![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apocalypsehowmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
redstringtheories2022-04-01 07:15 am
TDM #10
(cw: potential for severe disorientation/vertigo, claustrophobia, arachnophobia, body horror)
It happens in the blink of an eye. You may have been asleep. You may not have. You may have stepped through a door or turned a corner. You may have seen a flicker of something at the corner of your vision and turned to look. Or maybe you didn't.
It doesn't matter. What matters is that you find yourself somewhere entirely new and entirely unfamiliar. The arrival point is not always the same. (If you're lucky, it might be a canteen or an open office. If you're not, well... you aren't claustrophobic, are you? Or arachnophobic. These ducts do seem to be a bit cobwebby.) There is no one waiting for you but you don’t seem to be alone, either. Even in a janitor’s closet or the bathroom, you’ll find at least one person who seems to be just as out of place as you are.
If characters have arrived in a location devoid of NPCs, they may want to work together to figure out what is going on... or to avoid their 'kidnappers.' If you’ve arrived in the middle of the entry foyer or the gym, there may well be a few people who startle a bit at your arrival and try to approach (or discreetly leave the room... where are they going?). Will you cooperate or fight? Do you even understand what they're saying? You might need to find a translator, if you’re not immediately willing to follow a stranger.
After characters follow their new hosts (or are forcibly taken in) there will be a limited tour and the chance to settle in at the ADI-provided housing. (Do you enjoy living with strangers? Well. It's a new situation to navigate, anyway.)
(cw: existential dread, altered perceptions, apocalypse, tsunamis, wildfires, meteor strikes, potential for botulism/food-based illnesses)
Weird things happen in Dogtown, everyone knows it. And the weird things have been getting worse. The Apocalypse Disruption Initiative (ADI) is not above taking advantage of that to test out the waters for its newest arrivals, but they're far more conscientious about it than early days. They're not looking to send anyone to their death, especially not with recent events that have transpired surrounding Dogtown and in Gloucester proper. An employee gives you a GPS device where you need only press a button to alert ADI there is severe danger and someone needs to come help you right away, and you've been left with another person at the trailhead. Maybe they're a new arrival, as well, or a more seasoned 'veteran.' Either way, you're together for the next while and you've been asked to find and record any paranormal activity in the park. You have your phones and any other equipment you might have brought with you. Those who succeed in documenting anything peculiar will receive a $100 reward to be used as they see fit.
This month, flowers are finally starting to bloom throughout the city and into the park. Bright blues, purples, pinks, and deep crimson. There's one set of flowers that seem to have formed suspiciously consistent patterns, though. The golden daffodils only seem to be growing in select spots. They're not quite in rings. More… rectangular? Something like that. In any case, those who observe the daffodils may note they're exceptionally fragrant, the sort of thing to draw one in…
Stepping foot into the middle of the daffodils causes a sudden, but brief, plunge. Congratulations, you've found a cellar, one of the old ones left behind and covered over by time and nature. Investigations will lead to mostly-collapsed root cellars, the sort of thing someone interested in local history might be fascinated by. The occasional tin or jar can be found, as well, which might net a healthy sum for collectors of Colonial Era foodstuffs. Those foolish enough to try to eat what's inside will likely find themselves exceptionally sick. Please Do Not.
Whatever adventures characters get up to in the cellars, there doesn't appear to be anything actively dangerous down there beyond the place collapsing and self-inflicted botulism. Stepping back out, though? There is nothing. Dogtown is a barren wasteland, and in the distance, in the direction of Gloucester, there are only the ruined remains of a city long-since lost, itself, to some horrible catastrophe. Different pairs might see different kinds of catastrophes. Perhaps it looks like an enormous tsunami swept through, pushing the town out before dragging pieces of it back into the sea. Perhaps it looks like there was some sort of wildfire with only the burned out husks of buildings left. Perhaps there are no signs, at all, just a crater where the town used to be, wiped out by something that fell from space. Whatever might be their worst visions of a decaying future, empty of life, this is it. They've emerged and-
And it's normal again. Just Dogtown, just Gloucester. Characters who fell prey to the daffodils will find that any time they get a whiff of the flowers in Dogtown or elsewhere, they will have brief, recurring visions of being in that desolate landscape, of the horrors that await in some future they haven't reached, yet.
