thenearshore | 018 | Season Spirits

018 | Season Spirits

Who: Everyone!
What: Season spirits and spooky things
When: IC August 1-15
Where: The Near Shore and Far Shore
Summary: It's the time for spirits to get a bit more 'lively'.

August is a spiritual season in Japan with many people preparing for the Obon festival but many others get into the spirit in another way. All across Japan, people have begun to share their favorite summer ghost stories. Movie theaters advertise the hottest horror flick of the season, teenagers challenge each other to do trials of courage, haunted houses begin to pop up, and it feels like you can't change the channel without switching to some ghost hunting urban legend special. All of this talk about spirits comes at a cost, though.

July comes and passes easily enough but it's almost as if as soon as August begins, so do the incidents. There's an increase in spiritual activity and shenanigans on both shores. Some of them are harmless spooks but others are much more sinister. Arm yourselves with all of the ofuda and omamori you can find and get out there and restore peace!

Possessed Possessions

Inhabitants of the Far Shore may awaken to find their sheets trying to strangle them and shoes stomping on the floor around them. Others may go about their day and find out their teapots suddenly only serve lukewarm tea or their weapons are trying to take swings at them. They're just playful spirits that will abandon their hosts if you shove any ofuda/omamori at them or yell loudly enough. They aren't malicious spirits... they were only just trying to have some fun.

Spirited Festivals

There's a festival every weekend and some of them have set up haunted houses for patrons to visit. You have your standard haunted house thrills... costume make up, jump scares, special effects smoke, the usual! But it looks like some real ghosts have made themselves at home here. Visitors are going in and emerging hours later absolutely traumatized. It looks like once you enter, the real spirits walk you around in circles and give you real scares. There are some spirits here just to have fun thrills and these are spirits that can be chased away with regular ofuda. But it looks like the more violent ones are actually ayakashi out for vengeance. Be careful in there!

Cursed Charms

There sure are some weird trends out there, huh? The latest one is buying cursed trinkets off the internet and passing them off as gifts to unsuspecting victims whether it be to prank a friend or get revenge on an enemy. Cursed mirrors, dolls, fake ofuda, VHS tapes, and so on are being passed around the Near Shore and spreading all sorts of curses.

Bad luck. As long as you're in possession of the cursed item, you'll be followed by bad luck to varying degrees depending on the quality of the charm.
Fear. Holding onto this charm results in intense, crippling fear. The fear can manifest as an intense paranoia at all times or being frozen with fear in the face of danger. Some say you can even die of fright...
Sickness. This charm is pretty straightforward. Having this charm just makes you feel incredibly under the weather and your health will worsen the longer you have the charm.
Evil. Holding onto this charm results in you being followed attracting evil instead of warding it. Suddenly, you feel as though you are always being followed, as if something is stalking you and clearly out to get you. You begin to run into smaller ayakashi at first but they keep growing in strength and number until you can't fight anymore.
Bad romance. Someone's meddled with a romance charm so it ends relationships instead of making them! People stuck with this charm are suddenly hyper aware of the faults of others. Everything gets on your nerves and you can't stand being around that person because they're just that annoying. It doesn't just work on couples! It also works on friends and relatives too.
Bears? An oddly specific curse. It looks like someone has taken a protection from bears charm and made it so now you attract bears where ever you go. Some of them are nice but others...

You can try to destroy the charms but you will find that unless you have purification powers or rend it, the effects last. It looks like most people have been able to shake off the effects by simply disposing of them at temples and buying another charm to counter the effects.

Haunting Hour

There are reports of violent attacks at night-- people being pulled into alleys and attacked, school children being chased by slashers while walking home from school, homes being broken into-- and all of it is done without a single clue left behind to explain who did it. People are warned to be careful at night and as the sun begins to set, something happens. The hour between sunset and dark is supposed to be the scariest hour them all. At this time, the shadows are suspiciously bigger and darker and you constantly see things just out of the corner of your eye. Suddenly, the wind blows cold and there's a rotten smell in the air like blood. It's Oumagatoki, the hour evil spirits meet. Small time ayakashi and spirits on the verge of becoming ayakashi spill into the streets and begin to terrorize others. Protect the people of the Near Shore and watch your own backs.*

* These are just generic ayakashi! Nothing special, nothing specific. Feel free to make up and NPC your own two-bit ayakashi.

