May 2022 Mini Event

[jigokumods]

MAIN NAVIGATION


As the Haniwa continue to pop up in the city and the turf war rages on, life goes on in the city.

1. SHUTEN CLAN

Remember the Isonade? Yeah, those guys. The surly shark-dudes who were no doubt involved in some black market smuggling along the banks of the Sanzu. They were too tough to fight off in order to figure out what they were up to, last time.

Well, Toraguma has caught wind of them now. Despite the ongoing turf war, he’s not about to lose out on an opportunity here! He wants his Shuten Clan operatives to scour the river looking for these guys. They will be a lot harder to find without the rabbits’ help, though. If you find them, you are to “inform them” that the Shuten Clan will be taking over their operation. If they have problems with that, well… you know what to do.

Don’t forget that they’re quite strong and that they aren’t too keen on giving up the information on their supply line without a fight. You’ll need to use teamwork to get what you need out of them.

Should you manage your way to their warehouse, you’ll find a fresh shipment of their products: specialized herbs, mineral-rich clay, and rarefied ore. None of these products can be found in the city naturally. The Isonade won’t dare name their primary buyer but they will let slip that all of this is being smuggled into the city from the outer Wastelands.

The Shuten Clan will demand their cut out of this operation, but you may get the impression that this is only one small piece of a much larger shadow creeping over the city…

Art by Alejandro Gonzalez Agudelo

2. SUTOKU ALLIANCE

The death and subsequent “rebirth” of the Daitengu has caused a considerable amount of chaos. Many of the subsidiary tribes have struggled under the weight of uncertainty during this debacle. The Daitengu has decided that an apology tour is owed. It’s good for the sake of the Alliance, after all.

Oh, but they’re not going to be doing it themselves. You, the Sutoku Lost Souls, will be fully responsible for it. ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

Sutoku Souls are tasked with going to various businesses and tribe centers with an offering of gifts and deference to any and every group within the Alliance who will agree to meet with you. The gifts have been provided by the Daitengu, and are mainly snacks and coupons. Which will not be enough to please everyone. Some clans will demand more and some, in their rage, will try to take their anger out on you. You are an (lowly) ambassador right now, better to turn the other cheek.

This all boils down to be less of an apology tour and more of a bribe tour. What the Daitengu has provided won’t cover everything and you’re going to have to go out of pocket to truly placate the other clans. If you don’t have enough cash on hand, you may be asked to do various unpaid tasks and labors: washing dishes, scrubbing floors, cleaning windows, taking out the trash, serving kids’ birthday parties; any amount of the lowest work you can imagine.

It’s rough! But somebody’s gotta do it

3. DEPARTMENT OF THE ENMA

The chaos of the Night Parade has caused a resurgence of unaffiliated gangs popping up around Jigokucho. They can usually be found identifying themselves through the use of basic colors and mascots. They are made up almost entirely of violent youths with uncertain futures, who are lashing out at an uncaring world. The antics of the Daitengu, the accusations against the Enma, and the squabbling between Shuten and Tamamo is not inspiring their confidence nor loyalty.

In addition to this problem, the retrieval of the Haniwa is going poorly. Most residents are too uncomfortable to even touch the statues and their appearances don’t seem to be slowing down. There are too many for the Department to collect.

With an abundance of cursed objects in town, the petty gangs have decided this is an ample resource for them. They are using the Haniwa to harass the general public and against one another. They have weaponized the excess Haniwa and are using them as “curse bombs”, hurling them at both each other and the residents they want to intimidate. It’s getting nasty.

It’s the Department’s job to keep the Haniwa figures from falling into the wrong hands and to keep some semblance of order. The official orders from the Office of the Enma are directing all hands to converge against the youth gangs. Use any force necessary and retrieve those figurines.

4. TAMAMO CLAN

How inconvenient! In addition to the complications of the turf war, an extremely important time of the year has arrived for the Tamamo Clan.

It is time for the yearly visit of one of the clan’s greatest benefactors: the Tennin. These Celestial Immortals descend from the Heavenly Realms to spend time (and incredible amounts of money) in Hell’s Playground, Jigokucho. Hell simply offers the sort of delights you just can’t get in Heaven. Due to Tenkohime’s connections with them, the Celestials have had her host them for several years in a row now. She emphasizes how incredibly important it is to keep them happy.

The Celestials want entertainment and delights of every variety. It’s up to the Tamamo Clan’s Lost Souls to entertain them. Your entertainments can take many forms: keeping the Celestials company, putting on a performance, showing off your cooking and skills, tea ceremonies, and other exhibitions. Should you choose the carnal and kinky route for entertainments, know that you won’t be laying down with any Celestials themselves. Oh, no no no, they’re Heavenly, after all! This is still performance, so you may need a partner to help you out.

Keep in mind that the legends are true! The Celestials are deeply deeply fond of peaches. Both literal and metaphorical. 🍑

The Celestials love to chat and gossip, so keeping them entertained is also an excellent way to hear some interesting information. Tamamo artisans will likely learn that many Celestials openly trade with Tenkohime. In fact, the aphrodisiac goods that the Tamamos so famously deal in come, in large part, from the Celestials. Tamamo isn’t the only clan they do business with either. They also have connections within the Sutoku Alliance and are the land owners of several Alliance properties. They are considered one of the primary sources of capital in the real estate market.

Why would the Celestials want properties in a world they literally can’t live in? Doesn’t that just reek of capitalism.

5. TURF WAR (ALL FACTIONS)

The turf war between the Shuten and Tamamo clans is at a simmer right now. Which doesn’t mean that it’s over – not even close. Minor magical traps, similar to those found in the sewer, have been found in Shuten territory. Frustrated Shuten enforcers have been taking out their anger on anyone that so much as looks at them funny. Bars in both districts are regularly getting smashed up. Knife fights are breaking out in the streets. Cars known to belong to members of both clans turn up with slashed tires. There’s even rumors of hits being taken out on higher ranking members.

Watch your step if you’re out and about in either territory. Faction affiliation doesn’t matter when tensions are running high. What’s more, rumors are flying all over about which of the two warring clans is going to be the one to escalate the violence further.

Will tensions boil over at any moment? At what point does the Department of the Enma have to step in? Why haven’t they already?

It’s all getting too much to handle…

6. CURSED OBJECTS (ALL FACTIONS)

The presence of the Haniwa is having increasingly frightening effects. There are whispers about blood coming out of the walls and the floors in apartments, about black ooze pouring from faucets and coming up from storm drains. There are even whispers of terrible household hauntings.

These aren’t just rumors though. Bars are having to close early due to the presence of wailing ghosts inhabiting the toilet or blood pouring from the taps. People run screaming out of alleyways pursued by ghostly hands.

These curses and hauntings seem to be fairly localized; kept to one building or one block at a time. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason as to when these accursed sightings will take effect.

Be careful out there! Who knows what could happen with so much terrible energy running rampant.

Welcome to the mini event!

• If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
• FOR THE PURPOSES OF REWARDS, since all of these prompts tie into the main plot in some way, we will count all qualified threads in this post as 2 point threads!
• If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.

Comments

QUESTIONS!

[jigokumods]

Questions about the mini-event? post them here!

[everblooms]

would the celestials find any interest in aerith's healing magic? it's pretty minor and mostly for relief/scratches/misc. surface wounds, but maybe it could count as a parlor trick?? lmao.

REGARDLESS, would they talk about the wastelands at all, once asked? aerith dug into the haniwa, so she'd also be interested in how they respond to the clay figures.

kate galloway × original × tamamo

[bratherine]

— out of this world entertainment ( tamamo event ).

( Kate really is not the person for this gig. Tea ceremonies? You stick the kettle on, who needs a ceremony for that? Cooking? ... Mmm, best not ask her. And it's not like she has skills (well, she can parkour, but the thought of putting it on display for these heavenly dickheads, as though she's some kind of professional clown, is galling).

Which is how Kate comes to be looking at. Uh.

A maid costume. )

You're kidding.

( The intricate dress couldn't be much further from her own leggings and t-shirt combination, and doesn't even have the fraction of respect her sleek restaurant hosting outfit offers. But no amount of glaring will get her out of this one, as the higher up says — if you can't keep them entertained with your abilities, serve and look pretty.

(That particular comment gets a finger flipped at him as soon as his back is turned.)

But eventually, she emerges, biting her cheek as she approaches a Celestial and bows, holding back a myriad of less ladylike words to ask a simple question of what is it these guys want to do.

Which is how she comes to be standing in a casino, running drinks back and forth to a couple of divinely lucky Celestials as they play the slot machines.

Fucking hell this is boring. But at least she doesn't seem to see any other Lost Souls at this moment in time. Maybe she can get through this without too many people seeing her in this damn outfit. )

— turf war ( tamamo territory ).

Watch it!

( For fuck's sake. She finally gets a minute away from those damn angels and the maid costume, and some idiot has decided it would be a great time to throw a few bottles at bar windows.

And now at her, because snapping watch it! when one goes whizzing past your head is a surefire way to make yourself a target. The guy — probably a Shuten clan member, given that the first words Kate thinks of when she looks at him are big, dumb and ugly — turns his next bottles at Kate herself, but thankfully, he also seems like he's been drinking before he started this, and it's easy for her to dodge each bottle, letting them shatter over the pavement instead.

Or, in the case of the last one, go flying right at someone else as Kate jumps atop a nearby stall that's already been abandoned by its much more sensible owner.

Better duck, buddy. )

— surf & turf war ( shuten territory ).

( She still thinks talismen are weird, but they're effective and she's been given a bunch of them. Nothing complicated, not when the mission is stick them down and get the hell out, but certainly an effective way to send a message, or so her boss says.

(Boss, not boss lady, because Kate's still doing her damnedest to keep her head down and herself out of Tenkohime's interest.)

She sneaks into Shuten territory in the easiest way she knows how — across the rooftops, taking advantage of the thick scramble of a city to keep herself from being spotted on the ground — and slips down not too far from one of the bars she's been told is popular with those fuckers, black hoodie and jeans as nondescript as it gets, brown hair tied back and hidden under the hood.

From there, it's just a simple case of slapping (quite literally) a bunch of small papers across windows. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Easy. They almost look like stickers, something left there by locals for whatever reason people attach stickers to random parts of the city. But people with good eyes or the simple luck of being able to catch this act as it's perpetuated in the early hours of the morning, may realise otherwise.

She doesn't detonate them immediately. Of course she doesn't. That just brings people running over, even if it's early, and she needs to escape first. Which means ascending to a nearby rooftop once more. Not exactly the most unsuspicious behaviour when you consider the ongoing tensions, but she's hoping not to be caught before she activates these things.

Hope, as Kate should well know, is a bit of a fool's game, however. )

— it's you who's haunting me ( ??? somewhere lmao ). cw: references to predatory relationships

( It's not like the gossip about these events have passed Kate by, but the events themselves? Yeah, she's kinda gotten off scot free for the time being. As it is, only hearing about them makes it all sound like a bad horror movie. Blood oozing out the walls? A. Gross. B. Sure it does, Jan.

She proceeds without fear, because when you're 16 and have long believed ghosts to be bullshit made up for movies, not seeing is not believing. Which is why she doesn't think twice about cutting through a side street to make her walk home easier.

It should be fine. Because ghosts aren't real. And since ghosts aren't real, she's not going to see anything—

And certainly not the too familiar, grey-suited shoulders and strawberry blond hair of someone she only wishes were dead.

Shit.

Her lungs tighten, heart somewhere between a solid stone lump and buzzing with the need to pump enough blood to her limbs that she listens to the urge to run and gets the fuck out of there. But they're almost frozen, heavy and locked in place just long enough that he turns around, those same piercing blue eyes boring into her as they did the last time she saw him. )

Kat—

...No. Nope. ( Her name shakes her from her frozen state, head moving wildly, voice strained. ) Don't fucking call me that.

You're not still mad about that, are you?

( Oh, come on, legs. Work. When they finally start to move, it's a relief, and Kate doesn't so much as think twice about heading backwards, barrelling back out the way she came while throwing an emphatic; ) Get lost! ( over her shoulder.

No. She got away. He cannot have found her here, of all places. She just needs to keep running, as far and as fast as she—

... can in order to plow into a random person on the streets. Shit. Great. She's quick to pull back, pupils blown wide and face pale. )

Get out of my way.

( It's a demand, not a request. )

— wildcard.

