text | UN: meirenyu

[baofeng]

[Yizhi is posting from a sock account because he's well aware that authorities come down hard on snooping around. He would encourage you to do the same, but that would be blowing his own cover, so it's gonna be up to you to figure that out.]

Hey, does anyone know what's up with the blocked-off section in the parade route? The one along the Sutoku stretch.

(ooc: feel free to threadjack and mingle around! I made this to facilitate infosharing/communication/theorizing among those investigating the Night Parade plot thread, and don't plan on replying to every thread as my character has little to share himself.)

Comments

text; anon

[metafictions]

[Kamui is well aware that "anonymous" means next to nothing when someone with a better sense of how this network works could easily dig out his comment's source, but... a bit of cover is better than none at all.]

No. Members of my clan have been back and forth down there, but they've all been turned away without much to show for it.

Not sure if it would be asking too much from our Sutoku friends for more information than that.

[baofeng]

I’m experiencing the same thing. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask around to see if anyone has any information- it might be something that’s too awkward to communicate officially, but would still be helpful if everyone were on the same page.

If our Sutoku friends can't reveal anything either, that's okay. The Night Parade is an event of inter-faction solidarity after all.

sock un: baabaa

[diesuki]

[No, he's not telling you to call him daddy. It's more that he's borrowing from another person to hopefully make his sock puppeting more convincing. Not that it would hold up in front of the highest authorities anyway, but if things get that high up, that offers some answers in itself, doesn't it?]

Suspicious, right?! They're definitely hiding something, and with the trouble it's causing already, that can't be good.

But us being lowly grunts, there's probably not a whole lot we can do.

[A statement of dual nature: 1. a subtly not-asked question of why aren't the big bosses doing anything about this? and 2. the "probably" is definitely something of an invitation, should OP be interested in further investigation.]

text; un: umetaro

[kaientai]

[ ryouma is on the same page of "better than nothing", but figures a proper name might lend a little more credibility than anon. ]

Respecting their wishes would be the smart thing to do. Do you really want to risk making the Kappa angry?

[metafictions]

Thank you for this, then. It's a good idea: the more we know, the better.

Perhaps that's it? That they can't. Unless there are more senior lost souls among us on this network, they might not know anything about it at all.

[metafictions]

Of course not. I don't wish to bring the Kappa's anger down on any of the Sutoku, either.

If someone's already successfully taken a look down there, however...

un: daylit.

[sunborne]

Urrrrrrgh yeah. I know that stretch. I get shooed away every time I try to poke my helm there, just wanting to see how they're doing.

They're pretty insistent too that you go ASAP. The last thing I wanna do is cause a fuss but! We're supposed to be working together. At the very least let us know what's going on there so we know what to expect. >:/

anon

[laughitoff]

if someone had information are these phones a good way to give it though (ᴗ_ ᴗ。)

we just don't know! so they're probably stuck on how to give it with minimal risk of getting caught.

[baofeng]

That might be the case. Then at least we’ll know that there’s something classified being planned, and they’re not just slighting a single clan for the hell of it.

My clan members have wondered if they were being slighted, you see.

[baofeng]

[OP doesn’t take the bait to meddle, mostly because he’s a tech support kind of guy. The one that sits in the hi-tech truck in movies and talks over the main stars’ earpieces. He might have been trying to invite other people himself.]

That’s true. I’m out of ideas myself, so I was hoping to get suggestions from everyone. I’m up for looking at the barricade and talking to the guards if anyone else wants to try something different.

For example, we could pool some money together and buy a nice lunch for the guards, maybe they’ll be persuaded to help pass a message. Nothing illegal of course.

[Yeah that last part is a lie. What he’s offering is to serve as a distraction, if anyone needs one to sneak in.]

[diesuki]

[Dazai could for sure perform any old role in such an enterprise himself, but he's more of a player moving all the pieces, if he can help it. That said, he's rather low on pieces at the moment, nor does he have much authority to move them... or even enough intel to do so with confidence. (Not that that will stop him, necessarily.)

Maybe he'll just let himself drift down the river and see how far he gets, that would be fun too. But he'd rather not have anyone making a grab for his butt jewel, so...]

Yeah, of course not.

[Hah, Dazai likes you already, kind stranger.]

It for sure wouldn't be worth getting in trouble over. Doubt any of us got that kind of luxury.

So what's your deadline for the lunch money collection? I'm up to contribute.

[He will not contribute a yen, but he would absolutely use the opportunity to see if he can sneak in.]

[baofeng]

[Yeah! Just two people who have never done anything shady ever, down to continue their streak of law-abiding-ness. Nothing to see here.]

I’m in the area on most days. Perhaps I’ll go to admire the river tomorrow on my lunch break.

[He'll actually be quite put out when Dazai refuses to split the cost of the big bowl of udon Yizhi wants to spill on the kappa guards. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!]

[diesuki]

[If only everybody was as law-abiding as them! Truly, it's a miracle that world peace has not yet been accomplished.

Whatever that means in hell, but, yanno...]

It's a hell of a nice view there. No pun intended.

