TEAM BUILDING EVENT #3

[synfluxmods]

TEAM BUILDING EVENT #3

CONTENT WARNINGS: medical content

▶ 001. WELL DESERVED REST.

With no sign of upcoming city-level threats, LILITH has made the decision to provide Outsiders with a well-deserved break: there will be no official missions for the month of December. Outsiders are free to roam the city, continue their usual civilian jobs or take a holiday to any of the locations available via data portal. During this period, LILITH leadership will also be taking time off and any attempts to contact them will be met with an ‘out of office’ return email unless it is an emergency. (Dr. Spim is still around, but … he is a cat and doesn’t answer anyway... unless he feels like it.)

That isn’t to say it’s going to be a completely quiet month, of course. Our players have kindly prepared several player plots that anyone is welcome to join. Please refer to the top level here for links to the relevant plots. An updated quest has also been listed here.

Additionally, the Outsiders Program has successfully finished its first year! LILITH will be giving all Outsiders old and new a thank you bonus of 500,000 KRYPTOS (approximately 3230 USD) to spend freely on their holiday. Try not to spend it all on pachinko!

▶ 002. LET IT SNOW.

Starting December 1st, the temperature in Neo Tokyo will take a dive as the country enters into winter. The first signs of snowfall will occur on December 1st, and as it continues, the city will be transformed into a winter wonderland. The shops and restaurants of Neo Tokyo are capitalizing on the approaching festivities, putting up Christmas lights, Christmas trees and decorations. Many stores are having sales on warm clothing and popular gifts. Isn’t it the perfect time to find some nice gifts for your friends?

While only a suggestion, it is encouraged to support the integration of the orphans from Transylvania by taking them out on a winter adventure.

Winter activities found in Neo Tokyo include:

- Christmas Winter Illuminations. Certain parts of the city will be lit up in Christmas lights and holographic, winter-themed illuminations. Stop by at the right time and there might even be a drone show to watch.
- Ice sculpture building. Artists have gathered in Yoyogi Park to showcase their latest ice sculpture creations. Outsiders may view the attraction or join in on the ice sculpture contest. Winners will get prize money.
- Ice-skating. The Yokohama Red Brick Ice Rink is open again and characters are free to go skating with their friends. As a part of its latest attraction, the ice has been fitted with microscopic nanobots that light up when touched, causing the ice to glow or showcase striking colors as people skate across it.
- Playing in the snow. Even under threat of kaiju, the people of Neo Tokyo take the time to have fun when they can. Through the streets, there are people making snow angels or pelting each other with snowballs.

Characters may visit Las Vegas, Kyoto or Okinawa using the data portals. Kyoto and Okinawa continue to be uninhabited, but they can camp there if they wish. They are free to book a hotel and enjoy their holiday in Las Vegas too, where the city will have its own brand of winter activities (winter illuminations, Christmas shows, ice-skating and holiday-themed Vegas shows). While the weather is still cold, it will be snowing in Kyoto but not in Okinawa or Las Vegas.

▶ 003. SNUGGLE UP.

All the lights and festivities happening in the city are putting some strain on the power grid, and this leads to occasional bouts of power failure during the month of December. These seem to be happening in the base and throughout the city of Neo Tokyo, and they last for a few hours each time. With hospital equipment running on back-up generators, it isn’t a huge cause for concern, but it certainly is an annoyance; especially with the weather so cold.

LILITH robots will be offering Outsiders on the base extra blankets (traditional and emergency foil blankets) along with heat packs to get through the cold. Starting a fire within the base will not be allowed since it is a hazard, so those who still need the extra warmth will need to find other creative ways to obtain it. A snuggle never hurt anyone, right? There is one operational fireplace in the Library, and Outsiders may notice an influx of small tables throughout the base with self-serve hot beverages on battery operated kettles, such as tea, hot cocoa & artificial coffee. As Outsiders congregate around the base, snuggled up in their new festive blankets, perhaps now would be a good time for some classic party games such as Never Have I Ever and Two Truths and a Lie.

▶ 004. TAKE YOUR MEDICINE.

Dr. Spim takes regular cat naps anyway, so he doesn’t see the need to take a holiday. As a result, he has continued to work tirelessly on finetuning the cure for the vampiric disease. Throughout the month, he will make several requests for volunteers (those with and without the vampiric disease) to participate in the ongoing clinical trials.

