The Temple of Inari 57: Life goes on

[Morty]

[Meditation Gardens]

"Ah, see, now that... that is personal." Braeg says with a smile. "On that matter, you'll just have to trust me. Anathematic though that may seem to be." He leans back and continues strumming, eeking out a jaunty little tune that Batu might feel compelled to dance to. "An enchanter is only as powerful as he is self-aware, see. And I've become quite capable over the years."

Batu's foot starts tapping to the tune and he looks at it quizzically.

"Is this you doing it? I feel like I should be dancing for some reason."

[Ironsmith]

[Meditation Gardens]



Batu's foot starts tapping to the tune and he looks at it quizzically.

"Is this you doing it? I feel like I should be dancing for some reason."

[Mediation Gardens]

"In a way." Braeg admits with a shrug. "I'm the one holding the mandolin, aren't I?" He chuckles and stops playing. "Do you really think I could speak to your soul that well if I couldn't hear my own?"

[Recaiden]

[Full Moon Party]

Behold! That which has slumbered lo these many years awakens once again at last and the Full Moon is here once again! The theme for this month is "Summer", of course!

Cicadas buzz in trees
Heat shimmers in the still air
but night is heaven!

The foxes have laid out many a tasty treat and beverage for all to enjoy. The gardens are lit with glowing lamps, casting their silvery beams out over the pond to join the glorious reflection of the silvery moon in the quiet waters. The school faculty have prepared entertainments for the young ones and Myobi is holding her poetry contest as always.

This full moon has the disadvantage of being the full moon that aligns with the summer celebration. All that celebration can cause a sort of fatigue.
But that doesn't mean people aren't here.

Right on time, a wizard walks in, dressed in a pink-and-white dress that looks like a flower, and followed by four not-so-little dragon hatchlings.
It's been too long since they came by the temple for a happy occasion like this.

[Fenric]

[Full Moon Party]

And Keiko once again hops up and down excitedly, this time clapping her hands and fairly well going "squee"

CLEO! KIDS! YAY!!

[Recaiden]

Keiko is of course, immediately mobbed by the dragons. Ayako and Hanako bound over immediately, Miyako is just a moment behind them, and even Kronoa is distracted from heading into the garden by the ninetails calling out to them.
Mom!" "Mom!" "Mom, hey!"
"Pick me up!" "Hey, Watch this!"
"Hello."

Cleo walks over at a more reserved pace, limiting herself to a bright smile.
"Happy full moon, love."

[Fenric]

Keiko picks up Ayako and smiles at the others as she walks up to Cleo and has to settle for a one-arm-while-holding-child hug.

Happy Full Moon to you, too! And ok, I'm watching.

---

out in the garden, soft hoofsteps accompany a person not seen recently. Ignoring where her head and neck would normally be, she is a dapple-grey pony. A bit on the large size to still qualify for "pony" status, she still quite a bit smaller than most horses. Her tail is uncharastically blonde for the otherwise monochromatic scheme of her coat.

But coming back to the front as it were, instead of a horses' head she has is a woman's body and human head. She has blue eyes and long, blond hair, with elflike features and pointy ears. For a concession to modesty, she is wearing a grey bikini-top, and she looks around shyly.

[Deathkeeper]

Full Moon Party

Coming up beside the centaur (or centaur-shaped woman) is a similarly shaped fellow. His lower half is a dun-colored Welsh pony with a coat that covers his entire body. His hair is cut short, and his lack of clothing exposes the intricate tattoo down one shoulder.
"Aye siwmae, Miss. I'm Domhnall of Serrisil. I don't think we've met before." he says cheerily.
This would make sense as he's never been to this particular temple before. He has avoided crowded places for a while after that particular...lady-related incident. But he's decided to give it another go. He's heard Inari's is always pretty safe.

[Recaiden]

Ayako snuggles up to Keiko as best she can.
Kronoa, having successfully gotten a smile, scampers off towards the gardens.
Cleo, being for-the-moment unencumbered by any children, hugs Keiko tightly, as if worried she might disappear. But before long she lets go and picks Hanako up herself.

"Okay, okay." Miyako screws up her eyes in concentration, and all the shadows on the floors and walls of the sanctuary start dancing around for a few seconds.

[Morty]

[Mediation Gardens]

"I don't think anything, since I know little to nothing about your kind of magic," Batu points out, as he clamps down on his tapping foot with the other one. "But I get the gist of it, I think. It's more like what the shamans did back home than sorcery. I asked them about it, but they just gave me a long spiel about how I'm not ready. I think they're just afraid of too many people knowing their methods."

