expiationnet | OKCINDR POST #4

OKCINDR POST #4

Ever wanted to have CR with a character and wasn't sure how to get them to cross paths? Wanted a dating app so you can hook up with hot people? Wanted to just find friends because you're a lonely bastard?

With the update of the tablets and the apps, we now have a dating / friendship app called OKCINDR! Players can use it as they please for the two months that it's up -- just imagine that they're profiles to swipe right on and everything. The idea is to encourage CR that may be difficult to get with characters who may or may not be interested in events / posts / logs / other network posts.

So, on November 3rd, characters randomly look back at their tablets to see the following:

OKCINDR PROFILE RESET #4
PLEASE RESET PROFILE

This month, if players reset their profile, they will have a list of questions to answer:

What is forgiveness?
Can a criminal ever really be forgiven?
should you be forgiven?
Is a crime ever justified?
How do you justify your crime?
Can you forgive someone who's wronged you?

Players, of course, are able to ignore this message. However, if a character wouldn't fill it out but a player would like to participate... the profile mysteriously resets itself. There may even be responses sent from Character A to Character B without Character A actually doing anything, if you'd like! This is a completely opt-in scenario! But for players who would like to participate fill out the post:

network profile

Character_Name

@username

ABOUT_ME

CODING

<lj-raw><div style="width:280px;margin:0 auto;background:#fff;box-shadow:1px 1px 4px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.15);border:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1);border-bottom:4px solid #587AC0;border-radius:4px;overflow:hidden;line-height:1.7;font-family:tahoma,arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px;">

<div style="text-align:center;background:#587AC0;padding:5px 0 5px 10px;display:flex;align-items:center;color:#fff;font-size:25px;font-family:georgia,serif;font-style:italic;letter-spacing:-1px;"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/wmn8wYK.png" style="filter:invert(1);margin:0 5px 0 0;">network profile</div>

<div style="height:220px;overflow:hidden;">
        <img src="URL HERE" style="width:100%;height:auto;">
    </div>

<div style="border-bottom:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1);padding:10px 5px;margin:0 10px;font-size:13px;line-height:1.2;">
		<b style="color:#587AC0;">Character_Name</b>
		<div style="color:#999;">@username</div>
	</div>

<div style="padding:15px;max-height:160px;overflow:auto;box-sizing:border-box;color:#222;">

ABOUT_ME
 
	</div>

</div><div style="margin:3px auto 0 auto;width:280px;font-size:8px;letter-spacing:1px;text-align:right;"><a href="https://tessisamess.insanejournal.com/155095.html" style="color:#999;text-decoration:none;">CODING</a></div></lj-raw>

If you'd like to for shits and giggles, here's some notifications that may be used:

Name (@username) followed you

Name (@username) unfollowed you

Name (@username) blocked you

Have fun! Code credit.

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Got it.

[ For a moment it almost seems like that might be enough to satisfy a teenager, but then, a few moments later: ]

So what should I be calling you instead then? [ Apparently it's not that easy to escape this.. ]

[There is a very long pause as he runs the options through his head.]

. . . . Sensei.

Sensei?

I know you're a teacher and all, but if you're going to go for that even in this place, shouldn't you at least be offering lessons here too? I'd like to learn a thing or two, honestly.

You would? Well, I guess I could do it as long as there are some students who'd be interested to learn - just to have some income, and as long as it doesn't get in my way with trying to find a way out.

I'm not sure how well-suited I'd be as a teacher for humans, though. I've never seriously tried to teach humans before .....and even my youkai keep complaining that I can be a bit too sadistic at times. [Sadistic and money-pinching are the main complaints he's leveled with. Douman likes to argue that you need to be those two things, considering how much chaos and collateral damage that takes money to repair he deals with on the daily.]

I already know some magic, if that helps.

It's true that I'm just a regular human, but I do have some talent for that.

[ ...

Apparently she's not mentioning anything about the sadistic part, huh. Despite that kind of being a red flag. But Ange is pretty used to sadistic people at this point - and Douman really hasn't seemed all that bad so far. ]

[Oh? He suspected as much, but this is still interesting to hear.]

You do? What kind of magic? How have you learned to use it so far?

[During his time he has met many humans who had the 'talent' in one way or another. Hell, a version of it manifested at least once per generation within Seimei's family for a very long time! That's why it's more interesting what kind of powers she has than the fact that she does have them.]

'What kind' is kind of a broad question, right? For all I know, systems of magic could be very different between your world and mine.

The main thing I can do with it is summon demons. I can do that pretty well now, aside from the limitations this place puts on that sort of thing. The main problem is that I've been trying to expand my magic to be able to do more things, but it's hard to branch out when I don't really know where to start.

[ Pretty elaborate, by Ange standards!

But it's mostly because she does take this topic very seriously - and she hopes Douman is doing the same thing. Because this really matters a lot to her. It's something that's been on her mind pretty often. ]

And it's been made harder by everyone giving me guidance when it comes to magic disappearing so quickly.

Summoning, huh? I can't say that I'm terribly fond of that particular kind of magic. Could you describe those demons that you're summoning a bit more? Like what are they like? Are they like people, or like animals, or something you'd meet in a story?

Thanks, I'll consider myself sufficiently warned. Please don't take any more magic teachers if it makes me vanish as well.

What do you want to use magic for?

They're people, just like you and I. It's not like I'm forcing them to do anything. [ She's mostly mentioning that because of what Douman is saying. Sure, she can't fully know that is the reason he dislikes the idea of summoning magic, but when Ange thinks about what someone might dislike about it, this is what comes to mind first.. ] They just listen to my call because they're my friends.

