Winter, Day 33 - Foxpoint Farms
11:47 PM] Anja Degan (Annie):
Anja had waited just about as long as she could stand it. She was an impatient person by nature and it seemed even the ache of loss didn’t quite dampen that. So when she had finally felt she was ready, and couldn’t wait any longer, she went to speak with Shiori.
The farm appeared closed when she arrived, at least in the way of cars. Even so, for just a split second she thought there were actually quite a lot of people here. But she suddenly realized that it was in fact so many souls scattered about Foxpoint.
Well shit.
Anja had seen them outside of Spireno since that night. All over in fact. But this seemed like... a lot all in one spot. She would have to ask, she assumed surely Shiori knew though. Hopping out of her jeep, she threw on her leather jacket, and headed towards where she had met Shiori when she last visited.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[6:46 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori felt the moment someone crossed her boundary. She sighed, and finished the last round of cool compresses for the kitsune, giving the twins whose room she was in a soft kiss on the tops of their heads before she straightened.
She did not bother to put glamour on. Nor did she bother to change into something more presentable. Her guest would just have to take her as she currently was. And currently, Shiori looked awful. She had pulled her hair back into a low ponytail which seemed messier than it had that morning. She wore an oversized sweater and a pair of creatively tailored lounge pants, both of which smelled heavily of peppermint by this point. There were bags forming under her eyes, and what felt like a permament furrow in her brow.
But, if this was who she thought - and the aura did feel vaguely familiar, and definitely divine - then she had been expecting this to happen sooner or later. So the kami went downstairs, casting one last glance upward toward her kitsune, before she stepped out onto the porch and waited.
<d> @Anja Degan (Annie)
[7:24 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja caught sight of Shiori as they made their way out to the porch. She looked... tired, to say the least. It was a strange reversal from the last visit the two had. Anja now looked somewhat rested compared to before. There was a heaviness that hung on her, but the clear signs of exhaustion no longer plagued her.
The outfit she wore was simple. Her normal black boots, tight dark pants, a plain black shirt, and her jacket. Even the green pendant of her necklace had been tucked into her shirt. So now as she reached the Kami, she was a vision devoid of color.
“Hello Shiori,” She gave the divine a soft grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Despite the gnawing need to know eating at her, Anja was aware that something seemed very off on the farm. “Is... If this is a bad time, I can come back.”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[7:35 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Was this a bad time?
Of course it was. But this couldn't wait, and at this stage, there was nothing she could do for her kitsune beyond try to keep the fever down and hope that all they got was a fever.
"You're here already," she said after a moment, gesturing for the woman to step up onto the porch, to lead her to the semi-enclosed space from before. Unlike last time, however, there was a distinct lack of foxes. The usual quartet were inside, keeping watch, and the rest of the farm seemed oddly quiet, the typically playful and gossipy foxes echoing the mood of the kami.
Normally, Shiori was a good host. An excellent one, even; it was something she took great pleasure in. Today, however, not even tea appeared, and she sat before waiting to see if Anja would, her movements heavy and slow in her exhaustion. "I suppose you have questions for me." It was stated, fact; she knew that Anja would, the only thing the kami didn't know was what those questions would be.
She was, after all of this, prepared for the worst.
<d>
[7:35 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Anja Degan (Annie)
[8:23 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): ’You’re here already.’
Anja frowned, despite everything she still had the emotional energy to be concerned for the Kami and their kin. Things definitely seemed... not alright at Foxpoint. Especially as Anja noticed the lack of the shulk around when she followed to the sunroom. But she held off on addressing her concern for the moment, as Shiori sat looking weary with fatigue and Anja followed suit.
A nod was all the reply the Kami received to her statement at first. Anja did have questions, though maybe not as many as Shiori had anticipated. She had gone back to Ellis since, had him explain what exactly he saw happen. And Shiori, she assumed, hadn’t known the content of the letters. After a moment of thought, she spoke up.
“You are the Kami of Foxes, correct? The one known as Inari? He mentioned the name in his letters so I did a search and well—“ She ended her sentence with a general gesture to the farm around them, explaining her assumption.
<d>
@Shiori Okita (Nora)
[8:46 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori lifted a hand, gesturing at the farm with a half shrug and an even smaller nod. "Kami of foxes, of rice, of tea and sake, of agriculture and industry, prosperity and success, granter of wishes," she said, with a sigh. "If your research didn't take you that far, I am also a Bodhisattva."
Descended from the heavens as a kami in her/his/their own right, not born of anyone or anything but come to their homeland in great famine to deliver the people from the brink of starvation.
Was it any wonder, then, that she had saved two little girls who had been abandoned in a time of famine? Two little girls who had grown to be strong, intelligent, beautiful women... women who were now abed, sick with a disease that by rights should no longer have existed.
"Yes, your assumption was correct," she finally said, as if the earlier statement hadn't been enough. "I am Inari Okami." Even the statement of fact sounded... tired. Worn. "You said he mentioned me in the letters. I won't pry. Those letters were not meant for my eyes. But whatever he said has brought you to me, and so I will do what I can to help."
Not that she would have turned Anja away. Even if Set hadn't given her name, if Anja had come simply to ask about that night, what Shiori's presence had meant, she would have done her best to answer. This, in the end, only simplified things.
<d>
[8:46 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Anja Degan (Annie)
[9:20 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja listened, and she appreciated the respect for the privacy of the letters. She had not even let Ellis read hers. But she did intend to address some of what he had said in them. There were things that El hadn’t been able to tell her.
“He said you would be able to explain why things needed to be done as they were. But I think I understand that part. At least—“ She sighed, pushing down hard against the aching, trying to swallow the lump forming in her throat. “I know he wished for my oath— our bond to be broken so I would not be hurt by that snake. And I know he gave me what he could to protect me.” Anja looked away from the Kami with these last words. She was struggling and trying her utmost to not show that. Clenched jaw and tightened fists held in her lap. She closed her eyes for just a second, knowing she needed to calm herself.
“I understand what he did. I am sorry that you had to be involved. I know you do not like the idea of sacrifice.” She looked back to Inari, genuine apology in her tone. Anja remembered the way the Kami had regarded the concept of sacrifice the last time they spoke and she knew that it was most likely, not an easy thing to have done.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[9:44 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): As Anja spoke, Shiori absently rubbed her hand, a gentle stroke exactly where her string had been tied, where it now hung limp, severed from the one it had connected her to.
"You are correct in that I dislike sacrifice. I dislike severing ties even more, no matter how necessary it may be." A soft, sad sigh. "Anja, I know what it feels like to have a bond severed. And while I do believe he made the right choice - the only choice he could that would not end in you becoming a serpent's lunch, or thrall, or otherwise bound to it - it was not a choice he made lightly, nor a wish that I carried out lightly."
"Set wished for the bond severed and for his immortality to pass to you. Every last ounce of him that he could give, he did." She remembered the weight of his heart in her hands, and how warm it was with his love for the woman who sat before her.
"A bond such as the one that you had with him, it is powerful, Anja. Had he ever once openly acknowledged his love for you, the bond would have been unbreakable and you would both be fueling the serpent. He came dangerously close - you both did - to making it impossible." The tiniest sliver of weakness, a dim stretch of thread where the knife could cut.
"It will hurt for a time yet. I can't tell you when it will stop hurting." Because she didn't know. Because in a way it never did. It would fade, become a dull ache. And if one was lucky, they would find love and happiness and hope again.
<d>
[9:44 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Anja Degan (Annie)
[9:59 AM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Perhaps, as if summoned by thought, Buck appeared and joined them both. Although he, too, smelled strongly of peppermint, Buck looked quite a bit better than Shiori did, lacking the deep circles under his eyes and the general dishevelment. He was lucky to not need as much sleep as Shiori did.
"Greetings Storm Fury," he said to Anja as he came to sit beside Shiori. He sat close enough that their knees touched, but did not drape his arm around Ori's shoulders, or otherwise pull her against him as he wished to do, out of respect for Anja's loss. He would not, though, leave this thankless task for Ori to shoulder alone.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[12:02 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja tilted her head slightly as Shiori explained she too understood that feeling, that instant wrenching loss when the tie was severed. She wasn’t sure how Shiori understood, but she knew the Kami was genuine.
’Every last ounce of him that he could give, he did.’
Again, she needed to look away, look to her hands in her lap. As she listened to Shiori explain how strong their bond had been, she could only nod in acknowledgment. Not trusting her voice to be steady in that moment. Because she knew, knew how strong it had been and knew what he had stopped them both from doing. What he had given up. I know.
’I can’t tell you when it will stop hurting.’
She didn’t think it would. Anja knew grief, had lost people before. Knew that loss never fully faded. The pain ebbed and flowed. You would be fine one day, the ache settling, and then something would remind you of them. Not even unpleasantly, maybe even happy. A piece of clothing, a smell, a song, a nickname- and it would be as if you lost them all over again. But eventually that loss became familiar. She knew it merely became an easier thing to live with. And she knew that losing him... hurt so much more than anything else and would take a very long time to live with.
Anja looked up as she heard Buck come in. It was a strange reminder again of just how accustomed to the tri-town oddity she had become, that seeing Buck seemed a bit more surprising than seeing Coyote would have been. But Anja did not mind one way or another, and she gave him a ghost of a grin as he greeted her.
[12:02 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): .
