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

[smilingbullet]

the festival
[ When are these sort of things going to stop happening? It would be better if the old gods just admitted the little kids as gods like proper adults ought to, but he can't say it to their face. They'll probably flip.

He doesn't want people to get sick but honestly? He's getting tired of it and maybe if enough people went on strike and didn't help out, then maybe, though it was unlikely, the Heavens might actually take notice of their faults.

So D2 is on strike from searching for a cause and instead is either helping people solve their bad luck problem, cheering sick children up, and trying games and checking out souvenirs.

You bet he's going to find every single one of the shooting games and win prizes. This is his forte we're talking about, after all.

They're going to run out of prizes if he doesn't get pulled away from there at some point. ]

the parade
[ 'Son of a bitch..' he mutters, though it's in Hawaiian and 'kanapapiki' may not be understood by anyone but him. This sure is chaos. D2 actually has absolutely zero interest in helping the Heavens. They're incompetent and in a serious need for a complete overhaul, but they refuse to see it.

But he can't very well let people get badly hurt, so he'll at least try to do something.. People under the influence of ayakashi wouldn't really just calm down just like that though, and he can't kill ayakashi on his own. ]

Tie 'em up until things blow over... Maybe...? Umm..

parade

[timeforpink]

[ Meanwhile, Jen has no opinion yet on the Heavens (she only just got here, you see) but she sure as heck has an opinion on innocent people getting hurt, and that opinion is they shouldn't. ]

They could hurt themselves. [ Struggling, with all that ayakashi-induced anger... ] Unless we put borderlines up to fence them in?

[ Jen you're a noob will your borderline really hold that long. She can cast lines but... this is way too many people for two shinki to handle. ]

Or maybe we can tire them out by making them chase us.

[ Slightly better plan, Jen. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ The Heavens seem prone to some collateral, if that would help. This fight they're putting up against the inevitable is part of the reason for this whole ordeal. ]

They could. But also each other. [ Borderlines sounds like a good idea though. And D2 is talented with those things. He assumes she might not be. She also isn't familiar to him so he can guess the reason. ] How about both?

[timeforpink]

[ D2 nailed it, shw's a noob and not yet confident enough to use a borderline near humans. But she'll do what she can. ]

Okay. You start with borderlines. I'll get a few to chase me.

[ Nothing could possibly go wrong here.

She starts by shoving a human in the shoulder and waving her arms around, bright pink sweater hopefully catching his attention. ]

That's right, I did it. Catch me if you an!

[ And do it begins. She leads this one (and a few others who fell for the taunt) away from D2, so they can deal with as many possessed humans as possible. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ He has been here for almost an entire year by now.

He slips easily into ready mode, and he is prepared to use his borderlines. It's such a comfort to have access to them again, even if he's had access to them this past month thanks to Hibiki. ]

Yes ma'am.

[ He's got enough experience that he doesn't need to call out the name of the spell any more. He can cast a large number of them and keep many up at once as well, causing chasing people to bounce off walls and be trapped in a labyrinth. He could do better if he had a better vantage point, but it is what it is and he needs to keep moving as well, until he's trapped these ones in separate prisons up against walls. ]

greetings from sunny phonetag typo hell

[timeforpink]

[ Jen navigates the crowd around him, going overall in a big circle so she doesn't lose him and so, you know, her pursuers get tired enough that the ayakashi have to find other people to possess. It's not as hard as she imagined — she has endurance and she's pretty fast, plus that neat high jumo thing she can do because she's, you know, dead. What's hard is weaving around the barriers scattered around them.

When two od the humans chasing her slam into a border, Jen spins to check on D2 (and pause for a second to be glad he's so skilled with borderlines) — in time to see a possessed human appriachhing him from behind.

Still new at this, she has to cry out line! to focus and cast the borderline, but the good thing there is D2 can hear her and avoid colliding with it. The barrier goes up just in time for the human to bump into it. The impact demands more of her focus than she's used to, and the borderline flickers and wavers for the second before she releases the spell. ]

Are you okay?

[smilingbullet]

[ When the ayakashi detaches, D2 swipes new lines, aiming to trap them as well. Some cut through them to a degree, making them screech, but it's not as much a mistake as it might seem.

D2 is surprised at his own lack of attention, and berates himself for it.

He must still be affected by Forrest's disappearance. Not that he's surprised, he was with him for close to a year, it stings even when it's not the first time you lose a good superior.

