19 | Peaceful Departure

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Celebrating Obon
When: Evening August 10
Where: The Near Shore
Summary: Mortals may be partying, but there's lots of work for the denizens of the Far Shore to do.



It's the final day of Obon and spirits are being sent back to their homes -- both the ancestral spirits that have been welcomed home for the duration of the festival and the mischievous spirits that have been plaguing the Heavens. But some of them might not go easy, so Amaterasu has requested that gods and shinki old and new alike help ensure the spirits' peaceful departure.



Mukae-bi

Fires have been lit on hillsides and near cemeteries to lead the spirits back to their resting places and to protect them on their way, but angry ghosts and ayakashi are trying to quench the fires so they can attack weaker spirits. Keep the firewood stocked and the fires blazing high while you fight off the attacks.

Heavenly Exorcisms

It's time to bring any possessed household items to the Near Shore to ensure that the spirits are sent safely on their way. Some might go peacefully, while others might have to be purified by fire in order to set the spirits free. Hope you weren't too attached to that chair.

(Careful... spirits that manage to hide from the housecleaning can become permanent guests!)

Guarding the Gates

Hidden pathways into the underworld in caves throughout Japan are open from sunset to moonset on this night to allow the spirits who have temporarily left to return. Gods and shinki must watch over these pathways and ensure that no dangerous ayakashi take the opportunity to escape from the underworld before the moon sets.

After-party

After the moon sets, the denizens of the Heavens can finally kick back. Everyone is invited to a private hot spring on the Far Shore, where a midnight banquet spread is waiting in thanks for their hard work. Wash off any blight in the hot springs and enjoy the banquet before heading back home for a good night's sleep.

In Summary:

• Keep the fires burning
• Exorcise those annoying spirits
• Fight powerful ayakashi
• Enjoy a banquet
• Have fun~

Comments

Davesprite | OTA

[redotiertwo]

[A: Mukae-bi]

[On one hand, Davesprite has an edge on both keeping ayakashi away from the fires and getting firewood to them, since flying overhead is a surprisingly effective response to most of the angry spirits. Unfortunately, he can only be so lucky, and there are a couple of times the ayakashi are just too close to the fires for him to really be able to do anything while also carrying his cargo.

Right now, he's got about three lines up, forming a loose triangle around the fire, but he can't exactly ditch the area to go and get the wood he had to leave nearby. So as soon as he spots someone, he draws another line to force a gap through the ayakashi to talk to them.]

Hey, so, completely off-topic question, there wouldn't happen to be a couple of bundles of dropped firewood over there, would there.

--

[B: Heavenly Exorcisms]

[Davesprite has dealt with enough possessed blankets this week to break a lesser man(-bird), and he's only too happy to have a way to get rid of the damned things.

Still, he seems to be trying to have some sympathy for his brethren, given the fact that he's wafting a particularly stubborn one over one of the purifying pyres rather than throwing it straight in.]

Look, dude, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

--

[C: Afterparty]

[It still feels a bit weird to be hanging around people too much again after what he remembered recently, but Davesprite's mostly floating over the hot spring with a bowl of cheese chips pilfered from the food table.

Anyone in the spring stands a not-insignificant chance of an orange, taloned hand reaching down from above to offer the bowl to them.]

The food table's right over there, but who the fuck can be bothered to get out of the water for that, right.

A

[artificialrose]

[Garry wasn't exactly sure what his plan would be after getting nearing the large group of spirits and ayakashi, but he guesses.... this... works. Squeezing through, he glances up at Davesprite.]

Ah- yes, actually, now that you mention it. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that was all yours...?

[redotiertwo]

I kind of had to drop the payload once one of these fuckers took a swing at me, and now I'm kinda stuck until some of them back off and I can get an offensive borderline out before the whole team piles on me.

[It's likely noteworthy that the ayakashi aren't really paying attention to Garry yet, since they're so focused on trying to get at Davesprite through the three defensive lines he's maintaining.]

This is probably a shit time to ask, but. How are your offensive borderlines these days.

[artificialrose]

[Ah. He sees the problem even before Davesprite mention it.]

Well, a valkyrie threw me into a huge group battle against evil spirits not that long ago, so... I'd like to think it's not doing too bad.

[redotiertwo]

Sounds like a rough day at the office, you want to talk about it around the water cooler or is that not a thing we do here.

[You know. While they fight off ayakashi and light fires and stuff. Standard office day for the Heavens.]

[artificialrose]

If water cooler is short for "this giant raging fire", then sure.

You can make sure that the ayakashi don't pay attention to me, right?

[redotiertwo]

It may or may not be an acceptable substitute, if we also assume it's opposite day. [For the purposes of this conversation, at least.

At Garry's question, Davesprite looks over the gathered ayakashi before focusing himself for a moment. One or two illusory afterimages of himself appear in the vicinity of the ayakashi and well away from Garry, and the beasts turn to the insubstantial shapes with unpleasantly hostile sounds.]

Sure, just please don't ditch my poor feathery ass up this fecal creek.

