23 - Crazy Cat Shuffle

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Crazy Cat Shuffle
When: September 20
Where: Shibuya & Ikebukuro, as well as the Far Shore
Summary: The new Crazy Cat mascot keychains are sparking real passion in Tokyo's hot spots. Brawls have broken out over the extra-rare versions, and all of this angst is attracting ayakashi. The gods have been asked to step in before things get out of control.







Crossing Crisis

The Shibuya scramble crossing is always busy, but it's especially wild today. Ten new Crazy Cat vending machines have been installed at the mouth of the alley across from Shibuya Station's exit. Rumors are flying that these machines have extra Blue-Star Cats in them: the very rarest kind! A crowd of hundreds of excited fans have gathered, but the people at the front of the lines are buying lots of cats, and the mood is starting to grow sour as the people at the back of the lines begin to wonder if there will be any left by the time it's their turn.

This crowd needs crossing guards... or just someone who can snag some of those ultra-rare Cats and sell them to the back of the line for crazy cash. Everything a god does is righteous, after all.

Sunshine Struggle

Crazy Cat machines dot the Sunshine City complex in Ikebukuro. The machines here are attracting some particularly nasty ayakashi: jealous little purple creatures with too many legs that stoke buyers' envy and need for more and better collectibles. Under their influence, it's not just the Cats going fast. The local stores are selling out of everything cute on the shelves.

Worse, some of the ayakashi victims are turning to theft when they run out of pocket money. Time to exterminate those bugs before they start a new crime wave.

Taking Stock

Accident? Sabotage? No one's telling, but a delivery truck carrying boxes of new keychains to restock the machines blew a tire and overturned on a major street. Under the influence of those greedy little ayakashi, collectors are descending on the wreck to snag their favorites before the police show up.

The dazed driver doesn't know what to do, the crowd is starting to get violent, and those Cats do look amazingly cute. And appealing. And, for that matter, valuable.

Bad Kitty

The cat keychains are super cute! Even gods or shinki might be tempted to buy one and take it home, but taking these keychains back to the Far Shore will give away their hidden secret. It's not just human envy that's attracting ayakashi to the Crazy Cats. There are ayakashi hiding inside this batch of cute kitty dolls, and bringing them through a shrine to the Far Shore will force the hidden creatures out of their plushie prisons.

They're big, they're mad, and they're hungry. And the Heavens are full of souls that smell delicious.

The ayakashi escaping from Crazy Cat dolls on the Far Shore resemble gigantic (taller than a person at the shoulder) versions of the cute plushie cats, with very real and sharp teeth and claws. They run and attack at random once released from the dolls, so even gods and shinki who did not bring the toys back could be faced with a fight. The patrolling shinki will do their best to hold them back with borderlines, but they need help to rend these crazy cats before they do too much damage!

In Summary:

• Placate the crowds
• Squash bitty ayakashi
• Struggle with temptation
• Defeat the cat invasion
• Have fun~

Comments

Bad cat!

[nibelungvalesti]

Do not let appearances deceive you.

[Another goddess has heard her voice as they take on much the same ends; the Valkyrie makes this comment without breaking stride as she chases an ayakashi around a nearby corner. Still, on consideration, the woman's second comment has merit; the Valkyrie flicks out one hand, hurling a crystal at the foul spirit.]

[From the point of impact, ice erupts around the ayakashi, imprisoning it in magic duress.]

[mersunary]

[A battlefield beauty...! Soleil's attention shifts off the ayakashi for just a moment, needing to take a second to appreciate her fellow fighter. So cool and confident...!]

Haha, I know full well that 'cute' doesn't mean 'harmless'! [She's plenty used to fighting side-by-side with the cute girls in her army at home, and is aware of what they're capable of as well, and, hey, maybe that comment was also a little directed at the Valkyrie herself? Who knows!

With the ayakashi frozen in place like that, it makes catching up to it fairly simple.] Can you rend it? [Magic and ice is all well and good, but there's only one way to get rid of the creature for good, and it's often hard to tell if gods are wielding their shinki or weapons of their own creation.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Valkyrie is difficult to describe as 'cute' in her full armor, though perhaps in her mortal garb. There is certainly nothing gentle or yielding about her as she stares down the frozen ayakashi.]

Regrettably, my shinki is not with me. [And though she could call him, of course, she is reluctant to do so; like as not he may be in his own battles, from which his sudden absence would endanger others.] We will need to force it into a retreat instead.

[mersunary]

[It certainly does seem like an inconsiderate thing, to summon your shinki without a warning, though she's unlikely to show quite that much respect to one of her two partners.

Which means it's a pretty good thing that she keeps her soulless, sword-shaped shinki on her at most times...!]

Gunki and I can wipe it out, if you can help me wear it down some more first!

[nibelungvalesti]

A simple matter.

[Even as the ice begins to shudder, its magical strength weakening rapidly, the Valkyrie rises slightly into the air. Energy streams from her back as she spreads her arms, then, as she draws her hands in across her body, pours out in a faintly hexagonal framework as she focuses it.]

To my side, my noble Einherjar.

[She brings her arms down, throws her head back, and her wings burst into glorious being. Pure blue-white and shining, so that they seem to be neither quite radiance nor quite feathers, they spread behind her, then flap once, powerfully, flickering out a shower of sparks their same color.]

