jigokulogs | [ OPEN ] sunrise, sunset

Entry tags:

[ 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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah, so you're just sabotaging their business for no good reason, [ Kim says dryly, getting to work removing the lanterns. It's not the worst thing someone could do. If the owner really wanted to be particular about decorations, they would just do it themselves instead of having a bunch of lost workers taking care of it for them.

Still, it's the principle of the thing. He glances over at Dazai out of the corner of his eye. ]

If I give you the replacements, will you help hang them up, or do you just intend to watch?

[What a dirty word... You can't write "principle" without "nipple".

Dazai certainly did intend to watch, but that would admittedly be pretty boring, and being called out on it doesn't exactly make him feel more inclined to follow that initial plan (or not-a-plan, as the case may be).]

I'll help, I'll help already. Don't say that Dazai Osamu never did anything for you!

[... He'll still not do a whole lot, most likely. He's name-dropping more than anything, just to get the stranger's name in return... and because it probably can't hurt, making connections that way. Maybe he'll regret it and maybe he won't, but for now, giving out his name seems like a worthy investment.]

Yes, yes. If anyone asks me, I'll be sure to tell them that Dazai Osamu very helpfully assisted in hanging parade decorations, [ Kim says dryly, reaching into the box of supplies to pick out some more tasteful lanterns and handing them up to Osamu. He's not nearly as discerning about where they're placed, so long as they look halfway decent.

Dazai Osamu... names of this sort are becoming more and more familiar to Kim as he spends more time here. Another person from the all-too common Japan, perhaps? ]

Kim Kitsuragi, [ he introduces himself in turn. ] Nice to meet you.

Much obliged~

[Dazai says it shamelessly, like he's really just doing this to get the credit... which, to be fair, is close enough to the truth. At the very least, it would be a welcome side effect. There was a time when he worked hard to destroy all evidence of his reputation; it's still a little frustrating to have to work to bring it back (or some reputation, at least).]

Likewise, Kitsuragi-san. Would it be bold of me to assume an artist eye like yours has previous experience in the field of aesthetics?

What? No, no, I wouldn't say I've got an artist's eye. I just know what colours go together.

[ He's just saying that. Kim privately thinks that he's very stylish indeed. Not on an artist's level, of course, but he's got something of a knack for putting something nice looking together, whether it's an outfit, home decor, or a nice parade for a bunch of demons that he's trying not to look directly at. ]

I'm just a regular cop. [ Not even an Art Cop! ] Or... was. What about yourself?

[Kim is definitely just saying that. Well, it's fine to exhibit some false modesty once in a while, Dazai thinks... regardless of how seriously you take it, yourself.

... Ah, a cop. Dazai was guessing something along those lines, but not quite so extreme. Oh well, fun to play with, anyway! After all, what is Dazai but -]

A mass-murdering executive of the local mafia.

[He beams a smile at Kim, because of course it's a joke. This is what you get when you tell people you're a cop! It must be a joke.

~~It is not a joke. (Well, it's ancient history, but still true.)~~]

Is that so?

[ No, Kim doesn't actually believe him as far as he can throw him. Especially considering Dazai's recent behaviour, it seems as though all he wants is to get a rise out of him, and Kim refuses to give him the satisfaction, save for the fact that his eyebrow has begun to climb ever-higher. ]

If that's the case, I wonder if you'll be meeting any old victims? This is supposed to be Hell, after all. That would be a bit awkward to navigate.

It would, wouldn't it~?

[The idea is honestly hilarious to Dazai. It shouldn't be, but it is. If that were to happen, would anybody even be able to do anything to him? He doesn't have nearly as much information and connections here, but he's not sure most of his victims would fare any better, and he's with the Enma here. That may offer him some protection too, if he really still needs it.

