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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He's getting to know Emily a little; being a workaholic is something they've got in common, it seems. He moves to set the snacks down on a table in her kitchen area, mulling over the whole... kappa issue.]

It will make trouble. And we aren't even sure it'll give us any answers. I don't really like it either...

[But it's not like he's going to find anything out. He's with the oni: they wouldn't give him any information even if he did manage to track down a fugitive kappa.]

Have you heard any whispers among your clan?

There was a meeting actually, several hours after everything - someone was kind enough to orchestrate one. So far, there's several lines of thought being brought up - some think it was intentional, be it a false death or an internal coup. Some think the kappa were as ignorant as us, since their superiors seem to have disappeared and the lower rankings are simply terrified with the orders to round people up. Some think it was external collusion.

The Alliance fears they'll be overtaken, should they fracture too much in the wake of this. And honestly...

[she sips the coffee, trying to not say the thing that probably Kamui can read in her too well. she's scared - of the upheaval, of the authorities finding her.]

I don't have a head for these kind of politics. All I can concretely say is there's something odd about the bullets being used - they spent no casings, and though too damaged to make out, there was some kind of symbol on the bullets I was removing from people. Potentially enchanted to break through spiritual defenses, in my eyes.

[He listens, absorbing the information. Every possibility that Emily relays from the rest of her clanmates seems just as likely as the last-- but what sticks out to him, of course, is how little control they have over any of it, no matter who or what is behind it all.

A pawn once again. He shouldn't have expected much else.]

Neither do I, Emily. It's beyond me. Right now, the truth is all I want to know, but it's all so murky.

[The symbol, however, is new information to him--] You saw the bullets? There weren't any casings on the ground, so I was worried we weren't going to see anything at all. Magic is completely new to me, though...

I saw them when I was removing them from the injured. I saved what I got, but...I'm not sure how much use it will be.

[putting her coffee down, she crosses to where she has her usual satchel hanging up, and reaches inside to pull out where she saved the bullet, wrapped in gauze. it's been cleaned since she pulled it from Musashi's shoulder - Hizen had taken his own with him, despite her protests, but there was at least this one.]

No, no... this is really useful, Emily. Thank you.

[He takes the little package, gingerly unwrapping the gauze to feel the bullet. It's not in perfect condition-- it has been in a shoulder-- and yet, it's a far greater lead than going around asking questions empty handed.]

Have you tried to find out where these bullets came from, yet?

I managed to ask some people selling weapons, but they couldn't give me much to go on. The second and third said that if someone were to know, it would be Jiro, who works for your clan as a weapons expert.

[going back to her coffee, she makes a quick decision. all of this, it's weighing enough on the people she cares too much for, and asking them to pursue this might bring them more strife. but Kamui? he wants to solve this as much as she does, perhaps even more.]

...Take it with you. You've got a better chance than me of talking to him, or finding the path to be able to. If there's something strange about these, it can explain why the Daitengu died so quickly. Critical shots or not, you would try and ward yourself from harm, if you knew you were a figure of interest, but these struck as forcefully as they would on a human.

...There is an oni, higher in rank than a lost soul, who owes me a favor. He might know Jiro. I'll see if I can arrange a meeting.

[Kamui simply looks at Emily in her eyes, then reaches for the bundle of gauze in her palm; he slips it into his palm, expression unreadable.]

I'll find the truth, Emily... I won't rest until I do. [It's not about the Daitengu, or about the clans, or even how much he cares for Emily: in the end, it always comes down to the truth alone.] Thank you for this.

Edited 2022-04-09 02:31 (UTC)

It's nothing. It benefits us all as lost souls to stay informed, doesn't it? None of us could have prevented that death, but what we can do to prevent any more...

[her eyes flick down for a moment.]

In any case, I must thank you for thinking of me and bringing food.

[Emily's right, much as Kamui hates to admit it. The Daitengu, in spite of it all... had been disposable, at least in the eyes of the youkai clans. Maybe even his own clan, if it had been a coup after all. His gaze flickers to the floor for a moment, too, as he pushes that thought out of his mind and pockets the bullet.]

I assumed you would be too busy or tired to cook. We do need to keep our doctors fed.

[...]

Also, I really wanted to try these too, so...

[her smile is softer to that - it's a sentiment that's grown rarer in the days, but she moves to the sandwiches, looking at the array.]

