25 - Troubled Waters

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Alleviating the troubles caused by conflict in Heaven
When: October 10
Where: Orihime's meadows in the Far Shore, as well as various places in Japan, China and Ireland
Summary: Orihime has been tasked by the Heavens with resolving the conflict caused in the mortal world by the new gods' struggles against one another. Several gods have been killed recently, and their violent deaths have led to dangerous corruption being released in the mortal world. Help Orihime expunge the corruption and return the human world to a peaceful existence.







Orihime's Meadows

Before traveling to the Far Shore, gods and shinki can meet and make plans near Orihime's modest home at the edge of the Southeastern District. Her dwelling is too small to accommodate even one team of gods and shinki arranging something as serious as this, let alone several. It is obvious she thought about this fact, and has crafted four cloth tents out in the meadows surrounding her home. The sounds of the milky way river are now joined by rustling fabric in the wind, for each tent has a flag mounted atop it and standing in front of it:

• The blue tent belongs to the team for Ksitigarbha. It has a sigil in black on the flag.
  
• The green tent belongs to the team for Li Tieguai. On its flag, a mortar and pestle in white, but the visible part of the pestle resembles a staff crook.
  
• The red tent belongs to the team for Cu Chulainn, with an impressive reproduction of a two-headed dog celtic knot in shining silver.
  
• The brown tent belongs to the team for Loki. Its flag bears a two-headed snake in gold.
All four tents are spread out in cardinal directions. Near each tent, she has a few stacks of wooden prayer tablets related to each of the problems, as well as maps and supplies for those who might need them.

In the center of all four tents is a simple chair and table where Orihime herself is generally sitting, talking to others nearby, or writing notes based on those conversations. She does a lot of listening when people ask her for new supplies she hadn't thought of previously, but has only been supplied with four shinki runners to get those supplies, one per group. Additionally, she cannot teleport down to the Near Shore herself, nor can anyone use her home to teleport down to where each of the troubles are; that is a problem for each group to solve on their own, with Orihime only able to mediate and provide suggestions.

Child's Play

Kshitigarbha, protector of children and of hell beings, is one of the recent casualties. Without his protection, it seems that babies' fears are giving rise to new and awful ayakashi throughout the city of Xi'an. Shadows on the wall above the crib, oversized stuffed animals, monsters hiding in the closet or rattling the windows at night -- all the fears of earliest childhood are taking real, malicious form. Babies are panicking, parents are exhausted, and all this stress is pulling in even more ayakashi! Someone needs to lure out these nursery nightmares and defeat them before the situation gets worse.

As gods and shinki work to rend the ayakashi tormenting children, they may notice a strange shadow passing by in the street outside, or scratching noises at the nursery window. Something more seems to be waiting outside....

Flu Season

With sky-high living costs and limited space, Tokyo has a large homeless population. Li Tieguai, protector of the poor and patron of medicine, was another recent death: now, winter's coming, and without his protection it seems like everyone's getting sick at once. They're suffering from everything ranging from plain old head colds and 'flu to more serious things like pneumonia or infections. Help pass out tea, soup and blankets, make sure they get the right medications, and get the sickest people to the hospital.

Carrion crows crowd close around the sick and croak, watching the gods and shinki helping them.

Wild Hounds

As if honoring the fall of the Hound of Chulainn, stray dogs have begun to form into large, dangerous packs in rural and suburban areas of Ireland, and even well-trained housepets have started breaking their leashes and joining them. They're starting to chase and bite humans, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets killed. Gods need to defeat the ayakashi possessing the "leaders of the pack," and get the pets back to their worried owners.

The groves of trees where the dogs are lairing seem unusually dark and shadowy, and footsteps seem to echo those of the gods and shinki tracking them down.

Prank War

Teenage pranks are turning unusually cruel and dangerous lately: with Loki gone, a few groups of bored kids have coalesced into more serious gangs in Chiba, and they've been seen setting fires, tormenting animals, vandalizing businesses and intimidating or robbing people walking alone at night. Someone needs to stop them from causing trouble, put them on a better path, or turn them in to the police before someone gets badly hurt.

Even as they're working to stop the teenagers' mischief, something seems to whisper to them and encourage them to join in and cause a little trouble. After all, it's just some fun....

Boss Battles

Those who helped to resolve the problems caused by the gods' deaths have one final enemy to face. Four dangerous ayakashi are behind these conflicts. Each character can participate in one boss battle, but it's fine for characters to form multiple different groups (i.e. multiple threads under one boss's comment.) To ensure that the NPC knows when to respond to your characters, please indicate which characters will be in a thread in your first comment.

