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

[blastedass]

Heh! I'll let you know as soon as I do! But if you want the ramen, I've got more.

[Oy. Stop being cute.]

[photosympathies]

You still have some? I wanna see.

( He's decidedly excited for a friend's success, whether that's being cute or not. )

Next time I visit, Bakuboom.

[blastedass]

I'll treat you to ramen dinner then.

[The company still makes the flavor, and he's always got a few on hand for extreme nights when "fuck all" is his head. Normally he doesn't eat instant stuff, but...]

[photosympathies]

Yes.

( He pumps his fist, bright delight on his face. It's just ramen, but he's excited either way. )

[blastedass]

Don't bitch at me if you start crying.

[His "personal flavors" are pretty damn spicy.]

[photosympathies]

I won't! I have a stomach of iron.

( World renown! )

[blastedass]

No shit, after eating the stuff on your world.

[People living in a desert wasteland of sorts must have killer stomachs.]

[photosympathies]

Wolfwood liked to nag about how often I put expired hot sauce on everything.

( A laugh, grin going nostalgic. )

I think with things like that they're so spicy you don't have to worry about them going weird.

[blastedass]

Hot sauce doesn't expire.

[Yes it does. But it's so fucking spicy, it could be a preservative.]

Duh. The spice and heat preserves them.

[photosympathies]

That's what I said!

( Disgusting weirdos club. )

[blastedass]

You said it differently!

[It was grosser when Vash said it! Sheesh!]

[photosympathies]

Same difference!

( He's only teasing. )

We'll have real spicy ramen together, it sounds fun.

[blastedass]

Yeah yeah. Bring whatever you wanna drink. You got any fruit or vegetables you like?

[Tempted to tell Vash to handle the desert: donuts.]

[photosympathies]

All of them.

( Because he's not picky, mostly. And because they're in short supply back home. Deciding he doesn't like ... say, celery, would feel like a betrayal. )

[blastedass]

Got it.

[Figured Vash wasn't selective about those. Bakugo'll have a spread for him to pick from. Look, celery is fibrous water in green stalk form.]

[photosympathies]

( It is kind of gross ...

Not that he's judging, he's very lucky. But he's also happy to have arranged a dinner date, and so that's bypassing the celery blip. )

Aw, I'm looking forward to it, Bakuboom. ( Stretching out his legs, delight evident. ) It'll get me through my shift later. I'm doing a food service thing for the guy who runs the ramen place. They've got an event.

[blastedass]

[Some people think it's empty calories. That's the myth at least. Still healthy for you compared to a lot of vegetables. Even if it's a specialized or acquired taste. Bakugo won't stuff it on him; he'll have options to go with their food.]

Yeah, yeah. I'll make sure to blow your tastebuds outta your head. [He leans back in his seat, sipping at the drink remaining in his glass.] An event?

[photosympathies]

Trying to drill up new customers, I think. Money off, that kind of thing. But he likes me because I deliver faster than the guys on bikes.

( He takes the rooftops like any sensible guy would. )

[blastedass]

You can move faster than bikes and you don't have to stick to the roads.

[Though the idea of Vash doing deliveries... Bakugo snorts in amusement, head dipping and brows furrowing with his snicker.]

[photosympathies]

It's not a bad job, I've had worse. Also good tips.

( That he subsequently gives away but oh well. )

[blastedass]

They still pay you a decent wage?

[Right? This is an important distinction.]

[photosympathies]

I think so? More than I'd get paid back home that's for sure.

( Which could mean anything. )

[blastedass]

[Guess it's different when you come from a world with no pay and when you're an Outsider who gets a stipend + reward each month.]

As long as you can live comfortably on it.

[photosympathies]

I can, don't worry. It's kind of nice actually. Not having to worry about choosing between eating and buying bullets.

( Capitalism sucks in any universe. )

[blastedass]

Learn to budget better.

[Then again, Vash is an outlaw and makes money with bounties. He's definitely not the definition of settled 8 - 5.]