❝ 油屋. in the service of the bathhouse witch

[shiki,]

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─── ＯＦ ＴＨＥ ＳＰＩＲＩＴ ＷＯＲＬＤ ❞

the bathhouse of the spirit
world. a myth, supposedly,
that mothers tell their child
ren to keep them from wan
ndering off. don't stray too
far, or the bathhouse witch
will get you! they singsong.
it's a well-known tale: a be
autiful bathhouse where sp
irits and gods can bathe an
d relax, run by a greedy wi
tch who captures humans a
nd forces them to do grueli
ng work. of course, most p
eople just scoff at the whol
e idea--it's nothing more t
han a foolish old wive's tale.

but, of course, it is. over th
e course of the last several
months, a total of six boys
and girls have vanished fro
m japan as if spirited away
by some unknown force. th
eir families and the police s
crambled to find them--to
no avail, of course--for wh
at they didn't know was tha
t these boys and girls had b
been taken by the very bath
house witch their mothers u
sed to warn them about, an
d when it came to the bath
house witch of the spirit re
alm, there was no escaping.

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┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
based on hayao miyazaki's film spirited away.
you don't need to have seen the movie to join,
though i totally recommend watching it since
all of miyazaki's movies are 10/10 a+ amazing

❝ intro. rules. setting. characters. + information.
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[shiki,]

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隠
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─── ＯＦ ＴＨＥ ＳＰＩＲＩＴ ＷＯＲＬＤ ❞

i. follow the site/general
roleplaying rules, i.e. only
one image per form, etc.

iii. around 400 words per
post is required, but more
is always encouraged ofc

v. as a roleplay based on a
japanese animated movie,
anime style fc's are a must

vii. disable signatures on
this thread and optionally
on the discussion thread.

ii. pm me all reservations.
limited character slots, so
one character per person.

iv. pretty forms and coding
with effort put into them
would be v great (◡‿◡✿)

vi. please post all forms
and ooc chatter on the
> [ discussion thread ]

viii. please remember
that, as the owner, i have
every right to decline you.

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wait until i've finished to send in reservations c:

❝ intro. rules. setting. characters. + information.
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[shiki,]

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─────────── ＡＫＡ; ＴＨＥ ＢＡＴＨＨＯＵＳＥ ❞

x. the bathhouse (油屋, or aburaya) is located in the spirit world. there are two ways
for a human to access it: by being taken there by the bathhouse witch, or by stumbl
ing upon the the realm by accident. once inside the realm, the bathhouse extends o
ut from the mainland as its own island, and can be reached by crossing a bridge.
x. the bathhouse opens at dusk and is most active at night. it is extremely popular
and is visited nightly by a wide variety of gods and spirits. though the myth indicate
s that there are many humans working there, the workers are actually all spirits.
x. the ground level of the bathhouse is dedicated entirely to customer-use tubs and
the kitchen, while the second floor is dedicated to dining rooms for customers. the
other floors include rooms for customers to stay in and quarters for the workers, an
d the very top floor is owned by the bathhouse witch. there are internal elevators g
oing both ways through the bathhouse that can be operated by the pull of a lever.
x. below ground level is the boiler room, which can't be reached through the elevat
ors and instead must be accessed via a rickety set of stairs on the side of the exteri
or of the bathhouse. the old 'boiler man' spirit works the furnace there and sends he
rbal water up to the baths. though moody, he's offered the most help to the humans.
x. work in the bathhouse includes cleaning the tubs (some of which are notoriously
dirty) or the floors, cooking in the kitchen, assisting the bathhouse witch or the boil
er man, and a variety of other miscellaneous jobs. other workers detest humans an
d are hostile towards the boys and girls that the bathhouse witch brought.