( hit me with your best shot etc. exits / exits#8071 if you wanna hash anything out. )

[surf and turf war]

[trustheart]

[Chris is nervous about the tensions between the two clans; so much it has her out, late at night, trying to patrol their territory for any signs of someone out to accelerate the conflict between both sides. And well, wouldn't you know it? She spies someone on the rooftops, suspiciously setting something up.

Growling to herself, and not even thinking of just what she's going to do, she runs into the building of the roof Kate is trying to reach, hoping to catch her by the time she reaches it. In which case, she'll reveal herself, and:]

Hey! What the hell were you trying to do?! Who do you work for?!

Dante | Devil May Cry | The Shuten Clan

[demonrebel]

HELL HAS NO FURY (Open to the Sutoku Alliance)

[If the Sutoku Alliance thinks this hobo-tour is going to appease Dante, then they have another thing coming. Instead of letting the Alliance approach him, the devil hunter goes to them. He’s armed to the fucking teeth too, we’re talking two custom-style pistols at the holster and a one massive demonic black sword strapped against the back of his coat. Dante was tempted to buy a rocket launcher from the Black Market but thankfully, he didn’t. While might be absolutely furious right now, Dante isn’t the type to let his anger cloud his better judgment…<>much.

So where’s your boss?

[That’s the question he asks the second he lays eyes on you Sutoku punks. No pleasantries at all, not even a cordial “Hey” or “How you’re doing?” Just this frigid aloofness that harkens back to his earlier years as a hired gun. Dante is not in the mood for anyone’s shit right now and it shows on his rather stoic expression.]

You!

[Yep, he's pointing right at you. It's too late to walk away. Dante is already approaching.]

Yeah, you! I’m talkin’ to you, sweetheart. Where’s your boss?

[Don’t make him repeat the question again. You know how those Shuten dudes get down and “Red Coat” is known to be one of the worst ones.]

Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

[He reloads Ebony (the black gun) to illustrate his point.]

WRANGLING SHARKS (Shuten Only)

Heeeeeeey! [He nudges his foot against something on the ground.] Get up already!

[**nudge, nudge**]

Oh, c’mon! I didn’t punch you that hard, bud!

[The thing or rather “person” he keeps nudging is one of those ugly-ass street sharks that Toraguma told the clan to hunt down. While the rest of the Shuten dudes are having a bit of trouble finding these goofy-looking sharks, Dante manages to find one of these big dudes over by the river near the bridge. He trailed the dude for a good while before suddenly getting the jump on him.

It was a brief little skirmish at best, one that barely lasted a minute after Dante punched the shark dude. We’re not talking about your average jab to the chin but rather a well-timed punch to the gonads. That’s right, Dante punched this sorry son of a bitch right in the dick. It wasn’t his intention at first but after the Isonade knocked him on his ass, Dante immediately retaliated with a perfectly timed counter.
Now he’s standing over the quivering body of one of these muscular shark dudes looking utterly confused.]

Yo, is he dead?

[He nudges the shark-dude with his boot again.]

Man, the demons here suck.

WITHOUT HONOR OR HUMANITY (Open to the Tamamo & Shuten Clans)

[All Tamamo enforcers better watch out for this big brute in the nice red leather coat. “Red Coat” is at it again, y’all, and this time he’s playing for keeps. Toraguma tore him a new one for messing around in the skirmish earlier. Dante wasn’t pulling his weight according to the big blue guy, and now he has to work. That explains why Dante is running around in the sewers again kicking ass and taking names. He needs to prove his worth or risk losing that fancy-smashy promotion he got.

Dante won’t attack if he knows you, especially if you’re a drinking buddy. However, the rest of you Tamamo folks are screwed. He’s really not here to make friends today and it shows by how quickly he tries to smash the next dude’s face with a well-timed punch to the kisser.]

Hold still! [Dante yells as he gears up for another punch.] Just lemme rearrange your face a little~!

[Who wants to volunteer as tribute right now? Feel free to try to stop him. Dante is here for all the smoke. However, Dante is very money-motivated as well. So, if you want to be left alone with your face intact, cut him a deal.]

WILDCARD (OTA)

(Want to do something else? Feel free to write your own prompts here or hit me up on Discord! disclaimer: I'm still on hiatus till the 26th, so tags will be semi-slow.)

hell hath no fury

[identitycrisiscore]

[It's not really that Cloud wants to be on the apology tour, really, but it's an order from on high, and it's expected, and there's at least some opportunity to understand what's going on by listening to people bitch and complain. So it's only a small surprise that the 'Red Coat' he's heard higher ups talking about is causing a stir.]

[The man's clearly been here long enough to get himself an arsenal, which makes Cloud feel woefully under-equipped, but he's still trained to fight, which is probably more than a few of the Sutoku regulars.]

[So it's just his luck he's the one who's getting intimidated. Unfortunately, Cloud has always been more than a little rebellious.]

If you think you can get an audience with 'the boss' [The words out of his mouth are more than a little sarcastic.] Just by scaring the daylights out of those of us on apology duty, I've got bad news for you: not gonna happen.

So why don't you go pick a fight somewhere else. [Cloud... may be trying to use this as a provocation to get Dante ranting about whatever the hell he feels he needs to see the boss about. He's been doing that with a lot of people today.]

Ydris | Original | Sutoku Alliance

[enterthe]

Apology Tour, Cut Short OTA
[Ydris' first reaction to the apology orders was "Is this a joke-?" which was not appreciated, right off the bat. Given they'd gotten a promotion so recently, it was expected of them to not only take it seriously, but be a good example. Which, no, fuck that! The Daitengu has done nothing of value since Ydris got here! Why should they have to apologize on behalf of this bumbling fool-?

Going out, they promptly talked mad shit to their first assignment. To their surprise, they got completely told off. H-here they were trying to appeal and relate to their discontent! Ydris' poor attempt to fan up flames of anger completely backfired on them, basically immediately.

So, witness them getting practically tossed out of the first establishment they visited. They got spray bottled and shaken down for the bribe offerings intended for multiple places, not just this one... Bad call...]

Is there anything worse than getting yelled at... [they mutter to themself, straightening out and puffing irritated smoke from their various flames] I need a new plan. I'm not doing this!

A New Plan Tamamo Only, Possible NSFW
[Time to pivot strategies. They're not apologizing on behalf of the Daitengu, not a chance. If they have to placate their leader by putting in effort elsewhere, then fine. The Celestials present plenty of opportunities. They'll wheedle their way out of groveling and move on to entertaining.

They'll buy, bribe, or charm their way into Tamamo territory to get in with them early. Ydris wants to get acquainted well before such heavenly beings start looking at Sutoku properties. Get in early, make an outstanding impression, and that will make it much easier to talk them into generous contracts. Fortunate for Ydris, plenty of the Celestials seem very intrigued by what they can do with their projected limbs. Extra hands, tentacles, or more explicit body parts can be made at Ydris' discretion! If they remain in their candle form, up to four all at once. How novel-

One disembodied hand gently catches the sleeve of a passing by Tamamo member in this particular club. Ydris pulls them aside to inquire, politely...]

Might you be available as a demonstration partner? I can work within your comfort.

[they await an answer, not sure if they've snagged someone willing to get outright down and dirty with an audience, put on something more like a strip show with some added hands to help, or just run to get them drinks to pass out to their guests using tentacles. Ydris could use whatever help they can get... and they'll discretely slip a bit of money over upfront, just to show they're good for it!]

EMBER Premium™ Current CR or Ember Users Only
[In another bid to impress, Ydris has shown off their EMBER app to the Celestials. It seems to get a mixed reception, many not certain what the purpose would be for them. They aren't Lost Souls, so what good is it?

So, with some adjustments, Ydris starts to devise a new version to show off. They plan to gamify the whole thing so the Celestials can have their own fun.

Obviously, it'll be a Premium service. Celestials only want to be involved if it's something exclusive, don't they? If there's no value assigned to it, why bother? It's not suitable to their station to be among the common yokai, after all. Oh no, no, this app was for Lost Souls only! The great intrigue of untold universes and experiences, hidden gems within the various factions.

In their current version, Celestial paid accounts are sequestered users who get to lurk around reading Lost Soul profiles, rating their favorites (hot-or-not is totally on theme), and comparing favorites amongst themselves. It wouldn't really be appropriate for them to mingle with the Lost Souls. They'll just be in their own little club, buying microtransactions of Dragon Coins to boost their favorites up the Heavenly Hotness Leaderboard (beta, subject to change).

Ydris looks up from their laptop at whatever café front they settled down at to work on this with a pack of cigarettes. In their human-like illusion, they don't stick out too much, so they pointedly call over whatever Lost Soul walks by. They can recognize most people who have made a profile on Ember, after all. They offer whoever they hail over to sit with them, before abruptly launching into conversation with-]

Have you noticed that a large number of Lost Souls are very attractive? It's a strangely high percentage.

apology tour

[kaientai]

I can think of a few things...

[ by contrast, ryouma is an old hand at all this. he's done more than his fair share of bowing and scraping before the right people in order to get the job done. having gotten a second promotion, ryouma's done a little bit to build out his wardrobe from the couple of outfits he's had so far. even if he personally has no taste he can tell image means something around here and fortunately there are people with a talent for fashion he can rely on in these situations. plus he looks very good in a suit. ]

What happened? Maybe you just need a new strategy.

Midoriya Izuku | My Hero Academia | Sutoku Alliance

[fullgauntlet]

[a. sutoku alliance]

[This must be what it's like to a rookie inside of a hero agency sometimes. Doing boring menial chores and tasks to make a good impression. Izuku is new to this entire thing so he feels a little bit like a fish out of water. A rookie that's wet behind the ears. All of those newbie analogies wrapped up into one.

At least it isn't so bad going around to the different businesses and tribes to offer up gifts of boxed mochi and coupons for a two-for-one at some random ramen shop. It's easy enough to put on a smile and offer up the box of fresh-made mochi and the coupon, right? At least Izuku looks like a stand-up mascot for this sort of thing. He has a decent smile and looks cute and trustworthy enough! He even bows politely!

Even if he looks like he might break into a nervous sweat at any second...]

Hello...! Please take this! C-courtesy of the Sutoku Alliance! We apologize for the recent troubles caused by our faction! ...

[Why does that sound so weird coming out of his mouth still? Please just take the boxed mochi and save him from this. Even if he's got the person or clan wrong!]

[b. turf war]

[Izuku can practically feel the tension in the air. While he is still learning about all of the factions it seems that the Shuten and Tamamo clans just can't calm down right now. It makes for a lot of issues in the streets. And even if Izuku isn't part of the department of Enma he can't help jumping in when there is trouble.

A knife fight is breaking out between members of the two clans. Someone yelling about setting off an illusion trap that changed someone into a chicken and another yelling that it wouldn't have happened if they didn't insult the fish. Izuku doesn't really get it...??

But he does jump in as soon as a knife is pulled and Izuku grabs the first person by the wrist. It's probably reckless since Izuku's quirks haven't been working correctly?!]

Stop it! There has to be a way to deal with this peacefully, you can't just pull a knife out at the smallest argument!?

[And now they're staring at him... Accusing him of being Enma scum.]

Actually... I'm ... I'm not-

[Is he going to get into a fight already?!]

[c. cursed objects]

[Izuku really is just trying to mind his own business for once. Looking at the various places for something to eat. Maybe some street food? Some of the food carts he's passed look pretty good.

He's hovering near a stand with grilled meat skewers and he feels his mouth water. He's about to reach out for one when suddenly a ghostly white hand shoots out from through the cart and reaches right for his throat?!]

Waughghgh?!?!

[Izuku flails dramatically and throws himself backwards with a heave!]

What was that?! What-?!

[d. bonus!]

[Now that Izuku has spent a couple of weeks here he wonders if he should try to get some new clothing... It's only so good for him to rotate the couple of items that he has while washing what he has. It's getting troublesome.]

I wonder what most people in the Sutoku Alliance tend to wear...? It's not like there's a dress code or anything, is there?

[It's not really like the yakuza, right? Or maybe he should get some clean black clothing?]

[e. wildcard]

[got something else? feel free to toss it down here! or find me at michrure for some plotting!]

c

[beginanew]

[Sasuke narrowly avoids the flailing boy with a click of his tongue. He's annoyed at having had to deal with so many of those creepy statues, to get slammed into.]

Watch it.

