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

[Lan Wangji will go over hard in that first breath, at least; in that first moment, insanely enough, it was like he wasn't guarding himself against Wei Wuxian at all...]

[maybe he'll think on that later, when his teeth aren't bared, when his eyes aren't wide and mad with rage and resentment like he's one of his own fiercest ghosts, when all his attention isn't on seizing the front of Lan Wangji's robes in one hand and using the other to strike at his face, as hard as he possibly can, as many times as he can, if Lan Wangji lets him go for more than one.]

[he won't. by the time he was down, he was already moving to defend himself; he's staring up at Wei Wuxian, his own eyes wide and gold and frantic, hands like iron on his wrists. even though his golden core still doesn't have the strength to reinforce his body properly, he's in a lot better shape than Wei Wuxian these days; and he lived through those wars, too.

he's in love with Wei Wuxian, not with pain.]

Wei Ying.

[some of the dishes have overturned around them, the smell of spice and crushed grass mingling with that of the flowers. there are some alarmed passerby nearby, not quite willing to interfere yet, but it's like the two of them are in a bubble of focus.

Wei Wuxian snarls down at him wordlessly, straining against the hold on his arms; he's so close to being able to set his teeth in Lan Wangji's throat, if he can't hit him. his rage is so great he feels strange and distant with it, like he's wrapped in a red, suffocating cloud.]

[for a long, heartstopping moment, Lan Wangji just stares up at him, feeling that rage in his grip, in the red glint of his eyes and the snarl on his mouth. he himself feels carved-out, cored like a discarded windfall left to rot on the ground. he feels sick.

all these weeks, he hadn't really believed that Wei Wuxian hated him so much that he would rather see A-Yuan dead with the other Wens than in his care. he'd insisted on trying to tell him, because no matter what else was between them, wouldn't it still give Wei Wuxian some comfort? the fact that at least one of the people he gave his life to protect had survived?

faced with this, Lan Wangji isn't sure of that any more. he's cold all the way through with it.

there is absolutely nothing he can do. he wouldn't trust some future Nie Huaisang with the son he's adopted, even if he could; even if Wei Wuxian would prefer it. he wouldn't hand over A-Yuan for anyone. not even if the end of this confrontation was Wei Wuxian asking him to do it, and then the Sutoku Alliance breaking his contract and somehow sending him home a moment later. there have always been things more important to him than doing what the man he loves wishes he would do, up to and including protecting Wei Wuxian himself.

Wei Wuxian is in pain now, and Lan Wangji won't try to force another painful truth on him any more, but letting Wei Wuxian hurt them both more like this won't help.

in the same motion, he'll shove Wei Wuxian as hard away from himself and back as he can, and try to sit up -- if the weight and angle are right, he'll try to reverse the pin, but he hopes to at least get him far away enough to keep him at bay better.]

...

Edited 2022-04-22 12:55 (UTC)

[Wei Wuxian twists like an eel, but Lan Wangji still oversets him in strength and weight too much, and the reverse pin succeeds. Lan Wangji absolutely has to move fast and kneel on his legs too or get kneed where it hurts the most, though; Wei Wuxian is so far from thinking about fighting fair that it's not even funny. he just wants to lash out. he wants to hurt him in any way he can. vengeance is such a common desire of the unquiet dead; the traces of a thousand ghosts are burning in his meridians, their voices strangely resonant in his throat.]

Let me go.

Control yourself.

[his voice is a whip crack, a splash of cold ice water. he's indeed doing his level best to pin Wei Wuxian effectively. much as he hates the idea of Wei Wuxian attacking him seriously, he's not stupid.]

...

I will not fight you.

Why the hell not? You already helped kill me once, what's got you hesitating to do it again! Hanguang-Jun! Righteous hypocrite! You don't get to show regrets now!

[he's struggling, straining. his eyes are so red they're almost all glow with the white and pupil underneath drowned out, and that hint of ghostly screaming is staying strung-taut under every word. he hurts with how much the resentful energy wants to lash out with him, for him, a familiar kind of pain. it claws frustration along his insides when it can't find more than superficial ways out and through.]

[he makes a low sound in response to that, a barely-perceptible animal noise of pain...]

Will not fight Wei Ying.

[he just sounds... tired.

limited as his abilities are right now, he can't use the Lan body locking charm as he normally would, but he can still project his spiritual energy outside himself with touch, if given a moment to do it. with this close press, it should work well enough for his purposes. his fingers flex on Wei Wuxian's skin, then Wei Wuxian's wrists are abruptly yanked up above his head enough that Lan Wangji can (at least briefly) pin him with one hand.

he looks down at Wei Wuxian's rage-contorted face as he settles his now-freed hand on his waist. he's imagined pressing him down like this so many times, of kissing him, of Wei Wuxian wanting him to; he even acted on the thought once, to his shame. he's not tempted now. all those dreams seem as far away as stars, and the thought of reaching for them just as foolish. he did not realize how cruel his younger self had been, to have set them in the sky for his present self to look at.

he really is contemptible for still wishing at this point, isn't he? he knows better than to think he should be trusted with something that got broken on his watch: spirits, hearts, faith. even so, Wei Wuxian is still beautiful.

something cool and numbing flows into Wei Wuxian's body from his waist as Lan Wangji stares down at him with that unreadable expression. his muscles won't seem to respond, at least for the moment. Lan Wangji waits a couple of heartbeats to make sure of it, then sits up and back again.]

