35 - Dolls' Festival

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Visit the mortal world to celebrate Hinamatsuri.
When: March 3
Where: The banks of a Tokyo river
Summary: Join other residents of the Far Shore under the early cherry blossoms and help guide away boats carrying bad-luck dolls.






The Festival

Although most of the riverside is crowded with mortal families, this section of park seems to be mostly empty of the living. Young shinki are running and playing everywhere, and many of the old gods are present as well as the new. Amaterasu's white-robed guards are mingling with the partygoers and standing watch at the edge of the gods' section of the park, alert for any ayakashi or other threats so that the Far Shore residents here can focus on having a good time. (Gods or shinki who wish to help guard the festival grounds may encounter some small ayakashi attracted to the collection of Far Shore denizens, but nothing more serious than that.)

Food and Games

The children dashing around are flying kites, having spinning top battles, playing tag, hide-and-seek, kagome-kagome and a hundred other children's games. They'll gladly recruit any adult who expresses interest, or just stands still long enough to be dragged in. Some festival-style booths have been set up at the edge of the park, offering freshly made snacks like crepes, takoyaki, yakisoba or chocolate-dipped bananas, or festival games like catching goldfish or throwing rings over bottles to win a prize.

For those who would rather relax than play games, there are tables piled high with delicious bento, blankets spread beneath the early blooming cherries, and plenty of plum wine and expensive sake. Even the weather is perfect for a relaxing day in the park.

The Boats

At a bridge just upstream, crowds have gathered to launch model boats carrying simple paper and straw dolls downstream towards the sea, carrying away impurity and misfortune. Unfortunately, the boats seem determined to float back towards the banks. Is it the current? Or something else? They're heavy, slippery from the icy river water, and move with startling speed and force. Gods and shinki alike will have to wade in or ward them away with poles in order to make sure they carry the bad luck out to sea instead of delivering it right back to sender.

The Dolls

Many of the boats are carrying plain dolls: featureless human-shaped twists of straw or paper cutouts with no details. However, many others, as they turn to hurl themselves at the banks, prove to be carrying stranger cargo. Straw dolls are dressed and decorated in styles from all over the world, carefully bedecked with the traditional regalia of gods -- gods whose incarnations have disappeared from the Heavens. Paper dolls are painted with the features of new shinki who have disappeared. All of them are damaged in some way: scorch marks, slashes, rips or worse mar them.

The styles of the dolls will be strangely recognizable to anyone who happened to wander into the dream of a man who was making and placing dolls around a mysterious crystal.

If someone touches a doll, they will find that they can hear the voice of the disappeared person who it represents or see flashes of that person from the corner of their eye (in cases where multiple characters have represented the same god, there will be multiple damaged dolls dressed like that god, so one doll always represents one character.) Anyone who touches the doll will have the same experience, but they won't hear or see the same things; the hallucinations are personal, and will fade slowly, disappearing completely a few hours after their last contact with the doll.

In Summary:

• Attend a Hinamatsuri celebration
• Enjoy food and games
• Try to send the boats out to sea
• Hear the voices of the missing
• Have fun~

Comments

[holygrailed]

Games
[Irisviel is full of giddy excitement as she explores the festival. She's wearing a simple purple kimono thanks to Chris, and her long hair is pulled into an updo and decorated with a hair comb adorned with flowers. With everything so new and an innate fondness for children, she's often found getting pulled into games. Flying kites, playing hide-and-seek, if there are laughing children around, she's not far.

When she finally manages to extricate herself from the kids, Irisviel explores the festival games too. She's intensely focused on trying to fish out a balloon yo-yo from a pool of water with a hook attached to a twist of tissue paper. When the paper breaks again and the balloon falls back into the water, she hums in light annoyance.]

I wonder if I can strengthen the paper...


Festival
[It's not all fun and games though. With minor aykashi lurking about, Irisviel puts in time into warding off ayakashi with borderlines and other abilities. Set up near some some cherry trees, the occasional ayakashi might find itself suddenly snared in glowing wires.

Of course, it's entirely possible someone wandering through might find themself too close to her snares.]

Oh, hold on, don't step there! Sorry, can you go around?


Boats
[Irisviel doesn't have the physical strength to help push the boats, but her magecraft helps. Standing on the bank, hands raised in front of her, she weaves hair into metal, forging glowing wrought iron gates behind a boat or two to stop it from floating back toward shore. The gates keep the boats in place, but there's not much she can do to push them on.]

