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

EVENT REWARDS

[godsoffortune]

Reply to this comment to receive your event bonuses!

Your comment should contain links to:

1) Any thread of 10+ comments total investigating or battling ayakashi for one of the four prompts. For each 10+ comment thread, gods involved will receive 100 followers and shinki will receive 10 exp.

2) Your boss battle thread. For each boss battle thread, gods will receive 250 followers and shinki will receive 25 exp. Characters can only participate in one boss battle.

[reformedsinner]

Orihime's Meadows

[Hakkai is pausing by the tent for Li Tieguai, and eyeing the sigil embroidered on the flag with a critical gaze.

It's not so much that he minds it, really, but this all seems a bit...

Well. Can't a god die in peace?

He has a large duffel bag with him, which he's setting on a table next to the tent while he picks up a few of the prayer tablets and skims over them. The bag clinks loudly, clearly full of something in jars.]


Flu Season

[Reluctantly, here he is. He'd prefer to resolve whatever it was that Loki's assassination set loose, but he does have a certain responsibility to his own followers, too. After all, he was the one who chose to dash off and get carelessly killed.

Answering prayers, on its own, isn't going to be enough to fix that: so here he is, in Ueno Park, with his medicine-carrying duffel bag. He's stopping by each improvised shelter to check on its occupant, clearing his throat loudly before he does. That doesn't always get their attention. This person, for example, seems to be quite soundly asleep, though their feverish flush suggests that when Hakkai manages to wake them they'll probably need some of the medications he's brought.]

Excuse me, ma'am. Excuse me!

[Maybe if he shakes her shoulder....]


Prank War

[This? This is an entire street with bags of kitchen trash thrown into the road and burst open, all the way down for several blocks. Hakkai is standing at one end, staring down the trash-strewn thoroughfare, with a handkerchief held primly to his nose. It might be October, but it's not cold enough yet that all that trash doesn't reek.]

... Hmm, do you suppose cleaning this up might be a good way to start rehabilitating them?

[He's certainly not about to do it himself.]

[toremainbehind]

[A. Orihime's Meadows]

[There is some irony here for Izumo to notice Loki’s and Li Tieguai’s flags in the air. He actually has to hold back a snort upon realizing just what it could mean.

Well, it seems Loki’s dead, at least.

He does go around the tents, seeing what’s been offered as supplies and can be seen picking up a wooden prayer tablet, reading it.]

[B. Flu Season]

[Without their god’s protection over them, it’s easy to see how quickly the sickness has afflicted everyone within the city.

Izumo seems almost at ease being around the homeless, crouching beside people and checking their temperature. While he may not be skilled in medicine, he still knows enough to help out. All that matters is getting these people rested and cared for well. It’s easy to spot him helping a few of the elderly, giving them tea and keeping them warm with a few blankets he had brought.

However, his attention is brought to the crows that seems to suddenly hover around, keeping a close eye on them as he works.

Eventually, he looks over at someone and waves them over.]

Come help me out. Some of the children needs to be brought to the hospital immediately.

[C. Wild Hounds]

[It has been very alarming to see wild dogs running around. While Izumo has nothing against dogs in particular, he’s also working to ensure that they don’t hurt anyone either. It’s not surprising to see small orbs of flame scaring the dogs back from attacking other humans, though at one point, one had managed to surprise Izumo enough to bite him hard enough on the hand, causing him to bleed.

After managing to ward the dog off of him, Izumo breathes out and wraps his tie around his hand.]

This is annoying.

[He looks around, watching the dogs run off into the trees and he clicks his tongue.]

Damn it.

[D. Wildcard]

[He can be seen helping people or whatnot. Feel free to make a prompt of your own!]

[revolutionfalcon]

[A: Orihime's Meadows]

[Shun is not heading for a specific tent, instead picking up a map and a prayer tablet from each of them to be sure he knows what he's dealing with. He's got his own supplies - he's even brought an extra canteen of blessed water this time - so he doesn't need to dip into that, but he is glancing over to the paltry number of shinki helpers she's been given with a faint hiss.]

Almost looks like they want her to fail. [Which, he supposes, is only going to make the new gods and shinki more determined to help her succeed.]

--

[B: Flu Season]

[The situation on the streets of Tokyo is brutal, and Shun can't help but be sympathetic. He's seen people have to live in camps and on the streets, had to live in one himself because there was nowhere else to go, and now that these displaced residents all falling ill, it's only a limited number of people who've come to help them.

The volunteers are doing their best, but the number with actual experience in this seems woefully limited, and regardless of how out-of-place he looks in that half-shredded coat of his, once Shun steps up and starts helping divide up the groups to send to different areas in a tone that clearly expresses experience with the situation, they just look thankful for the extra help.

