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]

"Oh, yes!" One hoof of hers was already starting to tap to the music, as it happened. "How would you like it?"

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin's shoe makes far less noise than Celestia's hoof, but the rhythm he stamps out is clear and brisk. With a beat like that, who can resist?

And already it seems to be working. He can see toes beginning to tap, fingers keeping time on wine glasses.

"Fall in love, damn it," he mutters, watching the diners. "I want to go home."

[letteropener]

Since what she's doing seemed to be working, Celestia picked up energy, leaning her weight back onto her rear hooves so she could tromp out the beat with stronger stomps of her forelegs. That ought to help, and definitely made the beat clear and powerful.

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin pours all his energy into his fiddle, but besides for the toe tapping and broad grins on everyone's faces, he's not certain that anything is happening. Why aren't they dancing? He has no expertise in the matter of people falling in love, but the movies he's watched seem to be firmly on the side of dancing as a requirement to bring a couple together.

The song ends, leaving him breathing heavily.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can do this. How long does falling in love take, anyway?"

[letteropener]

"Moments, to minutes, to weeks. And all in all a lifetime. Not that I have any experience," Celestia said, her serenity at odds with her martial pace of hoof-stomps, "but from all I've seen, it is a journey rather than a destination. What we do here is help them take a step on that journey."

[dredefulchilde]

"What rubbish," Joscelin sighs, adding more resin to his bow. "What use is it, love? It's not necessary for the propagation of the species, and all it seems to do is make people even stupider than they were before.

"It's bloody illogical."

He doesn't go back to playing; he just sits there with his violin balanced loosely on his shoulder.

"I shall be quite done with this nonsense after the next song.
Your services are no longer required; I'll play something softer."

And yet when he puts the bow to the strings, he still doesn't play.

[letteropener]

"It's magic, you know," Celestia said softly, her motion subsiding. "One of the deepest and most powerful magics there is. Love of all sorts, be it for a friend or a family member or for a special somepony, is magic."