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.

code

Comments

us at our work meetings:

[transmit]

[ why are we both like this….

But, Elysium would agree. A little blood, broken bones. They all heal up given enough time, mercurial. Most would argue that the psychological aftereffects of being put into such a position is where the permanence lies, though for someone who's lacking in the self-preservation department, there's… less of an emphasis on both.

Tangentially, if Callisto retains any curiosity over Elysium's condition, a row of black crystals can be seen bisecting across the front of his belly all the way to the side of the midsection of his torso. Even in their dim setting, it catches light, gleams dangerously. Much like Elysium's current demeanour—placid, with an undercurrent of something that could lash out, but won't.

As if this display of restraint is just another aspect to lord over the prince himself, further emboldened by the contact of harsh leather against skin. ]

You say that as if you've done anything to warrant the respect of one. Even the title of 'clown prince' is ill-befitting when your humour is as lousy as it is.

[ For a brief second, Elysium's expression does tense, instinctual. And yet, it eases within the next moment as the sensation recedes into a dull reminder, and he looks none worse for wear. ]

Wow. You're an actual lunatic. If I could clap for you, I would.

[ A low, mockingly impressed whistle graces Callisto's efforts in its place. It's one thing to make a threat; it's another to go through with it. ]

Is all this really over a rejected kiss…? [ damn. ]

[uncourteous]

[ watch us still be tagging this next month... torture chicken... in a very natural way, his eyes are drawn to the exposed skin. he notices the crystals across the man's body. was that the norm where he was from? a personal choice? several question flit through his mind like an age old rolodex (which incidentally probably did exist in the empire), and this growing curiosity does put a slight damper on his mood to torment the man.

to begin with, it was mostly meant to be mental torture than it was physical. to temporarily put elysium into the closest state of a prisoner without actual breaking skin, but it's true that elysium had a way of riling him up. was it because it reminded him of everything he's lost and inevitably left behind in the empire, or simply because the man was too mouthy for his own good (and to what he would argue is the good of the general public— minus the fact he has absolutely no right to think this considering his own track record here). whatever the case is, considering he's already come this far... ]

This could barely constitute as a lashing, Elysium. [ he cuts out any sort of politeness in his words. his language also seeming to lose its practiced edge. this may be the first time he's used someone's name without the assumption of some sort of title and proper background. ]

Rejected kiss...? [ he actually has to think about this for a moment. did that happen? ]

I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about. [ never forgetting how elysium did really just leave him backstage, though. he moves the tip of the riding crop over elysium's crystals. ] Instead, I have a different question for you...

[transmit]

[ if we're tagging this regularly and they're still in the dungeon by september, i'm going to drop ]

You're right. [ A hum. As if he dissociates from the threat of an escalation entirely; as if it has nothing to do with him. ] You could do worse. You probably have done worse. This was a warning for my impudence against a royal, I imagine. But we're all equal here, Callisto. Get off your high horse.

[ The lack of an emphasis on his name is deliberate, purposeful, for similar reasons that Callisto had accentuated Elysium's own. He wonders, vaguely, if Callisto has never been spoken to in such opposition before. At least, such a reaction asserts it; although Callisto's behaviour by itself leaves much to be desired, there is no denying that Elysium has his own stake in the matter, reminded of the power dynamics one could find in his home world—country, even, where he's more or less powerless. At a later time, on a later day, maybe he'll break it down then why he's exacerbated things to this extent, when normally he advocates for himself the path of least resistance. ]

Why else would you be so fixated by my mouth? [ freak. ]

[ But the riding crop moves, and with it, so does the conversation. Elysium reads Callisto's curiosity, and immediately wants nothing to do with it. ]

It's an ailment. [ Probably the quickest and briefest he'll ever explain it to someone. Despite the mild delivery of his words, his gaze is sharp. ] Don't feel pity for me now. If you're thinking of making fine jewelry from it: [ by… excavating it from his skin??? ] don't say I didn't warn you. It's rather volatile.

[ (bijou voice) in my heart [this is] deescalated ]

[uncourteous]

[ you can always save us before then??? ]

Unfortunately for you, this is not about mere status. [ it's about pride. about not stepping down from such obvious provocations, or it's simply about driving some invisible and equally nonsensical point in. regardless, it's all he knows. he was accustomed to taking action simply because it was about life and death; his survival no longer hinges on the decisions he'd make in split seconds, but the habits are already far long engraved in him. his unhinged approach to releasing his emotions unchanged and undeterred. ... and it's unfortunate that elysium does well in drawing this out of him.

what started off a joke in very bad humor...

this seems all the more edged by the fact that elysium seemed like such an easygoing man on the surface, but there was clearly something more. who wouldn't want to scratch beyond the surface? tear into him, crystals and feathers and all...

