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

[reformedsinner]

[The ayakashi is plunging down at them, its new-formed wings folded tight against its body, and its fangs almost look serpentine as it falls. Hakkai dives to the left, rolling and coming up to his feet with chi already burning in the palm of his hand. A dive like that has too much momentum for the thing to dodge: he presses his hands together, pouring energy into the attack, and releases it with his exhalation.]

Chikusa, slow it down! Ken, attack when it's in range. Watch out for its teeth.

[Blight might not affect shinki in their alternate forms, but that didn't mean ayakashi couldn't hurt them. Hakkai didn't want to discover if the thing was as venomous as it looked.]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki sets down the rest of his blanket pile for a moment, and leans in to check the girl's forehead for temperature. She's a little bit cold, but with the blanket on, she should warm back up soon. Hopefully, not as warm as she had been.]

That's gotta take a lot of control... how long does it last?

[Should they be getting some medicine for fever into her while she's still not too hot?]

[revolutionfalcon]

Which only means it keeping itself hidden is even more significant. [If it has to be a big one to cover this kind of area, then the fact that nobody's come across it at all yet despite how audible its voice is is a little unnerving.

Not that Shun looks outwardly bothered by it, instead scything someone's ankles out from under them and elbowing them in the stomach on their way down for good measure.]

[kokuyoyo]

[With that agreed on, Chikusa goes airborn once more. It takes a lot of effort getting so high... but then again, ever since he first saw that message on the BBS from Orihime, he knew that the day would be an annoying one.]

[It only takes around ten minutes before Chikusa's voice filters back down to Hakkai.]

Do you hear something?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun was thinking more in terms of borderlines than physical weapons, since he doesn't imagine throwing knives are going to be an immense help. He's almost at the window by this point, so he gives a faint snort in answer to the first suggestion.]

You'd be a lot slower at this. And it's better to have people in different locations.

[After some quick poking around with the window lock, Shun slides it open quietly.] I don't know if I'll be able to shout without attracting the rest of the house, but I'll try to get out ahead of it.

[freezetheheavens]

The girl's fever is broken, so all we have to do is make sure she rests properly. I can keep my energy contained on a usual basis, using it to heal is just another kind of matter.

[So, no. The girl will be alright and will certainly warm up.]

Between that and the power I've received as a god, it should at least ensure that no one will need to go to a hospital.

[Hopefully, at least. Either way, the god will end up needing a rest when all of this is over.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Unfortunately, Shun is the kind of person who calls people out regardless of how they feel about the matter, so the look he gets from Hijikata is both unconvincing and not doing anything to deter him.]

Doesn't look like it's helping that much. Unless you're planning to smoke the entire time you're out.

[Might give the ayakashi something to get interested in, at least.]

B

[trademark_skull]

[Emizel had also been doing his own fair share of ayakashi wrangling to get away from children as planned, though just a few blocks away from where Toushirou was working. Getting them to somewhere away from the populace was ideal, that way they could be all taken out at once. Or at least, a decent size of them.]

[However, there was a slight problem of when or where that location was going to be. As such, a single black butterfly was catching up to Toushirou with Emizel's whereabouts and status in tow - waiting to deliver a response back when ready.]

[revolutionfalcon]

Considering he was the one convinced I was going to go out and get myself killed doing something like that, I've already pointed that out to him.

[Because it was impossible to resist the urge after that whole disaster. And also, as far as he's concerned, Hakkai deserved every single shaming he got after that incident.

Shun heads down the street quickly himself - this is honestly far better conditions than he'd be transporting people in back home, so that's an advantage. He can still feel the girl's shivering, which is at least a sign that she's holding on, and by the time they reach the end of the street, the building is visible near the end of the next block.]

[kokuyoyo]

[A long, dead eyed stare.]

[And then a nod.]

[freezetheheavens]

[All things considered, they really should have discussed a location, but it's too late for that now.

When he notices the butterfly, the message it delivers is taken with a slight nod of his head. Hopefully Emizel can continue on with his share, though he gives it a location as to where they can meet up. The butterfly flutters its wings before it flies off to deliver the news back to Emizel while Toushirou immediately makes his way to the appointed location. If it means managing to attract more ayakashi on the way, then even better.]