[artificialrose]

[Jeez.... This is the second person he's met in his stay here that can pull really impressive tricks in a fight like that.]

Don't worry- I'll be right back.

[Long legs means he can haul ass fast, which he does while the ayakashi are distracted. Long arms to match are good too, because Garry can't imagine shoving all the wood into shorter pair. Doing his best not to drop any, he awkwardly hangs around the trees as he makes sure the ayakashi are still distracted.]

[redotiertwo]

[At least Davesprite's seen Garry hauling ass before and knows he can do it pretty well, so he's not too doubtful of the claim that he'll be right back.

Once Garry has the wood and doesn't look like he's coming back at all until he has a guarantee of the ayakashi being distracted, Davesprite rolls his eyes a bit under his shades and focuses once again. A few small pebbles lift off the ground and pelt the ayakashi, and while they don't seem to hurt at all, the beasts still start looking around for the source, and swiping at the watermarks from earlier as if it was clearly their fault.]

[artificialrose]

[Listen... Sometimes he's a huge coward. Let him life his (after)life.]

[Although at least he wastes no time in using that coward-driven speed to haul ass back to the safety of Davesprite's borderlines, doing surprisingly well with a bunch of wood in his arms. Adjusting it as he stumbles to a stop, he lets out a breath.]

Thanks. I didn't want a repeat of that one night...

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite isn't quite advanced enough to let benign things past a borderline while still keeping threats out, so he pushes apart the lines to let Garry in before bringing them close again.]

I mean, you're still hauling ass just as hard, so I don't really see the difference here. [He turns his head towards the pyre, nodding slightly.] Toss some of it in there while I've got these assholes an arm's length away.

[artificialrose]

[As he goes over to the fire, carefully tossing in wood so that he doesn't catch on fire himself, Garry speaks over his shoulder.]

There's a difference between regularly running, and running for your life when something is chasing after you. Right?

[redotiertwo]

Running regularly probably helps, but this time you were still tearing it over here before these fuckers noticed you, so it's the same survival logic.

[Just slightly less immediate. And while Garry tosses wood in, Davesprite's just going to hold up these lines and try not to grimace as the ayakashi start throwing themselves into them.]

c

[kokuyoyo]

[Slowly, from where he's submerged almost nose-deep into the spring, Chikusa tilts his head back to look up at Davesprite and, maybe a fraction faster, reaches up to accept the bowl.]

You're smart about the important things...

[Who the fuck can be bothered indeed.]

[redotiertwo]

[That sure is a look for Chikusa, and Davesprite stares at him for a moment before he makes the effort to tilt his head up. He takes a handful of the chips himself before Chikusa gets the bowl.]

Was there ever any question of that, I mean, come the fuck on. What do you take me for, some chump who goes places to get food.

[kokuyoyo]

[He will drown in this hot spring, don't test him. Although at least he shifts so that the chips don't get lost to the watery depths.]

There are a lot of chumps here who do that, although most of them also don't have wings.

[redotiertwo]

Most of them probably don't also have this. [Davesprite lets one chip drop out of his taloned hand, except before it hits the water, a neon orange glow appears around it and carries it over to Davesprite's mouth.]

Turns out I'm optimally equipped to be a lazy sack of shit, who knew.

[kokuyoyo]

[Chikusa watches the small display dully, maybe mildly curious somewhere in his dead ass soul.]

That's probably the pinnacle of evolution... or something like that...

[redotiertwo]

But is it really the pinnacle of evolution if evolution is supposed to involve us not being as lazy as we can possibly get away with.

[True philosophical discussion happening right here, while Davesprite levitates another chip because why not.]

[kokuyoyo]

[A completely legit conversation happening, yep]

Evolution is getting us to where we can survive as easily as possible without having to worry about threats.... It's why you have birds of paradise that have evolved into devoting time into elaborate courtship rituals.

[Idly, he feeds himself chips inbetween his words.]

[redotiertwo]

Well, we've kinda fucked up the not having to worry about threats part in this place, but hey, the rest of it sounds right enough. Just don't expect any elaborate courtship rituals out of me, I'm more of a Netflix and chill kinda guy.

[As probably evidenced by him continuing to levitate chips into his mouth.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Listen, if Chikusa could levitate chips, he'd be doing the same, honestly.]

Do you even get Netflix here...?

[redotiertwo]

Haven't tried yet. I'm mostly cheapskate torrenting scum.

[The one thing you can always rely on when the legal means fail you: being a filthy pirate.]

[kokuyoyo]

The best kind of scum...

[But then, Chikusa embraces far less legal things, so what else is new. Although this reminds him-]

I wonder if you could get torrents on our phones from within the void...

[He's actually not shitposting, amazingly.]

[redotiertwo]

We do seem to get pretty good internet from. Somewhere here, so probably. I've had no trouble streaming shit, so if there's a phone app for torrents then why the fuck not.

[Admittedly, with the Heavens footing whatever internet bill they might have, Davesprite's mostly just been streaming anyway.]