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!

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Comments

[saintclaire]

[She glances at the taiyaki and takes it; she's never tried it before, but trying new foods has never been an issue for her. Somehow, thinking about highly unstable teenagers with murder on their rap sheet doesn't inspire her to enjoy it. It lingers in her hand.]

I'm asking you if he'll go after people you associate with.

[invinciblemikey]

No.

(because mikey's the target, the manji might be collateral - but kazutora has nothing to gain from harming a lady mikey probably doesn't care about that much when what he really wants is mikey's head.

and he's willing to die for it.)

I'm not warning you because you are specifically in danger. I'm warning you because you tick nerves, and if you per chance cross paths with him, he wouldn't stop his kick.

[saintclaire]

[With her stomach churning and a considerable amount of effort put into looking calm at this turn, Kim nods. She decides it's not her problem until the guy makes it one.

This is not another Lalo Salamanca.]

And you? Are you going to be safe, "dealing" with this?

[invinciblemikey]

(while kim has to put effort, mikey's face is unreadable, not a shred of emotion, neither good or bad. he's saying it like they're facts, rather than anything else - nonchalance at its finest.)

There isn't a world where I'm not safe, Giselle.

(I aM ThE dAnGeR

ah. yes, reminds him:)

... Are you and your husband from the same point in time, by the way?

[saintclaire]

Mm.

[Depressing, to be so young and be in that position. She's still not sure if she can completely believe it –– all that, at fifteen years old? But the feeling must be real to him, no matter what.

She'll poke around, if she needs to. See who else from his crew his around.]

Roughly. Why?

[invinciblemikey]

(he wouldn't judge her for not believing it - after all, his name is unknown in the streets, and his reputation has disintegrated into nothing... and he is that tiny, with that face. mikey can't worry that much, she'll see he isn't lying eventually.)

All of us aren't. Do you think that has to do with anything?

[saintclaire]

I think that can make things complicated.

[There's no saying if it has meaning, but it's a wrench in the works.]

How far apart are you spread?

[invinciblemikey]

I'm ahead a few months from him. Another is behind an hour or two from him, and the others are two years ahead.

(and his treat is over. another one replaces it.)

[saintclaire]

[She glances at his second taiyaki. She can't imagine scarfing down that much in the way of sweets at once, but she indulges in her first bite, anyway.]

A lot can happen in two years. That must make it pretty tense.

tokyo rev spoilers

[invinciblemikey]

How is it?

(be nice to his favorite thing, he obviously loves it, as he leaves her another one on the table for later.

it's like a cat bringing you a dead mouse.)

It's fine.

(aside from the fact that everyone is refusing to tell him he went insane in the head, but ok, then.)

Who's ahead? You or... Bill?

(she never gave him a name, so that's his name now.)

[saintclaire]

[She glances at the taiyaki's exposed guts, the red bean filling she's bitten into. It's not a bad surprise.]

I was expecting something sweeter.

[She'll finish it. She'll bring the other home to Jimmy.

But her expression dips somewhere amused when he calls Jimmy "Bill." Sure, he's been Bill, but he's been Kevin and Mr. Cumpston and Hansford and––]

Viktor. ["With a K."] I'm ahead by a few weeks.

[Six, but who is counting?]

[invinciblemikey]

It's fun because it's fish-shaped!

("so, darling, a delinquent sat with me while i was studying and gave me treats-"

he sees that face, though, giselle! it makes him smile in turn, eyes closing in genuine joy.)

When am I meeting him?

[saintclaire]

[She lets her smile linger, but she figures that day will come around sooner or later, and she's not sure how to feel about that.]

Next time you need criminal defense.

[She takes a sip of her coffee. Is that a good pairing? She's not sure yet.]

Is there a story behind the fish shape?

[invinciblemikey]

Mhm, no. I choose you.

(what a simple statement. he knows her, it's much easier to work that way. that's a good question she asks, however, and mikey reminds himself that just because she does speak japanese, like everyone else in this place, it doesn't mean she can easily get these things.

so, he's pulling the chair next to her, taking a pen, the paper, and writing the kanji for the sweet - "鯛焼".)

See this first one? It's the same one as red sea bream. They symbolize fortune and luck and shit like that. Japanese people are big on those things.

