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

[myblueskies]

[The weasel twitched his nose at Zhao, yes it was the first one! And it felt good to have stopped something so bad!

He didn't think he had any blight, he'd have to check properly when he was changed back. But he should check Elfnein, he ran down her arm to nose at her wrists, checking that nothing had touched her.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun gives a faint sigh of annoyance at that. He figured he'd get that question at least once today (but at the same time, it's entirely likely he misinterpreted what Ain meant by "engagements" for expectation of said question).]

Nothing other than my normal engagements. The only person I'd want other engagements with today is busy.

[He doesn't sound bothered by that at all - Ren's a god of romance among his other domains, it's to be expected he'd have his own things to do on Valentine's Day - so it's just his typical bluntness.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun seems practiced enough to make the risky move less so, at least, skillfully moving his own mount and the other bird closer to form a caging shape. The ayakashi don't really have enough space now to climb or plummet easily, and Shun takes the opportunity to bring out his war hammer and attack, starting to cleave through the bird-shaped ayakashi in flashes of bright white light.]

[roundtablerebel]

[ Throughout the hug, Mordred makes a half-hearted attempt to pry Minako off. She thinks about how strange it is that she's allowing this to happen when only a few months prior she would have decked anyone who put their hands on her. It's even more surprising that being allowed to do so apparently means a lot to Minako. ]

...It does? I-I mean it's not that big of a deal.

[ Mordred turns up her nose, attempting to disguise the fact that she's having feelings about any of this. ]

It's just the kind of thing you'd do for a... person you don't dislike.

[wildguardian]

A free day on the town! Who'd say no to a deal like that? Is this your first or second date?

[He nods in return to Ginia's cheerful assessment, drifting on from the seahorse tank to a darker area of the aquarium where luminous deep-sea fish drift in shadowed tanks.]

Yeah, she seemed nice to me too. Just a bit shy.

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki also drops the prince look now that it isn't needed. This was a surprisingly tiring prayer. She may need to go home and watch TV for a while. ]

That will depend on her, from here.

[ Will Ovelia's point about the girl's feelings carry the day? Or will her beloved be unmoved by the idea that "it's the thought that counts"....?

Hibiki will have to spy on it later. ]

[yasei]

Ah- sure, I will..

[ Though he's hard-pressed with asking for help, so maybe not. ]

Loviisa? Okay! You'll have to show me where that is.

[alchemists]

Excuse us! We're here to help with cooking a nice meal.

[alchemists]

"Would you be ok with telling me more about that?"

She hasn't heard of people seeing memories that way before in the heavens, so it's quite interesting.

[alchemists]

It's the first one we've taken down, normally we don't do prayers that would have danger like this since we're not suited to fighting.

[ Elfnein is making sure she doesn't have blight on her and gives Romeo a nod to signal she's ok. ]

[reformedsinner]

Well, I imagine I'm not the date you were looking forward to.

[And it's not as if he'd signed up for this himself. Chikusa is doing all the chores for a week, he vows to himself, sighs, and smiles determinedly at the girl.]

But it would be a shame to not at least try some of the rides, since we've come all this way. Do you like roller coasters?

[reloves]

[ Poor Ovelia, getting dragged into Minako's antics.. At least she'll actually answer since it's not like she wants the other to worry for real. She just wants some attention. Minako is always too starved for it. ]

I.. I set up this thing where people could sign up for blind dates and randomly get paired off by me and a friend.. We gave almost all of the Far Shore Valentine's Day dates to prevent them from being lonely..! [ She's still teary-eyed though. For the dramatics. ]

[reloves]

[ Oh, Mordred. Oh Mordred. Don't you know that Minako is an expert at breaking through that kind of tsun exterior? She did it before back when she was alive, even though she doesn't remember it now, and she sure will do it again now. Nothing can stand against her constant barrage of over the top friendliness!

Like right now. Because she hears Mordred say "a person you don't dislike," but she knows what the other means. Her facial expression turns a little devious because of it. ]

You mean.. like a friend..?