The serum he is testing will not cause harm to the body, but it might result in any of the following side effects:

- Dizziness, fatigue and difficulty coordinating movement.
- Fever, chills and a desperate need for warmth.
- Mood changes, which can present as euphoric or depressed or both.
- Hallucinations or delusions.
- Increased hunger, thirst or other physical needs (interpret as you wish.)
- A ravenous need for blood (for vampires.)

Certain volunteers may encounter no side effects at all, while some may experience all of them. Luck of the draw, really. The side effects are not permanent and last for a few hours. As always, Dr. Spim will explain the possible side effects and get consent before administering the medicine.

By the end of the month, a stable cure will be finalized and LILITH robots will deliver it to all those affected by the vampiric disease (if your character was already a vampire, don't worry about it). It is highly encouraged to take the medicine! Dr. Spim has no time to chase down the people refusing to take their medicine, so he might pay some of their friends to do it for him. He is a cat. He has better things to do (such as knock this beaker off the table….)

As an OOC note, please do not let your character remain a vampire unless they are already a vampiric character. The vampire event in Transylvania was meant to only have temporary effect.

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our third team building event! All tags on this log are worth 2 points and will count towards December AC.

We have a lot of player plots this month, and are using this log to encourage players to participate in the player plots since the event itself is light. As a reminder, the mod team will be taking a break during the month of December and will not be answering any questions at this time.

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. WELL DESERVED REST: Outsiders enjoy a quiet month with no kaiju attacks, but are provided plenty of things to do (via player plots) and they are welcome to use the data portal to travel to Okinawa and Las Vegas at this time.

2. LET IT SNOW: Heavy snowfall turns Neo Tokyo into a winter wonderland with many snow related activities to participate in such as ice skating, ice sculpture making, etc. LILITH encourages the Outsiders to allow the misplaced orphans to participate in some of these activities.

3. SNUGGLE UP: The power outages strike again, this time from too many festive lights that overheat the generators. LILITH provides Outsiders with emergency blankets and hot beverages during times of outages.

4. TAKE YOUR MEDICINE: Dr. Spim trial runs an antidote for the vampiric disease that struck Outsiders during their mission in Brasov. He takes volunteers who are both vampires and not. Finally, a cure is made, and all Outsiders are asked to take it (please do not let your character remain a vampire unless they are already a vampiric character.)

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Comments

3

[zauneyete]

[ Clouding up a whole section of the cafeteria is the local nastiest man, as always. It's easy to tell when the cafeteria is being... haunted (in a sense) by the man, because it always reeks — at least until the air scrubbers do their job and eliminate the majority of the stench. As it is, he's still... adjusting to the cure. Small consumption of food had already started when someone forced him to take the early trials of the medications, and his fangs have already receeded (annoyingly) but he's still not exactly one for an appetite.

Unlike Raidou, apparently.

Silco tends to, if he is in public, sit by himself, in the darkest corner, and smoke. Very, very occasionally he can be caught munching on a ration bar. Normally, he doesn't even do that. Normally, he just sits in the cafeteria, watching everyone else, occasionally annotating something on a small book he carries in his pocket.

What's in it? Don't worry about it. It's dirt. ]

A bit hungry, are you, boy?

[ He asked, after he gets even more food. ]

I'd almost say you were consuming something you shouldn't.

[ Th — The munchies. He's saying he thinks you have the munchies. ]

[the_fourteenth]

[Silco, please. This kid has no idea what "the munchies" would even reference.

Since what he did was sign up to be a non-vampire control subject in the medical trial, he assumes Silco means that.

Someone should also get Silco a new brand of cigars. As a 1920s kid, people smoking anywhere and everywhere is nothing new to him, but there definitely are ones that smell less toxic out there. It can't possibly taste very good either.]

Ah. I wanted to volunteer, though. For the trial. But, um. I think this has to do with that.

[He looks pretty put out as he picks up his chopsticks to dig in to some more. Should he even be able to physically hold so much food in him? It doesn't make sense. Maybe it's messed with his metabolism. As if this kid needs to be skinnier.]

cw: reference to emeto

[zauneyete]

[ This kid clearly needs to find some friends to cause trouble and go smoke weed with him behind the bleachers already. Learn to have a little rebellion in your life!

(It should be noted, Silco's idea of rebellion was probably something teens shouldn't have. ]

It isn't the first medicine that makes people want to eat. Don't come crying to me when you start expelling it later.

[ So Silco is mean, he is nasty, but he knows what overeating when you're going through a trip does to a person. So he says something in the most unhelpful way possible. Because what was being helpful when you could be horrible instead? ]

Volunteer, really. [ He added, with a curl of his lip. ] Better to save your own time doing something more worthwhile.