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❝ intro. rules. setting. characters. additional information.
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[shiki,]

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❝ intro. rules. setting.
characters. + info.
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人
間
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── ＴＨＥ ＨＵＭＡＮＳ！ ❞ ────────────────────

human 3.
koki / ♂ / tono
[ sulky, reclusive, clever. ]
extremely attached to technol
ogy in the human world, he's s
uffered from the loss of it.

human 6.
eriko / ♀ / shiki
[ distant, wry, unfocused. ]
another one of the rarer cases
that accidentally wandered int
o the spirit world on her own.

human 1.
katashi / ♂ / kreacher
[ reckless, rude, resolute. ]
the first boy to be whisked aw
ay by the witch, he's something
of a leader figure to the others.

human 4.
akira / ♀ / crasher
[ charming, loyal, jealous. ]
she was incredibly popular and h
appy back in the human realm, b
ut here she has close to nothing.

human 2.
chie / ♀ / ari
[ energetic, crass, friendly. ]
the only one that views the spirit
realm as an exciting place to expl
ore instead of a prison to escape.

human 5.
kai / ♂ / koda
[ amiable, skeptical, boyish. ]
one of the few that stumbled up
on the bathhouse instead of bei
ng taken there by the witch.

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怪
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────────────────── ＴＨＥ ＳＰＩＲＩＴＳ！ ❞ ──

mouse spirit.
nezumi / ♂ / budgie
[ skittish, tidy, insincere. ]
caught trying to steal food fro
m the bathhouse, he's been w
orking there ever since.

forest spirit.
moriko / ♀ / aurie
[ particular, gentle, bashful. ]
is in debt with the witch after
mistaking itchy herbs for scente
d herbs and giving them to her.

river spirit.
kaze / ♂ / avanhellica
[ realistic, calm, narrow. ]
the witch bound him to her bath
house as a worker in return for r
emoving pollution from his river.

bird spirit.
kodama / ♀ / anraee
[ doubtful, stoic, attached ]
she loved a human once, but h
e faded away, and the witch fou
nd her weeping by the bridge.

phoenix spirit.
akane / ♀ / darlinglady
[ elegant, cold, deceptive. ]
she has a partnership with the w
itch and works as a second in co
mmand around the bathhouse.

dragon spirit.
okinami / ♂ / aya
[ sage, proud, enigmatic. ]
the bathhouse witch's henchman,
little is known what the powerful
spirit gains from this bargain.

[shiki,]

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────────── ＩＮＦＯ. ＯＦ ＴＨＥ ＳＰＩＲＩＴ ＷＯＲＬＤ ❞

so i'll get this formatted and done and everything later, but for now
here's some basic stuff

- though they do have an original form (i.e. a mouse or a dragon), the
spirits all take on human or human-esque forms in the bathhouse

- there's a one-way train running across the water under the
bathhouse that goes to a total of six stops. tickets are incredibly hard
to obtain, though the train doesn't really hold any worth to humans,
since it won't take them out of the spirit world.

- humans do start to fade if they spend too long in the spirit
realm, but eating spirit food quickly solves the problem. (the reason
why the human the bird spirit loved faded was that he was too dist-
rustful to eat the food or accept help from her).

- more stuff will go here but until then feel free to send me as many
pms as you want with questions, since i probs didn't explain a lot of
things very well lol.

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❝ intro. rules. setting. characters. additional information.
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[shiki,]

x. after being accepted, post forms on the disc. thread!

[shiki,]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx━ ❝. ＥＲＩＫＯ！ ━━━━━
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx[ slot human six ] [ location roof, bathhouse ] [ job messenger ] [ tagged kai, koki ]

xxxxxxthere were a few things that eriko had learned early on about the bathhouse: one, there were other humans there besides her and kai, two, that you should never cross the red-haired spirit or the whatever-sama if you could help it, three, the boiler man and the clumsy spirit with flowers in her hair would help you but not really anyone else, and four, the roof was the quietest place you could find.

xxxxxxshe also learned early on that the roof wasn't a place you were really supposed to go to, but sometimes she had to escape the busy (colorful) hustle and bustle of the bathhouse. of course, right now in the early morning was far better than at night, the bathhouse still closed and the surrounding area enveloped in a calm silence. and later in the daytime there were still spirits to sneer at her and witches to avoid and messages to deliver, so she learned to savor these early hours of the morning before the realm had woken up. it meant getting up early and less sleep, but it was worth it for a few minutes up on the roof with nothing but the wind and fog and endless blue of the water for company.

xxxxxxshe was starting to get poetic, eriko thought dryly. maybe the spirit realm did that to a person. or maybe it was being alone all the time.

