[OPEN] someone please suggest cut text and subject title for me

[mahoraga]

Who ⬤ Megumi and awesome people (YOU)
What ⬤ May catch-all - substories, IC Mingle log, Megumi's part-time job, anything else that comes up
When ⬤ Throughout May
Where ⬤ Various places
Content Warnings ⬤ N/A - will add as I go


SUBSTORY #1: thanks mods i happen to love body heat meme

[ This is just about the last time he takes free food from anyone, even if they look like a harmless rabbit. Curse his slight fondness for rabbits. While Megumi went a good half hour with no side effects, the chill gradually sets in after that, his long-sleeved clothing and large collar that usually keep him fairly warm no longer making the cut. The worst part is, the effects set in right in the middle of the busy pavement. He would be able to deal with this better if he could wrap himself up at home.

Megumi tries to tough it out for as long as he is able to, arms wrapping around himself as he tries to keep the shivers at bay. He doesn't particularly like to draw attention to himself or make people worry about him, but it's hard to walk normally when the chill seems to have permeated every inch of his body. ]

What did she feed me ... [ Another day he wishes he could summon Divine Dog. Their fur would actually feel divine right about now.

Eventually, his hands seem to seek heat on their own, grabbing the sleeve of someone nearby to give them a light tug closer. ]

SUBSTORY #2: the one with the butts and wild goose chase

[ As if life couldn't get any harder, upon Megumi's refusal to help it with its pointless request, the shirime in all its eye-in-butt glory has taken to following him around, harassing him with its request incessantly.

"So, you'll help me, right? Hey, are you listening? Will you help me? I want the A5! You'll help me, right?"

There's only so much of being followed around and pestered that a boy can take. He doesn't even know which vending machine the shirime is talking about and it keeps ignoring the question when he asks.

There's only one way to solve this problem: Pawn it on someone else. Though he feels a little bad about this, there's no other choice. Megumi addresses whoever might be nearby, thumbing at the silly-looking yokai who's following him. ]

You. Can you help him?

IC MINGLE #1: welcome wagon

[ Megumi doesn't particularly care about movies, preferring to spend his evenings with a good book. When he does watch movies, it's when he's being roped into it by someone else.

He doesn't have much interest in using the movie ticket but it also feels like a waste to throw it away when someone else might want to use it. Anyone who's hovering around the theater will be approached by a tall young man with a deadpan expression. He straight up puts his ticket in your hand. ]

Here. Enjoy.

IC MINGLE #2: haniwa dolls

[ As the night goes on, and the partying locals and lost souls continue to drink themselves silly, a lot of people are focused on having a good time and paying less and less attention to the sporadically emerging dolls. They were creepy at first, but after the fourth time you see one popping up, it becomes a bit easier to ignore, apparently. It's because people are paying less attention that they're being less cautious and allowing themselves to be exposed to its cursed effects.

At a local nightclub, a fight seems to have broken out, a wolf demon randomly breaking out into some paranoid hysteria about everyone else's faces changing, and charging at the other patrons with his sharp claws. At the center of it all is a haniwa figure, and though Megumi's spiritual senses have dulled immensely, he can still pick up its off-putting, dreadful aura.

The other patrons, some also succumbing to the hallucinations, are obviously going to return in kind. A bottle thrown by one of the angry patrons sails through the air towards your character. Before it can hit, they'll be yanked to the side by a young man with dark hair. ]

I have to get rid of that figure. [ He turns to the person he's grabbing now. ] Go somewhere else.

[ He can handle this!!! (Allegedly ... )

ooc: As a note, Megumi is a helpful boy who will be trying to remove the statues as advised by Enma. He might succumb to the effects after a while and i'm happy to plot it out with whoever ]

PART TIME JOB: book shop boys (later in the month)

[ Megumi has found a part-time job at a local bookstore in the Sutoku Alliance. There are books of all sorts available, and the colourful and upbeat members of the staff (with the exception of .. Megumi, who stands out with how quiet he is by comparison) are always ready to help out.

A: If your character looks unsure of what they want to browse, they'll be approached by a quiet young man in a blue apron, who will point at one particular book in the non-fiction section. ]

This one wasn't bad.

[ The title reads 'Everything You Need to Know About Concrete Engineering'. That's ... so boring, why would anyone (who isn't a builder) ever read it??? ]

[ B: Or, if your character happened to wander near the shelves behind some bashful yuki-onna who quickly takes off and leaves, they might get falsely accused of a book-related crime.

