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

a.

[untodeath]

[ Grell, too, has yet to decide on a division - so it's with some delight that she's run into this familiar face, in the process. ]

You're-- Izumo, right?

[ Approaching to stand beside him at the table, the death god follows suit in idly picking up a tablet. ]

I've been meaning to find you, so imagine my surprise at finding you here... all and well.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun shrugs slightly even as he leaps over the ayakashi's newly snake-like body to land somewhere a bit clearer.] There's nothing saying we're going to get it in one hit. Our options for weakening it are disorienting, which could piss it off, throwing blessed water at it, or using my sword or more borderlines on it, and all of those will definitely piss it off. So if you've got an idea that's actually going to stop it for sure, say it now.

[Otherwise, if Fubuki doesn't want to use the vessel ability, Shun will have to pull either his sword or his blessed water instead. And considering how flexible the form of this ayakashi seems to be, he feels like actual combat with it isn't the best idea.

It makes another lashing motion in their direction, and this time, Shun leaps up onto the fence around the house rather than stay on the ground with it.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That mostly just seems petty to Shun, though he's not going to actively stop Chikusa from doing it. He's more just to the point of rolling his eyes a bit and carrying on. He doubts the humans are going to notice in the midst of a fight like this, especially since Shun keeps dropping them at a rate of knots.]

It's a little pathetic to prey on people just because they happen to be there. [Shun would be taking more objection if they were innocents and he was doing lasting damage, but it still seems unnecessary.]

[revolutionfalcon]

You could've checked the BBS. There's a message about it almost right at the top. [No excuses, Caster, not even being dead. Shun is still going to be unimpressed about it.

It seems like he's figured out the problem there, though Shun is definitely giving him a somewhat critical eye at how unenthusiastic he sounds about cleaning up the mess he caused.]

It's your disaster you caused by getting yourself killed, and it's happening where your followers are centered. So if you give a damn about it at all, you should be there more than you are here.

[There's not exactly a problem with helping in multiple places, but he'd be better served prioritising his own issue.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun casts a glare towards the crows as well, because he's been getting very sick of their presence around here. He should've tried bringing some of his vultures over to drive them off.]

Unless I take a break after this is all done. [Or at least, between going from one of the calamities to another. It depends on how tiring this ends up being, but right now, he feels like he can carry on for a while yet.]

It's fine, anyway. Focus on helping the people who need it. [Shun sets down a few sorted bundles of blankets, food, water and medication.]

[revolutionfalcon]

I'm surprised he let her get a copy at all if that's the case. [Though maybe she stole it, considering her talk about being a "phantom thief".] But I'll keep it in mind. I'd hope he wouldn't do anything else stupid enough that we'd need it, but this isn't the first time he's screwed up.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun just gives him a pointed glance back while kicking someone else in the jaw.]

I'm not the one with the magic hammer. [Breaking people's ribs isn't going to knock all of them out at once anyway, but it does seem potentially more efficient.]

[declamando]

So that seems like a safe bet for the leader. [Now it's just a question of how they get it out. Maria holds her blade with one hand, then with the other, reaches under the top layer of her skirt for a bottle of blessed water.]

But that means the others will likely defend it if we try to target it.

[declamando]

[It's a good start, at least - not being able to move its wings means it can't create as large of a shadow if it tries that move again. As soon as she feels her feet touch the ground, she charges forward to try and take out one of its legs as well.

Better she do that than the two shinki who wouldn't be able to teleport away if it tried to come down on them.]

[declamando]

[Maria still looks a little skeptical of the whole thing, but she unlocks her phone so he can peck his way through the menus to whatever it is he's looking for. Presumably the Heavens make their phones at least reasonably resilient.]

[declamando]

Look after yourselves. [Maria waves to the kids as they go, however sad the whole thing might be - she wonders how long they've been in this situation, and how much longer it might be before they get out of it.

At Tsuzuki's question, though, she manages a smile, touching at her face a bit.] A little bit clammy, but it should sort itself out in a few minutes. I might just need to find somewhere to sit down.

[declamando]

[Maria starts doing so as well to speed things along, also checking in and under anything large enough to hide a person. There's a small sound of alarm from her after a few moments, but she waves a hand to indicate that it's fine as a large cat bounds out of hiding and darts off.]

