biteys: (Default)
NIMBO ([personal profile] biteys) wrote in [community profile] turnout2024-07-06 10:11 am

week 2

WEEK TWO


After allowing the party some time to rest at the stadium, it’s time to get a move on again. As per your mysterious benefactor’s (?) recommendation, the party will be splitting up into two groups, with one group traveling west to a hospital, and the other traveling east to a mall.

if you chose hospital...
To get to the hospital, characters will need to venture into more densely populated areas of Los Angeles – and that means they’ll be coming into contact with a higher amount of zombies. The hordes that roam here descend upon any living creature that makes too much noise, so you might witness an unlucky squirrel or cat get hunted down by these roaming threats. The bad news is that they’ll sprint full speed at you if they happen to catch sight – the good news is that they’re not very coordinated at pack hunting, and you may be able to outsmart them by weaving through the streets.

In a stroke of bad luck, Shoko Ieiri attracts the attention of a horde, forcing the party off considerably off course. Temporarily, hopefully. Detour!

Thankfully, there are several methods of getting to the front door of the location – parkouring atop or traversing inside connected buildings, for example. The zombies aren't the only thing that can kill you, though, if you're not careful; while traveling to the hospital, Auch Aubrey slips and falls to his death off a building. Remember Dr. Bei's warning, about not getting too far away from each other? The party will realize if they get too far away from his body (specifically the bracelet), it'll start feeling like their own bracelet is burning them at the wrist. Better go back — and either lug his body around, or lop off the bracelet somehow....

The area this group will travel through has many tourist attractions – antique stores, the Natural History Museum, old-school theaters, for example. For our sword wielders, there are some dated ones among the antique stores and museums; they're dusty, but they'll get the job done. There are other cool artifacts to "borrow" at these places, too, not to mention some history of what the world was like before all this happened.

And at the theaters? There's candy, DVDs, and cardboard cutouts from a variety of movies that were out when the fall of society came. Maybe there are minions there.

Once at the hospital, the party will find that there are a massive amount of zombies that have been trapped inside. Many are former patients or hospital staff, so several are wielding things like scalpels or crutches, and they are just smart enough to attack with them. To get around the facility to find the medical supplies you need, you’ll need to find a way to either distract the zombies, stealthily make your way around, or, you know, eliminate all of them.

As for scavenging, the hospital is surprisingly well stocked, as the high zombie count has made it hard to raid. Characters will be able to find bandages, medicine, surgical tools, and more, if they look close enough.

Of this group, Satoru Gojo and Mark Grayson are infected.


if you chose mall...
To get to the mall, characters will need to travel underground through the subway tunnels. None of the trains are in operation anymore, so they won’t be at risk of getting flattened – but the aged husks of the vehicles are still down here, rotting away. In some tunnels, it will be impossible to go around them, and you know the saying: sometimes the only way forward is through. Inside the trains, some doors that connect the cars are operational, while others are too rusted to move, forcing characters to climb atop the train to progress to the next car. It'll be a taxing trial, made worse by the fact that in these train cars, there are both regular corpses as well as zombified ones. The unpredictable nature of the functioning or non-functioning doors will making escaping the zombies difficult — characters will need to either stand their ground, or climb up to safety if they find themselves at a dead end.

Exiting the subways leaves one last test for this group: the stairs are collapsed! The light of outside shines through what is essentially a giant hole in the ceiling leading to street level. There's about a one story gap between the end point of the subways and the upper ground of the street, so characters will have to get creative with getting everyone up — using train cables? Throwing each other? Human pyramid?

Once at the mall just outside, the party will find that while there doesn’t seem to be a massive horde, there’s another problem: the first floor of the mall, which is below street level, is completely flooded. They’ll have to swim across the distance to the escalators, find a way to get across using debris, or some secret third thing. There are waterlogged zombies floating about in the water as well, who will swim violently towards you once they hear ripples in the water — they’re not subtle about going after you, and will thrash and splash and immediately let you know where they are. They're like people sized piranhas. Scary!

