jigokulogs | APRIL 2022 EVENT

APRIL 2022 EVENT

1. HANAMI

The week of the Night Parade is marked by the traditional symbols of Spring in Japan. Somehow, several city blocks have been turned into cherry blossom groves as a show of goodwill by the Sutoku Alliance. These cherry trees don't feel normal. They are more like spectral manifestations. Rumor has it they grew so quickly because they're planted on top of a graveyard. That's just a rumor, though. Don't pay it any mind! Don't listen to any whispers you might hear if you walk through the rows of trees alone and certainly don't dig under them for proof of their provenance.

Accompanying the hanami are copious amounts of food and drink. Such as dango, specialized bento, sake, and festive drinks. They are all available to purchase from stalls near the spectral grove. The refreshments may have a little something special added to them:
Ingredients that promote peace (calming any angry or upset feelings)
Ingredients that promote romance (gives soft, warm feelings towards the first person you see).
These effects are mild and only last as long as you're in the boundary of the grove. Eat, drink, and be merry with your fellow lost souls.

2. KANAMARA MATSURI (NSFW IMAGERY)

In addition to the simple joys of flower viewing and the cherry blossoms blooming, new festivals pop everywhere. They are inspired by various regional festivals from all over Japan. Some of these are benign and feature your normal festival fair. Others are a little more unusual, such as the Kanamara matsuri-inspired treats. You can thank the Tamamo Clan for this. Don't mind the giant phallus being carried down the street or the wooden phalluses you can ride on or the interesting mascots walking down the sidewalk, or the suggestive vegetable carvings.

Surprisingly, none of these foods are spiked, at least not more than the experimental recipes had been during the parade preparations. The spirit of the thing is more just the amusement of genital-based foods rather than anything meant to entice a sexy sort of good time. That will come as the parade rounds out onto the bath district...

3. HADAKA MATSURI

cw: nonsexual nudity

If that cheeky festival isn't your kind of fun, maybe the hadaka matsuri is more your speed. The Department of the Enma are probably the most stressed out faction in the entire city, so the Enma has allowed them to put on a festival to blow off some steam! It's a bit different from the traditional celebration: it's not contained to just men and it's not contained to a shrine.

This event is a mobile mob of nearly naked people and youkai running after a cart with a masked person throwing out small sticks. They represent good luck for the people who manage to nab them. There are far fewer sticks than there are people present and everyone will do a lot to get one of the coveted prizes. Try not to get in their way!

Or you can get caught up in it all and try to snag one yourself to see what your fortune holds. (No, the Enma isn't participating. Too dirty, for his tastes.)

4. FESTIVE FUN

A. SUMO
Some other festivities you might come across are miniature sumo tournaments put on by the Shuten Clan. Raised dirt circles with chalk rings on the outer perimeter pop up seemingly everywhere. Two people are allowed in the ring at one time and there are strict rules to be followed. If you disobey the rules, you may find yourself suddenly ejected from the ring with magical or physical means, and at the mercy of a Shuten enforcer.

Play by the rules to beat your opponent and victors will find themselves rewarded with a strong bottle of booze. The winners of each bout are handed out a commendation by Toraguma himself, which comes in the form of a commemorative sake gourd. This is probably the kind of prize you'd expect from an Oni at a festival like this.

B. FOOD RUNNERS WANTED
If you're in the mood to pad your pockets, maybe you want to help the Tamamo Clan out by running food delivery. This opportunity is available to anyone regardless of affiliation. Runners will be fitted with a contraption to carry the food orders on their person and may proceed either on foot or on a small motorbike. Be careful and make sure not to drop anything! Any ruined or undelivered orders will come directly out of your pay.

It's harder than it looks not to drop the food with all the excitement going on and your delivery recipient may be similarly hard to locate.

C. HOT BATHS (NSFW + cw: optional aphro)
The Tamamo Clan has set up a sanctioned orgy in one of their larger brothels. Rooms are available for whatever your heart desires, including one with exposed windows if you like being watched or if you want to watch in kind. Baths and pools are available for all your indulgent fantasies. Everything you could need is at your disposal: toys, restraints, costumes, lubricants, condoms, aphrodisiacs in many forms. It's a proper bacchanal celebration!

All that matters is your consent and enthusiasm.