Of course, he's not going to limit himself to just ordering people around - he ends up part of the group he's directing, carrying supplies as efficiently as he can to be distributed around a nearby park crowded with people trying to seek what little shelter they can.

It's only a shame he can't teleport a mortal, because some of them are definitely too far gone for this kind of care to work, and Shun approaches the nearest Far Shore resident he can see as soon as he spots any of the ill in that situation.]

There's one here that needs to be moved to the hospital, or they're probably not going to last the night.

--

[C: Prank War]

[Last time Shun dealt with teenage vandals, it was just a bunch of idiot kids who needed a good scare. This time, though, they're acting like they're actually tough customers, which Shun is only too happy to correct them on.

He goes out late, given their apparent habits of trying to intimidate or rob people at those times, and sure enough, he grabs the attention of one of the gangs. Either they don't recognise the signs of someone ready for them or don't care, because he lets them surround him, a few of them laughing unpleasantly as the members at the front come out of the circle and reach out a hand almost casually.]

You don't look like much, but how about you give us your--

[The sentence turns into a shocked yell as Shun darts forward and kicks the guy in the stomach hard enough to send him flying back into the person in the circle behind him. The one that was kicked is already out cold, but the one underneath is just struggling to crawl out. A ripple runs through the circle, but right now, the kids just look like they're ready to start a fight, and Shun sighs quietly and cracks his knuckles.]

So you really are that blind right now. [Someone might want to stop him before he beats the hell out of everyone in the circle. Or join him, because the gang is already starting to surge in.

However, people who come to assist may also notice a woman in a rumpled, carelessly-worn yukata lying in wait just beyond the next turn of the street. She's keeping a very close eye on Shun's situation, but not moving to assist unless she thinks he needs it.]

--

[D: Child's Play (closed to Fubuki)]

[This isn't their usual stomping ground for prayers, but Shun seems as confident as ever as he approaches the window of one of the affected houses. The sound of a child crying is audible even from outside, but there's no light on in the nursery to indicate the parents trying to quiet it either.]

Be ready to divert it when it comes out. [Shun glances back to Fubuki as he heads up to the building and starts climbing the wall so he can open the right window.]

--

[E: Wild Hounds (closed to Chinatsu)]

[This is one of the more disastrous ayakashi breakouts Shun's seen in his time here, and he watches a couple of tourists run screaming out of a street as the savage barking of dogs follows them. It's not something that can be left to lie long before someone's going to get severely injured, and he beckons Chinatsu to follow with a brief gesture as he starts towards the street. Might as well clean this one up first.]

We'll have to be careful about how we do this, if they're possessed.

NPC Orihime: Meadows

[starfestival]

[Okay let's be honest there may be a small line waiting to talk to her with how quickly she threw all of this together. Sometimes she's still talking into her phone in answer to people on the BBS. However, if you're looking for Orihime herself before heading out to one of the tents, or not sure which tent to go to, that sort of thing, here she is to bring a bit more order to the chaos.

She doesn't leave this area save to go back to her home and return again; she doesn't go down to the Near Shore - not yet. It's still not about the reward that she's been promised; she's got her eyes on the problems at hand because there are definitely enough of them to go around.]

[waitingforhope]

[FLU SEASON - I]

[Mai's heart was literally aching.]

[As the goddess of children, she felt an extra special connection to the little ones she'd sworn to protect. Taking on rogue ayakashi? Not a problem, as long as she had her partner with her. But this? Fatigued limbs...aching tummies...coughing...high fevers...]

[Even a goddess' powers were limited.]

[Still, she steeled herself. First Aid was not unknown to her, and while she did not possess the necessary medical background to accurately diagnose illness or prescribe any strong medications, she knew her basics. Recognized the signs. Knew exactly which over-the-counter antidotes to bring with her.]

[So when she came upon yet another six year old with flushed cheeks and heavy breathing, laying down on the grassy ground of her school yard, she knew just what to do. A hand to her forehead, unsurprised to find it burning despite the girl's visible shivering. Reaching for a thermometer. Touching the end to her forehead--it was a newer mode, which only required a light skin contact for a few seconds' time to give a reading--and frowning deeply when she saw the number flash across the screen. High. Too high.]

39.2

This is bad. She needs a doctor.


[FLU SEASON - II]

[It was an epidemic.]

[Mai had no idea whether or not goddesses could catch the flu, but she hadn't wanted to risk it. Donning one of the white masks offered to her in the midst of seeing the several patients. The doctors were overwhelmed, and many of the lesser cases were being momentarily overlooked. Not ignored. Just...not prioritized.]

