jigokufever | (OVERFLOW) AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

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(OVERFLOW) 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!~~ 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.

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Really? That's kind of interesting. I hear that they have towns this big in my world, but nobody actually goes out of the valley to visit, so I hadn't been anywhere this big until now. It was real loud when I first arrived.

[She wasn't looking at the menu, looking over at Tifa and smiling idly as she thought to herself. She was pretty sure what she wanted anyway. Huh, it was interesting to think back on when she'd first arrived, the feel of culture shock just from the changes in tech and size of this place, despite the similarities.]

Well, at least it's not all new. Some folks are really shell shocked when they show up. You seem to be bouncing back alright.

[ it's his FIRST DAY he doesn't even know he has zero magic on him other than making fucking sugar??? the blast takes him by surprise, coughing and thrown out of his chair, wiping his face with his sleeve with a grunt and he staggers back to his feet. ]

The hell, dude!? You got me, too!

[ he was trying to save you!! ]

Oops.

[Matoba smiles, and watches Bradley stumble back up to his feet. Unfortunately, the oni is also getting back to his feet, and the chef looks like he's had just about enough of Matoba's shit.]

[Sigh. Time to take this outside.]

Well, Scary-and-Cool-san, think you can take them? [Look at Matoba. You think he's getting in a fistfight? Not hardly.] Or shall we find somewhere else to fill that stomach of yours?

[Larcei shakes her head. She hopes that when they reach the heart of the Empire and throw down Julius, that they can at least make it so that no one gets that powerful again. But it's true, someone will always want for that.]

Certainly not in Hell. [This is really the perfect place for such struggles, and also the worst.] And few people who want it for the right reasons... just to have it, for the sake of having it.

[Yes, well. They don't talk about the Saw incident anymore. Not unless they're bored enough to fight with each other.]

Ah! Oh... Yeah.

[Reluctantly, he puts one shirt back. Having spent so long as a teenager is messing with his sense of reality, enough that he'd actually managed to forget the true hell that is living paycheck to paycheck. He really is in trouble, isn't he?

His shoulders sag with the burden of crushing disappointment, but the weight of his situation only has him clutching those knee and elbow pads tighter to his chest.]

It's okay. I'll start looking today. There's gotta be something out there no one else in Shuten wants to do.

I figured you'd say that. We get a free pass with weird time stuff and you're already rushing to get back.

[Not that Sylvain isn't, considering what's waiting for them. But if he knows Felix—and he's pretty certain he still does, after this many years—the rewards for their contracts are very much alike. If Felix finishes up and gets out of this place, that's one less worry on Sylvain's mind.

Well. At least while he's here he'll embrace this super hard mode challenge.]

If you're that serious about all your jobs, your contract really must be coming along already.

[But at least Felix isn't going back on the food thing! Sylvain follows, glancing around as he does--and then sidelong at Felix because he heard that. He can't contain a little snicker.]

How ascetic. I wouldn't have taken someone as flashy as you for a monk.

[He takes a drag on his cigarette. He wasn't really that materialistic either, so he couldn't really fault her for that. Though that was probably more to having so few possessions, instead of any actual values. He was no Minikami, okay.]

Seems to me like your ring is just as gaudy as the rest of them. [Sorry Tsubaki he has no idea what a wedding ring is it's the 1920s]

[Sees it, yep, on it. While they walk, he will just calmly grab for Mikey's waist to pick up and carry. However Mikey ends up is up to his own baby brother squirming energy, but Leo will hold onto him.]

Don't- Trust me, don't trust dog youkai you don't know, you'll regret it in the long run.

Flash is just another way to trick rich men into being stupid.

[She pauses, and looks at the ring. Well, it maybe is kinda tacky, objectively, but--]

...I suppose I didn't marry the man for his taste in jewelry. But if they'd taken what he gave me I'd have had to burn the cafe down.

Mm, they do indeed.

[This does not seem to be the particular thing that he was looking out for, however. He follows Kate out from the underpass with a faint but visible spring in his step. Going forward it should be a lot easier to spot these feline thieves and he is very pleased about this new development.]

Well, then! That would seem to be my good deed done for the day. Does your purse still have all its contents? [He doesn't expect the cat got away with any - no pockets - but something might have fallen out as it ran.]

