synflux | TRAVEL LOG #5

Entry tags:

TRAVEL LOG #5

TRAVEL LOG #5

CONTENT WARNINGS: death, nightmares, gun violence, survival scenario

▶ 001. EYES WIDE OPEN.

"Angels of Lilith, report for duty in the DISPATCH."

The day starts off with alarms blaring and oculars shining bright lights in the Outsiders' heads, waking them up early for an emergency dispatch. Although the current Rift at Mt. Fuji needs to be explored and examined, the Rifts continue to appear in different parts of the world, and this Rift is no different. Captain Yamakawa continues,

"We have received a distress call from EGYPT. Much of the region fell during the first kaiju crisis. Now it is a desolate land that survives with the help of a generator called an ESSENCE which is currently malfunctioning. We assume the cause is Rift energy—according to our radar, there is a heavy amount of Rift energy coming from that area. We will move out immediately. Pack all the things you may need, but each Outsider will be supplied with a care package of their own containing essentials."

Even though it is 4:00 AM Tokyo time, LILITH hopes you all have slept well. It could be the very last good sleep in awhile. While the dataportal to Egypt is operational on Japan's end, because of the malfunctioning generator, Outsiders are unable to come out on the other side. The old method of using the flying cruiser will be used once again.

There will not be assigned seating for this other than by teams. Everlights will sit with Everlights, Brimstones with Brimstones, and so on. The Outsiders will be encouraged to rest on the flight, and a few hours before landing, an in-flight meal will be provided. The meal is surprisingly delicious and consists of chicken or pork katsu cutlet, but with the warning that all Outsiders will know about: it contains high amount of cyber caffeine. This sort of newly innovative caffeine can keep Outsiders awake for several days, but sometimes it may cause restlessness or hyperactivity, causing characters to have a jittery amount of energy but razor sharp focus. Other times, it simply keeps characters awake and they feel no different. The cutlet will be served with KAIJU™ Energy Drink. Any Outsiders that require a different diet will be provided with what they need, and the cyber caffeine will be added to it if they would like.

Yamakawa gives instructions again:

"We have received more information about the kaiju. Civilians have died in their sleep from horrible nightmares, and we are encouraging Outsiders to sleep together in pairs or groups, or disregard sleeping at all until we obtain more information. We are still receiving facts about this monster, but this meal will help with keeping everyone awake as a safety measure."

Those who do not want to have the highly caffeinated meal can have everyone's favorite: a ration bar that isn't spiked with any energy, but it doesn't taste good at all. Outsiders may be more likely to fall asleep and be in danger by choosing this meal. The balance of a dystopian society.

▶ 002. ARRIVAL IN EGYPT.

When they finally arrive, the air is temperate and dry in Alexandria. The Outsiders might have to check their clocks once more to make sure everything is right; everyone is expected to land in the late afternoon and every clock says it should be close to evening, but the city is already growing dark with the sun setting quite early. Because of the ESSENCE disruption, Alexandria is running on back up energy, which makes for spotty lighting and loss of basic power.

LILITH will be greeted by a small group of researchers at the airport and they will help take the Outsiders to their base: the Alexandria Institute which was once the University of Alexandria. They will give the Outsiders a quick run down of the situation and some background.

1. LILITH does not have a strong defense branch in the region any more. Instead, the branch here seems more focused on research, especially on the origin of kaiju and rifts.
2. This region is extremely prone to spontaneous Rifts. Many of them are small and pass quickly but this most recent one is unprecedented.
3. One evening, in the final week of March, the Alexandria Institute received a corrupt file from their fellow researchers in Greece. It shut down much of their research facility (including their warp portal) and all they have been able to recover so far are the words, "Do Not Go To Sleep."
4. The next morning, they awoke to find the sun rising later and setting earlier. It feels like the days are getting significantly shorter.
5. Many locals developed a fear of the dark and going to sleep. They would then die in their sleep within the next few days.
6. The autopsy of these victims have shown no cause of death, puzzling coroners.

