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

The Walking Dead

[lilys_poise]

[Other gods and shinki? Sure, there are plenty of those around. Like this little shinki, who just ran into him.

In the chaos and panic Elise can't find her god, is getting pushed around by the crowd, and has absolutely no idea what to do. And now she just barreled into someone.]

Ow! S-sorry!

[Maybe he should've specified useful gods or shinki.]

[koukai_kirai]

[That would definitely be preferable.]

[Hijikata looks down at her for a moment, then sighs. This is no place for a panicky kid.]

You need to get out of here. Get somewhere safe...

[...But now that he looks around, they're rather surrounded, aren't they? He gives an irritated little tsk sound, and moves to a position where his body is blocking more of the creatures from having a reasonable path to her.]

...Dammit.

[lilys_poise]

B-but I can't just leave. We're supposed to be helping people!

[Okay, she knows she isn't doing much good and maybe she should just run away, but everyone else is fighting. Trying to protect people. How can she run now?

And... actually... how can she run now? The crowd is very densely packed. She opens her mouth to say something else but it quickly turns into...]

Behind you!!

[one of the corpses was closing in fast.]

[koukai_kirai]

Tch.

[He'd snap at her about how it's better to get out of the way when she can't help, except that there's no point when she can't get out of the way, anyway.]

[He turns around, using the momentum of the turn to power a kick that sends the zombie sprawling.]

Stick close to me for now, then...

[lilys_poise]

[There is a moment of impressed gaping before she comes up with an answer.]

Wow, you're really strong!

[Totally the time to be spacing out, right? Good job kid... Maybe if she'd been paying attention, Elise would've noticed the lurching corpse behind her making a grab for her pigtails. This will clearly end well...]

[koukai_kirai]

Watch your back!

[Honestly, most people have no survival instinct!]

[Hijikata, desperate to buy her a moment but stuck with her between him and the creature, falls back on a last resort. He raises his hand and reaches out with his divine power, hoping the thing has a mind to manipulate, aiming to dial back the will to fight and attack.]

[He's not even sure if it will work -- but that one corpse pauses and stumbles, looking... confused, for a moment, like it's just walked into a room and forgotten what it went there to do.]

[lilys_poise]

EEEK!

[With a frightened squeal, she whirls around and backs away from the zombie quickly. Probably right into Hijikata. Sorry. But the zombie seems to have suddenly.... changed it's mind?]

Wha-? It stopped!

Sorry for the delay, my tags have been slow all around this month ;;

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata sighs in relief.]

It worked...

[Well, if it's got a will...]

[If it can think and has seen what he's been doing to others like it, it's likely afraid, somewhere in there. And fear means, on some level, wanting to run. Hijikata zooms in on that desire, amplifying it. The zombie stares at him for a moment, its lidless eyes seeming to widen even further, then trips over itself to retreat.]

[He'd wear himself out trying to do that to all of them, but it's good to know he's got the option.]

no worries~

[lilys_poise]

[Elise looks between Hijikata and the fleeing zombie with open surprise. It takes a few seconds, but she puts it together. Her earlier fear forgotten, she starts gushing excitedly.]

That was incredible! You scared it away! I mean, you do have kind of a scary face but I didn't think is was that scary.

[It's a complement. Honest.]

That zombie sure did though! That was so cool!

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata runs a hand through his hair -- which is actually messy right now, not just ~stylishly disheveled~ like he likes it -- and sighs a little.]

I don't know if it was entirely my face.

[He's not saying it wasn't involved, though.]

[lilys_poise]

I bet it was! I wish I could do stuff like that with my face.

[Caught up in the moment, she looks around for more zombies.]

So what's next? Are you gonna scare all the zombies away?