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[unlucky7]

Who: Ginia and friends
When: 5/16 through 5/21
Where: Various locations on the Near and Far Shore
What: Ebisu has a festival on the 21st, Ginia calls on some friends to help with preparations. [Prayer Chain 17]

Prompts in the comments

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C17E: A prayer for holiday look

[unlucky7]

It's a touch self-serving, but Ginia also knows Waver could use a distraction and company and anything that can accomplish multiple goals is worthwhile. There's barely a chance for her to explain what's going on when he arrives in the wardrobe department as Terumi immediately throws his arms around Waver in a crushing hug.

"My poor fair raven. Come, I have something you'll enjoy." He leads the way toward one of the workrooms in the back. Across the large sewing tables and floor are several baskets laid out with various happi. The baskets on the floor contain folded garments while the ones on the table (and there are far more on the table) are thrown in a little more haphazardly. There's also a stack of labels and pens strew on the table.

"The happi on the table need to be looked over for stains and tears. If they're fine, fold them up and put them back in the basket. If they need repairs, label them with what they need. Finish this, and then we'll head to Kyoto to look over ritual garments."

Ginia smiles apologetically as Terumi pours a basket out onto the table, quickly typing on her phone.

"Sorry for the tedious work, but this really helps us out a lot."

[hypomeneo]

"Terumi. It's so good to see you."

One must be careful with their crushing hugs when one is a Servant. Waver's eyes scrunch shut as he holds fast and hard. This is good. This is good.

"Natsumi's around as well?"

As they go towards one of the workrooms and Waver sees the pile of coats on the tables and folded in the basket. This is work he doesn't mind at all. There's something comforting about it, really, to be absorbed in fabric and stitch. A pure physicality that draws away from thought. Waver reaches for pins, labels, and a pen.

"I'll get it sorted."

Ritual garments snag his interest as always. Terumi knows what he loves and fashion and history feature prominently in the list.

"No, it's no problem. I really enjoy working with clothing."

[unlucky7]

"Our dear winter queen is off flirting with the geisha, but promises to come back with the ritual garments."

Terumi is full of fond smiles as he consults something on a tablet, leaving the sorting to Ginia and Waver. The happi have seen better years, faded from years of exposure to the elements and repeat washing. It's the kind of wear that adds to the story rather than looking shabby, though there are plenty of torn seams, fraying hems, and yellowing along the collar.

"Which group do these happi belong to?" Ginia asks. The coats currently spread out in the table have a stylized bird centered on the back and a hexagonal pattern on the trim.

"That would be Kyoto Sanga FC." Terumi's voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper as he leans in. "I enjoy the sight of athletic men with firm buttocks running about in any city, but my allegiance is solely to Tokyo Verdy. But I am a man of honor and would dare not tarnish Ebisu-sama's reputation by misplacing an entire group's coats. That wouldn't do."

[hypomeneo]

"At the Ichiriki? She has such fond stories of its garden," Waver asks, fussing with a pinned label at the armpit of one happi. With all the stress at that point, no wonder the stitch has come undone at this intersection of seam. "Or is she somewhere else in Gion? She does speak of the Nyokoba quite often lately. And the Miyako odori just wrapped up last month."

Or she could be in another hanamachi entirely and Kamogawa odori is running in Ponto-chō all through May, but the Gion Kobu was the best district and where the true movers and shakers of Japan's business and political scene liked to play. Plenty of prayers of high stakes and importance there, Waver knows.

"Who doesn't?" Says the man with eyes for only one set of hindquarters out there. In his very biased opinion, no other ass can compare. But it's a great topic of distraction. "Especially as footie season ramps up. Which reminds me I have to update the lists on the J-League for our Temple. We have to keep an eye on the rivalries."

Prayers had started trickling in at March at the start of the season and now they're starting to get intense. Almost as intense as the baseball rivalries. A shadow falls over Waver's eyes briefly... The lists. Ah, those are in Satya's things.

He smiles.

"No matter the sport, Iskandar's followers tend to get a... little crazy come championships."

... YEAH...

"Just a little."

[unlucky7]

"I would wager she's dropped by the Ichiriki today, but the Nyokoba is far more likely. Fittings and discussing attire and accessories, providing the touch of elegance and sass only she can. Were it not so hush hush and personal to her, I would have sent you with her."

Terumi smiles as he folds a few intact happi and drops them them into a basket.

