STRANGER FROM THE RIFT: PART 2

[synfluxmods]

▷ STRANGER FROM THE RIFT: PART 2

CONTENT WARNINGS: technological glitches, fighting, hallucinations, headaches/sickness, visions, implants going wrong

▶ 001. A Thing About Machines.

After an eventful start to the New Year, everyone hopes for a moment to catch their breath and relax. However, it appears that rest and relaxation isn't in the cards for the agents of LILITH. The technical issues that caused the information leak at the end of the month not only continue but seem to be getting worse on base.

Everyone is busy trying to respond to emergencies and inconveniences. Sometimes the indoor heating system randomly turns off turning the base into a giant walk-in refrigerator overnight but on other days, it gets cranked up to turn the base into a massive sauna. The elevators constantly malfunction so they suddenly drop, rise rapidly, or stop all together with people still inside them. It's so frequent, everyone is advised to use the stairs to get around the base but even then, the lights flicker in hallways and even worse, the electronic locks and opening mechanisms on the doors keep glitching.

The door malfunctions are especially inconvenient. The Outsiders will have to struggle to maintain their privacy because the doors are prone to randomly opening throughout the day and night, giving everyone full views inside and allowing anyone to walk in and out.

The malfunctions aren't just limited to the building itself. Hummingbird drones malfunction. They imprint on random people, suddenly fall from the sky, and some of them even become hostile. While they are small and can't cause much harm, no one really wants to get hit in the face by a small ball of metal going at high speed. Even the cleaning and service robots around base are glitching. They make messes around the base or enter random rooms to rearrange things. LILITH technicians and engineers suggest turning them off but somehow and for some reason, everything turns back on randomly.

Everything electrical seems to be malfunctioning in some way or another and the Outsiders themselves are no exception. Those with style upgrades and cybernetic enhancements may also experience glitching. Even those who have opted out of these upgrades and improvements aren't completely spared because everyone has received some baseline tech upgrades. Outsiders may experience eye fatigue and blurred or glitchy vision in the eye with their implant. The payment chip in their wrists may also glitch. For those who are unfortunate, payments will be declined and all of their savings may disappear but for those much more fortunate, they may suddenly find themselves striking rich. You probably shouldn't touch any money that appears from unknown sources but who is going to stop you?

▶ 002. The Stranger from the Rift.

Despite everything going on, their jobs must resume. The base is abuzz with news about the mysterious stranger that was recovered from Fuji. There are tests that need to be done and everyone is hopeful they'll get answers. Who is he? Where is he from? And what can they learn?

The stranger from the rift is impossible to understand. They've managed to confirm he is speaking Old Norse but all of it is mixed with what seems to be complete and utter nonsense. They believe this is a result of being subjected to extremely high levels of Rift energy. It’s so much so, that LILITH can’t track outside rift energy on base, and triangulating future Kaiju attacks is becoming more and more difficult, even for LILITH branches outside of Neo-Tokyo. The systems are just too glitchy. They theorize he came from the very same type of Rifts that kaiju emerge from but can't understand how he survived. Those levels are usually enough to kill or totally corrupt most humans. While this stranger appears to be physically whole, his mind appears fractured.

All of this is complicated by the fact that he has been so saturated by the Rift, he literally emits it. He's practically a radioactive man and getting too close to him results in interviewers feeling sick from rift poisoning. Medical robots are used to treat him to minimize exposure. However, due to the technical issues on base, the robots keep failing. He also attacks the robots, causing damage to them and himself. They completely shut down around him and it forces LILITH's operatives to treat him in person.

Fortunately, thanks to efforts over the winter season, the LILITH suits have been upgraded to protect wearers much better than before. Still, it is not advised to spend too much time around him because while they can protect from Rift poisoning, they cannot protect the normal researchers and doctors from his physical attacks.

Researchers and doctors get little information from him. They learn that he was condemned to death for killing his father, and that he escaped during his execution. He’s a weapons master, as evidenced by the number of weapons, and a warrior of some renown. When idle, he often repeats the name Blòm, over and over again, and the doctors have been able to figure out that she was a lover of some sort. Thanks to the investigations from the outsiders, they were able to piece together a good big about this man, but more importantly – that the rift has infected him. He can heal from any injury, and his blood is radioactive. It’s all confounding them, as clearly he’s human, and they want to help… but what can they do?

In a last ditch effort to get information, the Outsiders will be invited to give it a shot. Unlike the normal researchers, the Outsiders have combat experience and can defend themselves. They are told to suit up and try to get more information from him. He may just be one man but Outsiders will find that he is a handful. He appears to be skilled in combat, strong, quick, and unpredictable. While he is manageable, the Outsiders are urged to avoid harming him.

While they will be protected by their suits, the technical issues plaguing the base will continue to cause problems during interrogation: Outsiders will experience vision problems and headaches if they spend too long with him. After they finish, they will have to report their findings and conditions to LILITH researchers and health experts.

▶ 003. Containment Breech.

About a week into February, Outsiders will awaken in the middle of the night to the base in a state of chaos. Alarms and sirens go off and everyone is ordered to search the base because a subject has escaped. It won't take long to learn who (or rather, who) the subject in question is: Bjorn.

