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

[priforprince]

[ "Thank you for participating, yuru! I'll bless your entry: yururin yurururu yurulala ru~!" ]

Ghrk!

[ Hibiki swoons, has to support herself against a beam.

That's a no. ]

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa just gazes onward as Hibiki nearly falls over. She's not really sure if she should help, since she's really not understand what's happened.]

...evidently not.

Did you eat something bad? Perhaps you haven't had enough water, you know being out in the open, people need to hydrate themselves...

[She's super not catching on to the cause of this.]

[priforprince]

Sent....

[ Hibiki convulses. Remaining conscious is taking all her focus.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Shiver. ]

[beyondtheblade]

Sent...? Somebody sent something?

[She lets out a small, exasperated breath before reaching out to try and heft Hibiki to her feet. Ultimately, that's just what it seemed to be coming to.]

[priforprince]

Senten.....

[ It's no good. She can't.

Hibiki swoons into Tsubasa's waiting arms. ]

[beyondtheblade]

[...Tsubasa sighs, taking on Hibiki's weight and immediately starting to try and drag her away to sit down somewhere else.

At the very least, Tsubasa's a pretty strong young woman.]

You sound delirious.

[priforprince]

Hhh.

[ She might be.

She is certainly shivering, and her pulse is erratic.

Poison! She's been poisoned! ]

[beyondtheblade]

[She certainly can feel that. The rest she'll have to see about, as she finds as eat far enough away and sets Hibiki down in it.] One moment.

[Hastily, she leaves and returns with a cup of water, which she thrusts into Hibiki's hands.] Drink. Breathe.

[priforprince]

Gh!

[ She's away, which means it's not getting worse - but she's also not getting better.

Her fingers are incapable of handling a cup in this condition. It immediately falls.

If it hits the ground, it will somehow manage to shatter. No matter what materials it's made of. ]

[beyondtheblade]

[It's a paper cup. Tsubasa catches it. Incredibly fast reflexes.

She sighs, irritation evident, bringing it up to Hibiki's mouth.]

Drink.

[priforprince]

Nnn...

[ Hibiki doesn't want to be fed water like a baby. But, it can't be helped, can it? Her caretaker is insistent, and with her limbs like this...

After a few sips, she's feeling steadier and averts her face. ]

....The poison is dissipating. I'm in your debt.

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa is nothing if not insistent AND persistent. Not to mention stubborn.

As Hibiki seems to calm down, she lowers the cup.]

Poison?

[She narrows her eyes, somewhere between wondering if this was one of these disasters going on, now afflicting them and already knowing that Hibiki's descriptions of things can be...

Dramatic.]

What precisely was poisoning you?

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki gestures back whence they'd been. ] That so-called "priestess" is employing a sentence ender.

[ She huffs, feeling enough like herself to grump. ] Honestly. Such a toxin, on a holy site.....No wonder this temple's god has abandoned it.

[beyondtheblade]

A... sentence... ender...?

[All of a sudden, as if shrieking through the darkness of the multiverse, "DESS" echoes in her head over and over again.

Tsubasa is ... extremely perplexed, all the same.]

That is what you consider poison?

[priforprince]

My celebrity constitution is ill-suited for exposure to such absurdities.

[ A spygoat rolls up with a mirror so Hibiki can check over her jacket and cuffs, make sure everything is still Sharp and Handsome after that scuffle on the floor.

Ah, it's her reflection. It's her face.

Jiiiiiiiiiii. ]

[beyondtheblade]

Um.

[Tsubasa gazes on in something of a befuddled state. For a moment, she's starting to understand Chris' perspective.

But she also idly wonders: She's not that bad, right? Most... assuredly not.

She hopes.]

Surely there are worse things than that...

[priforprince]

No, sentence enders are about the pinnacle.

[ Are her eyelashes more alluring from this angle, if she tilts her head?

Why yes! Yes they are! ]

[beyondtheblade]

...ah... you would not want to meet one of my friends, then...

[Tsubasa wishes she could consider such things the "pinnacle."]

Still, I suppose you should just steer clear from that area of the festival. If it needs to be monitored, I could do it in your stead.

[It's a peculiar thing to get worked up over, but. She can deal with it.

Again. She has weird friends.

She keeps trying to tell herself this, but then, Hibiki seems particular.]

[priforprince]

Your greatheartedness knows no boundaries.

[ It is with a wistful sigh, and one last longing look, that Hibiki bids (temporary) farewell to her reflection to address Tsubasa.) ] Have no fear. Now that the danger is known, countermeasures may be enacted.

All will be well.

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa eyes her curiously, then back where they came from, then back to her.]

What precisely is a "countermeasure" to that?

[She's a bit concerned if that's her idea of a "poison."]

[priforprince]

I've made preparations.

[ And, to show off what kind, a spygoat rolls up, carrying a set of heavy black headphones on a silver platter. It is rolling slowly, however, and passes close by enough that Tsubasa could pick up the headphones to investigate if she so desired. ]

[beyondtheblade]

[She does... just that, actually, examining them in hand.]

Mmmm... just how, precisely, are you supposed to keep an ear out for trouble if you cannot hear anything?

[priforprince]

Don them.

[ Hibiki has no qualms with demonstrating this miracle of modern technology to one as worthy of note as Kazanari Tsubasa.

Thus, Tsubasa shall experience the glory of sentence ender cutphones - firsthand! ]

[beyondtheblade]

...ah?

[She squints, examines them a bit more, and then shrugs, doing just that.]

And what is so special about them, precisely?

[priforprince]

Listen.

[ And Hibiki makes a "go, go" motion with her hand, indicating Tsubasa should head back towards the abomin----towards the danger zone.

If she does so, something strange will occur. The priestess's sales pitches will all come through, clear as day, but every time she says "yuru", Hibiki's voice will suddenly play to drown it out. Hibiki's singing voice.

"Pure Amore Love!"

"Pure Amore--"

"Pure-----"

These high-powered, top-spec cutphones are truly the capstone of human achievement. ]