002 | Tokyo In Trouble

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Surprise! There's a disaster on the Near Shore.
When: Late at night (February 24, 2016) into mid-afternoon (February 25, 2016)
Where: The Meeting Hall of the Heavens AND various places around Tokyo
Summary: A nice little greeting for the new guests and an unpleasant surprise for the older ones~



A sudden, loud blast of noise persists throughout the entirety of the Heavens. It sounds much like a war horn of ancient times being played at a decibel that is meant to shake the very core of every being within its range. No matter how much you might try to block out the noise, it remains ringing in your ears deafeningly, and somehow you find yourself compelled towards the Meeting Hall - the place where you were first introduced to the Heavens and what you have gotten wrapped up in.

Anyone checking their phones will notice a large, bright red alert flashing at them - 'EMERGENCY! REPORT IMMEDIATELY!' It seems that the Heavens have taken to using modern technology for their messages as well.

Once you have reached the Meeting Hall, you will find that every wall has turned into a sort of television screen, displaying various streets and buildings in Tokyo, everyone one literally crawling with ayakashi both big and small. A voice that you recognize as Amaterasu's - though you would never be able to describe it properly - rings throughout the halls.

"We need your help, brave gods, loyal shinki. A rift the likes of which we have never dealt with has opened on the Near Shore. We must end the ayakashi who are harming our dear followers. Please come to our aid in this time of need."



Meeting Hall

The once garishly decorated Meeting Hall looks very much like the base of operations for an army at war. There are gods gearing up with shinki and man-made gear as well and plenty of gods and shinki saying prayers before they head out to battle. Everything you might need to make yourself feel safe during a fight has been provided, including every type of weaponry. But, of course, only shinki wielded by a god can actually destroy an ayakashi.

Counselling

In the main hallway, there is an innocuous door with a small, nicely written sign that reads "Gentle Counselling". Inside the door is a small room with a few sweetly smiling shinki inside who are willing to listen to your problems and answer any questions you might have. They are also here to help out any gods that are having a hard time dealing with knowing about how their shinki died and any shinki that is having trouble coming to terms with the fact that they are dead.

February 24

The rift that has opened is so vast that there is literally nowhere in Tokyo that you can go without encountering a rampaging group of ayakashi. Everything is utter chaos and there are creatures everywhere for you to fight. Let's just hope that you can get out of this dangerous battlefront mostly unscathed.

February 25

Towards the middle of the day, it will seem that the ayakashi are becoming fewer and further between. Things seem to be calming down a lot, though they are nowhere near normal yet, especially since the rift is taking longer to close than the Heavens would like. Fortunately, no new ayakashi have escaped into the Near Shore from the rift since this morning, due to a barrier that has been placed around it. Still, the ayakashi seem to be really hell-bent on getting away from you all now rather than fighting...



In Summary:

• There are a ton of ayakashi on the Near Shore that need to be destroyed.
• The newbies are getting one hell of a welcome as a result.
• Seek counselling if you need it!
• Go kick some evil ass.
• Comment to the first thread to get a randomly generated number of ayakashi to face.
• Mods will gladly play out any ayakashi interactions where requested.
• Try not to get killed~

Comments

[arealhardnose]

[Good, someone who speaks the fine language of sarcasm. Elsa's smile widens just a bit.] It's like the first day of classes, except with weapons for all the faculty.

[That, and Elsa is not in charge here.]

My name is Elsa. [She holds out a hand, noticing only now the sword on this woman's back. Elsa would have preferred her shinki's vessel be a sword, something familiar if frightening for what it represents to her, but it doesn't much matter, ultimately. There are plenty of swords here. She can have one if she wants, even if it won't help her much.] I'm a god. [And oh how that will take getting used to.]

[faetedneutrality]

If you ask me, all faculty should be armed with weapons. [More heavy sarcasm punctuated with a bit of a smirk.]

Bo. Also a god. [She took Elsa's hand and shook it. It wasn't the most ideal time for making new acquaintances, but there was always time for pleasantries. Especially when they were about to go into battle.] Believe me, it's definitely weird referring to myself as a god. [Even if Fae were more or less gods among men, and Bo was the daughter of a so-called Greek god.]

[arealhardnose]

Stop, I already had students thinking I'd worked at a prison before! That's the last thing I needed to institute at my last school. [All of which she says with a smile and a laugh. Imagine it, though. Elsa walking into school with her sword, her faculty with daggers and crossbows and heaven only knows what else.

Maybe for a fundraiser. She'll whisper the idea to a worshipper. Surely she'll get the prayers of a teacher or two.]

Yes. I'm wondering if it's not a better idea to introduce myself with my god name? It's so strange. It'll take some getting used to. [She turns to face the screen closest to them.] Though I guess they're expecting we're feeling comfortable enough to go fight.

[Not the first time that's been expected of her, actually, but why drum up less pleasant memories?] How good are you at fighting?

[faetedneutrality]

Hey, you could always make a really good story out of it to tell your students. Maybe it'd frighten them into behaving and actually learn something? [Bo had to laugh. She herself was a high school drop out, but she felt stories like that would increase students' ability to focus and learn something. A little fear of respect might help a learning environment a bit.]

