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

Taking Stock B

[nibelungvalesti]

Enough.

[The woman that stalks into the midst of the fray, heedless of the charms she might damage or the feathers she might ruffle, looks singularly unimpressive -- tiny, faintly fragile, the only real unusual part of her the braid that trails down to her ankles. But she carries a certain weight in her bearing and presence, and perhaps a wise person who looks in her eyes would not challenge her.]

Cease harassing this girl and begone.

[discerp]

[Mikan lowers her arms a little in surprise at her rescue. Who would rescue her? Why??

There's protest from the otaku, squawks of alarm at the charms she's carelessly stepping on or shoving across the dirt with her strides. But one or two seem to have better survival instincts than their friends, tugging on arms and muttering about seeing more rare charms over some other direction, so they should focus over there, right?

Mikan, still shaking, stares at the woman with a bewildered expression] W-why did you...?

[nibelungvalesti]

This was not your fault. [The Valkyrie had seen enough of the confrontation to know the otaku are to blame entirely. That doesn't answer the larger question, which is why the Valkyrie had stepped in at all -- and in truth she herself wonders that a little as well. Her task is not to guide the actions of humans, only to render judgment on them after death.]

[But then, she is aiding a fellow resident of the heavens, is she not? So there is reason enough to interfere.]

Are you all right?

[discerp]

B-but, if I hadn't been grabbing the charms, o-or stepped on them, they wouldn't have been so mad! I-it really is my fault, s-so... [She trails off, looking a little panicked in her efforts to shift blame off of the otaku for... no real reason. They are at fault here, but she feels the compulsion to make herself to blame and take it off someone else.

She nods vigorously at the question though] Y-yes! I'm fine! But, um.. Everyone else seems to be... [She trails off as she looks around, chewing on her bottom lip with uncertainty] This is... weird, r-right? I-I mean. This isn't the normal reaction to this sort of thing, is it?

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Valkyrie ignores her assertions of blame, finding them both unworthy and pointless, but her question has merit to consider.]

I do not know. It is possible that ayakashi are inflaming their responses. It is also possible that mortals simply have strange priorities and inappropriate responses.

['Probable' is a better word, but she is trying to be a little charitable.]

However, we ought to be on the lookout for ayakashi regardless. Such behavior will draw and encourage them.

[discerp]

[Oh right, those things. Mikan winces and looks around with an air of unease]

Ayakashi... Th-that's right, those things c-come around in situations like this, r-right?

Um... I don't... I don't have a shinki to fight with, though. [She trails off, looking embarrassed] Or, w-well, I do, but they're one of the, um... The 'soulless' ones? A-and I don't know how to use his weapon form very well...

[nibelungvalesti]

My duty is training. Summon your shinki and we shall battle together.

[This is just another day at the office for the Battle-Maiden. She turns her full attentions to Mikan, waiting with what seems less like patience and more like simple detachment.]

[discerp]

O-okay! [She squeezes her eyes shut and holds out her hand, calling out the name of her soulless shinki. In an instant the weapon appears in her hand--a long whip with a barbed end.

She opens her eyes and clutches the whip anxiously]

R-ready to go! I-I won't hold you back!

[nibelungvalesti]

Your duty is not to worry about whether or not you are holding me back. Your duty is to gain proficiency and strength with your shinki. Focus on that alone, and I shall support you.

Now. Do you see any ayakashi in this crowd? [She takes a slight step to one side, the better to offer the girl an unimpeded view.]