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

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun shrugs slightly - he doesn't necessarily seek company when he's hunting ayakashi, but he doesn't reject it either. With the air of someone who's been keeping very diligent focus on where they've been and where they're going, Shun points south and then makes an arc towards the north.]

I've already covered a good amount that way, so I'm heading this direction. It's been getting busier the further I go since I started at the outer suburbs, so we'll probably be running into more than just a single flock before long.

[abgrund]

Alright then.

[ He's not one to expect excessive answers, or explanation, from Shun. The best bet he has at figuring out what the youth feels is to watch him and see what he shows.

As Shun flies on his bird, Ain sprouts two dark wings from his back and levitates after him. The wings are mostly for show - an explanation for others, who might find a person hovering more inexplicable. ]

How long have you been at this?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun isn't exactly concerned about being seen - people are inattentive to Far Shore folk at the best of times, and on a day like this, he imagines the amount of people distracted by circumstances is going to be higher than usual.

At the question, Shun tilts his head slightly, considering. He knows when he started, but he hasn't checked the time for a little while.]

A few hours, at least. [He slips his phone out slightly to check the time before dropping it back into his pocket.] Three and a half hours. Feels about right. Does it matter that much?

[abgrund]

[ It does. But then again, pointing it out probably has little use on Shun. ]

Do you have no engagements today?

[ Ain would rather not be the one nagging Shun to rest. Someone closer to him should, but... ]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun gives a faint sigh of annoyance at that. He figured he'd get that question at least once today (but at the same time, it's entirely likely he misinterpreted what Ain meant by "engagements" for expectation of said question).]

Nothing other than my normal engagements. The only person I'd want other engagements with today is busy.

[He doesn't sound bothered by that at all - Ren's a god of romance among his other domains, it's to be expected he'd have his own things to do on Valentine's Day - so it's just his typical bluntness.]

[abgrund]

[ So Shun has someone, huh. Well, he's surprised, but maybe he shouldn't be. Humans tend to be like that. Still, it's worth investigating ]

Only person?

[ Any clarification that might be offered? ]

[revolutionfalcon]

It's not really any of anyone else's business. [Even though Ain doesn't seem like the type to pry overly hard, it's just something Shun prefers to keep to himself if he can. He does, at least, clarify one part of it.] But he's representing the god Inanna, and any god with romance in their domains is going to be busy today.

[abgrund]

[ That's enough information for Ain to find out who that special person is. ]

I hope you see them at least once for the occasion.

[ Shun is the type to not consider himself in the purview of that, in his opinion. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

Like I said, that's not really any of anyone else's business. [Shun prefers not to talk about his private matters if he can avoid it, so for the moment, he turns his attention ahead again.

It's not long before there's the hint of another black wing in the air, and his eyes narrow a little.] Might be another flock of those ayakashi coming up.

[abgrund]

[ So be it, then. He's done his civic duty, as much as an acquaintance can.

Ain is silent even when they reach the ayakashi's range, trying to gauge how big the flock is. If it's not too large, he can try to snare them in a net just like last time. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

[The single bird that passed by is still flying alone for now, but in the direction it's heading back, there seems to be a lot more of them perching along the rooftops of this street. It's certainly more than the group they dealt with earlier, and Shun surveys the line with a frown creeping onto his face already.]

Looks like more of them are gathering here.

[abgrund]

I can do the same before. Unless you have another way?

[ Ain tilts his head, sizing up the swarm. This may be difficult as using his barrier on a large group would reduce its selective permeability... and he doesn't want to break any trees in the process. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

It might be better to try splitting them up, but at the same time, that might make them scatter. How effective is that thing you were doing against a group this big?

[It's hard to completely strategise when you don't know what resources you're working with, so he figures it can't hurt to check.]

[abgrund]

[ A few moments of pause while he surveys them ]

It is doable on principle. The matter is I may not do it fast enough. I cannot exercise the bulk of my power without drawing the ire of the Heavens.

[ Inconvenient, but he's always worked around it somehow. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

Is that because it has too much of an impact on everything around it?

[Shun's tone is somewhat dry. He remembers Add's attempts at void experimentation and how much damage those had done. He has somewhat of a distrust of the power itself considering the name Add's given it around here.]

[abgrund]

Yes. By its very nature it is incompatible with this world, but I can ameliorate the side effects if I use only a little.

[ He isn't a master of the void for nothing... though, it's also out of a compromise with the Heavens and to not hurt the mortals around them. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That figures. Shun lets out a faint sound of annoyance at that, but at least he knows the reasoning now.]

Then do it slowly and I'll keep them together until then. Better not cause more damage than we need to on something like this.

[abgrund]

[ Ain hums his acknowledgement before assuming a more focused stance, spreading his shadow above the ground. In areas without trees, he could probably try to snap up the birds like a flytrap... but for now, he hopes to catch them by surprise. If Shun can herd them towards the ground he'll have better luck. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun starts off by calling out a few more of his birds, two the same as the one he's currently riding and two lighter blue ones with flatter bodies that might be more helpful for walling in. He's found he can't bring out any more than five at once, as it would be with his duel disk, so he'll have to make do with this.

He heads forward, and two birds each flank out to the sides, pushing the flock of ayakashi inwards with snapping strikes of beaks and claws. As they start to bunch up, Shun keeps the pressure up, heading them downwards out of sheer intent to keep them from getting into the sky.]

[abgrund]

[ At first nothing much seems to happen as Shun edges the birds down towards the ground, until the flock of ayakashi reaches to less than two metres in height. A moment later the shadow rises up in a brisk wave, rolling over the ayakashi into a sphere instead of closing up like the previous attempt.

The barrier passes through Shun and his summons, snapping up the birds relatively smoothly. A few manage to slip away into the sky before Ain can close the field completely. ]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun pulls up when the barrier goes up, anticipating that some of the birds might be able to slip free just from sheer numbers. However, a few is a lot easier to catch than a pack that size, and now that the barrier is closed, Shun sends the birds that had been flanking the flock up to block off the escape route of the other few ayakashi so he can sweep through and pick them off before heading back down towards the sphere.

It's probably not the best situation to be in, close quarters with a flock of fast-moving ayakashi, but nonetheless, Shun seems unconcerned as he slips through the barrier once more to start dealing with those inside.]

[abgrund]

[ Ain waits while Shun does his Thing. Another flock rended, another couple of people's days hopefully saved. It's all very rhythmic, but he can't help but feel some faint sense of... dissonance. Yes, that's it.

But, to voice it or not? He waits until Shun is finished before dispelling the barrier and speaking. ]

How long more will you be doing this?

[revolutionfalcon]

[When the barrier disappears, Shun emerges with one or two visible blight stains, but he's already washing those away. He descends a little closer to Ain's position again, and raises a brow at the question as if he thinks the answer is obvious.]

Rest of the day. Even if I take out all of this type, there's plenty of other ayakshi that need dealing with, and probably plenty of people I can join up with to fight if they need it.

we can wrap this one up here? :D

[abgrund]

[ .....

Well, there's no other way around this, is there. Ain doesn't feel like he should leave Shun to his own devices... and he supposes he's the best pick for accompanying the youth along, since he doesn't have any plans either. ]

That's fine with me.

[ For as long as it takes. He could even see Shun home if that was possible. ]

sure

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun will likely split off as the day goes on since he prefers not to be hovered over, but as it is, it'll likely be a while before that comes up.

For the moment, he shrugs slightly at the offer and starts heading out again, towards yet more infested streets.]