“Hello Buck.” She focused her pale gaze back on Shiori. “I know,” Was her response to well, all of what the Kami had said, “I know it’s going to take me time. To deal with everything really. But I think I— I think I have that time now. When Set gave me his immortality, he elevated me, is what his letter said.” There was notable hint of frustration seeping into her tone at the word elevate. That spark of anger that made Anja seem more intrinsically like herself than she had since she arrived. “But of course he wasn’t specific because, why would he be. El doesn’t have much experience with this sort of thing.” Fuck, I really fucking hate asking for help. “But I don’t think I’m mortal anymore... and I— don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[12:15 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Buck's arrival had Shiori looking to him searchingly, and when it seemed it was not an emergency regarding her kitsune, she relaxed, pressing her legs against him when he sat beside her, wanting more but knowing that now was not the time.
She did, however, stop the absent-minded stroking of her hand.
At the mention of elevation, however, her gaze flickered briefly to Buck, and then... upstairs, to her twins, before she refocused her gaze on Anja. There was no surprise in her expression. She had, after all, been present for the wish, knew what it meant, what he'd asked for. What she herself had done, in a small way, almost two centuries ago.
"Yes," she finally said, simply. "He did. It is... uncommon, but possible, for a god to give a piece of themselves - or the whole - to another, to elevate them out of mortality. To grant them divinity. How much one gives determines the... the level of their elevation."
"When Set wished away his immortality to you, he gave with it as much of what made him a god as he could. You were already toeing the line, Anja. I would not, in passing, have considered you a normal mortal when we first met. His wish, it made a potential into actuality."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[12:35 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "Perhaps he was not specific," Buck observed quietly, "because he could not know how it would all eventually settle out." He paused, taking a deep breath through his nose, tilting his head upwards a bit to make it obvious that he was scenting Anja.
"But, no. You are definitely not mortal any longer. Although," he added, tilting his head to the side as he considered her. "I must agree that I do not think that you were ever truly wholly mortal to begin with. When first we met, there was something of the scent of other about you. A power of storms that lurked deep in your heart."
"I think, perhaps, it was that which may have tipped the scales in your favor. Like calls to like." He glanced at Shiori from the corner of his eyes before looking back to Anja. "If it had not been Set, I am not certain that you would have been so strongly drawn to him." He held up a hand in a vaguely quelling gesture and went on. "That is not to say that your attraction, your connection to him was all purely down to your affinity to one another. I do not mean to imply that what you had was illusion, or destined, or false. Merely that your natures complimented one another, and may have... accelerated what was already growing between you."
"But these are just my thoughts. I may be barking up the wrong tree entirely," he said with a small shrug and a little twist of a smile.
He sighed and shifted a little, so that his thigh pressed a little more against Shiori's. "It is not an easy path, you are embarking upon. Such power does not lie easily upon the heart, even in the best of times. But we will help you as much as we may."
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[2:24 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja blinked in surprise at both Shiori and Buck’s assessment that she had been not truly mortal to begin with. Or that she had been toeing the line as Shiori put it. Sure, she was a descendant of divinity, but she always thought that didn’t equate to much when compared to actual divine.
The no-longer-mortal nodded at Buck’s mention of storms. But she didn’t get angry at his insinuation that this might have had some effect on her and Set’s attraction towards one another like it seemed he expected. Since finding out about her divine heritage, all the way back at the fair, she had accepted that it seemed to be a large part of who she was. That it made up a large part of her own nature. “No worries, I get what you mean... storms strengthen one another.” She responded, a small bittersweet smile twitching at her lips.
Anja was not so distracted by the topic at hand that she failed to notice the closeness between the two across from her. It brought a warmer smile to her face as she noted it. It was good to see, especially with a possible impending apocalypse looming over everything.
’But we will help you as much as we may.’
The fact they both were so willing to help still surprised Anja, still seemed so unlikely after all this time handling things on her own. She looked at them for a measured moment, reigning in complicated swirl of emotions before nodding. Giving them each a genuine look of gratitude.
“Thank you, any help is appreciated. Even if it’s just advice.” She took a deep breath collecting her thoughts before continuing.
[2:24 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): .
“I don’t know how much either of you know about my heritage, between what I’ve told you or what the foxes have,” Ellis mentioned the shulk was a well run information network. And Anja honestly couldn’t remember how much she had told either of them. “But I am the last descendant of my ancestor. The last of her line. A Frisian goddess of Storms, Death, War, Madness and Frenzy. She is old and nearly dead but Seth mentioned in his letter that her godhead is within my reach now. If I can figure out how to take it, I will. I don’t want to see her fade to nothing. But I do not know how to do that.” She paused for just a moment, glancing back toward the various souls that roamed Foxpoint.
“And I think I already have... some power? This might sound rude but you have a shit load of souls on your farm. I can see them, not just here either but... everywhere.”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[2:50 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Like calls to like.
Shiori's shoulders released a bit of the tension they'd been holding, feeling his warmth pressing against her. She nodded as Buck spoke, nodded her agreement that they would help. She had intended to regardless, after all.
She was about to reply to how one might feasibly grasp godhead (and there were, as far as she knew, several ways, it was just figuring out which would work best for Anja that was the puzzling thing) when the woman mentioned the souls on the farm.
"I hardly think four or five dozen souls constitutes a shit-load," she replied, vaguely amused, though her face fell a little. "It... is far fewer than I'd hoped, actually. Many did not want to leave the gate, and on my next return they were not there at all." Lost. Taken. Destroyed.
The kami shifted slightly, uncomfortable. "I can't see them as you do, not like this. There are means, though. And I've been... collecting them from the gate of Sanzu-no-Kawa, in hopes that one day I can release them to it so that they will be reborn. Others are Shinto, and are here of their own accord, as a safe haven."
She lifted a hand, pointing to one of the fence posts lining the property. "There. Do you see them? I don't know who it is, but they are feeding energy into the ofuda that protect this place. A willing service to ensure the safety of all, as best as we can manage."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[5:06 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "That is a heavy burden to carry," Buck said of Anja's lineage and domain. Not only to be the last - and thus for the potential responsibilities to fall upon her - but for all of the subjects to fall upon one who was so unprepared. Any one of those things would be a lot to harbor, but for all of them... He did not envy Anja at all.
"I do not know how you might assume her godhead," and that phrase triggered a memory. Something Seth had said about Yeshua and about Yahweh, and Buck frowned.
...and I hope it results in him stripping his father of his fucking godhead.
Buck blinked as the phrase rang through his head over and over for a moment. Did they not say that christianity was overseen by three who were separate but equal: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? If Yahweh was one of the First Ones... and the lore said that Yeshua was separate but equal...
"I do not know how you might assume her godhead," Buck repeated slowly as his thoughts tumbled around in his head like quarreling pups. "But I think that discovering how may be important for all of us, and not just you, Storm Fury." He shook his head, setting aside his musings about Yeshua for later. Perhaps Shiori would indulge him later with a discussion on the matter, to help him sort through and organize his thoughts. Tell him if he was insane or simply mad.
Or if the idea had actual merit.
"My people, when they needed the favor of a particular power, would go on a quest. It varied from nation to nation, but often it was a spirit quest, a vision quest, where we would meet them and try to lead them to the knowledge and abilities that they sought. You say that she is 'nearly dead'... but nearly is not wholly. Perhaps there is enough left to help you find your way if you but ask?"
.
[5:06 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): At both Anja's and Shiori's comments about the souls, he brightened a bit. "Ah! You brought them here, adageyudi! I thought they had merely found their way here because it is safer for them than wandering about the land. Like those that hide in the bounds of Elysian Fields. It is a good thought."
But thinking about the souls that were hiding, seeking safe places to stay, also reminded Coyote of the way the madman at Henry's party had spoken to Anja, and of the destruction he had found in the spirit worlds of his People. The loss of Crow. And of how Hades had told them that Charon was lost, and the lady Styx; he could easily remember the stench of their blood from the night of his ill-fated foray into the corn. And how the influences of so many of the First Ones pervaded Mistwood... except for Death.
"Anja... You say that she was a goddess of death? In what way?"
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[7:16 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja nodded in agreement with Buck. It’s quite a fucking lot. But she listened quietly as he spoke of quests and visions. She certainly knew about visions, as that seemed to be the only way Baduhenna communicated. Shiori’s acknowledgement of the souls was enough to distract Anja for the moment though.
“Oh, I guess it just seems like quite a bit. The ones everywhere else seem to play hide and seek a lot. So maybe I’m just not used to them all out in the open like this.” Anja explained as she turned to look where Shiori was pointing.
The soul of a woman, who looked to be late 30s, maybe from what Anja could tell, was handling an ofuda above the post. One that didn’t actually appear to be attached to anything physically but still hung there- just above the actual post as if it was. “Yes, there’s a woman.” She turned back to answer Buck.
“Oh, actually she’s a psychopomp. I’ve gone on one of those journeys or... visions, I guess is more accurate for her. Memories. It was supposed to end my curse as we,” she nodded to Shiori, “talked about last time I was here. But it didn’t work. I did learn she served as the Norse Pantheon’s psychopomp, before the Christians came and began erasing her belief.” Anja’s voice tightened considerably as she relayed that last piece of information. Trying to be mindful to control that fury in her.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[7:28 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): "Well, I didn't bring them all here, koibito," Shiori replied after a moment. "Shinto beliefs have the spirits of the deceased remaining with their families to help guide them. Some of the souls recognized me for who I am and came seeking shelter of their own accord."
