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

[chibisu]

A - Festival

This isn't a festival under Ebisu's jurisdiction- those were all done with back in January thank goodness. However, he's also a little bit worried about how this festival will fare. With recent events such as the shenanigans on New Years, the strange occurrence with the dolls not that long ago, and Amaterasu's own declaration of intent... Well. Best to be cautious.

So many of his shinki can be found running around doing all manners of things to help out: repairing costumes, tuning drums, all of the practical things which require some amount of skill.

Ebisu can't do any of that, for a couple of reasons. (One of them being that he's a child.) However, he does seem to be attending to some of the children, putting one tiny hand over their eyes as he speaks quietly to them. "It'll be alright. Nothing has happened yet, right? You shouldn't get worried over something that hasn't happened yet. You'll deal with it when it happens, and not a moment sooner. Just remember to breathe." He spots someone familiar from the Far Shore, and, perking up, waves one hand.

"Oh, excuse me! Could you go get me something?"

B - Parade

Well. Something has happened. Now,they have to deal with it.

The moment they see that something is happening to the shrine, Kunimi propels Ebisu's body upwards to a higher vantage point... Just in time to witness the masked ayakashi bubble out from the cracked shrine. Ebisu's eyes go wide- not from his own recognition, necessarily, but from the spike of feeling that he gets from those of his shinki who have seen what he's just seen.

That decides it.

With the simple call of a name, Ebisu summons Kiwami into his hands as a reliable fishing pole. None of the others are suited for battle right now, after all, so he'll do his best to keep his distance. As he bound over there, however, he calls to any familiar Far Shore faces.

"Please! Don't destroy it just yet- don't destroy the mask! We need to get it away from here!"

C - Pursuit

Combat, especially such delicate combat with a purpose, isn't something that a god of commerce or water is suited for. However, when he hears Amaterasu's shinki, Ebisu tears himself away from the fray to see what's going on. Once he spots their target, he immediately rears Kiwami back and sends his hook flying. Yet even when the hook snags into the man's clothing, Ebisu still has to pursues.

Kiwami's line has its limits, after all, and he has to keep up if he wants to keep tracking.

"Um, excuse me!" People are certainly welcome to help the tiny god bounding through the crowd and along buildings, if they want to. Or perhaps their paths are simply intersecting. It doesn't really matter. Ebisu is just looking around, letting Kunimi take the wheel on movement.

If he could find Takami and call him, then it would be so much easier to catch up...!

Festival - take one

[unlucky7]

Ginia has an odd assortment of fine skills under her belt, but as it turns out, none of them are really along the lines of repairing things. With the high stakes around the festival, it's no time for a crash course in drum repair or sewing. That doesn't mean she's useless though; Aomi and Unmi can handle the finer repairs, she's okay grabbing tools for them or running finished items back to their owners.

Or right now, putting her height and muscles to work by holding up a new crossbeam on a stall so Aomi and Unmi can finish hammering it in. You're welcome, gentlemen.

[chibisu]

Fortunately, where Ginia might not have too many skills in carpentry, Unmi in particular seems to be quite good at it. He's steady and sure as he puts the crossbeam together, able to work quickly in some ways because he's careful. The rest of the festival might be falling apart, so that only means he has to make sure it can't by his own hands.

Aomi takes an almost secondary seat to that, helping with passing along tools and occasionally providing another set of eyes. As he holds up a nail, he nods over to Ginia. "I think we should be done with this one soon. You're still holding up well, aren't you?" He knows she can't give an indepth answer right now, so he sticks to yes or no questions.

[unlucky7]

It's heavy and she'll need to stretch her back and arms out after, but it's not bad either. Ginia nods and flashes Aomi a quick smile. Go teamwork, right? As she appreciates Unmi's work, a thought continues to prickle at the back of her mind.

They wouldn't need to do this if things were going well. An upset child, a torn seam, ties for a stand top going missing, sure, things happen. The amount of incidents stacking up? That's unusual.

Once the beam is in place, Ginia jumps down and stretches her back and rolls out her shoulders.

"By any chance did you an notice an omamori in the area? Maybe hidden in something or tucked where it shouldn't be?"

[chibisu]

In the process of rolling around one of his wrists, Unmi glances over at Ginia when she speaks up with her question. "Well, it is a festival for a temple," he muses aloud. "So omamori are rather plentiful. I'm afraid I haven't had the time to check if they've been anywhere unusual in particular. At the very least, I certainly haven't come across them." Switching to his other wrist, he nods to his coworker. "You?"

Aomi takes his time with the question, organizing the toolbox while he thinks. After a moment, however, he shakes his head. "I'm afraid I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary," he says apologetically. "However, I can't discount that I may have missed something with how frantically we've been working." Shutting the box, he considers her. "Do you think it's something similar to what happened during New Years...?"

Festival - take two

[unlucky7]

Ebisu is a child, Ebisu is a god, and sometimes one matters more than the other. Ginia is making her rounds, checking with her fellow shinki and her gods to see who needs help at the moment. She smiles as she watches Ebisu and the children, comforting them in the way only a fellow child could. Happy at the sight and proud of her god, the emotion is a burst of warmth.