[ She's sealed the friendship contract. There's no going back now. ]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai's gaze flicks to Shiro's face, concern stark in his expression. Calling him by his name?

It's an understandable mistake, but if it had been enough to make the shinki wonder how they knew each other, it could be a serious one.]

I see. That does make it difficult.

[phantomtrick]

It'd be the worst date ever if we got separated. We'll I'm trying to keep things interesting, but I can't seem to calm down.

[ He's noticeably restless as they walk. ]

Are you nervous?

[sing_for_me]

[Oh? Did he still want to consider it that? Alex had thought he might just be putting up with it. ]

..A bit, yes. [ She admits. ]

I haven’t really..been on one before.

[phantomtrick]

Sorry about all this.

[ Ren makes an apologetic gesture. ]

Would talking more help? You can ask anything.

[cleansingstrike]

[... phone? Oh, right. Those devices.]

A face-to-face encounter would suit me just fine. Surely there must be something we could do. An arrangement that could be made.

[Assuming, you know, the ones she needs to talk to are open to reason.]

[cleansingstrike]

I will be the judge of that.

[An opportunity is all that she will afford, before passing judgement. Though right now she continues to feel out of place and out of touch with the day's intent.

The carriage, meanwhile, is a much more familiar sight to her. A welcome reprieve from all the strange technology she's been exposed to.

Ah, but it does seem to be causing quite the commotion.]

Belonging to you, I assume?

[cleansingstrike]

[There wasn't much time to respond, as the ayakashi had begun to take notice, approaching them closer and closer still.]

We've finally been discovered, it seems.

[Only one thing to do, at this point.]

We fight as one, Enki.

[yoshinocherry]

Oh ho, look at that...! Yuna can't help but laugh a little, light and cheery.

"What are the chances?"

Again, probably not that small, but it is a pretty delightful coincidence!

"I guess that means I get the pleasure of sharing your company for a while!" With that, she holds out her arm, bent at the elbow, as an invitation for Marinette to take hold of it. "Shall we?"

[thirdbeauty]

[Natsuru really hadn't known what to expect. She'd tried to dress somewhere in the middle ground between super dressy and casual, ending up with a nicely coordinated sweater dress combination, with her hair down. The brunch date looks a little fancier than she'd anticipated, though... especially when she catches the eye of a pretty, well-dressed girl at what looks like her table.

And then a cute, equally well-dressed guy. Wait. Who was her date supposed to be with again? She's already looking incredibly nervous as she steps closer, to see that the chair between the minions is occupied.

By a book.]

Um. [She looks to one minion, then the other. Then back at the book. She thinks she remembers a book like this from the shoots for Hibiki's movie?] ... Hello?

[What kind of date is this???]

[unlucky7]

Second and last. I'm fighting ayakashi after this.

[Speaking of ayakashi, or things that look similar, deep-sea fish are wild! Ginia looks at the glowing, angular fish, half-expecting eyes to pop along its body.]

The ocean is full of amazing things. Imagine being the first person to see one of these.

[unlucky7]

That ayakashi in the window will probably attack as soon as we're in there. I'll keep it at bay while you pull the alarm.

[She glances at the bear, not at all fooled by its appearance. The last time a teddy bear-like ayakashi attacked her, it opened its mouth four times its size and tried to swallow her whole. No thanks. She takes out her flask and loosens the cap before leaping to the door of the gift shop. Time to get this mess started.]

[unlucky7]

[It's interesting the forms the statues take in comparison to how the gods actually appear. She's seen the statues of Ebisu and the lore and considering he has all four limbs, he certainly doesn't match the traditional depiction. Though anyone could look at the new god and tell most of them definitely don't match the traditional depiction either.

Ginia frowns a little at Kōjin's admission, though the last thing she wants is to immediately jump to conclusions. They're guests and sometimes relations between the old and new are fragile at best.]

You mean Mimi helps you with your prayers?

[Kōjin smiles and laughs sheepishly.]

"Yes, that's right! I wouldn't be able to handle them without her! Do you two help your god out on prayers?"