chibisu | Ebisu's Inbox

Ebisu's Inbox

[For anyone who is familiar with Ebisu in person, they might be expecting the sound of a cute child on the answering machine.]

[They do not get a cute child's voice.]

[Instead, it's the voice of a young man, speaking calmly and professionally.]

Hello. You have reached the personal phone and temple of Ebisu, one of the Gods of Fortune. He and his shinki are currently busy right now, so please leave a message and someone will respond back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you, and have a nice day.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That right there is the shinki experience. Actually, it's probably the experience of any person.

[His arm goes around her shoulders, offering a quiet comfort.]]

Even when we come to as fully grown adults, we're still starting life over from a blank slate. It might be a little chipped at the edges, depending, but it's still a blank slate regardless.

Although I think it's more like... When you're trying to figure out a recipe for the first time. Adding things, trying things in a different way, trying to find what you actually want. Sometimes the oven might catch on fire, or you use too much salt... but as long as you're still there, you'll have all the time to figure it out.

And personally, I think most shinki start out with at least one ingredient in their life on fire.

Usually it's the sugar.

Too much salt instead of sugar, what sugar remaining is on fire is a good metaphor for me.

[Of course Kimi goes with the cooking metaphor. It's not wrong though. They're all doing their best to fill in all the blanks with new experiences or uncovering what they already know. It's not as if she's had the hardest time with things; Waver comes to mind as an immediate example of someone struggling against the edges, chipping off more as he tries to make it work.

Maybe the first year is always hell. Can she even make it a year?]

How long did it take for you to realize you were good at cooking? Not metaphorically speaking.

[Hey, lean into what you know, right? And he likes to think that it's a pretty good metaphor. At least, for anyone that knows just the kind of nonsense that can happen in the kitchen.]

[But he's not expecting the metaphor to get more literal, and he rolls his head back onto the couch thoughtfully.]

I mean, with the first temple I was with, there weren't as many people around, so we all had to kind of deal with different, eh... chores, I guess. I wasn't amazing at the beginning, but I picked it up pretty quickly. Then again, I kept doing it a lot. It was a good way to cool down.

Cool down?

[Ginia slides up from her gradual slump against his shoulder. She sits so she can look at him a little more, feet tucking under her.]

What were things like at your first temple? And didn't Ebisu say your vessel forms are all cooking utensils?

[It's hard to imagine Kimi not as a good cook, but maybe that's a benefit of time and repetition. She still suspects it's something he did in life, but maybe linked forms have a way of pointing toward the future too.]

[Teasingly, he sways his fingers side to side in time with the sing-song tone his voice has taken on.]

I~ had~ a~ temper~.

Or rather, me and my first god probably just had a bad habit of getting on each other's nerves. It wasn't a really big place, just three shinki and a god. They were fine to go along with things, but me and her had ssssssssome differences of opinion that didn't really settle. Ever.

[Ginia scrutinizes Kimi a little, having a hard time imagining him with a temper, but she knows she's meeting him a long time later. What she can see is someone who channeled his temper into charm.

It's still hard imagining him angry though.]

What kind of god was she?

[Beat.]

Was she a combat god?

Something like that. Definitely someone whose business was firmly in protection and stuff, you know. Despite that, she liked to pretend she was elegant and detached.

[Scrunching up his lips, he taps one finger at his jaw.]

It probably says something that I managed to get her into a full day yelling argument.

I don't know if it says more about you or her.

[Takes two to continue a fight after all. But there's a bit of fondness as she signs that too.]

Did you leave or did she kick you out?

Uh. Yes?

[He laughs a little bit, sheepish.]

It was a "you can't fire me, I quit" sort of things, where we were kind of just tossing shit at each other to see what stuck, and then carrying through because we were too heated to stop ourselves. I think we both kind of wanted the other to apologize first?

Except that never happened.

And also we live forever. Which is kind of a problem when you get really stubborn, as it turns out.

Am I going to have to fight a god to defend your honor and well-being or is she gone now?

[She'd throw down without any hesitation, though she imagines she's not the only one with how well-liked he is. A diplomatic touch is probably better, but never let it be said Ginia won't do everything to protect the ones she cares about.

Her finger winds around a stray curl as she considers her own stubbornness. The things she wanted to hear, or thought she wanted to hear.]

There was a point I might have gone back to Caster if he asked for me to come back. It would have been a mistake, but love makes you stupid, so the adage goes. And I knew he wouldn't love me. I knew the legends around him, the stories he told. [It's her turn to huff sheepishly.] I should have asked more for his stories, his perspective, than doing my own research.

[The legend and person cannot be separated, they're good to know, but they aren't the only thing to judge someone by.

Ginia grabs the nudibranch plush and doubles over, burying her face against the soft fabric as she silently screams. God, does she feel like an idiot. With time and space to process everything, mixed emotions churn inside her. She sits back up and pouts at Kimi, signing rapidly in her agitation, colorful plush still on her lap.]

Sorry. Back to you. How did you end up joining Ebisu's temple?

I mean, who knows. Not me. I left, and then didn't go back because I didn't want to prove her right. I'm guessing she didn't come looking for me for the same reason.

[Leaning over her, he gently rubs his hand along her back, fingers gently kneading into the tense muscles there.]

We're shinki. A lot of times, especially in the beginning, our emotions are all we have.

[Distinctly human emotions, the kind of thing which they use to guide their gods... As she straightens up, he flashes a smile to her. Nudibranch plush is officially hers for the time being.]

Anyway, a month of running away from ayakashi, and I found myself near one of his temples just looking up at it while I wondered aloud "Wow, it sure would be nice to live in a plush temple like this!"

Which is around the time Ebisu-sama happened to teleport behind me and said "Alright, sure", which almost killed me a second time in surprise.

[His attitude is impressively nonchalant, but if he doesn't care and nothing has happened after all this time, then it doesn't feel there's any more to say about it. Ginia presses into his hand, relaxing as she listens.]

Ebisu isn't very choosy about naming people, is he? Ah, not judging, just... it's surprising.

[But maybe there's a certain type of person that ends up finding their way to Ebisu too.]

You know... one reason I left my first god for Caster because I liked his temple more. My first temple was stark white, smooth reflective surfaces, a glow to everything. Very sci-fi? I couldn't stand being inside it. She had nice gardens though.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ebisu's Inbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject