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

[hellskitchen]

[ At least people aren't cruel to ignore a person who needs help. It's not the most appropriate place to be in, but it seems the patrons could overlook that if the driver's looks unwell. Rin looks around for the god, noticing that Shun is deciding to stand outside and keep guard. So Rin feels it's okay to slip away from the man, now that the women of the shop are tending to him.

He manages to catch the last bit of the other's words as he peeks outside the store. No one seems to have followed them, but Rin still feels on edge.]

You think so? How did all of this happen anyway? It's weird for a truck just to turn over like that. It seems almost convenient, too.

[ Rin remembers how badass Shun was before. The god barely needed help, dealing with such a rambunctious group. The shinki aspires to be that strong and reliable one day. Not just for his god, but even for anyone who could use his help, down the line.]

But, where did you all learn all those cool moves? You must be really into martial arts?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun is doing a pretty good job on the door guarding front, though his level of attention is almost a little too elevated for the position. With the commotion behind him and commotion in front of him, he can feel himself slipping a little into that state of high alertness that tends to come with crowded situations for him nowadays.

Perhaps tellingly, Rin's approach into his peripheral vision gets a very sharp turn of the head, and Shun's bearing shifts momentarily as if preparing to attack before he quashes the instinct upon recognising him and settles his hackles, turning back towards the door.]

Ayakashi interference, I'd bet. Things like this are usually because of them, and they wouldn't have a problem disorienting someone enough to crash a truck on a busy street. [Said in the tone of someone who's been here long enough to have seen that sort of thing before.

He's much more comfortable answering that set of questions than the second - his grip tightens on his own sleeve, and he turns his head away enough that his face can't be seen, even if it still seems like he's observing the street in front of them.] No. I didn't learn them here.

[His tone is terse and guarded when he says that, as if warning not to press on the subject.]

[hellskitchen]

[ Ayakashi interference? Rin frowns. He's heard a lot about these spirits ever since he's arrived. Though this is the first time he's ever really encountered something that they've done. The shinki doesn't really understand the motive. Why turn over a truck full of keychains? Though those people seem to go crazy for them. Maybe so crazy, it's a bit unnatural.]

I knew they were the enemy, but those bastards really go outta their way to cause trouble.

[ Ayakashi are smart, or at least intelligent enough to manipulate human emotion to their advantage. Rin's glad no one lost their life due to their scheme.

He notices that Shun is a bit tense. His body language changes just slightly, but it's enough for Rin to get the hint. Normally, Rin would be more prying, but he has this nagging feeling to drop the subject. So he steers the conversation in the best way possible.]

Not from here? So you're one of the few people who does remember their past. That must mean you're a god, right?

[Rin lowers his voice, wondering if the patrons in the store might overheard them, but unbeknownst to him, his words fall upon deaf ears. Much like his presence in the shop, very much invisible.]

[revolutionfalcon]

That's how they feed. Any trouble they can cause means they have a source of energy, so they make it out of even the most minor things. [Like, say, cat keychains. This is the first time Shun's seen them manufacture something on this scale out of such a minor instigator, but he's still not too surprised that it happened. It's definitely not out of the scope of what he's seen them do in his time here.

He's also somewhat thankful that Rin takes the hint on not chasing the topic, because not everyone does. Not that Shun has a problem flat-out telling people not to ask, but it usually means that he has to deal with complaining from oblivious people who don't realise there are some things that don't get talked about off-hand.]

What they call a god here, anyway. I'm standing in for Nekhbet. [There's a certain sour note to Shun's tone, as if he's not all that enamoured with the position or the idea of being called a god. He also seems much less worried about being overheard, as his tone is just the same as normal.] There's less of us than shinki, but we're still not what I'd call "few".

[hellskitchen]

[ Rin thought back to how out of control the mob was. He remembered the chaotic vibe, and how everyone seemed to be under a spell.So the ayakashi were aiming to feed off the excitement and the greed of people? Luckily,a brawl didn't break out from all the ruckus, probably would've been the icing on the cake! It almost makes Rin shiver, but he refrains.

Some things tend to go over Rin's head, but other social cues, Rin can understand pretty well. There are topics people doesn't want to talk about, and the shinki is very aware of that. Maybe it's from personal experience, but Rin has no recollection of him trying to dodge a subject before.]

Nekhbet? What kind of god is that? [ Even in his former life, Rin's not really familiar with world history and mythology. Nekhbet isn't really a household name either.]

There does seem to be more shinki than gods, but I've heard a god can have more than one shinki, so it make sense. Plus I'm sure there are many gods that people worship around the world, so that's probably why there's so many.