[ This might be because he didn't want to be cured. But you know. Petty is as petty does. ]

[the_fourteenth]

[Wait til you find out that about 80% of this kid's life is filled up with combat training, and studying. And to become a priest nonetheless! A shinto priest, at any rate.

At the mention of possible expelling, he only gives Silco a flat look.]

Assisting in the trial is worthwhile. For me.

[Many Outsiders are still stuck as vampires, all these weeks later, including his boyfriend and his bestie. It's the least Raidou feels he could do for them, besides offer up some blood. That option is very limited, though.]

I knew it might not be easy. But this... is a strange side effect.

[What if food isn't enough and he starts craving blood next?]

[zauneyete]

[ He rolled his eyes. ]

Ever the one to pay the price, are you? Even when it is not required?

[ Okay, so maybe he's a little annoyed that the vampirism was going away. Silco might not like to touch people much, or be around people, or anything like that, but he did like the power that came with vampirism. The feeling close to immortality, or something near-it. Perhaps it wasn't really like that here, but in the world he had been before... oh, it had been. There were some things he missed about that horrid world before, the easy power and ability was most of it.

He puffed on his cigar. ]

I suppose you should be thankful this is the only side effect. I've seen trials such as these go... very poorly.

[ hey uh
what does that mean? ]

[the_fourteenth]

Outsiders are stuck with this affliction. [Including his boyfriend, and his bestie.] If this helps them get the data they need to fix it faster, by all means.

[Silco's eyerolling has no effect on him. Ever the self-sacrificing type, it doesn't both Raidou at all to volunteer, even if it risks his own health. Sometimes that earns you some sneering from others who might view it as too goody-goody for their tastes.

However, that comment about how poorly it could possibly go does get his attention, and one eyebrow raises slightly. He thinks it over for a moment, because indeed, what does that mean?]

... I have received the nanobot upgrades that both heal me and strengthen me. I should be fine from anything too debilitating.

[... Right?]

[zauneyete]

[ Silco laughed. ]

Clearly, you've never been subjected to a trip, have you. Do you think healing or strengthening will always protect you? Be the advantage?

[ Silco, for all of his flaws, was a smart man. Not a prodigy, or a proper genius, but he never would be that. No, but he knew the ways in which healing and strength could be turned against someone. After all, he'd worked very hard to use those to his advantage in the world before — and even before at home. The stronger someone was on their own, the Stronger they had been on shimmer.

His lips twitched, just thinking about it. ]

Let us just say that drugs have a way of...bypassing certain nervous system reactions. You may be strengthened, and able to heal, but what does that have to do with what a drug can do to you?

[ He shrugged. ] Ah, well. Perhaps this time you'll be perfectly fine. Let us hope it stays that way, hm?

[the_fourteenth]

It... I-I don't think it's gone quite that far.

[Yet. Will it? He was delirious after the effects of his last surgery, thinking Yuji coming by to help him was someone completely different. He doesn't want to go through that again, nor put anyone else through it.

Well, too late now. What's done is done. If something goes wrong, hopefully he can make it to the medbay in time.

Raidou is quiet for a moment, thinking this over, but he also gives Silco an appraising look.]

... Aren't you affected? Don't you want a cure?

[zauneyete]

Not yet.

[ He pointed out.

He may be the true expert on drugs, despite being a man that didn't do them nearly at all.

Well, mostly at all. He microdosed his own shimmer, of course, but that was not something he was willing to share with...well. Anyone. He only smiled placidly as he stated it, as if he knew, but was a fully clean-cut thug.

He certainly looked the part, with an arm over the back of his chair, smoking a cigar. ]

Mostly cured now, I'm afraid. [ A soft sigh, and he opened his mouth to reveal... mostly normal teeth, only a hint of the fangs left. ]

I think they wanted to subject it to me early, take away any hope of keeping it. [ A beat. ] I was in a world... similar to how I arrived here before. I willingly contracted vampirism there.

I would have been happy to remain so.

[ He does not share that as soon as he'd been bitten, he'd so willingly stabbed the vampire, and taken its blood. It was power, and Silco never turned it down. ]

[the_fourteenth]

[Raidou's brow furrows a bit at that, but not in a judging way. Just thinking. It's not a surprise to him that someone sought out becoming a vampire.]

I can see why some might want to keep it. The new abilities given by vampirism. They can be quite powerful.

[As much as Silco is an expert in drugs, Raidou is an expert in the supernatural and legends. You have to be, with a job like his.

Ultimately, he shakes his head.]

