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

[reloves]

Minako twirls a lock of her hair around a finger - although it seems to be an idle gesture while she's concentrated and in thought. "If I were one of those koi, I'd definitely be trying to get away from the source as quickly as possible."

There probably are a lot of things that could cause an earthquake here in the Far Shore, considering the existence of godly powers here and all that, but most she can think of wouldn't necessarily be very good.

"So does that mean we'd find the source if we went in the opposite direction of where they're going?"

[kokuyoyo]

"...Depending on things... I might be the opposite." If he were called upon by Hakkai, after all, or at least acting in his god's best interests along with that of his boyfriend's. It's why he's here now, after all.

Still, in the end, she has a good point, and he lets out a slow breath inbetween his teeth. "I guess. I was hoping to get more done, but... It's going to be useless if everything falls apart." It's not conductive to the writing process. He tilts his head in the direction the koi are fleeing from. "How fast can you walk, then...?"

[reloves]

Her attention turns from the koi to him for a moment. Chikusa is interesting in how he seems like the type to not care about stuff (seriously, brushing off something potentially really bad going on as a mere inconvenience?) but actually does care in his own way.

He doesn't seem like a bad partner to have in getting to the bottom of this. But they could use some levity between them right now, especially while Minako doesn't know yet just how serious this is about to get. So she suddenly grins at him, sticking out her tongue just slightly in a playful sort of way. "Do you really think there's no way a beautiful girl like me could outrun you?"

Minako is mostly joking. Mostly. Chikusa might kind of look like a nerd, but she sure isn't going to underestimate anyone here.

[kokuyoyo]

Having a tongue stuck out at him now has him blink at her in an almost owlish sort of way, an image that look all the sillier with the way his glasses rest on his nose. Huh? Well, either way....

"You're short," he points out. It's one of the first things he tends to notice about people, besides if they're a threat, just because of his own ridiculous height. "But if you'll be fine, we can just go check it out now..."

[reloves]

When her attempt at teasing just falls entirely flat, Minako has a momentary internal life crisis not very much unlike a certain text post.

It only lasts a moment though, as most things do with Minako - if not just outwardly. "You'd be surprised what short people can do!" Also she is totally an acceptable normal average girl height, okay, Chikusa!! Thankfully she's not very self-conscious about her height. She doesn't even feel weird standing next to him as she hops up to her feet when he's so much taller than she is. "Just lead the way, I'll be right there with you!"

[kokuyoyo]

What was that brief moment of pause...? People really can be strange in the world. Still, she's right in that they should probably get going. "Then, I guess just keep an eye out for anything strange." Usually, he only walks at an average shuffle, but he somehow speeds up...

...While still shuffling.

It's a bit of a sight.

[reloves]

That.. sure is a sight. It doesn't stop Minako from starting to move too, getting started on a steady jog, but it sure looks a lot more actually athletic than Chikusa's seemingly effortless fast shuffling does.

"Do you always run like that?" She blinks, looking at him as she asks it while they keep moving. Minako is keeping an eye out for anything strange already, and she has found it in Chikusa's speedy shuffle, clearly.

[kokuyoyo]

Listen... He blinks over at her, not seeing anything wrong with it. "I can do more actual running..." As if to demonstrate, he actually removes his feet from the ground so that he can do something that's only a step removed from a jog.

"But I hate moving a lot..."

[reloves]

"Well, this is definitely a situation where we have to get moving! There's probably something seriously wrong!"

Unless earthquakers are just a normal thing here on the Far Shore and she's only experiencing it now since she's still new.. Minako hadn't even thought about it that way yet, really, but it does feel like there must be something bigger than just an earthquake with the way everyone seems to surprised about it.

"And we have to get down to the bottom of that! We're like a detective duo!"

[kokuyoyo]

Detective duo.... It's easier to keep jogging now that he's moving instead of coming to a stop for another shuffle so, with great reluctance, Chikusa keeps at it. That doesn't mean his attention still isn't warily on Minako, however.

"Does... that mean I have to get out the detective outfit again..."

[reloves]

Minako seems so unbothered by having to jog - it comes pretty naturally to her, even if it's for a reason she can't remember - that it's actually nice to be able to just have a moment of not having to focus on what's going on right now. Just enough for those much-needed moments of levity.

Besides, she can't pass up a remark like that. She has to know the details!