At one point, Sigewinne is pulled underwater by a zombie, and comes close to drowning.

As for scavenging, once they’ve scaled the escalator, they’ll find the second floor of the mall has definitely had its fair share of visitors, but there are still many useful things to find. There are electronic stores that have batteries and walkie talkies, clothing stores (like Hot Topic) that have some extra clothes lying about, and of course, the food court, where you’ll find canned and preserved foods from a variety of different cuisines.

Of this group, Suzuha Amane is infected.


rendezvous

After several days apart, characters will be able to meet back up at a spacious park in the northern part of the city. There are park ranger staff cabins that can be converted into temporary shelters with effort — and the area has a lightly wooded trail, which will make camping outside slightly more safe than if you were plain out in the open.

It’d be a good time to treat the wounded with the new medical supplies, and chow down on the food that’s been collected. Is there someone among the group who’s medical advice can be trusted? Is there someone who might be good at rationing or cooking the food? Everyone’s role in the party should start to become clearer.

There are probably a lot of things to discuss: what will you do with the infected? What's the deal with the bracelets? Reality of how dangerous this mission is will be setting in far too quickly.

Most annoyingly… after all that, some characters will find that moving north has caused their bracelets to inexplicably magnetize together at times, perhaps in response to everything that's happened. Due to this, you might need to help feed each other, or sleep next to a stranger. Hopefully you don't get stuck to someone you totally hate.


!
week two objectives

➤ scavenge for your assigned items!
➤ protect and fight for each other
➤ treat each others wounds
➤ eat tasty canned food


kototama: (pic#17279167)

[personal profile] kototama 2024-07-10 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Why did I type throat up there, as if Haru was doing a mercy killing--

Anyway it's fine, it's fine. Hella's reaction and response are very similar to Kotoha's own coping mechanisms, so in this moment, she feels kind of seen, but... not in a bad way, necessarily.

Instead she smiles, nodding, and hops away from the whack with a huff.]


I know! That's why I'll be counting on you to save me! ♪

[Despite her light tone (hoarseness and all), she is sincere. Hella seems like... well, like she could be a feral little hellion, push came to shove.]

--Hey, there's bathroom stuff over this way. Maybe there'll be some towels we can bring back.
parttimesoldier: (016)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2024-07-10 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
I’ll be the very model of a perfect patient for them, promise.

[She summons a small smile with that, because she means it. The initial scare might be past them, but Haru’s right; there’s still a lot they’ve got to learn about how this all works. The only way to combat being nervous about it is… just to be careful, be observant.

Suzuha is quiet for a beat, shuffling a little awkwardly as she glances around at their calm and quiet campsite. When she turns back to Haru, her smile’s shifted to something a little more apologetic.]


Heh, sorry. Didn’t mean to drag the mood down, or anything.

[They’ve had this hanging heavy over them through their entire trip to the mall and the subsequent journey to this rendezvous point. They owe themselves a little reprieve from it all by now.]
kototama: (♪ kef)

[personal profile] kototama 2024-07-10 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Close enough! Kotoha nods eagerly, and doesn't seem at all bothered when Sigewinne answers in the negative. It's fine. When her voice comes back, they can make some up together, too.

So she shoots a quick thumbs up in acknowledgment and agreement, before she drops her hands behind her head, staring up at the sky again.

It's... comforting to have Sigewinne here. It'd be nicer if she could say the things on her mind--gratitude, for how calmly she handled the situation. Gratitude, too, for how her instructions allowed Kotoha to make that anesthetic. Concern, for how much Sigewinne has been through without rest--but for now, it's probably okay to just be grateful for the company, right?

Maybe this little break will be a help to Sigewinne, too.]
kototama: (pic#17277104)

[personal profile] kototama 2024-07-10 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
They've all usually got something or other like that, but it depends on the youkai how much. Like Oni are definitely suuuuper strong, for instance.

