home improvement

[anaplasiamod]

HOME IMPROVEMENT

「FREE-FOR-ALL」

The lights in Esagila Base flicker in many areas, and the buzzing hum in power conduits makes it clear that power cables are getting a work out. Dust swirls in the area as they explore, disturbed by movement and the light shifting of air from barely functioning ventilation systems - their fans rattling in disrepair.

The good thing is that sound carries here - they can easily call to each other for help to fix up various sections of the space.

The barracks are basically scrap, collapsed, beds folded, ceiling bucked like something punched it in from above. Fortunately, there's enough rubble and debris that if anything once tried to force its way in through the metal ceiling, it's blocked now. But while a few scraps of blankets can possible be recovered here, an actual place to sleep must be found elsewhere.

The Promenade, lined with abandoned stalls and the skeletons of shops, is possibly their only chance at sectioned off privacy and a good prospect for a sleeping space. There are a few threadbare textiles clinging to metal racks and occasional rugs that can possibly be recycled for other uses. Some stalls look like they'd once been claimed by past residents: a blanket dragged into a corner, a spare pair of shoes that look like someone was trying to repair them, a can set aside for boiling water.

Alongside some of the supply closets, this area is where the most food can be recovered, preserved in various ways and looking as if they were once presented for trade or sale.

The bathrooms are intact but improvised shower curtains or some other form of divider might be a nice addition if they can be scavenged somehow. There are some small containers around the base to possibly fill with water from the bathrooms for other uses.

The medbay is sterile and hollow. Machines blinking in standby show that power is still available here but the place has clearly been ransacked. Still, there are technology and components here that can possibly be cannibalized for other use. The dust and grime is a slightly alarming prospect when it comes to using the space for the injured in the future, though. Maybe it'd be good to clean up? Cleaning supplies are available in a cabinet, one of few places some kind of disinfectant can be found, though it's not meant for use on injuries anymore than bleach spray would be. Apparently, in this other world a sponge is still a sponge, too.

The lounge doesn't have much going on since the screens are dead - but those screens are possibly usable elsewhere.

Other areas are simply dead and only usable as a possible space. The media rooms are dead. The galleys are intact and have cooking appliances but unpowered. The mess hall is demolished.

Supply closets throughout the place have odds and ends that might be useful. A few were meant for food storage and have the scraps of a few leftover food caches. Pots, containers, storage tubs and crates, hoses, a few hand tools here and there.

The security outposts have displays marking issues in the sensor net. It's obvious the net has small tears, though the shifting grid makes it hard to see where they are. They can be repaired with the right pieces scavenged from deeper in Uruk - but finding out the holes are is something that they can start investigating now.

The light therapy rooms have lights that may better serve elsewhere, and a long wiring in the ceilings that might be useful too.

And throughout it all, Esagila Base is not truly empty. It was once lived in. Signs are still there for those who pay attention.

Some walls are still marked with things like maintenance logs scrawled directly onto walls with greasy crayons, with names of people that are long-forgotten. "Assign Natla to reroute aft wing internal sensors to secondary projector - no scavenged nodes left." "Ask Kale if we can reroute lighting from powered side of lounge." "Remember to coordinate -" The last entry trails off mid-sentence, the grease crayon stylus on a string tied to a magnet on the wall.

In some rooms access panels are open and wires inside are twisted together with tape, even if someone took the tools and left in a hurry. Crates and bins in many places like the supply rooms are labeled in weary handwriting. "Water quality tests - test weekly." "Spent power cells, pending recharge." "Expired rations for composting - DO NOT EAT."

Some of the halls nearest the exposed outer area of the base, near the sensor grid, have extra security. Metal benches are flipped sideways to make low barricades. One area that might have been used for sleep, closest to the hallway that leads out, is carefully ringed in stacked cans, as if to provide an extra alarm.

