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

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Well excuse me for not being the brooding, angsting sort that devotes his life only to his craft and hates everyone. [Because he can totally be that guy, right?]

[nopixiedust]

I'd mess with you then, too.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

So who don't you mess with, then? Not that I'm changing for you or anybody, this is just curiosity.

[nopixiedust]

Huh.... Good question. I can't really think of anyone, honestly.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

So what I'm hearing is, "You're good as you are, Edge, carry on."

[nopixiedust]

You'd hear that regardless of whatever it was I would say.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

There are a few things I'd have to stop and listen for. "I'd give you grief no matter what" is not one of them. [He flashes a thumbs-up over to her that probably comes with a smile beneath the mask.] Let me know when you see me doing something actually wrong or harmful!

[nopixiedust]

Does a kick count as 'letting you know'?

[asking for a friend]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

If I'm seriously about to do something like that, use any method necessary.

[As lightly as he puts that? He's surprisingly serious nonetheless, and it shows in his eyes. Edge does not take the possibility of him doing something wrong or harmful lightly.]

[nopixiedust]

[Now, isn't that serious? Not that it stops Wendy from reaching over to pat his head.]

If you make a look like that more often, you might actually get a girl!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

...Seriously? Who likes the broody sorts that have no sense of humor?

[nopixiedust]

It's not about brooding. It's about being passionate about something, and strong beliefs!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Hey, I have those! They just don't normally come up in the course of talking to a cute girl is all. If I started going on about them out of nowhere, it'd be weird!

[nopixiedust]

That's why you have to lead into it! Or at least keep an eye out for opportunity.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Now that seems wrong. Lurking through the whole conversation, just waiting to pounce on the first opportunity to speak up on my hatred of children in wars or the like? Feels manipulative.

[nopixiedust]

Oh, how naive and oblivious the young are... [Wendy cups her hand around one cheek.] 'Showing your best side' isn't manipulative. It's giving a strong, good impression!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Looking for ways to drag the conversation to it is. That's about like going, "Speaking of shinki training, check this out!"

[Edge rolls his shoulder back to slide his cape off it, then flexes one arm.]

Not sure that sort of thing wins the ladies over.

[nopixiedust]

That's because you're obvious. It's not that hard or unnatural. You're just making a bigger deal out of it like it is.

[Reaching over, she tries to pinch his bicep.]

And a dork.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Sure, knock yourself out, kid. Edge has whipcord muscles, they aren't giving more than a hair.] Still seems manipulative. If I have good points, shouldn't they be recognized on their own merits? Problem is they usually come out in the middle of battle, I guess... bad time for dating.

[nopixiedust]

And there's your problem. [She's still determinedly trying to pinch.] What if you meet a cute girl who'd be into you, but she's not going to step anywhere near the battlefield? You need to find a way to let her know that there's more to you than a flirt!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Just keep pinching there. It's only making him feel good about being all solid and everything.]

[Edge starts to answer, stops, and then leans back slightly, a slightly puzzled look crossing his face.]

...I don't think that's the girl for me? I don't know what I'd do with a girl who didn't go near the battlefield.

[nopixiedust]

[Yeah, that's a guy for you. Wendy is pretty sure on that front, at any rate. She laughs at him a little bit with that reaction.]

So you need someone who can keep up, then, huh?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Not even just that. I respect the decision of anyone who doesn't want to fight, but I'm not sure I could really like anyone who isn't willing to stand up for what's right.

[nopixiedust]

Well, what does that mean, exactly? After all, someone might not stand up for things in the same way that you do, or their idea of what's right might be different.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

I think we can agree on some important things, though. We don't let ayakashi plague mortals if we can help it, for example. We don't let the strong bully and mistreat the weak. That's not stuff you debate, that's basic human decency.