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!

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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Themis gives Rhea'li a long, evaluating look. Not the "Azem's familiar" he recognizes, but he'd already suspected there was something peculiar about a familiar with the capacity for humanity that the one he knew possessed. But that there might be more than one running around...

"I don't mind," he says carefully. "I am not particularly interested in the service itself... but I would like to see the inside of the building, and learn more about it. To have a companion will certainly make things easier."

Well, he's not judging!

But it feels very strange, almost like he is in a strange, bizarre world speaking to who he suspects is the very same person who became Elidibus. Something about the hair... the Warrior of Light he became in the Crystal Tower had hair like that, didn't he?

If so, never would he have imagined that he would be exploring... brothels... with Elidibus(?). What has his life become?

Before he can think too much on that, Rhea'li strides forward.

"Well then, shall we?" He grins before gesturing towards the nearest one, an establishment that wouldn't look out of place in Kugane. Outside, there are a pair of workers -- one woman and one man -- dressed in kimono. Somehow, he suspects the clientele are usually those with far more money than he has currently. "After you, ser."

Suddenly, something occurs to Themis, and he hesitates. "I... But don't you think they may not take kindly to patrons who enter and refuse to spend their money? I do not have a great deal of it at the moment, I admit..."

It's nothing to do with the actual activities. Mostly.

"Is there not something here we can engage with that doesn't require much of it?"

Rhea'li stares long and hard at his companion before closing his eyes in thought, hand on his chin.

"There are some establishments where one simply watches without personally engaging. Or receive only anonymous oral services."

He stops to consider that, and the merits of being here in the first place. Emet-Selch seemed so worried he'd start overworking himself all over again, and besides, everyone seems to flaunt this as "stress relief" in a place like this. Maybe that's why he's let his judgment lapse in coming here, just a little.

"I don't want to just watch," he says simply, shaking his head. "If I am going to be in there, I may as well be doing something. And I suppose it isn't... terrible... to want the stress relief every now and then."

Loath as he is to admit it. It feels odd coming off his tongue. "I have misgivings, but perhaps as long as I have my guiding star, it will be all right. Even if you are not the familiar of Azem I know, Azem must simply have many such familiars. Right?"

Themis smiles at Rhea'li to show his willingness to let the strange circumstances slide. They've just met, and he really ought not to be asking if it would be cheaper to simply get a room rather than a courtesan...

So he doesn't, fearing he's getting too far ahead of himself. If the same idea strikes him, he'll surely make the suggestion himself. If not, then it's likely not what he had in mind.

Rhea'li nods in agreement, committing to the lie with all that he has. Surely Azem wouldn't be bothered at all that he is dragging their name into this? After all, it wasn't him who suggested he masquerade as their familiar in the first place...

Now that he thinks about it, there is something odd about what was just said. That he is not the Azem's familiar this ancient remembers. Elidibus had mentioned something that implied he had met him in the ancient past, but in light of all that happened on Elpis, Rhea'li had clean forgotten about it until now. G'raha had mentioned the hero of his world had lived after their defeat of Endsinger, so mayhap that hero had gone and met Elidibus in the past afterwards? And the same would hold true for him?

He can feel the beginning of a headache coming on.

Schooling his expression into something neutral, he asks carefully, "If I may, am I correct that you are Elidibus? And the current Emet-Selch is a serious man whose brow is ever etched in a frown?"

He's almost tempted to point out how blatant the lie is, but he can think of no other easy explanation for it, either. It's simpler to just accept it for convenience's sake, else he suspects they'd be having some long, difficult conversations over it. Whatever the case may be...

"Correct on both counts," Themis says with a curious look. "Why do you ask?"

Shite. So he is the ancient who would become the heart of Zodiark. Is he truly the same person he killed when there are alternate versions of Etheirys that exist? He still considers G'raha here his friend, even if the other miqo'te didn't journey with him in particular.

He can't come up with a decent lie so quickly so he doesn't even try. "I merely wished to confirm your identity."

He only has a very dim understanding of Elidibus' role in the Convocation, having not pressed for further details when he was in Elpis. But something about all this strikes him as a little odd.

Gods he can't believe he's asking this. "Is this your first time engaging in such... stress relief?"

Edited 2022-09-26 00:16 (UTC)

"Y-- Yes," he says, finding himself equally as concerned with how strange this whole situation is. Though up until now, he'd been choosing to focus on the other part of the oddity, rather than him, him, agreeing to go into a brothel for kicks.

