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!
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Reserves are open until September 5th.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I am sealed.

( his jaw works for a moment, like he's fighting back the urge to say something else--but this is megumi, right? he's going to overthink everything, going to try to solve everything on his own, and the last thing he needs to do is make him worry.

so, with a smile, he lifts his chin, stretches his arms up into the air, lazy. )

I mean, as far as I know, anyway. I was all cramped in that thing, and then I was here.

( he's doing a remarkable job of not thinking about why he managed to get sealed in the first place--and his head is angled, presumably looking up at the ceiling from behind his glasses. )

Not a big deal though, right? I'll get out of it. I mean, I got out of it and made it here, so the rest should be a piece of cake.

[ Megumi watches with anticipation as Gojo opens his mouth, but those words he had clearly wanted to say simply do not come. So it's like that, then. He's deliberately not sharing, not wanting to get Megumi involved, and it feels like all Megumi can really do about that is accept it. It feels like it's always been this way. There's a sigh, and though his stoic face is unchanging, there's a flicker of some disappointment in his green eyes. He ponders for a second if he should pry deeper, try to pull out those words that were left unsaid before his mentor eased into more casual conversation (as casual as entrapment can get), but like with many matters pertaining to deeper feelings and difficult topics, he ends up leaving it alone. ]

About that ... Do you know about the contracts?

[ He figures that his mentor probably already knows, given how he typically had an answer for everything. ]

Part of the payment I asked for was that you would be freed. Seems it was granted, but not in the way I was hoping.

[ That's telling him the contracts might actually be real, but you have to be careful with the wording. When he wished for his teacher to be free, he didn't specify that he wanted him freed in the living world. ]

Megumi…

( there isn’t a sound of exasperation in his voice, or some sort of frustration with the revelation. rather, it sounds fond: warm, and soft, a sigh of the other’s name that escapes just before the staff cheerfully announces that their drinks are ready, bringing them to the table. like he should, satoru moves the cup of hot coffee in front of megumi once the girl sets it on the table, and draws his own glass and plate, with muffin, to the front of his place setting.

the girl bows, disappearing back to the counter after he gives her a little wave and a few words of sincere gratitude; he turns his attention back to megumi. )

It isn’t your fault that I’m here, so don’t think like that. Besides, if you and Yuuji are here too, then you’re going to need some help eventually, right?

( —said cheerfully, as he starts to carefully peel the wrapper on his muffin down. it’s much easier to focus on this line of thinking. )

Lucky for you, your most favorite person is here now. ( this is said with a grin, as if it should be obvious he means himself. ) And if we play our cards right, maybe we’ll work out a way to return home the way we’re supposed to. For now, let’s focus on that. That’s our mission, right?

[ There's a blink when his mentor gives him that reassurance, and perhaps, though he hadn't realised it before, he was blaming himself for Gojo winding up here instead of in the living world where he's supposed to be. That would explain why there was that tinge of queasiness at the pit of his stomach before, like guilt. This isn't where Gojo is supposed to be at all, not stuck here in the afterlife - freed but trapped once again. There's no guarantee either of them can return to the living world, and he hasn't been able to find any information that can work in their favour.

But it's consoling to have Gojo here after all. Though it's difficult for him to admit this, the older man has been a source of reassurance throughout most of his life. The person who would take over when things got too difficult for Megumi to handle - the person he felt he could rely on. (His presence was a source of comfort, too, when Tsumiki fell asleep, but that's more difficult for Megumi to admit. ) It's a bittersweet feeling, but it's a nice thing that he's here. There's someone they can turn to now (and he misses him).

With those thoughts in mind, he doesn't actually protest Gojo's cocky assertion that he is Megumi's 'favourite person'. ]

I guess you're right ... [ If anyone can accomplish that, it's the strongest person in the world. Oddly settled by this conversation, Megumi sips at his cup, the warmth of the bitter liquid only soothing him more.

Speaking of the 'strongest', there's another matter to get out of the way. ]

Your Infinity has probably weakened, hasn't it?

[ Putting down the cup, Megumi shows his hand, like he's expecting Gojo to take it. He's usually far more awkward about touch, but it's reasonable to want to investigate how Gojo's powers have been affected. ]

AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

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