jigokufever | June 2022 Test Drive

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June 2022 Test Drive

1. CLEAN UP

The curse has broken, finally banishing the oppressive air around the city and the many sightless eyes of the accursed haniwa. Life will have to return to normal now but first there is lingering clean-up that must be attended to:

SHUTEN CLAN

The Shuten Clan is out in force to rebuild damaged storefronts. Eager oni appear in their festival happi, singing oni working tunes. You can pick up the words easily enough, join in and help out. The mood starts bright, but after a number of unlucky accidents there is less singing and more grumbling. The cursed energy left behind has made all of you much more prone to workplace accidents but the storefronts need to be scrubbed, broken glass needs sweeping, new furniture needs construction. There are any number of thumbs smashed by hammers, hands cut on saws, heads hit with falling debris or that board of wood you didn’t see someone carrying towards you. It’s a cursed day to be out on the job.

Rewards will come in the form of free drinks for a week from specific bars and a generous amount of chips for the casinos. If you aren’t of age to drink or gamble? Well… they’ll look the other way this time. Have fun.

It should be noted that the uniform -- a happi, a hachimaki, and fundoshi -- is required. The Shuten Clan is very traditional, after all.

TAMAMO CLAN

The bathhouses in Tamamo clan territory remain full of bloodied water. They need to be drained and scrubbed to make them new again. However, reaching the drains is a tricky business. You can’t simply reach in to pull out the plug, you will have to wade into the water to twist it free. Easy enough, right?

Unfortunately, residual curse energy has made this a very dangerous task. Phantasmal hands will reach out and try to drag you under as you get too close to the drain. The phantasms can be distracted, so you’ll need some teamwork to succeed. Your reward is a significant amount of free bath coupons. Some of the advertised baths even have “special” properties. Take the chance to relax, you probably need it.

Those that are rejuvenated in the newly purified baths will find themselves with seemingly limitless vigor. That vigor may sometimes manifest in the form of desperately needing to fuck the first thing willing to do so. Which might turn out somewhat embarrassing...

SUTOKU CLAN

The residual cursed energy in the Sutoku Alliance territory has congregated in their many arcades. The prizes in the UFO catcher machines seem off and they keep shifting around. If you happen to win a prize, the prize slot snaps shut on your hand with amazing force: the machine out for blood. To clear the curse, the prizes need to be removed from the machines and purified with the help of a local shrine maiden. Unfortunately, the key ring to open the machines has been stolen by some of the unruly prizes. You will need to use your UFO catcher skills to fish it back out.

Try not to lose any fingers.

Other machines are shooting tokens out of their coin slots at astonishingly painful speeds. A strange phenomenon, as even the machines that take swipe cards are doing it. Where are those tokens even coming from? You will have to get the machines open and give them a deep cleaning to get all the residual blood off the coins and mechanisms. You need the same keys that are stuck inside the UFO catcher…. Better hope you can fish out the one you need.

For your troubles, you will be given unlimited free plays for a month. Perfect for winning a totally-not-cursed prize for your sweetie.

ENMA DEPARTMENT

It’s the Department of the Enma’s turn to go begging for good will. They are considered to be mostly responsible for the way the cursed haniwa were handled in the first place. Enma souls should get out on the streets and see what the people need: Food, clean water, housing repairs and maintenance, as well as exorcisms. They’re all high on people’s priority lists and most people want it done pronto. Try not to get snappy with the angry people, the department’s reputation is on the line.

The Enma is slated to give a press conference at some point. It's up to the rest of the Department to assure that there will be reception to his words. They are likely to be of grave importance to the rest of the city.

A hard day’s work is its own reward, but you’ll also get a day pass to a theme park on the edge of the city – in the name of community outreach, of course.

2. GHOST SHARKS

The very streets themselves are treacherous with residual curses. The isonades may have been intimidated out of town for the moment but the anger of their ancestors lingers in the bloody puddles that still glisten in the streets. Come too close to these puddles and spectral sharks will lunge from beneath the surface: Blood for blood! Lives for lives!

While spectral in nature, the teeth on these sharks can still do real harm to anyone they lash out at. They don’t seem to take damage in kind, but will pop and disperse for a moment when struck. The ghostly sharks are being populated by a magic totem that has been partially buried in the dirt of a local park. Destroy it and the sharks will disappear.

Unfortunately, a pack of snotty local children have taken a shine to this magic totem. They are not keen to let you take it from them, nor break it. It’s theirs. It’s special. If you’re feeling brutish or cruel, you can fight the children or deceive them, but your boss would probably suggest you try to bargain with them for appearance’s sake. They’re entirely unreasonable though, as children can be, and it will be quite a chore to get them to agree to your terms.

3. CURSED CORNERS

There are certain corners and alleyways which are simply predisposed to gather cursed energy. These areas are still haunted enough to affect the reality around you. You may experience hallucinations or visions of lost loved ones, past regrets, personal failings. These visions are played out in the area for all to see. You will remain frozen in place until your moment is done, or someone brave comes to pull you out.

