TRAVEL LOG #1

[synfluxmods]

TRAVEL LOG #1

CONTENT WARNINGS: potential mentions of drugs, suspected mind-control, alcohol, and gambling, gore.

▶ 001. A RUDE AWAKENING.

On the morning of the 15th, the Outsiders will hear an alarm sound in the early hours. No matter what you’re doing, the alarm will not stop sounding, and it’s because they’re playing directly into your oculars. If one is sleeping, they may even be roused by the spark of colors on their oculars dictating an emergency. After a few minutes of this, the following message will appear:

PLEASE REPORT TO THE DATAPORTAL AT THE TOKYO BRANCH AND BE PREPARED FOR DEPARTURE.

"Captain Yamakawa speaking. You’ve done a great job in testing the data portals. Now that we are able to travel, we were sent a call for help in another city due to lack of personnel and resources abroad. You will be looking for evidence of a new kaiju around the rendezvous point. It may be a difficult journey, so prepare yourself. SYNTHIA will still be online to help you make it to the city. Report to the POD CHAMBER where we have installed an international dataportal and prepare for transportation."

Following the success of the dataportal testing, the engineering department was able to fine tune its abilities and widen the reach of the portals. The portals can connect even abroad now!

Despite their best efforts, however, they cannot guarantee that the same symptoms won’t appear, and ask all Outsiders who are utilizing them to practice caution. Additionally, through all their testing, they found that people who hold hands or make contact with others as they pass through will be hit with less issues.

▶ 002. WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS.

When one passes through the data portal, they will see the refuge city of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Similar to Neo Tokyo, it is also rich in life and known as the city that never sleeps. Incidentally, it is also famously noted as a place of endless vice. The city is built up around a strip of land of roughly 4.2 miles. A vast majority of the city was built up over the wreckage of the old, and some fixtures were simply made new with whatever was left preexisting. The Mojave Desert has expanded towards surrounding cities, though it will take a vehicle to get there in a timely manner.

The city has no shortage of hotels and with each hotel, a casino. While Outsiders here are on a mission, there’s no stating they couldn’t participate in the fun of Vegas while LILITH crew begin their investigation. While some hotels will be clearly abandoned or less traversed, there is no end to all card tables and slot machines, all asking for your KRYPTOS.

The hotel the Outsiders are slotted to stay over the course of the next few days is one where they built directly over the hotels of the old. While it offers a decent place to sleep, it’s not without a refurbished pirate themed bed, or the columns of what appears to have been from Caesars Palace. Is that a giant clown face staring at you in the room? Don’t worry about it. The hotel offers that this is the best place to depart into the desert from. For this mission, Outsiders may bunk up with whoever they would like, and each hotel provides two queen sized beds.

Excited to venture out into the city? Even under the threat of kaiju, the city doesn’t sleep. Outsiders may venture through the Las Vegas Strip and treat themselves to a fun night of drinking, gambling, shopping, partying and circle-style performances. The Grand Canal Shoppes, a Venetian-inspired high end mall, boasts a man-made canal with gondola rides for a fee, along with many retail outlets and restaurants. There are also numerous spas and carnival-style rides to enjoy. Las Vegas was once known as the ‘Marriage Capital of the World’, and in a world besieged by kaiju, the people don’t seem to think they have anything to lose. Outsiders may spot a few bride and grooms-to-be partying in the street.

(LILITH does not have a stance on whether or not Outsiders are permitted to get hitched as long as it does not affect their performance. )

▶ 003. TROUBLE BREWING.

It’s normal for fights to break out with so much alcohol being passed around, but something … isn’t quite right with some of the locals here. Outsiders who keep an eye open might notice people acting erratically, and not just from being intoxicated. There are people ready to pick a fight from just being looked at, people falling into despondent sadness and lethargy, people wandering mindlessly and people becoming distressed from seeing things that aren’t there. Ask the locals and they will tell you these cases seem to be popping up more often the past week.

The most concerning of all are the stories of people disappearing completely. One little girl will tell you she cried as she saw her mother mindlessly walk into the desert, as if called by a voice no one else can hear. There are many other accounts of this happening. In fact, all the people acting erratically seem to disappear within a few days …

Outsiders may interact with civilians who are acting erratic and aggressive, but asking questions they may receive answers that do not make sense, are perverse and inappropriate or may trigger aggression. Any Outsider to gets into a fight and is severely injured may report to a local hospital here and will find they are pretty packed with other civilians acting strange, hurting each other and themselves. Certainly, this was the main cause for concern that got LILITH's attention anyway.

