synflux | [ open ] birthday time!

A train ride to Akihabara later and you find yourself in LILICO Game Center! To borrow from the Locations page, the Game Center has claw machines, Gachapon machines, arcade games of any sort imaginable, a pachinko parlour, and the shining star of the center: The Immersive VR experience. (Please use responsibly. This is a family-friendly party.)

You can find the party in the Jump for Joysticks arcade section of the game center. There really is every arcade game you can imagine, albeit with different names to prevent fourth wall-breaking: Mrs. P*cman, DDR, M*rio Kart, Str**t Fighter, Skee Ball, Wack-a-Mole, etc. Here's a list if you need it.

Try a new game! Teach someone else how to play! Go nuts!

Is it your birthday, or is your birthday soon? If you or someone else tells Marcille, she will come over to you with a paper sash and crown in various colors. The sash definitely says "Birthday Girl/Boy" or "It's my BIRTHDAY!"

She is giving you the biggest moe eyes and the most hopeful smile ever. You know why she's here.

You can choose to argue with her, or if you opt to wear it, feel free to show it off! Or just have your friends compliment or make fun of you for wearing it.

Edited 2024-04-20 18:23 (UTC)

Off to the side, the arcade staff has agreed to watch over the table nestled against a wall of the arcade. On it sit two cakes, necessary plates and utensils, a line of sodas, and a decorative sign that says Happy Birthday Yor, Bakugo, and Marcille! The cakes are strawberry shortcake and devil's food. If you want different flavors, you'll have to bring them yourself!

Cakes aside, there's also something interesting on the table: a few sheets of piece of paper and a pen snapped onto a clipboard. A small sign next to it states the following:

Please write your name and birthday!

Edited 2024-04-20 18:26 (UTC)

Once the arcade festivities are over and night falls, the party will move over to a nearby restaurant-bar area in Akihabara. Assume it serves the usual Neo Tokyo plates and drinks, although unfortunately not for free! You'll have to foot the bill yourself, or if you're feeling generous, pay for other people's!

Everyone is encouraged to mingle and wind down. Are you comfortable with people knowing about your birthday? Do you think celebrating is appropriate, given the situation? Are you happy to have a distraction? Much to think about!

[ There is a disturbance in the F*rce at the arcade.

Walking down one of the aisles, your foot bumps into a Doraemon plush. Odd. Some careless kid must have dropped it.

As you take a closer look however (whether by stopping down or just by continuing your walk), another plush you comes into sight. SnoreMax. Next to it, some angry mole wearing a hardhat. Dracula's third child, Alacrud. An abomination with soulless eyes, tufts of fur in its ears, and a narrow yellow beak.

These toys are not strewn about haphazardly, no. Following them is akin to traversing a fuzzy, fluffy trail, with increasingly varied prizes stacked in mounds the further you advance. Rulers, coolers, vinyl decals, instant noodles... All laid out like bodies on a windswept battlefield.

And at the end of the path, surrounded by fluorescent lights, you see him. A madman wearing Everlight's colors, stopped in front of a crane game machine.

—No, not just a crane game machine. It's the only machine in the entire sector of the arcade that still has prizes inside.

Tokusatsu figurines, for the record. And they're quickly disappearing, vanishing into the prize chute before tumbling next to Kaito's feet.

A few employees are just kinda standing at the outskirts, expressions varying from astonished to impressed to outright mortified. They all look to you as if you might have a constructive solution for the rampant 'destruction' wrought by this 'force of nature'.

Do you? ]

[ Housewife, mother, assassin, and now...a would-be game master?

See, that'd apply if Yor was attempting any of the other arcade machines, but she's not. Instead, she's going absolutely buck wild at the DDR machine. After a shaky start, she's actually building up a pretty good score!

Now the question is, do you join her in trying to beat her current score on the machine next to hers? Or do you egg her on to see if she can actually make it to ten million points? ]

[ choso has chosen to cheer yor on. how can he not? look at her go, smashing those steps with a force that would probably destroy lesser machines.

superb. ]

Dancing in this era is so violent—! You can do it, Yor.

[ Never in her life would she picture dancing to be this intense! Is this how they dance at those night clubs? She doesn't even know how to ballroom dance!

But she's swift on her feet and her reaction time is superb, so she'll keep at it! Right, left, left, up, right! ]

Right! Right! I'm doing it! I'm doing it!!

