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

Wild Hounds

[hakingitup]

[However, she's mostly only getting a god here. Hak's shinki is... well, it's not Shin-Ah, so he doesn't fully know how to use it. But he likes her moxie. Enough to do his best to help out.

He comes over as one of the ayakashi gets close, and slams it with his polearm, knocking it further away than the kicks.]

Need some help?

[If she doesn't, he'll help anyways.]

[sageprincess]

Hmm.

[He is absolutely right that this particular thought pattern of hers has remained unchanged. The difference is that pre-void Zelda would probably stubbornly stick to her guns a bit longer, while post-void Zelda fails to see the point in doing so. He's made up his mind, and she doesn't care enough to change it, so she voices another conclusion instead:]

You are a very strange man, Edge.

[Post-void Zelda has also lost a bit in the 'tact' department, unfortunately.]

[futhark]

[ Gods wake up without memories after their death, which, yes, is true. Some regain them- again, true again. No one said one can't happen close after another. It's probably the suddenness of it that is the most intense part, going from pure confusion into very sudden and painful state of knowing everything.

Well, shit.

Now is the question, how long was he gone and- is anyone still around the temple? Were his shinki reassigned? He could wake up months- or years later. How funny would it be?

"funny" ]


1. Flu Season

[ Tokyo is the first place to go- maybe because it's a Japanese Heaven they're in, maybe because he really didn't try to go outside the islands yet, so he's used to the idea of meeting everyone else around this country in the Near Shore. And there are some people he'd like to meet, he really has to find- not because he's feeling particularly social, but because he wants to confirm they are-- okay. Yeah, alive. Let's keep it at that for now.

Weird and packed as it was, Tokyo was always an ever-changing spectacle. The epidemic is a certainly a new addition, and definitely not a welcome one. When a person next to him seems to faint he reflexively catches her to not let her fall. That's nothing, she says, Just feeling weak, just having a fever, nothing really serious, I have to go- ]

Get some rest, and... here- [ He offers a small bag, just a pinch of dried herbs ] Drink a tea with this.

[ Much druid, wow, such herb garden back in the temple. Not that it could help or work with this scale of the disaster. Not to mention, not really his division. She walks away slowly, and he stops paying attention once she reaches the bus-stop safely. ]

What the hell is going on around here?

[ Someone woke up late and missed the memo. ]



2. Wild Hounds

[ Caster doesn't stay in Tokyo for long, one phone call later, you know stuff-happening-later- It's Ireland time. So he's back home, so to speak, 2000 years later. Who would have thought it will be caused by circumstances like these? But hey, it's his mess to take care of.

The dogs seem to be tracking someone, so as to prove who is the better hound he, he goes ahead of them. When he locates their intended target -woosh- he teleports right to their side -a god? a shinki? who knows. ]

Word of warning, you've got a tail.

[ His manners and way of saying "hello" haven't changed. But do they really have time for that? It's hard to say how close the ayakashi affected dogs are now. Might be still far away enough to run - or maybe they're right around the corner? ]

I disappear for a while and all that is affected are dogs? [ He scoffs, annoyed, but not as much as he thought he would be. ]


3. Wildcard

[ I'm always up for wildcards, albeit for this event they are limited to the Tokyo [so flu] and Ireland. Likewise, if you want to play with the prompts, change them, adapt or just use a portion of them, feel free to! Also available for plotting under PM or plurk aetarna ]

Prank War

[hakingitup]

[He looks down the road and towards where ever the kids could be right now. He rubs the back of his head. It's awful, sure, but that's a little dramatic, Hakkai.]

Sure. Where are they?

[Because hey, he learns lessons that way. But they have to catch the brats first.]

[reformedsinner]

I'm afraid we might have to find them first. With this much of a mess, though, they shouldn't be hard to spot.

[Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he starts down the sidewalk, glancing around. It's freshly scattered garbage, to the culprits can't have gotten far.]

B

[hakingitup]

[Sure, he's scaring off the dogs, but he's also destroying a lot of the land. And no, Hak doesn't want to hurt the dogs either, but he also knows that without doing something else, they're going to be in trouble.

He looks towards the little shinki, before sighing.]

We need to rend them.

[But how.]

Where's your god?

[boneofsword]

[This lack of emotions caused by the core is more of a curse than a blessing. It may have some uses, like dulling the fear, but is even worse than his foolish habit of supressing his emotions. It's not the time for that, though.]

Line. [Archer doesn't need to shout, he's trained enough that a simple flick of wrist and murmured command works. He sets a barrier behind Zelda and keeps an eye on the pack.]

Wild Hounds

[hakingitup]

[Do people not know how to handle animals who are clearly angry? Hak moves to grab Urashima on the should and tugs him back.]

Don't bug the dog.

[Or you're going to lose your finger.]

The dog is aggravated. You keep your fingers close and you'll regret it.

