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

[ittenbari]

Festival

No no no! Don't cry!

[Sakon has somehow found himself surrounded by half a kindergarten class, all total nervous wrecks about their upcoming parade performance. They tug on his clothes, sniffling and whining and clinging to “big brother for reassurance.]

You can't cry! If you cry, I'm gonna cry!

[He may already be crying. This is ridiculous.]

Parade

[Sakon has always been quick on his feet, so when fights break out all around him, it's easy to dodge the flying punches and duck under irate parade-goers. It's just that there's no clear line to safety in sight and everything keeps escalating around him. And he's not exactly proficient in de-escalating...

Which is why he's just punched someone in the head, knocking them out light a light.]

Uh.. Oops! Sorry! I'm so sorry!

[He's never going to get out of here. This is a disaster.]

[festival]

[trustheart]

... That's not how you reassure kids.

[Chris stomps over, wearing her yukata from earlier. Maybe the kids will recognize her from her performance earlier. Chris smiles reassuringly and leans down.]

Hey, little squirts. It's gonna be alright, okay? You've already done so much getting so far in your preparations today. Big brother and big sister believe in you!

[ittenbari]

Y-yeah...

[That's about the best he can do before he sniffles loudly, then rubs at his eyes.]

Big brother's just gonna...gonna...

[Probably cry more.]

[trustheart]

[She actually gets the kids to calm down a bit... but "big brother" seems to be another story.]

Honestly. Big brother's kind of a crybaby.

Let's cheer him up. Any of you half pints wanna get a snack?

[ittenbari]

[Every little hand raises.

So does Sakon's.]

Snacks!!

[trustheart]

[... wow, okay, this Big Bro is definitely a mess.]

Come on, then. They're over this way.

[She leads them over to a stand where refreshments are already prepared, including drinks and japanese candy.]

parade

[reloves]

[ This is just pure chaos. It's hard to even get to the ayakashi itself with how many people are running around and fighting, no matter how much Minako wants to help to get rid of it. She's trying to make her way through the crowds, but it's pretty difficult..

.. and that's when she hears a familiar voice. One she recognizes instantly. And sure, Sakon might have no idea how to treat a girl properly (if the last time she spoke to him is anything to go by, anyway), but she's aware he's not a bad guy. And since he seems to be in a bad position, then she ought to do something about it, right?

She starts trying to make her way towards him, loudly calling out-- ]

Hey, what are you doing? [ She didn't notice the punch was kind of accidental, so now she's just worried he's under influence of the ayakashi too somehow.. ]

[ittenbari]

Uh...

[Sakon bends backwards to dodge someone else's flying punch, but still manages to keep eye contact with Minako.]

I was trying to get outta here, but...

[It's not working.]

[reloves]

Oh, come on! You just have to ru--

[ But as Minako steps closer to Sakon to try and reach him - maybe to physically pull him out of there, judging by how Minako usually goes about these things - something unexpected happens. Someone tries to punch Sakon, but since Minako was heading towards him, it ends up hitting her instead.

Straight on the head, too, which makes her drop to the ground. Woman down, alert, woman down. ]

[ittenbari]

Hey!

[It's hard to call someone out who's already busy punching someone else...]

Ah, dammit...

[Retaliation isn't the best idea at this point, not with Minako about to get trampled. He manages to crouch down and haul her up, but keeping her supported and dodging punches at the same time isn't the easiest thing to do.]

Please be conscious...please be conscious...

[reloves]

[ At least Sakon has some luck here - Minako is very conscious, and it becomes obvious pretty quickly once she starts groaning from the pain. Her body is still a little limp though while she's recovering. ]

What was that.. A bear..? [ She does sound a little out of it though for the moment. ]

Festival

[letteropener]

[Oh good heavens, someone needs a rescue!]

[Quickly, Celestia strides over. Though she's in her human shape for this mission of salvation, her drifting pastel hair plus the half-pony princess, half kindergarten-teacher air about her has the kids pausing in their growing fits to stare up at her.]

[Celestia crouches down, all smiles.] Well, you all look so good! You're going to charm everyone just by getting on the stage!

[ittenbari]

[That just sets him off crying even more. He cries when they're crying because it's just too sad, but then he cries when they stop crying because it's just too heartwarming not to.]

Y-yeah...what she said...

[He's not cut out for this kind of thing...]

[letteropener]

[Oh goodness. Celestia straightens up slightly to pat his back, as comforting as can be.]

Would anyone like to recite a line? Give him a little sneak peek? Otherwise he might cry all through the show because you're all so good!

