011 | Black Parade

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Parade of the dead
When: All day May 26
Where: Shinjuku
Summary: The Near Shore needs a little protecting from the dead



The last few days have been filled with festival food, high energy, and lots and lots of parades. Near Shore residents really know how to enjoy their holidays, stopping up traffic for hours on end as floats and palanquins go by and filling the streets and courtyards in the area with food stands and festival treats. Many Far Shore residents may have found themselves drawn to this particular festival, as it is being held in honor of a shrine.

When an unexpected parade starts up, the people gather round to watch the impromptu spectacle. It's a little strange, yes, but nothing too terribly off-putting. That is until the parade reaches the shrine itself, at which point all hell breaks loose as the members of the parade start attacking anything and anyone in their way.

The Heavens will then call upon all the gods and shinki who are available to help, because these attackers are not normal at all - they are, in fact, the undead.



Let the Festivities Continue

The festival is a large, booming one. There are dozens upon dozens of food stalls set up all over the place with so many different kinds of foods that it could make your eyes go buggy, most of them fried in some way. On top of that, there is live entertainment walking around, stalls with souvenirs, and lots of excellent company nearby. Surely you'll be able to enjoy the festival to its fullest.

The Walking Dead

It is not immediately evident that the parade is being manned by corpses, but keen observers would be able to pick out the noticeable rotting elements of the dead. Anyone with a soul-sensing ability might even realize that they're not soulless, just lifeless. When the parade reaches the shrine, every god and shinki will be needed in order to protect the Near Shore from this menace. Corpses must either be exorcised or completely mutilated to the point where they can no longer move in order to release the soul.

Not Rootbeer Floats

On top of the mass of dead bodies being possessed by stray souls, some of the floats on wheels in the parade seem to have been taken over as well. They are moving slowly and with purpose towards anyone that crosses their path. At first, it may seem like the float is just veering a little off course, but it will soon become evident that it's headed towards you. They may be slow, but they're very large as well, meaning there's a lot more than needs to be destroyed to release the soul.

Souls, Souls, and More Souls

As souls are released from the objects they've taken control of, the air will become thick with a hazy fog of souls rushing away, into the air, and out of sight. This may make the continued fighting a little more difficult, but it means that the job is getting done.

Through some innate sixth sense, some of the dead people may seem familiar to certain gods (or shinki with specific memories). They can recognize some of the souls as friends or compatriots from their home world that had died. And these souls will recognize them as well.

Any characters not currently in the game that have actually died in their canon are free to be used for this part of the event and played out as NPCs by you and whatever partner you are playing with. All of these individuals will react in a similar way, though - they will beg to be released because it hurts them so horribly to be here right now and, of course, they can only be released in the same way that all the other souls are being released: exorcism or total destruction.

In Summary:

• Enjoy the festival
• Help save Near Shore residents
• Take down the dead bodies
• Try not to cry
• Cry lots
• Have fun~

Comments

[tuishou]

[He places the name after the words reach him- not that the man was plain or easily forgotten but aside from the initial reaction Neji's zeroed in on the mess that Hakkai sports like it's nothing at all. He doesn't bat an eye at the helping hand that is dismemberment, but his nose does wrinkle in distaste all the same.] It could have been better.

[The boundary wasn't as effective- or else he wasn't as practiced as he'd supposed- and both possibilities aren't the greatest to dwell on.

And Hakkai was a mess, had Neji mentioned that? He grunts and moves to sweep a body off its feet... what he'd do for a weapon.]

These aren't being controlled by ayakashi. [Do you know what they are?]

[reformedsinner]

It takes massive damage to stop one of them.

[Hakkai flicks blood from his claws, tossing the arms back down over the torso that finally seems willing to stop moving.]

Perhaps a vertical cut through the head and body?

[He turns to attack another corpse that's gotten a little too close, close enough to clutch at his sleeves, in a blur of controlled violence.]

There's something possessing them, but nothing corrupt, you're right.

[Uncorrupted souls, perhaps? Like shinki's?]

-- They could be shikigami.

[tuishou]

I don't have a weapon. [He's not complaining about it, and though holding a blade would make the chore go by quicker, Neji knows what Hakkai's referencing. It seems risky, doesn't it? To use borderlines in such a chaotic, crowded place.

But suppose this was a great way practice control over it?

With another disgusted little noise, Neji turns his back to Hakkai for the sake of grabbing hold of a corpse's arm. He throws his own weight back, yanking the unsuspecting body towards him and one well-placed elbow hit to the back of the thing's head has something crunch-- and that's so] Shikigami?

[On the floor now, the body is still squirming and Neji scouts the immediate area. One instant later he's summoning a second line- straighter, shorter, and quick to die. Unlike the stench of a now bisected, rotting, half-bloated person.]

What would make you believe they were shikigami?

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai nods, glancing around. Offensive weapons are in short supply, but they're in a festival street lined to both sides with booths. Many of them are cooking booths. Many of those have been abandoned wholesale by their panicking, fleeing owners, with oil still bubbling away and takoyaki burning in their metal trays.]

They're animated corpses. A sorcerer can create a corpse shikigami by placing a focus inside the corpse, just as they could animate a doll or any other object with a focus.

Of course, I haven't found anything that could be a focus yet.

[And he's had his hands inside quite a few of these things by now.]

You could see if any of the food stall owners left a cleaver behind.

[tuishou]

[Can't Hakkai be the errand boy if he's the one envisioning meat cleavers being ideal? Neji nods, though, and casts a quick glance behind him and behind Hakkai.]