"I do suppose it might seem a lot compared to places where they feel a need to hide, or they feel unwelcome. That is not this place. Spirits, kami, humans... the goal is to coexist, and it is a goal that is enforced here by my very nature."
So yes, there were souls who had wandered in, feeling safe and free to exist. The rest, she had ferried from Sanzu-no-Kawa to Foxpoint, traveling a spirit road that led to the torii gate...
Which led Shiori to another thought. "Anja, have you walked the spirit plane at all since you... gained this ability?" she asked, frowning slightly. "Or have you only seen spirits in overlay on the Material Realm?"
An idea was forming, shaping itself in her mind. With the lines blurring between pantheons, with Shiori herself being caught between two by her own stories... perhaps they could take Anja through the gate. She glanced at Buck for a moment, worrying her lip between her teeth, and then she reached out to pat his knee before climbing to her feet.
Action was better than inaction.
"There is... something I would like to test. If you are willing, of course."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[7:51 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "From what we have seen of Mistwood," Buck commented, "it is not safe for them to do anything but hide elsewhere."
But he was mostly distracted by his thoughts and Anja's revelation about her ancestor. A psychopomp. Like Chronos. Or Crow. Buck frowned. Unfortunately, he did not yet know about what Bast had found in her own realms, or else that vague worry he was feeling would have been a more concrete idea.
He looked at Shiori as she patted his leg and stood, only then remembering the vision that Ori had shown them all that night at Elysian Fields. Before he, too, stood, he cupped his hands before his mouth and blew into them for a moment. When he folded them open again, a single, glossy black feather rested across his palms. He concentrated on that tail feather, pouring into it the same sort of protection that he had gifted Tess and Greywood and the foxes, filling the crow feather with all that it could hold.
"I worry that the First Ones may seek out those who guard and guide souls," he explained as he pulled a bit of buckskin thong from thin air and wrapped the shaft of the feather to hold it tight, leaving long enough ends trailing that they night be used to tie it into one's hair, or affix it to something else. "I know that Kronos has placed himself in direct opposition to Hades, and that one who helped to guide souls for my people has been slain, as has the Greek psychopomp. And we all know that they are collecting souls to use as grist for their mill."
He stood and held the feather out to Anja. "It should help protect you." Or, at the very least, it should warn Coyote that Anja was in trouble and might need help. He hoped that he was merely being paranoid, though.
"Do you wish me to come?" he asked, turning to Ori. "Or do you prefer that I remain and watch over the others?"
Whatever she needed, he would give her. And gladly.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[9:40 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): “I’ve only seen them here in this plane. It wasn’t really a thought that I could walk some other plane.” Anja didn’t even know how she would go about that. She stood up after they did, answering Shiori at the same time that she watched Buck produce a feather.
“I’m willing to test whatever.” Taking the tail feather she ran it through her fingers for a second before remembering something. She quickly began attaching the leather to the one that already hung around her neck so they were both one necklace.
“Thank you, I should probably say though, I did see a soul when I’ve been in bird form though. Before all of this, at the party actually. I’m not sure if it makes a difference but— oh!” She figured she might as well show them. She stepped back and in about a second, Anja’s form curled in on itself as it shrunk. Now in her place, sat the large dark crow that both Shiori and Buck had seen at the party.
“I still have this form apparently, but I can actually control it...so that’s good. And thankfully talking is a bit easier now too.” The voice that came from the bird sounded like Anja, at least in part, but overlaid by that same harsh mimicked one. She unfurled herself, shifting back and instantly regretted doing that so quickly in a row, a wave of fatigue washing over her. “Shit. Right, I forgot that blows when I do it too quick.”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[9:49 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): She frowned, listening to his worries that someone - something - was hunting down psychopomps, thinking back to the remnants of the carnage she had found where the toll-taker should have been. Doubtless they, too, had been victim.
She wondered how long it might be before a toll-taker was born. Or reborn. Would there be one, with the spirits crossing the river halted?
Shiori watched as Buck produced a protective charm for Anja, smiling slightly as she recalled the ones he had placed on her prime foxes, all of whom still sported the tokens.
The kami closed her eyes and reached, sensing her kitsune, their current states. They were resting, as best as they could, but did not otherwise seem to require supervision from either herself or Buck. Her eyes fluttered open, refocusing. "The foxes will watch them, and Kuro will reach out if their state changes," she finally said, voice soft. "Shiro must come with us. And... I want you to come." Some part of her thought it was important, that he see more of who and what she was.
Watching Anja's willing transformation - and the return - brought a small smile to Shiori's face, though it did quirk into an almost-laugh. "I do believe I told you, Anja, that transformations can require a lot of energy. Don't overtax yourself until you are more conscious of your expenditures," she chastised, tone gentle.
.
[9:49 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): "As for how to walk another plane... there are many ways. Here, on this property, there is only one." She tilted her head and beckoned for the both of them to follow her. From the front door, a small white fox slipped through the flap and joined her as she began walking around to the backside of the farmhouse, revealing a large torii gate, the ground immediately around and beneath it curiously untrampled. "This is how we will do so here. Unpowered, I think. Just to the overlay, not to walk a road."
"Pass through the exact center. I will meet you on the other side."
So saying, she met each of their gazes before turning, heading directly toward the gate... and vanishing the moment she passed through it.
In the realm between, she waited, Shiro patiently sitting by her side, and dozens of spirits watching with interest to see what their kami/Bodhisattva would do.
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[10:08 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "As you wish, adageyudi," he replied to Ori with a small smile.
"Ah! Very clever, Storm Fury!" Buck praised Anja as she demonstrated her transformation. Belatedly, it occurred to him just how she had probably received that power, but he managed to keep the wince from his features. He nodded, though, at Ori's explanation of how taxing shifting could be.
"It does not seem to affect me as it does many other because shifting is less what I do, and more what I am. Also, these lands are my lands - save for those parts that have been otherwise claimed," he explained, offering a wry little grin toward Ori. "And so, much of the strength that I use when I change is replenished by my own connection to the land and my People. They may be diminished, but they still live. I am luckier than most, despite the tragedies that have befallen them."
He watched as Shiori stepped through the gate, and vanished from sight. Something new! He could not help but to feel a stab of excitement crawl up his spine, despite the gravity of everything. With a nod toward Anja, Buck stepped through the gate, right at the center where Shiori had directed him to go-
And found himself standing beside her once again, only now, he stood before her in his half-man, half-coyote form, with fur rather than bare skin, and his coyote face and paws for feet and clawed hands and brush tail poked out through a slit in the pack of his buckskin pants. He wore neither boots nor shirt - only the bright golden buckskin pants and his own fur, although his favorite knapped knife hung from one hip, and a long, thin pouch held his pipe on the other hip.
He could tell that, if he wished it, that he could easily shift to any of his preferred shapes... but that there was something more.. true... about this place as opposed to the "real world" on the other side of the gate, and so he had instinctively taken a shape that was closer to true for himself. It was good.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[11:22 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja quirked a small smile at Coyote’s praise and Shiori’s chastising. Merely nodding in agreement that she would not over do it.
She followed the group around to the back and as she caught sight of the large gateway she stopped for a second. She could definitely tell that it was some sort of doorway. Led somewhere. But she couldn’t necessarily tell where, just that it was a gateway.
Watching as first Shiori, then Buck disappeared through the gate, she forced herself to take a deep breath before stepping through after them.
Anja herself had not changed, at least, she didn’t feel as if she had. But she appeared different. A spill of iridescent black feathers now covered each shoulder. Traveling down her back into a similar cloak she saw her ancestor wear. Her hair was also braided, but tighter, with silver metals. Woven intricately into a thicker almost faux hawk patterning down her back that was a fair bit longer than her normal hair length. Underneath the feathered mantle rested darkened leather and tight weave chainmail armor, a kin to that was worn by the Norse pantheon. More feathers spilled almost sash like from her waist, which was what caught her eye with its movement first.
“Whoa, what the fuck?” She looked to the two divine utterly confused. They would also see that painted across Anja’s face were thick lines of black and blue warpaint. Though she didn’t seem to take notice. Mostly because the image she was seeing, what they were seeing, was not what she was feeling. It was like an image had simply been laid over top of her. She hadn’t actually changed.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[11:38 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori quirked a brow at Coyote's appearance - as Coyote, the way she had understood the mythos. Her look was... appraising, and though she still seemed somewhat tired, it was less obvious here. She would have to ask him later why he had not bothered to show her this side of himself until now. But that was for later.
But for now, in this place, it would have to wait.
Here, her hair spilled down her back in a long black curtain; here, the disheveled clothes she had been wearing were gone, replaced instead by a flowing red and white kimono. Flecks of gold and silver lurked in the amber of her eyes, a hint at the power within. Here, Shiro sported two tails, a sign of her devotion. The white fox seemed to glow with an ethereal light.
"Welcome to what I like to refer to as the overlay," she said, once Anja had arrived, giving the woman a long look and a nod of approval. "This is where I went to see Mistwood as it is, beneath the mortal veil."
The kami nodded to the gate they now stood beside. "Unpowered, the gate allows passage between realms. Or, I can charge it and open a road. Of late, that has been to Sanzu-no-Kawa, where Buddhist souls go to be measured, to cross the river and reach rebirth."
.
[11:39 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): She gestured at some of the spirits lingering around them, a safe distance away but still curious at these two very obviously not Japanese newcomers. "Many of them came with me from there." A pause, a glance at Coyote. "I go at least once a week to retrieve more."
