jigokufever | AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

1. SHUTEN TERRITORY - Muscling In

art by tohdraws

In the aftermath of the curse crisis, the Shuten Clan forgave a bunch of protection payments in the region, and helped cover the costs for rebuilding. Unfortunately, some of the street gangs in the area are much less civically minded. They have used the Shuten's relaxed policies as an opportunity to turn their own screws on the local business owners. These unaffiliated youth gangs have been much rougher with the locals, and have been asking for even larger collection fees. This has pissed off the folks who are just trying to get their lives and businesses back on track!

Unfortunately, the opening of Sai no Kawara in the underground drew so much of the clan's focus and manpower, that the issues up top just slipped through the cracks. Until now! Toraguma is in a bad mood and is looking for people to take it out on: the youth gangs will do just fine.

Volunteers are being solicited to join the regular Shuten enforcers in driving these interlopers out of Shuten territory. The gangs are wise to the usual Shuten tactics, though, and they're prepared for a fight. They are also appealing to the influx of Lost Souls: they act as though they're the victims of the factions' power struggles! They propose that taking up arms against the Shuten Clan will win them favor with the other groups in the city. (It will look less good with the Shuten Clan, should you be assigned to them.)

Fight with the Shutens, or with the gangs. Either way, a fight is coming.

2. TAMAMO TERRITORY - Throat Goat (NSFW)

at by akai riot

This prompt is overtly sexual in nature. Please use the proper NSFW labelling in your top levels and threads.

While the Palace of Sai in the underground is doing well, that doesn't mean the other businesses in the Tamamo Clan's collection have been slacking. One of the least "classy" soaplands has decided they're going to hold a contest to drive up business for themselves! They are partnering with some of the other sex clubs in the area for the sleaziest of events.

The Hyottoko Cup is looking for volunteer participants! The competition is pretty straightforward: a ruler is drawn on the throat of each participant and an array of members is presented to swallow. Whichever contestant can take the guests deepest and longest will take home the "coveted" Hyottoko Cup! Ok, there's a little judge favoritism involved too, so put on a show.

The guests have likewise been pulled in as volunteers, with instructions that they don't have to make this easy on the participants. Guests are provided with special seals that they can use for the length of the competition to enhance their natural assets. For those lacking the equipment entirely, there's a seal for that too.

Have fun and play nice.

3. TAMAMO TERRITORY - Strike a Poise (GEN)

Other businesses looking to jump start this month's earnings are also getting in on the spirit of competition! Businesses less oriented towards sexual service have come together as a means to draw in the high dollar clients, and one local club has proposed something old school.

Sign up for the Poise Contest, where contestants are placed into more and more ridiculous geta while tasked with serving drinks to the guest. Spills are expected, and the guests are cheerfully kitted out with cheap club-branded ponchos to protect their clothes. (Marketing, am I right?) While spills are expected, the contestant will lose points for each of the spilled drinks. Try to keep your balance as you attend to increasingly absurd drink orders. The intensity of the traditional footwear will only make your job that much harder.

Do you have what it takes to pour a champagne fountain while wearing teetering tengu geta? Prove your balance and dexterity is the best and the take home prize is some sweet cash. For Lost Souls freshly in the city, the chance to win some extra money can't really be passed up, huh…

4. SUTOKU TERRITORY - Jigokucho's Got Talent

Ever since Moonday's beloved singer – Ringo-chan – was kidnapped at the Tanabata festival, the band has had to cancel all of their scheduled gigs. Unfortunately, they were a hugely popular act, booked solid in most of the Sutoku Alliance's various nightclubs. This has left a ton of empty spots that need to be filled quickly, before the crowds get upset and demand… refunds.

That's where you come in, Lost Souls! Desperate promoters and talent bookers are literally grabbing Lost Souls off the street and begging, pleading, with them to perform a set for the night. They just need to have something to fill the space Moonday would have otherwise occupied. At least give the crowd something to see!

Acts do not need to be of the musical variety. Any performing talent is accepted, no matter how esoteric or bizarre! If it can fill out a 15-30 minute set, the club owners will be happy and the customers will at least see something interesting; even if it's a bad kind of interesting. So get on stage and show this city what you've got!

