Kim Kitsuragi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aceslow) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
jigokulogs2022-03-07 04:51 pm
aceslow) wrote in jigokulogs2022-03-07 04:51 pm
[ OPEN ] sunrise, sunset
Who ⬤ Kim Kitsuragi & YOU
What ⬤ March substories (night parade & babysitting bad trips) & more!
When ⬤ Throughout March
Where ⬤ Throughout Jigoku-cho
Content Warnings ⬤ Drug use for the applicable substory, otherwise n/a
a. high definition.
[ When Kim notices people exiting the drug testing location looking decidedly worse for wear, his first instinct is to simply ignore them. They knew what they signed up for, did so willingly, and evidently did so without having the contingency of planning for a friend to accompany them and keep them safe afterwards. He stands off to the side for a frankly unconsciable amount of time, reasoning that some good samaritan will choose to be helpful. It doesn't have to be him. He's done enough of babysitting people on unadvisable drug trips for an entire lifetime, and he's not keen on repeating the experience.
Except it quickly becomes clear that nobody else is going to step in, even when he's given one or two passer-bys a hopeful glance. Whether it's the blindness, hallucinations, or general revelry that influences people to make terrible decisions, participants in the study are going to wind up being a danger to themselves or others, Kim decides, and reluctantly approaches one of them. ]
Khm. Excuse me. Are you all right?
[ He knows the answer to that question. It's no, because agreeing to be the guinea pig for unknown drugs as administered by some bizarre rabbit creatures is not something you do when you're all right, but he makes the executive decision to err on the side of politeness anyway. ]
b. night parade.
i. decorating.
[ Assisting with the parade seems like an easy way of currying favour with his superiors and to at least put on the pretense of helping out, so Kim gladly accepts the task of hanging up the decorations. He'll be around to help hold ladders, move boxes from point A to point B, or toss a bottle of water to one of his fellow assistants who looks as though they've failed to hydrate through any of their hard labour.
He does, however, become more invested in it than he specifically means to as he stands back, hands tucked neatly behind him, and scrutinizes one of the stalls' decorations, in a very interesting colour scheme. ]
No. I'm sorry, this needs to come down. These colours are... [ There is a polite way of putting this. ] ...very ugly.
ii. eyes needed.
[ Kim, having been deemed a very responsible looking man (probably because he's one of the older people here, he thinks with a sigh), has been tasked with sorting the fireworks and putting them in appropriate storage. Some need to be stored at certain temperatures to maintain the brilliance of their colours, and others need to be put under lock and key in a nearby storage unit because in the wrong hands, they have the capacity to do an awful lot of damage.
Which is fine. Kim is more than capable of handling this. Only he's supposed to be reading the criminally tiny fine print along the sides of the tubes. He holds them away from his face as far as possible in a desperate bid to translate it, but to no avail. He could rely on guesswork, but...
Reluctantly, he turns to one of his fellows, roped into helping with the parade as well. ] Can you make this out?
[ He's secretly hoping the answer is no, which is a possibility. It would be less embarrassing that way. ]
c. sutoku district & housing.
[ Otherwise, Kim can be found wandering around what he's been told is his new home, pausing occasionally to look at the huge, flashy arcades, the blindingly bright department stores, or perhaps dwelling a little too long on one of the vehicles parked along the side of the road. Shopping isn't the most exciting thing, perhaps, but Kim has plenty he needs to get with his first paycheck: groceries (largely frozen and canned foods, specialty-made for the consummate bachelor), a first-aid kit, cigarettes and toiletries, instant coffee, and a pitstop where he inspects a truly tragic looking pot of mint planted in ruinously dry soil.
By the end of the evening, he can be found on the balcony of the long line of depressing apartments that all of the newcomers have been put into, staring out at the night sky with a cigarette dangling from his fingers and a convenience store bag filled with premade food hanging off the crook of his elbow. He's willing to share, if interest is shown -- a cigarette for the adults, or a an extra onigiri for the kids. If he's going to eat a depressing late-night dinner standing out here, he may as well have some company. ]
d. wildcard.
[ want something else? I'd love to make a starter for you! just hit me up at my ooc comment here and we'll figure something out. ]
What ⬤ March substories (night parade & babysitting bad trips) & more!
When ⬤ Throughout March
Where ⬤ Throughout Jigoku-cho
Content Warnings ⬤ Drug use for the applicable substory, otherwise n/a
a. high definition.
