[open] a smoke and mirrors game

[no_kyouken]

Who ⬤ Majima meowjima & Open
What ⬤ March 2022 Substories
When ⬤ March
Where ⬤ Around
Content Warnings ⬤ Can add as needed

Notes: Majima is a snake man from Slumscape! Covered in a sheen of white scales, snake eyes, split tongue, tail, fangs.

Doms Wanted!

[ Majima is out on the street with a night queen, also with a hand of exasperation dragging down his face, ]

Fuck's sake. It ain't that hard, lady. Just tell him he's disgustin'.

[ He shoots a contemptuous sideways look at the sniffling pig yokai at her feet. Who pipes up helpfully, ]

Hey, he's pretty good at this, maybe I should ask for him.

[ Majima bristles like a cat. Bursting out noisily, ]

Shut it, you!

[ Hrr. He turns is attention back to the girl once again trying to explain how to just be fucking scornful. She keeps closing her eyes and meekly repeating after him, shaking her nine tail whip punily.

Majima has both hands on his face, head tilted back, before long. ]

High Definition

[ Oh... Majima knows better than this one. His lip curls incredulously when he's asked to participate ]

No thanks.

[ He points at whoever is nearby too, ]

Y'all shouldn't either.

[ But he's not hanging around to babysit anyone. What is he, your mother? He carries on his way, slouched with his hands in his pocket. But of course nobody listens to him, it can't be so bad, right?

He pauses later in the night, a cigarette drooping from his lip as he watches some truly bizarre behavior. ]

All right there?

[ His tone conveys that he really doesn't want to be bothered with this, but here he is and he's a little too soft to just walk away. ]

Look at this sweet jacket

[ Majima listens to this story about the jacket. Tilt to the side the take a look at the back of it. It doesn't seem that damn cool, or that damn inflammatory, but he has definitely seen guys throw down over someone's jacket in Sotenbori before... ]

Yeah, all right, I'll help ya cross the bridge...

[ A sigh. He rolls up his shirt sleeves in preparation for a fight. Maybe someone with a little more attention to detail will notice that all is not at it seems and come enlighten him to the plight of Hasihime. Otherwise Majima's taking this at face value and muscling his way through this. ]

Welcome to the Night Parade

[ Majima doesn't trust... anyone in this town, really. A place like this, you need to take just about everyone with a grain of salt. So he sneaks a little closer to what the Kappa are doing. He's not so sure he likes what he sees: Lots of extremely carefully covered cases are being quickly taken further into the city's underground, suspiciously more than one might need to simply be building some parade floats or decorations.

He comes back from the sewers chewing on a cigarette. He takes out his phone and gets on the network then, ]

We got anybody real stealthy wanna come take a look at somethin' with me? Make it worth your while.

[ He did get that advance from the Enma, he can turn it over for this. ]

[[ooc: Here is the current info on the Kappa mission. Once I know about your skillset, we can put that to the mods and move forwrd. ]]

Comments

welcome to the night parade

[everblooms]

worth my while? well, you can't leave a girl hanging!

would getting around in short cuts and traveling underground fit the bill? i'm pretty used to finding my own ways around town.

[no_kyouken]

I got a little money I can pass on t'ya.

We do gotta get into th'sewers. Those kappa are pretty sneaky. I got somethin' t'quiet my footsteps. What about you?

[everblooms]

oh yeah? well, i'm not really interested in money. i can make it myself! how aboooooout... you just promise to play bodyguard for me while we're down there, and i'll make sure you slip through the cracks?

[ In other words: Aerith's always had need for being a slippery little gal. Without magic, she'll need some kind of back up.

But she also wants to know what the deal is down below. ]

[no_kyouken]

So I gotta be th'muscle. Typical. Sure, ain't good for much else anyhow.

[ Except he's not bad at stealth himself and he's the one organizing all this... ]

High Definition

[lonelinessloop]

[ When a familiar voice gives her advice, she can't help but turn and her eyes go wide as much because of what she recognizes as for what she doesn't. The man talking to her is...

It's definitely Majima-san. But he's a very very different Majima-san. For a moment, she's not sure since she hasn't seen him properly in a few years now, and that last time, she'd been a lot more focused on Uncle Kaz in the hospital bed, waiting for him to wake up, but she'd know that nose and that eyepatch and that voice anywhere.

She swallows, and she's not sure if he recognizes her, if he even could since she's never seen him like this, but she bows her head and she nods. ]

I wasn't planning to, M-

[ A little clearing of her throat. ]

I wasn't planning to, sir. I was just curious what was going on. But now that I know, I'd rather not.

[ She'll find other ways to help. ]

[no_kyouken]

[ He pauses. Well-behaved huh, it gives him five seconds of pain for his little doll girl. His mouth twitches to the side as he suppresses it. ]

Yeah, well. For th'best. Did one'a these one time an' it wasn't worth th'scratch.

[ He rubs the back of his head with a sigh. ]

[lonelinessloop]

[ Even if this Majima had recognized her, he might not have known this version here who's been through... well, the ringer and a half. Between having her career implode, her Uncle Kaz in jail, the paparazzi hounding her and her family, and everything that had happened around Ono Michi, she's even more savvy than the savvy little girl who'd bopped around Kamurocho so long ago.

Well, long ago for her. ]

No, I just thought it might be a good idea to stay here and make sure anyone who comes out gets home safe.

Welcome to the Night Parade

[starshepard]

UN: sharkconcept

Stealth happens to be part of my skillset.

[no_kyouken]

Still, or are ya runnin' weak like th'rest of us?

