WEEK 1

[biteys]

WEEK ONE

❝Don’t panic. You’re waking up somewhere unfamiliar, but try to relax. You aren’t dead, and I don’t have any intention to harm you. You’ve just been selected for a very special mission. A delivery, I guess. I’d do it myself but… let’s just say I can’t travel in the state I’m in. Take the blue container I’ve left to where I’ve marked on the maps within eight weeks, and you’ll be able to go home happy. More than, really. Any time or place you want to go… I can send you there. It's kinda my thing. Think of it as your payment. Everything else you need to know, I’ll tell you in time. Know that I’m sorry that I had to resort to this, and I’ll pay for my sins in Hell.❞

!

the beginning of the end

That’s what’s playing on repeat on a tape recorder, when the survivors come to.

Characters will find themselves in a humble, American townhouse, which other than being a bit dusty, is still mostly clean. All characters will be sprawled out on the floor and furniture of the living room, in front of what looks to be a giant portal. Characters will also notice they have a seemingly indestructible silver wristband around their wrists, and they have nothing with them but the clothes on their back.

Take a look around, and you'll realize that everyone in the room is likely a stranger. Aside from the tape playing, there's little explanation or proof that what's being said to you is even true. For all you know, one of the people in the room could be responsible for you being suddenly taken here.

Exploring the house's many rooms will reveal that there are small stockpiles food, water, weapons (a few guns, a few bats, a few knives), and maps, along with a large, strange container of blue liquid. The maps all chart a route from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and sport detailed recommended time stamps on them. Strangely, the recommended path occasionally diverges into two separate routes.

Upon searching the house, Haru Okumura finds a set of notes, while Leontuzzo Bellone finds a separate set. They are free to keep these notes to themselves, or share them with the group.

Nothing has anyone's names on it — not the notes, and certainly not the supplies. Everyone will have to compete for the same things. Or maybe all of you can be civilized about this, before anyone goes hoarding weapons and food? Maybe you can even introduce yourselves, while you're at it. For some strange reason, every window and door in this place is locked (and impossible to break), and will be for at least 72 hours, as if someone wanted you all to be cooped up together for a time before heading out.

Most interestingly, in the deepest basement of the house, there's a room with a large, heavy dresser shoved in front of it… and a low moaning and banging emanating from the other side. The door’s slightly ajar, and a closer look reveals a zombie is the source of the sound. Context clues around the basement, like the PhD in interdimensional travel hung up on the wall (for a Dr. Bei), hint that the woman inside is whoever left you this cryptic message - the woman who brought you here, allegedly. But she's long long gone, only this monster left in her wake. It seems she was smart enough to lock herself away to prevent you from being harmed, at least... and it'll give you a preview of the threat that looms outside.

sewer diving

After 72 hours have passed, one and only one door unlocks – in the very same basement that the zombie of Dr. Bei can be found. It leads down to a dark, dingy tunnel that connects to the sewers. Not only is the smell awful, but (non-infected) rats scurry about, keeping to the shadows – but the smell of any of the food you've taken from the house will attract them. Careful!

The party will need to create some light to navigate their way out and keep the rats at bay, or they’ll be bumping around in the dark for quite a while. Now might be a good time to share if you have some matches, or a special talent for being a lantern. Mercifully, there's only one exit that actually opens down in this labyrinth, as if it's a route the Doctor designed to take all the time.

At one point, Puppy falls into the sewage, and loses something they brought from the house.

oh! that's a baseball

Once characters make it out of the sewers, they’ll be a day’s travel to the first mark on the party’s map: “Dodger’s Stadium.” The road they’ll have to hike to get there is winding, curvy, and uphill, which will give the party a good overview of the now dilapidated Los Angeles, along with the many abandoned buildings and cars that litter the place. The stadium itself looks to have been cleared of threats and fashioned into a safe spot a long time ago, as all entrances but one have been completely welded shut. The high walls keep zombies out, and the winding path up here deters most of them from even approaching.

