018 | Season Spirits

[godsoffortune]

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~

Comments

[revolutionfalcon]

[A concussion would probably explain his confusion, but Shun can't actually tell from how unintelligible the rest of it is whether Hakkai's complaining he has a concussion or that Shun's going to give him one at this rate. The cease in struggling is welcome, at least, and Shun returns the hand he'd been using to help his hold back to one side.

At least Shun keeps his word; it's not very long at all until they reach the school, and he's pretty sure he remembers coming across some kind of storeroom with a futon in it that one time he was here as a kid. It takes him a few tries to find the right door, but eventually, the dragging stops once Shun manages to get him acceptably onto the futon.

As soon as he lets go, Shun turns around and reaches over with the intent of laying a hand on Hakkai's forehead to see how feverish he might be.] How much do you remember?

[If he thought Shun was someone else he knew, Shun isn't going to assume he remembers what happened.]

[reformedsinner]

[If there's anything to be said for being dragged by his heels, it's this: Hakkai doesn't lose consciousness again even once between the spot where he'd collapsed and the storeroom.

He also manages to keep his head from bouncing off anything with too much force, although his neck aches and he's fairly certain his shirt is ruined. He shouldn't be wearing it on the futon, he thinks vaguely: it's Neji's bed in any case, at the moment, until he finds a better place to stay, and there's far too much road grime in Hakkai's hair and on his shirt. He plucks distastefully at the hem as a cold hand touches his forehead.

(Is the hand cold, or is his forehead blazing hot? It might, he admits, be the latter.)]

I have class...

[revolutionfalcon]

[That is definitely close to the worst, if not the worst fever Shun's ever felt, and he pulls his hand away quite quickly once he's established that. Hakkai's response gets a somewhat dismissive sound from him, though.]

Not today, unless the class is on how to identify a dead body. [Trying to run a class in this state is asking for trouble. Since this is a storeroom even if it's been repurposed, Shun sets about digging up a towel (or dishcloth, or whatever he can find soonest), folding it, and dampening it with some of the blessed water from his canteen. He could just use the kettle, but he doesn't know how long it's been since someone used it.

He moves to lay the damp towel on Hakkai's forehead, with rather more caution than he's been offering up to this point, and after a moment or two, also much less politely thrusts the open and still mostly full canteen in the direction of his face.]

Drink. It's water.

[reformedsinner]

[The towel feels freezing cold, too, and Hakkai can't stop himself from shivering. Once he starts, it's hard to stop. He reaches up anyway, pressing the towel against his forehead with his free hand. It's a little easier to think with it there, and it seems to be helping with the headache, too.

He still misses his grip the first time he reaches for the canteen. Without depth perception, it's sometimes hard to make the proper calculations for size and shadow to guess distance. When he's this disoriented, it's almost impossible. His hand sweeps through empty space again before he manages to catch the canteen. Water sounds good.]

Can we die of illness?

[Gods are mortal: there's no doubting that after the bodies he's seen.

How mortal is a more interesting question. He blinks at his rescuer, managing to focus enough to make out his features. Ah. Not Sanzo, after all, although their straightforward personalities do have a thing or two in common.]

Kurosaki Shun. [There's an ironic edge to his smile. Of all the people to find him this vulnerable....] You're helping me?

[revolutionfalcon]

[There's not a great deal Shun can do about the shivering right now, especially with a fever that high - a blanket would probably just need to come off a few moments later - so he just leaves it for the moment. And he doesn't seem too bothered by Hakkai's initial inability to get hold of the canteen, simply holding it in place until Hakkai manages to grab it.

The question makes him grimace slightly, even though he shrugs.] I don't know. It's not worth risking it when we still die like humans to anything else.

[If Hakkai wanted to, Shun wouldn't stop him given he's not exactly invested in the guy, but judging by that post that had gone up when he'd disappeared, there are plenty of other people who wouldn't appreciate Hakkai testing that theory.

Once Hakkai finally manages to identify him, Shun just gives him a long stare back, and eventually a faint snort at the question.]

Consider it payback for returning that vulture, if you want. But I figured there's been enough bodies lying around here lately. [Also he doesn't dislike Hakkai enough to just ditch him unconscious in this state, but that's not important.]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai's chuckle almost ends in chattering teeth. He sets the canteen down with care and wraps his arms around his knees to stay sitting up, breathing carefully.

He's sicker than he'd thought. He's going to have to get home, and talk to Ayumu, and -- well, he's made up plenty of medicines against illnesses in the last few days. He thinks there may be some left over in the temple.]

Illness is almost as messy as throat cutting.

[It's said in a tone of helpful agreement, if a shaky one.]

