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~

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...Okay, well, should I be saying he needed a nice sobering hug or ten, since that sounds like it would've pissed him off more. [And probably caused him to keep right on punching people in the face, but oh well.

That explains a little bit, though, and Davesprite raises a brow as he curls his tail around himself.] You don't really seem like the punch someone in the face ten times for breathing in your direction kind of guy.

I was a very angry teenager. [With a glint of amusement, he adds:]

Although I preferred verbal provocation when I was starting fights.

[Breaking their face was the second step, and then only if he was absolutely sure it wouldn't be found out by anyone with the power to expel him....]

That bit, I can believe. [Hakkai definitely seems like the verbal provocation kind of guy. It makes Davesprite think, though, because there's something a little odd about how he feels about this.

Lying back again, he stares up at the sky for a while as he tries to pinpoint it.] I guess you and him aren't the sorts to be like. I dunno, freaked out by it or something. Violence, I mean.

[Maybe not the right term, but in the absence of an accurate measure for the feeling Davesprite gets in his gut when he has to fight seriously, fear feels the closest.]

No. To be honest, I don't like violence, but it's because...

[His hesitation is brief, but he glances away.]

... I'm not nearly as freaked out by it as I should be.

[That's...not too much of a surprise, given what Hakkai just said about his and Hibari's relationship, and it doesn't seem to faze Davesprite any. He just keeps looking up at the starts and the curling smoke from the bonfire.]

I guess some people are like that too. I don't even know if it's right to say "freaked out". It's just like...I don't know, uncomfy as fuck whenever I have to actually fight. Like I'm expecting something.

[He leaves it at that, because thinking about it any further is just offputting more than anything, and not even entirely because of shinki instinct.]

Mm.

[He's silent for a moment, weighing the danger of speculation against the fact that he doesn't really know any more about Davesprite's past than Davesprite does.]

Some experiences leave scars that go beyond the memory itself. I discovered a few of my own when I was still a shinki, but --

[He shrugs, after a moment.]

Being uncomfortable with violence is nothing to be ashamed of.

Yeah, I guess we kind of covered that during that one time we were doing the borderline thing. [Davesprite still doesn't know what caused his reaction there to be so severe, but it had worked on something that he wasn't sure of. It's only reasonable to assume it was a reflex of some sort.

It's a nice sentiment that it's nothing to be ashamed of, but Davesprite doesn't answer for a few moments. It's questionable whether he even agrees.]

Doesn't really matter as long as I can do what I need to anyway. Protect the castle, all that good shit.

Indeed we did.

[Hakkai's silent for a moment in turn. It seems like the same response, in fact: that terror that had had nothing to do with his own monstrous face, or with any reasoned fear. And an equally reflexive dislike of combat.

Davesprite is, he thinks, young to have responses like that. There are certain implications.

That said... he isn't about to argue with the younger man's estimation of his duties.]

And yes. You don't have to be comfortable with it to be able to fight when it's necessary, and from what I recall of that borderline incident, you can.

Yeah, I've done it before, though not that often. Hajime doesn't really do the fighting thing all that much, so mostly it's just if shit goes down. That fucking vamp running around a couple of months back, the Night of the Living Dead knockoff at that one festival, that sort of deal.

[Thinking about the times he's had to do it before feels a lot less unnerving than dancing around the edges of any deeper implications, even if it's still not comfortable. He can do it if he has to, at least, he just doesn't like the edge it seems to put him on.]

Speaking of, what happened to that whole pointy-eared, vine tattooed look you were rocking when you were a shinki. [It's not usually the kind of thing Davesprite pries about, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious.]

[Hakkai nods, and then glances back at him, with a faint laugh.]

Oh -- well.

[He lifts a hand to tap the earcuffs spaced along the edge of his left ear.] I'm accustomed to wearing these. They make me look human.

[Which doesn't go very far to explain why he went without them as a shinki, so, after a few seconds of silence, he continues.]

And I didn't remember why I preferred to wear them before.

[Davesprite sits up a bit to get a better look at them.] Huh. So some kind of power limiter sort of thing, woe fucking betide if they're taken off. Or not really, I guess, since you were still pretty cool as whatever it is you are without them.

[Not human, obviously, but Davesprite isn't sure what it was beyond that. He'd looked kind of like an elf, honestly.]

Sounds like personal business. And fuck knows shinki can't even get at their impersonal business without getting their ass monstered.

[Hakkai chuckles, softly.] That's exactly right. I'm sane without them here, but back home, there's a certain problem that's been occurring. Waves of negative magical energy that drive youkai berserk and force them ... ah, us... to attack humans.

[He pauses, and adds:] And eat them, for that matter.

I was born human, but I'm youkai enough now that it would affect me if I had them off at home.

[Of the mythological terms that get thrown around here, youkai is one of the few common enough for Davesprite to actually be relatively familiar with it. It's at least enough that by the time Hakkai gets to the bit about eating humans, Davesprite is at least on the right train of thought to not be creeped out by that.

