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

[yasei]

Of course! There's a lot of fun-looking stuff and food here.

[ He likes new things and he likes food.

But Obi, a serious guy? That's not really right. Smart? Sometimes, maybe. ]

Sure, I guess that could be fun.

[reloves]

[ !!! Good job, Minako. She's mentally giving herself a pat on the back for finding a perfect excuse for this whole situation. And it went so smoothly too, clearly it's since she's a master planner and not just because Obi is easily going along with it. Clearly. ]

Then let's get going! There's so much I want to try-- like the goldfish scooping game!

[yasei]

[ Minako is a Master Manipulator, clearly that's why he's coming along so easily. He'll even allow her to drag him along if she wants to do that. ]

The goldfish scooping.. Oh! Miss Minako, you know how to do that one?

[reloves]

Of course!

[ She grins proudly, putting her hands on her sides. ]

Can't you already see it from the way I look? I'm a master at any game out there! I can teach you if you're unexperienced!

[yasei]

Amazing! Miss Minako is showing such splendorous confidence, her skill must have been so blinding that I was unable to see it for that reason.

[ Somehow he manages to not sound the least bit sarcastic. He's amused, but he sounds more amazed with her than anything else. ]

Yes, I would like to learn from such a master.

[reloves]

[ Hey, if he doesn't sound sarcastic - and Minako isn't the brightest on picking it up if it had really been there to begin with - then she's just going to take it as a genuine compliment. She smiles brightly, clearly very satisfied with hearing it. ]

Alright, let's go over to the stall! I'll show you how to catch them until you're going home with at least ten of them! [ What would one even do with ten goldfish.. ]

[yasei]

[ At least it's true that he would like to learn? He had some problems with that particular game before. ]

Okay, sure. [ Not sure what he would do with ten goldfishes, they don't look like much to eat but experimenting could be fun. He doesn't exactly stick around much at the temple either so "home" is whatever tree branch he finds the best at that evening, but he could give them to Mistress, maybe. ]

[reloves]

[ She quickly makes her way over to the stall, all excited about the idea of playing the game and teaching him now. She's pretty much just beaming smiles as she's standing next to the tank with the goldfish, holding out one of the tiny nets to him. ]

Here! Why don't you show me what you can already do first?