34 - Love is in the Air

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: An enterprising pair of shinki is trying to spread love throughout the Far Shore with exciting blind dates.
When: February 14
Where: Hot romantic spots throughout Tokyo
Summary: Blind dates on Valentine's Day? Sounds like fun (or possibly a disaster, but everyone needs some good disaster stories.) That's not all that's going on, though. Ayakashi are looking to chow down on the negative emotions that a romantic holiday can generate, and those who aren't busy with their own dates might be sucked into helping out followers who need help to make the day go well.






The Dates

Blind Date Matchups

Those who have signed up -- or whose friends and colleagues have signed them up -- for dates will get cards with specified times and meeting places inside for the big event. The cards don't list their dates' names, but instead have a matching symbol to allow everyone to find their proper partner. If anyone tries to stand up their date, they can expect a small and angry owl to harass them until they give in.


• Date One: The Romantic Brunch.
  Couples will find themselves with reservations (and pre-paid coupons for the prix fixe menu) at a swanky French restaurant with a wide balcony overlooking the lake in a central Tokyo park. They can dine on dainty pastries, sweet milk coffees, bowls of grapes and hothouse strawberries, and a selection of fancy chocolates and petit-fours-- plus, some of the trees in the park are blooming in holiday-appropriate red and white!



• Date Two: The Aquarium.
  Couples scheduled for this date have tickets to a rooftop aquarium in Ikebukuro: brightly colored fish, animals including penguins, seals and pelicans, a small petting zoo and plenty of shadowy, secluded nooks to cuddle in make for a fun lunchtime date. The tickets even include admission to the one o'clock penguin and seal show!



• Date Three: The Amusement Park.
  This date sends couples to spend the evening enjoying themselves at a seaside amusement park. Ride the roller coasters! Take selfies with the costumed attendants! Share an overpriced ice cream cone while you watch the fireworks after sunset, then wind up the night with a ride on the colorfully lit Ferris wheel with a romantic view of the Tokyo skyline.

Ayakashi Menace

There's more than just romantic couples out to enjoy themselves today. Romantic holidays can be tough for those whose love lives aren't so rosy, and as always, those negative feelings draw in ayakashi who are ready to ruin everybody's day.

All across the city, besides the usual ayakashi, characters might encounter the following:

Flocks of dove ayakashi whose mournful call induces self-doubt, suspicion and paranoia in everyone who hears it. Are your friends really your friends? Is your lover betraying you? Shouldn't you hurry up and stab them in the back before they can do it to you? These ayakashi are small and agile, difficult to catch but easy to destroy once they're caught... if you can overcome the urge to turn on your allies first.

Long-fingered shadow ayakashi, large and powerful, and capable of sneaking around by blending into genuine shadows. These ayakashi draw those who are alone into their clutches, filling them with resentment and despair. Anyone battling them needs to watch out for the humans they might already have influenced, who may become unpredictable and violent as the ayakashi influencing them grows more desperate.

Cute teddy bear ayakashi, that influence anyone they cling to into greedy obsession: they need attention, affection and gifts, and they can never have enough. When attacked, the teddy bears turn out to fight a little more like a grizzly bear than a stuffed toy, so gods and shinki beware!

Praying for Love

Those who aren't busy with their own dates might find themselves busy taking care of other people's instead. On a day like this one, everyone's praying that things turn out perfectly! Prayers gods might hear include:

"He's just got to ask me out! I made him the biggest box of chocolates... please, let senpai notice me!"

"Does she really like me? Please, give me a sign."

"I got concert tickets for our date, but it's supposed to rain. Please let me find a way to make this work out anyway!"

"The restaurant I wanted to take him to isn't taking any more reservations for tonight. What can I do? I can't cook!"

Wild Card -- players are free to make up their own romance-adjacent prayers for their characters to fulfill.

In Summary:

• Enjoy your dates
• Fight some ayakashi
• Make sure to answer prayers for a good Valentine's Day
• Have fun~

Comments

[unlucky7]

[It takes a second or two too long for Chikusa to response and Ginia wonders what's going on his mind but doesn't dare to ask. Even if he hadn't gotten the ayakashi, she would have.]

Need help collecting ayakashi? I'm not doing anything else.

[She pauses, offers a light smile.]

My dates went well. Thanks.

[unlucky7]

[She is absolutely the kind of strong-willed person that pushes herself, too far at times, but she's resilient. Tea, tea sounds good. Ginia checks the map on her phone to see what's in the area.]

