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

[revolutionfalcon]

[At that, Shun has to give her an almost incredulous look, because unless she wasn't around for that picnic, he's pretty sure "blunt" is about the best word to cover the declaration there.]

If you have another way to describe throwing out a bunch of notes saying "down with the Heavens, down with Amaterasu" that isn't "blunt", I don't think we're looking at the same word. We don't have any leads on who was responsible for that, obviously, but we can't discount the possibility that there are gods in that faction who are planning to rise up like he did.

[Because if Shun's certain of one thing at this point after having talked to the old gods and a few others about this, it's that they're not dealing with a singular enemy here.]

[noli_oblivisci]

[She hadn't been there, not for that part. So there's a careful flicker across her eyes as she processes that]

I see. [After a long beat, she says simply] Well, in that case, there isn't much choice but to go all the way out if it comes to it. You can't just do nothing when the fires and explosions start.

[And if you were in a fight, you had to accept consequences to yourself. Simple.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That's a sentiment Shun can agree with, but on the other hand, he's never been particularly good about letting what he might apply to himself apply to others who might endanger themselves with it. With a slight, dismissive sound, he gives a shrug like he can hardly stop her from thinking that as he replies.]

You can't do nothing, but you're no use to anyone burnt out either. There's a space between driving yourself to uselessness and not giving your full strength.

[Granted, that relies on people having a good idea of their own limits, which he knows isn't always the case, but he can try and get some sense into them.]

[noli_oblivisci]

Maybe. But not all situations allow you to make that distinction.

As long as you can still do something, you don't have an excuse not to true.

[They were the same sorts of words she'd spoken their previous meeting. They came just as automatically as before, but there was a firmer certainty in them now, with her emotions there.]

[revolutionfalcon]

That's true, but there's been nothing here yet with that level of severity. And avoiding your corpse being one of the ones dragged from the field at the end isn't something most would call an excuse.

[Shun's giving her a rather critical eye there, because while she may have had an argument if they'd met during the battle last time, they'd met after. The remaining threats were something vastly less worthy of that kind of self-endangering behaviour, and having had to argue her off the battlefield hadn't helped him get the job done any quicker.]

I doubt we're going to come to an agreement on this, but behaviour like that is how you distract others from their own battles. [And while Shun might not exactly be cognizant of how massive a hypocrite he's being right now, his own tone is unfaltering.]

[noli_oblivisci]

Maybe, but I expect if things were that bad people would be busy taking care of their own issues.

[The level of mutual hypocrisy would astound Psyche from an outsider POV. However, within her own, the 'facts' remained simple. For now though, she simply picked up the hair tie from the stall again, letting light reflect off the metal flower]

But that's mostly based on a lot of what-ifs. I guess if we're lucky, most days will be more like this one.

[revolutionfalcon]

You'd be surprised. [Because he certainly has been about how desperate it sometimes seems people can be to get themselves hurt by tangling themselves in the problems of others. Again, clearly something Shun doesn't do himself and is completely at liberty to complain about.

The light reflection catches Shun's eye for a moment, briefly drawing his gaze to the hairtie before it returns to Psyche's face, his look serious as ever.]

Do you honestly think we'll all be that lucky?

[noli_oblivisci]

Nothing's happened yet. And I don't think a lot of people could get some piece if they went into every day assuming things were going to go wrong.

[Though honestly the talk she'd had at the hot springs came to mind. Something seemed to happen at least once or more a month. Might as well enjoy things before then. She waved a hand in front of the stall keeper, until they blinked and visibly flinched at the sudden appearance of the redheaded foreigner. Once she started talking business, however, that seemed to retain his attention enough she could ask about the hair tie. As he turned to put the money she'd given him away, she continued]

Besides. I'm sure there's some things you wanted to do while you were here anyway?

[Otherwise she doubted he would've gone to a festival otherwise.]

[revolutionfalcon]

That's an optimistic way to look at things. [Shun's tone isn't outright dismissive, but there's definitely an edge to it that says he can't see things that way himself. But he supposes that people who think like he does and ones who don't both have their place, as long as they can work together when things do go wrong.

Watching Psyche pay the stallholder in a rather disinterested manner, Shun shakes his head in answer to her question.]

I only came to see how festivals to gods and shrines normally go in this world. If I'm ever expected to be dragged into something like that myself, having the knowledge might be useful. [He highly doubts it, unless someone decides to throw some sort of obscure and ancient deities festival, but lacking any kind of knowledge in a place like this doesn't sit quite right.]

[noli_oblivisci]

Then it's still useful, isn't it?

[At least, it seemed like that to her. Even if you weren't there for fun, there was nothing wrong with scouting...at least, that's what she told herself for a lot of things. She untied one of her ribbons and neatly replaced it with the hair tie. With a trace of amusement]

I'll probably go scout some takiyaki, at least. I don't think I've ever had that before and it smells good.

[revolutionfalcon]

It might be one day. [It's about as much of a concession as anyone will get regarding this festival actually being useful instead of frivolous. Shun's still adjusting to the prevalence of these sorts of things here when he's gone so long without anything of the sort.

Watching Psyche re-tie her hair, Shun gives a faint snort of possible amusement at the mention of takoyaki. It's not a food he ever recalls being a big fan of himself, but it's at least one he recognises by name.]

It's not that interesting, if I remember right, but go ahead.

[noli_oblivisci]

I'll see for myself I guess. Enjoy yourself, Shun.

[There was that slip again. However, she gave a wave and went over to the many food stalls, enjoying the smell of yakisoba and takoyaki...]

[revolutionfalcon]

[It's been so long since the last time she made that slip that Shun almost could've forgotten, but then again, when it was on his first day here it's difficult to forget even the smallest details. As she waves, he gives a slight hiss through his teeth, turning away himself to move on.]

I've told you not to call me that. [Still, he's not going to keep her to argue about it, instead heading off to inspect the rest of the festival.]