It appears that in the middle of the night, the quarters he was contained in experienced a total system failure. He was able to escape containment, disarm the guards, and leave the base. Using broken footage from cameras and security logs, they estimate he's been gone for about three hours. They are optimistic that he couldn't have gotten far in the city but soon, the sun rises and morning comes to the city, and he is nowhere to be found.

Björn is missing in Neo Tokyo. They aren't lacking clues either. Wherever he goes, he leaves a trail of clues that he was around. Clothes and grocery stores are broken into in an attempt to gain supplies. Various public security officers and gangs around the city report getting into fights with a wild man. In particular, newly spliced individuals are attacked at a higher rate – particularly those who have spliced with prey animals, such as deer, rabbits, and livestock. Using CCTV cameras and witness reports, Outsiders learn he has been all over the city. He seems to be traveling through subway tunnels and sewers while also hiding out in abandoned buildings aboveground.

Wherever he goes, trouble follows. Cars malfunction, lights explode, cameras shut off, and it quickly becomes obvious that Bjorn was the source of all of the glitches and tech problems on base. Now that he is out, the problems have spread throughout the city. Outsiders will be asked to either help mitigate the damage, or help LILITH in tracking him down. Helping to direct traffic around affected areas, keep the peace around destroyed public works, or even calm down locals, it’s all necessary. In addition, looking for clues either aboveground or in the sewer system will be necessary, especially because it’s becoming more and more clear: he poses a clear and present danger.

▶ 004. Dream of Electronic Kaiju.

As the city devolves into chaos, reports of a new phenomenon begin to emerge. Residents begin to report problems with their implants. Their ocular implants keep glitching, resulting in blurred vision and seeing strange visions. They also begin to report headaches, hearing voices, and having strange dreams.

It isn't just the civilians reporting these strange issues. Outsiders will also begin to experience some of the same symptoms.

The implants start glitching when you’re looking at another outsider, you might see a warped and corrupted version of them. Maybe it’s them if they remain in Neo-Tokyo for decades, or maybe it’s a vision of their eventual future back home. It can be a good potential future, or a bad one, it seems that the AI system makes up all kinds of hallucinations about the outsiders, and it can be invented wholecloth, or it can be something that will happen. The different visions of others can be difficult to handle, especially in large groups of people, where Outisders’ implants will start to go haywire, maybe even combining or corrupting between different people. Maybe fates will be swapped, maybe you’ll see your loved one subjected to your own fate, but with the way the edges of your vision seem to darken, and the way you can see small pixelated glitches, it’s still not real. That doesn’t make it any easier to look at.

Eventually, the implants start to make stronger hallucinations. You might pour a drink into a cup that doesn’t exist, leading soda to splash all over the place. Maybe you put your hand down on a countertop that’s actually a burner. Pick up a book that doesn’t exist, or walk down a hallway that turns out to be a solid wall. Maybe you turn into your room, but it’s the wrong wing of the dormitories, or you turn the shower to hot, but it’s ice cold. That cute dog on the street? That’s a Timonsuta that escaped the local kaiju cafe, and it’s angry. Be careful, because the implants are starting to make it difficult to differentiate fact from fiction, and the longer it goes on, the more Outsiders will have to rely on their memories to remember how to get around.

The worst, though, comes at night. Visions play through your mind, thanks to your glitchy implants. Visions of a future for your world that looks… a lot like this one. Destruction, death. Kaiju attacks, people running in fear. A vision of your world in danger, falling to the same apocalypse that you’ve all been fighting to stop. Maybe you see loved ones from home, who you thought were safe… but are they? Kaiju of all kinds rip through worlds, homes, and people. You can try to force yourself awake from this nightmare, but the lingering vision of watching it all burn doesn’t dispel itself quite so easily.

▶ 005. A Bounty for You.

It doesn't take long for word to get out on the streets. However, the average person still does not grasp what has truly happened. Most people are aware that LILITH has lost something from the base but given the reports of a strange man, everyone assumes it is just a high criminal of some sort. Some even say it might be a terrorist. Whoever it is, it is clear they are a threat to public security and while many are fearful, there are always those who will use disaster to their advantage.

Some of the gangs in Neo Tokyo put out a bounty on the mysterious man. Their plan is to capture him and force LILITH to pay a ransom to get him back. They’re painfully aware of the strength that LILITH has had lately thanks to the hard work of the Outsiders, and they want a piece of it for themselves, the criminal underworld consistently bubbling with the want to be stronger.

It doesn’t stop at the usual, gangs of people harassing regular citizens and demanding that they give over items or valuables. Outsiders might walk through the streets and hear the odd sound of a chimera attacking someone, or feel a knife pressed to their back if a misfortunate villain tries their luck. Rival gangs break out into fights on the streets, an all out civil war between some of the more dominant groups, each shouting to the other that they have the missing man, and they’ll get their rewards.

Do they actually have him? It’s hard to say. There are rumours of him being seen here and there, though many of them don’t lead to anything real. Some of the captured prisoners might be able to be coerced into sharing what they know, whispers of sightings and particular bosses having a new guest in their homes, but there’s rarely anything conclusive.

Fear is possessing Neo Tokyo, and they turn to their Angels to help them.

▶ 006. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our February event! Just as with January, this event is relevant to the overarching plot. We hope you enjoy it!

