come_sailaway | When the guidepost is away...

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When the guidepost is away...

WHO: Yatogami and you!
WHAT: Exploring the ship, meeting new people
WHEN: Rest of November
WHERE: All over the place

[Note: Yato has some passive powers at play because he’s a god. Unless he draws attention to himself he cannot be noticed by humans who don’t have some sort of connection with him. They will also not remember his name nor the fact he was part of an interaction until they have a connection. Other creatures though, are fair game. If you have questions don’t hesitate to ask.]

To say he was disoriented when he opened his eyes was a bit an understatement. Yato opened his eyes and found himself resting comfortably on a couch of some kind. He couldn’t remember. He was fighting and then... did he die?

He drew in a deep breath and let out a low, pained groan. It didn’t feel like he was dead. Yato sat up slowly, he could already tell under his clothes he was bandaged in a few places. That didn’t stop him from unzipping his track shirt and pulling his t-shirt away to look down. He could feel another up under the fringe of his hair. Bandages, no blight. Okay, he could work with that.

“Rekki!” He called, holding out his hand, presumably to catch something and...nothing.

I. Deck

Catching Yato early in his voyage around the vessel would have him looking around and calling out for someone. “Kazuma?”

At both ends of the deck he’d hold out his hand and call again. “Rekki!”

Nothing. Absolutely disappointing. “Bishamon is going to kill me.” He muttered under his breath.

Presumably, those he would run into would be humans he had yet to draw their attention and he would offer a smile. “Hello!” He greeted, literally out of nowhere. “Don’t suppose you’ve seen a guy, about twenty, glasses?” Hopefully he wouldn’t startle them too much.

II. Fate’s Design

“How can you be so stupid and eat all my chips!” Yato lamented, using his fist to pound lightly on the slot machine, like it’s the slot machine’s fault he’s just unlucky. It was a good thing there were many chips in abundance really.

“I swear, if she’s thinking of me right now-” He banged on the slot machine again as he lost, again. It was somewhat noisy and easy to attract people’s attention like that at he rate he was going.

III. Atrium

It was there that Yato was melting into the background, collecting his thoughts while perched on a banister. How it was he got in that exact position might be a mystery.

Humans wouldn’t catch sight of him sitting there, drooped with exhaustion and his brow furrowed in worry.

IV. Everywhere Else

This was a less than ideal situation really, he appeared to be trapped on a ship disconnected from everything the best he could tell and completely unarmed. Again.

Yato had on his biggest smile in that moment. He didn’t have a pen or paper in hand, nor did he have a phone number that he knew of so it was going to have to be old school.

He would approach everyone and anyone, no matter what they were doing. “Hi!” He chirped brightly. “I’m Yato, local god of fortune, let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

Yato was very much not in the mood for this. He was tired, his body ached and this was not the best day. All the same, he would do his best to smile and engage the public, seeking out human connections.

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A shrine? So you can travel between those or somethin'?

[Theo looks left and right over the water, with nothing in sight for miles and miles.]

Hope they don't have to be too close together. Do... Do we even know what planet this is?

Sort of, using Heaven as a go-between, but as it is I don't ah, have a lot of shrines.

[ One. He has one. ]

No, no idea.

Maeve frowns slightly at that. "I don't think I could. I would prefer to be myself. Even if I sometimes don't know what that is." More in a vaguely philosophical way, than anything else. Programming over matter...or is it mind?

She hums thoughtfully. "I guess they choose that...knowing what will happen?" She certainly hopes so anyway.

"Not really." Yato said honestly. "The problem is there's only so many options for trapped souls. They either figure out how to let go and move on, or they're swallowed up by malevolant spirits. Even worse, they continue to wander the world unseen and alone in a kind of purgatory." He sighed softly.

"Shinki are souls that can't be tainted, and they're always people who've died unexpectedly. Mostly young by human standards. So." Yato kicked his foot a little bit in a lazy manner.

"So they're offered protection and a home with a god. I have a great deal of responsibilities towards my shinki. I suppose there's ways I could mistreat them, but they can also walk away. It can be complicated. I personally don't force any shinki to stay with me, if they request to leave I take away their name and grant them that much. Usually they serve another god instead. Shinki at least learn that they have to seek out the gods sometimes."

"I do my best to remember," Ava responds sadly. "I... made a memorial. Of all the names of the passengers we lost." The ones she could get, at least. It was incomplete, but she was able to get some from others who were willing to help. And found out it really didn't matter much, that the ghosts were completely unaware. Couldn't even feel comfort in being remembered by their friends.

"But I don't know how to help somebody believe in something better, when I've never believed myself..."

"Not that I wouldn't be grateful if you did find a way, but I don't really mean to impose on you." Yato probably isn't even a god of Crichton's own world, why would he start granting wishes just like that? There has to be a catch. There always is.

"Wouldn't I have to, I don't know, worship you first or something? It's been a while since I had any kind of religious affiliation. I didn't pay too much attention in Bible school."

"I don't mind, it's my purpose." Yato said cheerfully because if he was going to survive in such a place, it had to be.

"It'd be nice." Yato told him honestly. "But I'll settle for remembering my name."

He scoffed lightly. "That guy and his sketchy book."

He brushed the tear aside from his cheek and offered no explanation - not that he had one. Human suffering always hurt him from the inside out since he'd become aware of it.

"I can't say one way or another if what you've been told is true that there really is nothing." Yato said.

"What do you believe in?"

Maeve frowns at that. Choice is well, very important to her, actually. After so much of her life not being her own, it's hard to consider that there would ever be a time she'd give herself over in such a way. She is gathering, however, that these are possibly already dead people. So perhaps there is nothing lost there. If they are trapped.

