32 - Blow Your Top

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: A volcano eruption threatens the Western District
When: Jan 14 - 16
Where: The Western District of the Heavens
Summary: The Western District volcano is erupting again, endangering nearby temples and sending ash sprinkling down across the Heavens. Is it natural, or another attack? Those who dare climb the volcano can find out.






Earthquake Warning

On the morning of the 14th, an earthquake rattles windows throughout the Heavens. It's not strong enough to knock down buildings -- unless they're about to fall down anyway, like some of the older abandoned temples -- but it's strong enough to knock things off shelves and startle any late sleepers out of bed.

After the earthquake, strange sights abound around the Heavens. The poetic koi are swimming in organized schools in all of the canals, heading upstream towards the east. Springs of pure water burst out in some areas, and in others, normal springs or fountains have gone temporarily dry. Blue and green lights bob and weave across the landscape.

Falling Rock

The volcano begins erupting with a roar and a bright scarlet glow on the horizon. Ash and bits of rock fall across the Western district, and may even reach into the Southwest, Northwest and southern Central districts. Volcanic glass fibers that look like golden hair collect on trees, fences and buildings.

Trails and fountains of lava are also erupting from freshly opened fissures and wending down the sides of the volcano. Gods and shinki who live in the Western District are going to need some help clearing ash and glass from their roofs, trying to re-route lava flows (the good news is, if you cool one side down enough, you can turn them! the bad news is, that takes a lot of work) or just offering them a spare room to stay until things calm down.

Swamp Gas

It's not just lava and springwater erupting from mysterious new crevasses -- and it's not just mundane volcanic gases, either. Divine volcanic vents are blowing mind-altering fumes all over the Heavens. Anywhere across the Far Shore, but especially as characters get closer to the volcano, they may experience one or more of the following effects:

• Confusion
• Intense emotions
• Anger and irritability
• Impulsive behavior, loss of emotional control
• Hallucinations
• Unusually clear insight into other people and situations
• Coughing, eye and throat irritation, difficulty breathing
• Irresistible impulses to speak in poetry

Most symptoms will clear up after a few hours in fresh air, and all of them will be gone within 48 hours of the last volcano gas exposure.

Mountain Climbing

Natural disasters don't just happen like this in the Heavens... do they? Amaterasu's white-robed shinki are convinced that something is wrong, and they're organizing into search parties to go up the mountain and seek out the cause of this eruption. New and old gods and shinki are welcome to join them, or form their own groups. All of the hazards -- tremors, lava, ash, and volcanic gas -- will get worse as characters ascend the volcano. Strange little spirit flames, in shades of red and blue, dance on the rocks, dazzling, confusing and threatening to singe interlopers.

And there's someone up here, too. A mysterious figure with glowing red eyes is keeping watch on the intruders and vanishing behind boulders whenever someone turns his way. He won't let anyone traveling with one of the white-robed shinki get too close, but solitary gods or shinki might manage to lure him into conversation, if they try....

OOC: Please comment to the 'NPC REQUEST' thread below in order to talk to the mysterious figure on the volcano.

Those climbing the volcano will have a chance to battle the mysterious figure should their characters choose to do so. If you're interested in a fight, please comment to the 'NPC FIGHT' thread below before the top-level is posted. A top-level for the fight will go up on IC Jan 16/OOC Sept 4.

In Summary:

• Don't get rattled
• Help out the Western District with their volcano problem
• Watch out for volcanic gases
• Find out who's behind the eruption
• Have fun~

Comments

[letteropener]

[Her physical exhaustion runs deeper than her mental; her body has been strained even by her enhanced alicorn standards. Truth is, she's worse off than she looks, because she's excellent at hiding herself.]

[She is also pretty heavy, because her human form is solid and powerful like her equine one, and her balance is terribly off -- she hasn't properly accounted for how easily she lapses out of what she's learned in this body, and instinctively moves to a quadrupedal posture any time she lets her focus lapse. So thanks for the help, Hakkai; she needs it more than she likes to admit.]

This is terribly kind of you. I appreciate it very much, thank you.

[letteropener]

I'll be fine. [She furls the wing quickly, heedless of the pain. The feathers on the outside and the fur surrounding it are scorched and seared, burns that aren't life-threatening but certainly unpleasant.]

[Letting the spell go, she staggers with the sudden relief. The lava surges behind them, no longer a threat save for the convection that her magic allows her to conveniently ignore.]

Thank you very much.

[rockthemonkey]

Hardly anyone even knows what I look like when I'm like that...

[Some people do- Goku doesn't know about what happened when he was a shinki, but obviously Hakkai knows. Dokugakuji does too, but this doesn't seem like his style. Nia knows what he looks like, but she doesn't know how dangerous he is. Probably nearly everyone knows what Hakkai looks like without his limiters, but only Goku and Dokugakuji know about the Minus Wave.]

So... [Ugh, talking is a pain when there's blood dripping down his face. Goku removes one hand from his eyes and covers his cheek instead. They don't feel serious, but he'll probably have scars for a few weeks. That'd be kind of cool, if he hadn't gotten them in such an embarrassing way. Goku moves his arm to cover both eyes and keeps talking.] It was a... uh, that thing?

[rockthemonkey]

[Goku pauses at "monster". That's a word that keeps following him around, it feels like. He doesn't really care, but...]

... Does it matter what I am? Whatever else I am, I'm still Son Goku.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Cars? You mean the vehicles people in the Near Shore zoom around in? [She'd seen them, she just doesn't understand them.] That's what you Drive instead of Blades? How -- how the bloody hell does that work?