▶ 004. FOUR FOR THE ROAD.

Within a day or two, the Outsiders will once again be called to action by a blaring notice in their implant.

YOUR VEHICLES ARE PREPARED. ASSEMBLE OUTSIDE THE CITY IMMEDIATELY.

When they gather at the location provided to them, they will find a fleet of armored campervans waiting for them. Each campervan comes equipped with beds, a kitchenette, and bathroom facilities, and will fit about 4 people. Within the campervans, they will find desert-appropriate attire designed to protect them from the scorching sun. These campervans also come with some basic artillery such as a mounted machine gun. There are also supplies in the form of water bottles and MRE ration packs.

Those who have driven large vehicles in the past are encouraged to take the driver’s seat. If the group does not have any driving experience, they will be given a crash course on driving recorded by the man himself, Seok Dang. (He probably shouldn’t be doing this with the stunts he’s pulled, but the Commander does not have any time to be teaching anyone driving, and Seok Dang volunteered so eagerly…)

"Listen. If you’ve ever handled a ▄▄ before, the joystick is exactly like that. You gotta tug it, but not too hard. Gently, yeah, like that, that’s the path to ecstasy … "

If it eases anyone’s worries, the campervans are armored and highly shock resistant, so they should withstand a crash or two.

(Those who finish his course and successfully drive 100km while supervised will receive an international driving license.)

▶ 005. THE HUNT IS ON.

With everyone settled into their campervan, the large scale road trip begins. LILITH has a general idea of where the biggest energy signal is located for the rift and they will feed the coordinates to the Outsiders. The journey will take about a few days into (and around as LILITH is searching for both people & the source of the rift energy) the Mojave Desert, and Outsiders will be permitted occasional rest stops to give drivers a break and to investigate the terrain. The terrain itself is a harsh desert, with cacti and small local fauna abundant. (Those not wanting to eat ration packs can take this time to hunt the local fauna such as birds, lizards and desert foxes.) While there is nothing else around, observant Outsiders may notice signs of human life - footprints in the sand, a shoe or torn piece of clothing being left behind, and even the odd human carcass being torn apart by vultures.

The logical conclusion would be that those missing humans have been here, and the only thing left to do is find them … but Outsiders and civilians aren't all that lurk here, and time will tell what lies beneath the desert surface ...

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our very first travel log! Each campervan will accommodate anywhere between 3-5 people, with 4 being the ideal and 5 being a squeeze. Players are encouraged to connect with each other to fill up a van but the mods will not be enforcing it. If you need help finding roommates, there is a FIND A ROOMMATE header below that you can make use of.

If you'd like to test your gambling luck, we also have an IC SLOTS HEADER for you to comment to for you to see how well your character does at the slot machines. This is entirely for fun, and of course you are always welcome to have your characters winning or losing at the slot machines as much as you want in your prompts so long as they aren't winning jackpots.

Following this log, all characters who have purchased style upgrades will receive an update to their chip enabling them access to desert attire and popular styles within Las Vegas.

All tags on this log are worth 2 points.

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Comments

[busternaut]

[Dearka is similarly awestruck, the squeeze of the arm around Yzak's neck ceasing... But he doesn't stare at the city lights for quite as long as his partner does. Instead, he sneaks a peek at Yzak's face, eyes flicking to the side to observe him sidelong without giving away the game by turning his head.

Little moments like this, where Yzak lets his guard down long enough to react to something positively in such an open and sincere way, are a rare treat. Dearka tries to savor them whenever he can... And they never fail to bring a smile to his lips.

He can't overindulge though, lest he spoil the moment. So he lets his arm slip from Yzak's shoulders and whistles like he's looking at an impressive car, straightening up and planting both hands on his hips.]

Damn. You think the one in our world ever looked like this?

[coordination]

[ Finally he's free, and with Dearka unlatching himself from around his neck, Yzak straightens up his posture and brings a hand up to fix his mussed up collar. He still wants to look presentable even in a brand new place he's going to be seeing a ton of new faces in - even if those faces are going to be fleeting because they've got to focus on their mission.