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

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. A THING ABOUT MACHINES: Malfunctions begin to take over the base in Neo Tokyo, causing inconveniences and problems. Tech upgrades go haywire and cause problems.
2. THE STRANGER FROM THE RIFT: LILITH is able to share what little information they've gleaned about the stranger, but ask the Outsiders to fight him to try and find out more. Too much exposure causes significant issues.
3. CONTAINMENT BREACH: The Rift stranger esapes, and Outsiders are tasked with locating him and bringing him back as he causes havoc around the city.
4. DREAM OF ELECTRONIC KAIJU: Implants begin to glitch, and Outsiders can begin to suffer from significant hallucinations of disaster and doom.
5. A BOUNTY FOR YOU: The criminal gangs in Neo Tokyo get involved in the race to find the stranger and randsom him to LILITH for a prize, causing major issues for civillians in Neo Tokyo.

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Comments

QUESTIONS

[synfluxmods]

[photosympathies]

This is going to sound like a very silly question but if we ... close our eyes does that affect any of the hallucinations? Could someone just try to navigate the place blind?

[synfluxmods]

Yes, they can navigate the place blind, but the glitches may distract characters in other ways. There may be phantom noises, and if you have LILITH issue limbs, phantom sensations.

So in short: play with it as you'd like!

[shadowban]

very big question!

since this event involves hallucinations of the feels-bad-terrible-awful kind, megumi will be seeing his worst nightmare (returned sukuna) lurking in everyone's faces. this is Not Great for many reasons because megumi's go-to solution to his life problems is summoning a nuclear death machine whose only purpose is to murder anyone caught in the summoning ritual and everything that stands in its way.

mahoraga already has a 10-minute summons limit and lower powerscale per the handicaps suggested when megumi was apped in. can megumi summon mahoraga within city limits, or should he find somewhere unpopulated to do this?

[synfluxmods]

We think Megumi should be allowed to try and commit atrocities as a treat!

INTERROGATE THE STRANGER

[synfluxmods]

Limit one question per player. Outsiders are free to collaborate and coordinate questions between questioning sessions. Please comment here with the question you have for Bjorn.

jinx | arcane | revelation

[powderkegs]

( i. a thing about machines )

[ jinx trusts machines.

they can fail, of course. many of her monkeybombs and other gadgets haven't quite worked the way they should over the years. they may be more reliable than people, but being created by humans means they'll be subject to human error. and no matter how much of a perfectionist jinx is, something is bound to slip.

something always does.

still. jinx still prefers machines. getting the style upgrade made sense. convenient, stylish, and she could tweak it on the go, suiting her mood. perfect, right? except. this glitching. one moment, she's wearing her usual outfit, the next — ]

Did this thing just cut my hair?! Oooh, I'm gonna rip this shit out!

( ii. the stranger from the rift ) cw: most likely discussions of patricide

[ she knows these suits well. people from piltover used them often, to protect from the noxious gases in the lanes. because they're the only ones who can afford it. jinx feels certain the shimmer in her blood would protect her but . . . no point being reckless and it's not like she's paying for it.

normally, she'd leave this to someone else. jinx is good to get into someone's head, but this feels like something better left to . . . someone with empathy. but what little she heard got her curious. especially when it came to his crime.

slipping on the rubber gloves, jinx wiggles her fingers playfully. ]

So, whatcha gonna ask?

( iii. dreams of electric kaiju ) cw: mental illness, dissociation, violence in links.

[ where is she?

jinx was — no, powder was — no, no she's jinx, she's still jinx. her vision seems to blur and the voices — the voices have gotten so loud. snaps of colour and jagged lines scrabble at her as she claws through her hair. what is haunting her? what was she doing wrong? she was sure — she had been sure.

gunfire. smoke in her nose. in her throat. no, that was vi, vi's hands were around her neck, this is the end, this is the end.

no. wait. it's something else. gunfire. smoke. a chair turns. silco. he's motionless. he's gone and there's a desperate ache and a desperate silence, as if good and bad have merged into one horrendous screaming and she's screaming.

was that her? powder? jinx? who is screaming? ]

Stop it! Stop it, I don't want to see it anymore, I don't want to!

( iv. wildcard )

[ got a different prompt you’d like to do? ping me on timmtams / pm this journal ]

iii.

[photosympathies]

( He hears her shouting before he sees her, boots skidding as he rounds the corridor and finds Jinx bent double with her hands over her ears. He reaches for her on instinct, fingers curling around her shoulder blades as though touch alone can bring her back. )

Jinx, hey. Hey, it's okay. Whatever you're seeing it's not happening, it's not here. It's the glitching, remember? Ah.

( He doesn't know what to do. )

Do you want me to find Mr. Silco? I can go get him.

cw: violence

[powderkegs]

[ it's the touch that has her seizing up, every muscle locked in place —

before she lashes out violently, her arm swinging to hit vash right in the chest. not that she has realized it's vash. all she sees are ghosts, sketched cruelly. taunting her, laughing at her. or maybe it is vash, his voiced distorted, his hair spiralling out like yellow lightning, cackling at her —

you thought we were friends? all those jokes, all of that stuff. as if. as if we could be that. don't make me laugh. you're a jinx, you're A JINX

she screams, lunging at him. ]

Stop calling me that!

ii.