Kshitigarbha - Child's Play

Li Tieguai - Flu Season

Cu Chulainn - Wild Hounds

Loki - Prank War

In Summary:

• Check in with Orihime and your new teams
• Save scared children
• Help the sick
• Tame stray dogs
• Stop pranks from going too far
• Watch out~

Comments

[usedperishsong]

I think I'm gonna snap after one more push!

[ Says Kanade, raising her fist to strike.

A shadow flickers past behind her....

Congratulations. There is no plan! ]

[mithrarin]

[Dust can handle combat. And he doesn't have to hold back unless he wants to. There are differences, in his mind. Not the least of which is that if something happened to Maria, the Far Shore and its residents would be much more disturbed and upset than if something happened to him.]

Send word if you need help. [That's a suitable goodbye, right? He nods slightly, then turns to head deeper into the neighborhood. There might be more possessed dogs here... or worse.]

[sing_for_me]

[That'd make two of them. Alex had a basic understanding of it at least, but she is slightly regretful that she only tried to use it now. That left her more untrained and unprepared. At least so far it's been going alright.]

I think we're far enough now, Goten. You can uncover your---

[Faster than she can react, a large figure jumps out from the shadows, teeth bared and a something more like a roar echoing through the silence of the night.]

[sing_for_me]

[That excitement would've taken over if Alex still hadn't felt worried.]

B-but won't you get blighted for touching them? [Although she was technically in her vessel form. Ahhh, why didn't Alex pay more attention to this stuff?]

[The other ayakashi weren't going to wait for their debate to finish though, two of them deciding to pounce at the new threat at the same time.]

Wendy, look out!

[sing_for_me]

[The patient looks at her weakly, attempting to raise their hand, only for it to drop back down on the bed side.

What to do now, Hibiki? They're staring helplessly up at you, as their only hope.]

[sing_for_me]

[Alex looks at the hand offered to her, and after a brief moment of reluctance she reaches out to hold it. It felt like maybe some of Maria's courage would transfer to her if she did that.]

I'll..[She takes in a breath and squeezes at her hand, looking at Maria with more determination in her eyes.] I'll try.

[Opening the door made the sounds of their cries much louder, also revealing the chaos that had ensued. More ayakashi had started to creep in, the children more terrified than they were earlier. Alex could feel the guilt starting to overwhelm her again, but the strong hand holding hers served as a reminder of what she had claimed to do.]

Maria..can you hold your breath?

[hellishrabbit]

[He was smiling more with every moment. The punch would have still knocked some air out of her, but that she was even pushing back just made this much more thrilling. He still managed to keep his stance, but the tension was enough to keep him in place.]

I apologize. It was rude of me to underestimate you.

[Now then, how to proceed. He couldn't move forward, so why not backward like she wanted. Using his weight and her force, Kamui allowed himself to fall backwards, but grabbing hold of her hands, he pulled her down along with him. Rolling onto his back, he folds his legs up to his middle, then kick right at her stomach with both.]

[redmare]

[She really hadn't. Chinatsu had only been with that god for a very short while, so her experience was lacking greatly.]

Tsk.. [Even with his explanation, Chinatsu wasn't satisfied with her work.]

Okay, I got it. [Not that she thought he wasn't before, but Chinatsu was seeing that she really should trust her god a bit more. What would she even be doing if he wasn't there? But she hoped she could have been more useful. Which is why, as she follows him, she'll finally kick her own butt into asking.]

Hey..what can I do?

[redmare]

[The teens look at each other for a moment, then suddenly grab into their bags to pull out a can of paint to spray at their direction.

"We'd like to see you try, suckers!"]

Oi--watch it!!

[Chinatsu immediately brings her arms up to shield her eyes, definitely stunned by the action.]

[hellishrabbit]

For real?

[That..sounds a little messed up.

When Gintoki let's go and walks away, Kamui follows. Why? He's not sure. Maybe he wants to kick his ass for turning him into an umbrella.]

Oi, where are you off to?

Flu Season

[redmare]

[[JUMPS IN FASHIONABLY LATE]]

[Chinatsu watched as Hibiki handled--or didn't handle-- the baby given to her. She should probably leave her alone. Chinatsu wanted to leave her alone, but what about the baby?]

Tsk...oi, are you gonna do anything or what?

[boneofsword]

[It's a relief to find princess safe. Archer sighs with relief, heard only by Caster because he's still in vessel form.]

Let's get out of here. [he corrects his god, speaking also to Zelda and Samus. Honestly, he wishes to deliver a solid kick to Caster's shin as a hint to follow his advice.] Two others joined the fight, we can leave the rest to them. Ayakashi this big requires at least two Rends to finish it, and we're clearly at disadvantage.

[yasei]

[ Sorry about that? ]

There's a clearing a bit that way, it gets denser that.

