jigokulogs | July 2022 IC Mingle

July 2022 IC Mingle

1. ITADAKIMASU!

After the harrowing incidents involving the curse last month, unity is the theme for welcoming the new influx of Lost Souls. The factions are still busy with cleanup efforts and making sure their personnel are in fighting shape. What’s more, most of the usual spots that would play host to the factions’ parties are either closed until they’re repaired, or in no state to be hosting parties that big.

Thus, an agreement has been reached. All of the factions will hold their mingles together and host a food truck/yatai festival in the blocks surrounding Theater Square, in the Sutoku Alliance’s territory. This gets money into the hands of the local vendors, and allows the community to spend time together in relative peace. It’s still Jigokucho, there are punks prowling to start fights and steal wallets, like they always are, but it’s a breath of fresh air after everything that’s been happening lately. Just keep your wits about you and enjoy the food. Takoyaki is one of the most popular items and competition between the carts motivates chefs to make them flair and style!

Kushiten, yakitori, dango, croquettes, senbei, onigiri, yakisoba, taiyaki, you name it, it’s probably represented here in some form. There are even any number of your favorite treats from home, even if your home isn’t Earth. It might take a little poking around to find them, but isn’t that part of the delight of exploring a city’s food?

The falling Stardust has made its way into the food as well. You may notice that some vendors are grinding up the glowing stellar fragments and putting them into the food itself as a spice. Are… you supposed to eat that?! Oh well! When it’s time to party, you can’t go wrong with a little Stardust.

2. MUSIC GOT ME FEELIN SO FREE

In the center of Theater Square, surrounded on all sides by the many colorful food stalls, they’ve set up a stage for local artists to perform on. There are a great variety of acts who come and go to play a few songs. The music reaches all throughout the square and may be little more than background noise, until just the right tune catches your ear.

Jenny⁣ – This all-girls story of hidden love should be hitting all the ladies in the crowd a certain kind of way. Have you been admiring a friend or coworker and just never taken the plunge? Now’s the time for that kiss, the music is playing.
KONNANじゃないっ⁣⁣ – This sweet idol bop about striding bravely towards your best future fills you with inspiration and hope for the future. You may feel compelled to bring your hopes and dreams into every conversation. The future is bright!
Running Up That Hill⁣⁣ – As the singer performs some kind of interpretive dance, she sings about her frustrations with never truly being able to see from another person’s perspective. What would you do to show your true self? Maybe it’s time to iron out that ongoing misunderstanding you’ve been circling.
Love Warriors⁣⁣ – A simple act with a guitarist and singer, she sings a mellow piece about the true value of love. What a beautiful message. Your heart might begin to overflow with feelings of care and affection. Will you finally spill those all-important three words? I-love-you.
One More Time⁣⁣ – The last act of the evening is lively, colored lights flashing out across the square. They begin to play an impossibly catchy beat that no one can resist dancing too. Dance like no one is watching and enjoy the sweet catharsis of a good dance session. You’ll feel better for it tomorrow.

(Players are more than welcome to use their own song and effect. 💖)

3. BIRD BOMBS

At some point during the festivities, the Daitengu takes the stage. They’re in exceptionally high spirits. They give a shout-out to Toraguma and Tenkohime for helping to make this happen. As usual, The Enma is not present. However, the Daitengu forgoes any snide remarks, although they do seem a bit let down. Hope springs eternal, one supposes.

Next they would like to announce that they have even more reasons to celebrate: a truce has been declared between the Shuten and Tamamo clans. The war for the Underground is over (for now) and new construction has started on a new casino and adult entertainment complex in the once-contested territory. They hope that this will lead to an ongoing era of financial cooperation between the three factions.