As if by reflex, he looks up to the sky - barely any stars due to the light pollution, and no PLANT to be seen even faintly in it. ]

Even if it's never reached this level of absurdity, it's still the brightest area you can see from home. [ Local nerd who claims to not care THAT much about the Earth still knows a whole lot about it. (the knowledge-seeking part of him is so grateful he's a coordinator with all of this information brain storage) ]

[busternaut]

[Call it absurd if you want, Yzak; he knows you were impressed just a moment ago.

Dearka follows his gaze skyward, experiencing more or less the same train of thought. He figures they'll probably be able to see more of the stars once they get deeper into the desert, but even then... PLANT still won't be there, no matter how hard they look.

...Despite this rather sobering thought, he does continue to run his mouth. You know. As he do.]

Vegas is? Huh. Not sure I would've guessed that. [He turns away from the city, glancing out into the darkening Mojave.] And hey, check out that desert! Looks way less sandy than the last one we had to deal with... Thank fuck for that.

[Important OOC note that I almost typo'd that line as "Way less Andy", which is also technically true.]

[coordination]

Considering how much we've got to stare at the Earth from where we are, getting curious about what's what is pretty inevitable.

[ Way less sand AND way less Andy is a good thing.

Not that relief is on Yzak's face when he peers over his shoulder to look back at the endless stretch of desert that surrounds them. Not too different from the way being out at sea on this planet feels so large and so vast like it has no end to it. Being in a desert or in those waters ... Yzak prefers neither one of those, to be perfectly honest. But if he had to choose, both sucked for him in their own unique ways. Much of his time in the ocean was beneath the dark waters in an enclosed space ... and for a good chunk of that time he was alone.

... maybe the desert wins out by a hair due to that fact. ]

Doesn't look much less shitty to plod through, even if that's the case. I guess we'll see once we're actually out there.

On that note, we should run some tests and make sure our mobile suits are prepared for this environment as soon as possible! With their new power sources and the operating system changes they've gone through coming here, they're likely to perform very differently from what we remember.

[busternaut]

Agreed, although I say we save it for when we have proper daylight.

[Which he kind of assumes is what Yzak meant to begin with, but just to be sure...

Also, he finally stops stretching and slumps his shoulders a little, head tilted melodramatically to one side.]

Still feels like some sort of sick joke... I finally get an excuse to pilot my old Buster again after all that time, then almost immediately I wind up stuck with that runty knock-off instead.

[coordination]

Proper daylight ... we just woke up and now we're likely to be awake all night thanks to this time difference. [ He does a quick calculation in his head. ]

First thing come morning, then. We shouldn't be tired, yet. [ It's not that far off, after all. Though that also means they'll need to chip away at adjusting sleep schedules here, too. Nothing they haven't done plenty of times before, but still a pain in the ass!

Yzak's eyes flash those pretty blue-shaded colors as he brings up his screen to get the location of the hotel the team's been assigned to. It's not far off, so he looks back to Dearka and then nods his head in the direction they need to go before leading the way. ]

I'd have preferred both of them and the Eternal to get shoved back into Boaz indefinitely. [ Mainly because that would mean there was no need for them. ] But it would have been so much easier if they came here with us as is! Did LILTH have to fuck with everything? [ Said with enough sharpness to imply that he's still big mad about what was done to them. ]

[busternaut]

It could be more a lack of resources in this case, than any deliberate fuckery on their part... [Playing the devil's advocate, he feels the need to suggest that.] Something tells me LILITH doesn't have the materials OR the know-how to perfectly recreate a 19 meter, 84 ton mobile suit.

[He starts following without question, hands behind his head again, trusting that Yzak knows exactly where they need to go.]

Still, you think they could have tried a little harder. [...] You really don't feel any nostalgia for your old Duel?

[coordination]

[ Ugh. Leave it to Dearka to pose a very logical and good counterpoint to Yzak's cranky grumbling. Which he turns his full attention and actually listens to, even if the idea doesn't completely appease him.

But at least they can fight with what theyve got, in the end. That is the important thing here.

Heading into the city streets proper, there's so much movement and chatter that they can continue their conversation with no worries as everyone is so absorbed in their own - though the quick little glances Yzak sends out are a clear indicator that he's not letting his guard down. Though every once in a while his gaze will linger on something. A theater where whatever's going on inside is so loud the walls can't completely muffle it, street performers in gaudy outfits playing music or offering to show off magic tricks, a huge blinking logo to a casino trying to draw in gamblers. There's so much happening that even Yzak who's used to multitasking finds himself a bit overwhelmed.

