tabularasa_rp | Change is in the Air (OTA)

No... no no no... Nononononononononononono! NO! What the hell?!?

[She's shouting at the top of her lungs as she says it, so anyone who's in the forest, out in the Void, on the bridge or possibly even over at Heavenly Blanc might hear the initial freak out session. Parsee was staring at what had happened to the shrine by the bridge.

The shrine had been moved. Now, it was on a great circular stone slab with steps that led up to it. Surrounding the circular dais were seven statues in Grecian style depicting of elegant maidens in Grecian style clothes, showing unnatural features that matched Greek gods and monsters. Standing in pools of water connected to a channel that ran all the way around the shrine complex, they faced outwards. A great stone altar shaped like a great mouth opened up there, with incense and scissors serving as offerings within. The wooden shrine itself stood at the back of the dais facing the altar.

And currently, Parsee was shouting at a broom that leaned against one of the statues, bellowing in confusion.]

What do you mean it just happened?!? What the hell happened?!? GAH! This... This isn't Shinto at all! What am I supposed to do about...

OF COURSE I'M GOING TO SWEEP IT CLEAN, DUMBASS! I MEANT AFTER THAT!!!

[...the broom wasn't actually saying anything. It was just a broom after all. A possessed broom, but a broom.]

[Right. So... Shouting and Bargaining were steps that happened almost immediately. Pain/Guilt & Anger/Bargaining had sort of bled away after the first ~~day or two~~ period of time. It didn't hurt that the sound of the water clock was alarmingly soothing.

Eventually, Parsee had to deal with the fact that the Shrine was going to be a sort of ... joint venture. There were elements of Greek mythos here, elements of something... otherworldly and unrelated to both, and now elements of Shinto. It meant that this wasn't simply a shrine, it was now close to a little temple complex. Whether she liked it or not, it was what it was, and she had to cope.

So, after she'd calmed down, she finally started to try and make do. Parsee and the broom she'd found were currently busily sweeping as the water clock 'tonked' behind the whole complex. She was trying to keep it completely clean and pristine, inspecting the altar, grumbling and tapping her foot. She wasn't a priest, so how was this supposed to work at this point? Groaning, she shook her head. Did it matter? She, Melinoe and Viridi were the ones likely to get venerated here if anyone was, and probably more the two of them than her... so, she guessed it was supposed to be up to them?

Hearing footsteps, she glanced up, raising an eyebrow.]

We're still figuring out how the heck this is supposed to work, so ... uh... yeah. You've got me.

[At some point, she'd crossed the bridge and found the blank shrine. Seeing it there, constructed out of the whiteness of the Void, she was starting to wander the thing, grunting and confused. This... was new. It hadn't ever quite done any of this.]

So, what? We supposed to worship the Void here now? Does the Void even want worship?

Do you even know what worship is?

[At some point, she couldn't take it anymore. She needed to rest, so Parsee made her way past Heavenly Blanc only to find the signs she'd been having painted by one of the Semi-Smeargles with the black tail replaced. They'd been replaced by road signs. Real ones. Big ones.

...

And about half of them were good. Half of them led nowhere and made no sense. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she glanced over at her painting compatriot and groaned.]

I don't have a ladder, so we can't get to any of the big signs up high, but we oughta make sure the ones don't give bad info. You up for some more painting?

Yeah, I get it! I get it! [She thumped the drum] There, happy! Gah, you're all so damned needy! I swear I'm leaving the next one by the water, you hear me?

[Who was she talking to this time? A Drum. She was picking it up, along with a mallet and a stand it had shown up next. The dusty old thing had seen better days, but for whatever reason she'd decided that she wanted it and now she was hauling it back...

And arguing with it.]

Shuuuuuuut up! You're lucky that a drum actually belongs at a shrine, you...

[Maybe she'd snapped finally.]

(OOC: The Drum is, like her broom, one of the 'possessed tools' that has begun showing up in the area. It's a little prankster like the rest.)

Ok... seriously.... you need to help me out.

[She picked up a book covered and festooned with the colorful name of a person who didn't actually exist. She was frowning at it and thrusting it at whoever was helping her explore the place.]

I haven't actually read a book in a while, but I have no idea who this Mister Pibb is, and why I should hope that his book gets filled at some point so I can read it.

(OOC: Anything is available. Feel free to start something off. She is most commonly seen at the Wall Mart, under Mt Silver, in Heavenly Blanc and wandering the woods near the Shrine.)