Now that the worst of it is over, some of the more morbid and voyeuristic members of the public may be lurking around these haunted areas, waiting to see what horrors will be unveiled. They have out their phones and their cameras to record the show.

The cruelest of the spectators provide commentary to their social media followings as they observe. Anything for that monetization!

The biggest of the streams is a kerakera onna who goes by her channel name: Lipsticki. She leans in over the rooftops to cackle loudly at people’s misfortunes and give petty, scathing commentary about their misdeeds and failings.

4. THE ENMA SPEAKS (PLOT RELEVANT)

Outside the hospital where the Enma was being treated, there is a huge press gathering. The judge arbiter has been deemed fit enough to release. Hungry for word, journalists from every publication swarm the area. Most press-outlets in the city are controlled by the Sutoku Alliance, who have a vested interested in interrogating the Enma.

A number of other onlookers have tacked on as well, including Lost Souls both old and new. Lost Souls may even find themselves ordered to attend the statement by their faction.

It is assumed that the Enma must have something of grave importance to say, after all.

The Enma approaches the podium. He is dressed in his usual suit, his crown, and his stern expression; it puts a hush over the crowd through its tremendous pressure alone. No questions have been asked, yet, but a statement has been prepared. He clears his throat:

"The cause of the curse, the enemy of Jigokucho, is... Haniyasu. The Department's focus will be shifting to determining our next action in regards to this entity. That is all."

Just like, the Enma's secretary and a retinue of armored shinigami move to flank the Enma and guide them to a waiting limo down the steps. The press yells their questions over one another, but are pushed back. The Enma doesn't even seem to perceive them, simply focusing on getting into the car.

Unfortunately, if you're a representative for one of the factions -- especially the Department of the Enma -- that makes you fair game to hound for questioning too. Do you stand your ground or try to run away?

[[banner art by s-tokimura]]

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It's easy to follow, especially when the person doing the leading seems to have such control of the situation. Or maybe, they think, he's just a little bit more of a veteran than Levi themself is. (Not hard to pull off, of course.) They quicken their pace, realizing that they're being granted a boon here, and soon they're out of the corner of the city and trying to shake the dread of what had just happened off of their shoulders.

They look over once they feel safe and fix their rescuer with a small grin. "You act like you've dealt with things like that before," they say, realizing how obvious a sentence that is as soon as they finish saying it. "Thank you. I was just trying to get my bearings here and it turned into... that." And, remembering that everything had just been projected from their mind and it's extremely possible that he saw things they would prefer he not retain, they add, "My name's Leviathan."

"It is hardly the worst thing I have had to deal with." His tone is the slightest bit dry. If he's retained or concerned himself with any of the things Leviathan had projected just now, he doesn't show it even slightly. "A pity I have not yet reobtained the power to rifle through her memories myself and given her something to think about."

He misses his psionics, especially when it comes to throwing his weight around. He has to rely on bluffing and a knife, which is...fine, he supposes, but getting people to shut up holds much more weight when he can just reach into their mind and scramble it a bit.

More introductions. "I am Kimmuriel," he replies, curtly. He doesn't seem like a talkative person, and seems to feel that making his acquaintance starts and ends at giving his name.

"Reobtained?" they ask, like it's not something that's really clicked until now. "So it really is possible?"

Because there is one thing they've pieced together by now, and it's that their lightning has been nerfed, for lack of a better word, but their heart has not. So something must be wrong in a way that Leviathan can't fathom yet. Still. There will be time to figure out all of that later.

"That's good to know," they say, and they try to move on to make it seem like less of a big deal. "It's nice to meet you, Kimmuriel. Is it safe to assume that whatever left this place... the way it is now is one of the worse things? Because I'm really only putting things together from context clues."

"It is," Kimmuriel replies, and that seems to be the end of it unless Leviathan is willing to ask more questions about that exact thing.

"It rained blood and drew nightmares out of people's minds to make them halfway real for a few tendays, which was a trial on its own," he elaborates, gesturing in a sort of it explains itself sort of way at the filth and grime all around them. "but I was speaking of my own experiences before I was drawn to this plane."

Is..he going to elaborate on any of that...probably not.

"Not that this is not irritating to deal with in its own right," he clarifies, a moment later, like that's the problem.

There's probably not... much of a need to elaborate, Levi thinks, or at least not on all of it. What they do have questions on, though, they're not very shy about asking.

"How long have you been in this plane?" they ask. "Because I'm not even at a full day yet and it seems like I've already gotten a little sample of those nightmares. Maybe that woman was a leftover from it." It's a guess, but they're trying their best just to put everything together.

"And if this city was doing something that you can normally do when you're not in this plane, then maybe that's something to be worried about?" Another question, but this one is less of a question and more just idle speculation.

"A few months now," Kimmuriel answers, though answering them gives him reason to pause and contemplate it further. "A season, at the least."

