synflux | DOWNTIME MINGLE #4

DOWNTIME MINGLE #4

DOWNTIME MINGLE #4

CONTENT WARNINGS: suggestive themes, egg hatching, parenthood.

▶ 001. WINNERS CIRCLE.

During this time period, the Outsiders would typically have been met with a makeshift party with poorly placed balloons and streamers. However, this time it’s just a bulletin board with the following message scrawled out on it:

GOOD JOB:
LOREMIPSUM (K.O.)
REDMIST (600)
NICE TOY (600)
RISK (599)

Even though the mission was a partial success, there are still sponsors who were impressed with the actions of the recognized Outsiders. They also believe those who have contributed are still able to provide relief to the people, and should not be criticized too harshly due to their efforts.

In light of this, the base will have an increase of various lab-made spices delivered by a certain sauce company that heard a certain Outsider has a preference for spicy food. Apparently, the spices pair perfectly with their lab-made chicken.

Maybe it’s a coincidence with a certain network name but the Nice Toy Company also endorses the base and creates a whole line of toy guns in the airsoft and BB variety which replicate antique guns that any collector would salivate over! These are distributed on base and can be seen sold at many stores in Neo Tokyo. There has also been an influx of people who are passionate about fitness and training, sparking a trend for those who work out in bunny outfits. Supposedly, it’s something they’ve seen in a prior battle with the kaiju and so the workout is full of intense cardio, and even bunny hops.

Makima’s face will be found on several brands of what appears to be packaged dog food, however it is unclear if it is really dog food or not. Either way, several hundreds of packages have been delivered to base and are stored as “emergency rations.” Everyone on base is free to grab a snack or two at any time!

For those Outsiders worrying about whether or not they'll be docked pay for only taking down one Imugi instead of both, worry no more! Everyone will wake up one morning with a notification that 300,000 KRYPTOS (~2100 USD) have been deposited into their account. It seems pulling double shifts at their civilian jobs won't be necesssary...

▶ 002. PROJECT EGG.

With the last mission ending in the retrieval of the Imugi eggs, the research teams have been left with one major question: what will they do with them? After some initial discussions, it has been decided that they would keep the eggs and attempt to raise them into maturity in order to see if they could garner more insight into not just the kaiju itself, but of their abilities. It is also their desire to see what the relationship between kaijus and the rifts are, and they believe this would be the best opportunity to do so.

The only caveat to this, however, is who would care for them in the meantime? From previously documented research, they found that kaiju eggs are not easy to raise, especially those who mirror lizard-like creatures. They need special attention that exceeds that of what people would typically expect from egg-rearing. Due to this, LILITH is asking for help from the Outsiders to temporarily tend to the eggs. The Outsiders will be working in shifts to watch the eggs, and are expected to care for them properly. It is noted that for kaiju who have been separated from their mothers, the chances of them hatching are very slim, and so they are not expecting each and every egg to hatch. They are, however, expecting Outsiders to put forth their best efforts in spite of that. At least, it’s one less thing to be blamed for.

Outsiders are expected to sign up for egg raising shifts and will get a single egg to care for. They are to be with the egg at all times during their shift, and negligence will not be tolerated. Occasionally, the staff will send drones to check in and also deliver food items and energy drinks in order to ensure that the eggs are being properly cared for. Eating or destroying the eggs is prohibited.

Coming up with names, however, is encouraged, and Seok Dang has even set up a small contest for it....

▶ 003. OPEN FORUM.

As soon as the order is delivered for them to take care of the eggs, a new download will be prompted on everyone’s oculars. It comes suddenly and without any real explanation. When it loads in, people will find that it appears to look like the “forums” of old. They have various topics already posted, including a bolded one that remains pinned at the top of everyone’s oculars labeled “PARENTING FOR DUMMIES.”

When anyone clicks on it, or even allows their eyes to linger on it for too long, it will automatically open. The explanation at the top is as follows:

I see what you all look up in your free time and I think you could use the help.

Who wrote this cryptic message? Their identity has been kept anonymous, but it seems clear that Outsiders are meant to utilize this to field any questions in regards to the eggs they have been ordered to care for. Some of the questions already include “do I keep them warm by sitting on them?” and “what can I do to provide further enrichment?”

While most of these topics pertain to parenting, if one exits the parenting tab, they will find the forum is entirely opened up for other topics as well, including a GENERAL chat, and a thread created by Seok Dang called “AITA.” Apparently, this was all the rage once upon a time.

[ Note: Feel free to use this not only to discuss parenting, but also to discuss any other topics Outsiders may want to engage in. You can use the code below, or do it without! ]

EVERLIGHT

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REVELATION

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BRIMSTONE

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REDEMPTION

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▶ 004. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our fourth downtime mingle! For the naming contest, we are limiting submissions to one name per character. This is entirely for fun and there is no obligation to participate.

