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

[letteropener]

[The distant crack of magic heralds the Princess's return, a golden glow visible in the air over the booths they'd abandoned when the ayakashi reared its ugly avian head. Celestia immediately swivels on her wings, a mare once again, looking for the doubtless obvious signs of Hibiki.]

[Hibiki is, after all, not subtle in her presence.]

[priforprince]

[ There is a purple trail of sparkles still left hanging in the air, headed towards a more deserted area of the park - and headed steadily up into the sky.

Will that suffice? ]

[letteropener]

[It will, though it actually is much more subtle than she expected.]

[Celestia all but launches herself in that direction, massive wings swooping powerfully. Her presence is not subtle, and the dove quickly turns to flitter off before that god can reach her. If only it can dodge the annoying one!]

[priforprince]

Princess!

[ Aaaaand here's more what Celestia might have been expecting: a gleam in the far-off sky, quickly turning into the diving form of Shikyoin Hibiki as she ambushes the bird from above, guns blazing with holy water.

Video playback slows as she passes by Celestia, the better for the Princess to admire this scene down to each individual diamond droplet in the air, and then speeds up again. You're welcome. ]

The finishing touch!

[letteropener]

[Ah, yes. That IS more like what she expected.]

Maris! We rend!

[The light of the fairway gleams off the bracelet around her fetlock, catching both the radiant glow and the web of cracks racing through it. Celestia restrains her own power, sending only a line of light racing towards the ayakashi to pierce it.]

[But Hibiki has weakened it. That is enough. The ayakashi shivers almost anticlimactically before vaporizing into a puff of feathers, which themselves smoke away to nothing.]

1/2

[priforprince]

[ A ROYAL WE IN THE RENDING

HAS ANYPONY EVER BEEN SO EXQUISITE....?! ]

2/2

[priforprince]

[ Once the coast is clear of even distasteful feathers, Hibiki joins Celestia's level of atmosphere, stowing away her pistols. ]

As expected. You and that shinki are a top-class combination.

[ If she's making it sound like she knew Celestia and the shinki would go well together, and thus Celestia naming her had all been part of Shikyoin Hibiki's will.....well! Is it wrong? ]

[letteropener]

[...that was a 'we' referring to herself and her shinki, but unaware of Hibiki's misapprehension, Celestia can't correct it.]

[Her smile in this moment is more fond than regal, aimed down at her shinki's vessel form.] Maris says 'hi', Hibiki. And we both thank you for the compliment.

[priforprince]

A token of appreciation suits this most Romantic of days.

[ Slowly, Hibiki begins to descend - a gentle float back to earth (if not to being grounded). She plucks a rose from a bouquet display, leaving a bill rolled up where it had been, and slips it between Celestia's bracelet and hoof. ]

For the mademoiselle.

[letteropener]

[Celestia cocks her head slightly.]

She says thank you, and that you are extra. I assume she must mean extra-amazing.

[Celestia knows perfectly well what Maris means.]

[A whirl of light sweeps Celestia up and replaces her in her human form, the shinki bracelet still curled tightly around a wrist (flower in place). Hopefully the cracked adornment will not detract from her appearance, or their date.]

[priforprince]

Hm.

[ Whether or not Hibiki knows, she considers it a compliment.

...Though, hm. They've come a ways to backtrack to where they were. ]

As we're here, shall we savor this part of the park's delights?

[ Hibiki can teleport.

Hibiki cannot be assed to teleport. ]

[letteropener]

Isn't this part a bit closed? [And considering the season, well, water might not be the most enjoyable affair even if it weren't!] I would rather enjoy a ride, if we might. Do you like roller coasters?

[priforprince]

Any pastime enjoyed in your company is a delight.

[ And she means that. She'll point them towards the direction of the closest open rides, then - it's true, a water park is....less than ideal. ]

[letteropener]

[Luckily, the nearest one is indeed a roller coaster -- a wild wooden one that looks a little rickety by design. Celestia wonders privately if any ride in here could manage to shake Hibiki's air of confidence... or when the last time she allowed herself girlish delight was.]

Oh, really? I shall invite you over next time I clean the temple, then.

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki blinks hard a few times at that, not expecting a....that was a joke, yes? It was a joke. ]

If that's your wish.

[ SHE IS PLAYING ALONG WITH THE JOKE. AHAHA. WHAT CLEVER PEOPLE WE ARE.

Here is a ride, though. Hibiki stares up at it, glad for something to focus on beyond that joke. Moving always into the future is her style! Indeed. ]

[letteropener]

[Wait till she gets the request. Mwa ha.]

[Celestia offers a Hibiki an arm, urging her wordlessly to escort the Princess into line. Let's give the would-be Prince a little of her own back.]

[priforprince]

[ Ah. An arm. Hibiki does know what to do with an arm.

She leads Celestia up to the line....and promptly bypasses it, heading straight for the entrance regardless of how many people may be queued.

And making polite smalltalk like this is normal. ] Are you familiar with roller coasters?

[ She has a really good one in her temple. She is hoping to lead to that fact. ]

[letteropener]

Yes, I went on one when we went to Capypa Land and quite enjoyed it.

[A brief glimmer of sadness flickers through her eyes, and is gone so fast it probably was just the light.]

[priforprince]

[ Funny, Hibiki has the exact same reaction to the mention of Capyba Land! A happening place, that. ]

Let's see whether this one can exceed that impression.

[ Just as soon as they -

why is no one letting her cut to the head of this line ]

[letteropener]

['No one' includes Celestia, who is dragging her feet subtly to steer Hibiki to their proper place. At this time of night they barely have a wait, but Celestia is the sort who would insist on it anyway, after all.]

Oh, I do not doubt that it will leave a far fonder memory than the last! After all, consider my company.

[Hibiki is not likely to erase Celestia from her mind for trying to aid her, after all, and if she does it will not hurt as much by any extent.]

[priforprince]

Of course.

[ But, it seems like the Princess is....? Lines are unworthy of her; this is bizarre. ]

...There's no need to wait for the gallery to board.

[letteropener]

Ah, but those who wield nobility as a cudgel have none, Hibiki. [And obviously that does not include the two of them, correct?]

[priforprince]

[ .....Why does Hibiki feel suddenly nostalgic for a childhood she never had?

What is this odd feeling of....looked-after-ness? Is there a word for it??

Best banish that from her thoughts. ]

You are graciousness itself.

[ At least this line is moving well. If it weren't, she'd have Stronger Opinions. ]

[letteropener]

I have to be, after all. I have spent centuries guiding Equestria to an ideal, which means I need to embody that ideal to the best of my ability. Those who look up to us use us as models, after all.

[Celestia often wonders if she can reshape Hibiki at all. The woman is indisputably herself, a strength and a flaw all in one, and perhaps too set in her ways to be any more than gently nudged aside. But she can't help but try.]

[priforprince]

Noblesse oblige.

[ Nudges may be all one can hope for from Hibiki, but nudges that invoke becoming an ideal are - well, if not effective, they at least distract her. Hibiki is now perfectly happy to be absorbed in listening to Celestia instead of cutting in line. ] A phrase I don't dislike. Ideals are truly the highest, and thus only suitable, aspiration.

[ ....Is that everybody? Okay, there's two seats left in this roller coaster, but it doesn't look like there is anyone else waiting in line, so the attendant will go ahead and start lowering bars..... ]