5. NIGHT PARADE

One of the primary highlights of the Night Parade are the fantastical floats depicting scenes of legendary events. Keen-eyed observers may note that the humans are portrayed as the bad guys in most of them. While a few of these are mounted on motorized vehicles, most of them are carried by people. That means you'll probably be called on to help carry one along the parade route. It's a fun job, if exhausting.

If you're not the type to wear yourself out carrying a float, ride on one instead! There's plenty of things to toss out into the crowd along the street; candies and trinkets. Dress up in a fitting costume and walk around the float. Have fun scaring bystanders or just have fun hamming it up and celebrate the peaceful night.

5. FIREWORKS

The parade's central stop is the festival square in the heart of the city, just under the shadow of the Kaigo no Bou Tower. There is a stage set up here where the four faction leaders and their personal entourages have assembled. All of them are giving pretty typical speeches. The Enma has declined to give one, having no patience for unnecessary oration. Tenkohime gives praise to the unifying factors of love in the city, while Toraguma rallies the crowd like a sports hero; encouraging them to get stronger and do better in the coming year.

The Daitengu is the last to speak and they also seem to have the largest entourage. The entourage is quite conspicuous: White Wolf Tengu, each standing well-taller than the Daitengu themselves. They are carrying massive broadswords strapped to their backs and hunting about the area for anything suspicious with keen eyes that seem to see right through the crowd and the heat of night.

The Daitengu's speech is also pretty typical, although much more humble than their fellows. Mostly, they just wants to hurry up and get to the fireworks. Just as they finish speaking, the sky lights up.
There are a few peaceful moments beneath this spectacle as the crowd enjoys the display of unity and phantasmal wonder that this unique and strange world has created.

But the explosions aren't just in the sky. One particularly loud boom seems to rattle the very earth beneath the crowd. That is the only warning anyone gets before...

6. A NIGHT PARADE TO REMEMBER

Every manhole cover on the street bursts open, injuring anyone that was standing nearby. Far worse is the deluge of steam that rushes out from the underground. Pillars of hot, blinding steam spill into the air, quickly filling the streets. The luminescence of the festival lamps and city lights are diffused and blurred into singular blobs of color, obscuring all vision and making it impossible to see what's going on. The panicked cries of the crowd also make it impossible to hear. Everything happens so suddenly, so violently, that ascertaining what's going on takes time.

Too much time.

In the chaos, gunshots are heard. They seem to come from several directions. Fighting is breaking out. It's difficult to tell from where and who is in the brawl. Previously unseen figures in full-body black coverings appear from nowhere, rushing the stage. They zoom past any Lost Souls nearby, ignoring their presence. They are focused on a singular goal. The barking of the White Wolf Tengu further indicates the goal of the attack.

Struggle in the steam, help others get to safety, get caught up in fighting the other factions, try to protect the Faction leaders, or try to keep up with the black-suited youkai rushing the stage; do as much as you can.

When the steam finally begins to clear, however, there will at least be one thing that is certain: the Daitengu has been killed.

Welcome to the April event!

If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
We also have OOC top levels for Shuten Sumo Results, Tamamo Partner Cards, and Hadaka Luck Draws!
If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.

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[ Kimmuriel, in stark contrast, hasn't added a single thing to his novelty food and honestly hasn't even really looked at it.
That's a mildly alarming colour for an edible dick to have, honestly. But that's not really any of his business, is it.... ]

The memory of eating this as fast as you can? [ He sounds very skeptical. ] Are there any rules to this competition, then?

Hm...one glass of water to help get it down if we have to, but nothing else; we stop if someone starts choking, because no one deserves to die like that even in Hell, aaand this good fellow who offered them to us can be the judge!

[he offers this (gesticulating with his dickpop the whole time), with the confidence of someone well-practiced at talking people into really dumb shit. pure college fratboy energy. rip. he can see Kimmuriel's a tough customer nevertheless, though.]

--ah! Perhaps you'll find it more fun if there's a prize? Stakes?

The prize will be worse than the competition if it comes from these stalls. [ Kimmuriel is giving off some AGGRESSIVE no-fun-allowed-guy energy, but nevertheless, he hasn't said no i'm not going to do it, so it's...kind of...agreement?

Honestly he just kinda wants to see where this goes. Winning isn't even remotely on his mind right now. ] But the rules are acceptable.

