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

[everblooms]

[ Dolores Dei would maybe be mambo and jambo to the remarkably ordinary girl sitting across from him. Still, if she knew what he were thinking, she might be inclined to say "Sort of, yeah." or something of similar meaning— the Cetra and the Innocence are rather different, and Dolores Dei herself might have more in common with Shinra heads than Aerith would ever verbally note.

But he's getting it much quicker than she expected. A part of her bleeds relief, cool and relaxed. Aerith nods. ] Pretty much. There's this place called the Promised Land, or... people think there is. And some of those people think I could lead them to it. [ He's a police officer. Surely, she thinks, he might know the greed of a capitalist. She doesn't paint the picture, because it's not a question he's asked, at the very least. ] The Ancients weren't really called that, though. They called themselves the Cetra. And the Cetra were healers. [ Her hands in her lap fidget, grasping at red lace fabric.]

My mom was the last of them. Now... it's just me. So, I'm the back up plan. [ One nonchalant shrug later, she looks to the doors to watch clean up come through. The night has gone on long. ]

[aceslow]

[ And just like that, it clicks. Kim doesn't know much about Aerith, nor her world, nor the way that the society she's from operates. He knows nothing of her religion, of magic, of healing. But what he does know is people, and that knowledge alone is enough to help him understand. People will always gravitate towards hope. Some find it in political ideology, others will find it in their peers, and many more will find it in religion. That's all very well and good when religion is a strange, remote thing, when you are praying to someone who has been dead for many, many years.

It's harder when you've pinned your hopes on someone who is still alive. That's when you actually expect results from your faith. And that's when things get messy. He folds his hands in his lap, leather-clad fingers loosely interlocking with one another. ]

It's a surprisingly common story around here. Young people, burdened by great responsibility by virtue of their birth. [ Luck, not choice. ] I can see why you would keep that hidden. And I certainly won't go spreading it around, just in case. [ Is there anyone here from her own world that would use that information? Perhaps. Best to be careful, just in case. ]

...would I be right in guessing that there is no Promised Land? Or at least not in the way that they've imagined it.

[everblooms]

[ It's understandable that he would pose such a question, but it piques Aerith's curiosity that he seems acquainted with this. He adjusts quickly, coming up with a curiosity all his own. She would wonder if it's Harry he's speaking about, but Kim and Harry are certainly not "young" people. Adults, surely, but not young. She quietly shakes her head. ]

If it exists or not... doesn't matter. I couldn't lead them there if I wanted to. And... I don't.

[ Because he's right— in some way. ]

The Promised Land is a place of ultimate happiness... and they want that energy for their own reasons. [ He can picture it, she knows, but Aerith wishes she could show him Midgar all the same. The world she's from, where a steel sky sits oppressively over head of the less fortunate, the slums where people barely get by. Surrounded by the past and the unwanted mess of the upper class— that's where she's lived and bloomed for years. ]

Well, maybe this is the Promised Land, for all we know. I mean, it's Hell, right? You only get to Hell by returning to the Planet, and... that's how you get to the Promised Land, too.

[ She shrugs. ]

Kim? Thanks. For keeping it quiet. The only guy who would know about this is pretty quiet himself, I guess... [ A beat passes before she folds her arms, brows knitting together in thought. ] It's all pretty complicated, but you don't seem that confused. Why's that?

[aceslow]

[ That makes sense too, Kim thinks. His thoughts had traveled a different direction - religious zealots, not caring who they bulldozed in their path, and likely to flagrantly use Aerith for what she is, not who she is - but people wishing to use her for their own material gains makes an equal amount of sense. But when she asks him why he's not confused by her tale, he has to pause to think about how to answer. ]

Well... to be frank, if you told me this back home, I would have dismissed it. But considering everything I've seen here? I've got more of an open mind.

[ There's only so much evidence he can be faced with about the existence of the supra-natural, of spirits, of non-humans and descendants of extraordinary people, before even he has to let go of some of that hard-won skepticism. ]

The rest is just my belief that people will always be people, despite whatever our cultural differences may be. [ He drums his fingers on the cheap folding table between them. That makes up most of his argument, really; if magic exists, if descendants of some holy race exist, then people will react accordingly, whether it's to cling to impossible hope or to exploit it. At length, he says: ] I was raised in the Church myself. The Dolorian Church. We follow an Innocentic mode of theocracy, where I am from. Figures in history so significant that they become more than themselves -- sacrée, infallible.

If someone discovered one of their offspring, even years removed, I can make a decent guess as to how that would go. [ He offers her a small, humourless smile. ] Not well, I think. Not well at all.

[everblooms]

[ Figures in history so significant that they become more than themselves -- sacrée, infallible, he says, and while a number of thoughts swim through her mind, she rests upon this one. To her, the Cetra have always been this. People, displaced by minds of men. Her mother had been a Cetra. Kim paints a picture of normalcy, and though perhaps it had been little more than stories to him, Aerith thinks it makes the most sense. Oddly, it's comforting.

Returning the humorless smile, she doesn't mention how right he is. Somehow, she thinks he'll see it anyway. She doesn't need to say she'd watched her mother wither away like a flower left to burn in the summer sun. He can probably guess as much. She'll remember this information, though— it's hard to imagine a tiny Kim with coke bottle glasses in the pews of a church, but she thinks she might a tiny bit jealous for a moment. Her mother had never gotten to see the Sector 5 church. ]

An active church sounds lovely, though. I want to see one... some day. [ Maybe it's a tiny wish she inherited from Ifalna. Who knows. ] You're gonna have to tell me about this Dolorian stuff some day. Must be some pretty interesting stories.

[ But... ]

Wait, you totally just told me something about yourself pretty personal, like, childhood-wise! Ooh, that I want to hear more about. I'll buy you a late night meal if you tell me more.

[ Deal? ]

[aceslow]

[ The idea that he had volunteered something personal makes Kim blanche, a little. ] It really isn't that interesting, [ he hastes to demur. ] Hundreds of kids in Revachol have the exact same story. I won't say Dolorianism is the default, but it certainly isn't uncommon. It's certainly the only religion in Revachol that could be considered to be widespread.

[ As far as he's concerned, he's telling the truth. His story is common among children of the Revolution. Few of them survived with their families intact and many of them wound up exactly where he did, ushered in due to the apparent kindness of the Church and raised underneath Dolores Dei's imperious gaze. It had brought him some comfort, once. These days, it makes him feel strange. A little frightened, though he doesn't know why. He's certain if he said that aloud, someone more creative than him would come up with all sorts of reasons as to why that should be, but Kim is happy to simply say that it's because his days in the Church belong staunchly in the past.

He glances down at his watch. It's late, and he hasn't had more to eat than the scraps of food that he'd eaten as free samples or little snacks from the street vendors. ] But I could go for a bite. Just don't expect anything too exciting, hm?