jigokulogs | September 2022 Mingle!

September 2022 Mingle!

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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!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Croix watches with interest, and grins at Levi's suggestion.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks," she said, taking it and beginning to work at removing the battery pack. "You know, I'm curious about how your abilities work. Might I ask for you to explain yours as I've done mine?"

"You might," they offer politely, picking up another constantly-farting poo-squeeze game, because this is what their life is for the moment.

"Our hearts generate electricity to beat. It's just that yours generates... well, less than mine does. Everyone generates less than I do," they follow it with, so it sounds a little less like they're singling out Croix. "I can use that electricity for more or less anything. I've had the mutation for about 15 years, so I have a good understanding of what I need to use to power things... or to fry them." On that, they zap another poop toy's voice box and slide it over.

"It's really nothing special. Not compared to magic."

Croix nods, reaching out to take the second device, putting it in a queue as she works on the first one.

"I see, I see," she said. "Well, it's impressive to me...anyone with inborn abilities in my world is either a fae or of fae descent."

She thought for a moment nefore continuing. "Are there people with other kinds of abilities in your world, or are you all electrokinetic?"

Oh, fae... that would be an interesting way of looking at it. It might have led to some kinder treatment if that's what people thought of meta-humanity as... but they forget themself.

"Oh, I've known pyrokinetics, people with super strength, people who can transform their bodies at will... my roommate was an android," they say like it was normal to follow everything else with, "But that's not really intrinsic if she was built from the ground up, I suppose."

They continue, "We're all meta-humans. If you believe the propaganda, we're a new evolutionary branch in humanity meant to guide us all through the stars—but," they say with their voice losing that announcerly quality as quickly as they'd taken it on, "I don't believe it. In my experience, we're about 10% of the population, and we're just trying to get by the same as everyone else."

"I see."

She thought for a moment, and frowned. Was this what Chariot felt when she'd been bequeathed the Shiny Rod? Like something was expected of her? If so, she felt like more of a heel than she did before.

"In the end, that's what we're all trying to do, I think. Or at least others were. Me, I was too concerned with trying to prove I was special..."

"Mm." They nod in understanding, not in judgment. "I did some mentoring with my organization, and I met people who thought like that, too. It's not something you can teach out of people, I've noticed... they have to figure it out themselves."

They press their palms to the table, transferring off some excess heat, and try not to make eye contact with Croix. "But once they did figure it out, none of them had done anything they couldn't come back from. I think it's just what some people do... maybe people who come from somewhere where that power isn't something that's available to just everyone."

They could talk about the class divide all they want, but they're not going to launch into that diatribe yet. Instead, they're going to try to keep working. "I could've ended up doing the same," they say, "If things were a little different."

Figure out themselves. It had certainly taken a great deal for Croix to do that. Nearly killing her best friend, causing her to lose her ability to fly, almost dooming the entire world. She certainly wished her epiphany had come in a less traumatizing fashion, but then, she wished a great many things had occurred differently.

"If only I'd have had you as a mentor, then," she said with a sigh. "Maybe I could have avoided all the mistakes I'd made."

Edited 2022-09-19 22:03 (UTC)

Levi stands there like they've forgotten they have a task in front of them. It's what Croix says last that gets their attention and gives them pause. They look over, and they're peering over the edge of their glasses so their eye is just slightly more visible, and they speak like they're imparting something important.

"We are all the sum of our mistakes, Croix." They may not have said something exactly like this in the past, but it's a philosophy they've used to try to handle the heavy things. The things about their history that they don't discuss. "I might have been able to stop you from making the mistakes that brought you here, but you would not be the Croix Meridies that I'm speaking to today if I had done that."

They look back to the toy between their hands, but they don't begin the process again. "We are who we are because of the choices we've made. Living through the incorrect ones is our responsibility, too."

"...Yes of course," she said, humbled by Levi's words. They oddly made her feel differently about herself, albeit briefly and though the regrets and guilt were still there. "It's just hard not to think about what might have been."

She thought for a moment, before continuing.

"But I wonder if you'd say the same things if you knew the extent of what I'd done."

They zapped the toy between their hands, then handed it off to Croix for any further processing, though they suspected maybe there wouldn't be much work done on the toys for the moment.

"Anything you share with me is always at your discretion and your pace," they reminded her. "Of course, if you'd like to accelerate that, I see the Daitengu left us some alcohol, but that's up to you as well." This level of patience had worked with Ursula, but it was beyond just what Levi thought would "work"; it was simply the way they behaved.

"Just know that I find very little to be actually unforgivable."

Croix stopped working, and looked up at Levi with a start. She stared at where the alcohol was, and bit her lower lip. She was not, as they say, a graceful drunk, but usually did her best to keep that on the down low. Was she really going to subject Levi to that?

"...Why not?" she said, nodding.

It appeared that the answer was yes.