Hyacinth, hm? Pretty name.

[And a pretty face along with it, though he keeps that kind of comment to himself for the moment. Despite appearances, Heizou is being somewhat subdued at the moment. Still finding his feet.]

I'm sure fancy job titles aren't a prerequisite for the job, but what do you have?

[Aside from curiosity, which often is more than enough for Heizou to get started with.]

I wouldn't call it a free pass. We've no idea what's going on back home now that we're here.

[ Felix has been unsurprisingly concerned about the state of things back home. He is probably the biggest worrywart between all of them, though he'd literally kill a man and die before admitting that. Honest to goddess, he wants all of them to finish up their contracts at the same time and leave all at once.

Though maybe that sounds like a big ask, considering everything. But, Felix has always been someone who took on a challenge without backing down (lol). ]

Obviously. But, I can't know for sure. Either way, that gives you more than enough reason not to slack off since I'm not the only one working hard here. With the boar having a stronger work ethic than you, I'd be pissed off if you lagged behind.

[ He pretends to not see the sidelong glance. But he does lightly elbow Sylvain for the snicker, and then bam! Here they are, at the restaurant. Maybe it's called 'Spicy Sensations' or whatever. ]

Aw, what? Oughhh.

[ AND HERE HE WAS ABOUT TO ASK FOR PERMISSION. it's not too much of a struggle, but he manages a sad little wiggle, mouthing to the shrinking figure behind them: "I'll come back for youuuuu!" He will likely not, at least. Mikey waves off the elderly dog figure and just kinda keeps dangling over potato sack mode for a moment longer, before wiggling again to sit upright on Leo's shoulders. ]

You know... this is actually a great angle! Ooone sec.

[ Tiny blep, some quick sliding across his phone screen can only mean one thing. ]

Everyone say "we're about to get pizza!"

[ Ready or not, that's a keeper pic! ]

Aww, look at us, bonding in yet another unknown city. [ Known well enough that they're almost there, though! Sorry for the kicky feets, Leo. ] Oh, oh, is that it?

I'm sorry to tell you, but violence is really the only thing that these people understand.

[His voice is so casual, still. Nothing about his posture makes it seem like he's ready to spring into battle at a moment's notice if he has to. Ah, but Shinobu would know him better than that, wouldn't she?

Heizou doesn't quite take his eyes off the people that his companion is talking to, but his attention is more fully on her than them. Still, as one of the thugs takes half a step forwards, one of Heizou's hands curls into a loose fist.]

If they think you called them weak, they're going to feel they have to prove you wrong.

[And he doesn't mind offering her a hand to show them just how wrong they are.]

[ Nope, no weapons here. At least not visibly. Yuri has a few daggers tucked away under his jacket, and a modern little arm called a gun, mostly for intimidation. ]

I'm not with those brutes. However much they remind me of my old gang, if I were their leader I'd have run things differently around here. No, I just have business in the area.

[ By that he means striking up relations with the shopkeepers for his smuggling business which he uh, will not speak of, but this other part of his past he'll make no secret. ]

Ah? Thank you kindly.

[That's not a comment they're used to hearing, but it's appreciated all the same. It's a name they're quite fond of, after all.]

Don't have as much as I had back home, that's for certain. Seems a lotta things got left behind.

["Things" is a vague way to put it, but it's a hard habit to break.]

Most'a my skills tend towards the domestic, as I worked in fancy noble houses an' for fancy dressmakers 'fore I up and started travelin' around. Reckon I'm a pretty good companion on long journeys 'cause of that, though.

Huh, maybe. But you've been here for months and we're still at the same place as when you left. ...Guess there's really no way to know.

[Sylvain isn't going to start contorting his brain into knots imagining time distortions of parallel world possibilities until at least after lunch.

Hm, or the possibility that something in hell can let them get a glimpse of what's going on back home. There's a thought.]

Wait, you can't seriously be expecting me to catch up to you when you've been here forever. Are you trying to kill me? ...Again?

[Prooobably not how he ended up in hell, but who knows? Would he remember dying? It doesn't matter, because at least they're at food before Felix can collapse on him. Being elbowed just makes him laugh more.]