[saintclaire]

[She'd be touched if she wasn't repeatedly alarmed by this kid. Kim lets it go with a little shake of her head, somewhere between amused and exasperated.]

I'd rather you not need a lawyer at all.

[But she leans in for the lesson, genuinely interested. Nuance matters, in law and elsewhere, and all this Japanese symbolism has to come in handy somehow. She watches him carefully, and then copies the characters; it's slow and careful.]

There's always something new here. Everything I knew about Japan before came from movies.

[invinciblemikey]

Everything I know about the States is from movies. What do you want to know?

(he sees a little bit of an error, the kanji's too small for the space she's trying. a hand goes on top of hers to guide, slow as he writes it along, and then he taps the paper as to tell her to redo it, all wordlessly.)

[saintclaire]

[There's a rigidity to her posture when he puts his hand on hers, but writing is writing; she tolerates it, and then goes on to write it herself.]

Hmm. Are those incredibly tiny apartments in housing normal?

[invinciblemikey]

In Tokyo or bigger cities, yeh, absolutely. Too many people, too expensive, we do what we can. There is something to be said about minimalism being a thing.

(a spare pen is taken, and slowly, so she can see it, he'll write some rather difficult kanji. his handwriting is round, almost too clear.)

You're going to want to practice these, so you can write better in smaller spaces. Don't cut fucking corners - there's a pattern and an order for a reason. Do ten of these, please.

(he's going to help, one more round of repetition.)

[saintclaire]

[She watches him write, but when he says that, she just raises an eyebrow at him –– Kim Wexler, cut corners? Kim Wexler, seated here with her books and her meticulous pages of notes and color-coordinated highlighting? She resists the very thought, putting her pen down to go back to her taiyaki.]

I don't mind minimalism. I don't love feeling like I'm living in a closet. How does anyone raise a family in a place like that?

[invinciblemikey]

They just do, and bust their asses for it, too. It's not an easy country to live in, I'll tell you that.

(kenchin lives in a brothel, mitsuya raises his two sisters. in comparison? mikey's pretty damn privileged. his mother had all the medical care she could have, his grandfather's dojo where he lives isn't swimming in pupils, but it's doing alright as it goes.)

Competition, depression, crazy work hours, and expectations, all soul-crushing.

[saintclaire]

Japan doesn't have a monopoly on those things, but having a decent-sized condo certainly takes the edge off.

[She imagines how quickly she and Jimmy would get on each others' nerves in a place as small as their current apartments, and then considers that he's got ten times as much patience for that as she does to begin with.

She glances at her stack of books, thousands of pages of dense, sometimes arcane Japanese law.]

Definitely could be easier for people to live in.

[invinciblemikey]

People are never home to begin with, though. I don't come from a normal workforce nor a salaryman-based family, but you hear it on the train all the time - "my boss is a fucking asshole, I did 90 hours of overtime this month", and it's just how things are over there.

(the second treat is done, and perhaps she can tell by the corners of his eyes gathering water that he's getting sleepy. it's a possibility that he'll just put his head down and sleep eventually - and he won't be surprised to wake up to see her still studying.

nerd.)

I'm not sure what I will end up doing, but for sure, none of that.

[saintclaire]

[Mildly:]

I'd fit right in.

[And she'll make herself fit in again. Just thinking about it puts a twitch in her fingers, a desire for a cigarette.

She looks at Mikey, at the vestiges of baby fat in his face. He won't be doing anything if he goes to prison. She's sure of that.]

I'm sure you'll find something that'll catch your interest.

[invinciblemikey]

... And you're happy, you tell me.

(it sounds like a nightmare, to be honest. the never-ending race, eternal competition that comes hitting harder and harder each waking day.

and that twitch. he recognizes it clear as day, having grown up with shinichiro and his vice.)

Go smoke, Gisele.

(it's simple, the books aren't going to run away.)

I'll probably end up with a motorcycle repair shop, or taking over my family's martial arts dojo. I don't see anything else.

[saintclaire]

Never been happier.

[It's a wholesale lie, but she delivers it with an easy grace. She ignores the smoking comment, too; she's decided she's simply not going to do anything a fifteen year old tells her to do.]

Plenty of people don't figure out what they want to to until their twenties, thirties, even forties. Try different things and you'll be fine.