27 - The Gods' Meeting

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: The Meeting of the Gods is here at last.
When: October 30
Where: Heaven's Meeting Hall
Summary:







Pre-Meeting

Guards at the front door are carefully checking each god who enters off on their list of attendees, and taking the names of each of their shinki attendants.

Once the participants are past the doors, they are guided down the hallway to a huge meeting room by one of the guards, who will announce them by divine title, and each of their shinki by whatever name they gave. It's an open question as to who's actually listening, though, because the room is swiftly filling up with gods and shinki. As well as the newcomers, old gods are here, some in human form attended by their uniformed shinki, others in stranger shapes -- giant bears, round-bellied tanuki, turtles, dragons, and more. There's even one tricolored tabby cat in a small blue cap, seated majestically in the arms of a uniformed shinki and chatting with another god.

Buffet tables bearing every kind of food and drink imaginable are set up at one end of the room, and a dais with a podium is at the other, draped in bright gold and white bunting and emblazoned with a chrysanthemum emblem.

Early Announcements

Finally, the socialization comes to an end, and the meeting itself begins as Ookuninushi grabs the microphone and steps up to the podium. The year's most popular gods are named first: Hotei, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, is in third place, Tenjin in second and Ebisu in first place. Each steps up to bow and accept their accolades in turn: Hotei is a big man with a wide smile, Tenjin a tall, ascetic man wearing old robes and concealing his smug expression behind a fan, and a tired-looking younger man in a business suit announces himself as representing Ebisu, who is watching over the Near Shore during the event.

Next, the most popular new god is announced: Ookuninushi has to stop and wrinkle his nose at the name for several seconds before he pronounces it-- Nekhbet, a new arrival in the Heavens.

He moves on to call for a moment of silence recognizing the difficulties of the last year. Many gods have faced reincarnation and returned wearing unfamiliar faces! The Heavens can't yet explain the cause of these changes, but Amaterasu herself urges them to welcome their friends' new incarnations as brothers and sisters in the Heavens.

His final announcement is that, after the successful resolution of the trouble associated with some recent deaths, Orihime has been restored to her place among the eight million gods.

Fortune Weaving

Announcements finished, the main activity of the evening begins. The white-robed shinki bring in huge baskets filled with wooden prayer plaques, setting them down all around the room, and the gods begin to form into circles around each basket. The older gods will gladly explain to any confused newcomers that they're weaving fortunate connections between mortal lives as they spread the plaques out and tie strings off together with great care. All the plaques have names written on them; some are filled out with prayers, some just with notes, and others adorned with pictures of flowers, animals or favorite characters.

Gods and shinki are given blank plaques to inscribe with their own names, too, in order to give them the chance to make fortunate connections as well. (Not necessarily romantic, the other gods will assure them! There are many different kinds of fated connection.)

Help out, take the opportunity to chat, and make some fortunate matches for yourself as well as these hard-working petitioners.

Midnight Disaster

Just shy of midnight, while the gods are still matching up plaques, finishing the last of the banquet, and getting into drunken arguments over who to connect to whom, a shinki in a dark suit torn at the shoulder comes dashing into the Meeting Hall.

"Calamity!" he cries-- and tells the assembled Heavens that a mysterious blight has fallen across a sleepy residential community in the Tokyo suburbs. The blight, a huge circle covering about two blocks, is sucking the life out of everything inside it: plants are wilting, and people and animals have fallen into deathly slumber. As if that weren't bad enough, it's also attracting big, dangerous ayakashi. Ebisu and his shinki are there now, but there aren't enough of them to fight the ayakashi and move the people trapped inside the blighted circle to a safer place before they die.

Volunteers will need to fight ayakashi and rescue the mortals trapped in the blight -- once they're outside its edge, they'll begin to wake up and recover on their own.

In Summary:

• Enjoy the banquet before the announcements
• Hear about the most popular gods
• Help make fortunate connections for the living
• Respond to a disaster
• Have fun~

Comments

[godsoffortune]

Congratulations!

Leo has earned 200 followers.
Aymeric has earned 200 followers.

Fushimi has earned 20 exp.
Shun has earned 200 followers.

[priforprince]

Wha...?

[ Oh, their shinki. The stranger calms down from how even the feather in their cap had bristled in surprise at hearing that word deployed so suddenly. Their shinki was meant, of course!

Still, having to take this extra step before the ayakashi can be rent is annoying. They throw an arm out to the side as they turn away, intending to go in search of said shinki. Their cape flips up. Swoosh. SO IMPRESSIVE. ] What an incredibly inconvenient system....

[water_meebo]

...Right...

[ Because he totally believes you. He can somewhat exactly pin point who it is he's talking to right now, even behind her extravagant mask. She's mostly figured out. Honestly, if she could stop being so dramatic about all of this, it'd go a lot smoother but who was he to judge? They had people to take care of and if the methods works, the Seraph wasn't going to make a big deal of it.

Mikleo swings his staff through the Ayakashi in hopes of distracting it from Hibiki as she was leading the family to safety. There were just too many people and they would all be in danger if they stuck too close tot he family as the Ayakashi gets closer. Mikleo decided it was better to use his seraph abilities in this situation, a swing of his staff a current of water smacks the creature away. a good few feet. ]

Hurry before it comes back!

[clothes_make_the_man]

A match made in heaven.