[Things that will be on Sylvain's curiosity agenda when he hears about them: definitely guns. Luckily for everyone's peace of mind at the moment, that's a problem for another day.

Unluckily for Sylvain, that's because the conversation hit a different raw nerve.]

A gang, huh? Well, not like that's a first for a noble, but most'd go for something a little more genteel. You're full of surprises.

[ Exactly, he thinks. That's exactly why he's been kind of bothered by it. And by kind of he means very agitated, but it is whatever.

...perhaps it has also never crossed his mind that there would be anything that'd give them a glance of things back home. But hey, even if battle tactics is a thing he's good at, well. He could afford to obtain some more critical thinking skills. ]

I'll expect you to catch up eventually. Right away would be too much. As if I would be so foolish not to acknowledge that.

[ A rare concession, so there is that. He does roll his eyes when Sylvain laughs, but that is to be expected, and boy he really is hungrier than expected, so he will settle down into a seat after they're guided by a waiter. ]

Feel free to get whatever the hell you want. It's been awhile, after all.

[ He doesn't elaborate on 'awhile' because he thinks it should be obvious. In the meanwhile, Felix is going to order a meaty meal, yep... ]

??? A... vampire. Certainly there are those who dress up as one during All Saints' Wake, however... Rhea'li does his level best to not show his bewilderment.

"A sentiment to be proud of," he says with a smile. Is there anyone who does not wish for their friends to be safe? "Why a vampire in particular?"

It's not said with judgement but curiosity.

Uh... [She's just going to follow G'raha's lead. She isn't typically one to be at a loss for words at any introduction, unwelcome or not, but everything has her a bit flustered at the moment.] Sorry. I'm Tifa, and...

[She can see how his eyes move between the three boys without a word.]

We found these three causing some trouble around the streets. Do you... do you know if there's anywhere we can take them? Police, or something?

[She's trying to appear so, even if beneath all of that bouncing back and her smiles, she's a mess on the inside. She doesn't know her way around, only recognizes a few faces, and one of them she hadn't been looking forward to seeing and doesn't know where she belongs. But if she can at least appear to be put together, then maybe she can eventually convince herself that she really is.

It's good that Tenshi brings up her own world, because Tifa latches onto that, turning it around on her and away from her own.]

Were you from a smaller village?

[Oh, she didn't mind talking about her world. Talking about her world by proxy meant talking about herself, and that was her favoritest topic in the whole wide world, because she was definitely a big deal in her own eyes. So it was easy to get her maneuvered away from the uncomfortable topic of Midgard to the weird reality of Gensokyo.

She put in an order for Nabeyaki before letting Tifa order afterwards, idly looking up.]

So, I'm from heaven actually. Didn't die. My family used to serve a group of monks at a temple and monastery who attained enlightenment. When they went to heaven, we got pulled along in honor of the service. The monastery was pretty remote.

And even afterwards, all spiritual beings either stay in heaven or hell, or come down to very remote places. Most of the youkai of my world live in the valley of Gensokyo or beneath it. There's just one human village. The rest of the world stopped believing in them, and that got ... dangerous for everyone. So the valley's behind a barrier. The rest of the world stays out, they stay in.

So... it's smaller, but there's youkai everywhere just like here.

I have agreed to nothing. [ to get dostoevsky to do anything requires considerable amounts of coaxing and effort most wouldn't bother with. conversely, he does not ask things of people, he expects them. In Gogol's case it isn't very different— when his hand reaches to chuck gogol under the chin if allowed, but gogol can certainly move back and avoid it entirely.

(as if they're something like friends but the offered gesture is too friendly, too much skimming the line of something else and dostoevsky knows this. human nature is human nature, even gogol isn't above that no matter how hard he fights it).

ultimately, he has no time right now for gogol right now. there is no use for him currently. ]

"And now you are here."

What does that mean for them, being denied their rest in the Aetherial Sea? It seems that there will be yet more fighting.

Rhea'li makes no motion to touch his drink again.

"I did not have the chance to say it before, but... thank you for helping."

Emet-Selch didn't have to step in not once but twice, yet he did. In death, he owed nothing, but yet he still helped.

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(OVERFLOW) AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

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