milliways_bar | (no subject)

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abe no seimei

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Some people need costumes for Halloween. Some people look like it's Halloween every day. Alec truly wishes he did not forever resemble something from a bad horror film.

Today, much to his confusion, he looks like something out of a really bad horror film. The ones without a budget. Oh, he can still hear the Green and talk to the plants. But is sure he's made of rubber.

Well, rubber is a plant, right?

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"Now that's just cruel," says a large grey fox perched on a nearby table.

Alec has never seen Abe no Seimei in this shape before, but he may recognize the voice from their previous meeting. It doesn't sound any different, in spite of Seimei's rather drastic change in shape.

"That I look like someone forgot to account for a special effects budget? Yes, I think so. Not that I love my usual body, but this one feels wrong." Like, if he tried to grow vegetation, it would be wax fruit.

"I know that voice, don't I?"

"Yes, we have met before. I gave you an enchanted ring," the fox says.

"Yes, of course. I didn't get to do anything with it before things went wrong." Strange how that seems like a distant memory at the moment.

Seimei twitches his whiskers. "What do you mean by 'went wrong?'" If it involved the ring being lost or stolen, Seimei's going to have to track it down.

"I died, more or less. I was recruited by some superheroes to save the world, and in the process, I was absorbed into an alien thing, and was just barely able to send a shoot through a door. This is all that's left of me.

"Or was." He studies his rubbery fingers and sighs.

"The door you sent the shoot through, did it lead directly to here?" Because then getting back might pose something of a problem.

"Outside, but yes. I am now tuned into the Green of the forest here." Which has been oddly calming.

"So if you go out the Door...it might take you back into the predicament that you escaped. Although perhaps you will be given some special consideration, and the Door will put you somewhere else."

"Door? What door? I don't see one anymore. Which makes me think the worst has happened to my body and I am essentially dead." Even if he's sure that it would be very hard for him to die.

"No, you're not dead," Seimei says with confidence, "It is possible you've been brought here to recover, or plan your next move, or both."

"Or to rest. Though I miss my friends." There aren't many, so he cherishes them.

"Were they involved in this fight against the alien...whatever-it-was?"

"Not the ones I miss. One friend helped to set the plan for our mission, but then drifted to the rear and let others who didn't really seem to know what they were doing run things. I had wanted to talk with him for months, but he seemed to avoid it." Maybe so. Did Buddy need another condolence for his son?

"One gets the distinct impression that you are more concerned about losing your friend than losing the battle," Seimei observes.

"Battles tend to be won in the end. Friendships...those are harder to maintain." He lost every friend he ever had when alive through the act of dying, and hasn't a clue how to restore them.

Seimei nods in agreement - a very odd gesture in his current form. "Indeed, especially when one is a newly minted immortal. It is one of the more difficult parts of a difficult transition." Pause. "One often wishes for some sort of handbook or etiquette manual to provide guidance."

It's hard to tell whether he's being serious or not.

"The Parliament of Trees tries to offer one, but it's more about my responsibilities to the Green than how to connect with allies. Or makes allies.

"They're a rather difficult bunch." Made more difficult by how readily Alec chooses to alienate them.

Seimei's whiskers twitch. "I had a similar experience when I became part of the Shinto pantheon. I received very clear instructions with regards to, shall we say, my professional obligations, but advice in other areas was somewhat lacking." He flops his tail over from one side to the other, then back again.

"Fortunately, I was not the first mortal to become a kami, and those who had done so before me came to my aid."

"You are rather lucky. The Parliament thinks that throwing you off the deep is a legitimate training strategy."

"They probably don't know how to do anything else," Seimei says. "They have no experience that relates to yours. Some of the other Avatars might, but from what you have said there is at best an uneasy truce between you."

"Well, it isn't my problem for the moment." And oddly, that makes him relax a bit.

"Indeed not." Seimei flicks his ears. "This is a good place for many things, including the time and space necessary to gain proper perspective on one's situation."

"It might be." Or maybe it's just the influence of the Bar's version of the Green.

"I don't know the particulars of your situation with your friend," Seimei says, "but I have a recommendation. When you next have an opportunity, apologize to your friend for whatever you did to offend him. I have found that approach usually leads to an enlightening and productive - though awkward - conversation."