[She shrugs a bit, and then sets about looking for something to secure the ladder in place so more people can use it if necessary.]
empression: (It's not Persona without shenanigans)

night time training

[personal profile] empression 2024-07-10 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ Haru has... not had great sleep for a few days now. And maybe that's understandable. Maybe she's being a wimp about all of this, because she's not even the one suffering the most right now.

But regardless of how she should act, she can't force herself to sleep (without that causing more problems than solutions), so she just goes for short little walks until her mind eases enough to let her at least rest her eyes.

It hasn't occurred to her (thanks to tiredness) to check and make sure everyone's with the group when she sits up, she's just doing another short walk--until she hears the scuffling of someone... ... exercising?

It's not a very big surprise, in the sense that she'd seen him at the mall, and the shape of the muscles through the shirt had startled her then, but all the same, seeing them in all their lovingly trained glory still gives her pause.

But not enough pause because the bracelet does indeed decide to be a Fucker and Haru stumbles forward with a yelp as it clicks together with Soujuurou's.

Sorry, buddy. Sorry to interrupt your squats. ]
empression: (I was too busy blocking out the haters)

[personal profile] empression 2024-07-10 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
No, I... do think it's important that we talked about it.

[ Otherwise that sort of thing festers and maybe if you don't say what needs to be said... you lose the opportunity to say it at all. Haru is well-aware such a thing could happen, even in a situation that isn't as risky as theirs has been. ]

But I also think we should get you some food. Was anything slightly more appealing than, ah... anything else?
empression: (Can't read my--)

[personal profile] empression 2024-07-10 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, I see... I hope no one's treated you differently, Koto-chan.

[ But she'll join her, surely there's some unused cables or something around here. ]
kototama: (pic#17279167)

[personal profile] kototama 2024-07-10 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that's the great thing about the town where I live.

Humans and youkai live side-by-side there, and try to make each other's lives better.

[It's just... not the case everywhere else.]
irreversal: 🧃 teen (110)

[personal profile] irreversal 2024-07-10 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ ...Ah. ]

It's alright, Haru-chan. I understand.

[ Bracelet magnetism be damned, Shoko reaches over clasp her hand over Haru's trembling fingers. ]

You saved Suzuha's life. But... that was a lot for you, wasn't it? And that's all right.

[ Unlike Shoko, Haru isn't... familiar with such procedures, is she? It must have been awful. ]
kototama: (pic#17279165)

mall - flooded

[personal profile] kototama 2024-07-10 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
[She pauses at that, glancing over at him with a quirked eyebrow. Mostly because, listen--she thought country boys could always swim!

Oh god, is that a bad generalization? Does she need to be more socially conscious?]


Uh... well.

[WELL...]

D'you want some floaties? [kotoha no]
hydrotherapy: (pic#17276300)

[personal profile] hydrotherapy 2024-07-10 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ It is a nice break, the quiet and companionship doing wonders to soften some of the sharp tension from before. Her teacher had warned her about this so long ago, to remember to take breaks and appreciate the small things in life lest the heavy burden of medicine take its toll on her.

Not everyone can be saved. Not everyone can stay safe. Those are lessons she'd learned long ago. It hasn't gotten much easier over time but at least she can take care of herself better now.

She lets the silence stretch between them for a little longer before asking a question of her own. ]


Once we make it to where we're supposed to go and finish what we're supposed to do, what's the first thing you want to do?

[ Time for charades round two. ]
hydrotherapy: (007)

[personal profile] hydrotherapy 2024-07-10 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ Back into the electronics store they go to battery hunt! ]

They have quite a few machines in here I've never seen before. [ Including that extremely large speaker over there in the corner. ] Have you used any of them before?