Progress has been slow because the corrupt file shut down many of their facilities. They have not been able to track the source of the Rift or identify the kaiju responsible for it. They believe the answers may be within the corrupt file and will be happy to receive any help they can get from the Outsiders.

When they arrive at the Institute, Outsiders will be set up in the old student dormitories. Each room has 2-4 beds depending on the room, with a common shared area on each floor. Given the current threat, there is also a supply of energy drinks and bars boosted with cyber caffeine. Outsiders have two options:

1. OPTION ONE: Stay in Alexandria and help the researchers with the generators, while keeping themselves and teammates awake during the night by playing games.
2. OPTION TWO: Go out into the Egyptian desert on camel-back, spending time getting to know their camel before heading out.

OOC NOTE: While players may write prompts for both options, we ask that you submit for a clue only once per player (not per character, as we have a lot of characters in game now!)

▶ 003. LEARN & EXPLORE. (ALEXANDRIA RESEARCH.)

Times are hard in Alexandria right now with their generators malfunctioning and efforts being split. The researchers are trying to get the generators back up and uncorrupt the data they received from Greece. LILITH will instruct the Outsiders to help with the research but also warn that they cannot afford to just sit around and wait to crack codes. The researchers also agree. Sometimes the best way to get research data is to go out into the field, but they haven't been able to do it due to not having much protection. The desert is vast, and there have been sightings of other small kaiju lurking beneath the sand and in some smaller cities.

Outsiders can decide to stay in the city of Alexandria to help crack the codes, or they can opt to go out into the field. For the latter, they can choose to stay close to home and investigate within Alexandria.

Those who wish to help with the ESSENCE generators and researchers will stay in Alexandria, using any downtime when not investigating to try and stay awake, slumber-party style. Two Truths and a Lie? Maybe Spin The Bottle? Perhaps some games can keep Outsiders enticed so they don't doze off.

▶ 004. FEELING SANDY (DESERT EXPLORATION.)

For those who wish to explore the desert and smaller cities, Alexandria Institute will supply what they need, such as water, food, essential tools for digging, sleeping bags (no sleeping, but maybe for resting!) and anything else. To conserve energy, the researchers supply camels for the Outsiders to use. The camels are mostly tame, but have their own distinct personalities, so they may need a little more handling and can be coaxed to behave with treats like artificial carrots and bananas. Outsiders can spend time getting to know their camel if they are going to explore the desert or cities. A camel can seat two people on its back comfortably, but also carry any essentials that travelers need to bring along.

In the distant small cities and across the desert, Outsiders will come across Sand Crocodiles, one of the smaller kaiju that have been inhabiting the desert. These monsters are basically crocodiles but with a twist: they can spit fire if angered and they can camouflage in the sand. They hide strategically, and one wrong step will cause them to push their jaws out of the ground, harming a person or camel. The stubby quills along their backs or rounds of their horns aren't entirely covered while hiding, so watch carefully. Fortunately, Outsiders will be supplied with a shotgun. Aiming between the eyes or in the mouth will kill it, but also beating it with the back of the shotgun will also do the trick. And yes, they also taste like crocodile too, if anyone is hungry.

After exploring, Outsiders are requested to report their findings back in Alexandria.

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our fourth travel log!

Welcome to the new and improved Travel Log! Below, you will see the link to the MONSTER DEBRIEF SHEET post that has information about the kaiju below along with RIFT EFFECTS. Fill out the form for RNG Attacks and whether you would like to receive a RIFT EFFECT. This should give characters some ideas for the status of their character in the next log, which will have more action and monsters in it. Outsiders may use the CHAT to report and discuss any findings.

We thank you in advance for your patience as we try out this new format!

