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

[mithrarin]

I... made a mistake, is all. And I'm kicking myself for it. Not really good company. [If not for that damn owl, he'd be miles away from everyone and everything.]

[redmare]

Chinatsu may not know the person, but there was someone in the crowd she recognized. Mostly in passing, but she's seen the woman around in the heavens at least a few times.

"Excuse me, miss?" She holds up her card. "You wouldn't happen to have one of these, would you?"

Chinatsu has her hair in loose twin braids down he shouldersr , sporting a more casual look with jeans, a sweater, boots, and a knitted hat atop her head.

[redmare]

Ah...

[ Did they not screen for age matches too? Come on, planners. ]

Er..Sorry..it's probably not gonna be that much fun for you to hang out with a kid. We can just pretend we hung out? I won't tell if you won't?

[ It was a little awkward otherwise. Plus the scratches meant he probably tried to get out of this. She tried as well, but once the owl was starting to threaten to mess up her hair and her face she wasn't about to argue more. You just don't do that to a 16 year old girl! ]

[alchemists]

[ Elfnein is still nervous about everything, Romeo's vessel form was something she hadn't really done much research on since they hadn't had the need to fight till now. There's a deep breath, Elfnein just needed to clear her mind and do the spell, there wasn't anything else that needed to be done besides that. ]

Rend!

[ Her hand was reached out towards the line Romeo made, this had to be enough to stop the bear. ]

C-I

[replicatedform]

[Yamanbagiri's in-between prayers right now. A short break, if you well, before he can go and see what he can help out with. So while he's walking with a snack—a box of chocolate pocky—he happens to see someone crouching under a tree. And seems to be tugging down her hat down?

Such a familiar looking gesture makes him pause and feel... empathetic? Without thinking, he walks over towards her. Once he's in front of her, he crouches down.]

What's wrong?

[unlucky7]

[There's a single memory to her name, but with the skills she has and the fights she's been through, it's pretty easy to make assumptions about herself. She may never know for certain, but maybe it's better that way.]

This is definitely not Chikusa's style.

[Too involved, too lovey. What is he planning?]

I think so. Time to see what's in store for us.

[As busy as the restaurant is, Ginia is a little worried any reservation might have been overlooked. But through some sort of magic and persistence, it doesn't take them too long to get shown to a table with a view of the lake. There's a prickly discomfort sitting close to the window, but Ginia shoves the feeling aside as she looks around, a bit wide-eyed.]

This is all very impressive.

[replicatedform]

[While it's nice to hear that, now's not the time.]

I can keep up the lines for a while, before I need a break.

[To catch his breath, to reassess the situation and all.]

So we should put some distance between them and us now.

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

Ah've seen him, yeah..ain't had a chance to talk to 'im, yet.

[If memory serves, Mars is the Roman version, for lack of a better term, of Ares, from her own pantheon...she suspects the Heavens might be doing their normal crud of keeping some of the existing relationships in play.]

Ah'll have to fix that. An'...well, Ah do, sometimes. Especially for math stuff...

[There's a slight twitch of her lips into something akin to a grimace.]

Too bad Ah ain't great at math...never went to school, so me an' my shinkis been lookin' up a buncha stuff 'bout that. Whoever heard o'stickin' letters in math?

[unlucky7]

It was a dumb argument. It doesn't matter.

[Clearly it does, but Ginia hasn't figured out the way to articulate why his behavior bothers her so much. And with how so many of her conversations have broken down lately, it feels like maybe pressing on this will only cause more problems.]

You're still my friend. I wouldn't be so annoyed if you weren't.

[replicatedform]

[He's betting on something. That is: there's no spare balls, or it's inconvenient to get another one out.

He holds the ball in one hand, raising a brow at him.]

You want it back? Come and get it.

[The girl blinks in confusion at this person, before she reach out to accept the pen.

"What are you...?"]

[dredefulchilde]

[Joscelin looks intensely annoyed at this, but he nods.]

Fine. It had better be quick.

[unlucky7]

Constants in the universe where people are involved, so it seems.

[Where there are people, there are emotions, where there are emotions, there is love. Ginia is quiet for a bit, watching the people around them, before she ventures another question through her phone.]

Have you ever been in love?

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

[Being stuck in her thoughts for awhile, the Sentinel didn't hear him approach, so when he spoke...there's a jump as she hears his voice, and even as she scrambles back a bit, there's already a vine coming out of her bag, ready to grab whatever the perceived threat was.

Then she sees it's Yaman, and her eyes, bright green against reddened sclera, soften as she sees it's just him. The vine slowly snakes back into her satchel, and she settles back down to just about hugging her knees.]

H-hi, Sir Yaman...

[She's trying very hard to soften her accent, but it's still obviously 'country'.]

N-nothin'...

[She doesn't want to make others worry...but she's not good at lying. Meanwhile, she's back to tugging down her hat.]

[dredefulchilde]

He perks up a bit at that.

