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

[usedperishsong]

Nah, it's one of the better ones.

[ Seriously, though. Didn't a wise man once say that people died when they were killed? ]

[roundtablerebel]

[ Mordred will never understand what her father sees in that "wise man". Or she won't if she ever meets him.

Mordred narrows her eyes at Kanade. ]

I hate you sometimes.

[ But not really. She's just mad she didn't catch the joke earlier and actually showed concern over nothing. ]

[usedperishsong]

That's too bad.

[ She likes you too, kiddo.

Here. She will cement it by trying to ruffle the top of your hair. ]

[roundtablerebel]

[ Noooo! You're messing up her carefully maintained hair! Oh, wait... Nevermind. ]

Gah! Hey, cut it out! I'm not some little kid!

[ Mordred tries to shield her head with her arm while half-heartedly trying to bat away Kanade's hand. This must be what having an annoying sibling is like. ]

[usedperishsong]

We don't know that.....

[ Maybe you're the world's tallest sixth-grader. And the most ripped.

But after some ruffling, she will relent. ] Let's go do something that involves less homework. Focus too hard on somethin' and ya miss the point, right?

[roundtablerebel]

[ Mordred scowls at that remark. ]

You act way more like a kid than I do anyway!

[ Sorta. She makes the smallest effort to smooth her hair and then smirks. ]

Those half-assed answers make me wonder if you even tried to focus.

[ Mordred pushes herself to her feet and collects her jacket from the ground. ]

But you're right, we already did our part. Let's get out of here.

[usedperishsong]

We'll go do something responsible like big adults.

[ A pause to think. ]

Like rent a car.

[ You are never living that down. ]

[roundtablerebel]

[ Mordred flinches like she's just been slapped on the back of her head. She rounds on Kanade, flustered. ]

That wasn't completely my fault!

[ Pointing an accusatory finger Kanade's way. ]

And besides, if we'd just taken the car we wouldn't have had to run away from that Ayakashi!

[ She hasn't forgotten that "plan" that wasn't really a plan at all. ]

[usedperishsong]

So we both had an off day.

[ Kanade is willing to call it a draw. She is also smiling broadly, undisturbed. ]

[roundtablerebel]

[ Well since Kanade is gonna own her share of the blame for that day... Mordred shakes her head and smiles, apparently satisfied. ]

Off day, huh? Somehow you don't strike me as a brilliant strategist.

[usedperishsong]

I get stuff done when I hafta.

[ And that's all one needs to do, right? Just. Get stuff done when they hafta. ]

It works.

[roundtablerebel]

Pff yeah, that sounds more like you.

[ Mordred begins slipping her jacket on. ]

So haven't you got any aspirations beyond the things you "hafta" do?

[usedperishsong]

Way t' make me sound like a workaholic....

[ She dodges the question, though, because....she doesn't have an answer. Not really. Or, rather, she feels like there is an answer, but she hasn't found it yet. Like, she's dead, isn't she? She had one shot at life. It's over now. So now she's gotta look after the not-dead people.

But is fighting the ayakashi the only way she can do that?

No point in dragging somebody else into her personal mess, though. Kanade takes a bow. ] Whattabout you?

[roundtablerebel]

[ That masterful dodge doesn't go unnoticed but Mordred decides that she's unlikely to get an answer even if she calls Kanade out on it. She looks surprised when the redhead turns the question on her. ]

My aspirations?

[ Her expression becomes thoughtful as her mind wanders to a far-off place. Just what does she aspire to do? It's not like the question hasn't crossed her mind before but she's always avoided giving it any serious thought.

A rare moment of extreme honesty coming right up.]

...I'm not really sure. I thought I'd be content as long as I could kill a few Ayakashi and eat something nice every now and then.

[ If she does her job she gets treated to all sorts of different grub from the Near Shore; it's an existence Yuna makes very easy. ]

But I don't know if that's enough to be satisfied with. I feel like I'm meant for something bigger, y'know?

[usedperishsong]

So you think about stuff like that.

[ Too. You think about stuff like that......too.

Kanade doesn't say that last word, but she looks at Mordred thoughtfully, really listening. If someone's baring their soul to her, she won't laugh. Not at that.

Not when she'd be laughing at a mirror. ]

Maybe that's....why we ain't just vessels. [ This has only just occurred to her. If all they're supposed to do is fight ayakashi, why retain human form at all? They can talk to their gods as vessels, so it's not like they need to look like humans to do all that godsitting stuff Kanade has not exactly prioritized. ] We don't get another shot at life, but there's somethin' out there that we won't see till we get to it. An' since we don't remember....we get to discover it. What's on the other side of the fightin'.

[ The usual smile flashes for a second at that. ] Redoing homework sucks, though.

[roundtablerebel]

Something on the other side of fighting, huh?

[ She's still quiet and thoughtful as she repeats that. Mordred wants to ask what it could be but she knows that Kanade wouldn't have the answer. She couldn't expect her to either, seeing as they're both in the same boat.

Mordred sighs and rubs the back of her neck. ]

Sounds like a pain in the ass. How the hell am I supposed to aim for something when I don't even know what I'm aimin' for?

[ Deep down Mordred feels like she should know what her destiny is; that way she could strive to be worthy of it. Having to discover her purpose is an utterly new and, if she was honest with herself, scary concept.

Still, it's nice to know that she isn't the only one who thinks about this stuff. If someone as laid-back as Kanade has given it some thought then perhaps she doesn't have to feel so stupid for doing it herself. ]