Megumi will approach them with a book in hand (a romance story, apparently) and open up the cover. Written on the pages are the romantic exchanges between two regular patrons, who have chosen to trade their love notes through this one book.

The latest one reads "There isn't a day I go on without thinking about you. I long for the touch of your fingers, to hear the sound of your voice. My heart can take no more of this cruel fate that separates us."

Love between enemy faction members? Whatever, he doesn't care. Megumi looks very unimpressed. ]

Please have your love affair somewhere else.

[ OOC: Do something else with me??? You can reach me via PM or at charsiu (feel free to add) ]

Comments

[worldbent]

[This little...]

[Matoba raises an eyebrow lightly in his direction; not that his spells were likely to affect the boy, unless there was some secret he hadn't sensed from him. But once Megumi is dashing off to knock one of the youkai on its ass, he isn't wasting any time. Moving more swiftly than one might expect from a man that didn't exactly exude athleticism, Matoba dodges and weaves through the crowd in order to get to the cluster of haniwa that had spawned in the center of the tables, somehow not yet overturned.]

[And it was a good thing, too. If this ruckus knocked them over.... Matoba draws a spelltag from within his sleeve and concentrates, gathering power and then setting the ward over the tiny vessel. This would be easier if he had the ability to seal it properly, but for the time being, he was going to have to simply ward the space around it.]

I wouldn't recommend any of these patrons enter this space, [Matoba comments, carefully wrapping the haniwa with spelltags and then bundling it into a piece of cloth like a baby. He's already kidnapped a few of these little guys, so he's just started taking a piece of purified silk around with him.] I can't really control which ayakashi are bound by the ward or not.

[mahoraga]

[ As Matoba works on his preparations, Megumi stays focused on the task at hand, keeping the older man at the edge of his peripheral vision as he fights. Despite all his training, he's a young man of lean built with all the limitations of one if cursed energy is not added into the mix. Physically, he's far from the strongest person that he knows. For all the punches and kicks he's dealt out, he's taken about a fifth in return, the most notable of his injuries being a gnash against his shoulder from a wolf demon's attempts to maul him (doggies, why would you ever betray him...).

But Matoba's very efficient despite the chaos in the situation, and while Megumi could already get the sense he was a highly experienced sorcerer, this confirms it. Where he comes from, one's techniques and abilities are usually pre-determined from birth, with the chances of learning a new spell outside basic sorcery or one's innate technique very slim. From conversation he knows Matoba has an innate technique somewhat similar to his own, but the ability to create a barrier is something he hasn't quite mastered fully yet (a work in progress).

Megumi knocks that one wolf demon across the head with a broken chair leg, wiping some blood off his lip as it goes down. ] You contained its cursed energy?

[worldbent]

[Matoba, hands clapped together in prayer, is finishing murmuring a chant under his breath, bonding the wards to the haniwa as Megumi smashes the wolf youkai in the face. Not a moment too soon, he finishes the spell, and sweeps the haniwa up carefully in the makeshift covering, meaning to take it out of this place.]

Yes. For now. [He's not certain how long it will hold; if the haniwa could start appearing past the wards he placed after only a little while, then he was certain he would not be able to contain their evil for long, either.] Long enough to take it elsewhere.

Are you finished with them? [He looks upon the frenzied youkai with mixed amusement and disdain, already swiftly taking himself back towards the exit. He was not looking to be next, especially carrying this precious cargo.]

[mahoraga]

[ It's probably useful to have sorcerers around who know little spells like these, he thinks. Megumi himself is limited only to his general cursed energy manipulation and his innate technique. He can't do anything like this, even if he had access to all his cursed energy.

What he can do is beat up humans and spirits alike. As he has just done. With the Haniwa sealed up, the hallucinogenic effect seems to wear off gradually, some of the youkai gradually coming to their senses and calming down. ]

Looks like I am. [ As the youkai he was fighting ease out of their frenzy, they wake up to a beaten body, bruises and some fractures here and there.

Megumi looks incredibly guilty right now, with the chair leg in his hand and the blood against his flesh and clothing (some his, some not). Whoops.

The only thing he can think of to do is run away before the youkai start realising what he had done to them. ] Okay. Let's go.

