APRIL 2022 EVENT

[jigokumods]

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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.

Comments

[moondregs]

[ At the very least the effects of the bento mean he doesn’t jolt awake. Instead he just kind of slips lazily back into the waking world, at first not seeming to recognize Yuri judging by his puzzled expression. ]

Huh? ... oh, Yuri.

[ A friendly smile replaces the perplexed look, and he brings himself back up to a sitting position. ]

Mm, yeah. I just feel ... really relaxed right now. Guess it was the food. How are you?

[ He doesn’t seem especially bothered that he’s eaten something tainted again, shrugging it off easily. ]

[playfoul]

[ Oh, don't tell him it's the drugs again. Yuri frowns at Junpei's very delayed reaction and at the empty bento box, making the connection between the two. After his own mishap this month, he doesn't trust any meals sold here. ]

Yeah, about that. Glad to see you're no longer startled by ghosts, Jumpy, but not so glad to see it's the food at work.

[moondregs]

[ The nickname was something he’d grouse about were he not so incredibly mellow at the moment. Instead it just gets a soft laugh. ]

Gotta eat. This is a better effect than the drink at the nightclub.

[ He pulls his legs up, wrapping his arms around them and resting his head on his knees. ]

All I’ve done since I’ve gotten here is stress out. It’s kind of nice to have that switch turned off for awhile ... it’ll go away eventually. You might miss this me when it’s gone.

[playfoul]

[ You're telling him this is not the first or even the second time, but the third? We've been here only a month! Yuri shakes his head. ]

We've gotta get you better things to eat, my friend. Come over and have a meal with me sometime. I can guarantee there's nothing in my dishes... unless you'd like there to be.

[ Not knowing what's safe to eat or not is a dilemma he can understand. It's part of the reason why Yuri's been cooking for himself despite street food being so convenient and affordable.

At least it's not a bad effect this time, but still. ]

I think I'd prefer you to be yourself, sullen side and all.

[moondregs]

Sure. I’d be foolish to turn down free food from someone I trust.

[ A night he wasn’t just living off conbini food in his depressing little hotel room was a boon. ]

This is still mostly me, I think, just a me that can’t possibly naturally exist ...

[ Does that makes sense? Probably not. It sounds deep though, doesn’t it? Even like this the part of him that likes to wax philosophical is present. ]

... the me from the nightclub too. Though this one is less embarrassing. It makes me wonder what other kinds of mes there are. Hm.

[playfoul]

[ The first time, Yuri had helped him out as part of an agreement. This offer comes of his own goodwill. Maybe he's gone soft, seeing Junpei's sad living arrangements. ]

Oh? And which Junpei were you at the nightclub?

[ This sounds juicy. Junpei does not strike him as a party person. ]

I'm sure there are plenty of adorable sides to you, but explore them on your own terms, yeah? People can take advantage of you when you don't have your wits about you.

[moondregs]

[ Under normal circumstances there is no way Junpei would tell Yuri about that night. Unfortunately for him, he’s not as bothered by sharing right now, even just having said it had been embarrassing. What could happen? He trusted Yuri. ]

I ended up making out with a stranger in public and woke up the next day with a hickey on my neck. Needless to say, I’d never done anything even close to that before, and I was bothered by how much I wasn’t bothered remembering what had happened the next day.

[ He gives a shrug of his shoulders, eyes following a petal as the wind carried it past his face. ]

You don’t seem like the type to ever not have your wits about you, though. I envy your confidence.

[playfoul]

Sounds like you didn't hate it. Why be troubled? Feeling shy, hmm?

[ So there was also this side to Junpei. The poor kid seemed to be having trouble accepting it, though the food's calming effects would almost have one believe otherwise. Nothing wrong with exploring your desires, in Yuri's opinion, except for the part where Junpei wasn't in full possession of his faculties. ]

I have to be. I don't lead the sort of life where I can afford to be caught off guard.

[moondregs]

Shy isn’t the right word. I haven’t really untangled the why. I guess I’d decided I was going to be disconnected from others and doing things like that ... it’s about as far from disconnected as you can get.

[ He had made a point of avoiding people before he’d come here, but it wasn’t out of any sort of shyness. Instead it was out of cynicism towards humanity. ]

What is it you do? Only if you want to tell me, obviously.

[playfoul]

Is that what you truly want? Seems to me you're not as opposed to it as you think.

[ Yuri gets being guarded, and holding others at a distance, but he didn't spurn connections so much as be selective of who he trusted and who he connected with simply for benefit. What Junpei describes sounds more like isolating himself. ]

People are impoverished where I'm from. You learn to fight for every scrap you have or let it be snatched from under you.

[ It's not a direct answer to Junpei's question, but it makes his point. Yuri's been many things, and not all of them palatable enough to bring up. ]

[moondregs]

I thought it was. More and more things have been happening that have made me wonder, though ...

[ He gives careful thought to Yuri’s answer, trying to picture that kind of world in his mind. It makes a lot of sense with the way the other carries himself, and he gives a small nod of understanding. ]

I had a lot of problems in my life, but I guess among my blessings was always having food to eat and a roof over my head. Mom never let me go to bed hungry, no matter how difficult things got for her. I don’t know if I ever fully understood how hard it was raising a kid by yourself.

[playfoul]

Won't hurt to give it some thought. Now that you've told me, you can't get away with denying it when you're back to your regular self, Jumpy.

[ Yuri smirks, but it's good-natured. Junpei may not be as honest with himself when the drug wears off, but Yuri's not going to let him forget they had this conversation.

It seems Junpei's life, while better in some ways, hadn't been carefree either. Actually, part of it sounds familiar. ]

My mother was the same. We were penniless, but she found ways to put food on the table. I got my resourcefulness from her. With a bit of luck, my gang, and the Ashen Wolves on my side, I'd say we carved a life for ourselves.

[ His gaze drifts to the blossoms they're under, a deceptively beautiful tree hiding its bloodthirst just like a certain priest and his plans for the Abyss. It bothers Yuri not knowing how his people are doing. ]

[moondregs]

Ashen Wolves?

[ He tilts his head curiously to one side. ]

That’s a cool sounding name. What are they?

[ Again, more cavalier than normal. Perhaps this is how he was in his younger days before the bullying and when he was just a kid who loved movies and the stories they told. ]

Sounds like a secret society.

[playfoul]

[ That makes Yuri chuckle, because 'cool' isn't the kind of word generally used to describe the Abyss. ]

Of sorts. We all have our reasons for not feeling welcome on the surface, so we live hidden away underground. Those of us who never completed school formed a class called the Ashen Wolves. They're good folks. You'd be welcome there.

[ Since it's basically a gathering of misfits, sorry to say it, Junpei. Still very cool people, in Yuri's firm opinion, even if those on the surface don't think so. ]