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

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai looks as though he has been on the losing end of a fight with a coal mine: black blotches dot his face and clothes from head to toe, and his broom is so smeared with soot he's holding it delicately off the ground to avoid getting any more smudges on the hardwood.]

Thank--

[Another soot sprite hurls itself from the rafter, and Hakkai whirls to swat it with his broom with vengeful force. It explodes in a tiny black puff against the opposite wall.

He'll have to clean that up too. ... It was worth it.]

... you.

[unlucky7]

[Black dust and heavier dots cover the floor and the walls. A few managed to escape down the other end of the hall, but at least they can breathe. Ginia nods and raises a hand in thanks, other hand pulling out her phone to type up a message, one she'll hold up for Hakkai to read when she's done.]

No problem. I was cleaning down the hall, I can help you clean in here before I move back that way?

[From the end of the hall Ginia was previously at, an irate voice calls out, 'Who left up a borderline here?!'

...Oops. Right. Ginia gives a tight-lipped smile as she releases the barrier.]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai glances down the hallway towards the voice, and winces, wondering whether whoever is down there is about to be swarmed by sootsprites.

Well, serves them right for complaining, if so. He shakes his head, and squints at Ginia's phone.]

If you can, I'd appreciate it. It seems I have plenty of cleaning to redo.

[He turns to collect the bucket of soapy water he'd left next to the wall. There's a few sooty spots around the rim, but the sprites had seemed to avoided actually falling in.]

I'll get the floor if you can get the walls?

[unlucky7]

Sure thing, let me grab my supplies and come back.

[It's a good chance to check out the damage to that end of the hall too. Thankfully, the barrier and her attack seemed to have deterred most of the group, but spots still bounce their way down the hall and against the walls. With a few shinki already handling the mess, Ginia retrieves her bucket and extra dust cloths and comes back to survey the damage. A few long streaks of soot cover the walls from where the sprites spilled down the wall in their run for freedom. Then there are the clusters of spots along the bottom of the wall. Her work is certainly cut out for her.

With distance between them, Ginia turns from text to audio.]

I think I hate those things. They aren't a common problem, are they?

[reformedsinner]

[The phone voice is mechanical, but understandable, after the first few startled seconds while Hakkai tries to adjust to it.]

Not too common, but I've run into them here before. Apparently they like to hang out in dark corners....

[He has a bucket of his own, but only the one washcloth, so he sighs, settling down onto his knees and beginning to scrub the floor. Center first; then the walls, then the baseboards. There's suddenly plenty of work cut out for the two of them.]

It's possible the cats are keeping them out of my temple.

[unlucky7]

[Oh, cats, that sounds nice. There's the occasional stray cat at Nona's temple, but the wildlife tends to learn more toward woodland animals. And with most of them prey animals, they don't tend to stay around for long.]

Good on the cats there. The ones here don't seem to do much.

[Given their attitude, Ginia's not surprised if they're the ones letting the soot sprites in. She smirks a bit at the image as she begins scrubbing the wall with a damp cloth.]

[reformedsinner]

Ah... you mean the talking ones? No, I suppose it's beneath their dignity.

[Pookie might take on larger prey, but sootsprites? No, those take real felines to chase down. He shakes his head, smiling as he wrings gray water out of his washcloth and re-wets it.]

We have one of those, but I'm just as glad it's only one. They're demanding even for cats, ha ha.

Oh, and I'm Cho Hakkai. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss...?

[unlucky7]

[Talking cat... Hakkai... oh! Chikusa's current god.]

Ginia. Nice to meet you.

[Ginia kneels down to unlace her boots and sets them aside. Careful not to step on any soot spots, she braces her feet against one of the wood beam supports in the wall and climbs up it until she can reach the start of the soot streak on the wall, cleaning with one hand as her free hand grips a cross-beam.]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai blinks as Ginia scrambles easily up the wall barefoot, then breaks into an amused smile and turns his attention back to the ground-level soot smears.]

Ah -- I see we won't need a stepladder! Wave at me if you spot any more soot-bunnies up there, and I'll help flush them out.

[Since he doubts she can text one-handed when she's also holding a rag. That seems a little too challenging.]

[unlucky7]

[She could, but it would be difficult, probably dangerous, and something would probably get dropped in the process. Even if phones can get replaced relatively easy, why risk breaking it in the first place? So Ginia offers a quick thumbs up before she begins scrubbing, working as fast as she can. It's less a case of getting tired and more it's uncomfortable holding the same cramped position and eventually the cloth needs to get rinsed out.

After a few minutes, when enough progress has been made on the streak, Ginia drops down to the floor. She drops the cloth into the wash bucket and stretches out her arms and legs before taking out her phone.]

Didn't see any soot things up there. A few spiders though. I'll take spiders over more soot.

[reformedsinner]

So will I. They're much less messy to squash.

[Hakkai sits back on his heels, considering the floor. He's managed to clear five or six feet worth of soot-smears away on one wall, but there's still the rest of the corridor...

