坂本龍馬 sakamoto ryouma (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kaientai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
jigokulogs2022-04-01 09:44 pm
kaientai) wrote in jigokulogs2022-04-01 09:44 pm
[ open ] all hands on deck
Who ⬤ sakamoto ryouma (rider) + other sutoku alliance lost souls
What ⬤ post-event emergency meeting
When ⬤ several hours after the assassination
Where ⬤ konoha — vip area
Content Warnings ⬤ none right now but will update as needed!
[ once the dust (steam?) has settled, an sms goes out to fellow sutoku alliance contacts. some might recognise the username rider more than others and know the man it's attached to but in any case, everyone who shows up will know him soon enough anyway. ]
[someone has to keep the spirit of the daitengu alive, okay?? the message also comes attached with a calendar invite. ]
[ later, anyone arriving for the meeting will be directed to the club's VIP area and encouraged to place food and drink orders as desired. this has definitely set ryouma back, but under the present circumstances, there's no better time than this to spare no expense, right? ]
☆ ooc; this is a mingle in addition to a general sort of information sharing prompt so feel free to throw your own top levels up and thread amongst yourselves! i give everyone free rein to threadjack as you see fit — just check with other individual players if you have any questions!
☆ i left the exact time of the meeting sort of open, but assume it's sometime within the next half-day or so after the assassination to account for people needing to finish up investigations, potentially heal up a little after fighting, time for him to book the club, etc. feel free to have characters wander in late too!
☆ i also provided the option for characters to phone in (since it was mentioned to me on the ooc post), so if they can't make it in person they can still be in the loop!
☆ any non-Sutoku tag-a-longs are assumed to be showing up late so as not to be sitting in on private discussions earlier in the night.
What ⬤ post-event emergency meeting
When ⬤ several hours after the assassination
Where ⬤ konoha — vip area
Content Warnings ⬤ none right now but will update as needed!
[ once the dust (steam?) has settled, an sms goes out to fellow sutoku alliance contacts. some might recognise the username rider more than others and know the man it's attached to but in any case, everyone who shows up will know him soon enough anyway. ]
Hello!
There's a lot of confusion right now, but what's important is to stay calm and not do anything hasty. I'll be organising a meeting tonight at Konoha. Let's exchange what we know and discuss next steps. You're going to have to pay for your own refreshments though, sorry! Space is on me though! (*_ _)人
Don't be discouraged! We're only getting started. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
If you think there are any other Sutoku who haven't gotten this, pass the message along, ok?
— Rider
There's a lot of confusion right now, but what's important is to stay calm and not do anything hasty. I'll be organising a meeting tonight at Konoha. Let's exchange what we know and discuss next steps. You're going to have to pay for your own refreshments though, sorry! Space is on me though! (*_ _)人
Don't be discouraged! We're only getting started. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
If you think there are any other Sutoku who haven't gotten this, pass the message along, ok?
— Rider
[
[ later, anyone arriving for the meeting will be directed to the club's VIP area and encouraged to place food and drink orders as desired. this has definitely set ryouma back, but under the present circumstances, there's no better time than this to spare no expense, right? ]
☆ ooc; this is a mingle in addition to a general sort of information sharing prompt so feel free to throw your own top levels up and thread amongst yourselves! i give everyone free rein to threadjack as you see fit — just check with other individual players if you have any questions!
☆ i left the exact time of the meeting sort of open, but assume it's sometime within the next half-day or so after the assassination to account for people needing to finish up investigations, potentially heal up a little after fighting, time for him to book the club, etc. feel free to have characters wander in late too!
☆ i also provided the option for characters to phone in (since it was mentioned to me on the ooc post), so if they can't make it in person they can still be in the loop!
☆ any non-Sutoku tag-a-longs are assumed to be showing up late so as not to be sitting in on private discussions earlier in the night.
no subject
later, Ryouma will discover that he's spoken to the club owner and paid off part of the tab for the room, so the hit to Ryouma's own pocketbook isn't quite so heavy.
in the meantime, he listens for a long time to everything being said without speaking himself. for all of his reticence, he's very politely attentive. there's no doubt he's here to understand the situation as much of any of them.
his only contribution without further prompting is a single cool, deep-voiced sentence:]
The Alliance's higher officials fear overthrow.
no subject
[ He feels his mouth go dry just hearing those words himself. Furthermore, what does that even mean? ]
There's been that much discontent? [ Artemy prompts the man to talk a little more about what he has found out. He has been under the belief that all the youkai were as kin together. Family may squabble, but the "parent" would never be truly threatened.