[redangelofpreventingharm]

*so much of this is outside of his frame of reference - the whole strange man is concerning, especially since it seems that he's powerful from what LILITH said, but he can't just ignore it*

*the question makes him think harder about it - they can't stay too near it for too long...*

From what the reports were talking about...that guy is looking for someone.

Reminds me of when we were in England - so if he's rift'd and stuff, maybe he can't find who he is looking for and hopefully we can like...do it for him? We just need more information.

*he fidgets a little, frowning. He wasn't the best at this*

I just don't know if that'll help much since it's so hard to understand him...

[powderkegs]

[ her memories of england are hazy and . . . frustrating. knowing there's a powder who could be happy, who could simply live as herself, without the curse of being jinx, without ruining lives.

jinx pushes it aside. clicks her tongue. ]

Can't know how much it'll help until we do it, right?

No need to be a downer just yet.

3 🙂 cw: violence and dying 😃

[zauneyete]

Jinx —

[ Outside, looking in, all that exists is the madness. A familiar interjection, a spray of mania that often visited, and though it's been some time — something that Silco should question, but he instead looks away from and ignores — he knows the signs, as soon as they surface. How could he not? He's been dealing with it since she was a child, after all.

His hand reaches out, to her shoulder, to tighten around it. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, he hadn't even noticed that she'd fallen asleep. He'd been trying to shake out the halos of light from his own vision, but turning now, his jaw tightens, he's looking for a sign, any sign to what it is. ]

What —

[ Whatever he says is...probably not that important. Silco's implants are only offering halos of light, stars in his vision. But how does he look to Jinx in this moment?

A dead man. His scar a mottled streak of smeared makeup, his hair in his face. His chest and middle riddled with bullet holes. They leak, pooling blood over his vest. Leaving stains spreading across his clothing around the tattered holes.

His gaze, normally a contrast of blue and red... now simply... dead. One black, one blank. He's talking? Do dead men even talk?

Surely they do, for Jinx. ]

geto suguru ( brimstone. )

[gorb]

oo1. a thing about machines i.

( He's pink eared as he stomps his feet together, scowling at the many numerous side doors that he likes to escape from. It's his own fault, really, choosing to chain smoke away his problems instead of staying in his bed where there's, more often than not, a nice, warm body to keep him company. He's not even really dressed to be outside, a jacket haphazardly thrown over what passes as pyjamas, and the only real heat is from the cigarette in his hands.

It's miserable.

He's miserable.

But he looks up when he hears footsteps, jerks his chin in the direction of the door. ) It's fucked.

( So helpful! So polite. Also, he has like three smokes left. )

oo2. a thing about machines ii

( He's minding his own business when it happens. One second he's readjusting his grip on his bag, the next minute his sleeve is getting in the way. Uncharacteristically Geto freezes. It isn't that he's particularly against the gojo-kesa, in fact he misses it. There's something comforting about the weight, the drape of fabric, the shield of it all. It's just the last time he wore these they were torn off of him in the Brimstone hallway. He'd salvaged parts, and they're buried deep in the recesses of his closet, but it had still stung. So he'd told himself he wouldn't.

He concentrates, tries to shift the outfit away. There is a headache blooming behind one eye. The style shimmers, flickers, swaps neatly into school uniform. That is somehow worse. Thankfully it is a brief foray, the robes snap straight on back. Geto considers beating himself to death with his purchases, shifts from one sandalled foot to the other.

... Is Gojo likely to react as violently as he had before? Maybe not. Is Geto happy about this? No. He curses violently under his breath, then resorts to making his way where he was aiming. If he's lucky he can get through and his clothes will go back to normal. )

oo3. a bounty for you.

( There is a man currently begging.

It is not, thankfully, Geto Suguru. No, he is watching the spectacle from the sidelines, the current source of noise a wolf-faced thug held taut between rainbow dragon's teeth. To the man, and the woman with her child cowering behind her thigh, it seems as though he's just ... suspended, but maybe there's a primal fear in the air either way. Geto hums, turns to the woman a hand holding out her dropped purse. She takes it with a thankful stammer and is rewarded his most winning politician's smile. ) It's nothing, but I would avoid taking shortcuts for the foreseeable.

( The child is still crying, Geto's headache blooms brighter. He reaches inside of his pocket to produce a crinkly wrapped sweet ( he's taken to carrying them again, for some unknown reason ). He crouches to offer it out to her, the icy mask dropping a little. )

Here, you're fine now, and this is nice, see?

( The mother helps her unwrap it, then lifts her daughter into her arms. Geto watches this carefully, watches as they leave and he summons another curse to follow them home, to make sure the rest of the journey goes unmolested. Then he picks up the knife the assailant had dropped, spins it in his fingers, the shimmer of his nailvarnish catching the streetlight. )

Now. What should we do with you?

( Rainbow dragon jerks the spliced man sharply. He makes a noise. He's probably about a second from pissing himself, and Geto really does not care for cowards. )

oo4. wildcard

( Catch him at any point you'd like, or if you want to do more with the hallucination glitches feel free to hit me up at qingya or discord: sadgaydna )

yuji itadori / jjk / everlight (cw: hallucinations, self-harm)

[eyescar]

▶ 001. A Thing About Machines.

