Hyosuke Asakura
Hyosuke Asakura (a.k.a. The Hack)
Hyōsuke didn't plan on coming back to the states after his bitter sweet departure a year ago. Sprout Corp. i.e. the UIU had some dirt probably spun to brand him as a cyber terrorist so what else could he do? After an abrupt and brief goodbye to his parents, he booked the first flight to Sacramento. Only as he boarded the plane did Harry cross his mind. And here he'd hoped the mind numbing routine of a tech repairman downtown would overwrite the constant angst, desire, and anxiety of dating on and off again his former coworker boyfriend. What mysteries awaited Hyōsuke as he returned to the scene of the crime?
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
petite toned swimmers build
Body Features
longish hair permanently peppered silver from childhood ghost experience. Hyōsuke liked to dye his hair periodically as a result.
Facial Features
near constant stubble he only bothers to shave for Harry.
Identifying Characteristics
Dyed hair streaks, scar behind left knee and over right shoulder from when Harry first ran into him.
Physical quirks
twirls hair with index when concentrating sometimes.
Special abilities
Maybe see ghosts?
Apparel & Accessories
Matching bracelet with Harry and family heirloom pendant. Makes his own clothes.
Specialized Equipment
Making his own clothes/cosplay/disguises
Hacking
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Former Facebook employee in the US on work visa until recently. He was presented this work abroad opportunity after graduating in the top 10% of his class with a MA in Computer Science. Hyōsuke has the support of his long time best friend whom originated from the same orphanage and foster parents who provided the means for his education to thank. His adoptive parents also helped trace Hyōsuke's birth lineage to the Asakura family, once famed shamans throughout Japan. Because of this, Hyōsuke could see and talk to spirits for a time in his childhood but has long since had to repress and deny those abilities in the ever increasing technocentric world. The only other person aware of his connection to the supernatural is his best friend, Hisoka. He hid his ability from his adoptive parents so as to not scare them and in time this led him to forget that part of himself. And while he and Hisoka were eventually adopted at different points in their lives, they managed to keep in touch as soon as Hyōsuke learned how to use a computer and surf the web to locate his friend. Although his parents provided much for him in terms of a comfortable life, he never stopped wanting to be self sufficient in case he ever lost that safety net and was orphaned again. Finally, during his stay in the US, he managed to develop a close friendship with one of his co-workers, Harry, who had originally offered to host him during his job's initial on-boarding and for a time after until he was able to find his own lodgings. Hyōsuke ended up rooming with Harry for the duration of his employment instead and while Harry was fond of him too, neither could admit their true feelings for the other until Hyōsuke had to return to Japan. Although his work visa was technically expiring, Hyōsuke's true reason for leaving the company was on the moral grounds and objections he had toward the company's policies for exploiting private information it collected from its user base. Since then, he has actively hacked such companies on behalf of those it exploited to redistribute the wealth accumulated with people's personal information.
Gender Identity
Queer male
Sexuality
Bisexual, currently dating Harry
Education
Hyōsuke graduated toward the top of his class with a masters in CS
Employment
Formerly employed at Facebook until privacy and user info scandal.
Last employed as tech repairman in Shibuya local shop.
Accomplishments & Achievements
hacking FB to redistribute wealth directly to those affected by data breach
Failures & Embarrassments
working for FB for as long as he did
Mental Trauma
Still dealing with his blood family's demise and reconciling his paranormal experience in relation to that
Morality & Philosophy
Anti fascist/capitalist/authoritarian
Social
Contacts & Relations
Harry
Hisoka
Hedwig & Eito
Socially conscious hacker jaded by corporate technocrats. Also a westaboo and cosplayer.
