KINYOBI is open for business!

[erogappa]

Who: Gojyo and anyone!
What: Drinking, fighting, insulting this disgusting bar...
When: Any time from August 9th through the end of August
Where: KINYOBI, in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan
Warnings: Please put warnings in the headers of your comments as they become relevant.




1. Friday nights at Friday's
Kinyobi is a small, dark bar, located on a street that was never nice, not even when the plant across town was open. This is an industrial area, and this used to be a blue-collar, industrial bar -- the floors are permanently sticky, there's dents and gouges and names carved in every wooden surface, the restroom is a horror movie, and the booze is either watered down or rotgut, depending on the day of the week and the mood of the bartender.

Still. It's home.



2. Shinki Sundays
Gojyo looks up when the bell on the door chimes, and smiles broadly at the newcomer. "Hey, come on in!" he calls. "You're shinki, right? Lemme see your mark."


3. Wildcard?






And some images to give an idea of what the inside of Kinyobi looks like:


******************************************************









Edit as of October 6th, in-game: there is now a bar dog.

Comments

1. Fridays

[sweetdeath]

It's been a few days since Tsuzuki started helping out around the dive bar. He'd been nervous walking here the first day -- the alleys are very dark, and the closed-down plant down the street stripes the sky with skeletal lines of chimneys and bundles of wires. It's like a dark indie comic of a setting.

On the other hand, no one can actually see him, which is a reassuring feeling.

He's been working on the probably futile task of scrubbing all the stickiness out from under the old bar tables and booths, at least before the evening rush arrives and he starts helping Gojyo serve, and it's still late afternoon and quiet in the bar when he heads back to the storage room to mix another bucket of floor cleaner.

Something rattles in the back of a shelf, and Tsuzuki makes a face. Not rats, too. Surely this place doesn't have rats. He reaches out with care and as quietly as he can whisks aside a pile of stained bar towels. The thing behind them isn't furry. It's not even, as far as he can see, alive.

It's a big, old, green-glass bottle of sake, with a handwritten label, and it's rocking back and forth like something's trapped inside.

Carefully, Tsuzuki reaches out and grabs it. It keeps struggling and shuddering in his grasp as he turns it carefully over, and the liquid looks -- well -- just like liquid. Maybe a bit dark and cloudy for sake. It's an old bottle, that much is for sure.

"Hey!" he calls out into the bar. "Gojyo? What's this?"

[erogappa]

When the bar served the plant (or so Gojyo's been told), the evening rush started six minutes after the 6pm bell sounded. Now that the bar caters to lost salarymen, kids looking to sneak a drink somewhere that doesn't card, tourists seeking that 'authentic experience', and dead people, the evenings don't really get underway until much later. And for 'underway', read 'any customers at all'.

Which means that, while Tsuzuki is scrubbing at the tables, Gojyo is performing the requisite sniff test on all the juices and other mixers as he pulls them out of the groaning old mini-fridge under the bar. It was easier running the place when all they served was booze, but the people on the internet had been right -- having mixers, and even non-alcoholic options, was good for the bar, even if it did mean more work for him.

"What's what?" The last orange juice is questionable -- that fizz probably isn't club soda -- so Gojyo upends it in the sink and sticks his head through the doorway in the back. "If it looks like a pile of..." His voice trails off, and he frowns at the bottle Tsu is wiggling at him.

"Oi, oi, don't shake it!" The bottle looks old enough that the booze inside is either valuable or disgusting. Either way, he doesn't want to see it dropped on the floor. He holds out his hands for the unfamiliar bottle. "Where'd you find it?"

[sweetdeath]

"Back of the shelf behind the towels," Tsuzuki says. "And I'm not shaking it, it's--"

It's not shaking on its own anymore. He stares down at the bottle sitting still in his hands, makes a face, and holds it out.

"... it was shaking on its own. Maybe it's haunted." The suggestion could have been facetious, but after the last couple weeks of being attacked by formerly inanimate household objects, Tsuzuki sounds completely sincere.

None of them have chased him to the Near Shore yet, but it might just have been a matter of time.