[brynwieldr]

He'd insist it was hell.

[clothes_make_the_man]

They are. There are so many different kinds of fabric involved, and there's the color balance to consider as well.

[He thinks for a moment.]

I suppose it might be interesting to try my hand at something that's worn in a radically different climate, like the desert or the tropics. Or even something stylish that can be worn in very cold weather.

[clothes_make_the_man]

Oh no... I'm sorry to hear that.

[He definitely knows what that's like.]

It sounds like the two of you were close.

[clothes_make_the_man]

I haven't had the chance to try it yet either. Would you like to go together?

[He smiles, holding out a hand for her.]

More than I've ever seen in one place before, yes. It's a little exciting.

[all_seeing_eye]

So what would you have done differently?

[all_seeing_eye]

Yeah, okay, I can appreciate that.

[The life of a Phantom Thief is one of freedom, after all.]

So... you're really into the whole lone wolf thing, huh?

[all_seeing_eye]

But New England is part of America.

[Come on, Ammy, it's been that way for at least 400 years or so.]

[kuroi_taiyo]

I'd like to know that the connections I made are because of me, not because of some strings someone else tied.

[ But that's not here. They're in what-if land to see when it's considered okay and good to do what she originally thought was mean. ]

But with this scenario, it's less about being a lone wolf and say... Being cursed. Actually cursed, not just feeling like they are. This version of me knows for a fact that it would affect more people to be tied like this. So is it worse to not do anything, spreading this curse because of what these strings mean, or to keep it contained and alone?

[all_seeing_eye]

That depends on how you look at it.

[Futaba clearly does not consider it a waste of time at all.]

But hey, at least we've got one thing in common.

[all_seeing_eye]

Yeah, I guess she would.

[Futaba laughs a little.]

So...

[Awkward silence.]

Just one quick face squish?

[all_seeing_eye]

[She eagerly takes the offered hand.]

Don't care. Whatever's fastest.

[heptagram]

Not yet. I'm not sure how I feel about the idea, I guess.

[ittenbari]

You don't think they're cute?

[They are, by nature, pretty darn cute. All fluffy and stuff, but...]

I don't either! No one ever agrees with me!

[A kindred soul!]

[fauxcalibur]

Strictly speaking, the title they gave me was that of an archangel rather than a god. I think I find that a little easier to accept than if they'd proclaimed me some god I had never even heard tell of. Even though I still don't believe any of it.

[He smiles and shrugs. He's not particularly upset about any of it, though he's not so certain what he does think.]

I keep wondering just when someone will root out the mages behind it all.

[fauxcalibur]

[You're speaking his language, Cu. His eyes are practically sparkling.]

Ah! Like the tale of the marriage of Sir Gawain! Though the lady Ragnelle was not a dragon, of course...

[He looks at the picture of the dragon with renewed interest.]

Do you think we need to draw what the dragon will turn into?

[risingdarkness]

You sure talk a lot. Have you actually done anything?

[It's not like Kagaho has done anything, either, but he's not as free to act as a god would be. As a shinki, he has responsibilities and ties to his god that tie him down more than he's willing to admit.]

[risingdarkness]

[A dark look crosses his face. Why is that everyone's answer to everything? "Keep your head down." "Wait and see." It's just an excuse not to do anything.]

What'll they do? Kill us? I'm already dead. I don't see why I should have to be afraid of that.

[doodlebuginette]

[Her first instinct might have been to try and convince Nanako to leave the really dangerous stuff to the older gods, but having known her for all of a couple minutes, she realizes how foolish that would be. And how much time it would waste. So for now she's just going to focus on other things and make sure to keep Nanako safe without it seeming like she's going out of her way to do so.]

It's nice to meet you Nanako. I wish it was under better circumstances. [Ordinarily, she might have been one of the ones going to fight. This time though, she's willing to take a more indirect approach.] That's a good idea! I'm not really much of a fighter, and I'm not entirely sure where my shinki has run off to but I'm willing to help get people out. [If nothing else, Marinette knows her strengths and is willing to help even if it's not a sure bet that she'll succeed. Speaking of... ] Did you get separated from your shinki?

[subtract]

[There's no flaw in Zelda's reasoning, but he still finds himself wanting to disagree. Does it matter if a bridge is burned when your ultimate goal would mean stopping that bridge from ever existing in the first place? Does it matter when the person on the other side could throw the match just as easily? It'd make more sense to end it quickly rather than let that meaningless attachment grow.

... but that, too, is in the past now. He's found his reason to stay in the present. He has no choice but to adapt, to learn how to live with his mistakes.

He takes a long, contemplative sip of his drink.]

About what I promised you before... I meant everything I said. This isn't something I'm just doing for you. It's important to me as well. I'm not going to allow the forces of this world to toy with people as they please.

[If he's going to try his keeping friends from now on, he's damn well going to make sure he can see them again.]

[trademark_skull]

[You never know what might happen at these things.]

Maybe, but...there already was one not too long ago.

[trademark_skull]

[He takes the two plagues and read what's on them again. But, if William really thinks they were a match, he will (somewhat begrudgingly) go along with it. It is possible nothing too bad might happen though.]

I-if you say so.

[Carefully Emizel ties them with a red string. He tries his best to make it look nice, but it is a somewhat crude weave. Not enough practice perfecting this kind of thing yet.]