20 | Shopping Frenzy!

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Helping a grand opening go well
When: August 21
Where: The Near Shore
Summary: The owners and employees at a new shopping center are begging for help. Bad luck has plagued them, and their grand opening is this weekend! Gods and shinki alike have been asked to respond to their prayers on Opening Day, find the source of their misfortune and ensure that the opening goes smoothly.



The Yamada Corporation is opening a new, high-class department store in a Tokyo suburb. They've been running advertisements for weeks and excitement among their prospective customers is at a fever pitch. Unfortunately, things inside the project aren't going so well. Construction has been delayed, deliveries are wrong, employees keep getting sick or hurt on the job and it's starting to look like the grand opening will be a grand disaster. Their fervent prayers for help have reached the Heavens, who are passing them along to you to be granted... but with an addition: Heaven, too, is very interested in learning where that bad luck is coming from.



Maintenance Madness

For a brand-new building, Yamada Department Store is having a lot of maintenance issues. Toilets are overflowing, lights are burning out, stair railings are coming loose, and either the air conditioning is set so cold there's frost on the vents or it's not working at all. The overworked maintenance crew needs all the help they can get! How many gods does it take to change a light bulb?

Secret Shoppers

Are you really going undercover to make sure you stop problems before they start, or just enjoying a day of high-class shopping on Heaven's dime? Whatever your real motivation is, all expenses are covered... but you'll still want to keep an eye out for mishaps. Unfortunately, the grocery and bakery in the basement are under construction (they've had some flooding problems) but there are still six floors of designer clothes, consumer goods and restaurants to enjoy.

Retail Rescue

Between mysterious accidents and that nasty flu that seems to be going around, the department store is badly understaffed. Grab an employee uniform and someone else's nametag and pitch in before the lines get too long. There are positions open in every department, from the restaurant on the top floor to book sales on floor one.

It's not just sales and service you have to worry about: thanks to the store's misfortune, displays are toppling over, the wrong orders are coming in, fancy candies are melting all over the shelves and ink tags are exploding on their own. This is hard work!

Intrepid Investigators

The Heavens aren't just sending so much supernatural help to this department store to keep their faithful followers happy. They have reason to suspect that there's something more sinister behind this mysterious streak of extra-bad luck. Between keeping the lights on and the customers happy,
you've been asked to search the store and investigate all of the "unlucky" incidents in order to determine what's going on. The shinki who brought you this request hinted that Heaven would look favorably on anyone who uncovered something particularly useful....

If your character is investigating the department store and needs to know what they have found, please comment to the "Investigations" thread below with a link to your thread. Your hint will be provided.

Investigation threads longer than 10 comments will earn 200 followers for every god in the thread and 20 exp for every shinki. Once your thread reaches that length, please turn it in by replying to your hint under the "Investigations" thread to let us know you've earned the bonus.

In Summary:

• Keep the lights on
• Take some time out to enjoy a shopping trip
• Make sure the customers are happy
• Discover the cause of the bad luck
• Have fun~

Comments

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki gives them a dubious look, and puts the shirt down on the chair, spreading it out a little to cover the upholstery.]

Sure. Just don't cut the shirt, I haven't paid for it yet!

[Not that it's his money he's spending today, but he liked that shirt, dammit. He wants to have a chance to wear it before somebody accidentally puts a knife through it.]

[freezetheheavens]

There are always more shirts if Kurosaki does cut it.

[But thanks, Tsuzuki.

Toushirou is going to put the charm onto the shirt now and nods to Shun.]

[revolutionfalcon]

The Heavens are paying for this anyway. I'm sure they can afford one extra shirt. [Shun is 100% unsympathetic to your plight, Tsuzuki. Nonetheless, he's still careful just on principle, placing his finger on the remnants of tape to hold the charm down while not actually making contact with the thing itself. Picking his starting point carefully, he pierces the fabric of the charm with the blade and pulls it along the very edges to remove the stitching keeping it together. The knife goes through cleanly, though given how often Shun sharpens it, he'd be more surprised if it didn't.