[She was on her fourth drink at this point. Strong drinks. Stiff ones. Parsee looked anything but pleasant right now. Her countenance was twitching, twisting and she looked almost furious, like she was struggling to hold back a lot of emotions.

Now, for those who frequented the bar? The reason would be obvious. She was always pestering Joker, and Ren wasn't here. He wasn't anywhere to be found, and Parsee was ... not taking it well. Fingers dragged around the edge of her glass while she twitched. She'd seen people disappear, people she'd liked, but now he was missing and she wasn't handling it nearly as well.

It didn't matter how much she'd prepared. It didn't matter that she had known it was coming. It wasn't possible for a spirit of jealousy to handle this kind of thing. At least she wasn't wrecking the joint!]

(Heavenly Blanc is a good place to go if they want to be around other people, so without much else to do they find themselves wandering in.)

Parsee.

(They spot her immediately, and approach as soon as they do. She appears distressed.)

[ The first few weeks are the nightmare were hard. Rinoa disappeared into herself in a way she never really had before, spending a lot of time in her apartment with Angelo and Felix while she tried to process what happened - the things she saw, and felt, the things of which she dreamed. Time's moving for the first time in a long time and she's done almost nothing with it, lost in her own private reverie. If her friends were here, they'd hardly recognize her, she thinks—

It's that thought that somehow shakes her out of it. Friends, but she has friends here too, friends who went through the same difficulties as her and now are being completely ignored and avoided. And so it's with some guilt that she goes out in search of them, leaving her animal companions curled up dozing on the couch, her apartment near-dark from the deep of their sleep.

She's not surprised to find Parsee at the shrine bridge. She is surprised to see it changed, so different now to how it used to be. Her head tilts as she approaches the other, curiosity written over her features. ]

When did it change? [ A pause, and then: ] I'm sorry I haven't caught up with you since the nightmare.

Wow!

Great improvement!

No offense, but your old shrine was kind of a dump.

[It is unclear whether or not Viridi is aware that Parsee is upset over these new circumstances. It is definitely clear that she probably doesn't care.]

I mean, I'm not a brick and mortar kind of goddess, but this is way upscale.

[Zack is just minding his own business hanging out around the beach area when he sees the girl yelling at some sort of inanimate object and for a second Zack really has to wonder if he's not on some sort of funny farm. Girl, are you alright...?]

Hey- Uh... You doing okay? What's that drum thing doing to you?

[She pounded something that looked clear and smelled very much of licorice. The anise-flavored liquor went down hard and she winced before her eyes locked on the approaching geth. When she spoke, her voice was strained, tired, almost exhausted emotionally.]

Ren's gone, Legion.

[They'd talked about this before. Legion would understand why she was having issues right now, she was pretty sure. Probably better than most.]

It's being a whiny little needy bastard who wants my attention just like the broom was. And it's going to get to be at a shrine, so it should kindly shut up about it already!

[She grunted and grumbled, shaking her head.]

It doesn't actually speak. I can just sort of tell it's getting ready to prank someone to get their attention. Stupid tsukumogami started showing up around the island. Damned annoying.

Ah, Rinoa...

[This was awkward. This was really awkward. She'd gotten kind of fortunate in Memetos that the worst she'd done was piss Viridi off, and seriously that wasn't actually difficult with the littlest nature goddess. Most of her interactions had been with people in situations where jealousy couldn't make it worse, or with those immune to her wiles.

Rinoa had been the lone serious exception. Parsee hadn't gone looking for her, in part because she was embarrassed by just how possessive she'd gotten. She'd been so intensely jealous the moment she'd seen the fake Squall and recognized him for who he had to be, and it had gone downhill from there. Yeah, they'd gotten through it, but Rinoa had gotten the brunt of how demanding, unreasonable and envious Parsee could be, even if she hadn't done anything horrible specifically because of it. Part of the reason she hadn't looed Rinoa up had also been that she wasn't sure that Rinoa even wanted to see her.

So, she worried her lip, resting the broom against the altar and breathing in slowly.]

Real recently. Time's working so... I think it's been a couple days? It's hard to keep track that well without eay and night. You... uh... didn't miss that much.

...

It's alright. I'd have understood if you didn't want to talk to me again. I made you feel things. A lot of things you shouldn't have had to And I wish I was more regretful about it.

[Becaue as uncomfortable as she was, she was honest enough to admit that she liked the envious way Rinoa had looked at her, and she knew that way could lead to trouble.]