[boneofsword]

[The air is different here, tastes differently as Archer takes a breath. Not as deep as he'd want to - even as Caster his partner has excellent aim and strenght to match. A moment later he sits close to Cú Chulainn and wraps one arm around his shoulder, barely hiding a wince.]

Take as much time as you need.

[Like on cue Pal appears, pushing his nose under Caster's hood to lick his face. That's what you get for being in dog's reach.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Call me your savior. [Nia smirks back at him.] I've got a Water Blade, after all. Fire knows better than to mess with that.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Super, that's great.

[Nia gets a running start, then makes what works out to be a pretty impressive leap to grab a branch and haul herself up onto it. From there she hops again, quickly putting on height. Without claws!]

I hate heights, I really hate heights...

[priforprince]

Wait!

[ Hibiki catches herself after she's already thrown a hand out, fingers splayed, in a gesture of desperation. Lowering said hand, she stands up straighter, even as her chin sinks down. ] I'll say it.

[ She bites her lips, and vows with regal solemnity: ] I can say it.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Same group. There's a lot of them, I'm sure of it. They're even manipulating gods. One poor girl is getting used for sure... [Nia makes a low growl in her throat, ears twitching in irritation.] They say some renegade god's declared war on the heavens, but I'm not sure it's a god in charge.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

"It means I've resonated with a Blade." She motioned with one ringblade to the beast in question. "He gives me power and support. So I don't do things like drop over dead of heat from the lava, for one."

[priforprince]

Let us share in that fruit's nectar after our victory.

[ Hibiki swings up onto her horse once Maxie is done greeting Zelda. He seems well-disposed to her, if a somewhat reserved soul. Maxie is Hibiki's horse and therefore has Seen Things. ]

Be safe, Princess Zelda.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Wait. Hold on.

You get motion sick?!

[What -- what an embarrassing condition in a vassal!]

[reformedsinner]

It's no trouble at all.

[It's a little trouble; she's heavy for her size, and taller than he is, besides which she keeps wobbling and almost falling forward onto her hands and knees. Still, he's managing, with effort, to keep her supported.]

Since I can't stop a volcano, this is the best I can do. Here--

[Jeep is an old enough model not to have doors, so Hakkai can maneuver her right up to the seat to climb in.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun isn't all that used to being teleported by others, so he tenses slightly as their surroundings change. The lighting up of the sconces makes him turn his head rather quickly, but it's immediately clear it's nothing that should be an actual concern to him.

At that question, he turns his head towards Zelda, holding up a hand.]

I'm fine with just water. [Though there's also the point that rather than waiting around if she leaves the room for it, he's...probably going to follow her. Shun doesn't like just letting other people get him things, and he's already feeling somewhat like he owes her for the intervention.]

[revolutionfalcon]

The point is that it's not saying much about what happens with anyone else if you're affectionate with a partner. [Shun doesn't do it in public, but he's certainly far more prepared to touch and be touched by Ren than he is anyone else. To him, it's a matter of closeness distinct from what he has with other people.]

this tag goes out to tenoh haruka, who has no time for such shit

[priforprince]

This shouldn't be...

[ Really, Hibiki should be listening to her more suspicious side right now. It would behoove her, as the Cool Older Antihero, to not fall for stupid traps (and then yell at the kids about it). She will have a genre crisis later.

Right now, though, she is having a gay seal crisis. She's out of the truck before it's even finished moving, and taking off at a run, an actual run. Her mind has fixed on that silhouette, and she literally cannot see anything else.

What's the meaning of this?! Why has this figure appeared before her?? Is her wistful, tortured longing so great she's hallucinating, or.....or....

or...... ]

FUWARI!!

[reformedsinner]

It probably was. We're just seeing things; no one's making us see them.

[Which, unfortunately, means they can't be sure it's not going to happen again. Hakkai's moving with more confidence now, although his footsteps are still hesitant. When he can't trust his eyes, he can't trust that the ground is what it looks like, either.

He makes it to Goku's side without stumbling, at least, and puts his good hand lightly on Goku's shoulder. The side of his face is a bloody mess from Hakkai's raking claws, and that, Hakkai suspects, is real. He remembers the blows.

He's also not offering a hand up. Goku should be able to stand, and Hakkai's going to have to be careful of straining his ribs until he's wrapped them, just in case it worsens the break. He'd hate a punctured lung.]

There's gauze in the back of Jeep. We should get that bleeding stopped.

[veiledflame]

I might be able to, but stopping a whole volcano is too much even for me.

[He puts his hands on his hips, looking at them.]

Besides, what's in it for me? I'm fine with fire, so I'd just be doing it for you guys if I did, right?

[veiledflame]

[On the other side of the crater, several minutes' journey away, the boy is already engaged in combat.

By the time the two of them will be able to arrive, he's vanished into a dark pillar of frozen stone, and the volcano is shuddering and cooling beneath them....]

[veiledflame]

"I came from this world but I was born a god," Sotero says, confusion written across his face. "Weren't you all? Is there such a thing as a god who used to be a mortal?"

[veiledflame]

Yeah, I guess so.

[He puts his hands behind his head, and adds:]

It's just that the Heavens care a lot about that kind of stupid thing, like if you're in their records right, or if you do what they say.

[veiledflame]

Really?

[Prove it.]

1/hibiki

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki swallows, steeling herself. She's doing this for Wendy, actually. She promised she would stop the volcano. And this will stop the volcano.

She can do this and still behave as suits Shikyoin Hibiki. ]

2/hibiki

[priforprince]

[ yes, she will do this

HER WAY! ]