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

the festival

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 was just passing by. On his way to do..whatever he might end up doing, really. He didn't have a clear goal in mind.

But now he stops, maybe seven, eight feet away, right in front of Dust and he looks at him with a bewildered expression. ]

Uh. You alright there, buddy?

[mithrarin]

I... think trying to stop this from becoming a serious disaster convinced the guy at the booth that this wasn't a serious disaster.

[Because as soon as he moves, well... he can't move, let's put it that way.]

[smilingbullet]

[ Dust sure has gotten himself into a predicament. People may easily forget about them but their own little businesses? ]

Sure seems that way. Need a hand? I could find something else to prop it up with, probably.

[mithrarin]

...It's not like I have anything better to do today, but yeah, I'd appreciate that.

[Seriously, if he stood here for hours, what would it matter? But he doesn't really WANT to.]

[smilingbullet]

[ It would matter though wouldn't it. ]

Give me a couple minutes and I'll be right back, alright?

[ He's just going to go find something long and sturdy, like any leftover pieces of wood from repairs somewhere. ]

[mithrarin]

[That couldn't be too hard, right?]

[Please say it isn't too hard.]

[smilingbullet]

[ He'll have to patch something quick up but not too hard no.

He finds a few long pieces of wood that looks sturdy enough, a hammer, and some nails of a decent size. ]

You look like you're still standing.

[mithrarin]

Standing isn't the issue.

[He could stand here all day, honestly. This isn't a strain.]

I think you're going to need to put a support right between my hands. It'll unbalance if you go too far to the left or right.

[smilingbullet]

No?

[ D2 places two of the wood pieces together and picks out a long enough nail to hammer them together with. ]

I'm assuming so. It wouldn't do if you let go and it instantly went down over you or something.

[mithrarin]

It'd be a heck of a mess to clean up if it broke. [That's the real issue. The sign probably can't do any meaningful damage to him.] And I can only take standing around for so long.

[smilingbullet]

That it sure would be.

[ Heheh. ]

So the boredom will get to you before the strain does.

[mithrarin]

Yeah, guaranteed. [What strain? But the boredom is already a bit much for an active guy like Dust.] Guess I could read a book, but...

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 can absolutely sympathize, being an active guy himself. ] But you don't have one available at the moment? You can probably read something on your phone.

[ And the~re is one support to prop the stall up with, with a bit of foothold added to it. He raises it up and moves in front of Dust. ]

Move your head a hit?

[mithrarin]

Books are easier to read.

[Yeah, Dust is THAT kind of guy. He shifts as best he can, lowering his head and leaning back to try to get it out of the way.]

[smilingbullet]

You think so? I get too restless when I try, I can't sit still long enough to properly read books.

[ He does listen to audio books though. ]

[mithrarin]

Sitting still isn't a problem so long as I have something to do. If I don't, I just end up getting lost in my own head.

[And Dust's head is a fairly dark place these days, with little comfort or reassurance to be found.]

[smilingbullet]

Mmh, that is troublesome. How about audio books?

[ Let's see now if he can prop this up properly. ]

A bit longer- Hmmmh something like thaatt? Relax your hold just a little bit?

[mithrarin]

It's not so easy for me to listen to things for long periods of time.

[Not because he doesn't like to, but because playing them out loud is rude, and using headphones... well, he can handle some things like a bluetooth earpiece for a while, but his anatomy just isn't compatible with most human audio devices.]

[Slowly, Dust eases up his pressure on the wood, letting the support take the weight.]

[smilingbullet]

Yeah?

[ Ah, most things are made for human consumption of course, things are generally as a result made mostly for that sort of anatomy.

The support, though, seems to be doing the job, only shifting a little at the initial added pressure, then standing in place. ]

[mithrarin]

Whew. Looks like you're the hero of the hour. [Dust lets his arm drop entirely, the limbs a little boneless now that they're finally unlocked and no longer under pressure.] Thanks. I owe you one.

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 returns the hammer he had borrowed from just nearby, and he grins over at Dust. ]

You're welcome~ But you don't owe me anything, anyway how long did you stand there anyway?

[mithrarin]

You say. [Dust tugs out his phone to check the time.] About fifteen minutes or so? Felt like longer...

[smilingbullet]

I'd imagine. Think of what it might have felt like if it was the double or even longer.

[mithrarin]

I'd rather not. Especially since the owner has been gone this long, so he'll probably be gone longer...

[And he very well could have gotten stuck.]

[smilingbullet]

Aaahh, yeah. He shouldn't have forgotten about his own stand but who knows, maybe he actually have done that.