[ When Kim notices people exiting the drug testing location looking decidedly worse for wear, his first instinct is to simply ignore them. They knew what they signed up for, did so willingly, and evidently did so without having the contingency of planning for a friend to accompany them and keep them safe afterwards. He stands off to the side for a frankly unconsciable amount of time, reasoning that some good samaritan will choose to be helpful. It doesn't have to be him. He's done enough of babysitting people on unadvisable drug trips for an entire lifetime, and he's not keen on repeating the experience.
Except it quickly becomes clear that nobody else is going to step in, even when he's given one or two passer-bys a hopeful glance. Whether it's the blindness, hallucinations, or general revelry that influences people to make terrible decisions, participants in the study are going to wind up being a danger to themselves or others, Kim decides, and reluctantly approaches one of them. ]
Khm. Excuse me. Are you all right?
[ He knows the answer to that question. It's no, because agreeing to be the guinea pig for unknown drugs as administered by some bizarre rabbit creatures is not something you do when you're all right, but he makes the executive decision to err on the side of politeness anyway. ]
b. night parade.
i. decorating.
[ Assisting with the parade seems like an easy way of currying favour with his superiors and to at least put on the pretense of helping out, so Kim gladly accepts the task of hanging up the decorations. He'll be around to help hold ladders, move boxes from point A to point B, or toss a bottle of water to one of his fellow assistants who looks as though they've failed to hydrate through any of their hard labour.
He does, however, become more invested in it than he specifically means to as he stands back, hands tucked neatly behind him, and scrutinizes one of the stalls' decorations, in a very interesting colour scheme. ]
No. I'm sorry, this needs to come down. These colours are... [ There is a polite way of putting this. ] ...very ugly.
ii. eyes needed.
[ Kim, having been deemed a very responsible looking man (probably because he's one of the older people here, he thinks with a sigh), has been tasked with sorting the fireworks and putting them in appropriate storage. Some need to be stored at certain temperatures to maintain the brilliance of their colours, and others need to be put under lock and key in a nearby storage unit because in the wrong hands, they have the capacity to do an awful lot of damage.
Which is fine. Kim is more than capable of handling this. Only he's supposed to be reading the criminally tiny fine print along the sides of the tubes. He holds them away from his face as far as possible in a desperate bid to translate it, but to no avail. He could rely on guesswork, but...
Reluctantly, he turns to one of his fellows, roped into helping with the parade as well. ] Can you make this out?
[ He's secretly hoping the answer is no, which is a possibility. It would be less embarrassing that way. ]
c. sutoku district & housing.
[ Otherwise, Kim can be found wandering around what he's been told is his new home, pausing occasionally to look at the huge, flashy arcades, the blindingly bright department stores, or perhaps dwelling a little too long on one of the vehicles parked along the side of the road. Shopping isn't the most exciting thing, perhaps, but Kim has plenty he needs to get with his first paycheck: groceries (largely frozen and canned foods, specialty-made for the consummate bachelor), a first-aid kit, cigarettes and toiletries, instant coffee, and a pitstop where he inspects a truly tragic looking pot of mint planted in ruinously dry soil.
By the end of the evening, he can be found on the balcony of the long line of depressing apartments that all of the newcomers have been put into, staring out at the night sky with a cigarette dangling from his fingers and a convenience store bag filled with premade food hanging off the crook of his elbow. He's willing to share, if interest is shown -- a cigarette for the adults, or a an extra onigiri for the kids. If he's going to eat a depressing late-night dinner standing out here, he may as well have some company. ]
d. wildcard.
[ want something else? I'd love to make a starter for you! just hit me up at my ooc comment here and we'll figure something out. ]
no subject
[Since the ones who, like Kim, don't stand out so much don't attract attention the same way, either.
While Dazai doesn't feel like interrogating Kim too much, he does still feel a small but genuine amount of interest regarding his world, and so he'll ask a little bit more.]
Seol? Sounds more like Korea. [He's hilarious. (He's not hilarious.)]
What is this Pale, then?
no subject
[ He wouldn't, even if he knew anything about Earth's culture or geography. He's detached from his Seolite heritage and knows very little about it; this Japan looks like what he understands of Seol, but his rudimentary knowledge is characterized largely by how white people perceive it.
It's odd, to have had to explain the Pale multiple times to multiple people when he's always understood it as a fact of life as fundamental to reality as the ocean or the sky. ]
The Pale is a natural phenomenon of... antimatter, I suppose. Swaths of nothingness that only the most experienced are able to navigate through. Its dangers mean people seldom do.
[ Save for on airships, but that only means you're leaving your fate in the hands of a pilot. ]
It still seems strange to me that other worlds lack it.
no subject
[That's quite a thing to have to deal with - as Dazai knows from experience, though not for any geographical reasons. If it takes all kinds of people to make a world, then perhaps it's not so strange that it takes all kinds of worlds to make a universe.
