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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"If you're sure." Yato said simply, but if she changed her mind he would be willing to listen to her.

He wasn't really expecting her to open up to him, but maybe he should have. He hummed at appropriate places to let her know he was listening as she spoke and he considered that. "I can't say I know what you are." She hadn't said. "But people who would look down on someone like that are just..." He frowned. "Rotten. And magnets for malevolent spirits."

Yato couldn't say that they would all get what they deserved, but perhaps that was his own hope. "It's good that you've found good people. Most people are good, in my experience."

Possession, huh? "Things like insomnia maybe, I mean, I can listen." Yato explained. "And people tend to find talking about things to be most helpful in processing and moving past things."

He considered what he could do with a possession. He couldn't cut through them and release them, nor could he cut ties without a shinki. He couldn't just possess people he had no connection to either to push someone out. "I'm not sure I could help with an actual possession right now."

"Colloquially one might call me an android. Artificial intelligence? I do not suggest robot as the others do get very upset about that one and there's no need for someone to cause you physical harm when you already seem quite...unwell." She's careful to make sure there is no question about robot as a term. It isn't that she cares, but the others do and she would prefer them not to have to deal with it.

She's quiet for a moment. "It's less the possession and more the after effects. We're no longer possessed. When we died, that severed their ties to us." She studies him for a moment. "Do they have to ask you themselves? I suppose they might. And they might not appreciate someone asking on their behalf, but there are...quite a few that are feeling...at a loss. If you can do as you say you can."

"Android is fine then. I'm not really looking for a fight." Yato said honestly, and he wasn't. He felt like he was half dead already, but sometimes that was the prime time for someone to attack him.

"Well..." Yato thought about that. "Part of what we do is listen, so I mean...I can do that but I'm not nearly as good at offering comfort like a human would be. Humans look out for each other. They have to because gods can't get that close to them."

He had a bit of a faraway look in his eyes.

"I'm sure the others will let you know what to call them." He looks half dead. She's sure that wouldn't help him to mention it, though.

She considers that answer. "Well, you are on a ship full of humans now. I'm certain you'll find a way to get close to them before too long. I don't think you could really escape it entirely. We're all trapped here."

She wonders what it means to not be able to get that close. Is it a choice or were they told not to? She knows very little on the subject.

"I couldn't." Yato answered, shaking his head. "The boundary is important. I wouldn't want to accidentally lure them to the other side."

Things with Hiyori were bad enough, he didn't need more people who couldn't stay inside their bodies to try and fix without an idea how to do that.

"It's too tempting to people."

“Maybe back home. Here is a different situation.” But she notes the information down anyway.

“But when you say the other side…what, precisely, does that mean? Godhood? Death?”

"Death. The afterlife. The problem with spending too much time around the Far Shore is that you lose sight of living and once you get too far gone your life just ends." Yato sighed.

"So it is said anyway." He knew it to be probably true. "None of the gods have prolonged contact with people. It's simply...not allowed."

"I see." She guesses that's fair. Then again, death on this ship is so common, she's not sure it truly matters. Well, no. It matters. It's just...different.

"Mmm. I see. Well, perhaps here, that will change. The far shore doesn't exist that I'm aware of. And if you die, you come back the next day. So it's almost more of an inconvenience than anything else." She shrugs at that. "I've only died on this ship once, but I've died countless times before here. So it's more of the same, I guess."

Becoming his friend brought nothing but trouble, unless he was truly somewhere unreachable. It wasn't Heaven's wrath they had to worry about and until Yato knew one way or another he would have to keep his distance.

"I haven't died yet." Yato said, although that was surprising. "Humans just come back from the dead? How?"

"Everyone comes back from the dead. Human or otherwise." At least, that's her understanding of things. "I don't know how. Friday or the Captain might have more answers. It's also possible Skulduggery's black binder has answers you need."

There's a beat. "Additionally, if you require medical assistance, I would suggest Dr. Watson or Ms. Tendi. They are both rather skilled in such matters and I am currently uncertain of why you look so unwell."

"I only know of one who can do that." The less said about him the better.

"I don't think so. Someone bandaged me up so I should be fine. I was just in a fight before I came here." Yato was more impressed that he was still alive than anything, but here he was so he must've survived it.

"Not clear how I got here so I can only assume it was someone's wish."

"Another of the gods?" Maeve doesn't know that any of those actually exist here.

"Ah." She nods. "I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before you end up back to your full health. I'm mildly surprised gods can actually be injured at all. Then again, here, I wouldn't be surprised if they could also die." She looks over out of the side of her eye.

"I don't know if I can tell you anymore than anyone else here."

"No. Gods of course can be reincarnated, but I know of a human that did it."

He huffed lightly. "Humans can't leave many lasting marks, they heal pretty quickly but other gods, or someone who happens to have a shinki which is a divine weapon of sorts can strike a god down with only as much resistance as they can put up. Up against a shinki it's like humans facing off against one another."

"Hm. Curious. I haven't met one that truly could. My creator made sure he would still be in the programming of Westworld, a whisper of a memory of a person. I saw him as I was dying once. I didn't die, of course. But..." She shrugs. That's a different story.

She listens. "A divine weapon." She sighs. "Is it something that's been blessed?" But she's never heard of anything like that.

"It should not be possible, but it is." Yato was not going to divulge how he managed that because with any luck that monster's lifeline was cut.

"No." Yato said. "Although that's something that's important as part of honing your weapon. A shinki is a human spirit that is taken in by a god for their protection. They happen to take the form of something that the god needs. For me, it's a weapon."

She hums thoughtfully at the answer. So many impossible things done despite themselves. She’s not sure how much she believes in impossible things here.

“Ah. We’ve been used as weapons. Well, I have. Dolores tended to use multiples of herself as weapons or things that could be disposed of if necessary.” She shrugs. “Does the person involved physically change? Or do they just gain more power?”

"Shinki are not disposable. To believe that is reprehensible." Yato said, looking completely disgusted by that idea. It was instinctive, and yet some of them fit into that category.

"It is both. There are things shinki can do that gods and humans cannot in the pursuit of protecting their master. They do also change form. Sekki was an odachi at first and Rekki is a katana that shifted into a bow, as well as a piece of armor." He smiled slightly. "Kazuma is quite talented. I'd never had a piece of armor before."

"Sekki was the first for me that changed into a hafuri, and when he did that, he changed into two blades, a katana and a wakazashi."

It was complicated, but Yato didn't look like he thought it was much of a secret.

"Hm. I guess some people have differing ideas." A beat. "It's been my experience with humans in general."

That is not quite what she expected. "Huh. But do they stay as those things or transform back and forth?" Another person who uses a katana, though. "I have my own katana, but it was never a person before. Just a katana. It was given to me by the man that wanted me to be his weapon, however."

"They take the form that's requested of them." Yato said. "So, I determine the form of my shinki. They do have free will as any person though, they could disobey me."

They could, they have. "It's generally frowned upon because it stings me if they do something sinful, including turning against me."

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."

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.

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