There's a lot of strays around here as well...at least they all seem fine, but they'll probably be hiding in those same kinds of places.

[declamando]

That sounds like you'll both get on well, then. I'll have to come by to meet him sometime.

[She hasn't actually visited Elfnein's temple properly before, so it would be nice to do that too. Two birds with one stone, so to speak.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun considers how much he's handled of the medicines while sorting the supplies, and as his turn in the circle game ends, he turns his attention more fully back to her.]

Not that much, but if I'm remembering right, there's more left of the supplies of the children's medication than the adults. They're probably being prioritised. If it gets too low, at least anyone could go and buy more of that and not raise any suspicion.

[Unlike prescription medications, which would need to be stolen and raise all sorts of problems for those helping out.]

[revolutionfalcon]

I know. But the thing that's causing it isn't revealing itself. I've been trying to follow the voice, but it just keeps leading me to more of these groups instead of the thing itself.

[Shun sounds a little frustrated about it, but he doesn't let it distract him from what's at hand, flipping someone over the top of him and into someone sneaking up behind.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun's already starting to head back towards the park even as Izumo says that. Despite his composure, there's a slightly uncomfortable look on his face - he doesn't like seeing kids dragged into something like this, and it's all too familiar by this point.]

It'd be better if there were more mundane volunteers actually dealing with this. Surely word's gotten out by now.

[There's some, but it's not really enough to deal with something on this scale.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[He can banter when pressed, just not with people he's not very fond of, so he's focusing on the knowing what he's doing part. It's much easier to just get things done as quickly as possible when dealing with Hakkai, he finds.

Shun is a bit less careful with the ones still conscious enough to move themselves a little, mostly dragging them towards the sidewalk anyway, but he's still taking them. He'd rather not leave any of these kids damaged enough for it to last beyond today.]

I'm wondering how much longer it's going to be before the thing that did this reveals itself.

[revolutionfalcon]

Most of the ones I've met are full of themselves, even the more reasonable ones. Amaterasu is more down to earth than most of the rest about this situation, but I've seen her get offended before as well.

[Granted, Shun had been fairly blunt about the security situation, but it had been a little annoying that she'd refused to listen until his parting word.]

It'll be good to get Orihime out of the situation she's in right now anyway.

[priforprince]

Preposterous. [ Hibiki crosses her arms and manages, somehow, to look even further away from Mai than before.

Don't say it! If you say it, she might have to admit it, and it's too outrageous to be admitted! That she, Shikyoin Hibiki, could have failed to withstand... ] Merely a shift in the air.

[usedperishsong]

Tricky bastard.....

[ There is a bit more force than intended behind this punch, so the kid goes flying instead of just dropping. ]

We can't spend all our time just dealin' with this!!

[ She will still take out anybody who tries to attack her, but Kanade now also tries to run forward. ]

[roundtablerebel]

[ Strategic censoring is just one of the many uses of birb hair. ]

Okay okay...

[ Like a kid that's been told that play time is over her disappointment is palpable. Mordred drags one of the last standing guys closer by his collar, ready to hit him in the face. The urge to clock him is great but she hesitates, looking over to Kanade. ]

Hey... er... Do you want this one?

[ Like he's the last cookie or something. ]

[boneofsword]

His cat cube did. [that explains everything. Mostly.] What did he do before?

[in_praetego]

[ You can be the brawn, they can be the brains. ]

I can't tell if it's ayakashi related or if it has something to do with any other gods' sphere of influence... but that's why we're here in the first place.

[ Further thinking... come on, it's not the first time you've encountered ayakashi, Yuki. ]

If it was an ayakashi, we likely would have seen something on the way or on their person. Did either of you happen to see anything?

I only know there's been some sort of disturbance lately but I had no idea to what extent.

[letteropener]

[She's not so certain about that -- there's a fine line between calm and terror, after all. Rather than roar again and risk sending them into a panic, she precisely pitches a growl to reverberate off the walls of the buildings around them, making their danger seem to fill the air and tremble in their very bones.]

[letteropener]

I will do what is necessary. If that is fighting ayakashi, I will fight them. But from everything I hear, there are many other things that we can do to provide aid here, so I don't intend to limit myself.