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

[blastedass]

Your call. Just don't bitch about your choice.

[leaving it up to Sonic is easier. he can do as he feels comfortable, whether that's for himself or for the people around him. most of the outsiders wouldn't give a crap about seeing Sonic walking around as his normally is. hell, he might get picked up and snuggled by some of the girls. bleh...

as much as Bakugo dislikes LILITH, he'll admit they give the outsiders a hell of a lot more freedom than some kidnappers would. more help, more attention, more respect. they've gone a long way to be accommodating.]

WHAT?! I DIDN'T SAY SHIT ABOUT THAT!!

[as expected.]

[fastpaced]

[ don't be jealous of his inherent chick magnet abilities bro ]

You didn't say it, but you meant it. I wasn't the one complaining, right? Don't worry, I got the message!

[ a cheeky wink - then he laughs good-naturedly. ]

Seriously, though, thanks for looking out for me. You're a pretty cool guy. Your language could use a little work, but other than that...

[blastedass]

[who said he was jealous of shit?!]

Shut up.

[sonic's gonna see bakugo get all grumpy and look away with a huff. little bastard. it wasn't like he cared if sonic was comfortable or anything. hmph.]

What the hell's wrong with my language?! You got fucking baby ears or something?!

[That was probably deliberate...]

[fastpaced]

[ the baby ears in question flick back a little at the (predictable) torrent of foul language, Sonic lifting his hands in a "woah, peace" sort of gesture. ]

Nothing. I just think that potty mouth's gonna get you in trouble sooner or later.

[ he only gets swearing privileges when Shadow gets gun privileges, and just look how that turned out!! This is very clearly a losing game, however, and he doesn't press Bakugo on the issue any further. Proof that Sonic does, very occasionally, know when to give up. ]

Anyway, enough about me. What about you? Ya holding up in this weather?

[blastedass]

[it's not his fault he end up glancing at those ears like a cat that saw movement. while there are plenty of animal-themed quirks in his world, there aren't people who are, you know, sonic-style appearance.]

If someone's got a problem with it, they can grow up. They'll hear it eventually.

[this is the guy who still rages about getting bleeped out, cut off, censored, and a host of other things whenever he appears (or should have appeared) on the news. cue the interview between him and todoroki that ended up being... almost completely todoroki, much to bakugo's rage.

we don't mention shadow's gun privileges, cause look how that turned out. bakugo's not someone who's going to change himself to suit another person. though perhaps he'll consider curbing it around sonic at least...]

I'm fine. It's optimal for my Quirk.

[fastpaced]

Your "quirk?"

[ that's a new one to him, prompting yet another curious tilt of Sonic's ears. It must be something specific to Bakugo, seeing as nobody else has mentioned it yet. Context clues give him a decent idea of what he's talking about - probably the same thing that let him fly around the city earlier - but he won't pretend he's not interested in learning what makes Bakugo go fast. It's certainly not Chaos Control... ]

[blastedass]

[Bakugo cups one hand and detonates a semi-large explosion with in it, as big as a basketball with a loud "BOOM!" that sends light and heat flying before pluming smoke into the air above his hand. It drips off his palm and fingers for a second or two before he clenches his fist and jets the smoke out between the crevices in his hand.]

Explosion. 80% of the people in my world are born with a superpower called a Quirk. Some are lame as fuck and others are incredibly strong.

[fastpaced]

[ he watches attentively, though he's not surprised by what he sees. So it wasn't some kind of machine attachment letting Bakugo fly - it was his own power! ]

You can make explosions? That's way cool! No wonder you were so fast - you've got built-in rocket boosters!

[ he's reminded of Blaze, naturally, though the similarities between them begin and end with the fireball in Bakugo's palm. He can only imagine how that meeting would go. Much like with her pyrokinesis, though, Sonic is thoroughly impressed by Bakugo's quirk. ]

[blastedass]

[Bakugo's never had reservations about showing off his Quirk, even to villains, because those only get intimidated by it! (Or they should at least... bastards.) Having Sonic see the results and power of his Quirk strokes his ego more.]

