July 2022 IC Mingle

[jigokumods]

MAIN NAVIGATION

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!

Comments

Gracious Skylark | Shuten | OTA

[inspiteful]

[ A. Itadakimasu! (or not)]

[ Skylark was pretty excited when he saw all the food carts (or...something like carts?), so of course he had to try out the food. He ordered some yakisoba, watched it get cooked and then noticed the vendor adding in some glowing powder. Before he could say anything about it, it was handed over to him. Now he's here with a box of dubious yakisoba that he paid for, looking at it in trepidation. ]

Is this really safe to eat...?

[ B. Bird bombs ]

[ Ah, so this was what those rumors were talking about...it's too bad he doesn't really get to dwell on this because there are bird dive bombing him now. To his credit, he doesn't scream. Much less to his credit, he's flailing his arms at the ineffectually, trying to get them to let up just enough that he can make his way to shelter. ]

Shoo! Go away!

[ And when some of them start trying to pick at the earring on his left ear, he starts trying to smack them outright. ]

Fuck off!

[ C. Wildcard ]
[ Got other ideas? Hit me up at paperforest#2872 on Discord or paperforest, or just come at me with your own starter and I'll roll with it. ]

wilcard

[harimaya]

(After the festival, when all of the stalls have started to close up and people are heading up, Hizen swings by some of the closing food stands to squeeze in a few final orders. They're always more generous when they have a lot of things to get rid of. He comes out of all of it with a nice bag full of snacks to truly get him through the night.

And he sees one of the newer Shuten recruits looking like he's just gotten into a fight or something. Honestly, he suspects its the birds that managed to get everyone else and if this person is in Shuten, they should be able to take care of themselves but this one looks younger and he can't help but...)

Oi. (He calls out,) You look like shit.

[inspiteful]

[ He does, in fact, look like shit. He's managed to get some bandages for the injuries, but that doesn't change the fact that there was a lot of pecking and picking he had to try and fight off. Skylark turns to see who's calling for him. The voice sounds familiar... ]

Yeah, well. No thanks to those birds.

[ It's been maybe a week or less and he's already so tired. ]

[harimaya]

(Oh,)

Every time that chicken opens their mouth, something happens...

(The chicken. The daitengu.)

Let me see.

(Come here, kiddo. Let senpai check out the scratches and stuff.)

[inspiteful]

[ "Chicken"... Skylark isn't sure what to say about the fact he just called the Daitengu a chicken. Well, besides the fact that makes Hizen a little rude, but that's honestly nothing terribly surprising.

But he obediently approaches to let Hizen take a look. None of the injuries are particular serious, though one might get the impression Skylark pissed off some of the magpies while trying to get them to leave. ]

Not the first time this sort of thing has happened?

[harimaya]

They're nothing but trouble.

(He looks him over, makes notes of the scratches, and nods,)

My place is nearby. (And he's already walking again,) Got better bandages and stuff there.

(...)

C'mon.

(He's not asking.)

[inspiteful]

[ Of course he doesn't ask. Skylark hasn't known Hizen for long, but he already got the impression that he's not much for talking or being very polite. Still, the fact that he was even offering at all said something, so Skylark follow after him without asking more questions.

...Probably if this was someone else he'd be a little warier (and probably he should still be wary, just as a matter of principle), but he trusts in his ability to run if for some godsforsaken reason something goes wrong. ]

[harimaya]

(Walking through Shuten territory they go.)

So what's your secret? (You can't just ask people that Hizen--) Why'd the boss pick ya?

(In other words, how the heck did you end up in Shuten.)

[inspiteful]

[ That question catches him off-guard and...honestly he doesn't know what the answer is? It's just as much of a mystery to him as it is to anyone else how he ended up in this faction. ]

Um... I really don't know why, either.

[ He's not an outstanding fighter, and...he's not going to assume the boss knows about some of the things he's been through the past year, so there's no guarantee any of that had any bearing on why an oni chose him, of all people. If it even would have any bearing, for that matter. ]

I think I'm pretty far off from what most people expect from this faction, if I'm being honest.

[harimaya]

I'd say to ask the boss but 's probably a bad idea to go questioning him if you can't do shit.

(RIP, Skylark. You just live here now but at least this kid is honest. Honest? He isn't sure. He figures most people in this faction have something going for them and he wonders if this kid is downplaying it or something.)

Can you do anything? You're gonna have to work here if you wanna live, y'know. Hell still runs on money.

a

[empression]

Oh...

[ Well, she's spoken with him before. He's probably fine to speak her mind a little more frankly with, and quite honestly, Haru trusts the yakisoba about as far as she could throw it. ]

... I'm not so certain about it. I'm one for trying different types of food, but something that glows doesn't strike me as particularly safe.

[inspiteful]

[ Oh, it's the girl from that EMBER thing! Haru, was it? He looks at her, then looks back at the yakisoba in his hands. ]

There goes my money, then... [ He sighs. ]

[empression]

...

Excuse me.

[ And she speaks up to the vendor. ]

My friend here is actually highly allergic to this substance. Might I request another, without the addition? I'll be willing to compensate you, of course.

[ She was lucky enough to be treated to soba earlier, so she's fine handing over her money for a non-stardust version, receiving the yakisoba for her efforts and offering it to Skylark. ]

[inspiteful]

[ He doesn't even get to tell Haru that she doesn't need to do all that before she just...went and did it. He can't help feeling a little embarrassed that she had to spend money too, even if he's grateful, as he takes the yakisoba from her, setting the one he got to one side. ]

Thanks for the help.

[empression]

Oh, it's no trouble. [ With a little smile. ]

I would have felt terrible if you'd either taken the risk and eaten the first one or if you'd been hungry for the night.

[ And she can't let that slide. ]

[inspiteful]

Well, then I owe you one for this.

[ He smiles back! ]

Do you feel like eating anything yourself? Even just a small snack.

[empression]

Ah... maybe dango? It's a fairly light snack and inexpensive, but I've always found it comforting.

[inspiteful]

I think I saw a stall selling some earlier, so we can go get some?

[empression]

If you don't mind accompanying me... I hope I wasn't interrupting any plans you may have already had?

[ She just has to make sure. Intruding would be terrible. ]

itadakimasu

[kikuichi]

[Norimune's walking around with his snacks, until he come across someone looking at their yakisoba suspiciously. After he finishes off his taiyaki, he toss the wrapper into the nearby bin and talks to the young man.]

Oh? Your yakisoba looks pretty interesting.

[Very... sparkly?]

[inspiteful]

I guess "interesting" is one way of putting it.

[ He holds up the yakisoba to examine the glowing spices in it a little more, still...looking pretty full of doubt about it. ]

Probably should have paid more attention before buying it.

[kikuichi]

[He should be responsible about this, but.]

Are you going to try it?

[The food's right here, and already paid for. If anything pops up, Norimune's not affected and can help the young man. Well, he thinks he might.]

[inspiteful]

[ Sir why is the youngin' the responsible one here??? ]

Nnnnno.

[ Every time he even tries to entertain the idea of trying to make sure this isn't just wasted money, at least two people come to his mind who would shake him for thinking of doing something like "eat glowing food" if they were here. And of course, some who'd encourage him to do it because they want to see what would happen, which is reason enough to not do it. ]

Do you want it?

[kikuichi]

Oh, I already ate. I'm simply walking it off before buying more food.

[He can still eat more, actually. But he's not foolish enough to try these unusual "seasoning" on the food.]

Which stall sells this one?

[He might have to investigate... if he happens to be nearby.]

[inspiteful]

I see.

[ Figures he can't just foist this off on someone else...

He gestures at a stall a little ways back. ]

That one.