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𝚂𝚢𝚗𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚡 𝙼𝚘𝚍𝚜 ([personal profile] synfluxmods) wrote in [community profile] synflux2024-07-12 11:07 pm

DOWNTIME MINGLE #3

DOWNTIME MINGLE #3


CONTENT WARNINGS: natural disaster, forced scenarios.

▶ 001. A JOB WELL DONE.

As Outsiders head back from Okinawa (or, perhaps they are already back, characters were able to leave Okinawa through the dataportal whenever) with plenty of coconut crab and mutated fish, Outsiders can expect to have the cafeteria filled with crab and fish food for the next.. well, undetermined amount of time. The power outages have been restored on the LILITH base, and while Outsiders have been enjoying their change of pace in Okinawa, there has been some celebratory news across the Outsider's ocular implants. It looks like it is a message from the big guy himself! Whoever that is. Wasn't his name.. Eiji something? Elijah?


"I'm not going to waste my time with introductions, because we have more important matters to discuss. First of all, good work. Second, while we have been met with several successes, don't let it get to your head. Third, continue following the lead of Yamakawa. ... This is why I don't do celebratory speeches. CODENAMES MONEYBAGS, DUELWIELD, BUSTERMOVE, CHAINSAW MAN and CURSE... great work. You'll see the rewards of your hard work momentarily. Report to me for a payout."

The announcement won't leave an Outsider's implant until it has been read, but just as the voice said, Outsiders will find a Sampo themed pachinko machine installed by the cafeteria near the vending machines. It looks like it's ready to be played! Why not give it a go? Because who wouldn't want to see this charm willingly.

A lot of toy companies are also wanting their skin in this game and have introduced the set of several actions figures based off Yzak and Dearka's gundams, which can be seen distributed on base. The caveat, however, is that you will need to build them piece-by-piece. Alongside this, there will also be Denji-themed plushies, even if it looks like a cross between a dog and human.

Thanks to Choso, hair care on the base has also gotten a lot better. Due to sponsorships, Outsiders are readily able to access more shampoo and conditioner options. Though, maybe thanks to the pictures on the bottle— buns are now trending.

Maybe give the pachinko machine a spin? Or try Choso's brand of shampoo your team's wing communal shower?


▶ 002. TRADITIONAL TANABATA.

The sun is hot but summer is traditionally festival season in Neo Tokyo; these old traditions have managed to hold up in this gritty society in attempts to keep a positive morale, so some citizens and organizers try to keep the tradition going and lift spirits by celebrating local festivals. Many districts and neighborhoods have their own festivals as well. One day, you might stumble onto a shopping district’s wind chime festival and the next day, you might find flyers for a neighborhood’s morning glory festival.

The largest festival of the month is the Tanabata festival. Since the holiday falls in an odd weekday this year, the main celebration is held the next weekend. Civilians and Outsiders can find various shrines, shopping centers, and community buildings with bamboo branches on display with holographic slips of paper that alternate colors. Characters that pass by may submit their wishes on their implants; a new way to keep the old tradition.

On the weekend, some stalls have been set up for people to celebrate. Attendance is low because of the heat and due to a food shortage, the options are lacking. However, there are plenty of games such as a toy shooting range with laser guns and kaiju targets. There are also goldfish catching games where people can catch a cheap goldfish drone that can “swim” in the air and water and shoot bubbles. As a bonus, LILITH will provide Outsiders with an outfit upgrade to help lift spirits. The outfit consists of a traditional summer yukata or jinbei.

Fireworks have gone out of style due to attracting kaiju attention. However, at the festival’s end, there is a drone light show. Hundreds of customized hummingbird drones take to the sky and create elaborate illuminations and shapes in the sky while music plays.


▶ 003. DR. RATIO'S RENOVATIONS.

Festival season means LILITH also has to get in on the action, and while a certain Outsider named Dr. Ratio has raised concerns over the stated of the LILITH base Library, LILITH has actually listened to his desperate plea to renovate the library. What a perfect opportunity for LILITH to use the festival as a way of raising funds so they don't have to dip into their kaiju payout funds (and pizza party fund.) It's time for LILITH's annual SUMMER FESTA. Every year, LILITH comes together with local organizations like fire stations, police stations, clinics, and nonprofits to promote public safety and awareness. It's a one day festival where people can get information about what to do to stay safe not only during kaiju attacks but in their daily lives. The funds raised at the festival will go to training, supplies, research, and maintaining services.

