▶ TEAM BUILDING EVENT #2

[synfluxmods]

TEAM BUILDING EVENT #2

CONTENT WARNINGS: forced scenarios, altered mood, illness, disaster aftermath, kidnapping, interrogation & torture, violence.

▶ 001. FLOWER VIEWING.

The Neo Tokyo Meteorological Agency is very excited to report that cherry blossom season has begun, and the cherry blossom (and plum blossom) trees are blooming right on schedule once again. It’s a rare time where the concrete jungle of Neo Tokyo blossoms in beautiful shades of pink and white, and due to past conservation efforts to protect the natural cherry blossom trees, there are natural trees in season all over the city. It’s a sight to behold, and the people are very excited about it, setting up picnic mats and enjoying the beauty of nature with their friends and family. Even with all the distractions of technology, even with the looming knowledge that the next Kaiju could advance at any second, Hanami continues to be a popular custom, still being practiced centuries after the world was first at siege.

Outsiders are free to do as they like during this period. Some of the city still needs to be rebuilt from the recent floods, but stall owners have organized themselves splendidly to capitalize on the season. Traditional foods and snacks to enjoy with your loved ones at Hanami include dango, cherry blossom cookies, sakura mochi, onigiri, and hanami bento sets including sushi rolls, kamaboko and tamagoyaki. Prepare your own, or grab one at the many stalls offering them on their menu. Lots of places are selling sake at half off.

For Outsiders who want to do more than sit at the picnic, they can break up fights between the locals over the best picnic spots (they are very intense about this), or help track when the trees are blooming throughout the city and report directly to the Neo Tokyo Meteorological Agency. They’re happy to pay. If Outsiders choose to report where trees are blooming, they will accept a small form on their ocular devices and encouraged to walk in a pair or group for accuracy when gathering information. The form will include date, location, the kinds of trees blooming and how well they are blooming. (Players are free to head canon any information about this.)

Those who stay too long amongst the flowers might find themselves coming down with an … interesting form of hay fever. Symptoms can include flu-like symptoms, or uncontrollable giggling and elation. Looks like the flood waters from before are affecting the trees in some way.

"Mrrow … The effects will wear off in a few days. I’m a busy cat. Drink water, get plenty of rest. Come back when there’s something to actually worry about. Now, Alex, where did you put my mousey – "

▶ 002. WHITE DAY.

Here in Neo Tokyo, LILITH wants all its Outsiders to be happy and bonded as a team. A team that cannot work together will crumble in the next Kaiju attack. While it’s a great sentiment, the organization is a little too fond of … coercive methods. Just as chocolate was provided last month for Valentine’s Day, Outsiders will be airdropped several boxes of chocolates on March 14th, also known as White Day. A brief is beamed to their implant:

█ █ █ MISSION OBJECTIVE:
✖ Return the chocolate previously handed out to you on Valentines’ Day.
✖ For new Outsiders and Outsiders with leftover boxes, hand them all out to other Outsiders by the end of the day.
✖ Failure to comply will be grounds for disciplinary action.

Just as before, a failure to comply with these requirements will result in Outsiders being saddled with cleaning duty of the cafeteria and communal showers for a week, or a house arrest of 24 hours in their rooms.

As a note, we are leaving it up to players to decide how many boxes they are saddled with and how much they need to do to avoid punishment.

▶ 003. BUDDY UP.

With new Outsiders arriving at the base, LILITH wants them to feel as welcome as possible. Older Outsiders will be tasked to take a newbie under their wing and buddy up with them for a number of days (to a few weeks). The newbie, meanwhile, will be ordered to shadow a more experienced Outsider throughout that whole time to learn as much as possible about life as a LILITH recruit. LILITH expects the oldbies to act as a true senpai, but will ultimately leave it up to them to decide how best to nurture the new arrivals. A Shutterstock image will appear in the implants along with suggestions. Some suggestions provided by the LILITH Outsider Management Committee include:

✖ Giving them a tour of the base and city.
✖ Training sessions in fighting, use of weaponry and use of technology.
✖ Welcome parties and dinners to make them feel included.
✖ Shadowing the older arrival throughout their daily routine.
✖ Heart to heart sharing sessions about their worries and anxieties.
✖ Physical and mental health check ins.
✖ Buddying up with them during upcoming missions, simulation training and even the Kaiju fight.

These team ups will be assigned by LILITH randomly, and one newbie can be buddied up with multiple older recruits (the system might glitch on occasion and pair older Outsiders together too). How long the pair ups last is up to player discretion. Non-compliance on the part of older or newer Outsiders will be punished with increased cleaning duties. LILITH hopes to foster a culture of mutual growth and support within its employees!