[ He nods first toward one direction, and then another. Obi is very good in nature, much better than he is in these strange cities. ]

[yasei]

I know, but it's fine.

[ To both of those statements. ]

Sometimes, you gotta be a bad guy to handle a situation.

[sageprincess]

[Well. Zelda normally would have something to offer tactics-wise, but when Caster comes across her and Samus, she suddenly falls very quiet, her skin pale and eyes wide underneath the blight. Her grip on Samus' arm is white knuckled, now using her more as support than dragging her along.

She looks a bit like she's seen a ghost, really.

Regardless, the princess is clearly somewhere else, mentally, so if you all were looking for her to be the leader of this retreat, well. Oops.]

[sixthree]

[Samus recognizes Archer's pendant form, though Caster is a stranger to her. However, he seems friendly enough, and, hey, he brought the Wicker Man. That's worth more than a few points.

She nods in agreement, but notes an increase in pressure on her arm where Zelda's holding onto her.]

...Lady Zelda?

[Samus leans over, waving her cannon arm in front of the Hylian's face before gently shaking her by the upper arm a couple of times, calling her name out again in increasing volume. Eventually, she makes a noise of frustration. Her power suit is dispelled so she can work with two hands, and she picks Zelda up quickly, but carefully. There's a sharp intake of breath and her eyes narrow in a wince as she feels the sting of the blight that had gotten on Zelda against her, but that's not so important right now.

She turns a focused expression toward Caster, waiting for a moment before she speaks.]

Do you have a specific destination in mind, or shall I carry on with my previous plan of running in the opposite direction from that beast?

[yasei]

That's right. Kids, if you pick fights, you should be able to back it up. And you should always be ready to encounter someone stronger than you. And be grateful to the Miss for being so kind. And here.

[ Now, the kids are busy being in pain and Obi focuses more of his attention on listening to what's happening in the surrounding area. ]

Three sets of footsteps a hundred feet down the street, one up it moving away--sounds like that's the mister, and further up there is a few others he'll encounter soon. I can't hear any ayakashi but they're a bit harder to detect. Time to move on don't you think, Miss Chinatsu?

[redmare]

[Was he some kind of boy scout? Oh wait, wasn't a he a ninja? The guy was like a Swiss army knife, with multiple skills.]

R..right...do we follow the other two then or the one that walked away?

[yasei]

It's not trouble at all!

[ He takes half of the blankets, piling them over an arm and then slipping his other under the pile as well. ]

But if you've taken a bit too much then that means you're eager to help, right? Or maybe I'm misinterpreting it?

[yasei]

[ If she called him a boy scout, he would not get it. Same with the Swiss army part of Swiss army knife. But he is that good. ]

Not the same way the old man went. He'll forget us but he'll still vaguely remember us. He'll definitely remember this [ He nods toward the kids. ] incident. These kids came from the other way too, so maybe we'll find something that way.

[redmare]

Gotcha.

[Chinatsu stepped right on the fallen teenager, pointedly digger her heel in a little as she did, to follow those footprints. She doubted they would try to follow. At least, not after what Obi did.]

You think an ayakashi is doing this? I thought maybe they'd be possessed, but I splashed some holy water at some other ones and they didn't even flinch. [Or at least, they only did since some got in their eyes.]

[blizzardrock]

[That doesn't need a response, so he doesn't, instead quietly continuing to listen, trusting his instincts to pick up anything, even in this..."other-bodied" state.]

[...For some reason, it feels like there was another sense he could rely on to detect threats. But ruminating on that would be disastrous, so he doesn't, even as he finds himself reaching for...something every once in a while.]

[Though the notion that they're just going to "check over" rather than flush them all out brings him a bit of amusement. They have already used themselves to lure out ayakashi, but there's no accounting for the cowardly. There's always one that's a bit off from the rest.]

[But all you have to do is survive.]

Satisfied?

[smilingbullet]

No--no, not exactly. They were, well um..

I may have... [ He speaks quietly, because he doesn't want to get overheard by someone who shouldn't overhear. Which is most people but he definitely doesn't want certain things to reach the original gods. ] ...caused one, and been part of another temporary.

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 grins at Rin, cheerfully, with no lack of confidence. ]

It won't. But who says I have forgotten the numbers?

[ He may have zero artistic talent, but he's good at other stuff, including memorizing things like numbers. ]

[smilingbullet]

You could have, but it's nothing you can do anything about now. None of what happened is.

[ The important thing, the most important thing, is that they managed to, in the end, pull off what they had intended---even if it had ended up getting all fucked up---and that Hakkai was better now. And D2 has learned to cope better these days. He'll keep having nightmares about it, but it's not like he doesn't have nightmares anyway. ]

I won't. As long as you don't blame yourself instead.