jigokulogs | [Open] ⬤ So Much (More)

Entry tags:

[Open] ⬤ So Much (More)

Who ⬤ Haruka and you!
What ⬤ March 2022 Substories + Catchall
When ⬤ Early to mid March
Where ⬤ Tamamo Clan Clubs / River Bridge / (Night) Parade Route / Around
Content Warnings ⬤ None to start

DOMS WANTED

This is... somewhat out of her wheelhouse, and she can't even imagine trying to instruct anyone in something like this. But these are her people now and this is her territory and that means she's going to put her all into assisting!

She's sure there's a few people a little surprised to see a girl her age, with a soft sweet voice like she has to help with this assignment, but she's no stranger to raising that voice or putting her foot down, and it helps that she remembers a little bit of how T-Set went about things, that particular dismissive swagger that they'd use as part of their gimmick. That's what she teaches them, with surprising accuracy: how to be a bitch, how to look down on people, how to make it clear that who you're talking to barely deserves to kiss your toes. And she's going to drill them on it!

If there's anything that her own stint in show business showed her, it's that you have to practice until it's second nature, until the muscle memory is there as well as the one in your head. Her corrections are given sweetly, softly, politely... but they're given. Bad posture or the wrong tilt to a hip or wandering eyes will earn you a comment.

"You can't look away, Kaoru-san." She'd learned that from her fan events. "Part of what they're paying for is your attention, the weight of your eyes. And you can't figure out your next step if you're looking away..."

If you stick around, though, she'll also provide a few skin and haircare tips that she picked up during her stint in Sotenbori.

LOOK AT THIS SWEET JACKET

She wasn't really looking to help anyone in particular when the man approaches her, but once she hears the request, she cannot help but realize that there's more to it than what he's saying. She agrees... but she asks for a moment to investigate.

That will have her going onto the bridge by herself and crouching down near the sides to look for the youkai who've been troubling him. Onlookers will see her asking-

"Can I speak to you, please?"

And once she's gotten the story, she'll go back to the man and do her best to convince him that there are better places to walk than the bridge.

"Wouldn't your jacket look more stylish in a park? When you walk on the bridge, the reflections from the water takes away from the shine..."

When that doesn't work-

"All this talking is making me hungry. If we go to the SMILE burger, I'll get you a burger..."

...and she'll be trying to get sauce on his jacket so he'll go and get it dry cleaned and stop him from focusing so much on this walk and the jacket in the meantime.

WELCOME TO THE NIGHT PARADE

With everything to do, and with Haruka's dedication to helping every way she can, she ends up doing two tasks for the upcoming Night Parade:

For one, she's helping with decorations. Having lived in a house with nine kids, she's no stranger to putting up decorations for various celebrations, and as much as she's busting her ass to get things up and going, she's doing just as much to keep morale up and to cheer on and assist everyone else. She's getting her work done, but she's also going to be there if you're also helping, offering an extra set of hands or telling you-

"That looks great. Thank you!"

Job two is going around to the various businesses, a little clip board in hand as she speaks to the various business owners or whoever is willing to come to the door. She keeps her head up, her tone friendly, her smile on, but she's not below checking windows and slipping around back to make sure she can get someone to speak to if a shop is being difficult. She also won't take half-assed answers and she's taking notes!

...but at least she's cute and polite about it?

WILDCARD

Want something else around the city? Interested in a dance battle, perhaps? Need help with shopping on a budget? Or fixing up things in a less-than-stellar apartment? Want to bring a communicator thread to a log? Or just want to encounter her somewhere random... feel free to hit me up at

yarnzipan for plotting!

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She offers him a bright smile and when he gives her a compliment, she turns away, clearly still smiling about it. She'll accept it as genuine, even if it's clear he doesn't really care about the decorations.

"Thank you. I'm glad it looks good."

She looks at the next set of decorations.

"Can you watch while I set up the next part? I don't want anything to be crooked."

It's certainly a genuine enough compliment. He arguably wouldn't have come out and said it without external motivation, but it's not a lie as such.

