Update

[synfluxmods]

▷ DECISION UPDATE

▶ OUTCOME: BURNING BRIDGES

The decision has been made. LILITH Japan orders the Outsiders to mobilize to pursue the Imugi.

Given that they are in a foreign country, they are largely dependent on LILITH Korea’s resources. In response to the decision, the Korean branch provides some assistance: the Outsiders are given just enough vehicles to help transport them, essential supplies, and only a few operatives to help guide them. This is the most the Korean branch is able to give, as they must focus on relocating people and restoring peace following the attack.

LILITH announces that the Imugi is currently resting near Gangneung on the east coast and they must move quickly. The effects of Rift poisoning will grow stronger as they approach the source; a sign that they are close to a kaiju. Upon reaching the mountains just outside the city, LILITH informs them that they are right on top of its location.

However, there is no Imugi to be found. After searching the area, Outsiders will discover the source of the trace and the poisoning: eggs. They will find about twelve eggs. When they report their findings, Seokdang will curse. In their rush, they had followed the wrong trace. They didn’t track down an injured and resting Imugi—they tracked down the Imugi’s nest. So where is the Imugi?

Not long after, Outsiders will receive an update on their implants: the Imugi reappeared in Seoul. After seeing the corpse of its mate, it went berserk and attacked the city again. While many of the citizens were evacuated to nearby Incheon and remaining shelters, just as many perished, with the death toll at 168,000 and rising. LILITH’s Korean base is destroyed.

The Imugi was last seen flying north, but the Korean government prohibits the Outsiders from pursuing it again through their territory. By choosing to pursue the kaiju, the Outsiders have abandoned humanity and thus will receive no further support. They are ordered to leave the country immediately.

LILITH Japan will order them to collect as many eggs as possible and continue to the abandoned city of Gangneung, where they will arrange pick up and return to base in Tokyo.

▶ AFTERWORD.

Thanks everyone for participating in our first major Event Decision! We hope you had fun discussing what to do both ICly and OOCly.

After failing to capture the second Imugi and also failing to save a large portion of Seoul's population, characters will be shipped back to Japan. The events of the TDM will springboard from there. Feel free to use this post to thread out any aftermath threads if you would like.

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

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Comments

a!

[bemist]

[ He's going to have to go quite a ways to find Gebura in One Haunt, which is where she goes when she doesn't want to be bothered. The ocean. The "not a beautiful island" ocean. The dark, ominous-looking ocean.

And she's just standing there, staring out at the water without maybe seeing the water with her hands in her coat pockets, even as she tenses upon hearing someone approach and turns her head.

And then turns it back to stare forward again. ]

[transmit]

You don't make it easy, do you? I've probably spent the better part of the day just looking for you.

[ How are her reflexes? Will she flinch when he presses a can of cold beer to her cheek? Avoid it entirely? Either way, that's what he's got for her: a drink. He remembers her ordering a lager back in Vegas, so this should suit her fine, right? ]

Hey.

[bemist]

[ She doesn't flinch; she simply leans back before it can touch her, one hand coming up to take it.

The point of not making something easy isn't an encouragement, she thinks. It's not meant to be. Elysium's perceptive enough to know that much.

Her gaze slides over to him. She doesn't look upset or broken or at a loss. She just looks tired, despite the alert light in her eyes. ]

What do you want, Elysium?

[transmit]

[ The word 'nothing' dies at the tip of his tongue. What he really wants is time alone and a pilgrimage somewhere halfway across the world for an indefinite number of days, but they can't all get what they want, can they?

Thinking about how many people had checked in on him had been… an experience, to call it one thing. So, he's decided to be preventative and proactive this time as he offers her a side glance and a helpless little smile. ]

Just some company. You won't deny me of that, will you?

[ 'I'll be quiet.'

He thinks back to when they had their first spar and inches closer to her, bumping shoulders. He doesn't need to say it this time, does he? ]

[bemist]

[ Everything feels uncomfortably familiar these days, this included. She can still remember Elysium saying it so easily, months ago, "You." That she'd reminded him of someone and she wonders if he's shaken off that two-point association by now.

Gebura closes her eyes briefly in lieu of answering immediately, feeling the dull ache of scars that had followed her to this body long after death. She doesn't nudge him in return, but she also doesn't move away. ]

I'm not good company. Or is it because I'm not going to make you talk?

[transmit]

If you want me talking, I can be.

[ Really. His uncertain smile gives way to something more assured, his head canting along with it. ]

I just figured you like it more when I'm not.

[bemist]

I don't care whether you talk or not. If you want to talk, talk, and if I don't want to listen, I'll ignore you.

[ Gebura continues to be a darling. ]

Haven't you already learned by now that you've got nothing to prove to me?

[transmit]

[ … ]

Maybe it isn't that and I just have something to prove to myself. Who knows!

