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

[priforprince]

[ Sunshine Struggle ]



Nonsense.

[ Hibiki watches the crazed shoppers from this cafe, sipping at her tea judgmentally. ] Where's the point in getting worked up over such a plaything?

[ ...If you're looking for help exterminating an ayakashi, well, here is an idol idle god. But she doesn't seem eager. ]

[ Wildcat Wildcard ]

[ Anyone opening the door to Apollo's temple is going to get a nasty surprise: a veritable mountain of small slips of paper, falling out of the door right onto them, threatening to bowl them over. It seems the whole hallway had filled with the things. Each and every one of them has a variant of the same prayer written on it:

"Oh please, box office god-sama! Get me a Blue-Star Cat as my lucky charm for my show! Until I get one, I'm gonna talk like this for luck, nya!"

Anyone having opened the door and had these slips dumped on them will hear something faint inside: ]



That one!

[ And a faint trumpet fanfare. A pause, and: ]

Here!

[ And a faint trumpet fanfare.

Obviously something very important is happening. ]

[ Crossing Crisis ]

[ If you choose to examine why that line isn't moving, check the front. The person currently occupying the prime real estate brought a Permes handbag to fill with cats.

All of which are blue and have stars on them.

Hibiki closes her eyes, putting in her next coin. She focuses very hard. She turns the dial for the machine.

Another blue cat with a star on it pops out. ]



Three to go.

[ Bad Kitty ]

[ A cat ayakashi (ayakitty?) is on the loose! And it's playing with some sort of ragged, worn-out, deflated toy. ]

So tasty, mya~ So much fun, mya~ Going to munch on this allllll daaaay, mya!

[ The toy grunts.



Oops. ]

Crossing Crisis

[amongthethorns]

[When he'd found out Hibiki was going to be out and about he hadn't expected to find this. He's giving a little shake of his head as he peers at her, running his fingers through his hair.]

Miss Hibiki, why are you collecting all of those cats?

[His tone is gently but there's just a small edge of concerned scolding there to it.]

Shouldn't you leave some for the others? Or are you going to give those out to special followers, perhaps?

[They are rather cute and if she's collecting so many for such s reason he could certainly get behind that.]

1/2

[priforprince]

Leave preventing this crisis to me.

[ That doesn't answer his question, Hibiki. But it does psyche her up for her next go-around. After all, there is a cat-astrophe --- er, a crisis, brewing, and only she can prevent it.

Only she can protect her followers from their own folly.

She focuses very hard on the machine. It consumes her entire attention. Focus...focus....

The dial turns. ]

2/2

[priforprince]

[ A little green cat sticking its tongue out clatters into the tray.

Hibiki stiffens. ]

[amongthethorns]

Miss Hibiki, it's not a real crisis you know. They're just toy collectibles.

[Alan is moving forward picking up the small green cat toy, idly touching a finger to that stuck out tongue more than a little amused by it. He can admit they're cute, he can see the appeal.]

Everyone just wants a chance to get one of these little things. Especially those there. [He gestures to the bag of Blue-Star Cats.] And people taking more than a proper fair turn seem to be the biggest problem I've seen thus far.

[Is he using the mom tone with Hibiki? Yes. Yes he is. That gentle scolding one that is quietly showing disapproval but ultimately leaving the choice in Hibiki's hands... for now.]

[priforprince]

I have to get three more.

[ Hibiki's breath is coming ragged now. ]

If I don't.....they'll....

[ Her head lowers, clammy skin contorted in the nobly pained expression of one who is trying to stoically ward off a disastrous future.

Which is to say she's blue and twitchy. ]

Crossing Crisis

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Zetta has a certain amount of propriety, which meant that when another god was enacting an evil scheme, he's okay giving them a reasonable amount of time to do it.]

[They'd crossed out of 'reasonable' some time ago.]

Look.

