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'd always assumed you were smarter than this.

[Chikusa had just been stopping by the school for the usual reasons- they have a dog now, after all, and sometimes he likes to just leave Bon at the school for a few hours so that he'll stop getting into his room or harassing Pookie.]

[What he hadn't been expecting was to find Hakkai collapsing, and he nudges the god just to see if he's actually conscious.]

[Somehow, it appears he's not. Hakkai groans when nudged, which is, if nothing else, reassurance that he's not actually dead.

He's not twitching much, though. It may take more than just a nudge to get him off the ground.]

[Well. Fuck.]

[Chikusa doesn't move him up off the ground just yet, instead carefully kneeling down to start checking Hakkai's vitals. Just because he's not dead now doesn't mean he isn't in danger of it.]

[....Although now he's wondering if gods can get heart attacks, or other such problems.]

[Hakkai's pulse is racing, his temperature feverishly high, and he mumbles something indistinct as Chikusa checks. His eyes slit open, and the first thing he sees is a familiar beanie.

Ah.]

Chikusa?

[His voice is still half-mumbled and spacey, but at least he's awake. That's something, right?]

Sorry... to be a bother....

[So alive but obnoxiously sick. Hm. Chikusa pulls his hands away, content at least with the knowledge that Hakkai won't be in worse condition if he moves him.]

[....Although there's a simpler if more questionable route to take.]

You can still teleport, right? Get to the school that way.

It takes ...concentration.

[Unfortunately, Hakkai's not very good at concentrating in this state. He can barely convince his eye to focus.

He's trying to push himself up onto his elbows regardless, though, lips pressing tight against a wave of nausea.]

[Well, fuck, there goes the easy way out of this.]

[Sighing, he reaches down to take Hakkai's shoulders, helping to guide him upwards.]

What did you do to yourself...?

Now, now....

[Hakkai manages to push himself upright, standing almost entirely by strength of will rather than strength of muscle. He still needs to lean on Chikusa, though he's trying not to put too much weight on the younger man. This definitely is not going to last after they start moving.]

... I've just caught ... a summer cold.

[His laugh is shaky.]

[He swears to god Hakkai-]

If that's all it is, then I can still drop you to let you get over it naturally....

[So tell him the truth, you fuck. Carefully, he takes a test step forward.]

I may have... overexerted myself a bit. As well.

[Ah, a step is a bit of extra work. He's managing it, but he's also leaning rather heavily on Chikusa with the movement. They'll make it back. Probably.]

[Chikusa grunts as Hakkai leans against him, but somehow manages to keep his skinny ass upright. It's a good thing he's so tall. After a second, he tries again.]

Doing what?

Looking after my followers.

[It really is a lucky thing they're not going to have to walk too far. Hakkai's getting his balance back now that they're moving, but he still winds up leaning hard against Chikusa every time he starts to sway. Which is every third or fourth step.]

Suppose I should have... rested.

[Going back to bed really does feel like a good idea at the moment.]

[ S I G H ]

[Still, Chikusa tries to get him along, because it'd be unfortunate if an ayakashi or asshole came across Hakkai first when he's so useful.]

Even gods have a finite amount of energy. What is it about your followers anyway....?

It seems... a lot of them are sick. Lately.

[This is a bit like a three-legged race: Hakkai leans half his weight on Chikusa and staggers forward, then regains his balance to let Chikusa step forward in turn without all the weight on him.]

I'm sure I just... caught something from them....

[Gods can catch colds, right? He lifts a hand to point out the simple two-story brick building up ahead.]

That's it.

Well, stop doing that.

[SIMPLE, RIGHT]

[Chikusa follows Hakkai's finger, making a small noise of understanding. That's... not too far. Although he's really hating having to lug Hakkai around like this.]

Can you hold on until then....?

I'll do my best.

[Reassuring... isn't it? He's doing just fine here, really.

He puffs a soft laugh, continuing to struggle onward. He's not going to bother speaking much more until they get to the temple and he can sit down on, at least, the front porch. He could, but continuing to sound cool and unbothered isn't quite as appealing as saving his breath for the effort of walking.]

[Well. That answers that, he guesses.]

[A good person might have tried to get Hakkai into the temple further, onto a chair or couch or something. Chikusa, however, isn't. He just lets Hakkai drop onto the stairs before sprawling across it himself, huffing.]

[He's not actually tired. He just hates having to do that kind of work.]

[It's honestly a salve to his pride to be dropped in front of his temple door instead of helped inside; he curls up there, reaching up to rub his face for a moment before struggling back to a sitting position. He can make it from here. There are walls to lean on all the way into the sitting room.]

Thank you.

[Chikusa barely lolls his head enough that he's looking at the god.]

The Far Shore isn't as safe as people think.... and it'd be more of a pain if you ended up dead.

I'm flattered. [Flattered, and stubbornly hauling himself up to a standing position with a white-knuckled hand on one of the columns of his temple.]

I don't... think this place is safe at all.

Of course it isn't.

[Idly, he watches as Hakkai tries to get up with the air of expectation that he thinks the god will fall flat on his face in a few seconds but isn't inclined to do anything about that.]

We know so little, it can't be safe...

[The power of stubbornness is a great power and not easily defeated. Hakkai's clinging to the column for dear life, and it's plain to see that he'd collapse at the first shove, but he's not going to fall on his own.]

Mm. Exactly.

[He's just staying upright and clinging to the column for several seconds more before he makes the great leap of starting towards his front door. The world is spinning, his knees feel untrustworthy, and movement seems like a very bad idea.

He consoles himself with the thought that the sitting room and its couches are very close to his front door, lets go, and takes a whole two steps before collapsing hard onto his knees.]

[Chikusa lets his head roll a little more as he follows Hakkai's progress, elbows resting against the ground to help him out with the least amount of movement. When the god finally hits his knees, Chikusa hums.]

Can you make it any further?

Eventually.

[He's breathing hard with the pathetic effort of standing and taking a few steps, but, if he has to, he can crawl.

Drag himself. Something like that. The point is: he'll manage, and it will flatter his pride just a little, which is very important.

He's not going to try just yet, though. He's resting first.]

...Are you going to try walking again?

[His voice definitely isn't judging. It's the same ol' dull tone as usual. Yet somehow it still manages to sound a little judging...]

[Seriously, Hakkai, don't you have a shinki?? Chikusa is trying to see what the point of all this is.]

018 | Season Spirits

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