( Help us fill our time slots, please! We're desperate! 😩)

5. DEPARTMENT OF THE ENMA - Sticky Paws II: Outta the Bag

The Enma Department is busy: they have a kidnapping to investigate, a primordial god to pin down, and the crisis of their ever-shifting public image to manage. However, crime never sleeps and is always there to add to the troubled Department's workload. Worse still, we thought this little crime spree was over six months ago! But here it is again, much to the Enma's chagrin.

Cat cafés are a popular tourist attraction all across Jigokucho. About six months ago, a gang of bakeneko infiltrated several of the cafés to rob customers occupied with kitty bliss. Wallets, jewelry, and anything else those sticky paws could snatch away were being picked in droves. The cat capers are afoot once more!

Are you a hapless victim of these furry thieves, or are you helping the Department of the Enma track down these cat burglars? Unfortunately, the bakeneko are exceptionally clever and are using a seal to disguise their secondary tails. This makes them look just about like any normal cat. Better make sure your lead is good, or you'll be chasing down an ordinary Felis Catus. Soft to pet, but not going to return your pilfered cash.

Of course, the café staff might be in on this caper too… It's never easy to tell who's getting a cut of the profits. Be careful who you trust out there.

6. ALL OVER - The 100 Billion Yen Man (PLOT RELEVANT)

The local TV news has been announcing that Kaberou Kannazaki – the legendary finance wolf and the father of kidnapping victim, Ringo-chan – will be making an announcement this week. People have flocked to television sets throughout the city; at the squares, around TVs in bars, electronic stores, each other's phones, and any other venue with a connection. The kidnapping has been a highly public ordeal and the talk of the town. Many of the locals were present at the festival and witnessed the crime. They want to hear what the word is!

The public doesn't have to wait long. Wolf-eared Kaberou sits at a press desk, surrounded by microphones, and dazzled with flashbulbs. He clears his throat and, as he begins to speak, he is direct and to the point; not unlike a wolf lunging for the throat.

"As of today, I am issuing a bounty on the man known as the Iron Bear, who has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of my daughter, Ringo Kannazaki. The payout to the party responsible for bringing me Iron Bear, dead or alive, is 100 Billion Yen. Individuals or groups, I don't care. Just bring my daughter back to me, and the money is yours."

Well! The Department of the Enma's hopes of an orderly investigation have been dashed, but this is certainly an opportunity for anyone brave enough – or, more accurately, stupid enough – to traverse the Wasteland. Maybe one of you out there will find the legendary Iron Bear and bring him to some form of justice.

Local businesses are quick to leap at this opportunity, too. They begin to aggressively push sponsorships at would-be bounty hunters. Weapons? Armor? Survival gear? All at discount prices! Each faction has their interest in collecting the massive bounty as well. They will all be putting a lot of pressure on recruits to get ready to head out to the Wastes.

If you just got here? Well, it would definitely be in your interest to start finding gear, and finding people willing to collect that bounty with you. It could mean a big step forward toward your eventual contract, after all.

Welcome to the test drive meme!

First of all, big thanks to our discord chat for the "Throat Goat" prompt idea. Stay golden, gang.
IF YOU'RE TOP-LEVELING A NEW CHARACTER, post it here!
Characters already in the game can top level as well.
Threads here can be considered game canon.
Characters can be recruited to do work for any faction until they're given their official assignment.
If you have any questions about the TDM content, please ask them here! You can find information on the story so far here!
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Reserves are open until September 5th.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ At the very least, Julieta is not the only one who feels utterly unprepared to handle this spontaneous confrontation. Though McGillis would never show it, his mind is racing. Even in death, Rustal's group keep making his life difficult. How awfully impolite.

The fact that she's older only adds to the questions. Has she been here this long? Has time passed already in their world? Does he even want to know? Questions he'll really need to go over later. For now, he scoffs. ]

I don't believe that I need to answer to you. But you can rest assured that I have no intention of running a suicide mission for a loan shark, even if he is a wolf.

[ And definitely not for a father of questionable caliber, but that can stay between the lines. ]

I'm feeling assured of something. If you change your mind I won't get in your way.

