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.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We can thank Hell for that, I think.

[ His head cants a little to the side, musing over him saying that he'll make use of the youkai. Right -- an exorcist. Still, he thinks that the phrasing is interesting. ]

By all means. [ Soma makes a gesture to the fallen creature. He folds his arms behind his back as he steps back to allow the stranger to work. ] I apologize for taking so long.

[ An easy merriment slips into his tone of voice. ] I hope you don't mind, but I'll just stay to watch. [ A smile follows. ] Never did get to see an exorcist at work back home.

If the afterlife is eternal, and you aren't reborn, that is. I suppose you'll just have to wait and see? [Matoba plucks the youkai by the back of its collar and turns it face-up. Under all those kimono layers, he may seem like a pretty willowy guy, but drawing bowstrings built muscle.] No matter. I, too, am patient.

But, it seems... [The imp, bracing against the hold and its injuries, begins to struggle slightly as it's roughly turned over.] ...that our ayakashi hosts have seen fit to seal my power for the time being.

[No exorcisms for him, boo! So instead of what Matoba might have done- sealed it into a pot, subjugated it with an ofuda, simply put it out of its misery- he allows it to take in the strange covering over his face, written in a language it seems to understand. It struggles again.]

Which is fortunate for them. After all, even if I'm dead, they hadn't bothered to steal my eye.

I'd very much like it, [He smiles down at the ayakashi. That same, plastered smile.] If you told me the name of the one that attacked you. [Names- true names- were very powerful things among ayakashi; even that much would be enough of a lead.]

It's all that can be done. [ That and work. No rest for the wicked, etc. ]

That, so? [ The tone he uses is a dubious one. Like he isn't sure if the man is being honest with him, or if he believes the man never had any power in the first place. ]

Something special about your eye?

[ Soma glances down at the ayakashi. ] Really, I wonder who he's going to have a grudge against -- the person that took an opportunity before them, or the one that's bullying them after? [ Which is to say, he doesn't believe that the one beaten even knows the name of the person who attacked him. ]

It seemed like a random event... I doubt you'll get a name.

[To these questions, Matoba simply smiles to himself. Under normal circumstances, the suspicions or doubts of the sightless were entirely irrelevant to him. If the man could sense it, he would know- and if he could not, then he needn't concern himself with it. That was how the world of ayakashi and exorcisms operated. For normal people, those shadows might as well not exist, and that was for the better.]

[...It really was unfortunate that whatever powerful ayakashi had brought them here had forced them into their sight, as well. Not that it mattered to the dead, he supposes, gripping the wrist of the one trapped beneath him, and mercilessly forcing it with a finger to the ground.] Ahaha, well...... I'm used to grudges.

Write.

[A command to the imp, which struggles, but is ultimately too weak to fight him off. It might be fruitful, or it might not.... Witness intimidation was a tactic that only worked some of the time, but he fails to see the downsides of a false positive, here.]

[Do as he says, not as he does, Soma. The warnings he sees fit to issue aren't because he pays the same mind. The Matoba had enough hatred built up to their name that another few grudges wasn't much more to handle. And besides- grudges held power. Grudges were after all the lifeblood of curses.]

Do you think so? I might get to see something interesting either way.

Hm? [ His head tilts a little bit at that comment. ] From the supernatural or the human kind?

[ He can't help but wonder how used to grudges that the man actually is. Soma decides to step forward to look down at the youkai. His eyes fix on them, watching careful and thoughtful. ]

Well, he's not lying. [ Returning his gaze back to the exorcist, he smiles. ] I'm impressed. Here I thought that he'd attempt to lead you somewhere -- [ Soma wonders why it is that the youkai didn't. Could it be that he was concerned in hearing that the man was an exorcist and didn't want to chance it? Curious. ]

You might. I certainly look forward to your hunt.

I haven't had room to be picky. [Matoba answers, cheerfully. Yes. The answer is just yes.]

[His grip over the youkai's wrist is steady and unfaltering, but allows for the imp to slowly drag his finger over the battered piece of paper Matoba dropped by his head, blood smearing out the strange, foreign characters of an ayakashi script- alike in some ways to human calligraphy, yet illegible. Some of the characters were not unlike those forming the spell covering the man's eye.]

[By the time the imp finishes and goes limp again on the ground, Matoba is standing and pinching the slip of paper between his fingers, holding it before his face to examine.] Can you tell? [He glances towards Soma with his too-bright smile, before neatly tucking the paper within his kimono. It was one of the folded-up tickets from the Enma's bureaucratic waiting room, where they'd all arrived to be 'sorted'.] That's a good skill to have, you know.

[The poor youkai seems to have expended some remaining energy it had, because it seems the effort has finally caused it to black out. Hopefully, one of its buddies would show up to retrieve it.] Of course. I hope by the time we cross paths again, I'll have some good news to share.

You should learn to pick your grudges a little more stringently. [ Or kill those that will affect progress in the future. ]

It's really the only skill I have ever been complimented on with my superiors. [ Yet even as he says this, he sounds rather ambivalent to the praise. ] A yakuza that can tell when someone's lying... quite valuable, wouldn't you say? [ The tone in his voice shifts like they're sharing a joke with one another; the joke being that Soma was ever truly valuable. ]

But your skills seem to be many, so you'll find your footing here sooner than me.

[ No barb in his words; he offers a pleasant smile. ]

Soma. [ He introduces himself. ] So that you can put a name to a face... should we actually meet again. And perhaps, if we are reincarnated, your soul can remember mine. Though, can we call this meeting that memorable? [ Soma can't help but laugh at the idea that if they do meet in another life that this is the encounter that ends up resonating with their souls. ]

[Look! Soma! Normally he can! He's working on it, okay.]

[And the bastard, he just laughs. For Matoba, who was always too cheerfully blunt to lie and yet rarely quite told the truth, it was a skill he could respect. But a tool was only useful so long as it was actually something you could control.]

[A little joke, indeed.]

Matoba. [Equally pleasant. His smile relaxes into something more serene than its previous cheer, as if with the matter of their meeting settled, he can be a little more in his element.] A shame it isn't sooner than I'd like, but not all of my skills require that which has been taken from me. I can't complain. I've had meetings under worse circumstances.

[And with worse to show for it. Whether it was this name, or the one in his pocket.] Then, until our souls next pass each other by.

Agreed.

[ Until their souls pass by each other, he can be agreed with that much.

Soma is getting a feel of the city; the mood, the rhythm, the sense of order in the chaos. Because even in the shadows there is balance. The beating of this youkai did not incite any others to involve themselves; it did not disrupt the flow of movement through Hell.

It's the utopia that he always wanted. Where terrible things could happen to people and the world could keep moving steadily forward.

He tips his head in farewell, and disappears down the streets. His intent to look into more things and acquire more pocket change from the fallen. How much can he gather until it tips things into disorder? Questions, questions, questions. ]

Edited 2022-03-09 05:39 (UTC)

February 2022 Test Drive

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decided to change it all!!!

I laughed a lot at Soma's question, if he only knew

IF ONLY

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