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

No, I don’t drink—…

[ Something he says in a very dreamy way, because he’s thinking about what Wei Wuxian had said just before getting distracted by drinks. His blue eyes are particularly piercing as he stares at the older man, looking as though he’s seen the light at the end of what has been a very, very long tunnel. ]

Is that possible? Masking it? Or locking it down…? [ no, Chongyun, no—keep calm, don’t get excited. even as he tries to reel that spike of hope in, he can’t help but wring his hands. ] My condition is so extreme … no one has ever been able to teach me how to do anything like that.

[ Of course they wouldn’t. His problem isn’t very common, and while his aunt has a similar affliction, it’s of the opposite qi. The method is different. ]

[he has to crack a smile at this reaction, though it's a small and complicated thing.

the thing is, he's pretty sure it's possible. traditional cultivators would absolutely hate for their qi to be sealed for any length of time, of course, so sealing techniques wouldn't be popular, but it's such a clear way to get the upper hand in a fight that it had to have been researched, even if the results weren't widely distributed. if he were still a traditional cultivator, and could monitor and affect the flow of qi through another's body, he could analyze and start doing research on Chongyun's behalf once Sutoku allowed him back the use of some power.

but Wei Wuxian is no longer a traditional cultivator, and the natural flow of qi in his body for the last seven years has been, for all intents and purposes, a stagnant and dead thing.

he doesn't explain all of this--he took most of the details to his grave unspoken--but his answer is still true enough.]

I can't teach you. I said my methods are unorthodox, right? Most of my own techniques involve using energy from outside myself -- from the dead. If I tried messing around in your meridians to figure out how to help you, I'm pretty sure I'd end up giving you a qi deviation, or the other way around. I might be able to make you resentful talismans that could balance out how you felt to others, but it would take a lot of experimenting, and I don't think you could replicate those yourself.

[that said, he's never been the kind to not offer some avenue of help, if he can give one...or knows one.]

But--ah, do you know Lan Zhan? Lan Wangji? A little taller than me, dresses all in white and wears a forehead ribbon and never gets dirty, has the sternest fuddy-duddy expression of them all?

[ Sternest, fuddy-duddy expression of them all—? Oh. The lightbulb clicks on a second later, though mostly courtesy of the description of his garb and surname. Mostly. He did have a rather stern expression when they met, but Chongyun had chalked it up to the fact that he had been trying to go somewhere forbidden. So it’s just his face, huh? ]

Master Lan? Yes … I’ve met him.

[ But Wei Wuxian’s mention of unorthodoxy has poured a cold bucket of water over his excitement. Not the man’s own mentions of using energy from the dead—though that’s something the young exorcist is going to want to circle back to later—no, it’s a reminder of his own situation. Even if it’s something that’s possible for normal people, for someone like himself…? Nothing has worked before, so he really shouldn’t get his hopes up now.

He holds his hands up in apology. ]

Ah, no… I’m sorry. I got too ahead of myself. Honestly, my condition isn’t something I want to burden anyone else with. [ hands lowered again, he rests them on his lap, ] It would be too complicated. My spirit—it’s pure yang. I don’t have any yin. It’s already extremely volatile, so putting that pressure on someone else … I should have thought more about it before asking.

[ He chides himself with a soft huff. That’s what being rash gets you, Chongyun. ]

But … thank you. You’re really kind, Master Wei.

[Wei Wuxian, feared grandmaster of the most forbidden kind of cultivation . . . shakes his head, reaches out and pinches Chongyun's cheek. what's this, now? it's not the time to be shy!

this reaction may also be because he is getting some complicated feelings about being refused, but like, in the nicest way possible instead of the cries of heresy he's used to? it's very novel to him.]

Aiyah, aiyah, don't be like that! It's not like I started talking it through in order to reject your answer, you know? I'm just explaining my own limitations in dealing with it!

I was going to say that a normal cultivator, like Lan Zhan, uses yang energy from within themselves, and the Lan sect knows all sorts of techniques, so he's very likely to be able to find something that can help you painlessly, though.

[ Bwaaa..... his face!! With that cheek pinched out, the look on Chongyun's expression is definitely stupid and a little crosseyed. Master Weiiiiiii. ]

N, no, but... but sh'till.

