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

[waitingforhope]

[He could be as annoyed as he wanted to. Much as she appreciated the assistance, it was too great a risk. Although, speaking of risks...]

The nurse's office. If you can find it as quickly as possible. [AKA get a move on it, please and thank you.] Though they might keep the necessary medicine either locked up or in the refrigerator.

[waitingforhope]

[Mai took that as her cue to get said bottle of water ready.]

[The nose scrunching continued as she stared down--albeit with an unfocused gaze--at the pill now in her hand. It even carried a faint scent forewarning her of the yucky taste to come. Be Brave. That was what the older kids were always talking about. Being brave. She could be brave. Maybe...just this once.]

Good girl.

[Mai smiled warmly as she watched the pill go down, immediately holding up the water for her to swallow. It was not a clean process, and in fact some of it made its way down to her shirt. She nearly gagged twice, but soon enough, she settled back down against the ground.]

That should help until we get her to a hospital. Do you know the way from here?

[birdstheword]

[Hajime just smiles back at him seeming clueless. Oh, but she knows.]

Does it bother you that much, Lavi? It's easy to make sure everyone is okay this way though.

[birdstheword]

[Hajime stares up at him with wide curious eyes. She doesn't hide what she's doing, her fingers still tangled up in the various threads though Chikusa's may have been the one in-between her fingers currently.]

What was what?

Orihime's Meadows

[skygaze]

[Suou isn't overly interested in any of the events that are going to take place. He's around for Nanako and to ensure she doesn't get hurt. Honestly, he was against joining in on this thing but there was no deterring her so here he is looking around.

He stops just as he passes by Hakkai, the loud clicking from the bag getting his attention and curiosity. What use did he have for that? He stares at the bag, trying to figure it out.]

...If you're going to fight won't your stuff break?

[It's not Suou's problem and he's assuming Hakkai is going to fight because why would anyone keep to the side lines? He doesn't know what's in the bag, just that it sounds breakable.]

hounds;

[handle]

[ Sorey offers a small, albeit slightly uncertain smile at the question. ]

Sure, I don't mind at all. [ If he doesn't mind trusting him, anyways! Sorey appreciates that. ] ... If it gets dangerous, though - let me take care of things.

[ He doesn't want Tatara to be put in danger and all. ]

[heartshutter]

You got it! [ That is more than a fair trade, honestly.

Frankly, if it gets dangerous, he wants Sorey to take care of things. He's the one with the sword, after all. ]

Can you see well enough?

[ He can try to provide a bit more light if need be. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Well, Hakkai's not the first person he would've picked to join him in a fight, but at the same time, Shun can't question that he's capable either. At the question, he gives a mild shrug, as if he's doing something no more difficult than strolling down the street even as raises his leg in an almost full split to drive a heel into the jaw of one of the oncoming kids.]

I did come to teach them a lesson, so I guess it counts. [As the guy crumples, Shun flips backwards, grabs him by the shoulders on the way over, and uses the momentum from flipping back upright to hurl him at the cluster of wannabe gang members who'd been in the middle of charging up behind him.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun has no idea of the context of her punching Dust's god in the side, so he chooses to pass over that matter for the moment in favour of the one at hand.]

They've never been that good at being subtle. Especially if it's the higher-ups responsible for her fate, they wouldn't be used to being questioned even if they were obviously working to sabotage someone's efforts.

[Still, Shun certainly doesn't plan to let it go that easily, and he knows Orihime is fairly popular among the new gods. He figures it's going to take a lot more than being short on helpers to make this fail.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun knows enough about birds to identify a crane when he sees one attacking someone, but that doesn't make seeing one all the way out here in the city streets any less bizarre.

Dragging the flailing kid out from under the first unconscious boy by the arms and swinging him effortlessly into another person trying to charge him, Shun eyes off the crane for a moment or two until he notices the beanie on its head.

Then, after about a moment, he sighs.]

You probably would've been more effective as a human for this.

[replicatedform]

[The number of people, gods and shinkis willing to do this is a problem. Do they have enough people to do everything?

After glancing around, he looks back at Tsuzuki and nods. The sick people would be too sick to notice, regardless of how sensitive they are to seeing Far Shore residents.]

Yeah. Their supplies are getting low. I don't know how long until we're out.

[He need to see their actual supplies, but it's probably worrying enough at this point.]

[koukai_kirai]

[Yikes. The kid looks back and forth between the two men a couple of times, but it seems pretty evident that there's not going to be any quarter given. He squares his shoulders, glaring up at Hakkai (who seems at least a little less overtly terrifying than the huge, angry guy).]

[Ugh, whatever. And then you guys are gonna be off my back?]

If you can keep from doing anything else stupid? Sure.

[replicatedform]

[... After seeing an actual, large talking dragon in the past, a... winged horse? Is surprising in a smaller scale. But that's not important here right now. He gives her a nod.]

Yeah. It'd be better if there's more eyes watching them.

[replicatedform]

[He hear the sounds of wings and looks over, and then upward to see the crane. Fortunately,
he see the beanie, so he guess it's an ally. And not a crane shaped ayakashi. Yamanbagiri looks back at the teenagers he's trailing, hiding behind poles and corners if he can.

They're heading towards one of the courts. Hm, where he can spy specialty stores from this distance.]

[koukai_kirai]

[He doesn't really suppose there's any reason today would get any less weird at any point... Hijikata sighs a bit at that thought, then takes a step or two in the direction the bird seems to be indicating. The youth he's dangling starts struggling again, trying to kick at his shins.]

