Underground Turf War Catch-all! [OTA! Come toplevel!!!]

[baofeng]

Who ⬤ Open to all!
What ⬤ Catch-all log for the Underground Turf War
When ⬤ Throughout April: Dates within
Where ⬤ The Underground
Content Warnings ⬤ Please tag any cws in individual toplevels / threads!




This is a post to facilitate shenanigans regarding the Underground turf war! Feel free to park your toplevels below and tag around!

Summary of what’s going on:
The Underground is the network of subterranean utility / sewer tunnels under the city, previously held by the Kappa tribe. After the April 2022 Event, the Underground has been cleared out by the Department of the Enma and is now mostly unattended.

The Tamamo Clan and Shuten Clan have received orders from their leaders to take over the Underground. Unfortunately, there's two of them and only one Underground, so the two clans are fighting over it. (Tamamo Meeting Log) (Shuten Meeting Log)

The Sutoku Alliance is not willing to fight for the territory, but are intending to work out a deal with whoever wins the turf war to get the kappa back to work. The Department of the Enma is also more interested in investigating the Daitengu’s assassination than the turf war, but that means their Lost Souls can bring popcorn and watch the show. (more info here.)

Comments

[baofeng]

[Rather than spend his hard-earned money on provocative Western clothes (you can just, see the outline of people’s legs through the pants, huh,) Yizhi has opted to sacrifice the uniform he arrived in. The blue-grey Student Strategist’s robes are simple enough that movement is easy in them, and if they end up stinking, that’s what Yizhi thinks of the Huaxia army anyway.]

I guess the yao got tired of humans keeping them out of urban places, and built a city of their own.

[It’s certainly unexpected, if one thinks about it, to find demons and spirits in a city of their own. They’re always living on the outskirts of humanity in mythology. But then again, any Lost Soul who starts thinking hard about their situation will never find an ending point, so better not.]

We’re still trying to keep spirits out, in a way? I get what you mean, though. Having to fight a turf war in the sewers is something I never thought I’d be doing.

[paperpusher]

Seems like it, huh? [In Natori's experience, though, it's more often that spirits shun the heavily urbanized parts of the country on their own, since they're creatures that belong to the natural world. That clearly doesn't apply here; Jigoku-cho is the sort of city that sprung up because its residents wanted it there. It's something he has to keep in mind when preparing spells, not to rely too hard on the assumptions from back in the human world.] Honestly, if you said you did see this sort of work in your future, I'd have a lot more questions for you.

[he says as he sidesteps... Something gross on the ground. Best not to think about it.]

It's also easier when you can be indiscriminate about the wards, I've found. Can't just purify the entire hallway if the ones on our side need to come down too. [Not that he has it in him to purify the entire hallway, at least not alone and with his power capped, but still.] Okay, do you want to try setting one up down the way? I'll keep an eye out while you work.

[baofeng]

There’s room for violence in many lines of work- oh, is this a good spot? Okay.

[Yizhi pulls out his tablet and glances at the Underground map he’d saved to it. They’re… about here, which he assumes is a good spot based on Natori’s judgement. He crouches down and sets out his things to start, pausing to pull up a set of notes on his tablet of how to set a combustive seal.]

Do you have any weapons, by the way?

[paperpusher]

[Natori breezily assumes that Yizhi is just playing along with the joke-- haha, how absurd, incorporating underground violence into their jobs-- and steps to the side to let Yizhi go about it. He peeks over Yizhi's shoulder at the map of the underground (very convenient!), then can't help but feel a bit of nostalgia as he sees the notes.]

Haha, it's nice having the electronics, huh? When I was first trying this, all of my notes were on paper. I don't recommend it. I felt like a walking library. [Since all of his spells are paper related. Hence why, in response to Yizhi's question, he waves a couple long, thin pieces of paper covered in characters just to the left of recognizable text. These are far more advanced than anything he's shown Yizhi, and don't resemble anything in Tenkohime's stores either. Natori clan secrets.]

Only magic ones. I don't know about you, but while I know the basics of using a sword, it'd just create false expectations if I brought one with me.

[baofeng]

[Yizhi doesn’t advertise the fact that he’d shank a guy in an underground tunnel given one good excuse, so he doesn’t follow up to the “joke”. Hey, if it ever happens the surprise factor will probably improve it.]

Mm, yeah, having all your notes on one device is really convenient. I’m lucky to have this. [He’s very aware of his privilege; almost every other child of Huaxia would have used books and paper, since most families shared one tablet between them. Shimin, certainly, used books. Zetian was an exception because she always is. Yizhi 'ooh's at the complex script on Natori's papers and wonders if his partners would be better at this sort of calligraphy than he is.]

That’s impressive, Mr Natori. I’m just glad we can both protect ourselves. This place is much more dangerous than I’m used to.

[Yizhi starts to draw an outline of a magic seal on the concrete, pausing periodically to look to his tablet for reference.]

Yeah, I probably should’ve taken up swordsmanship when I was younger, but oh well. I’ve just got a gun.

[paperpusher]

Mm. I've never seen something portable with a screen that size before. [Natori likes to think he's familiar enough with modern tech that the adjustment to using the smartphones here wasn't a stretch, but the truth is he's from the early aughts and is still getting used to the idea of a touch screen. It's like something out of a sci-fi movie, he thinks. Luckily he's never had to star in one of those cheesy sci-fi movies, he also thinks.

He's going to say something else-- ask about Yizhi's access to sword training as a child-- but the last bit catches him completely off guard. He looks around the hallway like checking to see if someone could overhear, and likewise when he leans in, he speaks in a hushed voice like he's afraid saying anything too loudly will make them need to use it.] You have a gun?!

[baofeng]

Yeah?

[Yizhi doesn’t see what the big deal is about the eighteen-year-old young master having a gun. He blinks up at Natori, bemused, then pulls out a handgun from under his outer layer of robes. He clicks the safety catch twice to show that it’s got working parts.]

It’s not illegal here. They sell them in stores.

[paperpusher]

They sell them in stores because we live in a yakuza town.

[And thus any arguments about legality are off the table, he supposes. It's not as though this hostile takeover of another clan's territory is strictly 'legal' by most senses of the word either. In any case, he doesn't get any less jumpy, though he does at least squash down on the urge to look over his shoulder again to see if anyone overheard that click.]

Do you even know how to use one of those? You should be careful.

[baofeng]

Mhm.

[Yizhi’s reply is weirdly calm, as if Natori had just made a comment about the weather. Because yes- they’re in a yakuza town, and that’s why guns are sold in shops on the main streets, and that’s why he has to get one. In a place where everyone has claws and fangs one must keep up; that’s the truth of the world, and though Yizhi dresses and acts like he doesn't understand this, he does.]

I got a few lessons after buying the gun. I’m not as good at it as I’d like to be, but these sorts of circumstances won’t wait for me or anyone to be fully ready. [He tucks the gun back into its holster, before smiling at Natori.] I’ll do my best to be careful. Alas, we’re not all magically gifted like you, Mr Natori… but to be honest, it’s good to have both magical and nonmagical firepower, isn’t it?