"We don't have souls," she says after a moment. "At least back home. I have been told by people here that I do, so I'm not sure how or why, but...I guess it's just one of those things." She studies the ground. "The souls here are similar in that manner. When I was possessed, all...I can remember is nothing. An endless nothing. I had no form, nothing to do, nowhere I could go. Coming back from it is just as disorienting as waking up in it."

She glances up at him. "I guess all of what you've said is fair. It isn't like I really understand things in your world. But if you treat them fairly, I suppose it's better than the alternative."

"Neither do I." Yato said simply, because he wasn't dead, he was just unliving, so to speak. He wasn't human, things like that didn't work that way.

"There's little choice but to treat them fairly. A shinki and their master is like two parts of the same whole. If I were to treat Yukine poorly and he felt bad, as anyone would, I would feel just as badly as he did." Yato said. "When he has volatile emotions that are sad or distressed, I get very very sick."

He sighed. "My guidepost is a teenager, it's such a troublesome time." He complained lightly. "I let him run wild a the beginning and he nearly stung me to death."

There's a nod at that. "I guess that helps keep things honest at least." The part about a teenager, gives her pause. "I am told teenagers have quite a lot of emotional bandwidth." She pauses. "Can you actually die from their emotions?"

"His emotions have a great effect on me and when he is sad or depressed I can barely move. Teenagers are very volatile." Yato smiled a little bit. Even so, he was so proud of Yukine.

"Stinging is slightly different. It's not just a matter of emotions it means that your shinki is committing sins. Humans can sin by doing something they know they shouldn't. I can't sin." Yato explained. "But he can, and if he gives into temptation it causes a blight to me and invites malevolent spirits to attack him. He didn't notice until he was time to be cleansed and to face punishment."

He considered his thoughts for a moment. "And yes, a god can be stung to death. Most of them won't put up with it. I had my reasons for letting him run wild. It was really hard for him to come to terms with the fact he was dead." That, and he hadn't wanted to punish him.

Maeve nods at that. That makes a little more sense. Though, her understanding of sin is...quite limited. Human religion is a basic and vague concept. "Ah. I guess it might be hard to know when you do not...uh...fully understand."

There was a nod at that. "Death can be hard for those who haven't done it before. Even for those who have. And I've died so many times already."

"He's fourteen, he's always going to be fourteen. There's no future, no connections with other people. Other shinki, sure, but it's not the same thing. It's a very deep and difficult thing to accept."

Yato frowned a little bit as he considered his thoughts. "You could return, but Yukine couldn't."

Maeve frowns at that. "It's unfair that children should die." She doesn't mention her daughter, isn't sure it's worth it to do so at this point. People like Ford lived long lives, chose their ends...but children...children couldn't.

"I can't imagine how he must feel." Perhaps he would show up here? Be able to live a life...but this place isn't a place for children either. Despite the fact that there are so many of them here.

"Yes, it is." Yato agreed with a little frown. "Death is always unwanted and unpleasant, but it's also sad."

Yato placed a hand to his chest. "Shinki don't think about their deaths once they understand, because they cannot remember."

Idly, Clarke flaps a hand in mild agreement. Because yeah, that's true; something she's learned a good deal about with all the various timeline shenanigans on board. She has friends from 1994 all the way to 10,000 years after an apocalypse that doesn't match up with her own; at some point you just gotta accept the reality conversation and move on from any point other than the fact this one they currently existed in was still weird in that everyone was existing here simultaneously. But, no time travel powers or magical abilities here, it's too much of a headache for her to parse over in depth or try to discuss.

"I'd still call it weird to go around offering people favors, but most of our day to day lives aren't that interesting."

Example A: sitting in a coffee shop reading about fictional dinosaurs.

"Why is that strange?" Yato asked, blinking. "Don't people ask god for favours all the time?"

Not usually him, but they did ask him sometimes and he always did his best.

"I just want to help people."

"Not even a little?" That's...well, perhaps it's for the best. Remembering her own deaths hasn't really brought her peace about them. "Perhaps that is for the best. No need to mourn something you can't change anyway."

"Then it's a done deal. I can't promise it will happen swiftly, but you're more than welcome to come bother me when you like to check on it, or just to say hello."

"They must never think about it. It festers like an illness and will destroy them from the inside out. A shinki that does begin to ask questions is immediately isolated from others." Yato said seriously.

"...Most of the time there's nothing that can be done. They will be corrupted and destroy themselves." Yato frowned. "And so discussing such things is not permitted. It is precisely as you say. They cannot change anything and if they begin to recall all those horrible resentful feelings, malevolent spirits take hold. People don't want to be dead. There's a good chance the master will be swept away with them."

"Thank you, really." Yato said and while he would like to know absolutely everything about her, he should probably practice some moderation and not overwhelm her, as he'd been told many times.

Ava figured as a god, he'd be accustomed to this sort of thing. But seeing him brush away a tear, she's somewhat relieved that he doesn't feel so far above the rest of them.

"I've been told, by the spirits that were trapped within it. I tried to help one, find a way to stay..." but she shakes her head. She had killed him, in the end. In order to stop the infiltration, in order to bring Sharky back to his body. But she doesn't feel any better about it.

"I believe in possibilities."

She might have more difficulty with other gods, but Yato has been that way for a long time and it really conflicted with his inherent nature.

"It sounds terrible. I wonder if there's a way to change it." He murmured thoughtfully, but that was one monumental task. He knew that to be true.

"That's a good thing to believe in, after all as long as people are alive they have near-infinite possibilities." He smiled warmly. "One can always rewrite their fate."

You don't feel trapped to be here?

[ Based on what he's heard it's a pretty common sentiment. He isn't sure he feels that way himself, not yet at any rate. ]

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