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

[Cain just laughs even as Nero pushes him away. He honestly really was cute, and he could see why the norths, especially Bradley, were so wierdly fond of him. (He may be misinterpeting that a little.) Not sure if going in for another kiss was wanted, he just snuck closer to pull Nero in for a close hug, burying his nose in the east wizard's hair.]

Let me have this! You never let me hug you, and you're really cute when you're flustered.

[Cain. Cain, what do you think his relationship with Bradley is. Cain. He is trying to keep some of that history under wraps. Cain. He doesn't know any Bradley's, just the one guy from the prison cause of Sage's Wizard's business, that's all. Cain.

That's what he would be thinking if he wasn't a little high on stardust already. Right now, he's just embarrassed about kissing a friend, petting his hair and glad they aren't making eye contact.]

Stop sayin' stuff... [Every word is more embarrassing somehow.]

[Well he was the one who fed them, right? That's why they usually didn't fuck with Nero or the kitchen as much as other people. That's pretty impressive for someone like Owen to do.

But otherwise, Nero always smelled like fresh baked goods and it was comforting. Cain then rested his chin on Nero's shoulder the best he could, clearly not wanting to give up on the cuddling part.]

No. You can't run away from my compliments like this. I have to tell everyone how much I love them.

[True power in the sage's manor has nothing to do with actual magical power, and everything to do with how well you can cook.

Nero continues petting him, just because he's there and warm. And if he's being even the tiniest bit honest, this is cozy.]

You really don't...

[But he's not really protesting as much as he could be.]

You're warm.

[Hey, Cain's learning how to manipulate the sanbaka at least! Though Nero definitely had an easier time with it, being amazing at any sort of food whatsoever.

And it was easy to ignore Nero's rather pathetic attempts at deflection when he was as high off of stardust as he was. Cain did, however, step back so the two of them were leaning against the wall rather than standing awkwardly. He's leaning into the pets too, because not many people did that to him anymore.

His parents, maybe, but he tried so hard to be the older reliable one that no one really pat his head like he was a kid anymore.]

Haha, I get that a lot. Riquet and Arthur like to use me as a pillow sometimes. But you are too. Maybe it's cause you spend all the time in the kitchen and it gets really hot...oh yeah, that does remind me I have to tell everyone how good your cooking is! You should open a restaurant and I'll come every day.

[ Those three are surprisingly easy to get to do what you want. They might act like it's so hard, but if you have the right food they'll think about helping.

He sighs, but as far as these things go, he'll accept them. He continues stroking Cain's hair. Maybe he's not used to being pet, but Nero does have centuries on him. If anybody is allowed, it's him. ]

Even if I make it the type where you can't talk?

[ City of Rain rules only. Silence within his walls. ]

[Hey, let Cain have some delight in being able to bully some of the strongest wizards! Even if its just to get Mithra to do sit ups or Oz to play cards with him...

But maybe this is what was nice about now being the youngest wizard to arrive here. Cain normally didn't even voice these thoughts, but being the pillar for all of the younger ones and trying to seem reliable had tired him out. The fact that Nero could sit here and treat him like he did Riquet made him oddly happy.

Still, in response to Nero's statement, he just buried his nose more into Nero's own hair.]

You wouldn't do that...that would be really sad. I can't eat your food without telling everyone how good it is...

[He doesn't really remember the last time he did this to an adult. He'd pet Riquet's hair and feed him some chocolates or sweets when he got upset. Right now though, he seems like he's in an oddly good mood.

Petting Cain like this doesn't seem that strange. It's not like he's being pushed away for this simple little bit of affection either. So he continues, idly stroking his hair like he's at ease.]

You can tell people outside of the store, if you really wanted.

[Even though Nero didn't love how stiff and rigid the rules were in the City of Rain, having something that felt like a hint of home would be good for him. This city feels loud and bustling. There's always so much to hear and so much to listen to. If he can have one place that's quiet, he'll be a bit happier.]