View Character Profile
Alignment
Chaotic n
Age
30
Date of Birth
5/27/1990
Birthplace
Kōriyama, Japan
Children
Current Residence
Shibuya - Tokyo
Gender
Male
Eyes
Black
Hair
Black with green coloring
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
tanned
Height
5' 5"
Weight
125lb
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Cult Encounters of the Aslan Kind
Day 51
There wasn't much more to do so we headed off to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, LA. Well, our accomodations were actually in a nearby town since New Orleans was fully booked so after checking in and getting a brief introduction from our receptionist, we drove around for what felt like hours before finding parking in the city. during which I set up a Grindr to see if anyone would attempt to catfish. We split up into the crowd, I went with Hilda (as each other's beards) I got a few hits on Grindr, the first one didn't seem too interested after all so I sent Hilda after him in case she was more his taste. Hilda needs a wingman, that's all I'll say about that. The second lead was more interesting. We agreed to meet near the parade floats and while I was waiting, Hilda tailed behind under the cover of a pokemon Go pub crawl. Just before my guy showed up, another mysterious person came up to me, insisting they were suppose to meet me to give me a looking glass that I would supposedly know when to use. That person then vanished into the crowd as my date showed up. His place was closer so we headed there, it was one of the ritzy hotels that was all booked up for Mardi Gras. His roommate was occupying the room though so I suggested a restroom makeout session would be safer than a quicky park in the dark as par the cult related abductions. Afterwards, I rejoined Hilda and we set out to regroup at Jane's stake out location. We mulled over our options and eventually decided keep a watchful eye on this cult base while we investigate other leads through out the week.
The next day, Hilda, Eleanor and I tracked down the IP address I hacked from their website to this hell swamp. Gators, snakes, frogs, leeches, but we did uncover an Aslan facility. Unfortunately we weren't able to get too close before being spotted by some guards and quickly had to fumble through a college research alibi to make it out alive, barely. On the way back we had to grab some meds for Eleanor who swallowed a lot of swamp. Later that day, after much needed rest and recuperation, Richard and Jane took Hilda to their party to follow up on the lead they met the previous night. Eleanor of course remained at the hotel with me while I set up and tested out the new drone I bought. In hindsight this was probably what we should have done for the initial recon of the Aslan swamp facility. I wanted to return to the swamp but needed an alibi so I texted the guy I met the previous night to arrange a breakfast date in costume to hopefully elude the cultists. At some point in the evening, we had a visitor, the mysterious person who gave me that spyglass. Allegedly they stopped by to check on our mission's progress and give us a bit more insight to both the use of the spyglass and the Aslan situation in general. Apparently the foundation is not the only organization interested in the rumored biblical powers Aslan holds to cleanse the earth, and the spyglass can reveal hidden things invisible to the naked eye, such as the mark of Aslan. After they left, I continued work on my costume I would wear to breakfast, and more importantly to surveil. We hadn't heard from the party party for a while when Eleanor alerted me to the breaking new of a masked shootout situation in the area they went, so we decided to call the foundation for some help since we couldn't do much from the room. All they could do was slow the investigation and cops to buy the team a little time. Jane, Hilda, Richard managed to get away mostly unscathed and just about when the police arrived to the party so Eleanor and I met them at a Denny's to hack cultists phones since we didn't want to risk trailing any cultists back to our hotel. We had a nice waitress serve us a few things while I cracked the phones, which took rather longer than usual but eventually gave us a few things of note: the cult leaders names, Father Donald Cohen and his wife Janet; the email address they used to communicate which I used later on to once again disrupt their ticket distribution after they'd subverted my first hack; and finally, a mysterious pic of a tall figure with a strange dagger in hand backstage, the significance of which would be revealed at our attendance of the play. We finished up rather late, Hilda and Jane having disposed of the phones afterwards and headed back to sleep once we were convinced the cultists hadn't tracked us thus far.
