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

[onehandsomeslickninja]

A ninja has his ways. [Telling her that he'd scrambled home to make this quickly doesn't seem terribly romantic and would probably make her feel bad he'd gone to the extra effort for her... so he intends to make the effort without her knowing.]

[Minako and amnesia have been pretty good for his maturity level, really.]

After all, I expected the two things anyone needs the most after such a long and busy day in this cold winter are warmth and sweetness. So there's some for you, and I'll get mine from your smile.

[reloves]

[ She laughs - but it's soft, especially by Minako's usual loud standards. ]

That might just be the cheesiest thing I've heard today. And I've seen a lot of dates. [ So that's saying something. But her tone makes it very obvious that this is not a protest whatsoever. She loves the cheese, lay it on even more. It's more of a compliment coming from her, really.

Minako has already poured some of the cocoa into the cup, but she's blowing on it so she won't burn her tongue like an idiot. ]

Did you end up running into any ayakashi?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[And he loves that she loves the cheese! He has to go above and beyond to make sure he remains distinguished in her eyes!]

[He takes a seat next to her for the moment, arms folded on his knees as he leans on them and looks at her.] I did my part to keep the spirit of the day happy and bright, you better believe it. No ayakashi is going to bother a date on my watch!

[reloves]

Oh, they must've been terrified to end up face to face with an opponent like you. Even the bears!

[ And even though Minako giggles, it doesn't sound like she's mockingly joking about that. She's very well aware that he's plenty competent, and besides, it does mean a lot to her that he helped out today. Making sure everything was as perfect as it could be is important to her, after all. ]

Ready to get your reward for working so hard?

[ She leans over - carefully, since she's still holding that cup of hot cocoa and would rather not accidentally spill it over her legs and burn them - to press a quick kiss to his cheek (mask), then she moves back to finally sip her drink. ]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[A faint red tinge above the line of his mask is her reward in turn.]

But my reward is being here with you! That was just extra. Of course, I haven't taken you to dinner yet.

[By Minako standards she's ridiculously subdued. She really must be tired. That makes his plan seem all the wiser, now.]

But I'll fix that, once you're warmed up and feeling like moving again. Or at least moving far enough for me to carry you there!

[reloves]

[ Definitely subdued. It makes her sweetness a lot more apparent, at least, since even though it's there most of the time, it tends to be covered with a thick layer of.. well, extra-ness. But she's too tired to apply any of those layers now - instead she just sips her drink. ]

Are you saying you can spend a whole day fighting off ayakashi and still find the energy to carry a cute girl? [ Because she sure can't. ] I'm impressed!

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Well, it wasn't the whole day. Maybe half. [Edge winks at her playfully.] But you of all people should know that cute girls are the easiest things in the world to carry!

[reloves]

Oh, I'm well aware.

[ Minako manages to stand up though, screwing the thermos shut again. Sure, there's still more hot cocoa left in it, but Minako doesn't like just sitting there for so long. Not even when she's tired, apparently.

Instead she hooks her arm together with Edge's when she's standing. Minako is leaning a little against him - partially since she's tired, but also just since she likes it - but at least not heavily so. She smiles, somehow managing to conjure up enough energy for that to look pretty normal. ]

But maybe I'd prefer going around like this for now.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Quite boldly, Edge puts an arm around her -- not just for affection, but also support. One advantage of being solid wiry muscle the way he is happens to be the ability to treat her weight as if it's nothing. She really could lean all her weight on him if she wanted. He'd welcome the chance to be her strength.]

[What does she expect, he wonders? Does she believe he'll insist on some intensely-romantic date, all flowers and music and Valntine's fervor? Because he'd said very clearly he was going to take care of her and treat her right... and that would not be doing so.]

[Their destination, luckily, isn't far; Edge watches Minako closely from the corner of her eye, waiting for her reaction when she sees they're headed for a simple, warm late-night pancake restaurant.]

[reloves]

[ One main difference that's very, very obvious with Minako being as tired as she is, is that she's a lot less chatty than usually. Even though their destination isn't far off, she probably would have rambled on about at least three or four different topics on their way over - today not as much. It's not as if she's completely silent, but there's a few longer silences. Not uncomfortable ones though, since Minako seems content enough.

And once they're close enough that it's obvious which place they're heading for, Minako smiles and turns her head a bit so he can see it. ]

How cute.. [ Sure, there may in theory be nothing too special about a place like that, but Minako is actually more easily satisfied when it comes to these things than you'd think. Any place can be cute or fun as long as you're not alone. ] I guess I am kind of hungry.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

We're shinki, we're always hungry. [At least he is, and every shinki he's every talked to says much the same. He may not be able to cure that feeling, but sometimes a treatment is good enough.] But this place has hot apple cider, and then fruit-and-cinnamon pancakes that I thought you'd like!

[Nothing complex, nothing too fancy. Just some warm, fluffy, sweet comfort food at the end of a long day. That sounds like just the ticket for her to his thinking.]

[reloves]

[ There's a small elbow nudge being shoved into his side - but it's really light, more about the gesture than the actual impact, and not even just because she's tired. ]

I was just going along with it!

[ Don't ruin the mood!! Although none of the actual mood is ruined, since even Minako's poutiness is mostly just put on to keep things light. ]

Besides, for this sort of thing the food isn't as important as the company you're having it with.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

At the moment, I'm not sure I agree. You don't need the freshest seafood and the finest canapes right now, whatever those are. [That arm around her gives her a little squeeze, reassuring and all fond affection. Edge really does like her quite a bit, after all. But she's very, very difficult not to like, isn't she?]

[Being a gentleman, of course, he catches the door handle and opens it to hold it for her.]

Save those for a day when you aren't everyone's hero.

[reloves]

I'm not everyone's hero..

[ She says as she passes by him to walk into the restaurant, a very small playful pout on her face. Then Minako quickls adds-- ]

Okay, maybe I am. A little bit. [ With an added giggle. As exhausting as today was, it actually did feel pretty good - and more importantly when it comes to things that boost Minako's self-confidence, it felt accomplishing. ]

Did you have a table in mind?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Such a strange girl that felt she needed a self-confidence boost. She's so amazing! And Edge says that without exaggeration or hyperbole!]

How about a booth over there? [He tips his head to the corner, where they can be a little private but Minako can still appreciate any couples coming in this late after a long day to do much as they're doing and enjoy some warm comfort food.]

[reloves]

[ Minako smiles. ]

Sounds good to me! [ Granted, she probably would've said that about any table at all that he would've pointed out.. she's not too picky, especially when she's pretty tired and could use some food inside of her.

So Minako moves over to the booth he pointed out, sitting down on one side of it. She even lets out a sigh the moment she plops down on the seat. ]

Ahh, so comfortable..

[ Or maybe her legs are just tired from all the running around she's been doing all day. ]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Edge thinks the most likely scenario is that she eats delicious food, drinks soothing warm cider, and promptly falls asleep. But that's fine by him. He doesn't mind carrying her home, and he's pretty sure that getting her so cozy and relaxed definitely counts as 'taking care of her'.]

[That might be the best outcome from all this.]

[Just barely aware of them, a waitress drops a pair of menus on the table before wandering off. It isn't her fault, really, not when they're shinki.]