"This is a place of truths. You see here what Foxpoint is, what exists beneath the Material Realm. The truth of my home." Here, they would see fenceposts that stood taller than the mortal realm's farm, each one decorate with an ofuda. The house itself had ofuda above each window, each door, and if one peeked into the window of the tea room, they would see the room itself quite literally wall-papered with the scrips, excessive protection for a room of clear importance.
Shiori, however, could also see the faint glow of life, the foxes and kitsune that were scattered around the property, their spirits a comforting shimmer of light though she could not see their mortal forms.
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[12:02 AM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote's own look was also appraising as he took in Shiori, Shiro, Anja, and their surroundings. So. It had not been his imagination, then; things were more "true" here. He nodded, filing that away. It was much the same as some of his own People's spirit realms, though not all.
"I cannot help but wonder what you might have appeared as before," Coyote mused as he examined Anja. Before Set's sacrifice. Before his gift of immortality. Before Anja's ancestor's godhead was in reach.
Before when she had been mostly mortal.
"Is it the power you have within you that shapes you thus? Or your own subconscious? An interesting puzzle." He did not seem troubled that her appearance had been so changed, because he was not concerned. It made sense to him that she would not be here as she was in the outer world. That was the way things worked where he was from, and so this was familiar to him, even if the exact nature of Ori's form and Anja's form was not.
But he was used to walking with shamen along the paths of the spirit worlds, and with those who would undertake a quest in those realms. They, too, never appeared as their outer selves when they walked the spirit paths, or their dreams.
"I create doors," he said, replying to Ori's description of what they were seeing, where they were. "I do not necessarily need to... I can simply stept between the worlds, if I need to, but using the doors that I can make, makes it easier. There was a time when the spirit realms were so strong, that I could walk in both at the same time, and merely focus on which I wished to see at any moment. This reminds me much of that time - here, and yet therewithout being there."
He frowned then, and added, "The last door that I made, when I went to check on those worlds... It would not close. I have never had that happen before. I do not know what it could mean, other than everything is out of balance, and the barriers between are thin or broken."
.
[12:02 AM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): He looked back at the gate, studying it for a long moment, wondering if such a thing could happen here. But that was not why they were there; such wondering could wait for another day. He turned back to Shiori and Anja. "It is good," he said to Ori. "To bring them to a safe place. I tried to warn those of my People that I found, but many had been slain or taken already." Those that remained would have to survive by their own cunning. But that was the way of his People - as in life, so, too, as in death, for so many of them. They would have it no other way.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[7:09 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja brushed her hands over where the feathers should be. Feeling simply herself, the clothing she had worn to Foxpoint. Coyote’s questions pulled her from her investigation, sending her thoughts on a new spiral.
“Who knows... this certainly looks a bit like my ancestor did when I saw her but it’s— it’s different.” She touched the leather, tooled with old Norse, with her fingertips, feeling the leather of her jacket instead of armor.
“It’s not actually me. I mean I look different but I can’t feel any of this. It’s like it is here but not actually solid. It’s just an image....” She pondered out loud. Something in-between. Thats what Ellis had said. Maybe that’s why she merely looked this way. Hadn’t actually been changed by the gate like the others.
But she still listened as Inari explained where they now stood. A place of truths. Anja looked to where the ofuda were, seeing now the posts they were truly attached to.
’-slain or taken already.’
Anja still had room in her now for her storm to rage at the realization of just how many afterlives were being affected. And a door being left open to one certainly didn’t sound like a good thing either.
“Coyote’s right. Bringing them somewhere safe is smart... I thought about— Ellis is keeping some Christian souls on the farm. Ones that Hades ended up with, and I thought Spireno might be safe for others too if I can get them there.” Anja paused, suddenly in thought as she turned and looked at the Torii gate. “He’s got some sort of gate too, at least I think he might. It feels like there might be one there but I can’t see anything. Not like I could with this one.” She gestured to the gate behind her. “I could see that it went somewhere else.”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[7:58 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): "I think she would have been feathered, still," Shiori said absently in response to Coyote's comment. "But maybe not the armor. Or not as much of it. Not all of us wear our armor so openly." This was also said off-handedly, as though she weren't really focused on the conversation.
As they walked, Shiori's long, dark hair occasionally shifted, shimmering vibrant orange in the pale glow of light cast across the overlay. A hint that she was something other, even here. The kami held many truths, after all.
I create doors, he'd said. She nodded understanding. It made sense. Even if one did not require a doorway, doors still helped. They created focus. They could be open or closed, lock or unlocked. But she looked sharply at him when he said the last door he'd made would not close. Shiori frowned, puzzling it over even as she wandered away from the gate, beckoning the two of them to follow.
"The toll-taker meant to see them across the river was gone. Dead, presumably. I believe that they function as a psychopomp might? The spirits, they see themselves across, but the toll-taker allows them passage, directs them to their point of crossing. Bridge, or fjord, or whitewater. Without the toll-taker, they do not know where to go, which crossing to take. And the gate allowing such passage was sealed."
A pause, glancing at Anja. "You believe a gate exists on Ellis' property?" she asked, tilting her head in a very fox-like manner. "Well, it wouldn't look like mine, most certainly. I've found few pantheons display their gates so... openly." She offered a smile at that. "But, why don't we go investigate? I would prefer not to leave my own grounds, for now, but I can certainly show you the border."
A longer pause this time, followed by a small, amused grin. "I think you might find the way his property appears to be... interesting. And perhaps educational."
<d>
[7:58 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[4:38 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote reached out toward Anja, offering her his paw/hand to show her that his form, at least, was not just an illusion, but real. "I suspect that, once you have attained your godhead, you will find that the image becomes reality."
He smiled a doggie sort of smile at Ori, though, and replied to her, "Well, not all of us are divine of War, either. I imagine armor would be useful for that sort, hey?"
His smile faded quickly, though, as she described the toll-taker and the state of things in her worlds. "That... is not good. That is not good at all." And here, he glanced at Anja, feeling that fear for her safety welling up once more. "We need to speak to the others - Bast at least - and see if they have checked on their after-worlds as well. I do not like how those who guide souls have been... targeted."
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[5:28 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja touched Coyote’s paw, not entirely surprised to find the form she was seeing was the form he had actually assumed. She smiled a bit at the touch of fur and nodded at his assessment. But she managed to snort an actual laugh at Shiori’s comments though she did agree with the canine god.
“I think you’re right, the armor is definitely because of the war domain. But if it had been before.... who knows. Though yeah, still feathers. Less armor. Probably more leather though.” She smirked before following after the Kami.
She couldn’t help but look around them curiously. Watching the souls mill about, the way Inari’s hair seemed to ripple and change, a soft smile touching her lips at the bouncing of the feathers tied onto Coyote’s fur. There was a lot to look at, to take in, but it didn’t feel necessarily overwhelming, despite everything. The discussion of guides being target was an uneasy topic however.
“Right, it’s similar to the situation with Charon,” Anja confirmed in regards to Shiori’s question about psychopomps. “The Greek have more than one though, like my pantheon did....” She trailed off a second, thinking as Coyote discussed speaking with Bast.
“Yeah, that would be smart. I should figured out who to talk to from the Norse. My ancestor guided souls but once she was basically booted from translation they made peaceful deaths walk.” She spoke quietly, more just thinking out loud to herself. “I suppose I could see if there’s anyway to talk to the Valkyries but the Keres kind of got up in their shit so that might not be great...” She was distracted as Shiori mentioned Spireno again.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m not sure if one is actually there but it feels like there might be.” She quirked a scarred eyebrow at the choice of phrasing the Fox Kami used, but made no comment on it and continued to follow.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[5:41 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori led them across the farm, her form flickering with overlaid truths each time they passed a group of spirits. Sometimes it looked as though they wore a green kimono, their hair fiery and wild; other times he was tall, leanly muscular, and flickers of armor could be seen over his clothes.
Most of the time, though, she maintained her truth, the form that they had seen when they first stepped through the gate.
"If the toll-taker is gone, and other guides have been targeted... yes. Be cautious."
They arrived at the edge of her property, and Shiori stood beside a tall fence post, the ofuda almost shimmering in the air above her head. Not far from the edge of the property, a small copse of trees began, topsoil protection and a haven for wild foxes who wanted to be close but not within her domain.
Beyond that, a glimpse of Spireno, with its soft glow of fractaled web. Even from here, she could see the bright point that was the house itself, the way the webbing seemed to creep up, to surround and envelope it. "Are you ready to see it up close and personal?" she asked with a hint of a mischievous smile.
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[5:59 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote paused beside Shiori, not exactly distracted by everything he was seeing, but being very careful to see as much as he could. To take in everything. While this world was similar to the ones he walked for his own People, it was not the same, and he could see things here that he could not on his own.
And he could smell things here that he did not otherwise smell.
He studied the ofuda as they approached the fence line, and the way some spirits would approach them, give bits of their own power to the charms. He watched with interest as Shiori's form sometimes changed - clothing shifting, tiny details altering with the flickers of power that rippled through their form. How it seemed to be the spirits, themselves, who influenced these alterations.
A place of truths.
It made him wonder, just a little, why he had apparently chosen this form, over any others, then. As his gaze swept over Shiori, he suspected that it had to do with her. And his attachment to her.
"If there is a pathway there, but you cannot see it, it could be as much because the door is closed, as it is that you have not fully stepped into your birthright," he observed as he turned his attention to Spireno, itself.