Okada Izō | Shuten

[heretic_blade]

((ooc: Izō is a CRAU from slumscape. He's possessed by a tengu named Karasu and has some physical changes in the form of lengthened ear tips, fangs, claws, black wings, and crow's legs from the knee down. ))

[ 1. Turf War ]

[ Izō is certainly getting into things. He's wandering through Tamamo territory in an interesting outfit, making use of his newly regained ability to shift his appearance somewhat. Long red hair contrasts sharply against the shiny vinyl well. He'd even gotten a pair of magic-enhanced boots to fit over his bird feet. A mask conceals the lower half of his face.

He's currently got the mask pulled down so he can smoke a cigarette, squatting in front of a bar with a very recently smashed window. It surely couldn't have been his handiwork...Pay no mind to the metal bat over his shoulder. ]

What, lookin' for a good time? Who ya with?

[ Ignore the dangerous glint in his eyes. ]

[ 2A. Cursed Objects ]

[ Izō is unfortunately extremely familiar with some of the hauntings going on right now. His apartment walls started bleeding and he immediately left without a word. So now he's wandering the streets aimlessly, stopping to stare at the black ooze flowing from a storm drain. ]

Not again...I ain't fuckin' doin' this again!

[ Someone may be a teensy bit traumatized. ]

[ 2B. Cursed Objects - Karasu option ]

[ Someone who looks a lot like Izō sits on a bench in one of the city's small parks. Blood bubbles up beneath the bench and ghostly hands reach up from the puddle. The tengu that wears Izō's face just grins down at it. A yellow halo cuts through the amber color of his iris. Izō was in danger of shutting down without intervention, so Karasu only did what was necessary.

It wasn't necessary. It rarely is. ]

Just like home. Great. [ Hollow. Empty. No rough Tosa accent. He looks up to call out to a passerby, pointing to the now howling puddle beneath him. ] Hey, does this shit happen often? Or is this a special occasion?

[ Sarcasm. ]

[ 3. Wildcard ]

[ These prompts not doing it for you? Got an idea? Did we plot something out? Drop me a starter or PM me here or on discord glitzkrieg#0673 and we can work something out! ]

1. turf war

[pitfight]

[ Unlike Izo, Nishitani has taken to a less direct weapon. In his hand is a knife, one he spins about lazily, whistling as he traverses the destruction. He's pleased with what the Shuten grunts have managed so far. Never one for shady tricks or traps laid out to keep conflict out of the public eye, this full on chaos has been something of a boon for Nishitani. ]

[ It's in chaos that he really shines, after all. ]

[ He's not looking for Izo when he sees him, but Nishitani looks over that outfit, smirking to himself. He himself is wearing a simple black suit, the tiger print button up undone to his mid chest, showing off the edges of his ink. There's blood on his body, but Nishitani doesn't seem to care. ]

Dressed like that? I know you can give me a good time.

Gao Yizhi's Mecha-fight Movie Screening

[baofeng]

[In the interests of moderating my tagload I'll only be responding to the first 3 tag-ins, though if existing CR would like to get a thread after that's been hit do drop me a line!]

tamamo event, but open to all who can think of an excuse to be there
[Yizhi shows his Celestial guests a video of gigantic animal mechas beating shit up, and it’s an instant hit.

He’s now at the adult movie theater down the road from the Mizukume, because his clients want to see the mecha videos on the big screen, they want it with surround sound, and they want more than Huaxia-tiktok-equivalents showing funny Chrysalis fails. Yizhi’s only got full-length battle streams of one specific Chrysalis on his tablet- so anyone coming into the theater to sneak a peek at the Celestials’ entertainment gets to see the Vermillion Bird absolutely wreck shit on the battlefield, DOOM-style.

In its Standard form, this metal bird is 50 meters tall, and it lurches from its resting-place against a mountainside flanked on both sides by massive walls. It beats the shit out of these crab-like monsters for 30 minutes at a time, just absolutely monstrous RIP TEAR KILL DESTROY efficient brutality, and when it fires a red-hot beam of qi from its beak it vaporizes entire swathes of its foes. It shrieks like a thing out of Hell, and other, smaller Chrysalises (in the shape of various other mythological creatures) scatter from it swearing as they fight their own monster-crab battles.

The Celestials binge several hours of Yizhi’s shadily-obtained-Li-Shimin-Content like a K-drama.]

a. [Then they demand Yizhi go buy a bunch of gundam kits so they can try to recreate the Chrysalises together. Anyone who came in to enjoy the show is also welcome to participate! In fact, Yizhi’s looking at you with a pleading expression as he struggles to carry an armful of boxes over to his clients, dropping one every few steps. The Celestials, naturally, haven’t budged from their seats.]

Hey- can you lend a hand? Please?

b. [Yizhi will be monitoring the tablet-projector connection for most of the screening, so anyone wanting to talk to him about the videos will most likely find him after the screening is done. Did you like the videos? Do you want to learn more about the war machines of his homeland? Talk to him about it!

Astute and empathetic Lost Souls may also notice that the Vermillion Bird seems… a little off at the start and end of most fights. It’s hard to tell whether a giant mecha bird is supposed to be unsteady when it first activates, or whether you’re anthropomorphising distress onto its shrieking, but when you watch several fights in a row there is certainly a pattern. And why doesn't it speak, when the smaller ones do?]

c. [hit me up if you've got other ideas!]

b

[sharpestsword]

[ Just because Julieta is on duty watching the door as additional security doesn't mean she can't watch whatever's playing as well. She wasn't expecting for the showing to be relevant to her interests but this has her attention. For her this isn't so much entertainment as it is a chance to study. She stares intently at the screen, noting even the slightest details of the fight. At least she can still be alert to anyone looking to be disruptive even while she's occupied. After all that she's in awe and needs to process what she's just seen. She approaches the guy with the tablet and leans right over it. ]

Where did you get this? I'd like to see more.

Minato Suizenji/Minakami | Hashihime of the Old Book Town | Shuten

[watermemory]

1: [STAKEOUT] (SHUTEN) (2 options, see below)

[The idyll really couldn't last forever.]

[He'd gotten a tip-off from Tama, who'd been led to one of the isonade meeting places a few weeks ago, thanks to an absconding rabbit. (His friend had, as usual, been cagey about what, exactly, had transpired when he'd actually run into the shark people (sharple) -- instead he'd fussed Minato out the door with dire imprecations to come back safe.) No doubt this had saved a lot of time, but it also meant sneaking to the meeting place, in a part of the city he still wasn't familiar with, finding a hiding spot near the Sanzu, and staking the location out to be sure the sharks wouldn't notice a couple of Toraguma's goons laying in wait. Now that he's actually forced into action, Minato is actually capable of being still and focused, but the nervous tension is coming off of him in droves, crouched there with a borrowed weapon and waiting for a sign.]

[In true VN fashion, we now arrive at a ROUTE SPLIT:]

1A: [GLASS 'EM]
[When the sharks appear, there's only a couple of them, which... should mean this is an even match, right? Minato gives his companion a worried look, but nods at them gamely:]

It's time, right? I've got your back.

[Time to burst out from ambush, in a direct confrontation with the isonade. Or...]

1B: [TAIL 'EM]
[The sharks start muttering about the latest cargo and guard duty -- not loud enough to tell any details, but from the businesslike way they start heading along the canal... Minato tips his head in the direction the isonade are going, speaking in an undertone.]

...think they can just lead us there?


---

5: [BETTER HIDE, BETTER RUN] (TURF WAR, ANY)
[After the stakeout and however that had concluded, Minato just wants to get home, dump his bloodied clothes in the laundry before his roommate notices, and then faceplant into a futon -- or the floor, whichever would be less effort. But he's got to cross through a Shuten war zone to get to the apartment. It doesn't matter that it's technically "his" territory -- it's bad all around.]

[A magical trap like a flashbang goes off in the road. Minato dives headlong into a cramped alleyway, as another explosion of shouting and weapons clashing echoes in the street.]

[After a minute, he realizes he isn't the only person hiding in the alley:]

Hey -- I just want to go home, I'm not here to -- if you want, we can work together to get out of here. Okay?

[If you're not with Shuten, he takes his black jacket off and offers it:]

I-if you're with me and wear this, they might think you're with us. From a distance, anyway.


---

6: [IT'S FATAL FRAME TIME, LADS LASSES AND NULLS] (CURSED OBJECTS, ANY)
[At the banks of the Sanzu again, though no sharks are in sight in this particular block. Instead (hidden from immediate sight) there's a row of those haniwa tucked in an alcove overlooking the river, and now there's something -- to Minato, anyway -- much worse.]

[Whatever the weather was before, it's raining -- not the businesslike downpour from the day of the faction mingle, but a violent thunderstorm. Whatever the time of day, it's midnight. The proportions of everything are subtly, disorientingly skewed; like you're looking at your surroundings with a child's viewpoint.]

[Minato's eyes are fixed on a ghostly bridge spanning the Sanzu. In the middle of it are indistinct shadowy figures -- usually there's only two, and diminutive enough that they must be children, but the shadows waver and sometimes there's only one, and sometimes there's a third, much taller figure.]

[Oh, and the Sanzu river itself? It's dyed a deep blood-red.]

[Minato has his back pressed against a wall, looking dazed and sick. He's either frozen watching this, or starts running towards the ghost bridge -- despite the fact that it doesn't really exist. Gonna stop him before he takes a dip?]


---

OTHER: [THE END OF A NO GOOD, TERRIBLE, VERY BAD DAY] (ANY)
[Night has actually fallen, and the furor that's gripped the city is dying down to a sullen glow. Minato's slumped on an outdoors bench, with a icepack on his neck (that has by now almost completely melted) and more than a few bruises. His eyes are closed, and he doesn't move at first when approached.]

...if you're here for a fight, give me five minutes.

[He is so tired.]

fatal frame time; i caused this in to being with my thought-crimes, also im sick of brackets >:T

[fuckdogramagra]

It's hard to overstate how...gradual, the shift back in time is. The shadow of a building acting as cover for the time of day to change, something flashing by in a shop window becoming a brilliant streak of lightning- it's all stuff he's used to, slipping in and out of delusions like this. It feels oddly comforting and homey, maybe because he's had less dramatic hallucinations lately, but also that it's coming on like he's used to, because he's in a high or a low. Now, of course, is a low, his feet practically dragging as he walks the long way around, trying to avoid one bridge because he doesn't want to get water spit at him again by the local hashihime. He did enough of a good job 'apologizing' for the Daitengu that he landed himself a job, but he's gotta pay back for the uniform, and also his legs feel like lead...coffee shop work isn't nearly as cute and fun as Naoshi made it seem. He's almost offended by that.

But the height differential is where his higher awareness finally kicks in to gear, forcing him to look up more than he normally would have to- and he spots the illusory bridge first. That's...too homey, too familiar, and he almost wanders closer himself, but this isn't his- he turns his head instead when he hears someone else moving a ways down, and realizes it's Minakami. This kind of thing is second nature to him, so even seeing the first few steps of Mina breaking in to a run has his nerves alight, and all the exhaustion is gone in an instant, as he books it to try and intercept his friend before he plunges in to the river.

"Mi-Minakami!" He manages to grab him around the middle, clinging as tight as he can and trying to keep him from plowing forward; he's not going to be strong enough to stop someone with his noodle arms, but he's smart enough to grab for the nearest hand he can and try to pinch the skin as hard as he can. It's snapped him out of delusions before- it might work here- he really hopes it works here or they're both liable to pitch in to the blood-red Sanzu, and he sure as hell can't swim.

cloud strife // final fantasy 7: remake // sutoku

[identitycrisiscore]

[1. apology tour - sutoku / ota]

[This sucks.
...But, it's managable.]

[It's not the first time Cloud's been roped into doing muscle work. It'll be far from the last. With a woefully inadequate supply of 'apology favors' to hand out, Cloud has instead been leaning on his mercenary work - a lot of which is just doing favors for the people who depend on the Alliance struggling in the wake of the turf war and the Haniwa.]

[Still, it's been shit detail - that Cloud will not deny. Dish work, cleaning gutters, chasing after runaway animals, garbage detail - you name it, and he's probably done it, or currently doing it, as they try to appease all the various small factions and businesses that the Alliance relies on.]

[It has been interesting, if... well, if nothing else, Cloud is getting to learn a lot about the problems the smaller guys are having in the wake of everything. Some of it is obvious - everyone's worried about the Haniwa, big surprise. But some of it gives Cloud enough food for thought that between stops he's... jotting down notes? It's a little notebook he clearly snagged out of a convenience store, but it's doing the job.]