But as always, those eyes, that focus somehow make their way back to Dearka when he speaks up again. And he arches an eyebrow at the question. ]

Not nearly as much as you feel. Maybe it's like running into someone you never assumed you'd cross paths with again, and that was nice, but the parting wasn't something that left you with a deep yearning for a reunion in the first place. That's how I feel about it.

It was familiar and brought me back, sure, but ... even if you look at it like I just described, a reunion like that would be much preferred in different circumstances.

[ Of course, he thinks, if circumstances were different, or better, there'd have been no reunion at all. ]

Honestly, I was surprised they were still around after all that time, and they were still in pretty damned good shape.

[busternaut]

[Dearka listens, and nods. He's not judging, of course; more like he's just trying to suss out more detail about Yzak's feelings on the matter. If anything, he realizes he's probably the weird one for being attached to a particular mobile suit as he is, especially considering their primary function as tools of war. Yes, ideally there'd be no more use for them... But what can he say? Sometimes you just gotta appreciate a cool robot, divorced from its use as a weapon of destruction.

Besides, he went through a lot of shit during his days piloting the Buster. Not that Yzak didn't with the Duel, but. Dearka thought he'd lost his for good when he surrendered to the Archangel, which had turned into a point of shame which he'd lingered on often during his confinement. Then, after he'd been released, the Buster became the means by which he was able to take a stand and make good on his new convictions. So it'd be hard NOT to assign some kind of sentimental value to the mech, all things considered.

They keep walking, and while Yzak's senses are being assaulted Dearka is casually noting things here and there which he thinks he may want to come back and investigate later. He glances sidelong at his friend, one eye winked shut.]

Considering the shape mine was in after the last time I'd piloted it, I thought it'd been scrapped for sure. [Remember that, Yzak? That time you absolutely pulled his bacon out of the fryer? Dearka elbows him playfully in the ribs for emphasis.] Real nice of your mom to give it a new head and everything.

[He is obviously joking. He has no goddamn clue if it'd gotten a new head prior to Ezalia getting her hands on it or not.]

[coordination]

[ As if he could ever forget that. A scene that still replays just as vividly as when it happened, in Yzak's mind and his dreams when memory of it decides to surface. A moment he looks back to when he feels doubt begin to creep up on him. When he questions himself about where he is and what he's doing. When he's looking ahead of himself for too long, considering what steps he should take, where he wants the path he takes those steps on to go, and whether or not they lead in the same direction.

When he looks back to it, those things feel lighter, less intimidating, clearer, and that's all thanks to Dearka. Whether he's standing on the other side of the battlefield or facing it together, shoulder-to-shoulder with Yzak, he's always affected him in that same, powerful way; stirring him to act from his heart. Because in moments like that, nothing else matters despite how much one may delude themself into believing otherwise, and the choice becomes so easy to see and to make.

Dearka nudges him, and Yzak lets out a dryly amused scoff. At least this little side-hobby of his mother's ended up being helpful to them, rather than causing Yzak turmoil. Even if secret work with nuclear power sources is a little sketchy ... but this is Ezalia Jule, after all. And ... she was doing it to ultimately help them, help him, giving them the power to protect Chairman Lament and stop PLANT from being taken over by those set on repeating the mistakes of the past. Mistakes she herself was a party to, once upon a time. So he'll take it. ]

Well beyond a new head. New power sources, new weapons and new cockpits. We hop into them a couple of times and then get pulled here with even more changes!

[ He's huffy about it, but harmlessly so, pushing his hands into his pockets. ]

But you're right ... I would never have expected to see either of them again, and the Duel was in much better shape after Jachin Due. Though even then, they were both reaching that point of obsoleteness compared to what else was being manufactured. So it's impressive that they've both been outfitted in a way where they can still keep up now ... of course, that's also thanks to our skills more than anything. [ He puffs up proudly when he says that, because he and the Duel had gone head-to-head with the Earth Force's new models and took two of them down, and he will never ignore the opportunity to boast of his own talent as a pilot. Though the more recent actions he took in the Duel Blitz ... he'd rather not reflect on.