Met with my date Johnny F Uppercut at the same Denny's the next morning, persuaded him to grab coffee to go and head to the swamp to test fly the drone to surveil the Aslan complex. Got a brief look at the perimeter and a count of 5 guards. Johnny was a little put off by Eleanor's trailing us (but I asked her to just in case they had stationed more guards near the facility) so we left soon after that. Upon getting back I discovered Jane and Hilda having a sewing party for more costumes since remaining anonymous among the cultists was getting more difficult. So while they weren't looking I put the finishing touches on which dare I say made them pretty professional looking. Then everyone except Hilda went to this mansion for Richard's meeting which turned out to be with Virgil Mack, the benefactor to these Narnia plays and special confidant to Aslan. Eleanor and I remained outside to keep watch, another opportunity to use my drone but after realizing how limited a normal lens was in a mostly opaque and giant complex, I resolved to install infrared as soon as possible. Still, we could hear well enough with our connected pieces and Virgil, we found through the dinner conversation, was tasked with prolonging his friend's children's lives but passed that task on to the demon (Buer) who somehow was able to flip their contract and trap him. Now in Buer's service, the most he could do to spare some of the LGBTQ victims was to hire them and hide them from Buer/Aslan. After betraying Aslan's true identity he perished on his own terms and had his men create a scene of struggle to cover it up. The cultists would eventually come check out the place so we set up a cam and planned to pin the attack on them from the safety of our hotel. But after the cops arrived, gunfire ensued and then a blinding light followed by an angelic lion goat demon bursting from the mansion. The foundation informed us it was not Aslan himself but the result of 2 branded cultists fusing.
We planned for our encounter at the theater the next day when we bought a supply of super soakers, water balloons, chain and locks and zipties, pepper spray, then proceeded to a gun friendly church (actually several churches) to have everything blessed. Finally at the church, we ran into our androgynous friend, who finally named himself as Dan. He was there to watch the play but also had a rabbit for/from the 3 different owls. Father Donald Cohen led the audience through a moment of prayer and the pledge of allegiance? before the actual play's commencement, as the cult was known to do to channel power to Aslan. Throughout the first act, I used the spyglass but found that only the actors had Aslan's brand, and Cohen's wife Janet remained vigilant at the foot of the stage. Before the show, I tested the glass on Dan, and to some amazement, he was painted grey while the rest of the world came in color through its lens. As we appraoched the sacrifice scene, that mysterious stage hand from the phone pic wielding the strange knife also appeared gray. During the intermission Hilda called HQ to fill them in on what we'd just witnessed and the auction. The presence of the stagehand was enough to spook Dominic and he told us to stop the rest of the play at any cost. Eleanor volunteered to simulate a shooting to panic the audience in hopes of evacuating them. During the hysteria, I ran through one of the rooms in the lobby that a cultist was guarding and down to the basement where I woke the angelic fusion demon that we saw flying away from the mansion last night. I managed to splash it with a holy balloon and run back upstairs where a few more cultist and guests lingered. Now that the cat was out of the bag, Janet wanted us all dead. The beast then took her in its arms and duplicated itself. One was an illusion as Eleanor suspected and I figured out after throwing a holy balloon through it while the other chased Hilda and Richard out the side exit and into the evacuating crowd. Needless to say this freaked people out and lost us some points. After making my way out as Eleanor held off another cultist, I hopped in the car that Jane had on standby with Hilda and we went around the back to cut off Donald from escaping. Jane tapped him with the vehicle and I got out to interrogate. Apparently the play was part of a ritual a mysterious 'Benefactor' had the cult perform to transfer power to Aslan. He also said this 'Benefactor' contacted them through a book he was carrying so I grabbed it and got back in the car to go pick up Richard and Eleanor on our way out, who had apparently taken down the beast by then but were still pursued by cultists led by Janet. Eventually we drove the car around to the front again, where I tried to help Richard escape Janet's grapple. During the skirmish I got shot and Eleanor and Hilda helped drag me back into the car. As we drove away, the foundation filled us in on the other force at play, the cult of the scarlet king who, similarly was known to use plays to spread a memetic virus that causes people to go insane and kill each other. Afterwards, we headed to a back alley doctor at Tony Flanders house to get patched up before turning in at the hotel for the night. But before we could get any rest, a haunting spectre, meant for Jane but visible to all tempted us with information held within the newly acquired book. Tempting since this spectre seemed to know a lot about us and particularly about my family's history...