There's a cafe not too far from here. How's that sound?

[unlucky7]

I was going to dump some on the ayakashi to stun it.

[Her own water supply is low, so it'll be good to refill it at the shrine. Ginia follows after Romeo, trying to keep the bundled ayakashi at arm's length. It continues to claw and twitch around. Can blight carry on clothes? She'll have to dunk the scarf in holy water.]

[unlucky7]

You have to imagine an accident happens now and then.

[Some of those fish could easily swim into a shark's mouth on accident. Or perhaps the fish bumps into the shark. That said, there's a sense of peace and understanding in the created ecosystem. The fish avoid the shark, the shark leave the fish alone in favor of other food.]

I've always wanted to go to the aquarium, but never had a chance or a good excuse until now.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia leaps to the ground and checks on the human, moving them to a safe spot on the opposite side of the borderline. She takes a flask out of her purse and wets her fingers with blessed water, working in the opposite direction of Shun.

As she sprinkles blessed water near some crates with empty bottles, glass clinks together. A mouse-shaped ayakashi darts out, skittering back and forth before heading toward Shun's direction. It's not the ayakashi they're looking for, but it's one all the same. Ginia whistles at Shun, slashing a borderline across the ayakashi's back to slow it down.]

Praying for Love

[unlucky7]

[Hey there, Hibiki. Ginia looks between the spygoat and the god, wondering what sort of thing she's getting involved in and also loving the promise of adventure too. She's not busy, a break from fighting ayakashi hurts no one.]

Sure, what do you need help with?

[kokuyoyo]

...If you want. Although I'll need a container to put it in... and then another container to put that in...

[Ayakashi are rather debatably a solid, after all, with the proof in front of them visible as bits of the dove try to ooze their way back together. This sort of thing is a necessity.]

[He inclines his head slightly at her thanks, going through a mental list in his head. Chikusa doesn't really care about anyone else going on dates today outside of Hakkai, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten the match ups he's made.]

That would be... D2... and Zhao Yunlan, right...?

[artificialrose]

[Well, that's sure a response.]

I wouldn't say that. There have been some good moments, haven't there? Ah, hold on-

[That's one of the servers passing by- Garry suspects the aforementioned particular teenagers must be reminding them or something to go take care of guests to get around the 'far shore invisibility' thing- and he makes sure to get one's attention so that they can at least get some drinks.]

[nopixiedust]

[Honestly, she swears, not even a response to her words. Even as her body begins to fade into twisting light, Wendy sighs.]

Sorry about this-

[And then she's zipping along into Hibiki's hand as... a toy top? It's not very imposing, she knows, but whatever. It gets the job done.]

Let's get this done with.

[yasei]

[ As a matter of fact he did sign up on his own- not that he's looking for romance, but he does enjoy being around people and getting to know them, even if he doesn't particularly likes having other people get to know him. He has to wonder about Mistress, though.

The owl hovers nearby, and Obi is almost as conscious of its presence as he is of Celestia's. Obviously uncomfortable with the situation, Obi rubs at a shoulder. ]

Mh, alright, I guess.

[ At their designated table, he pulls out a chair by hooking a foot around a leg.

Why- or more like how- are you looking like that right now, Mistress?

[nopixiedust]

[So that's what it looks like when an ayakashi flies rapid speed right into a drawn borderline. Fun! Wendy is grinning with a little more sharpness than is really required for the situation, even as she snaps her wrist out again.]

Got it- Line!

[Hopefully the ones that escaped are all grouping together again, or else this will really be a pain in the ass.]

[wildguardian]

Great! Excellent. How about I handle Yogi here and you make that call?

[He steps out in front of Romeo, slashing another line down at the bear; Zhao's still aiming for its body, cutting it apart to leave vast gashes that spill stuffing and force it to stay still while it rebuilds its body.

With every cut, it looks angrier, and Zhao's not convinced it's not getting bigger too. The kid's god had better show up fast.]

[priforprince]

I never settle for anything less.

[ She casts her gaze down the rows of games. Are any of these of interest....? ] Such attractions likely hold no challenge for those of our shared caliber.

[ Hibiki doesn't doubt for a second that Celestia would excel in anything to which she put her hooves-turned-hands. ]

[priforprince]

[ She just won't quit. Hibiki chuckles, a mental switch flipping to a whole new kind of insufferability. ] As your curiosity is parched for news of me, I'll slake it.