[Assuming you're a member of Sutoku that's also working the apology beat, it's easy enough to catch him in-between stops jotting something down the last subsidiary complained about in a growing list of concerns. He might not even close the notebook when you approach.]

[Anyone else he doesn't immediately recognize - well, he'll give them an eye and close the notebook, and assume his usual standoffish nature - arms folded, posture closed. Assuming you don't catch him mid-job, anyway.]

What is it?

[2. turf war - ota]

[Honestly, it was only a matter of time before Cloud got himself into a scrap.]

[Given how much the turf war is starting to spill over, it's looking more and more like the various small-timers are using it as an excuse to take things out on each other. Cloud might not be from Shuten or Tamamo, but the conflicts naturally tend to edge on the border of territories, and the Daitengu has made it pretty pointedly clear they want no part in the escalating hostilities.

That doesn't mean that squabbles don't happen close enough to Sutoku territory that someone has to intervene, and, well, Cloud's taking it upon himself to enforce the lines of skirmish.

So if you're out trying to gauge the general mood of the city, you may find Cloud standing above some rank-and-file types who clearly underestimated the trained military man.]

I'm telling you for the last time - you don't want to be getting into street brawls this close to the Daitengu's turf. You want to beat each other senseless, do it somewhere else.

[He talks a big game for being a newbie, at least. If you wait until people scatter, you'll probably hear Cloud mutter something along the line of 'Idiots' to himself.]

[Clearly a great time to accost him.]

[cursed objects / hauntings - ota]

[Cloud hasn't been personally visited by any of the hauntings springing up - Haniwa-provoked or otherwise, thankfully. But unfortunately, his track record is about to take a turn for the worse.]

[He only meant to take a quick detour through the alley to try and save some time at the crossing - he's getting used to the layout enough that he feels he can do so. But when he turns into the alley, he's greeted by a gruesome sight.]

[Flame. Burning brightly and crackling - wood snapping even though there isn't any, the lingering hint of smoke on the wind. The alleyway looks more like a pathway between burning buildings than it does an actual alleyway. But a trained eye would be able to see there isn't anything actually burning - a byproduct of the hauntings and nothing more.]

[Cloud isn't a trained eye. As soon as he realizes where he is, his breathing catches in his chest. Images dance in his mind's eye, superimposed over the flames - completely lost in his own world as the events play out in his mind, again and again. Unable to do anything but watch helplessly. Caught in a hell of his own imagination. His pulse races, his breathing shallows. Fight or flight instincts kicking in - and in a case like this, how can you fight?]

[So it might be, if you didn't already catch the alleyway being on fire, you might see the blonde-haired man darting back out of the alley - or maybe on the other side, the man having hurriedly stumbled through it in a haze. Either way, he props himself up on the nearest solid object and takes deep, heaving breaths. Not entirely there.]

[Maybe... maybe someone should check in on him.]

[wildcard]

[None of these feel good to you? Pick your own! Hit me up on Discord or on Plurk if you want a custom starter, but feel free to engage Cloud elsewhere around the city.]

cursed times!

[bratherine]

( Kate hasn't given up on the exploring the streets of Jigoku-cho thing just because she's supposed to be babysitting some Celestials. Even the boss acknowledges that the grunts need some time between shouting how high when someone says jump.

Of course, this particular period of time is supposed to be for running errands for one of her superiors, but that doesn't mean she can't use it to keep familiarising herself with Jigoku-cho's streets.

Long story short, she ends up at the alleyway at the exact time a blond dude ducks out of it, and first her attention turns to the alleyway in question. He's stumbling like he's being chased, after all. But there's nothing there.

Kate's brows knit together, and she shouldn't make this her business, because it isn't and she's supposed to be keeping her head down and getting through this, but he's ran the way she was heading anyway.

So. )

You look like shit. ( Thank you for that astute observation, Kate. He looks like he's either about to hurl because he's drank too much or...

Like something bad has come to the forefront of his mind.

(She knows both these faces all too well.)

Sigh. No one'll care if she's ten minutes late. Probably. ) ...What's up?

kochou shinobu | kimetsu no yaiba | enma department

[wingclip]

( cursed objects | ota )

[Use any force necessary, right?

She didn't need to be told twice.

Keeping low profiles even among her own faction was difficult work and one petite demon slayer bent to keeping her record clean was not something the higher ups were deign to notice anytime soon. No, as far as she was concerned the Department of the Enma had other headaches to deal with— turf wars and all that. For foot soldiers such as herself-

She was more light on the ground.] Please hand over the statute, if you would.

[Not even the exposure of being caught in broad daylight stops the local city delinquents from using the haniwa as makeshift misery bombs. She's cornered two youths at the end of a damp and dingy alley and in their gloved hands is one of the terrible statues. They both look fit to go at her with everything they have, but they also seem extremely pale... if not very skittish. It's for this reason alone that she hasn't made any moves yet.

In the end she doesn't need to.]

I don't think you realize how dangerous it could be... and I certainly don't want to—

[Because one of the youths throws their arms back and flings the statue over her head.

"Take it if you want it so badly!"

Wonderful.

Shinobu curses and sprints towards the area where the haniwa is slowly but surely making its descent. Is it going to land and shatter? Will it land on some poor unsuspecting person's head? Will YOU catch it...?!]

Look out!

( retrieval | closed to department of the enma)

[Something doesn't feel quite right.

She's retrieved a handful of the haniwa and heard of dozes if not hundreds more still being passed about like candy among the aimless gangs. Even with hints and clues offered by the locals she's still isn't sure where to start, and needlessly picking fights with grunts was not how she wanted to spend the rest of her week.

But this time she's found herself within an eerie quiet and empty park- if one could call it that, given its size and condition. A few older occupants of the neighborhood mentioned strange occurrences happening within its radius, and really... it felt strange to boot.

She also feels as though she's being watched somehow.

How ominous!] If anyone is listening... I'd only like to take a look at your statue.

[It's as though she pulled those magic words from her heart. A group of older, more established thugs appear from the abandoned playground. One of them is carrying a haniwa and in his other hand is a hefty bat.

She sighs.

Was it really worth it? Then again, leaving such a dangerous item in the wrong hands didn't sit well with her. She tucks a stand of hair behind her ear.] I suppose there's no use in asking nicely, hm...?

[Ok, well!]

( wildcard!)

[As the prompts imply Shinobu is spending most of her time gathering as many statues as she can- feel free to catch her near Enma HQ or throw up a starter for anything else!]

Cursed Objects

[blackabyss]

[Fumikage had just been out and about minding his own business, when he hears the call from nearby. He turns sharply at the yell, then looks up. His eyes widen as he sees something falling right for him.]

Dark Shadow!

[He ducks out of the way so it doesn't fall on him, while Dark Shadow materializes from within him, shadowy arms outstretched. After a couple of seconds the cursed object lands in the shadow's hands.]

Got it!

Majima | Yakuza 0 | Shuten

[no_kyouken]

🐍 Majima is from the Slumscape CRAU, so he has uwabami changes! He is a known Shuten Clan lieutenant (⭐⭐) and he also has a pretty public drag persona named Goromi, she works a few nights a week at various hostess bars around town.
🐍 CR meme comment
🐍 [Open] Network post + [Shuten] Network post
🐍 Substories log

---

WHITE SNAKE VS ISONADE

[ Majima is listening as the shark problem is explained to him and supposes he has answer enough to that. His yokai mask is usually invisible under his jacket, slung under his clothes like a weapon. He supposes it is one, in a sense. Regardless, he heads out by the riverbank before he puts the thing on. He glances back and advises, ]

Stand further back.

[ The transformation in to the snake is fairly quick, briefly disgusting as meat and bone and muscle starts to knit out of thin air. The construction is quick and, in little more than a puff of obscuring steam, the large white body takes form. He turns his head to offer, ]

Want a ride?

(MAJIMA) TURF WAR - SMASH IT UP

[ While it would be a real delight if negotiations happened to get worked out between the clans... Majima isn't going to sit back and ignore a feud brewing. If they don't respond at all, they're losing face; looking indecisive, weak, cowardly. That just won't stand, so he's coming out to do a bit of cosmetic damage.

He is in his version of the Shuten uniform: all black slacks and button down with a red tie and a shiny Shuten lapel pin. His shirt sleeves are rolled up to the elbow and he's wearing a pair of black leather gloves; better grip on the aluminum baseball bat he's wielding.

Anything and everything in his way is getting shattered: great big display windows, the outdoor seating of a cafe, the signs and advertisements up and down the row, car doors and windows, scooters and bikes. He won't hurt anyone who doesn't come after him first and his message is a simple one, ]

Remember this. Tenkohime can't protect ya.

[ If you feel the need to defend your neighborhood... Well, the White Snake of Toraguma doesn't go down easily. ]

(GOROMI) TURF WAR - KNIFE FIGHT

[ After Majima's antics, it's not so surprising that a few Tamamo come after her when she's walking home from her shift. She doesn't pretend to be someone else, after all. She supposes they expected she would be vulnerable like this; a Shuten in a dress.

But there's a tanto knife in the back of that dress. She pulls it with a snake-like hiss and comes at her attackers with the some ferocity Majima would. The dress and heels don't matter, she's still a vicious yakuza. They might bruise and bloody her, but she sinks her knife deep into them, twists and yanks, muttering, ]

You're so pathetic.

[ They're not dead yet, but moaning in the street. She gives one a solid kick to the ribs to shut them up. ]

Ya got blood on my dress, asshole.

[ She huffs, stumbling back into the side of a building to lean back and pick lose a cigarette with bloodied nails. ]

CURSED OBJECTS

[ The cursed energy in town is getting... Pretty fucking depressing. Majima is not enjoying the resurgence of his reocurring nightmares. His face looks more tired and drawn than usual and you won't find him without a cigarette. Cigarettes are food right? It doesn't matter.

He's taken a few nights off from part-timing around the hostess clubs, and he's not the only one. It's pretty damn hard to fake cheerfulness and earnest interest in the clients when your club is haunted.

Instead, he's set up shop at the White Koi to drink all night. It's a Shuten guy bar, where it's normal for the oni to get too far into their cups and pick a fight.

A fight really wouldn't be amiss with Majima right about now... ]

GENERAL - HOW TO WATER BEND

[ Toraguma had taken him aside and told him about some Uwabami power to control the weather and cause floods... Apparently he's supposed to be using this to turn the tides in the floundering turf war, but Majima has never really used a magic ability in his life. He barely has any idea what he's doing.

But you can definitely find him down by the banks of the river giving it a try. He can definitely get the water to move a little bit. But making a flood? Fucking unlikely. He curses to himself and drops abruptly to a crouch with a frustrated growl.

He definitely needs a teacher. His heavy, scaled tail droops with discouragement. ]

WILDCARD

[ Go ham. You can PM me or disco me at itsabee#1072 ]

water bending!

[bratherine]

( There's something to be said for magic here: It's fucking everywhere, in ways powers weren't at home. Dampened — her own as much as everyone else's — but there.

Something else to be said about it too: Kate doesn't hate it. Her power is turned down so much that she doesn't get a headache from looking at anyone too long. She can imagine how bad it'd feel to walk this place if her powers were at full strength, but they're nowhere near.

She likes that. Thanks, Jigoku-cho. Even if your contracts are a lie (they better not be), she at least got to experience that. She gets to see this guy moving water like a normal person would see it — water shifting and disappointment — not just blaring colour, and she drops into a crouch, almost smiling to herself as she watches.

... Nice. )

What're you trying to do?

Anna | Bloodborne OC | Tamamo

[notched]

🍑 Sorry to be slow on Anna tags, insomnia has culled my bandwidth lately.
🍑 Isonade hunting tips network post
🍑 Substories log
🍑 CR meme comment
🍑 Mingle top level
🍑 ❗ Anna is extremely xenophobic against alien/angel/eldritch creatures and violent against them. If you're not sure you count, DM me. She is *dealing* with the yokai, but especially monstrous ones still set her on edge. It will be negative CR from her, she hates it.

---

THE TAMAMO PERFORMANCE 🍑

[ She's a killer, not a performer. Well... actually. That's not quite true. She performs the Hunt, like a sacred ritual. While these 'Celestials' might understand, she has no way to present it to them without dumping something dead at their feet. She has a feeling that Tenkohime's rugs would not approve.

