September 2022 Mingle!

[jigokumods]

MAIN NAVIGATION


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.
• If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.
• For Rewards, threads in the mingle will be worth one (1) point!

Comments

[saintclaire]

[Kim raises an eyebrow. It feels more like a police questioning; she's sure everyone at this table is being probed, but that comment feels like bait.]

It's a basic ethical requirement for anyone in the field of law.

[divisors]

[A tilt of the head.]

Oh, you're in law? Ah, yes. I do remember you from that gathering of the Enma, that post...an attorney, correct?

[saintclaire]

That's correct. [By way of introduction:] Kim Wexler. You didn't give your name.

[divisors]

Mrs. Wexler. A pleasure.

[Curt as always...so English....]

You may call me Ruler.

[saintclaire]

[These people and their "you may call mes"; she always wonders why they make it so transparent they're using a fake name.

She smiles, politely.]

Is that your family name, or...?

[divisors]

Ah, Class name, actually.

[And a beat, dark eyes sliding over to her.]

Like a category, if you are unaware of Servants.

[saintclaire]

I imagine it doesn't have the same meaning I'd associate it with. How does that work?

[divisors]

Mm. Have you ever read books with wizards or mages that summon familiars to fight at their side? I would be one such familiar. Technically, I'm what they call a Heroic Spirit, a being of legend summoned by a mage. We are referred to as Servants.

[saintclaire]

[Fantasy has never been her genre; give her Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn adventuring through rapids and gunfire and celebrating with a kiss, give her Rock Hudson drinking Haig Dimple before setting out for the adventure of a lifetime. A wizard conjures up images of rotoscoped men in robes.]

Sounds like a genie. What do you do when you're summoned?

[divisors]

[Fate/AU but every mage character is a rotoscoped guy in a robe.]

Ahaha. I would be like a butterfly that comes in a dream to grant a wish, not a genie.

[A brief smile, but its right back to his cool expression.]

But being poetic aside...I'm not being that facetious. Servants are usually summoned by mages to fight for them in a grand war for a thing that can grant them their truest wish.

[saintclaire]

[Truly the innovative art style we need in FGO!

Kim wonders if it's impolite to ask some sort of quasi-immortal being summoned by magic what his wish is. She decides to anyway.]

So what do you get out of serving them?

[divisors]

[A little huff.]

Servants get their wish honored, as well, if they fight alongside a mage in those circumstances. This makes even the most disobedient Servants sit up and listen, at least.

[saintclaire]

[She nods.]

I'm guessing being here is a handy way to get that wish without having to fight in a war. The contracts are... [unbelievable? Pretty hard to beat.

[divisors]

I didn't expect to be in a place like this, if I must admit it.

[He was in the MIDDLE of SOMETHING, JIGOKUCHO]

...Do you really think those contracts will be honored, Mrs.Wexler?

[saintclaire]

[She nods.]

They have to. Otherwise the whole system collapses.

[divisors]

Have you met anyone who has fulfilled their contract? Or anyone who knows of someone like that?

[saintclaire]

I haven't.

[That's true.]

Would you take the contract if you had serious doubts about the results?

[divisors]

I would take the contract because I see it as a well of opportunities. If I do get my wish, all is well. But if I don't...it doesn't mean I am at a complete loss. The connections and information that open up to me are things I can use.

Maybe I can even grant my own wish, in some respects.

[saintclaire]

Do you really think you can take those things home with you?

[divisors]

I have no home. The closest thing would be the Throne of Heroes, and if I return there, and I'm summoned again, I would lose memory of it.

Besides, its more of "something I would like to see happen" more than anything else. A possibility made real.

[saintclaire]

[A sober nod.]

Well, best of luck, then. ["Work hard."]

[divisors]

Ha. You're telling a mathematician to invest in luck?

[But he seems pleased by that.]

When you say stuff like that, you really don't seem like the type to belong in hell.

[saintclaire]

[Kim smiles, a vague thing that gives absolutely nothing up.]

They don't make those lawyer jokes for nothing.

[divisors]

Mm, perhaps. I've always found that lawyers fill an intriguing position. There's a concept of justice there that can be flipped over depending on which side you're on.

...Which type of law do you follow? Criminal justice? Something else?

[saintclaire]

[Lightheartedly:]

You're confusing justice for "winning."

[She takes a sip of her wine.]

I did corporate and banking law for most of my career, but now I mostly do public defense.