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

The exit.

[ Obviously. She has picked this direction, so it must be correct. Now, what is all this nonsense about -

There is an audible splash noise from this area of the darkness. ]

[Did he just hear a splash.]

Are you alright?

[Would she be the type to answer honestly if she weren't, is the real question here, but not saying it might give the wrong impression, especially since it's gotten so dark. They're not going to be able to see each other if it gets any worse. Which, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if this weren't a haunted haunted house and couples could come here without fear of getting trapped, but...it is in fact a haunted haunted house.]

[...Which is his justification for doing what he does next.] Oh no~ How will I ever live without seeing your ~gorgeous face~ one more time?

[The lights come back on. ...Welp.]

[ They come back on to the sight of Hibiki, skid marks clearly visible on the floor from where her foot had found a large puddle of oil, balancing herself one-legged against a prop well that, presumably, people emerge from to scare others. The post appears to have been abandoned, but the well remains.

She corrects her posture, takes out a handkerchief, wipes down the soles of her sandals. ] Such tiresome juvenelia.

[ Something in the air giggles. ]

Glad you're unhurt.

[He'd been assuming malicious intent, but maybe the ghosts here are just having fun?]

[...No, but people had been stuck here for hours, and there had definitely been screaming. It was clearly not fun for at least some of the people that had gotten caught in it.]

[But since he now knows that the ghosts are listening, he goes over so he can lower his voice.] Let's use them to our advantage.

[ Hibiki doesn't remember this venture turning into anything involving the word "our". She frowns. ] You really think that'll keep working?

[ It's not a bad idea, but she's trying to figure out whether it would fit in her aesthetic. Tricking people into doing what she wants....Hibiki's not above that, but it's not magnificent. A foe should be vanquished more grandly.

Besides, she doesn't need help. ]

Let's give it a shot.

[He straightens and raises his voice.] I agree!! It's too cold to stay! At this rate, we might just leave~!

[And now the temperature is rising. That might have been risky, considering the ghosts might have tried to get them to stay more forcefully, so good thing it didn't backfire on him! Ahaha!]

Let's hurry before they change their minds. [Unaware of what she thinks about working together, he goes ahead.]

[ A sigh. She's picked up a troublesome audience member, hasn't she.....Believing this is participatory theater.

Ah, well. She's committed this far, she may as well keep going. Hibiki folds her hands into her sleeves and heads in the same direction as Fubuki, keeping up her own relaxed pace.

Now that there's confirmation something out there is listening, however, she herself is more open to her environment. Where....? If she thinks of the spirit as the number-ONE thing she needs to find....then her sensitivity to that number...

Where is it?? ]

[Meanwhile, in front of her, Fubuki goes crashing to the ground again. WHO PUT THAT PIECE OF PAPER THERE???]

[...He picks it up.] It says "Behind you."

[The only person behind him is Hibiki, so—] Is there something behind you?

[ Hibiki snorts, concentration (for the moment) broken. ] An amateur's trick! They wait for you to turn around, only to --

[ Something looms up behind her. ]

[There's a chance that that's another worker...but with everything that's happened since then, probably not.]

Look out—!

[He gets up, but something tugs on his leg and he crashes right back down again.]

Would you stop falling [ literally ] for that ludicrous trap?!

[ But it's only when she's done yelling at him that she feels the chill behind herself and does, indeed, turn -

and has to sidestep a box of yakisoba being flung at her head. Except there's no worker, this time. There's nothing but the air, and disembodied laughter.

And a lot more festival food appearing now where that came from.

Hibiki sniffs. ]

[but he can't see it—!!]

[In the pause wherein the ghosts don't continue flinging food, he takes a chance to glance down at his leg. There's a string wound around his ankle... He recognizes it. Apparently his pants had caught onto some thread a while back before they'd entered the haunted house, and had managed to stay there during the other pranks, and had then caught onto another part of his pants and yanked him down at the most inopportune time. He'd been assuming the rest were just the spirits slapping things down at his feet (and Hibiki thinks so, too), but this one...is ludicrously bad luck.]

[He'd taken out the charm from his pocket and is glaring suspiciously at it when festival food lands with a plop beside him. ...Thanks for not aiming at him, ghosts, but he should probably ditch this thing.]

Catch! [It sails right between some of the floating edibles. Well, he wasn't planning on having that hit anything, anyway! Ahaha!]

I can't borderline, so we should go! [he says entirely too cheerfully]

[ Wait, he can't - and whatever he threw, he missed -

this guy is totally useless ]

Why did you even come along in the first place?!

[ Even with her back turned to the flying festival food, she's able to dodge it. This is an irritant, nothing more, a setback on the road to success -

but there is always time to stop and yell at people when they dumbfound her. Always. ]

I can do other things! [What other things? Well, uh. Things.]

I can't just sit outside if someone's going in alone, you know?

[He raises his voice.] As grateful as I am for this ~loving~ gesture, what will we do with this many gifts~?

[The food-flinging stops, but before a smug grin can even begin to appear on Fubuki's face, the flinging resumes again in earnest. Actually, it's even more fervent.]

Sorry...that didn't work. [...but what did he say that was different from last time???]

...Forget it. I'm continuing.

[ Hibiki does her best to regain her composure, though a vein is visibly throbbing in her forehead. At this rate, she's not sure what's affecting her more - the banality of the spirits they're facing or the stupidity of her companion. That wasn't even reverse psychology!

You'd think someone who can figure out that much would also employ it themselves, but, Hibiki will Hibiki come what may. Others' suggestions are unnecessary. ]

These are likely mere hors d'oeuvres anyway.

