[color=gray][right][i]Forces that do not identify themselves often work in mysterious ways;
Only to show themselves at the right moment.[/i][/right]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/lNnPcGc.png?1[/img][hr][/center]
[indent][indent]Despite everything that Ren had promised or might’ve lightly joked about, the feeling deep in his stomach that originated from his soul was already starting to surface. It seemed the closer he came to the temple - a series of unfortnate events that he himself wasn’t sure what the cause of - had visibly shown signs in both how pale his face was as well as the slow pace he took on. Raiko. It was hard for him because, one he really did want to see the shrine and didn’t want to disappoint Ren, but he knew if he went closer, he’d come to regret it. 

Oh well. Raiko did a lot of things that weren’t in his best interest.

When they had reached the temple, Raiko’s nausea aside, it was quite the beautiful sight to behold. Much like the journey to the hilltop where the shrine was located at, the view from this high up was the kind of sight that really made him appreciate the little things that this world had to offer. Even amid the storm, there was a true beauty to the shrine under the light of the gods. Not that Raiko actually believed in all that, but even he couldn’t deny there was actually some truth to what the Priests and Priestesses believe in. 

While Ren was talking to the elder about ...something, Rai took a seat, admiring the view. The village, the crop squares, and lastly, the Serpent Mountains overlooking everything looked like something out of an ink painting. All of what he saw in front of him just appeared to be all in place. Nothing was out of sync with each other. The storm coming provided a nice element of chaos to the order of Seiki and the neighboring lands. Whether or not this storm that was coming was going to last for more than the remainder of the day remained to be seen. For now, Raiko would take it all in before he physically couldn’t.

At some point, Ren had joined him, or called him over; truth be told, Rai wasn’t sure which it was. All he knew was that he and Ren were inside the temple on the elder’s advice they spend the night at the temple. He knew it was rude to decline an open invitation to wait out the storm. And as much as he would [i]like[/i] to say no, he couldn’t think of any logical reason that would excuse him. In the end, his inward debate between the part of him that wanted to stay for Ren’s sake and the part of him that wanted to jet because it would be the self-serving thing to do, he simply couldn’t side with the latter part of him. Sometimes being the good friend that he was often had its downsides.

Before they’d head inside the shrine, Ren said something to Rai that caught him off-guard, which didn’t happen often. Rai was usually the one to say such things to her, one could imagine how Raiko was genuinely taken by surprise by her words. It garnered such an uncharacteristic response from him that his reply was delayed.[color=b5484b]"Oh, uh - I mean--"[/color] And too late to respond as they were rushed inside by Elder Tanaka.

Raiko took a seat next to Ren, which was opposite to Tanaka herself. He felt the feeling from before crawl up his skin from his hips and all the way up his spine, latching onto his skin, causing him to be antsy and, to Tanaka, somewhat paranoid. He kept looking over his shoulder, smacking his back as if he felt ants crawling on him. He was itching his arms and legs and back and neck, unable to sit still no matter what he tried. It was like everything around him - at least to the half-demon - was trying to get him. This didn’t help his case when he was doing it in front of the Elder Tanaka.
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