[festal]

❀ Orihime's Meadows

( After hearing Orihime's call, Sakura couldn't help but come out to help. It hadn't been a smooth decision to make— she'd hesitated, wondering if it was best to leave Add alone at her apartment but he'd been so quiet the last few days, it should be okay for a little while. Besides, she can't keep herself cooped up in her temple forever like this.

Naturally, she's drawn to the green tent. She's turning over some of the prayer tablets, reading the wishes and prayers on each one. She hasn't really checked any of the other ones yet but she feels like this is what she needs to do. She'll ask Tsuzuki and the others if they want to come with her.

For now, she'll check out the supplies that they have, making note of what there seems to be more and less of. She reaches to check a map that someone else is going for and she pulls her hand back quickly, )

S-sorry! After you, please.

( She can wait for her turn. )

❀ Flu Season

( She sets to work as soon as she arrives on the streets of Tokyo. She takes to the most vulnerable immediately, assisting sickest and the poorest she can find. As she convinces them to go to hospitals and clinics in the area, she usually moves to take someone's temperature, taking advantage of the closeness to heal when she can. Normally shy and anxious, she seems confident and calm among all of this chaos right now. If you know her well enough (or even just get a little closer!) you can see she's only keeping herself calm for the sake of others. Her voice is taut and her eyes are full of concern and even if she speaks gently, she's pleading with these people let themselves be helped.

Later in the day, she can be found in one of a few ways, )

❀ A.
( She's carrying entirely too many blankets. It isn't that they're heavy but they're thick and she's a small girl and she can't seem to get a good grip on all of them without a few beginning to slip. She's constantly stopping to readjust and she sets some down on a table and tries to refold them again so she can carry them again. Give a girl a hand? )

❀ B.
( She's been working all day without rest, using her healing powers to help as many people as possible. After using her magic on an elderly woman, she smiles politely as the woman thanks her for her time and promises to visit a clinic later. As soon as the woman leaves, Sakura's smile drops and she raises a hand to her forehead, swaying a bit in place and frowning. She... feels really tired suddenly. )

[reformedsinner]

[Hear? Hakkai frowns, glancing away from the teenagers who are now bagging up scattered trash in Hakkai's bags as though it had all been their own idea.

There is something whispering at the back of his mind. It's not exactly like the feelings he gets from Ken and Chikusa, and Asshole has never let him feel anything at all. No, this is more like... a restlessness.

The thought that maybe he should go do something reckless, himself.

He frowns.]

Not exactly hear, but now that you mention it... what do you hear?

1/2

[lionhearrt]

[ He watches the girl run off, only then reaching for his cigarette and flicking it on the ground. ]

Hn.

[ He crushes the ash beneath his foot. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun's biggest takeaway from the way these kids are fighting is that it reminds him a remarkable amount of the prison guards in Synchro, which he's not sure speaks worse of the kids or worse of the prison guards.

The fact is that both of those groups had been terrible at this, though, and Shun can't imagine this is going to go any differently to last time. As a few of the ones who managed to escape having the one he threw land on them try regrouping, he leaps up, kicks off the chest of one of them hard enough to leave him gasping for breath and staggering into the person behind, then uses the rebound from his landing to leap forward and kick the next two into each other hard enough to rattle their heads.]

That is supposed to be the sort of person who ends up doing this sort of thing. [And then he turns neatly on his heel to right hook someone in the jaw for trying to sneak up on him.] You'd think they'd at least be able to recognise the kind of person they shouldn't pick a fight with, though.

2/2

[lionhearrt]

[ An easy smile as he's surrounded. ]

So, you've got business with me, too.

[ He raises a hand and wild fire bursts from his palm, burning bright. ]

Come at me.

[ He steps toward them and the asphalt melts beneath his feet, burning his gait into the concrete while the Red King waits to see if they'll stand and fight or be burned alive. ]

[kokuyoyo]

Whispering.

[High above in the air, the crane flaps his wings, half in aggravation, half to keep himself flying.]

The kind on the verge of hearing, but that you can't hear.

[moonlitknight]

[ And he's spinning around on his sole, waving a maddening fist at her. ]

Whatthehelliswrongwithyou!

[revolutionfalcon]

[Definitely similar to the weirdness he saw with Add, then. Shun still doesn't remember a lot of what happened in Add's temple, but he does at least remember most of the people present for it by now, so he can understand why Zelda would be under those same effects.

