week 4

[biteys]

WEEK FOUR

road trip!

As the doctor mentioned, the next leg of your trip is quite long, so walking isn't advised; hopefully, you've all secured alternative methods of travel between the abandoned cars and the wild pack of horses you found last week.

These cars are long abandoned, and most of them still have things like CDs and magazines in the gloveboxes and trunks - so at least you’ll have some entertainment for the trip! Conveniently, music you can find comes from the year 2024 and earlier, because in the Turnout universe, CDs were still widely a thing in modern times because I said so.

Be aware that there are not enough cars and horsies for everyone to go solo; you’ll need to group up and decide who’s driving! And, more notably...

Your drive won't be entirely peaceful! There are bound to be some zombies littering the street, which characters will need to clear in order to keep going. Whether that's through running them over, sniping them with your newfound long-range gun skills, or doing it the old fashioned way by hopping out of the car and beating them to a pulp, they've gotta move! Be careful not to let the horseys get bit.

respite

Whether or not you were suspicious of whatever the “SAFE” marked on the map was supposed to mean, when you come to the coordinates that are marked, you’ll be in front of a door that opens down into the earth — it's a bunker. The entrance is slightly hidden by foliage, seemingly intentionally so.

Inside, it’s obvious this place is not like the places you’ve been traveling to thus far. It’s clean, well stocked, and nicely furnished. Judging by the pictures on the wall, it’s a safe house that’s been used many times by Dr. Bei and her five associates. So, it was built by a bunch of super nerds surviving the apocalypse, meaning that it's pretty well fortified and self sufficient. It seems like the Doctor must have been here at least a few weeks ago, judging by the dust levels and quality of the food.

That means there’s clean running (and hot!) water, as well as a freezer that’s stocked up with some raw meat, vegetables, and a rare ice cream treat. Also in the kitchen are some seasonings and other staples: flour, rice, etc. There are cooking utensils too, of course! Characters well versed in cooking may just be able to throw together a nice feast for everyone.

There’s also, you know. Alcohol. Not a ton of mixers, though!

It seems like the nerds had simple things for means of entertainment: there are some party and card games hidden away in drawers — think pictionary, uno and twister, or other such party games. Of course, only your imagination is holding you back: while you have a safe place to rest, it might be easier to let loose and have fun.

The six rooms in the bunker all have one bed and a connected bathroom - each one is identical but decorated with sparse things, like stray trinkets or a picture frame. Only Dr. Bei's really has anything different about it, because in it, there's still a working computer.

Characters will be able to open basic programs like wordpad, MS paint, or iTunes for music purposes. Like everyone who had iTunes, she has U2 songs on there. There's still no internet, but there are some saved messages from her and another colleague using an alternative connection method.

While exploring, characters can discover a chat log between ♛, which appears to be Dr. Bei's display name, and ♝, another user.

Aside from the beds in the six rooms, there are also sofas and armchairs to rest on.

oops all memshare

While within the safe house, your bracelets will start acting strange. It might have to do with being underground, or perhaps just the highly advanced technology at work down here, but at inopportune times, you’ll find your mind linking with other party members’, especially when initiating physical contact.

When connected to another survivor, you may exchange memories, which may come with 1) the physical sensations you felt at the time, 2) the emotions you felt at the time, or 3) the thoughts you had at that time. Players can be creative with this mechanic and have the memshares be like watching a movie, or physically acted out — whichever is your preference. There’s no prerequisite on the type of memory that might accidentally spill over, and characters may share multiple memories with one person.

According to the map's schedule, you have some time to rest your weary feet from the long ride… you’re not scheduled to leave for two or three days. It seems the Doctor might want you to fill up and face the second half of the trip with your most well rested selves. So, why not relax while you can? What’s the worst that could happen???

code

Comments

[unliminal]

[ If Gojo's loudness is what made Suguru break up with him, he would have left long, long ago...the day they met, probably.

As it is, Gojo seems pleased with his ostentatious display, and turns back to Shoko with a self-satisfied grin on his lips. They might be going through hell, but when aren't they? And at least there's ice cream here. ]

Then relax and try some.

[ He holds the cup out towards her again, insistent. ]

If you don't, I'll cry so loud it'll wake the dead! Oh, too late, I guess...

[ is it too soon for zombie jokes ]

[irreversal]

[ She puts her beer down at last, clicking her tongue once more and making no secret of her annoyance at him, though she does take the proffered cup of tea finally... if nothing else, to prevent him from trying to spill it on her again.

And it's just as well, because while it's definitely too soon for zombie jokes, it's never too soon to lift her foot and try to kick Gojo's shin. If the blow somehow manages to connect, Shoko sighs and leans back in her chair. ]

Now I feel relaxed.

[ If not, well... she'll try again!! ]

[unliminal]

[ It does manage to connect. Whether that's because he's not keeping up Limitless around her, or because it isn't working right now, it's anyone's guess.

However, when her foot connects, she may find a rather unusual side effect, as a memory (but without the weird Youtube cuts) flashes through her mind. One she was privy to the build up to, and the aftermath, but the actual argument itself was between Satoru and Suguru only. Some of this encounter Gojo had relayed to her later, though in the barest terms, and without all the hurt, all the emotion. Without everything that made it one of the most pivotal moments of his life.

And one of the worst.

It's not a long memory, and Gojo doesn't seem aware of what's transpired, given the way he's waving a hand in front of Shoko's face. ]

Shokoooooo. Earth to Shokooooo. You space out there! That's what you get for kicking me, heh.

[irreversal]

[ She sees what feels like a continuation of her last conversation with Geto, what she might have bore witness to, had she stayed in Shinjuku after their encounter.