Once he's done, he moves the top layer of the charm off to one side so they can see what's in it.]

[sweetdeath]

Yeah, but I liked that shirt, I wanted to buy it...

[Tsuzuki trails off as Shun levers the top of the charm's fabric off, baring a tightly folded piece of paper inside. Tsuzuki pats his pockets and produces a ballpoint pen; he pulls the cap off, and carefully, using the pen tip and the cap to avoid having to touch the paper himself, starts unfolding it.]

[freezetheheavens]

[As Tsuzuki works on unfolding the charm, Toushirou begins to notice the written words on it. He frowns, recognizing it.]

We can at least be certain it's an ofuda for bad luck.

[But there are words at the bottom of the charm, eyebrows furrowed.]

...Do either of you two recognize that language?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Well, at least they know one thing for sure, though Shun finds himself frowning at the unfamiliar letters around the bad luck note before too long. He's trying to pick out what language it might be, but when Hitsugaya asks, he shakes his head.]

Never seen it before. But I haven't studied languages for a while. [So he's just going to turn his head pointedly to Tsuzuki to see if he can identify anything about it.]

[sweetdeath]

I don't recognize it either.

[Tsuzuki turns the paper to face him with the tip of the pen cap, frowning at it. The spell for bad luck is clear, but the letters -- symbols? -- under it aren't Japanese, or Chinese, or anything else that even looks familiar.]

I don't know many languages, though. You should talk to somebody who's better with them.

[freezetheheavens]

[Toushirou eyes the characters for a moment, shaking his head a bit.]

That'd be our best chance right now since none of us here seem to recognize it.

[And he's seen a lot of weird characters, including Kurotsuchi's strange language for his technology.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Unfortunately, Shun can't think of anyone specific who's good with languages right now, but he does glance over to the other two as if he has an idea.]

Unless either of you have someone specific in mind, I could take it and ask around. I know a few of the people who volunteer at the library, at least, and could get them to keep an eye out.

[There wasn't exactly a guarantee Chikusa would comply, but Izuku might.]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki nods.]

With all of the people from different countries, or even worlds, someone's got to recognize it, right?

I don't know anyone in particular who's an expert at that, though.

[He frowns down at the paper for a few more seconds.]

... It really is weird.

[freezetheheavens]

That's fine with me. Someone should be able to be familiar with it, at least.

[Especially since none of them here doesn't seem to know it.

Whatever it is, it doesn't exactly make Toushirou feel the least bit comfortable with the unknown characters.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[There's a short nod from Shun at that, and he reaches into one of his pockets to withdraw what appears to be a slightly dirty cleaning cloth. He has been assisting the staff on and off, but he didn't expect it to come in useful quite this way.

Carefully reaching down, he tucks the cloth around the edges of the disassembled charm, flips it over, and folds it tightly and neatly in. After inspecting his work to make sure it's not going to come undone easily, he picks the charm up again.]

I'll keep an eye out for any other letters like it in this building as well. I doubt it would be just the one thing out of place.

[sweetdeath]

I will, too. I haven't seen that much around here, but if there're bad luck charms causing some of these problems, that can't be the only one still left around the building.

There's too much still going wrong for that.

[He summons up a smile, glancing back at them.] Let me know what you find out.

Uh, and can I change back into my shirt so I can go pay for these?

[freezetheheavens]

[He gives a nod.]

If we stumble across more, we should try to keep them until we find out more.

[Assuming someone doesn't get to it first. But a glance at Shun briefly before he nods at Tsuzuki again. With that, he'll be the first to teleport out of there.]

[revolutionfalcon]

Agreed. And do what you like. I'll keep an eye out for more charms.

[Giving a somewhat dismissive wave of the hand as if to say he really doesn't care what Tsuzuki does with the shirt now, Shun follows Hitsugaya's lead and teleports out of the changeroom.]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki starts unbuttoning his shirt, chewing on the edge of his lip as he does.

Shopping's probably over for the day with this. He's going to have to go look for some of those things himself.]