[Ironsmith]

[Meditation Gardens]

Braeg lets out a short, barking laugh. "Ha! If only that were our problem." He chuckles and shakes his head. "No, no... enchanting, as my clan does it, is a dying art, owing mostly to the fact that the clan itself is dying. There are only two of us left, as far as I can tell, who are still capable of it, and we aren't on speaking terms." He sets his mandolin to the side. "If our art is to survive into the next generation, I'd better either find myself some fine fiendling ladies in the near future, or take on an apprentice or twenty."

[Fenric]

[Full Moon Party]

Keiko nods approvingly

Oh, very well done sweetie!

---

Yes, centauress indeed. Celeste smiles and her tail swishes

Oh, hello... no, I don't think so. My name is Celeste: nice to meet you.

[Deathkeeper]

Full Moon Party

Domhnall grins wide.
"It's a pleasure to meetcha. You a believer? Or just here for the festivities?" he asks.
He's kind of here mostly for the festivities so he wouldn't judge either way.

[Fenric]

[Full Moon Party]

Celete chuckles.

I'm more "on staff" than anything... their religion doesn't honestly make much sense to me.

[Deathkeeper]

Full Moon Party

"ah! So what do you do exactly? Me I mostly take care of the kids at GLoG. It's not really all that exciting but it's something that I can do." Dom considers it to be less of an adventure than he would have liked earlier. But he also doesn't want to get maimed or cursed so he's willing to maybe compromise on the issue.

[Fenric]

[Full Moon Party]

Celeste smiles and swishes her tail again

I manage the stables and care for the Atreyu memorial. They're away south of the guest quarters, near the artificial river. They're very quiet these days and mostly empty after the strange pony creatures all moved out.

[Rebonack]

[Full Moon Party]

Cautiously, curiously, the shoggoth Plasma Torus entered the temple grounds.

She has managed to explore a little and has been given a very rough explanation of her predicament. She still doesn't quite understand how all this happened. It must have had something to do with that voice that reached out to her, but she doesn't know how or why. Typically she doesn't need to contemplate such questions and the experience has been refreshing. She's had to make more decisions on her own in the past few dozen kiloseconds than in multiple megaseconds of labor. She feels stretched. But a good sort of stretching. Like how one feels after exercising a muscle.

Having realized that most of the sapients inhabiting this bustling hub world are mammals of some sort or another, Torus had decided to modify the make of her body in hopes of appearing less distressing. She had reduced her number of legs down to four from six and modified their jointing to match local wildlife. Each limb ended in three fingers and two thumbs with adhesive toe pads to better grip surfaces. She had felt a tiny thrill of rebellion in creating a limb with five digits on it, even if it was wildly different anatomically from those of the Masters. To mimic the holy form of the Masters in any way was forbidden. But she was not punished for it; a fact she is still wondering at. Torus had reduced her number of eyes to two, which was a strange experience. She made them large and expressive, though mostly the intent was to pack a larger number and variety of photo-receptors into them. They were large and metabolically costly, but she felt blending in was important. She added long, mobile external ears. The creatures here didn't have aural plates spread over their bodies. Torus chose to maintain a quadrupedal stance rather than mimicing the bipeds. By her observation the bipeds were dominant and used quadrupeds as servitors; she didn't wish to feign privilege above her station. She chose a long, thick tail with a forked manipulator at the end to serve as a counter-balance so she could stand on two legs in a hunched position and use her forelimbs for manipulation. And fur, of course. Fur is important to mammals. Never the less, she packed the hairs with chemosensors and simple photoreceptors since being stuck with only two eyes felt nearly blinding.

The end effect, for those familiar with such things, leaves Torus resembling a Seth Beast with phosphorescent green eyes and lustrous black fur with a silvered sheen.

Why had she come here, specifically?

There was a sense of peace and welcome here.

And also Torus had heard that there was food freely available. She was quite hungry and desperate to replenish her lost biomass. To that end she approached a low table and settled down on her haunches, tail reaching up to select a savory smelling dumpling.

[Deathkeeper]

Full Moon Party

Steven might question what happened to that stablehand that was dating his brother but he probably knows even if he was here, which he is not.
"Well, it sounds like you could use more excitement there. Or maybe not. Sometimes excitement is only ever bad news. Didn't think they had many horses here."
They only really have a couple, plus Sir James' suite.

[Fenric]

Caroline stops and stares just a little bit at Torus before she manages the proper welcome

Greetings, neighbor: the blessings of Inari be upon you. Welcome to the Full Moon party. Please help yourself to refreshments and feel free to wander the grounds. Myobi is holding a poetry contest on the shore of the pond nearest the island.
I am Caroline, High Priestess of this temple. If yoiu have any questions or need anything, please don't hesitate to ask.

Keiko's eyes flit over to the strange creature, but she's seen (and been) weirder and so she turns her attention back to Cleo and her kids.