[ 250,000 points! ]

[Raidou gives in to Marcille's demands, too polite to fight too hard about it. But now he's standing around at this party even more awkward than he already is at parties. Turns out he likes it better when he's in charge of them, because then he can busy himself with keeping things stocked and clean and avoiding small talk and socialization.

Anyone who approaches him while he's wearing his purple crown and birthday sash will get cut off before they can finish their birthday greeting.]

It's not my birthday.

[Blunt as ever, but still polite.]

--Sorry. It's not for two weeks yet.

Edited 2024-04-20 21:41 (UTC)

[ Arcades make him nostalgic. He can be in an entirely different Japan than the one where Paulownia Mall exists, but if he closes his eyes...it's the same chatter of chiptunes and odor of potato chip-encrusted carpets. Just like home!

He's developed a love of video games despite having not played very many. At present, he is approaching one of those full-body, immersive arcade games advertised as Crypt of the Undead. There's a sign outside the machine painted with bloodlike lettering: "enter if you DARE!" ]

This sounds serious.

[ Waving any passersby down!! ]

Want to give it a try? It can't be as scary as it sounds. [ Probably. ]

[ He couldn't decide between the two cake flavors, so instead he has two small-sized pieces, one from each. Hopefully these suit everyone's preferences, but if not, he will absolutely book it to the nearest bakery to get what they want! Even if it's not their birthday party. It's fine.

Anyway, he's filling out the survey, dutifully writing down his name...but hesitates before putting down his birthdate. ]

Oh, right. I should decide on that...

[ How do you pick a day to celebrate yourself? ]

[ funny enough

that is exactly what malkuth's trouble is too, drumming her fingers on the table in thought. she knows... the month, but not the day. would it matter any? should she pick one that she had a lot of fun on? to make it memorable...? but ryoji has it worse, she thinks, being the personification of death.

... as unbelievable as it might be just looking at him right now. malkuth nudges him with her shoulder. ]

Don't think too hard about it. Do you have a favorite month? One that means something to you? That's... sort of how I'm going about it myself, I think, since I only remember half my birthday.

[ -- oh. malkuth's mouth claps shut, but she grins despite the (polite) bluntness and picks at raidou's sash. wow. thank goodness hers has already passed month wise, this looks soooooo embarrassing. ]

So you're a May baby, huh? At least I'll have time to get you a gift now. Mine's already past by. Got any plans, Kuzu?

[ mm. her favorite part of celebrations... food and drink, though malkuth is being So Careful not to drink alcohol tonight. it's one thing to do it on a date with someone, it's another thing to do it in front of so many!

...

well, one cocktail can't hurt. it's such a pretty rainbow color too, malkuth humming happily as she kicks her feet. oh, right-- she'd slipped away to bring her camera back from her room, and she takes a picture of it before turning the viewfinder around on the people mingling in the post-celebration. hm, hm...! ]

Wanna take a picture? We oughta remember the good times we're working to protect!

[ and she'd like to add to her photo album, too. be it single shots, couples, selfies... malkuth's really down for anything.

and she might be taking some sneaky shots too anyway. trying her best not to be caught. she's gonna be caught. ]

[ he just came for the cakes, so after helping himself to two slices, gojo's just gonna float cross-legged in the air near the refreshment table.

nothing like strawberry shortcake and devil's food to lift the spirits. does he know who any of the birthday girls/boys are? not really, but considering it was an open invite, it shouldn't matter what reason he has for being here. right?

anyway, feel free to ignore him. he's just munching away and enjoying his dessert — very possibly upside down and gliding past overhead.

oh, but if you don't want your slice, don't mind if he reaches down and takes it off your hands~ ]

[ imagine trying to pick out your own birthday (says guy who picked out his own birthday)

Here he is, also with a slice of strawberry shortcake on a plate, peering at the clipboard and most definitely not making any overtures towards writing his own birthday down. Maybe if he gets bullied into it later.... ]

Don't remember your birthday? [ Well, harbingers of mankind's doom probably don't come with birthdays preloaded, huh? ] What about the [ .... ] person you were with? Did they have a birthday?

[ He neither makes an effort to get closer for said picture nor answers in any sort of affirmative. Actually, he's staying a nice ten feet away, thanks, nursing a glass of amber liquid in his hands (it's sparkling apple cider). ]

Spending so much time around March really rubbed off on you, I see.

[ Stay back, camera devil. ]

[ fool that you are. watch as her camera lens starts to protrude out. ]

She introduced me to it our first day, actually... I spent almost every Krypto we got as our starting stipend on this thing.