But if his victims are here, so is the one person he really hopes to see. That alone means it won't happen, of course - and perhaps that's why he's so relaxed about it all - but Dazai would gladly deal with a few hundred (thousand?) of his victims, if he could see Odasaku again. He doesn't think Odasaku deserves to be in hell, of course, but he's seen people here who are even more morally good: he doesn't expect there to be any logic to the afterlife. (That said: he didn't especially expect it to exist at all, so...)]

I have yet to see anyone I know, though - for better or worse.

How about yourself? Seen any disgruntled criminals from back home who are looking to belatedly settle the score?

[ Kim offers Dazai a thin smile. ] If you believe that I have a big enough killcount as a police officer to worry about running into them en masse like yourself, then you've been watching too many cop dramas.

[ Which is not to say he hasn't killed, but that isn't something that he relishes bragging about. Or lingering upon, considering that count had gone up just before his arrival here. He has a feeling that many of those he's killed didn't even know it was him. He's just another cop in just another firefight. Nothing personal. Just the way things go sometimes. ]

I'm in the business of solving murders, not committing them. I'm not as worried as you might be. I can only imagine that being tasked to work with your murderer would be bad for morale. You employer may have to stage an intervention, if that were to be the case.

That's not what I meant, Mr. Officer. That's not what I meant at all.

[Wasn't it, really? Hard to say. He's keeping his options open.]

But crime is a dangerous life, surely? Even if you weren't responsible for their deaths, if there are criminals with a grudge against you, and they find themselves here due to causes unrelated to you, wouldn't they still be looking for an opportunity to get revenge?

[ Kim raises a brow. ] Isn't it?

[ He doesn't believe Dazai one bit. That's precisely what he meant. But he won't hold it against him either; while he won't voice it, his colleagues have much, much higher kill counts than he personally does. There are other officers who would be very frightened by the prospect of past conquests coming back to haunt them indeed.

He hangs another decoration. He already wants a cigarette, he thinks with an unexpressed sigh, but it's not yet time for one. ]

I imagine that they'd be more interested in seeking revenge on whoever did put them here. It's true that some may hold a grudge, of course, but I can't say I'm terribly concerned. [ He gestures at Dazai. ] Much like you seem to be, I'm confident that I can hold my own.

[ He's not worried about meeting dead enemies. He's worried about meeting dead friends. ]

[Dazai will casually let that question go unanswered, because the less said at this point, the better. To be fair: it's not like he's judging Kim in the least: he doesn't know the man, nor does he particularly care what all Kim's been up to. It's probably not nearly as bad as everything Dazai has done in his life, anyway (and Dazai doesn't feel especially bad about that, either).]

Their murderers may not have found their way here just yet, though.

[Just casually pointing that out as he reluctantly continues decorating in a (slightly) more serious way.]

But that's fair enough. I suppose we should both look into Hell's self-defense laws, hmm?

[Or not, because who cares about laws?]

I don't think we have much to worry about on that front, all things considered.

[ Which is to say, violence here seems expected, rampant, unpunished. The Department of Enma may have something to say about it, but how much power do they really have?

That's a genuine question, now that he thinks about it. It doesn't seem like they have that much more than any of the other factions, but that remains to be seen. ]

I think the greater question is that if this is Hell, what would come after being killed? [ His lip quirks. ] Double-Hell? Mega-Hell? One can only imagine.

Perhaps not. But can we really count on that?

[Dazai would not normally care, but he's in a tricky situation here, being with the Department. They hold his contract: he wants what they're offering. And if there's anything you can count on with the law, it's that, in the end, it's only as impartial as the people enforcing it - meaning: not at all. The law turns on you faster than an inexperienced ballerina doing a double pirouette: you never know which way she'll land.]

Ooh! [He's got this! Wait for it...] Hell Infinity!!

[He is way too happy about that "creative" contribution. Anyway, somewhat more seriously:]

Hell is commonly believed to have eight or eighteen levels, and sometimes a lot more than that. Who knows? We may just cycle through all of them in turn.