(cw: potential for mild public humiliation, paranoia, altered perceptions, insects, claustrophobia/choking/suffocating, body horror/tooth horror)
After a certain AI's foray into the world of stealing account passwords, on top of other instances of cyber security lapses by new arrivals, ADI has decided to implement mandatory cyber security classes. It's not enough to prove you can use a modern phone and computer, everyone who arrives will be asked to attend at least one course put on by the Staff Development and Information Technology departments. Or perhaps you've proved your mettle already and are one of the ones actually teaching these courses. The topics covered are wide ranging, but some seminar highlights for this month include:
Cyber Security Awareness - What makes a good password? Why do we have those? What even is two-factor authentication. This course is your basic introduction to cyber security and teaches things like don't give everyone your password on the public network. Don't download anything that hasn't been pre-approved by IT - devices are locked to prevent this, but don't get wily. And if you see something, say something in terms of any oddities in your devices. IT would rather tell you there's nothing wrong than deal with something worse getting through.
Brute Forcing It - An interactive class where participants will create passwords and have a paired participant attempt to brute force hack it. Pairs are allowed to ask each other questions, but nothing will be compelling honesty. Better get sly if you want to hack your compatriot's login. If you manage it, you'll receive a congratulations and gift card to a local coffee shop. If you're the one whose password was successfully hacked… you get nothing apart from a stern lecture about picking a better password. Get to know your fellows and see if you can rise above them on the field of cyber battle.
Spooky Threats - A rundown of potential supernatural threats that have entered into this digital age. Worried someone is spying on you through a camera lens, even when your device is off? It's very possible. There are some Eye-based avatars with that sort of technopathy available to them. Worried you might have a bug in the machine? Have you considered that this is literally the case? The Corruption has a strong foothold, particularly in the social media space. Digital tech also tends to interact in strange ways with the supernatural. Participants will be able to take photos with their phones of a few different artifacts brought up from the lower levels and kept in a display case. They'll be able to see the strange warping and static effects associated with the photos as a first step to identifying supernatural phenomenon.
The artifacts brought up aren't the most dangerous in ADI's catalog, thankfully, but there will be reprimands and getting kicked out of the class for those who can't keep their hands to themselves. The objects include:
- A flute that induces severe migraines and temporary synesthesia when touched;
- A doodlebug pen that makes it feel like there's something crawling up your back for several minutes after touching it;
- A ticket stub for a car parking lot that looks perpetually damp. There is the scent of gasoline and a tightening in your throat the longer it's held;
- A wax apple that makes you want to bite into it, to consume it, to smile as your teeth turn to wax.
(cw: references to violence and death; scopophilia)
April's dawn has come to the seemingly endless nights of March as nightmares fade and the monster howling at the door goes silent. The days are growing longer, but they feel longer still than they are when the night no longer holds so many dangers.
The peace feels uncertain at first, but as the days and nights go on the shadow woman does not make her reappearance. A few at ADI voice the hope that she might actually be dead following the destruction of multiple shades. Others are more doubtful, claiming that they saw her as recently as the night of April 1st and that not all of the shades were caught and killed. The official word from the top is that she's all too likely to still be alive and field agents are on the watch for her to re-emerge in Gloucester or some other, easier target. Investigations around town in search of bolt holes and places she'd been spotted turn up nothing but the occasional drift of black sand…and, in a few too many places to be easily dismissed as coincidence, wax dripped on the ground or intermingled with the sand. Some characters may have suspicions about what this is, others may simply have questions.