[Well, Cain was technically a child in wizard years, even if he'd graduated to adult far before he probably should have as a human. And Nero didn't normally share this type of affection easily so Cain was taking whatever he could get.

Though, he did move them down to sitting on the ground so it would be at least a little more comfortable.]

I already did. I can say that my comrade Nero is here and he makes the best food. I bet Megumi and Yuuji will yell at me if I don't introduce them...but you'd like Megumi at least. He's quiet and has pretty eastern sensibilities.

[His mouth was now rambling about anything he could think of because he really didn't like the idea of not being able to talk to Nero.]

Is it an older wizard thing? Shylock tells me I can't use my phone in the bar, even if its not even powered by mana stones.

[Nero doesn't really mind being a source of comfort. It's when that comfort turns to trust, that's when he starts getting cold feet and needs to run.

They sit down in some odd section of this festival and Nero tries very hard not to chuckle at everything Cain's saying. He doesn't know any of these kids enough to say if he'd like their company or not. But his tolerance range for an Easterner is pretty wide.]

If I had a place you could use your phone in it. I just want a quiet atmosphere inside.

[Well, it might be too late for Nero now, because Cain already trusted him and he was very fast. But right now he was just obsessed with hugging Nero, holding back from kissing him on the cheek or something. He wanted to. Nero would probably shove him away, though. Even if he really wanted to.

But he could at least even in his haze of stardust see Nero's need for a quiet place.]

Oh thats it. I can do that. Well, I know i get loud so you might have to tell me to quiet down a little, but I can do that. Having a peaceful spot with your company would be a good dream. And there's lot of non-humans and humans who do love us here.

Besides, if they don't respect the rules, I can just throw them out. I've got a little authority to do that at least!

[Hugs are an acceptable form of affection from a guy who's usually keeping people at a specific distance. Maybe he'd even accept it if he wasn't high. That's a big maybe. ]

Everything here's so much louder than I'm got used to in The City of Rain. Just one quiet place's all I'm askin' for, y'know?

I thought all the factions did their own peacekeeping?

I get it!

[He gets it. And depending on how good of a mood he was in, he liked grabbing other wizards into physical affection they weren't particularly used to. It was only a matter of time before everyone else got caught up in it.]

They do, but I'm allowed to help out my friends, aren't I? I hang out in Shylock's bar all the time...division lines are kind of stupid sometimes.

[This is so much more affection than Nero willingly gives. At least the majority of the wizards aren't around to tease him about everything that's happening here today.]

Yeah, I guess so.

Should you be sayin' that when you were a knight? [Wasn't there a whole thing between Central and West divisions and lines?]

[Cain liked to think he doesn't tease either! Though he does often try to go and drag eastern wizards around to do things they weren't always fond of. Still, he huffed into Nero's hair.]

Course I'm loyal to Arthur, but does that really mean I can't be friends with Heath? Or any of the west wizards. I don't really care where they're from, you guys are all my friends. Besides, Vincent is kind of a prick sometimes.

[Nero did at least get the privelege of hearing Cain's thoughts that he would absolutely never say out loud if he were sober-or even if he were drunk. But Nero was safe, and probably wouldn't judge him.]

[Some unnamed wizard(s) tease Nero an awful lot. Luckily he hasn't seen much of him.

Nero's shoulder shake slightly with the effort of trying to hold back his laughter.]

He is a prick, ain't he?

[Cain will just have to make up for it in the meantime. On the other hand, that means Nero gets to hear the knight's secret thoughts about the central government.]

He makes me so mad sometimes! And I can't say anything cause then it will cause trouble for Arthur. But his attitude is just the worst. And I don't know why he hates wizards so much. You should've seen his expression when they kicked me out of the army. Replacing him will feel very nice.

I don't want to be seperated from you guys just because of this city's politics either.

We can still spend time together... You're a Central wizard 'n I'm an East one, and we still talk all the time. [More time than he would personally prefer, but it's fine. Murr's in a different faction, and Nero can't imagine Shylock isn't being uh... possessive and odd with him.]

Good luck kickin' that guy outta power.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

July 2022 IC Mingle

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