They're moving to the right. [The... hoard...] I'll be quick. [And he'll meet the guy wherever, basically.

Quick he is-- shinobi tend to be. With no cache it'd be irresponsible to carry back more instruments than would be immediately practical so his loot consists of a pair of long knives, steel skewers, and -hey look- a cleaver.

Catch. Also:] Shouldn't we be able to find who woke the bodies in the first place, be it a sorcerer or some other power?

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai reaches up to catch the spinning cleaver neatly out of the air, hand closing around the handle a little too hard to make up for the slickness of gore on his palm. It's heavy and solid, with a weight that should carry it well through bone; he nods approval.]

Should we? I don't think there are enough gods and shinki fighting here that it's a good idea to leave quite yet.

[He breaks into a casual jog, heading towards the mass of walking corpses.]

Once we've cut their numbers down to size, we can worry about where they came from!

[tuishou]

[He has to actually think on it, brows knitting together for an instant accompanied by a small frown.]

No, not now.

[Because they had orders, a mission directly from Heaven, and to abandon it would be a transgression that would leave Neji uneasy. He keeps pace with Hakkai thinking it was not worth losing the company if he sprint ahead. --the company being useful for the fight because ]

Where's your god?

[reformedsinner]

[Not now, though Hakkai couldn't care any less about Heaven's orders. The undead are something that can be fought, though, and any hypothetical trails are better suited to be followed by someone with supernatural tracking skills. That's certainly not him.

He shrugs slightly at Neji's question.]

Ah -- he left to get a beer just before this started. He can handle himself, though.

[tuishou]

['He can handle himself'. That makes him slow his step for a moment, makes something weigh heavy in him and all Neji can do to relieve it is sigh-]

I'm not so sure mine can.

[But to neglect the undead and only focus on searching for her would be useless. The corpses ahead come into range for a metal needle to strike, and Neji flings one with ease and it... doesn't do much. Shame. Dead bodies don't really give a rat's ass over pain.]

[reformedsinner]

Speaking of... where is Yuri?

[Hakkai watches the needle fly with a curious glint in his gaze, but sighs faintly when it fails to have any noticeable effect on its target. Ah, well. He'd been hoping for some kind of special power.]

Dismemberment seems to be the only thing that keeps them down. Removing the head and bisecting the body is fastest.

[tuishou]

I don't know.

[An easy admission, if only because he's convinced that he is trying his best to seek her out. It's still a clipped reply, because it is still a sore subject. What else could he do, though, confess the feeling of uselessness to the guy? No thanks.]

And if we both do borderlines? Run them perpendicular from each other if we find a group of... them? [He has no name for the bodies--

anyway--] The sooner we get rid of them the better. Do you work better alone?

[reformedsinner]

Yes, I think two borderlines at the same time would be a good way to handle groups.

[He nods at Neji's second question.]

... I generally fight alone, but I don't mind working with a partner. It's faster.

[And from the clipped tone of Neji's admission, he'd probably like to find Yuri sooner rather than later. The faster they clear the zombies lumbering towards them, the faster they'll be able to move on to finding their respective deities.]

[tuishou]

[It's faster. Not exactly better, but more efficient and that's what they need right now and what would make the evening sit a little better with Neji.

There's about a dozen zombies ahead of them. Fifteen, max, and most corpses are fresh- meaning, only a few months' time since their blood ran last through their black veins. The skin's turned into this slush by now. It really is a beautiful sight.] And to think there's a cemetery missing all of these...

[And to think he'd probably have the smell of rot in his nose any time he thought of his own damn hunger-- but let's not think about that emptiness in his stomach right now, less it start bubbling into his throat.]

I'll have your back. [Not even a question as to fighting styles first, just the assurance that his word is a fact.] Ready?

[reformedsinner]

[Well... Hakkai isn't particularly concerned about the zombies moving fast enough to be a serious threat regardless, not unless he lets them get too close: so while he's also not used to letting people he doesn't know well watch his back, they should manage.

He inclines his head in Neji's direction.

Well, off they go.]

Ready.

[He darts to the side, trying to avoid putting himself in the path of the younger man's borderline, and calls out:] I'll cast low, you cast high!

[And with that, he's suiting action to words, and drawing his fingers across at waist height.]

Line!

[tuishou]

[Strangers or no, it's indisputable that having a plan (some semblance of a plan) made life just that much easier. There were at least now expectations to adhere to-- Neji can't remember having seen Hakkai fight before now, can't remember having seen anyone else fight. Then again, even his remaining memories of the Far Shore weren't the clearest.

It's simple to move at a similar pace to the other man, stay to his side, chart the coming borderline in the grid that is the small battlefield, and jump.] Line!

[He instinctively knows not everyone can jump to the height he just had- knows also to not overdo it because accuracy is an important thing. The barrier spring up from the intended spot on the ground- a good number of the congregated bodies lose a leg or an arm and stumble straight into where they lose their head, or lower or upper half. It's gruesome. What's new.] --it's messy. [What's this? No filter? The boy's speaking his mind? Madness.]

[reformedsinner]

[Nameless fluids spill from the split corpses, drenching the asphalt, and a foggy haze clouds the air above them. It's as though the reek of rot is visible.

Except... there are faces in that fog, Hakkai's sure of it, faces and limbs barely distinguishable as they dissolve upwards.]

-- Less messy than doing it by hand!

[He must be seeing things. His smile is too thin as he nods at the surviving corpses -- some still standing and moving, others simply thrashing on the ground, missing too many limbs to rise but not damaged enough to stay down.]

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