If you are finished with your little culinary experiment? [ Indicating the sheer amount of chilli powder on that dickpop there. ]

Edited 2022-04-05 11:48 (UTC)

[Kimmuriel you don't understand. Kimmuriel he's attracted to that energy. like not even in a sexy way, just, it's like fuckin' catnip or something for this idiot.

Wei Wuxian beams at him when he accepts, and hefts the monstrosity in his hand.]

Ready when you're ready, then!

Hmph.

[ THIS IS THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. WHY DOES HE ATTRACT THESE PEOPLE. WHY CAN'T THEY TAKE A HINT.

(he deserves it)

Kimmuriel takes a glance around at how other customers are handling these dickpops - as he expects, they're generally being licked or eaten suggestively.

He is not going to do any of that, however. What he is going to do is lock eyes with the poor vendor who pushed this food item on him in the first place and just tear a chunk out of it with a vicious motion that's completely at odds with the expressionless look on his face, and then swallow. And then he does it again.

He is going to systematically rip apart and eat this thing as unsuggestively as he possibly can manage while keeping a straight face. ]

[that is incredible, and he hopes someone nearby is recording it on their smartphone and it goes viral later. it's what he would do if he were a passerby! there are definitely some ooooohs in the background, anyway, so they're getting some attention for this ridiculous stunt.

alas, he is Kimmuriel's competitor, and must try to outrace him instead. for a better show, he doesn't match technique, but instead just attempts to shove the whole thing in his mouth and eat his way down it that way, chewing around the stick as he goes. it is an act that looks like it's going to be sexy and then turns out to be super not, unless you're into deepthroats involving gnawing.

he's not going to win -- this is less efficient dickpop-eating technique all around -- but he does demonstrate a horrifying amount of both gag reflex control and the ability to ingest chili powder straight. they're both coming off impressive here, if not precisely in the spirit of the festival.]

This might be the most horrifically impressive thing a lot of people have witnessed at this festival so far between the two of them. Even with Kimmuriel's vicious efficiency, it's still a close thing.

"...It's...a draw..?" says the unfortunate vendor, who has turned an impressively pale shade watching this happen.

Several onlookers dispute the claim, chattering that 'that one won' or 'this one won!'. Apparently this turned into a whole betting pool while they were both busy tearing their dickpops apart.

Kimmuriel looks supremely uninterested, and snaps his skewer in half after he's done, more to make a point than anything. He does seem amused at the vendor flinching back, however.

"Are you satisfied?" he asks, glancing at Wei Wuxian.

Edited (argh typo) 2022-04-18 02:07 (UTC)

[he is absolutely going to start applauding him (both of them?) with his denuded skewer still caught between his hands, grinning from ear to ear. a scatter of the onlookers too shellshocked for commentary join in automatically and startle themselves and each other; a ripple of good-natured laughter goes through the crowd.]

Amazing! Truly a show for the ages! We have given all observing men something to fear for a little while, indeed!

[he actually...doesn't sound much like he's mocking him? he's just pleased that he got him to do a silly activity.]

This humble one is satisfied, indeed.

Good. [ He sounds just a little viciously self-satisfied. ]

[ He throws the skewer away (into a bin, obviously, he's not going to litter) and just shakes his head at Wei Wuxian's enthusiasm. ]

You remind me very much of someone I know. [ Is that a compliment or an insult?
It's...really unclear. But he's not just walking away, so...maybe more the first than the second. ]

If it's someone you like, I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment, you know.

[he chucks his skewer at the same bin, nodding to himself when it lands, and (attempts to) sidle up and nudge Kimmuriel's shoulder]

So, anything else here catch your eye, or should we wander further? There's a lot of variety in this festival, indeed.

[ He just sighs again and, in what might be a predictable maneuver, doesn't give him an answer on whether the person is someone he actually gives a shit about or not.

He sidesteps the attempted shoulder nudge. Sorry, he's just Like This. ]

I am uninterested in this sort of thing. [ This feels more like something Jarlaxle might like, though he has no doubt his co-leader had already investigated... ] I would rather find somewhere else to be.

[ He's just gonna start walking in a random direction with no warning. ]

[never one to letitgo.gif, Wei Wuxian hurries after him, with a final cheerful wave at the vendor and the dispersing remains of their audience.]