You do remind me of him. Him, younger.

[... it's possible that he's not quite lucid, though, still. If he was, he wouldn't be talking this way about a man who could appear any day as a shinki. Not to someone who, if not an enemy, is certainly not a friend.]

[revolutionfalcon]

Almost. I doubt I'm going to be able to do much but make it ease down temporarily. [It's a hell of a bad one, and Shun doesn't have any actual medication to use for it, nor would he really know where to start for something this significant. Battlefield medicine is usually a bit more immediate, in his experience, and they had very limited access to actual medications back home anyway.

The openness of that information definitely has Shun suspecting Hakkai still isn't quite all there, given their relationship normally couldn't really be called anything better than civil. Still, he goes along with it, not pressing for information (because he knows exactly how pissed off he'd be if someone took advantage of him being in this kind of condition to do that), but also not outright blocking the subject.]

I figured there had to be a reason you confused me for him.

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai's usual laugh has gone thready with exhaustion, and he closes his eyes to take a breath.]

It's not... too much of a compliment....

[Ah, they were talking about his condition, too, weren't they? He fumbles for the canteen again, finding it more easily by touch than sight, and sits up just enough to take another long swallow of water. Tepid water, tasting faintly of metal from the container. It's still good, and the pause lets him marshal his thoughts into some semblance of order.]

There should be medicine against fever in the first-aid kit here. It's in the library.

[revolutionfalcon]

That's obvious. [However delirious Hakkai might be, it's probably not enough to make Shun come off as pleasant, especially while he'd been dragging Hakkai here. And even though Shun doesn't carry the blessed water with him to drink, he does try to keep it fresh, for basically exactly this kind of situation. It's mollifying to at least know his foresight paid off.

Once Hakkai mentions the first-aid kit, Shun straightens up, looking back out the storeroom door.]

I remember where that is. Try not to pass out while I'm gone. [Because he sure isn't double-checking before he heads out of the storeroom and in the direction of the library to go find said kit.]

[reformedsinner]

Ah ha ha, thank you. I'll do my best....

[...since he's fairly sure that Shun won't be gentle about waking him back up. He puts the back of his hand over his forehead; his hands are a little cooler, and that helps. A bit.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[At the very least, Shun doesn't take long. He's not quite petty enough to waste his own time just to waste someone else's as well, so as soon as he finds the first-aid kit in the library, he grabs it and heads back to the storeroom before starting to pick through it. It's possible there'll be something else useful in it as well, but for now, he just digs up the requested medication and shoves a foil of the pills in Hakkai's direction.]

You'd know better than me how many are going to work.

[reformedsinner]

Thank you. [He's repeating himself, but he's also barely paying attention to what he's saying. He takes the neatly folded foil packet, unfolding the end and shaking one pill -- clearly homemade, greenish-brown and roughly oval-shaped -- into his palm. He swallows it dry on the spot.]

Just one... generally does the trick.

[He closes his eyes again, and waits. The lines of exhaustion and strain around his eyes fade rapidly as he relaxes, and the feverish flush follows, until, no more than a few minutes later, he manages to sit up with apparent composure and refold the foil packet around the remaining pills. He hands it back to Shun.]

I appreciate your assistance.

[revolutionfalcon]

[There's a faint, dismissive sound from Shun.] Save it for someone who cares.

[While he doesn't tend to have the full argument about what a waste of words he considers a "thank you" to be anymore, it's still hard not to dismiss it as soon as he hears it unless it's from someone close to him.

While the homemade pill gets a mild raise of the brow, Shun doesn't comment. It could have been made by another god or similar - he doesn't really know how well Near Shore medications work on them.

At least whatever it is works quickly, and Shun takes the foil back and returns it to the first aid box, eying Hakkai somewhat critically.]

Then show it by passing out somewhere private next time.

[reformedsinner]

I'll certainly endeavor to.

[He shrugs, takes a deep breath -- yes, he does feel steadier already -- and pushes himself to one knee, and then to his feet, stepping away from the futon.]

There, that's better. I think I'll call classes off for the day and go home to rest.

[revolutionfalcon]

[While Shun continues eying him off as he stands up, once Hakkai gets upright with no apparent ill effects for the moment, he simply turns his head and closes the first aid box.]

Best idea I've ever heard out of you. [It's not said with any particular negativity - it's put more like a neutral observation, despite the words. With that, though, he's just going to sweep back up the hall to return the box to the library.]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai laughs softly, and doesn't respond; he's busy considering the way back home. It's a bit of a walk. He'll manage... probably.

It'll probably be just fine, he tells himself, nods to Shun as he leaves with the first-aid kit, and heads determinedly back outside.]