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

Cardia | ota

[drops_acid]

Security Precautions-

[Cardia is helping to clear out some of the small spirits lurking about in corners. Right now she's in the garden, crouching down next to a bush and trying to coax out a little animal spirit hiding under it.]

Come on now, you know you can't stay there. Don't worry, I won't hurt you...

[Help her out?]


Event preparation-

[Later, Cardia is trying her hand at arranging flowers for the decorations. It's relaxing in a way, and she has a good eye for it. But she's probably taking waaay too long on each one. She may have forgotten they're on a schedule and just started enjoying herself. Remind her?]

precautions

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun's busy patrolling, but the sight of someone hunched over by a bush is suspect enough to catch his attention. It's only when he gets a bit closer that he identifies it as Cardia, and picks out what she's actually saying down there.]

Can't you reach it? [He steps a bit closer, but not too close, and doesn't crouch down either. Lavi let him in on Cardia's unique issue a little while ago, so he'd rather not put them at any risk of making contact.]

Re: precautions

[drops_acid]

[Cardia sits back a little, but keeps an eye on the bush.]

Not quite. And I don't really want to crawl under there if I can help it.

[revolutionfalcon]

[He's fairly sure he knows why that is, but if she's going to be lying here for the next however long trying to do it that way, he might as well make it quicker for both of them.

With a slight look of exasperation, he gestures her aside.] I'll do it, then. It'll just annoy the people on security detail otherwise.

[Suspicious movements from inside bushes make for a very unhelpful false alarm.]

[drops_acid]

[That is a very kind offer. There's a surprised blink, and then she smiles.]

Thank you. I- oh!

[At the sudden rustling, she stops and checks under the bush again.]

Good. It's still there.

[Cardia really did not want to have to go hunting for it. She moves slightly to give him better access.]

It doesn't seem dangerous, just a bit shy.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun gives her a bit of a sidelong glance at the thanks, as if unsure why it's being given at all. Before he gets down there to check it out himself, he gives her a quick glance over to ensure anything he might brush against accidentally is covered.

Once he establishes that, though, he crouches down, bending forward slightly to look into the bush. He doesn't want to actually stick his head in there until he knows what the animal is.]

It doesn't sound very big. [So even if it was dangerous, it's probably at a size he could handle if it came at him suddenly.]

[drops_acid]

I don't think it is. I only got a quick look before but I thought it seemed like a dog.

[She got that one right. If he looks closely enough, the little spirit resembles a puppy. It's crouching down and watching him warily. More scared than aggressive.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun leans down a bit further, and sure enough, it looks like a puppy. He has less experience with those than he does with, say, birds or kittens, but it's still not zero experience.]

It is a dog. Young one. [He doesn't really want to think too much about how a dog that young would've ended up here, but nonetheless, he reaches a hand under the bush slowly. Rather than try to grab for the dog, he leaves it a few inches away, so the dog can get used to the scent and come forward to investigate if it wants.]

[drops_acid]

Poor thing must be terrified. I feel bad that we have to kick it out...

[Surely a few small spirits wouldn't be too disruptive?

At first the dog doesn't move. But after a minute, it starts inching forward, slowly. Its little nose sniffing curiously.]

Event preparation

[letteropener]

Oh, how nice of the Far Shore to offer snacks!

[Celestia picks up one of those carefully-arranged bunches of flowers with her magic, licking her lips.]

Re: Event preparation

[drops_acid]

[Cardia gasps as one of her arrangements starts floating away. It takes her a minute to catch up to what Celestia actually plans to do with her flowers.

By the time she offers a weak protest it's likely too late.]

Oh, but they aren't... um...

[letteropener]

[Oops. Oh dear. Celestia looks down at the half-nibbled arrangement floating before her, then swallows the other half.]

...Well, I hesitate to say they ought to be. I'm very sorry.

[drops_acid]

[There is another moment where she is just too stunned to react.

And then she has to choke back a laugh.]

No, it's... it's fine. I think I can be proud of an arrangement that looked good enough to eat.

[letteropener]

If it helps, it tasted good too. [Celestia laughs softly herself, not particularly ashamed. Why should she be? She's been eating flowers all her very long life; a couple of months isn't going to break her of the habit.]

[drops_acid]

That's good. Honestly I think I made a few too many anyway.

[There are an impressive number of flower arrangements scattered across the tables in this room. It's really no wonder Celestia mistook it for a buffet.]

They asked for help with the decorations but it turned out to be so much fun I just got carried away.

[letteropener]

Then I am going to take the liberty of feeling slightly less bad. [Celestia chuckles, even as she shakes her head at herself. At least she'd done no harm.] I've always been surprised that humans love flowers so much, when they don't double as tasty snacks.

[drops_acid]

Well... I can't speak for other people, but...

[She looks at the flowers, trying to put her thoughts into words.]

They're beautiful.... and fragile. And... also fleeting. I think maybe... they're not so different from people?

[But then she shakes her head.]

Sorry. I really don't know what I'm trying to say.

[After all, she isn't human, so how can she know what humans think about things?]

Security Precautions

[replicatedform]

[When he notice someone's by a bush, Yamanbagiri pause for a moment. And then walks over out of curiosity.]

Is there a problem?

Re: Security Precautions

[drops_acid]

[Cardia sits up and turns to look at the sound of his voice.]

Not really a problem. But there's a little spirit under there and I'm trying to coax him out.

Re: Security Precautions

[replicatedform]

[He crouches down to see, and bends down to look for it.]

What kind of spirit is it?

[drops_acid]

Some kind of small animal. I didn't get a very good look but I though maybe it was a dog?

[If he has good eyes, he can make out the wary eyes of a small white fox huddling at the back of the bush.]

[replicatedform]

[His sight is decent, but not that good.]

A dog, maybe? Or... a fox? [He glances at her.] It might be wary of us, or scared. We'd have to show we're trustworthy to it.

[drops_acid]

How can we do that? I doubt it can understand us...

[She's more curious than skeptical.]

[replicatedform]

Maybe... if we offer food?

[Food offering is pretty universal...]

[drops_acid]

[She smiles.]

Oh, good idea. They had some snacks in the other room. I'll be right back.

[She stands and hurries off. A few minutes later she returns with a plate laden with samples of just about everything they had to offer.]

I wasn't sure what would be best...