She has a point, too, but he waves a hand.] I'm leaving the actual handing out medicine to the ones whose job it is. Organising distribution of supplies and transporting patients is what I'm best at, so I might as well stick to it and let the others do what they favour as well.

[Everyone has their strong and weak points, he'll at least admit that much. It's more efficient to get everyone doing what they're good at.]

How long have you been here, anyway? In that kind of mood I'd be surprised if you could tell if you were getting fatigued.

[minogame]

Wild Hounds

Hey, Inu-chan!

( Urashima had been tracking down a pack of dogs and it looks like he's managed to separate one from the pack. Is it the leader? No, it doesn't appear to be but this is the one he's got now so he'll take care of it. It has a leash hanging from it's neck and the handle has gotten caught on a park bench. Urashima knows if he can just grab it, he can tie it up properly and let someone else deal with it so… )

Come on, I'm not going to hurt you if you'll just let me get— Ow!

( He pulls back his hand when the dog suddenly snaps at him. He isn't actually bit or anything like that but it sure was a close call. )

You know! You're a very bad dog!

Prank War

( Urashima can't stand bullies. It's one of the few things that really gets him worked up and angry. When he sees a group of teenagers laughing loudly around a box of stray kittens in a small neighborhood, he's quick to put himself between them. )

What do you think you're doing?

( They look to be about the same age as him, about the same height if not a little taller but he's outnumbered. That doesn't stop him from yelling though, )

Just because you're bigger, that doesn't mean you can bully them!

( The kids aren't impressed at all with Urashima and it looks like the leader of this gang is starting to lose patience. Urashima, meanwhile, doesn't back down in the slightest and the way his fists are held tightly, it looks like he's ready to swing right back if any of them try. )

[reformedsinner]

[Flame bursts into life in Mikoto's hands and tar bubbles under each of his steps, burning. Hakkai casts him a cool, thoughtful glance.

He could object to the hint that the teenagers around them are about to be burned alive. He's debating whether it's worth an objection.

A few of the kids at the back of the group, good sense winning out over the desire to pick a fight, are already running. The others -- Hakkai catches a snatch of something muttered.

Fuckin' magic tricks--

He can feel the heat on his back. It's no trick.]

Shall we?

[One of them swings at his face. He ducks, and throws an elbow hard into the pit of the boy's stomach, all in one easy movement that leaves him straightening again as his opponent folds double and sags to the pavement.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun isn't exactly surprised, considering he saw the previous messages about Caster's disappearance. If Archer gets half as concerned as him as he does about people like Shun, he's probably not been having a good week.]

I'm planning to. I'll probably have to focus mostly on one or two, but I can still look into the others and do what I can while I'm there. [He glances up to the flag above the red tent.] I'm guessing you're sticking with cleaning up your idiot god's mess.

[trademark_skull]

[It's fine. Everything's fine. He only had like two of them anyway.]

[Scratch that, three. A toy lion tried to maul him through a window.]

[Or four. Four is a good number.]

Is that all you got?!

[Maybe he shouldn't try taunting more when they're already all on him. And if one of them got too close all Emizel had to do was a fast teleport out of the way. It was enough to stall them all until he spots the butterfly returning back.] I-it's about time.

[With the appointed location he was ready to go. Hopefully, the party he was bringing was planning to wait that long. Although should any of the ayakashi find something more interesting to destory all Emizel had to do was whack it with a wind spell, that usually agitated it again.]

[His number may have also grown a bit more along the way...]

[onedrinkwithme]

[Sukomi is not the ideal choice for Rending an ayakashi but she is still one who wants to help out. Seeing the frozen creature stand before him, Aymeric nods and speaks the spell as the bracelet touches the ayakashi, shattering it.]

My thanks for the help. Is it just yourself here?

[revolutionfalcon]

We could, but if the powers are triggered by movement we might end up doing something we don't mean to. [He'd rather not burn any dogs accidentally because he swiped the fan the wrong way at the wrong time and she got the wrong idea.

He does, however, draw his dagger, keeping it sheathed and holding it by the blade. He doubts there's a lot of dogs that wouldn't be deterred at least momentarily by a dagger hilt to the snout.]

Just focus for now on keeping them contained and picking out which one looks like the one they're following, then we can plan how to deal with it. [So he's not rejecting the idea fully, just thinking they should maybe hold it off until they know which ones are which.]