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

I could...

[...Yeah, he has no idea, either. For now, he catches the other pillow and leans on them with his arms—if both pillows decided to spontaneously drop, he'd end up on his face, but he's not worried about that.]

Maybe a chair so I could carry you? [Tenjoin Fubuki is a wizard of good ideas you see]

[But he doesn't want Shun to start throwing pillows at him himself, so he continues—] Did this happen just now?

As if I'd agree. [More like bad ideas, from Shun's point of view, especially given the Look he's now casting Fubuki.

Shun shrugs a little at the question.] Not exactly, but it's only been an hour or so. They finally pissed me off enough inside that I made them earn their keep outside.

[After another moment or two, he decides he should probably clue Fubuki in on his other bad decision here.] You know those are going to--

[And then he just stops as the two pillows Fubuki's leaning on unanimously decide to drop like rocks. At least he might get half a soft landing from all the pillows around his legs.]

[He was at least aware enough to not lean on them with his full weight, so when the pillows drop, he just straightens. But now he's sporting a really smug grin at having outsmarted them.]

So—

[A pillow smacks into the side of his head. Apparently it decided to get revenge.]

...Quite mischievous, aren't they? [He extricates himself from the floor pile just in case the rest of them decide to get revenge, too, and steps back almost to the door, scooping up his dropped phone as he goes.]

Wait...what were you doing with them out here?

[That's about what Shun was expecting as soon as the smug grin happened. Unfortunately, stepping out of the pile may not be quite as effective as Fubuki hoped, because now the pillow pile is rolling itself up into a nice big wave to follow him as he heads back to the door.]

You could say that. [Shun's just going to watch unless things actually get risky.

When Fubuki asks that question, Shun shrugs like it should be obvious.] They were throwing themselves at me, so I figured I'd see how much they liked being used as targets.

[He has some affinity for waves, but not ones made out of pillows. He crosses his arms as he casts it a skeptical eye. ONE OUTTA TEN WOULD NOT SURF ON]

I guess they liked being targets, since they're taking it out on me now... [...Or the opposite of that. Same thing.]

[But the waving means they're not pelting him currently, so he takes the opportunity to address what he came out here for.] Actually, I wanted to ask you something. Did you see the bulletin about the giant sword?

[Crossing his arms doesn't do anything to deter the wave; if Fubuki doesn't move to the side, it's probably just going to keep on and crash into him. They might not be pelting him right now, but they're getting there.

For now, Shun just keeps watching, with the air of observing something just entertaining enough to keep his attention.]

You did interrupt. [Clearly it's not the opposite of what Fubuki said, according to Shun.

On the subject of the giant sword, Shun gives Fubuki a rather lengthy glance.] Of course I did. Why?

[He's not planning to hide it from Fubuki - he should know what he stands a chance of having to work alongside in future - but he is curious to know what raised the question.]

I figured you would have.

[He says it off-handedly while he keeps watch on the pillow wave.]

[He glances up briefly, however, and notices Shun's semi-amused air. He looks surprised for a split second, and like he's about to say something, but the pillows choose that exact moment to take advantage. They catch him entirely off guard, knocking him off his feet.]

They did that on purpose...! [THE GIGGLING...!!]

[He had to use his arms to catch himself, so he couldn't defend himself. He demands a rematch! Luckily he didn't hit his head on the door. ...Luckily they were just pillows...]

Please don't tell me you suggested they target me...

If you thought I'd seen it, that's not a reason to ask me if I had. [Shun sounds somewhat suspect here - given Fubuki's presence on Celestia's post about it, he doubts Fubuki has any solid theories as to where the sword came from let alone suspecting the rest of his temple, but it's still a bit left-field of a question.

It seems pretty obvious to Shun that the pillow spirits are acting with some level of awareness to who they're targeting, and he hums slightly in assent as if it should have been obvious they were doing it on purpose.]

You do need the practice, but they did it by themselves. I was hardly going to tell them to target you on the off chance you'd come outside.

["Off chance," huh.] Reeeally. [He saw that amused look]

[He sits up. Thankfully the pillows seem sanguine to giving him breaks in between bouts. (Or they're maybe they're too busy giggling at him currently. Either or.)]

You're not worried about it at all? [Inti had said it wasn't dangerous, but it was a giant sword. Actually, come to think of it—] Did you see it? [Because he, uh. Didn't.]

[Shun just raises his eyebrow right back. He's not even going to deign to answer that, because if Fubuki still thinks he'd waste his time on something like that when he's been his shinki for this long, he has another thing coming.

For the moment, the pillow wave retreats to regroup (after it starts giggling slightly less). In turn, Shun allows himself to put a bit more of his focus on the subject at hand - not that he looks particularly concerned even so.]