So she gets a bowl full of peaches. She cleans her whip so that it is gleaming like it's new. She gets some junior member to toss the fruit to her, and she goes at it with the bladed whip. The fruit is severed into shreds and juice. Applause. The next peach is tossed to her, and she uses the momentum of the whip to bounce it in the air a few times, rather than completely decimate it. Applause. Handfuls of peaches are tossed at her, and she bats each one back with precision; almost pelting her assistant. Applause. She has the assistant place the peach upon their head. She coils back like a snake, assessing her aim, and then skewers the peach from atop their little head and yanks it back into her own fist. She takes a bite. Applause.

Anna glances at the Celestials coolly. They are not a type of creature she has truly met before, their energy feels strange washing over her. But since their desires seem to be wholly for entertainment rather than anything insidious... She supposes they don't frighten her much.

She bows and leaves the room, stoney faced and without any excitement or adrenaline from performing. She pulls the stupid ribbon out of her hair as she goes. What is she, a prize horse? ]

TURF WAR

[ Truly, this is more like her. Violence is her language, as much as she wishes it could be anything else. She didn't want to be involved in this petty squabble over territory, but if the people in the neighborhood are being menaced by the Shutens... Well, that can hardly stand.

Anna stands in the middle of the street with her whip unbound. It's a special bladed whip; incredibly sharp. It shreds, it tears, it pulls. Her hand stirs, giving the whip a little flick and it jangles against the concrete as a threat. ]

Take your leave now, or your blood is mine.

[ There is no bravado when Anna speaks, she does not posture. She is a Hunter and she is certain of her skills. ]

WELCOME TO BLOODBORNE (CURSED OBJECTS)

[cosmic horrors, body horror, pregnancy horror, nightmare fuel, horror horror horror]
The Orphan of Kos

[ The oppression of this cursed energy is familiar to her. Before this little stint in Hell, she lived in Nightmare after Nightmare. The accursed dreams of eldritch things, always looping. It makes her surly and withdrawn and she finds herself longing for her leather armor. Longing for the second skin that keeps the outside world at bay. She settles for the coverage of a black face mask and a leather biker jacket, a black baseball cap pulled low over her eyes. It has some local mascot on it, was handed to her for free as a promotion. She doesn't care much, it will do.

She does not look sociable walking down the street, hands stuffed in her pockets and shoulders hunched. She doesn't know where she can find any relief from the Haniwa, but maybe if she just keeps moving--

She stops at a rather large intersection as the haunting begins. She knows it is pulling from her the moment that she sees that loathesome body lying dead on concrete. The ocean mother that the Old Hunters had so callously killed...

Anna goes stiff as she sees that rubbery silver flesh move. Oh yes. The child. The child spilling steaming out of her corpse. Anna's eyes dilate and her pulse rushes so quickly she can hear it like the rushing of the ocean. Pedestrians are backing away from the gruesome scene with gasps and pushes.

The monster claws its way free of the womb, totters pathetically to its feet where it makes a noise as though it is crying. Then it takes notice of the fearful, gaping citizens around it. It startles and then leaps at them, screaming and wielding a heavy chunk of its dead mother's meat. The onlookers break and run. Anna remains frozen. She's holding her head in her hands, crouched down and talking to herself, ]

No, no, do not make me see him again... Let me out, let me out....

WILDCARD

[ Go ham. You can PM me or disco me at itsabee#1072 ]

WE BLOODBORNE NOW, LADS ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[appleforyou]

[BANG BANG BANG. Three shots, one after the other, ring out above the growing clamor of fear and discontent on the street. Anna may not notice it, but she isn't the only figure standing still against the rush to evacuate. Just across the way, there's a little girl clad in a red hood, submachine gun still raised in the air and pointed at the Orphan's head. She'd been on her way back to her apartment when the onlookers began to scream. She'd been just a short ways away when that terrible creature had lurched to a stand. Bulleta could hardly comprehend what she was looking at, especially from behind, but one thing was clear: it was a monster. To draw her gun and fire had been instinctive.]

What the HELL is that?

[Clearly of the mindset to shoot first and ask questions later, she seems to be talking to anyone who will answer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there aren't many takers among the panicked crowd. Her eyes scan for any sort of clue and lock on the young woman crouched down not far away from the scene. She hasn't recognized her as the hunter she had chatted up on the network - not yet, at least.]

Hey you! Either pitch in or get lost!

[...Charming as ever, Bulleta.]

eula lawrence / genshin impact / enma

[disagree]

CURSED OBJECTS (closed to enma)

[ eula swears, if she's going to see yet another haniwa-face it'll be way too soon. but alas, the job of a low-ranking enma member is never done, and eula soon finds herself outside one of the more rundown apartment complexes at the far side of town. there were reports of hauntings lately, which is wild to think about when they're in freaking Hell with all the ghouls and goblins galore, but. ]

Hey. Are you even listening to me?

[ she's talking to you, fellow beleaguered enma member who's been tasked to do this with her. whether you're already seeing things or your mind is merely wandering for something else to do, this frosty blue lady isn't having it.

she sighs. ]

I don't like to be here as much as you do, but it's a breath of fresh air compared to the horrid atmosphere growing in the offices. The sooner we finish, the better. [ now then, the primer: ] Even before the haniwa sightings, there were rumors of paranormal activities in this area that's been exacerbated by recent happenings lately. Our task is to retrieve those haniwa safely while dealing with whatever's inside the premises.

[ though odds are that it's just some rando gangs making their own territory and harassing the nearby folk? still, she pauses. ] You're not scared of going inside, are you?

[ are you??? because she's going to leave you behind, whether you like it or not. ]

turf war (closed to shuten/tamamo)

[ at this point, the insults that's being hurled at her from both sides of this silly turf war just slide off her rain on the windowpane. it's not that she has any loyalty for the enma anyway; she's just doing her job. sticks and stones, and all that.

even so, she fearlessly steps into the fray, sword in hand, her expression impassive as a random member from either clan call her out for stepping into business that's not hers. seriously, does she look like she gives a damn...?! ]

Hmph. I'd rather you settle your differences far away from these shops to avoid collateral damage. Unless you're telling me you can't accomplish such a simple task?

[ she places her hand on her hips. ]

Well? Do you wish to give me a reason to intervene or not? Because I will not hesitate.

[ once again she's wielding a flimsy sword instead of a claymore but at least she hasn't forgotten her favonius bladework. this is all just in a day's work for her, honestly. ]

wildcard

[ come at me scrublord im ripped. feel free to PM me if you want to hash out something else!! ]

turf war

[ryototsukai]

[ Musashi didn't like the situation any, either. She had just been about to clear out the low-rank soldiers, herself, scold them for letting things get out of hand, when an Enma officer showed up. And unfortunately, that... really changed the program of things, didn't it?

The misbehaving foxes looked to Musashi, to that lieutenants badge on her collar, and knew things had become significantly more tense... ]

You know, these guys are definitely in trouble, and we'll deal with that later, but you've just drawn a sword on Tamamo soldiers...

[ Musashi recognized her, but that carefree smile she'd seen at the bar wasn't present on Musashi's face in the moment. She had both hands now, for one, but that wasn't the only difference... ]

Bulleta | Darkstalkers | Enma (but prompts are all OTA!)

[appleforyou]

[ 3. GANG BUSTIN' ]
[3A. Bustin' n' Brawlin']
[Bulleta doesn’t need to be told twice to crack youkai punk skulls together. She is living for this directive from the Big Guy Enma. She's not alone on patrol this time, having found a helpful partner in you. Maybe you're a fellow Enma, or perhaps you were just feeling like helping out the cause? Either way, it seems the two of you are outnumbered by the unaffiliated gang you've been trailing. Its young members seem pretty cocky about the whole thing - they are standing guard of a pile of haniwa and have made it clear, in rather rude terms, that they aren't planning on giving them up. Bulleta looks to you, tapping her chin.]

Hmmm~~ Doesn't look like they want to hand them over quietly.

[A positively devious smile spreads across her sweet face. She cracks her knuckles.] Good. Let's get to work, shall we~?


[3B. Bustin' n' Bombin']
[Bulleta has had the same thought as many of the lesser gangs and had already put together a few curse bombs of her own. Several of hers actually have little explosives attached to them, though, so they’re somehow even more potent and dangerous than the little buggers already were.

Was "put all the unaffiliated gang members into curse-induced comas” what the Enma had in mind when he told the officers to deal with the problem? Ppppprrroobably not. But it gets the job done, right? …Right? Never mind that she wasn't exactly discriminating who she was throwing them at.]

FIRE IN THE HOLE!

[You better get out of the way - there's a haniwa coming right for you and it’s got a lit fuse. You aren't gonna want to be near it when it explodes.]


[ 5. TURF WAR ]
[For some peculiar reason, the field officers of the Enma weren't very popular in the midst of the fighting. Bulleta was just out trying to look for more of those lesser gangs when she found herself surrounded by a group of thugs from another faction. They crowd around, spitting insults and threats.]

Iyyaaaa! I don’t want to be involved in your icky little squabbles! L-leave me alone!

[To an outsider, it looks like a little girl getting bullied by grown-ass adults. If you step into help her though, you might suddenly feel a little shove at your back or side and find yourself being actually propelled into the fray. Did she…did she just push you??? Surely that was an accident…right?]


[ ?. WILDCARD ]
[Wanna do some cursed object stuff? Or something else entirely? Just come at me with whatever you got or feel free to hit me up via PM, carrieface, or Carrieface#2175 to discuss something! Prose or brackets both welcome. ♥]

[ganashara]

[ This girl again?! But before he could say word one, he felt himself pushed, colliding with the rather nasty, if handsome, looking Tamamo enforcer, who reached up to grab Lio's face and grip well harder than was necessary. ]

"What's this? A lil' Shuten gremlin sticking up for a kiddie cop? Are you kidding me?! What's with all these goddamn kids?!"

[ Not that Lio could respond, face being squeezed and all, but this was going from bad to worse well faster than either had probably anticipated. ]

kimmuriel | legend of drizzt | sutoku

[psionicmolotov]

A. apology day
i
[ While he hasn't had to do it to this extent (that's what new recruits were for), he's by no means unused to smoothing things out after a caper or a plan that didn't go exactly as it should have. He's honestly not as annoyed as he thought he was about this; it gives him plenty of time to think.

You can find him doing various chores - cleaning, sweeping, sewing and mending - all over the place. If he's outdoors by himself, having been left in charge of whatever small task needs doing, he'll often pause in his sweeping or scrubbing to stop and listen to his 'employers' talking. Yes, he is Obviously snooping, what of it. ]

ii
[ Alternatively, you might encounter him browsing the aisles of a convenience store or a giftshop or even an arcade, trying to figure out what would make a decent accompaniment to the snacks and coupons he's been given to hand out. He has a little book of notes held open in one hand as he stares at prizes or pottery.

If you can get a look at the book itself, the whole thing is a veritable spiderweb of connections and scribbled guesses in...his own native language. He's paranoid, alright.

He huffs a sigh. ]

Demons are so difficult.

B. laundry day? (sutoku apartments)

[ Since some people in the Sutoku apartment complex have taken to keeping haniwa in their rooms more than once and the damn things have just invited themselves in, Kimmuriel has resorted to the shared downstairs laundromat just to get some vaguely non-cursed rest. While he hasn't gone so far as to just lie down on a bench and sleep, he is dozing silently on the end of one while his clothes are in the dryer again because the weather is apparently nonstop rain.

You can also find him apparently meditating on the end of said bench, radiating...some kind of vibe. Not absolutely terrible, like the haniwa, but still distinctly different from normal; it feels cold and distant, almost alien.

If disturbed, he'll crack open an eye to stare at you. ]

What.

C. Wildcard!

[ throw anything at me, it's all good. Prose and brackets both ok!! ]

b. ive basically made tama's event timeline across other peoples toplevels

[fuckdogramagra]

[ Tama absolutely looks just as dead to the world as Kimm. He's only wearing his kimono and some cheap thong sandals he bought at one of the convenience stores, with the...small bundle that makes up the rest of his clothes, including a new orange-and-gray uniform tucked under his arm. Apparently he was slinking down to do laundry, until he spotted one of his neighbors Vibing, and then ended up just exhaustedly watching him for entirely too long, apparently. It takes him a moment to respond to the flat 'What', doing the WoL headtilt towards the washers. ]

I just realized I forgot my wallet. [ The machines are coin-op, and he'd entirely forgotten that in his stumble down the hall. It's far enough to be annoying, but not an incredible distance, so Tama sits his laundry in one of the chairs, rubbing his eye like it's itchy now that his hands are free to do so. ] Babysit my laundry, please. Don't let it buy candy no matter how much it begs.

