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

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa nods back and responds to the action, both by moving and by singing.]

The first blade, like the swiftest wind, faster than lightning!

[Even if all they can do is slow it down for the moment, that's enough for people to escape. She hopes.]

The second blade, like a forest, having an empty mind!

[She moves to the right, away from Ginia, as she attempts to create an opening. She spins, her katana morphing into a large, cleaving blade as lightning generates around it, and she launches a wave of electric power straight for the monster.]

[unlucky7]

[Between Maria, Chris, and now Tsubasa, Ginia has questions about the singing. No judgment at all, the songs are incredible, but it's incredibly specific. Especially with all of their songs different.

Does help stay energized in battle. Ginia grins a little as she continues her attacks and defense. The wave of electricity hits the ayakashi squarely. It stuns the ayakashi, limbs twitching from the surge of energy, opening a few seconds for another attack. Nothing works as well as a rending, but every attack counts with an ayakshi so big.]

[beyondtheblade]

This fear of a supernatural evil...

Is only the reflection of my inexperience in the water!

[By all means, if she's curious, all she needs to do is ask. When they're not, you know, fighting for their lives.

She's not expecting to defeat it, but if they can at least keep it off guard so someone can rend it - or Ginia happens upon her god(s), or Tsubasa her shinki... really, any of the above.]

Who will do it if I won’t?

Awake! Matchless blue that crushes evil!

[With the ayakashi stunned momentarily, she collapses her giant blade back down, forming into a double sided sword that she spins around as she jets forward suddenly. Flames erupt around the swords, creating a whirling circle of flames which she strikes one tentacle with in passing. This, combined with everything else, seems to attract attention to them, as two tentacles surge out towards the both of them. Her momentum already pretty high, Tsubasa is able to tuck into a roll and bounce up a few moments later to narrowly avoid something that would have sent her smashing into a wall.

Which leaves the one headed for Ginia, and she grits her teeth, twisting in the air and tossing a smaller blade in a futile bid.]

Ginia! Watch yourself!

[unlucky7]

[The Far Shore certainly attracts its share of fighters. She doesn't focus too much on Tsubasa's movements with an enemy attacking erratically in front, but it's hard not to notice. She's fast, adapts well, and flashy yet still functional. If it were anything but a large ayakashi, there wouldn't be anything left.

But ayakashi sure are a pain to fight. At least rending is easy. There are enough people around, she's not worried about how it gets rended. Ginia is worried about what happens to the mask after though. There's no way she can grab it and disappear with it with so many around.

Thoughts for later. Ginia hears Tsubasa's warning. With her borderline blocking another set of tentacles from hitting civilians, Ginia slashes out with a borderline attack. The tentacle twists downward from the attacks, lashing to the side. Ginia dodges, finding the opportunity to move her borderline to shield the next swing.]

[beyondtheblade]

[Were it not something this large, she'd be trying to hold herself back. She's learned well enough at the very least that without her shinki, it'd all be for naught.

The fact it is this largely means she can let loose. She hadn't had the chance to really give her rebuilt Gear outside of their initial explosion of power a good run. So it serves that purpose.

Her tossed blade obviously isn't needed, as Ginia manages to fend for herself. She lands with a grin flashing on her face.]

...as expected, from someone Yukine would choose to work with!

[She draws another katana, alongside the one she's already carrying, looking directly at Ginia.] We cannot rend it without my shinki or your god, [though there are plenty here to do THAT] but I suspect it would not be out of line to rob it of some of those tentacles?

[She's fairly certain she has enough Phonic Gain built up to create a sword quite large enough to do that, but she also doesn't want to screw up this fight for others.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia inclines her head and returns the grin, nodding at Tsubasa's assessment. She's enjoying her newfound life as an office worker, she may not hunt ayakashi like she used to, but it'd be remiss not to keep her skills honed. There's people she wants to protect and now, more than ever, there are people she wants to return to as well.

They cannot rend, but they can definitely slice it up. Ginia dives back in with a fury, slashing borderlines along the tentacles, using herself as bait to draw the tentacles her way and leave openings. The sliced tentacles still writhe on the ground, moving back to rejoin the body, but at least they aren't lashing through the air.]

[beyondtheblade]

[As Ginia is busy using herself as bait and drawing attention, Tsubasa holds her stance and begins focusing her energy, resuming the same song she had started with:]

Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of lives...!
I grasp and wield them all!
A tearing that chills the spine...
Do you have the resolve to break it?

[She leaps, dodging a larger tentacle that goes for her, misses, and then starts to surge towards Ginia.]

The tip* of my sword in the evening sky!
Resembles the fragrant crescent moon!

[She holds her swords high and they transform into each other, creating a cleaving sword, and then it expands again from seemingly nothing, forming a sword easily twice or more her height, which she brings down towards said large tentacle.]

Time and time again I disappear completely...
To the flame of my sword!

[Weight, gravity, and the propulsion from her armor sends her crashing down into it, and the ground, cleaving through it. It seems like a lot of effort to just anger and and not do much overall damage, but it's one less thing that can strike the people she's trying to protect, at the very least. She releases the sword, letting it fold away into nothingness, flipping back towards the ground and landing beside Ginia.]

[unlucky7]

[Everything counts. There are enough people peppering the ayakashi with attacks that even if all they do is keep it at bay before someone can rend it, that counts for something. Another tentacle split and ruined, a few more minutes to breathe.

Ginia puts up a shield in front of them and takes a moment to survey the surroundings. It's going to be tough for the city to explain all the damage when they can't see ayakashi, but they'll manage somehow. What's worrying are the people still fighting among themselves. Ginia pulls her phone out of her pocket.]

we need 2 do cwd cntrl & get the ppl around away

[It's a good thing Ginia types fast.]

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa just sort of takes a look over, leaning to glance at Ginia's phone. She gives her a short nod.]

I don't think I can do that again right away, anyhow.

[She looks to part of the nearby panicking crowd. There's at least a couple troublemakers here and there causing considerable havoc, having been infected by the ayakashi.]

I can see exactly what we need to root out there, too. [Some are trying to escape, being able to perceive things or not, the panic is still obvious. Those trying to start fights are definitely making that harder, while others stand around gawking.]

[unlucky7]

brk up the fights I'll keep u covered

[If needed, she can serve as muscle too, constant borderlines and keeping the tentacles from lashing anyone else will serve them all well. Once this is all over, dinner calls for a seafood feast out of spite.]

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa just gives her a strong nod, moving in to just that. She's not exactly able to STRIKE people while wearing her Symphogear - it would end up rather messy - but pulling them apart, chucking people like ragdolls here and there to stop them?

Well, that's another matter.

She's absolutely going to take Ginia up on that, though.]

[unlucky7]

[More than one person is going to walk away from bruises from getting chucked, but better than people pummeling each other. Ginia shadows Tsubasa, keeping the ayakashi away from her and the civilians. Most humans can't see ayakashi; as far as everyone knows, the shrine fell over and violence broke out. More than a few child might talk about seeing a giant jellyfish, but that'll probably get excused as fantasy.

Fucking cultists. Attacking a suburb at night was already pretty low, attacking more openly and during the daylight is bold. What's next? Another fire somewhere? More ayakashi?]