xxxxxxnot that she was alone at all in the spirit world, mind you. besides the, y'know, spirits, there was still kai and the other humans. she was lucky, she reflected, to have ended up here with a friend - really her only friend ever, in fact. she had one or two acquaintances back in the human realm but they hadn't stuck around, and they were all insignificant enough to have started to blur around the edges in her memory, seeping through the cracks into nothingness. but besides that, most of her memory was thankfully intact, kai still the clearest part, enough so that she knew she didn't want to go back. there was nothing to go back to, just an empty apartment and a father who couldn't care less. the other thing that would've made her want to return was kai, but, well, he was here.

xxxxxxbesides him, the other humans at the bathhouse were a comfort of home, of course, but she didn't hold too much interest in getting to know all of them. eriko'd never been a sociable creature and now wasn't an exception - not to mention the fact that they were all separated throughout the bathhouse and constantly busy with their jobs. the spirits and humans looked rather similar in all honesty, seeing as the spirits took on human-esque forms, but the shy one with flowers in her hair had pointed all the humans out to eriko when she'd first showed her around. there was an even ratio of girls and boys, though so far she hadn't really spoken to the other girls. one of them was extremely loud and energetic and eriko had mostly avoided her, while the other she didn't really know anything about.

xxxxxxshe had found a friend in old man koki aka cooking mama-senpai, who worked down in the kitchens with another boy (he was only a year older but sometimes told the kinds of jokes only her grandpa would tell). one of the things about the humans she'd learned early on was to not get in the way of his and the other boy, katashi's, bizarre cooking competitions, which, while pretty dumb, usually just made the food even better, so no one really complained.

xxxxxxabruptly, a sharp gust of wind swept over the roof and eriko hunched her shoulders, sinking deeper into the soft fabric of her hoodie. like everyone else, she'd been given a loose bathhouse uniform for work but nothing thick (probably because they weren't expecting her to climb up here at ass-o'clock when it was still cold) so she'd taken to pulling her old hoodie from the human world over it. the smell of her room and closet still stubbornly clung to it even after over two weeks in the spirit realm, and she wasn't sure if she should feel happy about that or not.

xxxxxxspeaking of work... the sun was starting to usher the fog away, and eriko would have to go down soon unless she wanted a lecture from one of the spirit higher-ups. or, even worse, caught by the red-haired lady or oki blah-sama. so with a tiny sigh she rose, balancing carefully on the green roof shingles under her bare feet and wondering offhandedly if she would get any more love confession messages to send today.

xxxxxxwell, it didn't really matter. it was time to work.

[anraee]

"soulmates? a human's fairytale, my dear."
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"飛翔 いたら　戻らないと言って
Vowing never to return once I have taken flight,
目指したのは　蒼い　蒼い　あの空
what I aim for is that blue cerulean sky."

Her breathing shallow, the spirit's fingers drew over the white strings in an elegant manner. Poised posture, closed eyes-- she was the embodiment of grace. But what good was perfection when broken into millions of pieces? When it couldn't get the one thing that mattered most?

"“悲しみ”はまだ覚えられず　”切なさ”は今つかみはじめた
Having yet to remember "grief", I have begun to understand "agony".
あなたへと抱く　この感情も　今”言葉”に変わっていく
The feelings I hold towards you are now starting to change into "words"."

She was the spirit who had loved too much, who was likely no longer capable of loving more-- all the other spirits knew that. Some even remember the day she first entered the bathhouse alongside the worlds "love is simply a myth," spilling from the lips of the witch. Maybe she was right, maybe she wasn't-- but Kodama knew that those feelings she experienced were real. They were vibrant, lovely, warm. But as far as she knew, humans didn't care for that.

"未知なる世界の　遊迷(ゆめ)から目覚めて
As I awaken from my wandering in this unknown world's dreams,
この羽根を広げ　飛び立つ
I spread my wings, and take off into the sky. "

The last high note rung out, and the entertainer's hands fell to her lap, harp alongside them. She was greeted from her thoughts by silence and reality-- her bitter friends.
She remained still for a while longer, but soon arose and began her way down the many hallways of the bathhouse, heading who knew where. The roof, perhaps, or even the kitchen. Maybe to the worker's quarters, or to find her friend Mori. She might even practice some more, but it didn't matter. Time wasn't one of her worries; there was no rush.
Layers of fabric trailed after her, a gown lined with floral patterns and shades of red, white, brown, gold, and black. She was to look no less with a job solely meant for entertaining the customers.

