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

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Brunch with Natsuru

[Natsuru's date almost looks enjoyable. A pair of minions, dressed to the nines, flank her companion's chair as he awaits her arrival, on the far side of a table just waiting to be filled with food. Everything is perfect, everything in readiness.]

[Except the date that is in the chair and awaiting her arrival is a book.]

[Welp.]

The Amusement Park with Petra

[Floating in midair, a book looks about, twisting left and right to check for someone who bears an invitation with a symbol he recognizes. That matching symbol is easy enough to see on him, because his invitation is tucked into his pages like a bookmark, protruding above the cover without any subtlety at all.]

Prayers

[In-between dates, Zetta and his troop of minions zoom around at top speed, as the Overlord exhibits almost a frantic desire to make this holiday go aright. He's easy enough to catch, though, as he and his crew form a semi-circle around a list of prayers, puzzling over which ones to take.]

Help him notice her? She ought to just march up and demand a date! What guy would turn that down?

[Ask why he's actually doing these prayers? Or possibly save him from ruining people's lives with demonic answers to human problems?]

[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???]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

--whoa, you're freaking gorgeous.

[The book's expression of delight is unmistakable. He really got paired with a winner this time!]

Hi there! I'm Lord Zetta, and I'll be your date at this kickass brunch!

[thirdbeauty]

Eh-?!

[She wasn't expecting that from the book. Still, that kind of response is... flattering. She finds herself nervously touching her hair and adjusting her dress in a sudden bout of self-consciousness.]

Th-Thank you...

[She turns to the girl next to the book's seat. Then the guy. Then focuses her attention back on the book again.]

It's um, nice to meet you. [There's a pause, and she offers an apologetic little smile.] I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting... ["you to be a book."] Well... whatever this is...

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Zetta slumps forward slightly. Man, this state of affairs is depressing if only for the fact that it really gets in the way of hitting on a cute girl. It's the worst thing about being a book.]

Look, ignore the book thing. That's a temporary setback, it'll get fixed soon enough. In reality, I'm a handsome and powerful demon.