dominatriarch | (no subject)

I'm afraid so. Though right now, I'm more concerned with making sure not to raise suspicion unless whoever is responsible catches wind of an investigation.

[ There's a click of her tongue at that. ]

As... absurd... as this Susano'o is, he seems benign. He told me he knew the boy who called himself Tsukiyomi and that Tsukiyomi was some kind of minor god from Shibuya.

[ That's what she understood from when they spoke, after all. Can't blame her. It was all a haze of alcohol that day. ]

Sound as your theory is, it does beg the question of who would do this, why... and how is he manipulating so many people in such little time?

Oh yeah? He seemed like he had some kind of weird issue with Tsukiyomi, but I thought he meant the real one.

[Tsuzuki shakes his head, leaning back to stare with unfocused eyes up at the flowery branches overhead.]

Anyway, if he's new, he's not part of this.

A bunch of those new gods are ones I've never heard of, old Western gods -- you know, ones who couldn't have had more than a handful of worshipers in Japan to begin with, if that.

So either this is about finding a way to bring new gods in, or most of us are camouflage for the actual targets. I mean, who'd go to this much trouble to get rid of the old Freyja in Japan?

It didn't sound that way to me. It seemed... personal. As if he'd known that Tsukiyomi before they came here.

[ But yes, she isn't quite sure if that's a piece of the puzzle they're looking for but it's still something that bugs her.

Though Tsuzuki's question does grab her attention. ]

But why those gods? Why gods who had long lost their followers? Why not target more powerful gods if control was what they wanted?

[ And a shake of her head after. ]

Even if we've managed to find some answers, we've only uncovered more questions in their wake.

Yeah. I think we've got to be here for camouflage.

Either the whole idea is they wanted to get rid of just one or two of their targets -- like Susano'o, or Tsukiyomi -- and all the rest of us got dragged in because it's a lot easier to do something like that to a god with hardly any followers around, or there's something else this guy's planning, and we're all here to distract Heaven.

[He leans back, propping his elbows on the back of the bench and thinking hard.]

... Forget Tajimamori. I don't think he could've been in a position to threaten anyone so much that he'd be the main target. I think we've got to look at the major gods for this.

Possibly.

[ But this makes her think. ]

I can't help but wonder if Susano'o and Tsukiyomi were just a test. They... whoever they are... haven't tried to raise their hand against the higher ups. Amaterasu's still here, as are Takemikazuchi and the rest of the seven gods of fortune, myself included.

[ There's actually a frustrated exhale from her as she slumps forward. ]

We should probably start with trying to identify who they're after. That might be easier than a why or a how.

[Tsuzuki chews on his lower lip, thinking.]

Susano'o and Tsukiyomi are the biggest they've gone for so far, though. It's got to take a lot of work to catch a fish that big, no matter how they're doing it.

... Do you have any way to ask about what they were doing before they disappeared?

Maybe they got too close to whoever's doing this.

It would make sense as to why they're going after smaller fry first, so the speak.

[ Not that Susano'o or Tsukiyomi are small fry but they're certainly not Amaterasu.

His question though... that gives her pause to think. The rest of the Fortune Gods, maybe? Kofuku might know something... maybe. ]

I could ask the other gods. Perhaps they heard something.

-- Thanks, Bishamon. [His smile at her is bright with relief. He doesn't know the gods that well, he doesn't have a lot of leverage with them, and, importantly, he doesn't know which ones are and aren't safe to pursue for answers... but she does.

Man, he's lucky he wound up talking to her.]

I'll let you know if I find anything else out.