[ Would anything else in here be useful to grab.... ]
kototama: (pic#17279163)

[personal profile] kototama 2024-07-10 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
[Kotoha hums a little, flicking what little remains of the cough drop against the back of her teeth to produce a small click.

Then she rolls half over to face Sigewinne, and starts to draw in the dirt.

Kotoha absolutely has no artistic talent, so they're stick figures: a girl with cat ears, a girl wearing a long scarf, and the most boringly nondescript stick figure boy possible.

She taps them with a big grin. Her besties, her pals! It doesn't really matter what comes next so long as she's with them.]
irreversal: 🧃 teen (87 (1))

[personal profile] irreversal 2024-07-10 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Ahaha. Don't worry about it, don't worry about it.

[ Shoko is quick to wave a hand dismissively, as the other closes firmly around the given box of cigarettes... Hella must know how big of a save this is for Shoko.

Nothing about finding anything at the hospital was easy, truth to tell, but she doesn't quite feel like moping about it at the moment, when there's nothing more they can do about how things went. If they're able to make those supplies last, however... perhaps that would ease the stress of all they encountered. ]


I'm just glad they'll help someone.

[ As she takes another looong drag. ]
irreversal: (118)

[personal profile] irreversal 2024-07-10 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ Damn, maybe she should get into snakes.. ]

Hamu-chan - ah, that's Hella - found me another box of cigarettes, so I think I'll be okay for a little bit, at least. But thanks for looking out for me~

[ Another puff of smoke. ]

I heard you guys ran into trouble at the mall, too.
irreversal: 🧃 teen (133)

[personal profile] irreversal 2024-07-10 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm... Is there?

[ She's not so sure, herself. Honestly, it's probably better if she keeps her stress bottled in, isn't it? Wouldn't that generate more cursed energy for her to use on the others? Hah, what a pain...

At length, Shoko draws in another lungful of smoke, and dispels it up and away from Soujuurou. ]


Wish I could say I need to keep working, to figure out how else I can help the three who got bitten. [ Mark, especially, who doesn't exactly have the 'amputation' option. ] But dunno if there's really anything I can do... Kind of sad, huh? I'm supposed to be a healer.

[ She should know this, by now. Try as she might, there's no saving everyone. But still... ]
parttimesoldier: (112)

[personal profile] parttimesoldier 2024-07-10 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
[The amount of relief Suzuha is beginning to feel in the moment Kotoha speaks that precious bit of anesthetic into existence is comparable only to the guilt that slowly snakes in behind it. The way her voice tapers off into a painful rasp, that expression on her face—she can tell this is asking a lot of Kotoha, all for her sake. She stares up at her with all the gratitude she can muster in her eyes, and it’s only then that the threat of tears feels like a real one.]

I owe you one. [Her gaze shifts between each of them.] All of you.

[Because this is such an insane thing to ask them to do. And she certainly wouldn’t be getting through this without them.

The wait for the drug to kick in is agonizing in its own way, despite how short it is. There’s no reining in the rapid pounding of her heart in her chest, or stemming the fearful tide that’s spurring it into action. But it does eventually take hold, a feeling like a limb falling asleep that begins to push away the edges of that burning ache emanating from her wrist. It feels odd, empty almost, compared to everything that’s happened over the last dozen or so minutes.

This doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel real, and she doesn’t know how she’s managing to push herself to lay down. To outstretch that partially-mangled left arm out beside her. Her good hand reaches up to her face as she takes in a slow, shaky breath. Oh. She’s actually started crying, hasn’t she.]


I’m— I’m ready. [A breath.] Someone might need to hold me down. To be safe.

[She doesn’t think she’ll flinch, but. After? She doesn’t know how well a local anesthetic will hold up against… this. So she bites down on that folded bundle of cloth as Sigewinne had instructed, and scrambles to hold onto something with her free (and soon to be only) hand—whether it’s the kindly offered hand of another—sorry for the inevitable bruising, if so—or just a crumpled fistful of the soggy fabric of her shirt.

