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

[revolutionfalcon]

[As Ginia sits down, Shun glances down to the floor and then bends down a bit - it sounds like he's going through another box, but one that doesn't have flowers in it. He's still upright enough to see that sign, though, and he turns his head away a little.]

I figured it'd speed things up for you. [Efficiency in getting everything done here so they can move on to other things. His tone isn't cold, but the way it's put says he still doesn't consider it a thing worthy of thanks.

He straightens up again, placing a very stout, small and round vase on the table, then gathers the flowers he'd set aside earlier, the ones she cut too short for the first arrangement, and slides them over next to the new vase.]

These should be a fine length for that one.

[unlucky7]

[With an understanding of the base fundamentals, Ginia begins assembling the next arrangement faster than her previous attempts. Self-doubt and uncertainty still exists at the forefront, so she often sets a flower in place, changes her mind, then changes it again, but progress is progress no matter how slow.

She picks up a few sprigs of a cluster of white flowers--baby's breath--and compares them to the verbena. They're similar in shape, though the baby's breath is finer, the flowers smaller and bit more spread out. After some thought, Ginia swaps out the verbena for baby's breath and begins rearranging.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun is getting a little restless in the meantime - he doesn't sit still for extended periods well, and he doesn't really want to arrange for something like this, because of what he's learnt to associate the gesture with by now. But he figures she's probably going to want his opinion for whatever reason at the end of it, so he needs something to occupy his hands.

He ends up picking up a box of discarded flowers, going through and taking out ones that were only cut too short for a specific arrangement someone else was doing rather than actually ruined.]

[unlucky7]

[After a few more minutes of arranging in silence, Ginia glances at Shun, waving her hand at him to get his attention.]

If you're busy and need to be elsewhere, you can leave.

[It's not that his company isn't welcome; quite the opposite. But the duties of a god are probably different than those of a shinki's considering the nature of the event they're preparing for and she doesn't want to keep him any more than she needs to.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Since he was mostly hanging around in case she wanted an opinion at the end, once she makes it clear she doesn't, he stands up rather promptly, setting the last box aside.]

I should get back to patrolling. But there'll be other people here who can help you more.

[And most likely know more about this sort of thing than him on top of it. As it is, he nods slightly to Ginia before starting to head off.]