... As expected, no good deed goes unpunished. Is he really going to have to do even more, now!? (Dazai, you have done fuck all!)

"Truth be told, I had other plans, but..." Those plans were sitting around and maybe having some drinks, at least part of which he can do right here. He hops up on something a little too high to be a normal seat - a vending machine, maybe - and barely resists sighing. "... anything for the parade, I suppose."

That makes her still and she looks back to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize. If you're busy, I'm sure I can figure it out myself. I just thought it might go faster with two people."

Oh. Now he feels bad.
... Okay, that's a lie, but he feels kind of busted, anyway. There are probably limits to how much he should test the patience of his superiors - and it's not like she's bad company.

"It's fine, it's fine~!" Mostly because he's... still not really doing anything, anyway. "Helping a beautiful lady in need is the leading principle that guides me through this darkest mire we call life!"

That will earn him a bell-like little giggle before she starts looking around for where to start. She'll turn back to him as she picks up the next piece of decoration.

"Thank you anyway," she says cheerfully, "work goes faster when you have someone with you."

She doesn't seem to be inclined to tell him to pick things up or do anything.

"Mhm, that's true." It certainly goes faster for him, because he would probably not do anything, if it was just him.

And he still does next to nothing, but, you know. He might stoop to hand her something eventually, especially if she asks. He's doing his share, clearly!

"So, have you been here long?"

She won't ask. But she'll smile and give him a nod of thanks when he does.

"I don't know if it's that long. It doesn't feel very long since I've been trying to make sure I fill the days."

She misses her family. She misses her child. But she needs to do this. And she's the only one who can, apparently.

"That sounds like an effort to put in more effort."

Ahhh, he's not making the best impression here, is he? He scratches his neck, a little annoyed. It's not like he normally cares, but she is a pretty lady, and that creates a social obligation of sorts, even though he is thankfully less inclined to bring out his standard lines since coming here.

"Well, I do admire your work ethic." From a safe distance, of course.

She'll offer a quick, enthusiastic bob of her head that's practically a bow.

"Thank you!" She works hard. Whatever she's doing? She works hard at it. She's never really had the luxury not to.

"I know I don't have to try as hard, but the way I see it, the quicker I learn the ropes, the easier it will be in the long run. Not to mention that it'll be easier to figure out what I'm good at if I try a little of everything."

"I'm not sure decorating for parades is an eligible career, but in a place like this, who really knows?"

He's making the career description too narrow on purpose, probably, but only because it's a good excuse not to think about it any further for himself. So few things interest him... and this least of all. If there's anything here he has ambitions for, it's to rise through the ranks and hope he'll get more interesting work then.

But he still doesn't especially want to work hard to get there, so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"Ah - I'd almost forget. What might your regular job be?" What side are you with? is what he really means to ask, but close enough.

"I work at an orphanage," she says honestly, "and before that, I was working as a hostess at a bar."

And before that, she was an idol, but that's the last thing that she wants to talk about. This might be Hell and it might be another world and there might be all kinds of strange people here, but the last thing she wants is for anyone to identify her. That special hell was mostly behind her.

He blinks. An orphanage..? My, he really does attract them... but that's fine. In fact, it suits him nicely. Maybe he can do a little bit to help from time to time - or at least keep an eye on things.

"An orphanage, here?"

She shakes her head.

"No, that was back in Okinawa."

She frowns as she considers it.

"I don't know if there is an orphanage here. There probably should be. There's always kids around. And if there's kids, there's always the chance they might be alone."

"Mhm, that's true. Though if we include orphan youkai into the mix, some might be inclined to eat the humans."

Maybe he's exaggerating because it's vaguely funny to him, but hey, he never claimed to have good taste. (He probably did, actually.)

"Okinawa, hmm? I'm from Yokohama, myself." Depending on what you count as 'from', but he decides it counts. "Actually, I have some connections to the local orphanages there, too."

... That is not actually a good thing, in his case. But it's fine. He's mostly a good guy, these days. It's fine!