Whatever ADI's lingering misgivings, the city of Gloucester is grateful for the reprieve, and more openly grateful for the help of ADI than ever before. Officially, the spring festival thrown in a city park near ADI headquarters is a show of gratitude for ADI's assistance during the blackouts that recently plagued the city and inspired an unprecedented crime wave. Unofficially, ADI quite suddenly has the city council's logistical support as well as its ear, and the festival is a thank you for quite a bit more than providing a few backup generators to local businesses.
Eat! Drink! Celebrate! There's live music as well as jugglers, stage magicians, and basically any entertainers that could be brought in on short notice on the promise of tips–that is to say, an effort was made but this is not exactly Las Vegas. There are homemade carnival games that have clearly made the rounds of a few community festivals and elementary school carnivals: bean bag toss, plinko, mini golf, and more. Try your skill at musical chairs or run an egg relay race with your friends. Get your face painted, jump in the bouncy castle, or volunteer for the dunk tank–no one will judge you (probably).
On the more sedate side of things, there are local crafters selling their wares. There's also food and beer from local businesses, with ADI staff receiving a generous handful of tokens to exchange for each. Or you might just want to take a stroll among the spring flowers further from the hubbub of the festival proper; they're coming in nicely now (including the daffodils). And if the spots on that one flower looked like eyes for a moment, or if you feel like you're being watched in the gardens–that's just nonsense. It's a beautiful sunny day, and you deserve to relax and enjoy yourself.
- ARRIVAL (Apr 1 - 31): Two people will always arrive in the same general location together. Arrivals occur throughout the early month, not all on the same day or in the same place. Arrivals are not naturally fluent in English/other languages immediately upon arrival. Characters may attempt to evade capture, but they will eventually be snagged before they can leave the building. PC's already in-game are more than welcome to interact with and try to guide new PC's to get them oriented. Please refer to the Arrival page for details regarding the arrival and onboarding process.
- THE FLOWERS CAME EARLY (Apr 1 - 31): Characters are welcome to find the odd relic from the 1800s tucked away in the cellar. ADI's IT department will be happy to help with listing it on places like eBay or Facebook Marketplace to sell to potential collectors. They'll also offer to just buy it for a few hundred dollars to avoid the hassle and then gift it to a relevant museum for the tax write-off. Players can come up with any catastrophic scenario they would like for this prompt. We would just ask that you pay particular mind to listing content warnings as they arise. Pressing the GPS Device's button while in the 'other' place will result in the device making a crackling error sound. It will work as soon as the vision stops. The recurring visions will last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes and will be all-encompassing. Whatever the character is doing, wherever they are, they will feel like they're in this destroyed world. These recurring visions can carry past the April timeframe, should players want that.
- CTRL + ALT + DELETE (Apr 1 - 31): All characters will be asked to attend at least one cyber security lesson, whether they're a new arrival or someone old hat. If your character has the skills to actually teach these classes, you may handwave that they are an instructor, rather than a participant. For the Spooky Threats option, anyone who touches the artifacts (and is caught by the instructor) will be verbally rebuked in front of the entire class before being sent out. Characters will receive explicit instructions not to touch the artifacts when they're first brought in, and will be informed they're things that ADI is still trying to figure out how to destroy as they're surprisingly resilient to the usual flamethrower/incineration method.
- DAWNING REALIZATIONS (Apr 8 - 11): As far as anyone can tell, Katie Dunn is no longer in Gloucester and no immediate threat has arrived to replace her. Characters who killed or injured one or more of her shades have been commended with an internal announcement, a bonus to their pay, and a gift card for frozen yogurt. And yes, the flowers do occasionally have eyes, but it's probably fine. If examined in detail, the wax is high-quality and scented to smell just a little bit like a campfire.
no subject
I promise, [ he says, glancing over with a small smile of his own. ] My mate, Aras, he's had me on a whole vegan kick lately. I'll never hear the end of it if he smells this on me.
[ There's something oddly comforting about talking about Aras like that, like he's just some bloke Ade's friends with and not a two-meter-tall alien with the physicality of a mid-sized tank. It makes Ade's life feel almost close-to-normal. Almost.
