[OPEN] hey young blood

[baofeng]

Who ⬤ Yizhi and you?
What ⬤ May catch-all log! Yizhi watches some Arena matches, does some sidestories, and gets his bread.
When ⬤ Early May
Where ⬤ Around the city, particularly Shuten / Tamamo locations
Content Warnings ⬤ None atm


The Arena (Shuten territory)
[Yizhi, perhaps surprisingly, visits Shuten territory on a semiregular basis. In May, he spends part of his promotion bonus for a bloodred phoenix-print scarf; when he wears it out the oni that used to catcall him on the street raucously congratulate him, like he’s a funky little stray animal they’ve come to appreciate. They don’t like him, no. Especially not with the turf war brewing between their clans. But this tentative unnameable camaraderie is enough for Yizhi, who ultimately doesn’t like them either.]

i: Arena noticeboard
[At the Arena, he pours over the lists of fighter names and match times. He takes his time, scrutinizing intensely… but eventually, steps back with a sigh. Another yokai shoves past him to look at the lists- or maybe you’re the one struggling to get a better view.]

ii: Match spectating
[When an anticipated match is played out, the roars from the Arena stands sound like a single gargantuan beast. Yizhi looks reticent, staying in his seat as other yokai leap up around him to cheer and jeer at the fighters- but he’s watching, clearly kind of intrigued with this form of entertainment. Chat him up while he’s here. Or, eventually, when a junior bookie comes wading through the stands, shouting for people to place their bets on the next fight. Then, Yizhi looks to the notes he’d been keeping on his phone and to the Lost Soul in the seat next to him.]

Have you made any bets before?

[Or something else. Throw popcorn at him, whatever.]

The Mizukume (Tamamo territory)
[Tenkohime had offered him a managerial position here. It’s not his ideal career, but he wants the connections and he wants the money, so. He’s opted for a more modern-style uniform: a suit accented with the red and gold Tenkohime favors. When nicely dressed up he’s almost as beautiful as the courtesans themselves, but he’s firm about not playing courtesan himself. And the Mizukume’s longtime clients know better than to push their luck with a worker.]

a: On the clock
[Those who splurge on an evening at the Mizukume may come across Yizhi, though he’s usually working with the front-of-house staff rather than manning the counters himself.

If your character is a fellow promoted Lost Soul who’s taken up work at the Mizukume, you’ll see him more often- and if you’re next to him in the stylish pantry at breaktime, he might lean over to you and share an article or rumor he’s read about on the public web. Did you hear, this really good teppanyaki place is doing a promotion! Did you hear, an umishika businessman ran off with 3 million yen they raised for a sham ‘investment project’ and disappeared down the Sanzu!?]]

b: Substory #2 - Vend me a Dream
[A kejourou in the city has an ambitious dream: they’re assembling a photocard collection of all the beauties in Jigoku-cho (or all the ones they like, but that’s splitting hairs). And with all the Lost Souls coming to them for information on a certain vending machine, they’re closer to that dream than ever. There’s just one problem: a few of those “beauties” are courtesans at the Mizukume. And unlike Sutoku host clubs, the Mizukume doesn’t do photocards.]

-no, we don’t do pictures, and no, the kejourou can’t come in to take a photo either. They’ve asked before and we already told them no. That’s weird and creepy.

[Yizhi’s tone of voice is distinctly “Sir/Mdm/Distinguished Guest, you’re already speaking to the manager”. If it was the kejourou he would’ve called security already, but the yokai’s figured it out and are sending proxies now. He doesn’t want to shoot the messenger, but good heavens.]

What about this- what if you find another model and pretend it’s a photo of Hina-san? The kejourou’s got hair all over their face, their eyesight can’t be too good. I can try to loan you one of our kimonos to make it even more convincing.

[Please let this nonsense end, he wants to go home on time today.]

Wildcard
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Comments

[baofeng]

They don’t know how because they never had to learn, maybe.

[That would be his guess. Lalli’s blunt judgment reminds him a bit of Zetian, who knows the mountains better than he does, who every so often says I guess you wouldn’t know about that, you’re from the city. She taught him more than he could ever learn from his tutors, which is perhaps the point of Huaxia’s city planning — no one living in Chang’an need ever know the fears of living on the frontier, and giving up on the wisdoms of living on the frontier was a fair exchange for it.

Still, there is something else he believes:]

If something like what you have in your homeland appeared here, I think people’ll figure something out. Adaptability is one of the best virtues we can have.

[silentscout]

Mmm.

[It's for the best, Lalli reminds himself. He has seen two entirely different worlds now, and he's heard stories of dozens more. Through those tales he has been able to pick up on just how messed up his world truly is, and how it's a good thing that certain parts of it don't exist here. As annoying as it is to not be understood in the way that only someone who has lived the same struggle as you can understand, he'll take that over the pain and death that has defined nearly all twenty-one years of his life so far.

Besides, living in the same world isn't a guarantee that he would be understood anyway. Only a handful of people ever really 'got' him, and most of those people are already dead.]

The survivors would adapt, yes. There's enough people here that a few would learn and find ways to keep living. And the tengu would probably be alright as well, they're not mammals.

[At least his world's zombie death plague only affects mammals!]

[baofeng]

[He’s not going to offer an understanding he doesn’t have. Yizhi’s gotten the sense that they are very different from their first meeting, after all, and he doesn’t need Lalli to love him.

He will, however, offer friendship. Yizhi nods in agreement to Lalli’s assessment, delicately resting his chin on one hand to further present the image of deep thought.]

Mmm… there are probably other yokai that aren’t mammals either… like the kappa? I’m not sure. [A pause, before he adds:] Do you like this place, so far?

[silentscout]

It's alright. Loud.

[He already complained about it being loud though, so he won't repeat himself too much there.]

The food is good. So many different people means so many different ways of cooking.

[baofeng]

Have you been to the parks? They’re not very big, but they’re quieter.

[Not quiet, for even without the intermittent birdsong there persists the thrum of the city, only more distant-sounding as if through a fog. But they’re a compromise, and Yizhi enjoys them. Lalli seems the sort who might like them, too.]

Mmm, you can find nice food in a lot of places. Even here, I hear they have really good spicy chicken. [He glances around, trying to find the stall he’s talking about.] Apparently almost everyone buys some before watching the matches.

[silentscout]

They're okay.

[It's not the same as the forests he grew up in, but then again nothing is the same as home. If he keeps trying to find 'home' here then he's just going to end up disappointed.

The mention of spicy chicken is something though. After hearing that, Lalli turns to look over towards one of the food vendors. The lines are short right now, and it's a perfect time to get some grub.]

Okay. Let's eat.

[baofeng]

Okay! I think it’s that one, with the sign.

[After identifying the stall, Yizhi rises from his seat. It’s spicy chicken time!!!]