[ At first, the strange glitches don't upset Yuji too much.

He's a little put out that the door keeps opening, that he's walking around his room shirtless or in his sleepwear and it slips open to bare all to anyone who walks by, but that's manageable. It's not exactly the end of the world to have to laugh a little sheepishly and shake his head, waving off any apologies that might come hand in hand with it. At least he offers them a drink or something to eat before they wander off?

It's later that causes him problems, starting to get more and more annoyed as the days go on.

You might be the unfortunate person who has Yuji Itadori appear out of nowhere, teleporting into a space nearby you or on top of you. It might be while he is sweaty from working out, or covered in flour or panko from cooking, or worse - while he has a towel wrapped around himself, damp from a shower. Looking more annoyed the more it happens, Yuji can only groan, covering his face. ]

Sorry, sorry! I'm not doing this on purpose, I swear!

[ If you're unlucky enough to catch him lying down in the lounge in the base, you might see him with closed eyes and a sour look on his face, waving his hand off at any concern. ]

I can't see right now, but it'll come back. Don't worry about it.

▶ 002. Dream of Electronic Kaiju.

[ It's when the glitches get worse that Yuji begins to feel on edge.

In his time in Neo Tokyo, he has been through more than his fair share of strangeness, of hallucinations, rift poisoning, possession and nightmares. He feels as if he should be used to it, now, or that he should be able to fight it off better, but each time it comes it feels like the first time. It feels as if all his senses are being ripped away and twisted, and he is left staring at people as they walk by, his heart beating too fast in his chest.

If you're watching him, you might see him making hot milk and missing the cup, scalding his hand. You might be lucky enough to catch him in a moment of normalicy, rushing around and helping other people, darting here and there to make sure that they're alright. You might even catch him walking room to room in the base, peeking his head inside to where his friends are and making sure they're okay, turning around with sharp breaths as if he can hear someone calling his name.

Or, you might be unlucky.

If you catch Yuji at night, you catch him at his most paranoid, his most afraid, and his most deadly. For people he knows well, the hallucinations might be obvious; he looks at you and searches your face, seeing things that aren't there, gritting his teeth and tightening his remaining fingers, something dangerous and feral colouring his features. It's obvious how angry he is, even as he steps forward, prepared to fight. ]

Let them go!

[ Who or what is he seeing? That might be obvious, to the people closest to him.

Strangers might catch him mid-fight with someone that isn't there, throwing sparking black and red energy into his punches and missing, stumbling around. You might catch him kneeling beside nothing, hands shaking and tears in his eyes.

The worst is when he is hidden in an alleyway, hands on his face, nails digging into his cheeks, breathing coming too hard and his body shaking. He can't escape the nightmare alone, and as he cries the tears leave marks on the dirt and blood on his face. ]

▶ 003. A Bounty for You.

[ Between his hallucinations and paranoia, Yuji is doing what he can to deal with the gangs in the city.

There's no hesitation as he steps up to take on an entire gang alone, fighting them in hand to hand combat and dodging their knives, their pipes, all of it. Even if he gets hit, he simply shrugs it off, knocking heads together with a scowl. He never fights to kill, focussing instead on ensuring they're unconscious and tied up before he moves onto the next group.

If he thinks someone needs help, he goes to them quickly, skidding to a half with a breathless sound. ]

You okay?

[ Should he be the one asking that, covered in dirt, and blood, and sweat? Maybe not, but he asks all the same. ]

▶ 004. WILDCARD.

( Feel free to find Yuji elsewhere, do whatever you like or hit me up for something in particular! )

2.

[voidbound]

Yuji Itadori.

[ Daybit is approaching the kneeling figure, his voice grave as always. ]

It's me. Daybit sem Void. What do you need help with?

[ No need to ask dumb questions like "Are you okay?" or "What's wrong?". With these glitches, the best thing to do is to simply jump in and guide whoever needs help. ]

[eyescar]

[ Yuji knows Daybit, remembers chatting to him, but seems genuinely afraid to lift his head and look at him. If he opens his eyes, he's too worried the nightmare will still be there, his eyesight still flickering in and out.

Shaking his head, he clenches his hands tighter. ]

... Is it over?

002

[the_fourteenth]

[Things have been bad for everyone right now. For Raidou, it starts with his strength nanotechnology flickering off an on; sometimes his muscles seem to give out, sometimes he accidentally crushes a doorhandle into scrap. Visions start to tug at the corner of his mind, tricking him into see people and things that aren't there. They're gone as soon as he turns hoping to see a friend from back home, or ready to face a past enemy.

Trying to maintain a grip on himself is tough enough, but Raidou tries to keep track of the other Outsiders, especially Yuji. It's when the network gets glitchy and he can't ping Yuji's location is when he starts to worry, and he can't reach him by text. He'll have to rely on his demon sense to find wherever it Yuji is out in Neo Tokyo. He goes on foot, not trusting the computer systems in his motorcycle to not malfunction.

However long it takes, however hampered he is by his own haunted conscious, he won't stop until his keen magic sense leads him to Yuji. And when he does, he doesn't just rush up to the other boy. He approaches slowly, hoping Yuji's own senses tell him that Raidou is near, but proceeds with caution just in case.]

... Yuji?

