come_sailaway | 鬼KYOKAN

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鬼KYOKAN

Who: Castor, Pollux, and maybe you?
When: September 16
Where: At the edge of the shoreline on the beach
Summary: A sacrifice for Jenny!
Warnings: It's an animal sacrifice but the actual thing isn't like, graphic.

Once the preparations are complete in the mid-afternoon, Castor and Pollux will gather anyone who's interested in attending and begin the sacrifice. As royalty among humans and ancient gods themselves, they are willing to offer a gracious demonstration of how to pay your respects to the gods, beginning with a prayer, but anyone who decides to stay is encouraged to participate—whether by talking with one another or tossing seeds during the ritual, anything so that they could be considered involved themselves.

Once anybody who stops by is ready and quieted down, they will lift their arms to the sky to call upon "Jenny" — a goddess of storms. Just imagine it goes something loosely along the lines of: "We, the Dioscuri, know of your search— while we hope that today's offering pleases you, know that we will reunite you with your brothers. In return, we ask that when we quit this voyage, you offer us, the passengers, your shelter alongside them as we return to where we should be."

Only the ones who don't piss her off is kind of an unsaid implication, but really, it seems like a fair enough trade, right?

The star of the show is a local boar that the two of them brought down together. Next to the makeshift altar, it can be found dressed up in what looks like a very fluffy pink silk scarf, which is tied in a ribbon around it's belly. Once it has agreed to the sacrifice, it's cooked over the open fire, and a certain amount is set aside especially for Jenny—the rest, though? Once the meat has finished cooking, it's distributed among everyone else in attendance, as well as any mangos and other foodstuffs that the guests might have their eyes on. No matter what you decide to accept, you're told that it should be finished by evening.

And when the feast is complete, everyone is invited to participate in games. Whether it's sprint races, jumping competitions, spear throwing, or... frisbee because proper discus' probably aren't available here and Castor sure as hell isn't letting a human touch his, everyone is encouraged to take part and enjoy themselves. (Including if anybody would like to make their own top-levels too!)

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( puff and size and search all you want, castor, all you'll find is that she's the embodiment of a bulldog with a bone. )

Yeah, I was. She almost drowned us trying to get the Captain to give her back her brothers, and Flynn Scifo talked her down. ( this is offhanded, complete with a little wave of a hand.

but then she's dragging the conversation right back to names and their powers. )

Sure they've got plenty names, they've been around forever and ideas change with the times. She long predated humans, and was just whenever storm clouds gathered. But then we came along and gave her a name and prayed to her that way, and she became more than just opposing air temperatures creating wind and cracking out thunder. And the other god I've met? You get more from him by calling out his true name than pouring out a bottle of wine and calling that respects. It's the only way he hears prayers.

Besides, there could be hundreds of thousands of Jenny's sprinkled throughout any reality. I'd bet there's fewer Guabancex.

( a beat, steely and flat blue eyes having absolutely none of this and fully confident in her assessment. then she blinks. ) But — this is a nice party. Thanks for the food.

( the compliment only does so much to soften the blow here. it's not that he takes offense necessarily, but humans really are so arrogant in the assumptions they make—they never change, do they? castor's brow furrows as he lets her finish her little lesson, but tipping his chin up, the calm and matter-of-fact answer he offers comes down to one thing: )

And I imagine you would know better of the gods than a god himself?

( for real... why she trying to teach him out here? he did not spend years of his mortal life in the stables with jason just to be lectured in his own existence by the very cause of his fall from grace. )

The rarity of a name isn't what makes a god. It's—

Brother! I did it, I've found a couple!

( a gentle, but firm voice calls out towards castor and clarke, and another individual at the height of 5'6" joins the battle. blonde locks cup the side of her cheeks, while a good bit extends out from the side as though defying gravity. a blue laurel wreath wraps around the crown of her head, and stormy grey eyes find themselves locking onto the human speaking to her brother as she walks her way over with dignity and grace. the attire she wears is what one would expect from the old ancient greeks, but it's adorned with gold armor around her shoulder blades, which fits the golden and black sword that's held tightly in one hand.

in the other is the limb of a mango tree, and she's managed to acquire about six off the length of it. once she's closed the distance between both castor and clarke, she offers a gentle smile to the female. )

Ah, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something. I didn't expect my brother to be busy.

( not that he isn't busy, but she probably should have stayed put to prevent the conversation from deterring. it was too late the moment she called out for him though. she does feel a little bad for butting in, and it's that moment where she holds up the tree limb between the three, encouraging them both to offer their attention to it. )

Please take one, this set are the sweetest so far. They're Jenny's favorite.

