jigokulogs | March 2022 Mini Event

March 2022 Mini Event

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The Night Parade is fast-approaching and each faction will be busy with their own preparations.

1. SHUTEN CLAN

The Celestial Phoenix Casino, a fairly popular casino in the Shuten territory, is overdue on its protection money. This money is sorely needed for parade preparations. Unfortunately, the casino has decided it doesn't need to pay up because they've hired some new unaffiliated muscle. Neither the manager nor their new muscle are the type to listen to reason, so be prepared to exert some intimidation and force to convince these new bodyguards to take their business elsewhere.

The brute squad working for the Celestial Phoenix seems to be made up of several different youkai. Some of them are more human looking than others, but you'll notice no Oni. Even independent Oni wouldn't dare turn against the Shuten Clan. Even lacking in Oni, these thugs are armed to the teeth, swinging several deadly weapons and even a few firearms. This could get rough, so be prepared for the worst. Take the gangsters protecting the Celestial Phoenix out or convince them it’s not worth it.

Once inside, you'll discover that the owner, in a panic, has locked himself inside the casino's value with the protection money owed. This might take some doing to get open...

2. SUTOKU ALLIANCE

The Kappa want to be left alone and the Daitengu has asked Sutoku Alliance members to assure their wishes are respected. Members are tasked with convincing people to stay away from the Kappa's riverside facilities by whatever means necessary. Of course, you may want to take a look for yourself to see what they’re being so secretive about. That’s not recommended, if you don’t want to get into trouble.

It’s not just strangers who are nosy, though. Retinues from both the Shuten and Tamamo clans are making an appearance and asking why the inspections are taking so long. Why are the Kappa dragging their feet? The Alliance prefers to avoid direct violence, so it's up to you to talk to these clan captains in a way that convinces them to leave the Kappa alone.

If you're curious enough to dive deeper into the Kappa's business, however, even your Alliance membership isn't going to keep you safe. The Kappa themselves seem to disappear from sight the further into the sewers you go, as if invisible. Preventing yourself from being spotted by a security camera or a patrolling Kappa is almost impossible. Cover your faces, stick to the shadows, and you might just notice that... they’re building something down there.

Something for the Parade? Who knows? But it’s definitely not decorations or a float...

3. DEPARTMENT OF THE ENMA

The parade route for the Night Parade needs to be "cleaned up". The Department is tasked with getting the low level street gangs and squatters to clear out. The homeless population will resist and may not be so easily persuaded to give up their spots. Your best bet is to offer them food, booze, or shelter for the night. The street gangs will assuredly fight back. Use your strength or your wits to get the job done.

The gangs will not typically be that tough, most don’t want to step up to the Department's goon squad too heavily lest they wind up in a cell for the rest of their lives. Still, some might be hopped up on encouraging substances and try to escalate. Don’t worry, though. You have the authority of the Enma on your side! Don’t think they will get away with waving a weapon in your face.

The homeless, though, lack strength or weapons. They are more fueled by desperation to keep their spots. Winter hasn't been kind to them, after all, and they don’t have much respect for the Enma's authority. Their belligerent behavior is loud, and often violent despite their absence of means to properly defend themselves. At worst, they’ll probably try to use biological warfare. Don’t ask what's in those bottles...

4. TAMAMO CLAN

Parade costumes need to be designed, crafted, modeled, and then likely mended knowing the rough and tumble yokai. The textile shops and tailors of the area need Tamamo Clan members to help them out. Costumes vary from extremely ornate to extremely sexy. These costumes need to merge form and function, for the Tamamo clan parade marchers that means they need to be able to sell their specific wares while wearing them. (wink wonk)

None of the costumes are floor ready and the shop bosses urge you that these cannot be seen by the public until they are ready. This won’t stop some peeping toms and tammies from trying to scope out the goods. Most of the voyeurs are spying for perverted reasons, but some are from shops outside of Tamamo’s influence trying to copy the designs for themselves. Either way, Tamamo Clan members aren't expected to be just pretty faces. So rough’em up.

5. TASTE TEST (ALL FACTIONS)

For those less interested in their faction's work, the restaurants in the Tamamo territory also need help finalizing their menu offerings for the Night Parade. Taste testers and creative cooks wanted! These aren’t just any dishes though and may have some interesting effects. One may be so spicy that everything burns, your face turns red, and you need to cool yourself off. Or maybe your dish is so good that you need to take a nap – it doesn't matter where you are, you'll just fall asleep right on the spot. Another possibility is a dish that gives you unstoppable energy – literally. It will make you want to get up and go and never stop moving. If you stop moving, it may cause a bigger problem.