1

[redangelofpreventingharm]

*there was a range of grumpy people in base - especially with how all the rift craziness has ramped up over the last few months and the missions have been getting harder. But with the eye implants aching and hurting as well, he isn't surprised to see one of the young men lying down in the lounge*

*he's used to getting waved off by brothers - brothers no longer here - but he pushes that back as he leans to check on Yuji*

Are your eyes hurting too?

2

[zauneyete]

[ Now see, the thing is, Silco would normally simply ignore someone in an ally, at Best. What poor choices one makes is their poor choices, and he equates having to spend an evening in an alley as the unfortunate side-effect of overindulgence.

Unfortunately for Silco, he does give the kid a second glance, and there's only one person around with hair like his. He takes another two steps. Than sighs. He pulls out a cigar, clips, and lights it. No need to chance his hand going haywire again. It's already stiff and barely functional today as it is.

He leans against the wall, standing, looking down at him. ]

Did someone take your money, boy?

[ Silco isn't going to ask what's wrong. But he doesn't think it's anything so simple. Yuji is generally unphased, after all. ]

Bakugō Katsuki 💥 Boku no Hero Academia 💥 Everlight

[blastedass]

[*click on headers to open prompts*]

▶ 001. A Thing About Machines.

💥 ➊ Machines. - Temperatures

A) -- SHUT UP! I'M STARTING A FIRE! [All this high-end technology and some fucking ghost in the machine continues rampaging havoc around the systems! He's expecting the culprit to be some electrical kaiju at this rate. Bakugo crouches in front of the common room fireplace, bundled up in a ski jacket, snow pants, scarf, and other warming clothes, his breath still puffing out in visible vapor from his lips.

Logs stacked by the hearth wait their turn as he loads in chips of wood, a scattering of sawdust, and several small bits of kindling atop the mound. Matches? Nope! He managed to learn and pull this off in training camp three years ago. The blonde shoves his hand into the fireplace itself and holds it palm down over his starter next. Soft snaps and crackles spit from his hand, akin to a lighter trying to start, before sparks spew from his now-glowing palm. A miniature show of firecrackers.] Back off! You're gonna put it out!

B) -- Goddamn computer system. [Grumbling under his breath, Bakugo shrugs off his jacket and catches it on his elbow. His cheeks already pink from frosty outside weather rapidly start fading color as his scarf unwinds and he pulls it from his neck. Sweltering! The entire building is a sauna! Stalking towards the Everlight common room, you might catch him in the process of stripping down. Scarf and jacket off, he's currently hopping on one foot to shuck a boot from his leg, ultimately aiming to get those heavy snow pants he's wearing.] What're you looking at? If you're gonna stare, get me a water from the fridge!

💥 ➋ Machines. - Eyes ~ Open to All

[He can put up with fluctuating temperatures. Opening and closing doors. Showers turning hot or cold or the stupid microwave turning on and off. Those bullshit annoyances are annoying but tolerable. This? Bakugo's currently sitting in his car, breathing in the cold air from a cracked window. If he stayed any longer inside the car while it was sweltering, he would've blown it up! An hour. A fucking hour and it's still not back! As it is, the occasional rush of traffic flashes by his ears. Pulled off to the side of the road, nudged to a guardrail, he's safe for the time being, but...

Fuck it, he's sending a text-]

From: @ Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight

Oy, you need to come get me. I can't fucking see.

▶ 003. Containment Breech.

💥 ➊ Breech. - Spelunking

[Boots squelch into the mucky liquid he doesn't want to think about. His plugsuit's energy field clings to his hero costume, high collar pulled up around his noise and mouth, blocking them off from the gagging sewer stench. Despite being able to generate his own light, Bakugo doesn't want to risk something catching spark and going up in flames, so he's currently operating a high-powered spotlight posing as a flashlight. Badly posing. The intense beam carves clear white light through the underground tunnels, steady dripping telltale with the sound of his partner and his own steps.]

Kuso! Why hell did we get stuck babysitting this stupid wild man? They knew this shit was glitching! They should've chained him up or put him in a normal bar and lock cell! [Right. Put the man in a cage, hero.]

▶ 004. Dream of Electronic Kaiju.

💥 ➊ Dream. - Misplaced

[He thought going blind was the worst of it. One eye, both eyes, he can handle it for a little while. This... this isn't blindness. How the hell does he keep missing things?! He thought he had an extra step on the stairs, only to find his foot slamming into the ground too soon and he stumbles to his knee in a shouted curse. Standing in the kitchen over the skillet, a sizzling strip of fish grilling on the black surface, he reaches for the handle, only to jerk his hand back with a yell as flesh meets burner in a gross hiss. Or perhaps you're privy to Bakugo extending his hand to the door and instead of gripping a knob or pushing the panel, he misjudges the distance and runs face first into the surface, backing off with another raging yell while holding his nose.] FUCK THIS SHITTY IMPLANT!!

💥 ➋ Dream. - Nightmare

[It's a dream. It has to be a dream. But every single second of it is real. The heat on his face, blood dripping down his skin, pain pounding through his chest as his salvaged-but-ravaged organs throb in protest against the desperate work done to save his life. Wet heat tastes like copper in his mouth as he straightens up, struggling to get his legs beneath him as the screaming madman ahead of him pours out another Quirk from his vast arsenal. The only one who stands between this monster and the eradication of his entire world is him. Dynamight!]

