TRAVEL LOG #2

[synfluxmods]

TRAVEL LOG #2

CONTENT WARNINGS: natural disaster, acid rain, vehicle crash.

▶ 001. WINGING IT.

In the early morning hours of the 1st, Outsiders will receive a rude awakening blaring through their implants. No matter what they do, the alarm will not stop sounding until they are forced to get up. A message will flash through their vision:

ALL OUTSIDERS ARE TO REPORT TO THE HANGAR IMMEDIATELY FOR DEPARTURE

Get up, get dressed in your plugsuit, and it’s time to go! Once they report at the hangar, they will be met with a huge spacecraft, large enough to fit at least 80 people. This will be their mode of transport to their next location.

"My Angels of Lilith. You are needed once again. We have received distress signals from the neighbouring country of South Korea. Unfortunately, since we have not established data portals in that country, we require you to embark via air. Your aircraft is ready for you and your seats have been assigned. I bid you a safe journey."

True enough, there are more than enough seats on the LILITH SKY CRUISER to accommodate every Outsider, and to get everyone organized quickly for departure, all Outsiders will receive a seat number. Like any plane, seats are rather cramped and there isn’t much leg room. Once the seatbelt sign is off, Outsiders are free to stand up and move around the cruiser, but they might have to climb over other people or make the whole row stand up to give them room. The aircraft is serviced by robotic stewards serving light snacks of nuts and crackers, and coconut crab kimbap and seaweed soup at meal time. Any characters who use a cloaking device will be instructed to use it during the flight to accommodate the aircraft. Also, any characters who rely on a weapon or anything else (such as a Gundam), it will be loaded onto the cargo of the aircraft.

The flight will take about 2-3 hours. Outsiders may take a nap, chat or try the inflight entertainment available. This inflight entertainment is delivered through a virtual reality headset. Outsiders may pick a selection of AI movies of questionable quality, along with several virtual reality games. There are single player or multiplayer options available for every game.

Available games include:

• The Sims 30: One player gets to become the ‘god’ of a world and build houses or dictate the lives of other players and NPCs within the game as they see fit.
  
• Farm Crossing: A farming simulator game where players get to build and manage their own farms. Harvest your crops and tend to your animals! Impress the friendly villagers in the town with your beautiful ranch!
  
• Tales of Heroes: A fantasy game where players are reborn into a world of monsters and magic and have to level up by fighting monsters and slaying demons.
  
• And many more … (Feel free to design your own VR games.)

Eventually, the sky cruiser will touch down on Incheon Airport. There’s no need to be stuck waiting in line at immigration... it appears as if the Incheon Airport has not been used in decades and seems completely abandoned with the exception of the Outsiders. The old scanning machines and luggage belts are simply collecting dust. Outsiders will be ushered immediately to the nearest train station, where they will continue their journey by train.

▶ 002. WELCOME TO SEOUL.

Once descended from the train ride, they will have arrived in the city of Seoul, South Korea. Similar to Neo Tokyo, a lot of the people on the outskirts moved to this area in order to receive shelter and the benefits of being amongst civilization, rather than fending for themselves. As such, there is a certain hustle and bustle, but considering the state of their dilapidated airports and most of the other cities falling to ruin, there definitely is a more somber vibe to the city. Despite that, the residents carry on and there is no shortage of shopping, food stalls (mostly with foods that are not easy to perish), cafes, pojangmacha to have a late night food or drink at, and many more smaller businesses. The people are resilient and have every single desire to continue making a living. As such the prices here are competitive and Outsiders will find if they look hard enough, there are some fairly good deals to be made. Currency exchange is no issue, as KRYPTOS is the universal currency.