[ He's speedwalking out with Matoba now sryjdtuk ]

[worldbent]

[Such is a shounen- what use is power if you're not beating someone up with it. Unfortunately, beating someone up and not finishing the job usually leaves them pretty pissed off with you, so as the ayakashi start to wake from their curse-induced stupors, Matoba makes sure he is not in their line of sight as he is pushing out of the door of the bar, swinging it wide for Megumi to catch on his way powerwalking from the scene of the crime.]

[He's still covered in blood, but like, that's fine. Matoba doesn't seem bothered by it as they escape out into the night air, and anyway, it seems that it's started to rain. The blood should wash off soon enough, anyway- how convenient!]

Ah, what a pain. [Matoba frowns up at the sky, and draws the parasol that is always tucked into his obi, opening it against the rain. At least it would keep the haniwa, and its paper charm, from getting wet.] I suppose I ought to find an Enma station to bring this to, for the time being...

That's right- Fushiguro-kun, wasn't it?- what do you think of these little fellows? You seem to have some experience with curses, as well.

[mahoraga]

[ Such concern you have for him, senpai.

Of course, Megumi himself doesn't acknowledge his own wounds, very much used to ignoring and powering through situations despite physical pain. He should probably get this treated, at least, because he's not an idiot. It's on the to-do list. For now, he takes off his jacket and ties it around himself, putting pressure on his shoulder wound. The pouring rain on top of it all just makes the whole situation feel miserable, but it's not the worst thing he's experienced. He doesn't ask to go under the umbrella. ]

The aura they give off feels disgusting and volatile. Whoever crafted them was probably a very powerful sorcerer.

[worldbent]

[Haha, yeah. Not really.]

[But it really would be a shame if he let such a talented jujutsushi recruit bleed out in the middle of the street after a stupid bar brawl, so Matoba will make sure that Megumi learns where the hush-hush and newly opened clinic was tucked away, so that he could get himself patched up. For the time being, at least they have gotten out of the most dangerous part of the situation.]

Yes... I doubt it was human, of course, given where we are- but it is the amount of power and the consistent output that truly concerns me.

To generate and remotely summon them into the city en masse... That takes quite a lot of power reserves. [Know-how, too; he could tell that the haniwa had been carefully crafted with the explicit intent to carry their craftsmans' malicious will. Human potters with this sort of skill had largely died out, in the modern era.... Had ayakashi taken on that tradition, with their twisted intents?]

Most pottery of power I have experience with are tools for sealing curses, not spreading them.

[mahoraga]

[ There are too many facets to this Haniwa-maker's ability - the ability to manifest dolls in random places, the large and potent amount of cursed energy each doll possessed, and the fact that there did not seem to be a limit to the number of dolls that can spawn. ]

Most cursed techniques have a limitation ... It's unnerving that this one doesn't seem to.

[ Usually, power is sacrificed for numbers or vice versa. It's not at all the case with the statues. ]

Are you very experienced in making seals, Matoba-senpai? [ Looks that way from just now. ]

[worldbent]

[Just one or two of those would have been worrying enough. It was good at least that they were in agreement over the severity of the situation; it seemed anyone involved enough with the business knew this was trouble.]

...Perhaps the limitation may be a factor we are unaware of. [--Sacrifice?? Could it..] In any case there seems to be little even the Enma can do at this time, which is the more worrying factor.

The Enma's strength is certainly greater than our own. [It was simply the truth.]

[Matoba glances towards Megumi, noting his interest in the technique.] Yes. It is a requisite part of the job, after all.

Some spirits are simply too powerful to be destroyed without significant losses, even with the resources available to the Matoba clan. In those cases, at least we can seal a troublesome thing away. All that really does is kick it down the line, though... [He blinks once, curiously eying Megumi.] You said that you do not interact much with your clan, hm, Fushiguro-kun? Does that mean that you have not learned any seal techniques? [Perhaps he had come to learn his shadow techniques all on his own, through observation? How talented that would be.]

