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jigokufever2022-06-24 11:00 am
jigokumods) wrote in jigokufever2022-06-24 11:00 am
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June 2022 Test Drive
MAIN NAVIGATION
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]]
Welcome to the test drive meme!
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cursed corners
Yang continues to walk, eyes landing on the stumbling woman who is clearly more affected by these surroundings than the crowd that’s congregated on the other end. It’s a coincidence that he ends up cutting off her escape route, but he makes no effort to step aside.
Dryly, he says, ] You’re quick.
[ Yang steps forward once, then twice. ]
But, you’re still in the wrong place. [ It sounds like a threat. The kerakera onna picks up on the potential for an enhanced performance, and provides additional color commentary. He ignores the onlookers, waiting to see how she reacts first. ]
no subject
okay.
Whether or not this was his intention, the man who's just intruded manages to interrupt the entire spectacle. Mima's rushing thoughts run into him like a brick wall and cease, immediately. Her thoughts go blank, and though she keeps taking her little rabbit-breaths, the sudden perplexion that stems from his statement seems to shift something in her, just enough to ease the tension.
Slowly, she pulls herself straight, and her trembling gaze falls level on him, narrowing a little in apparent confusion.
She gathers her words, even as she struggles for breath, one at a time. ]
What do you--
[ Another vicious peal of laughter from above swings drunkenly in the air, battering the pavement as she cackles, in incredulous repetition; The wrong place! The wrong place! ]
no subject
You must have come to Jigoku-cho for a reason. [ Yang elaborates. His theory is that if she really wouldn’t want to be here, in front of this audience — at least, not like this. Who would?
He waves a hand towards the physical presence of the yokai, helmed by the cackling woman. Seeing as he’s from the 1920’s, Yang doesn’t fully understand the fact that this is being “streamed” — the technology that he’s accustomed to is only the foundation for what is to come decades later. ] Was it to entertain these creatures?
no subject
"creatures" hey man thats not cool dont talk about idol fans like that--He continues to cut through the situation, in a way which entirely baffles her. He seems determined to hold what feels like a normal, casual conversation even as that stone in her belly sinks deeper and deeper, while her scalp feels ready to escape her head - as she struggles to breathe. He questions her as though they were vacationing on some beach - as casual as asking her why Okinawa? He's made the situation so strange that she can't even pay any serious mind to the kerakera onna leering over them, baying out she's exactly where she belongs! in raw, harsh amusement.
If the situation on the whole wasn't strange enough to navigate, the question he poses is, in and of itself, a strange one. He speaks as though the choice had been hers. The arrangement she'd made - her servitude for the pale and fragile lives of that handful of tetra fish - had felt so thoroughly dreamlike that she'd forgotten the vision as soon as it happened.
She lowers her chin a little, still watching him, and offers the only thing she has in her mind as she tries to find her footing in the conversation-- ]
Why did you?
no subject
look… he’s not seeing a lot of humanity there!!If Mima’s hallucinations are vibrant colors and bold imagery, his are far more muted in comparison, veering closer to black and white. It only figures that it takes someone so firmly rooted to a more mundane world to help puncture the curse. To his surprise, he feels vaguely relieved on her behalf — as though he empathizes with somebody so stricken with grief and panic that they might not be aware of their immediate surroundings.
She would be correct in her assessment of what the Lost Souls went through upon their arrival: if there was a choice, it was a false one. But the contract had been good enough for him to overlook those details. And in truth, Yang is someone who hates not being in control, to the point where he will deny evidence to the contrary. ]
I wanted freedom. [ From the criminal underworld he had been born into, from having to follow the orders of the yappy bastards above him in that hierarchy. But he doesn’t elaborate on that point. There’s still too many people here for his liking. ]
Can you walk?
no subject
She hasn't known freedom. Not truly. Certainly not for the duration of her adult life - curfews and rules imposed first by her mother and father, and then by her agency, the leash passed from one set of hands to another. But even if their circumstances don't totally align (can't, from the way this man carries himself,) she knows too well that hopeless, impotent yearning for control. The hard and occasional need to yank that leash away and run. She's been left alone with it and nothing else in her shoebox apartment for so many nights that the sting has started to dull. Plans made for rather than with her have begun to feel normal.
The spectators are starting to tuck their devices into their pockets and fall away, clicking their tongues in disappointment. They may have been for some time, as the situation imploded dully on itself - Mima hadn't noticed. Her gaze slides from him briefly, then back up, and she nods, nearly imperceptibly, in understanding.
