[ Action | Open ] 🌙 Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Buddha

[its_dad_sanzo]

Who: Open to all!
What: Koumyou Sanzo's arrival in Genessia.
Where: The Bay
When: Mid-November
Warnings: Nah. A single manga panel of Koumyou's death, but it's super not-graphic by itself.

But ultimately, impermanence is our only truth.
Koumyou's eyes opened. He didn't remember closing them. The last thing he remembered was telling a young Kouryuu -- Genjyo Sanzo -- to be strong... and the briefest sensation of being taken apart. His head had come off before the pain could truly set in. And now he was... here. Staring up at the ceiling of a... cave?

The priest blinked, and lifted his hands above his face. They were both there. He patted his shoulders, and the familiar crinkle of the Seiten Sutra greeted him.

This was not what he'd expected of the afterlife. If he'd expected anything at all. Reincarnation? Even he wasn't sure. But if he was to be reincarnated, what was he doing here in this familiar body, in these familiar robes, with his Sutra?

The Sanzo priest sat up and looked around. For once, his eyes were fully open and sharp, with no one to observe him. A box fell into his lap from atop his bamboo breastplate, and he blinked down at it. How peculiar! Death had left him a present, it seemed. How polite of it.

He opened the box and sifted through it, perfectly content to sit in his pod for a while as he did so.

Eventually, he wandered out of the cave, and shielded his eyes against the sun with one hand as several birds took off from nearby trees at his appearance. A few crows, and... several small, colorful birds? Hm. They were certainly pretty, against the blue sky...

Comments

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Woah, that's a long time to be on a whole other world. Did you die, too?"

[firefandance]

She was quick to shake her head. "Oh, no. I never died at all." She was pretty sure about that.

"There are some who come here who have, but there are others who haven't."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Huh," Koumyou didn't have a whole lot to say to that. He'd died, but that wasn't a requirement for this... odd world? That was... something.

"What kind of after-life lets in the living, anyway?"

[firefandance]

"I don't think this is an after life. Your technically alive and you can technically die here as well, although you can come back after dying for a price." Which seemed really odd to say but she was saying like it was perfectly normal.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Ohhhh? So this place is an actual dead end, then."

No reincarnation, here!

[firefandance]

"Actual dead end?" She thought she understood at least what that might mean, but sometimes she felt it was always nice to see if she was correct or not.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"You know, no reincarnation," Koumyou made a circular motion with one finger.

A little disturbing to a Buddhist, really. Not that he'd ever been a very good Buddhist, despite his rank.

[firefandance]

"You mean like being reborn into another form? If so, yes that is not a thing here... unless in way we are reborn as who we are already, but I don't think that is the same at all."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"That's just sad, to me... I thought I was done with this life."

Of course, he'll think otherwise once he knows his beloved son is here.

[firefandance]

"How is it? I mean some people are like in there teens, they have yet to really live life. I mean this place isn't exactly the best at times, but it's still nice for them to be able to live a life."

That to her was at least important anyway.

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Perhaps not for them, but I'm Buddhist, and not a teenager. If my time with my son is over, I'd rather just move on."

[firefandance]

"I get that, but I'm sure you were brought here for a reason. Just like the rest of us. We don't know the reason, but there probably is one."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"There always is," Koumyou sighed, shielding his eyes against the sun to look up at the sky.

[firefandance]

She nodded slightly. "But ah, I'm sure you'll need to get settled in first, right? Need help with that at all?"