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

[monkeyblue]

Tch. Too hot to turn into a popsicle.

[He's either making a terrible joke or calling Misaki hot. Whatever the case, Fushimi just wraps an arm around Misaki's shoulders as they head in.]

The chocolates on the bed with Sicily's name on them are yours, by the way.

[thevanguard]

...........

[ Wait, what? ]

Why do the chocolates have Sicily's name on them??

.......................

Wait, you got me chocolates??!

[monkeyblue]

I was anonymous.

[Fushimi that does not help.]

I wasn't going to because store-bought chocolate is shit, but someone was giving homemade ones away to whoever wanted some. So.

[thevanguard]

[ That... still doesn't explain Sicily, but???

Yata just blinks a moment before laughing and shaking his head as he grins at Saru. ]

Awwww. You got me chocolates. You sap.

[monkeyblue]

Shut up.

[But he's smiling too.

There's surprisingly no one waiting in line, so the host just smiles and asks if they have a reservation.]

[thevanguard]

[ Yata holds out the card with the confirmation he'd gotten and the server takes it, comparing it with her list before nodding and leading them to a secluded table on the balcony instead of the open floor.

The restaurant itself has lowered lights and there are screens and monitors suspended from the ceiling, pointed in all directions. Many of them have games playing out on them from various diners competing against one another. The table Saru and Yata are led to also have a small monitor and a pair of handheld gamepads charging beside it, with a vast selection of games to be played with the restaurant at large or just between them at the table, as well as a browser and anything else you could possibly imagine doing on it. Someone else at a table nearby was set up with their laptop and headphones on, but that at least meant Yata and Saru were seated in an alcove of sorts that granted them almost complete privacy while still having a view of everything else going on in the restaurant.

Yata followed the server and took in everything as they went with wide eyes, looking wondering at everything that was going on. ]

Whoa! Check this place out, Saru!

[monkeyblue]

[Fushimi is trying to keep his awe to a minimum, but it's really hard. This is such a cool restaurant and Misaki went to the trouble to get him reservations, even if he wasn't very good at hiding the surprise. The pictures had looked cool but this was even cooler.]

You did good, Misaki.