Since a lot of efforts were made to keep Seoul intact, there are still some important sights that were kept up and can be visited if desired. While LILITH urges people to keep their eyes peeled out for any clues to the next kaiju’s whereabouts, Seok Dang may or may not have sent each Outsider a map of the best sightseeing amongst many other not-so-innocent suggestions. He calls it the difference of experiences and “doesn’t want anyone missing out!” If people check back on the message a day later, they will find it was almost as if it didn’t exist at all. On the list, however, includes sights like the Gyeongbokgung Palace, COEX mall and aquarium, Seoul Sky, and many others. However, some of them may or may not exist anymore. How long was he out of the country for? For an extra “freebie” he throws in, Outsiders will find an odd message on their style upgrade saying there is a new outfit available, when opened, it will download a hanbok that they can wear at any time.

"Well, well. Unfortunately, whatever fun could have been planned will need to be halted just a mere two and a half days to get settled. Once again, a message will be produced on everyone’s oculars suggesting an emergency is on the horizon. Guess we better get to that instead of showing you my home country!"

And Seok Dang wonders why he is the Commander's least favorite.

Beep! An alert pops up on the Outsiders' ocular devices. According to the information LILITH just received, there is not just one large kaiju occupying this region, but two. In order to chase both of these leads, Outsiders are split into two groups in order to chase these two kaiju. They have described these kaiju as being very agile and fast, but resembling a serpent from the few sightings that have been spotted. As for the rift that it originated from, there is no sign of a rift in South Korea. Did it migrate here from somewhere else? More details will pour into the Outsider's devices as soon as possible, but for now, Outsiders are called to pursue the hunt.

▶ 003. TEAM SEOUL.
_{EVERLIGHT & REDEMPTION}

Within the next hour, rain will begin to fall upon the city, but this is far from the average summer shower. The precipitation doesn’t seem weather-related as much as it does seem to be a proponent of the kaiju’s abilities. They find this when studying the rain itself, which is acidic to the touch. While the buildings and other structures will remain sound, the people will need to evacuate quickly in order to avoid any lingering effects to the skin. Skin contact with the acid rain will cause both minor and severe burning, depending on how quickly it is rinsed off with normal water. At the first discovery of the acid rain's danger, Outsiders will be commanded to press a button on their plugsuit on the left shoulder, activating an invisible helmet to keep their heads and faces safe.

The Outsiders’ plug suits prevent them from receiving any damages from the rain, but that’s certainly not the case for everyone else. The first team, made up of the members of Everlight and Redemption are to prioritize the initial evacuation of the people, especially those who live slightly outside of the city limits of Seoul. They are the most vulnerable during crises like these and will need to be pulled from their homes, and those who live in the basement shelters will need to be pulled to one higher ground in case of potential flooding with the acid rain. Individuals who have skills in healing will also be called forth in order to tend to the injuries of those who are saved.

Between evacuation, there will also be tidbits of information provided to those on the team that remains in Seoul to check out specific locations in order to figure out more about this kaiju. The first location listed is Gyeongbokgung Palace. Outsiders that remain in Seoul will be utilizing that as their base. They are set to look at any remains the kaiju may have left behind. Any findings are commanded to be surrendered to LILITH. Emergency response of South Korea will use this palace as a safe haven, providing cots for sleeping overnight and other emergency supplies.

▶ 004. TEAM BUSAN.
_{BRIMSTONE & REVELATION}

The second team will depart via train on a journey to the city of Busan. The journey is expected to take 2 hours, and while there are comfortable seats available on the train, any luxuries beyond that are minimal. At least LILITH has brought along a few VR headsets for whoever wants to kill time with games or bad movies? Anyone can sit where they'd like for this ride.

An hour into the trip, a loud crash is suddenly heard, with the entire train rocking and falling to its side. This causes a complete blackout throughout the train and it stops functioning completely, leaving Outsiders stranded within the pitch black tunnel. The train system is completely inoperable in this condition. Outsiders will need to make their own journey to the city, following the rails by foot and helping any Outsiders who happened to be injured in the crash. It’ll be dark within the tunnel, but light will soon emerge once they exit it, and they will find themselves at the foot of Mount Geumjeong.

