thefarshore | video - BBS

Name: Wendy
Date: December 14th

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[Wendy has set up her camera carefully on a desk somewhere within Hibiki's very fancy and nice temple, which means her backdrop is a super plush chair and elegant curtain. She herself is dressed up in one of her nicer dresses (which is a lot of them), and looks seriously into the camera.]

We've gotten some new shinki and gods since I made my initial post, but I want to take this time to remind everyone of the Shinki Sanctuary. For shinki who've lost their gods suddenly and are without a home, you're more than welcome to come stay there. It's modest, but it does the job, and it gives you the benefit of not having to be pressured into joining with another god right away.

The Sanctuary also offers a matchmaking service! This is available to everyone, shinki and god alike, no matter if you're already working with someone. We need more people to sign up, so drop by and fill out some paperwork whenever you can! We make sure that gods and shinki have a chance at getting to know each other before anyone is named, so you don't have to worry about that. And if a god names a shinki without their permission...

[Have you ever seen a pre-adolescent girl look like she'd coolly shank you in a dark alleyway and kick your body into a river? Now you have.]

We'll handle it.

But here's something I'm not sure a lot of shinki know- you can be named by more than one god! The only people who really seem to care are the old gods, and, honestly, it's not like they really interact with us anyway, so it doesn't matter.

[They don't even communicate themselves on the BBS. Trust her. She's asked.]

I'm a nora myself, so, if anyone has any questions about that kind of thing, feel free to ask them! I want to help people know all their options.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ask me when it's not over the BBS, then. [Simple solution, right there.]

Right, next time I see you. Anyway, point aside... I guess if I had a real question, it's how do you trust anyone to let them slap a second name on you, let alone the first?

Hmm, well... I have to be familiar with them, to start with, and that's helped me make choices. For example, I temporarily nora'd for someone who I knew was really reliable, and that doesn't mess around or lie a lot. Another person I'm with a little more long-term I just know is really nice, and wouldn't have the spine or spite to trap me if I told her to let me go.

Honesty, I had to convince her to keep the name.

So it's all just a matter of... really trusting them, in the end. I think...

[Nia falls very silent, for a time that verges on uncomfortable.]

I think I must've learned you can't do that, sometime in life. Can't tell you why, but the thought just makes me.... sad.

Well.... That's understandable.

[They're all dead, after all... and death is one of those things that's generally pretty miserable, and can always get worse depending on a whole lot of things. Even without their memories, their lives leave their marks.]

[But....]

It's alright to feel that way. If you learned that, you can learn other things, too, or unlearn it. Even if it's not complete trust, you can at least learn to trust when people are reliable in certain things.

Do you want help with that?

That's just something that comes with time, right? [It's not like a muscle to be exercised, really. Or maybe that's a good metaphor, but just goes to show you can't rush or force these things.] I can get to the point where I can work with people I need to, if I see enough that makes me feel they're the sort who do what they say. Giving them that much power over me by choice is harder to imagine.

I mean, that's mostly true... but sometimes you just have to do stuff like.... Trust exercises! That's what I think they're called.

At least, it's just something I saw on t.v. once. If you just keep working with people, that's probably similar enough.

You can't ever know what someone's really thinking. Might even just be waiting for the right time -- or showing their true colors when they think they don't have a choice.

Still. We shinki don't have a choice at all.

In that case, you might as well just go live off to be a hermit in the woods. Either you take a chance, or hide away forever.

Right?

Yeah, except then the ayakashi show up and eat you. No winning that way. [Nia shrugs. She despises her fate, but for now, there's no changing it.] I'll get by.

I mean, you can always avoid ayakashi. It's basically, how much risk do you want to take, and in what? Getting better at fighting- or at least evading so that you don't die- or getting better with people?

That's what it is in the end.

And what kind of life is that? Always running. Not able to fight back. Being useless and worthless on top of it all? I'll pass, thanks. That's why I took the name, that's why I'll live with it.

A free one, by your definition. [Wendy leans back, skirt rustling in indication that she's crossed her legs.] Regardless of the choice people make, it's up to us to make the best of it, and change things we don't like.

That's why I became a nora in the first place, after all!

Just a different kind of being trapped, really. Free is where you don't have to worry on a daily basis that your very existence is in danger. [And being named, being controlled, counts.] If I find a way to fix this whole mess you bet I'll be jumping on it to change things.

You know that doesn't really explain anything, right? That means you'd have to find an entirely different way to deal with ayakashi.

That's part of 'fixing the whole mess', obviously. [Nia rolls her eyes dramatically.] If it was simple or easy somebody'd have done it by now.

....I mean, you say that, but it was pretty simple to set up the sanctuary, and no one did that before I came here.

Never underestimate people being stupid, is what I'm saying.

That's 'screwing up basic survival' stupid, isn't it?

Like I said. Never underestimate people being stupid.

Wonderful.

Okay, change of topic -- not that I'm in a hurry, but anything special about being a nora? Something to keep in mind?

Umm.... [Wendy leans back to think for a moment.] Well, you get to have a different vessel form, which can be nice... Oh, and, um, you know shinki spells, right?

You need to know their name! [Nia catches on quickly.] Or both names for a nora, am I right?

Yeah, that's right! Although it's never been a problem for me.

I figure not many people are hurling spells at you to begin with. At least I'd hope not.

If anyone tried, I know at least two people who would ruin their life.

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