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

[battered]

Sometimes?

['Not really'.]

But I know how!

[kokuyoyo]

[....]

Give me your phone.

[battered]

O-oh, sure!

[He fishes his phone out of his pocket and passes it over to Chikusa - the screen is cracked and the phone itself is a bit scuffed up, but it seems to work just fine otherwise.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Let him just put his number in here and figure out Raichi's...]

...What have you been doing with this thing...

[battered]

What do you mean?

[Doesn't everyone get a crack or two in their phone screens sooner or later? Seems normal to him.]

[kokuyoyo]

It's busted.

[Blunt and upfront. Chikusa hands it back.]

Did you throw it at something...?

[battered]

It works just fine!

[Therefore, not 'busted'.]

I dropped it a few times after I got it, but haven't in a while!

[It's not his fault he wasn't prepared for how fragile smartphones can be.]

[kokuyoyo]

...If you say so.

[He hands it over. Well, it's not his problem anyway.]

I put my phone number in there... So just call me whenever you have time, I guess...

[battered]

[Oh wow, that's actually... a really nice gesture? Incredible...!]

Thanks! [If he can ever wrestle his own anxiety down long enough to call, anyway.] Um-! Are you busy a lot?

['What are the chances that calling at a random time would end up working out?']

[kokuyoyo]

[Apparently he just has a weakness to baseballs. Who knew. Chikusa is already shoving his hands back into his pocket to glance at the grocery selection again when the question comes.]

Ah... Sort of. I go to the library a lot... and have projects. But.... That's it.

[battered]

[A niche weakness to have, at least.]

Okay! Cool! [Incredible, it's like they're really friends now...! Swapping phone numbers and everything.] I'll try to remember it!

[kokuyoyo]

[They're sure something, although Chikusa couldn't say what. He just nods, and turns away.]

...I'm with someone... so... I guess I'll check on them...

[That's... That's like a 'bye', right?]

[battered]

Right! [It's close enough.] I'll see you around...!

[Back to his quandary over 'how are things that are similar actually different'. I'm sure he'll manage to figure something out.]