The World of the Non-Living

From: Kairi & Yukine
Date: Dusk on July 8, 2016

[ Kairi and Yukine both look worn out and stressed. They'd each been holding a Borderline active for a very long time, relatively speaking, on top of the emotional strain of the confession they heard and the empathy they tried to give back.

The backdrop will tell anyone who knows the area that they're not far from Hakkai's school, just not directly inside it anymore. Kairi speaks first. ]

This message is for my fellow shinki specifically, although I hope gods will be sensitive to this as well. I know that we as shinki struggle with the knowledge that our gods can feel things we feel. It's not something we can change, though. The biggest thing they can feel from us... is guilt. You might have heard it called by another name: blight.

Blight is... it's like this acid on your skin. It hurts. Guilt makes the blight appear, but you can also get it by touching someone who's blighted. That goes for touching blighted gods and shinki both, but it also goes for touching ayakashi, which are nothing but blight. There's a way to reverse really bad blight - the guilt kind, because holy water can fix the kind you get by touching someone.

It's called an ablution. It's not easy and it's definitely not painless and it requires the support of your god as well as three strong shinki friends.

[ She'd started to get a little hysterical in her description of how much effort goes into an ablution, but then she pauses to take a breath. Her voice gets quieter, more purposeful. ]

... I need you all to hear this: I have witnessed two ablutions now, and participated in one of them. It's awful what someone has to go through during that, and it's awful to watch it too.

So please, if you start to feel some blight, don't hide it and refuse to talk to your shinki or god about it. It doesn't just go away like a bad cold. It gets worse and worse and worse.

[Yukine edges into frame, the bags under his eyes and tight expression worth more than a few words on their own.]

I've been telling you guys from the start to get along with your gods. This is a part of it... a part I'd hoped none of you'd have t' see. But it's happened.

When you do something you feel guilty over, admit it. Pretending to smile and acting like everything's fine does neither you or your god any good. Talk about it, fight about it. [He gives a jagged smile as he adds in a low voice,] You can go a bit crazy. Gods don't die so easily.

But after getting it all off your chest then apologize and start fresh.

... Shinki are spirits. We're just across the line from ayakashi. We're human... none of us are perfect. The darkness... is always by our side. So be careful. Don't let it in.

... Damn. That's all I have to say. I'm going to go sleep for a few dozen hours now.

[ Kairi leans a little then, like she would have given Yukine a hug but thought better of it, so he gets a shoulder lean instead. ]

Yukine brought up a good point too. Since our gods feel all this stuff, but "don't die so easily"? They're basically going through the ablution too. They're hurting just like their shinki is.

[ But she doesn't leave the focus on Yukine by that point, knowing without voicing it that he'd been on the other side of the ablution before. That had come up earlier today. So she stands back up straight and pulls her phone back so that he can leave. It's getting late, after all. ]

So that's our warning. Please take care of yourselves and your shinki friends. And please be understanding if you see some blight, offer to help with it or tell someone who can help. I know it's scary.

Thank you.

[[OOC: Both Yukine and Kairi can respond to this BBS post, but if you'd like one of them specifically you can ask for it in the subject line or tag.

Chronologically, this happens not long after Hakkai's Ablution.]]