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

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. EYES WIDE OPEN: Outsiders travel to Egypt after receiving reports of their power generator, ESSENCE, being unstable and malfunctioning, leaving citizens in peril. They are instructed to "stay awake." They are supplied cyberpunk caffeine and told to try not to sleep or stay in pairs to be watchful of any danger.

2. ARRIVING IN EGYPT: Arriving in Alexandria, the Outsiders are confirmed that citizens have been dying in their sleep, with coroners unable to determine the cause. The days are mysteriously getting shorter and people are unable to stay awake.

3. LEARN & EXPLORE: Outsiders are given options to stay in Alexandria to help with the generator or find clues to assist the research team. Between researching, they are asked to continue to stay awake by any means possible. Those who will be exploring the desert and smaller cities for clues are given a camel for transportation. Outsiders are encouraged to get to know their camel before traveling.

4. FEELING SANDY: While looking for any clues out in the desert, Outsiders encounter smaller kaiju known as Sand Crocodiles. They hide in the sand and attack at the opportune time, snapping jaws and spitting fire. Shooting them between the eyes or in the mouth will K.O. them.

code

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I mean at least you know he's out there with it somewhere?

( Maybe it's a god thing. Tests. It's good that Vash does not know it was Tezcatlipoca that abandoned Silco though. They've had disagreements before. )

I kind of lost mine. I figured I'd tie it up and deal with the kaiju but I got turned around. That happens. Wolfwood used to say I needed a leash. But I'll find it again!

( Once he gets this nice old man to his shelter! )

[ To be fair... Silco likes Tezca. ]

In all of this?

[ He gestured at all of the sand and desert that just... stretches into what seems like eternity. ]

What could you have possibly even tied it to?

( Blinking. )

A big ol' rock? I don't think I was hallucinating. I can't be that out of practise with the desert, right? It's only been like ... ( At this he counts off on his fingers. ) Nine-ish months?

( Then he does a little spin like he might spot his lone camel, which, no. )

It'll be fine. I'll find it. I'm good at tracking.

Nine months?

[ Actually.

Even in the heat he is starting to realize... Oh no.

That's about how long he has been here too. It doesn't break down in time the same way as it does for others, who haven't been in another place before, but still... he feels it. That weight. ]

Maybe I should task you with finding my teammate, then. Though, I think he would take issue. He does enjoy to let me dangle a bit and find my own way.

[ Trial this, Trial that, etc etc. ]

Who were you with? If I see them about I can tell them where you've gone.

( One time Wolfwood kicked Vash out of the van to make him walk, so he does get it. Sometimes it's friendly banter. Sometimes it's just a vibe. But Silco doesn't seem like the kind of guy suited to the desert, he doesn't have the same practice that Vash does. )

Does it feel less weird for you? I mean if we've been around the same amount of time, right? I keep expecting it to start getting normal and nope, every morning I'm the same-old surprised.

Tezcatlipoca.

[ He says, with a shrug of his shoulders. He expects Tezca will find him, regardless. ]

It does. [ Silco's gaze looks over the desert. ] For the most part, at least. Perhaps I've acclimated better, hm?

[ In some ways it does. After Kenos, everything feels... better. Less odd. However... at the same time... some things feel more odd. Jinx is here. He has... people he works well with. (Friends, if you will, Silco you freak.) Other things happening. Plans. It all feels so... odd. To feel like there is a routine and things that he doesn't mind here. ]

Edited 2025-05-03 18:03 (UTC)

Oh. Oh. Tezcatlipoca. I see, I get it.

( ... Vash ...

He'll just focus on Silco instead! )

Maybe you have! What was living underground like?

Something wrong?

[ Silco is used to people hating the both of them, or maybe just him, and liking Tezca. Finding someone that's the opposite is... odd.

Wrong.

Weird. ]

Living underground is dark, cold, and generally you don't see the sun.

I prefer it to this.

Oh. No!