As he addresses her, Ginia bows her head and produces her phone.

"Of course. What do you want me to get?"

[chibisu]

It's really a good thing that Jitsumi was able to pass him by just in time, although he supposes that could be a bit of luck in its own way. The skills of his shinki, however, have nothing to do with fortune and all their own ability. Jitsumi especially has shown herself to be quite talented despite only having jointed rather recently.

So Ebisu beams up at her. "Could you find somewhere that has something with dark chocolate in it? There are some other foods that I think would be good, but there aren't any stalls that would have them on hand."

[unlucky7]

Something with dark chocolate? Ginia recalls the stands she passed, remembering a few selling candy and other confections. If nothing else, she's pretty sure she run off to a convenience store. She grins and nods, giving a quick salute. Normally she'd bound off, but between the children and crowd, Ginia jogs off and weaves through the crowd.

It's about ten minutes before she returns with a bag of mixed squares of milk and dark chocolate. The tie on the bag is also a little loose and she's definitely eaten a few of the milk chocolate pieces.

[chibisu]

By the time Ginia comes back, Ebish has gotten a few of the kids to sit down and has continued to patiently talk them through the passing time. When she comes back, he holds his hand out expectantly.

"Thank you, Jitsumi." It's fine if she had some of the milk chocolate. It's not like it's necessary for what he's thinking of, after all. Instead, he just starts patiently digging through to take out pieces of the dark squares to begin handing out to the children. "Here! Have some of this." Handing out chocolate is something he can do without adult supervision! Probably.

"I was told by Kimi that this is one of the foods that's good to eat when you're nervous. It reduces stress! And anyway-" He tilts his head back to smile at Ginia. "It's much nicer to eat chocolate instead of sitting and waiting."

A

[beyondtheblade]

Tsubasa is having a time really getting her head around her things as it is. The ... relative normalcy of this festival is almost calming, until the disasters start in earnest. At a certain point, she begins to feel like an errand girl, and while that might seem like a far cry from a famous idol, it feels to her more like home than she'd like to admit. After all, she was still at the beck and call of her government most of the time. When she's not telling her "grandfather" off and doing as she deems appropriate, anyway.

She's a bit surprised when she comes across a boy tending to other children with some authority, though. More, when he cries out to her.

...alright, she'll bite.

"Ah?" She changes the course of her direction, towards him. "What is that, precisely?"

[chibisu]

Yes, he thought she was someone of the Far Shore, considering how everyone else was reacting around her. Ebisu beams up at her as she comes closer.

"If you aren't preoccupied with any other tasks with a higher importance, could I request that you bring me some dark chocolate? I'd like to ask for some particular teas, but I don't believe that there are any stalls which would be carrying them at this particular festival."

[beyondtheblade]

Her eyes flutter in a blink. He's ... a polite and well spoken boy, for certain.

"Ah, no, I don't believe I am at the moment."

Somehow, anyway. Her attempts to clean up a kitchen disaster had amounted to something rather unfortunate she wasn't wanting to think back to, she can still hear the screaming in her ears.

"Although, if there are no stalls carrying it..." A rare, sheepish smile crosses her face. "I do not believe I yet have the funds to go anywhere to purchase that, or I would gladly do so."

[chibisu]

"Oh, is that all?" Ebisu duck his head down and starts to go through his kimono. It's a festival for a god, so it's only right to dress appropriately, isn't it? After a moment, he pulls out a small cloth wallet. It's a cool sea-green, matching the blue of his clothes well enough, and the name "Ebi" is lovingly stitched into it. Going through it, he soon holds up some bills. "Here. Please feel free to keep any change, as thanks for assisting me."

And there might be a lot of change. He's giving her what adds up to around 11,000 yen.

pursuit

[yasei]

A little child going off like that is eye-catching when you're observant and notice minor details. Obi was more for leisurely watching like the cat he almost is except he's only ever been a human before.

And even before dying Obi was agile and fast, gaining the added mobility of a shinki only makes him that much dexterous and able to move about. He doesn't really have to exert any effort to keep up with Ebisu at all.

"Need any help, Little Mister? I can at the very least keep an eye open."

Go bird view, use this funny little tool called phone to rely a course to set if Ebisu loses track of the person he's chasing.

[chibisu]

"Oh, yes!" To have someone suddenly bouncing along right besides him doesn't seem to surprise Ebisu too much. This place is chockful of gods and their shinki, many of whom are quite talented. All he does is nod over to him.

"I don't want any of us to lose him, so please do your best!"

[yasei]

"It would be inconvenient." If anyone else specific were to catch him first, goes unsaid.¨Of the people from the Heavens originally..belonging, Ebisu seems to be the most agreeable. (Obi may not dislike Little Miss Ammy as just another child, but as a ruler, he's got his doubts regarding the Lady Amaterasu.)

Obi bounced up a bit further up, finding his way across balconies and rooftops with ease, eyes trained on the fleeing human... Unless he unexpectedly knows magic, he shouldn't be too hard to catch.

