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

[veiledflame]

"Strange like somebody making a volcano erupt?" the boy asks, and scoffs. "How would anybody do that? I'm just up here 'cause I like it. It looks cool."

His sidelong glance seems to check their faces, seeing if they look convinced.

[kokuyoyo]

Liar.

Chikusa's voice comes through the connection between him and Hakkai in a kind of lazy drawl, not convinced at all. People are a mystery to him, in most cases... But he can tell the signs of an antsy and bad liar from a mile away.

[junkyarddog]

Ken frowns at the kid. He's not as smart as Chikusa, not as observant...but he has a decent amount of emotional intelligence. Not to mention that this kid reminds him of a younger version of himself, and he can almost hear the nervous bravado.

"We never said somebody made the volcano made it erupt," he says, a touch suspiciously. His glance at Hakkai, however, invites Hakkai to press the matter further; Ken doesn't think he can interrogate someone the way he knows Hakkai or Chikusa could. (Which is to say, effectively.) So he's not even going to try.

[reformedsinner]

They hadn't, and yet the boy had immediately leaped to defend himself. He's a terrible liar, Hakkai notes, which is going to make this easy.

Of course, they'll still need to be careful not to scare him off....

"No, we didn't," he agrees. "And it is interesting, isn't it? But you'll be hurt if you stay up here. It's dangerous."

[veiledflame]

"I'm fine," the boy says. "So what are you looking for that's strange if it's not a person?"

[kokuyoyo]

Are you going to go along with him questioning you, Hakkai...? Being the only person he can talk to, Chikusa makes sure to direct his questions to his god. It seems like a dumb idea, letting some random kid just take the reins... but then, Hakkai is better at dealing with other people than him. Perhaps this is what's necessary.

Still... Maybe we can scare him with tales of like what happened with that forest...

[junkyarddog]

"Anything strange, byon," Ken says, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "But we did find a strange kid hanging out on an exploding volcano, so why're you asking us questions? You oughta just be answering them!" He leans down, more on Sotero's eye level. "So where're you from, that you could just wander up here to check it out? Are you a god or a shinki?"

[reformedsinner]

I'd like to make him feel comfortable, Hakkai answers Chikusa's silent query, because he's more likely to tell us the truth then.

Aloud, mildly, he says, "Now, Ken, there's no need to interrogate him." His quick glance sidelong at Ken adds a silent yet that he hopes the boy will spot. "But Ken's right that we don't know what we're looking for. Have you seen anything strange up here?"

[veiledflame]

"Yeah," the boy says. "A giant cloud bird with a couple of weirdos riding on it."

He pauses for a moment, eyebrows lifted skeptically, and then sticks out his tongue.

"But I guess if you mean something other than weird people, no. It looks like a volcano to me."

[kokuyoyo]

Chikusa's response to this sass is to let out a deeply drawn exhale through his nose.... A wet one. Is it snot that's blowing out to splatter over the boy, or just some sort of precipitation from a creature that's partly cloudy with a chance of rain?

It's a mystery.

But gross regardless.

[junkyarddog]

Ken can't help snickering as Chikusa snorts at the boy and gets him all wet. But, juvenile humor aside, this kid's attitude is pissing him off.

"That stuff's not super weird for the heavens, byon," he counters. "And Hakkai-sama's not weird."

By Ken and Chikusa's very unusual standards, Hakkai is downright normal.

[reformedsinner]

"Ha ha," Hakkai says, which isn't really a laugh. "We might be weird, but isn't it a little weird for you to be up here, too? Even if you say you're fine, the ground isn't steady, and you could be burned."

Could he? Hakkai fixes his best sincerely concerned expression on his face, making eye contact with the child.

[veiledflame]

"Hey!" Sotero wipes his sleeve frantically over his face, smearing the gross wet droplets more than he's really wiping them away, and glares. "Make your bird stop that! I'm fine up here, or I was til you guys started messing with me.

"I'd be fine again if you'd just go away. I don't get burned."

[kokuyoyo]

He can already guess what Hakkai is going to say to that. It's pretty obvious. So Chikusa turns his head away a little bit, which isn't much of a problem when it comes to keeping an eye on the kid. Bird heads are hand this way.

[junkyarddog]

"You don't?" Ken squints suspiciously at the boy. "What kinda kid are you that doesn't get burned, byon?"

[reformedsinner]

Chikusa is already turning his head away, so Hakkai doesn't feel the need to tell him anything at all. Besides, he's not entirely sure he wants to indulge this child. Instead, he smiles.

"And even if you don't get burned, what are you doing in a place like this? Do you live near here?"

[veiledflame]

"Of course I don't live here," the boy scoffs. "It's a volcano. I live in a house. -- And I'm a god. Aren't you?"

[kokuyoyo]

He really sucks at lying. Chikusa can only make commentary, if he doesn't want to do anything else, so here he is.

Gods don't technically live in houses anyway, right...

[junkyarddog]

"Gods live in temples, not houses, byon," Ken objects. He and Chikusa are on the same wavelength fairly frequently. "Where's yours at?"

[reformedsinner]

Chikusa and Ken's point about the houses almost overlaps; Hakkai smiles.

"I'm a god," he says, "and these two are my shinki."

When it comes to questions -- well, Ken's is quite good, and Hakkai leaves it as the only question being asked.

[veiledflame]

"We don't have to," Sotero shoots back. "And why would I tell you where I live? Where do you live?"

[kokuyoyo]

It's possible that Ken might let it spill, because it's not exactly a secret when it comes to someone who is a God of Fortune. Of course, there's also a high chance he might not, because of the paranoia that they've grown up with and which is still smarting after the whole incident with their room. Chikusa won't stop him either way. Instead, he shifts his head to glance at Hakkai.

Does it really matter if he's told...?

Oh, whups, is he snorting at Sotero again...

[junkyarddog]

"Why the hell should we tell you?" Ken asks, scowling. "You haven't told us anything, byon. You don't get to not tell us where you live and then ask us instead!"

[reformedsinner]

Hakkai laughs lightly. "Now, now, Ken. There's no need to be rude, is there? We can tell him where we live, and then he can tell us where he lives, since we've shown our own good will.

"We're in a temple in the Central District," he adds to Sotero, smile unflinching. "The one with the moon gate and the red doors. What about you?"

[veiledflame]

"I said I live in a house," Sotero mutters, "not a temple. With my dad. It's not anywhere around this place, 'cause who'd want to live in a dump like this, anyway?"

He looks up, and grins, sharp-edged. "There's a volcano erupting all over here and everything."