[ It's odd to see him out of the usual context. No orders regarding what to do with him. Her loyalty here is to a different bearded authority. She doesn't have to do anything right now. It's not like they're going to fight in front of everyone as much as she might be inclined for everything she's been through. She hadn't considered what she'd say if she ever got to meet him as she never considered it would actually happen. Her brow furrowed at the reminder of the possibility of even more problematic visitors. ]

I'm sure you wouldn't.

[ Running into each other in a store is absolutely nothing like passing each other at Vingolf HQ. There are no rules they are beholden to, not even the same notion of rank applies. McGillis has many questions but his pride does not allow most of them to come to the surface.

Instead, he settles on a very simple one: ] How long has it been?

[ For her, since his demise. ]

Since I got here? Six months.

[ But he's not asking about that. This is about him. They both know that she knows things that he doesn't. It comes as a surprise to be questioned outright. If she keeps it all to herself she'll have something over him that she might not have otherwise if the timing had been different. Ask too much and he'd be shut down without another chance but this question in particular she doesn't think much of at all. ]

Since you were relevant? About five years I guess.

[ Five years. That's too long, far too long. Five years since he died. Half a decade. What happened to Almiria?, he wants to ask, to Gaelio? But this woman has no reason to answer him truthfully, should she answer him at all.

What he doesn't want to ask is what happened to Rustal Elion, because the answer might eat him up from the inside like highly potent acid.

McGillis takes a dagger from the shelf next to him and idly examines it by turning it in his hands. A good excuse to not be looking at Julieta, at least. ]

I see. The passage of time is certainly merciless.

[ He puts the knife back and takes another. ]

So, you're here to monitor the would-be rescuers?

Right. It could be good to know what kind of people are taking up this mission. Or whatever it is they're doing here.

[ She can't say it isn't understandable to want to be armed in a place like this. As much as she would prefer he would not. It was one of the first things she did on arrival and for good reason as she soon found out. ]

[ Julieta Juris, Rustal Elion's precious attack dog, people-watching at the weapon's store for public order. McGillis has no reason to resent her personally, but it's still funny. ]

Good to know I'm not the only one who's fallen from their great Gjallarhorn grace these days.

[ Her nose wrinkles in spite of attempts to seem unaffected. There are similarities to what she's used to in this faction, enough that it's probably the reason she was recruited. Yet she's very much still out of her element here. She's facing problems that can't be solved with the latest mobile suit technology. And now she has another one to deal with right in front of her. ]

It may not look like much but I am one of the higher ranking Lost Souls representing the Department of the Enma. You have some catching up to do.

As is befitting of Rustal Elion's minions, of course.

[ The man is nothing if not thorough - so even though McGillis is miffed to know Julieta is in a position of power, it isn't really surprising.

McGillis finishes his knife evaluation and picks a dagger in his price range. It's fine if she knows what he's armed with, as long as she knows he's going to be a pushover. ]

[ She'll allow him to arm himself the same way she's allowing everyone else. After all she's only here to observe. Her attention, laser-focused as always, is directed entirely at him. She takes note of what he's chosen. It could be useful to know. She'll not be showing him her own weapons. If he wants to know he'll have to wait and find out. There may very well be an opportunity for that. ]

I'm sure he would enjoy this.

[ Oh, so I'll be doing him a favor when I send him down here?, McGillis thinks but there is no point in saying that out loud and picking more of a fight than is necessary at this stage. ]

I doubt he's capable of being anything but entertained.

[ Smug bastard. ]

Perhaps that's the secret of his success and longevity.

[ She fully intends to be an obstacle in his path every step of the way. There will be no leaving well enough alone here. ]

It seems to work quite well for all on the council of the Seven Stars.

[ But there is nothing appreciative in how he says it. A room full of men secure in their power, never having known anything but power, watching the misery of those beneath them as though looking down on ants... ]

It's not polite to get that old.

[ AGNIKA KAIERU DIDN'T GET OLD. ]

I'll be sure to tell him that when I return.

[ With that she abruptly turns to leave. She doesn't feel much like being polite either. That's enough sharing the same room with him. She may have some people to inform about this. ]

AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

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