jigokulogs | [ open ] all hands on deck

Entry tags:

[ 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. ]

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

[ ~~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.

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[ ryouma smiles a little, finding something endearing about the fact that her expression doesn't quite match her words, but he's being stupid and losing focus. there's no time for idle thought like that right now. ]

In that case, I'll overthink it a little more and say we should treat this like it is real, even if it's not. There's no rule that says it can't be both at the same time; maybe the tengu got wind that something might happen and saw an opportunity to add a layer to it. Or.. maybe not.

[ he could go on, but that would just be annoying. he's made his point. ryouma pulled a little notebook out of his sleeve at some point and started scrawling on some of the pages intermittently. ]

We need information more than anything else. It's easy to outsmart your enemies when you know more than they do.

Our key trouble is not knowing who our enemies even are, at this point.

[this is mostly Ydris' frustration. Hidden enemies are the worst kind, entirely cowardly, but then they aren't clever about conspiracy. They can link together information well enough, but understanding an intricate web of relationships and motivations isn't really their wheelhouse.

Still, that frustration motivates them to participate for what it's worth, until they burn out on the idea of caring about all this]

I have a few pieces of information I noted.

Firstly, the full Alliance seemed just as willing to protect the Kappa's plans as they were. I thought a coup attempt wasn't possible in that case.

However, the lower level Kappa themselves seem... unaware of what they even made. If the intended purpose wasn't to create the steam distraction, that means it was sabotaged by another agent. Or the higher ranking Kappa used their subordinates as sacrificial pawns, though I cannot imagine to what end. [something they cannot connect with. As a leader built for the purpose of protecting humans, the idea of throwing them to the fire, so to speak, for personal gain is unfathomable.]

The last thing of note was the Daitengu themself. Nobody was allowed to verify the identity of the person within the suit at the time. As if maintaining anonymity matters once one is dead.... but that suit had openings for wings. Wings that were not put to use in escaping the chaos, something all the other leaders had no trouble in reacting with in the moment. [so that's suspicious or the Daitengu was just incompetent in a crisis. Ydris doesn't know what is worse]

That's because no one knows what we're supposed to be fighting for. I know, the easy answer is "for your faction", but what does that even mean? Do you care if anyone here makes more money or has more territory than anyone else?

[ it's another shared frustration in the not knowing. one that's made worse by the fact that he's come here after a long time of disheartening, unfulfilling work. he's not exactly keen on being forced to play games that only make things worse, so ryouma would like to believe that the overall goals of this alliance are higher than all that. ]

I've heard similar myself, particularly about the lower-ranking Kappa. They're scared that without the Daitengu there's going to be trouble and I can't blame them for feeling that way. I've seen how these things go.

[ these things. sometimes ryouma wonders if he's seeing things clearly anymore or if he's been doing this so long he's started to lose his edge. ]

But think about it... who would have the power and influence to contract the Kappa to build that machine in secret? And then make all of their leaders mysteriously vanish all at once? Someone who could make it look like an inside job and kill two birds with one stone. Ah—... heh. So to speak.

[ these might be serious talks but he's not above laughing at his own dumb jokes. he also feels like he knows the answer to his own question, but the whole point of this is to find out what other people think. ]

Besides, the Daitengu is an appointed position. Unlike the others, they aren't claiming power thanks to lineage. Why wouldn't you appoint your best? [ someone still has a favourable and optimistic view of democracy. ] The Alliance hasn't carved out a place for itself here by accident, so I like to think the Daitengu wouldn't make it that easy unless they thought letting everyone think they were dead could be used to their advantage.

The Kappa should be worried. They were foolish enough to engineer such a machine with no idea what they were making-? If the device was sabotaged into doing something unintended, that is one thing, but do they have any excuse for such stupidity?

["just following orders" or some shit? Very grating to Ydris on a personal level, probably because they've been guilty of as much in their past. Following authority blindly is a suckers way of living. The Kappa are pitiful... and Ydris doesn't have much sympathy for that.]

If the Daitengu was their best, they shouldn't be dead. I severely doubt that they are. This is some manner of play. [and if they are truly dead and gone, Ydris is pretty certain they weren't strong or reliable enough to hold such power, so good riddance? They can all go home and stop caring about this?