THEN WHO WAS PHONE?

In the evening, everyone will receive a set of coordinates and a message from an Anonymous sender,

I want to talk about the
mysterious things that have been happening
lately.
OF course, i
NEED
EVERYONE to come. so don't be
late! see
yoU.
:)

Everyone receives it and there is no way to track where the message came from. If you follow the directions, you'll arrive at a small temple on the outskirts of a city. A sacred fire is lit on the grounds for people to dispose of any cursed or old charms they may have collected. Hang around a bit and it'll become obvious that no one knows who has gathered all of you here tonight. The only ones around are gods and shinki. It doesn't look like any evil spirits are around so other than being invited to the middle of no where at night... there's nothing to worry about. If you wait around, nothing will happen. So while you're here, you might as well discuss the strange happenings! Or tell ghost stories around the fire.

Wildcard

Choose your own adventure! Feel free to make up your own prompts. Ronald Knox's player (

diehardreaper) has offered up their temple as a test of courage in the Far Shore for those who want to try their luck. Check out their description under the Baron's manor.

In Summary:

Beat the heat by feeling a scary chill
Deal with cursed and spirit-imbued items
Keep the Near Shore people safe
Chat about your scary encounters
Have fun~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Huh, so he could make that kind of face.]

Do you have an idea of where they might be?

[Chinatsu was more on alert this time, checking her surroundings. One..no, two shadows chasing after them on either side.]

Yeah, looks like two more decided to join in

[ She got her hand ready to create a border line. Though she'd only be able to cover one side right away.]

Somewhat.

[He looks fairly unconcerned about the shadows moving in.

Instead, he pats the spirit on the head when she decides to hide under his haori. The two shadows moving in turns out to be nothing more than violent spirits. While Toushirou may be able to freeze them like he did with the ayakashi, he's not very concerned about them in general.

Moving his sword in a side sweep fashion, a wall of ice appears on one side to block off one of the spirits.]

[She creates a borderline when the other strikes, but it pales in comparison the ice barricade the other created. Looked pretty lame next to it, actually... The spirit hissed at the wall. This was Chinatsu's first encounter with a violent spirit actually. It might not have been very cool, but she was glad she could at least put something between them. Otherwise, she'd be screwed.]

Where to then?

They're up ahead in a park. That's where she said she saw them last before getting lost.

[Because even ghost children can get lost.

He moves again after picking the little girl up, her tiny form clinging onto him.]

[That's not too far, they should be fine. Chinatsu follows closely behind, keeping a fast pace. She looks back to check if they're being followed--and sure enough, they are. And there's even more of them now.

Crap. Just s little more to the park! But wait--if her parents are there too, wouldn't they just be leading the spirits to them? She looked back at the the two in front of her, her eyes focusing on the girl clinging to Hitsugaya. While it seemed he could handle himself just fine, it still sounded too risky to Chinatsu.]

...Hey! Promise you'll look for me after you get her to her parents!

[She doesn't wait for the an answer though, creating a borderline right behind Hitsugaya and the child, seperating them from her and the nastier spirits.

Chinatsu turns and starts running in a different direction. Unable to get past the border, the spirits change course, following after the person they can chase.

Is she able to fight them off? Hell no. She'd probably last a minute if she was lucky. If there was anything she had faith in it was her legs. At least she can keep some distance between them till she finds a temple or somethig to hide out in. ]

[...Toushirou's not sure how to react when Chinatsu suddenly runs off in the opposite direction after casting a borderline. But without having to worry about making sure Chinatsu is safe as well, he uses shunpo to immediately get to the park. Reuniting the girl with her parents doesn't take too long.

After he makes sure they're safe and away from the spirits, he decides to go find Chinatsu.

Without anything or anyone weighing him down, he heads in the direction he recalls her going on. Of course, that also means that there were various spirits and ayakashi making their way towards her, too.

Sword in hand, he suddenly appears in front of Chinatsu and waves his sword, a stream of flowing ice sprouting from its tip and freezing the ayakashi and spirits.]