That said, next time Dazai finds himself in another world, he'd rather it be his rainbow pill bug fantasy land, not hell.]
The worst we have is oceans and deserts, respectively. Two extremes...
Putting it like that, maybe some of your anti-matter is actually over-matter..?
[The opposite of anti-matter: too much matter! ... Okay, probably not, but it's an interesting idea. A world does need balance, after all.]
no subject
[ Kim tries to think about what that would look like, but winds up shaking his head. Oceans and deserts are perfectly normal phenomena. The Pale is a natural phenomena, but far from normal, he thinks; if it were normal, it would not be so unpredictable, would not be encroaching on shrinking landmasses at such a worrying rate. ]
No, I don't think so. It has been taking over our landmasses. Once the Pale touches them, it turns into... nothing, I suppose you'd say. It's the enemy of matter. I'm not sure how I would characterize overmatter, but not like that.
[ He glances around them. Hell is less frightening than that, he has to admit. ]
Your world is fortunate, not to have anything like that.
no subject
That it is.
[Each world has its own problems, no doubt, but Dazai has to admit... while he has his misgivings about life in general, he sometimes feels pretty warm and fuzzy about his world. It created some interesting people, after all.]
... Though, if you put it that way, hell is fortunate, too! That's probably against some kind of cosmic law or other.
[Which Dazai likes, really.]
no subject
[ He gestures around them, at the bustling metropolis, stores kept safely in business, booming industries of commerce and hospitality, entertainment and luxury and vice. He's never seen anything like it before. Revachol has plenty of vice to her name, back-alley drug deals and grimy bars and exotic dancers readily available for anyone who wishes to indulge, but it's not nearly this glamorous. ]
Several I've spoken to have voiced the same thing: that this place is nicer than their homes. I suppose that comes with co-existing with your would-be tormenters, yes? They hardly want to live in poor conditions to make us suffer.
no subject
[And he's happy that Kim sees it the same way. Or maybe he's just happy because the interpretation comes with a fun sense of the world being even more twisted than was always apparent.]
Traditional interpretations sound like equal punishment for the tormenters, don't they? Worse, perhaps, since they need to put in the work of torturing us all!
Ahhh... perhaps a life of evil is the sensible choice, after all.
[He's mostly kidding... He's probably kidding.]
no subject
[ Something of an ouroborous, if you will. In any case, it's clear that Kim is speaking lightly; he puts no actual weight in this subject and despite all evidence to the contrary, still has a difficult time believing in Hell himself.
It's clear that he takes his next words equally as lightly, if not only because he doesn't believe in Heaven either: ] Wouldn't it be more sensible to be good enough to get into Heaven? I can't imagine they'd force you to do petty manual labour in -- what would you call it? Eternal enlightenment?
[ He doesn't think he'd like Heaven much either. There's nothing he likes doing so much that he'd want to do it for an eternity. ]
no subject
[Dazai remains light-hearted for the longest time, but eventually the topic hits him the wrong way, not for the conversation itself, but because it touches upon the one problem he has with the eternal afterlife:]
Eternal anything is the ultimate punishment, isn't it?
[Perhaps a pretty dark thing to say, but not half as dark as his thoughts on the matter.]
no subject
[ It doesn't strike Kim as a dark thought either. It's one that he's had frequently. It comes so natural that it's a surprise to him that not everyone feels that way -- though he intends to live til a ripe old age, he's well aware of the trial it is just to be alive.
Trapped like this, forever? Unthinkable. It's both logical and comforting to consider that after true death, there is simply nothing. ]
I suppose that's why I don't put much stock in Heaven either.
[ What place could provide eternal happiness to everyone? The answer is simple: no place could, and so it doesn't exist. ]
no subject
Well... even Dazai found a glimmer of something, at one point. Maybe it's not enough to make life worthwhile, but at least it makes him slightly less desperate to escape it. (In theory. He tries to feel that way.)]
It's an even stranger concept than hell, surely...
[He sighs - and then does a 180, because he refuses to keep Feeling Things here!]
Although... I would look really good with wings~
no subject
[ He takes the deflection for what it is. He doesn't need to pry, and besides, nobody wants to speak with a stranger about how they'd really prefer an eternity of nothingness over having to remain alive forevermore. For all that Kim believes that their perspective is the only sane one, he knows that others would think it rather bleak.
He rights the last decoration, considering that Dazai had actually been useful in the end. ]
I think we're done. Thank you for your help. [ He quirks a brow at him. ] This was the stall I was in charge of, so do feel free to make the others as ugly as you please.