No... no, no, there must be something here-]

If the Kappa are so foolish, perhaps this could be used to cut out their dead weight.

That's not an acceptable solution.

[ he answers quickly and firmly, but if they're just throwing ideas out there he's gotta shut that one right down. ]

Whether or not this is a test or a game there's no "winning" at this that leaves anyone behind. Every member is valuable. As for that device, that's a common enough practice, isn't it? People build complex things all the time using skilled labourers who specialise in one thing. And that proves that they're not stupid, although they may be ignorant and there's no crime in that.

[ it's difficult not to feel it on a personal level, considering his own experience. he'd gotten to see exactly what can happen when enough of the people considered "dead weight" by society work together for a common goal. ]

Have you considered that the Enma might be behind the whole thing?

[ since he's just saying things here outright, he might as well. ]

[Shutting down Ydris is often a good move, they need people willing to take them to task. Letting a young god think they're beyond reproach does not a wise mind make... and Ydris does very much wish to be wise.

They just... aren't yet. So, brushing passed the sting their immaturity feels over such a correction, they just make a bit of a face over it. More thought required! What more is there...]

You're right. It doesn't make sense to... what is the saying-? Cut off your nose to spite your face? [something like that, that old goat that Ydris begrudgely respected would say things like that all the time. Some even stuck with Ydris, heaven forbid]

Making the Alliance vulnerable is only harmful to it, yes? There's not some hidden advantage to such a thing deliberately-?

[ ryouma has never been shy about this sort of thing, but he might be a little hesitant if he knew he was correcting a young god — even if he's confident that he can't be wrong when it comes to the lives of people living here. ]

Exactly. [ ryouma gets the idea that ydris is trying to work through this in terms of where they want to stand on the issues but doesn't point it out. he likes to think he picked up some of the better habits from the greater men he learned from in the past; that is, where he's ideally not discouraging anyone entirely from thinking it through. ]

Not in this case, no. A long time ago, I helped another alliance no one thought could succeed at the time. One-half of that alliance was a group that everyone expected to be crushed if it came down to an actual conflict, but we would have lost everything without them. Alliances are strong because of how the different groups support each other. That's our advantage over the other factions; they're going to have a harder time covering their weaknesses.

That's a nice story, but what evidence is there that we have such unity to rely on? We have a dead figurehead, missing leadership, and members scattering to the wind out of fear. We ask questions and all there is to find is chaos and confusion. There's no advantage to the Alliance if it immediately falls apart at the seams. [they'd say at the slightest provocation, but to be fair, this is pretty large provocation huh]

Take this all at face value and we're quite simply fucked.

[Ydris doesn't see much faith to be had here. The Alliance has either weakened itself through some internal power grab... or been taken by surprise and dealt a blow? Not a very good first impression for new recruits.

Their mind wraps back to are they just overthinking this-? How circular this all is. Their mind turns, but it's just wheels spinning to exhaustion. Are they just supposed to wait it out, sit on their hands, hope the puzzle reveals itself with time?]

Ah—... well.

[ he should expect the cool story, bro from people since it happens more frequently now than it ever has but he's always a little surprised anyway. ]

We can't count on unity. Not yet. Couldn't back then either, which is why we have work to do, that's my point! The first thing I heard coming here was that this alliance isn't as united as anyone would like, so it's not like any of this should really come as a surprise. We would need to work on this even if this hadn't happened. It's just that we need to do it quicker and a lot more urgently now, eheh...

[ no pressure. it isn't experience that makes ryouma as calm about this as he is — he's always been like this. but ydris clearly seems to want more from this than just spinning ideas, so he turns his thoughts to that instead for now. ]

We need to be prepared to back up the Kappa. We can't stop whatever they're worried about the Enma doing, but if the goal is to weaken the Kappa and get them out of the picture, then we as Lost Souls need to be prepared to fill the gap. I've been down to the Underground, more or less, so we should start there. How much do you know about that?

