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]

[ Hibiki turns the box on its side and shakes it. More gacha capsules fall out. One pops open when it hits the table.

It's a tiny figurine of Reisi (in his sea cucumber costume). If Wendy opens the other capsules, she'll find more Far Shore denizens in them, too. ] You'll mix these up in the box.

[nopixiedust]

[...Why is Reisi in a sea cucumber costume]

[why are there more and more when she goes through these things]

Do you have a doll for every single person around...?

[priforprince]

[ why wouldn't reisi be in a sea cucumber costume, is the million-pollar question ]

I do. Though some people are too nondescript to merit an opinion.

[ Hibiki settles back on the couch. ] Mix them up.

[nopixiedust]

[And mix them up she shall! But not without some questions.]

Oh, so they don't even go on the stage, huh?

[priforprince]

Only the best may stand onstage.

[ You're on there. Be honored. ]

[nopixiedust]

[She'll sure accept it.]

I wonder if- [A pause. She squints at a goat figure.] ...Do we have a god that is a goat? Or something...

[priforprince]

We're resuming practice now.

[ The goat is a sore spot. ]

[nopixiedust]

...Did a goat harass you?

[Sometimes she wonders if she needs to put Hibiki on a leash for her own protection. Still, sighing, she tucks the goat away and scrambles everything up again.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki's eyebrow quirks at the question.

Which, really, is Wendy's answer.

She is ready when Wendy is ready. ]

[nopixiedust]

[...god, they really did.]

[Sighing, Wendy leans back.]

They're all set.

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki nods, crosses her arms and legs, and stares at the box. Where? Where in there is the Hibiki figurine? It's the highest-quality, rarest item in the box. The one most worthy of being drawn.

Focus. Identify. Otherwise, her followers will keep using....

She's forgetting to blink. ]

[nopixiedust]

[...Wendy, very generously and very patiently, waits a moment for her god before reminding her, as her shinki duty demands, to be human.]

Hibiki, you're weirding me out.

[Or, that.]

You need to blink...

[priforprince]

Ssh.

[ Hibiki leans forward. Her hand hovers over the box.

Then, deliberately, she plucks a gacha capsule out and hands it to Wendy. ]

This one.

[ Here. Open it. ]

[nopixiedust]

[Sometimes, she wonders if Hibiki has ever thought about living a life in private that isn't as dramatic as her public one.]

[For now, instead of asking, Wendy accepts the gacha to pop it open...]

[And, by luck of the RNG gods, it is indeed a little Hibiki doll.]

[priforprince]

[ TRUMPET FANFARE!

Hibiki sniffs a satisfied snort that is not in any way covering up a relieved sigh, no sir. She's so good. So very, very good.

There is nothing to worry about at all. ]

[nopixiedust]

[Definitely not anything to worry about.]

...Are we gonna do it again?

[priforprince]

Until it's second nature.

[ Or they collapse from this Great Exertion! ]

[nopixiedust]

[ w e l p ]

I'm getting tea. [Wendy abruptly stands up, dusting off her clothes.] Help me get past all the prayers that are stuffing the temple.

[priforprince]

We aren't finished.

[ Hibiki isn't saying no so much as she just

doesn't get it.

Which still makes her an ass, but. ]