31 - First Shrine Visit

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: It's the New Year, and gods are traveling to their shrines to listen to their followers' prayers for good fortune in the upcoming year.
When: Jan 1 - 3
Where: Places of worship throughout Japan
Summary: The first shrine visit of the year is vital! Followers are flooding into everyone's shrines to have their fortunes told, buy good luck charms, and get things in order for the new year. Get the new year started on a positive note by giving the faithful a hand with their requests.






Shrine Visits

New and old gods alike have places of worship somewhere in Japan, places for their worshipers to go and leave both offerings and prayers. Although most of the new gods reside in their homes in the Far Shore, their places of worship in the mortal world need some attention, too! Whatever those shrines look like -- and however large or small they might be -- it's time to head there and prepare to receive the first faithful visitors of the new year. The crowds are full of followers looking to buy fortunes, leave prayers, get good-luck charms, and bring offerings to their gods in thanks for past good luck and hope for more.

Most of the visitors seem to know what they're doing, but some may need a hand. Translate for tourists, reunite lost children with their families, point out the bathrooms and scare off any ayakashi that sneak too close to the shrine gates.

Gods and shinki can take this opportunity to drop by their friends' shrines, too, whether it's to help with the rush, bring some tasty New Year bento, or just say hello.

Prayers

Some of the followers stopping by the shrines at this time of year have special requests in mind, and they're picking shrines with care. A god of funerals might find a follower asking for help keeping their family grave in good condition, while a god of the harvest might be asked to help keep a windowsill herb garden alive when the apartment heat has gone out. Big requests or small, meaningful or silly, these are the special prayers of a god's most devoted followers, so it's important to help out.

(For this prompt, you can create prayers that your character or your character's god might have received! The same prayer can be used for more than one thread if you wish, and characters do not necessarily have to be working with their god or their shinki -- groups of two gods, two shinki, or a god and shinki who aren't paired up are perfectly OK.)

Special Offerings

Most of the shrine visitors bring offerings of money, but sometimes, gratitude to the gods takes a more idiosyncratic turn. Five-yen coins are great (and they add up!) Food tastes great, and besides, shinki never get full. But what can you do with some of these weirder gifts? Who brought Athena's shrine that pile of cute plush owls? Why is there a tiger-skin rug on Bastet's altar? They all suit the gods they're being given to, but it's going to be a pain to figure out where to put these all!

Maybe some of them can be re-gifted?

Great Misfortune

Even the small shrines are bustling this time of year. Gods, shinki, and mortal priests alike have to hustle to keep up with the demand. It's hard to keep an eye on everyone visiting, but they're all faithful followers anyway... aren't they?

Maybe not. Some shrines, belonging to new and old gods alike, are experiencing a sudden increase in misfortune. Ropes break, wood splinters, metal rusts, statues fall over, visitors fall ill, pipes break and appliances malfunction. This isn't just normal wear and tear from the crowds. Someone seems to have cast a curse on the shrines, right at the busy time of year! What will this do to their reputation? Gods and shinki will need to work together to uncover the hidden curse charms at these unlucky shrines before their followers start to think that this isn't the right place to ask for good fortune.

Not every shrine will suffer this curse of misfortune, but at those that do, characters who search with care will be able to discover one or more hidden fabric packets containing a paper with a bad-luck spell and some mysterious characters written on it. Burning the packet and the paper will end the bad luck, and taking it out of the shrine will transfer the bad luck to wherever it goes.

In Summary:

• Head to shrines on the Near Shore to spend the first days of the new year
• Help the faithful out by answering their prayers
• Find something to do with the more unusual offerings
• Prevent your shrine from being cursed with bad luck
• Have fun~

Comments

[fauxcalibur]

[Saber looked over at Suzaku, his eyes sparkling. He'd already broken the "no talking rule" and he seemed at least sort of aware of it because it seemed to be taking every last ounce of his willpower not to say anything more.]

I see...

[He wants to say SO MUCH MORE! There are SO MANY QUESTIONS!]

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku just looked from Saber to the man looking a little startled. The problem with Saber not talking meant that Suzaku had to and talking was not one of his greatest skills.]

I'm sorry to hear that...

[The man nodded, they were in the doorway to the kitchen and he gestured at the toaster. Seemingly an average chrome toaster, four slots four slots for bread. Larger than some but it looked mostly normal to Suzaku]

Thing never worked properly but Sanae will not give it away or throw it out. Lately though it..." He shook his head. "Sanae says I'm being rediculous, that it's just faulty wiring... If you could have a look at it I'd be greatful."

Suzaku nodded and moved over to the toaster, turning it off at the wall before examining the plug.

[fauxcalibur]

[Saber leaned in closely, trying to watch what Suzaku was doing while also keeping an eye out for apparitions.]

Is it haunted?

[He at least had the decency to whisper.]

[swordofzero]

I'm unsure. [How do you even tell is something is haunted? Suzaku has no idea but he has taken apart the plug and the wiring seems fine, he puts it back together as he speaks.] I guess the best way is to test it and see.

[fauxcalibur]

I have a crucifix in case we need it.

[Not someone usually used when repairing a toaster, but it was about all he could contribute to the effort. Well, he could fight something if it were to pop out of the appliance, but that was about the extent of it.

The homeowner looks a little worried, though. Though possibly it's due to the strange foreigner in his house and not so much what Saber is actually saying.]

[swordofzero]

Okay... [Crucifix's were good for curses? Suzaku hasn't heard that one but Saber seems pretty sure so Suzaku nods and presses down the button. He doesn't want to waste food on actually toasting anything but just turning it on should tell them if it was... cursed or not. Or at least if the element was working correctly.]

[fauxcalibur]

[Saber was practically vibrating with excitement. The only malevolent thing the toaster did was start stinking like burning plastic, but that didn't necessarily mean it wasn't cursed. Maybe.]

Is that the stench of a demon?

[Something else not to whisper in someone else's house.]

[swordofzero]

I don't believe so, it smells like...

[Before Suzaku could go further there was a pop and the whole house plummeted into darkness.

Or relative darkness considering it was day time and the kitchen had windows.]