013 | How To Save A Life

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Investigating suicides
When: Afternoon June 16
Where: The Near Shore (Tokyo)
Summary: Investigation and reporting
Warnings: Talk of suicide/suicide ideation.



There has been a very sudden, very disturbing increase in the number of suicides committed in Tokyo recently. While this sometimes happens for naturally occurring reasons, the Heavens have a suspicion that something is wrong here. So they are enlisting the help of any gods and shinki that are willing to give their time, including newly arrived gods and shinki who will be informed of their situation before being directed anywhere.

It's up to you whether you are interested in helping the Heavens out, they only want those who are willing to lend a hand. Though if your god/shinki forces you along with them, that should be fine too.



Briefing

The briefing of the situation will be happening at the Meeting Hall of the gods, orders coming directly from Suijin herself. After the explanation is given, gods and shinki will be given supplies to help them, including books on how to help people in bad situations, water bottles, and some light snacks to take with them. This could go all night, so make sure you stock up on what you need before you take off.

The Streets

Streets that are usually bustling and loud are somber and awkward now. Many of the people seem to be down in the dumps and those who aren't are so put off by the situation that they are keeping mostly quiet. When approached, the ones who are obviously depressed will talk only of how life isn't worth it and how they wish it was all over. Others will comment on how confusing this all is coming from the people that are depressed. NPC interaction with mods will be available, but you are welcome to control your own NPCs as well.

Ayakashi

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who spend enough time talking to the people in Tokyo will suddenly realize that there are a number of ayakashi attaching themselves to each of the affected people. That's right, multiple ayakashi connected to each person. They will have to be destroyed to free the person from their depressing thoughts, but there sure are a lot of them around. And, to make matters worse, a very aggressive, noisy kind of ayakashi will show up randomly to interfere with everything. They require teamwork to defeat and are hell-bent on attacking gods and shinki rather than humans.

Reporting In

Reports about what you have seen and who you have saved and what you have destroyed can be taken back to the Meeting Hall where Suijin will be waiting to be briefed. Those who bring her information are likely to be rewarded, though they might not realize just what kinds of rewards they are receiving.

In Summary:

• Get informed
• Go do some fieldwork
• Find and defeat some ayakashi
• Save some lives
• Report back in to Suijin
• Have fun~

Comments

Open

[adventurology]

Post Briefing

[Lara Croft is not one to miss an information session, and this one seems particularly important. Prepared as always, she arrives wearing jacket with a glitter of what looks like mail armour beneath her shirt, and a golf bag laden with weapons. She listens to the explanation and meanders over to take some of the offered items, packing them into her bag before taking a seat at a table and beginning to check her things. Starting with a pistol she methodically begins breaking it down and cleaning it, while a tall shinki looks on.

Anyone Lara knows gets an encouraging nod, a wave, or some other gesture of acknowledgement. And anyone that seems a little out of their depth? Well, they get a warm smile.]

Ready for this?

Streets, maybe leading to Ayakashi

[Once out, her gear fully checked and stowed, Lara hits the streets. She doesn't want to let anyone go wandering off alone, so she's sticking close to groups of Heaven's servants. Her attention seems unusually focused tonight, and her demeanor almost unnaturally calm. It might seem unnerving to some, but Lara can hardly be bothered to care.

Pointing to a group of people, she nods.]

Let's go talk to them, see if they've seen anything.

Wildcard

[Want to do something not listed with Lara, or got a wild idea? I will roll with it! Hit me up!]

post briefing

[tuishou]

[He's busy downing a bottle of water- probably the second-most thing he is grateful for having come from the entire meeting (the first being light food he can actually bear to stomach) when he sees Lara close by. --And what do you mean it's rude to dismiss Suijin-sama's time and instructions? For some reason, Neji's now caught staring at the pistol Lara is working on (the reason being he's curious as hell about it but whatever).

He blames the current lack of emergency for making him slow to react. Oh. She's smiling. He's tilting his head.] We all must be. [Or else way to dash his hopes that this room of people will be the key to the solution.]

[adventurology]

[Casually, Lara keeps on cleaning, running a cloth over each piece to methodically ensure it's smooth and dust free. Jamming just wouldn't do, and the gun in question is one of Roth's old Remington 1911's, time tested and battleworn but immaculately cared for since they'd come into her hands.

Her smiles doesn't break , though it does wane a little, and she takes a breath.]

You're right. This is what we're here to do. I've got a strange feeling about this, if I'm being honest. Something about this feels different.

[tuishou]

[He nods (and has no idea what to say about her choice of weapon though he wishes he did- the only way he's gotten to 'understand' guns has been from mindless television programs) and wonders where this woman dredges up the damn unshakable solidarity from.

It's not a bad thing.

He feels somehow better having run into her.]