SHUT UP! I've had enough of your fucking mouth!

[KA-BOOM!! Were you sleeping? Sorry. You're not anymore. An explosion rips through the side of his room wall, or perhaps your room's spared, but the door's jumping on its seams and the hallway outside lights up with another massive explosion. Alarms blare instantly, smoke billows from cracked surfaces and snapping fingers. Bakugo stalks forward through his own wreckage, eyes wide and unseeing anything currently in front of him. They're blank and glazed over, making the crazed, feral expression slashed across his face even more disturbing. Sparks pop and abruptly KABOOM! another one crashes into the wall, as if he's dodging and countering something playing out completely in his head.]

▶ 005. A Bounty for You.

💥 ➊ Bounty. - Hero Work

[He's not impressed. Standing at the head of a street, facing down over twenty armed street thuds, his expression remains a dark scowl behind the high collar of his costume. Cold breezes run past his face, barely brushing his bangs and spiky hair or ruffling the baggy black pants swallowing his legs. Listening to these asshole shouting at him, being called a "LILITH dog" amid crows of their successful capture. Dynamight lifts one arm, aiming that giant grenade-shaped bracer straight at the gang in front of him.]

Pera pera pera. You assholes piss me off. [One finger hooks into the priming pin of his Grenadier Bracer, red eyes narrowed in the black swatch of his mask. *ping!* It pulls free and-

KABOOMBOOMBOOM!!

-the entire street's abruptly swallowed in a massive combustion, bursts rupturing here there over there to the side further back cacophony turning the air into a sizzling mess. Smoke erupts upward, the sounds of shouting wiped over by his explosion.

Dynamight drops his arm and slips the pin back into the bracer, locking the safety once more. As billowing smoke begins to fade, the street itself cracks and steams black asphalt and glowing orange molten veins from the destruction. Yeah, this street's gonna need some repair, but miraculously, the buildings on all sides seemed to be only smoked. One or two cracked windows, but he kept collateral to a minimum despite the sheer magnitude of his blast.

Oh, and there's over twenty bodies lying groaning and twitching all over the street and sidewalks. Scorched and shocked, but they'll live. He glances at his fellow Outsider.] Call the trash crew for pickup.

[OOC: If you want to hit up Bakugo in another area or encounter him in another prompt, feel free to drop a wildcard tag-in below and I'll be happy to thread off it! If you'd like a personal starter, PM me to let me know and we can work out the details. Thanks!]

oo4a.

[photosympathies]

( He hasn't been sleeping. He thinks it would be hard for anyone to do in a situation like this. Because while Vash made a good go of wandering the place with his eyes closed, then his other senses started going haywire. A ringing in his ears, a bad taste in his mouth, the occasional flair of his Plant markings a little too bright and unnatural. All of this to say he's awake, and the minute he hears familiar explosions is the minute he abandons his nervous tracing of the Base hallway in favour of tracking down his unhappy friend. )

Bakugo!

( It's a yell. The corridor is smokey. Vash needs to get closer, but his head hurts and his eyes feel sore and he's never seen the other man like this before. ) Hey, hey Bakugo, it's me, it's Vash, can you hear me?

( Careful, he needs to be careful. )

nightmare

[nutkick]

[ the hallucinations were — different for denji. they weren’t as dramatic, no screaming sirens of the end of the world, no towering kaijus ripping the skyline apart. none of that. the city stayed intact, eerily similar to an old memory, as if reality itself was making an effort to stay subtle. that was what made it worse. the fear crept in through the seams, through the way one moment bled into the next without a break. there was no clear line between waking and dreaming, and what fucked denji up the most— how smooth of a transition it was. as if it knew how to mess with his emotions on a personal level. the thin line between two worlds started to blur, and neo city began to feel less like a place he lived in and more like a story he was remembering all wrong. and that's when that godawful thought settled in: maybe his life here is the illusion. maybe this life is the dream he’d been trapped in all along, and now it was finally loosening its grip. the idea hollowed him out, promising him the worst heartache of his fucking life.

familiar faces kept surfacing, blending in with the other civilians and outsiders: asa, yoru, yoshida, and death. each glimpse chipped away at what little confidence he had left. and then, pochita ... who lingered the longest. not as a threat, but not as a comfort either. and as soon as he heard that question, "what's next, denji?" — yeah, he knew what that meant.

a loud explosion snaps him out of it. the chaos comes from inside the base and it was strong enough to make the walls shake in their frames. dust sifts down from the ceiling, and heat bleeds through the corridors in a rush. the sound, the intensity, the thick smoke - denji knew it too well. he’s moving the moment the floor trembles again, hearing another blast. bare feet hit the cold floor before he bursts through his bedroom door and into the open space of the hallway. it didn't take him long to find his boyfreind who appeared to be ... fighting something? that much is clear, but denji can’t see the threat. there’s no shape to lock onto, human or beast, there's nothing. ] Hey! [ whether this is real or not, his body doesn’t hesitate as he grabs bakugou by the arm, fingers locking tight around his wrist. he knew he left a nice opening for the hero by neglecting his other arm, but it felt reckless to manhandle him without talking to him first. ] Katsuki! What's going on?!