Spireno... and it's fractals.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[6:14 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja blinked in surprise following the Shinto divine. They seemed to change and flicker, rippling almost as they passed different souls. But she stopped when the two divine did, just near the border and considered Coyote’s words.
“True, maybe I can’t see ones that are shut.” She turned to Shiori, “And I’m ready, I guess. Are we walking closer?” Anja squinted a bit taking in the strange radial almost vein like way whatever she was seeing on the orchard spread out. “Kinda looks like when I left fettuccini Alfredo in my mini fridge in college too long and we thought it was going to start moving.”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[6:21 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): For the first time since they had crossed into the overlay, Shiori reached for the mask that hung from her obi, drawing attention to it. She lifted it, carefully slotted it over her face... and the fox face snapped into position with the blink of an eye.
The chuckle Anja's words drew from her was genuine, though it sounded a little odd coming from the vulpine face. "Well, I feel I must caution you, then. This one does move, albeit... slowly." She nodded and, despite the fact she didn't want to leave the kitsune alone, this was important and she knew it... so she stepped through the fence, passing through it easily.
"I do not recommend trying this in the Material Realm," she said as an after-thought. "But here, the boundary will recognize who is... allowed? Wanted," she corrected, finding the more suitable word.
"Step carefully in the trees, though. My land attracts more than just foxes, but so long as we don't upset them, nothing will bother you."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[6:40 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): A faint hint of a familiar scent came to Coyote suddenly. It smelled like... like Shiori, actually, as he paused to take it in. But it was not coming from Shiori - it was coming from... From the farmhouse behind them? He waved Anja on as he turned to stare back the way they had come from with a bit of a curious frown, tilting his head up into a wind that did not exist. No, it was not his own mind playing tricks on him. Part of Shiori was still back at the farmhouse. He was certain of it.
And yet, as he turned to examine Shiro, wondering if, perhaps, it was Shiori's power that helped to make the fox what she was - her two tails as proof of being more than a normal fox, although he'd already known that - there were no bits of Shiori clinging to Shiro as Coyote could smell so faintly from back at the farmhouse. Even the ofuda did not smell or feel or seem to be infused with Shiori's essence, itself. Not like what was back at the farmhouse. As if slivers of Shiori, herself, waited for them all back at the farmhouse.
"What is that, that I am smelling of you back home?" he asked the kami as he caught up with with them and Anja.
It did not even register to him, in the moment, that he had called the farmhouse, "home."
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[6:58 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja’s eyes widened at the mention of whatever was on Spireno moving. But she nodded as Coyote waved her on and followed after Shiori.
“Right, Ellis did mention it was hallowed ground or sacred ground?”She couldn’t remember the term he had used. Though she did remember that Seth had said it was frozen. She still didn’t know what that was about.
’What is that, that I am smelling of you back home?’
Her gaze turned to Coyote as he caught back up with them and she threw a curious glance in the direction of Foxpoint, not entirely sure what he was asking.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[7:05 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): "Hallowed ground, I believe was the phrase he used. It... well, you'll see."
But when Coyote asked his question, Shiori did not so much stiffen as go incredibly still for what felt like an impossibly long moment, before she puffed out a small sigh, ears seeming to droop as she turned to look at him, waving Anja onward. "Please give us a moment, Anja," she said, stepping closer to Coyote and glancing from him to the farmhouse.
Her voice lowered to just above a whisper, a hint of... resignation in it. She had known she would need to tell him eventually, but there had not exactly been a good time for it.
"When I said earlier that I knew about elevations," she began softly, turning her gaze back to him. "It is because I have done it myself."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[7:24 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): The sudden shift in Shiori's body language made Coyote pause, his own ears perking up in surprise. His hand drifted to the hilt of his knife for a moment, wondering if Shiori was about to tell him about some sort of threat, with how she had seemed to droop.
Elevations? When had... oh, wait. When he had first joined them on the sunporch. ...a god to give a piece of themselves - or the whole - to another, to elevate them out of mortality.
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait.
"The kitsune," he breathed softly, his gaze riveting to her own. How had he not noticed before?
Wait. If Shiori had given of themself to the kitsune... and they still smelled of Shiori so much... It was no wonder that their illness was hitting Shiori so hard. Shiori could not get sick, but part of her was sick anyway, wasn't it?
He reached for her hands and leaned forward to brush his furred cheek against her own. "Oh adageyudi."
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[7:29 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja nodded as Inari asked for privacy. She wasn’t entirely sure what they needed to discuss but it seemed important nonetheless less. So she continued to walk on, a bit farther ahead. Towards the familiar orchard and the unfamiliar sprawl of... well whatever the hell that webby stuff is.
@Shiori Okita (Nora)
[7:37 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): "The twins," she confirmed, softly. Jiro had ascended naturally, the only one of the kitsune in her service to have done so.
She squeezed his hands, seeking comfort, and pressed against his cheek, eyes closing as she took in the scent of him.
"They were dying. Would have died, their only crime being twins, girls, in a famine," she said bitterly. "I couldn't leave them. And maybe if they'd been older, been in my service as mortals, elevation would have been easier. Wouldn't have required what it did. But they weren't, and hadn't, and so... so I gave some of myself to them."
Her voice grew tight, strained both with the memory and the current circumstances. "Koibito, did you never wonder why I use glamour? Why I... why I can't shift to fox or human?" She trembled, speaking of it like this, the first time since the act itself where she had said it aloud, much less to someone else. "I gave up my ability to run free so that they would have the chance instead."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[7:51 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): He remained where he was, comforting Shiori for as long as she wished.
"You said only that you had not been able to shift forms for a long time. I am sorry, adageyudi. I thought only that it meant that some of your abilities were lost to you from the shifting of time and the machinations of Yahweh. I did not think that you have given yourself away thus."
To be honest, he had no real idea what powers those gods and divine from other pantheons than his had or used. Not until they showed him, or explained things. There were those in his own pantheon whose powers may have changed since last he'd seen them. It had not honestly struck him as odd that Shiori did not shift forms, that they used a glamour to appear mortal. He'd just assumed... that was normal for them.
But now he knew. And now he would do whatever was in his power to ease her burdens.
"I would give those forms to you for you, if I could."
It wasn't as if he'd used Willow much lately, anyway, and, even if he had, it would have been a sacrifice he'd be willing to make.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[8:32 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja wandered as close to the edge of Spireno as she dared. Which, was essentially right up to where the tendrils of... whatever it was ended.
But as she stopped, just short of them, they began to move like Shiori said. Slowly parting as if to make a path for Anja. That was weird enough to get her to stop and wait for the others to catch up once they were done.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[8:35 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): "I would not ask it of you, koibito, nor would I allow you to. I made my decision, and I don't regret it. They have lived decades longer than they would have otherwise, and that alone makes it worth it." She nuzzled against him for a moment, reassuring as best as she could.
"We can talk more on it later, wagakokoro. But... we should probably catch up to Anja. Yokai sometimes stay in these woods, and I would hate for her to stumble upon one. Or annoy it." The kami pulled away with a wistful sigh, though she was wholly unwilling to let go of both his hands.
"And besides, I do think you will find Ellis' farm to be of interest. It is quite unlike anything I have seen before. I am curious what you will make of it."
So saying, she began to move, toward Spireno and Anja... and Ellis' very odd and somewhat... oozy webbing.
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[8:57 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "Bold of you to assume that you could stop me," Coyote replied with a bit of a grin. Shiori played Pokémon; hopefully she understood memes, as well. He did not resist, however, as she began to lead him by the hand after Anja.
"Apologies, Storm Fury," he offered as they approached. "I did not mean to derail the field trip."
He took a moment to peer around him, seeing if he could spot any yokai, or anything else lurking - he noted a few souls hiding in the trees, that seemed to watch them with curiosity and wariness. Given the state of things, he could not blame them for the wariness.
Soon enough, though, his attention was caught by the glow, and he peered at it curiously.
Not strictly fractals, but very fractal-like. A web, but not one as Anasazi would weave... Not quite a tree, but tree-like.
It was beautiful.
And it moved like a living thing, pulling away from their approach, but he did not get a sense of fearfulness from the response... but more one of... welcome?
"Incredible," he murmured.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[9:10 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja had been sticking her foot closer and watching the webbing pull back, then moving her foot back to watch the glow slowly move into its original spot, repeatedly when the two divine returned. She nodded as Coyote spoke, a small smile on her face as she turned and looked back to the rest of it.
“Yeah, it almost looks like roots... or veins... but more structured.” She mused out loud. “It’s very pretty up close.” She glanced at Shiori. “This is what protects his land then I assume? He said if someone was welcome or meant no harm they would be fine.” She pushed her foot forward, causing the glow to creep back.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[9:18 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): The kami did, indeed, understand memes. Her very vulpine snort was the only answer she gave her Coyote, knowing that any other answer she might have given otherwise could be seen as a challenge.
And she did not want that for him.
A rustle in the trees caught her attention, but she did not look up at it. Ignoring yokai, if it was one, was often the better option. And besides, with other spirits around, and the fractal web of the angel's ground to catch the attention of the other divines, there was little point.
She gave Coyote's hand a last squeeze before she pulled away, stepping onto Spireno without so much as pausing, the glowing, pulsing veins pulling away to allow her free passage as she moved deeper into his land. "Yes, I assume so at least. It was here the night I went to see... that place... and exhibited the same behavior for me then as it does now," she said, gesturing to the way the webbing had parted for her, how it continued to part for her as she walked, approaching the house and absently wondering if Ellis was home. Could he sense them walking his grounds? Something to consider asking later.