He asks if she can walk - if she can move on from this by herself, she assumes, and Mima all at once remembers herself. She sends a furtive glance around before she straightens her knees, climbs to her feet. ]
I think so. [ Said quickly as she straightens herself, arranges her clothes and smooths her hair, casts nervous eyes around the dispersing ring one last time. ] Um-- thank you.
[ For what? She isn't sure, but she feels as though it should be said anyway. ]
no subject
When she thanks him in gratitude, Yang stiffens. He briefly rubs the back of his head, amber eyes lingering on hers now that they’re standing face-to-face. He can’t remember the last time anyone spoke to him with gratitude. And usually when that was the case, it was because they were scared of him.
This situation is devoid of that context. Perhaps it’s just because she feels compelled to be polite, in which case, he’s happy to let her know that she doesn’t have to feel that way. Maybe it’s a necessary overture to someone else, but not to him. ]
There’s no need to thank me. [ He responds blithely, waving it all off. As though fully dedicated to the art of scoring negative charm points — the opposite effect of what any born entertainer typically seeks. ] I didn’t do this for your benefit.
no subject
That's okay. [ If she is offended by or even notices the brusqueness, she certainly doesn't show it, offering one raised hand - flat, palm-out, deflecting any obligation. ] I didn't thank you for myself, so you shouldn't feel obligated to accept, either. Just offering is enough for me.
[ Because, after all, that's what thanks is - offered, not given. It's no skin off her nose if he doesn't take it. And besides, he still did it, and it still helped her. Regardless of whatever his private intentions might have been for getting involved, she felt that she should at least put her gratitude forward, in light of all everything.
But... there might not be another guy wandering blithely into the middle of the next mental breakdown this alley ultimately brings her to. She's angling her shoulders toward the end of it, where the hard street-light glow tells her it pours out into one of the main streets. She smiles, a little awkwardly ]
Maybe if we walk together, it won't happen again.
[ Unlikely, she still hears the kerakera onna leering over her long after the rest of the crowd has dispersed - but there's only one way out of the alleyway.
Unless this guy's going to find someone else's nightmare to blunder into. ]
no subject
You… [ — are strange, was going to be his response, but Yang allows the words to die on his tongue before they’re spoken. He’s too aware of the absurdity of that statement coming from himself, an entity that is arguably stranger. So, he refrains from rubbing salt in that wound, at least in this given moment.
Yang regards his surroundings once more, his gaze sharpening. This time, it’s out of disdain that they haven’t changed to his express liking. He wonders what would be the best way to kill a kerakera onna, but it wasn’t time for Yang to hunt just yet. ]
I see. Let’s go. [ He concedes to her astute reading of their current predicament, stepping to the side to follow the throng of observers that left moments before. Then, asks for clarification — ] Where were you headed?
[ Before stumbling upon this scene, he sought some respite from the constant presence of people. Some rooftop, atop a high-rise. But, he’s not picky as to where he goes now. ]
no subject
Well, Mima thinks so, at least. She isn't sure what he thinks. She isn't sure about much of him - only that it feels, vaguely, as though she's being assessed by him, for better or for worse, his incising gaze peeling her down, seeing something in her that she can't.
She feels small and naked, and also lightly jubilant, that he agrees to make the short walk a friendly one. ]
I-- [ It feels silly, in a small and provincial sort of way, now that she's getting the words together in her mouth, like the small-minded and helpless practicality of a child, ] --haven't been here for very long. I was hoping that I could find a police station, or a terminal. So that I could find a map of the city there...
[ A little sheepishly, she fishes from her bag a blue spiral-bound notebook, printed with simplistic little fish which glitter gently in the hard neon light, and a long, slender pen. ]
It seems like I'm stuck, so I thought it'd be better if I could at least find my own way around.
[ Just looking for a map of hell, from the Hell Police, taking her silly little notes about what Hell Shops and Hell Restaurants there are. ]
no subject
The intensity of Yang’s stare only grows when she pulls out the pen and notebook from her pocket. Due to the mysterious magic of this world, he’s able to make sense of some of the Japanese words written there, and can tell that she’s telling him the truth.
They take a turn to the left, away from the malignant remnant of cursed energy that brought them together in the first place, passing by a couple vending machines along the way. ]
So, you’re lost. [ He summarizes succinctly, and with that, the scrutiny of his gaze dissipates. While he is unfamiliar with the practice of visiting a police station to purchase a map, Yang’s curious.
The road that they’re on now is partially lit, with some stores closed for the night. Some are still open — most prominently, a convenience store at the end. ]
The idea isn’t terrible. [ Yang begins to head in the direction of the store. ] This place has a strong police presence. [ … That’s his assessment of the police boxes he sees everywhere, even if they’re controlled by the factions and just serve to help the community at large. ]