jigokulogs | May 2022 IC Mingle

May 2022 IC Mingle

1. WELCOMING COMMITTEE

The influx of fresh Lost Souls means the factions need to have a little welcoming party for them. The leaders realize things have been chaotic in the city. So some recreational activities are in order. All Lost Souls will receive a message from their respective faction leaders with orders to go have some fun.

The Shuten Clan are given an advance on their first paycheck and told to go to the Celestial Phoenix Casino. A big sign on the half boarded up door proudly proclaims UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT. What happened to the old management? It doesn't matter and stop asking questions! The important part is that all games and machines are half-price and there are special prizes available in exchange for your chips and tokens. Games range from the traditional Western style (poker, roulette, slots) to Japanese favorites (cee-lo, koi koi, cho-han).

As for prizes, they have a selection of designer goods, including some particularly nice bracelets, necklaces, and watches!

The Tamamo Clan are given a considerable number of drink vouchers for Crimson Moon Karaoke, where they can sing their hearts out and while absolutely smashed. Private rooms are cheap to rent and they even offer a special discount for groups of two or more. The karaoke machines have any songs you could possibly want, which is a little suspicious, but don't question it! Just get drunk and have fun. By all means, extend your time as you wish and drink up to get in the proper mood. This is an important bonding opportunity.

Oh yeah, as an important note: the rooms are soundproof. You can get as loud as you like, be it with singing or... something else. Don’t do anything Tenko-hime wouldn’t do!

Members of The Sutoku Alliance are given tickets to Fiance of the Funeral Procession at the Pluto Theatre and Cafe. The tickets include free food at the cafe, including beer. Sure, the star may not be a Sutoku member but that doesn't matter too much: getting butts into seats at Sutoku-owned theaters is what’s important. The Daitengu rented the theater out for the day, so there is plenty of time to mill around both before and after the show.

Make a day, or night, of it!

A funeral-based romantic comedy melodrama as the viewing fare is probably a tasteless joke on the Daitengu's part. But hey, y'all aren't still mad that they crashed their own funeral and then took off laughing, right?

Right?

The Department of the Enma members are told that they're going to be doing a team-building exercise. What exactly does that mean? That's right, it's community cleanup time! You get to clean up cans and trash in the street! You get the honor of using a department-issued bike with an attached cart to wheel around the city and pick up trash! How exciting! Teamwork is encouraged, of course. Teams that collect enough garbage will get one (1) voucher for mini-golf.

Please be aware of the local homeless population as you work, they won’t be happy to see you. They normally collect the cans in the mornings as a meager source of income that you’ll be dipping into. They're probably just not happy with Enma officials in general though. Sorry!

2. IT'S RAINING, IT'S POURING...

By the time you're done with your faction-sponsored fun, the sky has decided to open up. Hope you brought your umbrella! The rain is bad enough that walking home might not be an option right now. So take refuge in one of the many nearby nightlife spots.

Not in your faction's home territory? Doesn't matter! Make some friends outside your group or maybe get into a fight and cause some trouble. There's always the third option of ignoring everyone and drinking yourself silly instead! The rain has to let up eventually… right?

Hopefully you aren't caught near one of the cursed Haniwa figures that have been popping up around town. Their aura really dampens the mood and may even start to cause some dramatic and frightening hallucinations if you and your rain-stranded friends stay near them for too long. But remember! Do not break the figurine. Just try to move it somewhere else? And hopefully not get drenched in the process.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes... Well, with us within the clan bloodlines, it's a little different. I was born with my power, and inherited further power. The blood runs thicker within many of the old clans, especially with efforts to ...preserve it. [Inter-clan marriages, that is. Random children born with prowess- that usually wore off eventually. Even those that retained it and grew up to become exorcists sometimes lost their power with old age. And sometimes... Even if a bloodline had nearly died out, sometimes one with exceptional power was born again, down the line.] ...You're not descended from an exorcist clan, are you, Mizumori-san?

In any case, that isn't much- simply the composure required of an exorcist. If we were so easily shaken by every little hardship, our hearts would be taken by an ayakashi in an instant. That does happen from time to time, but it isn't a mistake you're likely to make twice. [You either learn the lesson, or you don't live to make it again.]

...Haha, I see. [He doesn't. He doesn't really get the allure in schlocky romance dramas like this, but whatever, it's Natori's paycheck-] Then, you didn't see cast, I suppose?

[He wonders if he's met him, yet... The spiritually sensitive seemed to draw towards one another, but in a place like this, most everyone was sensitive somehow.]

