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

[mithrarin]

It... doesn't matter, honestly. [He doesn't know how to answer this properly, not in the mood he's in.] Though I suppose right now it's better to be with someone I know than... make anyone else put up with me.

[smilingbullet]

[ Mh? Dust seems a bit off too. D2 tips his head to the side, peering at his friend with a bit of concern. ] What d'you mean?

[mithrarin]

I... made a mistake, is all. And I'm kicking myself for it. Not really good company. [If not for that damn owl, he'd be miles away from everyone and everything.]

[smilingbullet]

Ah.. [ He is somewhat familiar with that feeling. ] If you want to talk about it I'll listen.

[mithrarin]

It's nothing important. Just told someone something I should have kept quiet. I'm the only one hurt out of it, though, so it's not like I owe anyone an apology.

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 frowns at that. He doesn't want his friends to be hurt. If it's something that he has to process on his own then okay, sure, but still, if he can do anything to help in any way he'd like to do so. ] Nonetheless, if you feel like talking about it, and it doesn't have to be now, you just need to say so. As he said, he'll listen. ] For now, should we head inside properly?

[mithrarin]

There's nothing to talk about. It's done and in the past. [Though that isn't completely accurate, it's what Dust believes.] Yeah, let's head in.

[smilingbullet]

Sometimes talking helps.. [ But if he needs to not talk...he guesses.. He heads past the last entrance doors. ] Dunno if I've been looking at fishes in a while.

[ He has definitely not looked at fishes in aquariums since becoming a shinki. ]

[mithrarin]

Talking was what got me into trouble in the first place. [He tries to make it a joke, tries and fails. He's just bitter, and quiet, and without much fire any more.]

Is this a weird place to have a date, or is it just me?

[smilingbullet]

Was it? [ The fact that it comes over as a failed joke so clearly only makes it more and more obvious that maybe he really does need to talk to someone. ]

I dunno, I can imagine that it's not that weird? So long as you think fishes and stuff are interesting at least?

[mithrarin]

I guess I usually think of stuff like that as dinner or whatever. But then again, I guess I don't know anything about dating at all. [He shrugs slightly.]

[smilingbullet]

They are staple food in a lot of places and all. [ And yet they are not looking to see what they look like before they're cooked. ] But I dunno, dating's difficult I've gathered. Or complicated or.. something. Not really getting how it works is fine, I think.

[mithrarin]

It's... I don't know how anyone does it. What are the odds that you'd even like someone who liked you back?

[smilingbullet]

I... Am probably not the best person to ask that. I don't really know. But considering that a lot of people do date or marry and stuff and it's generally not arranged marriages these days, I'm assuming that the odds are at least fifty fifty? Or something?

[mithrarin]

I didn't say it didn't happen... just that I don't understand it. Maybe most people are just... easier to like.

[smilingbullet]

No, yeah, no, I know. It's alright to not get it, if it was not even the least bit of a mystery to people they wouldn't find it fascinating. I think. What're you talking about though? You're talking like you're not easy to like, but I'd say you're wrong about that.

[mithrarin]

Well, for starters, I'm the wrong species for any girl to be interested in around here.

[smilingbullet]

You're not the wrong species at all. People who think that are people you shouldn't listen to.

[mithrarin]

That's a nice thought, but it's not true. Aside from any other problems I might have, human girls don't want a guy with fur and ears in weird places.

[smilingbullet]

[ Has he ever heard of Beauty and the Beast? (Though personally D2 liked the Beast looked better as a Beast.) ]

Some mightn't, but some wouldn't care. Not everyone are so superficial.

[mithrarin]

[No he has not.]

Then that just means I'd have to find a girl who was okay with that on top of everything else. That's why I say I don't understand how anyone does it, when finding someone who was okay with everything any one person is seems so impossible.

[smilingbullet]

I think it's the same as with friendships. I'd say that both friendship and romance is a lot about understanding and just general, what's it called, [ he knows the words he wants to use in about half a dozen languages but can't find it in Japanese.. Being multilingual is supposed to help not cause blanks. (But he already knew that it becomes a bit of a jumbled thing in your mind when you know more than even one language.) ] ...Anerkennung.....? Recognition..? Of the other. You don't need to know everything about each other and it's alright to be different. And, romance without friendship is probably not going to work out either way.

[mithrarin]

Yeah, but taking that next step...[Dust shakes his head.] But I'm pretty bad at friendship too, so I guess it's all on me.

[smilingbullet]

I'm afraid I can't really be any help on that next step... But speaking as your friend, I think you're doing pretty well. And friendships are not all on one person.

[mithrarin]

I've lost more than I've gained... [Dust lets out a sigh.] Not that people disappear on purpose.