No. [Not entirely true, but those are details Fubuki doesn't need to know, especially since he doubts telling a shinki about another shinki's death would be any better of an idea than telling them about their own.] And of course I saw it - I caused it, partially. It appeared when Munakata took his vessel form. [He'll let that sink in for the moment.]

[He's not going to put a stunt like this out of the realm of someone who put a plush on his bed just saying]

...Ah. [Freed temporarily from the pillow menace, he stands slowly.] ...That wasn't his vessel form, was it? [Shun said as much with his wording, but Fubuki is...still processing. As with his conversation with Inti, he doesn't really want to recall what happened on the night of the fireflies...]

[...Well, there's one safe thing.] I assume it was effective?

[Shun isn't going to get offended on behalf of pillows, but he sure did on behalf of his vultures enough to pull the harmless magpie plush stunt.

Shaking his head, Shun gestures slightly to his neck.] It's one of those stupid frilly neck things. [Give him a second to find the word, it's not one he's needed to use a lot in the last few years.] A cravat. Seems like shinki I name aren't inclined to take the forms of weapons.

[Given Joker, Fubuki and now Reisi have all been clothing or accessories. As for whether it was effective, that gets a somewhat dry snort.] More than effective. Enough that I doubt I'll risk it for anything short of major ayakashi attacks in future.

[He stares at Shun for a second while he imagines a cravat on him, and turns away to hide the chuckle that escapes. You need to dress for a cravat, Shun!!]

Maybe we're not cut out to be weapons! [He says, during the discussion which involves a giant sword...] Makes it easy for you to carry your own, though, doesn't it? [No less than three that Fubuki knows of, at that.]

[On the other hand...] What do you mean by risk?

[That just makes Shun raise an eyebrow, because he doesn't really see the amusement here. Given it's fairly plain by cravat standards, it's not all that different to wearing his scarf.]

Joker carried throwing daggers and Munakata carries a saber. If they're not cut out to be weapons, nobody is. [Granted, Shun's reasoning here for being cut out to be weapons is being experienced in combat, but still.] It wouldn't make much of a difference. If I had an actual weapon shinki, I'd be wielding them in combat instead of my other weapons anyway. [Not that he wouldn't still be carrying the others, but he doesn't need all of them at once.

A slight tension crosses Shun's face at the mention of the risk.] His vessel ability seems to be sharing his natural powers with me. It's a hell of a lot more power than I've had to contain before, and it sounds like I need to wield it with a clear head.

[Which wasn't a problem last time, but could well be if he ever has to use it against anything that's harmed anyone he cares for and can't manage to keep a lid on it.]

Being a weapon is different from using one, I would think, though. [He can't imagine becoming a surfboard, for example!] ...But that's just something we get used to, I think. [The way he (mostly) got used to being a mask, even though it doesn't really seem like he likes them or anything.]

[He catches a pillow that thought it could sneak up on him and leans on it again.] Sounds like he's pretty powerful, then! It'll be alright as long as you stay calm, right?

[Though, he's mostly unworried because of his own experiences in vessel form—namely that he's in charge of his own vessel ability and rend output.]

As long as the power isn't fighting you. ...It isn't, is it?

Someone experienced with a weapon is more complicated than just using it. To use one effectively, you have to know it in and out, and adjust yourself to its quirks. [To Shun, using a weapon basically makes you part of the weapon's effectiveness, so he has trouble seeing how someone who uses a weapon well would be unsuited to be one.

This time, the pillow being leant on starts to push itself upwards, slowly at first. It seems like it might be trying to sneak-overbalance him eventually.

While "fighting" isn't really the right word, Shun can't really give that a firm "no" either.] When it first comes, it feels like it wants to break out. If I'm ever anything less than calm going into a fight, I doubt it's going to calm down either.

Hm? Well, you'd know better than me about that. [There are times he gets the feeling he was capable of using a weapon, but then comes the simultaneous thought that he shouldn't consider it a weapon, without him ever knowing what "it" is. And then he tries to forget about it because he shouldn't think too hard when it comes to things like that...]

Ah, adjusting to its quirks is something you have to do now, right? [Not risking it would probably be the better choice in that case.]

...Are you concerned? [He doubts Reisi would let anything happen, but Shun's talking about it like that isn't a factor...] Power-sharing...you said?

Basically. It's not the sort of thing you want to push before you know what that's going to do. [With any weapon, that can be dangerous, but with something like this, it's even more so. It would be much easier to explain his concerns if he could actually say that the sword in ruined condition had been the reason Reisi had to die in the first place, but there's no way in hell he'd tell that to any shinki.

So for now, he plays like it's not that deep a problem, letting out a faint breath.] As far as I know. He did say that first time that his power was mine to use in that form. So that's making me more careful about it.

[That's as specific as he's going to get on the front of potential risk to Reisi - and he considers it reasonable that if you're wielding someone else's power, you'd be concerned about any potential backlash on them.]