He shrugs. "She is one of the demons that lives here. She merely takes advantage of the chaos left behind - as far as I can tell, she is not born from it herself. Those cursed places are likely remnants themselves, though I would rather avoid them than investigate overmuch." He's got far too many things he'd like to keep in his head where they belong, thanks, and he doesn't want that on film.

That gets...another shrug. "It is a hell," he replies, as if that seems to explain anything. "A place of festering chaos. I expect it to be unpredictable, especially since it is shaped in the image of humans and not my own kind."

Their eyebrows go up at that last part, and it's enough to get their pace to slow. Without looking back over their shoulder, they can tell they've at least made some distance so far and things should be safe, so at least they can afford to full-body react like that.

"So that wasn't just a euphemism? Because I used to live in a place that everyone called hell, but it was just... underfunded, run down, and full of the people that the ruling class didn't want to think about." A wretched place, as their mother had so kindly put it. "But this really is a hell? That... does put a few things into perspective," they say slowly. "It almost sounds like it was an improvement for you."

"Oh, this is indeed hell," Kimmuriel replies, "albeit a Japanese one. The world I come from has quite a few more, none of them like this." He pronounces the foreign word with a bit of hesitance, as if he's not used to saying it.

He stares at Leviathan a moment, and then...actually laughs a little, in a quiet, toneless sort of way. "It is certainly a novelty to see the way others might live, though I would not say an improvement. I am merely keeping myself busy here." It's a gaudy, gregarious, chaotic environment; not entirely unappealing, but it's not his first choice.

Multiple hells. Okay, that is... certainly interesting. Once they return to keep pace with Kimmuriel, they continue, though not on that line of questioning. (It's another thing they put in their mental back pocket for later, because they are curious, but they also recognize there are more important things to talk about right now.)

"Can I ask what we usually keep ourselves busy with, here in Hell?" Not necessarily him specifically, but he'd be the best resource for that information right now, Levi reasons internally. "I have some idea of the faction system, but the roles and responsibilities are still a little beyond me."

DnD settings, man! He can just say this and he doesn't think it's especially weird!

"Roles and responsibilities are whatever your faction leader sees fit to pass down to you," Kimmuriel explains in his emotionless way. "The tasks vary depending on who claims you as their own, of course, but in a sense they are all alike - chores given to the lowest on the hierarchy. Other than that, there is always something going on here - what you would assume to find in any city." Crime and dumb bullshit and whatnot.

"I see. So I should prepare myself for a lot of chores," they predict, probably more accurately than they should given how little time they've spent here. "And my faction leader would be the Enma, from the looks of things. So the chores are going to be cleaning up the PR nightmares from the other things that normally happen in any city."

They look back over their shoulder. "I assume I'll get some kind of brief about that thing that happened back there at some point." A pause. Not to belabor the point, but there's only once chance for a faction leader to make a first impression. "Or maybe I won't. Maybe that's the safer assumption."

"You have grasped the general idea." His tone is the faintest bit amused. Last time it was his faction having to do an apology tour; at least they're not doing it again. So he gets to find it funny instead of tedious.

"Since you are unfortunate enough to be stuck with him, you will likely get your information from others in a similar situation to you." Don't get your hopes up for open communication with the Enma! More powerful people have tried and failed. "Right now, we know very little about the threat that has only recently left us, so we are all in the same situation."

"Fantastic." Their tone could evaporate an ocean. "Well, if there really aren't any more answers to be found yet, at least this seems like a good time to acclimate myself to the things we do know about."

Which, they think, is as good a segue as any. "If I end up, let's say, disillusioned with the way the Enma runs his department, is it hard to remove myself from his service? I understand it's the way this city works, but, well." By the inches of information they're receiving, a lot of the way the Enma operates is very coincidentally (or maybe even deliberately?) lining up with things that they know they have problems with. "I'm already starting to think there might be better ways for me to contribute to everyone's wellbeing around here."

The tone reminds him of his own, and thus he's a little more amused by it than he would be normally. He's terrible like that.

That question gives him pause, however. "I suppose if you appealed strongly to another leader, you could be moved," he says, deliberate with his words as if reasoning out the logic behind them. "But as far as I can discern, such contracts are binding. I presume it would take a great deal for one to release you from their service and give you to another."

Here, he shrugs. "But I know little of how these demons conduct their operations. It could be easier than that."

"Mm." Well, if this contract really is binding, then there's not much to do except live with it. They sigh. "Oh well. I guess I'll just have to do what I can to make this Hell livable for as many people as possible. And whether I can free myself from the contract or..." A small smile; they know they're sounding dramatic right now, but part of them suspects it might be appreciated.

"Or chafe under the binds of one that tells me to act otherwise," they finish, feeling quite satisfied with themself, and the affectation leaves their voice. "Then I'll just have to figure out a way to make it work. You can do a lot that counts as following orders if you're very careful with the way you define your orders."

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June 2022 Test Drive

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