Edited 2022-05-13 02:52 (UTC)

I...don't think so? [ Sadly, that's his honest answer- at least at first. He would normally leave it there, but right. Trying to be honest and open with people. ] My grandfather insisted anything supernatural I saw was a lie...I went to several doctors because of that. But my grandmother, I think she knew something. She's never said anything about it to me, except to not pay her husband any mind. [ Tama slumps a little in his chair, sulking over the unsavory. ] He passed away last year, and I was conveniently too busy studying for my entrance exams to attend to his affairs. [ Tama only feels bad that his grandma had to handle it herself, but honestly, he wouldn't have been any help anyway. ]

The cast- is it someone you know? [ That would be strange, but several 'lost souls' have been here for longer, right? Maybe long enough to produce a film- at least, a futuristic film, with magic cameras. They could send text through the air to tiny cellphones, he wouldn't be surprised if the future made movies even faster to produce. ~~Oh, Tama.~~ ] You said to look out for something...unless it's being head by a monster, which I guess isn't impossible...but then you wouldn't be very happy about it. [ He's neutral-positive on yokai even despite his experiences, so the distaste Matoba has is frankly fascinatingly alien. Even the people Tama had struggled against had all been because they were too easily seduced by the power of the hashihime- not because they hated it. Though, maybe that was it's own kind of 'being taken'. ]

[What a familiar story... Matoba's eye sticks to the screen as the 'now showing' reel flashes by on the pre-movie ads, including the one for this very film. His expression remains coolly trained, an ever-present smirk.] ..........Humans who cannot see the true world around them will always think it a sickness in those that do, Mizumori-san. You should have listened to your grandmother. You are unlucky, not ill, to have been born to the Sightless.

Have you ever considered putting those skills to use? It doesn't have to be a pointless burden.

[It was a rare bit of wisdom from Matoba, but also, blood in the water. He remembers catching that boy sneaking around his mountain retreat, and taking him into the tearoom and trying to convince him that remaining amongst those who would never understand was only going to twist him more.]

[What foolish boys, these ones born outside the clans.]

[Matoba's about to answer properly about who he knows in the cast, but the lights dim, and the hall begins to quiet down as the film trailers begin to play.]

See if you can guess, [He says instead, quickly, and smiles towards Tama as the audio of an action trailer starts to blare over everything else.]

[ Sightless. It's not a word he's heard before, but given he thinks of his situation as seeing too much, worlds more alive than life, that nobody else can believe or interact with...it does settle in comfortably in to his perspective. As ever, he's not quite sure how much he can claim some 'sight' as the reasoning for his grandfather's harshness, but he can't pretend he hasn't perfectly wiped away the memories of those doctors and their diagnoses, just like he did to that 'frog'. Letting himself coat distasteful things in sugar doesn't make them more palatable, and it doesn't make himself less poisonous...but it's still what he wants to do. Maybe he can, a little bit, ] ...I want to be able to help people. I'm tired of having to have others help me all the time. With the hashihime, or even at the river....I hate feeling like I can't do enough. [ Tama would never say this sort of thing to Minakami- he'd wring his hands and take the blame on, as always. He'd never say it to Kawase either, because he'd insist it was his fault just as readily. It's all...exhausting. He just wants to be the one that's wrong, now that he can realize how thoughtless he's been for his whole life.

But, even if he's feeling strangely determined, all the emotional intensity and weight of that seems to melt away as he finally turns his face to the screen- his eyes snap wide, almost overwhelmed by the sights. It's faint, but there's something different about the way he's watching- something in his engagement itself, explosions twisting in to shapes and colors beyond just the action trailer's gritty realism. If he's that gawkingly awed by a trailer, then the actual movie's gonna suck him straight in. ]

[Matoba is quiet to that response- with the excuse that the movie trailers have begun. But he thinks on that reply, thinks of a bygone age and old naivety and softness that no long belonged to any of them.]

[Where had that left "him"? Truly, he wonders if any of them were cut out for it. This one seemed like he would be quite useful, but it was doubtful that it was a life he would last very long in. Then again, perhaps he should not be throwing stones about lasting very long...]

[In all this contemplation, he's hardly paying attention to the movie trailers, instead munching on his candy, but when he glances over to Tama again, he stares at the other man's rapt attention with some amusement, and smirks, leaving him to it.]

[Well, it was only to be expected, from someone who was hardly into the last century, let alone this one.]