[Some of the younger ones were crying.]

[It was these tears she saw to first. Refreshing the cold compress on the young boy's head as she murmured something that passed for a lullaby. Soothing enough for him to soon drift into a much needed sleep. A hand gently brushing some of the damp locks from his forehead, she smiled sadly behind the mask.]

[freezetheheavens]

[A. Orihime’s Meadows]

[When he heard of the mission Orihime has been given by the old gods, it left a bad taste in his mouth. While he isn’t unaccustomed to such large missions being given to one person in particular (he’s handled many of his own before), what made him frown mostly was how if she succeeded, she’d have a good standing among the old gods once more.

Of course, it does provide enough of an incentive to have the new gods and shinki help out.

Toushirou can be seen examining the tents and the wooden tablets, a slight frown on his face as he reads its contents.]

[B. Child’s Play]

[There are ayakashi scaring the children and it’s easy to see how traumatizing it’s becoming for all that’s involved.

When one of the stuffed animals comes after one of the wailing babies, a sword suddenly slices through them and Toushirou stands in front of the destroyed teddy bear, holding a wailing child in one arm. He breathes out, the sight of black petals falling down from the sky and effectively putting the child to sleep. Placing it in a crib, he notices more of the monsters growing, the ayakashi slowly beginning to come out.]

Want something to eat? Come catch me.

[The ayakashi seem to growl at the issued challenge, chasing after the god as he lures them away from the children.

Feel free to help him out and draw their attention, too. Or if you’re Alibaba, be prepared to be summoned.]

[C. Flu Season]

[With the number of the sickly growing, it’s not surprising Toushirou can be seen around helping out with them. Given his own affinity for ice, the cold doesn’t affect him too much, so he moves around with ease, draping blankets over those who seem to be shuddering from the weather. Yoon can also be spotted, helping out with the sickness and trying to keep some of the worst ones from accumulating.

He can be found crouching a few people, a hand over a young girl’s forehead and he seems to be concentrating.

Upon hearing someone approach, he looks over.]

Mind helping me out?

[D. Wildcard]

[Hit me with a prompt of your own!]

[sonofson]

A - Orihime Meadows

[Standing just near the red tent that's for Cu Chulainn, Goten looks ready to go! Or at least he is for the most part. Naturally he's lacking his phone but this time he's sporting a pair of gloves tied around his black belt. He's got a prayer tablet or two on the ground next to him but he only needed to read them once to get the idea. It's all about helping out his friend Kuu and protecting people. That's exactly what Goten intends to do!

Currently, he's busy stretching his limbs like he's getting ready for a big run or a fight. First his legs and then his arms. Despite being on his own, he doesn't seem worried from the looks of it. Though that maybe because he's just focusing on what he's doing.

After a bit more stretching, he start tossing a few practice punches before swinging around with some quick kicks---- without looking to be sure no one is in the way. Oops.]

B - Wild Hounds

[Even though he's always been naturally good with animals, it doesn't seem to matter at all to these dogs. His attempts at making friends have been answered with snarls.

But Goten feels bad hurting them so he's trying to play more on the defensive by using his borderline to block off the dogs off of victims. He's quick with them but it's also exhausting to keep up continuously.

There are also a few times his focus wavers and a Ki blast or two accidentally shoots out instead of a borderline. Luckily it's always aimed between the dogs and their prey but Goten is starting to make a few craters. But it seems to be scaring them off at least!]


C - Wild Hounds pt2

[He's had just about enough of playing defensive. With gloves now on, for once, he starts fending the packs off with his fists. Nothing lethal, just a good jab here, a shove there and a toss here. He really doesn't want to hurt the animals but he also is focused on protecting people.

Unfortunately while his intentions are good, this isn't the most thought out plan. Tossing another dog away, he ends up surrounded by a large pack. He tenses a bit, looking this way and that. Just as the dogs move to lunge, Goten shoots up into the air and easily dodges the attack. But one of the larger and more determined dogs jump up and catch him by the ankle.]

Ahhowww!

[He hisses and lowers a bit toward the ground before starts swinging his leg instinctively in attempt to get the dangling dog to let go. He's just low enough that the fall won't hurt the dog too much but those jaws just stubbornly lock down that much harder and dig more.]

L-Let go!

[Goten isn't paying any mind as the pack starts to reform and look ready to gang up again.]

[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.]

C

[freezetheheavens]

[He really should've known Goten would be out here.

And it's not exactly difficult to pinpoint his location either.