( Panik. )

I just don't think Tezcatlipoca likes me very much, haha. We've had a few disagreements in the past. I was maybe a little rude about him being a god? ( As "rude" as Vash the Stampede could be, really. Which is to say not entirely. ) And then we bickered about what to do with the Translyvanian people? I keep meaning to track him down again and try to make amends, but you know how it is. Busy!

( Side-eyeing Silco. )

Do you know if he likes donuts?

He's a god, does that sound like the sort of thing a god would like?

[ A tip of his head, and a curl of his lip. If anything will convince Vash that Silco isn't to be trifled with... ]

Do you know how I obtained his favor?

I killed his sibling. [ Silco stop bragging about killing a god for FIVE MINUTES ] Though his favor often comes with...complications. He is not an easy god.

You -.

( You know what? Dead sibling makes total sense. Maybe that's why Tezcatlipoca is the way that he is ( and if it's not, then what does Vash know? ) Still, his gaze turns ever so slightly more cautious, eyeing Silco up anew. )

Wait. You said favour. He was happy you killed his sibling?

Of course.

[ He says it with a twist of his lip. A shark's sharp smile that knows that it caught a mouthful of minnows. ]

He and Quetzalcoatl have never been close. Opposites, rivals. I planned to do so while he was not present, and in doing so...

Well, I was able to meet Tezcatlipoca, because of it.

( Those are some names, huh?

This is all very ... he gets it, he does. Plenty of people want to kill his brother. Possibly plenty of people have tried. And it would be justified. He'd understand it. But he doesn't imagine a world where he'd step aside and let it happen. Nor one where he'd thank someone for doing it. Millions Knives is a monster, but he was Vash's brother first.

But people don't have the same kind of heart he does. Gods, a little less. )

Wow.

That sounds like a complicated family. But I sure wouldn't want to go one on one with a god, so you're braver than me.

Why? Afraid?

[ He asks, and there's something in his voice that sounds... almost proud. ]

Gods are nothing more than overpowered, egotistical children. They are as conquerable as anything else, should one decide to do so.

It never sounds like it ends well, and I have pretty bad luck.

( And then suddenly, the bright burst of shocked and almost tittering laughter. )

Wow, okay. You are a brave guy. Hey, do me a favour? If a guy who looks like me ever shows up and says he's a god, do not tell him that. You're not wrong. That definitely works, but he has a habit of stabbing people and you seem really fun.

[ Unfortunately for Vash, Knives and Silco might actually get along, which is worse. ]

Is he? A God?

Or is he yet another puffed up fool who fashions himself as one?

[ He would say it to Knives just to see what happens though. ]

He's ... not human.

( A God feels too big, though Vash thinks now he has them fashioned as angels, which feels oddly worse. But neither is Nai a fool. He doesn't want to do Silco the discourtesy of pretending his brother is someone easily vanquished. )

They call him Millions Knives. He's got a pretty big reputation. A lot of violence. On account of the knives.

( Millions. )

Lots of things aren't human.

[ He takes it fairly easy. Hell, his world has Yordles. ]

The name is descriptive, then?

[ He asks, his hands behind his back, he tips his head upward, considering.

He called him his brother. ]

There is something about brothers, isn't there? I wonder how many of us are destined to destroy them, in the end.

( Something fractures in Vash's expression, a sudden guilty bleed of feeling. He shrugs his shoulders as though to dispel it, visibly trying to affix the mask very firmly back into place. His laugh is still a little hollow, tired. )

Ha. That's pretty biblical.

( Gaze back to the sandline, watchful. )

Do you have siblings, Mr. Silco?

Is it? [ He doesn't get it, biblical. The phrase isn't something he's had back home. But he shrugs it off.

His own expression remains on the sand, never diverting from it, even as it sears his ever-open eye. That's a loaded question. A hard one. They were not really brothers, beyond in arms, but there was a certain... familiarity that came from working together like that. Enough so that the phrase had been shared more than once. 'You two could be brothers for how well you know one another' etc, etc. He doesn't reflect on it. Tries not to.

