recolle | open || ring in the new year

Entry tags:

open || ring in the new year

WHO: YOU!
WHERE: Koyama Shrine and Tojimi Temple. I literally just made those up. Please assume they're one of the largest in the city.
WHEN: December 31st through the end of January, as well as one special coming-of-age event on January 14th!
WHAT: Celebrate the new year with everyone!
WARNINGS: None I can think of, let me know if this needs to be changed! BACKTAGGING IS ENCOURAGED.

Akemashite omedetou! Happy New Year! If you're looking to celebrate in a traditional way, look no further than visiting Koyama Shrine and Tojimi Temple, one of Recollé's biggest and most popular religious sites. There's a variety of things to do throughout the first week of January, so why don't you come and visit? Pay your respects to the gods and pray for a good year.

I. THE COUNTDOWN AND NEW YEAR'S FESTIVAL
Main event: December 31st to January 1st;
Stalls: December 31st to the end of January

[Everywhere you look, people are in brightly colored kimonos, milling around the shrine and waiting for midnight. Don't worry about stumbling in the dark! Everything is lit by lanterns, and will continue to be even in the daytime, thanks to this month's odd lack of sunlight.

At any rate, there's plenty to do to kill time before the big event.

look around the stalls. There is cheap traditional festival food available, of course, like yakisoba, Japanese-style fried chicken, takoyaki and gyoza, grilled meat and seafood on sticks, okonomiyaki, cups of hot soup-- and that's just for dinner. There's also chocolate bananas, crepes, taiyaki, dango, and cotton candy. Hopefully you can taste all of it. And while Japan allows for drinking in public, America doesn't, so you better be drinking in designated areas and have a wristband on, OR ELSE.

for those who ate before coming, there's plenty of shopping to be done as well. Kimonos to rent, along with accessories, and various knick-knacks like festival masks, noise makers, and special Japanese crafts and fabrics.

or maybe you want to participate in some festival games. Try and catch some goldfish, do the ring toss, or pop one of the balloons on the backboard. The most dangerous game of all, of course, is the gatcha...pay money to pull a certain amount of paper slips from the box, and hope that one of them has a number for that thing on the shelf you really want. Don't worry, you'll always get a prize no matter what paper you pull! How nice that prize is, though, is up to the gatcha gods.

play the lottery wheel! And you thought it was the end of chance games. N o p e. For a small donation of two dollars (it all goes towards the upkeep of the shrine, promise!), you can try for a chance at the big prize: a giant kagami mochi to take home! Consolation prizes include omamori, or good luck charms, and tissue packs. Because you always can use tissues!

Once it gets closer to midnight, people will...start leaving the shrine. Imagine that! But no, it's because everyone is heading to the temple a five minute walk down the street, gathering near the building that houses the giant sacred bell. Get a smooch in if you want when the new year arrives, but after, it's time to line up to ring the bell. Take the chance to wish for good fortune in the new year, and hope that the bad karma of the last goes away! It's supposed to ring 108 times for symbolism, but don't worry, no matter how long the line is, they'll let everyone ring it once. Just get ready to wait for a while.

Done with that? Then it's back to the shrine with you! Now you can get back to your eating and shopping and games, but the staff have prepared everything else you need to do to finish off your first shrine visit of the year.

get in line to cleanse your hands at the water basin. There are no directions at this place, and other shrine goers seem to be walking right past it even after entering, so it's probably okay to skip it...? But if you watch other seasoned shrine goers carefully, you might figure out that you need to: scoop up water in a ladle with your right hand and pour water over your left hand, then do the reverse with the same ladleful of water, with the ladle with your left hand and pouring over your right. Some people also seem to be using the ladle to rinse out their mouths? But others aren't, so it's up to your character if they want to try.

get in line to pray at the main shrine. Once you approach the donation box, follow the directions on a helpful card on the side: toss a coin into the donation box, swing the long rope to ring the bell, bow twice, clap twice, pray to the gods, and then bow once before stepping to the side.

get in line to pull a fortune. For a small donation of one dollar, the shrine maiden will give you an aluminum container with one tiny hole in it. Shake it up, let one stick slide out, and then she'll give you a slip of paper that corresponds to the number on the stick. What omikuji did your character get? RNG to find out! 1 is best luck, 2 is great luck, 3 is good luck, 4 is average luck, 5 is half luck, 6 is small luck, 7 is bad luck, and 8 is w o r s t luck. It'll also have little blurbs and advice for various areas of your life, like business, school, love, family, and so on. If you have a bad fortune, tie it to the rack so that the bad luck doesn't leave the shrine with you!

get in line to have your shrine book stamped. Three dollars means one of the shrine calligraphers will write in your book and give you something like this. What purpose does this serve? ...none, really, unless you like collecting them as proof of how many shrines you've been. If you don't have a shrine book, you can buy one for ten dollars! It has an elegant, stylized image of a Recollé peach tree on the front.

get in line-- no, no line this time, but if you're looking for a quiet place to sit? The huge lantern lit garden in the back is a nice place to quietly ruminate about what you did in 2017, and what you hope to achieve in 2018.