[ a squeeze, and she lowers the camera to look at her shot. hmmmmmm. a little shaky. raising it again, but this time she's trying to get an artsy shot of his drink instead. ]

I dunno. Marmar's really charming and friendly, I kinda got swept up by her when we first met and I've been caught in her current ever since.

[ makes the sign of the cross (jk)

He will, however, take a protective step back. Perhaps he is even mentally calculating how far the exit is, who can say. ]

She has that effect on people. [ Y'all extroverts, man.... ] It's not a bad thing though. You seem to be enjoying yourself at least, both with this and all your other hobbies.

I've only got this life to live, hopefully! So I just wanna make sure I try everything I can until I can't.

[ ...

he's really backing away... fine, she'll set her camera down and sip at her drink. ]

I promise no pictures, so come sit down. I'd appreciate your company.

1. PACHINKO & CAKE.

_{[ A. There's nothing like coming back from a bad end canon update and wasting any remaining cash leftover on pachinko. Coincidentally, this is when there is some kind of celebratory event going on. He didn't regard the text message that went out, really, because every received message has gone ignored over the past few days. Dull, half lidded eyes watch the dazzling lights from the pachinko machine, taunting him even when he finds just the right pressure on the knob to send the pinball flying close to the target hole. The flashing slots appear, but exactly with his luck, they never hit anything. Perhaps you're standing by and are trying to grasp the concept of pachinko, or maybe you get some sadistic joy out of watching this depressed guy lose over and over. That's just his life, apparently.

B. Not long after this, though, he does catch the whiff of something sweet and free, so he'll make his way over towards where he finds it, along with a sign. Happy Birthday whoever, whoever and .. Yor? It was her birthday recently? Aren't you supposed to do something about that? Well, he can't get too involved with that right now, there's a slice of cake sitting on the table waiting for him and he's gonna take it (though, it's probably someone else's... yours, maybe? ]}

2. GAMES.

_{[ Toji never had an interest in playing the crane machines, but how hard can it be, right? This is, what he thinks, will be a cheap way to get some sort of last minute present. He makes his way over to a frilly, pink and cute UFO machine and dispenses credits. Every item in this particular machine is this toy, so surely he can get at least one, right? As crane games are rigged along with his shitty luck, he plays this game for a long amount of time, gradually losing his patience. Though, Toji can't help but feel some satisfaction in playing as it is similar to gambling. He's at his limit, though, and clunks his head against the machine, banging one fist on the glass in defeat, not realizing he's caused a crack in it from the impact of his fist. Please, admire this huge, intimidating man and his defeat against the shiba inu toy. ]}

3. DILEMMA. _{( Closed to Megumi & Yor. )}

_{[ One way or another, he's ended up with the toy (probably by cheating, somehow) and he makes his way to try and find the person who will be the recipient. Toji has caught glance of her nearby, playing a round at the DDR machine, and awkwardly just kind of.. stands off to the side. Distracted, he doesn't realize he's bumped into somebody else until it's too late.

When he glances down at who it is, it happens to be Megumi, and Toji doesn't also realize the situation he's about to be in, standing with this shiba inu toy where his son can see. ]}

What.

[ It's called self-preservation, thanks. His gaze travels to her camera, the chair next to her, and the back to the loose crowd hanging around the bar area, and it's a good ten seconds before he finally relents and heads on over. ]

I'm surprised you're not already in the company of someone else, actually.

[ C'mon man this is just sad. A grown man who can't win a crane game? He's embarrassing her and she's literally only here to improve her Bubble Bobble score. And bring something for Raidou since his birthday is Soon Enough, but that's not important. ]

You uh...you gonna be okay there?

[ Maybe if she gets him to try the game again, she can covertly knock one of those plushes into the drop square so he'll stop being such a mess. ]

[ it's a CAMERA it won't suck out your soul. ]

Because I'm so forwardly friendly?

[ The implants are already sucking out his soul by simply existing and flashing ads at him every six minutes. But hey, he is taking that seat and setting his glass on the counter. He'll stay put for the next fifteen minutes at least. ]

Something like that.

[ Whatever's going on between her and Verg is honestly none of his business. ]

Thanks for the bear, by the way. What made you decide on that particular animal?

[ open ] birthday time!

LILICO GAME CENTER.

BIRTHDAYS.

CAKE AND A SURVEY.

THE AFTERPARTY.

kaito nagano / original

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toji fushiguro | jujutsu kaisen | brimstone

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