It does and if the Heavens have now turned this into an order to investigate then there must be something to be found. [Maybe not after a bit (or a lot) of hounding but there has to be something. Neji gives another small nod, he--] Whatever is different, we can all fix this. With more hands, we can now fix it quicker.

[adventurology]

[She carefully finishes reassembling and cleaning the weapon, jamming a clip into it and setting it aside to pull out a second gun. This one's a shotgun, and it takes her a minute longer to get it apart, but everything about her motions is smooth and practiced.

This is no different than other times. Just...there's a lot more trouble since it's in downtown Tokyo.]

We will. I have faith in that much. [Looking up to meet his eyes, she nods at him, voice as smooth and steely as the barrel of the gun she's working on.]

I'm not really a religious sort, but if I'm honest, a mission handed down from Heaven On High is a damn good motivator. [A beat.] Have you faced one of the creatures yet? The ayakashi? If it is one, I mean.

[tuishou]

[Shotguns aren't as common. Neji's watching Lara's motions, rather than the woman herself. It's childish, maybe, to think that trying to commit to memory how something is put together will give one an idea of how it's supposed to function. --Nope, Neji's still as lost as ever. That's the source of the small, pensive frown on him- not the conversation at hand. He's a touch late to acknowledge the eye contact. Oops. Boy's got his priorities set right.]

You don't believe in gods and yet you work with them? [Actually, is she one? Suddenly Neji holds himself a little straighter, a little taller... he can't remember if he's heard or asked about her before. Blame the drowsiness. Anyway.] The ayakashi who plague humans have multiplied. Slaying the demons will only get you so far because of the sheer number of them.

Some are aggressive. [He feels like he's slightly underselling this but 'aggressive' means 'aggressive' so. Not much to expand on there.]

Briefing

[kokuyoyo]

No.

[Well. At least Chikusa is honest. He still seems to be giving uncertain glances to the books they've been given, but otherwise is checking his things with the usual dull expression.]

But it's not going to stop on its own I guess...

[adventurology]

[Chikusa can look bored all he wants, but he's absolutely right.]

No, it isn't. It'll get worse. [She runs a cloth over some of the parts, and then starts reassembling the weapon.]

It'll get much, much worse. There's at least some studies that show that when a suicide rate is high in an area, it keeps increasing as more and more people are affected. If that's true in my world, I can almost guarantee that one with monsters that feed on human suffering is going to be the same if not worse.

[kokuyoyo]

[Well. That's a statistic he wasn't aware of, and he glances back to her again.]

Did you deal with suicide a lot before...?

[adventurology]

Not personally. Just in college. It was a common topic in some of my sociology courses, and something that came up repeatedly in historical surveys, though. I'm familiar with it academically.

[And personally, but Chikusa doesn't need to hear about her father. Nor is she interested in telling that story to anyone.]

[kokuyoyo]

Then you’re probably already ahead of most people here.

[Definitely Chikusa, at any rate.]

briefing bc i am unoriginal

[onerous]

[Yuri slides a tired gaze Lara's way at being addressed, blinking slowly. Was she being talked to? Yes, right, okay. She straightens up and gives her head a little shake to clear it and wake herself up some more.]

The sooner this is over, the better. [For everyone, but also for her. She could maybe sleep for a while? Amazing. Yuri looks out around the others milling about and getting ready]

A lot of people turned out to help out... More than I thought there'd be, honestly.

you're fine

[adventurology]

[By now Lara's finished with the pistol and is breaking down a short-barreled shotgun, methodically working, checking each part as it comes apart. She doesn't miss the tired look in Yuri's eyes, and it hardly takes a genius to put two and two together.]

It'll be an extra relief to you, won't it? I imagine you've been quite swamped of late.

[Taking moment to really focus, she looks around the room.]

We'll figure this out. You'll get a break. Promise you that much.

[onerous]

[She watches Lara work with interest, the spark of curiosity stirring her a little out of her sleepy state.]

It's been... [Yuri trails off and then sighs, having been perfectly ready to dismiss the question--it was fine, she was fine, she could handle this, etc.] Exhausting. It's been a few days now; I wasn't sure the Heavens would notice or respond to this at all.

I'd be thankful just for a couple hours uninterrupted sleep at this point.

[adventurology]

I'm sorry. I had no idea, or I'd have gone out sooner.

[She means that, and she's taking this as deadly serious as she does anything else. The gun is immaculate by the time she's finished with it, a magazine of six shots smacked into the bottom. Putting that away, she pulls out a long knife, almost long enough to be called a sword, and starts sharpening that.]

Any idea what sort of creature is causing it? I've run into some pretty wild ayakashi.

[onerous]

{Yuri waves a hand--don't worry about it.] It's my domain, it's my responsibility. I should've spoken to the Heavens before, but... [Well she's still suspicious and wary of them, unfortunately. Though at least this prompt response has warmed her to them a little more.

She continues to watch Lara, intrigued and a little surprised.] You can use all of these? [Color her impressed.