...

Edited 2022-04-23 22:50 (UTC)

You bastard.

[rage smokes off the words. the inability to act on it does not lessen it, only multiplies it; he tenses and jerks a little on the ground, now and again, as he tries to force his useless muscles through the killing motions they won't obey.

Lan Wangji's effort was successful, though. Wei Wuxian is at his mercy, in a way he probably can't be again once he starts regaining his abilities or learning new ones. he'd feel a touch of fear, if the worst hadn't already happened to him once. at least here, this time, no one else needs to die with him.]

[after another moment, Lan Wangji speaks into that hot silence, head a little bowed.]

...

Wei Ying.

My thanks for the meal. And, your help today.

[he'll reach mechanically to gather up their trash, and put aside the few leftovers for Wei Wuxian to take if he wishes. then he'll rise, move to the proper tree, and take a moment to tuck the note from his sleeve under a root for the ghost. he presses his hand to it, giving it a last drop of spiritual energy; it curls over the paper and buries it in response.

he stands up again. the irony of this is so sharp he can barely feel the cut. he glances back over his shoulder at Wei Wuxian, judging the progress of the charm... Wei Wuxian can already feel the pins and needles coming back into his arms and legs. this degraded version of the body-locking charm won't last more than two or three more minutes.]

Sorry.

[he'll turn again to walk away.]

[FUCKING INCREDIBLE. by the time Wei Wuxian gets loose Lan Wangji has vanished into the festival bustle; even such a notable figure isn't easy to pick out, in the crowds this city has.

they don't see each other again until the end of the festival, when the air is choked with steam and the air is filled with gunshots and screaming. Wei Wuxian's eyes, gone red again in the stress and chaos of the moment, are easy beacons to track as he shoves and fights his way towards the stage, if nothing else. they're a good way to ensure Lan Wangji is close when one of the assassins, tired of the pursuit, succeeds in firing a shot through Wei Wuxian's leg, then aims for a second shot when he goes down with a hiss...]

Edited 2022-04-24 00:41 (UTC)

[some things never change! and one of them is: you can't take your eyes off Wei Wuxian for a minute.

Wei Wuxian goes down hard, body juddering down as his leg gives out under him. the impact isn't quite as much as it should have been, though, because almost before his knees have hit the ground, there's a firm grip under his arms and he's being yanked backwards into an alley, into cover. a bullet goes wild and ricochets off the street where his torso was, only a foot or two in front of him -- there's a soft, bitten-off curse from the beleaguered assassin.]

[he isn't feeling the pain yet, shock-numb and startled; he actually focuses on fighting the rescuing grip on reflex before going with it after a moment, confused by actually being helped this way.]

Ah, thanks--

[someone has maneuvered a shoulder under his and an arm around his waist, keeping him on his feet. the voice in his ear is flat and very familiar.]

No need.

[--jerks the fuck away even if it means he'll fall! no! never mind! no thank you!]

[he doesn't fall, because the arm around his waist tightens with such an instant reaction that the owner must have been anticipating his flinch. they're still moving down the alley, picking up speed a bit...]

Wei Ying. Please bear with it.

No! I don't need your help! I don't need you around here! Leave me alone!

[wow, sure would be unfortunate if this shouting gave an assassin something easy to aim at, huh? he's not thinking about that, and yet--]

[Lan Wangji doesn't react to anything he says, scanning their environment--

and halfway through Wei Wuxian's last "leave me alone" he freezes, then shoves him the fuck away, sending him sprawling. there's a bang and then red, blooming dark on Lan Wangji's sleeve, as he stares up a figure on the opposite roof.

Bichen's equally familiar blue glare slips from its sheath, but the figure is too far away for Lan Wangji's impeded cultivation to reach it from here; he growls under his breath in frustration, bringing his hand up to cover his wound as he watches the assassin duck back.]

[Wei Wuxian has gone mercifully silent where he fell, reaction impossible to read in the steam...]

[there's another flicker of movement on an opposite roof. Lan Wangji abruptly dives back himself, flattening himself to the wall in a flutter of robes next to Wei Wuxian. there's another bang.]

...

Stay still.

[then Lan Wangji ducks down just as abruptly to scoop Wei Wuxian up and step onto Bichen. a moment later, they're in the air.]

[he is not, thankfully, stupid enough to start struggling and fighting again, but goodness does he want to.

no more shots reach them. the silence is sullen. they both hurt a lot. where are they going?]

[they hover briefly over the roof where the assassin was shooting from, but they've moved on, so they'll hopscotch over another couple of streets to get closer to the center of the explosion and where the Daitengu went down again. there's an abandoned street stall half-collapsed against one building wall; he'll put Wei Wuxian down there and brusquely check his leg.]

[Wei Wuxian smacks his hands away, glaring. he doesn't speak and blow their cover again, but he does gesture rudely at Lan Wangji's arm, indicating he should take care of himself...

he can still see the leg wound, of course: it's not great, but the bullet passed through flesh and didn't hit anything that's going to make Wei Wuxian dangerously bleed out in the next few minutes. could be worse.]

[Lan Wangji glares back at him, eyes narrow, and removes a couple of bandages from his sleeve to drop across his gesturing hands. he turns away to take out another and wrap it around his own arm in short movements by bracing his arm against his side, sure.]

Edited 2022-04-24 04:29 (UTC)

APRIL 2022 EVENT

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