Would things have turned out any differently, if she was there, too? Actually there, too? She'd wondered about it, before, if perhaps she'd been too cold or too short in keeping their final conversation so brief, but... What more could she have said? To someone who'd killed an entire village, his own family? To someone who wishes for the downfall of society as they know it?

...Seeing Gojo's memory play out for herself, as if she'd been the very one standing in his place, however, tells her all she needs to know: her presence wouldn't have made a difference at all.

But her presence now - for Gojo - can. And it needs to, for what words Geto left him with, words she hadn't yet known about, that must have wholly shattered his perception of himself and his identity.

Even if he's still such a brat. Shoko seems to return to herself in the moment, and at once she lifts a hand and runs it through her hair, groaning. ]

Aaa, shut up. I could barely hear your damn memory over your prodding.

[ A sigh. This memory sharing thing is happening way too damn much lately. ]

I saw what happened between you and Geto in Shinjuku.

[ Though in a stroke of bad luck, his proximity to Shoko as he's waving his hand in front of her face could very well afford him a memory of hers, in turn:

The second-years are back. (cw: blood & body horror)

Summer is nearing its end, and Shoko Ieiri is well into her third year as a student at the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College (phew), otherwise known as Tokyo Jujutsu High. The memory sees her within a lab of sorts, all but surrounded by stacks of medical books and journals and papers, deep in her studies. Alone in her studies, because the higher-ups never sent her on dangerous missions unaccompanied, and the other students - her friends, Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Haibara - are away more often than not, their plates full with the supernatural effects that frequent disasters have wrought upon the population's collective psyche.

But Shoko understands that her role is different from theirs, and so while they are away, she works tirelessly, studying. Healing sorcerers. Occasionally supporting other sorcerers. Studying. Trying to bolster her understanding of the human body so that she can better understand how sorcery interfaces with it. Studying.

There's a first-year, Ijichi, who stops in frequently to check on her, to ask if she'd like something to drink or eat or when the last time she'd returned to her dorm room to sleep was. He's worried about her, she knows, but she's worried about him, too. Will he be alright, working as a sorcerer?

It's not entirely up to her, however. Very little is. The sphere of Shoko's influence is limited, and she only sees her peers when they return from their missions.

If they return. A short call later, and Shoko is sprinting through the campus, until she arrives... at the school's morgue.

Nanami is there, his form weighed by utter exhaustion, a towel draped over his face, his breathing ragged as if to hold himself back. And Haibara... Haibara is dead before her, his body laid out beneath a blanket, where everything she sees tells her that only half of Haibara is here. But she lifts the blanket, all the same, pulling it off of his body, and Shokos feels... What does she feel?

That she needs to smoke. Desperately.

]

[unliminal]

[ ...Oh. Not again, he really is not into this whole memory sharing business at all, and while that's maybe not the most embarrassing thing she could have seen, it...definitely could have been better. Hell, he barely wants to reflect back on that conversation, let alone have someone else see it, for what an utter mess it made of Gojo.

His lips part, to interject something that will distract away from the memory she saw, but before he can, he's treated to a memory of her own, of another time not too long ago. Haibara. Shoko had been there, so had Suguru, and Nanami.

Gojo was not there. He heard the news, short and two the point, from Suguru. Haibara has passed. And that...was it.

Only death lies at the end of the shattered path that they must walk as sorcerers, they all know that from the moment they begin training, and being from one of the three clans, he has been steeped in death ever since he can remember. Even so...

Haibara was his first friend to die like this. The first of many, and Gojo...could have handled the mission that killed him. If he had been the one sent on it, Haibara would still be alive.

A grim expression settles over his features as he returns to his own mind, gaze flickering down to Shoko, who had to handle his body, like he wasn't a friend they had talked with and laughed with only days before. ]

...Tch. They should've...just waited until I was back to send someone on that mission. [ A beat, before he explains... ] I saw Haibara. What was left of him, anyway.

[irreversal]

[ Shoko cannot even begin to pretend what the higher ups' reasoning was, for sending their underclassmen on the mission. No matter how you look at it, it's bad. She's not above questioning what their decisions are, but, as the tired look she gives Gojo attests... there's no much use in saying should have, could have, would have at this point.

For Shoko, Haibara was the first friend she'd had to handle in this way. The first friend she'd seen return in a body bag, the first friend she had to then cut open and prod and examine and study like they hadn't just talked and laughed together only days before. ]

...He was really excited to bring back souvenirs.

[ ... ]

He said... that Geto asked him to bring back sweets.

[ Because of Gojo, no doubt. ]

[unliminal]

[ It's something that Gojo had prodded Haibara for before — his overenthusiastic nature, his blind spots, and he was a talented sorcerer, but still weak compared to even Nanami. Most sorcerers got incensed when Gojo called them weak, but Haibara would instead chuckle sheepishly, scrubbing at the back of his neck. Then show me how to be like you sometime, senpai.

Maybe if they had more time to train together, if Gojo had just been sent on that goddamn mission instead...

He said that Geto asked him to bring back sweets.

A huff of laughter, that quivers in his throat, ever so slight. ]

...That idiot. [ He was still thinking about Gojo, even then... ] You get to see it all from your point of view, huh?

[ She's always...there. Here. ]

[irreversal]

[ She's always there. And that is her burden - and hers alone - to bear. Maybe it's not as flashy or empowering as Gojo's own role in society, but it's all her own, and she does see it all from her point of view. ]

How could I not? You guys are always so noisy around me when I'm trying to work.

[ Despite her words, her voice conveys a distant sort of affection, as if given by someone from the outside looking in, even if that isn't necessarily true. ]