We decided to keep the mingle lighter this time due to the number of player events ongoing. Please do check out the SPA UPGRADE and the ROYAL GALA also occurring this month. Big thanks to Sky and Bijou for organizing these! Additionally, the LOCATIONS page has been updated with both Kyoto and Okinawa. Characters may now visit those locations at any time.

All tags on this log are worth 2 points.

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. WINNER'S CIRCLE: The heavy hitters/KO winners of the last kaiju fight receive their sponsorships, including spices, BB guns, training videos, and fancy dog food.

2. PROJECT EGG: Outsiders are tasked with caring for and attempting to hatch the Imugi eggs salvaged from Seoul. They are encouraged to try a variety of methods in order to get the eggs to hatch, as no data currently exists. Not all eggs will survive.

3. OPEN FORUM: Outsiders are provided with an open parenting forum to ask for and exchange egg raising advice. However, a certain someone seems to have also included a general forum for Outsiders to discuss whatever they wish....

code

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( The thing neither of them seem to realise is that all of this fucking yelling is far too obvious. Which means Geto knows he's being set up by his bastard ex-bestie. A part of him almost considers ignoring the sound, but eventually he rises to his feet, fist banging the adjacent wall as he pads over to the door in his slippers.

It opens, he leans against the doorjamb, bored looking. )

Yes?

( Gaze sweeping, up and down. )

You don't actually look like a chicken.

No shit! Like I said!

[But hold on here. Gigan is a dumbass, but he's not so stupid that he doesn't realize the vibe of this person opening the door does not at all resemble the yelling back and forth of a moment ago, to say nothing of the sound of the voice.]

Wrong door, huh?

( Turning so his shoulder presses into the wood and he can cross his arms over his chest. )

Wrong door.

( Amused. )

Was the shrieking really necessary? Some of us are trying to nap. Terrible neighbours, you understand. Noisy. ( Lifting his voice ever so slightly. ) Annoying.

Hey, it's not my problem not everyone knows how to have a good time! Besides, I thought something big had to be going down if Godzilla was putting up that kinda fuss instead of using his fancy words.

[And there kind of is, but not right here and now, so it's not as interesting anyway. Now he's getting to meet his neighbors! By pissing them off! Gigan is also amused, flicking his tail and looking this guy over in turn.]

Oh. The shrieking was for joy?

( Somehow that's worse. Maybe Gojo should come out, if he wants to pick fights for fun too. They'd create a beautiful friendship together. )

I thought someone was being strangled. Around here that's more likely than you'd think.

Ha, yeah? What happened to working together as a team or whatever? But I'm not gonna complain if that's how we do team bonding! What's your name?

[Gigan leans down a little, closer to Geto's height, to get a better look at him. He's already done this somewhat, so doing it again is in part just performative, a visible, friendly sizing-up.]

You'll have to work a little harder if you want that.

( The teams are terrible. Or at least Brimstone is. Geto purses his lips at the sizing up, gives Gigan a sleepy look right back, unbothered like a cat. )

Geto. Yours?

It's Gigan! And it's not my job to organize the team bonding. What, they don't come up with weird stuff for us to do together to get cozy with each other? Pretend all the heating broke and force us to share blankets? Haha!

[Suspiciously specific scenario?! Maybe, maybe not. He lifts a claw to pat Geto's shoulder with a heavy clunk. The bottom edge is rounded and blunt, not made for slicing—not especially made for patting either, but beggars can't be choosers.]

( Did he -.

Did he hit his head at some point? Why is he being petted? Why is this happening? Though he's not going to look a gift robo-chicken in the mouth, especially considering Gojo wanted this to go poorly, so he offers Gigan a more pleasant smile. )

That's one way of team building. Not entirely what I'd choose, but I can see the appeal.

( A pause. He's going to have to ask, isn't he? )

Why is Godzilla roaring? Does that mean we have problems?

[Ohhh, right. This had started with Godzilla roaring, hadn't it? It feels so far away now! Gigan lifts his head again, turning it slightly to either side, listening. But there's nothing else to hear from that side of the base. That could mean . . . a lot of things.]

Dunno! But he sounded pissed off. Whatever that means for the other guy can't be good. The last thing you wanna hear is Godzilla sounding pissed off just once! . . . And I'd probably know if he was calling for my backup.

[It hadn't sounded like it, though Gigan's still in the learning phase of figuring out how that even sounds coming from Godzilla of all people.]

I didn't think we had recruits like you on base.

( He has yet to meet Godzilla, but Geto keeps himself to himself, most of the time. He only leaves his room when he deems it least likely that he'd run into anyone. )

Godzilla's the same then? With the roaring? Is he ... a bird?

Ha, you didn't have anyone just like me until just a few days ago! But you mean kaiju, right? We're not the same or anything, but we're both monsters. We're more like the things you guys fight here than we are like you.