As for recruits who have not been getting along, old and new, LILITH has been hearing everything spoken between Outsiders. Some need exercises to get along. Outsiders will be asked one morning to meet in the Simulation Arena and line up in an orderly fashion. Captain Yamakawa will be going down the line, shuffling characters who need to get along together. She will place a small, metal device on their wrists.

With a push of a button, two characters will be linked together by the wrist by a pair of invisible handcuffs. They are asked to spend between 24 - 48 hours together and go about their day, encouraged to talk about their vulnerabilities or things they have in common. This is to encourage them to get along.

✖ Spend a day or two with someone you hate and find a common ground. Good luck!

▶ 004. AID & REBUILD.

LILITH is dedicated to protecting and flourishing the city of Neo Tokyo. That’s why it’s pulled in Outsiders with such a wide array of skill sets. Every Kaiju attack devastates the citizens in some way - whether it’s through physical hurt and pain, emotional grief and stress, or losing a home or livelihood. It doesn’t help that there was panic around animal hybrids being let loose in the city shortly after. That’s why Outsiders will receive a similar objective each time: Rebuild the city of Neo Tokyo. This general objective is broken down into many small missions that Outsiders will receive throughout the month.

█ █ █ ASSORTED MISSIONS:
✖ REBUILD THE CITY. Following the repeated flooding, many apartments and businesses have been destroyed. Outsiders are tasked with helping to rebuild homes and support the local businesses to recover. This can include aiding the construction work (particularly along the beach and near to the coast) and helping out at local shops. Many shops selling specialty Hanami treats are looking for help making their goods. Never made sakura mochi before? Today, you will learn. Outsiders are free to assume that their workplaces were affected and call out for help.
✖ AID THE PEOPLE. Outsiders with skill sets in healthcare or healing (or whoever wishes to help) will be tasked to support the clinics and hospitals manage their patient load. This can include cooking for hospital kitchens, changing linen and caring for the sick and wounded.
✖ CLEAN UP. Exactly as it says on the tin. Clean up any marine waste that’s been washed onto the shore or rubble that’s fallen in the wrong place. Hazmat suits in outrageous colours are provided on request.
✖ CAPTURE REMAINING HYBRIDS. Though most of LILITH’s specimens have been contained, Dr. Spim (who’s been saddled with inventory work) reports that there are some still missing - and this includes their most valuable specimen of all. Outsiders are tasked to go hunting for these hybrids and bringing them back to the base. They may need to scour the streets or look through social media to find them. They may also need to steal a beloved pet, if said pet looks more like a winged rabbit than a regular rabbit. (Outsiders who have smuggled hybrids for themselves should take care not to be found ❤)

▶ 005. LEVEL 000.

Later during the month, some Outsiders will be tasked with a very specific mission. Remember those auctioneers who were captured at The Sapphire Room? They’re currently in the custody of LILITH, and with most of LILITH’s staff focused on organizing and containing the hybrid specimens that have been captured as well, they are far too bogged down to conduct their usual interrogation processes. This is where the Outsiders come in. Some Outsiders will receive a special mission to interrogate the captives and retrieve information by any means necessary. It works out splendidly too, because it shows the organization just what their imported workforce is … morally capable of. Outsiders will be paired up and brought to LEVEL 000, a basement level within the main base that is restricted access only. Did we always have a basement level? Best not to think about it.

A guiding drone will lead them to the cell room and instruct them to keep their eyes forward. There’s no need to look at the other cells around you. There is no one of interest there. Within the cell is one of the captives from the raid, who’s bound to a chair by metal shackles.

█ █ █ MISSION OBJECTIVE:
✖ Extort information from the captive by any means necessary. LILITH requires information about the whereabouts of Dr. Tanaka Junichiro, the organization behind the kidnapping, how they managed to trip up LILITH’s systems, and information about the whereabouts of the remaining hybrids (including their most valuable specimen).
✖ Outsiders are permitted to use any method they see fit, including physical and psychological torture. Weapons of torture such as blades, pliers, tasers, whips and torches are available for use. Outsiders may not take any weapon with them when they leave the cell.

Following the interrogation, they will be escorted out of LEVEL 000 by the guiding drone, and they will not be able to access it again without special clearance. Successful extortion of information will be rewarded with 50,000 KRYPTO debited to their accounts.

NOTE: This mission will be shared with only certain Outsiders, so it is essentially opt-in. Players who want to receive interrogation clues about the Starlight X mini-plot can comment below and receive an RNG clue. We will leave it up to players to NPC their own captives. Most of them are small-time gang members looking to make an extra buck or mercenaries hired to guard the auction. For extra moral panic, there are one or two regular people down on their luck who ran into the wrong crowd. Please note that due to the limited number of captives and the information they may know, players may receive duplicate clues.

