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

[artificialrose]

[Head pats will continue until sarcasm ceases, buddy, he doesn't make the rules.]

Eugh... You don't have to tell me. [This guy seems to have himself under control when it comes to standing, at least... For a given definition of "standing".] It'd be best to just run away, right? While you're still weak like that?

[It's not meant as an insult, it's just a matter of fact. No judgment. His god is even weaker in a lot of ways.]

[subtract]

[He sighs irritably, waving away his dynamos to stand on his own despite how shaky he still is. Fuck you, he's taking it as an insult anyway.]

I'm not weak. It just caught me off guard, that's all. [because that makes sense...

But retreating for now does seem like a good plan. It would mean leaving the ayakashi roaming around, but that's not his problem. It'll get taken care of eventually, there are plenty of gods with shinki around to deal with it.]

Fine. Hold still.

[And that's the only warning Garry gets before a portal splits open at their feet, dropping them both into the void.]

[artificialrose]

Listen, you don't have to-

[Whatever he could say that on the subject of weakness and how it's fine to admit to being outnumbered.... That gets drowned out as his feet suddenly go out from beneath him, and he's suddenly falling.... falling....]

[And screaming his fucking lungs out.]

[Hey, Add, you didn't need your eardrums, right?]

[subtract]

[He already has a budding migraine from overusing his powers so much today, he really doesn't need the screeching in his ears ontop of that...

Add groans and moves himself further away from Garry, using his dynamos to slow his descent into the void. He's kind enough to spare Garry a single dynamo to slow him down as well, though, pushing against his momentum with a surprising amount of force for such a small object.]

Would you cut that out? [he has to yell to be heard over Garry's screaming, but he sounds irritated and tired. Mostly tired. He's not in the mood for this shit, please just shut up already.]

[artificialrose]

[Good news: he's stopped screaming.]

[Bad news: he's yelling instead]

I almost had a heart attack, couldn't you have warned me-!

[But now that all his venting is done and over with, although he's still clutching as his chest like he expects his heart to burst out, Garry falls quiet as he finally absorbs where they're at. It's... a void, apparently. Just one big nothing- ]

[Oh shit, wait.]

Are you alright?

[subtract]

[They eventually stop "falling", now drifting aimlessly in the empty space. Add just sighs in his usual overdramatic fashion, rubbing at his temples some more.]

I did warn you. It's not my fault if you weren't paying attention! ["Hold still" counts as a warning.] And I'm fine, so stop asking.

[Well. Mostly fine, if he continues to ignore that growing migraine the the bile at the back of his throat. He's not making any moves to get them out of the void yet, either.]

[artificialrose]

That was far from an explicit warning....

[Yeah, he's calling bullshit, even as he tries to flail his arms a little bit. Can he flail closer? ....No? Well, alright.]

You don't seem fine.

[subtract]

I am fine. [maybe a bit too forcefully, as if somehow that will make it more believable. He does stop trying to hide his face, though, scowling fiercely with his arms folded.]

Where's your god? You shouldn't be wandering around on your own with all these ayakashi roaming about. [... as if Add is in any position to judge, but] Just because you can cast a borderline doesn't make you invincible.

[artificialrose]

I was running away from them, actually. [It sure explains why he's in such a harried state.] Anyway... my god isn't in good enough health for fighting ayakashi....

I'd rather keep him away from fights if I could.

[subtract]

Tch. Fine, but good health or not, what do you think is going to happen if he's caught off-guard by these things with no shinki around to protect himself with?

[Avoiding fights is one thing, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't be prepared for one. Add's had enough encounters today to learn that lesson thoroughly.]

[artificialrose]

[It sure would be a lot easier to take this advice into consideration if they weren't both floating in the void. Still, Garry crosses his arms.]

He should still be on the Near Shore... and he knows that he should teleport from any danger if I'm not there with him. He's that smart, at least....

[...Just full of bad ideas... Great, now he's worrying.]