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

[sageprincess]

[Zelda hardly seems cognizant of the discussion happening around her as she continues to scream, but eventually her voice gives out and she quiets down in gasping, broken sobs instead. She shrinks away from Caster's touch, curling tighter in on herself and hiding herself further away.

But as this all is happening she does remember something distantly, faintly, and somewhere between her cries there is a mumbled incantation. It'll be difficult for those around her to understand what she's saying, but the god-magic answers her regardless - the second brand on Archer's skin glows briefly, then shatters, dissolving into motes of light as the bond between them disappears, taking with it any evidence that he was ever anything but Caster's shinki.

At least she's kind of thinking about things? That's a good start, right??]

[sixthree]

[Before Samus can deter Caster, Archer's already on the case. That's good. She does nod in response to Caster's assessment, however.]

Since I arrived and was made her Shinki, she's been very reserved and quiet. Something broke through that during the battle.

[She looks thoughtful for a moment, going back over the events in her mind - Zelda had been what Samus assumed was normal when they went into combat. They were separated shortly after, but then this fellow makes his grand entrance. She reunites with Zelda again, and then her goddess was. Very frazzled. They run, find Archer and Caster, and... This happens. On top of that, Zelda pulled away from being touched, so Samus' previous assessment of the situation checks out. Samus frowns, quickly pushing up to her feet with her shoulders squared, and placing herself between Zelda and Caster, staring down at the blue-haired man. Her tone is calm and even, but there's a definite coldness to it.]

Given the timing of her change in relation to your arrival, and her reaction on seeing you in person, I think I can safely wager that whatever the 'something' is, it involves you. I don't know what kind of history you have with my goddess, and on the surface, your concern is appreciated, but I feel this is something that needs to run its course.

[reformedsinner]

If I'd known how much trouble I would be causing, I really would have been more careful... but one can't predict everything, I suppose.

[One can do a better job than he'd done with the Loki mess, of course. He shakes his head.]

I've been managing. Ken and Chikusa lost their last god, so they're staying with me now, and I hear Ayumu's found a new goddess who she gets along with well.

[None of that is technically about him, but as for him... well.

He's managing.]

[reformedsinner]

Improvise.

[Hakkai drops the boy's hand in the same moment as his hand comes down on the back of his neck, leaving him slumping semiconscious to the ground but without a broken wrist to go with the headache he'll have in an hour. He swings around to catch the next of them with a punch to the gut and another to the face: this boy's not down, but he is gouting blood from his nose, and that seems to be occupying his attention admirably.

It's really inconvenient to have to put this much work into not maiming any of them, he reflects, and throws another punch.]

[redotiertwo]

[That explains...something, at least, as much as Davesprite prefers his metaphors inscrutable and referring to nothing in particular. He's pretty sure they haven't had any previous instances of this many gods dying at one time, unless the murder spree hit a few of them.

That means he's a little bit confused when she refers to other deaths, because he hadn't been thinking of those ones at the beginning, and he definitely hadn't been keeping close track of what happened back then.]

I'd have to ask Hajime if she's been keeping closer track than me, because honestly I'm not sure which ones are supposed to have died other than the ones that got announced really publicly. It's not the kind of thing I like putting tabs on, you know. [Kind of morbid.]

[declamando]

Maybe. I can't imagine they'd still be operating at full strength if we cut off the head, at the very least.

[Maria sounds a bit more confident in saying that, if still concerned about the circumstances in general.]

It's a strange situation. I don't think we've ever dealt with ayakashi that acted mainly through possessing the living before.

[The only time they handled something similar was the souls possessing corpses a while ago, and the less she thinks about that, the better.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That tarp might come in handy later, but for now, Shun moves to intercept. It's difficult to tell whether he teleports or just outspeeds them, but he bodily slams into one of them from the side before they reach the truck, sending him crashing into the other one and both of them tumbling to the ground. Shun kicks them in the stomach for good measure, to make sure they stay there.]

Not fast enough.

[revolutionfalcon]

We're already going. [Shun hasn't stopped moving since he started, so unless Hak thinks talk somehow wastes time whether they're moving or not, he figures there's little point in saying something like that.

Once they reach the park gate, he points to the right before going that way himself.] This way. It's not for a few blocks.

[saiyanhybrid]

It might be a little bit of both.

[Gohan cups his chin.]

But one of the gods is back, so it might help lessen the impact. [He hopes, anyway.]

[saiyanhybrid]

Not sure if anyone would be aware of that.

[But he does nod.

Gohan goes off, administering medicine to those that doesn't look as bad as others, sometimes gently helping them up to take the medicine and murmuring soft words to any children who's been afflicted as well.]

[saiyanhybrid]

...They're regrouping.

[It's the sense that he gets and he knows Piccolo will be fine (for the most part) that he stays close to Raichi.]

[saiyanhybrid]

That's right.

[A nod.]

She really is a nice kid. Last time I ran into her, she was scolding pelicans.

[kokuyoyo]

[So nothing that even Davesprite has seen... Settling down to take a rest, his legs hidden underneath his feathers, Chikusa eyes the surrounding skies warily for anymore crows and huffs in frustration.]

[So no leads on the source.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The giant yowls, hopping up and down on its other foot. The ground shakes with each impact, twigs and leaves sifting down from the branches above, and the other small group falls from its shoulder. One, with long, blonde hair that catches the faint moonlight, seems half-collapsed, and the others are clustering around her and making a run for it.

