It had been some time since Cecelia's interest was towards the many, many shrines in the city of Tokyo, but she had been busy carrying out her duties as a contract mage and planning larger things to investigate other avenues. Though it hadn't been a complete failure it was clear after her defeat at the hands of Runealy and Mistral that any future actions would require significantly more thought put into them.
She was also still recovering from the encounter, which made this the perfect time to explore and learn more about the city, both for herself and in case there really were deeper secrets to be found and potentially exploited. After doing a little bit of light research and asking around she decided to visit Hikawa Shrine first, which suited her just fine. She's wearing her Seiyou middle school uniform as she ascends the stairs to the shine, feeling a certain sense of significance while ascending, as if the location is intended to be held above the rest of the city somehow.
She passes though and under the torii, sweeping blue eyes slowly over the grounds of the shrine, recognizing almost nothing of the architecture or the layout. It would be easy to mistake her for any other type of tourist, the way she looks with open curiosity at things that would seem completely, blandly normal to anyone used to it, save for the fact that she seems to be searching for something.
As old and ornate as the structure might be, however, its grandeur isn't so much in opulance as a certain odd sense of quiet that comes over oneself when they arrive. Though the shrine isn't empty at this hour, most noise feels more muted than it is. It's a peculiar thing.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a single large black feather drifts down in front of your vision, and as soon as it passes, there's a very beautiful young woman with very long dark hair a ways in front of you, dressed in the white and red regalia of a shinto priestess.
She... *probably* didn't teleport???
"Hello there." She says with a kind smile and a slight tilt of her head, seeming friendly but somewhat aloof. "Welcome to Hikawa Shrine."
It might be ominous if it wasn't somewhat peaceful, but it's still enough to make Cecelia tread a bit more carefully. She is, at least, not inclined to snoop into closed buildings or touch things with clear significance to them, her inquisitive intentions keeping the odd quiet from making her outright nervous.
That changes slightly at the sudden obscuring of her vision, her eyes drawn to the black feather only to recognize that she's not alone anymore. Wherever the beautiful young woman dressed in red and white came from, she didn't notice. Surprise shows easily on her face with widened eyes, a curious gaze taking in the form of the new arrival and her hitherto unknown garb.
But it's impolite to stare for too long.
"Ah..! Hello, thank you." She holds her hands in front of herself and gives a polite bow, still a bit stiff compared to one made by people accustomed to the gesture through a lifetime of practice.
A short moment passes as she recovers her wits, speaking again in a somewhat quieter, softer tone of voice befitting the hushed surrounds, "I moved to Tokyo recently and have heard enough about it's shrines to make me wish to visit some of them. I hope I'm not intruding."
Rei blinks once curiously, and smiles, "Oh, a foreigner." She says pleasantly with roughly zero surprise. They get a fair amount of tourism here; although you having moved here is rarer. Rei bows in return, and replies "You're not intruding at all. Please, look around all you like." She says, sweeping her arm outward indicatively of the Shrine as a whole. "My name is Rei Hino. Please let me know if you need anything."
Cecelia inclines her head, "Yes, I'm fairly new to Japan, so I apologize if I impose upon you." Now that the initial shock has worn of she seems to be fairly interested in Rei, especially as it's made clear she's welcome. "I will," thank you, she replies, eyes momentarily moving around the shrine grounds again as it's motioned to.
A hand is lifted and lightly pressed to her chest to motion to herself, "Mine is Cecelia Stovjord, pleased to meet you." There's a short pause but afterwards she takes a few steps closer to Rei to a more conversational distance, "Then if you don't mind, there are some questions I have that you might be able to answer for me."
The first question is a simple one, and one that is probably bizarrely clueless even for a foreigner, "Your outfit, I haven't seen wearing anything like it elsewhere. Is it significant to the shrine?"
Rei smiles patiently and nods, somehow maintaining a bit of a mysterious aura despite, for all intents and purposes at this moment, being a bit of a tour guide. "Don't worry. Your Japanese is very good by the way." She says kindly, bowing again as you give your name. "Nice to meet you, Cecelia-san."
That said, she does blink once before giving a bit of a thoughtful look at your question. "My robes? Well. They're mostly ceremonial for Shinto practices. They designate those who live and worship and guide others spiritually. I suppose you could think of them as a bit of a uniform nowadays." Then it's fun trivia time! "Although, in the old days Shrine Maidens like myself were mostly meant to be sacrifices."
Rei smiles pleasantly. "Not so much these days, thankfully."
Fun trivia time is terrifying.
Mild embarrassment shows on Cecelia's face as her speech is complimented. It's accented in a slightly odd way for a Tokyo native, but otherwise very good. It should be, given Waldian and Japanese are near identical languages. "Thank you, Hino-san," she replies, using Rei's surname since her current role is somewhat official.
The answer to her question gets a small nod; she was expecting that was the case given how different it was to the normal clothing of Tokyo's people.
The bit of trivia that comes with it, however, gets a particularly strong response. She pales and her eyes widen, momentarily struck by something of a panic, "Sacrifices?!" She steps even closer to Rei, only to calm down slightly when the historical nature is brought up.