"Instead you have my company as we focus on the most lecherous of conversations. Ah, such classic bonding, discussing sports!" He laughs to himself, pausing to reply to something on his tablet as it beeps. "Jitsumi, where do your allegiances lay?"

"Women's league, but also more baseball." Ginia types, Terumi's laughter ringing in the room as she notes a collar that'll need replacing outright. Take a coat, spread it out, inspect the panels, the seams, turn it over, do the same, note any problems, repeat. Tedious, but it's easy to find a good rhythm especially with such good conversation and company. She glances at Waver, hoping it'll help keep him occupied.

"Ahh, baseball, those are truly when things are the most intense. We too know of how intense things can get as fortune and luck go hand in hand. Especially in Osaka. Most especially in Osaka."

All the cities have their charm, but it's hard not loving Osaka's laid-back and exciting attitude. Anywhere that has a saying about eating yourself into ruin is a good place. "Isn't there a bridge named after Ebisu people jump off to celebrate a victory?"

"Yes, in Dotonbori. It always dismayed the young master when he hears someone was injured, he was one of the main proponents of the safety measures around that bridge. But humans will do as humans do, especially in times of celebration." Terumi turns on a flashlight app on his tablet, holding it under his chin to dramatically light his face. "Young ones, have you heard of the Curse of the Colonel?"

[hypomeneo]

"Tell me about it. There's no shortage of ayakashi when the Giants face the Tigers." Ahhh, Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants and Osaka's Hanshin Tigers, that most bitter of baseball rivalries. "I always have weather duty during those games, but I'm told the hunting is something else."

Always a good opportunity to practice wind magic as there's plenty of prayers for a fair outing or a good breeze that benefits the team, though he imagines that's going to change now. Waver sighs in satisfaction as he folds another happi for the pile and takes the entire collection of intact coats to the basket. At least some people have proper respect for clothing.

"Oooooooh... I've seen the Tigers fans on that bridge. I've had to pull a drunk idiot or two out of the drink a few times." HEADSHAKE. Just wait... he'll work himself up to a--- no, hold on. "The KFC mascot that Iskandar calls The God of Fried Chickens? No... can't say I've heard of a curse around him..."

[unlucky7]

"Holidays, exam season, and baseball games, a frightening time for ayakashi, moreso if a vent opens up." Terumi sighs and tosses his head back, fanning himself dramatically with his tablet. "But we are not a temple that seeks out ayakashi."

Not to fight at least, Ginia thinks to herself. But the Curse of the Colonel... she knows she's been by the bridge - Kasumi thought it was very important for her to know the location as part of her onboarding - and vaguely remembers Kasumi mentioning something.

"Kasumi mentioned there's a giant chicken ayakashi that lurks in the water and eats people when they fall in the canal?"

Terumi looks stricken, then contemplative, muttering under his breath, "I suppose that's not unreasonable..." Composing himself, Terumi sets down his tablet and folds his hands together, looming over the table as much as his short stature allows. His sense of presence makes up for his lack of height. "It's a recent thing as far as history goes. The Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Series in 1985 thanks to the help of an American on the team. There was quite the celebration on Ebisu-sama's bridge, very rowdy.

"In honor of the team, each player's name was called out and someone resembling the player leapt into the water. Lacking someone resembling the venerable Randy Bass, the crowd seized upon a statue of Colonel Sanders from a nearby KFC and hurled it into the canal. Since then, the Hanshin Tigers have had a losing streak. It's believed until the statue is recovered, the curse remains. As it stands, the Tigers did make it to the Japan Series in 2003, though lost. Most of the statue was retrieved in 2009, though I believe it's missing some parts. I do seem to recall the Tigers made it to the Series again recently, but also lost."

Ginia finishes her pile of clothes and sorts everything into the appropriate baskets. Is there truly a curse over the team or is the belief enough to affect them? Even if all of the statue was retrieved, what if they lose again? Would they shift the terms of a curse or find fault elsewhere? Alternately, perhaps there's a god cursing them or an ayakashi stalking them. Who can tell?

"Do you think there's really a curse?"

"Hm. It's a popular debate in the temple. More than a few have dredged the canal over the year, especially when the bridge was being rebuilt. Ebisu-sama has attended a few games too, other gods as well. Sometimes there are ayakashi involved. In the end, for all the support we give, it is always what the humans themselves do, no?"