[Ryouma is being much, much more constructive than Ydris is, that's for certain. They'll consider a bit later on that they were being rude and were met with kindness instead of dismissal... and they'll appreciate that, in hindsight.

They listen intently to what he says, because it actually feels like something to do! Until that last bit. The sewers. So that is... something for... others to do!

Ydris makes a twitchy smile, like they might want to say something snide, then realizes it's a bad idea. Thanks, Junpei, for the trial run of accidentally announcing core weaknesses. Maybe they shouldn't do that, even among supposed allies. Best to keep that a little closer to home.]

Not much. [can't go down there, literally not safe for work (when you're a candle)]

I was tasked to guard a far off exit point to the river, just before the parade. Something the Kappa seemed to have removed a grate from, probably so they could discretely move to and from the sewers. Lan Wangji investigated it more closely than I did.

[he's at this meeting, right? Ydris looks around for him in that moment, ~~while their player messages them about this call out~~]

[the tall figure in white who's been listening quietly at the edge of the gathering inclines his head gravely to Ydris when he's called on, his cool eyes resting briefly on each of the people in the conversation in turn. he sounds very sure of himself when he speaks.]

The purpose is unknown. But, movement would have been expedited.

Nor was that tunnel the only case.

[he's not willing to say he knows for sure why the grates were removed -- that's speculating in advance of the data -- but it's a pretty compelling theory. another question would be whether they'd used those tunnels to move more than just themselves...

his even voice goes flatter, slightly more clipped, as he recalls his escape from the same sewers just before the steam started to circulate underground underground in earnest. the goal was clearly to keep the architecture truly hostile to interlopers, right up till the end.]

During the festival, some changes were reversed. Movement was made difficult instead.

Curious... do you think that is evidence of last minute sabotage-?

[that's a huge question to answer, one they likely don't have the full picture of, but if Lan Wangji knew that much maybe he had information they could tie together.

Ydris' only contribution was some grousing, napkin scribbles, and a bullet mark pressed to their head wax. Researching the last item hadn't yielded anything, so really the best the had to offer so far was asking more questions]

[ ryouma just blinks before he fully parses everything that lan wangji had said and what ydris adds helps. ]

Depends, I suppose. We don't know much about what the normal operations of the place are like. All I know is that there are parts of the Underground you need special access to get to.

[ he'd read that studying the maps he'd acquired that he hadn't been able to put to use at the time. ]

The important thing is that there are mechanisms to control what ways to keep open and which ones to keep closed. Everyone's gonna be curious about what's down there, so my idea would be to get people in as soon as possible to restrict access and take a look at what's going on there more clearly. I don't know how long we can keep people out, but we can at least slow them down. The survival of this Alliance might depend on what we can discover first, as much as I hate to admit it.

[ not so much the secrecy — as much as he doesn't love that either, he more than understands the necessity — but the fact that if all his theories are wrong, things could be incredibly precarious. he's aware of it but keeps pushing forward because he doesn't like to look at the worst-case scenario because it means you can't think clearly. ]

Kappa leadership is nowhere to be found right now, which is suspicious in a lot of ways, but there should be workers who are familiar with operating the systems. Maybe lower foreman? They might be willing to help or even instruct some of us on what to do. In which case...

[ he can't help but smile in ydris' direction. he feels like he brought this home!! in a really lucky way, things fell into place nicely since he's really coming up with these thoughts on the fly. maybe they're not perfect, but they feel good..? ]

...—the Kappa will be the greatest asset we have!

Should we be allowed access. Tried, in the aftermath.

[the Enma's shadow fell long and heavy on the underground, even before the chaos was fully past. it's easy to justify as the natural actions to take in order to restore order -- which, of course, might have been exactly the point.]

Must press any advantage quickly.

That just gives us a chance to think of what to do in the meantime. Nothing we can't do with a purpose and a heading!

[ this is both what he believes and how he acts so... tried and tested? ]

But it's true — we have to be ready at the first opportunity. That's why I tried to put this thing together as quickly as possible because we need to try to get out ahead of this as much as we can.

[ which is easier said than done, of course, but he's feeling better about this now that he knows he's not alone in his thinking. ]

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[ open ] all hands on deck

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