As usual, LILITH is raising money for disaster relief supplies and renovation projects across Neo Tokyo. Per request, LILITH has agreed to set aside some funds to help renovate the facilities on base, including the library. However, they will task the Outsiders with raising the money.

It's a festival so how they raise the money is both up up to them or they may take the suggestions according to their team placement below. Either way, Outsiders are required to work with other people on their same team but they're encouraged to make it fun. Set up game stalls, sell food, do performances, and ask for donations to raise as much money as possible for their projects. The team that raises the most money is promised a prize while the losers will be punished. Here are the team suggestions below and some of them may have some new, modern twists:

Everlight: Kingyo-sukui, which is goldfish catching with a paper scoop. Managing the takoyaki stands.
Revelation: Yoyo-tsuri, fishing for water-filled balloons with a “fishing pole” with a paper string. Managing the mask stands.
Brimstone: Shateki, shooting at targets for prizes. Managing the sparklers stands.. sparklers shouldn't catch kaiju attention, right?
Redemption: Wanage, ring toss. Managing the onigiri stands.

Outsiders will be given a week to prepare for the festival and they only have a single day to raise funds. In the evening, the winning team is announced: Revelation. All team members will receive can badges and a pizza party. A special donation will also be made to the library on their behalf: A stack full of self help books, yes, REAL books and not holograms or digital books, such as "Overcoming Your Depression for Dummies" and "How to Make Friends 101." Thank you for your effort, Team Revelation!

As for the losers, they will be given options: Sign up or the final fundraising event of the night or help clean up at the end of the festival. The final fundraiser is a punishment game where volunteers from each organization are dunked in tubs of water or pied in the face. It seems like a certain person (Seok Dang) was supposed to be LILITH’s tribute but he is nowhere to be found… maybe one of the other losers will step up and take his place to be dunked in water or pied in the face? Characters may also sign up a loser character without their consent. Come on, be a good sport!

▶ 004. MONSOON SEASON.

Despite the celebrations and attempts to raise morale, the heatwave persists in Neo Tokyo and with it, the problems from the beginning of the month. Food continues to go bad quickly and while fundraising attempts have provided some relief, the city is huge and shelf stable supplies begin to run low again. The energy crisis improves slightly with blackouts occurring less frequently as emergency personnel attempt to intervene. Though the weather is dreary, the renovations must press on! Fortunately, most of the things to do around the Library consist of staying inside. Dr. Ratio has given the following orders which Outsiders may help with in the Library:
- Install better lighting.
- Organize and add more books.
- Set up and secure tables and chairs.
- Add couches to once section of the library to convert it into a lounging area.

Characters may work together to help, or maybe they prefer to laze around and give the newly renovated Library a test run!

After a few days, finally, the rain meteorologists have promised arrives. The skies darken and heavy rain falls on the city which brings much cooler temperatures. People stay inside more often as it becomes too inconvenient to go out when the rain and wind are so strong. The rainstorms grow stronger and eventually become fully fledged storms. The ground shakes from thunder and lightning strikes light up the sky.

Everyone’s ocular implants will frequently give warnings about the weather. LILITH will task Outsiders with assisting across the city. Help evacuate citizens to higher ground during flash floods. After the storms subside, help clear the streets of debris and trees. Some neighborhoods will lose power because of lightning strikes and need their generators restored. However, every time they finish their tasks, a new storm will occur a few days later and they’ll have to repeat.

At first, it seems like the typical summer storm season but meteorologists become concerned when more storms begin to happen without following clear weather patterns and even the locals remark the season seems very active this year… could it be another kaiju? The last time Neo Tokyo had floods, it was sea water, but this is caused by heavy rain. Like clockwork, LILITH's investigating team is on the lookout for energy from a rift or any leads to what could be causing all of the heavy rain. Outsiders are instructed to keep an eye out for any emergency messages.