Absently, he feels like he probably should be, but. That's for people who care more about things than he does.]

Youkai is that big umbrella term for like. Ghosty, demony, spiritual creatures, right. So you're part human and part one of those.

[Davesprite seems to mull on that for a moment before lying down again.] Sounds like a shitty time to be back in your world. And hey, at least you got to meet another hybrid vaguely-defined spiritual existence.

[It still sounds as a hybrid if he's part a bird, part a human and all a sprite, totally.]

It is, yes. Where I'm from, though, most youkai are... hmm, like I look without my limiters. We have a certain kind of spiritual power, and some of us have particular abilities above and beyond that, but we're not ghosts or demons.

[He tosses Davesprite a half-smile.]

But you're right, it's not a good time to be either youkai or human at home. And I appreciate the chance to meet someone else who was once human.

[It's not precisely a first -- he's met others who have sacrificed their humanity -- but most of them don't come out the other side capable of cracking wise about bad movies.]

So basically you're elves. [He knew he was right about the elf thing, that totally sounds like an elf to him. Or at least an elf by any other name: magical, spiritual, generally extranormal mostly-humanoids with pointy ears.

Davesprite initially thinks to remark on how it'd probably help if he himself actually remembered how he became not human, but thinking about that sort of thing too much is still offputting, so he leaves it. Instead, he tries to lighten the mood a bit.]

So, what kind of insanely badass powers did you have, and do they stack up to the majesty of sprite powers. [As if to make his point, Davesprite flicks a talon, and a nearby rock lights up with neon orange writing spelling out the English words "fucking majestic".]

[Hakkai laughs merrily.] Oh -- more or less! Youkai and humans can even have children together...

[You know: half-elves. He's watched some Lord of the Rings; he can see the similarities, although, of course, "orc" might be just as accurate.]

... Well, sadly, I can't do that.. [He holds out a hand, palm up, and light gathers there, twinkling like a captive star until he turns to throw it at the center of Davesprite's fucking majestic boulder. It burns a neat hole halfway through the stone before fizzling out.]

Damn, even down to the cross-species bratwurst hiding world championships, sounds like that was even more accurate than I thought.

[Terrible sexual analogies, thy name is Davesprite. But he does get distracted from that salacious piece of information by Hakkai seemingly throwing a tiny star at the now slightly less fucking majestic than it was two seconds ago boulder.]

Shit, see, that's actually useful. From what I've figured out so far, half my powers are kind of useful but limited as fuck or the powers equivalent of a shitpost. [As if to accentuate his point, he gestures upwards at the sky, where there is now a translucent, floating image of Davesprite hanging out in the air like someone pointed their projector the wrong way.]

[Bratwurst hiding... Hakkai's eyebrows flick upwards, half amused and half disbelieving. Simultaneously creative and disgustingly juvenile: he has to award full points for that metaphor.

He glances up at the floating illusion, and smiles cheerfully.]

Don't underrate illusions. They're much more versatile than burning holes in rocks.

... What exactly is a shitpost?

I would be much more down with that argument if the only thing I could make illusions of wasn't myself. [He's tried making other things with them, and always just ends up with more copies of himself than he could shake a stick at.

Davesprite doesn't hesitate in his definition of that very important piece of terminology.] Exactly what it sounds like. When you make a post on the internet, and it's shit because either it's unfunny enough that it rolls back around into mildly amusing, you didn't really give a fuck what you were posting in the first place, or it's outdated memes. Usually it's still kind of funny to someone on some level, but everyone knows it's shit.

An excellent distraction tactic...

[He smiles, shrugging. An excellent distraction tactic, but probably not too versatile. More importantly:]

Isn't that most of the internet?

That is indeed most of the internet. Congratulations, you discovered the secret.

[Hakkai wins an internet, or he would if that wasn't too outdated of a meme for Davesprite to employ even ironically. Or at least in this situation.]

Just don't spread it around, or our mighty feline overlords might come knocking.

Ah yes, that would be the rest of the internet.

[Shitposts and cats.

... And Wikipedia. Well, that's all that Hakkai's bothered investigating, at least. He chuckles.]

I'm glad you've discovered the true form of the internet this soon into your exposure.

[His tone is very deadpan, but shitposts and cats is still a better descriptor than all those optimistic people who like to talk about information potential and whatever else.]

And then there's your lesser factors like shitty anons and porn and non-shitpost memery, but that's for the advanced class.

[Hakkai waves one hand dismissively.]

Details.

[-- and holds the straight face for several seconds before relaxing into a chuckle. He shrugs, and moves to get up, brushing the dust from his slacks.]

Well -- it's getting late, I'm afraid. I should head home. After the past few days, I'm sure we could all use some sleep.

[Davesprite could debate the thing on details, but seeing how long Hakkai can hold the poker face is more interesting, and then when he says he needs to head home anyway, Davesprite offers a vague wave.]

Think I'm gonna hang out a little longer. See if we get any other chronic cases of exit, pursued by a bear.

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