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synflux2025-09-14 11:49 am
synfluxmods) wrote in synflux2025-09-14 11:49 am
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DOWNTIME MINGLE #10
DOWNTIME MINGLE #10
▶ 001. WINNER'S CIRCLE.
The return to Neo Tokyo is a quieter affair than usual, but that doesn’t mean that LILITH isn’t proud of her angels. After dispatching them to deal with smuggling rings and bringing in their latest set of Outsiders, there’s a little celebration in the cafeteria; sushi, yakiniku, tempura and other various seasonal foods are on offer, just… Don’t ask where the meat comes from.
The celebrations of the victories in Mexico are not to be ignored, however, and the traditional celebrations of the winning outsiders is business as usual:
GOOD JOB:
SOBA & R.A.P.H (K.O.)
JUSTISH (600) & GODDESS OF DEATH (600)
And, as might be becoming familiar to the Outsiders, the celebration of the victors comes with its own impact on the cityscape of Neo Tokyo.
The more fashionable of folk might notice a new trend flooding the market, especially popular with teenage girls who lean towards the more lolita fashion. The trend is a simple gothic one, nicknamed zen lolita, with black on black, thick earrings and zori shoes with sharp designs that all seem to call back to traditional Buddhist monk style. The sparks of colour in this style come from white and silver accessories - finger and nose rings, dangling chains with small, animal charms. While much of the style can be found in thrift stores and downloaded through the style chips, a significant amount of it can only be bought in high end, expensive boutiques.
Meanwhile, in the arcades of Neo Tokyo, a new game has become popular. Players enter a virtual simulation room and can use dual virtual swords to slash at incoming targets while listening to music. Targets can take on the shape of alien spaceships, asteroids, and even space robots. To win, you have to fight to the beat with certain songs having greater difficulty. Hardcore players can also purchase upgrades for their virtual swords to trigger special effects. The upgrades are all named after famous swords with some of the most impressive ones being Excalibur and Arondite.
Another emerging hit teen trend is a brand-new pizza from one of the bigger chains in Neo Tokyo. Painting their windows with reds and greens, little cartoon turtles and party balloons and celebrations, with mascots that are being sold as keyrings and plushies alongside the food. The main attraction is the new dish on offer: a Mutant Turtle Pizza! It’s a fairly simple dish, designed as a calzone (you can customise some of your fillings!) with a turtle shell crust, wrapped in paper matching their cute mascot design. If you come in cosplay, you get 10% off!
Those in Redemption might notice something… Odd going on outside room 006. In the weeks after the return from Mexico, deliveries have been made almost around the clock, the weary drivers dropping off box after box and bouquet after bouquet. It seems as if word of a certain someone’s hard work in fighting the kaiju has been heard, and they want to show their affection. Various bouquets of sunflowers, roses, tulips, daises and orchids can be found littering the floor, in various shades of blues, purples, yellows and white. At least it smells wonderful.
The celebrations of the victories in Mexico are not to be ignored, however, and the traditional celebrations of the winning outsiders is business as usual:
GOOD JOB:
SOBA & R.A.P.H (K.O.)
JUSTISH (600) & GODDESS OF DEATH (600)
And, as might be becoming familiar to the Outsiders, the celebration of the victors comes with its own impact on the cityscape of Neo Tokyo.
The more fashionable of folk might notice a new trend flooding the market, especially popular with teenage girls who lean towards the more lolita fashion. The trend is a simple gothic one, nicknamed zen lolita, with black on black, thick earrings and zori shoes with sharp designs that all seem to call back to traditional Buddhist monk style. The sparks of colour in this style come from white and silver accessories - finger and nose rings, dangling chains with small, animal charms. While much of the style can be found in thrift stores and downloaded through the style chips, a significant amount of it can only be bought in high end, expensive boutiques.
Meanwhile, in the arcades of Neo Tokyo, a new game has become popular. Players enter a virtual simulation room and can use dual virtual swords to slash at incoming targets while listening to music. Targets can take on the shape of alien spaceships, asteroids, and even space robots. To win, you have to fight to the beat with certain songs having greater difficulty. Hardcore players can also purchase upgrades for their virtual swords to trigger special effects. The upgrades are all named after famous swords with some of the most impressive ones being Excalibur and Arondite.
