come_sailaway | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's possible, but most likely wouldn't get that far. I could release them to save myself." As horrible as that might sound. "But they won't be saved and I'll likely have to end their existence."

Which was why it was important to protect his shinki, because he didn't want to destroy them. Who would?

"I guess you wouldn't, from what I know." He wasn't that up on technology, truth be told. "Does it bother you to remember?"

Maeve is almost certain by this time that she'd prefer to be a Host than a god. Especially with these circumstances. Certainly a much better situation. "Have you had to before?" Should she even ask? Well, she already has, she guesses.

"I guess it was disorienting. I can deal with my own deaths easier than my daughter's." She shrugs. "But she's a child."

Whether she should ask or not, it was a little bit late and Yato was quiet a moment. His posture didn't change, but the fact he wasn't willing to answer the question might tip one off that he was uncomfortable speaking about the past.

Maeve was there and waiting and while he didn't think she'd smack him for avoiding the question he'd been trying to reach out to others. That was what this whole thing was about wasn't it?

The pause is way too long to have been a coincidence. "I have. The first shinki I took in on my own. I was told to tell her her name and I had no choice."

Yato had also been in a lot of trouble for that one, but that was neither here nor there. "I don't have very many long-term shinki. They find me too troublesome."

He exhaled. "Children dying is...rough."

Maeve could probably successfully blame it on being robotic, but she has far too much perception and general understanding of human emotion to not be aware that perhaps she was a little to familiar in her questions.

Had he simply said he didn't wish to talk about it, she would have accepted it. But since he replied, she gives him a sympathetic look. "Too troublesome." She studies him for a moment. "I am sorry to hear that you seem to have lived a lonely life." It sounds lonely. Not that she has lived a life that wasn't that lonely. But she'd had Hector, Armistice, Lee, Felix, Sylvester, and countless others at various points in her journey. But she's recently lost every last one of them except Armistice.

"It's why I was changed from my original loop. I woke up. Apparently, in making us, no one considered we would actually feel things. Truly feel them. Like humans. They were short-sighted."

Was he lonely? He'd asked himself that many times since he'd encountered Hiyori and Yukine and he wondered about that all the same. He knew he did better with people in his life and at that moment he had many.

Yato responded by shrugging just a little bit. "It isn't really for me to speak to that. I was born from a wish and the person who wished for me thinks it's been fine like that. I won't deny I would much rather spend my time with Yukine and Hiyori though."

That seemed comfortable enough to admit to. "It sounds short-sighted. I can't say I really understand how androids work. Never really looked into that kind of thing."

"Your creator prefers you to be alone?" Perhaps their creators would get along after all. Ford remained surprised she cared enough to go back for her daughter and Lee was surprised that Maeve and Hector loved each other enough to fight for one another. That they loved each other at all. She's still not forgiven the storyline that gave Hector a false love interest to keep them from ever developing feelings for each other.

She frowns slightly. "I think there are few that fully comprehend it, but...what did they make us so human for if they didn't expect us to be so similar to them? They made us bleed like they do, die like they do, have various emotions and understand them...but we were always just belongings. Things for them to play with and destroy over and over." And for that, she will never forgive them.

"He'd prefer me to sit where he'd like me to, isolated yes." Yato explained with a thin press of his lips together. The less said about that the better.

"With any luck he's dead." He couldn't remember the outcome. "Well, dead and trapped in hell. That would be ideal."

It was the trapped part that was a problem. "That sounds heinous. Not every person is a good person." He knew that.

Maeve frowns at that. She hopes that he is dead as well. "Mine is." A beat. "Dead, that is."

She looks over at him. "I know that," she replies quietly. "I've dealt with far too many people in my time."

"For some people that's the right thing." He definitely thought that about Father that him being dead was better than not.

"Me too, but I can tell you most of them are good." Yato said with a warmer smile.

"Yes. For some it is." For some it seems a cruelty. She can only think of Clementine. Of Teddy. Of Hector. Of the people that never deserved it. And yes, Clementine is back now. But it's different. She hopes she can finally just be when this is all over. Not a weapon in a drawn out game, but just herself.

"I have met so many of the bad, it's hard to see the good. Dolores always said she held onto the good things, the kindness in the world. Those were her last memories, the ones she held onto as all her other memories were stripped away from her." A beat. "I try, but all I can seem to remember are the ugly, terrible things."

It was probably not a good thing to sanction the death of some people but that was how he felt.

"Humans are amazingly versatile." Yato offered after a pause. "I knew someone who helped me see that." He considered his thoughts again.

"Most of them live their lives without doing anything nearly so awful. They struggle sometimes, they can be mean to each other but they can also save each other. They fall in love, they support each other when they're in the worst spots. Their lives are so significant to the people they know." He found them pretty amazing, truth be told.

"They have this ability to care for others that's kind of unparalleled. It'd be nice if that extended to someone like yourself instead of showing you cruelty." Yato sighed. "Most of them though are just trying to get by and live fulfilling lives where they have all these dreams and hopes...it's really nice."

When the guidepost is away...

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