[It's not until the movie proper starts to roll the titlecards, introducing the titular character and his escapades that Matoba leans his head, eye catching a quick dart of black that's gone again in a cut, and murmurs,] Did you see? Keep an eye out.

[ This is why he loves stories. Even the brief ones as preludes to the movies- advertisements, he quickly realizes -are all precious little drops of something to engage with. It's almost hard, to pull himself back to the reality of being a body sitting in a chair, looking a little dazed at Matoba as the bloom of his imagination lingers too long, but nevertheless he looks back, and tries to focus-

And the second he sees even a slither of the lizard, it's all he can do but gasp with surprise, and whip his head around, trying to comb the crowd for other people reacting. But right- this must be part of that 'sight', then, and with a newfound appreciation, Tama turns his face back to the screen. This feels...private, a little bonus only special people get to see, and it's the first time he's ever felt that way about whatever is wrong- whatever he has. ]

It's...cute. [ There's also that, which ekes past reflexively, and he's more than happy pretending nobody heard. ]

Pft--

[Beside him, Matoba's chest shudders... then his shoulders... Soon enough, it's taking his entire being not to burst out laughing in the middle of the theater, imagining the sour face that Natori would make if he'd heard that.]

[It wasn't cute- it was a vile and mysterious thing, a bringer or portent of disaster at worst, and the cause of lifelong anxiety at best- but the uninitiated point of view Tama brought to the table amused Matoba, and that was worth it.]

[The lizard shows up inconsistently in scenes- at times it reveals the cute between takes, vanishing from one angle while reappearing in the next. It could be distracting, if you allowed it to be, but Matoba isn't really that invested in the story. He munches down the rest of his candy, bored when Natori isn't on screen, and after the big dramatic reveal of the deceased killer comes out, the movie wraps itself into a nice bow with the main couple marrying happily ever after, and detective Akeboshi able to stroll off to his next case (to the adoring tune of everyone around him).]

[As the credits start to roll, Matoba hums thoughtfully, watching Natori's name scroll by, and then glances back towards Tama.]

That's that... I wonder if they will make another? [They're going to make another. Natori already signed on for it.]

[ The movie was, of course, beyond impressive to someone from an era of silent black and white films. But his own imagination was emboldened by that, instead of overwhelemd; it wanted to meet the dramatic visuals beat for beat instead of passively following along. The result was a delusional intensifying and morphing the scenes in to a mix of his own perception and the actual media- painfully subjective, and slightly hallucinated, but never before had he been so completely engaged in something with all of himself. Also the lizard was his favorite character, and if he knew what neocities was, he would be making a dedicated fan page.

It's hard to disconnect when the credits begin to roll, leaving Tama to look dazed and slightly vacant at Matoba when he speaks again (the earlier near-laughter had gone completely unrealized), the colors of his delusions still dancing quite literally in his eyes, stronger than the hashihime's own hold. It does fade out after a few quick blinks, but it's only replaced with an enthusiastic glee. ] They have to! There's still so many questions left...! [ He tightens his fists to his chest, trying to contain his limbs lest he gesture all over the place. ] The angles they could get! Lizard-tan stole the show, but all of the actors were so captivating! And the story was so much more mature than I'm used to, it let the audience really experience the scenes without being told everything...! [ If he knew what they were, he would be shoujo sparkling. ] I have to see the first one! And whatever others come next...!

[Natori is going to hate that and so he should do it. In the dim of the theater, Matoba can't quite see whatever spiritual flicker happens in Tama's eyes, but he thinks he almost senses it for a half-second. By the time he glances over to him, it's gone.]

Do you think so? ...There is much we don't know about the detective himself, I suppose. I seem to recall the first film having a story in which the love interest is a suspect... It seems Akeboshi-san is quite cursed when it comes to matters of love, hm?

[A carefully controlled smile of delight plays on Matoba's lips before he stands, filing out of the auditorium with all of the other movie goers; the room was humming with the chattering of others excitedly talking about the film. A good-sized crowd, for this turnout of Sutoku lost souls and clanmembers.]

You seem to be quite the fan of cinema, Mizumori-san. Perhaps you should take a job in the theater- you'd get to watch whenever you like.