If you can't make it on New Year's Day, that's no problem! The shrine is open the whole year round, so coming at a later date in January for hatsumode is okay. But you might come back a second time anyways, because...]

II. COMING OF AGE DAY
January 14th; Tojimi Temple

[The Sunday closest to January 15th is Coming of Age Day in Japan, where young adults at the age of 20 (or those who will become 20 relatively soon before the next Coming of Age Day) are formally acknowledged as legal adults. There's a lot of pomp and ceremony for those actual young adults that only family goes to, but you'll be able to see the spectacle that imitates a certain competition in Kyoto, where all the lady adults, in their extravagant kimonos, shoot arrows on the archery range in the back to see how far they can progress in the contest. It's more ritual than anything else, though actual experienced archers of all genders have their own competition. Maybe some of the horseback archers will make an appearance on the track too.

And where does that leave you? Well, aside from watching the contests, you can head to the other other archery range and shoot arrows too, of course! You don't have to be in a kimono to do it, though, if you don't want to be.]

III. WILDCARD

[Feel free to use this log for any other New Year shenanigans. Though remember, anyone exhibiting bad behavior will be ICly kicked out of the shrine and temple. If you have any questions, you can always find me at

raynestorm!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The smart thing to do is call the bank to remove Goro's card and order a new one, but Akira scans the crowd, too. Unfortunately, there's a lot of children. Something catches his attention though, so he nudges Goro's shoulder with his.

The girl is in a hurry and they can kind of see the trail she's leaving. People tend to back up a bit as she bumps into them, sometimes she draws their attention to look down, and it can all be seen from the top. ]

Want to ride a dragon?

[ His eyes glint. He doesn't get to chase all too often, so he may or may not be excited. Don't call him out. ]

[Oh, he won't call him out, but--]

Who in the world thought it was a good idea for you to have a dragon?

[But he's not adverse to it, since he trusts Akira not to do anything dangerous or too startling to the crowds. He'll nod, let's ride a dragon.]

I don't know what you're talking about? I'm responsible enough to have a dragon, Goro.

[ Trusting him not to startle the crowd is fair—he notices that the NPCs get startled at first, but then normalize it... It's odd, but whatever. Trusting Akira not to do anything dangerous is something else. A mistake.

With an unnecessary snap of his fingers, Kohryu appears above them and gains the attention of a crowd (ooohhh, aaaah, mommy, i want that for my birthday!!). Grandpa reptile lowers a section of himself for them to board. ]

After you, my insolent prince.

[...................................

God his boyfriend is so fucking cool. He'll climb on board, patting Kohryu in greeting before holding out his hand to help Akira.]

As my charming knight, I expect you to do all you can do to right this grievous wrong. Ah, but don't hurt her, of course. I simply want answers along with my wallet.

[No one should have to steal, after all. He wants to know why she's resorted to pickpocketing, if it's due to circumstances or if she enjoys it, that sort of thing.]

You can count on me for some soft interrogation.

[ He takes that hand with a solid grip, anchoring himself to land a solid peck on the lips before he climbs onto the dragon. They have no time to lose. Kohryu gently takes off and they’re now part of Spirited Away. ]

By the way, I don’t know how long I can keep Kohryu out.

[ Oops, but hey! They can see the girl weaving through people, stumbling and tripping once in a while, but her pace doesn’t falter. ]

[Akira........ So cool. Goro keeps his eyes trained on the little girl's form, leaning slightly over Kohryu.]

That's fine. Robin Hood's sure to catch us if we falter, so feel free to push yourself to the limit. I'd like to have a good excuse to hold you bridal style anyway.

[ Akira doesn't mind that, so Goro doesn't need to have an excuse, but he won't correct him. He's focused on the girl, too. It looks like she's heading for a dark alley.

Hmmm. ]

You could always propose to me.

[ Die. ]

Aren't we already engaged?

[You know. The ring he got.]

[ Oh, No, you did not do this to him. ]

I don't remember any formal answer.

[Oh, my god. Don't think he won't. That little girl can wait one fucking second while they do their usual chicken banter.]

Call me Kurusu.

[ No!! Akira is steering Kohryu into the dark alley. They can't mindlessly try to outdo each other or else they can kiss that sweet wallet goodbye. Huh. There are a lot of clotheslines here? Aren't people use dryers? ]

Akechi Kurusu.

[ And instantly he makes a face of regret because HE SOMEHOW FUCKED THAT UP. ]

[Pfft.]

Are you really so nervous that you--

[CLOTHESLINED there he go.

LIKE ROBIN HOOD WILL CATCH HIM but there he go.]

[ No, Goro. Don't say anything—don't. Oh. He's gone? Great. Akira can relax.

Wait, he's gone. Terror went from 30 to 100 real quick. No. He promised to protect him this time. Kohryu dives, foregoing dodging the clotheslines. DON'T DIE... ]

[He's not going to die?! Don't be so panicked, Akira, he's being held bridal style by his Persona on the ground, though now they are chasing the girl on foot instead... When Goro sees Akira sweep down, he'll wave with a sheepish look.]