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[9:43 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote grinned again at Shiori's retreating back as he followed obediently along.
"Like the patterns branches make when you look up through them from the ground," he offered, pondering. It was the type of perfectly imperfect symmetry that the natural world simply fell into given the chance. The way leaves and branches and flowers arranged themselves to be able to take advantage of every mote of light hitting them, to not overshadow themselves but still maximize the number of everything that a plant could fit.
But under it all... there was still that vague impression of fractals. Order.
The real question was, then, was the nature of this order a function of Ellis and his ties to Yahweh? Did Yahweh hold more sway here than it would seem?
Or was this just a function of Ellis, regardless of Yahweh?
He pondered this as he watched Anja experimenting with the glow. It was hard to resist the temptation to leap off the path it was making, to see if he could catch it unawares, and land upon the glow, itself. To see what it would do. To see if it would sense him leaping like that.
Coyote wanted to play.
This wasn't, unfortunately, the time for such things, no matter how tempting it was. But he kept a close eye on the way the web, the tendrils, the mass of it moved and ebbed and flowed around them. And, he, too, found himself wondering if Ellis could feel them here, wandering through his farm.
And if not... if Coyote could affect the physical world from here.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[10:00 PM] Scenemod II: A shadow. A flicker. A bit of light where there should be no light. The rustle of leaves where no wind blew.
A figure tiptoeing from one tree to the next, as if it was attempting to remain out of sight. A shadow that will dive for the next hedge, the next bramble, the next tree, if anyone glances in its direction...
And probably land with a very quiet, muffled, 'fucking shit' when it does.
The glow does not part for the figure, but neither does it seem to illuminate the shadow much, no matter how unstealthily it tries to "sneak".
(scenemod is skippable)
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[10:48 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja kept pace as they walked further into Spireno. Watching the way the glow pulled back from them. She hummed in agreement with the mention of tree branches.
She stopped a moment though as she noticed the movement. The light attached to shadow, completely out of place compared to the few souls that roamed the orchard. She let out a bemused whisper, loud enough for the other two to hear.
“What the fuck?”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[10:54 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori glanced back at the rustling, then over to Anja. So she noticed it, too? Good senses, at least.
The kami, however, continued to ignore the sounds, and instead kept moving, further and further into Spireno. She was headed toward the house, that much became clear as her path diverted that direction. The glowing web seemed to only thicken as she traveled; it became more difficult to part, but though she ended up beginning to walk on it, it did not seem to affect her.
She was nearly to the house when she stopped, frowning down at the creeping glow spreading around her, propping a hand on her hip while the other lifted up, rubbing thoughtfully at the fur of her muzzle. "You know... I think this is actually a little... less webby than the last time I was here," she finally said, looking up at her companions.
"When I passed through to conduct my inspection. It seemed quite thick then. Almost impenetrable closer to the house. But it's gone a bit tatty, wouldn't you say?"
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[11:08 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): From the way she carried her tails, and the almost imperceptible flick of her ear, Coyote could tell that Shiori had noted the rustling figure, too, but was ignoring it. And she had been concerned about yokai perhaps being near, earlier.
With a little sigh of reluctance, Coyote opted to follow Shiori's lead and ignore the figure, too. Even if he did want to go chase it.
He paused to examine a tree that they had walked close to, seeing how the glow spidered its way up the truck and into the branches and leaves. He couldn't help but to pet the trunk beside him, just to watch the glow shimmer and ripped a bit. It felt... It felt thick on the back of his tongue when he touched it with his hands. A little cloying, but a little astringent, all at the same time. Buzzy against his brain.
It felt, actually, a little bit like how Yeshua smelled, only... without feeling like Yeshua. Or Yahweh. It was an odd sensation, but not unpleasant by any means.
But Shiori was talking, and he stepped away from the tree with a slightly guilty look, his hands automatically tucking behind him to clasp together - like a child having been caught doing something naughty.
"Tatty?" he asked, then stopped to really look around. Well, if it was supposed to be "impenetrable closer to the house", then... yes. "I have no frame of reference, really, but it does seem thinner than you say it once was."
He almost asked if what Set had set into motion could have done something- but stopped himself at the last moment, not wishing to distress Anja.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[8:02 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Shiori and Coyote both didn’t seem particularly bothered by whatever the light attached to shadow was, so Anja kept following, glancing in that direction occasionally.
It was strange, stepping onto the webbing as they got closer to the house. Anja herself was not afraid to make bad decisions in plain view of others. So when the Kami stopped, she crouched and touched a finger to the glow for a moment.
There was an old gothic church she had visited once in Europe. A memory that was now foggy just from time. But she remembered being very young and looking up at the stained glass, the sunlight gently drifting through all those colors. Fractal and beautiful and somehow sacred as they lit up the inside of that impressive architecture.
The way the webbing felt reminded her of that. Not an implication of a certain denomination or weight of any kind of judgment. Just something intrinsically holy about it’s glow.
’But it’s gone a bit tatty-‘
Anja stood up frowning. She knew El had been struggling ever since the party, and he was also dealing with his grief just as she was with hers. Could that affect the strength of the webbing?
Unlike Coyote, Anja knew her limits and she knew she could withstand the swell of pain in her chest at the suggestion. She crossed her arms, frowning a moment.
“Seth said what he did might have affected the orchard... I wonder if that’s what he meant or if it’s something up with El himself.”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[8:22 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): He had no frame of ref-... Shiori sighed, more at herself than anything. "No, that was my fault. I skipped over this part during my... presentation," she said, turning to Coyote with her head tilted in inquiry. "I'm pretty sure I can show you." It was a question as much as a statement. Hadn't she done something similar only days prior, showing him what she had seen of the likely hosogami?
They had been touching then, but things had already been... malleable between them. The link itself was there, formed by them both.
So she pulled the memory to the surface, closing her eyes for a moment to strengthen the image. Shiro, who had been present that night as well, leaned against the kami, providing a boost to the memory itself, strengthening the image as Shiori simply held it there for him to grasp, if he wanted.
The kami was used to having her focus split in several directions, at least, the dubious benefit of being surrounded by foxes and kitsune. To Anja, though her eyes were still closed, she said, "Ellis has been ill, as well. It could be a combination, or something else we don't know about. Can you feel that gate you were talking about earlier?"
<d>
[8:22 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[3:50 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote closed the distance between them, standing so that they were muzzle to muzzle, just in case they did need to be touching. But here, in this place of truths, the distance was thinner between them than it might have been, and the images flowed into his mind seamlessly.
"Ah, yes," he replied, nodding. "I see what you mean."
He shifted to consider Anja. "Another possibility... If this effect is due to some influence of..." He paused here, hesitant to actually say Yahweh's name aloud here. "The one who Ellis looks to," he decided upon. "Then could that one be removing his favor from Ellis? The angel has not exactly been a model follower, of late, you must admit." He shrugged, not knowing the answer, whether it was anything that had been suggested, or none of it at all. Perhaps time would tell.
"But perhaps one of us should poke our head in and make certain that he is as well as he may be while we are here?" Just neighborly concern. That's all. Not any desire to discover if he could affect the real world at all. That would be... impolite.
Sorry, Shiori. You can take Coyote to a serious place in a serious manner, but you cannot *force Coyote to be completely serious.
Ever.
The mention of the possible door, though, made him perk up in a different way. "Yes, the door." He was curious to see if it was there, and where it may lead.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[8:16 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): “Yeah, Feathers wanting to stop the apocalypse doesn’t really slot up well with his divine plan, huh.” Anja put dryly in response to Coyote’s follower comment. “But who knows.” She shrugged ultimately agreeing. They didn’t really have a way of knowing for sure it seemed.
Anja looked around for Peter or one of the other spirits who might know if Ellis was about when Shiori spoke up about the gate. Or as Coyote put it the door.
“Oh, hmm. I think so...” She trailed off as she began to wander away from the house. Back past the barn, towards the side opposite of Foxpoint where there was a small open patch of ground that felt...
“So, I don’t see a gate here like I did with the one on Foxpoint but I can feel... It feels like death. Not in a bad ominous way more like, just that death is here.” She gestured around to their general area, the plot of ground they stood on. “Like this is where some sort of death or dead is or should be.” It was hard to explain. She glance at the others. “Does that make any sense? Or am I just talking stupid?”
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[11:17 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Muzzle to muzzle indeed. Shiori blew a puff of air at him, a hint of amusement behind the gesture. But he saw what she had seen, now, and could compare. Saw the fact that the... whatever it was meant to be looked a bit more ragged at this time.
"I'll try to remember to ask him if it's... natural? For it to do this," she offered. "When I have a chance." The last was added a soft afterthought, her gaze sliding back in the direction of Foxpoint. More than that, sliding upward just a tick, where she knew the kitsune were.
At the suggestion of poking one's head in, Shiori huffed out a quick laugh, shaking her head fondly as if she knew what he was thinking. "How about you watch Anja and I try the door?" she finally said, waving her hand in a not-quite shooing motion.
"Despite where we are and what I've done, I don't actually know that much about spirit realms and gates and such. Most of my time has been on the Material Realm, when I wasn't in Takamagahara."
While Anja was searching for the door, or gate, or... whatever it was that she thought she'd sense, Shiori was considering Ellis' house. Or what existed as a house in the overlay. This close to it, it looked less like a structure and more like... a thick formation of the fractal webbing.