The giant bends down, ignoring its retreating enemies to focus on the tiny motorcycle as it puts it wounded foot gingerly back down on the ground.]


C̗̺̗̻̠̬ͯò̊̑m͔̙̘̳͛ͮͨͥ̊͟e͉͈͎̳̪̟͚͆̀̚ ̩͓̱͈̘̦c͇ͫ̾͊̿̌̆͡l̀o̠̊͋̂ͫ̽̋͞s̼͓͂e̹̥̻̭̤̾r̢̟͖̙͒̍̇̽̎ͬ


[It's a vicious rumble, with more anger than enticement in the tone now, and the creature's remaining hand sweeps down towards Sharak and the motorcycle.]

[creeping_spirit]

[Chikusa's beak plunges into the creature's body, with more force than a bird's beak should be able to exert, and brilliant light flashes from the point of impact. The creature's wing blows away in a shower of gelatinous fragments, blighting to the touch but swiftly evaporating into nothing more than a bitter mist, and the creature itself thrashes in a convulsion. Ken's first borderline cuts harmlessly through the space where its left wing had been, and his second leaves an oozing gash across its right as it thrashes once more, roaring in pain, and transforms.

The snake-body puts out feet like a millipede's, clutching at the asphalt and gripping, and its wounded wing trails on the ground as it turns to race desperately away. It's still keening in a twisted voice as it runs.]

[usedperishsong]

You're mean.

[ Kanade nearly winces at that, but he's getting the job done. So. Back to being serious for her, too! The shock on some of the guys' companions' faces as they try to figure out exactly how Shun managed that gives her a nice opening.

Down you go. And you. You too. Why not? ]

I will roll with whatever you want as far as vessel form and power. Go nuts.

[cuddle_battery]

Okay!

[He extends a hand dramatically and starts the incantation they taught him when he arrived.]

You who have nowhere to go and cannot pass on, um...

[Hang on, he memorized most of this speech. Honestly Wombat's method of just forcing them to deliver long speeches every time they transform is easier. At least he didn't have to remember them.]

I'll give you a place to stay. I am Cupid, lingering here gripping your true name, I make you my servant with this alias.

[And he starts tracing a kanji in the air with his finger, which hangs shining in the air while he finishes finishes the incantation.]

Your name is Sho, vessel is Shoki, obey my order and become my shinki! Shoki!

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite remains hovering, curling his tail up and looking over the area.]

I dunno that we're gonna get anything else productive done hanging around here. [If there is the chance of a nest somewhere, they're going to need to go out searching.]

[revolutionfalcon]

That's what they need right now. [They can't just let them off easily in the midst of all this, so they can go start another fire somewhere else or try to hurt someone some other way.

Thankfully, they're running out of targets by now, especially when Shun kicks another one of them into a different member of the gang and then throws another one after. They seem too surprised for anyone to be running back towards the fire, too, which helps.]

[usedperishsong]

Guess so! [ A paragon of virtue, is Shun. Kanade dispatches the rest of the guys that were close to her, then checks to see if Shun needs help with his leftovers.

Though from the way he moves she doubts he's gonna have any. ]

[kokuyoyo]

[He really doesn't want to, especially if they've found nothing so far... but Chikusa guesses there's no helping it. Letting out a slow breath, he jabs his beak in Davesprite's direction and points one way, before lowering it more towards his own bod before pointing to another.]

[thevanguard]

If you get us stepped on by this ugly, overgrown puppy, I may never forgive you.

[ Yata's voice is dry, but there's a sense of tension, impatience, lingering beneath the surface. He's not used to sitting out of the actual fighting part of it and the urge to move doesn't diminish, even if he is in his shinki form currently. ]

[flamebearer]

And preying on kids?! [ Alibaba sounds outraged at that. ] We're going to find it and murder it, right? Something that comes after kids too little to protect themselves.... Hitsugaya, we gotta.

[futhark]

[ Well, you're not wrong Samus. There is certain "something" involving them both. Like void, death and such. At first impulse, Caster reacts with annoyance at not just one, but two shinki interrupting him.

See, guys, he's Concerned and Worried too, why are you suddenly focusing on him not on the person that needs it the most- oh

Just his presence is making things even worse. Princess needs help, but he's not one who can do anything about it, aside from leaving. Maybe neither of the two shinki have knowledge of full picture, but it's enough to figure that out. Whether she closed herself off, or it's the Void that affected her emotions, it's all back now.

Ah yes, that awful moment where the best thing you can do is pack and leave. For all the bullshit Servant and demi-gods powers he got up his sleeve, he's completely powerless now. ]

Understood.

[ His lips form a thin line, but aside from that, he doesn't allow much more emotion to show on his face. ]

You, I like you- [ What a good, responsible shinki you are, Samus. Zelda's lucky to have you. It's just his way of showing respect. Normally it would be probably said with also a teasing lilt, but that's gone. ] I trust you'll take good care of her.

[ And on the topic of shinki, he got his own to deal with, but again they could go back and see the battle through. There are others still fighting and they might use a hand. Caster just turns to Archer and soon teleports them away, leaving ]

[ OOC to mods: they're probably going to return to the boss battle, but we're fine with handwaving that they probably provided some support to other teams, or whatever you need for that ]

[creeping_spirit]

[ooc; you're welcome to handwave support or start a new thread with Caster and Archer, whichever you prefer! This ayakashi hasn't yet been defeated, though it's quite wounded.]