From then on, they’ll need to put their trekking skills to the test and cross the mountainous, forested region, where they will encounter various local fauna such as snakes, deer and black bears. They will also spot many destroyed villages and temples on their way to Busan. However, evidence of the Kaiju can be found in both the subway tunnel and throughout the mountain trek, suggesting that the kaiju has moved through here. This encourages LILITH to keep Outsiders in this area. The Outsiders will need to make a campsite in one of the destroyed villages, though emergency response will also pay them a visit several days later with sleeping cots and emergency supplies. In the meantime, hopefully they brought enough food with them or know how to forage and hunt for food in the wilderness. Some of those berries out there are poisonous....

The team here will be encouraged to explore the area to find further traces of the kaiju and help any villagers who are still alive.

▶ 005. STATUS REPORT.

Promptly, at the same time, all Outsiders will receive a text message and be put in an encrypted chat-room: OPERATION: RED/BLUE
CODENAME:
LOCATION:
STATUS:
FINDINGS:
Outsiders are instructed to fill out this information and send it into the chat to communicate with one another.

▶ 006. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our second travel log!

Characters do have ASSIGNED SEATS for the duration of their flight to Incheon airport, though there are just enough empty seats that some characters can move around if they really don't like their seat buddies. Teams BRIMSTONE and REVELATION will be traveling to Busan, while teams EVERLIGHT and REDEMPTION will be staying in Seoul.

RNG below to discover what your character will find in both Seoul and Busan respectively. For the STATUS REPORT Prompt, treat it as an open chat room for all Outsiders and respond to the HEADER COMMENT. Feel free to threadjack and discuss among yourselves. You may also include this as a text prompt in your top level if you would like for people just to reply to you instead of using the header comment.

All tags on this log are worth 2 points and will count towards August AC.

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. WINGING IT: Characters are told to head to the hangar for DISPATCH to SOUTH KOREA where reports of a kaiju have been seen. Characters sit in their assigned seats for a short air travel ride.

2. WELCOME TO SEOUL: We arrive in Seoul and are given orders to split into two teams: Everlight & Redemption in Seoul, Brimstone & Revelation in Busan. Seok Dang has tried to sneak in some sight seeing in between mission briefs, but it looks like there won't be much time for that, as two kaiju have been found in South Korea.

3. TEAM SEOUL: Everlight & Redemption deal with acid rain in Seoul, ushering civilians to refuge, tending to acidic burns and using Gyeongbokgung Palace as a makeshift base. Investigation hints at the kaiju being somewhere in this area as Outsiders find claws, teeth, droppings and other things that belong to a dragon-like creature.

4. TEAM BUSAN: Brimstone & Revelation board a train to Busan which has an outage, trapping them to travel along the tunnel in the dark. They arrive at the end of the tunnel at the foot of Mount Geumjeong and create a makeshift base in the village there. Investigation hints at the kaiju being somewhere in this area as Outsiders find claws, teeth, droppings and other things that belong to a dragon-like creature.

5. STATUS REPORT: Outsiders are encouraged to share their findings and speculations on the kaiju in an encrypted chat room.

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Comments

[undrowned]

We'll have to find something as dramatic as your ribbons, of course.

[ rover goes through a pile of bows and bow-related items in a box, trying to pick one that resembles hers in structure. she picks out a flower clip for her. ]

Do you like flowers? How about this one?

[undrowned]

You'll just have to be skilled in dodging, I suppose? Plenty of other people have long hair and yet still live.

[ skill issue, kabs. ]

[undrowned]

Something cool, I hope. Like the actual monster itself, or even just a part of it that's not smelly?

I'll take a horn or a claw.

[undrowned]

Perhaps.

If it has some kind of affliction, then we can at least count on it being in pain and would want to relieve itself ... further. [ ah gross. ]

[photosympathies]

( It's working out so well, Vash's heart is growing a billion sizes. With the exception of a few disgruntled guys, everyone seems to want to come together and help. The man he aids in crossing spends the whole time offering up his apologies for the slow speed, but Vash only holds the umbrella a little tighter, shielding the man's body with his own. )

Hey now, don't worry about it. This is actually pretty nice. ( As nice as acid rain can be! ) We're getting to meet people and work outside? A real plus. Now, now, we're really doing okay. Look at my buddy here, does he look bothered? No. You don't mind those other guys, they're just cranky they're not filled with the right kind of love and peace.

