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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[Heizou politely waves a hand to decline the cigarette packet and cocks his head slightly at Akiyama's further comments.]

I can, if I have to, though I'm sure I've already made it clear that it isn't my preferred method.

[He has always considered direct combat to be a last resort, that the moment a detective has to use brute force to solve a situation they have already lost, but he also very much understands the necessity of such things in certain scenarios and this, unfortunately... had been one of those scenarios.

Despite it not being how he likes to do things, though, he's clearly very well-trained.]

But you're nothing to sniff at, yourself. [A quick glance is cast back over his shoulder.] Brutal. No embellishments. Not a style I'm familiar with.

I know that. But money's easiest to earn, too. That's why these things don't matter so much.

[She shrugs a little bit.]

Rich men don't think they can lose when they gamble.

[ there is no urge to fight the entrapment of gogol's hands on his elbow holding his touch in place. rituals are made and forgotten each day; gogol exceeds expectations and rewrite the rules and rituals at such a pace that dostoevsky must pay attention. ] I am inviting no game. [ coy, like a victorian primadonna trying to encourage and discourage the attention of the suitors at her door. a twitch on the corner of his lips betrays the fact fyodor wants to laugh. hell, fun. how very like gogol.

~~why are they like this why are they always touching when they are trying to murder one another aksdjakl~~ ]

Don't make me hurt you, Kolen'ka. That might really break my heart.

[ not truth but also not lies. the meaning is suspended between the possibilities of what they could mean. nothing overtly stated: a reaffirmation of their kinship as angels but not an offer of friendship and yet, it promises to give way to more. if hearts are involved. ]

[ What role exactly should Gogol take up in this Victorian re-imagination? It must be both the suitor and the pastor who protests the wickedness of the match up--

"Kolen'ka."
Without much further thought, since the first name derivative blanks that out momentarily, his hand digs hard into the bony elbow being held captive in his grasp. The creaking of brittle bones becomes the heeding needed to let go before any true damage can be done. As much as the pure audacity of this stunt sparks anger in Gogol it also makes him happy beyond reason to be addressed like this. His voice jumps into a comparatively cutesy tone. ]

Ahh~ fyedka don't you be silly now. Not much as it would break my heart to be hurt by you~! You're really so unfair, hm? Are you some kind of cheater? You're making me really really want to kill you myself here.

[ The affection behind it is less of a lie than it was in Fyodor's case. Then again Gogol is more likely to want to tear the life force from his friend's body at any given moment, based on something like emotional attachment... which he has to fight against. So that's the trade off. ]

You must live in quite a fantasy world, if money is so easy. [Or maybe he still had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, having to return to the place of Minakami handing him a few coins just to take the bus.]

But as for gambling, this city's great for that too... though the worst of the worst rarely like to take the chance with their fortunes. A pity... I'd have liked to see them lose it.

It's not...I've just made it out of nothing before.

[She does get it better than either of them would like. Let's pretend that's not a thing.]

...Men like that gamble with lives, not with coin. I'm afraid I don't have the taste to do that.

[ frailty, in hell or otherwise, tastes like copper; the way his bones feel barely covered by translucent, paper-thin skin; his mouth a thin razor wire pulled taunt to bury the acknowledgement of such an obvious weakness. (and yet, nikolai had gone to such lengths to both kill him and not be directly responsible in its entirety. a cowardly gamble in dostoevsky's eyes but one which provided a certain level of silken trust). ]

Fyedka? Not Fedya? Or Fedyaushka? [ the words sweetly offered in response to that jovial, warm tone that dresses anger to make it palatable for others. fyodor feels it, ignores that. ultimately anger will only corrode gogol's judgement, not his own.

now that his elbow has been released, and fyodor feels the sting of five fingers prints that will inevitably bruise, he has the audacity to openly smile. his hand falls by his side, limp as he holds gogol's gaze. ] How about Fedushka?

[ He silently raises an eyebrow at the man he's pinned. They nod frantically and he cautiously releases their arm and steps back. They scramble to their feet and stumble away from him.

He waits until the young men are well on their way before glancing at the Exarch. Well...former Exarch. ]

Why are you here?

[For Tifa, she isn't quite sure what she wants, so she takes the recommendation of the cook, and his vote goes to his most basic tonkatsu bowl of ramen that she happily accepts before turning her attention fully back to Tenshi.

Heaven... She can't quite imagine what it might be like—how jarring it might be—to go from living in heaven to hell, but she can imagine it would be a little strange. Although Tenshi seems to be acclimated fine, or appears to be at the very least.]

What sorts of things did you do at the temple?

Edited (same icon 😩) 2022-09-21 15:28 (UTC)

Temple life was like life in heaven. Boring as you could ever imagine.

[She sighed while she watched as the noodles were plunged in and started to cook. her mood didn't really darken, but there was a bit of a wry twist to her mouth as she talked about the memories.]

Sweep, clean, tend the place while the monks meditated, do a lot of praying, stay out of trouble. When we ascended, replace the temple with Amaterasu's court, and it didn't change much other than get real formal. Everyone's fussy. All they eat are the peaches of heaven. Have to obey rules. Rules. Rules. Rules. They never really did anything other than be enlightened, contemplate, play to her court and fuss about how others did what they did.

Earth's a lot more interesting. Hell too, even if it's beneath a Celestial's station to say that. [Snort] but hey, I'm not one of this world's Celestials so I can say whatever I want, right Oji-san? Jigoku's better than fussy old heaven.

[That got a bark and a laugh from the spirit, who bobbed his head the way that waiters did for anyone who said something they expected agreement for. Not like there was a local celestial here to get pissed off, or like they actually came to his hut.]

