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

[smilingbullet]

No, yeah, there's definitely some arou- [ D2 stops talking just for a moment when they get close to the aquariums at the entrance. Thankfully he doesn't stop walking but he does go a little paler. But the lighting is pretty blue with all the water, so he looks off either way. D2 clears his throat. ] it's a definite on the water related deities 'round the Far and that might be a possibility.

[mithrarin]

[Dust isn't oblivious. The more so to D2, who he's known for a while now.]

...Is something wrong?

[smilingbullet]

[ They're only known each other for as long as they've been around and D2 is only a super open person, surely that can't be enough to tell that he's starting to feel a little unsettled. ]

No, well, no, uh, just a little... I'll be fine, uh, probably.

[mithrarin]

...You know I'm not going to let that go until I get answers, right?

[Dust is very few things if not stubborn, after all.]

[smilingbullet]

[D2 rubs a hand over his face, he avoids eye contact with both dust and the fishes. ]

I... Guess you won't...

[ At least D2 knows that he's stubborn. He draws a deep breath, trying to calm himself. ]

I just- I don't know, I, somehow I'm not very good with, um, with bubbles...

[ He sounds very awkward. Because he is awkward. He knows how ridiculous it sounds. It's a stupid thing to be so frightened of.

[mithrarin]

[Avoiding eye contact with Dust is basically every day.]

Bubbles?

[Dust can't even begin to comprehend this, and as much as he doesn't want to make fun of D2 or be less than a supportive friend, a little of his incredulity slips through.]

[smilingbullet]

[ D2's face twists into a variety of grimaces. ]

I know, it sounds really weird and stupid.

[mithrarin]

...and you don't know why, because you don't remember, do you.

[The peril of being a shinki. Being driven like an automaton by memories you no longer had, feeling like a stranger in your own mind...]

[smilingbullet]

[ A deep sigh, and a few more grimaces to the expression parade. ]

Yeah, and that's frustrating. Doesn't exactly help in figuring out how to get past it.

[mithrarin]

And here we are. [Dust looks around them at the water in the tanks, full of fish and plants and yes, frequent bubbles.] That's... pretty bad luck.

[smilingbullet]

...and here we are. [ He didn't even give the risk of bubbles a single thought initially. He should have looked into where the dates were supposed to be held beforehand, probably. ] There's the glass between though, maybe I'll manage.

[mithrarin]

We don't have to do this, honestly. [Dust doesn't want D2 to be miserable. Neither of them will enjoy that.] It's okay.

[smilingbullet]

...We're supposed to go on a date here though...

[mithrarin]

It's not going to be much fun or very enjoyable if you're miserable, right? For either of us.

[smilingbullet]

I-.... [ He wants to argue against that. He can just try to keep it together (because that's going to be easy HAH) and go through with it. But... ] I guess you're right..

[mithrarin]

Really, don't worry about it. I'm not even sure what I'm doing here myself. I'd rather -- there's no one I'd want to go on a date with, let alone someone picked randomly. So it isn't like you're ruining the mood.

[His quick change of words might offer a hint into his mood, but he's sincere enough, and definitely doesn't want D2 to suffer.]

[smilingbullet]

[ No mood for dates overall. At all. It could be just a picking up friends, though. ]

You're here because it's the designated location, I'd guess? Well... I guess it's, if you're sure and it won't derail any of your plans?

[mithrarin]

Not at all. There's only one -- I mean, going out on these blind dates was really the last thing on my mind.

[Uh, D2, please be too distracted by problems with bubbles to notice the conversational tangent he'd hurriedly pulled away from.]

[smilingbullet]

[ Unfortunately, he did catch that slip of the tongue. Fortunately, he's, even in this state, a nice guy and will let it slide for the time being. Don't doubt that he'll return to it later on though. ]

Okay.. Then okay, yeah, we can go somewhere else then?

[ To be fair, Forrest's disappearance had put blind dating really far down his priority list too. And yet he went. ]

[mithrarin]

[Dust wouldn't have if he hadn't been harassed mercilessly by a bird...]

How about some food instead?

[smilingbullet]

[ But it's such a nice bird.. ]

Sure, okay, that works.

[He didn't have much of an appetite during he brunch but he's calmed down on the Forrest front a bit so, maybe it'll be alright now. ]

[mithrarin]

[The appetite of a shinki can always be relied on. Certainly that's true for Dust.]

Great. Let's go.

[Get the poor guy out of here and away from his fear.]

[smilingbullet]

[ They don't need to eat after all, so having an appetite is something that factors into food habits on the Far SHore. ]

Mm. [ D2 follows Dust back toward the exit. ] Hey Dust? Thanks.

[mithrarin]

It's no problem. Don't worry about it. [Honestly, who would force him into it?]

[smilingbullet]

No, sure, maybe so, but nonetheless, thanks.

[ He would have gone through the aquarium if he had not been given the out. ]