( The whole way he prattles, but it seems to soothe the old man who is shaking a little less by the end of their trip. Vash makes certain to leave him with a kindlier group, closing the umbrella as he takes a mad dash back. The idiots they left behind all but snatch the remaining shelter, but all he does is cluck his tongue. )

What's the rush? We've got time.

[undrowned]

[ rather pleasantly, ] We could also die.

[ you know! that's also a thing that could happen.

anyway, rover just sighs as she logs in. does she regret it? it's to be expected from him, but also, she's rather bored trying to nap without success and staring at the AI movies the airplane has to offer. none of them are good, anyway, some of the humans in them don't even have ears, so why bother. unfortunately, callisto is right that gaming is the only other choice. so. gaming it is.

callisto will be transported to her farm. there are flowers and fruit trees everywhere.

curiously, she seems to be building a pen to enclose him. ]

[photosympathies]

( He hums in agreement, resting his chin on his knee so he can face the rest of the room easier. It's been a long enough day that his limbs immediately go loose with exhaustion, but he still seems mentally present enough. )

Me and Tsurumaru had to break into a store to help house people so I really hope LILITH will take the responsibility for that, I do not have enough double-dollars to soothe a pissed off business owner. Wait, no. Kryptos. Either way I don't have it. ( And he feels GUILTY about it. That's someone's livelihood. ) I wanted to lend people my plugsuit but then I guess it could only really help one person? Tomorrow better be easier.

( Hopefully not famous last words though. )

Everyone seems to be doing okay though.

[blastedass]

[Because newbies would be keysmashing in other forms if they dropped all that information on them right out of the drippy pod. Besides, why should LILITH tell them that kind of detail when they want their little Outsiders to interact with each other?

Stupid, isn't it.]

Do I look like I'm joking?!

[He doesn't have a funny bone in his body! (Yes he does, but it's specialized.) Truth hurts.]

Yeah. A lot of Outsiders got hurt the first time we faced it. That fucking thing had some kind of hypnotic ability that messed with the oculars and made us see and hear people we knew from back home. Most of us ended up fighting with each other.

[gorb]

Both.

At least, I've never had any complaints.

dw says smoking is bad

[gorb]

( He watches all of this unfold with faint bemusement, his own cigarette more enjoyable than hers seems to be. When she hands back a half of one he merely puts it out in the available ash tray, offering up a shrug. )

That's fine.

( He's not going to hold it against her. He might have once, but they're very recent conversation has smoothed over some of Geto's more jagged edges when it comes to other Outsiders. She has been put firmly in the non-human camp either way, and that means he's a little less dismissive of her. In an attempt at being less despondent, he picks up the drink she had left for him, taking a very deliberate sip. )

We all have our vices, not everyone's matches.

[blastedass]

I see. All Might was able to change the weather with a single punch. And this freak named Nine could control the weather at the cost of his health.

[Granted, "weather" meant a localized storm. It wasn't like either of those two were controlling hurricanes the size of fucking Japan. Still, he bore witness to All Might's punch dispelling the storm clouds right over his own head. The idea of Godzilla doing the same is not even hard to imagine. Too bad he is indeed, tiny.]

Humans have almost always had a form of wealth. Currency's existed since the start, whether it's meat, salt, spices, shells, stones, metal. Not everyone, even in the past, could or would hunt. Even in the stone age, some people sat in their caves and traded shit for meat others brought back. Or just took it.

People can still learn survival skills in the modern world. A lot of countries have youth programs that teach kids that kind of stuff. But most modern countries never have to use those skills unless they want to.

[blastedass]

Learn if they've already interacted, whether they're predatory and/or territorial, and find a way to force them together.

[Instigate a fight.]

[bemist]

I think they've got enough to deal with.

