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

[priforprince]

[ Romantic Brunch; closed to Nia ]

[ Hibiki is even later to her first date than she'd planned on being for effect, due to a rather...unfortunate...tech support call she'd had to place earlier this morning. No hint of that, or of shame at her tardiness, can be seen on her face as she comes up behind her designated date and touches one of those cat ears with a rose. ]

I've kept you waiting.

[ When Nia turns around, she will be presented with the sight of: their table, now surrounded by dozens - nay, hundreds - of identical, pristine, perfect red roses. And also Hibiki, smiling as if Nia had never tried to take over a private bath Hibiki had happened to be occupying at the time.

There's personal business, and then there's Romance. Never the two shall meet, for the Perfect Beauty Knight. ]



Depriving you of my presence is unforgivable. I hope this small gift eases the pain.

[ Aquarium; closed to Petra ]

Does the ocean please you?

[ A giant otter plush is talking to Petra!

Oh, no, wait, there was a person behind it. A charming person in a Prince costume, against whose silver hair the light from the aquarium ripples charmingly, attracting the attention of.....small children, and other teenage girls on dates, whose boyfriends don't understand what they're looking at.



Hibiki smiles as willingly as she can around the giant stuffed animal, completely devoid of shame. An aquarium isn't her...usual milieu...but there's nowhere she can't excel!

She shall prove once and for all why the aquarium is a Top Date Spot in films! ]

[ Amusement Park; closed to Celestia ]



Stunning as always, Princess Celestia.

[ Whether Celestia is in human or pony guise for this date is immaterial. Here comes Hibiki, suspiciously bare-handed. Delight in the anticipation of what this might portend.

She places one of those bare hands over her heart and bows, practically down on one knee. ]

Even the merry-go-round animals long to genuflect in your presence.

[ Praying for Love; open to all! ]

Tch. Now?



[ The spygoat who'd just brought Hibiki a platter full of prayer slips rolls in a circle, which is all it can do when asked a question. Hibiki picks through the slips. ] My next rendezvous approaches....

You. [ She just noticed you. Hooray. Picking a prayer, she stuffs the rest in her pockets, where they seem to utterly disappear despite these being form-fitting pants.

She's a genius. Don't question it. ] I'll have you assist me.

Aquarium!

[wingsofaid]

[There's just so many new sights to take in. First had been the luxurious breakfast with all the expensive sweets and now there's this wondrous new place. There's so many fish in so many colors! It's a challenge not to just get completely absorbed by her new surroundings.

Petra's all smiles when she turns to her date and giant otter plush she's holding. She's currently wearing a forest green dress and boots, tights, and cream-colored knit cap, scarf, and gloves set.]

Oh, it's really lovely. I don't think I've seen anything like this before. And that's a cute toy.

[priforprince]

It's a present for you.

[ Hibiki passes Petra the otter whether she was ready for four feet of squishy huggable plush toy or not. ] May its presence forever remind you of this precious meeting.

[ Not all the sparkles around here are filtered through the water, now. ]

[wingsofaid]

[And again with the oddly endearing airs. Petra's reaction times tend to be very quick in most areas and the circumstance of being given a plushie a foot taller than she is no different. It's going to be a little awkward to lug around but after this date, she can always return home to drop it off.]

Thank you. I'll treasure it always.

[It'll be a nice memento of a fun day full of new experiences.]

Brunch

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[So touched, Nia's ear twitches violently, batting at the rose as she turns.]

[This is the face of unimpressed. She looks from Hibiki to the table and back, the corners of her eyes and lips both twitching -- then pulls up a hand quickly to laugh into it.]

You don't go halfway, I'll give you that. Do you grow these at your temple or did you knock over a florist?

[priforprince]

Your beauty is worth nothing less than this.

[ She will never explain where all the flowers come from. It is an eternal secret of Princehood.

Hibiki takes her seat opposite Nia, raises a hand: waiter, please. ] Now, let's indulge in a luxurious repast, full of the sweet-and-sour taste of first love.

[ Strawberry pancakes. You're going to be getting strawberry pancakes, Nia.

Whether you want them or not. ]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Strawberry pancakes are pretty tasty, so that's not such a bad thing. But Nia can't wipe this bemused smirk off her face.]

Here I am being my usual self and you've gotten all fancy. If your voice was any higher I'd say we were a total mismatch. Got that in common though.

Amusement Park

[letteropener]

[Human guise, of course; most people, she's found, prefer their dates be of at least a bipedal species. Not that she expects this particular date to have anything beneath it; if she knows Hibiki, it will be ten tons of magnificently-sculped buttercream frosting that doesn't actually have the meagerest crumb of cake beneath it.]

[Celestia offers her most beatific smile, as a brilliant beam of sunlight pierces the clouds to shine down upon them.]

