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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Despite his gait having a touch more natural character to it in comparison to his companion he falls into step with Fyodor easily. Honestly, it's obnoxious how grossly incandescent he seems walking side by side with a far more muted walking partner beside him like this. ]

Of course I am! I wouldn't lie about that to you. Those were my sincerest feelings that I spilled in Meursault! Buuut now you're here and you want to know my agenda, do you? You do? I think I'll make you guess it instead!

[ A pause. A quirked eyebrow. Yes, you know the interruption is coming don't you? ]

Following Dostoy for three blocks at least. That's the answer.

[ three at least so more like until he gets bored of wandering around or gets a sense of what fyodor intends to do. where he intends to take residence and wait. ] What a shame that my death wasn't yours to have then. [ no, he absolutely doesn't mean that- dostoevsky doesn't want to die. he's not willing to concede he is dead dead.

stopping abruptly, he turns towards gogol; dissecting, curious, hungry. ]

Mm.

Mm!

[ In response: a more cheerful mimicry of Fyodor's hum. He had wanted to know what plan was brewing, that's right, and surely Dostoevsky's got that figured out already. Since Gogol stopped the moment Fyodor did they've become two hazards standing in the middle of the street looking each other in the eyes. ]

I can see the cogs in that head of yours turning! A penny for your thoughts?

Do you have a penny to spare when you've so recently arrived here? [ dostoevsky meets gogol's eye. the street and its inhabitants are irrelevant in this moment—how he feels to be in hell, derailed from his mission though not defeated is complicated and yet simple. the only way to move forward is one step at a time. ]

That was a trick question, of course. You do not. [ after all, fyodor had learned more than a few games from gogol, ones that he throws back in the other's face now. ]

Come back when you do.

[ and doesn't he just suspect it? makes him crows out a laugh in barely contained amusement; the sound surprised out of him. Who else would Fyodor pick that particular habit up from? There are possibilities, yes, but maybe it's okay to think about a spiritual connection strong enough that Dos is trying to mock and tease and rebuff him in this way. Goes to reason the clown turns his head away as his complexion flushes with a boyish joy. ]

Aah! Just as I thought—it won't be that easy! Okay, alright, it can't be helped. You can keep your secrets Dos... until the next time, that is.

[ Gogol pulls himself together well enough to snap his fingers into a point in Fyodor's direction. ]

Come back, he says. How should I do that when my dear friend won't even say anything like "let's stay in contact"!

[ he's never truly indulged gogol's quizzes or games prior to his imprisonment; they had annoyed him. been a constant disruption in his life, plans and inner peace (or lack of peace, perhaps). then, within meursault with nothing to stimulate him except for books he'd thought of them, a lot. more than he had admitted to himself until dazai joined him and gifted him companionship and someone to play game with.

certainly 'super happy chat time about problems' had not been a fyodor only special, but gogol doesn't know that.

if anything that boyish joy feels like a reward; today he draws a smile, tomorrow he'll draw a blade to carve it out. and so on and so forth.

he mouths the words meeting the request halfway, "let's stay in contact". ]

[ Gogol stares, and stares, and as much as he would like continue gazing in wonder at the view of each syllable being mouthed he looks upwards and away. His eye catches the storefront of each establishment they pass with feigned interest. How profound. The mild compromise, mind-game or not, is more believable as something more genuine than if he'd just parroted the phrase.

They'll have to part ways one day, such is Gogol's wish. Dostoevsky must know that he'll fight against these binds again in an unpredictable way someday. Still, what shall the future hold? Something as exciting as it is dreadful, he thinks, if this new start to a different arrangement is any indication.]

Ha-ha! Haven't I got such a considerate friend? You're so underrated! Just look at you agreeing to things that could end up being problematic for you later.

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. ]

Alrighty then!

[ Certainly he could lean away from the touch, there's nothing stopping Gogol from disallowing those slender fingers from finding a deceptively gentle hold on him. Their history as angels together tells him that he should. Not to mentioned how that paradoxical rescue-endangerment was no small inconvenience that he caused his dear friend.

Yet he casts off the animalistic instinct to survive and elects not to move. What's more is how he leans into it with a sprightly half-roll onto the balls of his feet. Giving ample time for escape, he aims to clasp a hand underneath Fyodor's elbow to hold him in place on the way back to standing steadily on flat feet.

Gogol's not much of a gambler himself; but there's been this interesting trend he can't help but notice. The Overcoat hasn't responded to him in days, Chuuya Nakahara tried to slug him like a someone without an ability would... So what will the chances be here? His visible eye bounces between both of Dostoeysky's while he maintains eye contact. ]

My dear, [ Spoken soft. Then a pause to give Fyodor a smile that's too cheeky. ] if that's the game you'd like to play then who am I to complain? Hell, it sounds like fun.

[ 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. ]

[ 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?

Oh since you insist... Why not all of the above? To do otherwise would mean denying my fondness for you—?!

[ Gogol won't even put on a convincing pretense of being scandalized, more of a lifting his hands to his mouth as he smiles with his eyes. It hasn't even been a day since the sudden reunion so of course he's still reeling. Simply being able to chat with Fyodor again has caused great elation and grief. Of course it would've been easier to pull that moment of broken restraint from him under those circumstances. What's important is he won't be caught getting stuck in his head again.

This development begs a very important question: does Fyodor realize it? The abject horror that is ~~playing gay chicken with Gogol~~ trying to unnerve Gogol in this way. He reaches out to frame his open palmed hands on either side of the man's face; he won't be touching him again so soon but he can frame a masterpiece. The way he'll quietly be questioning Fyodor's intentions will remain unmentioned. A small unsaid thing between them. Something seen by both. ]

I knew you always secretly loved the nickname thing, [ his lips really move alongside each sounding out of each syllable. ] Fedya.

[ fedya

dostoevsky blinks, face arranged in the most 'unimpressed, but go on' expression he can muster. there is something carefully placed here in the open beneath the projection of 'unimpressed', that additional 'go on' a further invitation. nothing would deter gogol from what he wants, and that is a similarity they shared and the reason why dostoevsky considered gogol a solid member of the decay of angels. ]

Your fondness and desire make for an interesting contradiction. How splendid to see you trying to overcome God even from hell, Kolya.

[ another little trap. ~~homicidal gay chicken is on~~ ]

[ Ah yes, the endearingly deadpan face Fyodor likes to give him whenever he acts up in a way that's particularly heinous. That face makes Gogol's feelings twist and thrash and get all gross! This time it actually manages to make him experience a shiver of anticipation. ~~The start of homiecidal affection chicken bodes well for absolutely no one.~~ ]

I'm relieved to hear you also think it's so thematically appropriate because that's exactly what I was thinking!

I'd be interesting to test the limits of this place, don't you think so?

[ no fyodor please do not encourage the clown. ]

Perhaps you'll find something interesting to share with me.

[ then he'll give you attention. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(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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my tags have terrible typos how do you cope