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

[bakusatsuo]

He seemed like that kind of shit-stirrer, yeah. [Bakugou and Shun may not see eye to eye on various things, but they seem to agree about Judar.] But somebody figured out how to do it, huh?

[revolutionfalcon]

I don't think it's that secret. It's frowned upon here, but information about it is available and I've spoken to people who at least know how it's supposed to work even if they won't do it themselves.

[It's been a long time since Yato and Yukine left on whatever journey it was that they'd gone on together, but he remembers Yukine telling him about a few more specifics before he left.]

But I hear the punishment for it is execution.

[bakusatsuo]

Tch. Maybe they oughta keep it more secret, then. How the fuck're they gonna narrow down who did this if anyone with basic reading comprehension and a library card can find out, huh? [Bakugou snorts.] It's not like I've got any damn faith in their ability to track criminals down.

[revolutionfalcon]

Because a god would more than likely get themselves killed trying to do it, and be obvious enough even they couldn't miss it besides. [Shun has minimal faith in the Heavens, but he's met enough people who know about the masks to know it'd be hard to miss.] It's a kind of curse that needs you to name an ayakashi. Considering the kind of blight people get from shinki who start to turn, naming a fully turned one would basically already be a death sentence for most gods.

[bakusatsuo]

That so. [Bakugou's eyes narrow thoughtfully.] So how the fuck does anyone survive it?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun sends out another of his birds to slash through a tentacle looming a little too close nearby before he answers that, a somewhat dry note to his voice.] If we knew that, we'd probably be a few steps closer to figuring out who the hell's doing it. You'd either need to be a god with a hell of a lot of power and influence - and even then, you'd have to hide it as well - or somehow not be affected by that rule of how things work here.

[bakusatsuo]

So basically, it's probably either one of the most powerful old gods or the cult. [Bakugou says this flatly as he directs a targeted explosion at a lashing tentacle on the other side of the street.] There's only a couple new gods as powerful as you are, right? And I'm guessing that's still nowhere near powerful enough. So it's either an old god of high standing, or the cult's figured out some way to fuck with how things work. They've been plenty fucking inventive already, so if anyone's subverting the rules rather than just being strong enough to power through 'em, it's probably them, right?

[revolutionfalcon]

I've had one of my shinki blight me, and it felt about the same as how I've heard newer gods describe it, so I doubt I'm powerful enough to not die of it. [Ebisu is the main one he knows of who's tried it before, but that's not information he generally passes on off-hand, so he's using an unrelated example for now.] I'd buy it being the cult, but honestly, considering how badly the old gods have reacted every time I've suggested they might have traitors in their ranks, one of them with high enough standing probably wouldn't have too much trouble getting away with it.

[As long as they were more subtle about it than Ebisu, who doesn't exactly strike Shun as the king of subtlety.]

[bakusatsuo]

Tch. They might have to stop looking down their fucking noses at us if one of the old guard is responsible for all this shit. [Bakugou sets off another explosion aimed at the tentacles, rather savagely.] But if it can't even be the strongest of us, then whoever's fucking things up heavenside has to be them. Are they just too stupid and too in denial to get their heads out of the sand, or is the conspiracy bigger than we fucking think?

[revolutionfalcon]

It depends. It's possible the cult's found some way to empower their gods that much - Sotero caused a volcano to erupt here a few months back, and that's not the kind of power level I've seen among the new gods. Same with Votelli being able to control an entire forest. I'm definitely on the side of there being traitors of some kind among the old guard, because some of the older attacks couldn't have been done without that kind of access, but we might have two separate conspiracies on our hands. Or two different levels of a single one.

[The cultist activities and what had happened previously had blended together in some ways, but there still seemed to be two different intents behind them, in a way. Or at least, different levels of specificity in who they wanted to unseat and why. An old god or shinki informing the humans, he wouldn't exactly doubt.]

[bakusatsuo]

I haven't even seen that kind of power from the old gods. They've all talked big games, yeah, but I haven't actually seen any real displays of divine power since I got here. And whenever anything big fucking comes up, it's us fielding it, not them, so it's like the people who've supposedly got the most power are making every goddamn excuse not to step up to the front lines and use it.

But yeah, you're right that we can't prove shit's connected. It'd be convenient if it was all part of one big plan, 'cause at least we'd only have one pile of bullshit to worry about then, but it might not be.