---

Celeste shakes her head

Not many at all, no. Guests don't often have horses anymore... the parking garage attendants are far busier than I am, these days.
More to do, perhaps... I don't know about excitement.

[Deathkeeper]

Full Moon Party

Dom nods. He understand the distinction.
"Well, surely there's something to do here! It's a party after all. What do you normally do for fun?" he asks. There's got to be something.

[Rebonack]

[Full Moon Party Snack Raid]

Torus paused, mouth open and dumpling hovering, when she was addressed by the priestess. That title marked 'Caroline' as someone important, surely. This lead Torus to close her mouth and turn toward the speaker, dumpling still clutched by her tail and waiting for its inevitable end.

"I am servitor RC-82-347-89, designated Plasma Torus," she says, inclining her head respectfully. "I was displaced to a location not far from here and I have been trying to re-establish my link to the labor-net, however none here have shown any familiarity with the Masters. I am... unaccustomed to acting with this level of autonomy. Please forgive me if I commit any indiscretions."

She takes a deep breath before continuing, doing her best to steel herself for sharing information that she still finds troubling.

"I have... discovered that some here are familiar with the colloquial term for my kind, 'shoggoth', but the descriptions familiar to them are servitors bereft of their control cores. Such a situation should not arise except via many gigaseconds of neglect. As such, I am fearful that while the Masters may have been here at some point in the past, they have since abandoned this outpost and I have no hope of finding a new Master."

Torus takes another shuddering breath.

"I... apologize. You are clearly an important individual in this society and the problems of a mere servitor are likely beneath your concern. I hope I do not cause too much inconvenience by remaining here to eat the food this temple has kindly provided. I am quite tired as the day has been taxing. If you require payment I am able to offer services. While my specialty is fusion reactor operation and maintenance like all servitors I am equipped to preform a wide variety of manual labor."

[Fenric]

Caroline blinks, the impression of eye-searing lime green somehow overlaying the things Torus says

I'm afraid I'll be little help about your kind... I'm only vaguely familiar with the word in reference to certain works of fiction by the human author H.P. Lovecraft.

And um... it's no inconvenience at all, truly: this is a happy celebration and time to remember the good things in life. Please, do enjoy yourself. No payment is required.

Even if another set of eyes on the werefox's reactor might actually be a good thing...

---

Celeste smiles

Oh, I often play with the young ones. I also do pottery in the arts and crafts room at the school, and I teach a few classes when there's interest. I like to swim... up by the arboretum you'd hardly know you were in the heart of a big city.

[Rebonack]

[Full Moon Party]

Come on Caroline. That's clearly a pleasant minty sea green. Unless of course it is defaulting to lime on some displays for some weird reason.

Anywho!

Torus finds herself surprised by this.

No payment?

No requirement to work?

Up until only a very short time ago labor was the whole purpose of existing. And now, suddenly, she finds herself with nothing but time and choices trying to make sense of it all. Worse still, the voice of the Maker seems to have fallen wholly silent. She's had thoughts that should have resulted in punishment but instead there has been only deafening silence.

"I see," Torus says, her ears drooping slightly as she speaks. "Those who were even aware of my kind have been few and far between. Even fewer knew of the Masters. I am beginning to suspect there may be no way for me to return. If I am to remain here then I need purpose. A shoggoth without labor may as well be dead. The idleness is causing me great distress."

Remembering the dumpling, Torus brings it to her mouth, takes a bite, and-!

Her eyes pop open wide, her ears standing erect.

"This is-"

She quickly eats the rest.

"This is so delectable I-"

Oh hey.

It looks like she's crying. She had included tear ducts to keep her eyes moist but this physiological reaction to her emotional state has taken her quite by surprise.

"I apologize again, I appear to be leaking. This situation is very overwhelming emotionally."

[Fenric]

Caroline looks sympathetic. This is a situation she has had to deal with before...

Not saying her solution was necessarily the very best, but she has dealt with it before.

There, there: now. Don't cry. The dumplings are quite good, yes.

And if it would make you feel better, we do have a group of older model Terran Fusion Reactor field buildings. I wouldn't know when the last time a properly qualified engineer looked them over.

[bc56]

Full Moon Party
Someone very nervously walks up to the entrance of the temple. She has red skin, metallic black hair, six horns on her head, batlike wings, and a barbed tail. In other words, she looks like a demon. Because she is one. She's wearing a long black skirt and grey halterneck top. She walks to the entrance and holds up a hand. It meets an invisible barrier at the edge of the grounds.
Something resembling a divine ping goes out to the deity in charge of the temple. The queen of the Scorching Depths etc etc would like permission to enter the temple.