Inside the stadium, there’s some baseball merch (and equipment) to scavenge, not to mention some really old peanuts! Delicious. Maybe there are even some old fireworks laying around this place. Setting up camp here won’t be very comfortable… but at least it’s very safe. A luxury the party won’t have for much longer, if the map is anything to go by. You'll be heading through the city, next, so rest up while you can.

!

week one objectives

➤ make acquaintances with your fellow travelers
➤ decide what to do with the zombie of dr. bei
➤ arm yourself with what you can find
➤ scavenge some portable food from the house and while traveling
➤ make camp at the stadium

code

Comments

[unliminal]

Hey, I never said I was gonna do that. You can't afford me, anyway.

[ He didn't say it, because it was tacitly understood, he thought. ]

[irreversal]

Ehh, not even a classmate discount? You're the worst.

[ Well, at least she doesn't have to worry about him too much, at least as far as self-reliance goes— especially now that he's figured out how to fwoo hyoi for himself. ]

Anyway, you should probably kill her, though. The lady in the basement.

[unliminal]

[ HELLO?? Scrunching up his cheeks into a pout: ]

Ehhh, you think just because I'm the world's strongest sorcerer I'm just some sorta killing machine now?

[ lol ]

[irreversal]

[ ...Man, she wishes her cigarette was lit right now. But given the fact that these may be her only two cigarettes for eight whole weeks... She'll have to find other ways to cope, huh?

That doesn't stop her from keeping it between her lips anyway, as if having it there would ease her stress as well as taking a long drag would. ]

'Course not.

[ If he was "just some sorta killing machine," he wouldn't have hesitated to kill Geto in Shinjuku. ]

There's a threat to all of us right below and someone needs to take care of it sooner than later. I'd rather it be you, 'cause if the virus spreads by contact, you should be fine. That's all.

[unliminal]

[ He can't really argue with that...even without knowing what the others are capable of, he is, of course, the ideal choice to take her out. He always is.

Yet — ]

Nah, no thanks! She's got a lot to answer for, so she can stay down there and rot.

[ Said so nonchalant, with his hands behind his head. ]

[irreversal]

Alright. Suit yourself.

[ arguing with him is too much work. ]

We're not the only ones here with opinions on it, anyway.

[unliminal]

[ Ugh, she just had to remind him... ]

This is why sorcerers don't work in big teams. Everyone's got a different idea about how shit gets done. Ugh...this is gonna be a headache.

[irreversal]

[ She makes a face. ]

Just try your best. Whining about it like a kid won't get us anywhere.

[unliminal]

[ He just. Looks and her and.


Whiiiiiiines. ]

[irreversal]

[ God!! She wants to smack him, but she knows she can't. So instead she just covers her ears and stares at him until he decides to stop. If he decides to stop...

Either way, she'll interject before long: ]

Are you done?

[unliminal]

[ Eventually, he will stop...he's made his point, the point being that he's just as much of a brat as usual.

Anyway, as sweet as pie: ]

With what, Shokooo~?

[irreversal]

Ugh...

[ Being a brat, she means, but they both know that's as much a full-time job for him as being the Strongest SorcererTM is. ]

You're so damn lucky that I ended up here, too, you know. Be more grateful!

[unliminal]

[ A beat, as something gentler slides into place in his eyes. ]

I am lucky.

[ It could have been Suguru. It would have been a mess. But instead...he has someone he can trust, rely on.

So he pokes her in the side of her head with an outstretched finger. ]

But don't let it go to your head!

[irreversal]

[ A gentler look that she can't see behind the tint of his glasses, but that she thinks she can hear in the shift of his voice, giving her pause...

...and then he pokes her in the side of her head. With simple reflex, she tries to bat his hand away. ]

Stop. Besides, I should be the one saying that.

[ To not let it go to his head, not that she's lucky. She would never, ]

[unliminal]

[ She would never, even if she should!! In his oh-so-humble opinion. ]

I think we both know it's too late for that.

[irreversal]

[ Far too late.

