cursebound. (Earinor & Akira)

"You already misplaced your trust in me before.", Genji reminded Mikuni. He seemed so young, but that was easy to say for someone who lived multiple lives, even though he could barely remember them. "I should be okay for a while. The curse seems dormant right now." Sated was probably a better word, or maybe tired and defeated. It's already been days since Genji killed, but he felt fine. There wasn't an urge to kill, even when he fought those soldiers by the monestary. He had no problem with letting them live, usually even when he felt fine, once he held his weapon in his hand, it became more of a struggle to let go of it again. "Otoha can't fix everything though. Using her power seems to take enough out of her already." She only awoke when all the others were already dead and when Mikuni had already given up crying for help. Genji couldn't rely on her stopping him from killing any more people.

Genji trailed after Mikuni, the town inching closer and closer. "What is she known for?", he asked the priest. He thought to remember her being a fighter, not too bad with a sword herself and Genji believed he joined her in fighting for her cause, whatever it was. He still couldn't believe he did. It undoubtedly made his live easier if he killed to stay himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. There had been too many already and their souls were lost forever, eaten up by whatever slept inside of him. "Yeah that's it. I feel like certain things are true, I think I know Otoha used to be good with a sword for example, but I can't recall a single memory that would prove it to me. I'm not annoyed by it. I think I am too old to be annoyed or angry. Not for my own sake anyway. I don't feel any specific way about it, I know I trusted her and she trusted me. That's enough." Even though he felt like there was something off, something that didn't fit, but he couldn't be sure if he was different or Otoha was.

“And yet you haven’t hurt me since… just an observation, of sorts.”, Mikuni recalled, not trying to make a fool of himself or the situation in the slightest. If anything, he wanted for Genji to feel comfortable around him, as much as any of that was possible. What good was it if the two of them were not able to put the slightest bit of trust in one another? There was simply no merit in continuing onward if it were so, nor were there any sort of gratification from words left unspoken, to avoid nothing but awkwardness. “See? I hope we will be right as rain.” Not that either of them could really know. What if the curse felt agitated by whatever was going on in a place as lively as a town? Mikuni knew there’d be hell to pay for it, remaining hopeful the least of his concerns as his heart went pitter-patter. “Maybe so. She knows when to give it a rest by herself, still.” Which meant that relying on her simply had never been an option, not to an extent like this anyhow. Grim tidings awaited them just about anywhere, even if they traversed onward, even if Mikuni finally grew a spine.

“What? You … don’t know?” His voice had long since turned into a thin strip of silk, torn and broken, mangled and anything but ironed. With Genjis age came issues, that he was well aware of now, thanks to confessions that bubbled from his mouth to the surface by their lonesome. Mikuni felt no less cheated by fate for it, although he was sure that there were things that even a goddess like his own was incapable of influencing. “See, that’s easy, she’s known for-“, the priest cut himself off, rather abruptly, his voice failing him, thinning out until all of it was but gone, fizzled out not unlike the last sparks of a flame, hot coals being doused in freezing water, sizzling and smoking for but a scant few seconds longer. He coughed, once, then twice. “She’s known for-“ Again, his voice died in his throat and dread crawled about instead, deep dark hands clinging to the corners of his vision like manacles, ensnaring him. “Seems like she wants to tell you herself … whenever that is.” With a sigh, Mikuni waltzed onward, his shoulders left hanging, the bridge of his nose pressed between his forefinger and thumb. That hadn’t happened before; had it? What was she on about now? Genji had every right to know. “That sounds sweet, almost like in one of those retellings of some mythical stories about fated love, no? To not remember, but to still know, deep down, like it’s naturalized, it’s somewhat bittersweet.”

"I can't promise it will stay that way. I just want to bring you two somewhere save. Whatever Otoha needs me to do then, I can do on my own." She could help him, right? He couldn't recall why she became a goddess in the first place, but he had the feeling it had been a plan of hers even when theylived together. Something that happened on purpose, but he couldn't remember how to achieve such a high goal either and again, something was off, not about her this time however. A shiver ran down Genjis spine and he couldn't tell why. He simply nodded, they should be alright if they just stayed for a day. He didn't want to stay the night if he could help it. Mikuni surely wanted a nice, soft bed to sleep in after last night, but Genji rather moved on for multiple reasons. Even if those people were welcoming and nice, the paladins would not be, despite what Mikuni believed. They lost their goddess, they wouldn't be very nice to get her back.

"No. I knew her as human... I don't know how we parted ways." He didn't know what became of her once she left her mortal coil behind, even though he felt like he should know. Wasn't this odd? Wouldn't he have been around for her end if they lived together, had children together even? Genji felt off, he felt cold and his fingertips hurt. It wasn't the curse, it was his body recoiling because he tried to remember. Mikuni meanwhile struggled to give Genji more information. Otohas doing then? Did she have a reason for keeping him in the dark about any and all details? All she told him were the pleasent things, things Genji didn't remember vividly but felt were true. Genji swallowed down his next comment. If he was in a fairytale, he was the monster. Meanwhile they arrived at the entrance of the town and Genji was glad about it, he rather stopped thinking about his past, his body clearly against it and he feared if he pushed it, he'd also push the curse. "We're here. What now?", he asked Mikuni.