The question Lara asks, however, has her sighing, shoulders slumping a little in reluctant defeat.] No, I have no idea. I assume there has to be a larger ayakashi, or perhaps something--or someone--directing them. The victims are all-- Well. They're not the kinds of people that I normally cater to.

Streets

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai raises his eyebrows, scanning the small group. They're all quiet, subdued, almost hunched in on themselves under the weight of the silence of the streets.]

Are you looking for someone to save, or are you hoping to find out why they need saving?

[Personally... well, personally, it's a difficult choice.

But finding out why they need saving will probably save more of them in the end, he supposes.]

[adventurology]

[Lara looks back at Hakkai with a small smile. She caught the thought, there.]

Both? I mean, if someone's in need right now, we should do something about it. And if there's something they can tell us that sources the trouble, that'd be ideal.

[But she doesn't expect that, not really. The group definitively seems troubled, a little dazed.]

[reformedsinner]

Perhaps they can at least tell us where they've been.

[They do look dazed. Hakkai considers them for a moment before he shrugs.]

With something like this... I've seen ayakashi do this to people, but to affect so many of them, it would have to be more ayakashi than I've seen in one place before.

[He'd heard of a huge storm of them, once, before he arrived. He wonders, absently, if this is a particularly subtle version.]

[adventurology]

That would be a start.

[Lara shifts her bag, one hand reaching for the bottom, feeling the stock of the shotgun there. She hoped she wouldn't need it tonight, but who could say.]

And I hope it's just one big one. That would make things so much simpler on everyone. But since you've said it, we're going to find ourselves fighting a swarm. I just know it.

[reformedsinner]

Ah... I've jinxed us, haven't I? Oh, well, at least there are plenty of us here to fight back!

[That's something!

He glances at her as she reaches into her bag, wondering what she's looking for -- but it doesn't matter, he supposes. She's not his god, so if they do happen to run into ayakashi, it's going to have to end in borderline casting and both of them running. Fast.

Questions first, though. He crosses the few paces to the group of mortals, clearing his throat loudly enough to catch the attention of a young man.]

Excuse me. May I ask you a few questions?

Streets and a-ok with Ayakashi

[giftedistheterm]

[Calm is fine by Simon, even if others might say it's unnatural. Calm is productive. Calm saves lives...which is exactly what they heavenly host are trying to do tonight.

Simon doesn't have Nari with him but he does have his first, soulless shinki in her vessel form: a pair of round red glasses tucked into the breast pocket of his waistcoat. Maybe he should have Nari, his vessel would at least provide Simon with a weapon...but then the doctor still doesn't feel fully comfortable using knives that way.

He follows Lara's nod, lips drawn into a thin line as he looks the group over. Young from what Simon can tell, teenagers and speaking to each other in hushed tones. It's never easy getting people to notice them as gods, but...]

If nothing else we should be able to eavesdrop.

A+

[adventurology]

[Thankfully Lara also has her ax shinki, Ingrid's weight comfortably nestled in her bag beside the shotgun. They're not unarmed, and between the two of them they can deal with threats. They've done it before, and they make a solid team.

Head down, pulling up the hood of her jacket, Lara nods and creeps closer. She's pretty sure she could yell at full volume and they'd notice, but if she was trying to just listen in, they might make some more candid statements.]

Right. Let's...keep an ear out.

[The teens, several young women and a boy are all chattering quietly, clearly worried about something.]

It...it happened again. Tatsuko. Did you hear? They found her. Right down the street, just...dead.

[The others all seem to have missed this, gasps coming up from the group.]

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Like, why. She never seemed like she was trouble or anything, but man, you never can tell. Her folk must be really upset.

[One of the girls, short and mousy, seems to shrink back, pulling out of the circle of teens.]

Y...y'know...maybe she was just having problems. Couldn't cope. Is that really trouble?

[giftedistheterm]

[Simon does a fine job at keeping the ache that stirs at their conversation well under wraps. His brow furrows a little deeper, arms folding over his chest and fingers brushing over his jaw, but that's the only outward sign he allows. A quick glance is given to Lara, keeping his voice low even though he doubts they will overhear him.]

Investigate the home, or--

[But then the shorter girl steps back, catching Simon's eye and he falls quiet, watching and listening again. Another, more knowing look is given to Lara.

This one may need watching.

One of the girls looked back at the shorter one, confusion making her face wrinkle.]

What do you mean? There had to be something...

[There was nothing truly malicious in the question, but the mousy girl reacted as if stung all the same, ducking her head and shaking it.]

Ah, s-sorry, never mind...

[adventurology]

[Lara catches the look from Simon and nods, preparing herself. The mousy girl slips off, shoulders hunched inward, clearly upset about that's been said. She's mumbling to herself, low enough that she can't be heard at this distance, but there's definitely something off.]

We should follow. That's definitely someone who's going to need help. Monster or not, she's wandering around alone in the dark.