Welcome to the mini event!

If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[luckily for them both, Wei Wuxian doesn't mistrust Lan Wangji so badly that he barricades himself in the container instead of following his plan, though it comes close. he scrambles out shortly in a relatively nondescript gray robe and a cheap plastic mask instead of the full head covering, his hair wrung out and in a ragged ponytail to at least nominally disguise how he wears it.

he wishes he could take a breather at this point instead of continuing to scramble, but the tiny break at least lessens his wheezing briefly. tries to disguise it as he nods to Lan Wangji, poised to see what move he'll make next]

[Lan Wangji turns back when he hears him emerge and holds out his hand for the key, meeting Wei Wuxian's eyes through his disguise as if it's so much glass to him. his gaze flicks to the right, signalling where he expects more company -- but not quite yet.

he is very calm, standing there in his wet robes.]

Discard the mask soon. Its description will be remembered.

[he nearly flinches away when Lan Wangji meets his eyes through the mask, but -- no, there's no way. there's no way he could know.

inclines his head instead, gets the door locked again, and thrusts the key at him, biting his tongue on words of thanks or otherwise]

[Lan Wangji doesn't seem to expect them, as Wei Wuxian drops the key into his hand, as he closes his fingers around it and gives Wei Wuxian one more slight nod.

he just turns to the right -- the place he'd just identified as the direction of potential pursuit? -- and... goes, without another word.]

[he stares after him another moment, still flabbergasted, then remembers he can't waste any more time here and hightails it as far onward as he can, before finally half-collapsing deeper into the city and getting found by some other people...

at some indeterminate point after all that, though, he is absolutely going to skulk back to check on the area again, and see if Lan Wangji took another shift there, and check that the Kappa didn't taze him and throw him in the river.

he paces around and tells himself not to do it, that it's a stupid move, that he still doesn't owe him anything, but eventually he finds himself heading over there anyway.]

[as he approaches the bridge, he sees a tall, straight figure standing on it, illuminated by moonlight in a frankly unreasonable display of lighting assets, looking out into the water. it's dressed all in white... he can't tell if it's still damp, from this far distance.

...

Lan Wangji doesn't lie. but it's amazing how much you can get away with by simply showing back up at the place you wouldn't dare return if you'd helped your prey escape, inform them of the simple, true fact that he got away, and offer to take your punishment for failing to stop him.]

[does he look like he took any punishment at all. he doesn't, does he. throw this man and his unreasonable heaven-blessed and author-condoned aesthetics in the river.

then again, Wei Wuxian kind of wants to throw himself in the river for being stupid enough to come back, so maybe they're on the same level, in whatever nonsense weighing scale he's got going on in his head right now.

squints up at him, trying to figure out a bit more about his condition without letting on that he's there, if he can.]

[his condition is STARING MYSTERIOUSLY OUT OVER THE WATER, shadows hiding his pale face when he tilts his head to check on a splash and make sure it's just a fish and not another escapee...

at the very least, he's not too hurt to stand. maybe it's fine?]

[...

cool! it is now Stand Around And Fidget, Because You Are Too Angry At This Man To Evidence And Ask About Concerns Openly, But Also You Unwillingly Feel Like You Owe Him For Saving Your Bacon Twice Now, Even Though He Didn't Know It Was You The Second Time And You Didn't Ask For It Either Time, So You Feel Uncomfortable About Walking Away But Also Uncomfortable About Engaging time! absolutely his favorite! oh, hell.

luckily if he hesitates long enough, Lan Wangji is bound to notice him anyway, due to not really being under cover when he's scanning the area.]

[see, this is why Lan Wangji doesn't like accepting thanks for helping Wei Wuxian! Wei Wuxian is right. he didn't ask for it. he wouldn't have taken it, given a choice; has made it clear, in fact, that he'd literally rather die than accept Lan Wangji's concern. help from Lan Wangji is an insult, given by someone Wei Wuxian despises so deeply he believes he'd try to buy his way out of punishment from his family for what he did after Nightless City. that he'd turn around and slaughter innocents for the sake of showing cooperation with the sects, instead of standing by his decisions and the people he'd made them for.

(and doesn't it make sense that Wei Wuxian wanted him to get lost back then, now that Lan Wangji knows that part? how could you trust someone you think would do that to help you further? how could you want someone that faithless at your side...?)

he's aware.

but, he still couldn't not do it. couldn't stop himself from trying then, or earlier this month, or now. he doesn't even want to, and he won't pretend it's not selfish. Wei Wuxian could despise him with justice for this, too.

it's not that he's exactly standing around and thinking this through as he surveys the rippling dark water under the bridge. he has a job to do, and he's too conscientious not to focus on that. but he carries the conclusion heavily, with his scars. they're all a part of him now.

it doesn't take him as long as Wei Wuxian would have preferred before he sees the dark figure, his eyes go wide, and he moves quickly away from his post again, swift and silent and heading Wei Wuxian's way.]