Hm... [He doesn't quite understand being careful with someone else's power on anything but an intellectual level, but maybe that's just one of things. (...Y'know, those things.) Seems to him that getting overcome by the power is more of a concern, but saying something like that when he knows both people in question would be pretty rude.]

[When the pillow pushes him up farther than he can ignore, he straightens and takes hold of it again.]

I don't suppose you can ask him? [Since it's originally Reisi's and all.] ...Unless you're afraid he'll think about it too hard.

[Which is a valid thing to be afraid of, from...experience. Aha... But certain things need to be met head-on despite the danger, and while it remains to be seen whether this is one of those times, it's...an option. From what he's seen, generally shinki seem to be able to talk about their abilities.]

It's likely enough that I don't really need to risk asking. And like you said, there's always the risk he'll think about it too hard or try to remember something about it. You haven't been as bad, but Joker would come close to remembering things from as much as something that might have alluded to his past life, let alone being questioned about something from it.

[As ever, his tone is slightly terse when talking about his disappeared shinki, though it's also not least because Shun knows Fubuki's risk level probably also depends entirely on how careless he is with his own possessions. He generally kept his deck concealed without really thinking about it, but Shun's been actively hiding it since finding out Fubuki and Johan shared a world.]

[Well...about that...] I did ask him, though, once... [Sheepish.] He didn't give me a straight answer, but it didn't seem like he was struggling with it, either.

[Not that he's encouraging Shun to go and do that, though.]

...Catch. [He tosses the pillow. Way back when, he'd suggested Shun tell him about Joker as a way to alleviate the pain of that loss, but it sounds like Shun isn't at that point yet where that would be effective. Although, Shun was fine when he was talking about Joker's throwing knives, which, uh... That's just to be expected?? (Fubuki may have misunderstood something here.)]

Guess your only recourse is calming exercises, then! [He says this entirely cheerfully in such a way that it probably sounds a little bit mocking.] How about this? I'll try to rile you up, and you can throw Sir Pillow at me, but if you do that, you lose.

[This ~perfect plan~ fails to take into account that the pillows were throwing themselves at them both anyway, but details]

[At the least, it's ebbed enough now that Shun can talk about Joker in passing easily. It's just going into details that's the issue now, and that would take a lot longer to stop being the case.

Though Fubuki seems unconcerned, Shun shakes his head slightly.] I can't really trust that from other people when I prefer to conceal that sort of thing myself.

[One advantage of being stubborn and refusing to show weakness: it makes it easy to see those habits in others. When Fubuki throws the pillow, Shun grabs it out of the air and traps it under one arm.

The other pillows appear to take this as indicative of a cycle, and another one lines itself up to toss itself at Fubuki right as Shun levels him with an incredibly dry look for that suggestion.]

You couldn't replicate what's most likely to piss me off in a combat situation. And if your idea was standing there and hurling insults at me, I can tell you right now it isn't going to work.

[That's the voice of experience speaking.]

[Conceal...? ...He can't say he can see it, considering the knife at sleepover, but maybe that was just because it was Ren, and as established, Fubuki can't do anything to Shun. That's a fair point about not revealing one's hand, though.]

[He noticed the other pillow too late, so he ducks instead.]

Ah, you found me out? [...Will it really not work, because he can think of one or two things]

...Is it the combat situation that's the issue? [Not that he's unfamiliar with the idea of losing composure in combat, but...] Seems to me like that's something you can practice.

There's only so many ways you could try to "rile me up". [And Fubuki trying anything but verbal attacks is something they both know would just end with him flat on the ground, so Shun considered it unlikely to be that.

Shaking his head, Shun looks over to the garden, and the flowers growing around the little shrine at the far end.] I mean I have too much self-control these days to be angered by anything short of something that would come out of combat. [Granted, when one of those things happens, he generally switches to having no self-control, but it's still valid.] You can't practice not reacting to friends and comrades getting hurt, and that's the most likely thing to be a risk here.

[If he ever needs to do something like the save he gave Fubuki and Johan, but the ayakashi had actually gotten to the person badly enough first, he'd have to put in a hell of an effort to force himself to react in any way that wasn't destroying every single one of them in a blind rage.]

[Well it's certainly true that he was only going to say things—]

[—Ah. That.] That's true... I'm sorry. [He hadn't thought about that, but in retrospect, it's really not that surprising that Shun would. As well as the fact that that probably comes from experience and not an extrapolation, considering what Shun's told him of that war...]

[He picks up the pillow he'd dodged and tosses it at Shun again.] Catch.

[He folds his arms as soon as the pillow leaves his hands.] So it comes down to danger level, after all. [...For some reason, something Inti had said is echoing in his mind now, about power and the people who use it...]

Shun, I'm not implying anything, but...does that hesitation come from fear of using it, or does it come from wanting to use it?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject