September 2022 Mingle!

[jigokumods]

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The influx of fresh Lost Souls means the factions need to have a little welcoming party for them. So some recreational activities are in order. All Lost Souls will receive a message from their respective faction leaders with orders to go have some fun.

Shuten - WEENIES ON PARADE

Shuten Clan newbies will be summoned to the Arena, which has been set up with a very different kind of fight than usual. The members of the Shuten Clan do nothing by half-measures. Partying, drinking, and eating are all encouraged to excess. This time they're inviting new recruits to test their mettle in various eating contests. You'll need nerves of steel and a stomach of iron to succeed. Hot dogs, marshmallows, pizza, lobster rolls, breakfast cereals, rice, and more are all on offer.

See how much you can eat and try not to get sick! Competitive eating is a messy, disgusting affair, regardless of the emergency buckets stationed strategically throughout the building.

If you're feeling especially ballsy, you can take on the biggest onis and other youkai by teaming up with your fellow Shutens. They're all confident enough to take that bet.

Glory, prize money, and antacids to the winners. Shame to the losers – they'll be run through town in weenie costumes.

Better eat up 🙂

Tamamo - ALL NIGHT LONG

The newest Tamamo recruits are summoned to a local gymnasium. Strangely, rather than sports equipment laid out on the court, there are a number of light futons, blankets, and pillows. Everyone will be sorted into one of two yukata patterns – one purple and one blue – and sent to their respective sides of the court to lie down in bed and pull up the covers.

It is then that the referee will explain the rules of competitive pillow fighting. When the whistle blows, jump up and grab one of the authorized pillows at the center of the court. It's a game much like dodgeball, but the goal is to hit the opposing team's king with a pillow from your half of the court. Team members use blankets and sometimes their bodies to protect their king.

There will be a few rounds, and you can rotate who is king at your discretion. Protect them with your life! Or whatever. Star players will receive a bonus and a coupon to one of the best Tamamo spas.

When the competitive stuff is done, the sleepover proper will begin. There will be liquor, sodas, and light snacks for everyone while movies are projected onto a screen late into the morning. The movies range from classic dramas and romances to outrageous yokai comedies.

Sutoku - GROSSERY GANG

The Alliance has found themselves in the possession of an entire truckload's worth of reject children's toys. Ever the opportunist, the Daitengu has assigned the project of inventorying and trashing the particularly offensive ones to the new guys.

Of course, you're expected to play with a few of them as well. Maybe one of them is decently fun, and they could sell the rest, you know? Many of these toys are gross out bathroom humor in nature, and spit water randomly at anyone who loses their round. The Daitengu has thoughtfully provided a selection of alcohol to make this game a little more adult friendly. Toys that lack the appropriate spitting mechanism can still be played over shots, really, go nuts.

While you 'work', there will be plenty of motivating music piped into the warehouse. The sound quality is not great, but they tried?

Everyone who sorts through a decent amount of toys will get a little extra pay, although who is really paying that much attention to who's doing what here?

Credit where it's due: We turned kids toys into drinking games

Enma - BREAKING THE ICE

Welcome to the Department of the Enma. New Lost Soul recruits will be summoned to a large conference room in Kaigo no Bou, which has been outfitted with a variety of buffet table offerings and tables which seat between 5 - 6 people comfortably. You are invited to fill your plates at your discretion, the craft services people are used to feeding bottomless yokai stomachs and the food will not run out.

Clipboards with a variety of icebreaker questions have been provided at each table. The pens have assuredly been firmly affixed to the clipboard. Please return them together.

Every 30 minutes Captain Shiki will blow her whistle to signal that you are to migrate to another table with fresh companions. You are, indeed, being forced to get to know your coworkers, lucky you. This isn't tedious at all.

Pick a few of the questions below to answer, and get chatting. Or Captain Shiki may come over to stare at you with intense disapproval. You can't get away with just zoning out to that sweet smooth jazz playing overhead!

1. If you had a time machine that would work only once, what point in the future or in history would you visit? 2. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? 3. If your house was burning down, what three objects would you try and save? 4. If you could talk to any one person now dead or alive, who would it be and why? 5. If you HAD to give up one of your senses (hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, tasting) which would it be and why? 6. If you were an animal, what would you be and why? 7. Do you have a pet? If not, what sort of pet would you like? 8. Name a gift you will never forget? 9. Name one thing you really like about yourself. 10. What's your favorite thing to do in the summer? 11. Who's your favorite cartoon character, and why? 12. Does your name have a special meaning and/or were you named after someone special? 13. What is the hardest thing you have ever done? 14. If you are at a friend's or relative's house for dinner and you find a dead insect in your salad, what would you do? 15. What was the best thing that happened to you this past week? 16. If you had this week over again, what would you do differently? 17. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about 'God'? 18. What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? 19. If you could change one problem in the world today, what would you like to change? 20. What book, movie or video have you seen/read recently you would recommend? Why?

All Factions - THE GIFT OF SONG

Did you all enjoy having some of your wishes granted? Well, so did a flock of those annoying magpie! They asked for the gift of music. These feathered nuisances, however, have fallen in love with an old school metal band. That is all they will be singing for the foreseeable future! Different members of the flock have taken up different instrumentals and vocals for the track, spread out across electrical wires and rooftops, singing their favorite rockin' tune to the skies!