[Wei Wuxian finds himself unprepared, despite having come out this far for this very thing. he does not--want to have this interaction, this confrontation. he thinks it will be a confrontation, or his body certainly does, shoulders already tensed against the inevitability of it.

why did he come out here? what does he even hope to get out of this? nothing, that's what.

he holds still as a spooked deer, nonetheless. maybe a miracle will happen and Lan Wangji will punch him in the face, and then they can have a straightforward fight, and he can go get drunk afterwards to numb the wounds and feel a little better.]

[Lan Wangji isn't pulling any punches, apparently; he comes right up to Wei Wuxian, only a few short feet separating them, eyes narrowed and blazing. he looks him urgently up and down for... something?

(he's trying to gauge how recognizable Wei Wuxian will be, in darkness, to the same kappa, if he's seen. it's hard to be certain. it's not like he's known to them; not like Lan Wangji knows him. how much does that change things?

Lan Wangji isn't sure.)

his voice is lowered to nearly a hiss when he speaks, equally urgent.]

Wei Ying.

[he's done a pretty good job changing his silhouette, actually. he'd worn a dark, close-fitting outfit when he went in the sewers, and he's back in the billowing but threadbare robes he came to Jigokucho in, which disguise the details of his frame somewhat. it wouldn't have been easy for them to get a straight-on look at him either to mark his height--he'd been ducking and weaving when he wasn't in the water--though of course not impossible.

he's also pretty good at putting on an attitude like he has every right to be here. what sneaking? what crime? it's a public riverbank, and he's been doing his part to guard it like a good little faction member. raises his eyebrows]

What, Hanguang-Jun.

[Lan Wangji... is never very readable at the best of times, but he visibly relaxes slightly as he takes all of those preparations in -- that, and the fact that Wei Wuxian hasn't apparently sustained any major injury. lets a careful breath of relief out.

actually, Wei Wuxian's assumption of "why would I have any shame in returning?" is pretty good. Lan Wangji knows for a fact that it worked on the Kappa on his own behalf; they never seriously considered the idea that he'd helped the escapee, just because he'd had the nerve to come back.

Lan Wangji can strengthen that impression for both of them, now that they're both here and he's thinking about it.]

My watch ends in less than one incense time.

Guard with me, until then.

Edited 2022-03-24 06:45 (UTC)

[he's gotten his own look at Lan Wangji, and concluded much the same in turn about his hypothetical injuries. he feels a little bit relieved about it, heavens know why. the feeling's uncomfortable, but it -- and the niggling sense of debt, even if Lan Wangji doesn't know he's owed it (Wei Wuxian thinks) -- does compel him to listen to the request.]

Fine. Why, have there been any disturbances here?

[Lan Wangji raises his eyebrows at him, faintly reproving -- Wei Wuxian's boldness hasn't changed, he sees -- but he answers steadily enough, slightly dry. there'll be nothing that makes anyone suspicious in that. "slightly dry" and "steady" describe such a wide variety of the things that come out of Lan Wangji's mouth.]

Mm.

[he'll turn to walk back onto the bridge, moving slowly but smoothly. he's easily (and deliberately) matching Wei Wuxian's pace.]

An escape from the tunnels. Through the water.

An escape? You don't mean to say they're keeping prisoners down there?

[his acting's very good, as he keeps pace. his surprise seems genuine. why wouldn't he put effort into it instead of just hamming it up, though? he doesn't know Lan Wangji knows that was him.]

You have to tell me everything you saw! I've been so curious!

[it will certainly tell them something, whenever one of them realizes first that Lan Wangji knew all along while Wei Wuxian was oblivious to that fact. it seems so self-evident to both of them that their current versions of reality would be the obvious truth.

Lan Wangji does have one extra tally in the "Wei Wuxian knows I know and is going along with it" column that may not be immediately obvious to Wei Wuxian, though. it's clear (at least in his mind) that Wei Wuxian is acting friendly towards him right now as just that, an act -- part of their joint effort to sell that Wei Wuxian was uninvolved with the previous escapee. if Wei Wuxian was trying to act natural, Lan Wangji would expect for consistency's sake that Wei Wuxian would judge this sudden relative affability as more suspicious to Lan Wangji than refusing to talk to him at all.

the idea that Wei Wuxian, given insufficient time to process how to handle a situation, might not default to hostility towards Lan Wangji at a basal level is something that perhaps neither of them have fully internalized yet.]