On the walls of one of the inner-most hallways, someone - possibly several people judging from the variations in the handwriting - left drawings in greasy black, like all they had to finger paint was some kind of engine grease. Simplistic figures in body suits like their own. Monstrous shapes with too many sprawling limbs. Shadows looming from ceilings with big narrow eyes. Names appear beneath some of the human figures - some seem to have been crossed out with angry smears, as if the tiny hands drawing these monsters and shakily writing these names had been exorcising some demons and pent-up energy.

Just like those scrawled out names are gone, no bodies remain. If there were any living souls left, they're long gone.

Still, the bones of the place are here. Rooms can be cleared. Equipment can be cannibalized. Wiring rerouted. Items reorganized, repurposed, stockpiled, or repaired. There is power even if it's not always where it should be.

The place will need a lot of work to resemble anything even close to alive. It's fitting the city that can be seen in glimpses outside the exterior halls looks like some kind of eldritch nightmare. They have a lot of metaphorical necromancy to do.

OOC INFO

OOC: This is a "free-for-all" post where characters can [action-spam] threadhop like the network. They can jump around and claim areas for sleeping or work purposes and begin converting or repairing rooms. Supplies and some appliances may be scavenged from different areas to use in other areas. This is a post where characters can try their best to make the place livable.

Comments

[potentialman]

barracks:
[ Scrap has its purposes too, so while he's recovering any scraps of blankets or bedding that seem at all salvagable, Megumi's main purpose here is getting anything from the cave-ins and ceiling rubble that's a large enough piece of something to maybe be used, whether for throwing together some new furniture or shoring up defensive fortifications.

Some of them are easy enough to handle. Some are less forgiving. ]

Can you get the other end of this?


medbay:
[ This...is not sterile.

Not the way every exposed surface seems have developed a millimeters-thick patina of dust and grime, and while he takes a cursory look at the equipment -- power's functioning, that's good -- Megumi figures the figurative heavy lifting here is better suited to someone from a little later than the year 2018.

Instead, he's poking around in the closets, and -- what do you know! He emerges with a few bottles and a bucket, squinting at the list of active ingredients. ]

...I don't know what all of this is. [ Clearly chemical engineering is still a booming business past his era. ] But it looks like it should be disinfectant. [ The warnings and prescribed use aren't too different from the cleaning solutions he is familiar with. And there's no expiration date. ]


all over the place:
[ Wherever he is and whatever he's doing, though, he does seem to have another issue on his mind whenever the work hits a natural spot to take a rest, or when he enters or leaves a new area -- the way he scrutinizes his surroundings seems to look a little less like he's looking for useful refuse, and more like he's looking for something unseen.

Because he is.

And if the lights happen to flicker or go out entirely, he'll raise a hand to pause anyone who's looking for a switch to flick or an access panel to bang on. ]

Hang on a minute. I want to try something.


or something else:
[ Or your character can draft him into whatever they're working on! He's obliging, despite the Resting Bitch Face. ]

[memcake]

[Eight doesn't notice the flickering lights right away. It's probably because he grew up in an underground dome with unreliable power, but his memory is so busted that's more of a logic puzzle than anything. He knows his old leader stole a power generator from a major squid city to power the place. That means the lights probably flickered or went out entirely a lot.

He only notices when they shut off completely because it means he can't see if he got everything out of the little nooks where the tables connect to the floor. He starts to crawl out from underneath it when he hears the voice of a human he doesn't think he's spoken to yet.]

Uh- OK. Sure.

[Eight adopts a kneeling sit to watch intently by the indirect glow of whatever lights still exist in the room. Whatever this human is going to do, it should be very enlightening.]

[potentialman]

[ Probably the exact opposite of enlightening, considering he uses the Ten Shadows --

wait stop i'll behave.

But regardless, he's not doing anything obvious, on a physical level. He closes his eyes, he makes a hand seal, and he just...stands there. Concentrating.

The darkness helps, he's sure of that now. It's not enough to get him there, but it's easier to find the flow of cursed energy, even if it's still hovering just out of reach, shrinking back every time he tries to touch it. It might yet be possible, with more effort, more adrenaline...