Suzuha, like every member of the resistance back home, knew that capture and torture could be a distinct possibility during the course of their fight. This is a little like self-torture, isn’t it? What had she always been told? To focus on something good, over and over.

So she thinks of early morning bike rides through Akihabara streets, strawberry cakes from a cute little bakery, and the first—and only—hug from her dad she can remember. And tries to let everything else fade out around her.]
rifare: (free hearts are never broken)

[personal profile] rifare 2024-07-10 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ The experience of losing a literal part of oneself is one that Leon has mercifully been spared from in his life, but he's lost more metaphorical pieces of himself before. Work to do was a good distraction from thoughts that were threatening to turn stormy otherwise.

It's not the same situation of course, and he's not callous enough to make the comparison out loud, but he still thinks maybe...

Well, coddling someone who lost a piece of her body doing something heroic seems wrong regardless. So while he's relieved she's willing to let him slowly push open the heavy metal door and creep in first, he won't do anything to stop her from following as he quietly paces into the room.

Many of the boxes look like they've already been broken into, but then again they're surely not the only people still alive in this world, no matter how hopeless it looks. The important thing is that while knocked over and empty boxes might strewn the floor, there isn't that distinctive and unsettling shuffling sound of undead feet.

After a several prolonged seconds of slowly making his way further into the room, he lowers his gun.
]

Nothing in here we wouldn't want to encounter.

[ He pauses as he looks at a half collapsed box by his feet. ]

Let's just hope there's still something we do want to find though.
venomnom: (005)

[personal profile] venomnom 2024-07-10 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[It's not noticeable at first. But the second another corpse's arm falls limply over its belly from the jostling, Reiju snaps forward to grab Kotoha by the arm. If allowed, she'll yank them both back toward the rest of the party, just as the zombie bursts through the pile with a shrieking cry that shatters the silence.]
venomnom: (041)

[personal profile] venomnom 2024-07-10 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Hm . . . ]

Either way, it was something you enjoyed doing. [That's maybe what counts the most.] Do you prefer to grow vegetables you can cook?
venomnom: (026)

[personal profile] venomnom 2024-07-10 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
[That's good. She'll have to keep an eye out for more cigarettes as they pass through the region.]

There were zombies in the water. It turns out they can swim if they thrash hard enough.
insinnerate: (9)

c.

[personal profile] insinnerate 2024-07-10 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
You were there. [It's a short, subtle way of saying, "You saw what happened when I wasn't close enough to do anything. You saw failure. You saw others get hurt." Any of her coping mechanisms will be loud and wanton destruction, so instead, she's just surly, viciously moody, and ready to bite. Though she says very little, her unhappiness is real...someone could just as easily think she doesn't care at all.

Ninety-Nine is a ball of tensed muscle, obvious to anyone touching her scarred skin. The ragged tears dug into the skin of her abdomen and upper leg from dealing with jagged metal will join those scars soon enough, but at least they're being cared for now. She noticed when they first met - though, for obvious reasons, she was in no state to comment on it - that Reiju felt naturally cool in a way that many human beings do not. It's a little seething to have her dealing with her feverish body now.
]

I'm hungry, [Ninety-Nine finally admits.] I used a lot of my strength in the subway.
empression: (Give it back)

[personal profile] empression 2024-07-10 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
Mm... not all of them, but I think a lot of these are usually meant to amplify noise.

... Which we may not want. [ Given they won't want to draw the zombies to them that much faster? ]
empression: (We serve the hottest ones)

[personal profile] empression 2024-07-10 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
... And outside of that town? [ Said very carefully. ]
empression: (She ain't got to love nobody)

[personal profile] empression 2024-07-10 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Her hand feels cooler beneath Shoko's, almost clammy, and Haru closes her eyes under the weight of another person's hand.

Like the one she'd-- ]


She was crying. [ Softly, almost a whisper. ] Of course she was frightened.

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