Edited 2017-07-31 03:08 (UTC)

Even if that's so, it's kind of a problem, isn't it...? [Having to dodge while they're trying to do other things wouldn't be ideal! He takes a glance behind him.] If they're not meant to be gifts, then...

[He comes to a stop, whirls around, and throws out his arms.] Come! I'll accept your aggression! I'll take all of it!

[...The food seems like it'll take him up on his offer, zooming in on him immediately, but at the last second, they...dive to the ground instead. It's a rain of food in front of him...]

[He crosses his arms.] Heh.

[He actually may or may not have been intending to draw their ire and allow Hibiki to go ahead with...whatever she was planning, but never mind that. He totally saw this outcome. Totally.]

How do you propose we reach the main event?

[ ....Oh. That's his use.

A tiny doll shaped like Fubuki clatters into a box labeled "BAIT" in Hibiki's head. Okay. She can work with that. ]

Appetizers aren't served for nothing.

[ She puts one hand on her hips as she approaches a heavy black curtain separating this area from the next one. ] At this rate....

[ There is a literal curtain. She is secretly quite pleased.

Because it means she gets to sweep it aside!

Like so! ]

[That is certainly a curtain! And a dramatic reveal!! ...The empty yukatas in various states of...posing...? (One is holding their sleeves to their chest. That's, uh...) don't seem appreciative, though.]

...I think you interrupted them.

[What would angry articles of clothing be able to do to them? He doesn't want to stick around to find out!]

I assume we're going through? [He's already moving forward, dodging a dive-bombing sash as he goes.]

Indeed.

[ From the way these yukata are folded, she's presuming... ] Pardon, mesdemoiselles.

[ And she. Winks. At the spirits.

They can toss everything they want at Fubuki, but she's just going to keep walking. Now that she knows why she has him along, Hibiki is feeling much more secure in her staging.

Whether or not their actual opponents are willing to play along. ]

[Why does he get the feeling he just got thrown to the wolves...?]

[It takes a moment for him to notice that he's the only one getting attacked here. Yeah, that...that makes sense...]

I'm not the one who pulled back the curtain...! [He says while frantically making his way to the other side as quickly as he can. The curtain on this side he does pull open, though, to reveal...uh...]

[A cadre of yukata spinning in the air upside-down. He is not even going to question it, just try to quietly sneak past these ones...]

[ No such luck! The yukata, noticing Fubuki, make a dive for him. It seems like they want him to....wear them.....? That's what it seems, at least, from the way they're trying to slip onto his limbs.

A bunch of them branch off and head for Hibiki, but she whips out her shield and they bounce off of it. She frowns at Fubuki. ] What ar--

[ "Help us!"

The voice comes from above. And the first set of victims are discovered: a small group of high school girls, all dressed in the yukata, all hanging upside-down from the ceiling and spinning around.

"We can't get down!"

Hibiki clicks her tongue against her teeth. Entertainment that causes actual fright.

Tasteless. ]

[In the wake of noticing the girls, he misses the yukata sneaking up on him. He has a second to think, ??, before he's hoisted up into the air.]

[...At least they took care to swaddle his legs properly so they aren't dangling dangerously... (SMALL. MERCIES.)]

[In a situation like this...]

Er. [He'd call Hibiki's name here, but he doesn't know it.] Please help us down. [His voice doesn't show it but he's begging you]

[ Hibiki's eyes flick to the exit, then to Fubuki and the girls. Can't be helped. A Prince does not abandon damsels in distress.

Besides, they're being noisy.

Raising a hand, she shoots a sparkling purple rope at the ceiling; it affixes, and she reels it in, rising to their level. From there, she swings to the nearest girl, using her free hand to start tugging the yukata off of her. ] A beautiful dress would suit you better.

[ The girl gasps, tears in her eyes. And turns bright red.

The mighty god Apollo's battle plan may be to flirt her way through the haunted house, at this rate. ]

[For his part, through some struggling and taking advantage of how suddenly (and therefore shoddily) the yukata jumped on him, he manages to get an arm free. Success. It's just... That's a bit of a drop, and he's not sure he can turn in mid-air. No matter how light shinki are on the Near Shore, that landing...]

[It doesn't help that half his mind is wondering where Hibiki got that rope, and half that is incredible technique to get that reaction—!]

[The sleeve is inching back up. It's do or die. He stills, and then— Very suddenly shifting his weight does what he hopes, and the yukata plummets. He tears the garment open and hangs onto it when the yukata tries to catch itself and fly back up (giving his arm a bad jolt in the process but it's fine he anticipated that (he did not anticipate that. Ow.)). And finally, he lets go for a gentle jump to the floor (gentleness here being overstated, as the pain through his ankle can attest...but it fades after a second and he can still move it, so it looks to be nothing serious).]

[He looks back up. The torn yukata isn't going for him again, good.]

I'll be cheering for you! [He is also poised to catch the girl, if it comes to that! AHAHA ow his arm ow]

[ Hm? Oh, him. Hibiki was also planning to get to him after the girls, because she has priorities like that. It is reassuring to see he isn't going to need her assistance after all.

Keeping the girl she'd just saved tucked under one arm, she swings over to the other captive. ] Grab hold.

[ "....It's a Prince," the girl breathes, shocked. "A Prince has come for us."

Hibiki bites back a smile, since it wouldn't do to break the mood of a serious scene. And yet. It's about time.

The yukata, however, are whirling around behind her, up to something.... ]

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