It can't hurt. I try to use Freyja whenever possible. It's still weird, though. But I'll probably get used to it the more I use it. [Though it was still weird to her. Being a Norse goddess when her father was from the Greek pantheon, so-to-speak. Also she still wished Tamsin could see her now. She'd probably laugh about it. Or be really weirded out by it.]

Not to blow my own horn overly much, I'm pretty good at it. I've been in quite a few battles before. [She looked up at the screen.] Though none that were quite like this. [Sure, the Fae could be weird and gross and some Underfae didn't even resemble humans, but she'd never fought anything that really looked like the ayakashi did. But even with that, she wasn't afraid.]

[arealhardnose]

Or maybe promise them a war games week if they get good grades. [If only. It's a shame she's not starting at Reefside High as her non-brainwashed self in the fall.]

I wonder if we'll forget who we used to be, after doing this for a while. I hope not. [Having once been mortal makes her sympathetic to the prayers she'll reveive from her on out, so Elsa imagines that will be a strength that the Heavens should allow them all to keep.

She watches Bo as her fellow god answers her question. At least Bo is confident in that aspect. Sure, Elsa spent about a year wired to be a warrior, but it hadn't been by choice. She'd been vicious and cruel, skilled with a sword, comfortable with lightning magic -- but is she still able to be those things?

She'll find out soon, she guesses.]

I don't trust myself to be very good at this. With any luck, I'll be pleasantly surprised. [That, and she won't be alone out there.] Do you think our shinki can help us out in battle if we're in a pinch?

[faetedneutrality]

I'm sure they'd love that. [If that had been part of high school for her, perhaps she'd never have dropped out.]

I hope not either. [As much as Bo's life as a Fae had it's really terrible downfalls, she didn't want to forget the good things about her life. Even if forgetting about Lauren might lessen the pain she felt not being with her now, she knew she'd rather keep her memories.]

Oh yeah, I think they definitely can. I mean, I haven't been in a fighting situation with my shinki yet, but they are what we use to kill the ayakashi. So I would expect they will help us if we are threatened. We are their gods, and they are bound to us unless a few specific things happen. [Saying that left a bitter taste in Bo's mouth. She didn't like having people bound to her like that, especially when she'd been bound to her own father who used her to try and kill everyone on Earth so he could remake it in his image.

To say she was extra sensitive to that topic was putting it mildly.]

[arealhardnose]

[Elsa can't disagree with that. The more she thinks about it, the more she wishes it had occurred to her back when she could've put the idea into action.

Which is just one more reason she wants to keep her memories. She's already lost them once and was lucky enough to regain them intact. It's not an experience she cares to repeat, even if the outcome is the same.]

That sounds-- different. It's just different. It'll take some getting used to. [It's kind of an uncomfortable idea, given her experience of being bound against her will to a literal monster, but this... this is different. Right? She had no choice here, and neither did her shinki, but her shinki died anyway before coming here.

If she thinks about it too hard, she'll start to want to get out of it, and she's not sure yet how to even begin doing that. Besides, there's a bigger problem at hand. Innocent people could die. This is no time to be selfish.] It doesn't much matter now, does it? As long as we can fend off all those ayakashi, then it's worth it.

[Maybe she'll fully believe that one day.]

[faetedneutrality]

[Sometimes doing some fun things like that were not only fun, but more engaging for students. Of course, while Bo might've enjoyed such tactics more, she didn't know if they would have actually helped her be a better student.]

It's definitely weird. I'm not really certain how, exactly, this will go, but it'll be a learning experience for all of us who are new to it. [Bo had been reassured that shinki still had free will, and they could even rebel against their god if they so wished. She'd live with that as an answer for the time being. It had been more than she'd been able to use when she was her father's pawn.]

Yes, precisely. Destroying the ayakashi is our main focus. Keeping them from harming innocent people is the priority here. [Though she'd still be keeping an eye on what was happening with Yuuki when she needed her in her vessel form. She didn't know how it would affect Yuuki, and she kind of would feel weird using an object that was actually...a person. But so long as Yuuki remained Yuuki during the process, she'd be okay with it.]

Hopefully when this is all over, you get a proper greeting to this place. This is kind of a far cry from the welcome I got. They held a feast when us new people showed up about a week ago. Sorry you seem to have gotten the short stick that said to throw you into the fire and bypass the pan entirely. [She punctuated the humor with a laugh.]

[arealhardnose]

[That fact about free will is something Elsa will want to know once this mess with the ayakashi is all cleaned up. For now, she's just not going to think about it. It's easier when you don't think about it, which is the exact opposite of what she likes to teach students to do. -- no. Liked to teach.

She nods at all that Bo says. Protecting people is the priority. We're all going to learn. This isn't the best welcoming party. Elsa and the others who arrived with her have terrible luck.

Life had already proven that fact to her last year. It's not much of a shock right now. Should she be shocked, though?

No, that's not a thought for now either.

She smiles when Bo laughs, and shrugs.] This isn't all too different from a fight breaking out in the halls on the first day of school. Funny how working with teenagers will prepare you for most anything in life.

[Not that fighting them will be like fighting teenagers -- which, fun fact, she has done. But the stress levels, she means. The need to stay calm and think before acting. That is what she is going to depend on when she heads out into Tokyo to fight.]

It's a shame I never got to see Tokyo before this. Had you ever been there?