[Yeaaah, Dazai is already bored with using someone else's "voice" for this sock account. His patience is limited, shhh.]

Cucumbers are a good, healthy lunch to be enjoying in a place like that.

[And also a kappa favorite, supposedly. More important to Dazai's point here, however, is that someone walking around with a cucumber should be easy enough for him to spot, making it easy to meet up without sharing personal details.

Look, they're doing nothing wrong whatsoever! But Dazai is still not going to be the one walking around with a figurative red carnation, or whatever (not so) subtle symbol of recognition might be fashionable in hell. He'll let his new friend take that risk, especially if Dazai is going to be the one risking the actual snooping.

The fact that he's basically forcing the other to buy lunch for the kappas ahead of time so that he doesn't have to contribute anything himself is just a silver lining.]

text; un: lalli

[silentscout]

No. But it is probably going to cause trouble.

[Lalli, ever the pessimist.]

un: trickshot | text

[demonrebel]

This is just an educated guess on my part but maybe they're "cursed" or something?

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they are.

un: trickshot

[demonrebel]

Yep, that sounds like it's cursed to me!

I'm willing to bet the locals are using some sort of "warding spell" to block off those routes.

[baofeng]

What do you mean by “cursed”?

I’m not disagreeing with you, they could be, but I don’t know much about curses.

[metafictions]

I don't know the Sutoku Alliance's MO well enough to know if they would be so petty. Then again, I don't know all that much about my own clan's motives, either.

A mystery in our first few weeks here. It figures.

[demonrebel]

What I mean is that maybe those areas are cursed by some sort of yokai that doesn't want lost souls like us wandering into their den.

It's not uncommon for certain types of demons or devils to place curses on random individuals in hope of siphoning their lifeforce. I dealt with a few cases in the past where demons will haunt a particular item or host just to feed on them.

Those types of curses are more parasitic by nature but in regards to what I'm mentioning here, I wouldn't be surprised if the yokai of this realm put certain curses or hexes to keep folks out.

-> action

[baofeng]

Cucumbers are good.

[For the skin. But they’re good eating, too, so Yizhi doesn’t think too much into the choice of signal. The next day he buys an extra cup of cucumber salad with his meal, and sits on a bench by the riverside to eat. He’s not foolish enough to walk around town with a raw vegetable in his hand either. This seems fair to him.

If Dazai manages to identify Yizhi, he’ll see a young man with long hair and flowing robes, seated with perfect posture by the river. But he’ll have to act fast if he doesn’t want to buy the kappas lunch, because the fact that the signal could also double as a kappa bribe hasn’t been communicated to Yizhi at all, and Yizhi is just eating it himself.]

[sunborne]

[ ?!?!? ] Is that allowed??? Putting up spells like that especially if those routes are meant to be involved with the event?

What happens if someone tries to insist on going through those routes during the parade????? [ he doesn't know how warding spells work but day is assuming they're, like, security systems. and his experience with being on the other end of security systems in the past has him worried. very worried. ] I feel like this is something they should be giving us a headsup for, you know? To take account of when helping with the parade!

[demonrebel]

Maybe they just didn't expect us to notice them.

[That isn't too far-fetched of a theory, especially since the yokai think the Lost Souls are dumber than they look.]

Or maybe these aren't warding spells at all but rather spells to keep us contained. Whatever the case is, they're determined to keep us all in the dark.

[diesuki]

[Yizhi? More like 一知半解!

Well then, that is definitely not what Dazai was expecting - which is at least 50% on himself, but it is what it is. Staying in shadows and out of sight as he studies the crowd in the agreed upon location at lunchtime, at first he thinks that the other person simply didn't take the bait. That's fine, really: it's a shame, and it will now be extra unwise for Dazai to see if I can't find out what the kappas are up to, but there's nothing truly lost in the end: he's got nothing but guesswork to go on, and really, even if the kappas want to enact a bloody power coup or something, why should Dazai care? ... Apart from the fact that it's technically his job, that is.

The young man with flowing robes is an outlier in the scenery, though - less for the long hair and flowing robes as such, and more because of... a combination of that and his body language? - which is enough for Dazai to take a closer look. Too late to save all the cucumber salad for the kappas, though... Oh, well. Who knows if they like their cukes salad'ed, anyway?]

My, what a healthy lunch~

[sunborne]

[ to keep them contained.... huh. he never thought of it like that. so maybe it's like a trap then? to keep trespassers or people sneaking into the areas in one place so they can't escape?

that's when something occurs to day. ] With how you're saying this, I guess this means you're not with the Sutoku as well? I'm working with Enma! I thought maybe bringing that up would make them more willing in letting me take a peek or something. No such luck, though. :/

Makes me wonder: Are they keeping all of us new in the dark? Or only us who aren't part of their group? That's a big difference, I think.

un: daylit.

[sunborne]

[ and here comes an ever optimist. who is... being cautious himself, given the strange circumstances even he finds helm-tilting. ]

I'd like to think it won't cause too much trouble! They must know that they'll be in big trouble if this messes up the parade, right? >:? I got the impression that this is, like, a big thing here. You don't want to be known as the One Who Ruined The Big Event, you know?