26 - The Gods' Month

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Helping the Heavens prepare for the yearly Meeting of the Gods
When: October 20 - 21
Where: Around the Heavens (and maybe some mortal shopping trips, too!)
Summary: Amaterasu has been told that the newly arrived residents of the Heavens want to take a bigger part in security and administration, so she's convinced her shinki to let them help with preparations for the big yearly gala. It's also time for shinki to rate their gods and gods to find out what their shinki really think of them....







Security Precautions

The white-robed shinki guards are working hard to secure the Meeting Hall for the arrival of all the gods of Japan. Hard-working shinki are scurrying everywhere! Despite Amaterasu's orders, they're still a little unsure of and standoffish towards the strangers who they're supposed to work with, but there's a lot of work to do, so they're happy to hand out jobs to small groups of newcomers before returning to their own duties.


• Help clear out any small spirits who might have sneaked back into the Meeting Hall after the spring cleaning, from sootsprites to nekomata, animal spirits from the park or well-camouflaged plant spirits.


• Check the magical writing worked into art or inlaid in wood all over the building to protect the Meeting Hall from attack, and make sure none of it is scuffed or damaged.


• Join in on the patrols around the building or spend some time guarding one of the gates. It's boring, but the shinki appreciate the help.


• Test the integrity and extent of the magical protections with glass balls that turn purple outside the protections on the Meeting Hall and clear inside them. But don't drop your glass ball! They're fragile.

Event Preparation

It's not just security that the shinki are asking newcomers to help with. They also have plenty of work to do getting ready for the festivities! The Meeting Hall floors need to be swept and scrubbed, the gardens need to be trimmed and tidied, artwork needs to be dusted, flower arrangements arranged, damaged furniture repaired and rafters cleared of cobwebs. Anyone with particularly good handwriting can help write out invitations and name cards, too.

Besides cleaning and calligraphy, there's lots of food and beverages to purchase! Grab a shopping list, a wad of cash, and head to the Near Shore to pick up the necessities. (Don't forget to keep the receipts.)

Rate Your God

Shinki have the opportunity to submit surveys on their life with their new gods before the big event, and even request a transfer if they want one. Early in the morning, every new shinki will be visited by a small white dove carrying a scroll that, when unrolled, reveals the following questionnaire:


What is your name?

What is your god's name?

How do you see your duties as a shinki?

What is your favorite part of life with your god?

What is your least favorite part of life with your god?

What advice would you like to give your god?

Do you wish to be assigned to a different god? []Y []N


Fill it out, discuss it with your fellow shinki, forget about it until you find it under a pile of junk mail in two months: the choice is yours! Gods will receive a copy of the answer that their shinki submit to "What advice would you like to give your god?" -- there's no name attached, but they might be able to guess.

Heavenly Record Keeping

Gods don't get to skip the paperwork entirely! Although the Heavens aren't asking them to rate their shinki, new gods don't have all of their vital statistics on file quite yet, so they get a questionnaire too. The same white doves will drop their scrolls by in the morning, with the following set of questions:


What is your name?

How many shinki do you currently have?

What are your areas of divine responsibility?

How do you see your duties as a god?

What traits do you most want in a shinki?

Do you wish new shinki to be assigned to you? []Y []N


Unlike the doves attending on the shinki, the doves who drop off the gods' scrolls will remain close by and chirp loudly until they finish and submit their questionnaires. If a god is particularly lazy about it, they might even start pecking.

In Summary:

• Help protect the Meeting Hall
• Lend a hand cleaning and shopping
• Rate your gods
• Help Heaven keep its records up to date
• Have fun~

Comments

[festal]

( Something a little bolder? Sakura understands exactly what Chinatsu means and she considers it for a moment, overlooking the choices in front of her. Her hand lingers over a few choices and she thinks carefully before settling on a single sunflower. Holding it up to show Chinatsu, she ducks behind it just a bit, )

Uhm... d-do you know what this means? In the language of flowers.

[redmare]

Eh? This means something?

[Sure, she'd heard some flowers may have meanings, but Chinatsu didn't think this said anything in particular.]

[festal]

( Nodding, )

All of them have meanings...

( Have you wondered why she's only made a few simple arrangements when she could have easily just thrown together a bunch of bouquets? )

For example, this one... ( She raises the flower, ) Radiance.

[redmare]

[She figured it was either go big or go minimalist. Chinatsu was curious now though, leaning closer to look at the flower.]

Huh...I mean..it does look radiant. What about the other ones?

[festal]

( She lowers the flower to peek over it at Chinatsu. Is she really interested? ... Well, she'll try out a few.

Pointing to some of the flowers one at a time, she begins to explain, )

Remembrance and modesty. And this one is faith. Some of them have multiple meanings, though. F-for example, this one is means youth if you pair it with any other flower but alone i-it means childishness...

[redmare]

You can change the meaning by pairing it up?

[Who would’ve thought there was so much to it.]

Do uh..any of them have bad meanings?

[Because now she wonders if any of the ones she set up ended up flipping someone off or cursing them.]

[festal]

( Nodding, )

Some of them do, yes. For example... the camelia can mean you're in love but you should be careful when giving it to others b-because it can also mean sudden death. Even the cherry blossom that represents kindness and gentleness can also remind others of the fleeting nature of life... The anemone can mean sincerity but also eternal solitude.

A-and sometimes even the color of the flower can change it's meaning. A white lily can mean purity but an orange one means hatred. But I think the saddest of them all is the spider lily which means to never meet again...

( A pause, )

S-sorry, this must be terribly boring.

[redmare]

[Chinatsu looks back up at her, tilting her head slightly as she smiled.]

Not at all. I think you made flowers more interesting for me actually.

[She did pause for a second.]

...Uh...I may have thrown in some spider lilies in another bouquet.....[Which another servant may have already taken out.]

[festal]

Oh...

( Well, that's a little unfortunate but don't worry. Don't worry, Chinatsu!!! )

I'm sure it'll be fine? ( Maybe? ) I wonder how many people here really know a-about flowers...

[redmare]

...Guess it's a good thing a lot of us are technically dead so.

[Chinatsu laughs, though it does die off a little awkwardly.]

So how did you learn so much? Self-study? Or did someone teach you?

[She did strike her as one of those proper type of ladies.]