[erogappa]

"Don't joke about that," Gojyo deadpans, turning the bottle over in his hands. Tsu might be taking the threat seriously, but Gojyo sure isn't. This is the mortal world, not the Far Shore! Ghosts here are all glowing purple, and this bottle is many things, but it's neither glowing nor purple. It looks like a perfectly normal, albeit old and dirty, bottle of... what, sake?

"If we get haunted now it's your fault." The label is nearly rubbed off, but it could be a sake bottle. It could absolutely be a bottle of very old sake.

But there's really only one way to find out. Gojyo turns, and peers back out into the bar. Still no customers. They've got the place to themselves.

Good.

"Wanna grab a couple glasses?"

Sanzo Saturday

[bussounoshima]

[It's been a few days. Gojyo's done some stupid things but- as far as Sharak is aware- he hasn't actually killed anyone. Nor has he exploded into some kind of blight monster. All in all, Sharak is prepared to call it a win. She hadn't really planned on holding Gojyo to that night of free drinks, but it could be a nice end to the week. She'd have hope that maybe she could have an evening drinks with a friend and have it be mostly peaceful, but something she found earlier in the day told her otherwise. They're due for a talk.

Still, it's time to take the kid gloves off. When Sharak enters the bar just as the sun sets, there's a lit cigarette dangling from her lips. In the interest of attracting as little attention as possible, she's dressed in casual clothes for a change. Jeans and a button down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and the first few buttons undone.]

Oi! Gojyo!

[... Okay, even out of uniform, the magic has to work pretty hard for a woman like Sharak to go unnoticed. Even if she had bothered to remove the tail, it probably wouldn't have made a difference.]

[erogappa]

[ It's really unfair, Gojyo's decided, that heaven is full of attractive people. His god is attractive, his new co-worker is attractive... in fact, it's really easy to tell who in the bar is a god or a shinki, and who is a mortal. Tonight, it's still mostly mortals -- a double handful of middle-aged regulars at the far end of the bar who like to pretend that getting blind drunk in company is somehow less sad than doing it alone, a group of teenagers with terrible fake IDs (none of them looks to be younger than 16, so Gojyo doesn't really care to kick them out so long as they don't get sick), and a table of elderly locals having a senior night out on a budget. Sharak gets the attention of everyone when she enters, which isn't surprising -- that she's still got several pairs of eyes on her by the time she makes it to the bar, is. ]

Yo. [ He raises one hand in greeting, his grin sliding into appreciative as he takes in her wardrobe choices. It's really unfair how hot she is, given how totally uninterested in him she seems to be. ] What brings you here?

[bussounoshima]

[One of the teenagers manages to keep her attention on Sharak as she approaches the bar, squinting at the woman's back uncertainly. She mutters to the boy sitting next to her, "Does she have a fucking tail-" before she's quickly hushed. They'll forget she's there before too long, it's fine. Sharak ignores them and takes a seat at the bar.]

You promised me a drink, didn't you? I thought I'd come collect.

Shinki Sunday

[smilingbullet]

He thought that demand was a bit...well, a bit. from the instance he heard about it on the net. "Is a borderline fine? You know our marks are part of our names, right? Some people're not comfortable with sharing it." Considering the name is required for some spells, it's not exactly a surprise.

[erogappa]

Oh. He's one of those. Gojyo dismisses his concern with a wave of his hand.

"Yeah, yeah... cast a borderline if you don't want to show your name mark, whatever." Some people might have embarrassing names, but he doesn't understand the straight-up hostility he's gotten from some shinki over this. It's just a name! "Just prove you're not a god, okay?"

[smilingbullet]

Yup, he's one of those. He also easily casts a borderline between them.

"A lot of times, casting a borderline could be a lot easier." Because it's not like some spells need the shinki's vessel name to work as they're should. But also because it could be way less embarrassing.

[genkireaper]

So, this is what a bar is like? This was probably Botan's first real trip into the city, if you didn't count the short visit to get rid of some cursed charms. So following the directions to Kinyobi let her get a first-hand look at many different things- especially when she had flown her way over. Glancing over at the bartender, her magenta eyes locked over to his, though more curious than anything else.

