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

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.

[beyondtheblade]

There's a somewhat dull, if perplexed look as the boy reaches for and hands her the money. She does notice the stitching, and something clicks in her brain.

Not having been around here long, the fact that 'people' don't notice them like normal hasn't really registered much with Tsubasa. In fact, she's not spent a lot of time around them.

However, this boy does. That, and the name she was given by Ginia on her first day suddenly clicks into place.

"Ah, thank you, it should not be more than a few minutes then." She pauses, frowning. "What was... your name, by chance?"

She feels like an idiot.

Especially when you take into account the smartest person in her organization and the only one who understands the vast technologies and power behind their Symphogears is Elfnein.