Excuse me, can you help me push?

Wildcard
[Feel free to throw something at me or contact me through PM or at cordially if you want to discuss an idea!]

Boats

[roundtablerebel]

[ Mordred had been passing by but she stopped to watch Irisviel turn hair to iron. It's a pretty neat trick, something she hasn't seen before. When the other shinki asks for her assistance Mordred side-eyes her. ]

So you want me to get in the water and shove the boat out further?

[ She could certainly do that but... ]

What's in it for me?

[holygrailed]

[Irisviel gives the new arrival a brief glance, her focus largely on keeping the iron strengthened. The boats push back with surprising weight and her energy is strained, so her reply is a bit terser than she'd normally give.]

You're helping the people of the Near Shore. Is that not reward enough?

[roundtablerebel]

[ Mordred gives an amused snort, stepping a little closer to the edge of the water. ]

Seriously?

[ That sounds like something her goddess would say. While helping humans is technically Mordred's job, their gratitude is worthless if it doesn't serve a purpose— like empowering Yuna. In this case, they wouldn't even know where to direct their thanks.

If she's going to help, she'll be aiding this silver-haired woman specifically— the humans will just happen to benefit from it too. So the way Mordred sees it, this lady is responsible for compensating her. ]

Tell you what, you get me some festival snacks and I'll help you out. Pretty good deal, right?

[holygrailed]

Snacks?

[Irisviel glances toward the festival stands. Well, that shouldn't be a problem. She nods in agreement.]

If I leave now, I won't be able to keep the walls up. Push the boats out and I promise I'll get whatever you wish for.

[roundtablerebel]

[ Glancing between the stands and the magical barrier Mordred takes a moment to mull it over, ultimately deciding that the deal is a reasonable one. Part of her expects Irisviel to cut and run as soon as the boats are shifted but then she seems very much like the sincere type. ]

Fine, but don't even think about leaving until you pay up.

[ With that Mordred removes her jacket, setting it on a nearby boulder before she wades into the water. Even though she expected it to be cold the frigid water still makes her flinch. Water seeps into her shoes only adding to her discomfort— should have probably removed them before stepping in. Mordred continues trudging along the riverbed, sinking further with each step. By the time she gets close enough to touch the nearest boat, the water is up to her shoulders. ]

Starting to see why you didn't just come in here yourself...

[ She pushes against one of the boats, surprised when it seems to be pushing back. Mordred maintains her grip on the slippery surface and with a little effort she manages to shift the small craft a few feet from the glowing gates. ]

Heh, easy!

[ And then her hand slips and the boat comes rushing back, whacking her in the side of the head and knocking her beneath the surface of the water. ]

[holygrailed]

[Irisviel recognizes well going into the water is the colder, harder part and she's thankful for Mordred's help. Whatever she wants after, her offer is sincere. As the other shiki wades toward the boats, Irisviel returns her focus to managing the constructed wall. As the boat is pushed away from one, she gradually releases her hold to focus on strengthening the others.

When the boat rushes back and knocks Mordred under, Irisviel immediately channels both gates into a net. Unhindered, the boats continue to rush back, but she ignores them as she shifts through the water with a net of wires, seeking to lift Mordred back above the surface. Please be safe, please be safe...]

wildcard

[trustheart]

[Chris looks like a sight as she moves along the shore, where everyone is dealing with the boats. She's soaking wet, her new kimono nearly ruined and her hair a soggy mess. She's also moving as if she were in a daze, mumbling protests towards something or someone that doesn't seem to be there. Then, she catches sight of someone familiar.] Iri... Irisviel...! [Chris forces herself forward, head pounding and water dripping off her as she staggers towards her friend. Chris is clearly not having a great night.]

[holygrailed]

[Irisviel is taking a break from helping with the boats when she spots Chris staggering out of the water.]

Chris! What happened?

[She hurries to her feet, kicking off her sandals and lifting her kimono as she runs over to help Chris out of the water.]

[trustheart]

Creepy doll... seeing things... shadow bastard... threw me in the river... [If any of that makes sense to you, Iri, then you're to be commended. Chris just kind of collapses against the woman's support, feeling like her knees and legs have turned to jelly.]

