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

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Right there! [He leans in to helpfully point.] "How do you see your duties as a shinki?"

[usedperishsong]

That looks like "everyone" to you?

[ Kanade frowns and turns the survey upside down. Hm. ]

It's supposed to be "ayakashi".

[ Beat. ]

Probably.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

How can it be ayakashi? You can't even kill ayakashi as a shinki, you have to be a vessel wielded by your god.

[Which is a point of longstanding bitterness for him, but never mind that now.]

[usedperishsong]

But ain't that what we're all shinki for? T' do the vessel thing, and keep our gods from blowin' up the populace, or somethin'.

[ She has just gotten herself used to this idea, even embracing it. If they change the tune on her again, so help her... ]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Yeah, I'm not arguing that. That's our job. [Edge folds his arms; up to her whether she finds his look a little badass or just melodramatic at the moment.] But that's not the same as killing ayakashi. We're tools and weapons, not warriors.

[usedperishsong]

All the same 's long as they end up gone. [ Kanade shrugs, rolling up her survey. Where'd that bird go?

Oh. It is in her hair. Of course. She pokes it gently with the scroll. ] Worry too much 'bout how we put it and we might let the big stuff slip away.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Mmm. You must not have been quite as much a fighter as I was. The idea of not being able to do the work myself if I need to doesn't sit well with me at all.

But hey, pretty girls shouldn't need to fight if they don't want to! [Winner of the awkward semi-segue award right here!]

[usedperishsong]

Yeah, if that's a pickup line, it sucked.

[ She says cheerfully, while still prodding a dove in her hair with a scroll. She isn't even paying full attention to said line. ]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Yeah, that wasn't my best work. [Edge rubs the back of his head, and if his mask hides his sheepish smile, it shows in his eyes and the way he ducks slightly.] It's not the easiest conversation to work one into, in my defense!

[usedperishsong]

I dunno. I bet there are chicks who'd dig it, though. Like, go right from [ She dips her voice low to sound Serious. ] "my destiny lies with the blade" to "so if you can beat me up, let's do coffee".

[ A shrug. ] Takes all kinds.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Okay, that might not be your thing, but you should keep that line. That delivery gave me goosebumps. [He's an easy man to appeal to.] Though if it isn't your thing I've got to figure out what is. Definitely got some fight in you if you like killing ayakashi... but is that because you like it or because you value protecting others?

[One finger tugs idly at his mask as he ponders the question.]

[usedperishsong]

[ Kanade shrugs. ] Survey didn't ask that. Didn't ask a lotta things it coulda...

[ She rolls her survey up. ] Ah, well. That's on them!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[The answer goes so far sidelong from what he'd expected that after a brief pause as he tries to comprehend it, he flails at the air slightly like he's trying to catch his own train of thought.] What -- forget the survey! I was asking that!

[usedperishsong]

I don't see why things have to be either/or.

[ Where did the bird this survey belong to go....?

A tiny head sticks out of Kanade's hair and cheeps. Ah. There. ]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Look, he kind of envies that bird right now. Getting lost in that hair would be quite the experience.]

Not getting fresh here. [Edge reaches out to offer the bird a platform with his hands -- if it can even escape.] And you know, it's not really 'either/or', but which is more important determines what you're doing in a fight or even if you're fighting. If you care about protecting people more, there are fights you won't get into. Like if someone's hurt and a monster is approaching, do you get the person to safety or fight the monster?

[All appearances aside, Edge is both capable of having introspective and philosophical thoughts and willing to express them.]

[usedperishsong]

[ Bird hops into hands. Kanade hands bird scroll. Bird chirps and flutters off with it, not realizing it is carrying something only half-legible. Godspeed, bird.

Kanade watches it go, listening to Edge. Fights you won't get into if you care about people more, huh....? ]

You're a pretty deep dude.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Well, you know. [Edge drops his voice to a husky growl.] 'My life is the blade.' Or at least it probably was, since I'm pretty good with these things.

[He drops his hands to the hilts of his two swords, patting them demonstratively.]

But all this is instinct. Gut feeling, I guess. If you're gonna be strong, you gotta know what you're using your strength for.

[usedperishsong]

Loose cannons don't hit anythin', huh?

[ It's....actually food for thought. Trusting that everything will work out as long as she's still moving forward only works when she's - moving forward, not running in circles. Chasing her own tail.

Or hair, in her case. ]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Worse than that, sometimes they hit something no one wanted them to.

[Of course, no one's perfect. Sometimes even the most righteous or right-minded could err. But Edge figures you have to do the best you can, and that means knowing what the best is as best you can.]

[usedperishsong]

[ ....Point taken. She's not gonna win this one, and she's cool with that. In fact, it's a good thing to think about.

Not that she'll say that. ] Guess I'll work on my aim.

[ Kanade gets up onto her tiptoes and stretches, working out stiff muscles. The worst part about surveys is you fill them out sitting down.... ] Aaaahh, I sat too long. Can't figure out the secrets of the afterlife unless ya get yer blood pumpin', right?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Look, Edge is not above enjoying the sight. She's a pretty cute girl after all, and the Far Shore is teaching him appreciation for more athletic types. Makes him wonder what he'd liked in life... if he'd had a girlfriend or a wife, or even someone he'd just been interested in.]

No shortage of work to do. Even cleaning can be training! You want some company?

[usedperishsong]

I think I'm gonna do the deep broody solo thing for now - [ Said so flippantly it's probably half a joke ] - but I'll take a raincheck.

[ She winks. ] Just not a date!

[ But pals is OK. She is down for pals. ]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[He's hardly surprised, so her answer earns a laugh rather than irritation from him.] You barely need to say that! I'm pretty sure there's a secret hidden requirement to come to the Far Shore: 'If you are a cute girl, you must be uninterested in dating Edge.'

[Or too messed up to do it properly, but so far she doesn't seem to be a disaster? Just her handwriting, maybe.]

I'll catch you sometime soon.

[usedperishsong]

[ Kanade nods, lifting a hand in a wave. ] See ya 'round!

[ And then she's gonna, yeah, head off with a jog. She'll keep waving on her way out, though her hand lowers once she's out of sight.

A loose cannon can hit something you don't intend it to hit....huh? ]