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

[unlucky7]

[She saw Shen Wei paint two drawing of Zhao. How many more did he paint before they found each other? The world works in mysterious ways.]

Since we know this isn't going to be a match made in heaven between us, if you want to leave early to prepare for your next date, you have my full blessing and permission. All I ask if you let me know how it goes later.

[wildguardian]

Ginia, come on! I'm not going to ditch you to go get ready for my next date. Besides, this place looks like fun.

[There's a nonzero chance that he's going to spend more of this date talking about Shen Wei, but, look, it's fine, he can behave. Sort of. Temporarily.]

And I'll let you know how it goes later regardless. [He flashes her a grin, and adds:] Then you can place some inside bets before I tell anybody else around the office....

[unlucky7]

I do like the idea of insider knowledge.

[With the stakes of some of the bets going around, Ginia doesn't mind offering a bit of help. Times are dire when a full weekend off with cellphone-off privileges is a top offer.

The first set of exhibits focuses around coral reefs. Brightly colored fish dart around in the large tank as carious types of coral are on display, a testament to the strange and exotic of the ocean. Ginia's expression lights up as she stares at the tank, waiting for a group of children to move on so she can get closer.]

[wildguardian]

[Zhao isn't quite as patient; he gives the brightly colored coral reef tank a look almost as pleased as Ginia's, and promptly side-steps the chattering kids' group to find a better spot. There's a place at the side of the tank where the wall comes up further, making room for a bolted-on panel with pictures of fish and brief scientific snippets about each species, and the glass above it is at the perfect height for a couple people over five feet to look through.

The first-graders, not being over five feet, are ignoring it. Zhao waves Ginia over, and points at a sleek five-foot shark circling in the water above the schools of bright reef fish.]

Check that out!

[unlucky7]

[Ginia quickly joins Zhao's side, staring with awe at the shark. It's a very serene predator, graceful and powerful. Do fish ever go missing as he shark gets hungry, or does the aquarium kept them content enough?]

Beautiful.

[She signs. It's one of the words she's taught him for his repertoire. Charmers need to charm.]

[wildguardian]

[Charmers need to charm-- so Zhao's memorized that word. He grins at her, signing agreement.] Yeah.

[And, switching back to speech, because his signing is a long way from fluency:]

Think it ever snacks on the other fish? It sure looks big enough to have them for lunch.

[unlucky7]

You have to imagine an accident happens now and then.

[Some of those fish could easily swim into a shark's mouth on accident. Or perhaps the fish bumps into the shark. That said, there's a sense of peace and understanding in the created ecosystem. The fish avoid the shark, the shark leave the fish alone in favor of other food.]

I've always wanted to go to the aquarium, but never had a chance or a good excuse until now.

[wildguardian]

You say "accident," I say "afternoon snack," same thing, right? [He bumps a shoulder affectionately against hers, and points as a stingray the size of a dinner tray ripples smoothly around the edge of a spire of coral and scatters the tiny electric-blue fish schooling there.]

Rays too! I've gotta say, those kids planned a nice day out for all of us.

[unlucky7]

[Any response is derailed by the stingray gliding through the water. What a strange yet cute looking animal! The ocean is truly full of wonders. Ginia pauses to snap a few pictures before replying.]

I'm really impressed. I imagine Minako did the finer details more so than Chikusa.

[Chikusa is meticulous, but also lazy, while Minako is brimming with positive energy.]

I was surprised they were working together.

[wildguardian]

Same. [He helpfully points out a toothy moray peeking out of a tunnel in the coral for Ginia to get some more photographs of.]

This seems like Minako's thing, but Chikusa? She must've offered him something really good to get him to join in.

[unlucky7]

Must have been a good hat.

[What? She's seen his various beanies and seen more than one person offer a hat bribe. But this also feels too big for Chikusa to get involved in without some personal stake. Something with Ken? No, why make it so big then? And blind dates too?

...Blind dates. Ginia stops as the thought occurs to her. Only Minako and Chikusa know who was paired with who. Was one of them trying to set someone up?

Sorry, Zhao, don't mind as she briefly zones out in her thinking.]

[wildguardian]

Uh huh. [Or something else; the way she's fallen suddenly silent suggests there are gears turning behind that distant expression. Zhao's eyebrows flick up in curiosity.]

Penny for your thoughts?

[unlucky7]

[Right. No staring off. Ginia giggles softly as she returns to reality.]

You said you signed up and made sure you were set up with a date with someone else, right?

[wildguardian]

Yeah, that's right. [His eyebrows stay arched. He's curious to see where she's going with this.

