鬼KYOKAN

[mikraitios]

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.

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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!)

Comments

[konpeito_aji]

Encouraging...

[Looks up at the sky.]

[BLEH.]

[Gross.]

[Wholesomeness! GROSS.]

Can't I just inspire them to partake in the deadly sins and anti-Buddhist vices?

[Solve the world... with violence!]

[A hand wave.] Seems like they just need more pride. Not enough to rival me, but enough to overcome their weaknesses.

[nyktifanis]

Do you believe my methods to be wrong, Nobunaga?

( he seems to be against her ideas, so maybe there's something that he doesn't understand or how things work. especially if he's asking to learn from her... is he denying her lessons despite not being under student, how is he going to be her student acting like this! )

Or do you truly lack faith in them.

[konpeito_aji]

Yes.

[He's a bad student! His last teacher (not counting April whom he asks definitions and 450 years later social mores updates on) committed seppuku out of shame.]

[Him asking to be a student is almost more like him declaring verbal war on someone's patience and seeing how quickly it runs out. - With exception to April until/unless she tries to make him change his ways. See also: this conversation. Is he more testy with Pollux because she's a goddess? Who knows. But he'd probably be like this with anyone. He's a petulant brat.]

I can find my own ways, but it doesn't seem like either of us will be at our maximum efficiency if we're working against each other, and we do have aligned goals. I think.

I want them to enjoy themselves.

Encouraging... Hope... [Shakes head.] Coming from me it wouldn't even work.

I always reward my soldiers for their accomplishments. Swords, castles, teapots. [Listen, the teapots are more expensive than the castles sometimes okay. It's a big deal.] But they know how to enjoy themselves. Take Clarke Griffin. I want to break her chains. I have said survival isn't enough, one must thrive too. But that's not enough on its own. She needs proof she can do it without getting hurt worse. You think tender words like reminding her she won't break will be enough? [Bites his bottom lip. He'll try. He'll fucking try it. But he's still worried.]

And anyway, if I support their self-imposed austerity it's just telling them they're doing good at suffering, keep at it. The opposite of what I want.

[nyktifanis]

No, that's not what I mean. Encouragement, hope... the same as you offering them rewards; sometimes they need to be motivated, told that they can still be even better than they are now.

( it's all about being there for them, reminding them that they can still make something of themselves, but a person's words have to be offered at the same time for it to mean something than nothing at all. sometimes, a person must see the darkness to find a flashlight in the middle of that cave to find their way out, that's why people pray to gods for guidance, why they become determined.

... )

Thinking lowly of them ruins their mood, Nobunaga! Think better of the people around you, this is why you must understand them!

( she told him this already. )

[konpeito_aji]

[So even gods are not omnipotent.]

[In truth...]

[In truth...]

[He thinks everyone is super cool, super badass, really great, and he adores them!!!]

[Well, most of them.]

[Stede he's jealous of, but it's not even like he thinks poorly of him, it's just as he said to Johnny, it reminds him of the parts of himself he hates most.]

[Nobunaga's pride isn't in that he thinks others are mostly useless (again with some exception for Stede, only because Stede PURPOSELY CHOOSES TO BE.) simply that Nobunaga's just the first, the most desperate and willing to try all the crazy things that others have too much to lose to try first.]

[He still means what he said. He can surpass them all at doing what's needed.]

[But isn't it just sacrificing himself?]

[Raw determination and dedication. Unfailingly stubborn.]

[But to even just say, "I don't think lowly of them-"]

[He thinks highly of their potential.]

[More highly than they do themselves.]

[Nobunaga leans his back against a tree in thought.]

[Ruins their mood...]

[Then they should get stronger.]

[Train it the same as any exercise.]

[Better with practice!]

[But isn't it more like wounds? Injured birds can't fly.]

[Much like Ieyasu after the hell Imagawa put him through.]

I do think highly of them.

[His soldiers are his weapons. And he loves weapons. He hates waste. Isn't this waste? The suffering. If the Captain wants it, all the more reason to deny it to him.]

You want me to say that to them? Out loud? To their face?

[Okay Pollux, he'll do it. But he won't like it!]