Ever regal, Hibiki. You outshine the dawn.

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki smiles: a reception fitting this date, the piece de resistance of her day. Princess Celestia has seemed solemn on their last few meetings. Perhaps she can nudge away the rainclouds darkening the Princess's soul!

Lest they spread to her own! ]

It's my honor.

[ The scene around them freezes. The shading changes to pastels. One kid walking past is suddenly filled with a desire to go home and play with crayons, but doesn't know why. ]

[letteropener]

[Hibiki has as much chance of doing that as a raincloud has of snuffing the sun, for what Celestia truly needs is something Hibiki is incapable of being: a friend she can talk to in a mature and easy manner. But she will enjoy herself playing this part, and that is no small thing.]

Then I shall claim an honor in turn. [With a flourish of one hand, she proffers a single rose to Hibiki, sunlight glistening off the dew that clings to it and catching every last nuance of its petals.]

Praying for Love

[hakingitup]

Ask, don't just tell me.

[Honestly, this again? Why do they keep running into one another? What does he need to do to avoid this from happening in the future?]

Besides, I'm busy.

[priforprince]

Your schedule is immaterial.

[ She holds up the prayer so Hak can read it. ] My prayer requires your contribution.

[ The prayer reads as follows:

"Box office god-sama, you've got to help me! The fancy balloon I got for the boy I like is stuck in a tree, and I hid a love letter with my confession inside of it! If someone else pops it trying to get it down, I'll die of embarrassment."

Hibiki is five feet, five inches tall, and Does Not Climb. ]

[hakingitup]

...You can't climb a tree, can you?

[He's going to just look at her. No, he's not moving from this spot because he was told to. Only one person can really do that to him.]

...Here. Give it to me, I'll take care of it.

[He might as well if you're not going to.]

Prayers

[cleansingstrike]

[Agrias doesn't much feel very positively towards them, that much is certain. Still, if it's aid that's being asked, then she'll at least listen.]

In doing what?

I'll have you tell me as much.

[priforprince]

Spreading amore.

[ Hibiki smiles, lifting her arms. She's still holding the prayer, but in a way that would be difficult to make out, at first. ] This is a day of Romance. Everyone's thoughts are naturally drawn to me.

[cleansingstrike]

A... more?

[Agrias repeats the word without any sort of accent.]

Praying for Love

[replicatedform]

[He doesn't mind helping out today! Sure, it's not his expertise. But he can handle, like physical labour.

He turns when he hear Hibiki's voice addressing him and blinks.]

Me?

[He looks around, just to really confirm it's him that she's addressing to. If there's anyone around, they're not close enough to reasonably guess she might be talking to.

Looking back at her, he raise a brow.]

With what? If it's something I can do, I could come along.

[priforprince]

A prayer has reached my ears.

[ Hibiki holds up the star. It has the prayer about being noticed by senpai on it. ]

Being noticed is the specialty of someone as enthralling as I, but if I retrieve the upperclassman in question, they'll surely fall for me instead. While I coach the lady, you'll fetch the object of her desire.

[ She says this all with a completely straight face. So she either should be making a living playing poker or she means every word.

And she's really bad at card games. ]

[replicatedform]

[After hearing the prayer and her suggestion (which sounds more like an order), he thinks for a moment.]

Alright, I could do that.

[He's... not sure if this upperclassman would actually fall for her. But this arrangement is probably the less disastrous method.

... Hm, he would probably look suspicious as he is. But ugh, the idea of taking off his cloak.]

Where are we doing this at?

[A school? A tree? What are the romantic locations for this?]

prayer

[ofnovalue]

[ Given how their last meeting went, Ovelia was honestly surprised Hibiki was approaching her again. But part of her was also grateful, feeling embarrassed in hindsight at how she'd reacted. She still didn't really know why she'd panicked, but maybe they could take a second shake of things. ]

Well... If milord would find me useful, twould be my honor to assist.

[priforprince]

Your contribution could never be anything but welcome.

[ Hibiki has learned from last encounter (kind of). She holds up the prayer she's chosen so Ovelia can read it: "I got overexcited and made three dozen kinds of chocolate! How will I pick the tastiest to give to my special someone?!" ]

Do you care for sweets?

[ It's okay if you don't remember. That's something they can figure out. ]

[ofnovalue]

[ It seemed like a silly prayer, but a lot of them had been, she figured. Still, it seemed like something she could manage without Agrias around, which was important... ]

I do not truly know. I suppose we shall find out.

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?

[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.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia takes the slip and reads over the prayer, already putting the pieces together. Set up a few stuffed rabbits in a winnable position, make sure the guy comes by and walks away with an easy prize, an easy enough plan.

The execution... well, good thing both of them have deep pockets if it comes down to it.]

Sounds good. Show me the arcade?