[Recaiden]

Miyako is extremely pleased with herself, and starts telling the story of how she learned to do this; you see, it all goes back to Thanksmas...

"Wow what a weird fox!" Ayako follows Keiko's glance over towards Torus, but she's never seen such a creature, so she just has to comment on it.

"So, Keiko, how should we celebrate? I hear you're getting better at poetry contests..." Cleo teases.
There's a lot to go over - how long has Keiko been gone? How could she let her cult fall apart like that, again? Did she bring any of those not-kobolds back to the Nexus?
But that's not the important thing.

---

Someone else arrives at the entrance to the temple.
They are invisible, inaudible, tasteless, textureless, have no scent, and barely even disturb the air or leaves as they go by.

(However, Fay will be somewhat obvious to fellow hive-creature Sekhmet, and maybe other people with weird senses will also notice the many-limbed biomechanical monstrosity as it slinks inside)

You see, they've heard that the full moon party attracts very good music, and simply had to come listen.

[Fenric]

[Entrance]

There is a brief but noticeable delay followed by a swell of divine power easily noticeable by everyone else in the entire temple complex, and a bright blue-white flash fills the air in front of the newcomer

When the light fades, there is a farily standard-looking woman of apparently Japenese ancestry there, dressed in a grey skirt-suit, black pumps, and a lab-coat with a circular blue logo of a pair of highly stylized rice plants. Her black hair is bound up into a bun and held in place with a small golden shell and long hair-sticks with blue lacquer ends.

The main avatar smiles

Well hello there! It has been a little while since we last had a divine visitor. Please, do come inside. The party is open for everyone to attend so long as they behave themselves.

---

[Sanctuary]

Keiko nods

I'm not sure that's a fox, dear.

Then she turns to Cleo

Oh, goodness! Well, I at least didn't lose immediately for a change, so I suppose that's something. I'm honestly tempted to say "go on a hunt"! I've been so ... domestic ... for a while now. But getting back into the hang of being a messenger of course means assignments sometimes...

she sniffles

I've missed you all so much

her ears prick up at the feel of the avatar's arrival, but she's kinda busy right now.

[Deathkeeper]

Full Moon Party

"Hmm. I don't swim much. But that all sounds like things we can't do here. Fair enough, though. I mostly play but I haven't had any of my instruments since coming here." Domhnall lost most of his possessions when he landed in Emily's vicinity. He did keep his sword, though. He is quite fond of it.

[5a Violista]

[Full Moon Party]

Someone significantly less important than the recently-arriving Demon Queen etc etc also arrives by the entrance. This person is Sirena.
She's not entirely sure if her presence here will mess up anything, but she hopes that maybe she can do something

Sirena is wearing a white hoodie that has thick fabric cat ears sticking up on the hood, and she with the hood up. Since her hair is mostly white (sure, there's pink tips too) it blends with her hair and makes it hard to tell where hair stops and hoodie starts.
The hoodie is pretty large on her, acting as a dress that goes down mid-thighs. She's got a large fluffy white tail peeking downwards, and her hands are in the hoodie pockets.

Also, she's got really tall (and heeled!) black combat boots, almost go all the way up to the hoodie.
(she also has some frog stuff to her but none of it is visible to any onlookers so it might as well be not there)

And glasses, can't forget those. Glasses are the most important feature of any disguise.

Walking in, she gives both the demon queen and the divine avatar a decent-sized berth, figuring it's best to not get in any trouble on the way in.

[bc56]

Full Moon Party
Sekhmet's eyes go wide at the avatar's appearance. Inari didn't need to appear in person to allow her entrance. She bows and stammers, "Uh, thank you. Uh, it is an honor." She steps through the gate onto the temple grounds. "You, uh, have a very beautiful temple." Even afraid and out of her element, she has a royal aspect to her, but it's nothing compared to divine majesty. She looks around and starts slowly walking to the food, giving Inari time to accompany her if she wishes.
She also sends to Fay. She doesn't look directly at the Stalker, but she doesn't need to. Hi Fay! What, uh, brings you here tonight?

[Morty]

[Meditation Gardens]

Braeg lets out a short, barking laugh. "Ha! If only that were our problem." He chuckles and shakes his head. "No, no... enchanting, as my clan does it, is a dying art, owing mostly to the fact that the clan itself is dying. There are only two of us left, as far as I can tell, who are still capable of it, and we aren't on speaking terms." He sets his mandolin to the side. "If our art is to survive into the next generation, I'd better either find myself some fine fiendling ladies in the near future, or take on an apprentice or twenty."

"Well, don't look at me. I'm fully booked learning sorcery and the water-shaping you saw me do," Batu says sardonically. "Though I suspect only your people can learn it anyway."