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

[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..... ]

[letteropener]

[Isn't it a shame that bar seems to be stuck, as if by magic? Celestia nudges Hibiki, then breaks into a quick little trot to get over there and in. Let's go!]

[priforprince]

Hn?

[ ....Ah. This ridiculous Shore.

The roller-coaster attendant will have to sweat over the stuck bar for longer than should have been necessary, given that even Hibiki's "hurry" speed is languidly elegant. But she does get settled on her own glorious time, and is prepared for her ride! ]

[letteropener]

[Oh, Hibiki. If anything tells Celestia how few duties and responsibilities Hibiki truly has, it's how she never finds pleasure in doing things that are less dignified and relaxed.]

[Celestia releases the bar, which comes down into their laps to press tight, and then the train clatters forward to catch the chain and begin its journey up the hill.]

celestia needs to see how hibiki uses couches. SPRAAAWL

[priforprince]

[ Hey, PriParis doesn't run itself. Nor do all of these prayers she answers. But that is no reason to compromise one's magnificent grace.

Up we go. Hibiki frowns, but it's more a puzzled expression than a disapproving one - so far. ]

Do such conveyances customarily...clatter?

[ The one in her temple doesn't. None of the ones she's ever been on have, being State of the Art High-Quality Top-Class Roller Coasters.

What is going on? ]

[letteropener]

Oh, some of them! This one is a little older model, I think, so it has old-fashioned stylings!

[Really, Hibiki, are you so inexperienced with roller coasters? They might need to fix that!]

[priforprince]

A classic, hm....

[ Hibiki is still thinking about this as they crest the hill.

She might not want to be holding onto her chin in about half a second. ]

[letteropener]

Hands up, Hibiki!

[Celestia flings her own hands up as they seem to hang in the air for a heartbeat, then plunge downwards with rocketing, roaring speed!]

[priforprince]

Hands---

[ VYOOOOOM

Hibiki's ahoge, flipping straight up, nearly uncurls. Her eyes cross.

And her hands do end up in the air for a moment, but it's not deliberate. The moment she has control over her body again, she's holding onto the harness. ]

[letteropener]

[Possibly the weirdest and most egregious violation of the laws of physics occurs when Celestia's hair absolutely refuses to acknowledge the wind whistling past them and continues to drift serenely.]

[Celestia lets out a full-throated yell of delight as the cart bottoms out, then surges upwards again on the next hill. This coaster is very rattly by design, taunting the riders with the fear of imminent failure, and she loves it.]

[priforprince]

Hrk--

[ Hibiki is having a less pleasant roller coaster experience, at least at first. Was that a -a rattle?! How inelegant -

But then the air catches in her hair, and she settles down. Far be it from her to whoop, even if the Princess sees fit to indulge. But as she adjusts to the adventure, she relaxes back into her seat a bit more.

She's almost smiling.

Heh. ]

[letteropener]

[A turn makes Celestia slide sideways just a little, bumping into Hibiki. She doesn't mind, of course, just flashes a bright grin at the girl as they go down another hill.] This is great!

[priforprince]

Princess.....

[ This....is making the Princess happy?

Not the greeting Hibiki had given her. Not even, possibly, the escorting. But...this?

If it is possible to be deep in thought on a roller coaster, Hibiki is trying.

Of course, she keeps getting jostled out of those thoughts... ]

[letteropener]

[Happiness comes in many different forms. This is certainly a rare one, though, for Princess Celestia. Rare enough that as the train circles around to come into the station at a slow rumbling speed, the human-shaped alicorn is giggling into her hands, breathless from all the cheerful screaming she'd done.]

[priforprince]

[ .....Hibiki has a theory now. It is a bizarre theory, and she's not sure why she is so certain of it. But. Could it be?

Could it be that - like perfect Princess Falulu (the thought of whom has Hibiki suppressing a pang) - what Celestia longs for more than anything, instead of being an ideal, is.....?

She remains absorbed in her thoughts even as the other passengers begin to dismount. If she's right, then....

There are very specific ways she can grant the Princess a happy Valentine. ]

[letteropener]

Hibiki. [Back is the gentle composure and serenity, as Celestia gently nudges the girl to get her attention.] We're supposed to disembark now.

[priforprince]

Hwa--

[ Oh, so they are. And, since she has better places to be than this, she will even oblige! (What she's "supposed" to is, frankly, immaterial.)

Hibiki stands, snapped out of her former musings - and her brief moment of being caught off-guard. ]

I trust the ride was satisfactory.

[letteropener]

I have come to really love roller coasters. [Celestia exits the car with far more dignity than clambering out from a lowered position should allow anyone to possess.] Because of the lack of control. I'd like to make a number of new memories with roller coasters here.

[priforprince]

The ride within my temple is eternally at your disposal.

[ Having designed an indoor amusement park has its occasional perks.

In any case, she said a nice thing! There is no way even Shikyoin Hibiki could make that awful! ]

Of course, anytime you wish to yield control, I'm happy to assume it, as well.

[ HIBIKI ]

[letteropener]

Control is in your nature, Hibiki. You should try surrendering it at times too. It's fun. [Celestia winks playfully at her, offering her arm once again. Back to the elegant dance of wordplay and grace!]

[priforprince]

I prefer only engaging in situations that will benefit me.

[ Arm accepted, however. And she....has been known to surrender to beautiful Princesses.

Case in point, now, as she starts to think. Summon the might of your full movie expertise, Shikyoin Hibiki! What is a genre-appropriate Classic Pastime for a Fun Amusement Park Experience?

The sun isn't low enough in the sky for the Ferris wheel, is it...? The lighting will be wrong. ]

[letteropener]

Of course, but to what scope do you take that benefit? Immediately? A day from now? A week? Twenty years?

[Celestia says this with her impeccable air of Royal Wisdom, but her eyes are trailing over Hibiki's head, watching the progression of a funnel cake stand as they start to walk past it.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki watches Celestia watching. Funnel....cake? Hm.

She turns unexpectedly, heading for the stand with no prior warning. ] All of the above is acceptable.

[ ....this stand is emitting a strangely acceptable scent. ]

[letteropener]

[Oh, Hibiki. That skill at observation is practically worthy of what you'd say it would be.]

Then that is what everypony does. After all, what can't you turn into something advantageous to you if you try?

[priforprince]

Provided you possess the judgment to notice it.

[ And there's the rub. Not "everypony" possesses that elite skill.

There is no line for funnel cake. Hibiki steps on up. ] Prepare us one deluxe.

[ That's the best one, right? ]