Another emerging hit teen trend is a brand-new pizza from one of the bigger chains in Neo Tokyo. Painting their windows with reds and greens, little cartoon turtles and party balloons and celebrations, with mascots that are being sold as keyrings and plushies alongside the food. The main attraction is the new dish on offer: a Mutant Turtle Pizza! It’s a fairly simple dish, designed as a calzone (you can customise some of your fillings!) with a turtle shell crust, wrapped in paper matching their cute mascot design. If you come in cosplay, you get 10% off!
Those in Redemption might notice something… Odd going on outside room 006. In the weeks after the return from Mexico, deliveries have been made almost around the clock, the weary drivers dropping off box after box and bouquet after bouquet. It seems as if word of a certain someone’s hard work in fighting the kaiju has been heard, and they want to show their affection. Various bouquets of sunflowers, roses, tulips, daises and orchids can be found littering the floor, in various shades of blues, purples, yellows and white. At least it smells wonderful.
▶ 002. LOST IN TRANSLATION (TEXT MINGLE.)
Auto-translation software allows everyone in the world to communicate with each other, regardless of where they are from or what language they might speak. Everyone has it automatically installed and for the most part, this allows for seamless and instant translation no matter who they are talking to.
One day, everyone will receive a system message that consists of broken characters, code, and gibberish. After that, they will find that they have some trouble communicating with others. For some people, it might just be a few words not translating correctly, but for others, the miscommunication is more extreme.
The translation software might completely fail, resulting in Outsiders not being able to understand each other at all. They will have to rely on vintage translation services or body language Synthia will issue an explanation:
For the next few days, everyone will have to make do with broken or incorrect translations when speaking to each other. Even characters from the same world and country might find themselves suddenly speaking a completely different language. This might result in people saying the opposite of what they mean or the things they say might end up translated through multiple languages before the final result. They might even accidentally confess a secret that they did not mean to say. Eventually, a patch will be issued and things will resume as usual. This effects both text messaging and normal speaking.
One day, everyone will receive a system message that consists of broken characters, code, and gibberish. After that, they will find that they have some trouble communicating with others. For some people, it might just be a few words not translating correctly, but for others, the miscommunication is more extreme.
The translation software might completely fail, resulting in Outsiders not being able to understand each other at all. They will have to rely on vintage translation services or body language Synthia will issue an explanation:
"We all know the results of modern projects. We are now solving the problem. Thank you very much."
"It seems instead of translating to multiple languages, she translated through multiple languages. Sorry. There is currently a problem with the translation software. We contacted support and they're working on it."
For the next few days, everyone will have to make do with broken or incorrect translations when speaking to each other. Even characters from the same world and country might find themselves suddenly speaking a completely different language. This might result in people saying the opposite of what they mean or the things they say might end up translated through multiple languages before the final result. They might even accidentally confess a secret that they did not mean to say. Eventually, a patch will be issued and things will resume as usual. This effects both text messaging and normal speaking.
▶ 003. CAULDRONS & KAIJU.
It seems as though September is for fun, and with it comes a rush of people in Neo Tokyo taking part in an exciting craze that seems to ebb and flow in popularity throughout the year: a class-based, live action role-playing game that is all the more exciting thanks to technology permitting light shows, downloadable costumes and guild systems. LILITH is quick to encourage the Outsiders to take part, in the interest of team-building and developing connections across the four groups on base.
The game itself is simple: organise yourself into a ‘party’, download your costumes and class features (such as light shows for magic users, custom weapons for your melee and ranged) and various upgrades to transform your features into different ‘races’ - your bunny and cat people, lizardfolk, and so forth. Once your party is together, you travel through a scavenger-hunt style series of games, puzzles, PvP and PvE fights to get to the final ‘dungeon’ - raid a dragon lair and get some gold and various other prizes. Try to create a balanced team of tank, magic user, support and damage dealer!
LILITH is more than happy to help set up the Outsiders with what gear they need, and makes the following recommendations for the ‘style’ of play for each team - and they recommend a mixture of all four for the best “party-comp”:
At the end of the trail is the dragon’s lair, where they’ll face various lair-based obstacles: smoke and fog, 'toxic' fumes and clouds, dragon breath (of various elemental flavours), terrain difficult to walk through, etc. All of this is created via a holographic simulation, of course, but it feels very real! Winning parties will win a treasure chest of “gold”... It’s chocolate, and therefore fake, but you get a really cool certificate and a place on the leaderboard for how fast you beat the dragon!