He turns his attention back to the menu. His smile falters. ]
Though I'm probably not going to see him again for a while. Am I?
no subject
[She shakes her head, mock-mournful at the loss of all that dairy. The secondary comment catches her off-guard before she realizes that she vaguely recognizes him as someone who's been around the ADI building. So... another displaced person. Her expression tightens.]
Probably not for a while. But we're all working on that, yeah? I'm Donna, by the way. [She lowers her voice.] Earth, 2008. You?
no subject
I'm Ade, [ he says finally. ] 2376. Planet's complicated.
[ So's everything else. But for now, he'll cling to the normalcy of grabbing some greasy fair food with a new acquaintance. He shifts to the side, moving from merely perusing the menu to actively standing in line. ]
One burger, [ he vows, with exaggerated solemnity. ] You have full permission to smack me if I get any greedier than that.
no subject
[She joins him.]
So, I'm guessing... born on a space ship? Or generally planet hopping?
[She does keep her voice down given... well, she's going to sound like a nutter, otherwise.]
no subject
[ Surely Aras wouldn't object to something as wholesome as fried potatoes. It's not like Ade has to look after his health, either; c'nataat takes care of that for him and quite handily at that. ]
Planet-hopped. Took a one-way trip off Earth a long, long time ago. I wasn't planning on being back anytime soon, but... [ He looks around at their surroundings, at the dizzying blend of complete familiarity and a place rendered alien by circumstance. This planet—any iteration of it—isn't his home anymore. He shrugs, as if this is a minor inconvenience and not an utterly terrifying wrench thrown into what had finally started shaping up to be a livable containment strategy. ] Looks like someone had other plans.
[ He doesn't want to sound pitiful about it—like Donna said, they're all working through the same situation. He glances at her now, this woman from more than 300 years in the past. It's funny—if he'd met her on the street, he never would've guessed. ]
So, [ he says. ] 2008. How are things on your version of Earth?
no subject
[He's sorting it from her perspective, anyway.]
Well, and there's U.N.I.T. Military force that does that sort of thing, too. Can't say they've been around to fix a lot of the big things that came up, though.
So, what had you heading off from Earth?
no subject
Her question gets a shrug. ] My detachment got tapped for a reconnaissance mission. Guess none of us had much keeping us on Earth. [ A small smile, obviously fond. ] And someone had to keep those daft sods alive.
[ It had been the hardest part of choosing to stay on Bezer'ej. Ade had nothing tying him to Earth, nothing to go home to, but the thought that one day his detachment would return and he would stay behind? That was what hurt. He gives a slight shake of his head, trying not to dwell on it now. ]
So who's this doctor? [ he asks. He's not just trying to change the subject; he's genuinely curious. Someone who has the power to single-handedly turn aside alien invasions is an obvious topic of interest given the state of affairs in his own timeline. ] Some kind of alien specialist?
no subject
Time-traveling alien with a space ship that can hop any where or when he wants. He's from a race called Time Lords, if you're familiar? Or maybe... the planet Gallifrey?
no subject
You’re serious? Time travel?
[ Surely she’s having him on. But then, haven’t they all time traveled just to get here? Donna to the future, Ade to the past—if he can accept his current circumstances as real, then nothing Donna is saying is beyond belief. Still, Ade’s expression is nothing short of gobsmacked. ]
Blimey. And I thought the Ebqas were advanced. [ He still thinks they are, to be honest, but a time traveler could prove more than a match for them. No wonder Earth hasn’t been invaded in her timeline. ] What’s he doing protecting Earth? Is there some kind of alliance with the... er... Time Lords?
[ It's a silly name, he has to admit, one that almost has him back to thinking she's having a laugh at him again. He bites his tongue, willing to suspend his disbelief until she gives him a reason not to. ]
no subject
[They're nearly at the front of the queue now.]
