jigokulogs | 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 just going to stay close to Izo as he follows him around looking for Emily. He doesn't want to think about it but being around Izo really is comforting in its own way. Makes him feel better.)

... Is she a hero?

(The wrong conclusion. He's only spoken to Ryouma about where he's from, though.)

...Nah. She ain't like me 'n Ryouma. [ Yeah, he's just gonna put that out there. He can figure out where Hizen learned that from easily enough. ] We came from some fucked up place called Hakagemachi...Ain't important right now. I'll tell ya later, once shit's calmed down.

[ Because he feels like he owes Hizen an explanation after the earlier Karasu incident. ]

(A promise to talk later. A reason to not push himself to a breaking point. This city sure is a weird place, he thinks. In all of his assignments and all of the brief crossings he's had with Izo, he's never really spoken to him. That's how it's supposed to be.

Calming down, the adrenaline wearing off, he can feel all of his aches and pains returning. It's time to shift gears and push through with pure spite and sheer stubbornness,)

Never heard of it.

(Hakagemachi. And he knows all of the places Okada Izo has been. Or at least, a version of him has been. He'll have to remember the name of the town. He feels like... he's heard it before? (A while back, scrolling through the network? He doesn't really engage on it.)

Sticking close, he's watching Izo's back,)

You're not hurt?

Ya wouldn't've heard of it...

[ He'll explain later, really. For now, he just needs to get Hizen somewhere safe to someone who can take care of him. ]

Nah. 'm fine. Majima made sure'a that...

(Majima. He's familiar with the name.

Hand pressing at his side to try and slow the bleeding. It feels sharp now but if he focuses on something else, he can ignore it. If he focuses on Izo? Yes, that'll work.)

If you're ever in trouble... you can call me, too.

(It's quiet. He's bad at expressing himself but if it's him, he can try a little harder and just gradually, that accent he usually keeps back begins to slip through,)

Even if 'm like this... (In poor condition, less than what he should be, practically broken,) 'm still useful, ya know.

Why d'ya think I kept ya even after ya broke?

[ Izō smiles, rare and genuine. Hizen's earned that much from him. ]

Once yer healed, we should do work together. Go scare some shitheads that ain't paid up yet. Really make 'em piss themselves jus' lookin' at us.

(Stop... he doesn't like this. It's giving him a feeling he's never felt before. He doesn't know how to react so he puts his head down and picks up his pace just slightly so he's closer at his back and

while one hand still holds his side, his free hand slips past Izo's wings and reaches to grab the very edge of a piece of his clothes-- a sleeve or something. It's nice here. In the company of someone he knows won't get rid of him no matter how poor of a state he might be in.)

... Yeah.

(It's quiet, a little shaky. He'll make sure to get better, though? Yeah. He can do that.)

Gotta show everyone what you can do.

(What Izo can do. Because his own strength and skill comes from Izo's history, after all.)

What we can do.

[ When has Izō ever said something like that to anyone? The moment won't last long, though, as they come across some other Shuten operatives. They probably know where the medics are more than anyone... ]

I'm gonna let them take ya...I'll make sure they get ya t' Emily. That alright?

[ It's what needs to be done and yet he's reluctant to pass off Hizen to anyone else. ]

(Getting passed off to someone else... He knows it's necessary. He'll just get in the way like this and he can't expect Izo to stick around. He doesn't need a babysitter. He can handle himself. Still, he can't help but think about...

No, he won't think about it that way and quietly,)

Mhm. I'll make sure, too.

(He knows her, after all. Fingers let go and he returns his hand to his side.

There are some higher-ranked oni who have taken command and are yelling orders, telling people to get back out there and get to work and others telling the seriously injured to sit the fuck down before they get themselves killed. It's chaotic but it's working for them.

When they look over at the pair, it's the exact same. Asking what the hell is wrong now.

Hizen will save some of the trouble though and start heading towards them for himself without introduction or explanation. He knows what to do.)

[ Izō frowns as Hizen leaves him. There's more he wants to say and...well, he'll say one more thing, calling after Hizen as he himself takes a few steps back. ]

Better come back t' me in one piece after this!!

[ Because he cares. A lot. ]

Edited 2022-04-27 04:19 (UTC)

(At that, he holds his head up higher and manages a confident smile,)

I'm still useful.

(It's something he's proud to admit. He is, after all, literally the spirit of a tool.)

I'll show you!

Edited 2022-04-27 05:55 (UTC)

APRIL 2022 EVENT

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