The game itself is simple: organise yourself into a ‘party’, download your costumes and class features (such as light shows for magic users, custom weapons for your melee and ranged) and various upgrades to transform your features into different ‘races’ - your bunny and cat people, lizardfolk, and so forth. Once your party is together, you travel through a scavenger-hunt style series of games, puzzles, PvP and PvE fights to get to the final ‘dungeon’ - raid a dragon lair and get some gold and various other prizes. Try to create a balanced team of tank, magic user, support and damage dealer!
LILITH is more than happy to help set up the Outsiders with what gear they need, and makes the following recommendations for the ‘style’ of play for each team - and they recommend a mixture of all four for the best “party-comp”:
BRIMSTONE are the tanks. Ranging from dedicated, focused Paladin-style warriors using various different weaponry to Barbarians who use their rage for offensive purposes, they’re encouraged to don armour, get their HP buffed and lead their party into their quest. They can take more damage than the rest of their party and have special abilities to get monsters to focus on them.The actual ‘roleplay’ part of the event takes place with a series of different ventures for Outsiders to get themselves busy with across Neo Tokyo:
EVERLIGHT find themselves as physical based damage dealers. This could be archery, swords, knives or their bare fists to hit for as much power as they can muster. They’re encouraged to do what they can to bash their enemies to pieces, and are more adept at 1:1 combat than groups. Their skills focus more on high damage ceilings for those who get to grips quickly and critical hits.
REDEMPTION are the support. This can range from straight-up HP healing skills or using buffs and debuffs to make it easier for the tanks (and those unruly DPS!) to survive whatever fight comes up ahead. Regen or shields, they could also be the Healer-DPS and heal by killing the enemy before it kills their party - with a little bit of poison and strength sapping magic, they’re nothing to scoff at.
REVELATION get to enjoy the fascinating and wonderful world of magic users. This could be using a wand, a book, or sheer natural talent to cast a variety of spells to get rid of the enemy as swiftly as possible. Elemental magic (your fire, ice, earth, lightning, etc) mixes with staggering areas of effect skills to try and make quick work of any threat that might lie ahead. Mages are far more useful for groups of enemies than single target, but are still devastating.
There are various fun elements uploaded onto their implants to make the game more engaging as well, as if they were playing in the simulation room: a HP tracker, item lists, spells and mana, party group chats and various other features. This will help when one of your party gets poisoned and loses -1HP per step they take… Uh oh! Feel free to have fun with whatever your imagination can come up with.Various puzzles and riddles to crack between different markers on their maps. Traps to trip players up and make them question everything. Mysteries that need to be solved before they can move on to the next location. Nature itself fighting back against the questing parties.
At the end of the trail is the dragon’s lair, where they’ll face various lair-based obstacles: smoke and fog, 'toxic' fumes and clouds, dragon breath (of various elemental flavours), terrain difficult to walk through, etc. All of this is created via a holographic simulation, of course, but it feels very real! Winning parties will win a treasure chest of “gold”... It’s chocolate, and therefore fake, but you get a really cool certificate and a place on the leaderboard for how fast you beat the dragon!
▶ 004. AFTERWORD.
This is Downtime Mingle / Team Building #10. All comments in this event count for 2 points towards September AC. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask them below.
EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)
1. WINNER'S CIRCLE: The winners of the Mexico mission influence Neo Tokyo with lolita fashion, simulation videogames, flowers in the Redemption wing and a new pizza to try!
2. LOST IN TRANSLATION: LILITH's auto translation gets a bug and Outsiders must communicate by other means until it is fixed. Some effects will cause people to speak in a language they don't know or even confess a secret they did not mean to say.
3. CAULDRONS & KAIJU: A dungeon & dragons style simulation game! Outsiders must build a team and work together through various puzzles to reach the dragon's lair, slay it and steal the (chocolate) gold.
no subject
[ That's her favorite color. Y-You can never go wrong with yellow. Honestly there's no reason for her to be that confused and lost, b-but... She's so overwhelmed! It's like a dream she's lost in. ]
You-You should pick some for Hiyori...!
[ She may not be the intended recipient, but sharing her flowers with her friends is what she wants to do. ]
no subject
[It makes sense that Eresh would enjoy something so vibrant. Honestly, she reminds him of a daffodil in a way, but saying that might seem weird, so he sits on the thought for now.]
Oh--! Really? You wouldn't mind? I know she'd love some of these... Especially as a gift from you. We could put them on the table, heh.
[Glancing over the various flowers, he selects some nice pink ones that look like they'd match Hiyori's eyes.]
no subject
Yes of course!
[ She nods enthusiastically! S-She'd even help him if her hands weren't full of flowers already. ]
Everyone is working so hard... I'm not the only one who should have those flowers!
no subject
Great!