"You have a detective outfit?!" Minako sounds so excited about it, even smiling and looking to the side at him as she jogs on.

[kokuyoyo]

Mistakes have, quite possibly, been made. Chikusa thins his lips, but answers anyway. Like his name, he suspects details would happen whether he liked them or not. At least now he can say how much someone knows.

"Someone else had the two of us go get outfits during a different investigation into something..."

[reloves]

"That's so cute!"

At least she doesn't seem to judge him for having worn one in the slightest.. although that might not exactly be a good thing in this scenario, since now Minako is totally caught up in her imaginations of this detective outfit and won't let the thought go that easily.

"Can I see it sometime? You don't have to wear it now, since I guess we have to investigate something this serious very quickly, but I'm so curious..!"

[kokuyoyo]

"I mean... I guess it probably should be cute..." It was a little girl that was involved in putting it together, so that's only to be expected, right? Little girl like cute things. Chikusa has only passing knowledge of this fact, but it sounds right.

"I guess when you come over for dinner..." Because that's still happening, natural disaster or not, obviously. "That'd be a good time." It's not like there's any other time. Besides, after a good meal, that might be a time when he actually has the energy to spare to go through the bothersome motions of changing his clothes and then changing them again.

[reloves]

Minako smiles widely. Chikusa, you're the best friend!! She's already so excited to see it, especially with him agreeing to it so easily. It doesn't take much to please Minako.

But she's pulled quickly out of her own bubbly dreamspace for a moment when they almost run past a fountain. Instead of jogging past, though, Minako stops as she suddenly notices something about it, her eyes growing a bit wider.

"Hey, look at this for a moment! Isn't this supposed to be a fountain?"

Because the structure sure looks fountain-shaped.. but there's no water in it at all anymore.

[kokuyoyo]

When Minako stops, Chikusa does too, although his is a much slower one. "Fountain..." Blinking curiously, he takes a few steps forward to better inspect it. Sure enough, it's a fountain, just... no water. Tilting his head to the side, he circles around it carefully. Just in case something comes spewing out, after all.

"...It's completely dry." After ascertaining that it's safe enough, he reaches in to drag a finger against the inside of it. "It doesn't... feel as if it's been dry for a long time. So maybe... This could have happened recently?"

[reloves]

"That's odd.. I don't think I've ever heard of an earthquake draining a fountain before. It's not like it looks cracked either, so the water couldn't have flowed out that way.."

Minako tilts her head to one side and then the other as she thinks about it.

"Maybe whatever caused the earthquake has something to do with water? That could be why the koi were acting so weird too."

[kokuyoyo]

"Well... We're just looking at above ground." Moving away from the fountain, he stares down at the earth beneath their feet. "All sorts of things can happen underneath... For all we know, the earthquake changed something underground, causing cave ins that stopped water flow..." He shrugs after a second. "At least, that would be the mundane guess."

The Far Shore has proven itself to be anything but mundane more than once.

"The water at your temple was fine before you left it, right...?"

[reloves]

She nods at him.

"The pond was just the same as always.. But I left pretty quickly once I was sure the temple was still fine after the earthquake, so it could've changed by now." Her eyebrows knot together in a bit of a frown as she suddenly realises something while thinking about the temple. "Actually, we had a lot more koi than usually. Like they all fled to our pond.. Maybe they knew that other places were going to dry up like this soon?"

[kokuyoyo]

"They're at least smart enough to compose poems... So I guess they'd be smart enough to notice if their water levels were getting low." He knows there's specialized kind of intelligence, and that moon logic is sometimes just a thing in the Heavens, but, listen. He's trying to be at least a little down to earth here.

Although if he's going away from earth... Chikusa's chin tilts a little down towards his chest. "...We can't really discount supernatural, so... The more obvious sign would be someone with a control of water taking it for their own purposes, right...?" They've already had a god who can clearly control trees- an entire forest in fact. And that was just a rebel god with apparently not a lot of followers... Who knows what else could happen.

[reloves]

"Do you know someone who can control water?"

A god would be the obvious answer, right? Some shinki also seem to have special powers from when they were alive, but she doubts there'd be anyone strong enough to drain this much water. She tries going over the gods she knows in her head, but she doesn't think there's one among them who specializes in water.. Besides, she can't imagine any of them doing something to this place to begin with.