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our third downtime mingle! While we would typically have a texting prompt, we instead have player plots for this event! Thank you Abbel and Eski for the Tanabata and festival player prompt and Sky for the Library renovations plot! We appreciate Eski for spending 500 bonus points to provide everyone with something to wear for Tanabata. For the character-run stalls as part of the renovation prompt, players are not limited to the suggestions given by the mods and are free to come up with their own stall ideas. Additionally, for characters signing up other characters for the dunk tank, please make sure you get OOC permission from their players first.

Please note also we have added new rewards: the Poison Dagger, Cat Ear Visor, and the Elemental Swords now come in the models Ice and Lightning. Please see the REWARDS page for more information.

All tags on this log are worth 2 points.


EVENT BREAKDOWN (CLICK TO EXPAND)
1. A JOB WELL DONE: The kaiju heavy hitters get recognition with.. a pachinko machine and shampoo sponsorship? Outsiders can react to their fellow colleagues about this development, or maybe even talk to the winners themselves around the base.

2. TRADITIONAL TANABATA: It's Tanabata season, even in a post-apocalyptic world! Put on some old, traditional attire with your friends and enjoy a drone show.

3. DR. RATIO'S RENOVATIONS: LILITH has teamed up with the local safety personnel to get in on the festival season. Characters are encouraged to fundraise for renovations at the LILITH base Library. Teams may also visit other teams events and stands to donate, partake in, and.. maybe deliver some competitive harassment.

4. MONSOON SEASON: With the weather being hot and renovations needing done, LILITH works together to improve the Library. A few days later, the weather gets suspiciously intense and Outsiders are instructed to help civilians with power outages, flash flooding, debris from heavy wind and rain.
gundemn: (t8)

[personal profile] gundemn 2024-07-19 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ Okay, sounds easy enough. Unless the other kid is also a trained marksman secretly masquerading as a civilian, Elan thinks he has this competition in the bag. He won't go in for the kill though, firing with the intention to throw some shots to keep their scores close and the competition intense. Perhaps belying his experience, he himself looks relaxed while it's going on and even glances Ishmael's way. ]

What do I get if I win?
wheft: (pic#16862410)

[personal profile] wheft 2024-07-19 09:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ huh. for a kid, he's pretty good with a gun. not that ishmael hasn't observed any of her longtime teammates fight from afar before, but this is the first time she's seen him with a firearm up close. coming from a world where guns are an astronomically expensive commodity, it's always surprising to see someone who's clearly adept with it, and at such a young age too.

at that question, she tilts her head. ]


You want more? Uhh. [ her eyes roam towards the other nearby stalls. ] Maybe one of those masks? They're a hit, it looks like.

[ she doesn't get why, but they're cute, so...... ]
gundemn: (ex7)

[personal profile] gundemn 2024-07-20 08:01 am (UTC)(link)
I don't even know what they're for.

[ Masks excite him less than food and his tone reflects it, but hey, it's free stuff, so sorry kid. The chitchat has him falling behind but in the last few seconds Elan overtakes the other's score. ]

That was close! You almost had me there. Good game!

[ He even holds his hand out to shake, putting on a customer service voice that's a complete switch from his bored, uncooperative teen voice of earlier. ]
wheft: (pic#16878721)

[personal profile] wheft 2024-07-20 10:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ jeez, look at how well-behaved he is - even if it's only an act. he has to be if he's been sorted into their rather eclectic team, after all.

she does give the opponent a cheap consolation prize for participating, and once that's done she immediately flips over the sign. ]


Ready? Let's go find out what the fuss is about over those masks first.

[ because she has no idea either, but the more she observes the civilians putting on their masks on the side of their heads as she leads the way, the more she concludes that they're just for decor... ]
gundemn: (t1)

[personal profile] gundemn 2024-07-21 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
They're such slavedrivers. This was supposed to be our month off.

[ As soon as the kid leaves and Ishmael shuts the booth, he's back to his sullen teen attitude like a switch has flipped. Being made to fundraise, hunt crabs, and help the public with the heatwave was NOT how he wanted to spend his first summer. Elan would have preferred ice cream first but he follows along, looking at the happy festival-goers in attendance without a care in the world. He's jealous. ]
wheft: (pic#17088658)

[personal profile] wheft 2024-07-22 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
It's only for one day. If the desert hasn't killed you yet, you can get through this one.