[Come on, man, are you gonna put me down or what?!]

B

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata shrugs a bit, not really looking at her so much as at the buildings around them, scanning for any potential threats.]

Hell of a lot better than I would, and we've got to draw them off somehow.

[So it's worth a try, right?]

Prank wars

[koukai_kirai]

...Tell me that was a rhetorical question.

[Listen, you know exactly how this is going to go.]

[replicatedform]

[With a quick glance, he immediately understands and nods.]

Got it.

[They should have plenty... Yamanbagiri quickly goes to get a bottle. At the table where they're serving soup and tea, there's an adjacent table for water, both bottled and in cups with a small water tank. He quickly grabs one bottle and returns.

Once he's back, he holds it out to the other man.]

Here. If you need more, the table's over there.

[He quickly tells him where it is, in case Hakkai's staying in the shelter for a while.]

[brynwieldr]

Well, in your case do you want to do with it just your general air of disapproval or do you want my magic to make it pants-wettingly terrifying?

[koukai_kirai]

I suppose that's going to depend on how much of a struggle they put up.

[...And the scale of the chaos they're sowing, too, he guesses. Probably.]

[replicatedform]

[isn't it ruder to just play with people's strings without asking??

The more he watches her thread them, the unease doesn't lessen. When he glances down, he can follow the thread from his chest to her hands again easily.]

You want to make sure... how, exactly?

[Is this some kind of weird power thing? At her introduction, he blinks and responds back.]

I'm Yamanbagiri Kunihiro. Shinki of Sakura... Konohanasakuya's.

[shadowrevenger]

[ A - Orihime's Meadows ]

[Ren has come armed and ready to go, with both his shinki in tow for once and a couple of blessed water guns strapped on under his long, black cardigan. Now all that's left is just to figure out where to go. He'd really like to go help with everything...but it becomes pretty clear after a preliminary walk among the tents that he's much more suited to come problems than others.

As he circles his way back through the tents, he pauses at the green one to stare up at its flag for a couple minutes. He'd especially like to help here, but...it's just not his strong suit. He'd be a lot more helpful elsewhere. And also it's just unpleasant to think about why it's even there for long.

Eventually, he shakes his head and set off again to go grab some maps and prayer tablets from the red and brown tents instead.]


[ B - Wild Hounds ]

[Groves of trees that are dark and shadowy and seem like the kind of place most people would instinctively avoid? Of course that's the place Ren is most interested in checking out.

For the moment, though, he's being fairly cautious about it, if only so he doesn't worry Shun too much when he's telling him all about this later. Instead of just running in after the pack he'd followed here, he's slowly pacing in front of the trees with a black poleaxe balanced in his hands behind his back.]

I guess I probably shouldn't go in there alone...

[Said very much like someone who usually goes running into spooky dark forests alone and is only sort of trying to convince himself not to this time.]


[ C - Prank War ]

[The easiest way to get a bunch of miscreant teenagers to stop causing so much trouble--or, at the very least, get them to focus on competing with each other and leave other people and animals out of it--is to just go and talk to them, right? Of course it is. Nothing could possibly go wrong with a plan like that.

Of course, now that he's here in the middle of a bunch of guys cracking their knuckles and being generally intimidating, he's much more interesting in what's already talking to them than he is in doing any talking himself. Which has led to him getting uncomfortably close to the leader of the group, who's looking like he isn't sure if he should be more pissed off or unnerved by Ren's inspection of his collar, but very quickly decides on "pissed off."]

--the hell are you doin', you--

[Ren casually ducks under his flying fist and steps around him to tug at the back of his collar with the tip of his finger.]

Mmm, I don't see it here either...

[Guess how well that'll go over with the rest of the group...]

flu season

[redotiertwo]

[If nothing else, Davesprite is absolutely determined to have Orihime reinstated as a goddess by the end of today, so even if he can only really help with the flu outbreak, he's applying himself fully to it. Thankfully, the humans quickly forget the orange blur distributing food, blankets and supplies through the air around the park.

Hearing a familiar voice trying to stir someone takes his attention, though, and Davesprite corkscrews and flips himself over to swoop out of the air and land by Hakkai's side, still holding a few of the supplies he's been moving. The woman looks pretty feverish, though it's hard to pick details like that from the air.]

I've got a cold pack somewhere in this mess if you think that'll help wake her up. [He shifts one of his arms a little, and the pack sticks out a bit from between the water bottles he's also holding under his arm.]

B

[redotiertwo]

[As a part-crow himself, Davesprite feels somewhat obliged to drive off the creepy crows lurking around the scene of the sickness. They're the kind of crows that give crows a bad name, and clearly this is the kind of slander Davesprite can't stand for.

The sudden appearance of a crane in a beanie is somewhat welcome help, though, and it doesn't take Davesprite much deducing to work out who it might be, considering he and Chikusa have had the cranes vs crows talk before.]

Look out, you're going to give bird owners everywhere new and awful tiny clothing ideas to torture their pets with.

flu season

[redotiertwo]

[The person approaching is not exactly a person, but some unholy neon orange combination of a bird, a human, and what looks like some kind of ghost. There's also a sword through his stomach, though he's very subtly holding a blanket over one end of it, because that definitely helps with the wings and the ghost tail and the general weirdness of his appearance.]

Yeah, soup crisis, I heard. Are they getting their ingredients from somewhere in particular or are they just straight running out of everything.

[Davesprite could manage an expedited ingredient delivery, but finding a new source entirely is going to be a problem.]