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

[unlucky7]

I suppose it's fortunate things worked out that way.

[Ginia looks at her hands and vaguely wonders what kind of god she would be based off her abilities and realizes she doesn't like the answer. Best to move on.]

My god has gardens and plenty of books on botany. I've trying to learn the uses of various plants, particularly medicinal or edible ones.

[reformedsinner]

Are you? If you're interested, please feel free to stop by my temple. Every plant I've identified in my garden is edible or medicinal, and you're welcome to pick samples.

[With a half-smile, he adds:] So long as you let me know when you're there!

[unlucky7]

[Her smile is a little more genuine as she looks his way.]

Thank you, I'd appreciate that, even if just for the opportunity to learn how to identify more plants.

[Nona's gardens are very plentiful, but after covering the same ground for the last few days, it's nice to have variety.]

Do you make things from what you have in the garden?

[reformedsinner]

I do. As a god of medicine, my power seems to be brewing effective medicines -- I have a collection of ingredients in the temple, but I do sometimes have to replenish them from the garden.

[He chuckles.]

And I use the herbs for dinner quite frequently.

[unlucky7]

Did you have to plant everything in your garden yourself or did it come set up for you?

[Temples are an interesting thing, a reflection of what the inhabitant's wants and the god they're representing. Sometimes Ginia idly wonders what her temple would look like if she was a god but the thoughts never go anywhere.]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai pauses for a moment, staring at the floor without seeing, and then turns back to wring out and re-wet his rag.]

It came the way it is. I've wanted a garden for a while, but you know how it is -- something always comes up, and it's hard to set aside the time.

[His own unwillingness to let himself make his residence a home, for one thing. Then the self-sacrificing multi-year road trip. Then, all those temples that kept disappearing as his gods vanished...

Well.]

Perhaps I'll set aside a part of it and grow some vegetables next year, if I'm still here.

[unlucky7]

[She doesn't know how it is--shinki, five days of memories to her name, too much spare time really. The sentiment is understandable enough though, and it's nice his garden came as is.

She scrubs absently at the stain on the wall. "Next year, if I'm still here." Does she still want to be around in a year's time? Of course; the alternative is being dead. But it must be different for a god who knows things about their lives, their time before here.

"Do you want to be here next year?" is too depressing, too personal to ask.]

What would you want to grow?

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai doesn't know, himself, if he wants to.

If he can find a way back home for all of them -- himself, Gojyo, Sharak, even Dokugakuji -- then he wants to go. If he can't...

If he can't, he still thinks the only way he'll leave will be to something worse. Oblivion, perhaps. Oblivion, ideally, as having his soul trapped in this world like a fly in amber would be more tolerable if he at least wasn't conscious to know about it.]

Tomatoes, snap peas, perhaps some melon... I'd have to decide what would grow best here.

What about you? If you were planning a garden. Any suggestions?

[unlucky7]

[It's only fair the question is turned back on her, though it still catches her by surprise. She doesn't know anything about gardening, about food. What kind of suggestion could she give?

But she's been reading books on botany, spending time in Nona's garden. She kneels down to catch a lower section of the soot stain, scrubbing a bit harder than needed in her nervousness and thought.]

Mint. Green onion. Strawberries.

[All easy to grow--maybe too well at times--and easy to cultivate.]

[reformedsinner]

Green onion! Yes, of course, I couldn't forget that. [He sounds cheerfully enthusiastic: it is a good suggestion, particularly considering that he uses green onion in almost everything.

(The enthusiasm is also, at least in part, because she looks nervous at the question. He wonders if she thought it was a test.)]

Do you like strawberries?

[unlucky7]

[Not everything is a test, but most certainly everything contains the possibility of a misstep and some sort of punishable mistake. His partial agreement brings a light sense of relief, though his follow-up question brings back a sense of trepidation.

It should be an easy question to answer; all she needs to give is a yes or a no. Ginia still hesitates before nodding, feeling pressure to add something meaningful.]

They're sweet. The books I read also said they're easy to grow and can be grown in a variety of ways while still providing a high yield.

[reformedsinner]

That's true. And they do go very well with desserts.

[Which, with two teenage boys in his household and guests over much more often than he's used to, isn't a bad thing at all.

He shoots her a cheerful smile, and returns to scrubbing.]