With another quiet sigh, Shoko leans forward, propping her head up with her hand as she looks at the Lava Lamp of Destiny once more. ]

Hey, Gojo. Do you believe everything she said? About going back?

[unliminal]

Dunno. Kind of sounds too good to be true.

[ That's how he should think about it, until he knows one way or another, but...it's hard not to entertain the idea, isn't it? To consider...the possibilities. To wonder if he could go back in a point in time and fix everything. He could do it. He really could.

If not to save Amanai, then at least to save Suguru.

A sidelong glance. ]

What about you?

[irreversal]

It does, doesn't it?

[ She hums thoughtfully. ]

I'd rather believe that than think that we're stuck here with no way back home. If the part about going back to any point in time turns out to be a lie, so long as we still get to go back, then I don't really care.

[ Shoko leans back, then, stretching her arms and sighing once more. ]

Haa... It would be nice to go to the future and skip all my exams, though!

[unliminal]

[ Yeah, more important that they can get back at all, that's what's driving Gojo forward more than anything else right now, but —

Shooting her a pointed look now. ]

That's what you'd use it for? Sheesh, and people say I'm a bad student.

[ "People" is, once again, Yaga-sensei. ]

[irreversal]

Geh. I don't wanna hear that from someone who's just good at everything.

[ Annoying! She's been studying her ass off, but she just doesn't want to deal with it anymore, when she could be doing more important work at Jujutsu High as its resident doctor. ]

What would you use it for?

[ She has a suspicion, but she's going to make him say it. ]

[unliminal]

[ She's going to make him say it, but he still doesn't want to. ]

Remember that time last summer my ice pop melted right off the stick and fell on the ground? Godddd. That was so sad...

[ ...But you know he had to get a little shitposting in first. His gaze drifts away, distant. ]

Or maybe to go back and save Amanai.

[ And in so doing, save Suguru. It isn't the first time he's entertained the notion, of what he would have done differently that day. If he would have had the prowess to defeat Zenin without awakening to his true power, and would he have been able to do that without Riko's death? Maybe it would be enough to go back to the aftermath and just...stop Suguru from spiraling. For each and every time Satoru asked him what was wrong and he insisted nothing was, to instead hold him close and insist that he talk.

Would it make any difference? Maybe not. But the fact that he didn't try more...that he let his own training cloud what was right in front of him...

There's nothing he wouldn't try to change that outcome. ]

[irreversal]

[ Save Amanai, he says, but Shoko knows that's not who he really means. Maybe there's no saving Geto without saving the girl they failed to protect, but she knows something changed, that day Geto left. She knows his absence weighs on Gojo every day, when he goes on missions alone, or when they still leave an empty desk in between them on the rare days that they attend class together, when there's one less occupied room at the dorm...

...Maybe it weighs on her, too. Well, of course it does. Even though they all understood that Gojo and Geto were the strongest, she... was still their classmate. She was there, too. Not in the same way, never in the same way that they were there for each other, but... there, nonetheless. Or is that wishful thinking, for her own sake? She doesn't know.

After a long, contemplative pause, Shoko sighs. ]

Yeah. Poor Amanai. I never even got to meet her. You guys just went and took off to Okinawa without me, and everything~ [ a very put-upon sigh. ] Didn't even bring me back a souvenir. Make sure you fix that if you go that far back, too.

[unliminal]

[ A light chuckle, that still manages to bear the weight of the world in the same breath. ]

...Yeah. We'll bring you some chinsuko. Assuming I don't eat it all before we get back.

[ We. It's still we. He can't reconcile that it isn't we. Maybe it's that stubbornness that drives him most of all, that refusal to change, even if...

He has changed. He knows it, Suguru knew it, Shoko knows it, too. He became the Strongest...alone, but he can't let that happen again. He can fix it all, just with a second chance.

Rolling his shoulders, he then stretches his arms behind his back, breezy and casual. ]

We've got some time to think about it, anyway. Gotta make that special delivery first, eh?