godsoffortune: (baths)
The Far Shore Mods ([personal profile] godsoffortune) wrote in [community profile] thenearshore2016-04-15 06:57 pm

003 | Save The Boats

Who: Everyone!
What: It's a few days after Hinamatsuri - time for a party!
When: Late evening (March 5, 2016) into early morning (March 6, 2016)
Where: The banks of the Kamo River
Summary: The Heavens have thrown together an outdoor party to celebrate Spring and ALSO to ask the Far Shore residents to keep the boats from Hinamatsuri from coming to shore.



Hinamatsuri is celebrated in Japan on March 3 every year. It is a festival to celebrate all of the young girls of Japan, not as important as their own birthdays, but certainly a big day for all families with a little girl among their household. It's perfectly normal for all of the cuties to dress up and get all sorts of delightful treats out of the day.

One of the normal festivities is a ceremony during which ornamental dolls are placed on tiers on boats and floated down the river. It is thought that all of the bad luck for the coming year floats down the river with the dolls, taking that bad luck away from their young girls to keep them safe for another year.

But the boats don't always make it all the way down the river like they're supposed to, and the Heavens sometimes like to make sure that the year will be full of less bad luck for the people of Japan. So they have decided to have the almighty gods do some legwork and disguised it as a fun Springtime party! They expect gods and shinki alike to push the boats away from the shoreline wherever they see them venturing near.

New gods and shinki will have been ushered immediately to the party as well, given all of the normal information, and then left to mingle among their new cohorts. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce the newbies to both their co-workers and the kinds of jobs they'll be expected to perform.



Buffet

A luxurious buffet is set up for everyone to enjoy. There are all kinds of foods to enjoy, though they all seem to be of a local variety. The Heavens have apparently used the funding from their own temples to purchase local food and support local businesses at the same time. In particular among the food and copious amounts of booze, you will find some Hinamatsuri staples - hina-arare, hishi mochi, chirashizushi, and a salt-based clam soup called ushijiru. Among the booze you'll find shirozake, a sake made from fermented rice, also a regular fare of Hinamatsuri.

The Boats

As if they are literally overflowing with bad luck, the boats seem to be making a desperate attempt to land themselves upon the shoreline. They are reluctant to make their way back into the water and will gladly run people down if they're allowed to and are happy to ram into someone over and over again to try and get their way. When they are finally pushed back to the center of the river, they will begrudgingly continue on their way. Of course, some of them will simply sink because of the weight of all that bad luck, but who can really blame them.

Children

As expected of a day dedicated to celebrating children, there are dozens of children running around and playing games during the festivities. It's hard to distinguish, but some of them appear to be human children while others are shinki. They are happy to let anyone in on their games and will gladly bother adults to come play with them or to let them try some of the liquor. (Mods will be available to play out any child interactions you may want, just flag us down.)

Counselling

Off to the side, there is a tiny table set up with a small, nicely written sign that reads "Gentle Counselling". On the other side of the table is a sweetly smiling shinki who is willing to listen to your problems and answer any questions you might have. She is 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.



In Summary:
  • Keep the boats off the shore
  • Enjoy the food and booze and spring atmosphere
  • Have some fun with cute little kids
  • Seek counselling if you need it!
  • Flag the mods in the top thread if you'd like an NPC
  • Have fun~

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-05-27 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
A name is a good place to start. I'm certain if we had to ask around, someone would know who it was.

[The Heavens can't be too big, right? There were only so many gods, and their names were unique compared to humans... or such is his impression]

It's good to meet you. I'm Slaine Troyard, and that's all I know of myself as well.
tofus: (pic#7149721)

[personal profile] tofus 2016-05-31 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[She nods in agreement. Names should be unique to each person, to give them an identity. The gods should technically be no different.

Although she's not sure how she feels about having two names.]


Nice to meet you too, Slaine-kun. The name that they gave me is Neith, if that helps.

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-06-01 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
Ah.

[Time to sit up straighter, because actually-]

That's miss- [Right she...insisted on dropping formalities. The struggle is real] er, that would be Hajime. I actually met her earlier today.
tofus: (pic#7149730)

[personal profile] tofus 2016-06-05 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
Hajime-san? ["Miss" huh? She's in a position of power anyways, but that's going to make it stick.]

Wait... the gods have two names? Shouldn't they have one?

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-06-05 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[He'd have thought Lady Hajime to be most proper, but she insisted that just her name would do. Something about that feels incredibly awkward to him, and the difference in status is very prominent in his mind, but...

Who was he to argue with a goddess' personal preferences?]


I found it confusing, myself. But it seems they have another name aside from the one that identifies them as a god. Because they're incarnations, I suppose...

[From what he'd been told at least, that seemed the only explanation]
tofus: (pic#7149638)

[personal profile] tofus 2016-06-07 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Maybe one day Rise will feel the same, thinking "-sama"s are in order. But that might isolate her more, and just because she's to serve the gods doesn't mean they aren't on par with them.

She'd prefer to think of it more like a partnership anyways.]


Maybe... [Gods are supposed to be eternal right? It sorta makes sense.] I guess since we have two names, maybe they just happen to have it too. Or maybe one's just a professional name...?

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-06-07 11:33 am (UTC)(link)
A professional name...?

[He echoes the thought, considering the possibility. Something like a title, perhaps, for gods. Perhaps then their names were meant for more personal use, when they weren't on the job.

Though it seemed that the living seldom noticed them, he could imagine it'd be a lot less strange to be overheard calling someone "Hajime" than "Nieth"]


Perhaps that's the case.
tofus: (pic#7149639)

[personal profile] tofus 2016-06-07 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I know they're gods, but I think from the way the Heavens works from what I've seen, it sounds a lot like a job too. I mean, they sent us here to help and fix the boats. It's sorta like a job.

[Although a crummy one if no one heard or responded to their God names. But that has to have something to do with the amount of people that follow them right? Get their name out there, have some publicity and Poof! Recognition!]

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-06-08 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
That makes sense... And it would account for gods wanting to use a less-known name on a personal basis with others.

[He remembers Hajime's insistence that he need only call her that. Dal Dal as well, actually]