And then his voice gets a little softer, the noise and the lights seem to dull a bit around him as he grows more thoughtful. ]

I do wonder how much more they can take. As they are now, it's a bit of a Frankenstein's Monster situation, isn't it? Long expired machines being experimented on and dragged back to life. Made up and carrying pieces of their old companion. You can see it just by looking, all of the nicks and scuffs they have after all this time and all of the fighting they've been through, how worn down they are. But so long as it's needed, and so long as they still can, they'll fight.

[ Funny, that after what they just spoke about, Yzak sounds sentimental. But that's because when he speaks those thoughts, gazing down at the ground in front of him, he isn't just talking about their mobile suits anymore. ]

[busternaut]

[Actually really polite of Yzak to say "our" skills? Makes Dearka feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not that he has CONFIDENCE ISSUES or anything, when it comes to his own piloting skills. These days he brags a fair bit less than he did during his time with the Le Creuset team, but that doesn't mean he's lost his touch. He once earned that red uniform he used to wear, same as his compatriots had, and he's worked hard every single day since to make up for losing it. And it's not like there's been a deficit of war since then... Plenty of opportunities to keep his skills sharp. For better or for worse.

...Maybe more for the worse, in the case of their most recent conflict. He's not sure. He'd also rather not reflect on that right now if he can help it, but Yzak's pensive words provoke him in that direction anyway. The mention of the Blitz gives the last shove.

How would Nicol have handled the situation with the coup? Would he have approved of their actions? Logically, Dearka knows it's a ridiculous question to ask, not in the least because he certainly never cared about having Nicol's approval when he was still alive. That's a truth which still haunts him on occasion, but he has at least learned from it; that's part of what provoked him to try a little harder at getting along with Athrun.

He's quiet for a few long moments after Yzak finishes talking. And there he is, walking in contemplative silence alongside the one teammate he HAS always gotten along with. They've both been through so much over the last few years, and it doesn't seem like that trend will be letting up any time soon... All they can do is keep picking each other up.

Dearka puts on an easy smile and straightens up a little, lifting himself back out of the turmoil for the moment.]

You should give em' a bit more credit. You see a shambling patchwork? I see a couple of resourceful survivors, scrappy and experienced. Maybe they're not the most cutting edge anymore, but they still adapted and they got the job done. I think they'll keep doing that for us, long as we keep putting the work in. I mean... Sure, it would be nice if they could eventually become recreational crafts, but until that day comes... We'll just have to keep wringing what we can out of them.

[...OK that ended on a bit more grim of a note than he intended. Oops. Kinda lost track of the metaphor there.]

[coordination]

[ Of course he has to compliment Dearka's skills. Not only is it just true, and thus worthy of praise, but Dearka's part of his team. And on Yzak's team, he only accepts and expects the very best of those on it. Himself being no exception to that.

He wasn't exactly expecting some of those words to hit him a little too close to home ... but there it is, he has more in common with his mobile suit than he ever though he would, and realized some of those phrases eerily applied to them just as much. Even when Dearka answers him - likewise dipping into the metaphor some - he feels it all too strongly. Resourceful, survivors ... in more than one sense of the word. Yzak is so constantly well aware of the fact that he's avoided death through sheer luck more times than he cares to count - including the one specific case that he knows he didn't deserve to avoid. ]

They seem more than keen here on wringing us all out. [ Mobile suit and human alike. ]

... but we'll handle it. [ Said with that prideful determination of his, emphasis on the we.

Dearka commiserating with him on those feelings eases the dour vibe - that Yzak put out there all on his own in the first place. So he sends him a glance, acknowledging, grateful, and then as he does, Yzak keeps stepping forward. ]

[busternaut]

[Dearka grins and steps up the pace.]

We sure will.

[Presumably they're not entirely silent for the rest of the walk. Dearka will take the chance to finally thank Yzak for helping him with his teleportation sickness, even if the method involved was kind of embarrassing. Eventually they're gonna reach the motel, with its flickering neon sign out front. Dearka tilts his head back to study the unstable patterns of the different letters turning on and off for a moment, and then lets out an obnoxious wolf-whistle.]

Damn... Hey Yzak, check it out... This motel's got "can".

[With a shitty little grin on his face, he jerks a thumb towards the "(No) Vacancy" portion of the sign, of which only the middle 3 letters are consistently staying illuminated.]