But the weaknesses are just as bad. And well known. Even most children can tell you if you ask.

[It seems to be way more popular of a legend in modern times - it's not like there is a lot of vampire movies and books in Raidou's time, but there is plenty here in 2278.]

In the end, it might have been best to cure it.

[zauneyete]

[ He looked at him with a tip of his head. ] I'm well aware.

However, this is not my first foray into it. I know how to handle the... weaknesses that you think are so glaring.

[ Going out in the sun? No problem. Garlic? He'd avoid. Religious symbols? Well... he tended not to be around those types. The stakes? Well, that would kill him as a man, too. ]

Very little was actually something that wouldn't have killed me anyway. Maybe the sunlight, but... [ A tip downward of his mouth. ] I avoid it anyway.

[ So no, he's mad about it. Not like he has a choice in the matter, but...well. He'll simply have to live with it once more. ]

[the_fourteenth]

Easily avoided, until a LILITH mission requires you to be out in the sun. Always a possibility that we get to sent to the desert again.

LILITH has, ah, the "upgrades" that could have possibly helped with the weaknesses... [Raidou is brainstorming out loud now, mostly.] Hard to succumb to a stake if it can't pierce through your skin. Healing factor could repair sun-damaged faster.

[Can't expect the kid raised up around all manner of supernatural creatures to necessarily be against the idea of vampires in their midst. But in the end, the cons seem to outweigh the pros. He shrugs lightly as he pushes aside yet another empty plate.]

In the end, it's probably just easier for them to cure. And I don't necessarily recommend their upgrades.

[zauneyete]

[ Silco doesn't share that he has already gotten the upgrade, or that he knows that his skin can still be pierced by enough force.

No, that's not something he'll share out loud, but he likes being underestimated. He likes people thinking he's not that much of a threat. Up until the moment hse strikes, anyway. ]

Inconvenient to me still, I will attest. I am well acquainted with the weaknesses and how to avoid them.

[ He's stubborn, but that is probably not something Raidou is surprised by. ]

And the next time they try to force a pill down my throat, I'll make sure to send their envoy back gutted.

[ The nanites would stop him.

He says it anyway. ]

[the_fourteenth]

[Raidou looks skeptical at best. No one's tried anything like that against LILITH yet, as far as he knows. Maybe they have, and it was quietly dealt with, but it seems unlikely.

Raidou isn't LILITH's biggest fan by any means, but will give them enough credit to figure they have failsafes against problematic Outsiders.

He raises an eyebrow.]

You honestly think you could?

[Not doubting Silco, but the ability of anyone to be able to do so.]

[zauneyete]

[ Silco smiled at him, and with his cracked-toothed grin, it looks... well.

More dangerous than he usually does. See, Silco has a way of being unassuming, and somewhat ignorable, compared to the rest of the Outsiders. With his hunched gait and weathered face, the only thing really remarkable about him is... well. His eye, but compared to some outsiders, that's not even remotely interesting. He's just got one otherworldly feature in a sea of people who are demons, or gods, or summoners.

But there's something Silco does have, and that's the ability to skirt rules very, very well. ]

Why yes, I think I could.

[ He says simply.

Whether he's bluffing, foolhardy, or actually capable, it's hard to tell, but he certainly does look confident. ]

Barriers are what I like to call... loose suggestions, if one knows how to skirt them.

[the_fourteenth]

[Raidou knows better than to judge a book by the cover. How often did it happen to him back home? Few would suspect a skinny, quiet teenager of being one of the most formidable swordsman of his time, in charge of protecting an entire city. It was something he used to his advantage in his investigative work, being young and unassuming, but often it could be used against him, too.

Raidou's expressions, what exists of them, can be hard to read, but he raises a quizzical eyebrow.]

Even when they can-- [Raidou taps the side of his head near his right eye, to indicate their implants.] -- ah, shall we say, interfere?

[zauneyete]

[ He smiled, placid. ]

And we have seen how excellent they are at stopping such altercations, yes?

[ They all knew how loud and explosive certain...fights had been already. ]

As I said, they can be... loose suggestions, if one knows how to skirt them.

[ How? He doesn't say.

Silco has his own ideas. If his own hand does not allow it, then there is always the possibility of intermediaries. Careful planning. Nuggets over time, if he must. Avoiding the triggers, perhaps, to lead them down the way. One designation to learn about the person who forced him. Another to arrange them to be where he wants, and so on, and so forth. A rube-goldberg machine of malice, made up of innocent actions. ]

I am a very creative man, after all.