UPDATE 3/16: Players will have until the end of March to submit for interrogation clues.

▶ 006. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our second CR Building event! All prompts are highly encouraged but OOCly optional. Feel free to ask any event-related questions below!

As always, you are free to check out our main base and locations page and make up your own prompts!

Please note that all tags in this log will count for 2 reward points each. Have fun! The next log will feature the kaiju fight and will be posted on APRIL 1st in lieu of a TDM.

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Comments

[bruisehaver]

It has a mild flavor — bittersweet, yet not overpoweringly so.

[ She mumbles after finishing her morsel, holding out the other half a bit farther to inspect it. ]

It is almost luscious, in a way. My kin would enjoy something like this in moderation.

[ And with that, she eats the other half of it, too, mission success!! Ryoji is racking up the approval points for getting her to like dark chocolate, too. His staring doesn't bother her — really, she'd prefer it to him looking everyone but at her — but simultaneously, she doesn't pick up on his fishing as a want to give her a gift later on. ]

And yours?

[memors]

[ Duly noted. Dark chocolate is a success! He's glad to hear it; everyone needs a little something they can indulge in every now and again, and food is such an easy way to do that. It's partly why he often offers to take people to dinner on a first date — not that he's thinking he's won his way into a date with Laz'ael. No, not just yet... ]

It's sweet — really sweet...the cherry flavor makes it a little tart, but it balances out the chocolate well. It's a nice combination!

[ He'd probably find something good to say about any of the chocolates in the box, but still! ]

Thanks for sharing with me. You know... [ Ah. Here it comes. ] Back home, if a girl were to share chocolate with me, I wouldn't hesitate to ask her out immediately afterwards.

[ It's a marvel he made it even this long, but will she even understand what he means by "asking out"? ]

ryoji is so cute im crying

[bruisehaver]

[ Fortunately (more like unfortunately???) for Ryoji, she does know what he's referring to when he mentions "asking out." The only problem is, it's making her raise an incredulous brow, her chin jutting out while her fierce gaze bores into him, trying to see how serious he is. ]

Are you asking me to be your lover? Over chocolate? [ She laughs, and the sound is short and cut off. ] I admire your nerve, if nothing else.

[ Because wow, most people who are not also gith usually steer clear of her out of intimidation, which is just the way she likes it. Only the truly bold are even worthy of getting close to her, so it works out. ]

Githyanki do not take lovers. We have playmates, thrill-partners. We prefer carnal pleasure over the "love" humans seem to favor.

he's doing his best

[memors]

[ Unfortunately (or fortunately) Ryoji also doesn't quite parse the difference in meaning between "lovers" and "asking out", so they are really missing each other both ways here. That's the idea after all, isn't it? You go on dates and fall in love, and he has a lot to learn about what kind of partner he wants. If he should want one. It's complicated.

...He doesn't, at least, miss her meaning by "carnal pleasure", though he isn't bashful about the implication, instead sighing and offering a shrug of defeat, shoulders slumping. ]

Fair enough. Of all the reasons I've ever been turned down for, that's one of the gentler ones... [ He has a Lot. ] Instead, would you tell me more about the Githyanki sometime? I'm unfamiliar, and I'd like to be more mindful.

[ Curious as ever, he'd like to learn more. This is also his super secret approach to befriending her, crafty god of death that he is. ]

[bruisehaver]

[ Even that amuses her to a degree — most fear and revile the githyanki across the stars, seeing them as brutal pillagers. Very few among those she's encountered on Toril are interested in the way he seems to be. She smirks, messing with closing the box of treats. ]

I'll consider it. I expect to know more of your kind in return, though. The first thing you should know is that gith do not give away anything freely. [ Somehow, it sounds less threatening than usual. More genuinely: ] And that no matter how much knowledge we amass, we will always seek more.

[ She understands that he is not human... but there's still a lot of gray area to cover. She wouldn't be opposed to swapping some information — actually, she's more willing to do so with him, because he has a small chance of being less of a .... well, lesser than she regards humans. ]

[memors]

[ Given his natural curiosity, the arrangement suits him well enough. He has no trouble talking about himself, after all, and he's not so humble to discount the fact that he's rather unique. Maybe he's the sort of person she'll enjoy learning more about, and he's certain the same will be true for him. ]

Then that makes two of us. I think we both have a lot we can offer each other.

[ Even if she turned him down for a date...this is all he needs to befriend her! The perfect crime. ]

I hope I can surprise you. There's a lot more to me than meets the eye, so in whatever you seek from me, I won't disappoint you.

[ A strange sort of confidence, but confidence nonetheless. ]