We can talk more once we've got our food. [And stepping up.] I'll take a cheeseburger, no mustard, and a basket of fries, extra crispy. [She looks over at Ade.] What's your heartattack pleasure, handsome? My treat, since you're being bad.
no subject
[ Coming from a timeline where humanity had quite quickly cemented an interstellar reputation as a bunch of war-mongering carrion-eaters, the notion that an alien race might actually like humans to the point of free planetary defense is almost as extraordinary as the time-travel aspect. Ade knows the wess'har, with their staunch belief in the total equality of all living things, would have disapproved of such favoritism. Still, as a human himself, Ade can't help but feel some relief knowing there's a universe out there where humans had made friends of their neighbors rather than enemies and victims.
Well... at least one of their neighbors anyway. Given Donna's mention of attempted invasions, humanity still ends up in someone's crosshairs.
He stows the information away as they step up to the counter. The aroma of frying food and hot oil washes over him, familiar scents rendered in dizzying high-definition by wess'har senses. It seems that F'nar's attempts to civilize Ade have only gotten so far; to him, "carrion" still smells as appetizing as anything.
He turns his head in surprise at Donna's offer, a smile stealing across his face at the same time as a blush. ]
Really? [ He glances at the menu again, a little laugh in his voice. ] Well, I won't argue with that. How about... hamburger with all the fixings—hold the bacon—and a side of fries? [ He waits for the order to be wrapped up before adding, with crooked grin, ] It'll only be cheating a little without the bacon and cheese. Right?
no subject
[She hooks a thumb toward a sit-down area. Tables with umbrellas atop them are scattered around along with people eating their own lunches.]
So, tit for tat. I want to hear about all your aliens, if I'm gonna tell you about mine. You mentioned... Ebqas?
no subject
Yeah. Ebqas, wess'har, ussissi, bezeri, isenj... [ He counts them off on his fingers. It's odd, talking about them at a distance like this. It wasn't so long ago that he was among them, embroiled in their politics and daily lives and more deeply entrenched with every passing day—genetically and emotionally. And now he's sitting at a picnic table on Earth, chatting about aliens. It makes Ade feel suddenly self-conscious, like he's talking about a friend behind their back. ]
Wess'har are the ones I'm most familiar with, [ he says, absently studying the wood grain of the table in front of him. He's suddenly aware that he can say whatever he wants. Nothing is classified here—and, he figures, it'd be hard to shock a woman who comes from a universe with Time Lords. ] It's... all kind of FUBAR right now, if I'm being honest. Humanity made first contact a little more than a year ago and we've been bastards about it ever since. Nearly wiped out an entire species trying to get our hands on alien biotech. [ He sighs, adding under his breath: ] We'll damn well deserve it when we get our shit kicked in by the Ebqas.
[ It's not the fun, fantastical description of exotic alien races that would entice most listeners, but what else can he say? The wess'har look a little like seahorse-parrot people and humans had detonated nukes on their planet unprovoked. The bezeri are sentient, bioluminscent squids and now there's barely any left because of the marine fallout. There is nothing Ade can say about the aliens of his world that would be more shocking or pertinent than what humanity had done to them.
He offers Donna a tight-lipped smile. ]
Sorry. None of it's very good small talk, but... [ He shrugs, helplessly. ] That's the state of interstellar relations where I'm from.
cw: mentions of slavery
Let's see. Who've I met? There's... [She starts ticking them off on her fingers.] The Racnoss, the Adipose, the Autons, the Pyroviles, the Ood, the Sontarans, the Hath, a Vespiform, the Mandragora Helix. Starting to run out of fingers here, but you get the picture. There's a lot. Probably spent the most time getting to know the Ood. Sort of, anyway. Humans have been right bastards to them in my future. They're these people with sort of tentacle bits for their mouths and they've naturally got a separated hindbrain that lives outside their body, connected by some sort of... nerve strands, I guess. Anyway, they carry part of their brains around in their hands, so they're about as gentle and non-aggressive as you can get for a race of people, I guess. Humans decided they'd make good slaves, seeing as they didn't fight it.
