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

[gorb]

( He could let a curse out and then just feed a stuffed toy at a time to it, that might make him feel a little better. The bean-thing has a shitty little smile on it's face that Geto personally finds deeply annoying. He'd start with it first. )

You're driving a campervan because LILITH said go. There's not much of a difference.

( Well, he's driving because Geto said no. Probably for the best. He might snap and drive them into something just for a thrill. The leather of the seat creaks as he leans forward to pick up the toy. )

I think you've had enough fun.

[rikugan]

[ please don't feed his plushies to your curses, geto. he won those for his students. ]

Huh. You've got a point. [ he glances over his shoulder at him. ] Okay, I've had enough fun. [ cue gojo letting go of the steering wheel entirely as he starts to climb out of his seat to join geto in the back. ] I'm gonna take a nap instead.

[ please note: they're currently going 80mph without a driver now. ]

[gorb]

( For all his despondent melodrama, the very minute there is even a hint of danger Geto flips the switch. He makes a half-choked sound, scrambling to his feet as the van goes sailing over unsteady sand. It means he all but falls over himself to lean over the passenger seat, grabbing the wheel with two bone white-knuckled hands. The lion plush that had been sitting in the chair drops into the footwell at the impact and he lifts his head to blink at the man brazenly departing, half appalled.

They aren't touching. Geto knows better than that. But there's very little space between them and he frowns, blinking furiously, heartbeat hammering in his ears. )

Are you crazy? ( Hissed, through his teeth. ) Sit the fuck back down.

( Neither of them are actively looking out the window, good job boys. )

[rikugan]

Keep your eyes on the road, Suguru~

[ gojo has no intention of sitting the fuck back down. in fact, he doesn't pause once even as geto lunges for the steering wheel. cackling, he plops down into the seat formerly occupied by the curse user, effectively switching places with him.

stretching out his long legs, he rests his head back against folded arms, eyeing him with amusement. ]

Don't forget to put on your seatbelt. Remember, safety first. [ eheheheh ]

[gorb]

Fuck off.

( Exasperated, and without even the smallest hint of the calm, cool, and collected cult leader he's been portraying for the last decade. Geto has to scramble over the back of the seat, falling into it with a thunk, ungainly for a second. His hands slide against the steering wheel then shift to grip the sides, teeth gritted. The van probably has some kind of precaution, but he tries to right the course either way, sweat making itself known at the back of his neck. Perhaps he should have learnt at some point in his twenty-seven years but he has several curses that fly. When did he ever need to? )

I'm going to make you eat sand when I figure out how to stop this thing.

( There's not much out there but sand, that doesn't mean Geto isn't furious. Somewhere outside the van the wheels go sloping off a little hill, making the whole thing shudder and shake. )

Satoru, you ass!

[rikugan]

I'm pretty sure you're doin' the opposite of stoppin' this thing right now, Suguru.

[ he isn't complaining though; he's having a blast with how much the vehicle is rattling and thudding over the sandy slopes. it's almost like a rollercoaster ride! ]

Is your foot even on the pedal? [ he leans forward, resting his arms on his knees. ] The right one. [ he reaches out to pat the shoulder of the driver's seat. ] And press down on it gently. It'll be a really bad idea if you step on it too hard.

[ why would you ever want to make someone so nice and helpful eat sand, geto? B) ]

Oh, you might want to start turnin' the wheel to the left unless you plan to send us flyin' over that huge slope up ahead.

[gorb]

( His blood pressure might just kill him at this rate, skyrocketing with each second. )

There are too many pedals! ( He doesn't even want to take his gaze off the sand stretching before them, despite how little there is for them to crash into. It means he has to shuffle his foot a little, feeling out the shapes below, hopefully pressing down on the right one. There's a lot to focus on though, and when Gojo mentions turning the wheel, Geto does the sensible thing and yanks it. It means they veer too sharp, everything inside the campervan - jujutsu sorcerer's included - jostling and rocking. Something in the back crashes out of a cupboard and probably smashes. ) Fuck.

( He is Sweating. )

I'm going to kill you.

( Through his teeth, but he's pressing down slowly, slowly on the pedal. )

I'm going to beat you to death. You're going to regret getting in this van with me, because I am going to kill you.

