GODLY AUDIENCES - TAKAOMI SHISHIMARU

[divus]

Comments

[divus]

I'd hope so. Did you travel a lot as a kid, too?

[bakaomi]

My family like to travel. My mom's very into the whole family trip nonsense.

... so it was mostly me being dragged to places the older people wanted to go to. Paris was nice though... I think.

[divus]

Sounds kinda nice. Not the dragging, but the other thing. [The traveling. The family. He's still walking along, approaching the right wing.]

...you've never said much about your family before. [Casual. He's not pressing, but it's something he's noticed.]

[bakaomi]

Oh.

[ jack is the only person who manages to make taka sheepish at not sharing something. ]

I haven't really talked about them here. [ he hasn't really talked much about himself in general, outside of hobbies and his usual issues that trickle into god conversations. ] My extended family is pretty big. But I have an older sister, and my parents. My dad's a detective.

[ which... explains why takaomi is one. ]

[divus]

…a lot of things about you suddenly make sense. [He sort of knew, but he likes letting Taka explain when he feels ready.] Pretty big undertaking to follow his footsteps though. I'm not sure I remember what my family did…maybe those will come back someday.

[Shrug.] You probably don't see them much since you're at school. Do you miss them at all?

[bakaomi]

... I haven't really thought about it.

[ he frowns. ]

I don't really like going home. And it's been... weird, trying to think of home while here, because I have no idea what it'll feel like to be back after all of this.

[divus]

...disorienting, probably. When I came back as me instead of who I was as a mortal, everything was a little tough to get used to. It was fun at first until I started realizing I was different than everyone around me. [i.e. when he was invisible.]

But supposedly, home doesn't have to be a place. Somebody smart tipped me off to that. Maybe going home this time will be a little better.

[bakaomi]

Ehhh? Who told you something sappy like that?

[ give him a moment to

tackle everything else that was said ]

[divus]

I don't know if you'd know the guy. [Shrug.]

...not a bad way to approach it though.

[bakaomi]

... mm.

I really was considering forgetting this place after I found out you can. We talked about it a little bit, but... it kind of became an important part of me, you know?

[divus]

[There's a nod.] Memories have a funny way of doing that. There was a lot of stuff I thought about trying to forget myself, even though I was already forgetting everything else. [Taka can probably guess what he means.]

It's hard to want to let it go though no matter how awful it is sometimes, isn't it? Sometimes we need to hold on to everything that's important, even if it isn't all positive.

[bakaomi]

... yeah. Since the good is pretty mixed in with the bad at this point, so you can't really just have one or the other.

[ a lot of taka's happiest moments here only happened because something shitty occurred to instigate it, unfortunately. ]

And I might have learned a lesson or two. Probably.

[divus]

Probably. [There's a half-smile.] ...you and me both, kiddo. Just another one of those funny things you don't expect.

[They enter the wing, finding themselves in the hotel and Jack begins to head toward the elevator.] ...this game's done a lot for everybody, and I still don't like all of the murder that went on, but I'm not sure I'd take back everything either.

[bakaomi]

... yeah, it could have had a lot less murder.

[ why was everyone so murder happy. he says, as if he wasn't responsible for one of the, but still. ]

But I think we did a pretty okay job.

[divus]

But it also could have had more. I've been trying to find the positives in all of this. I'd call that one.

[The elevator rises.] Even if some people don't think so, I think you guys were the right people to reach out to.

[bakaomi]

[ he snorts ]

Did some people think we suck?

[divus]

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure some of you thought the same about us so let's just call us even.

[bakaomi]

I can't argue against that.

[ even taka thinks the gods are dumb but he also thinks the players are dumb too so it's fine ]

[divus]

I'd offer you a do-over but I don't think any of us are ready for that. [The elevator opens and they step out into the hall of the tallest floor.] Some people probably didn't change in the end, but maybe it'll just take more time.

[bakaomi]

Hm... maybe it planted a seed then?

[ he'll follow along, looking around as he goes ]

[divus]

Maybe! I'd hope so. It wouldn't make a lot of sense if nothing changed at all, would it? It's...it might take a long time, but I think it'll eventually turn into something different.

[He walks along with his staff draped over his shoulders, looking at the walls and looking for windows.] People might think it's crazy but everything happens for a reason even if we don't always understand it at first. That includes this, too.

[bakaomi]

... mm. You really think so?

[ it's odd to thing, that all of this happened for a reason, even if he got something good from it. he's not sure how he feels about it. ]

[divus]

I think so. It's not always a good thing, but...I mean, think about how the Man in the Moon chose me. That was all apparently for a reason even if it took three-hundred years to find out why.

[bakaomi]

[ ... it's odd because on one hand, it's terrible that it took him that long. on the other, taka is pretty sure jack would have never accepted the position as a god if he figured this all out sooner.

so. it's a conflict of being upset over jack's life but also being grateful he got to meet him, even though the latter only happened because of the shitty former. ]

... so sometimes you might not even find out the reason.

[divus]

[He's 100% right, if Jack had figured out he was meant to be a Guardian he wouldn't have left. But it worked out, he thinks.]

Exactly. Sometimes you might not find out, and you use that to keep going. It's not the best method but better than laying down and just taking it, isn't it? I've given it a lot of thought. It's why I want you guys to always keep going even if you take the time to think about what's happened.