[mahoraga]

[ In exchange for power this immense, a huge limitation would need to be imposed - or the culprit could just be a being of near infinite cursed energy similar to Gojo-sensei. Either way, he is in agreement that it's worrisome that the Enma seems to be confused about the situation as well and has been scrambling to manage it. As for that talk about certain spirits being too powerful to destroy - he's reminded not of a spirit, but of a certain person, and subsequently of the unfinished business he had left behind in the world of the living. Megumi looks away for a second, momentarily distracted by his thoughts with a tinge of frustration in his brows. He eventually shakes it off and returns his attention to his senior. ]

To be honest, I haven't met most of them. [ And he's somehow been made head. Confusing?? Anyway, he doesn't want to meet them. There's a shake at the head in regard to sealing techniques. He currently doesn't know how to do them. ]

Is that a basic technique where you're from? [ Not everyone can use a seal in jujutsu society. ]

[worldbent]

I see...

[Interesting. A scattered clan, maybe? Political strife. A branch family, broken off, and the main family in disarray...? These are the factors that immediately come to mind, for Matoba. For one who has been steeped in the politics of the exorcist community his entire life, who has seen (experienced) every manner of backstabbing and powergrabbing and everything inbetween, the blanks fill in themselves.]

[It wasn't hard to imagine a scenario in which an estranged descendant of a clan suddenly finds themselves inheriting.]

[As he ponders Megumi's situation, he leads him through the streets with a destination in mind, even if the boy didn't realize it. It was within the edges of Sutoku territory... hidden enough that non-clanmembers could find their way there without trouble.]

That's right. Without some grasp on both suppression and destruction, an exorcist would be hard-pressed to have a solution to every problem one may be hired for... Of course, each clan has their particular strengths in this or that.

...For us Matoba, it is the latter. [He smiles down at Megumi.] But there is also a suppression specialist in this city. Did you know? Those who master the use of paper seals are said to be able to commune with the gods directly.

[mahoraga]

[ Megumi doesn't quite know where they are going, but he has a sense that Matoba is leading them somewhere and they aren't just walking aimlessly away from the scene of the chaos from before. Or maybe he could be wrong and they could be walking aimlessly? He'll find out.

Though the expression on his face remains stoic, there's curiousity in his sharp green eyes as he listens with interest. Megumi loves to learn things and commit them to memory, no matter how trivial. This is definitely not trivial, so yes, he is learning. For jujutsu sorcerers, there is a far greater focus on destruction than there is on suppression. It is a similar concept, however -- entities or cursed objects too strong for anyone in the generation of sorcerers to deal with are sealed away. ]

Paper seals ... I met a man who could imbue his cursed energy into paper dolls. [ Are they both talking about Natori? ]

[worldbent]

Oh?

[Matoba's smile curls, cat-like.] Isn't that interesting. It's a small world we're trapped in, here, Fushiguro-kun.

[Go on. Ask him. That narrowed eye dares him to.]

[mahoraga]

[ It is quite a small world, but he isn't too surprised given that they all live in the same city and do not seem able to leave it. He's not sure whatever Matoba and Natori have going on is really something he wants to get involved in, but he's also a curious person who likes to know things, so he asks further. ]

Sounds like you both have history.

[worldbent]

[Tsk, tsk, too green, Fushiguro-kun.... Matoba glances away with some muted mischief in his smirk, but he looks somehow a little deflated.]

...It's possible. If I indeed know the man you are speaking of. [Not even giving him a name! He is going to keep playing coy for as long as propriety demands that he at least keep up the appearance of detachment. It won't be that simple to get information out of your Sutoku seniors.]

[Speaking of which. Matoba stops in a narrow street, outside of an unmarked and fairly nondescript building; it was a shortstack of a storefront amongst all the other crowded buildings, but the few windows it had were drawn with blinds from the outside.]

Here we are. Fushiguro-kun, do take care not to inform others recklessly of this location. However, should the need truly arise, you should be aware of it.

...We ought to part. I will take care of this cursed figure, so you see to your wounds. If the director inside questions you, simply inform her that you are a new member of the Alliance. [The director being Emily, another of his senpais.... But at least the teen will have his wounds taken care of, minor they may be. At least Matoba could be responsible for this much.]

/end

[mahoraga]

[ Wow. Making him curious, then being cagey right after? Megumi gives his senior an annoyed look at that. Now he kind of wants to know! He isn't the type to push on and ask, however, and he probably should get these wounds treated because he can feel himself becoming a little light-headed.

He's grateful to be told of this place, at least. ]

Fine. Do what you have to. [ That's a priority, anyway. He's still allowed to find Matoba's attitude annoying though. Holding on to where he's wrapped a makeshift bandage over his wounds, he makes his way into the building. ]

I'll see you next time then.