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

[sageprincess]

[It's so bright, even she with her own golden power has to flinch and turn her head away from the eruption of light as Shun rends the creature, and when she chances to open them again, the ayakashi is gone, and the boy is standing before her in its place.

Instinctively, she lifts a hand to cover the liquid malice from his sight, though she stops midway through the motion as if realizing doing such a thing would only make the situation worse.]

... Thank you. [She says as she takes the offered flask, an undercurrent of regret in her tone.] I had not expected there to be an attack on this side as well.

[It doesn't soften the shame at all, but she says it anyway and hopes that it might, despite everything.]

[revolutionfalcon]

It's a good idea to carry blessed water on you anyway. Ayakashi can turn up anywhere. [As for this attack, though, Shun lets out a slight hiss of annoyance.] Seems like bringing the charms across is causing it. I didn't bring one myself, but it's the only thing that makes sense for how they got over here.

[Unless it was bringing the greed ayakashi across, but people would be far more likely to notice those catching a ride rather than willingly bringing a charm. And the resemblance to the cat mascots is a little too obvious to miss with that in mind.]

Has the situation gotten any better over there? I've been here dealing with this for a while now.

[sageprincess]

[She splashes some of the water onto her hand, then wipes that hand down her affected arm. The blight sizzles a bit as its purified, but that particular pain is temporary. The bruise she'll likely wake up to tomorrow from the impact will be less so.]

Of course. Little wonder as to how the trinkets are causing so much trouble on that side if those creatures are trapped within them.

[The specific mechanics of ayakashi are still a little vague to her, but it seems like a sensible theory.]

But it... has not gotten worse, I suppose. I would like to believe our efforts are having an effect over there, but I admit it is rather difficult for me to tell with how crowded those streets can be...

[She is a simple medieval fantasy princess, she is not equipped to deal with 21st century Japan.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun watches her clean the blight as if to make sure she gets it all, though he nods a little at the observation.] I was thinking that myself. There are ayakashi running around over there as well, but I thought they were causing a little too much havoc for such small ones in those numbers.

[The most damage he's seen small ones do involved a lot higher concentration than the greed ones running around. Her comment on the crowded streets gets a slight furrow of the brow from him before it clears, though.]

I forget some people aren't used to that. It took me a while to readjust, but this was my home country in my world anyway, so I'm familiar with it. [He still doesn't deal particularly well with crowds due to his reflexes, but seeing them definitely isn't an unusual thing for him.]

[sageprincess]

[You're not her mom, Shun-- but she is thorough with her treatment, though she is sure to leave at least a splash of water left in the canteen when she hands it back to him, just in case.]

Perhaps things will ease up there as they grow more chaotic over here, then.

[That would be nice, anyway. But what truly catches her attention is the mention that this country and his own are one in the same, and despite herself, she is reminded of that vast graveyard within his mind and the ruin city laying on the horizon. It's... quite the contrast, but she forces herself to bite her tongue on those thoughts. Still, the pause before she speaks again likely tells volumes regardless.]

... My country is not nearly so densely populated. I am certain many here would consider downright provincial in comparison.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun shakes the canteen a little as he takes it back to check how much is left in it. He'll have to stop by his temple to refill it at some point soon, though he was expecting to have to do that before long anyway.]

Maybe. Though I have to wonder how many of those things were affected.

[There could be entire shipments of them with the contamination, which does not bode well for things calming down anytime soon. It reminds him a little of what he heard about that long-ago incident with the chocolates, and he frowns a little as he considers it.

He doesn't miss her comment on her own land, though, and he nods as if unsurprised.] There's a few people here from places like that. It's not that uncommon to be surprised at the contrast.

[sageprincess]

That is... not typical, is it? For a great number of ayakashi to possess similarly large numbers of the same kind of object?

[She is still very new to this whole fighting ayakashi thing, and she's not sure she entirely understands the rules they work by aside from "shinki become them if reminded too much of their past." But it seems like atypical behavior when compared to some of the prayers about unusual fatigue or possibly haunted baths she's seen around.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun grimaces slightly at that remark.] It's not typical, but this isn't the first time it's happened. Before I came here, there was an incident where chocolates were used as containers for ayakashi. Nobody figured out who did it, thought it was obviously sabotage.

[And it would have to be again in this instance, though at least this time it likely isn't something the Heavens are explicitly stating only trusted parties had their hands on.]

[sageprincess]

[Her brow furrows in thought.]

Is there any way to track where the cats are coming from? Or who their creator might be? Unless I am missing something, cutting them off at the source seems to me to be the quickest way to put an end to this madness, on both Shores.

[revolutionfalcon]

[This is going to be a little hard to explain to someone from a world like Zelda's, and Shun considers how best to do so in a way that highlights the main issue with that idea.]

You're missing the fact that cutting things off at the source is a lot more complicated in a world like this one. Those toys would be made by a company in a factory hell knows where, or maybe even more than one. Even if we find the source, there's no guarantee we'd be able to follow the supply chain and get rid of all the sources in time to stop this.

[It would take them at least days, which isn't particularly promising when they could probably wipe out these things within one or two.]

[sageprincess]

... I see.

[She frowns, disappointed, as Shun explains. And a tad frustrated at her ignorance of how things work in this world. Everything is so overly complicated...]

Still, I cannot help feeling it is something that should be looked into, regardless, even if it must be done after this current problem is dealt with. If it has happened before, then it is likely to happen again, I would think.

[Or she's just suspicious of everything and has a habit of seeing patterns regardless of whether or not they're actually there, either way.]

[revolutionfalcon]

I'll see about looking into it after this is done with. There's already some other recent things I need to finish checking into. [The department store arson, the moon viewing...it's been a busy month or so in terms of oddities on the Near Shore.] I'd have to find out a little more about the incident with the chocolates, as well, to make sure they're not connected.

[The effects are different, but the general background of "ayakashi trapped in small objects and released under specific circumstances" seems to him a little too close to be overlooked.]

[sageprincess]

... I realize I am ignorant in the workings of this world and the Heavens both, but should there be something I can assist with, I would ask that you let me know.

[How quick this boy is to shoulder the burden of investigation all by himself.]

If nothing else, a second pair of eyes is rarely a bad thing to have.

[revolutionfalcon]

A second pair of eyes isn't usually something I have trouble finding, when I've been here so long. [It's blunt, as ever from him. Shun isn't the type to shy away from pointing out he has people he trusts more and knows better than Zelda.

But Zelda has also proven herself competent, and discreet in the matters of what they both saw in that nightmare. There's no reason, if the opportunity arises, not to allow her to prove herself trustworthy as well, as long as that takes in his eyes.]

But I'll see what I find. Maybe I'll need more than one extra pair.

[sageprincess]

[She frowns a little, unable to fully mask her disappointment, but does not object to his frank observation. He is right, after all, even if it does leave her feeling rather helpless.]

... I understand. Thank you, for that concession, and your assistance. [She'll just have to figure out her own means of investigating their situation.] You should return to scouting, if you have your shinki with you. I should be all right, now.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun doesn't really have a problem with that suggestion, though he does look over the area quickly as he lifts the cracked war hammer over one shoulder.] You'd be best off finding your own shinki at this rate. There seem to be more of these things appearing whenever I turn around.

[And while it seems Zelda has sufficient power to defend herself, getting rid of them is another matter entirely when the rending magic works the way it does.]