All of the great detectives are. They find love in their work, or in their partnerships- [ Tama. Tama, your queer is showing. ] -but are always destined to struggle against the tides of love. It's one of the great truths of Western works, in my experience...! I don't know if it's truly such a romantic notion, but it is a fashionable flaw to give to a detective character...especially one that will no doubt be in so many periodicals. It's fascinating that it's still popular so far in to the future... [ Please, don't ask him about writing, or there's a high change he will just keep going forever. ]

Eh? Can you do just, do that? They seem so much more technical- [ Right, the out-front part! It's no more different than candy-selling at Touyou...Sanjou, he's coming for your job when he gets back to the Capital. ~~Sanjou would defeat him easily and he's like ten.~~ ] -ah, they would need staff to help with other things for an operation this complex. I've been at a loss for work upon arriving...there's no need for a roninsei, or writers, or a book clerk around here. Being able to see movies, and bring Minakami with me, that would keep me occupied. [ ...he has a horrible work ethic and needs the added motivation, but at least he's honest about it. ]

[Wow, what a nerd. Matoba finishes off his Skittles and drops the empty box in a trashcan on the way out, listening to Tama wax poetic about the detective genre. Mystery stories had never really interested Matoba, and neither had romances- now, if Natori had gotten hired for an action movie that would be something different.]

[But that was never going to happen.]

I doubt it is very true to life. I do know a detective or two; perhaps I should ask them. [Cheerfully, he has one in particular in mind... He doesn't see him in the crowd tonight, so maybe the next time he stops into the conbini...]

[As they walk out into the hall, he gestures at all the uniformed youkai dutifully taking care of garbage, still serving snacks and taking tickets around them.] They're always hiring for these sorts of jobs. They don't pay very well, but... Well. No beginner's jobs do, hm? [He smiles towards Tama. How much does writing pay, anyway... Not much, Matoba bets.] I'm sure an Alliance-owned theater could be convinced to take you on. Just be prepared to have to pay them back for your uniform.

Edited 2022-05-15 09:34 (UTC)

[ Senpai be nice he is just a litle creacher!! Unfortunately, all thought about writing is out the window at the thought of real, actual detectives, something that Tamamori almost has never considered as being, like, real? Of course they must exist, but also he's never seen one- there hadn't been any law enforcement worth their weight in rice back in Aizu (for...various reasons) and the Capital was too torn between corruption and the militarism looming on the horizon. So, for just a single blissful moment, Tama lets himself imagine that actual detectives must also imply good, and that Matoba knowing 'a detective or two' might imply Tama could meet them!

Of course, the awed illusion comes crashing back down to reality when he instead pans his eyes out across the yokai at work, expression going from delighted to dry like a fish left on land. ] I'm not very suited to cleaning... [ He'd made that apparent to every lost soul and kami in hell already, he likes to think. ] ...but a cash register is a cash register, I imagine. [ He looks back up at Matoba, a little suspicious. ] You've been here for longer as a 'lost soul'- did you have to do this kind of thing too?

Oh, I'm not very suited to that end of business either, I'm afraid. [Matoba smiles cheerfully, making it painfully clear that whatever he was doing, he made it everyone else's problem.] I can manage money, and all of that. [(Can he...? Look at the food he buys--)] I did a little of that, and a little ...other money management.

[It's probably best not to ask about that. Looking at the youkai working their miserable part-time service jobs, Matoba has no doubt a human like Tama would be bottom of the ladder, made to do all the worst work. Well...... That's how it was, when you started fresh.]

Unfortunately, that's the life, under a clan. [He smiles in what is probably at least an attempt at encouragement.] But remember this when you are being trodden upon: you are one of a whole, and every little finger is as important a limb to the body as the head.

[ Tama's not much better- he's drank enough ramune to probably kill himself, though at least he does like vegetables. ] Manage money...ah, you may be the one born in the wrong era... [ A terrifying mental image- his matron's terrifying presence over Tokyo's loan market, squaring up against the absolutely beyond describable energy of Matoba-san. That would destroy Tokyo faster than the Great Quake. ]

That's easy to say when you're not the finger under the mallet anymore...!! [ HMPH. ] You may be my senior for now, but I'll catch up! [ ...eventually!! ]

[Matoba laughs.] Am I? ...I don't know a lot about the economics in the 20's, so I will take your word for it. [Property was probably quite expensive in Tokyo then, he imagines? Things were developing along pretty quickly, at that time...]

[At least Tama got the drift pretty easily. Whatever he might have lacked in power or cunning, he certainly made up in spirit, didn't he? Matoba would have to keep an eye on him, but at least it seemed he was adjusting to this place quickly.]

Ahaha, is that so? You may be right... In that case, I'll look forward to it, then.

You know... I am very competitive, Mizumori-san. [The glint in his eye suggests he's teasing, but not joking.]

