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

[priforprince]

Why would I do such a thing as faint?!

[ Maybe don't answer that question. In any case, Hibiki is wheeling around on her rope to face the ayakashi again, top at the ready.

Is there anything in this environment that could be used as a weapon if enlarged or shrunk? If not, she can always rely on the contents of hammerspace her pockets. ]

[nopixiedust]

[They're in a life or death battle. Wendy will very politely not answer that.]

[As for the surroundings, there's the usual suburban nonsense- mailboxes, clotheslines and the pins that come with it, newspapers which have been left abandoned... but are any of these really suitable for a prince?]

let's go full puxedo mask

[priforprince]

[ Nope. Most certainly not. Hibiki, as a result, reaches into her lapel pocket and pulls out a handful of purple roses with pointed-tipped stems. She hurls them at the ayakashi like darts. ] Hah!

[ She'll enlarge them by spinning the top once they're striking their target. The theme of today's performance is "surprise", apparently. ]

hibiki no

[nopixiedust]

[That's.... one way to do it, she guesses. As the street becomes suddenly full of flowers, pinning ayakashi beneath them, Wendy stares.]

Where do you always keep those...?

there are castanets in the bridge of pure amore love and they crack me up

[priforprince]

A genius turns the impossible possible!

[ You should have seen the day she had amnesia and needed to find something in a pocket. It was just. Flowers. For full minutes.

She switches to red lilies for the next blow. ] Rend!

[ Let's hope this kind of style over substance fighting....clears them all out. Or else this might be a dramatic scene for different reasons. ]

HIBIKI NO

[nopixiedust]

[....Genius, sure, okay.]

[What matters most is how fragrant the street has suddenly become, even as the flowers tear through the ayakashi. Fortunately, they're the lower kind, not particularly powerful save through numbers. As her feelings of disgust ebb away, Wendy lets out a relieved sigh.]

Hopefully that's most of the ayakashi through the neighborhood.

HIBIKI PERFECT BEAUTY YES

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki nods, satisfied at the air of tranquility that has returned to the street. The scent is also pleasing. ] Any remaining will certainly flee in terror.

[ Also, she'll remember this time: ] Return, Wendy.

[nopixiedust]

[Whup! And here she is, dusting off her knees.]

Maybe.... Are we just going to leave the flowers like that, then?

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki waves a hand. She's never cleaned up her own flowers before and today does not sound like the day when she'll start. ] They'll provide a diverting mystery for this neighborhood's bit players.

[nopixiedust]

....Well. At least they'll hopefully chase ayakashi away.

[Nothing says "A GOD WILL KILL YOU" than giant flowers pinned to the ground.]

Do you think that's all of the ones in this block?

[priforprince]

We'll confirm before moving on. [ Hibiki begins walking slowly down the street. She is playing the role of Serious, Guardian God.

She also does honestly take ayakashi extermination seriously. The sooner PriPara arrives, and she becomes a God of Fortune, the better. Everyone's lives will be better when these creatures can no longer form.

And no one's life will be better for that absence than hers. ]

[nopixiedust]

[And just as gladly, Wendy goes hopping after her.]

It looks like a lot of people have come out to help Orihime, don't you think?

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki nods, inspecting the area by strolling down the street like she owns the place. ] As she deserves.

[nopixiedust]

[That's how Hibiki always walks, unless she's being harassed.]

It looks like us new people are the only ones who bothered to come help, though...

[priforprince]

The establishment rarely perpetuates revolution.

[ Even if the establishment tends to also do many other things Better. ]

To reclaim former glory, a certain passion is necessary.

[nopixiedust]

Well, then we won't have to worry about that.... Dust has a lot of passion for this.

[A pause.]

I think he was worried about you. [Or, to be more specific, how she'd mess up, maybe.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki snorts. ] Worrying about me is futile as offering prancs to a king.

[nopixiedust]

....I mean, it'll still happen.

[And don't kings take money anyway? Wendy keeps her mouth shut on that one. It's too much of a pain to argue about.]

[priforprince]

Hmph.

[ And that's what she thinks of that.

She offers Wendy a hand, for ease of teleporting. There is nothing more to be seen here. Onto the next grand liberation? ] Let's return.