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

[kokuyoyo]

[A glance to Komaeda... and then a glance to the riot that has started up since he left the crowd.]

....Bad luck. Are you going to keel over...

[Seriously, how sick are you, Komaeda? ...the other kind of sick.]

[fortunesmiles]

I don't think so...

[Well, 'terminally' would be technically correct but also somewhat inaccurate, since an illness can't really kill a god. So let's settle for 'incredibly'.]

[kokuyoyo]

Good. Because I wouldn't carry you...

[It's debatable if Chikusa would even do anything besides step over Komaeda's body and continue on to the next vague point of interest.]

Do you even care about those things...?

[fortunesmiles]

Not really...I was just trying to use my luck to get some rare charms for those at the back of the line... [He smiles weakly, perhaps in some form of awareness that his plan doesn't sound that great.] It worked earlier...

[kokuyoyo]

For a prayer?

[Since that's apparently something pray for now. Chikusa probably should judge less than he obviously is.]

[fortunesmiles]

No, just to make myself useful. Considering this is something related to luck, I thought I could put my worthless talent to use...

[kokuyoyo]

[To make himself useful... That earns a slow blink. Chikusa can vaguely understand people doing it out of a sense of duty, but that...]

Why?

[fortunesmiles]

To justify my existence. [Komaeda smiles slightly.] A person with no inherent worth can create worth for themselves in the value of their actions...or so I hope.

[kokuyoyo]

Then you're doing it wrong. [Don't mind him as he shoot thins down.] That's.... too scattered.

[fortunesmiles]

Oh? [Komaeda doesn't seem dismayed so much as mildly surprised.] What approach would you take, then?

[kokuyoyo]

Focus to something in particular...

[you know, like aggressively devoting yourself to a single god]

[fortunesmiles]

Hmm...wouldn't hope count as something in particular?

[No, Komaeda, that's still pretty vague.]

[kokuyoyo]

No.

[Shot down again. Chikusa lets out a world weary sigh as if he isn't a teenager.]

What does that even mean...

[fortunesmiles]

Well...what sort of goals do you have, Chikusa?

[kokuyoyo]

[That's a really good question, and one Chikusa has to pause to think on.]

...Finding out something... I guess...

[For Axel, if nothing else.]

[fortunesmiles]

[Komaeda smiles.] Perhaps you might make more progress if you focused on something in particular.

[kokuyoyo]

The something in particular is gone.

[So there's little point.]

[fortunesmiles]

Oh? Then you did have something in particular at one point?

[kokuyoyo]

Yes.

[Short. blunt. Not particularly welcoming.]

[fortunesmiles]

And you lost it?

[It'll take more than blatant negative social cues to dissuade Komaeda, king of terrible conversations.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Hey, Komaeda, how do you feel about being kicked?]

[Because it's sure happening right towards your ankles]

[fortunesmiles]

[And that is Komaeda, receiving a spiteful kick to the ankle. His godly abilities don't seem to be able to affect luck as it applies to him directly, and his natural luck functions rather unpredictably - in this case, apparently, his luck doesn't care one way or the other what happens to his ankles. Komaeda winces, but Chikusa would have to go more out of his way to knock him over so he doesn't lose his balance or anything. He'll just have a bruise.]

I see you're angry...

[kokuyoyo]

[Komaeda should just be glad poison wasn't busted out. Then again, Chikusa's temper can almost be as unpredictable as Komaeda's luck. Sometimes it takes a little bit to spur it, and then other days it takes nothing at all.]

[Chikusa's dull gaze doesn't give away which he'll go with, even as he reaches up to nudge his glasses up again.]

....you're annoying.

[fortunesmiles]

You're the one who criticized me, you know.

[kokuyoyo]

....I'm still criticizing you.