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

[sageprincess]

I'm all right.

[The response is automatic, too mechanical to be a conscious lie even though it clearly is. But she's not dead yet; she can still pull herself to her feet in the moments granted by Oscar's shield, and even if it hurts she can still push through it to do what needs to be done. It's a theme with her, really.]

Come to me, Kageki!

[She calls for his vessel without hesitation. There is one way to end this, and she intends to do it quickly.]

[riveres]

[There really isn't any time to question her response right now as there's a gigantic harmful ayakashi plushie in front of them they have to take care of. Closing his eyes and focusing his body disappears in a plume of black smoke and particle by particle, the jeweled gauntlet appears on Zelda's hand.]

[sageprincess]

[She thinks, in that moment, that perhaps they should have practiced this.

Oscar disappears, and the wall he put up goes with him, leaving Zelda facing the angry and monstrous feline seemingly alone. But that's fine-- she's used to that, even, and through their telepathic connection Oscar might hear her thoughts buzzing quickly from one to the next, a flurry of strategies and odds and instincts that she's too focused on to filter from him. This isn't the first time she's faced a monster like this, that much is certain.

The creature recovers, and she decides on a plan. Oscar's power involves manipulating shadows, so surely the greater the shadow, the more power he'll have to work with. She lifts the hand not bearing his vessel and lets it shine, a bright and holy beacon, like a star fallen to earth. And the ayakashi is attracted, of course - gods and shinki are the most delicious to them, and surely one bearing such an obvious divine must be a feast of energy indeed. It charges towards her.

Its shadow grows darker as it grows closer to her holy light.

When it is mere feet away from striking her down, she swipes the gauntlet up, calling for the shadows to heed her just as the light does with a cry:]

Rend!

[The stomach of a beast, with few exceptions, is one of its softest and most vulnerable parts. No doubt impalement from shadowy spikes there would do a great deal of damage-- if it works.

[riveres]

[It's just one more voice in the cacophony of voices in Oscar's head. But somehow, somehow her voice is louder than the others, keeping up with the quick flurry of thoughts.

Attracting the creature with her holy light is sure the way to bring the creature in for the att.ack

But her thoughts are sure, complete when she gives out the order.

Rend. And he will. In the limitless dark, he reaches out and claws the air, the shadow. Spikes come forward, piercing the creature.]

[sageprincess]

[The ayakashi screeches in pain, but the echoes of its cries resonating off the abandoned buildings around them last longer than it does. It simply vanishes under the force of the rend, leaving nothing but a few transient wisps of dark energy in its wake.

Zelda collapses to her knees as the struggle suddenly ends, relief washing over her like a wave. The euphoria of another battle survived is not enough to erase the pain of the blight itching at her arm and side, but it does dull it, somewhat.]

Return, Oscar.

[His job done, she releases her shinki from his vessel form. She can't imagine being a gauntlet is comfortable.]

[riveres]

[And he can't imagine the pain of being blighted, even just a little bit. But he could try to get used to being a fancy gauntlet sometime.

But Oscar is released out his vessel form, dark smoke begetting a familiar human form and immediately goes to Zelda's side.

Mistress Zelda, are you fine to walk.

[Maybe they should go back to the temple.]

[sageprincess]

[She nods, exhaling, releasing some of the left over tension in her body.]

Yes, yes... Just-- allow me a moment. [A hiss of pain escapes her as the adrenaline begins to wear away, allowing her to feel the full effects of the blight's sting.] Forgive me, I had not expected those creatures to be on this side as well.