[ His condition is weird! It's very weird! Even if they have techniques dealing with yang energy, a guy born with 100% spicy yang energy only comes around once every thousand generations or so. And, honestly, he's a little afraid to end up high on it in front of Master Lan... who knows what he'll do? Aside from lose so much face.

So. Much. Face. ]

It's a lot to ask of anyone. But if it's something I can do on my own, I would like to try. Right now I manually balance with yin—I only take my meals cold, eat yin foods... things like that.

Is that why you were buying ice the other day...?

[it's true that 100% yang souls aren't known to traditional cultivators either--everyone's supposed to naturally have a mix of yin and yang--but the emphasis is so strongly on yang for them, and the Lans in particular are so focused on healing, cleansing and discipline, that he doesn't doubt Lan Wangji could find at least a stopgap solution in his sect's teachings.

he's not thinking of face, much, but he hasn't had any of his own to lose in what feels like a long time. shameless.]

If there are exercises that would help you, Lan Zhan will know them. For other avenues...I'm not a doctor, though your regimen sounds suspiciously like something a doctor would prescribe you for this kind of imbalance, too. A yin energy charm might work too after all, if we didn't let it come in contact with your qi or get neutralized by it. But as I said, I'd have to do some experiments, and we'd both need some ability to manipulate energy returned to us first.

[he remembers he is still holding Chongyun's cheek, at this point, and lets it go more gently]

It's not a lot to ask, though? Lan Zhan likes to help people, and for myself, I like to tinker around anyway, so it might as well be for a good reason.

Yes. [ his sixty-something packs of ice... ] I have to cool down when I overheat.

[ It is true that Chongyun's met a medic here that knows of qi imbalance and is now kind of the boss of him, but he had at least been managing it on his own for a long time back home. No spicy foods, no hot foods in general, no rousing music, no hot places, no quarrels, always bringing a parasol outside, the mere mention of hot springs give him goosebumps ... his normal routine would have been fine if he hadn't been landed in the heatiest, most passionate of clans. Someone out there has a sick sense of humor. (It's Tenko-hime.)

Thanks for his cheek back, Master Wei ..... as well-pinched as it's been, the print of Wei Wuxian's thumb remains in pink on his light skin.

"It's not a lot to ask" he says, but Chongyun can't help but think that he really is kind. Both of them. Sorry your face is just like that, Master Lan. ]

I'm not sure something like a yin charm would work. Normally I repel all evil for miles around ... before Jigoku-cho I couldn't get within ten miles of most spirits without purging them or scaring them off. [ he looks to the trees, ] Getting as near as I have now is quite the rare treat.

[ He recalls how casually Master Wei had been chatting with that spirit—and though it hadn't answered, it's obvious that there had been times before when a spirit had answered. Otherwise, how could he be so relaxed about it? Honestly, Chongyun wishes he could be like that, too. Auto-purging is effective, sure, but it's nothing more than a cheap trick. ]

So while my qi is still suppressed by Hell, I'd really like to see you work, Master Wei.

Hah, well, I'll ask about it up in the faction management, but you know how it goes. We don't really know when they decide they'll trust us enough to give these things back. It'd be nice to be able to talk with ghosts, again, though; they're good company, sometimes, if they're lucid enough to have a conversation. These ones under the trees seem like that sort.

[he hesitates, a little--it's skirting close to what's fundamentally wrong with him, to talk about this, but he really does like Chongyun, and if they both get unsuppressed eventually, it'll come up sooner or later.]

Miles, huh? I wonder if you'd repel me. I'm carrying a lot of resentful energy, these days...I guess I brought it with me to Hell, but they've sealed it in my body.

--before you start getting anxious about that, though, there might still be alternatives. Even if you burn through yin charms, there are other kinds of barriers and redirects to try.

I'm not worried about that. You're like my aunt, I think, and I have no problem around her. [ ... at least, the few times he's managed to find her—she's a bit. feral. ] From what I understand, she has a similar affliction to me, but it's with yin. I know she has her own means of managing it, though we haven't discussed it much.

[ Considering they thought she was dead for a good long while and all. Now, she's as elusive as the shadows, munching on weeds in the wild and beating up evil spirits. It might be better for her to just keep doing her own thing out in the mountains with those homicidal urges, though... as much as he'd like to have her back in the clan. He hasn't given up on it, but she really is a mystery in many ways.