[ and he will get his frozen treats in due time, trust. they arrive at one of those mask stalls, and ishmael watches a kid walking away with glee, a generic tokusatsu mask wrapped around their little head. ]

You could get one of those ones. The rest are just... iconic mascots from this world, it seems.

[ very slim pickings here. ]
gundemn: (pic#17304804)

[personal profile] gundemn 2024-07-23 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
It didn't kill me but it took a couple years off my life.

[ He mutters recalling how he'd almost been done in. He's starting to think Outsiders can be scarier than kaiju - but he's exaggerating, manning a booth certainly won't kill him.

At the stall, Elan looks over the masks without comment. These are, uhhh. He doesn't know much about Earthian pop culture, so there's not even the nostalgia factor. ]


They look like they're for kids.
wheft: (pic#17035701)

[personal profile] wheft 2024-07-24 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, yeah. That's why we're here.

[ it's joke

no but seriously -- ]


Older people still wear these, you know. I don't think these are things that you can simply outgrow from if you still like 'em. [ she takes down a mask from like, some generic-looking mecha franchise and gives it a closer look. ] Doesn't this look like those robot things I saw being sold at toy stores lately?

[ she means the gunplas... ]
Edited 2024-07-24 23:31 (UTC)
gundemn: (t5)

[personal profile] gundemn 2024-07-25 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ Just to suffer???

Elan makes another long face at the sight of the mecha masks. Thanks to those two ZAFT soldiers outdoing themselves last battle, the genre is selling like hotcakes, and okay, as a fellow pilot he can tell they're damn good at what they do and they make mobile suit piloting look cool again but they're NOT going to hear it from him. ]


They treat mobile suits like toys here. Definitely not...This one's fine.

[ He picks up a white and red fox-shaped mask with a grinning expression. ]
wheft: (Default)

[personal profile] wheft 2024-07-27 09:49 am (UTC)(link)
They look like it from afar, even if operating them must not be child's play, I bet.

[ hence her initial apprehension at seeing teens here upon arriving. she's now embraced the fact that other worlds would have ordinary people with extraordinary abilities since then, though it did take a while to get used to due to the City's horrible child mortality rates...

anyway, she takes a generic magical girl one, strapping it to the side of her head before leading elan towards the food stalls. ]


Do you come from the same world as those two, then?
gundemn: (b998)

[personal profile] gundemn 2024-07-28 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
It doesn't take a genius to pilot but being a pilot isn't as glorious as it looks. Especially when we could die any time to kaiju, unless you're abnormally strong supersoldiers like those two. I don't know where they're from, but don't lump me in with them.

[ Elan had thought finally some normal people when they showed up but nevermind, those two are not normal.

He's sort of venting as they walk. Sometimes he thinks his life would be considerably less fucked up if he didn't have an aptitude for piloting and was never scouted by Peil and then drafted as an Outsider into this mess of a world. The only thing separating him from the civilians is his possession of a mobile suit, and what he wouldn't give to be on the other side. The child mortality rate for his particular unit is pretty abysmal, so to speak. ]
wheft: (pic#17321309)

[personal profile] wheft 2024-07-31 11:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ to be absolutely fair, is there anyone here who's normal........... ]

All right, all right. Jeez. I just assumed that you knew each other in wherever you're from because of those giant vehicles. They look pretty similar to anyone who wouldn't know any better.

[ like her, for instance. as far as she knows, the City would never allow that kind of tech to thrive, unless they're being secretly developed in some far-flung district or something. ]
gundemn: (t1)

[personal profile] gundemn 2024-08-03 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Elan believes himself very normal, thank you. ]

I can see why but trust me, it's only similar on the outside.

[ His mobile suit is a gundam and the only gundam here. It's not him nitpicking the details but kind of a huge deal, but he'll spare her that rant. They're nearing the ice cream stand anyway, and he's distracted by the sight of food. ]
wheft: (pic#16878721)

[personal profile] wheft 2024-08-03 09:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ that meme should be updated, im crying ]

If you say so...

[ it's obviously too touchy of a topic for him, so she won't pry for now. it's probably the summer heat getting to him, which is why the ice cream stand is practically a godsend. ]

I'm having strawberry shaved ice with condensed milk. [ she's picking out flavors on a whim, but that one sounds really good by itself... ] What'll be yours again? Something about red bean paste?