.
[11:18 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): She reached out to try the door, but her hand passed through the 'knob', instead.
Curious.
Maybe... she frowned, tilting her head, and stepped forward. Through the door. Or wall. Or whatever this really was. And into the house, where the webbing pulsed, thicker and stronger than anywhere else she'd seen thus far. This was his home, his place, and it felt very much like him, she thought, turning her head this way and that to get a better look.
Or try, because the stuff was everywhere. It was the walls, the floor, the ceiling... there were bright spots where it hung thickest, places she recognized to be where his plants were, and something else she'd caught a glimpse of but hadn't paid much attention to at the time. Some sort of equipment, she thought.
"Oh," was all she said, blinking in surprise. "Oh, I see."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[11:29 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Curses. Foiled again.
Ah well. It wasn't as if he couldn't just sneak in under his own power on his own terms some other time, anyway. Coyote turned away from the house and followed Anja, listening to her attempt to explain.
"I would not expect to see a gate like at Foxpoint here on another's ground," he mused, having a look around. "I would actually be surprised to find a door, to be honest. As I recall, there is nothing in their system to facilitate visiting their Heaven of Hell, short of death itself. I will admit, however, that I am no scholar, and have only an outsider's perspective. Perhaps there is something in the more obscure texts about such a thing."
"But you make much sense, Storm Fury. I do not feel what you feel, but if there were a place here that was more prone to being a gateway to the place where souls go to wait to be sorted, then, yes, it would make sense for it to feel like death to you. Perhaps there is a door there, but it is merely concealed from this side? Or it is not quite a door yet, because it lacks a key or a condition for the full potential to be realized." Coyote shrugged, kneeling to drag his fingers through the "ground" and take a deep sniff of where Anja had indicated.
He was no death god, though, and had only a very passing bit to do with the tales of death and moving on; it seemed... like any other part of the land on Spireno to him.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[10:28 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja nodded along with Coyote’s assessment, kneeling nearby so she too could look at the ground he was examining.
“I didn’t really read much on Christianity or Judaism before I came here so I’m not too sure either.” She admitted, “Wasn’t raised religious at all, ironically enough. Except for being told some folklore by my dad.”
She tilted her head, considering the possibility of something being concealed or merely not fully formed.
“If it is a hidden door, or the potential for one, I wonder what could have caused it. And why here, why this spot?” Anja let her gaze, which was still the same pale gray here in this place of truths, wander their surroundings while she spoke.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[12:22 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori poked around the house for a few minutes longer, poking at some of the webbing. She was about to leave when she felt more than saw some of the paper cranes, and smiled, reaching to pick one up. It came easily, settling into her hand as she examined the way the webbing seemed to cling to it, tiny fractals spiraling out in a way that made her consider the care he had put into the folds.
Absently, she wondered what it would look like from the Material Realm, if one could see the crane lifting as if from its own accord, or if it perhaps blipped out of existence for a moment.
She wandered back toward the 'door' and set the crane down carefully on a nearby surface, angling it so that it would face the door itself in a cheeky sort of welcome.
That done, the kami slipped back through the door and began a slow saunter over to where Anja and Coyote had converged, though she was unable to feel or see anything amiss. "You're staring intently enough that I'm guessing you found what you were looking for, more or less," she said, scrutinizing the spot but feeling... well... nothing.
That, after all, was not even close to her own domain.
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[6:11 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "Whoever sees Ellis next should ask him if he knows anything about it. If not... perhaps Hades might be able to shed light on it?" Coyote suggested. He distracted himself for a little bit by running his fingers through the glow, watching it shift and play against his paws. When Shiori returned, he grinned up at her and stood once more.
"So Storm Fury says. I do not see or feel it, but I am not a speaker for the dead," he replied, shrugging.
"Did you find the angel?"
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[8:26 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): “Yeah, I can ask him next time I see him.” Anja agreed, standing back up before pacing around the area to see where it felt like it started to fade. When Shiori rejoined them, she repeated the description of what she felt.
“Yeah, no door or gate but I feel death in this area. Like death or dead is or should be here. We aren’t sure why though.” She gave a light shrug. Though she gave a curious look to the Kami at Coyote’s question.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[8:32 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori offered them both a foxy grin, at least for a moment, before she peered curiously around the area. "There are ways to search, but I am not so familiar with them. My domain is decidedly life-based."
"And no, no sign of Ellis. The house feels interesting on this side, but if he's home I can't sense him." Her tone suggested that she felt she would have been able to, if he were.
"I did leave a calling... crane," she offered, eyes sparkling. "I wonder if he'll notice, when he returns." She straightened, looking at the both of them. "Speaking of returning, I... I would prefer to be back at Foxpoint. I've been away longer than I would like. You will be able to cross the border freely without my presence, should you wish to remain here a while longer."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[8:43 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): A calling crane? Coyote grinned, stifling the urge to go and see; t was enough that he knew.
"Is there anything else you wish to do or see here, Storm Fury?" he asked. He would stay with Anja for as long as she wished to remain here, because, even if this was not his spirit realm, he was much more familiar with and comfortable in spirit realms as a whole. He would not leave her unguarded.
But he really would prefer to be returning with Shiori, and seeing about getting her to take a rest for herself, now that he knew how much of a toll everything was really taking on her. And he still wished to speak with her about his thoughts about Yeshua and Yahweh.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[7:42 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): “No, I don’t really have anything else I care to see here at the moment.” Anja agreed. She was content with the amount she had learned today and the air of wrongness she had felt when she first got to Foxpoint still worried her. But that thought reminded her of the other main question she needed to ask. She turned to Shiori.
“This can wait until we are back, or if—well, if you all have stuff to get to I understand and we can talk about it some other day- but I know you have Set’s spear. And he wanted you to hold unto it until— someone might need it.” There was a measure of certainty in her tone that laced those last few words. Certainty that the others might know implied she fully intended to need the spear one day, so that it could kill another great serpent as it had Apep.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[9:25 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori turned to face Anja fully, and for the first time since they had arrived in the overlay did her appearance change, properly and fully. While the kami they were now familiar with still stood before them, her hair had flickered and settled into a topknot, and her kimono was gone, replaced by armor. A katana - the very katana that hung above the mantel alongside the spear - was settled at her waist.
She looked as comfortable in this as she had in everything else she had worn.
Amber eyes brightened, specks of gold and silver light swirling in their depths as she looked the psychopomp directly in the eyes. "Anja Stormcrow, the spear will make its way into the hands of the one for whom it is intended, when it the time is right. That time is not now, and if it is meant for you, it is not the you as you presently exist."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[10:30 AM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote... tripped.
Shiori's transformation into a very capable warrior distracted him so much that he tangled his own feet with one another, and face-planted right into the glowing ground with a pathetic little, "ooomph." He lay there for a long moment, staring up at them both, with a rather stupid (and utterly besotted) smile plastered across his canine features.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[4:25 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja floundered a moment, brow furrowed as Inari suddenly became armored and fully commanded the presence of a warrior. The brunette straightened in surprise, though did not speak.
Set’s letter had said that Inari was to look after the spear until someone had need of it. While some part of Anja felt that she should have a right to use it, she also respected that wish and Shiori’s discretion.
So despite her clenched jaw and fists, she merely nodded. Determined to at least try to be the person that it was meant for. Because if any weapon deserved to kill that snake it was Set’s spear.
Lifting an eyebrow, she glanced at the canine god who had face planted next to them.
“I’m surprised you haven’t started making glow angels yet.” She wondered if the webbing would let him.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[9:25 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): The kami waited for a long moment, watching Anja, taking her measure as a commander might, before she nodded once, slowly, in return.
"Should you wish training in the use of polearms, I would be happy to oversee such. Even if you were the person for whom the spear is meant for, you are not trained enough to make use of it properly. We can rectify that."
So saying, she nodded again, and then glanced over... and down, at where Coyote had effectively face-planted onto the ground. Despite the vulpine face she currently sported, it was clear how her expression seemed to soften when she looked at him, and her mouth dropped open into a slight fox grin even as she extended a hand out to him, offering him help to get back on his feet. "If you keep drooling like that, wagakokoro, I would be quite concerned as to what might happen with Ellis' web."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[9:43 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "Hmmm?" Coyote replied to Anja, not even managing to glance at her. "...glow angels?" Wait. Glow angels? Coyote blinked, shaking his head.
"Oh. Heh. I do not think it would work," he replied sheepishly.
But he accepted Shiori's hand and allowed her to help him to his feet with a little smile. "What is a little extra water to an orchard?" he asked, rubbing his hand against the back of his head once he had regained his feet.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[8:53 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): “I— Thank you, I would like that. I have hand to hand training but not much of anything in terms of weapons. Anything would help.” Anja admitted, before smiling at Shiori’s drool comment.
The Kami and Coyote’s humor had been a much needed relief for her heavy heart. One she hadn’t truly realized how much she needed until she felt some of that coiled tension release as she chuckled along with the antics. When the two divine looked like they were ready, Anja began walking towards Foxpoint once more.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[9:23 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): The kami reached up and pushed, and the fox face came away, reverting to its mask status. She offered Anja a more human smile, this time, and as she looked between the two, the armor rippled and shifted, the kimono taking its place once again. “I will arrange for a naginata for you to practice with, in that case.”