Edited 2022-09-20 19:50 (UTC)

Levi took a few steps away from their workstation to grab the alcohol and a couple of shot glasses, then came back with everything in hand like they'd practiced having to do that. (Maybe they had, briefly, when they'd been curious and/or worried about Jill Stingray. But it wasn't important.)

"It's just a suggestion, but at least it'll take the edge off having to listen to 'Sandstorm' again." They opened the bottle and poured out an amber liquid, first into one glass, which they pushed Croix's way, then to the other. "Well then. First shot of the day," they said as though this was something they were experienced in, despite having very little taste for alcohol themself unless it came in seltzer form.

They paused, raising the shot glass, knowing that a toast was appropriate and yet not exactly knowing what to toast to. Weakly, they offered, "...To rehabilitation?"

"To rehabilitation," Croix said, taking her glass and raising it in toast.

She then took a sip...and then downed much more of it a second later. Again, this was a woman who had difficulties being responsible with alcohol when she got her hands on it, and she'd soon become a messy drunk before long.

Setting the glass down, she let out a sigh, and shook her head.

"It really began when Chariot and I were both students at Luna Nova. I...didn't have any friends beside her. My mother was a witch who never amounted to anything, so she drove me to succeed because she felt she was owed something by the world...and in time, I suppose I began to believe the same. Chariot ended up being chosen over me for some grand responsibility related to restoring magic in our world, and that's where the rift began to form..."

Levi took the shot in one go, again handling the alcohol like someone who was better at this than they actually were, and rested the glass down next to the bottle. Their posture loosened slightly, and they leaned forward on one elbow to listen to Croix speak.

"Ah, I see... it's always difficult to deal with that sort of thing, especially when you have parents who want to drive you in a direction because they feel like they have control over your life." Ask them how they knew. They tried very hard to ignore the way hearing "Chariot" come from someone else's mouth chafed them, but couldn't suppress it entirely. To avoid sitting with it, they followed, "But I assume that you had your own ideas for how to restore magic despite not being chosen?"

"It's not so much that," Croix said, taking another quick drink. She finished it, and held out the glass, silently asking for more. "At Luna Nova I quickly found my independence from her. It's more like...I inherited her sense of entitlement."

At the next part, she sighed before speaking. "It was more than that. We both sought the key to the World Reconstruction Magic with the belief that I would be the one to inherit it. But when the time came, the one responsible for passing on that power felt my friend was more worthy. I became bitter, she was held back by self esteem, and...we both failed to find what we needed to truly restore magic."

Croix's face twisted into one of frustration. "We reconnected as adults. Chariot had become a magical performer, and I was her support using my magitronics. But in the end, I was really just using her to further my theories. We drew upon a power we couldn't control, and ended up scarring the moon for our trouble. All because of my manipulations."

She stared at the table, frowning.

"After that was when I truly took a darker turn."

Levi refilled the glass while they listened, and made themself keep their face as neutral as possible. The glass was full well before Croix finished talking, at least, so that gave them one less thing to worry about as they slid the glass back over.

And the story continued, and it touched a little more on things that Chariot hadn't even yet covered... but that, they supposed, was only natural. It wasn't like the two of them could avoid talking about each other entirely. (No matter how much Chariot might have tried.) Partners... and partners with an insidious undertone that only one of them knew even existed. Still, Leviathan felt like they understood, at least on some level. These were normal human emotions to have, weren't they? People made mistakes and let those mistakes drive them. Hadn't they been the same?

"Darker than putting a scar on the face of the moon?" they asked while pouring shot number two for themself. "I'm a little worried what might be coming next, but please." Their fingers wrapped around their glass, but they didn't take the shot yet. "Go on, Croix."

Croix sat there for a moment, wondering how to proceed. Then, she simply decided to go all in, and downed the glass in one go. She slammed it down, wiped her mouth, and continued, though her hand was still on the glass.

"The power I told you about? I called it `Dream Fuel Spirit`. It took the power of people's hopes and dreams. It...it had adverse effects on the ones we drew it from. They had a diminished capacity for magic. I had aided and abetted this, and made Chariot an accomplice to it. And yet, that even pales before what happened next.

"Because I discovered something stronger than Dream Fuel Spirit. Noir Fuel Spirit. The power of hatred and negative emotions. It...I don't want to say it corrupted me, because that would be too easy. But it gave me an excuse to cast aside my restraint and morality, as I stoked the fires of hatred and anger in the world. I grew cruel and petty. I didn't just feel jealous of Chariot, I started to desire to destroy her dream by restoring magic my way, without the power she'd been gifted. I even ended up endangering a child Chariot had come to mentor, and tried to drive a wedge between them."

Croix's hand was shaking now, causing the glass to rattle against the table. She wanted to stop, but the alcohol was already affecting her, and the words continued to pour out even as tears beaded in the corner of her eyes.

"And it was all for nothing! My collecting Noir Fuel Spirit nearly caused a war! My machines ran out of my control! I nearly caused destruction on an untold scale! And worst of all, I...I caused Chariot to lose her ability to fly! I hurt my first and only friend!"