[ Elysium continues to be a darling right back, expression unwavering. ]

But you made yourself scarce for a reason, right? No one should be alone. Not at a time like this. So because I've made that decision for you, I should at least try to meet you halfway otherwise. Unless, again, you really do prefer me as my unfettered self?

[bemist]

I already told you, I don't care. And there's nothing wrong with being alone "at a time like this."

[ It's said a bit testily, but she doesn't like the implication that it's some sort of negative thing, to take time for yourself. She's not as sentimental as a lot of the people who have shut down or provoked others and being surrounded by people is... too much, sometimes. ]

[transmit]

There is. What if you walk into the waters again?

[ push far, but not too far. see what the other's boundaries are and act in accordance to your observations. based on this



Elysium relents. ]

Just kidding. If you want me gone, I can be that, too.

[ what can't he be? ]

[bemist]

So you're doing all of this based on what you think I need.

[ Want, rather.

Gebura finally flicks the tab up on the beer can, because just holding it feels like a waste. ]

You've always made a big deal about yourself, so why stop now?

[transmit]

[ does anyone ever need another person? truly?

what

an uplifting thought! he continues smiling anyway! going along with how she'd said he could talk if he wanted to or stay silent, he's embodying just that as he cracks his own can open. ]

[bemist]

[ She could definitely throw this man into the ocean. She considers it, briefly.

But she doesn't, instead tipping the can back for a healthy swallow. Elysium is being smiling and chipper and she doesn't believe it for a second, but she's not in the mood to call him out. Probably. ]

[transmit]

[ yeah, well.

… here they are! for however long Gebura intended to stay out here, who's going to give, first? it's just as reasonable if she chooses to walk away… but Elysium won't be budging, either. if she goes, she goes. he's managed to fulfill his purpose out here, anyway. ]

[bemist]

[ She can't smoke while she's drinking, sadly, so she at least has to finish the can. In relative silence. But, finally-- ]

I didn't think I'd be reminded of the day I died.

[transmit]

[ The can in Elysium's hand may as well be decorative with how he hasn't even touched it since opening. Following the dispersal of their weighted silence, there's a beat. Two beats. That sure is a remark to drop, isn't it? ]

Were you alone that day, or were you fighting alongside other people?

[bemist]

I was alone. The Abnormalities all breached containment and slaughtered pretty much everyone there in the facility. The people who'd been behind it took advantage of that to try and kill the rest.

One of the employees who told me about it said it was better to get away. I didn't. I'd made a promise, to protect them.

[ She says it all calmly and matter-of-factly. ]

[transmit]

… I'd say the difference here is that it's been a collective failing. Still, it is easier said than done not to feel the individual responsibility of it.

[ sometimes, he hates being right. he'd spoke enough about this point to Ishmael when she'd brought up appreciating having a choice for once, but Elysium had argued otherwise. looking at how people were now…

it's tiring. this utter failure in leadership. he doesn't wear it on his face, though, having made his peace with it well before the catastrophic results of their decision. ]

But to protect, huh. It isn't the first time you've brought it up. Day by day, you aren't doing a terribly good job at selling that your kindness doesn't extend beyond your close circle.

[bemist]

[ Gebura just casts him a side-eye. ]

Everyone in that facility was a part of that circle, Elysium. The research team. The employees. Lisa and Enoch. [ Lisa and Enoch. ]

Out of a number I don't feel like going into detail about, Kali only managed to save two.

[transmit]

[ continuing to stare straight ahead, don't mind him. ]

Are you the kind of person to evaluate lives based on their ability to save others?

[bemist]

I don't evaluate anyone's life except my own.

[ Flatly. ]

[transmit]

A single life being able to save two.

[ … ]

I don't think "only" is the right word to assign to a feat like that.

[bemist]

I'm not discounting it. The two who survived were the reasons I and the others didn't technically stay dead.

[ She exhales, long and slow. ]

But even now, I still hear their screams. All of them. It's been that way, even before I could remember all their names.

--I'm fine, by the way. I'm not blaming myself for this particular thing or anyone else. There's no point in that right now.

[transmit]

By using that word, you are. Take it from a communications specialist that language is more powerful than we'd like to admit. Or don't. Not that I need to tell you this.

[ He looks down, fingers edging along the side of the warming can of beer in his hands. It's probably lukewarm, by now. ]

… Remember what I said about sliding scales of fine? Sure, you aren't actively blaming yourself at the moment, but you are far from the standard of "fine" that allows people to live their lives freely. [ more quietly: ] A lot of people are like that right now, though.

[bemist]

You're talking to the Patron Librarian of the Floor of Language, you know.

[ There's a thin strain to her tone, even as she raises an eyebrow at him. Maybe he's not looking at her. That lift is probably present in her voice too. ]

... "A lot", huh. I can't say you're living your life freely now either, so I hope you're including yourself in that.