jigokumods: (Default)
jigokumods ([personal profile] jigokumods) wrote in [community profile] jigokufever2022-09-01 06:49 pm
Entry tags:

(OVERFLOW) AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE





MAIN NAVIGATION



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.


emet_sulk: (01 serious)

Emet-Selch | Final Fantasy XIV | overflow threads

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-09 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
emet_sulk: (A20 That can't be right)

Rhea'li

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-09 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
For a blessing, Emet-Selch does not seem to notice the other man's reaction to their drink. He takes a sip of cider from his own bottle and hums thoughtfully at the taste.

"Hmm... 'Tis not the Underworld, despite what they say." The vendor shoots him an unreadable look which he ignores. "Nevertheless, I am dead. That is undisputed fact. Unless a higher power somehow saw fit to drag my soul from its place of rest and place it in mortal flesh again."

He pinches his skin. It feels real enough. "...An unfortunate possibility."
lightduties: (circular functions)

Rhea'li

[personal profile] lightduties 2022-09-10 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Similarly, Rhea'li pinches himself. The sharp, taut pain is indeed an indication that the situation is real.

Rhea'li's ears perk up in interest at the mention of the Underworld. He'd seen at least some of its power when Emet-Selch had channelled it, but... "What is the Underworld as you know it like?"
emet_sulk: (A16 The Third Seat)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-15 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
He is silent as he ponders how to describe it.

"...Not this," he says eventually. "You glimpsed it yourself when you went to speak with Hydaelyn. The crystalline structures were for your benefit, but in truth all souls are set adrift in that vast, endless space. There are pockets of calm and then there are raging torrents where one may be tossed and flung about like a ship on the Rhotano sea. Bit by bit these currents erode us. There is no way to tell how long one remains there, although one such as myself can See and avoid such turbulence for a while.

"The good, the bad, the rich, the poor - all are equal in the Underworld, for 'tis there we are all unmade and remade, waiting for the star to birth us unto new lives. Some may find it tranquil; others may feel nothing but anguish for deeds undone, words left unspoken."
lightduties: (triangulation)

[personal profile] lightduties 2022-09-16 10:49 am (UTC)(link)
Rhea'li listens quietly, tail idly twitching behind him as he absorbs Emet-Selch's words. The nautical bent to the description paints a vivid picture in his mind. He'd felt a deep empathy for Fandaniel, Amon, Hermes in the end, listening to his lamentations. The question that burned in his breast, carried from one life to the next.

He's certain he already knows the answer, but he wishes to hear it with his own ears.

"Which are you?"
emet_sulk: (A01 How glib)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-17 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Which am I?" he repeats, sounding as though he is surprised by the question. He mulls over it silently.

"...I always had an affinity for the Underworld," he replies eventually. "Although I lost in our battle, I was also relieved. I thought, 'Finally, I can go to my rest, be with my people again.'" He snorts softly, taking a draught of his cider. "Well, until Hydaelyn dragged me back to the Source."
lightduties: (Default)

[personal profile] lightduties 2022-09-19 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
"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.
emet_sulk: (A19 Looking up)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-21 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"...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.
lightduties: (oblique meanings)

[personal profile] lightduties 2022-09-22 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
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.
emet_sulk: (A20 That can't be right)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-22 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
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.
lightduties: (are they tangentially related?)

[personal profile] lightduties 2022-09-22 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
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?"
emet_sulk: (A13 Troubled waters)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-25 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
The protracted silence speaks for itself. By the time Emet-Selch has a response, it's too late to erase it.

"I'm tired of being alone is all," he mutters. He tips back the bottle and finishes the last of his drink. If he's dead then it won't matter if he gets a little drunk, right?
lightduties: (in parallel)

[personal profile] lightduties 2022-09-26 12:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Rhea'li pushes forward his drink, offering it to Emet-Selch. He can sympathise, but he wonders the wisdom of offering company when the nature of his very soul makes their interactions so very complicated.

And personally, he avoids these kinds of attachments.

He thinks on what to say, wonders how to say it.

"I... am not the same as them." He wants to be clear that he has no desire to be a replacement. "But should you want for company, then call on me."
emet_sulk: (A04 I think not)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-26 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
He sighs. Eyes the drink they push over to him. Takes it and has a tentative sip. For something without alcohol, it tastes surprisingly like it. Not quite the same though.

He takes a longer draught anyway.

"I know that," he mutters. Louder: "I know that."

He's not sure if he's trying to convince himself or Rhea'li.
lightduties: (invariant)

[personal profile] lightduties 2022-09-27 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Rhea'li only has silence to offer him before he raises a hand to the stall owner.