The person she cherished the most. Croix's voice grew quieter, and her eyes found the floor.

"And yet, even for all that, she still visited me in prison. She'd show up with a cake each time, and we'd chat like nothing had happened. And then I found myself here. With a version of her who hadn't yet seen the end of our conflict. And now you know everything."

They started with the shot, but didn't realize how badly they would need it before the end of it all. Maybe if they had held on to it, they could've dramatically slammed it down at the end of Croix's litany of sin. But they stood there rapt, trying to figure out the right way to react to all of it. It was horrible, what Croix had done, but they also... they could tell, they could see on Croix's face how miserable it was making her. How honest all of this was, and how there really didn't seem to be any punishment that anyone could mete out that hadn't already been done to Croix by her own mind.

(Perhaps there were a few, but Leviathan wasn't in the Enma for a reason. They weren't going to stand here and be the judge and jury for a conflict they hadn't played part in, nor one that had ended well before they had even met Croix.)

They had no words; not at first, no. Instead, Levi stepped forward and pulled Croix into a tight hug, tight enough that they were certain the quickened pace of their heart was vibrating through both their bodies.

"I'm not choosing to forgive you, because I don't have that power," they said quietly, against Croix's ear. "But I'm choosing not to make anything worse for you." They brought their face back, enough to catch Croix in the eye if she allowed it. "You promised me that you never intended to hurt her, and I can see it on your face now that you mean it."

They squared themself up and stood up a little straighter, but they kept their hands on Croix's shoulders. "Anyone who has done terrible things always has the choice to stop what they're doing and try to make up for it. Making that choice shouldn't be as hard as it is." A pause. "That you're trying at all speaks a lot to who you are."

Croix was certain Leviathan was going to come up to slap her or strike her in some way, which...caused her to be rather shaken as the other hugged her instead. She blinked, and her hands came up, returning the hug and becoming lost in feeling the sensation of Leviathan's heartbeat.

"Thank...thank you," she stammered out, unable to believe that someone could hear her self-condemnation and not immediately hating her. But. Leviathan was not only showing her mercy, she was showing her kindness. That was something at least.

"Chariot is lucky to have a friend like you," Croix said, while tears silently ran down her face.

Edited 2022-09-22 15:54 (UTC)

"I wouldn't put it like that," they replied after a moment to let Croix get her emotions out. Whether that was for the "luck" part or the "friend" part, they would leave to mystery, but either way they brushed at her cheek to wipe away a tear.

"I've seen people do far worse to far more without a hint of shame. I've seen people oppress entire populations in service of the two people at the top of the food chain. The people with the most money, and by extension the people with the most power." They weren't going to explain that they knew who those two people were on a personal level. There were things that Croix wasn't allowed to know, even as she bared her soul to Leviathan in turn.

"All I want to be, to everyone I know, is someone who sees when people are trying." They moved their hands to their sides again, trying to remain under control. "I might have named myself after a beast from the deep, but I promise I'm not that kind of monster."

Croix fought the urge to flinch at the brushing away of her tear; not because she was against it, but because she was unused to such a soft thing from anyone who wasn't Chariot. Nevertheless, she smiled, and nodded.

"I believe you," she said. "I sought power myself, but...I think now I'm going to focus on what's in front of me. What's always been in front of me."

She offered Leviathan her hand.

"And I'd like to count you among the people I call friend, as well."

"And I you, Croix," they said politely, shaking the hand of the genius witch before them. Nothing had stopped them from accepting this kind of thing with open and honest arms before, and they didn't plan on starting now. As long as Croix did nothing to betray this, they would be fine, but Leviathan doubted very much that she would want to.

"Thank you for sharing this with me... I appreciate that you trust me enough with it," they said just as openly. "I'll keep it to myself, no matter how much alcohol I put inside my body." Just a little joke! They weren't a talkative drunk, or much of any kind of drunk. "I trust you won't mind if I let Chariot know you told me, though? Just to keep everyone on the same page as each other."

"Ha ha, I don't mind that!" she said. "Go right ahead...I'm sure she'll welcome the knowledge that I'm being honest about my past, and..."

Croix's voice trailed off, as she grabbed her head, suddenly finding her footing less sure than before. It seemed this woman definitely could not hold her alcohol.

Edited 2022-09-23 01:28 (UTC)

"Ah... are you well?" they asked, the concern taking immediate precedent over anything else. They touched Croix's shoulder again, hoping to steady her in case that became something to worry about.

Their eye slid over to the bottle at their workstation. Perhaps this was a mistake; perhaps they already had to cut Croix off. It probably wasn't the worst idea in the world, if they were both going to continue working with delicate machine bits. And electricity.

"I...I'm fine..." Croix said. "I should have told you, I...I can't hold my alcohol. It's embarrassing, especially as a french woman, and..."

She looked up again, and blinked. She looked quite taken with something, and let out a short gasp.

"...Levi, I must admit...you are quite an attractive person..."

September 2022 Mingle!

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