[coordination]

[ Kind of embarrassing for HIM, SPECIFCALLY, THANK YOU. Since where they're all staying is nearby, Dearka is spared any long ramblings about the portals that Yzak could go into on the subject, and nearly does, when it's brought up. Because they're incredibly useful but they've got to work on ironing out those kinks and he's sure they can but that requires LILITH being open to other Outsiders who could for sure help poking at it. Which their stubborn asses seem reluctant to do.

He looks up at the sign when Dearka points it out, in tandem with the whistle he lets out. His expression ... is very vividly unimpressed. And the look he gives Dearka when he makes that stupid joke is even more unimpressed, exasperated (but, you know, in that reluctantly fond way) because this is it ... this is his best friend, his partner, his other half. Whose corny ass jokes are one of the things he would miss the most were they not in his life, they've become as entrenched in it as Dearka himself. ]

In that case, they better deliver in what they can offer to us.

[ Terrible. Awful.

Into the motel these two clowns go. And Yzak takes the initiative to step up to the desk and get them situated. Yes, there should be a reservation made for Andreas Vesalius and Derick Eichmann, part of the tour group that took a block of rooms for the next few days. They're very lucky, they're told, because the motel was close to running out of rooms for people, but they managed to clean up a couple of their extra rooms just at the right time! Keycards acquired, Yzak thanks the receptionist and they take the trip to where they'll be spending the next little while together.

Yzak taps his card against the door tp unlock it, swings open the door, and...

His eyeballs are immediately assaulted by bright colors and horrors of which he's never dreamed of before. Yzak stands in the doorway, eyes wide in terror, jaw slack. ]

What

the fuck

is this?!

[busternaut]

[What the ever-loving fuck.

Dearka's initial reaction is much quieter, but he still physically recoils back from the doorway once it opens and those bright colors come bursting forth to stab into his eyes.

Once he recovers from the initial shock, with Yzak's squawking still ringing in his ears, he's stuck desperately searching for something, anything to say in response.]

Well... At least it's not maid themed...?

[Small comfort!]

[coordination]

[ That small comfort does nothing for Yzak right now. ]

That doesn't make this any better!

[ He does step (stomp) into the room though, the receptionist's words echoing in his mind that they were just lucky enough to get the rooms that they had. Here they are, and here they shall unfortunately have to stay. And ultimately, logically, Yzak knows this and will deal with it. But in true Yzak fashion, he has to be dramatic and loud about it first. ]

It's absolutely atrocious in here! As if this entire situation we're in doesn't feel like a circus already!

[ Yzak tosses the bag he's carrying onto one of the beds, claiming it for himself. (the one closer to the door, so he can sleep facing it) ]

[busternaut]

[He sighs and follows Yzak in, smiling wearily to himself. Typical... Predictable and typical. He takes the remaining bed without any fuss, both because he truly does not care which he gets in this case, and also because he and Yzak both have shared quarters enough for him to know that he's not going to win any arguments about who gets what. It's not his first rodeo.]

You're telling me. The damn colors are so loud, we ought to file a noise complaint.

[He tosses his bag on the floor instead, opting to flop backwards onto the bed himself and lay there for a second with his eyes closed. The springs squeal gently from the impact. After a second, he opens his eyes again, only to discover that one of the Wall Clowns appears to be staring him right in the eyes from where it lurks above the bed.]

Eeegh...

[coordination]

Ugh ... I am not staying in here if I don't have to!

[ He still doesn't have much, but he's still unpacking like a proper gentleman, so he can hang up what few articles of clothing that he has. ]

Let's leave to get something to eat as soon as possible! We can get a lay of the land as well, and pinpoint anything we want to check out closer later.

[ He hears Dearka's noise of disgust as he makes his way over to the closet, looking over at the wall clown making eyes at him, and he, too, grimaces heavily. Doing that draws his eyes to the huge ugly one looming between and over their beds. Yzak's never had a sleep paralysis demon before, but this mission may change that. ]

It's a good thing that this place comes alive at night. We'll have an excuse to get out of here.

[ And then he opens the closet ... and lets out a blood-curdling scream because there's a fucking clown plastered on the back wall behind the hangers like a cryptid. ]

God ... DAMN IT!