[ ... You know. Like dealing with emotions. Far too many emotions. Emotions she want nothing to do with. She says it with a roll of her mismatched eyes, though. Yes, she understands. Siffrin is being lighthearted, for at least part of this. ]

[blastedass]

[it is bullshit. they should be working on whatever problems seoul's facing, hunting down the damn kaiju, and doing anything else the outsiders need to do. onto the next issue! but just like kyoto and vegas, their initial time in this place is a slow down, waiting for lilith to assess the situation and made decisions on how to deploy them. perhaps he shouldn't complain about being given some time off. a lot of them still need some rest after that shit in vegas and the following month of rain and heat.

there's nothing to do for it now, unless bakugo wants to take a squad outside the city and do his own work. that'd be stupid in this situation. so for now, fine... he'll take a moment to peruse the bookstore. so much of neo tokyo's media is digital. having physical books, fingers running over the covers and spines, feeling the pages flip beneath his fingertips, is a pleasant familiar sensation.

he blinks when his hand is suddenly introduced to a paperback. red eyes widen a flick, one brow arching at the cover. there's no doubt about the book's genre. heroes. the translation function does kick in and he scans over the book with nerdy interest. it's a flash of nerdiness, but probably something yuwon could catch sight of it... bakugo's still a young man.]

Where'd you find this? [asked in the manner of someone wanting to see if they have more.]

[bemist]

[ Yeah, she can't quite see herself enjoying this. But transportation... ]

Walking, probably. You can reach different places without a vehicle.

[blastedass]

They're also not kaiju.

[blastedass]

WHO THE FUCK'S EMBARRASSED?! I HOPE YOU FIND MORE!!

[why does this guy always piss him off?!]

Are you willing to brave any lake nearby?

[bemist]

[ It's okay, he can sweetly boss around other people and maybe they'll go for it!! ]

Most people managed it a couple of months ago. Though I get the feeling they probably did focus more on ability than capability.

[siffriend]

[ At least she understands. That's good enough, and Siffrin remains laying down, but closes their eye with a soft exhale. Different than the one she might take note of.

He really does need to rest properly, sometime. Later. Later. ]

... If you can picture a fire, then visualize it sealing a wound. Some people... use needle and thread, for theirs. I wish.

[bemist]

[ ... Yeah, that's a different exhalation. Is he tired? ]

You mean like cauterizing?

[ Huh. She can understand them coaxing a fire from bits of kindling without doing it in the usual way, and it's weirder that the fire won't burn people, but using thoughts of fire to heal?

Crafts really are as creative as their wielder allows, huh. ]

2

[queenofkur]

[ Ereshkigal catches that. A "bloodbath." Why would you be prepared for that when you're in one of those human creation? It had been fairly peaceful, all things considered and no one had died.

Besides her sims, who shall forever be remembered. ]

The odds of fighting breaking out between any of us while on a mission is low. Why would you prepare for a bloodbath?

truly

[undrowned]

[ she leans back to catch her breath, sighing. now she smells like smoke. rover drinks her own cup, calmly enjoying the ability to breathe again without having to mediate it through the cigarette. ]

At least you don't have to give it up here.

[ she won't tell him it's bad. as he'd said, they all have their vices. but if it's more difficult to utilize when needed, then that'd be an unnecessary inconvenience on top of being far away from home.

anyway, for herself, she doesn't need to pick up vices. ]

Have you picked up other vices since you've arrived? Or hobbies, for that matter. [ she assumes, naturally, that geto would have a relatively active social life. ]

[siffriend]

Mmhmm. When you get sick, you get a fever. That kills the sickness. So a fire would kill infection.

[ There's simple steps to it. Break it down, and it's simple. ]

I thought it'd be an easier explanation for you. Um, the fire travels through... the warmth of the fire travels through, and... it heals. That sort of thing. You'll find what works for you.

landing

[siffriend]

[ ... He seems to have handled it as well as Gebura did, from afar. Siffrin holds their book to their chest and looks up at the very tall man. Why is everyone so tall... ]

The trains don't bleed.

[bemist]

Does efficacy depend on the kind of person?

[ A pause. ]

Like someone more caring being better at a healing Craft or something like that.

[ Like she's definitely more destructive-minded. Probably. ]