"I mean, I could," her hands go to grab the bottom of her shirt, crumpling the hem in her fingers. "Though I'd have to lift my shirt up pretty high for you to see. If that's what you really want."

[erogappa]

Did she really just say...? Oh shit. Gojyo straightens up in a flash, waving his hands frantically to dissuade her.

"That's fine, that's fine! You don't need to...!" There's no way she's of age, shit, he's going to get fired and go to hell both. "Just promise you aren't a god, okay? That's good enough."

[genkireaper]

"Promise."

With the smile, Gojyo could probably guess something more- Really, Botan was pleased to know that the bartender wasn't that kind of person. Releasing and smoothing the hem, she bounced over to the bar. Leaning her elbows over the edge, this is clearly someone with no sense of 'legal drinking age.'

"A pleasure to meet you in person, Gojyo. I believe you said something about trying the beer myself to see if it's decent?"

Sundaaaaaays

[kokuyoyo]

Gojyo might be able to guess who this tall lanky teenager shuffling through the door was on the BBS, because at the question to show his mark, he only thins his lips and draws a borderline instead.

"...That should be good enough..."

[erogappa]

He's not the only one who threw a tantrum over the idea of showing his mark. ...And okay, Gojyo gets it, his mark would require dropping his pants, but come on. Can everybody cast a borderline except for him?

"Sure, you're good, c'mon in." The place is mostly dead, and not just because the clientele are all shinki. It's early enough that the evening drink-til-you-fall-over crowd hasn't shown up yet, so Chikusa's mostly got the place to himself. "What can I get you? We've got a special goin' on Asahi."

[kokuyoyo]

Just accept you suck, Gojyo, it's fine.

Letting down his borderline, he shuffles further in and glances over the place. It's not a if the Far Shore is completely full, at least not with foreign shinki on its land, but he supposes he's a little surprised there's not too many people yet. Well, it works for him. Chikusa wouldn't say he hates people.... But it's better not to deal with too many of them.

Sitting down at the bar, he quirks up an eyebrow. "Does that mean it's good or bad?" Are you trying to pawn off too much of a bad thing off onto him. Is that's what's happening here.

sundays

[redotiertwo]

While working at a bar is pretty much sufficient bar exposure for Davesprite, he had to at least try checking out this Shinki Sundays thing. Mostly because it sounds like a potentially hilarious gimmick, but also partially because it might give him somewhere relatively quiet to peace out to some days.

When he comes in the door to that question, Davesprite hesitates rather obviously before holding his fingers out and drawing a borderline in front of him.

"Dude, you don't just ask to see someone's mark, that's personal shit right there. If I need to confirm my shinki cred, this is still fine, right, it's not like we've got any gods who've figured out how the fuck to do the borderlining thing yet."

[erogappa]

The excitement Gojyo felt to see his orange bird-friend walk through the door is immediately crushed as orange bird-friend turns out to be one of those shinki.

"Okay, what's the big deal about showin' your mark, huh?" Also: everybody except him can apparently cast a borderline. This has gone from being simply embarrassing to outright worrying. It is because he used to be a god? ...Shit, it's not like there's anybody he can ask this stuff. "Unless it's on your ass, who th'fuck cares?"

[redotiertwo]

Dropping the borderline as soon as confirmation is made, Davesprite just gives Gojyo a long and deadpan look.

"Because the fucking thing's on my eye, and I lift my shades for no man. Also it's tiny as shit and you probably wouldn't be able to see it from behind the bar."

The mark being tiny is pretty much a contractual obligation of having it on your eye, though Davesprite would love to know exactly who decided it should go there in the first place.

Shinki Sundays - 21st

[demonsheath]

If Gojyo still had those keen senses for picking up a demon's presence, he might have picked up something similar to that the past couple of nights. Just for a couple of minutes before it would go away again. Nothing long, nothing threatening, and even more, nothing that got too close. Then tonight came and the source of it walked down the stairs at a calm speed. After this much time, Hannah had finally gotten out of the maid clothes and upgraded to the modern era, with a dark purple halter that laid over a black maxi skirt. Still reasonably covered, if you didn't count the cleavage, which was inevitable with the type of cuts that were available for these tops.