I'm learning pretty quickly. It's not a difficult subject.

( and oh, pollux, if there was ever a conversation to deter before it dissolved into the most useless argument and a series of raised hackles, it's this one. though for clarke, more undermining of the conflict of interests brewing here than the equally well dressed and radiant second half of the ritual leaders is the sudden leafy branch suddenly in front of her face. and like handing any distracted party something, she takes a mango upon request. )

I — thank... you.

( mildly baffled. and immediately realizing she didn't want a mango, and now just doesn't know what to do with it in her hands.

it's a quick route back to the conversation at hand, though. and while she alternates glances between the two of them while speaking, the main focus is still on castor. )

All I'm trying to do is tell you what you didn't know about the goddess you're trying to summon. Because you haven't met her, right? Didn't know her name? I could also tell you she likes Spanish poetry, guns that are more a relic than anything useful, has lost a significant amount of her own memories, is in love with Gal Friday, sleeps in a nest of death and rotting souls onboard her own ship, said she'd come back with help but hasn't, that she can only reenter our pocket of reality with some passive permission or allowance by the Captain, he can kick her out at any time, and about how sad she looked when she told me about everything she did there in order to escape.

( that first line alone is already enough to get him bristling, but when he hears that familiar voice behind him, turning with wide eyes to meet his sister's, it can only go downhill from there. )

Pollux...

( castor's voice is hesitant, as if reconsidering his stance. his gaze lingers on her for a moment—really, isn't it amazing how cute she can be, even at a time like this? his anger could almost fade away just with the sight of her smile. almost, but unfortunately for everyone involved, he's an avenger, and for some reason he has madness enhancement to top it all off. naturally, this means that the fact this girl dares to continue talking is registering as an insult of the highest caliber against the two of them. any patience that he'd demonstrated the moment prior has already gone right down the drain—it's with his lips curled into a near-caustic scowl that he turns back to the girl before him.

the truth is, he's not even really listening to her anymore. it's all just noise to him at this point. )

Silence, Human! It doesn't matter how much you think you know if you're too ignorant to properly pay tribute.

( a small tilt of her head to the side with a soft smile, and a raise of her shoulders happens to be her way of silently saying, "you're welcome." she holds whatever words she wanted to say in favor of what the other has to, and it seems that her patience does reward her as clarke continues though pollux only managed to come into the middle of the conversation. it's easy enough to catch up on as the first line answers everything. to know there's new information about jenny makes pollux's mouth part, eyes widening a slight which she feels as though castor should too be listening, but all's well never ends well like this.

it always feels like they're one step closer or one step backwards, but she seems to know a great amount that happens to deal with jenny; and then the comment about gal friday. that's even more surprising, she wouldn't have guessed that from how hesitant she was when they mentioned her. perhaps that was embarrassment of the supernatural kind? either way, they should have requested gal friday to be here as well... that could have made the sacrifice even more thoughtful.

she can feel her heart descend as it goes and goes, the rotting souls, the fact that she said she'd be back, and then to be at the control of the captain... rejected by his whims manages now a frown, even further the moment castor speaks. it's alarming as she turns her head to face him, and she doesn't have the proper amount of information to know what's gotten under his skin. had she said something crass, or... )

Brother! She's offering tribute through acknowledgement and remembrance! Are you saying such dedication isn't good enough?

( she's pleading in hopes it'll calm him down. the sword in one hand begins to dissipate by glowing a bright yellow before exploding into a beautiful array of stars that disappear moments after. the same hand lifts up to settle behind his arm before smoothing down to his elbow. his thumb gently brushes against the area, massaging, as she turns to clarke with a hint of melancholy as though those words were enough to bring down her otherwise chipper mood. )

I hadn't known that the Goddess Jenny has been through so much.. then we can only hope this festivity is enough to reach her. Brother and I curated this event in order to seek a response from her. To learn that the Captain has that much power over her, it saddens my heart... so you both must have been close before she departed?

( shouting human in her face (through some foliage, but still pretty direct) doesn't do nearly enough to rattle her resolve. that nagging fact's been made plenty clear in her time on the boat, surrounded by necromancers, magicians, vampires, sea-jellies, other gods, and... basically, you name it. clarke's well aware of just how easily her bones break and won't mend within a few seconds, how the trenches of immediate warfare didn't prepare her for the longer game, and how a distinct lack of magic, pop culture, or palpable religion in her homeworld's put her at a disadvantage in this setting.

and none of that stopped her from taking a pair of lobster crackers to the side of the captain's head at their very first meeting. she wasn't too ignorant to strike that first blow, and castor gets a chilly but silent look in return: make me and oh yeah? wrapped in one.

though she's then immediately dragging her gaze to pollux, the contempt shoved down but sky blue eyes still gleaming with all the heat of the afternoon sun reflected off the ocean. the sword glowing and erupting like a volcano that sprinkles out short-lived stars helps the break the tension, clarke can't help but watch that display. it's enough that the two of them can have their elbow rub moment in relative privacy, she'll tune back in around the point of goddess jenny and be quick to correct — )

Guabancex.