Lost Souls have been asked to please catch them and get them to knock it off, they are truly annoying everyone, across all factions.

Should you catch these musical magpies, and not one of the other clans, they will tell you their sorry tale! They love this band, but the group broke up years ago. All the magpie want is for their favorite old dudes to be reunited to jam with them, one more time!

The old dudes are out there in the city, but who knows why they broke up and if they can even be convinced out of retirement. Good luck, if you succeed your boss will give you a favorable bonus, which would be a great boon to a newbie just getting settled.

In the meantime:

Shabadabadia
Shabadabadia
Babababa
Babababa
Babababa

Welcome to the IC mingle!

• If you have any questions about the mingle content, please ask them here! We're trying something a little different to help reduce comment clutter a bit, so that link actually goes back to a header on the Substory post.
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Comments

All night long

[lightduties]

[Rhea'li, on the other hand, is on blue. He's a short, under 5'3" man with feline-like ears and tail and has never had a pillow fight in his life. So of course he's participating.

He is kind of enjoying the novelty of not being known, so he hasn't been taking point like he otherwise would. Which gives him all the more opportunity to observe the opposing team, who has one particularly agile at dodging the pillows from his fellow teammates. Hm.]

Leave him to me!

[Rhea'li steps forward, a singular pillow in hand. He kind of recognises the cultural connotation of the bow and bows in return, though his bow is not very low. Is he supposed to introduce himself with his job, though?]

Adventurer, Rhea'li Akhbala.

[hiryugaeshi]

[ Adventurer. It's certainly not one of the Servant classes, unless they added a new one when he wasn't looking. The self-proclaimed Adventurer also doesn't seem to recognise the significance of what Kojirou is saying.

So not one of theirs then. Not that it really matters, most people here are from different worlds from his. ]

Well then, Rhea'li Akhbala: Show me what you've got.

[ Who died and made Kojirou judge of all hell? Clearly not Enma, but he's going to do it anyway, as he throws one of the pillows he's carrying at full speed right at Rhea'li's face without any further warning. ]

[lightduties]

[Rhea'li's reflexes are still excellent, even without the ability to sense where attacks would land before they occur, so he ducks under the pillow, fabric just barely brushing his ears. But he hasn't forgotten that Kojirou has a second pillow, and will use his own pillow to attempt to deflect any pillow attacks towards his body. His legs, however, might be harder to defend from assault.

Still, he hopes Kojirou has forgotten the aim of the contest: protect the "king."]

[hiryugaeshi]

[ Unfortunately for Rhea'li, Kojirou doesn't really care about the actual outcome of the game. Fortunately for him, he's still testing the adventurer. He has basic agility down, but how about strength?

So here comes the second pillow, going right at his blocking arm this time. ]

[lightduties]

[While he's not nearly as strong as those whose are masters of the physical arts, Rhea'li is certainly no slouch. But his physical strength comes from a lifetime of rigours on the road, bar brawls and climbing rather than disciplined training. After all, he's a mage not a gladiator.

And that lack of formal training shows when he smacks the assaulting pillow with an upswing from his own pillow as he rises from his earlier duck. Their weapons for this contest are, however, pillows. So who can predict what direction the hit pillow's gone off at now? Certainly not Rhea'li. Has it gone way off to the side? Did it go flying back at Kojirou?

However, with his opponent seemingly out of artillery, Rhea'li takes this opportunity to pull his arm back to throw his own pillow at the opposing team's king!]

[hiryugaeshi]

[ The second pillow goes flying into the air, spinning back towards the center line. Kojirou doesn't move back towards it yet, but it's fairly clear it was planned. He didn't get into many bar fights in his life, but what he had was disciplined training. Of the sword, yes, but he has been taught the foundational attitude of a master before that, and he wields even a pair of pillows quite comfortably.

After all, like a certain other swordsman he knew once said: If you don't have a sword, you'll just have to use your sheath. There's no being picky on the battlefield. ]

To wait for an opening, then aim for the strategic victory. That is certainly one way to do things, but...

[ Kojirou kicks upwards, sending a pile of sheets that had been lying at his feet right into his empty hands, sheets that he uses to whip the flying pillow out of the air.

Blankets are legal in a pillow fight. ]

I wouldn't take my eyes of the enemy right in front of me.

[lightduties]

[Rhea'li lets out an impressed laugh as his attack is deflected. Oh, he's having fun.]

You certainly have the right of it. [Rhea'li spreads his arms.] And here I now stand, unarmed.

[His teammates, however, are going on the attack, following up with pillows thrown from their side of the 'arena' at the opposing king. There is a pillow and blanket near Rhea'li, but just outside of his immediate reach. He would need to take a step in either direction to reach them.]

[hiryugaeshi]

So you are, but I don't believe I am allowed to strike a person with this. [ He waves the blanket in his hand, before dropping it to back to the ground now that it is no longer of use.

It's probably for the best. A pillow to the face is painful at worst, a skilled user of a whip could seriously hurt someone, and maiming each other appears to not be the goal this night. ]

In that regard, we are similar, but...

[ There is a pillow a small distance from Kojirou as well. In many respects they are evenly matched, and in cases like this, the first to strike has an advantage.

Which is exactly why he dives at the pillow, not so much picking it up and throwing it at Rhea'li as he is simply batting it right at him with an open palm. ]