The next day we prepared for our final encounter in the swamp by buying wetsuits, meat for hungry gators, and for some reason were sold on experimental gator repellent. Next, we would need a boat to approach the facility from the water, which thanks to everyone pitching in, didn't set us back too much. Finally, there was naught to do but wait for sundown. The news reported several cultists including Donald Cohen hospitalized after the church incident but investigations were ongoing for the rest of them. Dan approached just as we made to cast off into the swamp and again reminded us he would be there to collect his prize afterwards and proceeded to walk into the murky water and meet us at the end. Under cover of darkness we floated just out of the faint glow cast by the facilities lights. The team minus me splashed into the swamp as covertly as possible while I proceeded to feed the gators to keep them occupied while they swam closer. Our plan to neutralize guards saw the team dragging them into the dark depths and have the gators do the rest. Eleanor and Richard took one while Hilda and Jane took the another 2 guarding the goat pen. Things were going swimmingly for a while, but then one of the drowning guards alerted the rest at the same time that Aslan showed up unexpectedly. I say he almost caught us by surprise because we were expecting to find him in one of the facility's buildings and my drone was able to scout him before he got too close. Richard did manage to find the generator powering the place, and a bit of motor oil in a locked shed so we used this to give us full darkness through which the guards could only see in the scopes of their flash lights. Meanwhile, Hilda lay some of that oil which Jane quickly ignited when she shot another guard trying to tend to his gator bitten friend, thus buying us enough time for me to dock the boat close to the goat pen and release most of them. Everyone was just able to get back to the boat holding on to the goats before Aslan spread his wings and gave chase. We escaped the facility and guards but Aslan was unrelenting so we unloaded our blessed and holy ammo, my drone served one last distraction before he swatted it down like a fly. Eventually we clipped one of his wings, dropping him into the foul waters but even so, he terraformed the land around our boat as the final stage. Richard and I took this opportunity to create the binding salt circle from opposite sides, closing it just behind Aslan as he pounced at Hilda and the rest of the party. Luckily they managed to evade him long enough to start the exorcism. The first round weakened him greatly but a second round was needed to seal him but he did not go down lightly, even breaking the salt circle with a beam that nearly missed Richard. After the battle, Dan reappeared out of the swamp as promised. Now that Aslan was down, Dan could reveal his true identity turning out to be Satan of all beings. Even so, I rather trust him with a demon from hell than our foundation who might only want to weaponize it or accidentally release it. Jane, who initially held on to the hypergeometry cube with the freshly captured Buer, passed the decision onto Richard who more or less agreed with me, and as expected, Hilda and Eleanor were a bit more hesitant to trust the warden of Hell. With that, Satan opened the cube and absorbed Buer's soul into his fleshy body of many eyes and bid us adieu. We called the mission in shortly after, though we left out the part where Satan took Buer, until we could figure out a way to explain that in the least suspicious way.
NM Epilogue, LA Prologue
Day 45
I can only hope the foundation makes good use of the dangerously alien technology we uncovered in New Mexico but I have little faith in organizations with such guarded secrets. I managed to get some more details from a Dr. Wilson at the foundation which led me to research another dangerous organization directly linked to the alien tech. The foundation apparently houses two more pieces of Anderson Robotics tech item #SCP079 something Euclid a sentient AI soul? bound to a computer not allowed network access for fear of it wreaking havok, along with a robotic body the AI use to inhabit. It seems the foundation was able to 'exorcise' the AI and trap it in it's current container. I really don't know what to make of this so I'll keep this to myself for now but i have no doubt we will encounter Anderson Robotics eventually. Trained with Duke in the escrima arts again. Wish I could've offered some better dating advice in exchange for the session but I felt a little improved afterwards. Had to slow things down with Harry but it was a mutual understanding so hopefully we can continue being friends. At the same time, the big 5 or whoever they are at the top warned me against hacking the foundation, ominous but if they continue to withhold pertinent information about our potential enemies, I have to take it upon myself to enlighten our team. New Brothers of Paradise is our next target who apparently target the LGBTQ+ community. Led by Virgil Mac a fundamentalist. Their tactics include surveilance and catfishing to recruit more members. They worship a possessed puppet calling itself Aslan, a fallen angel. Our mission, rescue the kidnapped members, capture or banish Aslan, investigate the Serpents Hand. Our briefing also included a short seminar on holy items and exorcisms, which brought to mind something about my family history I'd almost forgotten, we had shamans and exorcists in our lineage. FOllowing our lesson, we interrogated some of the actors who managed to escape the cult. They couldn't tell us exactly what they saw so Hilda suggested they communicate through more creative means. Thus did one boy attempt to tell us through a mix of origami figures and drawings. Eventually we worked out that anyone who speaks of what they saw and was branded by Aslan's rune does indeed turn into a goat. Prof. Rude was even called in to confirm this, apparently he can detect such runes even when they're invisible to the naked eye, something that would be highly useful on this mission.
