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

[mithrarin]

I get the feeling it happens sometimes. I don't know about often. [Only ever happened to him once.]

Don't be in too much of a hurry, though...

[unlucky7]

["Don't be in too much of a hurry." Ginia huffs lightly at the advice, smiling reflexively, looking down. Maybe that's her problem; patient enough to wait, antsy enough to want immediate results.]

If I remember something, I'll keep you posted.

[mithrarin]

[Dust understands. Entirely.]

Just don't turn into an ayakashi over it.

...That can happen.

[unlucky7]

I saw the warning in the pamphlet.

[There's an ending she'd like to avoid if possible, but if she could learn more about herself... there's a light shake of her head as self-preservation kicks in.]

Do you know anyone that's happened to?

[mithrarin]

I've done two ablutions once. It... wasn't pretty, or fun. [Few things had tired him out more than those back-to-back Borderlines for hours on end.]

[unlucky7]

What's an ablution? The pamphlet mentions it, but doesn't go into detail about it.

[mithrarin]

[Dust is silent for a moment.]

A shinki whose guilt is overwhelming them with blight is imprisoned within Borderlines cast by three shinki. There they confess their sins, and must free themselves from their guilt to be absolved.

[unlucky7]

[Wow, sounds rough on everyone involved. No wonder the pamphlet warned against not letting blight get to that point. Ginia looks down at her hands. Could she ever reach of needing ablution? She hopes not, but a line of doubt sits at the back of her mind.

More than that, if she ever did, would anyone reach out to help?]

Both must have been incredibly difficult. The shinki receiving ablution, were they okay after?

[mithrarin]

As okay as anyone who gets into that kind of state can be. [Ablutions don't solve everything, and don't make shinki into better or more stable people, after all.] It hasn't happened again, anyway.

[unlucky7]

That's good at least.

[Were it anyone else having the conversation, there'd maybe be a supportive shoulder squeeze or pat, a comment to lighten the mood. But it's Ginia and none of that is natural to her.]

Thanks for the information. It's a lot to think on.

[mithrarin]

You're telling me! [Dust doesn't quite laugh, but a hint of it lurks in his voice.] I guess you're not as bad off as some of us though, when it comes to culture shock. You look like you understand stuff like phones pretty well, at least.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia glances down at her phone, a light touch-screen phone with a durable metal shell. It was on her when she arrived, so she had no reason to question it was her's especially with the ease she navigated it. If there was one thing she never had any doubt about, it was navigating technology and the greater world of the internet.

Huh.]

I guess so. It's never seemed difficult to use for me and navigating the internet is pretty easy too. I guess I haven't thought too much about worlds where these aren't common.

[mithrarin]

And for me, they aren't even built so I can use them. [For the phone property, he means -- his ears are farther from his mouth than a human's, after all, making speaking into one a problem. But he's found enough ways to address issues like this that he can smile and make a joke out of the truth.]

[unlucky7]

[Oof. Fair point. Her eyes flick up to his ears for a moment.]

The more I think about it, the onboarding process for shinki could be a lot smoother.

[mithrarin]

[The statement lures a grin out of him.] It is. When I showed up, they didn't have these gatherings and training sessions for new gods and shinki. When I first woke up here, they tried to force me into a bathing suit and send me to the beach.

[unlucky7]

[That's news. Ginia scoffs loudly, hand covering her mouth. How far things have come then. Good thing it's well beyond swimsuit season; she'd probably have murdered anyone who tried to force her to go swimming on the first day.]

I partially take the statement back then. When did the gatherings and training sessions start up?

[mithrarin]

[She thinks she has problems -- Dust has to deal with being a different species entirely, and personally far more comfortable beneath a lot of clothes. It had been quite a day.]

A few weeks after that. I guess enough people complained. I didn't even have a god when I showed up here, I ended up getting shuffled to my current one a day late.

[unlucky7]

[At least some changes were put in quickly. There's hope yet for further improvements?]

Are you still with the same god?

[mithrarin]

Yeah, I've been Takumi's shinki since that time. [It hasn't been so bad, all things considered. Maybe a little less fighting than he would like, but they'd never struggled or clashed, really.]

[unlucky7]

I'm glad that's worked out for you. Wouldn't have it any other way?

[mithrarin]

I don't think I could ask for better. [Dust shrugs slightly. He's mostly rough around the edges, after all. He's not certain who else would want him even if he desired a change.]

[unlucky7]

[All's well that works out well, right? And it's not like her edges are any softer.

A shinki enters the room and waves a broom up at them.

'If you can talk, you can clean!'

Oops, right. They're supposed to be working.]

I should get back down, probably safer the less people up here.

[mithrarin]

[Hard to tell how fiercely Dust is scowling, but it's fierce, believe him.] I've been working... it's not like they're more important than us.

[But yeah, her way is probably the sensible way all things considered.] Sooner we get done, the sooner we can get out of here.