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

[harimaya]

(He doesn't move for a bit. It's like he's really debating if he can... or should... but after awhile, he sort of just... knocks the bottle out of his lap and leans against the table a bit to pick himself up...





and falls over. He doesn't hit anything thankfully! But he sure did end up under the table.)

[inspiteful]

Wah!

[ Maybe he just jinxed himself saying that! Skylark quickly rushes over to try and grab Hizen's arm to pull him up. ]

Hizen, maybe you should lean against me and we can make our way home...

[harimaya]

(He is actual dead weight. He is not helping Skylark one bit,)

I said I could walk!

(Somewhere, another drunk oni laughs at the sight that is a ranked member tumbling on the ground and needing to be helped up by a kid and Hizen sits up and yells,)

Mind you're own fucking business 'fore I cut ya!

(Don't mind him fumbling for his sword that is on the chair still.)

[inspiteful]

Brother Hizen don't!

[ The word sort of just slips out without him thinking, and he tugs on Hizen to try and stop him from getting into a fight immediately. He could grab Hizen's sword himself, but...well, it's also Hizen and he sure as hell hasn't ever gotten permission to hold it, as far as he knew. ]

Let's just go back.

[harimaya]

(He swats at him again! And misses.)

He's lookin` at me funny. (Is he? Not anymore. The oni has wandered off.) I'll show him to look down on me...

(Leaning on the chair now and picking himself back up... he sure is using the chair and Skylark to support himself,)

The fuck did he go?

[inspiteful]

[ He's doing his rubesty to support Hizen when he's like 4 inches shorter and Hizen is basically not standing on his own. ]

He's gone.

[harimaya]

Chicken.

(Coward!! That seems to take the fight out of Hizen..... for now though.)

[inspiteful]

Personally, I'm glad he is.

[ Can they really make it back to the apartment without further incident... ]

Let's just go back home, Brother Hizen...

[harimaya]

(He's grumbling something completely unintelligible to himself but fine, fine!! He'll relent.)

Party's starting to suck anyway.

1/2

[inspiteful]

You've got your sword, right? We'll just...walk back. Slowly, if we have to.

[ While he pulls out his phone with one hand to go message Kazuma. ]

[inspiteful]

[ ...And promptly finds out he's drunk too. ]

Fuck.

[harimaya]

I always got it.

(Literally always. This is actually probably the longest he's had his sword with him. At least at the citadel, he had moments where he could leave his sword behind because it was safe... he truly trusts no one in this city with his true form.

(Not really but an hour or two, while he gets dragged into the ocean, doesn't count. It wasn't by choice.).)

What?

[inspiteful]

[ He mostly meant if he's taken his sword from where he put it earlier, but it is true that it's pretty much always by Hizen's side, now that he thinks about it... ]

It's...

[ Does he say Kazuma is also drunk because apparently tonight is a night for this apartment to make poor decisions? That he's like 99% sure Kazuma won't ask for help to get back home, because godsdamned if he's anything but stubborn so he'll probably just wait out however long it takes to sober up?

Ugggghhhhhhhhh. ]

Kazuma's probably gonna be back late.

[harimaya]

(Wait.)

... He okay?

(HE MIGHT BE DRUNK BUT HE STILL CARES, OKAY.)

[inspiteful]

He says he is, anyway. Told him to ask for help if it's really that bad.

[ This is why he thought you were a guardian spirit Hizen. ]

[harimaya]

(... Sounds like Kazuma thinks he's okay. He can't imagine him really being the type to ask for help but honestly right now he's too drunk to really form a useful idea,)

Should check on him.

(And he trips over... himself. He trips over himself.)

... Ate too much.

(Yeah, because eating was the problem, not the excessive drinking.)

[inspiteful]

[ He's going to try and pull Hizen up. Again. ]

And totally didn't drink too much, right.

i definitely didn't lose this notif

[harimaya]

(It's easy enough to lift him up. He might be taller than Lark but it isn't by much and despite all that he can eat... he's a twig.)

Drinking doesn't make me lazy...

(Drinking makes him fight. It's food that makes him lazy.)

[inspiteful]

[ It's a spirit thing, probably. With Hizen hauled up, he's gonna start to try walking. ]

Yeah, but it's definitely not helping you to stand up.

[harimaya]

You are.

(Yeah. He knows how he's standing. )

[inspiteful]

[ ... ]

Let's make our way back home, okay? Slowly, if we have to.

[harimaya]

(He hums,)

Bed sounds good. Could sleep for at least a year...

(Yeah, he could just casually sleep for a whole year he thinks. Anyway, he'll follow his good roomie until they run into trouble.........)

[inspiteful]

Isn't that just hibernation at that point?

[ But good, because Lark tries his best to walk them back home without further incident. He tries to avoid crowded streets and takes his time if either of them ends up slowing down.

It all comes to an end when he accidentally bumps into someone passing by, and despite Skylark trying to be apologetic, they're in a bad mood. ]

I'm really sorry, we'll be on our way—

[harimaya]

Just a nap.

(The one they bump into is youkai that looks like a bull. He grunts and snaps at them to watch where they're going. Like most out at this hour, he reeks of alcohol. The youkai snaps at them to be more careful and begins to scold them. These lost souls have no damned respect. He doesn't know what Toraguma sees in any of them. They're just a bunch of lost souls from who know where--

And Hizen's hand suddenly reaches out to grab the youkai by the edge of his cheap blazer,)

Shut the hell up.

(His head is starting to hurt.)

[inspiteful]

[ Oh noooo, this was what he was trying to avoid! Why can't this be a bloodless trip back home?! ]

Wait, Brother Hizen, please don't—

[ And the yokai, unsurprisingly, doesn't take kindly to Hizen's action. He turns to face him, and reaches to grab Hizen's shirt as well in return. "You shut the hell u p."

(Skylark is feeling himself begin to age by 10 years watching this. Hhhh.) ]