[starshepard]

[ She's going to switch to audio because typing on this thing is tedious. ]

My natural skills remain unchanged, but my magicks are greatly weakened. I'm not sure if I can still turn myself all but invisible to the eye and if I can if it'll last that long.

night parade

[camyoflage]

[un: cantseeme]

i think i got an idea what you're looking for
even the alliance is saying to stay out of it you know?
people might get reeeeeeeal mad at you

[... or, well, he needs to at least say that. This network's probably monitored and he needs the protection that being a Good Boy merits. But, uh, it's probably a little clear from his username that he's a stealthy guy.]

[no_kyouken]

Then we shouldn't get caught.

[camyoflage]

oh yeah just don't get caught should have thought of that myself
if you look around town there's some graffiti showing guys with boxes

[left by himself, of course, but, again, we do not admit things on the faction-sponsored network]

those areas are probably a pretty good place to look
and not get caught

the night parade | ᴜɴ: ᴛᴇʀᴍɪɴᴜs.

[wray]

It depends. Is it worth the risk?

[ you'd have to be blind not to realize something was going on, but even six knows they'd have to be careful about it. ]

[no_kyouken]

Got a little cash I can hand around. Not a lot though. Up to ya.

[wray]

Keep it. I don't need the money.

What's the job?

Look At This Sweet Jacket

[pervy_kappa]

So that's it, huh? Are we taking the gig?

[Well, it seemed like a moderately small task for a first job. Not quite the 'big bang' of an impression that Gojyo expected to make now that he was once again living life in the big city.

Unlike Majima, though, he did think the jacket looked pretty damn swag.]

So all's we have to do is just let this guy hill on a bridge? It should be easy pickings for a guy like me, yeah?

How much did he say we are getting paid for this again?

[no_kyouken]

He's probably gonna hand over whatever garbage he got in his pockets.

[ Majima answers distractedly. Sometimes the garbage in people's pockets turns out to be pretty useful but its a crap shoot. They're as likely to get a fancy handkerchief as they are to get some surprise set of brass knuckles the guy himself was too wimpy to use.

He glances mildly at Gojyo. ]

Let's see who shows up when he starts crossin', then we know how easy it is.

[pervy_kappa]

Whaaaaat? What kinda bull is that? How we supposed to know what it's worth if we ain't even gonna get an estimate?

[Man, this blows. And Gojyo showed it by visibly huffing out as he walked over the the bridge fence, leaning his arms onto it as he idly kept his eye on the bastard who was trying to cross in the distance.

So far everything seemed to be good at least. Maybe the job wasn't that big of a deal?]

So? What's your opinion on the jacket?

Sweet jacket

[harimaya]

(And then our friend with the real cool jacket suddenly trips over nothing and in such an over-the-top and dramatic way he flings himself against the bridge railing and stumbles back several steps. It's almost unnatural how he does it. In fact, it definitely isn't natural because Majima might get dragged along for the ride considering small sections of the bridge seem to be rising and shifting to send them back? Weird, huh.

Regardless, jacket guy stumbles right back into Hizen who had been minding his own dang business snacking on the bridge. His half-eaten dango drops onto the ground and he looks down at his snack and then at this punk)

You again!? (Has Hizen tried to help this guy before? Yes. Did he give up? Absolutely.) I told you to find some other damned bridge!

(Don't get it wrong. Hizen is, actually, not the one responsible for keeping him off the bridge or anything like that.

But the guy is going to complain at Majima to tell this buzzkill to lay off which has Hizen looking up at a familiar face and... oh, that guy.)

What? He got you, too?

(ROPED SOME OTHER GUY INTO HELPING HIM CROSS THIS BRIDGE......)

[no_kyouken]

What th'hell!

[ Ugh! He grabs the rail of the bridge, trying to keep his feet. He glances up when Hizen starts to tell the guy off, brows creased with confusion. ]

What kinda scam you runnin', guy?

[ Jacket boy babbles out excuses that he hasn't done anything, something something jacket something something. ]

Then take th'damn thing off?

[ Fuck's sake. He looks back to Hizen, still frowning. ]

What's this guy's deal?

[harimaya]

Something about his jacket.

(That's all Hizen ever managed to really get out of him. Hizen's always tired but he sounds particularly cranky about all of this. Ugh, but he shrugs,)

Pretty sure the bridge hates him or something. (Because bridges definitely have sentience. He looks over the guy once more and rolls his eyes,) ... Can't blame it, either.

Give up. He's not gonna take it off. Ended up giving up last time 'cause he wouldn't.

HD

[diesuki]

Shouldn't I?

[Dazai puts effort into sounding extremely surprised, like he can't possibly imagine why he shouldn't be participating in testing some dodgy drugs. If he's planning anything at all, it's to see if he can't swipe the drugs without taking them himself on site - no reason; just to see if he can. That said, he does figure he has little to lose by trying the drugs. He has no position worth mentioning, here: nobody stands to gain anything by compromising him. It might be a fun distraction?]

[no_kyouken]

[ Majima gives him a look. ]

Ya don't know what that shit's gonna do t'ya. Did one'a these once an' almost went blind.

[ Come on, he already has just the one eye, why did it have to be like that? ]

[diesuki]

Blind, no less! I'm fairly sure that's not the kind of attack on the senses that people normally seek.

[Might be worth stealing if he can, though? You never know when blinding someone could be convenient!

Then again, there are easier ways to achieve that than using drugs, probably. Dazai sighs as if disappointed.]

All right, you've convinced me already. But out of curiosity, did the blindness just go away?