jigokufever | February 2022 Test Drive

1. ENTRY

It feels like a dream as you wake up in what appears to be a government office. It is remarkably mundane: white walls, small screens with the number that is being served and at what desk, chairs along the perimeter of the room, and pleasant music playing from unseen speakers. There's nothing out of the ordinary, right?

Then you take a look at the inhabitants in the office: Lost Souls and youkai alike make up the ranks of a never-ending line in front of a desk manned by an akaname in a suit. However, another youkai, a hyakume, is your first contact in this world. You're instructed to take a number and stand in the queue. Take a seat if you want– but you're reminded to be quick when your number is called or you'll be passed by.

Congratulations: you're in Hell.

If you're lucky, you're in line behind a fellow Lost Soul. If you're less lucky, you're stuck behind any number of youkai that may be disturbing to look at or ones that may actively try to harm you. The ones with long arms may even try to steal your ticket from further back in the line.

Make small talk, try not to freak out, and keep your ticket safe (or maybe try to steal a better one) as you make your way up in the line.

2. THE CITY

Once you've been processed through the line, you're given your assignment to one of the four possible clans with directions to their respective clan offices. The city itself looks remarkably similar to a modern Japanese city, complete with narrow alleyways connecting wider streets. Glaring neon signs advertising various businesses compete for your attention, even the most mundane businesses.

Once you tear your attention away from the myriad distractions, your task is to find your way to the office. The akaname didn't exactly give you clear directions, just a piece of paper with an address printed on it. You’re on your own to find your way there.

Those assigned to the Shuten Clan are directed to the gambling district.
The Tamamo Clan members are directed to the red light district.
New members of the Sutoku Alliance are pointed to the entertainment district.
Those assigned to The Department of the Enma are sent to the administrative district.
Ask your fellow Lost Souls for directions or stubbornly find your way to the office all on your own. No matter how you get there, once you've made your way to the office you're given your lodgings (for rookies, it’s always the cheapest inn or apartment block in the area) and told to go out and get a feel for the city.

3. STREET FIGHT - SHUTEN TERRITORY

Scuffles break out all the time in Jigokucho, especially in the district dominated by the Shuten Clan. Whether it's a rival clan posturing over someone being on the wrong turf, shakedowns of all sorts, or just someone with a chip on their shoulder picking a fight: it always draws a crowd of onlookers.

No matter what street you're going down or what you're on your way to do, there always seems to be a fight to block the way. Take a look, take bets, or maybe you're the one caught in the brawl. Maybe someone decided they didn't like the way you looked at them or maybe they're trying to catch you in a petty scam. You may also feel the need to step in when fights are looking particularly one-sided.

Get used to this happening.

4. STICKY PAWS - SUTOKU TERRITORY

One of the more adorable features in the city is a cat cafe. Located within Sutoku territory, it always draws a steady crowd. If you're lured in by the adorable cats in the window, you're welcomed into a pleasant, cat-friendly environment with cats of every shape, color, and size lounging on various surfaces while being doted on by patrons. Of course not everything is as it seems: these are no ordinary cats. They're bakeneko in disguise and this cafe is a clever way to spirit away a few more coins for the Sutoku Alliance's coffers.

You may notice your wallet is a few (thousand) bills lighter at some point during your visit or your wallet may be missing entirely. Maybe it was one of your fellow patrons helping themselves while you were playing with a cat or maybe it was one of the cats. Who's to say? You quickly realize this place is not on the up and up; you have to do something about it.

Chase down one of the cats, confront your fellow patrons, or maybe try to shake down the owner for information. The latter won't get you very far, but maybe it'll make you feel better about losing your cash to a cute scam.

5. HELP WANTED - TAMAMO TERRITORY

CW: potentially NSFW, optional aphro

If you find yourself in the red light district, you might find yourself pulled into something else entirely. A scout in front of one of the numerous clubs drags you in off the street, assuming you're from the Tamamo Clan. It doesn't matter if you are or not, the scout is not listening to your protests. They say something about staffing shortages as you're shoved into the employee area of the club. The club manager then pushes some clothes at you and tells you to get out onto the floor once you're dressed. It might be a host club, it might be a bikini or banana bar, or maybe something even more salacious – whatever it is, you're working there for the night.

There are also barkers aggressively recruiting clients for these clubs, promising a good time for anyone who wants it. Whether it be the company of a pretty host or hostess, the lurid appeal of a strip show, or perhaps even other pleasures of the flesh: there's plenty to tempt even the most resistant.