[The book, held firmly in the grip of the Overlord's soulless shinki, finally has to speak up.. Around those two mill a disconsolate and disgruntled group of demons, who idly challenge each other to rock-paper-scissors battles or read tourism pamphlets (or occasionally point out landmarks and yell "I SAW THAT IN 'THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU'!", but no one was paying attention to that guy).]

I'm all in favor of cruelty and evil, but can you hurry it up a little? Some of us have our own acts of malice to perpetrate.

[priforprince]

[ ....Rgh. Hibiki flinches, hand on the dial.

She's so close. So close to her goal, and yet... ]

Lectured by a book....that's so stupid, I can't concentrate.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Said book smirks.]

I may be a book at the moment, but that's just temporary! In fact, you've been lectured by the almighty Lord Zetta, the most badass freaking Overlord in the cosmos! This is the most supreme lecture you or anyone could ever ask to receive!

...So, uh, seriously, can we step up the evil game here for a minute? I get the whole 'torture the crowd with waiting' deal, but I think you're about an inch from violence erupting...

[priforprince]

A genius's pace cannot be rushed.

[ She could go on, about how compared to the disaster she's fending off, a little waiting is nothing, but - that would involve this book being worthy of an explanation from Shikyoin Hibiki. So obviously that isn't going to happen.

Still, she does wish to proceed. Hibiki takes a deep breath and tries to concentrate again, despite the newfound presence of...irritants.

Drat. ]

[justclaws]

[Paper.

[Mountains of it.

[Kija steps away, drawing up his cape, as countless slips of paper tumble from the door and out into the yard, or are caught and tossed by the wind to whisk past in flurries, like the petals of a cherry tree, or freshly-fallen snow: he simply has to stop and watch it for a moment, let it happen. Of course it is a mess and a nuisance - it is just that it is also strangely pretty. But what in the world could have caused it? Hibiki was usually so fastidious. Hallways full of paper hardly seem her style.

[It is easy enough to snag one of the slips of paper as it flutters past, and that goes some way to clearing the mystery up: it is a prayer request.]

"Oh Nyapollo-sama, purrlease help me nyaquire a purrlue-star cat charm, nya--" what in the world?

[No. No, he refuses to read any more. With a wince, Kija folds the paper and (he supposes that is where it belongs) rests it back on the pile. That was almost painful. How disrespectful, to couch a request for Heavenly intercession in such childish language! Even actual children should know enough to respect the Gods of their world.

[What in the world is wrong with this person?]

Are they all like this?!

[priforprince]

[ They are. In fact, some of them are worse.

Which is why all this paper is out here, in the hallway, and the owner of the temple is over here, in this sitting room, behind a door that is more ajar than she thinks it is. ]

That one!

[ A trumpet fanfare. ]

[justclaws]

[No, those were definitely trumpets. Hibiki must be in there somewhere.

[For a moment, he hesitates before the drifts of fallen paper. On the one hand, to trample and shred prayer requests would be an act so plainly irreverant he is unsure he can bring himself to do it. On the other, are they all like that? Cautiously, Kija picks up another slip--

[Apurrlo-sama! I purrstrate myself in purrayer to you and humbly purrlead that you help me purrcure

[--casts it aside, reaches for another--

[but it is pawsitively and categorically impurrsible to purrlieve that I will purrchieve my nyanbition without paw help. Nyapollo-sama, my most furrvent purrayer is that I purrquire a lucky blue cat

[--discards that with a shudder, selects a third--

[the meowgical blue star cat!

[--and decides that maybe walking on such prayers would not be all that disrespectful after all, and that perhaps the best thing for them would be for them to meet their fate at the claws of the White Dragon. He can consider it an exorcism, of a kind. As for blazing a trail through the drifts, Kija always has been hard on paper. He picks his way through the pile, and if there is a horrible kind of fascination in wondering exactly what tortured cat puns might lurk half-buried all about him, he decides against looking any closer. Hibiki is that way - or at least the fanfare is - so he supposes he should be wading that way, through the open door.]

