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

[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.]

[revolutionfalcon]

There are better places around here for it to live than this. [Even the park in the central western districts would probably be better than here, considering it wouldn't come with getting kicked out every so often.

Shun doesn't look like he's very patient with having to wait for the dog to come to him, but he can see it start to move forward, so he uses that to his advantage, drumming his fingers slowly so they create an eye-catching, but not threatening movement for the puppy.]

[drops_acid]

That's true. It'll probably be happier outside than stuck in this garden.

[Inch by inch, it crawls closer, watching his drumming fingers. Cardia does her best to stay still, so she won't distract it. But she can't help making a soft sound when it's finally close enough to reach.]

Oh..

[She resists the urge to reach for it suddenly though. It'll just run if she does that.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Cardia might not be able to do the sudden reach, but Shun, who's closer, has a better shot at it. Slow as the movement is, once the dog gets within a few inches of his hand, Shun snaps it up to grab the scruff of the dog's neck and pull it out. It doesn't look like the quick motion hurt it any, but it does look a bit put-out at the lack of some kind of reward.

Shun holds out the puppy towards Cardia.] Here.

[drops_acid]

[Aw, poor thing. She'll make sure to find it some sort of treat before she takes it out.]

Thank you.

[She takes the puppy gingerly, and gives Shun a smile.]

I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't come along.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun's not sure of the effect Cardia would have on a spirit, but he does look over her briefly as he hands the dog over. It seems like she's well-covered anyway, but it's unlikely he's not going to have some lingering wariness for a short while about her composition.

Her thanks gets a somewhat dismissive shrug.] Asked someone else. Not much point waiting for someone else to do what I could be doing myself.

[drops_acid]

[Cardia is very well covered. She's careful about that.

His dismissive response brings a hint of amusement to her smile.]

Well I'm glad you came along either way. I'll handle things from here.

[revolutionfalcon]

Good. [On that note, Shun turns on his heel without so much as a goodbye and starts to head off again. It sounds to him like the conversation is over, and he's not very polite about this whole "entering and leaving conversations" thing.]