"It's alright.", Mikuni told Genji, not even sure what it was that was so right to him. Being brought somewhere he could spend the rest of his days, or him listening to everything Otoha would ever throw at his head? If he could figure that out, he thought, maybe it would be easier to help Genji out of the pinch he found himself in. "But aren't you looking to help yourself? I'm sure she knows how to help you, maybe?", he suggested, not knowing what he was actually proposing. Was it stupid of him to think about it like that? That his goddess would fix everyone, always, out of the goodness of her heart when it was pretty much obvious that she recquired a sacrifice few were willing and able to provide? Genji could be an exception to the rule, then, something that made Mikuni smile as he just thought about it. She loved him a lot, he could feel it, even if it sounded insane. "I wonder if she ever looked for you when she turned into a goddess, but ... it's not really my place to get into all of that." All he was was a servant, getting tangled up in a lovestory that was grander than his own lifespan and purpose would ever be. To be a vessel, to be trapped within the machinations of a world unkind and brittle, Mikuni already knew that even just hoping to escape it was blasphemous.

As they strode over the beaten path, then waded through high grass, the noise of the windmill got louder and the buzzing of the insects were almost drowned out, save for lone crickets that were undoubtedly hiding from their eyes, though not their ears. However could they? The soft glow of the sun, in motion to dip beneath the mountains anytime soon and the painterly landscape itself made the journey they had undertaken worth it, at the very least to him, who was less concerned about living another day and more about pleasing his goddess, who gave him scant few instructions, aside of being close and nice to Genji, whenever it was that they even met paths in his scrambled brain. "Find an inn, I'd say? And then see if we can find anyone to help us, be it a monastery, a church or something else. At least that's what she thinks is plausible, I think?", he suggested to Genji, who seemed on edge enough about entering the walled town in the first place. "It's going to be alright, I can promise you that much, Genji." As Otoha willed it, then? Mikuni couldn't help himself, he grabbed Genjis hand with his own and awared the man a shortlived smile. "Do you want to talk to her?"

"She already told me what she needs, but neither of your presence is required for that.", Genji replied. If Otoha wanted to find her remains, if it helped, Genji could do that on his own and bring back what he found while Mikuni and her would be save. He didn't quite understand why she ran from the paladins. As their goddess couldn't she just tell them what they should do? When she talked through Mikuni it was undoubtedly her after all. Genji was a threat naturally, but if they just parted ways her and Mikuni could leave in realtive ease again and Genji would find a way back to them once he got what Otoha needed. "It feels unlikely." He couldn't say why he thought that. Otoha definetly sounded like she could remember him perfectly and never forgot about him, but it didn't seem like there was a big attempt made and even when Genji first talked to Mikuni and she was there, she never overtook his body to talk to him like this. Maybe she couldn't until her vessel was weakned. If so what did that mean for Mikuni?

Arriving by the towns gate wasn't something Genji looked forward to in the slightest. "I thought she's sleeping?", he asked confused. Talking to people? Churches? Priests? All of this seemed like a bad idea to him, they should lay low if anything. Didn't those tw people they helped give them a place to go to? Genji wasn't out for a reward but something caught Mikunis attention it seemed. Genji flinched when Mikuni simply grabbed his hand, but he didn't pull away, instead he trotted after him, entering the town. The curse lay dormant still and yet Genji felt like that could change at any moment. "Let her rest... I thought this was your idea anyway." Something Genji shouldn't ahve agreed to but waiting outside did seem like a bad option too. What if someone here already knew what happened in the nearby monestary?

"It feels like she'd like to come with, though, but ... I don't think she can simply materialize a body of her own. So you'd still be stuck with me." A body that, temporarily, could brave all that it needed to to be equal to Genji, but even then, Mikuni found himself being nagged by the voice in his head from time to time. She wanted this of him, no that, and then, when she finally figured out how to make his body hers, she hardly ever wanted to hand it back. As obedient as the priest was, he hardly ever wanted to share his body like this, his brain still feeling somewhat tethered to Otoha from what happened the other night, when they were both talking to Genji like they were a single being. Disgusting. It still felt the same. Messed up, like he couldn't let go of something that would always be at the forefront of his mind from now on. "I suppose she has to adhere to where her vessel stays, and I guess a temple or monastery wouldn't simply let their goddess go and pilfer throught he lands to find a single man she once liked ... they're pretty strict." Which also sounded more like they found Otoha and made her their goddess, rather than the goddess raising her own faith. What a messed up idea that was, but Mikuni didn't know more than any average priest after all, he was simply unlucky.

"I can try and wake her, I'm not saying I will manage to, though." What a sad end to that conversation it would be if she found out that Mikuni could, under no circumstances, force her out of her own reserves like she did to him. Often times he heard the voice in the back of his head telling him it was better like this, that she needed her rest and he shouldn't get too involved, but even that seemed as if it was simply a rouse. "You like her a lot, don't you?" So much so he still held Mikunis hand as he proposed some stupid stuff, which he felt sorry for, but he had wondered just how absorbed Genji had been in his own thoughts. "Well, I ... figured you'd not want to stay at their place? Overall, you seemed like you didn't want to come here, so I figured maybe an inn would suit you better. But we can go there instead? Or do both ... I don't want to overstay my welcome anywhere." Or test Genjis infinite patience that, eventually, would run drier than the blood in his own veins at some point. "We could also just go to the markets and see if we can catch any sort of gossip there that might help us. You seem a bit apprehensive, are you ... scared?"