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

[ofnovalue]

[ She nodded as well. Okay. It was showtime. No letting her fear and anxiousness take her over now. She had to prove she could do this, with or without Agrias nearby. Focusing herself, she used the Aegis' speed boost to dash closer towards the bear, but backed off as soon as she was within swiping range. Taunting it. Keeping its attention on her... ]

[wildguardian]

[She darts closer to it, and then away, and the bear lumbers after, crooning in an ayakashi's distorted human voice as it reaches clawed paws towards her. Zhao breaks into a jog, matching the bear's pace off to the left with his hand held ready to cast if it threatened to really get a swipe in.]

The lakeside's abandoned, over there!

[He points, then swears as the bear picks up its pace, and slashes a quick borderline out to sting its nose.]

[ofnovalue]

Right! [ Ovelia nodded, not taking her eyes off the bear. ]

Come, beast! Give chase if you dare! [ She did one last feint before taking off towards the lake, just as Aegis' power was starting to fade. She had to actually be quick now... It would take a moment before she could cast it again. ]

[wildguardian]

[It dares, all right. It's roaring after her, and Zhao has to go from a jog to a flat-out sprint to keep pace with it. He throws another borderline; this one slashes into its leg, and it goes down in a tumbled heap and comes up after him.

Swearing again, he bolts after Ovelia.]

It's definitely after us now!

[All according to plan!

Sort of. He's saving his breath.]

[ofnovalue]

Indeed tis!

However, what are we to do once we've come to the lake?! [ That part of the plan she wasn't sure about... ]

[wildguardian]

Still thinking about that!

[Between two shinki with working borderlines, they can disable the thing effectively, but. Well.]

You don't have your god nearby, do you?

[ofnovalue]

Lady Agrias is away answering prayers... [ And she really did regret not having her for a moment like this. She'd had sliced the damn thing in two by now... ]

[wildguardian]

Mine's not even on the Near Shore. He skipped the Valentine's bullshit.

[His lips press flat over curses he's not quite letting escape, and he casts a quick glance around.] We're gonna have to lead this thing all the way out of town. Once it's away from any targets we should be able to carve it up bad enough to keep it there, and get away.

[It's the best damage mitigation they can manage when neither of them can destroy it.]

[ofnovalue]

If that is what we must do, then so shall it be done!

How are you with a sword? [ It seemed like... a random question to be asking suddenly, but she clearly seemed to have an idea in mind. ]

If I became my vessel, wouldst thou be able to wield me?

[wildguardian]

I, ah. Good question! Very good.

[He flexes a hand, thinking about it.]

I could sure give it a shot. But would that work?

[ofnovalue]

... Probably not. [ She thought on it, everything she'd learned her first day, and Amaterasu's attendants had been sure to emphasize not only that only gods could use the vessels, only Agrias would be able to use her well. ]

[wildguardian]

What I am decent with is a borderline, though, so between you and me we should be able to make sashimi out of this teddy bear. C'mon.

[He'd taken a look at the street map by the station, picking out his route, and he thinks he remembers a finger of wilderness reaching in close where a mountain that was too steep to build on infringed on the city. That should do.

The bear's roar is far too close behind them. Zhao whips around and slashes his hand out at it. The line cuts through its shoulder and torso, and it goes down, healing already as it hits the ground. They don't have long, but long enough, maybe, to start towards that area. Which is-- which is. He looks around: the mountain is just visible over the buildings to the left.]

This way!

[As the ayakashi starts to struggle back to its feet, Zhao breaks into a sprint towards the mountainside. If he's remembering the map right, it ought to be just three blocks.

[ofnovalue]

[ So much running, she was starting to really feel the burn in her legs. By the time they got off road and into the edge of the foothill, she's panting heavily, stumbling. ]

[wildguardian]

[She's keeping up but it's obvious it's taking a toll on her -- Zhao skids to a stop at the bend in the trail where it started taking sharp switchbacks up the side of the hill, and grinned fiercely at the teddy bear on their tail.

It showed him a lot more teeth in return.]

Hey, Ovelia! Take a minute, catch your breath!

[Tasty, the bear mumbles, stop, eat, tasty--]

Line.

[It goes sprawling in two pieces, and Zhao leaves his borderline up between them as the front half scrabbles for the back and then turns, hauling itself mindlessly towards them. It's much slower this way.]

[ofnovalue]

[ Slower, but significantly more terrifying, all things considered. Ovelia's attempts to collect herself were stressed by the panic she found herself in, stumbling again and this time crashing to the ground below. ]

[wildguardian]

[Oh, hell. Zhao's stepping in front of her as soon as she falls, facing down the bear with a sharp-edged smile.]

Get it through your head, fluff-for-brains, we're not your dinner.

[And-- he lets the first borderline fall, and as the bear turns back towards its severed section, throws another set meant to cut. One, two, three: he's getting a little sloppy with his aim in favor of speed, but they all hit, even if some of them don't do much more than carve away a slice of fur or claw. It seems focused on putting itself back together now.]

[ofnovalue]

[ Despite how familiar being helpless felt, something in Ovelia... lashed out, when it became obvious the creature was more focused on pulling itself back together. ]

LINE!

[ The border line had so much force behind it, it shredded up the hill beside them, slicing free a few boulders that toppled down, crushing the ayakashi beneath them. It wouldn't kill it, no... but it definitely had no hope of freeing itself, especially not in so many pieces. ]

[wildguardian]

Shit! [Zhao leaps back out of the way of a smaller spill of boulders and pebbles sliding from the small avalanche, and turns to look at Ovelia, wide-eyed and impressed.]

-- Nice. [He offers her a hand up.] You've got to give me some borderline tips -- let's get away from here before that thing works out what it's doing, I don't want it following us if it can manage to wriggle out.

[It probably can't, not with the size of the boulders that landed on it and the number of pieces it had been in to begin with, but better safe than sorry.]