Are these ones with fruit?

[mentally, she's calculating whether she can eat it now or if she has to balance it with something else. her own regime is too exacting for anyone else to follow along.]

[Meandering over to the kitchen table...]

Mixed fruit and cream, yes. There's some katsu ones in there, too, if you wanted to have an actual meal before a treat.

[When Emily smiles, it's hard for Kamui not to smile, too. She deserves the break after what she's surely had to put up with over these last few days.]

I picked the most popular one: it's mixed fruit.

[Strawberry, muscat, kiwi, orange, and pineapple, to be exact. The fruit's plump and fresh, the cream fluffy and freshly-made.]

[it looks tempting, but she'll be good and head for the katsu sandwich before that. Hibiki, she can feel, is deeply asleep, and their absence means she can enjoy food as she'd like without interference.

because she is a responsible person, and not living like some people (aka Shuten boys) are, she gets them both plates and brings them over so they can both enjoy their food.]

Usually, I'm the one trying to make sure people are eating. When you know enough of the type who will simply think cigarettes and sake are sufficient...

Cigarettes and sake? Even if it's something simple, you still have to eat something.

[He may be a Shuten wreck like the rest of them, but he at least knows the value of a good meal. Kamui takes a seat as well as his plate, muttering his thanks to Emily.

He's also opting for the katsu first. Real food before dessert.]

Who do you know that's taking those for meals?

At the least, I have two dear friends that I need to ensure are taking care of themselves regularly...they're good men, but when it comes to self-preservation?

[she shakes her head, and takes her own seat.]

You might see them around, they're both aligned with the Shuten Clan. Okada Izo and Majima Goro - though please don't tell them I said all that. Izo's likely to get fussy about the implication that he needs to be cared for, and Goro's liable to brush it off. Just...pretend I didn't say their names.

I've never met your other friend, but I do know Majima-san. [tacking the honorific on instinctively.] I'll keep it to myself. You have my word.

[Although, it's curious: he'd told Hibiki that he'd known about their existence through Majima, and Majima is a good friend of Emily's... maybe he'll have to ask Hibiki more about this later.]

A Sutoku member with dear friends in Shuten. It's like you told me before. These factions are all so arbitrary, aren't they?

[in her speech, even in this city's flowing translation, there are no honorifics. without thinking about it, her true feelings come out, and the warmth therein. but she doesn't notice, too busy chewing her bite of her sandwich to try and correct things.]

It's as though there's some inscrutable criteria, that a certain faction leader lays hands on us before the others. Their influence almost a tangible thing upon us...it makes things difficult.

I don't like thinking about it, but if push came to shove...we'd have to fight each other, wouldn't we?

Yes. That much is almost guaranteed.

[Not long ago, the thought of that-- being pit against friendly faces, even to the death-- wouldn't bother Kamui in the slightest. In some ways, it still doesn't. It is his status quo, after all, and slipping back into that mode of operation would be so very, very simple.

(It's dangerous to hope that another person, faced with life or death, might make the same decision Travis would, but Emily... she hasn't steered him wrong yet, has she? This is enough to believe in, isn't it?)]

I stand by everything I said before: I'm loyal to other lost souls before my clan leader. [...] But we do still have orders to follow.

Yes. There are those...but truth be told, the more I hear about the politics of it all, the happier I would be if they didn't recognize me at all. To stay unknown, it's less likely that I'd ever be told to go against others, or to be barred from treating them if they need it.

[a pause, then.]

That's all I truly wish to do. To aid people regardless of their faction...so that if you or any of my other friends need it, I can help you. That's where my loyalties are.

[even in war, those practicing their Hippocratic Oath were allowed to tend to others. from all she understands from Majima, the honor in this place, if she can represent it as dishonorable to come down on it...

but if her hand was forced, then she'd have to close her eyes, and return back to the fold of the Sutoku. she won't be so foolish as to cut herself off from them.]

It's an admirable goal. Know that I'm with you every step of the way, Emily.

[Maybe it is worth the risk to trust her after all.]

And, don't the clans preach unity from time to time, as well? They couldn't possibly stamp out what you're doing entirely. [Risky words, but he wants to believe in Emily. He agrees with her mission, wholeheartedly: they've got more in common with each other than with the people who command them, any day.]

Just let me know what I can do to help. I believe I still owe you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

APRIL 2022 EVENT

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