Billy the Kid | fgo | Tamamo

[21towin]

I – Tamamo Clan

[Billy might actually not be the best person out there to act as a diplomat. He’s doing his absolute best, though! From telling the Celestials stories from back home, serving drinks and of course singing! That was all well and good, but what was probably the main draw?

That was going to be his shooting skills.]

Alright, alright I need y’all to get a good ways back behind me.

[He laughed, readying his rifle as the group of excited people did as he asked.]

So, for this one I’ll be shooting that there line of matchsticks- [He points to a line of small sticks a ways off.] -and thread my shot through the hole beyond it.

[Further out was a clay disk with a circular hole in the middle.] Without breakin’ the disk itself.

[His chosen targets are small and off in the distance. He seems to be awfully confident in his skills here. Mentally he was already working his mind over the difficulty. He didn’t need his skills as a servant to do this; but having them would make this much easier.

Then again, having them would have also made this less exciting to those watching.]

II – Celestials NSFW Version

Not sure what I was expecting from folks that show favor La Jefa.

[He shouldn’t be surprised as one of the nude women grabs a handful of cowboy ass as he walks by. Leaving him giving her a smirk and a wink in return.]

So what d’ya think? You down for having a bit of a party?

[He will admit to these immortal folks being easy on the eyes. That was probably to be expected from supposedly heavenly beings. Even if they don’t seem all that heavenly to Billy beyond those said looks. Just another thing he shouldn’t be surprised about.]

III - Turf War

[A good, old-fashioned, gang war is it? He’d been kind of hoping all of this nonsense would have ended when the Daitengu had reemerged alive and well. Of course it hadn’t, why would it when everyone was still gunning for the evident power vacuum that’s apparently the local sewers.

Billy still doesn’t get it, and he still has some overall goals in mind here.]

Look friend, I really don’t wanna have to harm you.

[He really doesn’t, even if Billy himself doesn’t have anything at the ready in his hand as of yet. His gun was still in its holster at his side. Surely the Kid couldn’t be that fast?]

[WILDCARD]

[ooc: feel free to hit me up with whatever~!]

turf war

[no_kyouken]

[ Majima smirks a little, honestly getting to smash some shit has put him in a pretty good mood. He's dressed nicely for the event too: all black with a red silk tie and leather gloves. He taps his baseball bat in one gloved palm. ]

Been shot before, still gonna make it over there t'ya.

[ There's no real menace to the way he says this, honestly. He's just having fun. ]

Sheliak Saarela | Original | Shuten

[sleepinglyra]

Shuten Clan

[The best way to catch a shark was with some bait, which is why Sheliak was casually wandering along the edge of the river, swaying a little as if he were drunk. In accordance with the new Shuten dress code, he wore black slacks and a white long-sleeved button-up shirt with a black jacket. He carried a sword, currently sheathed at his side. He subtly kept one eye on the water as he pretended to stumble closer to the water. This would be easier with his water magic. He let some of his frustration out as a sigh to add to his drunk illusion before he pushed the annoying thought aside. He still had years of being connected to water that he could use. The way it flowed was just as natural as breathing so he would have no problem detecting a watery ambush.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he bit back his frustration when someone joined him on the bank of the river. He subconsciously straightened up now that he was in the presence of someone else, his drunk charade forgotten.]

What are you doing here?

[You are ruining his ambush.]


Cursed Objects (cw: blood, survivors’ guilt)

[Sheliak stayed far away from the haniwa. He had enough nightmares already. Unfortunately, even if he wanted to he couldn’t run from them forever and the haniwa decided to make him confront his fears early.]

a.)

[The ghost of his father seemed to follow him everywhere with a chilling look of disappointment. Sheliak tried to ignore the ghost and kept himself busy to drown out his father’s piercing gaze. He didn’t agree with the turf war, but the fighting was a decent distraction. At least, it was at first, but his father’s ghost changed over time. Blood dripped down his face in an unending flow. More members of the once-proud Saarela House appeared with the same bloody faces, all with deathly glares of disappointment. They were silent but their message was deafening. He failed the noble house of Saarela. He looked down in horror at the blood on his hands, the blood of his family and so many others. His spiraling thoughts were interrupted when someone bumped into him. His eyes narrowed into angry slits.]

Watch-!

[His angry words died at the withering gazes from the ghosts around him. He obediently ducked his head in a humble bow. The anger in his tone was quickly replaced with lifeless politeness.]

I mean, my apologies. I failed to mind my surroundings. Are you alright?

b.)

[Sheliak froze and stared in horror at the sunset. He suddenly winced and shielded his eyes with his hand as the soft orange glow was replaced with that nightmarish scene. The beautiful sky was torn apart by a blinding blast of cosmic magic. There was nothing any of them could do but watch in horror as the screams were silenced in a flash and their home and the place they were sworn to protect were engulfed by flames.

Sheliak couldn’t take anymore. He squeezed his eyes shut and ran. Water. He needed water. It didn’t matter what it was or who he might inconvenience. As soon as he found a body of water deep enough, he dived in. The soothing water started to soothe the pain from the fiery nightmare, but he couldn’t stay under long enough. He fought the need to breathe as long as he could before he returned to the surface with a gasp. He flinched at the first person that got close, his voice a broken whisper.]

I’m sorry.

Wildcard

[Feel free to make your own starter or you can plot with me at Nicholaj, Discord@Nicholaj#7374, or pm, whichever is easier for you.]

Cursed objects (b)

[no_kyouken]

[ The smell of cigarette smoke drifts off Majima and the lit one he has drooping from his mouth. The haniwa are doing a bit of a number on him too, his face is drawn and his good eye sleepless. He squeezes Sheliak's shoulder. ]

Yer all right.

rokurou rangetsu ▶ shuten

[swordhardy]

I. SHUTEN: ❝Isonade? More like Iso-nice.❞
ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ sʜᴜᴛᴇɴ.

[ Crouched beside the Sanzu, Rokurou studies the odd river and his reflection in it while scanning for shark men ... to no avail. It's difficult to see anything below the surface. Should he just start swimming to try and find them? With a shrug, he stands, glancing back to his clan-assigned partner. ]

So we're supposed to find these guys and threaten them, right?

[ Those are orders that he's pretty comfortable with, challenge in finding them aside. Born into the Rangetsu clan, the directive to threaten and kill were pretty much the norm—which is why Rokurou has been fiddling with his knife this whole time, flicking it between his knuckles mindlessly, impatient to actually get it in direct contact with some flesh. Cutting is what he does best. And as far as working as a pair, he feels like he's pretty flexible ... as long as he's the one who gets to go in for the kill. ]

How do you want to do this when we do find them? We should figure that out first. Something like bad cop and even badder cop? You tell 'em that we're taking over and then I try to kill them anyway, no matter what they say. [ he hums, finally pausing the fiddling with his knife to consider his plan, ] Then after I fight them, we get into a life or death battle to decide who's the strongest between us. I think that sounds pretty good.

[ Someone's (happily) forgetting the actual goal of Toraguma's orders. ]

II. TAMAMO: ❝I always feel like somebody's watchin' me.❞
ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ; ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ɴsғᴡ.

[ Despite tensions between the Shuten and Tamamo, Rokurou has no qualms in visiting Tamamo establishments. The drinks are better, the company is good, and ... the drinks are better. That's about where his thoughts begin and end when it comes to choosing a club or bar under Tenkohime's thumb rather than Toraguma's. The boss man never said they couldn't hang out with the Tamamo while they were knocking heads over the Underground. Or if he did, Rokurou's been blissfully unaware of that particular order.

But the new patrons are a bit of surprise. They seem to watch, very intently, while refraining from directly indulging of the vices the club has to offer. Everything they pay for has been hands off, as though they're living vicariously through the debauchery of others. ]

So they hang around wanting watch everyone? Must be nice to be filthy rich. [ he's assuming they're wealthy from how they seem to be freely buying every entertainment possible, generously handing out tips on top of everything else. sure, a lot of the visitors he's seen before have been generous, but these guys take the cake. ] If they're that important, I guess I get it.

[ Rokurou takes another sip from his glass, finishing it off. It's only the second but the warmth of alcohol keeps the grin on his face, tingling from his fingertips to his toes. Even though he's usually in a good mood, a touch of tipsiness puts him in an even better mood.

If you're a Tamamo: ]

Alright. If you've gotta entertain them, then use me. I don't mind at all.

[ And if you're any other faction: ]

Should we get into a little trouble? I'm curious about those guys. Maybe they'll even buy us a few drinks.

III. TURF WAR: ❝How about we just put 'em in a big hole?❞
ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ.

[ A struggle over a third clan's territory between two unrelated clans—looking at the chaos now, it feels like everyone's involved. Yet orders are to directly engage with the Tamamo, not some street punks causing trouble, so Rokurou's been trying to pick out the Tamamo clansmen from the chaos. It isn't too difficult when they all seem to be good looking and clever. It rules out a lot of the potatofaced kids running around throwing Haniwa like bombs.

Frankly, when it comes to people he wants to beat the shit out of, it's his fellow Shuten. The physically strong are those who get him excited, that have his fingers itching with a need to engage in battle. While the Tamamo are certainly clever and talented, it isn't exactly the same. Which is why he's been dealing with them all in the same way.

He dug a hole. A deep hole. And he's just been sticking them in there. So far, it's been pretty successful. ]

Hey. You're Tamamo, right? [ he stops his stroll when he fits someone who he thinks fits the bill, not even waiting for confirmation when he reaches to grab and sling them over his shoulder, ] C'mon, let's go.

[ Of course, whether he succeeds in slinging this feisty little fox over his shoulder to carry them off to a ❗secondary location❗ is up in the air. This might be even worse if you're not actually from the Tamamo clan. He's only been here a few weeks and is going off of an extremely flimsy ruler for this, after all! ]

IV. CURSED OBJECTS: ❝Dude, you're getting ghost blood in my drink.❞
ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ.

[ The hauntings have moved along the main streets, with Haniwa popping up in left right center, every corner. Rokurou isn't the smartest guy on the block but it doesn't take much to put two and two together—ghostly voices wail, blood drips, white hands weave in the darkness, all around where those dolls seem to cluster up the most.

Of course, none of that's really his business. Which is why he refuses to budge from the stool of the most recent bar caught under the deluge of hauntings next; when the lights began flickering and the moans echoed, all of the other customers had fled in terror, and the bartender had encouraged him to leave as well. In the end they had reached an agreement: Rokurou could stay as long as he locked up after he was gone. With that, he too had fled, terrified.

The daemon still sits at the bar, sipping a drink as blood oozes down the walls around him. Despite the activity, none of the hauntings come in direct contact with him—probably because his aura is even worse, thick with malevolence and resentment that not even a swarm of ghostly fingers want to grope. Fine enough for him.

He's actually in the middle of giving those hands names as they pop up. Ichite, Nite, Sante, Shite, Gote... he isn't exactly imaginative. The door's wide open from when the bartender had forgotten to shut it behind him, just waiting for someone who doesn't know that it's under a siege of haunting to stroll inside.

Or maybe you do know. Either way, it's cool. Don't mind the sludge that drips to the floor or the ominous groans coming from upstairs. ]

Hey. You thirsty? I can play bartender. [ Rokurou nods at his fellow patron, picking up a bottle he has next to his drink—another moan echoes through the bar, but he doesn't even acknowledge it as he pours himself another drink. ] This whiskey is pretty nice.

[ A disembodied hand creeps along the counter, slow. Rokurou glances down at it before thonking the bottom of that bottle right on top of its white, veiny knuckles.]

No, not for you.

V. WILDCARD: ❝Who am I to judge anyone?❞

ᴡᴀɴɴᴀ ᴠɪʙᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟsᴇ? ʜɪᴛ ᴍᴇ!

iv.

[everblooms]

[ The flurry of action that comes rushing through the door is a woman; a brunette with a long, rope-twisted braid and clever green eyes. In her arms is a bottle of whiskey— if he's eagle-eyed enough, he'll note that it's the same brand he's been tending to and the smile on her face is brilliantly sunny. ]

Here I am! Special delivery from Jack In The F... [ Hold on a moment, she thinks, looking around the bar with raised brows and an open mouth. The bleeding walls tell a story all their own, but the image of a man sat still at the bar tells it's own tale. ] ...ox...? [ She tilts her head, curiosity splashing across her face as the moans echoing in the building hit a strange crescendo. It sounds like an earthquake. A noise not unlike a sight leaves her as she realizes what's happened— the reason that the bartender asked for someone to replace his stock of this brand had been because of... this guy.

