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

[adventurology]

[Her head bobs from side to side, one hand smearing down her face. Strong. From a kid who was just...doing magic and running around like a comic book character.]

The only magic I've ever seen is a lot less...helpful and a lot more trouble than these things. Far, far too much trouble, frankly.

[Trouble enough that she's just grateful to be alive.]

[oathkeeper]

[Lara kicked so much butt in her own right, Sora has to acknowledge it. It's not everyday he sees someone go wild with an ax like that. The next closest thing would be Roxas with his berserker baseball bat shinki.]

Hmm, you're a goddess though, so you should have some magic now. Or at least a god power. Do you know what that might be?

[adventurology]

[Lara nods, flashing a muted smile. She did have one. A little trick apparently, not as flashy or wild but...]

I was told I can...ah...copy movements. And it feels true. Anything I've seen someone do once, I can mimic perfectly.

[oathkeeper]

[!!! He's never heard of a power like that before.]

That sounds really handy! So do you remember the movement or do you only have if for a short time? That combo I did back there! Does that mean you can do it now?!

[Ars Arcanum, the high speed series of attacks Sora goes buck with!]

[adventurology]

Maybe. Let's see.

[Lara has to try, picking up her weapon again and going through the motions of the chain. Her movements perfectly mirror his, and while she's a little slower it's probably because she can't boost her speed.]

[oathkeeper]

[Sora grins and claps, he's super impressed.]

That's amazing, Lara! If you ever wanna team up for some ayakashi butt kicking, let me know, okay?

[He folds his arms behind his head.]

My working name is Baldr, god of light. What about you?

[adventurology]

Well, I wouldn't say no. We all need to work together, after all.

[Lara shoves her hands into her pockets, the bloodstained outfit perhaps a little too warm for this late spring heat but it's comfortable all the same.]

Athena, the Goddess of War and Wisdom. Ah...different pantheon than you.

[Then another question.]

Are you from Earth, Sora?

[oathkeeper]

[Athena... Sora's not great with remembering which pantheon is which and isn't strong in the mythology studies. But Lara seems to know what she's talking about. Hope she's prepared for Sora asking her a hundred questions on the fly.]

Earth... No. I've heard of Earth before but my world is called Destiny Islands. It's just a planet with a lot of water and a cluster of islands and towns. Why?

[adventurology]

Curiosity, nothing more.

[The Destiny Island, huh. Sounds like something out of a disney film or something.]

Just wondering if there are more magical versions of my world. That's all.

[oathkeeper]

[Closer to Disney than you might think, Lara!!!]

Hmm! There might be! [Sora thinks for a second, scratching his cheek.] A lot of the worlds that I've been to look like Earth... I wonder if that's all related?

[Lightbulb.] I'm pretty sure some of my summons are from Earth, actually! Bambi... Stitch...

[adventurology]

[Rolling her shoulder, Lara starts rubbing at a stiff muscle, but absentmindedly asks a strange question.]

Is Bambi a deer, by chance?

[Just a thought, idle. But...]

[oathkeeper]

[Sora doesn't even skip a beat.]

Yep! He helps restore my magic really fast so I can spam spells.

[He's very serious.]

He's one of my best pals.

[adventurology]

[Lara closes her eyes, shaking her head in confusion. There's way, way too much that's just weird with this equation for her to take seriously.]

I must be dreaming. Bambi can't be real. Just like Baba Yaga.

[Which had been an ordeal to figure out, but yeah. Not real. Just like Bambi.]

[oathkeeper]

Huh? Of course he's real. What's Baba Yaga?

[It's weird because people always give him strange looks when he talks about some of his friends. Are they really that far fetched? Bambi is pretty cool in his opinion!]

You wanna see him?

[adventurology]

Baba Yaga is the Witch of the Wilds. A...woman who lives in the forest, making deals in exchange for blood and the like. A demon, you could say, or a god in some stories. I once encountered a woman who spent the better part of fifty years impersonating her.

[And boy that had been weird. But, you know what, it's probably best not to talk about that around a young boy. So, let's humor him.]

And you know, I'd like to.

[oathkeeper]

Whoa... That's crazy. [Lara definitely has a ton of stories in her brain, doesn't she. Sora could probably listen for days. But for another time.]