[This is probably not true in a phylogenetic sense. Dive deep into the biology, and odds are that Godzilla is closer to a human on the DNA level than he is to Gigan, and something something convergent evolution et cetera. But in a personal sense, to Gigan and most likely everyone else who might have an opinion on it, Godzilla and Gigan are of a kind, and that kind is the same kind of thing they're all here to kill.]

Doesn't that bother you?

( Genuinely curious, gaze assessing. )

That we're tasked to fight things more familiar?

We kaiju kill each other all the time. But so do humans, right? Just about everything out there'll fight whatever they need to to get what they want, so why get bothered about it?

[He steps back just a little, putting enough distance between himself and the doorway—where he was shamelessly trying to peek into Geto's room over his head—to give himself room to gesture with a claw at the buzzsaw implanted in his torso.]

Besides, it's what I was made to do! It'd be pretty sad if I didn't like it.

[Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Gigan's sadistic tendencies or his transformation into a weapon? He doesn't remember anymore, and it doesn't matter. It is what it is now.]

( Some vague kind of understanding flickers across Geto's face at that, though it fades a little when his gaze is drawn to the blade. Well, he often feels monstrous himself, that makes his own motivations simpler. Why could the same not be said for this kaiju? )

Made?

( He's just as nosy as the creature before him, but he likes to pick things apart in conversation instead of peeking. There's not much to see in Geto's room anyway. Stray plushies that don't match the man himself, photographs pinned to the wall, the room upgrade making it look like a very traditional japanese bedroom, but no personality beyond that. )

It's not like I was born with all my upgrades. I was just a normal kaiju when I hatched!

[Though what is a "normal" kaiju, really . . . ]

I was good at surviving when I was born, but I get a little better with every upgrade. But no one's doing that for me out of the kindness of their hearts. It's because it's good to have someone on your side who can get rid of anything standing in your way. Of course they're gonna make me good at killing.

[There's a lot of Gigan that's still organic, but everything that's not, every obvious cybernetic enhancement, was definitely made for murder. The weapons are all over him, from his beak to the tip of his tail.]

( Unfortunately that all sounds fairly familiar to Geto. Not that he's ever been experimented on, but he's seen first hand how skill gets abused. Maybe the higher-ups would have, were it a technology available to them. Instead they just ran kids ragged until there was nothing left. )

LILITH must have been counting their lucky stars when they chanced upon you.

( A little mean, but truthful.

And then, more weirdly curious. )

Do you enjoy it?

Killing people? It's good to like what you're good at, right? Sure I do! It's not hard to make it a good time.

[He would not be shy about admitting this anyway, but it's even easier in this context, when it's not being asked with any gasping horror behind it. That's a whole different vibe of a conversation.]

People?

( An interesting choice of words, Geto's lips twitching. )

You might want to be careful with that kind of talk. We have some sensitive souls on base.

They're out there killing people too, so maybe they oughta get used to it sometime!

[But it is pretty amusing. Gigan can hardly be offended at the notion that the kaiju aren't "people" to all these humans and humanish things on the base; the feeling is mutual. The portion of his own life he's spent thinking of humans as "people" is an unfathomably narrow sliver of the whole pie.

But they are people, because it turns out many of them are interesting, including the one he's talking to now.]

You're not one of those sensitive souls, huh? You don't sound that put off.

Oh, no. I know there's a heavy price to pay for peace.

( There's no point hiding it. Even if most people don't know of his reputation, only a few short conversations can make people aware of the kind of person he is. The tough calls don't faze him these days. )

It's just a shame not many people think it should be paid. We'd all have a much easier time of things were people to let go of their restrictions.

Humans and other things like 'em are like that. Then they talk themselves into it anyway and act like they're still better just because they feel bad about it! Ha!

[It's not like it's just humans. His Nebulans are exactly the same. Little intelligent creatures with highly developed societies and big numbers . . . they're all the same. But Gigan can't and doesn't hate them, and he sounds more entertained than bitter about the state of humanity-plus-other.]

I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in action fighting monsters. You don't get that a lot! Mostly you little guys use monsters like me to do that kinda work.

( That makes him smile, a twitching secretly amused thing. He kind of wants to see it too, if only because he's sure Gigan might take exception to Rainbow Dragon. Though it certainly doesn't mean Geto's any less capable himself. )

Oh? And you think someone that uses monsters like you has a lesser capability in a fight?

What, one of 'em? One little guy? Ha, obviously! You wouldn't put one human up against a kaiju, but one kaiju up against another kaiju's just fine. Except when I'm tiny like this . . . but I'm not talking about that!

[Please, do not put ten-foot Gigan up alone against a full-size kaiju in battle.]

Well, my curses would probably count as kaiju to you. But I'm certainly not incapable myself.

( He clicks his tongue, semi-playfully. ) Such narrowminded thinking might get you in trouble around here. People are often more than they seem.

DOWNTIME MINGLE #4

▶ 001. WINNERS CIRCLE.

▶ 002. PROJECT EGG.

▶ 003. OPEN FORUM.

▶ 004. AFTERWORD.

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