But this isn't a life or death moment, and if merely summoning a lone shikigami is going to take the kind of energy that would normally fuel a domain expansion, it's not worth trying to do now. He'd rather not spend the next ??? passed out on the floor, thank you very much.

So he lowers his hands, and opens his eyes. ]

I'm done. Go ahead.

[memcake]

[He watches, intent and focused and still. His attention is entirely captivated by whatever is about to happen.

He waits and watches.

And watches. He doesn't even fidget.

Watches some more.

And then it's over. Whatever his human companion wanted to happen...didn't seem to have happened.]

Mmm-hmm.

[Eight's pretty good at reading the air, and he detects the tension. Maybe it's best not to mention it. No matter how curious he is. No matter how much he wants to know. He stands up, makes his way over to the switch, flips it off, gives it a few moments to reset, and flips it back on again.

He almost makes it until after the lights come all the way on before he can't help himself.]

What is [He mimics the seal with his own hands.] this?

[potentialman]

[ The thing that's going to grate at him the most about being here, Megumi's pretty sure, is explaining stuff. It's not even anything against anyone who asks. It's just that...his entire social circle until now has been grounded in jujutsu society. Questions he could've answered in five words or less before are...going to be a whole Thing now, aren't they? ]

It's how I call my shikigami. [ Was Eight one of the lurkers who read every response to that roll call post like his life depended on it? He hopes so, but given some of the people he's used to hanging around, he's not holding his breath. But he'll just keep going unless he's asked to explain that part. ]

I wasn't expecting that to work; the flow of cursed energy here seems...inhibited, somehow. [ He's forming theories on that, too, but more importantly -- ] But the effect doesn't seem to be uniformly distributed.

[ So even if he didn't get a big fluffy therapy dog the way he's supposed to...this experiment was a success, in that it confirmed exactly what he was trying to confirm! ]

[memcake]

[The comprehending nod confirms that, yes, he absolutely poured over the roll call. It was a lot of information to take in all at once, but he made a point to remember as much as he possibly could.

His name was...Megumi, he's pretty sure. He repeats the word like he's trying to commit it to memory.]

Shikigami...right, the spirits you were talking about. I remember.

[OK, then that means...what does that mean?]

If it's not uniform then...do you think that has to do with these implants? Could the spirits sense them and stay away?

[Because that's really, really bad news for the prospect of Eight getting his octopus form back. Or his ink glands and gills working. Which sucks for many reasons, not the least of which is that they itch when they're dry. Even with the suits, it's an itch deep in his soul.]

[potentialman]

That I don't know about. [ He's not inclined to go straight to that conclusion, but he knows fuck all about nanotechnology. ]

But I had an easier time feeling the energy flow when the lights went out. It takes me more concentration to sense it in the room that had all the sun lamps, too.

[memcake]

[That...makes him feel a little better for reasons he can't really articulate. Maybe Eight's grasping at straws, but if he can still sense it, then his abilities are still intact. Could be unblocked or fixed or...something.]

Is this something all humans can do or just some? Or...just you?

[He suspects that, at least in this world, it's the latter, which is a little frustrating from both an ability assessment and human data acquisition standpoint.]

[potentialman]

Just some. But it manifests differently depending on the person. There are a few basic techniques that most jujutsu sorcerers can learn, but for the most part, our techniques are unique to the person, or they're passed down through bloodline.

[memcake]

But not all humans can be jujutsu sorcerers, am I getting that right? What else can you do?

[Maybe they're getting sidetracked?]

Uh, sorry if this is too many questions, I...didn't even know humans weren't entirely extinct until a few hours ago, much less that you can do magic.

[potentialman]

[ Sidetracked oh RIGHT he was. Cleaning stuff. He can multitask, he just forgot for a minute there.