Master Wei seems way less feral than Aunt Shenhe. And even if he's carrying that energy, he isn't evil, so it should be fine. ]

I did actually get to speak to a ghost once. It was a little girl—she only came out to say I was scary and ask me to leave, but still...

I see, I see. Well, that's more promising than not; I wouldn't want to be suddenly repelled across the city one of these days, after all.

[someone was just born with fully yin qi, too? by all accounts Chongyun and his aunt should be suffering all sorts of other problems with their bodies from the imbalance--actual detriments to their health and breakdown of their functions--so something there must work differently. if he were the type to get jealous, he'd probably feel jealous here, briefly. cultivational philosophy might be very different with such people aroud if they existed naturally, even if they were very rare cases.]

With that ghost...may I ask what gave you the chance, that time? Was your qi partially suppressed by something then, or was it just less powerful at the time than it is now?

She wasn’t malevolent.

[ There is too much to be understood about his condition, but from his experience… it’s evil that gets purged, otherwise he would have cleared Liyue out a long time ago by virtue of all the traveling he does. The ghost lights don’t seem to be bothered too much by him—at least, not to the point of getting wiped by his spirit. ]

So I let her go. If that changes, it will be my responsibility to find her again and take care of it. [ a moment of thought, then, ] It seems that my presence is just frightening and uncomfortable to spirits without resentment or evil. She was just a child. She didn’t even know what happened to her when she died.

[ Anyway, it just hadn’t felt right to be expel her, given the circumstances. ]

Ah. So she didn't have much resentment, and that's what your energy reacts to, not just ghosts themselves.

Some of them are like that, though if you went to where I'm from you might find stronger spirits trying their luck to approach you, not running off. The more resentful the dead are, the more they want to consume yang energy, and all.

...a ghost that only needs to be reminded it's dead isn't the worst to settle, though.

[he sounds...strangely wistful, for a moment? odd.]

Maybe so. There's no one else quite like me, so there's a lot I don't know about my condition.

[ Honestly, a place where the spirits come to him instead of run away sounds great. Not only does he want to prove himself as an exorcist by using the true ways, it's only natural for yang to crave yin in return. But he doesn't say that, or even ask more information despite curiosity, choosing instead to watch Wei Wuxian for a moment before reaching up.

Unceremoniously, he piiiiinccccches the older man's cheek between his thumb and index finger. Then: stretch stretch stretch. ]

Revenge.

[ Don't sound so wistful, Master Wei. ]

Ah! Ahhhhhh, how cheeky! I'm being disrespected by a cute junior, help, help!

[he is absolutely not trying to escape getting his face abused. the laugh he's holding back is audible under the theatrical whining and flailing. it is not, in fact, hard for Chongyun to cheer him up; he'd missed such friendly familiarity, very badly.]

[ After pinching Wei Wuxian's cheek for another second longer, Chongyun relaxes his fingers and instead pats them twice against the red mark left behind on the other man's face. There's no need for them to get too serious at a festival, right? There's plenty of time to talk about all of that. ]

Master Wei, do you want to go see the fireworks? They're going to be set off soon.

Ah, so unrepentant!

[he ruffles Chongyun's hair a little, still pouting exaggeratedly but clearly not upset, and picks up whatever dango they haven't eaten]

Sure! Those are supposed to be great, right? Let's go find a good place to watch.

[ Very unrepentant!! He actually looks quite satisfied with himself, thank you very much. ]

They are. We have them back in Liyue, too.

[ That hair ruffle has Chongyun's hair sticking up at fluffy odd angles, but he doesn't really seem to mind. He doesn't even bother to fix it, even when he pats down his haori to make sure it's clean. ]

The rooftops would be a good place to go. We'll be able to see everything.

[ Alright, let's go watch the Daitengu become a firework. He begins to trot toward where they're setting up for the final display; crowds are gathering, people all trying to find the best spots. When he spots somewhere he likes, he points, turning back to glance at Wei Wuxian, ]

How about there?

Seems good to me!

[he half-leaps, half-climbs up to their viewing perch while balancing the dango plate, checking if Chongyun needs help but reasonably confident he doesn't. nerfs and handicaps or not, his martial technique isn't too bad when he doesn't have kappa guards embarrassingly chasing him to exhaustion, and Chongyun seems to have similar training without his own energy hampering his body in the same way.]