[zauneyete]

o1. Mechanical Problems

[ The problems aren't terrible at first. The hazy vision in his left eye is not entirely alien to him, nor are the spots of light or vague visual hallucinations. Of course, the larger issue for Silco is that he can't blink them away, really. He'll stare off in the distance a bit longer, unable to really catch what he's supposed to be looking at, but that's not much.

No, the problems start later. First it's his style chip — which Silco makes frequent use of, often on base looking odd and out of place, with his usual vest and coat. But these days, it keeps swapping, shifting. Other outfits that look decidedly out of place on the man, who normally looks altogether very put together and a touch formal. If caught by another outsider post-shift on the second, he'll look down at his clothes with a curl of his lip, and a: ]

Ah. You don't see anything. Got it?

[ Despite looking wrong compared to his usual outfits... there's something about it. ]

[ But, even worse, of course, is his hand. Those who were here in June will remember, that Silco's hand was very neatly chopped off in the Underworld. It's been replaced since then, but it's a bit... souped up. As it glitches, it may reach out to slap a nearby outsider, or even taze them if they aren't watching too carefully. Worse, is when the gun discharges into the ceiling, which leaves Silco looking harried.

No matter what he does, he is, unfortunately, not exactly apologetic. A hiss of annoyance, and: ] Move out of the way, next time.

[ He can't control it, okay?? ]

o2. Glitch the System

[ The glitches continue, and the implants are odd things. They corrupt, they shift. Silco sometimes stares at an Outsider for a half-second too long, as if the system is trying to make him think something (or someone) else is there. His mouth moves as if to ask a name a 'Sev-' or 'Doc-' before he shakes his head. His good eye blinks several times, trying to dispel the visions, but that other one seems locked onto whoever is in the room with him.

But worse isn't what he can see. It's what you can see. You may see the man riddled with bullets, hair askew and his scare exposed, eyes... blank and dead. Though, in contrast, maybe you see him injured in other ways — his arm entirely removed, a leg, or something more horrifying or gorey than even those. Every single vision involves Silco in some way, shape, or form — dead. One version of him looks...altogether whole, but there's a blankness in his eyes that suggests that he isn't even there anymore. He looks on the Outsider, and though the man's expression is drawn in, one eyebrow drawing down, the other as inert as ever; each vision of the man is the same. Blank. Wide-eyed. Bloody. Dead. ]

What? [ He snaps, a twitch in his face that you can't see. ] Just close your eyes if the system is glitching.

[ And be glad you can, his tone suggests. ]

o3. King's Ransom (TEXT OPTION)

[ With the increase in criminal activity, someone sees an opportunity... So anyone who has ever shown any (handwaved) interest in the agency working to take down the baddies (for the baddie) will get a text after the Stranger's escape: ]

I've heard some whispers in the past day or so that there is something of great interest for many of the gangs locally, and they're fighting over it.

I think we should impede them, but especially if you can convince them to spend all their money on something that is not our new friend.

Just a thought, of course.

o4. Extortion Games

[ Did you happen to just meet him in this dingy little bar? Or did you come with Silco? Either case, he's smoking in the back of the bar, despite the no-smoking sign on the wall, and the hyper-electric lights running along the bar keep the place in low light. Silco stands out — whether you see him as he is, or you have a vision of something else — but his lips twitch just slightly, and he indicates with his cigar towards the private room in the back. ]

Someone is holding court. I heard that they were coordinating with a few other gangs to try and find our wayward warrior. [ A beat, and he inhales, before blowing a cloud of smoke overhead. It hangs in the air. He isn't the only one smoking, but the rest seem to be vapes, or other such electronic devices. ]

We could show them the error of their plans. Remind them of the wrath that they invite, by pursuing this.

[ A lift of his shoulders, as if he were asking for a suggesting. ] I have a few ideas... if you're interested.

Wildcard!

[ Please feel free to write me something, or mix and match with different parts of the prompts as you want!! As always, if none of these work, and you want to do something please hit me up on either the discord, pm, or on plurk at hundreds. I'm super flexible, and I'm happy to brainstorm or come up with something else! I'm also happy to write you your own gorey vision of Silco if you wish, becuase i love nasty shit, and I didn't want to make it too bad for the TL. 💖 in short, please let me know how i can get cr with you in Feb! ]

o4 but i'm gonna add a lil of ... o2 too hehe

[gorb]

( You know who'd jumped at the chance of a little sanctioned violence?

This guy.

Meaning he's leaning against the bar top with one arm, gaze lazy as it flickers around the crowd, nose only slightly wrinkled against the assault of Silco's cigar. His fingers beat a staccato against wood, his expression for the most part blank. When Silco speaks he lifts it to his friend and then it twitches for a moment, the blood and the mess of his hair and the absence, but then Geto smothers that too, letting his voice drawl. )

Silco-san, you know I have an appreciation of your sharp mind. ( He looks away, back, Silco is himself again. ) Tell me.

wildcard; @curse 02-01-80; 2:16 am

[gimu]

[ Choso spends a grand total of ten seconds agonizing about how to approach this without seeming too suspicious, with exactly two of those ten dedicated to accepting that there is no such thing as tact when it came to Silco. ]

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