But even though he is surprised, his borderlines doesn't waver. He is good under pressure and a little startle isn't going to throw him off. ]

Ah. Yeah, yes, thank you.

Festival

[unlucky7]

[Ginia is already only her way to a shooting gallery game when she spots D2 there. She offers a friendly wave and smile to him before getting the stand owner's attention and paying for a round.

First shot is to figure out the overall power of the cork gun, the second to hone in the shot. Shots three through five? It's very clear Ginia's from her aim and shooting posture she's a very good shot. When she finishes and wins her prize, she immediately pays into another round.

To the current person running the shooting game stand, well... sorry?]

[smilingbullet]

[ He waves back inbetween shots. While he unloads the rest of his round where he wants them to go for the prizes that he wants, he observes her behavior with the cork gun. Her palms betrayed her before, but it's good to learn a bit more of others.

He pays for another round for himself, and slips a dented cork between his fingers and into the gun. ]

You're good.

[unlucky7]

[Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, another prize. Ginia looks at the prizes, debating whether it's better to collect a few small prizes or trade in for some of the medium-sized ones. The plush keychains are cute and there are a few people she could give them too...

She smiles at D2 and accepts his comment with a nod, pulling her phone out.]

Thanks. So are you.

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 lost every single souvenir he collected from these festivals and fairs. Almost an entire year, gone in an instant. Temples disappearing sucks. So he's looking for something to fill up the empty space with. ]

Mmh, I like these games.

[And then some. ]

[unlucky7]

Want to have a shoot-off or do you think that's unfair for the stand?

[She's being realistic; would it even be much of a contest when they're both shooting at static targets?]

[smilingbullet]

[ It wouldn't be a contest at all. ]

I would want to, but,

[ he looks over at the poor person running the stand. Poor guy looks like he might cry when hearing the suggestion. ]

maybe another one, or at a proper range?

The Parade

[replicatedform]

Just knock them out.

[How's that for a suggestion? While Yamanbagiri doesn't want to hurt people without a good reason. Well, if they're unconscious, they wouldn't do anything.]

If they're still awake, they would probably find a way to escape or cause more trouble.

[smilingbullet]

[ That is the quickest, but it's not as easy to knock someone out as movies makes it out to be. Plus it's not necessarily healthy. ]

Yeah.. I just don't wanna scramble their brains if it's possible to avoid is all...

[replicatedform]

[He nods in understanding. Although, that does cut down on the number of options.]

How about their necks? Unless that's too close for you.

[This is making him wonder if there's a sleep spell to learn...]

[smilingbullet]

[ It's just, these people are civilians. It's not their fault their rioting, they're possessed. ]

Too close..? No, if it's done right it ought to be fine.

[ It does limit options.. But if they manage to thin the crowd out a bit.. ]

[replicatedform]

In that case, ready to go?

[Preferably soon. This madness isn't going to end itself. He looks out at the crowd, his hand's lightly gripping his sword's hilt for a moment.]

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 does a quick little salute. ]

Yes, sensei~

[ There'll be a lot of use of borderlines to separate the people, section them off. ]

the festival

[trustheart]

[Shooting games. It seems like just yesterday that Chris cleaned up at the last festival... and now she's gonna make her rounds again. However, this time, it seems she has competition, as she inadvertently bumps into someone at the booth.]

Oh, sorry... [Wait...] Oh hey! I didn't expect to run into you here...!

[ooc - Gonna headcanon that they met in person a few times after first talk on the network, if that's alright? If not, just let me know and I'll do something else.]

[smilingbullet]

(( ooc: that is alright with me. ))

Oh- hello, hi.

[ D2 slips the cork gun from his grip to a more relaxed manner. ]

Likewise, but on the other hand maybe that's a mistake on both of our part, since the Heavens are involved.

[trustheart]

Yeah, I guess when you put it like that, it's not really a shocker.

[She smiled.] You been helping out with the festival then?

[smilingbullet]

Mhh, yeah.

[ D2 nodded. ]

A bit, I've got a few things that I can be at least a little bit helpful with.

[trustheart]

Oh really? What have you been working on? I've been helping with the musical performances, mostly...

[smilingbullet]

So you've got a musical talent? That's nice.

[ D2 is absolutely, utterly, tone deaf. And can't play instruments. Doesn't stop him from singing happily whenever he feels like it but still. He admires the skill. ]

I've been repairing stalls and stuff, a lot of wood and nails involved.