There had been a recent flux of humans into the spirit world. She didn't like it; she could feel their presence and the least thing she wanted was to reminisce of her past encounter with a human even more. One had taken a liking to her common spot on the roof, and two others were even about the kitchen preparing food for others to eat-- which, she hadn't dared to taste once since either of their arrivals. She was fine with a simple diet of berries, bread, and milk, and knew just where to find those three things before they even entered the cooking areas.

But nonetheless, even if she could avoid them, the truth bit away at the edge of her thoughts-- they didn't belong here. Why didn't they run away? Escape at any moment they could? Why couldn't they wake up and see the danger surrounding them? They were foolish, inconsiderate, and were only bound to bring trouble... on both themselves and the spirits. If no one else would do anything about it, she would have to try to find her own ways to get them to see the truth. Or, rather, get them to want to leave.
Surely, that would not be such an easy task.
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location ;; wandering (open for conversing or random encounters cx)
job ;; entertainer
tagged ;; xxxxxxx

[white deer]

龍 Ｋ Ａ Ｉ
tagged eriko where waiting for eriko at the stairs
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any normal human would likely have been driven crazy by something like this - seemingly trapped in a chaotic, overstimulating bathhouse, set to work every day for the rest of your life. or, would he die in the spirit world? kai had many questions, but it seemed like nobody could answer them. the first thing he'd learned upon arrival was that spirits didn't like humans. here, people were the bottom of the food chain; the ones who worked the hardest for the least... but it could be worse. ah, the thing he could remember clearest was when eriko and himself had first arrived here two weeks ago and the witch threatened to turn her into a frog and him a rabbit. everything seemed so much simpler then, yet all the more terrifying than it was now. not to say this world was terrifying, necessarily, but there was something about it that struck kai with fear. maybe it was all the spirits of any shape, size and color, some were small and stout and others towered over him like buildings. maybe it was the evil witch and her equally as frightening henchmen. the lady with the red hair was the scariest of all... from the moment kai showed up, he knew not to cross her. the other - he'd heard he was a dragon spirit of sorts - seemed somewhat less terrifying... well, he was still intimidating, but he didn't seem to hate kai nearly as much as the redheaded woman hated kai. he was starting to wonder if she just hated everyone.

but mostly, he figured the thing that scared him about the spirit world was he had a hard time thinking of the human one. he could remember he had siblings. he could remember eriko (was her name eriko?) and he could remember that his life wasn't the best it could've been... but he couldn't remember his name. the most vivid part of his memory was in fact eriko, his only real friend in this place. he could trust her, that much the human knew and it brought some sort of comfort to him with all the chaos. he'd tried so hard to bring his name back to memory. hell, even eriko tried but it seemed all in vain because nothing clicked. it was worrisome, but for some reason kai didn't have much of a desire to leave. something about the human world seemed... dark now. he wondered if like his memory of humans faded here, the memory of spirits faded there. he was sure he wouldn't miss it if he never knew he was here, but...

too much to think about. sighing softly, he sat up from his spot on the floor, glancing to where eriko usually laid beside him. she must have awoken at some point and left without getting him up. he knew that eriko liked her time alone, and the roof was one of the only quiet places in the bathhouse. kai was somewhat cautious about it, he knew they'd get in a heap of trouble if discovered but he enjoyed the few moments of peace as well before the normal hustle and bustle. nevertheless, kai stretched and rubbed his eyes as he stood, grabbing his folded up work shirt and slipping it on. it was slightly big on him, but he figured he'd get taller or fatter at some point and so it was logical that he be given a bigger size.

after the short few things he needed to do to get ready, he stepped around the pillows of the girls who were getting themselves up and awake. most disliked him because he was a human, but some were tolerant of humans in the premises. anyway, their smell hd faded by now and they might as well have been a spirit. kai was hardworking and obedient. the only time his jobs weren't done correctly were when he got distracted by eriko. but both usually made excuses for one another.