[Last she looked behind her, some ayakashi had joined in the chase. It was probably best NOT to look back anymore. Chinatsu speeds up, not having much luck losing them. Man, this whole thing about not being able to get rid of them without their god SUCKS.

When Hitsugaya appears out of no where, Chinatsu barely manages to hit the brakes and keep hersef from crashing into him. She falls backwards, her hands going up defensively as a cold breeze goes past her. When it dies down, she looks back up at him, then turns to look over her shoulder to see all her frozen pursuers.]

...Holy crap there were that many?!

[Sighing softly, he eyes the frozen enemies briefly. He's not sure how long it'll last against the ayakashi, but he'd rather not stick around to find out.

So, he offers his hand to her.]

Come on. Let's get out of here before they break out of that ice.

[She stares at his hand for a moment before taking it. Her hand is shaking a bit now that everything was sinking in. She's been trying to show a brave face so far. It was a little late to be showing any fear.

Once she's up, she takes a few steps ahead of him.]

....Thanks.

[She says softly as she passes him. It might not have looked or sounded like the sincerest show of gratitude, but she meant it. Honestly, she was surprised he even came after her.]

I'm guessing she made it back safely?

[It's a familiar kind of gesture he's used to. He doesn't comment on her fear, his eyes focused on the frozen spirits and ayakashi.

He remains in his place, staring ahead of him.]

She did. But I'll go to check on her and her family again later.

[He glances back at her.]

Are you okay?

That's good..

[She sighs in relief, her shoulders relaxing more. Turning her head slightly, she peeks over her shoulder just as he glances her, making snap her head back to the front.]

Of..Of course!

[Is her immediate response]

....Okay, maybe not really.

[Follows the more honest answer.]

I will be.

[So she does have her good points, too.

Nodding, he looks away from her.]

...Thank you for luring them away from us so I can take her to safety.

[Is it a little hard to thank her? Maybe, but he owes it to her because she could have been in more danger.]

[And a thanks? Man this guy kept surprising her.]

It's nothing...That's the only thing I could do anyway.

[She hated to admit it but she was pretty much useless in these situations. The last time she was part of something like this the other person could fight AND had fire powers. Seriously, what's up with that]

[He's really not that bad.

But his attention is back on the frozen pursuers when he hears a crack.]

In any case, it's time to leave this area. The ice won't continue to hold the ayakashi for long.

[And she's starting to see that. At least it looked like he wasn't upset with her anymore.

Chinatsu finally turns back, seeing the crack forming on the ice.]

No argument here.

[Like hell was she sticking around for another round of monster tag. She heads out with him, checking behind them every now and then.]

Once they get loose though..won't the just attack people again?

They can.

[Because it's a very likely possibility.]

The violent spirits can be warded off. The ayakashi, however, are trickier since only a god and shinki pair can rend them off.

So we can't do anything but let them go?

[Her annoyance isn't directed towards him. That fact really bothered her. It's not like she was always with her god. As much as she'd rather not fight those things, knowing that people like that little girl and her family could get attacked by the same ayakashi again bothered her.]

Unless you can manage to keep them behind a Borderline long enough.

[It's okay, Chinatsu. This is one thing that they can actually completely agree upon.]

....Is that possible? Like..box them in or something?

[She has her hands parallel from one another, imagining a border...box?]

Or something, but I suppose it depends on how long you can hold a Borderline. Even then, Rending them seems to be the best solution in this case.

Tsk.

[So much for that idea. Though it did make her wonder how long her borders could last. She envied his abilities a bit. Even if he couldn't render them without a shinki, he could at least hold his own against them.]

...Hey, I never got your name.

[Toushirou glances at her.]

Hitsugaya Toushirou.

Hiyama Chinatsu.

[She glances down at his sword]

So if that's not a shinki, is the ice thing your own ability then? Or is it the sword's?

Both. The sword is a part of me, holding a piece of my soul inside of it.

[He sheathes his sword.]

.......Oh, okay. Cool.

[What else was she supposed to say to that?]

You think it's safe now? It's been pretty quiet.

018 | Season Spirits

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