Chimera Caper - New Mexico
Day 24
Mission Brief introduced us to a werewolf Sara and her hybrid rat/wolf/man 'children' and Dr. Thursten who developed the serum that allowed 4 mercs to become chimera, each a diff animal, Rat, Bat (Regina Blood), Wolf, and their leader, Flying lizard (Ron Scaleward) so we requested appropriate gear from the org. Our leads from other team led to NM. First we investigated the uni where Thursten worked, running into a colleague who basically confirmed everything we learned about him. Eleanor managed to snap a car plate which we traced, with the local police database and Richard's status to a shady car rental. Not much there since the guy seemed to be tight lipped about his clients. The plates also let us trace the car to a warehouse that was an alleged trap set by one of CT merc and his partner. We eluded this by waiting until the police showed up and canvased the scene before sneaking in to retrieve a CT computer. Within the data were coordinates we followed to the next trap, which almost blew up in our faces. Jane and Richard took it upon themselves to chuck the bomb into a relatively vacant part of town but not before some witnesses caught sight of the explosion. Finally we found our elusive merc on the outskirts in an abandoned house where he attempted to spring yet another trap. At least this was a more straight forward shootout. Jane managed to land a critical shot and the guy, rather than have his memory erased again blew himself up and nearly collapsed the house on us. Richard was severely injured, taking the hit for the team so we rushed him to the hospital and regrouped after a few days. After creating such a commotion around town, the foundation finally sent reinforcements Yang and Vanessa, the former of which helped us apprehend the other merc sent to gather info on us and was about to set her up for the midtown explosion originally from Jane but I suggested we hide her to keep the element of surprise. Her phone had the coordinates to CT facility. Everything was in emergency mode, low lights, abandoned as well save our quarry. I found the schematics and we proceeded to try to restore power but the generator floor was locked so we had to go floor to floor. One level down we also found the locked Dr. Yagami's office and further down was Rat man. He took a bite out of Vanessa but I managed to throw a flash bang, giving her the chance to retaliate. Luckily Yang was also excellent at patching her up, but just as we resolved to take the rat topside to the containment, Eleanor sensed our lady bat approaching from below as Hilda's radar pinged another entity from behind. We decided to make a stand at the crossroads and wait for our targets. We actually waited what seemed like hours before hearing the next eerie scrap of a door. Half of us were huddled in the rat room while the other took the freezer. Our bat friend was trying to snipe us so we gave her a target, the crate which concealed the rat surprise, which she swiftly punctured with a single round of armor piercing. It was time for Richards air horns, whose blaring was only matched by the Bat's own shrieks of pain. And so a fierce close quarters battle with Regina raged with Hilda sinking the necessary tranqs that allowed us to subdue her. We left those two in cold storage hoping Ron wouldn't be able to reach them, being cold blooded himself, then proceeded downstairs to finish our investigation and retrieve as much evidence as possible before confronting Ron. On the lab level we found the babies Regina was harboring in the chemical room where it seemed they had tragically warped the creatures beyond salvation... otherwise, the only other thing of note down there was Dr. Yagami's keycard. After some discussion we decided to leave the children for last and take care of Scaleward. Vanessa took point but scouted to far ahead as we reached the main hangar and became the first target for Scaly. The rest of the group got there before me as I was securing the other two and tripped on my way to the fray. Eventually I arrived in time to provide some distraction and cover and free Vanessa from a misfired net. Being their leader, Scaly fought to the bitter end as any creature backed into a corner when Richard finally put him down. Afterwards, Yang took Vanessa topside while we tied up the loose ends. Ironically Yagami left a weapon that would've helped immensely during our last battle in his office along with several research notes. As a bonus I was also able to restore power to the facility by fixing a strange generator found in the lower basements. Something else for the foundation to look into.