[ He is SLAMMING THOSE CLOSET DOORS CLOSED and then just bracing both hands on it for a moment, hunched over. ]

[busternaut]

[While Yzak's talking, Dearka closes his eyes again, deciding the wall clown cannot hurt him if he's not actively looking at it. (Even though he can totally still feel those eyes on him.)

He groans audibly in protest at the notion of leaving again right away. Yes he's used to having to get up early and yes they should be trying to adjust their sleep schedules as quickly as possible, but the stupid mission alert woke them up so early when they weren't expecting it. Can't they at least take like, a 20 minute nap or something--?

Yzak's blood curdling scream has him losing that thought and sitting bolt-upright in an instant. Luckily he knows the difference between Yzak's various flavors of offended shrieking well enough to pick up on instinct that there's probably no actual threat present?? But his hand still twitches and hovers over the gun that he has at his hip on reflex.

There's a long moment where they're both catching their breaths, before he finally speaks up:]

...What the fuck was that!?!?!

[coordination]

[ His voice still a few octaves higher than normal: ] There was a clown in the closet!

[ Technically, with them in this hotel room that would make three clowns in the closet here, but, ya know.

He pulls in a long, deep breath and heaves it out loudly to shake himself out of it. Yzak no longer wants to immediately hang his clothes up in there, so perhaps Dearka will get the brief rest he desires, as the other man walks back over to his bed and dramatically drops himself down to sit on the edge of it next to his bag. ]

This is like a horror movie...!

[busternaut]

[Ah... And he sure knows how Yzak feels about horror movies. Maybe he shouldn't have dragged him to that screening of "Klowns with Knives 7: This Time it's Pierrot-sonal".

Dearka relaxes a little, but he still doesn't remove his hand from where his gun is, hesitating before asking:]

Just to be clear... You mean like. A painted clown. Like,

[He jerks his head towards the one on the wall and makes a clicking noise with his tongue.]

...Not an actual real flesh and blood man in clown makeup. Right.

[coordination]

[ Horror movies suck! He has enough killing and blood in his life to want to see it on the big screen! And ghost/haunting movies... look he's into folklore and spirits and all that but when it starts to feel a little too close to real life... ]

Of course it's not! I'd have throw him through the window if it were a real guy!

[ He sounds disgusted. And he finds his eyes moving over to the small couch the room has, trying to make out just how much room is behind it... ]

Don't even put the idea of that out there!

[busternaut]

[Okay now he takes his hand off his gun, purely so he can put his hands up in front of him defensively.]

Just making sure! You made such a racket about it, seemed like a lot for just a painting...

[He trails off, following Yzak's gaze.]

...I doubt there's one behind the couch. But if you're going to meticulously clown-check the whole room, I'm gonna go ahead and take a quick nap.

[He is not asking for permission. He is already laying back down.]

[coordination]

I just don't want to be surprised like that again!

[ Are there any in the bathroom? The shower? Oh, God. Here's a clown check: there's a very real one on the bed next to Yzak's, trying to take a nap. ]

You're really going to nap when we just got here? [ There's an incredulousness to his tone, but he doesn't argue it more than that. This room is so colorful and loud, though, that he wonders how easy it'll be to sleep. Painted wall-clowns serving as sleep paralysis demons in the middle of the night aside.

Yzak lets out a huff through his nose. And he doesn't follow suit and recline back onto his bed, but he does turn his head to look at Dearka, because the mention of taking a nap makes him realize... ]

... it's been a while, since we've roomed together like this.

[busternaut]

[He lifts one hand and waves it around in the air as if to nonchalantly sweep away the criticism, and still doesn't make any moves to rise.]

'Course I am. You have any idea what time it is back in Tokyo right now?

[Rhetorical question. Of course Yzak knows.

There's that pause, and Yzak huffs, and somehow, Dearka feels those blue eyes on him before his friend even opens his mouth to say anything. He cracks an eye open too, glancing over to try and get a read on his expression...

...Something about that angle. The sideways glance with hooded eyes under that curtain of silver hair. Dearka does not appreciate the stupid little pang of longing that escapes the containment zone of his heart; he closes that eye again and forces a wheezy little chuckle, trying to cover up for the way Yzak just literally stole his breath away.]

Yeah... Heh. Not since our redcoat days, right? Probably while we were still on the Vesalius... Or maybe Carpentaria.