They thank Sakamoto Ryouma for making all of this happen and give him a shoutout in the crowd. Word has spread all over the Alliance about their deeds, and what they managed to pull off; a blessing and a curse. It becomes obvious that not every tribe within the Sutoku Alliance was okay with putting the Alliance itself up as collateral to make this happen. The Kasasagi Tengu Tribe, in particular, has decided to let their protest be known by storming the party in a flood of aggressive magpies. They vulture the food, they pick at jewelry, they’re an absolute menace.

Good luck shooing them away. The vibes are counting on you to deal with these feathered buzzkills.

Welcome to the IC mingle!

If you have any questions about the mingle content, please ask them here!
If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.
For Rewards, given both the Stardust and Turf War prompts are involved in all three, threads in the Mingle log count for TWO (2) points!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i. gettin' festive ((cw: stardust usage))

[ Despite how much she talks about being a local celebrity, being above the riff-raff and being something more than a commoner, Totoko's palate wasn't necessarily refined. She ate well, but wasn't necessarily eating caviar every night. As the festival got underway, she's shown up wearing a light blue yukata, patterned with ocean waves and fish.

While in general she can be found at assorted booths, trying to sweet talk the vendors to get a little extra. It does work sometimes-- but in one particular moment, it works a bit too well. As evidenced by Totoko popping up, approaching anyone that she sees and holding up her takoyaki. She's got five left, and has a starry-eyed expression on her face. ]

This is so good! Hey hey, you have to try this! I've never tasted anything so good~!

[ Before anyone can take advantage of her offer, Totoko pulls one from the pack. It's pretty clear that there's a bit of finely ground stardust peppering the top. Yeah, she might've. Gotten more exposure to this than she should. ]

ii. gettin' angry

[ It's fairly obvious that despite wanting her wish, Totoko isn't super concerned about the affairs of her own clan, nor any of the interpersonal politics throughout Jigokucho. What she does care about is when a bunch of birds try to flee with her dango! A few had flown at her as a distraction, and the rest picked off her snack pretty easily. Leading to a very angry looking Totoko to make a scene chasing after them!

After they've successfully lost her, Totoko growls and decides to head up to somebody to get info-- ]

Hey, have you seen any shitty thieving birds around here?! They stole my dango!

[ Coincidentally, she hasn't noticed, but one of the magpies is just sticking out of her hair at the moment, head flitting about to keep an eye out for the rest of the flock. Gotta make sure to keep this dumb fish girl away from them. ]

iii. getting down ((ota/age appropriate for flirting?))

[ Totoko's appearance here is generally for the sake of gathering information for herself-- getting a good idea of the competition, who she'll wind up being envious of, or rather, immediately leapfrog over in her quest. The music's fine... it's not terrible. Actually, it's kind of good? Depending on which of the songs you happen to catch her listening to... ]

((ooc: i place "reverse uno" on the field and end my turn. pick out a song, i aint care which one! i'm def interested in 'running up that hill' and 'jenny', but if you have an idea for another song listed or even one not listed, hmu either via PM or thru the discord! wildcard, y'all~!))

Wh-what is it?

[ Oh, the older woman has a snack for her? Chris still can't get over Totoko being twenty-eight but she's gonna ignore it when food is at stake. As long as she finds out what the food is, first. And considers if she should consume that much stardust. ]

[ Good thing she's in a good mood and can't read minds, or there'd already be a fistfight breaking out. Which sure she might lose, but with age comes experience! Experience that, Totoko doesn't have too much of outside of brawling outside of an oden stand.

She's even nice enough to not taunt Chris this time for not knowing what takoyaki is! ]

It's an octopus ball! We have them back in Japan, but I swear they've never been this good before!

[ The one she plucked goes right into Totoko's mouth. She probably shouldn't consume this much stardust, but consider: it's fine. ]

Edited 2022-07-13 09:29 (UTC)

[ Chris would win a shootout, for sure. ]

Oooh. ...it doesn't look like an octopus.

[ Or its meat, but she's looking closer at it. ]

No no, it's inside, inside. The rest's batter and these little toppings, and it's just so good, come on, try it, try it!