"Like what?"

[revolutionfalcon]

I've been hunting down ayakashi. [Shun waves a hand somewhat vaguely towards the area of the group they just destroyed.] There's too many of them roaming around today and a lot of people who are going to refuse to fight them in favour of whatever else it is they're doing, so someone has to do it.

[In other words, he was planning to head out and search another area now that the birds have been cleared out of here.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun elects to ignore the sarcastic remark, given it's pretty obviously meant to be a bait that he has no intention of taking. When the man doesn't shut up, however, he gives a faint sigh, turning his head back towards him, but not stopping.]

If you want to tell it to me, then yes, it is. If you're going to do nothing but spout useless time-wasting garbage, then you can either go attach yourself to someone else by choice, or go do it anyway when I leave you behind.

[He's been taking the slower route to keep more of an eye on things, but it's no skin off his bones to take a quicker one if it means shaking off an annoying follower.]

[dredefulchilde]

Well, that was a bit of a disappointing handshake.

Joscelin sighs and takes out his map. "Right, then, this one looks rather good." And dangerous--multiple loops and a series of wicked drops. Joscelin is most assuredly not tall enough for the ride, but he's thoroughly undeterred. Hopefully they won't notice him enough to check.

[replicatedform]

Are you sure?

[He doesn't seem convinced, so he asks his next question.]

Can I sit with you?

[You know, for company. Whatever's bothering her, how she's trying to hide herself is tugging at his heart. It makes him think that having company might help, even a little.]

I'm so sorry I thought I'd posted D:

[dredefulchilde]

That does make a certain amount of sense.

Joscelin is quiet and oozing resent as they walk towards the back of the aquarium.

Finally, he says: "You're Romeo's god, correct?"

[revolutionfalcon]

[He certainly doesn't care about or for it, or at least, he doesn't reply to it. He simply heads over to the location and waits, already looking somewhat shifty. He doesn't want to risk the birds relocating, even if he imagines the sheer popularity of that area will keep them there.

He hears the sound of the wire before he sees Wendy - and he can tell what she's planning to do as soon as he sees that grin on her face. With a slight sigh, he adjusts the position of his bird minutely, tilts it back so it forms as a better support for recoil, and holds his arms out to catch Wendy.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as he does, their surroundings flick over to the building across from where the birds are perched.] That was unnecessary.

[revolutionfalcon]

But something about it is still bothering you anyway. [Shun can read that much out of her reaction so far, and he's been repeatedly learning his lesson about letting things fester recently.]

Now might not be the time for it, but letting things lie like that hasn't been going well for me. So whenever you want to discuss it, I'll listen.

[It's straightforward, as usual, but genuine enough. He's ruined enough friendships of late. But as he said, now isn't the time, and he glances back out of the alleyway.]

Have you seen if there's much of anything else lurking around these streets? I came here chasing that thing we just got rid of.

c-1 false doves

[shalamayne]

[ Varian had been wandering around, keeping a wary eye on the festivities as much as he felt the need to. It all goes above his head really, the idea of a holiday devoted to romance and such baffling to the large human. It seemed contrary — a hypocrisy — and it's only with the usual unimpressed look on his face that he's wandering around. Who needs a holiday to celebrate someone else? Do that stuff every day.

It doesn't take him long to spot Neph under a tree looking out of sorts. Varian doesn't even think twice as he walks on over, shooing the doves away automatically out of habit more than anything as he crouches down to almost eye level.]

What's eating you?

[reloves]

[ The contrast between Ken getting all startled and his face growing red and on the other hand Chikusa barely reacting at all is so adorable. To Minako it is, anyway, since she just happily giggles despite both of their reactions being perhaps slightly.. unconventional. It's not as if Minako is the most normal person in the universe, after all, she has no grounds to judge them on.

Besides, she also likes the knowledge that yes, she is indeed a cute girl! Thanks, you two.

Minako smiles at them happily. ]

It's fine, it's fine! I know my presence is incredibly overwhelming. [ It fits Minako's usual style of bragging (she means overwhelming in a good way since she's just that amazing!), but she at least makes clear that it's a joke by winking at Chikusa.

It's then that she turns back to Ken. Sorry, boy, you're not escaping from meeting Minako this easily. ]

Nice to meet you! I'm Minako, one of Chikusa's friends! I was so excited to meet you today.

[abgrund]

[ Ain closes his eyes for a moment; a faintly catlike blink. ]

I'm afraid not. Such a sentiment is alien to me.

[ Angels did not need that sort of capacity. They weren't meant to have children, nor really exist permanently. Just do their job and then disappear. ]

I find it interesting to observe.

[abgrund]

I'll come with you then.

[ He offers partly out of concern and partly out of plain boredom. Having no engagements on this day means he would have otherwise spent it on watching others; and it's been a while since he last saw Shun. The youth looks faintly tense, but that seems to be normalcy for him. ]