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

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Ow! Ow!" Wendy was a surprisingly strong little thing! But even if that punch smarted, Edge still laughed all the harder. "It's a compliment and you know it!"

[nopixiedust]

"Who would take 'brat' as a compliment?" She'll go for one more strong punch, just to drive the message home. "I have a reputation, you know!"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Well, it's sure a lot better than 'good little girl, never caused any trouble!'" Edge, it seemed, might take 'brat' as a compliment. He at least liked Wendy.

[nopixiedust]

"Yeah, but then if people knew me by that, they'd underestimate me more!" Wendy pouts, unintentionally revealing more bratjutsu. "That's not a bad thing to have!"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Maybe, but it would require you to act like a good girl who never caused any trouble, right up until you revealed the truth," Edge said with a nod to punctuate just how good his point was. "And you'd hate that."

[nopixiedust]

"I could manage it," she says, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. "If there was a reason to pull off such a long con. And I wouldn't hate it that much. I'd just store it all away for ammo. You know. Like anyone would."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"You would blow it," Edge said, folding his arms determinedly, "the very first time I did or said something in your presence that you wanted to mock."

[nopixiedust]

"First of all," she says, holding one finger up, "I have more self control than that when I want to. Secondly..." Another finger flips up. "That's why I'd just have to find someone who could mock you for me."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Hmmmm. I believe the second one of that."

Wendy was good for Edge, in that she kept him from having too much ego or dignity. Pride was definitely his flaw, but hanging around her helped keep it under control.

"But what if you couldn't?"

[nopixiedust]

"What, do you think other people wouldn't be able to make fun of you?" She grins a little at him, all cockiness and edges.

"But you make it pretty easy!"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Some people recognize that I am cool, slick, handsome, and awesome," Edge said without a scrap of modesty, one hand over his heart as he shut his eyes. "If only you had the chance to learn that too!"

[nopixiedust]

"I recognize only things that are based in reality," Wendy says, all sugary sweetness. "When you bloom into someone cool and handsome and all that other stuff, then I'll be sure to spot it right away. But you still have a long way to go."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"You don't have the proper viewpoint to be qualified to judge," Edge said airily, running one hand through his hair with smug arrogance. Slings and arrows from a little girl, he could take! "Besides, I'm a king, it turns out, so I'm definitely already way up there."

[nopixiedust]

"And Hibiki is a prince," Wendy counters easily. "Or something like that." Who honestly knows with Hibiki. Still, considering how useless she is in regular day to day mundane matters, Wendy would believe her to be some sort of noble. If that actually extends to royalty or Hibiki is just too extravagant for literally anyone else is up in the air. "But she's still dumb in a lot of things."

Although now that she thinks of it... Wendy points at herself. "Besides, isn't that just something you've remembered? I haven't remembered anything so, for all you know, I'm a princess."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"King outranks princess!" Edge said immediately. "Besides, I actually ran a country, not just -- whatever." His vague hand flap bundled all of Hibiki's nonsense into one easily-dismissed ball.

[nopixiedust]

"I mean," Wendy says after a moment, "we don't now if Hibiki hasn't run a country or not yet." Partially because Wendy suspects it would be a lot of overdramatics and metaphors if anyone actually tried to ask the idol upfront. "And what country was is, then, if you think you're so great?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Eblan." He remembered that clearly from his dream. Talk about 'the rebuilding of Eblan' dominated the daily life that was all he could recall. More solemn than before, he continued, "A great country, with great people. Not that I can prove it to you, but I know that to be true."

[nopixiedust]

Oh. So they've gone into this kind of territory. Wendy pauses, before she reaches over to lightly pat him on the shoulder. "I don't think you're wrong." If that's how he feels, then there has to be good reason for it, even if he can't recall.

...But that's enough of that.

Twisting around on her seat, Wendy gets a good grip on both her needle and the clothing... and smashes her feet into him to try and shove him to the ground.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Edge was surprisingly solid, all muscle -- but also surprisingly light in comparison. Sideways he went, slapping one down hand to keep from taking a tumble. "Hey! What are you, a traditional enemy of Eblan secretly?!"

[nopixiedust]

"I don't even know what that means!" Wendy cackles, daintily situating herself back so that she can return to work. That was easier than she thought it would be, and she really thought she'd have to heave. "And it's not Eblan, it's just you!"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"You're not my enemy." Edge ostentatiously brushed off the shoulder she'd kicked him on. That wouldn't have been so easy if he'd have seen it coming, Wendy! "My nemesis maybe, but not my enemy."

[nopixiedust]

She can kick your ass, Edge!! Shown by more of her laughter, even as she tries to keep her fingers steady. She's already been having trouble getting these clothes fixed, so she really should concentrate. "Oh, a nemesis, huh? And what does that mean?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"It means you're eternally trying to thwart me and crush my dreams, my hopes, my very soul!" Edge was not helping, with his overblown drama as he contrived to look mortally offended.

[nopixiedust]

Overblown drama means that she only has one course of action, and that's to look as completely cute and innocent as possible. For all the words that come out of her mouth, not to mention what she's just done, it's quite easy for her.

"Yup, that sounds about right!"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Edge rolled his eyes, though beneath his mask he was smiling. "You're lucky you're an adorable child or I'd dispatch ninja vassals after you to toss you in the dungeon I assume I have."