And yet... they were. Their leader was killed. ]
no subject
[the other man lays it out with the same blunt simplicity, his slightly archaic-sounding mode of speech (maybe he's just very formal?) working to highlight rather than obscure the point this time. he doesn't sound uncertain.]
This is the belief others in the Alliance carry. The Kappa's imprisonment, only the beginning.
[Lan Wangji can only say what he's been told, but what he's heard... hasn't sounded great.]
I'm mad that I had this written before the Enma post went up, why does he keep being terribly right
[That's giving a lot of benefit of the doubt that Alliance leaders care about that; but at the end of the day, when you are part of a clan, you are putting that trust into your leadership.]
[You work for them, they take care of you. And that is an aspect of the relationship that Matoba takes entirely seriously.]
[There's none of the humor that has been in Matoba's countenance on previous encounters. His eye slides to meet Lan Wangji's.] That is what will happen, if there is no action taken.
the real curse was the justified paranoia we met along the way...
he does not share Matoba's attitude towards the Alliance, exactly. he doesn't mind working with them, but his first allegiance will stay with his own sense of righteousness, always.
in this case, however...]
There is not enough information to say what will happen.
However, neither is there enough to accuse.
[and the Kappa are certainly bearing the brunt of this incident already.]
no subject
Details have been too scarce to determine who is to blame, [Matoba inclines his head in agreement.] However I think that saying there is not enough information to see what comes next isn't exactly correct, in this case. It isn't a matter of information: it is the natural order of things.
[Everything was still too fresh for the other clans to make their moves, but as soon as they felt comfortable in knowing what had transpired, it was coming with certainty. And whether it was the Alliance splitting down the middle, taking sides between Tamamo and Shuten, or the mastermind, some new leader of the Alliance swooping in to take command of a broken clan, it was them at the bottom- the Lost Souls, the Kappa, and whatever other smaller, easily crushed clans- that would face the consequences.]
If there is anything that we should focus on in the coming days, it is keeping our eyes and ears to the other clans in order to determine what they are planning to do.
no subject
Lan Wangji will nod shortly, after a brief pause. he had meant the details; but Matoba isn't wrong about the shape of the next events, at any rate.
he does have an answer to situations like this; one that's worked in the past. he'll muse on it, voice low, sounding reflective and almost as if he is speaking to himself more than to the others in the room.]
We must find allies.
no subject
[Matoba has made plenty of his own, whether by manipulation through half-truths or by pragmatic frankness. But the implication as his voice trails off into hesitation is that: personal connections, and the strength of connections which would transcend the political complications of cross-clan intervention was another thing entirely.]
[All Lost Souls, he found, were mum when it came to the terms of their promised contracts. But if the desires of others were anything like his own, the strength of a newly formed bond would not withstand the test of allegiance that was giving up one's contract.]
There are four main powers in this city. If the Enma truly remains neutral, [And his face shows that he does not trust this to be the case at all,] there are three. Any two deciding to unite against a third spells certain doom.
What reason have the beasts or the oni to support the Alliance? And what are the chances that any such support not simply lead to absorption?
no subject
Though, I do not speak of the other factions.
[the idea is taking shape in his head as he speaks, though it may be a bit too long-term to do them immediate good. the Sutoku Alliance itself reminds him very much of the ragtag group of rogue cultivators and small clans that once banded together with the four Great Sects to overthrow the Wen Clan, at home. at the time, Lan Wangji himself was instrumental in gathering them together -- because he was interested in their strength or their need for help past the power of the name behind them, and because his reputation reflected that. it's one reason why he's just as glad that if any of the factions had to hold his contract, Sutoku was the one that chose to do so.
there are likely any number of groups in the city that aren't currently members of any faction, but could be convinced to lend aid for the sake of keeping the existing powers in balance, even if from behind the scenes...]
no subject
[Matoba taps his lip as he ponders it, ponders the strengths and weaknesses of each of their opponents. Adding to the Alliance's ranks was certainly... like them, but he can't imagine the other clans would simply stand by and allow it to happen. Dealing with them was an inevitability. So, 'find such a reason', hm?]