[ This is a complete 180 from how she was before, but she's absolutely beaming! ]

Oh, oh, that makes more sense.

[ They need to stockpile this and get Totoko addicted, she's a lot more fun. Surely that won't have consequences. ]

Alright, lemme try it.

[ She won't wear herself out by being nice to commoners, no siree. She holds out the container, and yup. Every single one has a bit of Stardust seasoning on top. There's no foul play at all on Totoko's part, she just looks genuinely thrilled to share the moment with somebody!

Tee hee. ]

[ Food and drugs. It's basically perfect, right? Chris snatches up an orb, and pops the whole thing into her mouth - and her eyes shoot wide open as she bites down cuz that fucker's hot on the inside.

Distressing, but delicious, she manages to not choke, thank goodness? ]

[ Oop-- Totoko reaches forward for a moment, making sure she doesn't choke before giving her a polite laugh. ]

Sorry sorry, should've warned you it was hot. But it's good, right?

[ Wow she is acting REAL nice damn.

Chris pants a little to cool her tongue. ]

Good. The toppings are crazy good!

Right?! See?! It's amazing!

[ Gah, it's been a while since she's felt this free! This wonderful!

Which is why she's grabbed onto Chris's wrist and is pulling. ]

Hey hey, let's go do something! There's music playing over there. Oh, or we could see if they're putting it on anything else! Maybe we can find some of those toppings?

[ She wants to hang out suddenly?! ]

Um, the music seems kinda fun?

[ Chris doesn't know anything about dancing, but it doesn't seem that hard to figure out what people are up to.

This is a strange new world of overly friendly Totoko. ]

Perfect! Let's go shake it, c'mon c'mon!

[ She's gonna pull her right over to the square then! Totoko might be a bit overbearing now, but trust: It's Fine.

If you're going to learn how dancing works, why not learn from an expert? If that doesn't work, at least you still have Totoko. ]

A-alright!

[ It's fine! Chris can learn to move her body in new and exciting ways...

It's some kind of cheery idol thing, perfect for Totoko, maybe, as well. ]

[ It is perfect! It really gives her a chance to practice... considering, she's not a strong dancer herself. Today, the music's just giving her an extra boost, some more energy that she'd like to share!

...Especially since, it seems like Chris may not have it just yet? ]

Do you not dance often?

[ Well, she's a way better dancer than Chris. ]

N-not a lot of space in Arzenal. We only really make room for stuff like this once a year.

Well, that's silly. Tell you what... when I make it big, we'll dance all the time! Gotta have fun while you're here.

Having such a relaxed life seems silly to me.

[ Mostly muttered, although certainly intended to be heard. ]

But I'll see... what it's like, when you do make it big.

That's the point of coming here, right?

[ She twirls, and holds her arms in the air. ]

Make your money, live comfy, never have to worry again! ♥

Is that all...

[ Make money. Live it up. You might die tomorrow. Rinse, repeat.

Watch friends die. Watch lovers die. At least... hopefully she's less likely to be eaten here. ]

Well, you've got the right idea.

[ Helly's eyebrows raise up high at the sight of the bird on the girl's head, but she has to stifle a laugh when she realizes the kid doesn't know. ]

Pff-- oh, sorry. That really sucks for you.

[ Oh, DIS woman. Totoko might seem airheaded, but how Helly feels about this is written all over her face. ]

Hah?! What's so funny, huh? I was really enjoying it!

[ While said extra bird nestles up in Totoko's hair, slipping back just a little. Looks like it's been made, at least by the bystander. ]

I mean, it's kind of funny? A bird swooping down to steal your food like that.

[ She's trying very hard to keep her eyes on the girl and not the bird. Should she sell it out? It is a thief, but she feels strangely affectionate toward it just nesting in the poor kid's hair. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

July 2022 IC Mingle

totoko yowai | sutoku

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you wanna pick for music?

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