Work at a club for the night or partake in the pleasures. Drinks flow like water, some with a little something extra to help things along. Everything is transactional here. As you have the money, you're bound to find something that tickles your fancy.

Welcome to the test drive meme!

Threads here can be considered game canon.
If you have any questions about the TDM content, please ask them here!
If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.
Reserves are open until March 5th.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

ENTRY.

[There’s a hell of a lot Johnny hates more than standing in line, but standing in line is the offense of the moment, and that’s all it really takes to rankle him. He isn’t patient on the best of days, shifting his weight from one foot to another while standing in queue, grumbling now and again about it the whole process taking too fucking long. Sometimes, though, his irate boredom masquerades as generosity, when the reality’s simpler: he doesn’t mind stirring the pot to kick up some entertainment. To feel a little less braindead, about as useful as a lump on a log.]

Hey. Might wanna turn around, you got someone reachin’ for your ass.

[Got a long-armed youkai reaching for the ticket in your pocket, or pocket-vicinity, stranger.

Or, later, Johnny’s fishing out a pack of cigarettes, nearly crushed in his back pocket, holding it up between forefinger and thumb like a bargaining chip — but only if you’ve got a ticket with a number that’d get him outta here faster.]

Look, I’ll trade you — this is how desperate I am.

STREET FIGHT.

[Surely it’s a small miracle that Johnny isn’t the one roped into the hurricane of a fight playing out on the street, but sometimes miracles happen. Sometimes, he’s just an observer — though he’s doing more than observing, shuffling out of the way when the fight hovers too close—]

Watch it, asshole!

[Or egging it on, just a little bit, mild amusement hidden behind the tint of dark shades, but definitely not his tone.]

You call that a punch? Seen lil’ old ladies hit harder than that.

HELP WANTED.

[Sometimes miracles happen, sure. And sometimes something so impossible takes place that reality itself must’ve broken to allow it. That something is Johnny getting his metal arm twisted into playing employee at the local host club, a lurid place drenched in neon and overflowing with drinks. His kind of place when he’s not working it; the fun’s all wrung out of it when he’s supposed to be tending to his clients, not the other way around. Either way, Johnny makes for an interesting host.

If “terrible” is another word for “interesting”, at least.]

What? Pour your own drink.

[Seated in his booth, practically sprawled out, you’ll have to really fight to get anything like amicability out of Johnny. Though those that can weather through the rough edges may be able to get the drinks flowing with enough cajoling. Maybe even some karaoke.]

WILCARD.

(( hit me with whatever! i’m easy. ))

Edited 2022-02-23 02:40 (UTC)

[Sephiroth looks over at the man and his offer with much the same regard one might give an insect. Though it's more neutral than aggressive. More of one of those: why is this person talking to me stare. Unfortunately he can't do a whole lot about this situation or this person.

Other than be annoyed about it. Though at least he doesn't look like he is. He's rather good at pretending he has no emotions these days. Gods are above such things after all.

But he, really, really is annoyed right now. Less at the people. More at everyone else. Okay, probably the people too.]

If you're going to make some sort of offer, at least make it something of worth.

[Not that he'd accept an offer anyway. But that? No. It'd have to be something really good ~~and/or Cloud~~ for him to even care. ]

Though you do not look like you'd hold anything I'd desire.

[ All things considered, there are stranger places V's been thrusted without much by the way of consent. How he's wound up scantily clad and forming part of the entertainment in a club he's never visited before is a story he's not sure he's understood the plot points of just yet.

He's not used to getting manhandled into anything, and yet here he is in underwear tight enough to leave barely anything to the imagination and a bow tie like a collar around his neck. There's no confusion about what he's supposed to be doing. Shaking his gonk ass, or something.

Never say never is an apt motto, he thinks, but by the time he's shoved into a crowd of enthusiastic punters a voice he'd never fail to recognize cuts through the thick, warm club haze. ]

Fuck--

[ He cranes his neck, jaw angled up as his optics search out every nook and cranny for the rockerboy, and- ]

Fuck, Johnny? ...shit, he's really here.

[ Moving through the throng of now irritated customers, V's making a sharp beeline to the booth he's pinpointed the older man to. Every step closer amps up the buzz he can feel like electricity under his skin until the very last moment when he abruptly stops short.

He's already at the booth, so maybe it's too late to consider that this might not be his Johnny. ]

February 2022 Test Drive

johnny silverhand | cyberpunk 2077 (crau)

entry

HELP WANTED