Me and my mate put an end to all that, though.
no subject
Sounds like us, [ he murmurs. He wouldn't call the wess'har enlightened. Their morality is nearly incomprehensible from a human point of view, at times seeming startlingly noble and at others, starkly psychopathic. But at least they've never kept slaves. They aren't even that good at subjugating prisoners if Ade's experience is anything to go by—though, he has a sneaking suspicion that this is because they usually don't take them.
He takes an idle bite of a French fry, forgetting himself—and has to pause as his thoughts are momentarily interrupted by a wave of pure nostalgia. It's about as stark a juxtaposition as there could be: a confirmation of why he'd given up on ever returning to Earth, alongside a potent reminder that he still misses it. He sighs, a rueful smile appearing on his face. ]
You know, we have potatoes on Bezer'ej—the planet I live on nowadays—but I could never get them to taste quite right. Maybe there's something different about the soil. [ He takes another bite, expression thoughtful. ] I didn't even want to come back after seeing what we'd done. But maybe I still missed Earth anyway.
[ It's an odd contradiction. How can you miss a planet you don't even want to return to? He shakes his head. ]
I dunno. Have you ever lived on another planet? Long-term, I mean.
no subject
Lived there? Nah. We've gone on holiday all sorts of places, but the Doctor isn't the sort of man to settle down one place. Never fancied taking 'the slow path' when you can pop around in time and space. It's always exciting, mind you? Wouldn't mind revisiting a few places, but Earth's home.
[She takes a bite of her own fries.] Best potatoes in the universe, after all. Plus, I've got my granddad back in England. No regrets being so far away? No family or sweethearts left behind?
no subject
He shakes his head at her question, a grimace flashing across his face when Donna mentions family. ]
Nah. The Corps has been my family for most of my life now. And... I guess you could say I was in the process of joining a new family on Bezer'ej.
[ He can't help but blush a little when he says it. He's thinking of Shan and Aras, how agonizingly close they were to making something work when he'd been zapped here, and how badly he'd wanted it. It's one of those horribly tender feelings that would've felt like a blazing neon sign over his head even if it had been a relationship between him and one other person rather than two, and even if one of those people hadn't been an honest-to-God alien.
He crams a few more fries in his mouth to stop himself from accidentally blurting out something even more embarrassing and sentimental—though, for all he knows, none of this is even that exotic to Donna. Hard to imagine anything would be to someone who regularly jets across time and space with this Doctor figure. ]
no subject
[That blush is adorable, and Donna's here for it. Shame that means he's taken, but... well. At least he has a sweetheart somewhere, if not specifically on Earth. This is also a much less fraught topic, as far as she's concerned. Romantic gossip's far more engaging than alien politics.]
Has this family got a name?
no subject
Shan. And Aras.
[ His voice is softer on the second name, eyes flicking towards Donna’s as he says it. It still feels like something that should be a secret on Earth, even though relationships like theirs had been the most natural thing in the world for the wess'har on Bezer'ej. He hasn't even told his detachment; they still think Aras is going to give Ade a good hiding for looking at Shan the wrong way. He realizes, almost belatedly, that Donna might just be the first human he's actually told about the relationship.
In a sudden burst of nerves, he blunders on. ]
I know it's not the most traditional arrangement here, but it's normal for the wess'har. They probably think it's quaint that it's just three of us.
no subject
Hey, mate, if you can get it? Get it. I'd snap you up in a minute, if you weren't taken.
[Handsome, seemingly sweet, a little weird, maybe, and there's the military thing. But he's not some sort of meathead military man by the sound of it.]
cw: toxic masculinity (fine to head for a wrap if you are!)
He picks up his burger, hoping to distract that little voice with food. His enhanced sense of smell definitely helps with that. ]
Anyway, [ he says, managing a small smile. ] Best not let our food get cold, right? Wouldn't be right on a cheat day.
no subject
Right you are! Especially if it's your first taste in ages. Cheers!
[A raise of her burger to him in salute before chowing down.]