Mine your own business
Day 15
Picture it, a small town in the shadow of Salt Lake, Utah filled with almost nothing but tragedy. Most of the townsfolk know their home is cursed in a manner of speaking but are powerless to break said curse. Our team barely managed to lay some spirits to rest but who knows if they'll remain at peace. The native tribe living nearby claims the source of sorrow to be some sort of ruby eye, not quite a coincidence when the town's main mining boon was the same precious stone. Furthermore, whatever force influencing the town extended to trap and manipulate the souls of the departed leading to the mystery of Jeremy Bigby. Jeremy was a native who fell for his boss and friend's wife and was framed for said friend's murder. Through a series of hallucinations and possibly occult magic, we were able to chase these phantoms through the events of the past to arrive at the scandalous (though not so much by todays standards) conclusion: the wife did it. The Becks did not enjoy the traditional monogamous marriage because they were simply incompatible. Mr Beck was gay and Mrs Beck grew bored and crazy from neglect even though they had an open arrangement. Things might have continued, as unhappy as they were, if not for Beck's business partner whom I forget at the moment. He blackmailed the Mrs. threatening to air all their dirty laundry unless she killed him and pinned it on Jeremy. And yet, Bigby was not the sole victim as this scandal seemed to affect almost anyone connected to the Becks including another lonely soul, Beck's true gay lover. TBC...
Guys, Guns and Guys
Day 10
Guess we got promoted this week. We were actually about to get a memory wipe but at the last minute, some higher up pumped the brakes and gave us the clearance rank we would've eventually gotten anyway. I honestly don't know how this organization functions or has continued functioning like this for as long as it has. And despite my efforts to maintain a casual relationship with Harry, he seems to be more needy than I can handle sometimes. And here I thought that was my emotional shortcoming. But this new job is very demanding, I had to take shooting lessons from the office himbo, at least he's reliable in some ways? I also tried to research more occult lore to prepare for any more spooky shit we might encounter but I couldn't concentrate with Harry on the brain. Or maybe it was Scott, with his glasses and invitation to go swimming, floating around the back of the pool that is my mind. Either way, we already have another field assignment, this one serious enough for UwU to issue firearms to all of us. We're to investigate some old mining town as reporters for any connection to the graveyard owners, which would be mildly interesting if the leads pan out. I hope our team takes a little more caution than last time.
Zombies and Boba
Day 1
So that first mission was nearly a bust. We almost lost 2 people! Mostly because our CO Yang had to try to chase down a VIC (very important cultist) on her own, leaving our team to inadvertently stumble upon a fat zombie while searching for her. For the record, Hilda and I were out voted but we both wanted to leave as soon as we lost Yang but the team decided to press on. Upon discovering the remaining cultists, I suggested we take out the chanter first to minimize the risk of them completing the ritual that eventually resulted in the zombie attack. Instead, almost everyone fumbled through a literal gun slinging contest and Eleanor nearly got eaten. I noped the fuck out of there as soon as the lights went out at a brisk pace but rather than panic and dash and trip again. I swear these Americans are gonna get me and each other killed some day, I really don't know how well we'll be able to work as a team after that. Luckily the job paid well enough and I was able to take some time to see Harry for the first time since I left a little over a year ago. He hasn't changed much, still the same lovable himbo but at least he also got out of that toxic work place and seems to still be doing okay, that is, he can still afford the rent in SF. We visited out beach spot with boba as we'd done so many times before and for a little while I felt normal again. He's also somehow gotten much better in bed and we fucked all night to the annoyance of his roommate. With a little R&R, I'm ready to return to 'work' and start some much needed training for this nightmare helljob. I wonder if they'll frown upon my continued hacking of corporate media platforms every now and then? Someone has to keep these oligarchs in check and it might as well be me (but hopefully not just me).
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