In what sense is this an improvement! Less is more with these things! You don't just jam a bunch of statues and some gaudy stone altar up when people are supposed to be focusing on the clean icon housed within the shrine! It's supposed to be minimalist for pity's sake!

[Look at this one, getting all shinto purist on her.]

Gah... they've jumbled two, maybe three religions together here! Who's supposed to get worshiped at this place? Everyone?!? You, me, Melinoe?

[Hoo boy. Sorry he, unfortunately, has no idea what she's talking about. But he does come closer.]

You need me to pick it up for you? Huck it into the ocean?

[He'll football kick that entire drum into the ocean for her. If she wants.]

Mel and I were gonna do a combo shrine kind of thing already, anyway.

[Viridi sounds almost faintly regretful.]

I guess she won't need that anymore with her own place restored. I never had a shrine in the first place - like I said, haven't needed one in ages.

You might as well share it with her. You can carve out your own space and do what you want. I doubt she'll mind.

Did you like your... [squalid hovel] ...old place?

Looks like you got what you wanted, like it or not, on this place's terms. And I got thrown into the mix! [She grunted sourly, her arms folded.] I think Proteus or the Void or whatever's trying to do a whole temple complex without knowing how to put the pieces together.

And it's not about whether I like it! I don't have to like it! It's my place. You don't really understand how a shinto shrine works, right? It's a house for the kami, or in my case the youkai. A spiritual house. You put the sacred object within to represent them. There's rules about moving that sort of thing!

Gah... this place just blunders along willy nilly doesn't it? You're here too, you realize.

Oh gods, no... that'll make it worse when the little bastard washes up on shore again, which it inevitably will. I just need to get it to the shrine where it can get pounded once in a while.

[Oh, he didn't understand did he? Well... she could explain.]

So... where I come from, tools and instruments that get real old after use sometimes 'wake up' and get a spirit. Most folks love that, but if the tool gets forgotten or ignored after that, they get huffy and start pulling pranks.

This little bastard of a drum's 'awake.' Can't actually talk, but I know youkai when I see 'em.

Shockingly, my understanding of eastern religion extends only to what I can find on Divinipedia. And there's a really long article about some kind of nine headed snake dragon, but not too much about jealousy personifications.

Do you have a sacred object here in the first place? Is it a problem if all of reality shifted?

I still hate everything about the Void, mind you.

(They consider, for a moment, getting their own drink. Perhaps soon they will.)

We are sorry. Do you desire the presence of allies?

(Does she want them to stick around or should they leave her alone?)

[It's the first time that Tifa's been able to visit the Shrine in a while, and to her surprise, it's... different. Not at all like she remembers it being. It's bigger, more elaborate, and... well, there aren't quite enough words to describe what she thinks of it. She kind of liked the smaller shrine, to be honest. It felt homier, warmer, and built by the shrine maiden herself.

So, when she arrives on the other side of the bridge behind Heavenly Blanc, she takes a moment to gawk at the sight, brows raising and eyes going wide before she shakes it off and crosses, not quite sure where to go from here. She's even forgotten the reason she had decided to come, having experienced some strange phenomenon lately and wanting to ask about it.

That is, until she hears Parsee's voice, forcing her to spin around until her gaze lands on her, and her expression twists, trying to hide the confusion.]

Yeah, it's... um... different? [One way to put it.] How long's it been like this?

Not long. I haven't quite been keeping tabs of the 'tonks' but I'd say only a few days, if ... days really exist yet? It's a recent change.

[Liar. She'd been counting tonks this whole time. She guessed it was maybe two or three days right now. She was just past the the wrathful stage and managing to start accepting this slowly.]

Think the Void's trying to put a bunch of these all together. Like one big complex? Only it doesn't really know which belongs where. Bit Viridi's stuff, Melinoe's... it's all getting mixed together with mine too.

ngh...

... I want you to stay.

[She reached out to motion to the chair next to her and sighed as she dragged her hand through her hair and closed her eyes, groaning a little bit.]

I... knew this would happen. We both did... but still... I don't handle loss.

Change is in the Air (OTA)

What the Heck?!? (The Unnamed Shrine)

The Steps of Dealing With it (The Unnamed Shrine/Bridge)

Mirror/Mirror (The Blank Shrine)

The Road to Nowhere (Mt Silver Superhighway)

Bang the Drum (Beach, leading back to the Shrine)

Not much of a Reader but... (Hammerhead Mini-Mart)

Wildcard

Coping Badly (Heavenly Blanc)

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afterrrr the thread in the gym

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