Hibiki? Are you quite all right? What in Heaven's name is going on?

[priforprince]

This--

[ Hibiki looks up and over. She notices Kija just as she lifts a teacup that, alongside dozens of its brethren, has been turned upside-down on this coffee table.

The Hibiki doll that had been beneath the teacup tips over. A fanfare sounds from....someplace.

Careful crossing the floor. It's littered with dolls of various Far Shore denizens.

And one or two shattered teacups. ]

Bad Kitty

[kokuyoyo]

[....He swears to god.]

[With a blue yoyo in one hand and Mukurou the owl heavy on his shoulder, Chikusa slips off into the nearby foliage that is plentiful in the Far Shore to wait. It's not really occurring to him that there's anything serious to take care of, besides freezing up one more annoying ayakashi...]

[And then he sees what's in its grip.]

[Heaving out a sigh, he gestures for Mukurou to take higher into the skies, waiting for the perfect moment, before he slumps out from his hiding spot. Reaching up with his free hand, he adjusts his glasses.]

You're going to die of blight if you don't teleport away from it.

[priforprince]

Playing with the toy, nya~ Playing with the toy, mya~

[ If Hibiki had been in any condition to seize the moment and teleport, she sure isn't now. Her wide-eyed stare flops back and forth as she's batted from paw to paw. ]

[kokuyoyo]

[Reaching up, Chikusa adjusts his glasses. There isn't a day he isn't thankful for having ever been Axel's exemplar.... but some days, when he sees Hibiki being Hibiki, he's even more thankful that he was his shinki at all.]

[Good lord.]

[Still, this could lead to the creation of another ayakashi if her shinki or something realizes she died without them, so... With a whistle, he calls down Mukurou, who swoops down.... and, trailing from his wings, a giant wave of water, too.]

[The slowing and weakening effects of Rain should help deal with this.]

[priforprince]

NYAT IS THIS?!

[ The cat hisses, puffing up - even beyond Rain's normal effects, Chikusa did just get a cat wet. Roiling in the liquid ball all cats are capable of becoming, a paw with claws extended rakes across the sky in hopes of snagging the offender.

Hibiki drops to the ground with a wet plop and coughs up rainwater. ]

cat prayer hell

[nopixiedust]

HIBIIIIIIIKIIIIIII!

[Wendy is already short enough as it is. This is just something she's come to accept in her afterlife. Normally, it's not much of an issue. In a lot of ways, she's found it's actually been pretty advantageous to her. No one really pays her much mind.

[Sometimes, however, it's a problem.]

[Sometimes she's literally drowning in paper.]

[priforprince]

What?!

[ Hibiki sticks her head out of the door. She's irritated, but it's Wendy, so she'll respond. ] What's the meaning of calling my name when I'm in the middle of----

[ But then she sees Wendy. Or, well, doesn't see Wendy.

The teacup she was holding falls from her fingers and breaks. ]

[nopixiedust]

[From within the sea of white, a pair of small hands poke out and desperately wave.]

[SAVE HER]

[priforprince]

[ WENDY

When Hibiki starts to move, she moves decisively, wading into the fray. Reaching out, she tries to grab those hands in her own and pull.

No shinki of hers is allowed to perish! ]

sunshine struggle

[smilingbullet]

[ You go to get some coffee real quick, and find a Hibiki instead. ]

God Apollo, you're not appearing to be very useful today.

does god apollo ever appear to be useful though

[priforprince]

They're all falling for a deliberate shortage.

[ Hibiki gestures with the hand holding her teacup. Not even being jibed at will stop her from heckling. ] The rarer keychains aren't even made of superior materials!

[ She crosses her legs, sitting up straight. ] A farce, start to finish.

nope, not in the least

[smilingbullet]

[ He leans lightly against one of the chairs at her table and takes a sip of his coffee. ]

So you've checked them out then? If you're so sure about the quality.