[video]

[waitingforhope]

 [The feed turned on just in time to catch Mai in another sneeze.  Nothing overly dramatic or explosive, but strong enough and with a subsequent slow recovery time to indicate this was not the first.  And she was no expecting it to be the last.]

Ugh...I'm sorry.

[Taking a deep breath, she sat back and looked directly into the camera with a slightly glassy stare.  Hints of red on her nose and cheeks that--for once--didn't come from blushing.  At least, not the usually blushing from her.]

One of the kindergartners I was trying to answer a prayer for a while back must have gotten me sick.  [At least, that was the closest to an explanation she'd managed to come up with.]  I didn't even know I could still get sick, but...it's been weeks, and I only feel slightly better.

Does anybody know if cold medicine works on gods?

[That seemed to be the end of her line of questioning...except, at the last possible minute...one final thought occured to her.  A thought that promptly caused her to frown.]

Oh, and whoever thought to leave that package on my Temple doorstep?  Not funny.

Comments

[kokuyoyo]

...Colds usually go away after a week.

[waitingforhope]

So I've heard.

[The fact that she hadn't just gotten some rest and medicine straight away might have had something to do with its longevity, but she wasn't about to admit as much within her shinki's range of hearing.]

Maybe it's because this is my first cold as a goddess. Or I was just lucky enough to catch a more stubborn strain.

[kokuyoyo]

Or you're cursed.

[CHIKUSA NO]

[waitingforhope]

[Either she had yet to fully process the implication of his statement, or else she just didn't believe him...because her reaction seemed a lot more subdued than it probably should have been right then.]

What kind of curse would give you a mild, if persistent, cold? ...how would you even get cursed like that?

[kokuyoyo]

Who knows.... There are probably things like petty curses. [Oh, wait-] Hakkai got sick once because of some cursed charms.... It was a little like a fever.

[waitingforhope]

I don't think I've come across any charms recently?

What did it look like? The one that affected Hakkai?

[kokuyoyo]

They were supposed to be good luck charms.... You know. Like you get at temples, and things like that.

He got a bunch... Feel free to make fun of him for it.

[waitingforhope]

Why would I make fun of him for wanting good luck charms?

[kokuyoyo]

He's a god of medicine.... who didn't pick up that cursed charms were making people sick...

[waitingforhope]

Well...in his defense, he's a god of medicine. Not a god of cursed charms.

[Trying to defend your honor here, Hakkai.]

[kokuyoyo]

He's kind of dumb... is what he is.

[waitingforhope]

[Her brows furrowed slightly. It was one thing to make such comments to someone's face directly, be they shinki or god, but to say it so blatantly to someone else, over a public network...]

And you're kind of rude.

[kokuyoyo]

Yeah.

[....Honesty???]

But for what, exactly...

[waitingforhope]

[Seriously?!]

It's one thing to offer fair criticism of your god. But to outright insult their intelligence in public to another god? Particularly when he is not currently a part of the conversation to defend himself?

It's incredibly rude.

[kokuyoyo]

He knows what I'm like.

[And hasn't stopped him yet.]

Is it less rude if he doesn't care or is fine with it....?

[waitingforhope]

No.

[...that's it. That's her response.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, why must basic politeness be such a chore? Now he's remembering why he doesn't bother with it much at all. Chikusa makes no point of hiding his sigh.]

Why.....?

[waitingforhope]

Perhaps you should ask your god.

Being rude on purpose is one thing...but it sounds to me like you genuinely don't know the difference at all. Which, somehow, makes it even worse.

[kokuyoyo]

Being needlessly polite is more effort than it's worth. Doesn't it make it even less effort when another person doesn't care either...?