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

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Oh hell. What would a shinki of this -- girl -- be like? She's imagining some stuck-up guy who walks around serving her endlessly and probably getting mistreated but still acting like he's better than everyone else.]

Oh yeah? Who's that?

[priforprince]

Ask around about the "shinki sanctuary."

[ Hibiki is not like some handsome children's-show women, who seem allergic to the concept of answering questions itself. She is perfectly capable of doing so, when she cares to.

At this moment, she does not care to. It is more amusing. ]

I guarantee satisfaction.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

The sanctu -- your shinki is Wendy?!

[Nia jolts back so hard the chair rocks off its front legs. No way! That's a mismatch for the ages!]

[priforprince]

I see you've met.

[ Also, don't make a ruckus. That reaction would be enjoyable if it weren't so rowdy. ]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

But you two are totally different! How do you not...

[How does Wendy not just kill Hibiki, she supposes is the question. Because she can't imagine it going the other way around.]

[priforprince]

Wendy possesses a revolutionary spirit. Her service is first-rate and her performance abilities exceptional.

[ Not to mention...she asked Hibiki to be her god. She assessed her options and came to the conclusion that none but Hibiki would do.

That means a lot, to Hibiki. Who seems....proud?....when she discusses Wendy. ]

I could not ask for a more satisfactory shinki.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[This is wild, and Nia's starting to wonder if this is all a crazy dream. She's been having such good dreams for a long time, isn't she due a bad one to balance it all out?]

That's wild, but... guess it's a point in your favor that you support her sanctuary stuff.

[priforprince]

Your opinion on the matter has no bearing.

[ Hibiki is done her meal - it was most satisfactory. She daubs at her mouth, then replaces her napkin. ] She is the perfect shinki. And I, the perfect god.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[About to grab a piece of toast, Nia finds herself interrupted by her fist clenching.]

...No one who's perfect thinks it's better to have enemies than friends. That's just arrogance.

[priforprince]

[ If anything, that logic amuses. Nia feels so many things so strongly, for being so wrong. ]

Assuming there are cases when one is just too perfect, it's only natural to love oneself.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

"Too perfect" is a contradiction in terms. [She snatches up the bread sullenly, then swipes up a pat of butter on her knife.] And what you call perfect other people call... not. That doesn't bother you at all?

[priforprince]

A swan in flight doesn't hear the earthworms gossip.

[ there's something commendable somewhere in this much belief in oneself

deep, deep, deep, down

maybe

MORE TEA. ]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Right. Gotcha.

[What a hell of a thing to say. An attitude like that says so very much about her. In fact, she's certain it makes her angry, but she can't say why...]

I'll remember you said that.

[priforprince]

That would be best.

[ Not being bothered by others' opinions apparently extends to Nia's opinion, as well.

Hibiki raises her hand for the bill, but from the languid motion, she's in no hurry. ]

Do savor your meal. The offerings here are exceptional.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[This girl... this girl's real trouble. An attitude like that, can it end in any other way than trampling others to get what you want? If other people mean nothing to you, why worry about them in any way?]

[How can Wendy stand it? Is she really okay with just being treated like -- a thing? That doesn't make any sense. So much of this doesn't.]

Yeah, I'll give whoever put this all together that. The food's tasty.

[priforprince]

The ultimate ingredients in the ultimate combination.

[ are you sensing a theme in hibiki's tastes ]

The sweetest way to begin the sweetest day.

[ She will have to reward Minako later somehow. Hm. What would suit?

....Probably amore. It is the Best Reward. ]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Oh boy, yeah. Nia isn't sure if she should be more afraid or amused. She's both, mind, but -- how harmless is this girl? An attitude like that is dangerous if someone has power to back it up.]

[Nia makes a note to talk to Wendy at some point.]

Out of curiosity, what if it hadn't been?

[priforprince]

An alternative venue would have been arranged.

[ SHE'LL MAKE HER OWN PARTY

WITH CHESS

AND BALLERINAS ]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

What, you think the big old harassing owls would let you get away with it?

[Yes, Nia discovered those. She'd tried to escape!]

[priforprince]

[ there is a tiny twitch here at the mental image of what owl harassment might entail

not that she has Trauma about birds now

hardly

no!

she's perfect!

Behold, how flawlessly she transitions into pretending it never happened. ] A shift in venue is not a cancellation. Even in hypotheticals, I account for everything.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

You and I know that... but do the birds know that?

[Ah ha. Nia's guessing she got harassed herself, didn't want to show. So this whole thing is just an act to cover for the fact she got stuck showing up here.]

nia knows not the horrors of post traumatic shun disorder

[priforprince]

[ On the contrary, Hibiki has been ready for today with bells on - she adores playing escort - and was willing to examine the chosen venue (though there was a bit of...unpleasantness...when the bird did not wish to move at her pace). And yet.

Birds. Upset. Birds.

Swooping.

She coughs into a hand, as if she can dispel the memories now looping inside the echo chamber that serves for her brain. ] Fruitless conjecture. When not dissatisfied, admiring a pleasant reality is all one need do.

hibiki hates to be shunned

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[That statement brings out Nia's smug grin again.]

And yet here I am. Don't tell me this is your vision of a pleasant reality.

[priforprince]

We were discussing the accommodations.

[ This date isn't going as expected, but Hibiki is still an escort. Don't place her in such a position! ]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[At least she isn't lying. Nice dodge, really.]

So answer me this... if you had your choice, who'd you be here with?

[Let's see what reaction that gets out of her.]