...

Know little. Saw little more. His face was hidden.

Left my sight after entering the alleyways.

[it's all, strictly, accurate.]

[It's All Strictly Accurate, the Lan Wangji story. Wei Wuxian sighs in what may come off as regret but is definitely relief, shaking his head]

A slippery one, ah? And the Kappa are still being so closemouthed regardless...how deeply unfortunate.

[he is not thinking very hard about why he isn't behaving as Lan Wangji might have expected him to behave, or he wouldn't be behaving this way at all. Lan Wangji hides the full extent of knowledge through sparse words and technicality when he must; Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, is good at a form of lying that fully includes lying to himself, when he has to.]

[Lan Wangji will hum agreement, as blind to the unselfconsciousness of Wei Wuxian's easy familiarity as Wei Wuxian himself...]

Suggested stationing Alliance guards closer. As the current arrangement was unsuccessful.

The offer was refused.

[for a man who made personally sure that the current, looser Alliance guard perimeter didn't succeed where the Kappas' own defenses failed... Lan Zhan has an unexpectedly thick face, doesn't he. Wei Wuxian can likely imagine the dead level, judgmental tone he used to criticize the Kappa guards, as if it were their sloppiness and not his assistance that allowed Wei Wuxian to get away. it's still not technically untrue, since Wei Wuxian got past them -- he probably even meant it.]

Edited 2022-03-27 22:45 (UTC)

[he isn't going to give the game away by laughing, but he does bite the inside of his lip to keep from doing so, hard. oh wow, the nerve! Lan Wangji must just be dying to know what's down there himself, huh? but he's too cautious or too rulesbound to find it worth it to just go.

(that thought stings, for reasons he refuses to examine. there's a lot of reasons for thinking about Lan Wangji to sting, anyway; he doesn't need to add another)]

Well, they've refused everything else so far that gets anyone but a Kappa nearer there, soooo that's not a surprise, ah.

[Wei Wuxian's expectations of Lan Wangji's talents are truly high, especially as they seem to extend up to and including "good at stealth missions unassisted." without his cultivation, he's not as agile a swimmer as Wei Wuxian. and while he can be quiet and self-disciplined at need, it's impossible to deny that -- for some reason -- the Lans, a sect inspired by monks and walking around dressed in bright-white robes, are infrequently gifted with an instinct for sneaking.

Lan Wangji knows his limits. there's only one person in Jigoku-cho who he'd trust to pitch a trip into the sewers in a way that would convince him they'd be overcome... and that person didn't invite him to go.

...

he's far past that idea stinging. he's just glad he was able to do something for Wei Wuxian here; anything at all. he's glad that the pause before Wei Wuxian responded might mean that even just one more time-- even silently instead of out loud-- he's heard him laugh.

Lan Wangji knows about laughing without making a sound.]

It is not.

...

Could wish for greater trust.

[to be fair to Wei Wuxian, he would not have expected Lan Wangji to go by water -- he's as experienced as one gets there, if out of practice, and he barely made it out ahead of the Kappa -- but it is true he might be overestimating Lan Wangji's sneaking abilities, inasmuch as he is estimating anything at all. Lan Wangji might be overestimating Wei Wuxian's ability to think through every thought that passes through his overbusy mind.]

Ah, well. I suppose it's like if someone marched into the Cloud Recesses and decided you should throw open the inner disciples' training practices to them, because they were a guest on track to being an outer one? Sutoku makes...some sense, like that.

[though it doesn't entirely sound like he approves, from his tone. he just seems a bit more resigned to that than anything?]

Aside from guests, all disciples receive the same instruction from Uncle.

[Lan Wangji's tone is more openly judgmental, though not scathingly so. he disapproves, he's just not mad about it.

it's true that the Sukotu Alliance feels... at least close enough to the common practices of the cultivation sects of their home world to be possible to relate to.

it's relatively quiet here, after the bustle of the city. they can hear the dark water passing under the bridge. Lan Wangji's placed his palms on the railing and is leaning against it a little to look down, an unusual gesture for someone who usually keeps his hands at his sides.]

Edited 2022-03-28 06:17 (UTC)

Is that right?

[it's absent, more an acknlowedgement than a real question. he doesn't have much more to say about the comparison, if he picked a faulty one; he's not exactly in a great headspace to start talking about how the Jiang sect structure might differ.

he paces up and down instead of coming to rest beside him, unable to keep still and not particularly wanting to.]

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