Yet the long-haired woman pauses at the end of the stairs. "Mark," she echoed, looking down for a moment. Well, she didn't seem to be one of the types to just show a borderline. Mismatched blue eyes keeping downcast to the floor, Hannah approaches to the bar to lean slightly over. While raising a hand to vaguely indicate towards that 'inevitable' cleavage she softly said, "I see... you might have a little trouble seeing. If so, I may need to use the restroom to take a photograph."

[erogappa]

Gojyo still has the keen senses that allow him to detect demonic energies, yup. He just doesn't have any idea that that's what he's detecting. Sometimes his skin just crawls -- maybe it's a shinki thing, maybe it's distant (or tiny) ayakashi... he's got no idea. It happens enough around other shinki that he's pretty sure it's just a shinki detector -- it's just one that doesn't work all the time.

So when the hottie in the tight top walks in, he's already sure that she's from the Far Shore, even before she opens her mouth. And had she been eager to show him her mark, he would have gladly sat back and enjoyed the show. But hesitation and uncertainty will never be his kinks, and he raises a hand to stop her train of thought in its tracks.

"As tempting as that offer is... if you say you're a shinki, I'll take your word for it."

[demonsheath]

Similar to how she can smell certain things and match them to other clues, but it's not like she was able to exactly figure out what peculiarity she was smelling off of this odd red-eyed man. Funny how his hair and eyes made her think of blood, though she would never voice these thoughts. Not unless asked, of course.

"You're sure," she questioned carefully. It wasn't about being embarrassed or uncomfortable with showing her body. The rules of what was allowed in public and how people conducted themselves these days- With this and her playing catch up on all this technology, Hannah was positive that she was from a far earlier time. In fact, the shinki had no trouble airing this out to the bartender. "I'd simply show you, but I'm not sure what's considered appropriate in this time or setting."

Was it a shame that she wasn't flirting, so much as giving context?

Shinki Sunday, any time!

[kagenonadeshiko]

Ayumu's decision to drop by the bar was a whimsical one. She'd seen the advertisement on the BBS but hadn't had time to comment yet. It had sounded like a nice idea, though - a social gathering for shinki. As hardworking as she is, even she needs to let her hair down on occasion both figuratively and literally. At the moment, she certainly appears to be dressed for a night on the town, complete with little black dress, and her hair loose and flowing down her back in stylish disarray. She's even wearing a little makeup - someone's been studying more than just borderlines lately.

At Gojyo's demand to see her mark, Ayumu simply slides the strap off her shoulder and pulls the top of her dress to show the character on her left breast. It was pretty clear she wasn't wearing a bra before this moment but there's absolutely no doubt she isn't wearing one now.

"Is that good?" she asks, perfectly calm and conversational.

[erogappa]

He hadn't realized it was her. Hakkai's shinki. If he had, then there wouldn't have been any need for her to prove that she wasn't a god. the makeup and the dress threw him off, that's all.

But if he'd recognized her at first, then he wouldn't have gotten near-flashed. Hard to feel bad about a thing like that!

(An odd character, though. That's "soot", isn't it? What kind of an asshole would name a pretty girl something that evokes dirt and smoke?)

"That's very good." He waves an open hand at one of the seats in front of him -- please. Come join him at the bar. "How've you been?"

[kagenonadeshiko]

Ayumu readjusts her dress, extends her arms in a quick stretch, and takes a seat at the bar. A slight, satisfied smirk teases her lips briefly. While cosmetics and fashions today seem a little different from what she's used to, the act of applying them and changing her appearance had come easily to her. Studying demeanors and replicating them seems to be a natural talent of hers, though she's been very careful not to think about that too deeply.

She puts her elbows on the bar top and leans forward a little, resting her chin in her hands.

"Busy. Between studying, training, and working on a personal project of mine, I haven't had much time to get away lately. But tonight, I'm making an exception."

She smiles.

"How about you? Staying well?"