No shit. My Explosion will do anything I want it to. Some day, I'm gonna be even faster than you!

[Full blown grin right at Sonic's face. It may be an impossible dream, but hell if he's going to say anything other than a challenge to the blue bolt ball. It's good enough right now to know he can at least keep up with him for a bit.]

[fastpaced]

Heh. I can't blame you for aiming for the top! But don't think I'll make it easy for you. Looking forward to it, pal.

[ competitive Sonic is only pleased by the idea of someone working hard to try and beat his speed - at least when it's harmless. Dr. Eggman's numerous attempts to copy him don't count.

With a sigh, he leans back against the camper, his quills insulating him somewhat from the sun-warmed metal exterior, and languidly fans his face. It's hot, even for a guy with short fur. ]

You know, you'll have more competition than just me - I've got a friend with power over flames like you. She can almost keep up with me, too.

[blastedass]

You better keep looking forward. Cause that's where I'll be.

[He's not some fatass jealous wannabe trying to copy someone else. Nope, this is pure bravado and pride yelling at him to get even faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. Hey, a lot of times, bravery and pride are fucking stupid. Don't tell him.

Bakugo's tilting his head back just slightly, eyes flicking to the corner because he's curious if those quills are actually sticking into something. Like a tire... You're not tall there, buddy.]

Is she here?

[Here comes a New Challenger!]

[fastpaced]

[ luckily, he's not sharp enough to pop something as sturdy as a van tire...

Sonic shakes his head. ]

Nah. As far as I know, it's just me and Metal-Me here. I wouldn't be surprised to see her, though. She's traveled to other worlds plenty of times - that's how we met! If you ever see a purple cat, that's the one.

[ he doesn't bother specifying further; at this point, it's plain to see that the majority of people pulled here are humans, or human-adjacent. Someone like him would stick out (which he imagines she'd hate, but that's beside the point.) That, and it's unlikely the other purple cat he knows would get called on to save the world... ]

[blastedass]

[it's a mystery as to how sharp those quills actually are. i mean, he does jump on things via curling up in a ball.]

Tch, Bolthog's a damn pain. [already had to deal with that guy twice now. he and bakugo clash, though there's something about him that makes bakugo think he's not completely bad. just programed weird.] Somehow a rift opened up below Disney Tokyo two months ago. Maybe she'll show up.

[if a purple cat shows up and has the same physiology of sonic, that'll be a very easy recognition. of course, there's the orange fox, red echidna, black hedgehog, and white bat to keep an eye out on too... but bakugo kind of lost interest in older video games before getting much further than that.]

[fastpaced]

[ it's all about momentum baby ]

Disney Tokyo? Is that different from regular Tokyo?

[ unlike Bakugo, he is confined by the prison of copyright law and isn't allowed to know about M*ckey M*use. (The immediate disapproval of Metal Sonic does get a smirk out of him, though - even though they're supposed to have a truce right now. He can't help himself!) ]

[blastedass]

[gonna throw him so fucking hard.]

No, that's the stupid name for the Disneyland in Tokyo.

[because apparently calling it Disneyland wasn't something enough. guess Sonic can start scouring the free internet here and learn about all those things he couldn't since copyright doesn't exist out here. apparently. nothing wrong with smirking at an asshole being called an asshole.]

[fastpaced]

[ time to use his logical thinking skills to make an assumption. ]

... Some kind of amusement park, right? Yeah, I can imagine an interdimensional portal opening up in that kinda place.

[ mostly because Eggman would absolutely open an interdimensional portal in that kinda place. Sonic is still not convinced that he isn't involved. ]

[blastedass]

[hey sonic, what does the scouter say about his power level?]

You sound like you've seen that before. [his voice comes in a wry drone, completely believing it's a true assumption for sonic. while it'd be nice to assume some of their homeworld nemesis are involved in this crap, bakugo knows that's not the case.]

It didn't seem like LILITH had any indication it'd happen.