Ah, good pick, good pick. We can really see everything from here...

[obligatory incoming 'press f for the Daitengu,' yeah.]

[ Likewise quick-footed, Chongyun leaps up after Wei Wuxian. He's quite practiced with leaping because Liyue is mountainous, so it's almost graceful as he pushes up with a hand and bends his knees, gently lofting his legs onto the roof with a soft tap. ]

Yes! A perfect view. [ 🎶 ] And not crowded. I can't really deal with crowds...

[ He sits on the edge of the building, letting his feet dangle over as he looks up to the sky. Despite being a festival teeming with people, everyone's quieting down for the speeches and the show, getting settled in and bunching up together. It's quite nice. ]

Like this, it kind of reminds me of home a little bit. We have a lantern rite every year. There are so many lanterns that light the sky that you can see them from just about anywhere. The atmosphere is a bit like this before they go up.

I haven't been to a lantern festival in a while, but yeah, we have something similar at home. Aah, if some miracle happens and you ever get to see Lotus Pier, it's great when you can watch them all reflecting off the lakes. Your home wasn't quite so waterbound, though, right?

[he joins him easily, perching like a crow on the building's edge, all angle. they can talk softly up here without disturbing the relative hush.]

[ Imminent countdown to the chaos: 49, 48, 47, 46... ]

The harbor is on the ocean, and we do have several lakes through Liyue ... but there are some more mountainous areas, too. We're a big nation so we have a little bit of everything.

[ His legs swing a little as he fiddles around in his side-pouch. ]

Master Wei, do you like sweets? [ because Chongyun is pulling out a carefully packaged popsicle; he splits it in half and offers one to the older man. ] Here.

[ And now he can finally lighten his load and toss some of these ice packs to the side. Aha! The old prompt comes back with some unimportant relevance! ]

I really would like to be able to visit all these different places people speak of sometime--ah, were you just--oh, that's clever. Thank you!

[he takes the popsicle with a nod of appreciation, because they might as well have a moment of real peace and tranquility before everything goes (...further...) to hell.]

Really feeling heated up by the festival, were you? It's a bigger crowd than I'm really used to, too. I'm glad we get to finish it off like this instead.

Edited (WHOOPS) 2022-05-06 06:16 (UTC)

[ Chongyun takes a big bite of his share of the ice cream. Cold and sweet, but not overly so. An excellent way to finish off the night if he doesn't say so himself. Chomping down happily, he talks easily, once again finding Wei Wuxian to be someone very easy to speak with. ]

Yeah, normally I need to stay away from the thick of something like this. The ice cream helps. Back home, I have specially made popsicles infused with Qingxin—...

[ Before he can explain more, there's a popping sound in the not-too-far distance. It isn't the sound of firecrackers. No, he's heard those before, these are more rapid—and on their tail come a wave of screaming as a cluster of people closer to the stage where the clan leaders had been sharing some words flee in terror.

A surge of men dressed in black follow the crack of sidewalk and explosion of steam. Below them, the peaceful people have fallen into chaos, trying to scape bullets and shrapnel. ]

Master Wei!

[ Chongyun's on his feet in seconds. Something's gone wrong! ]

It's -- whatever we were waiting for!

[Wei Wuxian's on his feet now too, ice cream still in his hand but now forgotten, taking a precious few seconds to try to analyze the pattern of the noise and chaos below. it's hard once the steam finishes billowing out over everything, but in the initial burst they can see a little, and the shots can be tracked]

Shit, are they heading for the stage?

Looks like it!

[ That's where the stream of black is heading. The rest coming their way are patterned kimono and jackets pushing and scrambling past each other to get away. It's hard to see with all of the steam, pops of color here and there the best he can pick out in rolling haze.

Instinct has him reaching for his blade ... that he doesn't have. Problem. With his spells restricted as well, he needs something to use as a weapon. ]

Let's head that way!

[ The gap between their roof and the next isn't wide. He leaps, soles of his shoes a soft tap tap tap against tiles as he crosses. At the very least, they need a better vantage point of the stage. There's no seeing from a distance in this. ]

APRIL 2022 EVENT

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