Aha, sorry. I shouldn't have been leaning over after all.

[like he hadn't almost died. he sort of hurts from where he was clothes lined, but that's fine.]

[ Nope. Even if he looks fine, Akira hops off of Kohryu to join him in Robin Hood's arms. This may not be effective at all. It may even be stuffy and a hassle to accommodate, but all reason is thrown out the window in the face of pure panic.He has to be right there. He has to make sure.

Sorry, he'll be clinging onto him like a frightened cat. ]

[-- Um. Oh. Okay, well, Robin Hood doesn't mind at all, it's Goro who oofs at Akira's sudden clingyness.

He'd ask what was wrong, but Akira's seen his friends disappear, he's been told that his boyfriend is (most probably) dead in another life, and Goro just fell off a dragon. He buries his face briefly into Akira's shoulder, petting his head.]

I'm fine, Akira. Not even a scratch. Robin Hood wouldn't ever let me get injured, you know. Trust him more.

[It's not scolding or anything, just a soft reminder. It's fine.]

[ He's glad Goro doesn't ask... He's not sure if he's ready or willing to talk about it—he's already regretting reacting this way, though he had little control over it. With a shaky sigh, he'll be grateful Goro isn't looking at him. Stay buried in his shoulder, thank you. ]

I trust him.

[ Robin Hood has proved himself to be a reliable figure, someone you can depend on to catch you, but the inkling of doubt he has doesn't subside. Life is fleeting and in one moment Goro and his friends can disappear—are these pets? They're nice... Comforting.

Groaning, this all seems silly. ]

You're making me feel like I'm eight.

Well, you are clinging to me like a frightened child.

[But it's fine, he won't tease Akira too much about it. No guy wants to be treated that way. He'll lean his head against Akira's, letting Robin keep an eye on where they're going.]

How about you sit up front this time? I'll hold onto you from behind so there's no chance of falling.

[ Rude? Though not keen on the call-out, he set up the conversation to poke fun at him, so he can't be too miffed. He does puff out his cheeks in somber defiance. ]

No.

[ Yes, he's sulking and being a brat, pressing his face into Goro's fluffy hair. He likes it here!! Returning to the favorable position spells defeat—he's fine and doesn't need that handed to him. Kohryu is still in pursuit in the air, though higher... Considering the web of lines in the alley. Some are pretty close to the ground, too. ]

[Pfft. He's dating a child. Goro chuckles lightly, petting Akira still and keeping tucked close to him this time while Robin Hood nimbly keeps out of the way. No broken lines here..!]

Alright, alright. We can stay like this. [...] Summer or winter wedding?

[To tease about before. Get his mind off the terrifying.]

[ Uhm. They’re both children, okay. He can’t find it in himself to tell Goro to stop petting him—shouldn’t he be pampered? He should. He’s deserving of everything when Goro attacks him like this. It may be a better topic, but why? This is fine; recomposing himself isn’t hard. ]

Isn’t there a chance for you to dress inappropriately for summer?

[ The beating heat onto a hoodie is a rather hard to forget, especially when it was microwaving a person.

The little girl finds herself a dead end, but scrambles to find a place to hide before they catch her. Being small has its advantages from time to time. ]

[Ah..........]

I... don't quite remember my reasoning for it, outside of that I hadn't wanted my face to be seen on cameras while... exploring that building with you, but perhaps after that it was a matter of pride?

[To impress him somehow, or something. A lot of things boiled down to that. Some still do? But for the most part, Goro feels rather confident that, impressive or not, Akira likes him. So.]

More importantly, [because they've apparently come to a stop, um,] where did that little scoundrel go? Did you lose her trail, Robin?

[no... she is here Somewhere. he can assure goro of that, keen eyes trying to find where she might've gone.]

[ Uh-huh. Yes, Goro, a smooth individual searching for the truth while exploring the Retrospec building. Akira rolls his eyes at this word choice, but doesn't fight it. He can have it.

Comfortable enough, he lets go of Goro so he can hop out of Robin's arms. Hm. He can cheat and use the Third Eye, but— ]

Why don't you call out to her? Give her some reassurance that she can trust you.

[ Crossing his arms, he looks over to him with a playful smile. You're up, boyfriend. ]

... Well, if you think that'd be enough...

[He can surely coax her out. Ahem, ahem, he's going to take a few steps forward and call out gently.]

Little miss, please come out. I'm not as mad as you may think me... and I won't hurt you, I promise. I only want to talk as you rightfully return my stolen item. I won't even get the police involved.

[... #nailedit]

[ Hm... Hmmm. Contemplative with a wry smile in tow. Goro might have a pleasant voice and demeanor, but what he says does not at all reassure Akira... Let alone the little girl. She continues to hide, but with a small shift the metal debris clang together. ]

He's telling the truth. We won't hand you over to the police.

[ Not that it makes it any better, but she knows she's cornered and peeks to scrutinize them.

"We wanted some cotton candy." ]

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