Azem would be cracking up right now if they knew.

"I admit, it isn't usually the sort of thing that's of interest to me. But now that I have a little more time on my hands, I was... a bit curious what the fuss was about. That's all." He ducks his head bashfully and hides his eyes behind his hair. "But it almost feels like I'm doing something I shouldn't be, even though I know it's nothing so wrong. I can make adult decisions perfectly well on my own, but this..."

Rhea'li's sense of bewilderment has only grown through this entire conversation. Somehow, he's having a hard time reconciling the man before him with the man who would eventually come to fight him. It was easier with Emet-Selch. Was that because he felt that he knew the man better in the short period of time they had interacted?

Elidibus for the most part, was more opaque to him, their interactions brief and largely adversarial before his defeat.

And yet...

"Do you feel nervous engaging a stranger with such activities?" He speaks calmly, gesturing with a hand as he continues, "Would you feel more at ease with someone you knew?"

Edited 2022-09-26 09:58 (UTC)

"This may sound odd, but... I think I would be more nervous trying with someone I was close with. There's too much involved that could change the relationship you have with that person."

At least, from what he understands. Like developing feelings for someone based on a pretense, for example. And that's getting even further into a subject he's already not fully at ease with.

"It would be fair to say I do not truly know you. You are not the 'familiar' I remember. And yet, you remind me of them quite strongly. I consider them a friend, and though it might be folly to extend that to another person based on mere coincidence, you seem to be in a unique position."

Themis manages to smooth out his expression, then smiles at Rhea'li, trying to keep the mood positive. "And you already seem to know of me, so at the very least, we surely aren't total strangers. Does that make sense?"

He thinks it best that Elidibus does not know how, exactly, he knows of him.

With a nod, he agrees with all that is said. He personally has a 'don't eat where you shit' rule with this sort of thing; he's seen far too many good groups in Limsa break up because people fooled around with people too close to them. His own preferences have always skewed towards pleasure over feelings; he was always travelling, after all.

And the Calamity took most of those he'd known.

"So I've your trust as a friend and the distance of a stranger."

These are the strangest circumstances, truly. 'Tis true that were it not for their strange circumstances, circumstances in which he is not Elidibus' friend while also not yet being his obstacle, he would not make his following offer.

"Your preference for your first experience, then? Myself, or," he gestures along the street of brothels. "The workers are skilled, your pleasure near guaranteed." A thoughtful hum, before he adds, half joking, "Or both?"

Edited (WAIT ONE MORE THING) 2022-09-27 11:09 (UTC)

Themis takes a breath in, clenching his fists half-consciously. No use tiptoeing around the answer. "I suppose what I'm trying to say is, I would prefer it be with you, if you are not averse."

There. He manages a strained smile afterwards, adding, "If not, I have no objection to dropping the idea altogether. I'm sure we're both of the mind that this is a bit of a ridiculous proposition, aren't we?"

It would only be even more ridiculous if Elidibus knew.

Rhea'li considers the situation with far more gravity than he would have in his youth. The truth is, without Elidibus having any memory of their future interactions, it's difficult to see him as anything but a youth apprehensive about their first sexual experience. The weight of the future has not yet coloured their interaction, so he slowly nods.

After all, he's always had a difficult time saying no to people asking him for help.

Even if this time, the 'help' being requested is for a roll between the sheets.

"Aye, 'tis certainly an... unusual proposition," he acknowledges before continuing calmly, "But 'tis hardly the strangest reason one can have to sleep with someone they just met."

Elidibus is certainly not his type, but he's not bad to look at.

He smiles, grin showing elongated canines. "I would not be adverse to indulging your curiosity."

"To be fair," he says with a sheepish smile, "I'm not entirely sure how we got from point A to point B, so to speak... but I suppose I shall follow along with it."

This had started as just him being interested to learn how it worked, didn't it? He didn't think things would veer off in this direction... but perhaps that's exactly the problem: he didn't think about it much at all when he decided to come here.

But then, he might be able to use this as more than just a first-timer learning opportunity. This man clearly knows something more than he's letting on, and Themis wants to know what it is. So, taking his hand with nary a second thought, he leads Rhea'li toward the entrance, hoping he knows how to do the talking for this, because Themis is a little averse to making a fool of himself. Once inside, he glances at him, noting how diminutive the man stands even compared to someone like him, who is considered quite short in his own right.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

September 2022 Mingle!

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I guess it is time to actually slap a NSFW warning on here LMAO

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