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

[abgrund]

[ Observation counts as enjoyment. Perhaps it's not quite the type of enjoyment that D2 hopes for him, as humans interest him in the way that animals interest humans... but it's something, especially for an immortal. ]

Let's go, then. I hope my hair won't get in the way.

[ Ain has a rather deadpan voice but there's a slight inflection that might suggest amusement. He has almost floor-length hair, after all ]

[smilingbullet]

[ One will take what one will get, he supposes. Speaking of his hair though. ]

Perhaps it would be good to put it up at least a bit?

[ It would be pretty bad if he got stuck in something with it. But also it could always be fun to see long haired people try other hairstyles sometimes. D2's hair is short and he can only do so much. He doubts his hairpins would be enough for Ain's hair though. ]

[abgrund]

I will.

[ Technically his hair isn't really there, but. For appearances, he gathers his ponytail up and it assumes the shape of being bunned up to some extent.

There's a queue in front of the nearest coaster, but it seems to be short. Ain has no intention of exploiting their otherwordly quality to cut the queue, which means they'll have to wait. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ Isn't queuing part of the experience? ]

Huh.

[ But he didn't use anything to tie it up with? Not that D2 has ever had long hair, so he doesn't know anything about hair-tying techniques. ]

[abgrund]

[ Ain doesn't register that look at first, and only a few moments later does he notice he was talked to. ]

Don't mind me. I have prehensile hair, if you don't mind.

[ They're capable of extending out to grab things or assume the shape of hands. But then again, the rest of his body can do that, too. ]

[smilingbullet]

Oh. No, not at all. That's pretty cool.

[ D2 is always fascinated by things that are unfamiliar to him, and he's never been intimidated by the unknown. ]

[abgrund]

[ Instead of replying, Ain merely nods. There's not much else to say about the matter that he's willing to divulge on their first meeting.

Luckily for both of them, they're soon at the head of the queue and the usher begins to guide them towards the coaster's seats. There are a couple of bars and straps to make sure they don't fly out.

Curious... maybe he should devote this time to monitoring the speed at which the coaster will go. ]

Are you apprehensive?

[smilingbullet]

[And that's fine. He's curious how it works of course, but he's not the first unusual person that he's ever met.

D2 makes sure he's fastened and through the corner of his eye makes sure Ain manages to properly fasten himself. ]

Apprehensive? No..? Do you think I should be?

[abgrund]

I know most people tend to be. If you are not, then you are brave.

[ Or perhaps it's the fact that D2 trusts the coaster's safety mechanisms to not put them at risk. Either works.

He closes his eyes for a moment as the coaster leaves the landing area and into the sunlight, climbing upwards. There's a brisk wind at this time of the day, which makes him glad that he bothered to tie up his hair beforehand. Hopefully no one on the coaster wore any hats.. ]

[smilingbullet]

Or I might just be a fool.

[ Which is another option. A roller coaster is a cake walk compared to war zones, and he's not scared of those.

He glances to the side at his date for a moment, then looks up at the sky as it stretches closer, with less metal above them. He's been far higher up in the past but he's probably not going to get to jump out of a plane again. ]

[abgrund]

Some say both are one and the same.

[ It's a sliding scale of foolishness, after all. Ain's expression is placid, though his eyes remain the same dark grey-green as before - as if they absorbed the sunlight, rather than reflecting them like normal eyes.

And down they go! With a blast of wind, the coaster starts plummeting along the tracks. ]

[smilingbullet]

I suppose that they do. [ Anything can be a slippery slope.

Mh, this is familiar. D2 has never been the type to throw his arms up over his head (he supposes- he doesn't feel inclined) but the feeling of wind rushing against his body was nostalgic and he should only stick to memories that he knows to stop his mind from wandering into dangerous territories, which slightly distracts him, though he manages to get his mind away from that stuff as they start to rapidly head up again. ]

[abgrund]

[ The wind sweeps through his hair - and since it's technically also a part of him, Ain can feel the velocity of the air being displaced and the gravity tugging at the coaster. Unfortunately, he doesn't feel much other than that, due to his body lacking the enervation of a human. However, he can collect the data and see what its effects are on his fellow riders.

.... and he should probably keep his mouth shut in case a fly drifts in, he thinks. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ There is a lot of shrieking from other people, even if there is nothing of that from either of them. D2 is still excited though, a little giddy perhaps. Of the memories that he has of high speeds, he can't say any are bad, even if they ought to have been.

While Ain is collecting data - and working on keeping his mouth shut - D2 seems to get in a bit of a better mood. This morning was bad, he needed a reminder of something good. ]

[abgrund]

[ It does feel like flying. It's what he concludes, though the lack of autonomy over one's path bothers him a little. But then again, maybe that's what the humans enjoy about it. The unpredictability and a sense of danger.

He's silent throughout the ride until it comes to a halt and they get escorted out of the cabin for the next batch of people. ]

What do you think?

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 stretches, feeling a little stiff and a little antsy, though not entirely in a bad way. He's only good at sitting still for a longer period of time when he's working.]

It was pretty good, I'd say. More importantly, what did you think?

[abgrund]

It felt like flying. Controlled flying, though.

[ It would be prohibitively expensive and dangerous for a more realistic experience, so he supposes humans just have to be content with this simulacrum. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ That's a very scientific-like and accurate assessment. ]

It's generally the closest humans get. Controlled flying, I mean. Planes and helicopters goes higher than any roller coaster though so I guess that's a little closer if you have windows open and aren't willing to go skydiving or gliding. Those are a little less controlled.

[ Yet it's still a certain level of controlled, and has some safety measures even when it's just chute. ]

Oh, there's bungee-jumping too I guess.

[abgrund]

[ Ain nods. Those tend to be higher investments. ]

Would you want to fly, if you could?

[ He looks up at the afternoon sky, filled with clouds. ]

[smilingbullet]

Hmm.. That is a good question.

[ Would he want to fly if he could? Most people would probably want that, or at least to try it. Still, it's not that important to him, personally. ]

Not that I'm not curious or would say no if there was a chance to try it out once, but I don't think it's something I'm particularly craving.

[abgrund]

I figure the wish for flight is why they built this.

[ Ain hums, looking thoughtful. ]

For millennia, there have been humans who wished to fly, with varying degrees of failure.

[smilingbullet]

It could be.

[ That is why people built planes. ]

Yeah, sometimes people take a whole lot of risk for their dreams. [ He shrugs. ] Or for other reasons.

we can wrap this one up here? :D

[abgrund]

[ He doesn't answer at first, though the edge of his eyes crinkle in a bit of a smile. ]

If you want to go again, we can. If not, shall we try something else?

yes, sure

[smilingbullet]

We could try something else first, and maybe return at a later point if we feel like it.

[ There seem to be a whole lot to experience here, after all. ]