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

[birdstheword]

[ Orihime's Meadows ]

[Over to by the blue tent is Hajime. She's sitting crossed legged on the ground seemingly playing cat's cradle with various bits of glowing string twirled around her fingers. There is a prayer tablet or two resting in her lap as she keeps herself occupied.

Anyone passing by may notice one of those glowing threads are linked to them. It's long and maybe a bit tangled but there is no denying it's coming from the center of their chest. This can come with a 'Someone is walking over your grave' feeling accompanied by a bit of a chill to those not use to her god power. While tangible between her fingers, any effort to pull it out with fail.

She glances over, flashing a bright smile]

Are you ready to go? This is pretty big huh? I haven't seen anything on scale with this in awhile! Let's do our best!


[ Child's play - Locked to Davesprite & Kairi]

[Hajime skips down the hallway of a decent sized home. The crying of babies leading them on. She looks this way and that curiously before spinning around to face Davesprite and Kairi.]

I got a strange feeling about this one. Be super careful, okay?

[She smiles to them both though, confident in her shinki. She does give a small pat to her skirt pocket where her NOTE is just for good luck. It's nearing the nursery and looking inside that reveals this house doesn't just have one baby. No, it's home to a set of very upset Quadruplets with their mother passed out in a nearby rocking chair. The room has a eerie darkness to it, making it hard to make out everything in the room besides the mother and the multiple cribs lining the wall. The cutesy-animal theme mobiles that hang over the cribs start to turn together but chime inconsistently against they children's wailing.]


[ Flu Season- Locked to Davesprite]

[Hajime expected a lot of sick people but this is much more then even she imagined. Even with the various Far Shore residence and other volunteers helping out there just doesn't seem to be enough help for everyone. She frowns a little and reaches out to give the gentlest of tugs to one of Davesprites wings.]

With so many sick, what oh what do you think is the best thing we can do?

[She knows the basics. Give blankets out, join in with just comforting people and possibly transporting but she wants to know if he has a better idea. She wants to rack his brain. It's hard to figure where to even start.]

orihime's meadows

[revolutionfalcon]

[Yeah, that's a feeling Shun is never going to get used to regardless of how long he's known Hajime. He's seen her powers before, so he resists the urge to reach up and grab the thread once he sees it, but that doesn't make the creeping feeling that comes with her playing around with it any less unpleasant.

Her cheery greeting doesn't really help, either, and he mostly just frowns at her before turning his attention to look extremely suspicious at the threads instead.]

Do you really have to do that? [It seems a bit screwed up, when he really thinks about it.]

[birdstheword]

I don't have to do it but I like to.

[She holds up her hands a bit so he can see better. There might be a tiny small tug due to the movement but its harmless. Don't stress it!]

It's an easy way to tell if everyone is okay or here. I like to make sure everyone is doing good. If there's trouble I'll follow it and swoop in to help, you know?

[She clicks her tongue playfully.]

You'd the same, huh Kuroro-kun?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun's breath catches a bit at the tug, largely out of him having to force himself not to react violently to something that just feels wrong to him.]

I can take care of myself. [Everyone else might be a different matter, but Shun is confident in that much. Or at least, that if he was in trouble, there's people he'd trust more to come to his aid than Hajime.] Besides, it doesn't make me like having your fingers all over my soul thread or whatever the hell it is any more.

[He moves his fingers around the end that goes into his chest, despite the fact that he can't grab it the same way she does.] With a mess like that, I don't know how you can even tell who's who.

Orihime's Meadows

[replicatedform]

[Yamanbagiri halts to a sudden stop when he notice the thread coming from his chest. And that chill he just felt... Gripping his sword's handle with his left hand, he raises his right as if to touch the thread. His eyes look upward, following the thread towards somewhere to his... right?

Looking over, he sees a girl... with threads in her hands?]

Oi.

[She's probably a god, but that doesn't stop him. He walks over towards her and stop at a distance.]

What are you doing?

[He heard her words, but his unease and the threads in her fingers got his attention right now.]

[birdstheword]

[Yamanbagiri it's rude to ignore what is said to you.

Hajime blinks slowly at him but her smile doesn't fade. In fact she continues threading the threads through her fingers idly.]

Sitting here for a bit before I head out to help everyone out. I wanted to make sure everyone is doing okay, you know?

[Her eyes trail along to his thread and then back up to him.]

I don't think I've met you before. I'm Hajime, nice to meetcha!

[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.

Orihime's Meadows

[lostinshadows]

[---This unpleasant feeling again.

Lavi rolls his shoulders back, a hint of discomfort on his face as he gives Hajime a flat look.]

Please stop doing that.

[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.

orihime's meadows

[kokuyoyo]

[Chikusa is really just passing by on his way to get back to Li Tieguai's tent, but that feeling... It certainly has him stiffen up and jerk around, a yoyo in his hand. When he sees it's not an enemy, exactly, he pauses and narrows his eyes at her.]

...What was that.

[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?

flu season

[redotiertwo]

[Considering Davesprite thinks of Hakkai as one of his actual friends here, it was a given he was going to want to help out with the disaster caused by his death. This isn't really something he has a huge amount of experience with, but somehow, a situation this busy doesn't feel that trying. Or it feels like something he's been exposed to a lot worse of, so he should be able to handle this one.

Swooping around Hajime, Davesprite eyes up the people handing out supplies.]

I'm not gonna be able to front up to people, but I'm way more mobile than anyone else they've got doing this. So maybe I can take supplies in bulk to different places and you can hand them out.