[ Lucky Nia. She sits back in her chair, daubing at her lips with her napkin before setting it down and lifting her hand in an Illustrative Fashion. ]

You're correct that I could secure any date I desired. But I'm afraid my heart is currently captivated by something far more glorious.

[ hibiki it's valentine's day don't say it

just for one day hibiki don't

don't be like this

She lifts her cup, sips. ] Revolution.

[ h i b i k i ]

[priforprince]

Your skills in arcades have become necessary.

[ Hibiki shows Ginia a prayer slip. There is a crane game full of Valentine's stuffed rabbits of varying shades of red and pink, apparently, and someone wants to get one that eluded his crush the last time they went to the arcade together, as a fun surprise. ]

It's an insufficiently opulent prayer, but I trust you're up to the task.

any preferences or ideas for vessel form?

[priforprince]

No spells...

[ She hadn't known until this moment, but! Now she's whipping out her phone with her free hand and checking a spygoat feed.

And clicking her tongue against the back of her teeth. She had approved of Forrest, darn it. And she'd named Wendy in his garden.

Hibiki looks quite a bit more disgruntled when she puts her phone back. ] How depressingly rude of the system.

[ The light falters. The shadows gather. ]

[priforprince]

Hold the weapon steady.

[ And Hibiki spins the top, directing her attention to one of the water pistols the non-spinny shinki is currently holding. Bulleki's power is the ability to enlarge or shrink objects, and while it's insufficient to rend on its own (Hibiki has tried), any item upon which its effects have been applied is a different matter....

Long story short, Zhao, prepare to be holding a holy water rifle as the little pistol begins growing rapidly. ]

[replicatedform]

Er... That is...

[For a moment, he's a little stuck with his words and look a bit confused. What's up with that, he asks himself? It feels a tad weird. He shake his head, and look back at her.]

No, don't worry about it. [Maybe he'll talk to someone else about this. Sakura? He holds out his hand.] But I'm ready to go.

[replicatedform]

[He shakes his head.]

Not at the moment. I was mostly helping out with prayers today.

[The obvious non-combatant prayers, of course. Looking back at the ayakashi, he brings up another line. Just in case.]

Hopefully, a god will show up and take care of this. [Until then, they gotta survive this. The sound of ayakashi slamming into his lines is unsettling.]

[replicatedform]

[Meanwhile, after departing for the Near Shore and finding his target, Yamanbagiri is facing a slight dilemma.

Even if he get noticed by Senpai, he knows he'd look suspicious to most "normal" humans. If they're nice enough, they might deem him as a cosplayer. Not only that, but Senpai have company. Friends or classmates of his?

Regardless, he need to address two points.

1. Get Senpai's attention.
2. Lure him towards the meeting point.

He's quickly running through many ideas in his head, figuring how to deal with this without... ruining the whole Valentine's mood. A part of him wonders if Hibiki have an easier time in this prayer for her part.

After watching Senpai for a moment, he starts to slowly approach him, still unnoticed...]

[hattersgonnahat]

Sign? Not too sure what he meant by that until she saw the invitation. "Hey! I was supposed to be looking for someone with that!"

And with that, only now had she realized this is who she was supposed to be looking for. Fancy that.

"That's for me?" the girl was flattered, but also a little worried considering she didn't bring anything else in return. Was she supposed to? No one said anything about that.

Nonetheless she takes it, probably going to have to tie it to wrist or something so she doesn't have to carry it the whole time.

"I'm ah-...you could just call me Skuld, I guess."

This name thing is going to be the death of her, isn't it?

[ofnovalue]

You needn't apologize, milady. If it honors my goddess, I am happy to be of help. Or, well... at least attempt so.

[ofnovalue]

And how do you propose to do so without drawing its ire? [ Ovelia huffed, quickly casting Aegis on herself, that familiar glow washing over her. ]

Let it try to take me. I shall have it away from the crowd.

[ofnovalue]

[ A little warning would have been appreciated. The fanfare inspires a deep flinch from Ovelia, whom immediately releases Hibiki's hand to duck her head, covering herself. ]

[doodlebuginette]

"It's the only weapon I've ever used."

The voice startles her, though it's not unfamiliar. And that's not entirely true, but she's not in the mood to mince words right now. Besides, she likes her yoyo.

"Lucky for them, I'm courageous enough to take the challenge."

And now she's being a little ridiculous. But so is Hibiki, sometimes, so she doesn't feel bad about it. She does appreciate the sparkles and the falling flower, however, and reaches out to catch it when it comes close enough.