[Even as the wings fade, and the Valkyrie descends, the sparks touch the ground, and where they do, human figures coalesce out of divine energy. Her Einherjar, wielding lance and sword and bow. The Valkyrie's own weapon appears out of nothing as well, as two shields fade into view, one floating before her, the other behind.]

[The ayakashi erupts from its prison just in time to face a sudden army of the literal Heavens. The Valkyrie stares it down over her blade, a ferocity in her voice that only battle can awaken.]

Now, monster, we end you.

[mersunary]

[Easy peasy!

The Valkyrie's actions, it feels akin to the sorts of things a few magic users in Soleil's world are capable of, though entirely different in its own way. Watching magic users work their magic is always breathtaking, and having someone so cool and dashing execute it... ah! She feels her spirits and strength bolstered just from the sight!]

Let's go!

[Sword poised, she moves in with the group of figures summoned by the Valkyrie, striking the ayakashi with swift and practice precision.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Valkyrie's Einherjar are not great warriors. She has been training them extensively since Choosing them, but that does not change the simple fact that they knew nothing of combat before joining her.]

[Their strength is in coordination. Guided by the goddess, they move in tandem to take perfect advantage of Soleil's strikes, catching the ayakashi's flanks -- only for the Valkyrie herself to explode into the fray, hammering the creature down with a mighty overhand blow.]

[mersunary]

[Coordination and sheer numbers against an opponent as simple as a single, beastly ayakashi really leaves them with no other outcome than an overwhelming victory, Soleil could easily see the Valkyrie and her entourage taking the thing down on their own. Still, there's something nostalgic and familiar about fighting in a large group, and having such a lovely companion fighting on her side only serves to make her feel even stronger.]

That should about do it in, wouldn't you think?

[All that work on one target, goodness... Holding her sword steady in front of her after landing a particularly harsh strike, she grins and offers up a quick,] Shall I do the honors?

[nibelungvalesti]

[In a perfect world she could do just that, needing no outside aid.]

[This is far from a perfect world. An inch from gathering power for a divine assault that would, ultimately, prove unnecessary, the Valkyrie practically skips backwards before coming to a halt without beginning that attack.]

I have no shinki here, so I cannot.

[mersunary]

We'll slice this thing up in no time, then!

[With her free hand, Soleil runs her index and middle finger along the length of her blade, charging the shinki up as she recites the rending spell,]

You who desecrate this Land of the Rising Sun! With my advent, I, Soleil, lay waste with the Gunki and expel thy vast defilement!

[Sword charged and ready, she lunges forward once more, laying a decisive strike on the beast that cuts through it with little resistance. The moment the blow lands, she finishes off both the spell and the ayakashi with a loud,]

Rend!

[nibelungvalesti]

[Satisfied with the blow, the Valkyrie releases her sword. It, her shields, and her Einherjar all vanish into mere wisps of blue light, drawn back into her spiritual existence to await their call once more.]

Well-struck, and well-fought.

[mersunary]

[Once she's certain the threat's subsided, Soleil relaxes a bit. The sword stays out - just in case, she's used to being on battlefields, after all, but her guard isn't quite as high anymore.]

Hmm, your work back there was simply magnificent. [Soleil's a seasoned fighter, but her abilities in battle only extend as far as a soldier. Watching someone flex their more divine abilities, that was certainly far more impressive!] If only I could be so lucky to have that kind of skill at my side more often!

[nibelungvalesti]

Combined strength is one of our greatest assets in the Far Shore. Should you require aid in the future, you need only ask.

[Simple, straightforward, and sensible. The Valkyrie is no-nonsense in the extreme. And this woman was indeed capable, and would prove no hindrance in a fight, even one more difficult than this.]

[mersunary]

Likewise.

[Strength and skills aside, Soleil always feels a little stronger, a little bolder in battle with someone else by her side, especially someone so enchanting...!]

And who is it that I'd have the honor of asking for?

[Exchanging names is, probably, a smart idea.]

[nibelungvalesti]

I am the Valkyrie, though here I have been given the mantle of Osiris.

[She is notoriously bad at giving her own proper name. After all, she does not exist outside of her role; when she is not the Valkyrie, she sleeps. And other factors are at play as well, ones she does not know about.]

[mersunary]

The Valkyrie, that's a very powerful sounding name...!

[Sounds waaayy more like a title than a name, but she's not in the business of questioning the name a lovely woman offers to her, her own shinki being in a similar position. 'Valkyrie' will do just fine.]

Soleil, but if you prefer god titles, Freyr. It's a pleasure meeting you.

[nibelungvalesti]

['Freyr?' That name earns the woman a scrutinizing look, belonging as it does to the pantheon that poorly mirrors her proper one is Asgard.]

[That faint, flawed kinship inspires a few more faintly begrudging words out of her.]

Properly, my name is Lenneth. At the moment, I am the active Valkyrie.

[mersunary]

[This particular pantheon isn't one that has any standing in her own world, so while she picks up on the fact that there may be some special meaning to her words, what she's going for exactly is a bit of a mystery.]

Is that so...? [She sounds fairly intrigued, at least.] You introduced yourself at the Valkyrie, would you rather have me call you that, or your proper name?

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Valkyrie makes a little frustrated noise. That question should be an easy one to answer, should it not?]

I have been advised that I ought to be more free with my name and permit its usage more often.