[He glances sidelong at Shun.] You've been here for ages, right? Has anybody called out the old gods for how little weight they're pulling on literally anything before?

[revolutionfalcon]

I have seen Amaterasu's advisors show some significant displays of power, but they haven't been around for a while. [Or not in a helpful capacity, at least. Though some of them he doesn't consider helpful at any point.

Bakugou's problem isn't really an uncommon one, though, and Shun gives him a rather dry look right back.] Regularly, actually. I know I do it basically every time I get the opportunity. Usually, it's some garbage about how they don't think it's their problem or how they're too busy helping in other ways to actually help directly.

[Shun's tone makes it obvious enough he thinks that's complete garbage, since he's been here more than long enough to know that nothing's really changed in regards to how they respond to hearing that.] I think they're a little too prepared to claim we're a whole collective only when it suits them, so us handling it is the same as them doing it.

[bakusatsuo]

Hah! [Bakugou's wild grin is accompanied by a swipe of his arm as he directs a particularly vicious explosion at the ayakashi, causing no less than three tentacles to temporarily recoil at once.] So when they insult us, they're actually insulting themselves? When they let us handle the dangerous situations for them, they're the ones actually taking the risk? It's like you fucking said - we're only one big happy heavenly family when it comes to them taking credit for shit we're doing for them, or making us do work they don't wanna get off their asses to do because ~everyone's gotta pull their weight~. [The last words are a mocking singsong.] They don't do shit.

So nothing bad happens to gods who call them on their bullshit? 'Cause I've got some words I'm gonna pour in their fucking ears, if that's the case. [He's been trying to be circumspect in not bitching about the old gods necessarily to their faces, at least not unprovoked. He hadn't known what the consequences would be, and he's got shinki he's responsible for. But if he can do it without getting punished, if he can maybe provoke the old gods into either treating them better or actually doing something...

Granted, from what Shun has said, no one else has managed that yet, despite the old gods having been called out before. But if there's anything Bakugou is good at besides blowing shit up, it's getting under people's skins.

Besides, even if it doesn't accomplish shit, goddamn it'll feel good.]

[revolutionfalcon]

I wouldn't use me as your defining line for what they'll do to people who call them out. [Bakugou definitely doesn't strike Shun as the type to sensibly restrain himself without a damn good reason, so he says that almost as soon as he's done talking, his tone somewhat warning.] As much as I hate the idea of it, I have higher status than most of the new gods. They seem to know that killing the newer gods to force us to comply is a bad idea, because there's a chance we can just come back, but that doesn't mean they might not risk it for someone who isn't as "noteworthy" in their eyes. Or target your shinki, or retaliate against you in another way. Amaterasu's gotten pretty close to starting fights with me in the past because I came at her with something in the wrong way, so provoking them is a bad idea.

[He's definitely not opposed to people calling them out in a straightforward manner like he does, but provocation, intentional or not, does seem to be a sour point of theirs, and given Bakugou's current tone, he can't imagine he's planning to come at it in a calm and reasoned manner.]

[bakusatsuo]

I wasn't trying to use you for that. [Bakugou glances sidelong at him.] I was asking about people you'd seen do it, not just you. If lots of people have called them out in different ways and there hasn't been backlash, if you've seen that happen a lot, that's a good indicator. If you were only talking about shit you've done to call 'em out, then yeah, maybe that's not enough for me to go on...but that wasn't what I was fucking asking you, either. You must've seen total nobodies who've put them on blast; what happened to them?

[revolutionfalcon]

It's usually the longstanding gods who call them out, because we've been here to see the full extent of their incompetence, so no, I haven't really seen "total nobodies" do it. You asked if I'd seen it done by anybody, and that's what I answered.

[If Bakugou wanted a specific question answered, then as far as Shun's concerned, he should've asked that specific question.] We don't get the opportunity to call them out directly particularly often, either. Again, it's the longstanding newcomer gods who get the opportunity more often. Last time Amaterasu even met with any of us, it was specifically people she considered trustworthy.

[bakusatsuo]

I'm talking about shit like calling them out on the network, not waiting until you get to look them in the eyes to do it. I've got better things to do with my time than to run them down and lay out for them how they're wasting theirs face to face. And I didn't think you needed to be here longer than a few hours to realize how fucking incompetent they are, but I guess people here are more oblivious or more conservative than I figured they'd be.

And yeah, I asked if I'd seen it done by anybody. I figured someone who's been around as long as you would have more than just personal examples.