36 - Dragon Dance

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Help the Heavens cover for a missing goddess at her temple festival.
When: March 18
Where: Near the Sensou-ji temple in Asakusa
Summary: After Kannon's disappearance last year, the Heavens are concerned that things might go wrong at her temple's March 18 omikoshi festival. They've asked new gods and shinki to attend the festival and keep an eye out for trouble. Meanwhile, trusted newcomers and older gods and shinki alike are watching over the cultists that have been identified.






The Festival

Shrine-carriers, musicians and dancers congregate early in the morning in their matching outfits to get organized into their parade. Luckily, all of the parade participants this time are alive and well. There aren't even any troublesome ayakashi hanging around... so why is everyone having such bad luck?! Laces are breaking, costumes tearing, small children are getting sick from nerves, and even the drums seem to have gone out of tune. It looks like this parade is going to need a whole lot of help to prevent disaster.

For those who aren't busy with the parade preparations, food and souvenir booths throng the area in front of the temple. There's traveling games, too, and plenty of people showing up early with their families to find a good spot to watch the parade. This is one of Tokyo's most popular temples, so it's quite a crowd!

The Stakeouts

Any gods or shinki who were told about the cult problem by Amaterasu -- or anyone who might have heard from friends and allies about the plans -- can help Amaterasu's shinki keep a tight watch on all of the known cult members. Her shinki are looking for any sign of the young gods who she believes are behind all of this trouble, but are there other clues that might be found by a keen observer? Join in on staking out a cult member, and see what you can see.

Current cult members that the shinki are watching include:

• Mitsui Ryou - lives alone in a medium-sized apartment, appears to work a 9 - 5 schedule with occasional late nights.
• Imai Takeru - lives in a small two-story house by himself, has an unpredictable schedule.
• Shimoda Tsuki - lives alone in a small apartment with a lot of plants, works retail with varying shifts.
• Oota Saburo- lives in a medium-sized apartment with his wife and two young children, works a 9 - 5 schedule with frequent work trips.
• Maeda Shinnosuke - lives alone in a small, messy apartment, works construction (early mornings, long days.)
If your character is taking part in the surveillance of any of these people, please feel free to comment to the Cult Clues thread below with the name of the character they're watching, and the times that they're watching that character, in order to learn what they might see. (Note: surveillance doesn't have to take place only on the 18th. Characters can take part in watching the cult members at any time after Amaterasu's announcement on March 8.)

The Parade

At noon, the parade begins. Misfortune is still dogging the participants and the crowds around them, but it looks as though everything will go all right up until the final turn as the heavy, gilded shrine turns back towards the main temple building, tips, and slowly falls over sideways, straight for the crowd.

What's worse, when the shrine hits the ground, it cracks open -- and a huge, jellyfish-like ayakashi wearing a giant white mask with a single black eye inscribed on it heaves its way out and begins lashing its tentacles in every direction. People stung by the tentacles are driven into a furious frenzy, and fights are breaking out everywhere. Stop the humans from fighting, take care of the injured, and destroy the ayakashi before the situation gets any worse.

The Pursuit

In the middle of the fighting crowd, two white-robed shinki are chasing after a very average-looking salaryman in a tan coat. He doesn't seem to know that the shinki are chasing him, but he is moving fast, and they're in danger of losing track of him. They're calling out to any Far Shore denizen close enough to hear, shinki or god:

"Don't let that guy get away! He knows what happened!"

Anyone who has met or spent time staking out Mitsui Ryou will recognize him as the escaping salaryman. If your character takes part in the pursuit, please comment to the Cult Clues thread with a link to your thread - the character who successfully catches Mitsui will be determined by RNG on January 6, 2019.

In Summary:

• Attend the Sensou-ji festival
• Enjoy food and games
• Help Amaterasu's shinki stake out the cult
• Fight a masked ayakashi
• Have fun~

Comments

[trustheart]

[Chris lets out a cry as she feels the ayakashi collapsing beneath her, but she manages to jump clear just as the beast begins to disintegrate. Chris drops her Symphogear, the bits of blight on her boots from running up the ayakashi's back disintegrating with it.]

