the Heavens. It doesn't sound like they can take care of themselves, or want to.

I don't know. They probably don't even know why they did it. I might not like people who don't fight back, but a god taking advantage of their position like that is far worse.

[It just goes to show that there are some people here who deserve to be called gods even less than others. The shinki system might be unfair for a variety of reasons, but gods like that abusing the power they've been given over another person is hardly insignificant.

The issue of the soulless shinki is one that Shun's a bit less worried about by this point, largely because Masaki's hope is what he's been assuming about them from the start.]

They're the ones who send them, so that's probably where they go back to. They have to have had some kind of role before the Heavens started having to give them to us.

Mm, that might be so.

[She shakes her head a little. She knows that there are gods out there that...are not the best, and might suit their name-more like their title-better then most of evil. But still, she doesn't like the idea of people taking advantage of one another.

Even if gods...are technically not human, she guesses. Technically.]

But I hope they do go back there, and safely. But what sort of role would they have before...all of this? I assume this hasn't been happening for years or anything.

[Given how the heavens seem to consider shinki by and large, it is a little hard to imagine what they'd do otherwise, but Shun considers the notion for a moment before he lands on something that sounds feasible.]

This place has a lot of bureaucracy behind it - they usually send shinki out to greet the newcomers now, and things like that. Maybe before they had a different role in the same kind of thing. I doubt the old gods spend all their time handling the smaller details of what goes on around here.

[Some of them probably get involved, but then there's the ones who likely just wouldn't give a damn or would rather focus on raising their own power than doing the legwork.]

[Masaki would have scoffed at the lot of them, all things considered. She had heard the metaphor about how gods were land owners and shinki were house builders, but she found it foolish all the same.

If anything the gods seemed to be the powerless ones.]

Maybe they were used to send messages to other gods?

[It's kind of crude but it seemed that the old gods weren't on the BBS.]

But what are the old gods doing? Answering prayers?

[Though it's a relatively reasonable assumption, Shun gives a noncommittal shrug. it's unlikely it's the only thing they did, even if they did do it.]

Maybe, but gods can teleport. It'd take a far shorter time for them to carry the message if it was that important. Besides, they make announcements online with us, I don't see why they couldn't have modernised and already been using phones before we came.

[As far as what the older gods are doing, Shun doesn't really have a good answer to that, but he does have a relatively good assumption.]

Trying to figure out what's happening here and reconcile with it, from the ones I've spoken to already. It's a huge occurrence that's breaking all the rules they thought were unbreakable before we got here.

[Just because they could didn't mean they would. But Masaki said nothing; maybe Shun was right, and they weren't...well. There were a few rude things she could have thought about them.]

Huh. So there's a problem? What is it exactly? Why can't the new gods help? Or the shinki?

[Lack of experience? That would be a reasonable explanation.]

[Having been there himself, Shun's fully aware of how easy it is to misinterpret the situation here, and his tone is measured as he goes on. It's at least good to be able to pass on something that might clear things up a bit.]

From what I've heard, there was a lot going on before we got here among the old gods. It looks like they're trying to find out what this has to do with that, and there's sensitive information there. Spreading it to everyone when we have gods like that idiot from last month who set buffed ayakashi on us all would be a bigger risk than reward.

[She might not have been around for that, but she could have heard about it.]

[A little bit always helps. Even if they're technically working, it's not like anyone would notice. This is important for her life from now on.]

Buffed ayakashi up...?

[She didn't even know that was possible. Wait...was that what the circle had been doing?]

That's what that circle in the park was. Wasn't it? It made an ayakashi from all that energy?

[She glanced around, before her voice lowered.]

So we're here because someone was rebelling against heaven? Maybe even take it over?

[That's huge. That can't be possible...could it? She doesn't know how everything operates but still.]

[So, she hasn't heard about that, then. With a more serious look, Shun crosses his arms and briefly considers the most important aspects of what happened there.]

Around April 20th, one of us newer gods - some insane fool standing in for Susano'o - combined ayakashi with some kind of power or monster from their world to create newer, stronger beasts. They were supposed to avoid humans, but they turned on the heavens, and we had to fight them down. Susano'o was supposedly killed by the end of that uprising.

[Supposedly. He still hasn't forgotten what Suijin mentioned in that report about faking a god's death.]

The magic in the park wasn't the same as that. [While he feels Masaki lowering her tone is a little unnecessary when this place isn't exactly overflowing with Near Shore residents right now, he keeps his own at a relatively quiet level as he replies.] That may not be why we're here, but with the timing of the attack at the picnic, it'd be stupid to assume it's unrelated.

[Nope, not at all. She grimaced, and rubbed the back of her neck. Supposedly? That doesn't sound good. But combining with other powers? She hadn't realized that could work.]

I see.

[So there was that bundle of fun. And while she didn't have to lower her voice it was a kind of force of habit. Ah well.]

Well...that makes things complicated. Is there anything we can do?

[She'd like to. She wants to protect her god, and the people around her. Especially those who will become her friends.]

Like investigate?

There's plenty of people investigating. Most of us are pooling our information as well, whether over the network or in person. I doubt anybody's going to object to one more person keeping an eye on things around here.

[As serious as Shun's tone is, he'd be one of those ones with no problem having another pair of eyes out. It's not as if anything formal has been established yet, but it's still useful to have more people prepared to do that.

However, that does remind him that there's something other than investigation here.]

A few gods are trying to set up a response team for emergencies, as well. It's not ideal, but it's better than nothing, and they need as many people as they can get for something like that to work well.

[She nods, distracted. It would be jumping into something she doesn't completely understand but...then again, that's the whole world, now. She's having to hit the ground running.

But the emergency response team has her perk up a bit, even if she's still pensive.]

I don't know how much help I would be without my god, but I don't want to ask him for my sake. But...

[She does want to help out still.]

I think I can take people to and from places quickly, over short distances. Would that work?

[That's hardly an uncommon power here, so Shun can't exactly call it invaluable (and the impassive expression on his face at it says as much), but depending on how it works it might have some application.]

If it works on normal humans, it could be useful for Near Shore incidents. As far as I know, gods can teleport anyone from the Far Shore anyway, so it's not as useful where that's concerned. And there are still things you can do without your god.

[Fighting ayakashi, not so much, but fighting anything else or trying to get people out of the area is still something. He hasn't yet seen his own shinki on the posts regarding response, so while Shun imagines he'd be there if he was needed, it's not like a god or shinki signing on alone is abnormal.]

[Yeah, she knows it's not very impressive. She's not as strong as some of the people here either.]

I won't know until I try, I think. I can't teleport like a god can, but I...can fight a little, I think.

[She sighs.]

And I might be more helpful, once I know how to use a borderline.

[Since there are people here who can't fight at all (and it doesn't even seem to be an uncommon thing amongst them), Shun gives a somewhat more approving nod at that. Sounding so uncertain of it might not be reassuring, but it's better than nothing.]

On your own, you're right, a borderline could make a big difference in a fight. It's not that uncommon for shinki to not know how to use them, so you might have an advantage over some of them as well.

[He's taking this from the fact that he's seen people offering to teach how to make them on the network once or twice - it can't be that easy if it keeps happening.]

I heard it mentioned, but I haven't been taught. Not yet.

[She smiles a little, rueful. She doesn't know what the tricks are to that yet.]

So even knowing about it, I...don't feel like I have much of an advantage. But I don't think most of them can create a weapon of their own.

(Open) Well hello world

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)