... an ailment. he leans in closer, he brings his gloved hand up to his mouth, he gathers a bit of material at the end, using his teeth to pry it off and drop it to the ground. it was soiled, anyway. he then brings a finger up to the crystals, as if delicately trying to peel them off his person. he only succeeds in cutting the tips of his fingers. with the fresh blood peeking out from his skin, he brushes them against the feathers that frame elysium's face.

even the smell of blood is so realistic. ] Trifling. [ does he feel pity? no, he doesn't think that's what this emotion is. if he were the type who could readily feel such an emotion, he likely wouldn't be here in this position.

the one thing he can say, however, he doesn't dislike the unspoken strength the other man exudes. he couldn't stand crying and groveling to be quite honest. hence, he also becomes a bit more honest. ] If you apologize now, it isn't too late to let you go.

[ his one act of kindness... no one can say we haven't de-escalated. ]

[transmit]

[ why is it contingent on me? this is a joint effort. a cooperative hobby…. ride together die together.

The skin around the crystals is already sensitive as it is; coupled with the social implications and ramifications of having them, they're hardly prizes to be worn and/or touted despite what Elysium claims. It's one thing to make light of them among people who knew, it's another for someone who didn't to handle them so carelessly, moreover, unknowingly with a strange kind of intimacy they'd never command otherwise. Matters are made worse when Callisto's fingers skim his feathers after the fact, and that's the trigger that causes Elysium to flinch, reflexively, akin to how a startled animal might as his breath hitches halfway up his throat. It's as they say, the body tends to be more honest than the mouth, and Elysium's unfortunately exemplifying just that. ]

… As if there's anything to seek forgiveness for that doesn't just serve to satisfy your ego. [ Eyes shut, the words are spoken through gnashed teeth, tumbling out all too readily, snappily, to rein them in behind his usual veneer of composure. Still, he inhales a sharp breath and manages to crumple together a semblance of self. Behind his back, nails press arches into his palms. ] Do you really think you're keeping me here?

[ 'Let him go,' Callisto says, and it's ridiculous enough that it elicits a laugh. ]

Haha. Sorry, sorry. I did warn you about volitivity. [ What does Callisto want him to apologise for, if there's anything for him to? There's the standing up, which he'd refused to begin with—then the insolence, sure. He'd like to not be involved with Callisto's insistence with power dynamics, thanks.

Here. An attempt at being #real… as those thin arches on his palms colour red. ] … Even if I were to sound more serious about it, would you even accept it? Inviting someone into such a setting to intimidate an apology out of them is far from a basis for genuine reconciliation. Why don't you tell me what you actually want?

[ He poses the question, but within the second—a follow-up. ]

Or, don't, because it doesn't matter. Since we're working under LILITH together, odds are we'll be working alongside each other. [ … ] So let's keep it professional from now on, shall we?

[ this is the true de-escalation… he's out.

]

[uncourteous]

[ the fact that his feathers are more of a sensitive point than his actual physical ailment is a fact he doesn't miss. then again, they do feel rather delicate, and when he touches them like this, he realizes they weren't simple decoration. they do more than adorn his face, and the fact that he reacts illicit a tight inhalation of the breath, as if he were caught between two extreme and completely separate thoughts. to torture or not to torture, for example&mdashl jk...

it's not that deep.

but, all of elysium's words had an odd way of both hitting a precise point and completely missing his entire reason for action. the heart of the matter was actually quite simple, wasn't it? was he just taking his excess frustrations out on elysiuym? was he bothered that intimidation didn't work, but at the same time felt disgusted by his actual lack of disappointment? the more he thought, the more he decides it wasn't worth considering at all. ]

So you cast away playing coy, and you are saying you have been here entirely of your own volition?

[ between the man's ailment, the fact that he still hasn't budged... callisto pops open the menu one last time. he produces a dagger in his hand, before he stands right over elysium. he places one hand on the chair, and reaches behind him, placing the blade right behind him.


he is close enough where his chest is right against elysium's head. ] If you're a professional... [ ... and elysium is gone. wtf? he was about cut you out and let you go, bro? not callisto standing here alone with a knife in his hand. 🧍‍♂️🔪 ]