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

March 9th

[trademark_skull]

[At long last, the Heavens finally found some of these sorry excuses of human garbage. However, Emizel was less pleased that they were only tasked with monitoring their movements. Stakeouts were so boring. And by the sound of this Shimoda Tsuki person, their lives weren't very exciting either. Waiting outside the apartment was even less entertaining.]

...This is stupid. If the Heavens know where they are, we should be taking these guys in.

[onedrinkwithme]

Aye, we should. But according to them, it is the child gods who are in the wrong, not the 'innocent mortals'.

[If his tone wasn't a giveaway, Aymeric believes their stand on this to be complete bullshit.]

Besides, one cannot be sure if a charm is placed to ward Far Shore residents off.

[trademark_skull]

...

[Just had to bring up those two again, huh?]

I can't really blame them for going after them too. Those two still have some part in this. [And there sure was things that Votelli didn't want to share, when they had talked.]

[But on a lighter note(?)] Charms aren't that bad, you can just burn them.

[onedrinkwithme]

Do you think them worthy of execution?

[Like seriously, crank the thing up to 20 why don't you, Heavens. Besides, it's Aymeric's job to think of the worst case scenario but even he has the mindset of proving one's innocence before immediate killings. He knows too well; they are not simply seeking the two just for questioning but they seek blood. And he cannot condone it until everything is there.]

It depends on the charm. Some are much stronger than fire it seems.

[trademark_skull]

N..No. And I don't really agree with all the things that the Heavens do. But, aren't they the ones that attacked first?

[By all demon logic, they had it coming.]

[onedrinkwithme]

But why did they attack first if that is the case?

[There in lies another question: what did Heaven do to make mortals this angry for it to go this far?]

[trademark_skull]

There could a bunch of reasons why.

[...And humans, mortals are usually not as great as you might think they are.]

[onedrinkwithme]

There could be but no one attacks just because they simply feel like it. Not in cases I know. There is always a root cause.

[trademark_skull]

...'Guess you don't know very many demons.

Though, if it had been for selfish reasons, you would pick a battle you had a chance of winning. Nobody would go after something that big unless they had a damn good reason to.

[So, maybe dad is right about something.]

[onedrinkwithme]

Exactly.

[Nodding because approved. Now you're thinking, Emi.]

Heaven never gave us a reason why there are attacks, just that they are happening. More and more of our generation are questioning it and are trying to seek out the answers ourselves. It is only now that there is pushback and there is a voice starting to speak out.

[trademark_skull]

Well, whoever is behind all the attacks have no issue with attacking us too.

[onedrinkwithme]

If it will help hasten their cause, what should it matter if there are causalities? The side matters not as long as the goal is accomplished.

Or so if I were in that position, would assume.

[trademark_skull]

Then it's not like we shouldn't be siding with the Heavens on this.

[onedrinkwithme]

The side I stand with is the one with those I care about.

[He doesn't trust either side but he does trust his friends and family.]

[trademark_skull]

Right.

And some of them have been getting hurt through all this. [Probably still has no idea Aymeric is one of them.]

[onedrinkwithme]

[If he needs a hint, Emi may notice how Aymeric's hand hovers over part of his torso for a split second when that is mentioned.]

Then it is up to us try and make sure they hurt no further.

[trademark_skull]

[He notices it and can guess something must have happened, but not sure if that was something he should ask about. Though it would give him something more to be angry about. ...After all, some of the ones that had been affected are gone now.]

...They could do it again for all we know.

[onedrinkwithme]

I like to try and have faith in people.

[It's not condescending but rather the realist and idealist trying to find balance. Besides, if you constantly think on the negatives, that's all that will be shown.]

[trademark_skull]

[If only it was that easy to believe in other people...]

[Emizel was an unhappy little demon, though pretty much put himself on time out when it didn't seem like he was going to have it his way. Eventually he looked at his phone. How long have they been hiding around here anyway?]

...I think he should be back soon.

[onedrinkwithme]

[It isn't hard to feel that way. People in general can be little shits and there are those who believe that those choices can be made by only one. But that usually ends in disaster.

And Aymeric makes a small gesture, a pat to the demon's head. But he does have a point: where is this guy anyway?]

[trademark_skull]

[If the pat on the head was supposed double as a disciplinary thing too, fine, he will it a try?]

...Maybe he's running late? [Not really feeling it. His patience is running thin just by being here.]