[A thought pops into Rin's head, and it makes him even more curious of Shun's presence here.]

How did you even know about the truck? Were you in the area, or did someone wish for some divine intervention?

[revolutionfalcon]

A very old one. Used to be the patron of Upper Egypt, but these days most people worship her for her funerary and protection domains. [At least, that's what he'd guess based on the kind of prayers he gets, and that Ancient Egyptian politics are just a little bit outdated in terms of reasons to worship a particular god.

Shun hums slightly in agreement with Rin's observation.] It's not common, but some gods do have more than one. There's a lot of gods who have to deal with the soulless ones for a while as well, though.

[And sometimes choose to keep them, though Shun was never patient enough with his for that even if he directed them towards a better god for them in the end.

A few of the rowdier members of the crowd who haven't cleared off yet are still trying to get into the back of the truck, though Shun's rust job on the doors is keeping them out quite effectively. Shun himself observes the scene with a rather impassive look, as if just this level of animosity is normal.]

I was keeping an eye on things around here when the truck overturned. The crowd in this area was already starting to get violent, but the crash stirred them into a frenzy.

[hellskitchen]

[ Funerary and protection domains? The Egyptians are really big on how they die. Whether it's carrying on their possessions to the next realm,or even making booby traps to ward off intruders from their tombs, they didn't play any games when it came to their burial.]

Soulless ones? How does that that work? [Rin doesn't think he's come across one. From the name Shun uses, Rin figures they don't contain souls, so maybe they are inanimate objects? He's not sure how that process works, but maybe there's not enough shinki to go around.]

So no wonder you were so quick to respond. I guess the ayakashi made the area tense, and truck incident just stirred the pot even more.

[ Rin looks over to the truck, and sees there's still people trying to pry the doors open. Though it seems like futile effort, since the doors didn't even bulge. The sirens sound like they are really close by now, and the dwindling mob scatter a bit more quickly. Now that the police are on the scene, the driver is definitely safe.]

Guess there's not much more we can do here. Are you going to keep patrolling around the area? Hopefully there won't be anymore incidents for the day.

[revolutionfalcon]

Not sure. And not sure I want to know. But the way it seems to go is that if you arrive as a god and there's not enough shinki among our number, they'll give you one from there that has no real will of its own and only follows orders. They're mainly for use as a weapon. [Shun sounds rather distasteful towards the whole thing, even if it's been a while since he had to deal with it himself. He knows some people are less negative towards them than he is, but he just found he could never trust shinki like that completely.

Rin's observation gets a nod, though Shun doesn't answer until he finishes, since he's still keeping an eye on things around the truck. The ones getting cleared out by the siren sounds at least indicate there'll be few enough for the police to deal with.]

Obviously. But I'll have to go back for one of my shinki at some point if the ayakashi are getting this bad. I doubt this is going to be the last major incident of the day.

[Rin might be hopeful on that front, but Shun is much less so.]

[hellskitchen]

That does sound kinda creepy.

[No will of their own, somehow that makes Rin shiver. Rin understands if the demand is high, and the supply is low then the heavens definitely have to fix the shortage in some way. Though wouldn't that mean their system is flawed. If they are already pulling people to fill in these spots, then why not make sure to get the appropriate number of shinki to gods. It's basic math!

He frowns that Shun thinks there will be more incidents to come. He figures if that's case, he should probably return to the Far shore too.]

You really think there will be more? Then I guess I better find my god. I don't think they know I'm over here, and if something were to happen, I should be nearby.

[Then again, he's not really sure where Add ran off to,either. Rin looks like he's about to depart, when he remembers something.]

Almost forgot! I'm Rin Okumura, and it was really cool kicking ass with you earlier. Although, you did most of the work. Hopefully, the next time we cross paths, I can be of more help.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun hums slightly in agreement, but doesn't elaborate. It's definitely never been a nice thought to consider why soulless shinki might have ended up the way they are, but they're not likely to get answers on it anytime soon, either.

Best to focus on the immediate problem, and Shun glances back into the store one more time as the first of the emergency vehicles pulls into the street. A few of the women in the store are helping to get the injured driver towards the door, so Shun steps forward and out of the doorway to ensure they can get by.]

These things don't end so quickly most of the time. It's likely to get worse before it gets better. [Not the most optimistic way of looking at it, but in Shun's experience, it's the accurate one.

With that in mind, he's about to head off himself, when Rin speaks up again and he turns his head back. After observing him for a moment or two, he shrugs.]

Kurosaki Shun. And do what you like. It doesn't concern me. [On that note, he heads out into the now bustling street.]