Hunting, be it people or otherwise, seem to be instinct.

[chibisu]

Unfortunately, even for regular people, certain situations can make it hard to catch them. The crowded streets of the festival, the utter chaos steadily overtaking the streets, all those from the Far Shore racing for the ayakashi...

It's enough that the wire on Ebisu's fishing pole seems to be going tense, and Ebisu frowns down at it.

"I might be having difficulty on my end!" he calls up to Obi.

A

[blahblahblah]

Rita doesn't do fixing very well; as she's walked through the festival she's realized she's a bit short on assistance skills to give all these people a hand, and it's made her just a little bit sulky. She also doesn't much look like she was excited to be here; she's just here in her usual garb, casual clothing with her red cloak thrown over the top.

When she hears someone call to her, she's surprised for a moment, before she turns and nods. "Yeah, that's fine. What do you need?" As she realizes he's helping kids, her expression softens almost unconsciously, and she gives him a little more attention.

[chibisu]

Such flashy clothing isn't likely to show up on the Far Shore. Well, unless she was cosplaying... but that's not likely to happen during a festival. It helps to mark her as being different from mortals, and Ebisu beams cheerfully upon getting her attention. It's a good feeling to be right, when this new generation is ever shifting.

"Oh, I was merely hoping that you would not be particularly busy, so that I could request you get some dark chocolate from one of the stalls. That is, if any are currently selling them. You would be compensated for the trouble, of course."

[blahblahblah]

At the request to run errands, part of her walls slam back up... but she's trying here. If he's compensating her, that helps too - spending money? Something else? It's something she didn't have before, in any event, and she's not going to complain about that.

"I can do that," Rita says slowly. "I think I saw a stand a little ways back. Just a little, or a bunch?"

[chibisu]

"Oh. Hm." Ebisu apparently didn't think that much, and he considers the children he's with again. "If there was too much, then it would simply make them sick in a different way... So, perhaps only a single bag?" As he says it, he gives a small nod. Yes, that's sounds sufficient enough. "If we need anymore, then we can simply acquire some more." It shouldn't be too hard, if she's already seen a stall.

Now that they have a proper agreement, Ebisu reaches into his small kimono and digs around until he's bringing out what looks like a well made coin-purse of sorts, with the name 'Ebi' stitched into it delicately. He digs through the various bits of currency- a lot of it now outdated and worthless on a trading scale- before he pulls out some bills to hold out to her. It's roughly five thousand yen. "Here! Please feel free to keep the chance for yourself."

Wildcard

[unlucky7]

After the ayakashi is rended and the dust has settled a little, what is likely a very concerning text message comes in Kiwami's, Unmi's, and Kimi's phones.

I have the mask in my possession.

At least it's confirmation she's alive?

[chibisu]

Considering the kind of shenanigans that the newer generation of gods and shinki can get into, it's very good to to know that Ginia is in fact still alive and, hopefully, in good health. At least, if she's still able to type, then that should mean something. Kimi and Unmi are the first to respond to her-

!(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑
- Unmi



║ . º 艸 º . ║ lmk if you're hurt (ﾟ艸ﾟ;)
- kimi


In contrast... Kiwami takes a little bit longer to get back in touch with Ginia. It's a good five, ten minutes before her phone buzzes with yet another text.

Lost target. Master and I will come to you.
>ﾟ)))彡

She only has a minute or so to raise any objections, because Ebisu sure will shamelessly abuse his connection to his shinki and the ability to teleport.

[unlucky7]

Considering the kind of shenanigans the new generation gets into, the fact Ginia is walking away with a few light bruises and scrapes, and a lash across her arm that looks worse than it feels is pretty remarkable.

To Unmi, Ginia sends back:

✧٩(•́⌄•́๑)

Kimi receives:

Nothing serious, don't worry ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

Which probably doesn't actually alleviate the fact she's not denying injuries. Both of them get the address of her location of her current location too; a park not too far off from the area, a quick run for the athletically inclined.

Ginia doesn't even get a chance to raise any possible objections as Ebisu and Kiwami teleport to her. She's seated on the table portion of a picnic table, jacket casually bundled over something on the table. A red whip-like mark crosses over her upper arm, skin split, but it's really minor.

She hops off the table and bows her head to Ebisu, pulling her jacket back enough to show the mask. It's a bit scuffed, chipped and scratched from battle, but overall intact.

[chibisu]

Considering the delay in which Kiwami could even contact her, Unmi is actually the first to arrive on the scene thanks to the ability all shinki seem to have of effortlessly being able to jump ridiculous heights. He's inspecting the injuries carefully when their god finally does arrive with Kiwami in tow... and only a moment later, there's Kimi jogging through into the park, where he immediately points an accusing finger.

"Nothing serious my ass!"

Ebisu frowns as well, reaching up to put his hand on Ginia's. "Let's take care of your injuries first, and we can discuss more about the mask later." And because he's already gotten a good idea of how work oriented she is- "It will only take a moment."