jigokulogs | [OPEN] between a rock and a...

Entry tags:

[OPEN] between a rock and a...

Who ⬤ Zelgadis and you!
What ⬤ Catch-all for the month: trying out new jobs, rooftop brooding, whatever else
When ⬤ September
Where ⬤ Various
Content Warnings ⬤ Nothing too noteworthy! Drinking, mostly.

Various prompts will follow. Feel free to contact me at

pzue / Journal PM / Discord DM if you'd like a starter!

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[Somewhere in town, typically in or near Tamamo territory, you may see a man standing next to a parked rickshaw. You might have spotted him transporting a frog-faced yokai dressed in the elaborate vestments of a geisha before returning to this spot. He wears a traditional uniform with the outline of a fox embroidered on the back, along with a black bamboo hat and a dark scarf over his lower face, hiding everything but a single eye.]

Need a ride?

[He'll ask if you approach, or if you linger nearby for long enough.]

[9S has never seen a rickshaw before coming to this city. It seems wholly impractical... But then again, it's not always humans pulling them, right? Maybe the people pulling them are unusually strong.]

Oh, sure!

[He'd been planning on walking but he's not going to pass up the chance to try something new. Maybe some new information about this mode of transport will help him understand the appeal. But where to go?]

Can you get me back to Sutoku territory?

[9S' Sutoku Alliance pin is attached to the collar of his jacket.]

[He considers the stranger, the pin on his jacket, and in particular, the blindfold over his eyes. Is he blind? It would make sense for him to want to make use of various transportation options, in that case. Even if he's a Lost Soul who probably doesn't have a lot of money to his name...]

Sure. Hop on.

[He nods to the seat almost automatically, then wonders if he can actually see that gesture. Uh.]

[9S nods in return, blithely unaware of the stranger's thoughts on him.

When 9S clambers onto the rickshaw, the carriage portion sinks with more weight than what you'd expect from what appears to be a human teenager. It's almost like he weighs two people!]

What's this even called, anyway? I've never seen anything like this before.

It's a rickshaw. Or... jinrikisha, I guess.

[From the way he says it, it's probably kind of new to him too.]

It's kind of a novelty, but it's also a pretty cheap way to get somewhere if you don't want to walk the whole way.

[He'll grab the handles and start moving... just an inch, then he glances back in surprise. Wait a minute. How much could a kid that size weigh...?

... Well, it's not like it's unmanageable, and after that false start, he gets moving.]

[9S peers at the driver -- but should the stranger be called the driver if he's the one pulling the rickshaw? -- when there's a false start, but doesn't think too much of it. It's not like he has a good sense of what human capabilities are, anyway.]

A novelty?

[Hm, now that the rickshaw is moving, maybe he can see what the appeal is!]

I guess it beats walking. Isn't it kind of weird to be the one pulling the rickshaw? I thought it was common practice for animals like horses to pull transportation like this?

[And it's not really any faster than him running around on foot...]

Yeah. It's usually horses where I'm from. Maybe the city's too noisy for horses to get around without getting startled all the time...

[They probably wouldn't fare too well with cars zipping around them, too, he thinks.]

Or maybe having a person do it makes the rider feel more important.

[He hadn't considered that a horse would get startled. He thought they were similar to moose, which had somehow gotten accustomed to living in the same space as machines. Moose weren't afraid to defend themselves, though...]

Oh.

[But if this guy's pulling the rickshaw, maybe he's ok with it?]

Why's that?

Well... it's like how royals get carted around by manservants and the like.

[Oh! He knows about royalty! They're an important part of civilisations governed by monarchies! The machines had plenty of data on that, and their attempts to recreate them failed every time.]

Hm. I don't get what's so appealing about getting carted around.

[Says the person getting carted around.]

But I guess you get to look around if you're not the one doing the work.

[Says the person who's blindfolded.]

[He casts a glance back, giving him a weird look for that. He can't look around with that blindfold over his eyes... right?]

Uh, yeah. Guess so.

Don't know how many tourists they get here in the underworld, though. The view probably loses its appeal after a while.

[Or he thinks so, anyway, but Zel doesn't have much appreciation for the city to begin with.]

[One of the bouncers at the place that he'd just dropped the geisha off at was smiling at her, chatting for a moment before she opened the door for her. Smiling to herself when the door closed, she noticed the sort of unusually dressed fellow with the scrimshaw. Well, he was certainly well covered wasn't he?

Walking up, she nodded.]

Thanks for giving her a ride. I'll cover it. You, uh, mind giving a girl a lift over to the Arena? I'm off my shift and need to let off some steam.

[She hadn't quite yet figured out it was Zelgadis.]

You plan on fighting there?

[There's a hint of surprise in his tone.

But it's not his job to question stuff like that, so after a moment, he just nods.]

All right. Get on.

Yup. Starting to get a following. Too bad I probably won't be fighting anyone big today. But whatever. It'll be good to get the stress out and stretch my legs.

[She hopped in, settling in the seat behind him. His voice. Wait... hmmm.]

Wait, you're Zelgadis, right? I think we talked on the network?

[He glances back.]

Yeah. I've been trying out a few odd jobs here and there.

[And he'll pick up those handles and start walking, towing the carriage.]

I never imagined someone would try this out, but it's actually probably a good paying job. The youkai will love it. Kind of old fashioned.

[She settled back and relaxed into the chair. It did feel like the old days to an extent. And, really, she wasn't in a hurry anyway.]

How're you settling in so far?

Seemed like a productive way to get to know the lay of the land.

[He has to think a moment about her question, though.]

The work's simple enough. I'm not used to "settling in" to any place for a long period of time, though.

You will definitely get a feel for where everything is, doing this. So, that's a bonus. Never even thought about that when I arrived.

[She laughed a little, shrugging to herself.]

That's going to take some getting used to. It's a big city, but everything outside of this town's basically a wasteland.

So I've heard. Is there really nothing out there? Or beyond...?

[Has anyone even gone that far...?]

We don't know yet. The wastelands are supposed to be way above my paygrade. And there's a possibility that there's an old earth kami of incredible power involved. We're not sure at the moment.

[She grunted and shook her head.]

Of course, I've been pretty busy so I haven't looked into it too closely.

Some kind of earth spirit? Heh... interesting.

Maybe I'll get to see for myself.

It might be more accurate to think of them as a god. Kami are all worshiped, but there's kami and then there's Kami. This one's one of the bigger ones in my history, and I don't doubt they're the same here. But, a god of the Earth, yeah.

Might get that chance, you never know.

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[OPEN] between a rock and a...

OPEN 🗡 WORKING: RICKSHAW

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