This is a real headscratcher to her, but she supposes it's mostly harmless. Her stunned silence is broken by the man's question, and she supposes it's a fair one. Does she want a hard drink? She's thinking yes. ]

Hmmm. [ She comes to place the bottle down, settling in beside him. The door blows open, and a picture falls to the floor, the glass frame shattering. Aerith cants her head. ]

But he really wants a shot, too! If you're playing bartender, you could get a good tip from the guy, I bet. [ The ghostly hand has returned, indeed, reaching out for the living once more. The whole place shudders with anticipation, the walls oozing bright red blood even more. It's gathering along the floor in an impressive pool, and so Aerith raises her feet off the floor. ]

Ew. [ Ah, the ghostly hand flips the bird before disappearing again. ]

Hey! Rude! [ Turning back to him, as if he'll share in her misery, Aerith huffs. This is a scandal, and her anger is worn like a badge of honor. ] Can you believe that? [ The light over her head flickers before going out. These ghosts really don't like her, apparently. ]

Soo Won | Akatsuki no Yona (Slumscape CRAU) | OTA (specific cws in prompts)

[protectorofkouka]

Tamamo Clan (cw: Akatsuki no Yona spoilers)

[Soo Won harbored a deep resentment for the gods and the last thing he wanted to do was entertain them. If he was back home, he would have refused in a heartbeat, but his time in the haunted world of Hakagemachi cautioned him to show restraint. In the world of the supernatural, he couldn’t always afford to ignore the gods, so he did as he was asked with a smile that looked a bit strained to the keen eye.

Luckily, he wasn’t the one who would be entertaining them. Miyako, the Jorgumo inside Soo Won would be the one performing. Some people may recognize the mysterious musician who had shown up in various tamamo clubs recently. She always wore a red kimono, and she hid her face behind a broken white porcelain mask with a spider web design and an entangled butterfly over the eye on the side that was still intact. They never spoke and left soon after their performance each time. Soo Won wanted to give Miyako something that was solely hers, without it being tied to him, so he kept his identity secret. His delicate form added to the illusion that he was a woman.

Miyako had been playing the gottan for much longer than he, a human, had been alive. It was her passion for music that made Soo Won so fond of it now. Miyako started with an ancient piece with a slow melancholy theme that was common in the past to cater to the timeless nature of the celestials. Afterward, she took them on a musical journey through the ages, changing the style and theme as she had witnessed them change throughout history.

Even with Miyako taking the lead, dealing with the celestials slowly wore Soo Won down, and to add a fitting insult to injury, his headache had returned, as if feeding off his resentment. Miyako didn’t have Soo Won’s ridiculous willpower and she excused herself as soon as she finished her last piece. For Soo Won’s sake, she hid the pain, the mask helped hide her pained expression as she pushed past the sharp throbbing long enough to get outside before she tore off her mask, returning Soo Won’s body to him. Soo Won slumped against the wall with a heavy sigh.]

Thank you Yin.

[Miyako replied with a very faint strum. She needed time to recover. The pain was still there but it wasn’t as strong on her end.]

Turf war

[The fighting between the two clans was getting out of hand. Soo Won tried to avoid the conflict as much as he could but he refused to turn a blind eye to people in trouble. Which is why when he came across an Oni chasing after someone, he subtly tripped them.]

Are you alright? You should be careful when you’re running, else you might trip.

[The enraged oni swung at Soo Won, who kept dodging out of the way.]

Calm down.

There’s no need to be so angry.

Cursed Objects (cw: vague mention of cannibalism)

[The recent hauntings were uncomfortably familiar to Soo Won. It felt like he had woke up back in Hakagemachi. Given the way time would reset there, it wasn’t impossible and Soo Won wandered around in a haunted daze. His gaze kept darting away from reflective surfaces and he sidestepped any puddles he saw as he tried to ground himself with the newer neon streets of Jigokucho. Unfortunately, the streets seemed to shift back into the run-down streets of Hakagemachi like a terrible mirage.]

Mr. Mori’s Ramen shop?

[The shop brought back memories of disturbing meat and broken masks. Soo Won instinctively reached for Miyako’s mask that was hidden within his robes. The sudden presence of someone else startled Soo Won. He jumped a little and reached for his hidden sword.]

Ah! Sorry.

[He hid his hesitance with a fragile smile as he took his hand away from his sword and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.]

This might sound like a strange question, but are we still in hell?

Wildcard

[Feel free to make your own starter or you can plot with me at Nicholaj, Discord@Nicholaj#7374, or pm, whichever is easiest for you.]

cursed objects

[kikuichi]

[Rumours speak of another haunted area in this general location. Norimune is coming here to check for himself, and properly record the area it's happening at. Maybe if they put up warning signs or block it off... but would that deter people, or tempt them?

As he walks along this block, observing the surroundings, it seems like he startled someone else. Norimune take a step back and raise both his hands.]

No worries about it. And yes, we're still in Jigoku-cho.

[He lower his hands.]

Are you alright?

Ibaraki Douji | fgo | Shuten

[bananaoni]

I - Shuten

You, the idiot in charge wants you to give him tribute.

[Said as plain as day, matter-of-factly from the small, club-wielding oni. Ibaraki don't care, near as she was concerned these big guys were just small fry!

Okay, maybe she does care. But that won't stop her from putting on her brave front in the face of these shark-dudes! Said Isonade do not look amused, however and are now looking down at her, arms crossed and pensive. One of them even dares to let out a snorting laugh!

A laugh, at her!

Ibaraki narrows her eyes, it seems a fight might be brewing here!]

II - Cursed Objects

[Again with these stupid, cursed Haniwa! Ibaraki was starting to have enough of this nonsense! Especially since it was getting kind of extra creepy now. But lets be real here, who in the heck did these evil ghosts think they are trying to frighten her? Ibaraki-Douji?

Excuse her as she dodges some ghostly hands that shoot out from the nearby alley and bats away at them with her club, totally not looking frightened in no way. Nope! Not her!]

Leave! Me! Alone!

III - Turf War

Oi, knock it off and get out of here!

[She growled with an immensely bored look on her face. Iba-chan seemed to want to be anywhere else other than here, guarding some jumped up youkai's property. She didn't really have anywhere to go, though. No mountain fortress to call hers, and the need for funds growing.

How much heart she would actually put into her work, however, was probably debatable at best.]

[WILDCARD]

[Just do it! Do anything!]

ii;

[tonguecutter]

[ The sparrow, coincidentally in the same alleyway, dodges a pair of ghostly hands herself while avoiding stepping in any of the cursed...fluid that may have spilled onto the ground. Beni is more than sure that Ibaraki-Douji of all oni can take care of herself, but another set of wings likely wouldn't hurt. As different as the two oni are (despite their similar origins), they are both still in this curse-ridden city together.

She slices another wayward pair of ghostly hands with her sword before warning Ibaraki: ]

Try not to break even more of those haniwa!

[ A futile effort, probably, but one she still feels duty-bound to make. ]

Enterprise (CV-6) | Azur Lane | Sutoku

[lucky_e]

I - Sutoku

On behalf of the Daitengu, I apologize for any distress caused.

[Even though she had just arrived and had only just got caught up to speed on what was going on. Always with the secrets and lack of openness. But Enty gets it, she doesn't want to get it, but she does. Well, she does go ahead and extend the... apology gift towards the kappa chief.

Who looks at it... looks at it... and then promptly spits at her feet and begins an angered tyrad. Which included a number of curse words mixed together with where the gift could be shoved inside of the Daitengu.

They should have expected this. The carrier just nods and takes it all like a good diplomat. Up until demands were being made directly towards her and her partner.]

II - Rest and Relax? (Turf War)

[She is very much annoyed now. A whole day gone by doing menial tasks in place of the person who had actually caused the problem in the first place. Enterprise needed a break. She hadn't even really been paying attention to where she had wandered off to. Just so long as it was a place with food and drink and a place where she could sit.

This means unintentionally waltzing into the territory of another clan. The city is new and would take sometime to get used to. There are, still, a number of businesses she's unfamiliar with. And areas where there wasn't much clarity in who marked what. Even when she had spent much of her first month studying up on who had what, and the why's and the when's.

Just a different kind of battlefield. Even if it wasn't technically one, or one she was wholly familiar with.]

Hm, this one looks good?

[The words were largely muttered to herself as she gave the building's front a one over along with the sign above. Her bow strung up behind her along with her arrows. Things tended to get kind of messy today....

Just another reason for her to look for some R&R.]

III - Cursed Objects

[And then... it got worse.

For basically everyone else. Miss Grey Ghost here had so far lucked out quite a bit when it came to the Haniwa. Avoiding kicking them, knocking them over, or generally getting harassed by others using them as makeshift weapons. That certainly doesn't mean she's gotten off scott-free.

There was a dark shadow that had been following her. She could just barely make it out from the corner of her eye. Always there and always distant. She acted like normal, like it wasn't there as it followed her.

Hm....

She turns and nearly bumps into another person.]

Oh, excuse me.

[The dark shape is behind the woman now. Staring directly down at her just a few inches away. Impossibly large and exaggerated eyes, pinpoit pupils and pure white orbs glaring down at the kansen. The figure, tall, gaunt and lanky with a sense of foreboding rolling off its form in waves.

It seems to be kind of annoyed with the woman, who continues to ignore it. She knows it's there, but she'd prefer to not acknowledge its presence.]

[WILDCARD]

[Do it, bring me anything.]

Tenshi Hinanawari | Touhou Project (Semi-Open Prompts)

[swordofhisou]

(OOC: Tenshi is available to anyone who wants a scene, but I'm still getting my feet wet in the game piece by piece. So, just send me a private message and I'll set up a prompt for our characters.

As an added bonus: Tenshi is a Celestial herself, but not one from this realm, so there's fun ways this can be played up for hilarity's sake.)

For Miyamoto Musashi (Tamamo Prompt. CW: Sex/Voyeurism)

[swordofhisou]

Tenshi didn't really enjoy being a curiosity in quite the way that she was currently experiencing. Ever since the guests had arrived, she had been made to serve drinks, wait on them hand and foot and generally be at their beck and call. After a short time, she'd become convinced they were doing it because she was a Celestial. It just seemed like the sort of thing a bored being of the heavenly realms might do, taking a bit of delight in seeing someone from the same place, if not the same world, completely at their mercy. She would have done the same thing. But boy she didn't love being on the receiving end one bit.

So, she'd had at least one talking to after a near moment where she almost snapped but not quite. A gentle, but very firm, reminder that these were very special clients. So now, breathing quietly and calming herself down, she made her way to the room she'd been told to come to last. She was supposed to meet one of her superiors here for a 'special assignment.' She knew what it was, and she was ... well, ok. This was what they did here. And it wasn't like they hadn't been pretty clear even a bouncer could be requested for the right price, so... Yeah. She could do this.

Dressed in the outfit she had arrived in, complete with the peach-adorned hat she liked quite aa bit, she wondered why it had been so important to wear it. Odd that they'd specifically wanted her in this instead of something fancier. She opened the door to find she was the first to arrive. There was a comfortable looking futon in the room, tasteful decorations and a screen on the far side set up. That was probably for the VIPs. A sigh and she stepped in to wait for the other to arrive. At least the guests weren't here yet.

sakamoto ryouma | fate/grand order | sutoku alliance

[kaientai]

① APOLOGY TOUR open to sutoku alliance

[ ryouma is familiar with this particular custom even if he doesn't ultimately enjoy it. he gets it, but this isn't the part of professional relationships he's doing this for. still, this is an area he happens to excel at given his nature.

seeing to the new faces among the alliance wasn't an explicit command, but ryouma has been so busy lately he hasn't been able to get out and meet the new lost souls in town yet, so he makes a particular mental note to keep an eye out for anyone he doesn't already know yet on this apology tour. his approval from the daitengu so far also means he's been sent to make amends with some of the alliance's higher profile associates and so it's equally as likely to find him along the way to one such encounter, probably with some gift or another tucked under his arm. ]

② TURF WAR open to all

[ ryouma does exactly what he's been doing since this turf war started — trying to make sure no one clan finds an easy way to gain the upper hand over the other. he's happy to mess with the traps he can mess with (without getting caught up in them himself) or in any other way generally be an annoying interference.

to his credit, he's really not playing favourites. both sides are fair game! he doesn't expect this to be well-received though and is prepared for that. mostly?