Recently, someone told him he marinated in it like an old steak. They were probably right. ]

Not anymore.

Oh.

( A pause.

And then he reframes the conversation they've been having. ) Ah.

( Should he look at Silco any different? Maybe. But Vash is stood just to his side, directly responsible for his brother's ... what? He doesn't know if Nai is dead or not. He's refusing to find out. So instead he bites his lip, chewing at the skin. )

I'm sorry.

For?

[ He asks, and tipped his head, looking him up and down finally. ]

If I am capable of killing a god's sibling, perhaps you should ask yourself: am I not able to kill someone I call brother as well?

[ His lips curl into a smile that's a little sharp, a little cruel. Perhaps this would remind the man that he wasn't someone to treat with children's gloves. ]

I enjoyed it, after all. Killing him.

[ It was complex, a messy little mass of thread that's too complicated to fully unwind. He doesn't know if he can do so. He hated it. He enjoyed it. It was the thrill of victory, it was a loss. It was in the past, so long now that he was over it — he would never be over it — it's a distant thing that he reflects on less and less these days. ]

( A hitch in his step, but Vash does not balk at it. He's aware enough now of LILITH's choices, and the temperament of people. He's also not exactly one to judge someone straight away. Wolfwood would call himself a killer, and Wolfwood is still the best person he knows, and so -. )

Still.

( Unneeded pity, always getting him into trouble. )

Then I'm sorry it got to the point that it happened? ( It's still an absense, a loss of something. Humans don't use the word brother lightly. ) I miss mine, and he -. ( A pause, a swallow. ) Well. He wasn't great.

[ Only recently, he'd been asked something similar. The question had been intended to hurt: Do you miss him? At a table, between two men who'd shared so many secrets, Silco had been honest with him, when he'd answered. That he had, but that he remembers what had been done to him, how his eye aches, the skin is gone around it, the way he has to inject shimmer into his eye to keep it functional and pain free.

No, he didn't miss him anymore. Once, yes. In those early days, as his eye deteriorated, as the pain overtook him, as he lost half of his vision and felt the pain of the layers of his eyes slowly deteriorating, the stinging, burning days. The ones where he'd wanted to weep from the pain and delirium, because he couldn't sleep either. Not until the pain dulled, until he was too exhausted, that he'd passed out in one of the few holes he could dig himself into.

No, how could he? One, he had. Once, he'd tried to convince him to join back with the cause, and he'd refused. Too fearful of losing everything, not understanding — he'd not understood that he'd paid for that by taking everything from him.

Who could miss that? ]

Then you should excise such foolishness. [ He says it sharply, bluntly. ] I do not miss the man I called brother. You should learn not to as well.

( Vash doesn't usually portray himself as argumentative. Oh, it's certainly there but stubborn is more than likely the word used. He likes to see the best in everyone, always squirreling his way for a solution that satisfies despite the people involved. If Wolfwood were still around he'd certainly smack Vash upside the head for all of this, injecting himself where it is not wanted. Maybe he's left enough of an impact, because the disagreement gets swallowed quickly back. )

Probably.

( His life would be so much easier if he just let Nai go. )

Actually, it's really funny. ( Blithe, cheerful. ) I avoided him for so long. You'd think it'd be fine. But I don't know how to do that. I'm sentimental. It's always getting me into trouble.

( Another slow step over a particular bit of sand, Silco's respite closer. )

I didn't mean to be rude though.

▶ 001. EYES WIDE OPEN.

▶ 002. ARRIVAL IN EGYPT.

▶ 003. LEARN & EXPLORE. (ALEXANDRIA RESEARCH.)

▶ 004. FEELING SANDY (DESERT EXPLORATION.)

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

no subject

no subject

me, frantically googling what's in the desert bc i'm stupid

lmaooo i had no clue either 🤝

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw: eye stuff :')

goddamn the fuckin spectrum of silco to vash is so funny ( eye vs arm )