( there we go, now pollux get's the same information castor had. without nearly as much god-name-know-it-all diatribe as her brother had to weather. )

We weren't very close at all. ( saying she'd murder gal friday to save her from any suffering since jenny wasn't around to do it, and the proposition consequently being interpreted as offering to bang their cruise ship manager does not equal close. but maybe the handshake and hint of encouragement — if i were still a betting woman, i'd have my money on the insane little girl screaming into a hurricane. that seems like a winning ticket, to me. — counted as camaraderie. at the very least, it stoked the embers of clarke's ego and set her on a warpath. )

But I liked her, and I hope she comes back. She is the only person who has run this gauntlet before, and so far she hasn't been wrong about what it entails. I want to know more, we need to know more but. I don't think this — ( a brief and stiff sweeping gesture to the lovingly created party space, though the line in clarke's brow is tight and uninspired. ) — is going to bring her back.

( There's an ugly sneer on his face by the time she's explained herself, branch lowering from between them as Pollux attempts to soothe him. Under normal circumstances, she might even be successful; he could back down, not admitting defeat, but deciding that such an argument isn't worth his time nor making Pollux upset. But now? Unfortunately, it's an uphill battle when this eyesore of a human continues to egg him on as she does. Looking down on their own traditions in this way, it really does beg the question. )

And exactly what have you done to bring her back?

( He scoffs, believing himself to already know the answer here. )

It's always talk, talk, talk with humans. I'd like to see the results of what your pathetic efforts have accomplished to speak to me that way. Or are you simply waiting for this goddess to solve the problem for you, without lifting a finger yourself?

( That sounds like humans. Sitting around, claiming they "don't know" enough to act, that now isn't the "time" to act, or perhaps they don't have the "resources" to act, because everyone knows, humans are never "strong enough" to act. Even something simple, something not necessarily meant to summon the goddess herself, but to instill her with the belief and respect that she deserves—that has clearly been lacking on this ship, if the responses of those attending this sacrifice are to be judged—has more purpose to it than sitting on one's hands, so to speak. It's certainly a better alternative to waiting for her to arrive and save them. )

( does she feel shame for herself? no, but she does feel it instead for the human that speaks, conflating her opinions on the success of what's happening here at the sacrifice. their words mix and mingle like a fuse that's close to detonating in their faces, or a dark, murky cloud that rolls overhead that's preparing an initial strike down to the land of humans causing a fire to swallow up the surrounding flora. the lack of respect that leaves from both finely tunes pollux's decision, as this is a sacrifice for guabancex, as they have been corrected. )

Brother! Look at it from another path, our guest simply does not understand our customs. Before you act out, at least offer a chance to explain before you look down upon them. I will not take "no" for an answer.

( not everyone is educated in the way of how their world works, and so to be looked down upon it does call for a more firm approach. even if clarke finds that this ceremony has no meaning, it does to a god rather than a human— pollux loves them latter, she offers sympathy where castor does not, and so she makes up for what he lacks by opening a path for the female to understand where they're coming from. it's best, than allowing her to speak on something she has no understanding of. )

This is not about bringing her back.

( she states this as law, confirming what suspicions the other may have, and it's easy to tell that they won't budge here. ) This is to pay respects, to thank her for what she has done and the hope she has imbued in you all.

( the hand on castor's elbow lifts, and is placed over her own heart to offer a more genuine, and physical action. there is no need to summon her here, if she wishes to show herself, then the time will come, as for now this is meant to reach her as a gift. )

The customs of our time predated the beliefs and ceremonies of the modern world today, we are the kindling and fire that gave humanity their first light within the darkness. How much do you know of the world before when it comes to Gods, the attitude you both prohibit is disrespectful to the individuals and animals that have taken part. I suggest that we speak on friendlier terms as I will not allow an argument on this day meant for Guabancex.

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鬼KYOKAN

no subject

[1/2]

[2/2] i've come at the people's behest!

praise the dioscuri!!!

crying.... crying..............

be nice to our future cult member castor!!

if castor's nice does clarke have to be nice? gross

castor's "nice" is comedic actually i think she should laugh at him if he is

tired of yall being Meanies, yall will be nice or so help me zeus