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

[onehandsomeslickninja]

When the hard wind blows, the reeds survive because they bend, but the tree can't bend so it gets knocked over.

[nopixiedust]

...I'm pretty sure trees survive lots of times because they're really sturdy.

[what do you mean that's not the point]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

It's not a casual wind, it's a strong one! And the reeds survive the casual ones too!

[nopixiedust]

If it's a strong wind, wouldn't the reeds just get pulled out of the ground because the dirt is going everywhere!?

[Totally just a normal discussion between a tiny girl and a ninja in a hardware store.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

No way! They just bend over and there's barely any tug on them at all. ['Discussion' is sure a charitable word for it.]

[nopixiedust]

But they're plants!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

I -- hwazaghr -- so? [What did that -- what did that have anything to do with anything!]

[nopixiedust]

You can tug plants. That's how you get rid of weeds!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Okay, but that has nothing to do with flexibility providing resilience!

[nopixiedust]

Wind tugging and people tugging is basically the same thing, that's what it has to do.

[Logic?????]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

It is not at ALL. You go get shoved around by someone and then stand in a heavy wind and tell me they're the same thing at all!

[nopixiedust]

Wait, why are we talking about being shoved now?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Why are you nitpicking between shoving and tugging?!

[nopixiedust]

Because they're two different things. Obviously. Can't you tell that much?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

For the purpose of this discussion they are so close together as to make no difference! The point still remains that yielding to pressure is better than standing absolutely firm!

[nopixiedust]

When you put it like that, it just makes it sound like you don't have a spine...

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Spines are flexible! [Edge leans backwards, then to one side.] You have to be able to lean or stand firm!

[nopixiedust]

Isn't standing more to do with your feet standing firm?

[Now she's just messing with him.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

But you can't lean if you don't have a firm grip either. That's why plants have roots.

[He's determined to see this through to the bitter end.]

[nopixiedust]

Isn't it less that the roots are gripping the dirt, and the dirt is gripping the roots?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[That is so patently ridiculous Edge glares at her as he clamps one hand onto the bucket, holding it with the pressure of his fingers.] Is the bucket gripping my fingers? No!

[nopixiedust]

[Okay... Okay. She can't help herself. Trying and failing to hide her grin behind her hands, she turns away with shoulders shaking in silent laughter.]

[EDGE...]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Upending the bucket, Edge plunks it over her head.]

Perfect size for troublesome pests!

[But he isn't really being mean about it. She's just a kid, and thus a brat by nature. He's willing to bet he was as bad as she was in his youth!]

[nopixiedust]

[WHAT THE F-]

HEY!

[Whirling around, she tries to tug the bucket off to smack at him with it.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Now that she has a bucket over her head, Edge can steal with impunity!]

[Really, if she thinks he's standing next to her after that, she's crazy. Edge has already put some space between the two of them.] It'll definitely hold an ayakashi!