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

[thevanguard]

I'm pretty sure if someone does understand all this, you're not very likely to, either.

[ Why is he following her? He doesn't even know, but here he is, even if he looks grumpy about it. ]

[priforprince]

Can you climb?

[ This is relevant. Probably. But it's all he's getting out of her, for his low opinion of her means less than nothing at all.

Does the king wonder what opinion the dust beneath his throne holds? ]

[thevanguard]

[ Wow, Kings aren't supposed to have dust beneath their thrones, do they not clean in your kingdom?

He eyes her back suspiciously all the same. ]

Yeah. Why?

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki holds up the prayer in response. It's the "Does she like me? Give me a sign!" prayer. ]

Her room is on the second floor.

[ And her butterfly's busy, and the spygoats are on wheels, and she can't be bothered to do it herself. Yata has been selected not for his personality, not for his individual talents, but for having mobile limbs.

It's a tremendous honor. ]

[thevanguard]

[ Yata squints at it for a moment. ]

...They don't have stairs? Why would I have to climb?

[ Not that he can't climb, but. ]

[priforprince]

Entering through the balcony is the dashing approach.

[ She's hiding her surprise, but....the stairs. Did not occur to her.

At all. ]

[thevanguard]

I don't need to be dashing and besides, no one can even see me.

[ He points to a door off to the side, obviously marked with a Stairwell sign. ]

See? Stairs.

[priforprince]

Wh--

[ SO THERE ARE

...Well. Hmph. Hibiki rallies after this grievous blow, which if had happened to a lesser person, might have made them look foolish. ]

You don't possess a shred of Romance, do you.

[ But fine. She shan't stop him. Those who do not wish to improve themselves by heeding her advice are free to make their own choices!

Their own incorrect choices, but they're free to make them. She supposes. ]