kai made his way down the hall and weaved through the other employees that were just now heading to their respectful locations. it wasn't too far of a walk to the staircase which, though somewhat concealed, was in an overall obvious place. he stood waiting by the door, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the cool wall. he would wait for eriko, if only to get a small conversation in before they got assignments for the day. eriko traveled messages around the bathhouse, something kai wished he could do because of how fun it seemed. he usually tagged along even if it got him in trouble. kai? he was given whatever work the frogs didn't want to do because it was too hard. cleaning tubs, taking care of problemstic customers, or (occasionally) going down to kooki-senpai so he could bring special orders up to customers. vaguely, he wondered if koki or katashi would let them wath while they had their daily argument about who cooked the best and which of them was the better chef. if he and eriko were lucky, they got to eat the result of their childish competitions - which the boy didn't mind at all.

[Ayashi]

--[ Ｏ-ｋ-ｉ-ｎ-ａ-ｍ-ｉ---Ｓ-ａ-ｍ-ａ]--
沖波-----.-----様
\_____/
(.'_'.)
\. ./

--Job | Henchman--Tag(s) | [x]
--Worshipers | ..I'm working on it!
--Currently | Practicing/Heading back to the Bath house

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A blood red spear was thrust into the air, the gleaming metal tip dancing in the sun's bright light. Callous fingers grasp the wooden handle, tightening and relaxing as he pulled back and thursted and then jinxed to the right, angling his body as if he was blocking an imaginary foe, one knee bent while the other angled along with his back. His wooden shoes dug into the dry soil, kicking up a small trail of dust in it's wake.

Pausing for a briefly moment, Okinami then surged forward, going on the offensive. His short bangs danced in front of his blazing green eyes as he jabbed at his 'foe'. The metal whistled as it slashed the air. Every jab seem to become more powerful, creating a small wake of wind that would twist around the blade, making it howl. With each third jab he turned his spear to defend, pulling it broad side so that the thick wood was exposed to shield from enemy attack, before going on the attack one more. This continued for fifteen minutes.

Every five minutes Okinami would preform a back flip to gain 'distance'. Once the correct distance was achieved, the dragon would then charge with a yell, narrowing his eyes in concentration. As the sun slowly rose Okinami began to decrease his movement, swinging his weapon with high arches and low sweeps, practicing more foot work than attack speed. As the fog faded, Okinami finally stopped his daily ritual. Slamming the wooden end of his dual head spear, the spirit slowly inhaled though his nose, before exhaling though his mouth, his chest rising and falling with the movement.

"Well, that was a good work out." Okinami said at last, giving a soft smile as he slowly open his forest green eyes. His short bangs danced lightly in the wind from the north, tickling his forehead. Closing his eyes once more, he simply enjoying the sounds around him. The wind from the sea. The distant tree tops dancing in the invisible force. The birds flying above, singing softly as they flew. Turning his face upwards, he silently enjoyed the rays of warmth from the sun.

Opening his eyes once more, he stared longing into the blue, blue, sky. "Looks like a nice day..." He muttered, blinking as he gazed up at the atmosphere. How long had it been since he had transformed and flew? When had he simply flew out of here, just for the hell of it? When? Hmm, you know, he could not even remember.

"Tch!" Okinami clicked his tongue, narrowing his eyes at the lost thought. "Now I'm starting to sound like those human who have gotten their names stolen. How lame..a soon to be god like myself should remember such trial matters like yesterday's gossip." He muttered, turning his back to the sky. Shouldering his weapon, Okinami began to make his way slowly back to the Bath house, leaving his secret practice ground not just twenty feet from the shore. Even from here, his keen hearing picked up the sounds of pounding feet, paper doors opening and closing, and he could even smell a faint trace of smoke from the long iron pipe from the back.

"Guess the old man is getting started early today. Or is it the little forest spirit mixing herbs again? I hope she does not set fire to the boiler room again. That sucked. It took forever to get that soot out of my hakama" Whining under his breath, the great dragon reluctantly stepped onto the stone path leading to the bath, the spear creaking and snapping against his shoulder with each step. Just another day in paradise. But it would be all worth it in the end. After all, godhood was eternal.