"Are... are you sure? You're not about to be sacrificed to some monster or demon are you? I'm sure there are people that could help you if you are." The immediate panic is gone from her face but she still looks very worried, to the point her hands are shaking as she lightly reaches out towards Rei in concern.
Rei's smile becomes slightly perplexed at the colorful reaction from their new guest, replying to the question of wether she's going to be sacrificed to a monster with: "Not that I know of!" then tilts her head, "Though we're more about warding off evil spirits here than feeding people to them. We pray to Kami and give offerings for good fortune."
She squints slightly at the outreaching hand, and smoothly sidesteps to gesture towards the inner court of the Shrine, "We also offer a number of charms if you're interested~"
Business is business!
It's such a casual dismissal and confused reaction that Cecelia is sure Rei is telling the truth rather than simply trying to deflect or hide the truth. She pulls her hand back and lets out a sigh, recovering as her heart rate starts to slow back down. "I see, good. I'm glad."
Warding off evil spirits sounds much better than appeasing them. "Prayers and offerings are much better than sacrifices," she says in an even quieter voice, mostly to herself.
She doesn't miss the avoidance of her now retracted reach either, hoping she hasn't alienated her guide too much. "Charms? Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt." And might help her get back on Rei's good side- if she was ever on it in the first place.
She begins walking slowly in the direction motioned towards, now holding her hands together in front of herself, making an effort to be unobtrusive and polite. "Um... I know it might be considered sacrosanct, but after the charm could you take me to the Barrier? I'd like to see it for myself once, if that's possible." Her tone is still quiet, and despite herself there's even a bit of reverence in her voice.
Rei doesn't seem... *particular* perturbed, though internally she's now a bit worried about what must be this person's social isolation until now. That or she's watched too much anime?
Disregarding the fact that Rei's life is completely insane, that doesn't tend to cross over to dealing with other people in a useful way. Even if what they're talking about is totally real, they don't tend to actually know they're right.
Instead she just smiles and says, "I'll show you~" In a soft, friendly voice as she begins to lead Cecelia to the charms.
There are a number of places to give offering with people in various stages of bowing and clapping gathered around, though Rei draws near a stall with a number of cases containing paper slips inside. She makes it about halfway there when she starts to anser, "Our b-" and then her gait falters, slows, and stops as she looks at you curiously, one eyebrow faintly raised, "Our... 'Barrier'?"
Cecelia follows along as Rei leads her towards the place where the luck charms are sold, her attention mostly on the shrine maiden herself but turning towards people as they make offerings and say they're prayers as well. It's nothing like anything she's ever seen before outside of Japanese media, and she hasn't even consumed a particularly large amount of it, despite what her actions might lead Rei to believe.
Then as Rei slows and stops, she blinks a little herself, confused herself by the confusion. "The Barrier. Um..." Is it a different word, here? "Shrines... they have seals that protect openings between worlds. To keep the evil spirits out?"
She uses a mix of her own terms and ones Rei has used herself to try and emphasize better. Something occurs to her a little and her eyes widen a bit, casting about to the other people around before stepping closer to Rei and asking in a quiet whisper, "Is... that something most people here don't understand?"
That... isn't quite what Rei was expecting when she heard the word 'barrier'. She's encountered several in Tokyo, and hearing it mentioned by this stranger was... alarming, at first, but Rei looks a little relieved when it seems like Cecelia is just confused. And... then she seems concerned as it starts to get a little weird.
"Well we... we have individual seals to... ward away spirits when they manifest." She doesn't say 'banish malignant spirits' because the truth is too impressive and crazy for a rational person to believe. Bad for business, among other things. "But we... you..." Rei stops when Cecelia whispers to her, her brow furrowing as she very slowly turns to face Cecelia directly. "I... think you're confused, Ms. Or..." Rei tilts her head, trying to seem a bit more light hearted, though her eyes are oddly... focused. "... is that a local thing, perhaps? I'm afraid I've never been abroad."
Perched on one of the arches, two crows are now staring at Cecelia very, very intently.
Mutual confusion has Cecelia looking perplexed, tilting her head and watching Rei, trying to understand what the beautiful young woman is thinking. She only gets the impression that the shrine maiden is likely trying to do the same thing for her.
Her head shakes a little and she brushes her hair back over her left ear. Then when Rei mentions that it might be local her eyes widen, her mouth opening slightly and then closing.
"...ah, I think perhaps that must be it. I don't believe my 'local' shrine gives prayers or offerings to Kami. I must have mistaken the purpose of this place." She deflates somewhat, looking away from Rei and then returning her gaze after a few moments. "I suppose I'm still interested in your traditions, despite it." Pause, "And your charms."
Rei is quiet for a good several seconds before she nods once and simply says. "I see." With a small smile. Though inwardly the words 'other worlds' are spinning around at a few hundred miles an hour, she outwardly keeps her composure as she smiles and says, "Of course! Right this way."
Charms for everything it seems. Charms for luck, charms for love, charms for focus and charms to ward negativity, both of a spiritual and personal nature. It's fortunate that Rei's gone down the list hundreds of times, because otherwise it'd be hard to make the sales pitch while eyeing someone suspiciously.