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

[futhark]

[ The reply is just a bark of laughter. ] They kind of are-

But don't worry, a curse like that won't affect me. [ He's not going to waste money on pulling gacha for rest of the day. It seems one bag = filling for one machine, and some of them opened in the crash. He grabs the keychain, seemingly from the rare sort and inspects it, before showing it to Shun ] Last time it happened- what was the cause of the commotion?

[revolutionfalcon]

It wasn't "commotion" last time, but we've had supernaturally contaminated products. Last time it was chocolates, but it was a long while ago.

[Even before he got here, which means it would've been a good half year or so ago by now considering Shun's coming up on that length of time himself. It's old news, but still relevant enough.

Somewhat cautiously, Shun steps into the back of the truck, looking over the bag Caster shows before pulling out his wakizashi so he can prod at and turn over a few of the charms without touching them.]

[futhark]

[ A faint ambulance siren can be heard in the distance. Oh finally. And meanwhile, Caster doesn't even hide that he pockets one of the super rare kitty cat charms- for research you know ]

Chocolates..? What happened to those who ate them? [ The moment phrase "supernaturally contaminated products" is thrown, it stops being the question "if something happened" and changes into "what the hell happened next?" ]

cw: suicide mentions

[revolutionfalcon]

[While Shun raises a brow at Caster taking one of the charms, considering his own boyfriend still has a stock of the chocolates from that first incident, he can't really complain too hard.]

Apparently Far Shore people just got something like food poisoning. But Near Shore residents were driven to try killing themselves. The chocolates somehow contained ayakashi, so eating them let them out.

[It's not the only time something like that has happened either, and Shun was unlucky enough to be around for the second.]

Re: cw: suicide mentions

[futhark]

[ So that's what happens after ingesting ayakashi? ]

Disgusting things... But that makes them a lot smarter than expected. If this happens on such a big scale, it's not just a coincidence. [ Do they have a hivemind? Or maybe there are various levels of ayakashi, grunts, and those issuing orders.

They don't know that much about their enemy, don't they? ]

[revolutionfalcon]

No, but I don't think it was the ayakashi themselves. Apparently with the chocolates, they were only handled by people the Heavens trusted. So the obvious conclusion there is that there's a traitor in their midst who set it up.

[Considering the attacks they've had since then, especially the one on Amaterasu's temple and the cherry blossom viewing, Shun finds the idea that their enemies don't have some kind of high-up spy in the Heavens difficult to believe. It's too much to buy that those plans went off without a hitch otherwise.]

wraps it up a million years later

[futhark]

Now that took a darker turn... [ Caster ponders on what he just learned, but before he gets to answer the ambulance and then another one arrive- ]

I suppose that's our cue to get out of here. But I have to say I'm tempted to set all those things on fire now.

[ Can they just... dump it into a river or sea? ]

[revolutionfalcon]

As long as you're not careless, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea. [Shun is definitely not the kind of person to be asking for a level-headed opinion on these sorts of matters. He could always stay and try getting rid of them with his god powers, but that would take an unnecessary amount of time and effort.]

[futhark]

You know what? That's exactly what I'm going to do.

[ Once he gets the packs of the toys outside because setting them on fire while a rescue operation is happening will make things worse. Good thing he can make it in few jumps, because that whole Servant strength allows him to carry a lot of heavy stuff. ]

In the meantime. you have fun out there, Nekhbet! [ Fighting ayakashi, and angry mobs ]

[revolutionfalcon]

Go ahead. [Shun's not being asked to help in this instance, so he's not going to offer, especially since there's a lot more to worry about out there right now. So he turns on his heel and starts to leave the truck even before Caster's done talking.

He does give a faint scoff at Caster's making a point to use his god name at the end, though.] Idiot.

[It's quiet, but not quiet enough that he's trying to hide the remark in any way.]