[ For a moment, it seems like Tamamori might see sense. That he might realize how ridiculous his situation was, given he'd just equated Matoba to Madam, and stop this charade before it got beyond him. Just do as advised, slowly building up renown until he could have the luxury of choice, and then he could be the one chuckling darkly at some other new lost soul in a few months, to complete the cycle. It would just take dedication and perseverance, no need to rush things. ]

You're on, then!

[ No. This is Tama Mizumori. He will always double down, he will never relent, and he will turn all his determination in to a cudgel if he must. If there was a time to stop, he has passed it by for eighteen years. ] You may have me at every disadvantage, but that only makes me more determined...!! We'll see who's calling who 'senior' come the end of the summer!

[Are you sure you're not a Shuten, kid.]

[Matoba stares at him for a moment, in the space of his outburst, and then puffs out in another fit of chuckling laughter. What spirit, indeed!]

[He was going to crush it.]

Very well. Shall we make a wager on it? [Don't do it Tama. Remember what he told you about debts--] If you are ahead of me by the end of the summer, I'll teach you how you might be able to subjugate that thing. No promises, but imagine- no longer being controlled by its whims. It will be yours to do with as you wish.

Doesn't that sound appealing?

Subjugate...the hashihime?

[ That hardly seems possible, but...his experience is limited. He doesn't like the thought of asserting superiority over something that sits in his mind, silent and seemingly judging, but not having to worry about it transferring to his best friends- that would finally relieve the tension he's felt ever since he came to truly understand the weight of having it with him. So he stupidly, idiotically, foolishly nods, and juts his hand out to shake on it. ]

I don't know what I could offer in exchange, but I'm sure someone like you could come up with something ridiculous. It's a wager.

[He knows it is an offer he cannot refuse, because he knows how he must feel to have the weight of this unknowable thing in your body which you cannot control. He knows the contract that he might have made, in order to be free of its weight.]

[Too bad lizard-tan wasn't any use subjugating; unlike the hashihime, it couldn't even do anything.]

Oh, I am sure I will think of something else to add to your list, [Matoba cheerfully replies, and soon they are standing out in the lobby, by the large doors leading outward. Matoba can see through the panes of glass that it had begun to rain heavily. He frowns, and sighs, and untucks the parasol from his belt that he always kept, just in case.] Until then, do your best.

Did you have any other plans tonight, Mizumori-san?

[ Tama pouts, arms crossing; taking out an umbrella is so normal to his existence that he doesn't think much about it at first, or look away from Matoba. ] Well, I was planning to cash in my free food, since you cruelly didn't share those little...

[ It's the smell, that makes him trail off. His sense of smell has always been particularly sensitive, maybe to account for his ability to weave in and out of aural and visual focus; but the scent of rain is one that overpowers even the salty, sugary lobby of the cafe and theater. He looks off to the glass doors, first staring out at the downpour, then seeing his own reflection in the glass. He can hear his heart beat in time with the downpour, and it draws him to the doors like a man in a trance. ]

...rain. [ He doesn't sound spirited anymore, or even like the same person. There's a certain dullness when he glances back at Matoba. ] Has it...rained here, before?

Hmmm?

[Tama is wondering off to the doors before Matoba can ask what he was going to say; even in the reflection of the glass, Matoba could see that his expression was quite... downtrodden.]

[The rain.... He had mentioned the rain before, hadn't he?] From time to time, yes. Odd, isn't it? Weather in the Underworld.

[He looks at him for another moment, and observes his eyes. If he concentrated his own hard enough...] ...I see. That is the connection.

[ It's not clear if Tama is even listening. He's trying, on some level- trying to do anything to take away the scent of rainwater, or the pulsing of it from his skin. But there's no way he can block this out, not when it's a barely-healed wound. Tamamori only jumps back to life when his heart finally seizes up from the stress, and that reminds him of the multiple ways he's seen dead bodies crumpled before him. Time will always be too slow a healer for those sorts of memories. ]

Minakami. I- I have to get to Minakami- [ It's more an exhale then words, and without taking even a second longer to dwell on the potential danger, Tama snaps the front door of the theater open. It's a bit of a stumble at first, going out of his way to dodge a rapidly-forming puddle, then taking a sharp, veering turn down the road, but it's clear he's panicking. With any luck, he'll think to stop at the bus stop...surely. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

May 2022 IC Mingle

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1/2 im sorry but i have to do it this way

i hate him so much

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i will release you from this endless waltz of a thread soon i swear

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