He gets back to scrubbing off the furnishings in the medbay, because I just decided they're cleaning up the medbay. ]

It's fine. [ Knowing what they're all capable of is in everyone's best interest, right? And if he's right, he might not be completely out of commission here after all. ] Not all humans can, that's right. All humans have some degree of connection to cursed energy [ his weird family exceptions aside ] but it's rare for it to be strong enough to actually make use of.

[ Which is how you wind up at one of two high schools in Japan, with a grand total of three students in your year. ]

I use an inherited technique called the Ten Shadows. Most shikigami users summon with physical talismans, but I can call mine using shadows as a focus instead.

[memcake]

Ah, which is why it works better in the dark!

[A small smile's broken out on Eight's face. He's enjoying this, hearing about this entirely new concept and teasing out how it works. His soldier brain is absolutely engaged.

His poet brain isn't far behind, but does anything good rhyme with curse? Purse? Terse? Maybe not the right direction.]

That sounds like a strong advantage to me. Darkness is easy to create, and you don't have to rely on an object you can lose. Now, when you say 'cursed,' do you mean humans are somehow cursed? Or is energy from something else and you can harness it?

[potentialman]

[ Megumi nods. Ten Shadows is coveted enough that the Zen'in were willing to pay a ridiculous sum to get it back, after all. ] It's much more flexible than most shikigami.

Cursed energy is a product of strong negative emotions. Uncontrolled, it can coalesce into dangerous spirits, but jujutsu sorcerers train to channel it into our abilities, instead.

[ Which means some of the training methods can be...unorthodox. ]

[memcake]

[Eight had been actively listening, sure, but he'd gone back to his work too, not really looking at Megumi. But that makes his head snap up, pausing mid-scrub. Coalesced emotions into spirits...Emotional energy taking the form of something else.]

...What? Then...that could mean...

[Was he bent over before? He's totally upright now. His already large eyes have gone wide in shock.]

Listen, when I was younger, I had my memories taken from me and turned into objects. Or maybe those objects were infused with them somehow? I don't know, the records on how it happened were lost, but...I know it's a long shot but if emotions can somehow coalesce into an entity that affects the real world...You might be the first real lead I've ever found to reverse engineering the process and getting them back!

[potentialman]

[ Could that mean...?

It doesn't seem like a terrible stretch of logic. If Sukuna's soul could've spent those centuries in his mummified fingers, waiting to reawaken, after all...of course, he was still one entity. A soul separated from its memories starts to get into some deeply philosophical territory, and as much as Megumi has a gift for the nuts and bolts of jujutsu, that's the kind of question that isn't really in his sphere of experience.

But it sounds plausible. ]

That...could be possible. [ If only Ieiri were here. ] I don't know enough to say. I know people who might, but...

[memcake]

[Eight isn't willing to give up on this. If he can just get some hint, some clue, something to his friend Marina when he returns to his world...]

Maybe there's some...clue or something in your training? Or in the way Shikigami work? Or...I don't know, some aspect of the sorcery?

I-I wasn't the only one, if...if I just go back to my friends with something, we could save thousands of Octolings-

[He closes his eyes. OK, deep breaths, calm down, under control, don't freak out any more than you have already. This is so much already, it'll probably be so much more...]

[potentialman]

I think the most likely avenue would be an application of reverse cursed technique. [ aka, that thing he doesn't know how to do yet. ] My teacher used to explain cursed energy as being like electricity -- it's powerful, but hard to control, so we run it through a technique to create an effect. Reverse cursed technique is like...forcing the current to go the other way. The negative energy becomes positive. A skilled sorcerer can use that to heal themselves.

[ ...more skilled than him, unfortunately. He's talented, but he's still a first year. ]

[memcake]

[Eight has to consider that carefully. The problem is that what little he knows about the process involved energies that came from...he really doesn't want to think about where it came from.]

Then...it's not doable after all. Whatever the process of removing my memories was, I know it involved [he swallows] pureed Octoling bodies. There's no way I can get samples to test the theory.

[Can't give up, can't give up, not when he feels closer than he's ever been...]

...What kind of negative emotion? How strong does it have to be to make a spirit?