[holygrailed]

[Having avoided the dolls, the only part Irisviel can make sense of is someone threw Chris into the water. Well, that won't do at all. She wraps her arms around Chris and helps her back to shore, leading her over to a dryer spot to sit down at.]

Let me find you a blanket and something warm to drink.

[trustheart]

Th...thank you... She's just another one who will be put in danger by being around you. [Chris flinches, leaning on Irisviel and shutting her eyes, to banish the vision of Amou Kanade from the edges of her vision, if nothing else.]

[holygrailed]

[Irisviel gently pats the back of Chris's head before she heads off to find a blanket and a drink. She's able to borrow two blankets from Amaterasu's shinki as well as a pot of tea and a cup. Carrying it all back, she hands one blanket to Chris and sets the other down for them to sit on.]

I hope tea is okay.

[She pours a cup and holds it for Chris to take. Quiet anger continues to roll inside, but taking care of her friend takes priority.]

festival

[abgrund]

[ Ain appears quite distinct from most of the other festival-goers. He still has his high ponytail secured in a spiral of needles, but he seems to be wearing a cloak below his neck - one that's long enough to fall to his feet and lend an impression of him imitating a chess piece.

He doesn't like noise, and the people are certainly emitting too much of it. As a result he's chosen to wander around the periphery, his trajectory leading him to cross Iri's path eventually. ]

I can.

[ A voice soft and calm as a whisper, but impassive. ]

Is something there?

[holygrailed]

[His appearance is unusual, but there's an elegance in the strangeness too. Irisviel smiles at him, hiding a small giggle. She raises her hand, a faint glow emanating from it. Glowing wires appear between the trees, some lines toward the ground taut, others a little more slack as they hang between the trees.]

I'm trying to catch ayakashi. [Another giggle.] I'd hate to catch someone though!

[abgrund]

[ There's merit to that beyond just accidental trapping. He's sure that his specific nature makes him similar to ayakashi, so he must be careful. ]

I see. I will be careful of that. Thank you.

[ Having people here to ensure that ayakashi don't come close is some kind of community service. ]

Did you arrive recently? I have not met you before.

[holygrailed]

[Thankfully, there is an easy path to move around the trapped trees. Irisviel has her section covered. There are enough people around to handle other sections.]

Yes, I did. My name is Irisviel von Einzbern, shinki to Berserker.

[abgrund]

[ Berserker... hmm. That gets a slight blink form him - it's not a name, but a title. He can think of several other people who go by titles and not names. Perhaps they are related. ]

I am Ain. Here I play the role of Hades. It is nice to meet you.

[ How far he has come from so many months ago when he would not even remember the proper words for a greeting. Doing this sort of rote isn't strange to him anymore. ]

[holygrailed]

It is very nice to meet you as well.

[Hades... Greek god of the underworld. He certainly has an appearance that befits the role, but that matters little too.]

Have you been here for long?

Games

[vaporlike]

I believe that would be considered cheating.

[Lin Xue Ya leans over and watches her struggles with interest.]

Which, I believe, would be quite easy to do without magic...

[He holds out his hand, which now somehow has a balloon yo-yo hanging from each finger.]

[holygrailed]

[Ah, caught. Irisviel's embarrassed smile turns into surprise and then amused delight at the sight of the colorful balloon yo-yos bobbing up and down from his fingers.]

Oh my, you're very quick.

[She looks at the pool still full of balloons, the other people gathering around trying to win them.]

If I give everyone the same advantage, then it can't be considered cheating, can it?

[vaporlike]

Hmmmm...

[His hand disappears into his sleeve, then reappears balloon-free.]

I believe you would still be cheating the merchant of his profits.

[Says the guy who just stole five balloons.]

[holygrailed]

[His gall is impressive.]

I dare say you've done more to damage his profits than I would.

[Were this a festival run by humans on the Near Shore, Irisviel would be more concerned about his blatant theft. As the festival is more for fun than profit here, and the stolen item more frivolous, she feels less inclined to chide a god.]

What will you do with the balloons?

[vaporlike]

What indeed?

[To be honest, he's just amusing himself at the moment. It's not like he has any need for them, so he may well just put them back when he's done showing off. Or not.]

[holygrailed]

[When one is holding a conversation with someone who answers questions with questions, it's only fitting to reply with another question in turn. Irisviel accepts another hook, watching the balloons bobbing around for one with its rubber band loop out of the water.]

Are you enjoying the festivities?