DOWNTIME MINGLE #10

[synfluxmods]

DOWNTIME MINGLE #10

CONTENT WARNINGS: none

▶ 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.

▶ 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:

"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”:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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Comments

[intertwinedfates]

[Funny thing for a god, isn't it? He's only partially human and still he's acting like one...

Better than him bundling it up inside and trying to play it off as nothing. Even if there could've been somewhere better to discuss it.]

Hiyori... [Quiet, he considers her words, slowly nodding as he realizes the truth behind them.] Yeah... I suppose you're right. I guess I'm just... scared, still.

He terrifies me, even now. Even here... Despite knowing Yukine isn't here for him to hurt, it still frightens me to think he might try something against you. Or one of the others, even if you all can defend yourselves.

[wwtd]

[ he always has.

scared of the man who abused him his whole life. yeah, that isn't going to go away anytime soon.

to continue existing, yato had to do whatever he was told. he fought back in the only way he could for a long time. ]

Everything that made him strong, he wouldn't have here. He doesn't have you or Nora or The Word. He would be nobody.

[intertwinedfates]

[It may be such a simple truth, and yet that revelation strikes him like a thunderbolt, clear in his surprised expression. It's true, of course. Without Nora or The Word, there'd be precious little his father could do, either to him or those he cares about.]

....you're right. [Suddenly, he scoops her up and twirls her around before setting her down and leaning in for a kiss.]

You're right, Hiyori! He'd be just another average human, one with a big ego and a bigger mouth.

[wwtd]

[ what as a grave and firm expression lifts as soon as he does her and spins her around. she's still blinking, wide-eyed, after the kiss.

y-yeah, she's right but she wasn't expecting him to react like that! as long as he's in a better mood and he realizes, while they're here, his father can't make him do ANYTHING he doesn't want to, she's happy. ]

Pff, that. Yes. [ even NORMAL fujisaki got on her nerves, but now she does have to wonder if that's all because of yato's father and what he did and that influence. then again, fujisaki could be pushy...

in any case, the shift of mood relieves her. the realization that even if he came here, it would be fine because he is a normal guy. and he'd probably hate that. hah. ]

I don't know why he would be brought here anyway. LILITH chooses people that want to save humanity, right? And he didn't want that.

[intertwinedfates]

[He's just a little slow on the uptake. Like a dog whose chain has been cut, he doesn't always realize he has freedom to roam and be himself as he pleases.

It's hard for him to contain himself once the realization sets in and he feels so free and safe with Hiyori by his side. He nestles up to her, kissing all over in thanks.]

Hehehe.... [Yeah, he can imagine that either some linger dislike was there, or maybe the guy really was just too damn pushy. Either way, he's glad she doesn't have to deal with him here.

It would almost be worth having his father here to watch suffer, honestly. Almost.]

Ah-- Good point... Though I guess I just worry that he still might be alive here even without them bringing him here. Since, y'know, he can reincarnate and all.

[wwtd]

[ though hiyori puts her hand up to try and block some of his kisses, there's no heart in it. she's smiling wide and her nose gets scrunched up.

she had to deal with having his last name for a year. that's plenty for her, thanks. every time she put on her badge, she couldn't help but make a face at it. shion fujisaki.

FUJISAKI.

no longer. ]

Oh. [ she hadn't thought about that. it can't be right, though. unless she tells yato he's been long gone. she opens her mouth, but pauses and closes it. unsure. ]

... I don't think he can here actually.

[intertwinedfates]

[He just goes ahead and kisses her hand instead, laughing quietly until he settles down somewhat, breathing a happy sigh.

He didn't like her sharing that name, either. It felt so gross and wrong... Like an insult to everything Hiyori stood for as a member of the Iki family, a family of doctors.]

Really...? Is there a reason you don't think so?

[Curious, he blinks at her, trying to understand why that might be. He doesn't think his father would let himself be killed so easily, that much is for certain. So...?]

[wwtd]

[ except nOW THE VA'S ARE MARRIED IRL. ]

... Yeah.

[ she won't get punished for sharing the future, will she? he already knows the worst of it. that they don't see or talk for ten years. ]

You know how I'm from years in the future, right? There's no way your father could be here unless LILITH decided to do it.

[intertwinedfates]

[FATE IS WEIRD LIKE THAT AHAHASDFJK]

...yeah?

[It's hard to even imagine a reality without his father, but... if Hiyori says it's true, then... he has to believe it. She wouldn't lie, not to him, not about that. Swallowing hard, he nods slowly.]

So... he's dead. And yet, I--?

[He's managed to survive even without his lifeline? She wasn't being kind about that, right?]

[wwtd]

You survive. You live and continue to exist. The way you want to.

[ she wasn't being kind. it was yato she saw in the branches, her yato. their yato. not a reincarnation. not someone who looked like him and shared his name. the same yato she pushed out of the way of a bus. who she made the shrine for. who she fell in love with. ]

I don't really know how, you were too embarrassed to tell me but you're alive. And well. With Yukine-kun. You're still working hard to be a God of Fortune, doing what you can to save people the way you know how. How Yukine-kun taught you.

[intertwinedfates]

Ah, that's...

[He can't help tearing up a bit at the thought, even if it comes with the caveat of losing Hiyori for ten years. It's... good to know that his life isn't meant to end with the death of his father, and his and Hiyori's cut ties. He knows he did that much for her, to save her.]

Too embarrassed, huh... That sounds about right, huh? [He chuckles, though it's watery. He's getting teary-eyed, oops.] And Yukine, too... Thank everything... It doesn't sound like I've made much progress, but... that's okay. So long as I can be with you two, I know I'd be happy.

[wwtd]

[ using her thumb, she wipes at the tears already slipping down his cheeks gently. ]

Whatever it is, people believe in you and that you exist. [ that's all that really matters. she doesn't need to know the details.

that it's because he's a meme. ]

You're wrong. You've made so much progress. You want to be a healer, for goodness sake! But you've always wanted to help people. And here, like I said, people believe in you. You used to rely on your father for your existence and did whatever you wanted until he called you.

Here, you're free. And it shows. You have a stable job and a shrine. [ a WIFE. ] And things turn out okay, back home. They do.

[intertwinedfates]

[It's that little touch which makes him smile softly, content.]

Yeah... It must've been something stupid, though, haha... [Because why else wouldn't he say it? He probably did something dumb, as per usual.

Yatomeme...]

Ah... I suppose that's true, isn't it. Wanting to be something different from what I've always been, leaving my hideous past behind... You're not wrong about me relying on him for everything, from my existence to praise to a purpose. But... I don't need him anymore. I have you. I have friends. A good job I enjoy... shrines. [Can't forget he has more than one!] I believe you, Hiyori. And if things are well with us back home, then that's all I can ask for. Along with us to be happy here.

[wwtd]

It's not stupid if you get to continue to exist as you are. [ that's what she wanted, what she wished for, and somehow it came true. stayed true for years after she forgot. ]

I'm happy. Even with all the crazy and scary and annoying things that happen, I'm happy.

[intertwinedfates]

I suppose that's true. Or even if it is, it's fitting for me, heh. [Because he is a bit of a goofball goober, he knows that much. A silly way of living would be appropriate.]

Me too... I just want to remain by your side. Forever and until the end of time.