[rikugan]

[ those threats would be way more effective if gojo wasn't currently laughing his friggin' ass off in the back.

yankin' at the wheel like that may have worked on arcade drivin' games they've played back during their school days, but not so much on an actual vehicle. gotta be a little more subtle with the motion, suguru. didn't he tell him to be gentle?

despite the unfortunate loss of (1) bowl, gojo managed to keep the bags of plushies from flying everywhere.

and of course the two in front — one a tiger and the other a plushie with a bust on it — are safely strapped in. this is exactly why seatbelts are important. ]

Will that be before or after you bury us alive under all this sand?

[gorb]

And be trapped with you for the rest of time? No thanks.

( It takes a bit of sweaty-palmed manoeuvring to get the wheel the way he wants it, hands curved around the rubber and Geto half hunched in his seat. The usual blandness he keeps his expression wrapped in is long gone, instead he's mouthing curses to himself as he tries to get the hang of the vehicle, hair already a little frazzled from the heat and the stress.

The speed lessens, bit by bit, nervous gaze ticking over half of the little console icons before he decides to ignore them all completely. )

I'm so glad you're having fun, Satoru. ( Bitter, blistering, the cackling is annoying. ) You won't be when I make you eat every single one of these fucking stuffies though.

( Another acidic glance the lion's way, but hey at least he managed to tear his terrified gaze away from the sand for another second. They're still going too fast, and it's absolutely bumpy as fuck, but he might be handling it. Maybe. )

[rikugan]

What do you mean? [ rising from his seat, gojo sets a hand on the frame of the driver's chair as he looks out towards the endless sandy slopes before them. they may be going fast, but they won't be hitting any major bumps in the road now that they've avoided one potential disaster. see? his teaching methods are pretty friggin' solid. ] We're already gonna be trapped together for the rest of time now.

[ neither of them will be able to go home. they're as stuck as stuck can be — not that gojo has made any effort into figuring out a possible way back to their world. ]

Hahaha. Is that a promise, Suguru? [ he is leaning over sideways now, a cocksure grin on his face. ] Which plushie are you gonna start with? [ he manifests a large purple dragon plush, waggling it at him. ] This one?

[gorb]

Only because you won't leave me alone.

( Through gritted teeth, exasperated. Every single sense in Geto's body is currently telling him that he needs to take his eyes off the road and focus on Gojo Satoru, that being this close he constitutes as more of a threat than crashing into something in the wide open desert does. Stubbornly, he keeps his gaze on the empty expanse ahead instead, muscle in his jaw twitching. It's fine, he's fine, he's not letting the other man win.

A flickering glance at the dragon, scoffing. )

Sure, can you take it? Not that I'd care much if you choke, but I don't want you ruining the fun before it's started.

( THAT'S COMING HOME WITH HIM, THANK YOU )

Why do you have so many?

( Actually, he knows, he's very aware of what happens in an arcade with a man like Satoru. )

Haven't you grown out of that by now?

[rikugan]

[ how can you give him an opening like that and not expect him to take it, suguru? ]

My gag reflex ain't as good as yours. [ maybe it's a good thing that geto has his eyes fixed to the road because satoru is currently very maturely opening his mouth and mimicking fellatio with his free hand. ] But I've had plenty of practice over the years. [ uncouth as ever. ]

I won these at Circus Circus with Yuji. [ it's honestly impressive how quickly he reverts back to casual conversation. he yeets the purple dragon onto geto's previous spot. who do you think it reminded him of in the first place? ] They're for my students. [ all four of them. B) ]

[gorb]

( The rude noise Geto makes is loud and irritated. He doesn't have to see what Satoru is currently up to, he senses it. )

You're a child.

( Half sneered. He's certainly not going to let any of the rest of that sentence land. He's not interested, doesn't care, won't think about it. He's far too busy trying to keep his driving steady, teeth grinding every time the van rattles a bit too loudly. Still, his knuckled grip is lessening little by little. )

Then why didn't you travel with them? Hm? You're willing to let them out here undefended? Shouldn't you look after them better?

[rikugan]

They can take care of themselves.

[ hasn't geto already been defeated by like two of his students? gojo has nothing to sweat about here. ]

You take precedence. [ nice try, but he isn't going to swerve away from his suguru-centric objective. as foolhardy as his students can be, they are incomparable to the trouble geto can cause left to his own devices. the distrust runs deep. ]

So, suck it up. You're stuck with me.