When the shinki's voice cries out, there's suddenly a crackling of blue-white lightning that streaks by, startling the dog enough to let Goten go. However, before the pack can attempt to move in before Goten can right himself, Toushirou suddenly appears by the shinki's side and grabs him from the middle before jumping up into the air, his sword held in his other hand.

The pack snaps up at him, the same dog that had grabbed Goten already aiming for another jump that the god waves his sword, freezing it in its tracks.]

[declamando]

[A: Flu Season]

[As one of the gods gifted with healing powers, Maria considers it a responsibility to help out with the situation in Tokyo. She's determined to raise the mood even a little, staying with some of the more destitute patients so they have a little company with their warm meal and blanket, and some of the children she can even be heard singing to on occasion.

However, whenever she finds one of the particularly ill, she makes sure to take their hands as she talks with them. The gesture both enables and covers up her godly ability, which slowly eats away at the sickness and reduces it the longer they're in contact. If she cures it completely, she won't have the energy left for everyone else, but she can at least drastically lessen the danger many of these people are in, and bring the ones further gone into the recovery stages of the sickness.

After waving goodbye to a now much happier person who'd been covered in sweat and on the border of passing out before she'd started talking to them, Maria grabs the attention of anyone passing by. Lingering a respectful distance behind her as she works is a woman around thirty in a scrupulously neat kimono, looking very serious with the situation as it is.]

Have you seen any others who are in the worse stages of the sickness?

--

[B: Wild Hounds]

[Maria's been getting the occasional prayer about curtailing wild dogs among her Irish followers, but she hadn't realised it was tied up in all this. As a Celtic god, it's also her duty to cover for the other gods in her homeland, and though she certainly has some questions for Caster when next she sees him, for now she needs to focus on her work.

She's hoping the use of a shinki against the dogs will help dispel the hold over them, so this time, Uta is in her vessel form, a short sword in Maria's hand that she brings to meet the mouth of one of the dogs as it leaps to try and bite her. She turns in specifically so it drives into the bony teeth rather than any part of the gums or mouth itself. She doesn't want to do any permanent damage.]

Where's the leader...? [She grits it out as she throws the dog off her, back into the still-snarling pack.]

C

[lostinshadows]

[Hope you don't mind someone helping you out with beating people up, Shun. Because that's exactly what Lavi is doing and he just punches a guy unconscious as he joins the god.]

Fancy seeing you here. [The greeting is a little dry, the redhead moving to the side to avoid a punch aimed at his head. Grabbing the arm, he does flip the poor human over his shoulder and it earns him a groan from the beaten soul.]

B

[revolutionfalcon]

[If there's one thing that's going to get Shun's attention just about immediately, it's children in need, so he's there just about as soon as Izumo waves him over. He's been pretty well all over the place already getting other people sent on to the hospital, but the limited numbers of people they have to help is making it troublesome already.]

Which ones? [He could probably carry one himself either way, but he's already scanning over the area to see if he can spot the ones Izumo is talking about.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun shrugs a little, kicking someone behind him, then moving into a backwards flip, picking the guy up with his legs on the way over and using them to hurl him into another person who'd been trying to charge Shun from behind.]

Someone said these kids needed a role model. [Someone tries running around the two tangled-up, fallen teens to get Shun from the back again, and without even turning his head to look, he does just about a full split to kick the guy in the jaw hard enough to knock him out cold.] Or just a rolling. I don't really care which it is.

[sonofson]

[The bite hurts but he's more startled by Hitsugaya's sudden appearance. The blue-white lightning is almost blinding when he doesn't expect it to be coming. He flails a bit, not struggling but a bit thrown off balance by the speed of everything. Even the bite on his ankle is forgotten. Goten should be use to this from training with Hitsugaya but it's because of how the god appeared out of no where that he's a thrown off.]

Hi-Hitsu?!

[Goten relaxes a bit, but only a little because well...he probably shouldn't be out on his own, oops. He gives a nervous laugh.]

-When did you get here? I thought you'd be with Ali...

[lostinshadows]

Just aiming for a good fight?

[He's not much of a kicker like Shun, but whether Lavi knows it or not, he does have plenty of martial arts training embedded deep into his bones. Lavi ducks low when someone aims a kick at him, moving swiftly to catch that leg and toss him to the side.]

[freezetheheavens]

He's helping some others right now.

[And somehow, the god seems a little more irked than usual about this situation. He glances at the shinki, disapproval evident in teal eyes. Though, with his hold on Goten's body, he uses his own god power to start healing that bite.]

Where's Aymeric?

[Goten, why are you alone?]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun scoffs at that.] This isn't a good fight.