“I know someone who was born there,” she says at the mention, “but I’ve never really been there myself. The orphanage I grew up in was closer to Tokyo.”

Yeah, they… may have some things they could talk about in that area that they probably won’t talk about.

Definitely time to mutually decide never to go into any detail regarding their respective connections to orphanages. At least not from Dazai's side of things.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Somehow he decides to start with that, even though it's a complete change of topic. (Let so when his thoughts were speeding ahead, though, which is probably why he rolls with it.) "So many things about this place are exactly like modern-day Japan - apart from the youkai politics. And while there are people like us, who come from somewhere not unlike it, there are also many others from very different places."

Don't worry: it's mutual. She doesn't think there's a chance that his connection involves someone involved in organized crime who just wanted to take care of kids but who just kept getting pulled back into it over and over again until it killed him...

But given her own situation, she's not really going to make the opportunity.

"Maybe there are places that are more likely to take people from other places, and some of them just ended up here."

There's that, yes. There's also much more, like Dazai being aware since long ago that a certain tiger boy was stuck in such an evil place - but hey, he's a good guy now; it's probably fine.

"That's seems likely. Like a good connection between worlds!" ... However that is supposed to work. Dazai should probably care more than he does, but he's not overly fond of parallel worlds, so the less dwelled on it, the better. "Or like a popular holiday destination for residents of a specific country..?"

Wait! "Popular hell-iday!"

Definitely.

She stares at him for a long moment, almost too long, before she has to cover her face with one hand to giggle. It might not be polite, especially given the laugh it gave her, but she does not-

"That was terrible, sir."

The giggle is a lovely reward. It almost makes the effort he is (not really) putting into decorating worth it! (Almost.)

"Wasn't it just~?" He gives her a cheeky smile, not bothering to deny it - but he immediately continues more soberly. "And yet what else should we call this little trip into another realm?"

He still has some questions about it all, really. He doesn't mind it, of course: there is a contract, and he will fulfil his end of it if he gets what he was promised. But can he really be sure of that, when he knows so little about this place and how it functions?

"I suppose it's accurate," she has to admit, "but so far, it doesn't seem that bad. Maybe hell has worse reputation than it deserves."

She could believe it. People could be terrible about that kind of thing, and take any excuse to look down when they can. She knows that too well.

"The afterlife is just the afterlife." And Dazai is frankly annoyed that there is one at all - but let's not digress. "Though I suppose we should be glad we're not being repeatedly burned alive, or having our tongues pulled out."

Really though, he thinks she's got it turned around. He thinks most everybody's got it turned around.

"But don't you think we're overvaluing the world of the living, instead of thinking too poorly of hell? No bigger hell than normal life."

"I don't know if it's overvaluing it," she says, clearly thoughtful. She taps a finger on her jaw as she considers it.

"I guess you'd need to consider how they're really all that different."

"Milady makes an excellent point."

They are the same, functionally. That begs a question or two (or twenty) about religious and philosophical interpretations of this afterlife, doesn't it?

Well... that's even assuming that an afterlife is truly what this is. The Lost Souls didn't die, after all - at least: not for the most part; not as far as Dazai knows. For the rest, it's more like a youkai realm than strictly hell.

"It sounds like some philosophers of old didn't fancy youkai." Discrimination giving hell a bad rap? Sounds legit.

"Or maybe a human stumbled into this place accidentally and had a bad time so when they got back, they told everyone about how bad it is."

She could believe that too.

"Like going to a restaurant and warning everyone if the food is bad."

He chuckles at that, because that is both a creative and a pretty realistic way of looking at it. He appreciates that!

"Hell as a restaurant! I suppose we should be glad that there aren't flies in our soup." He ponders this. "On second thought, given where we are, maybe our soup would have nobusuma instead..?"

... That would definitely be even weirder. Anyway, they have some decorating to do! Ideally without getting their blood sucked out by flying squirrel youkai.

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[Open] ⬤ So Much (More)

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sorry for the ANCIENT ^_^;;

np np though we can also wind this up if you prefer!

probably just so they can meet again!

looking forward to it!