Return, Hatsuki!

[And with that done, Chris breaths a sigh of relief.]

We did it...!

[trustheart]

No problem. Now, I guess I'd best get to seeing what I can do for damage control.

[She nodded to him.] See you around, alright?

[trustheart]

Yeah, and how it can be harder to see changes when it's yourself than it is with others.

Senpai is always telling me I've grown even when I don't feel like I have.

[curruid_coinchenn]

Go, do what you need to.

[ Berserker turns away and walks off. It's good to have an ally around. He measured Chris's ability and found it useful, plus she didn't flinch at his violence. A good thing to note for the future. ]

[priforprince]

My style demands it regardless.

[ Hibiki thinks this over. ]

So be it. In recognition of your struggles on my behalf, I'll grant you the remainder of my festival time.

[ Oh boy, Elfnein. Your prize is Hibiki.

JUST WHAT EVERYONE WANTS. ]

[priforprince]

Wha---

[ Yes, that does get Hibiki looking back. What a bizarrely elongated appendage that ayakashi had had, and what a.......dubiously similar.....ability her companion possesses.

Fortunately, however, Hibiki is an Expert Absconder. Her flight continues, though she clicks her tongue against the back of her teeth when the ayakashi's effects on the crowd show no sign of easing. ]

Tch. Still nothing....?

[ She looks back towards Ain. ] You! Can't your unsettlingly ominous powers eliminate it somehow?

[ You did such a wonderful job cleaning the Far Shore of its physical debris. What are ayakashi but psychic debris? ]

[kokuyoyo]

"If you say so." Mukurou goes soaring forward, that eerie blue fire of its already coating that snow white body. Chikusa keeps a good distance away. That will serve him better, and he can aim from here.

Also, he can shittalk from here. "Will your minions be able to keep from dabbing until the fight is over...?"

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa just gives her a strong nod, moving in to just that. She's not exactly able to STRIKE people while wearing her Symphogear - it would end up rather messy - but pulling them apart, chucking people like ragdolls here and there to stop them?

Well, that's another matter.

She's absolutely going to take Ginia up on that, though.]

[artificialrose]

Oh! Oh. Garry's one visible eyebrow raises up. "I see." A pause passes by before he leans in somewhat to lower his voice. "Do you mean a real magic string, or...?" Listen, with how things can be in the Far Shore, it's good to ask these sort of things.

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa just gazes at her in a certain amount of confusion. Was it that surprising? It's what she was trying to do, right?

Oh, well. At that answer she frowns, but then nods. And... dumps her goldfish back into the pool.]

Well, if you insist, I can give it one more try.

[She eyes the pool, like a swordsman deciding their next strike.]

Is there anything in particular I'm looking for?

[nopixiedust]

"A way to make things start going right for once?" Annoying, Wendy waves her sewing needle around. "No, that's it. I won't say no to a snack or anything." She's pretty sure she's going to be stuck here for a while, after all.

[beyondtheblade]

[...well, then.

Still, she's going to stay her ground for the moment.]

I see, ah... I trust you can take care of yourself, but I shall wait until you are done, if that is fine.

[You don't just trust kids to go jumping off high areas by themselves, normally.]

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa smirks, swinging her katana around.] But of course - I am trained in the art of swordsmanship, you must certainly know I am adept at close range combat!

[Next, she jumps to the side to dodge another slamming tentacle before the blades on her leg armor suddenly snap out, and she jets straight towards the ayakashi's center.]

[ofnovalue]

I have a certain fondness for sweet things at all, milady. TThough I cannot rightly recall as to why.

[ Ovelia did seem fine, for the moment. A little tired, but not to degree Iri was. ]

[holygrailed]

I saw the most delightful fish-shaped cakes earlier. Taiyaki, I believe it was called? How about that?