[As another couple of the kids try to go at him, one after the other since their fallen comrades are reducing the space they have to attack a bit, Shun flips backwards again, delivering another kick to the jaw. As soon as he lands, he uses the recoil to leap in a flying kick towards the one behind the first kid, who just about crumples on contact.]

This is almost embarrassing to be part of.

[toremainbehind]

Those little ones over there.

[He nods over to where there's a young boy and girl shuddering, curled up together. There's already a blanket draped over them, but it's evident to see the way their cheeks are flushed and their breathing ragged.]

[sonofson]

Oh...

[He wishes Ali was with him, maybe the other shinki would be on his side or defuse that disapproving look that makes Goten feel smaller then he already is.]

I donno.... I didn't come here with him.

[He admits it quietly before starting to wiggle in Hitsu's grip. His ankle is starting to feel better, healing before blight or anything like that can really set in.]

We're all suppose to be helping, right?

[freezetheheavens]

[Goten, neither Alibaba or Yoon will be able to defuse this disapproving look. Yoon, at least, will join him in the disapproval here.

A blink and he sighs out heavily.]

You came here alone.

[Why is he not surprised.

He releases him.] We are, but I would've thought you'd bring someone along with you to help out. [Even if it isn't any of your gods.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Almost as soon as Izumo points them out, Shun's on his way over. Siblings, he figures, and that's enough to clench at his heart the way very little else can.]

I'll take one, you take the other, then. [Shun crouches down next to the girl, looking over the blanket. They can't take that over both of them...

After only a moment, he rearranges some of the items he's got concealed so he won't be obviously carrying illegal weapons, then takes off his coat, wraps it around the girl and picks her up in a careful, gentle manner that says he's had to do this many times before.]

[lostinshadows]

Wouldn't it be just easier to get rid of the ayakashi affecting them?

[but even as he says that, he jerks a bit when he hears...whispering? in his ears. Shaking his head, he grabs a fist aimed at him and thrust his palm against the teenager's chest, robbing the human of his breath and staggering backwards. He pulls back a bit, eying the crowd.]

[heartshutter]

[ Orihime’s Meadows ]
[ It’s eerily peaceful here, especially given there’s something so ominous just on the horizon. The gentle white noise of the river’s flow seems an ill-fitting backdrop for the tasks at-hand.

And boy, are there a lot of those! ]

So, she really wasn’t kidding about needing the help...!

[ Said perhaps a bit too cheerily as he plucks a wooden tablet and reads it over. ]

[ Flu Season ]
A. [ Amid a seemingly hungry murder of observing crows is a veritable minefield of misery -- a sea of sickness ranging from those who just need a warm meal and rest, to those who struggle just to breathe. And though he’s a healer by trade here, Tatara can’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by it all. Of course, the good news here is that, if nothing else, at least he can use some of his clan-given powers to warm mugs of tea or soup bowls in his hands -- or blankets, if wrapped around his shoulders -- before handing them off to the sick and hungry.

That is, of course, pending they still have those things available. Turning to the person nearest him, then: ]

Do we have any more blankets left?

B. [ But for one in particular, it looks as though all of that won’t be quite enough. Wrapped in a warmed blanket first, a young girl is swept into his arms in a feverish, shivering bundle. ]

Everything’s fine, don’t sweat it, okay? [ He tells her, but angles his head away to speak to someone else. ] I’m going to take her to the clinic to see if there’s a way to help her, alright? I’ll be right back!

[ Or, better yet-- ]

...Unless you want to come with me! She could probably use the help...!

[ Wild Hounds ]
[ He’s not a fighter. Never has been, never will be. But he has, in his (recent?) past, been a tamer of wild beasts. So, by that merit, this should be a straight shot, shouldn’t it?

Well. One can hope. Tatara sure has a lot of that to go around, if nothing else.

So, he’ll venture into the darkened, mysterious groves, a tiny bird of flame hovering over his palm lighting the way. ]

Do me a favor, will you? [ A wry smile to the person next to him. ] ...Keep track of the way we came in, so we can retrace our steps...? I, um, didn’t exactly bring breadcrumbs, eheh.

[ And if he had, perhaps the dogs would have eaten them already. So, maybe that’s a good thing! #optimism! ]

[sonofson]

[He has hope they would help somehow, okay.

Goten waves his arms a bit as Hitsugaya lets him go. He dips for a moment before flying on his own.]

I'm okay, really Hitsu. I got better at borderlines and all that stuff. There are other people around...

[Ignore that bite from earlier. Now its just a decent tear on his pant leg. Hitsugaya's healing is super appropriated.]