He won't be able to stick around long, but let's see what I can do. [He smiles and nods and summons his keyblade again. This time he closes his eyes for a second before he points the blade at the ground. A sudden swirl of light and green pools there and shines. It takes a few moments but suddenly a little brown animal jumps out of the the pool of light. Brown and speckled and just like he was plucked right out of his movie.

Bambi leaps out and prances over to Sora. Sora grins happily and gives him a quick scratch behind his ear before Bambi starts leaping about, scattering bubbles of blue all over the place and makes a circle around Lara as well.]

It's been a while, buddy!!

[adventurology]

[She does. Though right now...her eyes are basically popping out of her head. She stands straight as an arrow, fists balling up, mouth open in utter shock. Not at the light, but at the actual Disney character dancing around her. She spins as the deer walks in circles around her, reaching out almost reflexively to first pinch herself, then pat the cartoon come to life.]

No...no fucking way!

[She laughs awkwardly, totally befuddled, head shaking. This is too much, and it's only sheer force of will that keeps her from teetering over.]

Shit, it's really fucking Bambi! Like right out of the film. How in God's name does that even work?!

[oathkeeper]

[Bambi in turn butts his head gently against her hand when she reaches to pat him, but also cowers away at her language after. He seems to give her a little bit of a sad expression for that before he prances away again, little blue bubbles still scattering everywhere in his wake.

Sora isn't sure how to take the language either, but he's around Davesprite enough to kind of shrug it off these days. He grins lightly.]

I really know know why everyone thinks he's from a film... but yep! It's him! He's pretty lucky to be so popular. As for how it works... Uh... [He doesn't really know the science behind it. He gestures vaguely.] It's just magic?

[And like he promised, Bambi can't stay long. Soon enough he stops prancing and wiggles his butt before he jumps back into the pool of light and vanishes.]

[adventurology]

[Somehow, Lara isn't surprised that Bambi is bothered by her language. She's also at least somewhat glad about that because while he's cute, it makes her come to several uncomfortable realizations. She's been that hunter. She's definitely taken more than a few lives for creatures that could easily have been relatives to the magical creature that just vanished. As hard as she's tried to overcome some of that trauma killing, she knows she'd do it again. And that's never a comforting thought to have about yourself.

She steps back and folds her arms, smiling sadly at the animated creature before it fades out. Her attention flickers back to Sora, and she puffs out a breath.]

In my world, Bambi exists in a film by the same name. [Rolling her head back, she snorts a laugh.] I can't believe I just met Bambi. That movie is a classic.

[oathkeeper]

[If it's anyone that could make someone even think about becoming vegetarian it's definitely Bambi.

Seeing Bambi makes Sora think about home. He looks a little nostalgic, a smile pulling at his lips. He wonders how everyone else back home is doing. It's too bad he can't spirit them away here for a visit, or let them stay longer than a few short minutes...]

That's really amazing. He's helped me out a lot in the past, so I'm not surprised that he's got his own movies somewhere. [It makes him proud, really!] You looked like you might have seen a ghost though, I'm sorry if that scared you!

[adventurology]

[Lara smiles a little sadly, attention refocusing on the boy. He's sweet, young, probably not someone that needs to be around a person like her but she can't help it. She likes him, and she'll just have to try and curb her more adult tendencies. Including the swearing.

Unless he's going to pull out Dumbo.

And definitely not mentioning her first real encounter with a deer.]

No, not scared. Just...wow. If I didn't know I wasn't dreaming, I'd say it was one. Things like this don't happen where I'm from, that's all. Still getting my bearings, you know.

[oathkeeper]

[Yeah, about Dumbo though...

He grins, tucking his arms behind his head.]

I guess in a place where people are reincarnations of gods and goddess anything can be possible now, huh? Just take it one day at a time.

[It's got to be a lot to handle. It's not everyday this happens to people. To be thrust into these roles and suddenly having powers and magic must be really overwhelming for some. Sora has to remember that, he forgets sometimes.]

[adventurology]

[Still rubbing her shoulder, Lara tries hard not to laugh.]

Not everything. Gravity still works, after all. But point taken.

[She nods towards the festival.]

Why don't we go make sure nobody else needs our help, eh?