Shiori turned to Coyote, considering his comment for a moment before she snorted. "Normally I would agree, koibito, but I am not certain that you necessarily want to water the orchard here, in this realm," she told him with a grin. "But feel free to water the farm when we're back in the Material Realm."
She moved past him, her tails intentionally reaching out to brush against him as she did so, leading her companions back to Foxpoint and its torii gate. Shiro moved beside her, a silent ghost of a companion. As before when they had passed clusters of spirits, Shiori's image seemed to flicker, reflecting her many truths and the perceived truths of those around her, though they never held long.
The kami's personal truth held firm.
<d>
[9:23 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[6:57 PM] Scenemod II: Once again, they were shadowed by... something on their way out of Spireno and back to Foxpoint. Something that seemed to be softly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme as it followed, diving from tree to bush to tree again?
But there was no hint of aggression or malice from the shade, even as it seemed to trip into a bush and vanish with a muttered, "Shit. Not again."
<d>
@Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[7:05 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote shrugged, his tail flicking back and forth, not quite a wag, not quite a quiver, even as his ears drooped just a tiniest bit with his grin - bashfulness written into every mote of him for one who knew how to read canines. He shivered as her tails brushed against him, and his ears drooped just a little more until he almost looked like Yoda, or one of the alien's kin as much as a coyote.
"You do not want that, adageyudi. I would try, and end up releasing the next great flood with my luck," he replied.
But he followed along demurely in everyone's wake, watching for trouble - and noting the not-very-sneaky-at-all shade with a flick of an ear. Ellis sure had picked up a weird one, hadn't he?
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[9:32 PM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja visibly brightened a little at the mention of her receiving a weapon. A bit of her typical fire coming back to her past the heaviness that hung on her.
“Thank you.” She smiled back at Shiori, following after them and Coyote. She did however, again hear the rustling, the shadowed movement catching her eye. Seriously, what the fuck is that? She kept up her pace but addressed Shiori as they walked.
“When you said things were attracted to the farm besides foxes, what kind of things?”
<d>
@Shiori Okita (Nora)
[9:40 PM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Judging from the faint smirk that crossed her lips, the kami was quite well aware of Coyote's state of mind in the moment. And she would be lying to herself if she claimed it wasn't fun to tease him, just a little, despite everything going on. The world could not be full of only bleakness, and her Coyote was such a soothing presence already.
"Hm? Oh, all manner of things. The spirits of deceased Shinto, of course. Yokai, too, though they're mostly harmless. Mostly. I don't recommend seeking them out. A fair number of yokai prefer not to be seen, and it's best to ignore them, especially if you don't know what it might be."
She nodded, ears flicking slightly as she tilted her head in the direction of the rustling. "I might have thought we had one curious about us, but there's something a bit more human to whatever's out there. But the wards aren't going off, and nor did Ellis' land seem to have any issue with whatever - or whoever - that may be. It doesn't want to be seen, thus I will not press the issue."
Shiori paused at the torii gate. "Shiro will go on ahead. Please follow her, and I will be right behind you."
<d> @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[11:31 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Coyote was used to being the fool. He was the one made a fool of nearly as often as he was the one making a fool of someone in his tales. It didn't really phase him much, anymore.
Especially if it was on Shiori's behalf.
Such was the life of a Trickster. Although, that business with the old mill? That really pissed him off. That one... that one he was taking personally.
"Does that make me a yokai, then?" he asked Shiori with a little grin. But, unless Shiori stopped him, he would follow Shiro's lead through the gate, Buck appearing on the other side to wait patiently.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[7:11 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja nodded thoughtfully, careful to not glance at the shade when Shiori mentioned the fact that it was best to ignore Yokai. She didn’t want to chance whatever that was despite its rather clumsy attempts to remain hidden.
’Shiro will go on ahead. Please follow her, and I will be right behind you.’
Moving through the Torii gate was much the same as before. Anja didn’t feel anything about herself change, but she saw it. The armor and feathers, as well as the warpaint, had vanished. She was back in her monochrome outfit of black and her hair hung shoulder length, free from the long plait as it appeared in the Overlay. She didn’t fail to notice how quickly she had gotten used to that visage, before turning to wait for the Kami to join them.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
[7:52 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): The kami waited until both Coyote and Anja had gone through the gate safely before she turned, surveying the farm and its boundary for a final moment, her lips pulling into a frown in the direction of Spireno. For the briefest of moments, her image shimmered, wavering between kimono and armor, flowing locks and topknot. Her gaze lingered further still, in the direction of Mistwood, and though she seemed not to notice, the overlay solidified into armor mere moments before she stepped through the gate.
"To answer your question, koibito," she said as she stepped out of the gateway. "All kami are technically yokai, so one could consider you a form of yokai as well." Shiori paused as she moved past him, raising up on her hind paws to press a soft kiss against his cheek, lingering a moment and simply enjoying his presence, before she pulled away with a smirk.
She turned then to address Anja. "I will have a practice weapon made for you, but it will take some time. Come back in a week, it should be ready then." The kami sighed and glanced up at the farmhouse, worry regaining traction in her features. "If you've more questions, you are welcome to ask them, but otherwise I would ask you to go home. Rest. Process." And leave me to tend to my family, went unspoken.
<d>
[7:52 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[3:01 PM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): "I am not a warrior. Not as you would know it. There are others of mine that do such things. But I am very old, and I have fought my share of wars and battles, and I know how to fight," Buck offered. Then he grinned wickedly and added, "Of a sort."
"I will help how I may, to teach and to train and to guard. But you have a very great deal to learn, Storm Fury. You have the heart of a warrior, and now a bit more power to back that up. But you have been mostly mortal for your whole life, and you are very, very young, hey? Even the least of the things you may face will have your lifespan and more of having lived their role. It puts you at a disadvantage. Heart is important... but heart alone, is not going to be enough. So. I will help."
He owed it to Crow to help ensure this child of a psychopomp would survive and thrive.
He turned to smile at Ori, only for her to stand on her tiptoes and kiss him. He automatically brought an arm up to cradle her against him while she lingered, his expression gone soft and warm.
<d>
@Anja Degan (Annie)
[7:58 AM] Anja Degan (Annie): Anja smiled softly at both Shiori and Buck’s offer to help. Giving them a grateful nod as she spoke.
“Thank you, both of you. I can fight but obviously this is...” MMA, street fights, and bar brawls don’t really compare to divines and actual weapons. “-different.” She gave another nod towards Shiori, agreeing to come back in a week.
“If you need anything, just let me know. I’m at the orchard more often than not these days.” She added, not wanting to pry but remembering the weary stress that hung on Foxpoint. With that, she turned and made her way back towards her vehicle.
<d> @Shiori Okita (Nora)
((Anja is out of thread if not stopped))
[8:12 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): Shiori was about to reach out to Jiro, to ask him to put the request into progress, before she realized that he couldn't. He was abed, sick with pox, and barely coherent.
She would have to do it herself, then, when she had the opportunity.
As it was, she bade goodbye to Anja, waiting until the woman was out of sight before she sagged, letting out a long exhale. The sheer weight of everything happening seemed to settle across her shoulders: her worry for the kitsune, the recent events with Set, and now this with the newly minted demigoddess.
Silence stretched for a long moment as Shiori searched for what she wanted to say. "I'm worried about her," was what the kami finally settled on. "And I'm... frustrated that I can't really help right now." As long as the kitsune were sick, she was tied to Foxpoint. Especially with what Coyote now knew, about what she'd done to save Mika and Mako all those long years ago.
"It may be a lot to ask, koibito, but will you help me look out for her?"
<d>
[8:12 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): @Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn)
[8:29 AM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Buck watched Anja drive away, waiting until she was out of sight before sidling up to Shiori and holding up his arm for her to tuck herself under, if she wished it.
"It is not so large a thing to ask," he replied. Not that he would have denied her even if it had been. "And I would have done so, even if you had not asked."
He shifted so as to lead her back to the house. "Will you rest?" he asked softly. Unspoken, I will be here to watch over them, if you do.
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@Shiori Okita (Nora)
[8:41 AM] Shiori Okita (Nora): The kami needed no further prompting and tucked herself against Buck's side, leaning into his warmth with a small sigh. His arm felt like a comfortable weight, momentarily banishing the rest with the knowledge that he was there, and he would remain so, and he would help.
"I thought as much, but I was still going to ask," she murmured, allowing him to walk her back into the farmhouse. She was quiet a moment more, and then nodded once, slowly. "Yes. Yes, I'll rest." A pause. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," she added, quietly. Sorry that she hadn't found - hadn't made - time to let him know about her connection with the twins.
[8:57 AM] Buck Nakai - Coyote (Ravyn): Buck tightened his arm around her briefly, a one-armed hug. "I like that you did ask." He liked that there would be no assumptions. He hoped that he could live up to that kind of courtesy, too, for as long as possible. He knew too well his own failings, to hope that he would never fall into the trap of assuming anything about Ori. But he would try.
"The only thing that knowing sooner would have changed, is that I would have pestered you to rest more. You are allowed your secrets, adageyudi. Even if for no other reason than you want to have them. Do not burden yourself with more worries than you need to, hey?"
By this time, they had reached the porch, and were quite out of sight of any prying eyes, even if Foxpoint had not been closed for quarantine. He remembered that appraising look Ori had given him when he had passed through the Tori gate, and so he grinned as he shifted into that form here, on this side of the gate. "Now. You will rest, and this time, you can curl up with my tail," he said, wuffling a soft breath against where he knew her ears lay under the glamour.
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END SCENE
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