③ CURSED OBJECTS open to all

[ ryouma's managed to get along quite well on the hauntings front so far. he hasn't been one hundred percent since he's been here, but being a servant still has its perks when it comes to avoiding sleep. incidentally, that's one way to dodge nightmares.

harder to avoid the things that happen when you're awake though, especially if you happen to be awake for too long. it starts small, like flashes of images he thought he saw out of the corner of his eye. easy to write off as just a side effect of being tired or a trick of the light or both. but as things tend to go (in hell), it gets worse.

all he'd done was step out for a smoke, wanting a bit of fresh air and a break from the bustle inside the restaurant he's been in for a while. he's not thinking about the strange hauntings at all; in fact, it's been a fairly low haunting day.

the ground seems to shift and crumble but it's just the illusion of several, really just so many bodies climbing up out of the ground. seemingly through the pavement. ryouma has the awful realisation that he can recognise people as the mob continues to rise, not only by their faces but the manner in which they'd died. a gruesome sight on its own, which is why his cigarette is forgotten in a rush to go back inside. it's just a very unfortunate door that sticks (or maybe that's part of the haunting too??) and so he has no choice with the awful zombies closing in other than to force his way through until he finds a way out of the back alley he's been in. the experience is very real to him, including having to claw his way out at the end through a press of bodies that feels very intent on keeping him there.

unfortunately for whoever happens to be passing by just then, ryouma is released quite abruptly from the illusion once he crosses the threshold beyond its little sphere of influence and ... crashes right onto them. ordinarily he might laugh this off as a funny little accident, but after what he's just been through, you're just another awful part of the curse. shaken as he is right now, might want to clear that up. ]

④ WILDCARD

[ ooc; want something else? feel free to drop a starter or hmu @ koutenko if you want to plot something out! ]

hauntings hauntings

[bratherine]

( You'd think a good twenty four hours away from being haunted by the ghosts of assholes past would be enough to push it all down, but Kate's still antsy as she wanders the streets, hands in pockets and eyes scanning every passer by with more intensity than she'd normally do.

(He's not here. He isn't. She knows it was just a stupid, and apparently real, haunting.

Yet...)

It's a relief when the street she turns down ends up being pretty empty, her footsteps echoing and the space around her offering a moment's peace.

Right up until )

Shit— ( She's a little in her own world at the minute too, but that does the job in pulling her out of it, staring up at a very familiar (and rather pale-looking) face.

Pizza dude? ) ... Ryouma?

xingqiu | genshin impact | sutoku

[rainswords]

1. APOLOGY TOUR ;
— a. open to sutoku

---

[ Far from ideal is the request made of all Sutoku Souls, now tasked to make amends for their previously absent master opinion can only plummet further. Responsibility eludes their leader, the burden upon them, Xingqiu won't be so easily convinced to aid the Daitengu. But offerings to be delivered make it to his door. Gifts intricately wrapped in pleasing colors only cultivate his curiosity. It takes him all but two seconds and a decision is reached, picking up the offerings, he glances back into his flat. Whatever his roommate was doing, it was keeping her busy and that's enough for him to sneak off with the gifts.

A few minutes later, Xingqiu has settled himself on the steps of the complex's dimly lit stairwell. Offerings set at his side, he takes a moment to observe each one before he picks up an elongated box. Setting it on his lap he runs his fingers carefully at the edge of overlapping gift wrapping. From here, if he is careful then he can see what is inside. Wasn't this the best course of action, at least if he knew what each offering was he could appropriately allocate each present?

Not entirely an excuse to sate curiosity but he does begin to wonder if it is worth it. It's a painstaking process to unwrap the offerings without ripping apart wrapping. Concentrating on what he is doing leads to him not picking up on approaching steps until it is too late. ]

Oh. May I help you?

[ Nope, he isn't going anything suspicious here. Please, ignore the neatly folded gift wrapping, the organized stacks of vouchers near him along with the boxes of coveted snacks. ]

— b. open to sutoku

---

[ Not fully convinced that is all just a means to make amends, it isn't goodwill towards the Daitengu that finally sees him set off to perform the task that fell upon him. He has a few businesses in mind to visit. Yet after his first foray into making a plea for the Daitengu's case a clear picture is being painted before him. While he may be offended that he is essentially participating in bribery on the Sutoku's leader behalf, he also comprehends the need. He really doesn't want to do this. He already has a feeling that taking out a couple of trash bags isn't the worst labor that could be thrust upon him...

The next business he sets his eyes on is nothing more than a small coffee shop, upon entering the cozy establishment he is a little surprised to find there is already someone attempting to appease the woman behind the counter. By most accounts she appears ordinary except her long hair seems to be alive, strands come together and act like tentacles grabbing at anything edible within reach before disappearing behind her head. Anything that had come to her grasp disappeared.

On the counter, Xingqiu can see a box emptied of its contents. The offering made has long been gone and the futakuchi onna speaks of displeasure. The meager gift was not enough to appease her ravenous appetite. "...your worth can only measure to that pitiful gift. Is that all you have to show for all my troubles? All my suffering? No, it won't suffice..." Before she could continue on her tirade Xingqiu steps forward words already on his lips but even as he makes his approach he knows it won't be enough. ]

Please, I offer you my apologies. I know it can't truly be enough to please, but this is also something our leader wishes to bestow on you.

[ With that he places his own box of snacks next to his peer's upon the counter. Immediately the woman's hair begins to grab at the contents, and just like that it is all consumed. Is she finally content? Of course, not. Xingqiu can already see displeasure clouding her expression but before she can begin to angrily berate them he speaks again. He knows this song and dance now. This time however he isn't going to be tied down to do any menial labor. ]

And it would seem my companion has forgotten something important. They are also here to aid your fine business.

— c. open to all

---

[ Past the borders of the Sutoku Alliance's territory, there are other businesses that need to be appeased. Not only has the Daitengu's absence caused disarray within the alliance but outside of it. That is why he finds himself here. Again past experience doling out apologies within his own faction's dominion prepares him for what's to come. Not surprisingly the meager offering he has doesn't please this business owner. This time he can't tactfully avoid being roped into free labor. Well, not for the Daitengu but for the need of those like him he doesn't make a fuss.

Of course, the owner is a busy youkai, they're not going to bother showing him what duties they wish for him to take over. So off he is handed to the manager to receive instruction. However, the manager here also doesn't believe their time should be wasted explaining tasks to a temporary worker. That is why he is left to be taught by a regular employee who likely wouldn't see a rise in their salary. ]

So, you're going to tell me what to do?

2. TURF WAR ;
— open to all

---

[ Crouching down slowly, Xingqiu grabs his phone from his back pocket. Intention should be obvious as he aims the device. Well, it can't be helped but just how did this person get themselves trapped in such a small cage. It looked uncomfortable. Very much so, to the point he is even considering setting them free. Actually, that is the plan... after he takes a couple of pictures of course. He shouldn't, he does, it was far too tempting. ]

So... how long have you been in there?

3. CURSED OBJECTS ;
— a. open to all

---

[ The gloom of the tale, the dreary atmosphere along with the downcast teen's foray into the unknown draw him to the novel. He continues reading along, eyes cross the page following each word carefully. Finding himself at the end of leaf, his fingers glide across to turn it. Only he finds a sticky wetness at the corner of the page. Drawing his fingers away he finds a crimson stain and looking at his digits there is that same color smeared upon them.

Only that stain doesn't remain at the corner, it seems the novel's pages are soaking up that liquid from some unknown source until it begins to overflow. He holds the book away from himself as the strange fluid begins to pour out of it. Startled when a wailing sound arises, he finds it is coming from the very book in his grasp. Immediately he shuts it with an audible clap of wet pages coming together and for its part whatever was making that racquet actually loudly says ouch. Before he can even begin to consider what to do about the book he hears a shushing sound. From the end of the row of bookshelves, there is the disapproving look of a clerk. He smiles, she does not, but finally relents to leave him be. When she is gone he stands there a minute before he begins to march away still holding the novel.

A trail of blood is left in his wake. A perfectly normal day. ]

— b. open to all

---

[ The hauntings continue. More horrible than anything he has ever seen. Worse than the plague of nightmares, more terrifying than the blood dripping down walls and oozing up from flooring. Hands at his hair, clawing at clothes, it all means nothing against this last foe that he has crossed paths with. His greatest nemesis. No matter how fast he runs, how far he gets, it follows. Almost out of breath he practically runs into someone but he stops long enough to warn them. ]

We have to run! It's coming.

[ Indeed after him, down the alley he emerged from there is a scrapping sound and an eerie glow. ]

apology tour, c.

[cutcloud]

[ Romeow Cat Cafe isn’t your typical cat cafe—yes, it’s comfortable and cutely decorated, but there are no actual cats. All of the waitstaff are boys dressed up in cutesy cat outfits full with ears, tails, and a weekly theme as they work to serve their “masters” … and while the premise might seem a bit strange at first to a newcomer, the place is annoyingly popular. It’s one of the Tamamo’s most popular PG13 establishments; even if the waiters are encouraged to act like real cats and cuddle up to their customers, nothing beyond a little kissing is permitted.

It isn’t surprising that the cafe is on Xingqiu’s apology route. The catboys had been distraught at the events at the funeral, a few of their more delicate staff even passing out from the shock of the dead rising again in Hell itself, leaving them unable to work for days. They even had to close for a while.

Now they’re back open and busier than ever—the manager is a buff man named Hanz with a handlebar mustache, boyshorts that reveal two thick powerful thighs, and a set of perky fake cat ears. He’s the one who sighs and ushers Xingqiu into the care of one of the younger catboys after giving the young man an appraising up and down in approval. Hanz will never turn down help from a slender pretty boy in his cafe, but they’re very busy. He doesn’t have time to play with a temp.

The blonde introduces himself as “Mittens” and explains how all the waiters have stage names for privacy, and that their customers can get a little wild when they see them in public. Wringing his hands, he looks back and forth… he just so happens to be one of those timid, sweet boys who passed out when the Daitengu sprung to life. He isn’t much of a leader.

So he turns to Xingqiu: Oh, maybe Bellflower is a better choice than me. He’s one of our top cats and really busy … I think he could use help bussing his tables. He always has four at once.

Mittens continues on to explain how his senior Bellflower is always helping him—and how nice he is, how pretty he is, and how the customers love him because he’s as delightfully aloof as a real cat. They eat it up.

He leads Xingqiu to the back of the cafe where various catboys are dashing about and throwing on cute costumes. Mittens grabs a pair of fake cat ears and passes them to the Sutoku to wear before pointing over to a young man that Xingqiu knows extremely well. Chongyun’s just finished buttoning up his shirt: black short shorts that show off his legs, sheer long socks, a while button up shirt with suspenders and a little blue little bow tie… and can’t forget the cute ears nestled in his downy hair and a matching fluffy tail affixed to his ass.

Mittens calls his stage name and Chongyun looks up. The moment he sees Xingqiu, however, his cool expression quickly turns to a fiery blush. He’s no longer a catboy. He’s a tomato. ]

Xi… Xingqiu!?

Lalli Hotakainen | Stand Still Stay Silent | Enma

[silentscout]

1 (Enma buddies)

[Yeah, so, about those Haniwa statues. Lalli is careful about how he does it- even he is not enough of a fool to touch the statues bare-handed- but now he has the problem of the fact that he has about 10 of the things in a bag and he has no idea of where to put them. He is just standing there, right outside Enma HQ, because he's not so sure that he should take them inside.

Instead, the first Enma member that comes by is going to get him holding up the bag slightly as he asks a question:]

Where do I put these?



2 (Everyone)

[Lalli's experiences with the dead are certainly paying off, because these ghostly sightings don't seem to be sending him running. He's on guard, to be sure, and when one pops up he's quick to make himself more hidden until he can find the source and take care of it. But he's not as terrified as some of the other residents are.

That said, he's not letting people walk in all willy-nilly. In fact, he's standing near the entrance to a dark alleyway, staring down it. And when someone walks close to that alleyway, Lalli will be quick to stop them.]

Don't go down there.

[He sounds serious about it, maybe listen to him?]

1

[appleforyou]

[Bulleta stops on her way inside, peering at Lalli with disinterest. Her eyes drop to the bag.]

What's in there? If it's money, you can leave it with me, tehee~ ♥ But if it's those weird statues, you need to take them inside.

[She motions towards the door with a nod of her head. It looks like she was on her way to do the same - she's got a basket full of the cursed little dudes herself.]