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

[letteropener]

[She can fly, but a moment's hesitation costs her -- by the time she's turned to make discretion the better part of valor, someone hurls a banner at her. It snares her right wing, making her veer sharply to the side and into the crowd as she struggles to get it free.]

[yasei]

[ Ah, really... What is she doing.. Obi drops from his perch, slips through the crowd with little issue, and fishes a knife from the depths of his clothes. ]

Don't move now. [ It's much easier to quickly cut her loose if she doesn't struggle. The crowd is in a disarray and it's thanks to her being a resident of the Far Shore that he has the time to do it at all before they find her. ]

Honestly Mistress, what do you think you're you doing?

[letteropener]

Obi!?

[Imagine her surprise. She goes still as much because of that as his instructions.]

[Truth be told, she'd have suspected he'd prefer they kill her.]

The Royal Canterlot Voice fails only very rarely... the ayakashi has a strength beyond a dragon's for this to happen.

[yasei]

[ He could just have left her to her demise... But he's not that much of an asshole. ]

Uh-huh, sure, but the authoritarian stuff is bound to fail at some point.

[ Or a lot. But she she should know he doesn't like authority all that much by now.

And there, she's free. ]

[letteropener]

Why do you think I so rarely use it?

[She can't think of the last time she intentionally used the Royal Canterlot Voice to command authority -- it's been quite a while, longer if you don't count back when it was used for the most formal communication. Celestia scrambles to her hooves, flexing her wings to test them for injury.]

Thank you, Obi.

[yasei]

I don't know that you don't.

[ He flicks the knife from one hand to the other, and it disappears out of sight again. ]

Right.. I wasn't looking to be involved today at all so I'd rather not stick to the crowd.

[ He's good at fighting but he's assuming that killing is off the table here. ]

[letteropener]

I think we have little choice.

[Whether or not that 'we' is inclusive, Celestia obviously can't simply leave this situation as it is.]

[yasei]

We do, actually. If we wanna sit out we can sit out.

[ He's not a compulsive do-gooder like she seem to think that she is. ]

[letteropener]

Then allow me to rephrase. I have no other palatable choice.

[So many other people here are so quick to help others in need, to use what they have to prevent harm and suffering where they can. Once again, Celestia has to wonder if this whole pairing is simply a sick joke.]

[yasei]

Okay, you go have fun then Mistress, I'll continue having fun on my own.

[ He's not against helping people, no, but he also thinks there's not that much of a need. This is a thing aimed at the Heavens and is not their problem because Amaterasu is delusional. (As a kid he likes her, as the one in charge, not so much.) ]

[letteropener]

[She pulls herself together, unfolds her wings slightly, and the pauses, looking back to her shinki.]

Obi?

[yasei]

[ And he was just about to hop away. ]

Yes, Mistress?

[letteropener]

I hope you know this, but I will say it anyway. If you ever find a god you enjoy working with or have common cause with, I will release you to them without hesitation. You are not bound to me.

[yasei]

[ That is so weird. Can she sense how weirded out he is? She just very well might. ]

.....Right..

[letteropener]

[She'd release him utterly, but he would have little recourse against ayakashi then, and he'd simply be reassigned. Perhaps a god chosen voluntarily wouldn't carry the baggage she knows she has, of necessity and obligation.]

Be careful out there.

[She turns to wade back into the fray.]

[yasei]

I was gonna be..

[ Mistress, you don't tell a cat what to do, why do you tell Obi- even if it's just concern. Now he feels inclined to do the exact opposite.

Well.

He disappears into the shadows to keep observing. ]