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~
skycutter: (It's driven me before and seems to)

[personal profile] skycutter 2016-04-19 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[Hope's a fast learner to be sure. He picks up a lot of important life lessons and new skills quickly and easily, but... The ability to use sticks as utensils just eludes him, as is the logic in using such things. Why not use a spoon and fork? Why not use the sticks to skewer?

Sure, he does copy what the man is doing, but...

He fumbles and one of the sticks drops to the ground.]


Ah! No...

Sorry, that was my bad.

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-04-20 10:18 am (UTC)(link)
While it's simple enough in theory, I suspect it takes a little practice.

[He picks up that fallen chopstick before grabbing a new pair from a nearby table and offering those to the boy]

Maybe if you sit at a table and try something that's not too hard to pick up with them.

[It is, of course, a suggestion. But since it's clearly foreign, it seems to him it's a matter of acclimating]
skycutter: (And I can't help but ask myself)

[personal profile] skycutter 2016-04-24 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, the man does have a point. There's no learning if you cant apply what theory you've just gotten.

However, Hope sees another problem with that.]


Which one is the question...

Some of them are too big, and the rest are too small.

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-04-24 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
[That is potentially troublesome, so he takes a moment to consider.

Given they're dealing with food, though...]


The right food can be divided into a more manageable size using those chopsticks, I should think.

[And that would make it a matter of finding something with the right consistency. Given the variety, that shouldn't be too difficult]
skycutter: (It's driven me before and seems to)

[personal profile] skycutter 2016-04-29 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
You think so?

[Now he's eyeing the big balls of pink... something, as if thinking of testing that hypothesis out on one of those.

And he doesn't stop at just thinking, because he's already striding towards that plate, calling back to the man over his shoulder.]


Have you tried it out before?

[personal profile] ex_adept179 2016-04-29 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Today, actually.

[Is what he'll call in return, only loud enough to be heard. He wouldn't want to be disruptive for others, after all]

I can't recall whether I've used them before, so I had to experiment.

[Once he'd observed how others handled sticks as utensils, of course]