So what are you interested in, if not naughty festivals and sweet food, hmm? Actually I guess we've mostly talked about either food and things being kind of different from what we're used to here and--okay, mostly food...

[it's not going to be long before 'way too many faction politics' get added to that list, but, you know]

[ WHY IS HE FOLLOWING HIM. WASN'T HE SATISFIED WITH THE COMPETITION.... ]

I take interest in many things. Divulging most of them to any curious passerby is not to my benefit. [ Some things he's happy to talk about but he sure isn't gonna make it easy. It's almost like he's kind of antisocial??

The weight of Some Shit Is Going To Go Down Soon is hovering menacingly above this thread....]

Edited 2022-04-29 10:25 (UTC)

[Wei Wuxian, still oblivious to it for a few moments more, sets up the dissonance a little more by catching up to Kimmuriel. he doesn't try to nudge him again, since he made it clear he doesn't like people right in his space, but he does wink at him.]

Aah, how cold! I'm not just a curious passerby, aren't I? I'm your company at this festival! A partner in your faction! A fellow navigator in this strange city who arrived at the same time!

[perhaps it is a mercy, at least for Kimmuriel, when the ground starts to rumble faintly under their feet.]

[ ............. ]

I suppose you have a point. [ He will concede on this point and this alone; what the human is saying DOES make sense. ] But only vaguely knowing each other does not--

[ The rumbling turns into something more violent, something louder, and anything he was about to say is drowned out by the rattling of metal and the explosion of steam. It fills the streets, and screams of pain and confusion ring out in the fog.

He immediately pulls out his box cutter, which is Better Than Nothing, and takes a few steps back to where he knows there's stalls and sidestreets to fall back into. Getting trampled would be so damn embarrassing. ]

[Wei Wuxian's taking cover as well near him; they both lose sight of each other as the steam rolls in, but they're not knocked flat or separated by the sudden surge of chaos. when he speaks again Kimmuriel can pinpoint him; all the teasing and humor is gone from his voice like it never existed.]

Shit! Really? They're doing it like this?

[he'd certainly expected something, but not literal explosions in the streets.]

[ The change of tone isn't exactly startling, but it is interesting enough for him to take note of it. Even this human can be serious, it seems. ]

It is fortunate that they aren't bringing buildings down atop us, at least. [ But with the explosions shaking the world around them, he's not even sure that's completely out of the question.

It's hard to make sense of anything, let alone figure out a direction to go in. He makes a frustrated little noise, his mouth twisting. It's so inconvenient.

He can hear...shots? Shouting? From where he thinks is the main area. ]

Their truces are easily broken if they are already targeting the leaders. [ He's talking as much to reorient himself as anything else. He moves slowly and cautiously - he only has one person who could even remotely be counted as an ally around here right now.]

If it's the Kappa--isn't that a bad move to make on their own? Though I guess the Alliance condoned their project, maybe if they think they can take out half the other leaders that's worth the audacity--

[thinking aloud doesn't seem to affect his hustle, though the situation's maddeningly close-to-home enough that it touches the anger he's mostly kept under control in this city. oh, home didn't have exploding sewers or ominous gunshots in the fog, not the particulars, but this stinks of political treachery that's erupted into blood, and that's enough.

Kimmuriel finds him a little easier to track as they near the chaos in the main square and the screaming starts making it necessary to almost shout if they want to hear each other: his eyes have begun to glow red through the steam.]

Edited 2022-05-10 15:18 (UTC)

[ Kimmuriel, for his part, feels little but distaste for the whole thing. This sort of riot is an all too familiar sight to him, child of Menzoberranzan as he is, and it's the reason that it barely ruffles his calm (at least for the moment).

He has to raise his voice to be heard; it makes him miss his telepathy all the more. The time for casual discussion is over, it seems. ]

There, [ he shouts, pointing through the rising steam to the black-clad figures. Everyone looks like silhouettes in this fog, but they're moving with a purpose that he recognises - they have a target. ]

Got it! Flank them!

[he takes the direction easily even in the confusion -- not the first time he's gotten into confrontation in a heaving crowd. he's sped up, veering to intercept the assassins they'd spotted from the left, trusting Kimmuriel to go right in tandem.

how much can they do here, to even stop them? maybe not enough, but maybe something.]

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APRIL 2022 EVENT

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