[He sets a couple aside for Hiyori, then moves to help transport more of the yellow blooms into the room.]
Still, it's incredibly generous of you. Some folks wouldn't want to part with such lovely things, you know. That you're willing to says a lot. And I can just imagine how many people you're gonna make happy with these, heh.
no subject
[ Are people truly that greedy and stingy? Well, she knows for sure some are, but... The outsiders are pretty nice! For the most part. Some of them are not so nice, but that's a story for another time. ]
I really don't think it's anything special... It would be exceedingly selfish to keep all of this for me and me alone. No, it's better shared with everyone else.
no subject
Still, it's such a sweet gesture. The whole place is gonna be awash in flowers for a while, and that's wonderful. We all could use some cheer these days. I'll be happy to help you deliver them wherever, so just say the word.
no subject
[ She smiles at him. Honestly she's not entirely sure she agrees, but it's nice to hear him say those words regardless.
She leans against the wall and closes her eyes. ]
I... I just would like to stay surrounded by those flowers a moment longer first. It reminds me of a wonderful memory.
no subject
[As if she isn't a goddess herself... He's so silly. But if it makes her smile or feel better, then mission accomplished!
When she relaxes, he pauses as well, smiling.]
Of course! Can I ask what it reminds you of? I can only imagine what a delightful experience it must've been, if these blooms bring something to mind.
no subject
[ She says that nonchalantly. Obviously she's here now so she returned - through an once in a lifetime miracle. But also contrary to what many would think... This isn't a bad memory. ]
Mother Tiamat had become an Evil of Humanity. I trapped her in the Underworld to give Ritsuka a fighting chance. For the goddess of death to help the living is the greatest sin there is. My punishment was immediate.
[ She marks a pause and closes her eyes. ]
Mother tried to corrupt everything with her chaos tide, but Merlin transformed it into flowers. Petals flying everywhere in my Underworld. =I remember watching Ritsuka fight while my sister held me... We have always hated each other so much. And yet she... She begged me to let go of Tiamat so I wouldn't die.
[ She smiles, a tear running down her cheek. For all she has said about Ishtar... She misses her, and not just as a sister. It's not something most people could understand. They were one once and they've always been drawn to each other in spite of their situations. ]
Had I faded forever then, I would have had no regrets.
no subject
[Given Yato's lived his entire, long life fearing death like any mortal would, he finds her casual attitude towards her own demise rather startling. Holding onto a pot of blue flowers, he stops to stare at her, bewildered.]
I see... Yeah, I suppose that going against the laws governing you would get you in deep shit...
[Setting down the flowers, he steps closer to Eresh, reaching out with a hand to lay it gently on her arm. If not in reassurance for her, then for himself, letting him know that she's here and real and okay despite the story she's telling him. Worry is evident in his eyes, but he doesn't interrupt, waiting until she finishes before speaking.]
That sounds lovely, even with what you were going through... It's such a shame it took something so horrible and drastic to fill your Underworld with the beauty you deserve to be surrounded by.
[With that tear trailing down her face, he reaches up to wipe it away, smiling slightly. He... might be able to understand, having had something of a complicated relationship with his "sister", Hiiro.]
Maybe so, but... I'm glad you didn't, Eresh. I'm glad you were around to come here so we could meet.
no subject
Well, I'm glad to be here too.
[ She doesn't want to worry him! Between death and life, of course she'll choose to remain alive. It's just, at the time this had happened... This was more than she could have hoped for. For her life to end there? This would have been considered a good ending.
Not any more. ]
I thought I could never experience anything better than I did that day... And I have been proven wrong.
no subject
Ah, that's great--! I know it's not always easy, but we love you a lot.
[No matter what happens, no matter how hard or difficult things are, she'll always be their treasured friend who they want to be happy and content. She deserves not just a happy death, but a brilliant, long life, full of joy and laughter.]
Hehe... Right? Sometimes you think "this is the best" and then you get proven there's even better waiting for you.
no subject
[ When she thinks back on it...
Her life has been more than worth living. She's not sure she would have been able to say that before. ]
I made friends, opened a flower shop, played games... I even got to witness the wedding of two precious friends. I never could have imagined such a beautiful life a few years ago.
no subject
[It's why he gets so angry and upset at people who try to end things before their time. That and because each of his shinki are people who would have dearly loved to have lived that life.]
Right? You've accomplished so much and brought so much joy to those around you simply by being you and being here with us. We're always going to be grateful for that.