[It would be more entertaining if this wasn't looking to be a major issue.]

[blizzardrock]

[He's never gotten used to the bad sensation that happens to him whenever he enters vessel form—if such a thing can ever be "gotten used to"—but, perhaps because of his mental state, it seems even worse than usual, breaking through his numbness and straight into panic, and for a long, long second, he doesn't know where he is or what he's doing. When it breaks through, he can't help a sharp inhale, before his senses are restored.]

[When Shun focuses on the ayakashi, Fubuki doesn't react immediately. It takes him a second to realize Shun's intention.]

—It might lash out. [That's a good enough excuse as to why he hesitated, right?]

What's your second plan?

B

[hakingitup]

[Hak moves to pick up another individual. He has one on his shoulder, and has another under his arms. Both need to go to the hospital and he'll be taking them right now, after he makes sure Shun is doing fine. He doesn't just want to leave the guy.

Plus, you know, he looks cool and strong holding so many people.]

What else?

[sonofson]

I donno. I sorta flew off without him.

[Either of them really. Whoops. Goten may have jumped into action a little too fast.

Though he does blink up at Hak. He...doesn't know him but seems fimilar somehow like someone he's seen around.]

Are the dogs ayakashi though? I thought you could only red ayakashi. I don't wanna hurt the dogs!

A

[hakingitup]

[Looking at the prayers himself, he's not really sure what to pick. He's not with Yona or he'd find something for them to work on together. So, he'll just move up to someone who appears alone, and see what he's looking at.

Looking over his shoulder and reading it as well.]

Need some help?

[He's not that sneaky. But sometimes he can scare someone.]

[alchemists]

Well, it might be hard for you to fly off if you have to carry it in your peak?

[alchemists]

You only need to take it once a day with food.

[ She wrote down all the dosage and info on the bottle but given the lack of Hibki's normal state of mind it's better to just say it. ]

[alchemists]

I don't think you've met him yet, he's staying at my temple as a shinki.

[ Elfnein needs to make note about them not meeting each other yet. ]

[alchemists]

Here are the threads with 10+ comments so far

with Chikusa
With Hibiki

C

[hakingitup]

[No, he's not expecting human here, but he certainly isn't expecting this. Whatever this may be. He looks at the teen trying to fight off all the bullies and assholes that were around the dog. He'd be fully into it, but he is definitely trying to figure him out.

The way he's just fighting off a group of them makes him intrigued. There's one that's trying to get the jump on Rin. He quickly moves up and elbows the asshole off to the side.]

Watch your back!

3

[irishfriskey]

[Lancer wondered how long Caster would be gone. The temple was still there, so he would be coming back, yes?

...Yes?

Lancer had done all the cleaning he could. He brought in a bunch of new clothes for Caster to wear that were nice and already put together into outfits so he didn't have an excuse for bad fashion.

Today, he's taking care of the dogs, when he hears something moving from Caster's room. Blinking, he moves to look inside. It's probably just Archer making sure all the hawaiian shirts are destroyed, but...

When it's something else...]

Mister Caster!

[He looks so bright and happy.]

[moonlitknight]

[ And that water is going to pass right through him - density manipulation!

So he just stares at her looking unimpressed. ]

You're making a mess.

[moonlitknight]

[ The moment she notices him, she shrinks back. ]

....

[ The action stops Zero in his tracks. It's not the first time he's had a child shrink away from him in fear, but it is the first time they do it out of fear of him instead of another vampire that had wronged him. His stomach drops at the sight and Zero hands Lavi the new bowl and spoon. ]

Take over.

[ He tells him as he crouches down to clean up the mess. He'll leave her in the shinki's care. ]

[moonlitknight]

[ He suspected as much. ]

I wanted to make some extra for tomorrow, but drinking water is more important.

[ He'd make do. ]

[priforprince]

Heh.

[ That almost turns into a cough but she manages to catch it at the last moment. Now she has a tickle in her throat, though, which is highly irritating.

She doesn't really say much else beyond this acknowledgement(?), though. She is too busy sizing up this task, sidling up to it diagonally, turning her hands back and forth, focused very hard on this difficult conundrum. ]

[hellskitchen]

[Damn,this kid can kick pretty hard! Rin's not really pissed, Goten just caught him off guard.]

Nah.

[Rin dismisses the consideration of getting him ice. He knows it's an accident and doesn't want Goten to worry.]

Don't worry about it. Though for a kid, you can pack quite a wallop.

[Rin moves to get up, but the world starts tilting and he decides it's better if he stays seated for a while.]

[moonlitknight]

[ The moment he recognizes him, a flash of annoyance crosses his eyes. ]

I'm not.

[sing_for_me]

[Alex quickly scans the room, catching sight of the door to the back.]

I think that leads outside--[And she should be able to run to it.]

But the kids..they might attract more of them if we don't calm them down, right? [Though it's kind of her fault things got worse.]