[ She writes that surprisingly easy, especially when Ange often seems like she'd rather chew off her leg than admit as much about any of her human friends.

But it's just different when it comes to demons, okay. ]

Their use is pretty limited though, especially in a place like this. I want to be able to defend myself a little bit better, and picking up a weapon doesn't really seem to work out for me. It'd be better if I could just somehow make my magic more powerful.

[So they are like Seimei's shikigami. Douman's lips pinch into a thin line behind his mask before he collects himself and lets out a sigh. That's all he's going to allow himself for a physical reaction, even with nobody around. This was hitting a little too close to home right now.]

I see. It's certainly good that you seem to be in a mutual relationship with them.

[He isn't going to get any more specific than that. Whether they are going to mutually love, hate, use or eat each other is none of Douman's concerns. He simply dislikes that kind of magic because it was Seimei's trademark trick. It definitely doesn't have anything to do with what Suzaku had once told him so flippantly during a shared night that they had spent drunk on a nice atmosphere and too much gambling and wine. 'You don't really get much of a choice' .......Douman is now a supernatural being that'd be - on a very theoretical level - qualified to become a shikigami as well, if the summoner were just strong enough.

He is so SO glad that he was still an ordinary human back when Seimei was alive.

But really, that look of pure hate in the firebird's eyes--]

So you want magic to hurt and destroy.

That's putting it a little bluntly, isn't it?

Or rather, aren't those things two sides of the same coin? I want more powerful magic to make sure that I can protect myself. So other people won't worry about me, or try to jump in to protect me instead. They always get hurt when they do that sort of thing.

Is it?

If you only wanted to defend, a magic that lets you hides yourself would be enough. Or an impenetrable shield. [He hasn't missed that 'always'. Douman would like to ask how often it has happened before, but it's hard to figure out how to do that with a teenager who he doesn't want to hurt.]

Do you think that I am powerful? You should be familiar with what kind of youkai I am.

[Meaning: she should have an inkling of what a nurarihyon's powers are.]

Hiding can be detected, no matter how magical. And no shield is ever fully impenetrable.

[ It's hard to read into those words, considering the lack of tone, but Ange doesn't mean it harshly at all. She's not even doubting his powers, especially since she has seen them in action when she first met him.

It's just the words of a girl who has gotten hurt too many times. Someone whom everything has failed. ]

I just need something that works. And I believe you are powerful in your own way. For sure more powerful than me. What do you think would work?

I can't just let things continue like this in this place.

['What would work....' Hmm, that's a tall order to answer. And he understands what she is trying to say. Not even his powers as a youkai have kept him safe from certain kinds of ....attack. (If you can call a comedy drop of idiots from above an attack.)]

Not letting them catch you. As long as you can act, there will be all kinds of means for you to find a way. You can lure them away. Lead them into a trap. Call for reinforcements. Or even attack them from behind.

Really, anything works as long as you don't let them dominate your every move.

[It's what Seimei and the Gods had done. The one thing Douman could never forgive them.]

But isn't that sort of thing easier said than done?

Maybe not in every circumstance. I understand that. But the odds are heavily stacked against us here. [ There are plenty of things Ange did try to successfully fight against back home, after all. But just like with the witches she couldn't get around in the end, it's hard to try and not get dominated by this place. ]

Whoever is in control of this place, controls everything. Us included. How do you fight domination when you're this much weaker than what you're trying to fight?

That's the problem I keep running into.

It is. I won't sugarcoat that.

[Just hitting and breaking things is always easier, especially if one doesn't care about any potential consequences. But that's also what makes it a beginner's technique and easy to turn against you if your opponent has two brain cells. And you need to actually be strong to begin with. That's a tall order for most humans.

Her question has him fall silent, though. The way she's putting it... Yeah, it's all to familiar.]

The same way one'd fight Abe no Seimei, I'd wager.

[ A slight pause, and then-- ]

And how do you do that?

You don't. That's what everybody kept telling me when I did it over and over again, only to be shown up each damn time.

I lost 99 times in a row.

But that means giving up.

You couldn't just give up in that situation, right? We can't give up either. I can't be stuck here forever.

Of course I damn well couldn't. It would have ruined my reputation and any damn standing I had at the Imperial Court even worse than being 'the one who always challenges Seimei only to lose.' As long as I tried I was at least the only one who'd dare going against that damn fool!

Anyway, things went differently the 100th time.

Wait, they did?

What changed that time?

I didn't dodge and survived.

Seimei didn't.

[ .. give her a moment, she's trying to figure things out here through the context she has. There are definitely a few puzzle pieces missing though, that's the part she has to figure out.. ]

Did both of you get caught up in an attack that only one of you survived?

Edited 2025-04-06 11:04 (UTC)

[...and that's the tricky part. Because there are several puzzles haphazardly strewn together and Douman refuses to tell anybody which motive they are even supposed to be looking for in this one particular case.]

Nah. It was just yet enough fight. We had them all the damn time. If I had done the rational thing and dodged Seimei's blow, I would have lost. But I gambled and somehow won, although it cost me half of my face to land that fatal hit.

Turns out that not even a jerk like Abe no Seimei can survive being run through by some good old steel.

[ ... ]

You make it sound all the time like you two have a really complicated past, you know.

[ A little direct, yes, but.. it's true, as far as she's considered! ]

(no subject)

nuraridouman - 2025-04-28 19:12 (UTC) - Expand

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