"Another cider for my friend, if you please."

Their circumstances does seem like a good reason to get drunk. Even if he can't bring himself to do so anymore, mayhap the ancient would kfeel a little better for it.
emet_sulk: (AMR 02)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-29 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
He shoots a surprised glance towards Rhea'li. Neither of them have much money right now and he's loathe to spend it on drink. But he does not object when another bottle is placed before him and gathers it closer to him.

"Don't some of you do the same?" he asks in a low tone. "You gravitate towards another who reminds you of someone you lost. If they need help, you offer a hand. You know they aren't the same, but you cannot help yourself because the memories are too strong and--"

He tips his head back for a gulp and the sweet sourness of the drink stings his throat. He lowers the bottle. "What does it matter if you remind me of them? Memories are all that I have left."
emet_sulk: (A12 No I'm not fond of you)

@ Hythlodaeus

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-14 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
(original)

He huffs but does not protest Hythlodaeus linking their arms. He won't even protest at being dragged along. It's simply been just that long since he last saw his friend.

(It's almost like they'd never left.)

"It may have been mentioned in the orientation... Quite frankly, I do not know what to make of all this. I decided that the best way to acclimatise was to take a walk around the city."

Taking a leaf out of Azem's book, as it were. There is some merit to their methods, as he has discovered.
Edited 2022-09-14 04:16 (UTC)
conceptreview: (tell your friends twas nice to meet them)

[personal profile] conceptreview 2022-09-20 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
(It's truly wonderful, isn't it? Not that he minded drifting about the aetherial sea, but here they can just pick up right where they all left off. Pretend like nothing ever happened. Hythlodaeus is having the time of his...uh...not-life.)

"Oh? Get yourself out and about?" It is Azem-like, but there's also the charm of Emet-Selch's straightforwardness to it. "Perhaps a tour after our chat, then! I can show you my favorite teahouse. It's a bit expensive, but I happen to have come upon a fair amount of money recently. They use money here," he adds, unnecessarily, but it's still a bit of novelty to him. "Coins and paper. And cards that keep track of your money 'electronically'."

Aren't you impressed by how worldly he's become?
emet_sulk: (A12 No I'm not fond of you)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-20 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm aware of what money is, Hythlodaeus."

The tone is exasperated but not much so.

"I'm surprised you haven't spent it all yet. I would have expected to find you destitute and taking advantage of someone's goodwill."

But you know what? He's glad his friend isn't. Hythlodaeus seems to be thriving somehow.
Edited 2022-09-20 09:10 (UTC)
conceptreview: (not laughing AT you just NEAR you :))

[personal profile] conceptreview 2022-09-26 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course, Emet-Selch," Hythlodaeus answers, as cheerful as ever. Perhaps even a bit more so, if his friend truly is annoyed by his antics. Heheheheheh. "I am aware that you are aware. But have you actually seen any of the money they use here? I am just informing you of the particulars! I know you like to be on top of things. We can get you an 'electronic card' for your money."

As for the destitute comment; "Not yet, no. But now that you're here, I shouldn't have any troubles. I'm certain that I can rely on your goodwill even if something does go wrong!"

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEH.

"My apartment is right up there," he adds, motioning to the tall building down the block. "Rather small, I'm afraid, but it serves its purpose."
emet_sulk: (A16 The Third Seat)

[personal profile] emet_sulk 2022-09-26 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Zodiark take him already. He sighs heavily, opting to not be baited by his friend's mischievous cheer, and turns his eyes towards the apartment they're approaching. Supposedly he, too, has lodgings somewhere...though he has yet to take a look himself. It doesn't look like much from the outside; he should probably temper expectations for his own later.

"Which people are you with?" he asks suddenly. Azem is with the Tamamo, but where would Hythlodaeus have been placed?
conceptreview: (we're an endless stream of choices)

[personal profile] conceptreview 2022-09-29 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
He straightens up rather proudly, and flashes Emet-Selch the little pin on his lapel. "The Sutoku Alliance! Led by the Daitengu. We're something of the underdogs, apparently, but everyone I've met so far seems quite talented. I'll have to introduce you to a few of them."

They reach the building, and Hythlodaeus lets them into the lobby with a key. Once they get up to his actual apartment, however, he just opens the door. Azem told him to lock it, but he hasn't really gotten into the habit yet.

It is indeed small, with what can only be described as a kitchenette leading into the main room; but there's a nice balcony on the far end and Hythlodaeus has gone to some lengths to decorate in a mostly tasteful fashion. And there's only a few empty cans laying around.

Hythlodaeus has quite a few things he wants to say to Emet-Selch, but he keeps quiet for a moment, to see where the man would like to start.