[ittenbari]

[Sakon rubs at his eyes, trying to pull himself together.]

I'm probably gonna do that anyway...

[Why are kids so cute?

Well, to a certain extent. There's a sea of blank faces staring back up that them. Most of the responses are "I don't remember my lines" and then a small scuffle when one of them claims they do remember, but then starts singing commercial jingles instead.]

[letteropener]

[They really are cute.]

[But this is another problem. Celestia tries to keep a bold face on it.] Then let's practice just a little to get ready, shall we? Does anyone have a script?

[Not saying 'anypony' is hard work.]

Festival

[bakusatsuo]

Tch...you're not gonna reassure anybody while you're blubbering.

[Bakugou's been watching this somewhat embarrassing display with increasing impatience, and now he finally stalks over to intervene. He's anything but an expert with kids yet himself, but this is honestly even worse than he thinks he could do. He knows there's no way you can make kids feel more confident when you seem just as upset as they are.

He stops in front of the crowd, hands on his hips.] Listen up, brats! You don't have to worry about being perfect, 'cause nobody's perfect anyway. If you're putting on a performance, the best thing you can do is be confident. If you're confident enough, then even if you mess up, you can turn it around. You can make it so nobody even remembers, or maybe you can make the mistake into a joke that people will like even better than if you were perfect. But the less you worry and the more you just do your best, the better you'll actually do. So don't waste time getting somebody to tell you you'll do a good job; make it happen yourselves!

[Well, he's certainly gotten their attention. Calling them brats may not have been ideal, and his scowl as he looks at them is a little intimidating...to say nothing of his hero outfit, which is hardly standard attire. (At least he managed to remember not to swear.) It seems to be taking a moment for his words to sink in, though, and Bakugou defiantly stares the kids down as he waits for whatever reaction they're going to have to his unorthodox pep talk.]

[ittenbari]

[In some cases, it only makes the crying worse. However, some of the kids are totally won over.]

That was so cool!! Wasn't that cool, guys? I almost wanna go do the play myself!

[...Sakon is totally won over.]

[bakusatsuo]

[Bakugou tries not to roll his eyes at Sakon, who's either over-acting or even more impressionable than some of the kids Bakugou's talking to.

For some reason, he's reminded of Kaminari, which comes with a sharp pang of homesickness.]

Doing stuff that's hard or scary is how you get better at things. If you just do stuff that's easy and safe, you're not gonna get good at stuff. So whatever happens, you're gonna be better tomorrow than you were today, 'cause you pushed yourselves. So go...do your best, or whatever.

[Not the strongest finish, but Bakugou's hoping the effort leading up to it will carry his uncertainty as to how to close a motivational speech.]

[ittenbari]

We're gonna do our best, right?

[Sakon crouches down to the level of the kids and wraps his arms around the shoulders of the ones closest to him. The ones who aren't still crying cheer.]

Yeah! The play's gonna be awesome, right?

[More cheers.]

You guys know your lines, right?

[Blank stares.]

[bakusatsuo]

Well? You're not gonna learn 'em by standing around here! Go practice! You're not gonna get good at anything without practice!

[Bakugou's scowl, hands on his hips, and his loud, authoritative command sends the kids scurrying - off for their scripts, presumably, or to whoever's been drilling their lines in them. Honestly, Bakugou doesn't care; while he hopes the play goes well for them, and wants them to try and do it properly, he doesn't think the standards for a children's performance are going to be that high. Especially on a day when everything is turning into a disaster. The stakes are low.

Mostly he's just glad he can stop trying to be anything approaching good with kids. It doesn't come naturally. His shoulders slump once the kids are out of sight.] Finally...

parade

[wishwing]

[ A big disaster. Rion groans in discomfort when she is punched. She doesn't seem too upset about it. It's mostly wide eyed concerned. ]

Hey, you can't go around doing that. You might hurt yourself that way.

[ittenbari]

Huh? What? Wait -- Are you okay?

[Was that him? Did he do that? Man, he needs to pay more attention to what he's doing. Even if it's not his fault, he should be paying more attention to whoever's fault it was. This whole thing is such a mess..]

I'll be fine, but...

[wishwing]

Ah, thanks I should be alright. I was just caught off guard, that's all.

[Rion shakes her head and waves her hand.]

You gave me quite a scare!

[ittenbari]

Yeah, sorry...

[Someone else in the crowd swings at him, but he easily ducks under it.]

It's kinda...uh...

[He has to sidestep a few more punches before he can continue.]

Well, it's a mess in here. You should probably get away. I should, too, but...

[Easier said than done.]