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!
If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.
Reserves are open until September 5th.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ there's an instant touch of adrenaline he feels in his veins. his fingers itching to see if what he says is true, and yet he knows patience is of the biggest virtue here, and it was a simple fact that he didn't have his suit...

there's a second as mort collects himself mentally. ] I must admit, I have an even greater curiosity than before.

It's a shame you don't have it now, but [ ...

this is horrible. ] May I have you later?

[ there's a difference in the air and shou feels it as if he's also ready to embrace that electric thrum in his blood. it's intent. it's a response to a threat, to knowing that this man wishes to bring his spear down on him after all. it wouldn't be first time that someone as sought to test him — it wouldn't be within the first hundred times.

shou almost tells him "no, now" is fine, but he is... mortal. unarmed.

"later" is likely for the best. ]

Later. [ he affirms. ] It'll be worth your patience then.

[ ignoring a promise like that was … virtually impossible.

not only was it something he didn’t often encounter, but the confidence and poise the other carries is enough to convince him that he was probably right. there’s no inch of doubt left in him. if anything, most people prior to his arrival here approached him with fear. with reluctance to attack him if just because they knew their own measly lives were at stake from the moment they challenged him.

the individual before him didn’t share that. he feels that whatever excitement and thrill was left in the air was shared between them, as if some intimate secret, and that prospect alone was alluring and beautiful in its own right. if… mort thought anything were beautiful. ]

… and you’re sure you do not seek anything in return?

[ that’s normally how it goes isn’t it…

just to fight the heir of covenant, he had to stop an entire war, after all. ]

[ usually, he's not offered anything. it's up to him to pursue whatever it is that makes him feel want in his heart, though those feelings have long been suppressed, lying untapped at the bottommost point of his personality. that is what he knows, being treated as a something and not a someone.

because that question is so atypical, shou stops to consider it, though not for very long. ]

...self-satisfaction is enough for me.

[ he glances upwards. ]

But if you're offering something more, I'll keep considering it.

[ self-satisfaction.

maybe they truly did have more in common than he initially suspected. there aren't many who would view combat or a fight in a similar light‐ as a method to kill time, or to test their physical, spiritual, and metaphorical limits. this thought gets caught in his throat as he remains silent for a few seconds longer than he intends. both ruminating and finding an offbeat sense of delight from this exchange and its implications. ]

Yes, I suppose if there is anyone who deserves something... [ "it'd really be you." while normally he would warn that if it didn't end up interesting he'd kill them, but he sees no reason for that doubt in this case. continuing on his line of consideration: ]

Then, I will consider what I will offer you. [ a pause. ] Transient beings do like surprises, don't they?

Transient...

[ of all the implications this conversation carries, that's what sticks out to him. not the nature of this man's prowess and his searching for the marrow beyond the bone, but the way he regards what he thinks he is. shou figures they're not so different, circling like this... mild-mannered and barefaced. he repeats that word, having to sound it out for himself. it's not something that he often hears in reference to himself, sitting odd and slow on his tongue...

and he doesn't correct him. ]

Yes, I suppose we do. I'm confident that you'll think of something suitable.

[ his thought trails somewhat, as if there's something else on his mind. luckily, he's not exactly shy about speaking up. ]

What interests you about all of this, the bounty or those pursuing it?

[ despite it being a nearly impossible feat to read the boy at face value— it wasn't to state that there was absolutely no way to. when he repeats his word, it's clear it meant something to him. as to what, would be anyone's guess. perhaps, when it came down to it, he was durable enough, or similar enough to himself, where it seemed perfectly infeasible to die. maybe perishing simply wasn't in his cards. or just completely difficult to.

still, mort doesn't assume to know exactly which it is, but he's not against simply leaving it up to speculation. he presumes when the right time came, he would find all the answers to himself, and leaving that excitement for later appeased him and his never-ending curiosity for now.

but, he sees the boy has his own questions. which, he is more than happy to oblige to. ] Personally, I suppose it would be the latter. Though, that's not completely true, either.

Don't they say some people merely enjoy the chase? [ with that said, he seems to wait expectantly, as if to hear more about his opinions. it wouldn't be a lie to state that he is curious to see what drives the individual before him. ]

So it's not the result you're looking for, but the experience?

[ of course, people are less a result, but the act of chasing the bounty would likely be revealing for those who decided to go after it. methodology, capability, rationale... one would be able to see much if they decided to look. of course, the amount being offered for the safe return of the girl is blinding. wealth and prestige cause tunnel vision. for those who can only look forward, it's difficult to see what's right beside them — friend and foe alike.

gaze turning from mort to the bustle of the crowds and the hawkers, shou considers his stance as he feels his implicit question lingering between them. ]

It's not the money or the standing I'm interested in. I simply want to be useful. [ he pauses. ] But that may be getting ahead of myself seeing as I haven't been assigned a faction.

Yes, that's correct. [ there's a curt nod that goes along to his words, as he agrees with that shou has surmised. the experience. it's a strange thing how something so seemingly trite could weigh so heavily to him, he thinks. but, one would argue that life itself is merely the accumulation of "experiences"— positive, negative, riveting, lackluster, and its precisely why mort seeks the ability to control what some of those experiences end up being for him.

regardless, he's just as curious and intrigued to hear about shou's motivations. what drives a person who seemed as equally voracious as him in terms of battle-hunger. ... and it's not exactly as he expects from someone who he may be able to see glimpses of himself in.

"useful."

it's a word he's never considered, if just because he never really did see the point in contributing to anything beyond himself. but, it's food for thought. ] I don't think it's getting ahead of yourself. [ he smiles, as if practicing the concept of empathy. ] I believe a warrior always has their uses regardless of the battlefield they were destined for.

Isn't it enough to simply fight as you see fit?

[ "destined", huh... ]

It might be enough.

[ there is a something cool and controlled about the statement that doesn't quite reach all the way through him, like he's being stayed by the memory of someone's hand. or a collar fastened to the throat of some creature. at its core: it's a counterpoint to mort's attempt at empathy. a facsimile of restraint.

sinew and synapse deep, he is here to protect something. whichever faction allows him to do that will earn his loyalty and his teeth. ]

Depending on what ground we meet on in the future, you might find out too.

AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

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