If I had to guess, [He begins, although he lowers his voice to be just between the two men. He wasn't certain how others in the room might take the logical step forward, much less the other Sutoku-aligned ayakashi servicing the club,] It seems the beasts might be a little easier to work with, or to negotiate with when the dust settles. They are underhanded and more clever than they seem, but I believe pleasing their ilk would be more simple, and our clan would not be at a disadvantage in terms of ability, should it come to that.
[Sutoku and Tamamo seemed to have about an equal share of spellcasters. In a physical bout, Shuten was obviously the winner; he would prefer to test his magic against other practitioners where he knew what he could expect. Likewise, if their power was put together against the Shuten clan...]
...Although thinking this way is likely the result our enemy was hoping for. I'm sure we all realize this. [He heard the mumblings of suspicion towards the Enma, and shared in them.]
no subject
[Lan Wangji is very far from a political operator, but that's by choice -- he's not stupid. it's always suited him to go where the chaos is and do exactly what he deems right in any situation. it's a strange situation here, where he doesn't think there's anything particularly righteous about defending any of these factions and their petty squabbles for power, but it's unmistakable here that the Sutoku Alliance's loss is a potential gain for many other groups. they're being used, to one end or another.]
The Tamamo and the Shuten cannot avoid movement when balance is lost.
But, why now?
no subject
[Tsk. If only he had access to his house's shiki to go gathering that information for him....] Not until enough time has passed that we are able to climb the ranks of the organization. Of course, by that time, who knows what will have transpired.
....I suppose there are other ways of gathering cooperation. [His mouth curls unpleasantly. Unlike previous times, this smile doesn't even approach amusement.] But it's usually a toss-up whether information gained by force is any good.
no subject
...
Your thoughts on the Sutoku elders, in this?
[they've all already gotten remarkably little help from them in the matter of the Kappa so far -- though Lan Wangji's next priority is certainly to find what they think the Alliance's potential moves are.]
no subject
[Matoba's eye falls half-lidded in distaste. A weak house like this would be swallowed up by the Matoba in an instant, he thinks humorlessly. Were the Tengu bosses really this lost without the Daitengu?] I had expected orders to come down within the hour of the Daitengu's death. One might hope that they would have done all they could to at least put on airs of competence in order to avoid damaging public image, but instead we bottom-rung underlings are here taking matters into our own hands for lack of direction, and the Kappa clan has scattered in terror.
It's pitiful.
no subject
ryouma is bad at pretending like something isn't interesting, so catch him shooting looks across every so often to see if lan wangji will ever decide to speak up. or change expressions. honestly, it's impressive how long he just stands there. ryouma, meanwhile, has found it difficult to sit still for more than a few seconds since he got here.
later, lan wangji will have all of ryouma's gratitude because as of right now he's dreading having to sort out his financial situation for the foreseeable future and it gets expensive when you occasionally have to ply your contacts in other factions with food and liquor.
but back to the present. the moment lan wangji finally does speak up, ryouma expects... more than one line. it's not to say he's disappointed as much as he's confused. ]
Eh? [ hold on, it takes him a second or two to refocus on the point here. ] From who? You don't mean the Kappa...?
[ he obviously has his own theories — especially after hearing from others — but as with anyone he's addressed directly he likes to try and draw out the angle a little more before he starts filling in with his ideas. that helps him know if he's thinking clearly or just hovering around the easiest thing to blame. ]
no subject
in the meantime, he isn't here to be confusing on purpose, just by accident. so he'll turn to Ryouma with a faintly tilted head and give Ryouma two whole sentences to clarify, neutral and courteous and still very, very direct.]
The Alliance fears the other factions. Despite the Kappa's interference.
no subject
the worst part is how ryouma could probably find a way to make it work.]Oh. Some people — the Department of the Enma included — are reasonably suspicious about the Kappa as well, so—... [ so, now he's not confused after the clarification. ] We can do all the investigating we want but that's something we should probably plan for.
As much as any of us can at this point, I mean...