[ There's a minute twitch of Kim's lip. It's hard to tell from his expression - he really has a lot of practice not moving a muscle, it seems - but he finds Hell Infinity very, very funny. It seems apt, anyway. They're in Hell, but still trapped in bureaucracy. They're probably already in Hell Infinity. ]

I see. Hell Infinity. That has a good ring to it.

[ He nods approvingly. ]

That's common for you, perhaps -- I've never heard of such a thing. We don't know by which world's beliefs this one abides by.

[ Probably Japan's, considering that's what this whole place seems based on, he muses. ]

I hate to think of having to cycle through all of them. Being uprooted once is quite enough for me, even if I do think it's odd that this place has been so light on the eternal punishment front. I was expecting more fire. And a little light torture unrelated to the sort in the Tamamo District.

[ Yes, he's run into the famed inept dominatrixes. No, he was not impressed. But it's true that some people's tastes are simply too deviant to be tortured. ]

[H8ers gonna h8, h8llers gonna h8ll. First rule of Hell Infinity.]

A fair point.

[There's really no telling what belief system, if any, this "hell" belongs to, no matter how much it seems related to Japanese mythology in some areas. That might even be a matter of collective consciousness, really. Regardless: Dazai doesn't really care. The more interesting point Kim mentions is the other one.]

Definitely more of a purgatory, isn't it? Though, with the way our contracts are dangled before us like carrots, it might be an ancient Greek hell, too.

[This is why it's hard to commit. He doesn't want to turn into Sisyphus.]

An ancient Greek hell...?

[ Kim sighs, righting one of the lanterns. He really is starting to become sick of not having any idea as to what anyone is talking about. And if his hunch is correct, most people who talk about place names as though it's common knowledge are from the same approximation of Earth -- or else they, like Kim, would realize nobody knows what the hell they're talking about.

He shakes his head. ]

I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. Greek - [ a place? a culture? ] - is not a thing where I am from. Nor is Japan, or the United States, or any other country that everyone here seems to know.

[ When it comes to making sense of this place, it seems that he's at a disadvantage. ]

Oh, you're one of those, huh?

[That could definitely be taken as extremely rude, but Dazai says it impassively, and he genuinely doesn't mean anything by it. He knows that not everybody is from a world like his, but that doesn't mean he can always be bothered to supply footnotes preemptively.]

Well, all things considered, it's stranger that so many of us are from similar worlds.

[He may have made half an effort at decorating over the past minute or so, but now that there's something more interesting to occupy his attention, he finds somewhere to sit - a railing along the road, perhaps - and turns his focus to Kim.]

What is it like, where you're from?

Yes, yes, I'm one of those. Though I haven't met any more of us yet.

[ He would like to. It's an oddly lonely feeling, to know that you're at a loss when everyone else seems to know damn well what's going on. He tilts his head back, looking pensively at the decorations. ]

Not so different from where you are all from, I don't think. Otherwise most I've spoken to would have caught onto the fact earlier. But our culture, geographical structure, our history: those are all different. My world is an assembly of isolas, separated by the Pale. I am from a city called Revachol -- and the isola that appears to be most like your Japan goes by the name of Seol.

There are at least a few of you, though most I've met seem to be from worlds so different from here that they stand out more, too. [He shrugs.] Probably not a representative sample.

[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?

I wouldn't know.

[ 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.

Antimatter, huh...

[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.]

Overmatter...?

[ 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.

[Dazai still has many questions, but they're largely theoretical, and he doesn't expect that Kim would be able to answer them. That's fine, really: it's none of Dazai's business in the end, and while he's a bit interested... that interest is already fading. He's never going to see that world, after all. What would learning about it accomplish in the end?]

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.]

I... would agree with that, actually. I think most would find the Pale far more threatening than anything we've seen here, as of yet. This is just a city. A well-off city, at that.

[ 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.

[ OPEN ] sunrise, sunset

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