[potentialman]

[ Pureed bodies...actually don't faze Megumi at all. It's exactly the kind of gruesome detail you have to get used to, if you hope to last as a jujutsu sorcerer.

Which isn't to say it's not disgusting, but disgust is one of the first emotions he learned to choke down and think past. ]

It varies. Some are weak, some are strong. Some are born from a single intense moment, some come from the collective fears of humanity over decades or centuries.

[memcake]

[Eight was in the blender, he'd been tricked into building his own deathtrap, he's allowed to be fazed. He's fazed as hell. But thoughtfully so.]

The Kamabo Corporation, the ones who took my memories...they'd been praying on refugee Octolings for two years before I fell into their trap...

I don't have a concrete theory yet but...has anyone ever tried to make people miserable to bring out these spirits? On purpose? Can you summon them that way even without being a sorcerer?

[potentialman]

[ Surprise, we're starting the Culling Game arc early! ]

That's completely feasible. Normal people create cursed spirits without even realizing it. Controlling them or directing them towards a purpose, on the other hand, would be difficult.

[ But if someone just wanted to cause mayhem, and wasn't too worried about channeling that in a specific direction...sure. ]

The loose end I see in that scenario is how a non-sorcerer would know enough to do so with intention in the first place. Jujutsu society goes to great lengths to keep the existence of curses hidden from ordinary people.

[ Because if everyone found out, the feedback loop of all those new negative emotions would probably be too much for their modest numbers to handle. And that's before Kenjaku even tries to pitch it to the US government as a solution to the energy crisis. Shit's gonna get crazy if he ever makes it home to a canon update. ]

[memcake]

I doubt it was intentional. Kamabo tried to keep me desperate and scared while I was in their facilities so they could use my memories and freedom like the shrimp on a stick.

[Carrot on a stick, but you know what he means.]

And I only lost my memories. The other Octolings, the ones that couldn't escape...It was like their souls were hollowed out. If their plans worked better when we were exhausted, they wouldn't need to know about shikigami or jujutsu or anything like that.

[He exhales a tiny sigh and shrugs. He feels...pretty OK, honestly.]

I don't even know if my world even works the same as yours does. I guess I would have to go pretty deep underwater to find a jujutsu sorcerer if they're that secret. But...it's a thread to pull. My friend Marina and I have been working on this for five years without any progress. Any new perspective makes it feel less...hopeless. So thank you.

[potentialman]

[ Considering how different Eight's world looks, Megumi's not sure he'd find a sorcerer at all, but he's not going to point that out. The optimism is...refreshing, even if it's also a sharp reminder of the people he's been torn away from.

I choose who I save.

Megumi's always picked and chosen. Someone who might go on to hurt others won't earn his mercy. It had become a point of contention with Yuji, who would go to the mattresses for anyone and everyone.

If anything he's said helps Eight to save his own people...well, Eight reminds him of Yuji. If he saves as many people as possible, regardless of whether they're someone Megumi would've agreed to help...that's not wrong, either. They don't have to agree. They just have to live by their own convictions. ]

I hope it helps, then. Somehow.

[bestbrotherever]

[Loki's eyes flick towards the lights, then back to the man. He recognizes that look of concentration- the man is trying to access magic. And apparently getting some success, though Loki, frustratingly, can't automatically sense his efforts.

[He nods and stops heading into the next room to watch the man, trying to tell what, exactly, he's doing, and how he's doing it.]

[potentialman]

[ It doesn't look like much -- just a hand seal, and a complete lack of movement on Megumi's part. It's still the same effect they've both felt already, the power hanging just out of reach no matter how much he stretches to touch it, but --

Closer. He got closer this time, same as the last time the lights flickered. So his own shadow isn't enough, but...

He opens his eyes and lowers his hands. ]

It's not the same everywhere. Have you noticed?

[ Or rather, he means, is it the same for you. He doesn't know the mechanics of how Loki's power works, but he's getting a better sense of what's going on with his own. ]