Does she suspect Chikusa's setting himself up with some crush, and trying to make sure he keeps it subtle by doing the same thing with half the Heavens? Boy, that's a lot of work. Even if Minako is handling most of it.]

[unlucky7]

I like Chikusa, but he likes things that are low effort. This is more Minako's thing, but I can't imagine the amount of money that must have gone into it so clearly Chikusa bankrolled this. But he'd only help if he stood to gain something.

[Brunch. Aquarium. She needs to check where the last location is, but so far they're all nice, neutral date locations. Low-pressure, good for people to get to know each other through.]

I want to know who he's setting up.

Or trying to set up.

[wildguardian]

Chikusa's got this much money to throw around? [He whistles-- he'd checked the ticket prices, and this aquarium, plus the amusement park, plus breakfast? It adds up to a hefty bill. He hadn't thought it would all have come from one person.

That's a lot of money to pour into any goal, so she's got to be right: he must stand to gain something that means a lot.]

This is a real big undertaking for setting just one or two people up. He wouldn't need to go this far unless he'd need to trick them into it.

It wouldn't be anybody he's trying to set himself up with, would it? Is he single?

[unlucky7]

His god is a God of Fortune. There's money to spare.

[At least, Ginia assumes Chikusa is funding things through Hakkai's money. She wouldn't be surprised if Chikusa had a stack of funds through some sort of shady activity - no judgement, they did rob some apartments together after all - but it's the easiest route.]

He has a boyfriend. All this would be too much effort to set himself up with someone if he didn't. So it has to be someone else.

[wildguardian]

Okay, considering Ebisu's pay rates, that makes sense.

[Even a God of Fortune whose thing isn't economics and money must have plenty to spare.]

Who would he care this much about setting up if it isn't himself with some crush, though? His god?

[It's the most obvious close relationship that Zhao can come up with that Chikusa would have a proprietary interest in. He'd probably want to meddle if Bakugou were pining, too, though this seems over the top.

Could be that's just because Minako got involved, though. He's met her, too.]

[unlucky7]

[...It'd have to be his god, huh. Ginia's phone taps against her chin, face scrunching up. Maybe Minako has a stake in things too, but for Chikusa to be involved, it makes the most sense if this somehow relates to Hakkai.]

Makes the most sense to me. I'll definitely have to keep an eye and ear out for rumors tomorrow. Thank there will be any successful matches?

[She pauses and winks at Zhao.]

Yours aside?

[wildguardian]

Let me know if you hear anything! I haven't met whoever his god is-- does he just have the one?

[There's enough noras among the newcomers that it's worth asking; it could be that Chikusa's got more than one person whose love life he could be taking a proprietary interest in.]

And don't jinx me.

[Companionably, he gives her shoulder a light shove.]

I might've made my match personally, but that doesn't mean it'll work out!

[unlucky7]

Hakkai is his god, last I heard. Don't know if he has other gods.

[Ginia knows he was nora at Zelda's meeting, but a lot could have changed since then. It wasn't long after she traded away one name for two more. Chikusa strikes her as far more choosy about who names him, but she doesn't know the circumstances for why he's nora either.

She bumps his shoulder back and raises a hand apologetically, but hides a smile as she moves on to the next exhibit.]

Fingers crossed then. Let me know how it goes the next time we get drinks?

[wildguardian]

[Zhao grins, following her to the next tank.]

Will do. So, Hakkai, huh. I wonder if he's somewhere in here on a blind date.

[He doesn't know much about the guy, other than having dug up a few network posts; seems like he's either businesslike or dramatic.]

I might have to see if he'll tell me how that works out when we start up magic classes.

[unlucky7]

[If he is, and depending who he's with, it'll point toward a likely possibility he was a target. Ginia can't imagine Hakkai is the kind of person to go willingly on a blind date, though she also doesn't know him that well comparatively.

The next tank has seahorses and trumpetfish inside. Ginia pauses to take a few more pictures.]

Good luck getting Chikusa to talk about anything he doesn't want to.

[wildguardian]

Ha! Okay, you might have a point. [Zhao's lingering by the coral reef tank for a moment more before he follows; the seahorses are cute, though, so he doesn't let himself be distracted by the bright neon colors and circling shark for too long.]

Don't underestimate how stubborn I can be, though.

[unlucky7]

Unstoppable force versus immovable object.

[Who wins in the face of persistence or effort? Tread lightly, Zhao, Chikusa is shifty. It's one reason she's fond of him.]

So is this your first or second date of the day?