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

[volksdaemon]

[He sighs, thinking on that same topic.]

Why would you want it to be harder if so many go unanswered already, though? What's your God name again?

[Because he legitimately didn't get it last time.]

Can't be like a God of Death or something really messy like that, right?

[eternalshield]

Oh, that's not Zeno's desire... but lots of things should be some way, even if you don't want it, right? This makes it seem like Zeno should be answering more prayers, because of how easy it all is.

[He shrugs.]

The opposite of that, if all goes well. [Dying young does happen, after all...]

Hebe. A goddess of youth, apparently.

[volksdaemon]

[ Oh that gets a chuckle out of Schuldig. Goddess of Youth indeed. He laughs because he's knows the man's secret but tries to cover it up. ]

A portfolio like that must have everyone nipping at your heels for help! Everyone wants to be young forever.

[ Not that they should want to, as evidence by even the barest glimpses into Zeno's mind. ]

My old bosses wanted that too. Wasn't pretty, what they tried.

[ He gives Zeno a sympathetic look though. ]

[eternalshield]

[Zeno unconsciously shakes his head. Maybe it would be different if he'd wanted eternal life, but he'd never been able to get over the unnaturalness of it all. He was used to it, in many ways, but he never did get over it.]

Zeno's heard enough about anti-wrinkle cream that doesn't work, yeah. But their prayers seem to be working. Already they live longer and healthier than they would where Zeno comes from. Maybe they're not so pretty as in true youth, but even gods aren't miracle workers, it seems!

[Except for the dragon gods, apparently.]

What did they try? How'd you stop them?

[volksdaemon]

[Schuldig can't really deny what Zeno's saying - people don't draw a distinction between living forever and being young forever, really. There's been plenty of movies and books dealing with the subject of both of them.]

Longer and healthier just isn't good enough for some people.

[He shrugs, seeing the actions he took against his own masters in a very different light today than he would normally.]

What didn't they try? From the oldest of herbal remedies to the newest in pills and surgeries, between the three of them they did it all, and when that didn't work they turned not to gods but demons. They thought if they sacrificed the perfect person to such beings, let them live in her body, then they'd get immortality in return. Turns out that when you don't have immortality... a regular ol' sharp stick will do.

[That one was Farfarello's doing, but it certainly worked.]

[eternalshield]

Dying really is the easiest thing in the world, huh? Everybody can do it.

[Mm... Zeno's eyes lower to his hands. Hard to argue they didn't bring it upon themselves.]

Usually Zeno doesn't try to answer those kinds of prayers directly, but soothe them, accustom them...

[It's funny just how universal that desire is.]

Zeno never understood why people keep trying those things. They never work.

[volksdaemon]

[He doesn't answer that first remark, since he does know Zeno's secret and just doesn't want to reveal how he does know. Then again, all of the gods in the Far Shore are calling this reincarnation, so is that really dying either? Who knows.]

That's probably for the best.

[He gestures back out to the crowd of people.]

Looks like they're ready for some more dancing. I'll see you around, I suspect.

[Schuldig makes a mental note to keep Zeno in mind - maybe track down his thoughts back in the Far Shore and see how those prayers are going.]