... ugh. He shakes his head with a wry smile.]

At least the small ones. Thank you for your help, Ginia, I hope this isn't keeping you from anything?

[unlucky7]

You're welcome, and not at all. I don't have any plans so I figured I would help out until the shinki chase me out. But if you need to be somewhere, I can finish up this room.

[A small smile and a shrug accompanies her voice message. If there's work to be done, there's a workaholic happy to do it.]

[reformedsinner]

[Workaholics are some of Hakkai's favorite people-- even when they can't free climb the walls to get stains too high to reach. He softens into a brighter, more genuine smile.]

No, not at all! I didn't want my clumsiness to take you away from anything more important, but the work does go faster with two people instead of one.

[He dips his rag back into the bucket, wrings it out, and adds as he begins to scrub again:]

-- Have you been here long? I don't think I've seen you around before, but it's hard to keep track....

[unlucky7]

I'm new. I arrived a few days ago.

[Ginia squeezes out her wash clothes and sets up another to soak. While they're talking, Ginia tackles a few of the lower stains or ones that don't require as much climbing to reach.]

[reformedsinner]

Oh, you're very new, then! How have you been settling in so far?

[She seems comfortable with the technology, which must make things easier for her, but an arrival is a wrench regardless of how familiar the world might be.

He doesn't mention that; he can't see a name anywhere on her visible skin, but that doesn't mean she's not a shinki.]

[unlucky7]

[She shrugs lightly, rubbing absently at a stain.]

People have been nice and helpful, I have a place to stay. The scenery is nice.

[It's really hard to find any fault in things. If the worst is things are a bit boring, that's certainly better than dealing with mass murders, right (thanks, Chikusa)? If anything, her problems are personal, all stemming from the difficulties of being a shinki.]

[reformedsinner]

[Or, in other words: "I can't complain."

Hakkai's gaze lingers on her for a moment, thoughtful, before he return to scrubbing industriously.]

You're a shinki?

[Her phrasing is just a little too carefully noncommittal.]

[unlucky7]

[Can't complain, won't complain, the difference between the two is a thin blurry line wrapped in loyalty, decorum, and an ingrained nature of staying ahead one way or another.

Her reply comes as an instinctual nod, but remembering not everyone watches conversations like she has to, she types up a response.]

Yes.

[After a moment of thought, she adds:]

And you're a god. I've met Chikusa.

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai does glance up to catch the nod, and his eyebrows soar at her follow-up comment.]

Oh, have you? I hope he was on his best behavior?

[There's a subtly fond edge to his tone for the joke. It's partly serious -- Chikusa does have some skill at making enemies -- but if he'd discussed Hakkai with her, their conversation can't have gone too badly.]

[unlucky7]

[Considering how he ambushed her on their first meeting with borderlines and on their second they stole money and talked about the mass murders in the Far Shore...]

Nice guy. He helped me out with some shopping.

[The smile is genuine. Yeah, he's all right.]

[reformedsinner]

I'm glad to hear that!

[Getting along well with Chikusa: one more test she's passed with flying colors. Hakkai warms visibly, smiling, and applies himself for a few seconds to a particularly stubborn soot-stain at the edge of the flooring.

He wonders if they'd gone on a shoplifting trip together. Chikusa's unlikely to help with actual shopping.]

I'm quite fond of him myself, but he does have his moods...

[...all of which look like a deadpan from the outside, but can be distinguished by just how much of a little shit he's being to strangers.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia has definitely picked up on the fact Chikusa isn't someone that shows a lot of emotion. Nothing wrong with that, it certainly seems like all the people she's met have run the gamut of incredibly expressive to incredibly stoic with little middle ground.

It does, perhaps, bother her a little so many of the stoic ones have seemed to be teens, but she can't place why.]

Everyone does. But he has helped me when he hasn't had to and I appreciate that.

Related, I was going to pick up some notes from him once I had the time. Do you mind describing your temple so I know what to look for?

[reformedsinner]

Not at all. It's a brick building in the Central District, with a wall around the property -- it's about two stories high, so it'll stand out, I suppose, by looking a bit too humble.

[He flashes an amused glance her way.]

Also, the front is painted in orange and red.

[unlucky7]

[Walled brick building, two stories high, front painted orange and red. Easy enough to remember. She's passed through the Central District on runs to the library, but she's stuck mostly to the outskirts to avoid trespassing on temple grounds.]

It's very beautiful in the Central District. The landscape is nice.

[Certainly a shock the first time she went from the wild forests and rivers of the West District and crossed into the smooth cobblestone paths and lush landscapes of the Central District.]

[reformedsinner]

Frankly, it's a bit too fancy for me, and then there are the neighbors...

[Theatrically, he sighs, moving through the quick routine of rinsing the soot from his washcloth and re-wetting it with the increasingly dingy water.]

But you're right, it is very beautiful.