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

[rainswords]

[ ...this is normal.

But not really, some odd person has stepped into the midst of a moment of solitude. But Xingqiu is no stranger to eccentricities, the young lady, director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is a friend. Surely she has a special deal just waiting for him, buy one get one free. An extra coffin, one just for his wounded pride. But with the present company at hand, he closes the pages, and a bookmark is set to keep track of where he left off in the novel. He doesn't stand, no, but instead traces in the air characters he is seeing. ]

No, but I have to ask, is it all that easy to see wearing that?

[paperpusher]

It's not hard at all, [he says breezily.] But then again, I have something of an affinity for paper, so it might be easier for me than for someone else.

[Not that he has much power left to him, but there is something a little magical about the entire setup. Just enough to turn a paper bag into a feasible mask. He angles said mask towards Xingqiu's hands. It's hard to tell whether he's looking at the book or his finger drawing the characters, but given how he untucks his hands from his kimono sleeve and traces out a 肉 himself, it's likely the latter.]

It looks sort of like 'meat,' right? At least when you take the shape of the bag into account.

[There's what looks like a solid black tattoo in teh shape of a lizard on his wrist as he brings his finger through the air.]

[rainswords]

[ Not hard? There is a slight tilt of his head as he listens to the explanation. Of course, that makes sense. Except, not, and yet. Well, Teyvat has in own oddities and people with abilities most lacked. Therefore in some sense, the explanation is processed and then accepted. What else could he do? Here, likely at a convergence point of people from far-off places, there were bound to be those with other talents.

Now did that affinity make this man's handwriting a little better?

When the character is traced out for him, it's corrected what his assumption had been. No, he had not taken the shape of the bag into account but now he tilts his head in the opposite direction and then back. Therefore not just 仌 on its own. Finally, towards the end of the clarification, it's that he notes what seems to be a tattoo. He doesn't stare long, or at all, he does make note of it, however. He has enough social skills to know better than to let his gaze linger rudely on anything for too long. ]

Well, yes, now that I understand what you were attempting to convey. And am I allowed to inquire on the purpose?

[paperpusher]

Haha, for the character choice or the bag itself? [It's a pointless question, because he's going to answer both anyway. Even if the answer he gives is purposefully phrased to be as inscrutable as possible.] "Meat," in contrast to "spirit." Flesh. Something present in the body, tied to the human world. There are times when it's preferable to hide one's face from strangers. [And at that, he tilts his head inquisitively to the side.] Are you human?

[With a quiet but unmistakable slithering noise, the lizard on his wrist crawls across the back of his hand, flat against the skin as it slips away to his palm.]

[rainswords]

[ Before he can answer, his own inquiry is provided with a reply. Honestly, even before he received a response from Xingqiu's perspective it should have been obvious what he meant. He wanted to know the full purpose of everything the stranger was engaging in, just out of curiosity, after all, it is best to form his own opinion of people. Understanding them is part of the process.

Slowly he nods at the explanation, he isn't entirely unaware of the rumors regarding the cherry blossom groves that seemingly cropped up overnight. That would explain why he taps the ground he is sitting on with a close fist inquiring if it involved what may lay at the tree's roots. As for using a paper bag as a mask... ]

Isn't the method you're using to obscure your face a bit conspicuous?

[ A bit... not it just makes the man stand out and draw attention to himself. It's why he looked up from his reading. ]

As for me...

[ There is a nagging urge to provide some fanciful tale, but it's not much of a prank here to relay the idea he is some illuminated creature hailing from Jueyun Karst, so instead he gives an honest answer. While there may be some momentary satisfaction and entertaining to be found in trickery, this probably isn't the time or place. ]

Yes, I am a completely ordinary human.

[ He doesn't want to stare, again, it's rude but how could he not? At least he keeps quiet about it. ]

[paperpusher]

Haha, is that so? [The 'completely ordinary human' part, that is; he's not going to argue about his totally unsubtle bag mask.] That's got to be difficult, in a place like this.

[Natori knows where the lizard is on his body at any given moment in time. It's like knowing where his hands are, or feeling a muscle ache; he doesn't have to look to sense it. It means he doesn't have to guess what Xingqiu is staring at, though it's kind of him to not immediately call it out (or immediately try to exorcise it, like Chongyun did to disastrous effect).

After another moment, he tugs the mask off with a smile.] But as it so happens, that means we're in the same boat. [Natori may be human, but it's definitely a stretch to call him "completely ordinary." Case in point: he shifts the bag into one hand and holds out the other palm to clearly demonstrate the lizard for Xingqiu.] Well, more or less. Were you curious?

[rainswords]

[ A slow nod follows as a manner by which to confirm his words, although he does suppose it would be more truthful to say he was just about the same as anyone else once before. Not everyone in Teyvat receives a vision, but that hardly applies here when the most he can do is manipulate a splash of water if barely. So he is certainly ordinary.

As for running into difficulties, well, he knows to stay out of trouble. Although awareness doesn't always lead to him making the best choices sometimes, this is still a city he needs to fully comprehend and that means communicating with others. He won't easily be lead by rumors and gossip in assessing someone's personality, it is how he has come to make some good friends in the past, but he once gained the attention of a person he found... he would not get along with. So he has made his mistakes. ]

So then is it truly all that difficult? It seems we've both managed to do well for ourselves?

[ Of course with Natori holding out his palm, his attention flickers towards the hand briefly but not long. He continues to be polite but then there is that question. Yes, he is curious. ] I would be lying if I said I wasn't but I don't intend to pry...

[paperpusher]

Wouldn't most people say we've done poorly, to end up in hell? [But he says it casually, even agreeably.] Unless you mean because we're still functioning, even if we might be dead?

[Not that Natori thinks he's dead. For whatever reason, Natori arrived in the middle of an exorcist job that, as far as Matoba was concerned, had been completed three days earlier, and Natori had tangible proof to show that he hadn't simply forgotten those three days. Time worked differently in the ayakashi realm, after all.]

Haha, that's polite of you. [He watches the lizard crawl over, turning his hand to watch its progress for himself.] It's an ayakashi. It just happens to live on my body like this.

[rainswords]

[ Once again he could question if this was truly hell or just a very specific someone's idea of it. Something that people likely could mull over for an eternity about because who really knew exactly where they were. Or what hell truly was. Surely everyone had their own thoughts about what hell would entail even if there were scriptures presenting a narrative.

But there is a single thing he has no doubt about now. ]

I am not dead.

[ Like the man before him he follows the lizard's movement only to divert his gaze upwards to the unmasked face. ]

And that looks uncomfortable. [ He isn't winning any awards for his genius in making that comment but from the way Xingqiu is rubbing his own hand just watching the creature crawl all over the man's skin, the way that etching slithers about it seems just a bit itchy to him. Of course, he should seem more surprised (but Teyvat has its own peculiarities), he may even have questions but again he won't dig in deeply. ] Again, I won't pry. But I am also willing to listen if there is more you wish to share.