"...Mm."

He gives a short nod without looking. He looks...tired, all of a sudden. This is not how he had planned to spend his afterlife. It had been tempting to simply ask that he be allowed to sleep in his contract, but good sense had prevailed. One couldn't afford to be frivolous with such things.

He can sleep when it's fulfilled anyway.

"I suppose, if you are amenable...we could make up for the time we never had the chance to spend together," he says slowly.

To say that a gun is a long-distance weapon... [ He considers Larcei thoughtfully. She's clearly from a different time period of some sort, relying largely on ordinary armour, on the sort of weapons that can be forged of bone and wood and steel alone. It's the sort of thing that he had been fascinated by when he was a boy, lost in his little toy soldiers and fantasies of worlds where magic had overridden technology, but he hadn't considered the realities of it. ]

It is an understatement. A skilled sniper can shoot someone from over 3200 metres away. An ordinary pistol doesn't have that sort of range, but they can fire up to 1200 metres away. I wouldn't say that it's common to see people using firearms like that outside of war zones, but -- it's a different world to wrap your head around, I think. There is no blocking a bullet, and very little chance of seeing it coming. Even a stray bullet can be deadly.

[ He needs her to realize that this is a different world from lances and javelins. Death comes quickly, unexpectedly, at the hands of a bullet. They are some of the most difficult murder cases to solve. ]

That is what I mean. Not to scare you. Death by gun has been remarkably uncommon here. [ Unlike death by boot. Squish. ] But to ensure that you are prepared for the worst, if the worst does indeed come to pass.

Rhea'li's eyebrows rise so far up they disappear completely into his hair.

"...Are you propositioning me?"

He doesn't sound angry or offended, merely confused. Deeply confused.

What else can I do with it that's so useful? Calls?

[He smirks, because wow so smart.]

He looks equally confused.

"No. What are you--?" Something clicks and he scowls. "I do not mean sexually, I meant it platonically!"

The stallholder covers her mouth but can't quite stifle her laughter. He shoots her a glare.

[ feels good to hear that laugh again, but he won't admit how much. there's some things better left unsaid. ]

Right? You didn't even get any shit for it, ya bastard.

[ He snorts at that, before shaking his head. ]

Dunno, might be on par. Wanna trade and find out? If she doesn't get her pancakes on time, she'll make your life hell for sure.

[He would be absolutely glad to pretend it's not a thing. He had, after all, been handed his fortune for the last two years, before ending up back at zero here. It was totally different. Shut up?]

Well, they won't gamble with their own, so that's the only way to get on their same level. [He gestures with his cigarette at that, though the amusement on his face seems a bit stale.] I would suggest you steel your stomach. This is Hell, after all.

Ah.

The proposition still isn't any less bewildering and his gaze slides aside while Emet-Selch is distracted.

"I would prefer we were friends than enemies."

Of course. But Amaurot had told him much of who it must be that Emet-Selch saw when he looked at him.

"But I wonder..." Rhea'li's gaze returns to Emet-Selch. "Do you ask this because my soul reminds you of another?"

[Draken smiles because yeah ok Mitsuya is right.]

Pancakes are important, so it makes sense. Can't be late with them!

[He laughs again, thinking of Mikey asking for pancakes.]

[Mitsuya's hand is heavy and reassuring, even as Michi squirms beneath it. How does one sweat their problems at a normal, healthy level? That might need to be the first thing Mitsuya teaches him.]

Uh- then! If you don't mind my asking... What's the cheapest health food you can buy at a convenience store?

[Takemichi is just going to keep telling himself it's his imagination. He's not going to stop her from doing the same.

At least this isn't an aimless chase anymore; it has a finish line. Knowing the end's in sight keeps Takemichi's muscles straining through the final stretch. He barrels around the corner, left as per her instructions, and is about two seconds away from slamming into a sign post that he hasn't noticed yet.]

[ Wow!! ...but also, true. ]

I'll keep you to that. Don't think I won't.

[ Hell is certainly a time. Felix refuses to consider it anywhere near a fun time, however. That is something he'll refuse to if he has anything to say about it. Which he does, thanks.

...But, spicy fish is amazing. ]

This will be the only time I'll be 'treating', so savor it.

[ Felix doesn't acknowledge the 'missing' comment part directly, but yeah. He had missed Sylvain, there's no doubt about it. ]

[ Seeing them take off like that, G'raha breathes in and out. Something a bit more grounding while he forces his hands at his sides to relax. ]

That seems to have resolved the matter. For the moment.

[ He doubts that this encounter will serve as a permanent deterrent. Someone else may yet encounter them and not be so fortunate.

But then the Miqo'te's ears go up at the question. His head tilts to the side in confusion. ]

I was not aware that I should not be?

Guess I wasn't cut out to be a noble brat.

[ Yuri returns a shrug, grinning sharply. Well, okay, the circumstances were a little more complicated than that, but Sylvain doesn't need to know. This is only the C Support. ]

This life suits me just fine. Whether you like it or not, I suppose you'll soon find out.

I better hope a different clan snaps up my contract. Between you and His Highness, I'd get no rest.

[It's not even a halfhearted grumble, when he's smiling pretty genuinely to see Felix too. He's definitely reading that lack-of-protest from Felix as enthusiasm to see him, Felix-style.]

Hah. I plan on it. Next time's on me, once I have a regular job here. So what've I missed, the last few months?

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(OVERFLOW) AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

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cw foaming at the mouth with tender murder thoughts for the second time today

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