[birdstheword]

Sounds like a plan to me though if you are up front with people they may mistake you for an angel! Especially kiddos.

[She smiles teasingly. To be fair, for Davesprite to be mistaken for such could be a comfort for some. He doesn't look like an angel of death or anything. She appreciates him and doesn't see why others wouldn't. ]

Lets start with that. You can help me hand them out too if you start bringing faster then I can hand out.

Orihime's Meadows

[doodlebuginette]

[She'd just finished dropping off the croissants and was headed back toward the blue tent when she felt it. That chill racing up her spine. A quick glance around later and she'd noticed a girl she didn't recognize playing cat's cradle. Only... one of the strings was attached to her?

Well then.]

I agree. We should all do our best!

[That probably should have been the end of it, but her curiosity was a force of nature sometimes. Before she can think twice about it, she's moving closer to try and get a better look.]

What are you doing?

[birdstheword]

[Hajime's smile grows as she looks up from her spot on the ground. Oh no, Marinette is super cute! How has she not spotted this girl around before!]

Playing cat's cradle while looking at threads. It's my power since I first got here. I like it 'cause I can see how everyone is sorta kinda doing, you know?

[She tilts herself beck a bit so she can move her legs under herself and then push herself up without using her hands. She holds out her hands so Marinette can get a better look at the various strings.]

They're linked to people and if someone is in trouble I can follow it and find them! A hero is always there to save the day!

[With so many things happening at once it seemed like a good idea]

orihime's meadow

[minogame]

( Urashima feels a shiver down his spine and he pulls the hoodie around him a little closer. It's only then that he notices the thread coming from... his clothes? And he tries to tug at it because that sure is annoying. Nothing happens and he follows the light. He isn't sure what he's feeling exactly but he can sense this girl has something to do with this string and this feeling. He's ready to ask her what she's doing but she seems to notice him first and he jumps, )

I'm-- ( Of course he's ready but he just can't shake off this feeling and blurts out, ) What're you doing to me?!

[birdstheword]

Easy, easy! It doesn't hurt, I promise!

[She's had enough experience with her power to know that much. She offers a apologetic smile to Urashima.]

It's just my god power. Harmless but useful! Sorry! Sorry!

[Calm down turtle sword boy, it'll be okay! She moves to get to her feet, careful not to use her hands as she does so.]

It just helps me is all. I bet it feels sorta weird, huh?

Orihime's Meadows

[drops_acid]

They're beautiful.

[She's talking about the threads.]

What are they?

[Normally she wouldn't pry, but one of them is attached to her. And it isn't.... dissolving. So that's nice.]

[birdstheword]

[Hajime perks up and practically bounces to her feet.]

Cardia!

[She smiles warmly at her. She had been curious to how she was doing.]

It's good to see you!

[Didn't she ask her something? Oh right! She holds her hands out in front of her, letting her get a better view of the threads.]

They're my power. Well, my power here. It's really neat and I'm still figuring it all out even though I've been her for awhile but they're pretty! Sorta like the people they're attached too! See, each thread come from a person.

Orihime's Meadows

[boneofsword]

[Archer makes the rounds to check all the tents when he feels that odd sensation and notices the thread. He narrows his eyes slightly, noticing the girl playing with these so he approaches her.]

Innate skill or god power? [that's a logical conclusion, and he's not much for social niceties. He may look fine but feels weary after the whole mess.]

[birdstheword]

Hmm?

[Hajime lifts her gaze to look over to him. Oh, this is a new face! She flashes a big smile while twirling the thread]

Ding-ding! Good eye. It's my god power! Pretty neat, right?

Orihime's Meadows > Child's Play

[pure_radiantics]

[Kairi meets up with Hajime in the center area, looking towards all of the tents. She's checked in on a few others, but now she's ready to go to work.]

I'm here. Let's go!

[Naturally Kairi would rather help everyone, but she's leaving it up to her goddess to decide where they'll be the most useful. So by the time they end up at the household with the Quadruplets, Kairi's already mentally focused on doing her best for this task.

So Kairi walks over to the passed-out mother just to be extra sure she's alive.]

Wow, she's just passed out... things must have been rough for her lately.

[redotiertwo]

Why is it that we keep walking directly into B-grade horror movie sets whenever we go on missions, why is that a thing.

[Don't mind Davesprite, who is just going to glide through on high with a hand on the sword in his stomach and a sharp eye on the rest of the room. For all his shittalking, he doesn't like this at all, and he forms the halberd shape for a borderline with his other hand.]

Are we sure she just passed out from exhaustion, because horror movie cliches say otherwise.

[Let him have his horror movie cliches, especially since he considers it incredibly unlikely the woman's just passed out because of normal circumstances.]

Orihime's Meadows > Prank War

[pure_radiantics]

[After they got back to Orihime's Meadows, Kairi makes a point to help them look and see what other areas could use some support. She happens to overheard some commotion coming from the direction of the brown tent for Loki.]

Hajime - do you mind if we go out again? I'd like to help more people if we can.

[She points to the brown tent.]

They sound like there's more groups of kids cropping up pulling pranks. Maybe we can talk those kids out of it somehow.

[birdstheword]

Hm?

[She blinks owlishly as her gaze looks in the direction Kairi is pointing. She lets out a loud sigh as she stretches her arms high over her head.]

Whew! I donno Kairi....we just got back---

[But her smile gives away her intention and she's quick to skip a few steps ahead of Kairi]

J-K! Heroes are never done, let's go! Let's go! If we can't talk them out of it, we can figure out another way to make them stop.