[Little does Tsubasa know not only will she not eat for awhile, but she'll be eating late in the evening. What a day.]

[unlucky7]

[The bow fades back into light as Ginia reappears at Chris's side. She sighs heavily, keeping a borderline in front of them until the last of the tentacles are gone. The mask, fallen on the ground, is at risk at getting trampled or taken by someone else, but, Ginia stays at Chris's side.

As much as the mask means to her, the health and well-being of her god comes first. Out comes the phone as Ginia looks over Chris, searching for any signs of blight.]

You okay? Any injuries or blight?

[fortunesmiles]

"Well..." Komaeda frowns thoughtfully. "I wouldn't normally think I do, but between all the bad luck plaguing this place, my own bad luck, and the fact that I wore myself out earlier...maybe I should ask you to come with me from the start."

Komaeda can just imagine the problems that bad luck could potentially cause if he's walking around juggling multiple hot drinks. Cold drinks, well, that would just be an inconvenience if something unfortunate happened, but hot ones...people could get hurt.

[fortunesmiles]

"The gods don't really seem to put much proper forethought into how trouble could be caused for themselves and the heavens, do they?" Komaeda says mildly. "I imagine if you or I were asked to consider ways in which the cult - or anyone else - might try to upset the course of heavenly events, we'd come up with so many possibilities and precautions to take against them that nothing could even happen in the heavens without months of careful planning and screening for any theoretical interference...but the old gods don't even seem to consider that something could go wrong at an event until, at most, a day or two before it actually happens. I wonder if they're just extremely ineffectual, or someone in the heavenly bureaucracy is actually leaving opportunities for things to go wrong?"

[junkyarddog]

[Ken shifts forms with an aggressive yowl, long tail lashing as he eyes the ayakashi.]

I'm gonna go fight it! [And with that, he takes off, heading straight for it. He's not going full out; a cheetah rarely needs that much speed unless running down something incredibly fast, after all, and this area doesn't provide much in the way of a lot of open space in any case. Besides, he's wary of those tentacles. He's wondering if it'd be possible to juke around them to get at the ayakashi's body...especially if he uses borderlines.]

[bakusatsuo]

For fuck's sake, how many are there? [Bakugou's been aware of at least one of them, but that's a lot of people to keep track of for a teenager who doesn't exactly go out of his way to socialize with people casually.]

[bakusatsuo]

[Well, the apathy is annoying; Bakugou had certainly been hoping to nettle Berserker into at least getting pissed, if not actually seeing his point of view. This complete lack of investment in anything is just boring.

It's not like Bakugou has a whole lot invested here, so it's only irritating at worst, but still.]

You don't get to say I like the sound of my own voice when apparently you go out of your way to say pointless shit to people without even having a reason for doing it. At least I'm pointing out your own contradictory bullshit, 'cause I call bullshit when I see it. You didn't even have a bad reason to say shit to that kid, 'cause you didn't care one way or the other if the kid listened or if your words did anything at all. I might be wasting my breath on you, but at least I've got some kinda logic going on.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"I brought you that when I showed up to help!"

Even a smile at his expense was a smile. With a wave, Edge took off at a run, hurrying to seek out what she needed. He had his phone to guide him, so this wouldn't be too bad a task at all!

[sassywelshcatgirl]

"Of course not," Nia hissed, "but they don't know that. It could be anything honestly, so long as we sell it right."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Oh yeah, they can at least fight," Zetta said, as his army charged into the fray with a warcry of sheer delight. In an instant, swords swung and axes chopped and bombs exploded and one minion valiantly struggled with the tentacle it had hooked on its fishing line.

[fauxcalibur]

I don't believe I ever said I was a particularly well-regarded king!

[For exactly this reason.]

I'm sure it will all sort itself out, though! If it looks like things are getting too dire, Suzaku is no doubt around here somewhere and I did think to bring my cell phone.