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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
He's not great at things like this. Not calm and sure like Slim, not wise like Candy. He presses his lips together and resists the impulse to reach out. He wouldn't want to be touched if he was close to shattering. He'd never recover.
He draws a deep, steadying breath for his own benefit. Part of him is close to that place. It's not the easiest looking into a mirror and potentially seeing the future.]
You're gonna sit a bit outta the way here with me. You're gonna breathe an'...an' anchor yourself. There ain't a God damn other thing you gotta do right now, hear? Ain't a God damn other thing to do. An' if anybody comes over here to bother us, I'm gonna give 'em Hell. Awright?
cw: suicidal ideation
After a long moment, he finally manages a nod. ] Alright. [ he says, his voice a wan imitation of resolve. ] I can do that.
[ And he does. Just sits there and breathes and tries to reduce the entire world, the entire galaxy, to those two things.
The panic rolls over him in waves. He thinks first of Shan and Aras, and what they must be going through. He thinks of c'nataat, of what will be done to him and others should it be revealed, if it hasn't been already. And he thinks of what he'd be willing to do to prevent that from happening. Fragmentation, he thinks. Or a long, slow dive into the deepest, darkest part of the ocean. He'd consigned Lindsay and Rayat to the same fate. Doesn't he deserve the same?
The thought should terrify him—does terrify him—but it grounds him, too. It's an emergency switch—something that could still be in his power to do, even here.
He finally opens his eyes, though his gaze remains low. He can't bring himself to meet George's gaze, not now. ]
I'm sorry, [ he says after a moment, swallowing around the shame in his throat. ] Always was a panicker.
no subject
He glances down at the pavement between his work boots, pebbled up concrete he brushes his fingers over in an idle pass, feeling the grit. There's something calming about that, something no different from 1936 to now.
When he speaks again, he grunts and shakes his head.]
Ain't nothin' to be sorry about. If it makes ya' feel any better, I almost took a swing at the guy who found me.
[It's not quite true. He hadn't tried to punch Jaeger. For one the guy was a hulking giant almost a full foot taller than him, and for another he had a thoughtful, academic air about him that would've made punching him feel like punching a professor. It's less about the truth than trying to help him get past this initial very big bump in his road.]
no subject
I’m glad I didn’t take a swing at you.
[ It’d almost be a non-sequitur if Ade didn’t say it with such sincerity. George seems decent, decent enough to stick by a panicking stranger when he could’ve just walked away—and any sort of violence would've been an unnecessary infection risk. The thought brings a renewed pinch to Ade’s brow. Seconds before, he had been certain that he was brought to this place for c’nataat. Now, he doesn’t know what to think, nor whether he should be relieved or disquieted by that fact.
He finally turns his head to meet George’s gaze. There’s still a far-off look in his eyes, though at least it’s not as bad as the wide, staring blankness from before. ]
Where were you? [ Ade asks. ] Before you showed up here.
no subject
[It's said with an easy sort of humor, a slight crinkling of his eyes with a faint, quick half smile.
He lets out a soft huff at the question, the smile going more grimace.]
I was hangin' one on at Susy's. When I waked up in that damn metal tube, I thought somebody was playin' a helluva stupid prank. Ol' George drunker 'n a skunk, 'cept I don't think I was all that drunk yet.
no subject
He doesn't have much opportunity to dwell on it. George's answer surprises him, mostly because it sounds so ordinary. There are a dozen different reasons a shadowy organization might want to pluck someone off an alien planet, even without knowledge of c'nataat. But why would they want to abduct some poor bloke who'd just been enjoying a drink at a bar? ]
And you can't think of any reason someone would've wanted to... [ Now, Ade grimaces. ] kidnap you? Bring you to a place like this?
[ There must be some kind of logic behind it. Furthest from Ade's mind is the possibility that any of this could have been random. ]
no subject
Naw.
[It comes out with particular emphasis because...it's just so stupid and makes no sense. Him? He couldn't name a single reason if his life depended on it. From what little he has already been told? It just might, sooner rather than later.]
I'm jes' a guy who works ranches. Nothin' special 'bout me at all.
[Not anymore.]
no subject
It only occurs to him now that perhaps his own abduction was just as random—it would certainly explain why they'd let him just wander out of the building. ]
Christ, [ Ade breathes, a hand coming up to scrub at his face. ] Do you think... Do you think they could've brought us here on accident?
[ The possibility is almost painful to consider. Billions upon billions of people they could've dragged to their sodding office park and it had to be the one of the five c'nataat hosts in existence. It sounds like some awful cosmic joke. ]
no subject
I'll set here with you as long as you want. I think when you's ready, we can head on up there an' find out together. Hell, you prob'ly got better questions than I do.
[He doesn't want to rush him. He hopes putting forth the idea that maybe somebody does have answers, more satisfying ones than he can give, might help him come to terms with it a little more.]
no subject
They've let us sit out here for this long, [ he murmurs, as if he's trying to convince himself. ] That's probably a good sign.
[ His entrance hadn't been particularly stealthy and it sounds like neither had George's; that means someone's showing restraint in letting them take their time out here. Ade takes a deep breath and shakes out his hands, trying to rid them of the cold pins and needles that have settled there. ]
I'm just gonna work myself up again if we stay out here for too long, [ he says, grimacing. His eyes rise to meet George's gaze, and in that moment he's struck by the sudden fear that he'll never see the man again—that one or both of them will be swallowed up by circumstances beyond their control, whether malicious or benign. After being so suddenly ripped from Aras and Shan, the fear of disappearing once more—or being disappeared—is still fresh in his mind. ]
Look, George, [ he says, brow furrowed. ] Maybe things really will be fine, but... if something happens or they split us up—let's try to find each other afterwards, yeah? Make sure we both made it out alright.
[ Ade intends to do the same for George, assuming he has any say in it at all. He owes the man that much—at the very least. ]
no subject
He stays quiet to let him work it through himself, get his thoughts in order. Once he hears the proposal, he doesn't have to think twice to decide.
Whether it's because Lennie broke something in him or built it up instead, the result's the same. He'll step up to the bat.]
You got it.
[He offers a solid nod.]
I'm ready when you are.
no subject
And if it's not... Ade's not sure what he'll do. Bide his time, wait for a way out, one way or another. Violence isn't an easy solution when your blood's a biohazard, but if there's one thing c'nataat has given him, it's a way to patiently endure almost anything. Shan had proven as much herself.
At last, Ade rises to his feet, taking one last steadying breath as he turns back towards the building behind them. ]
Alright, [ he says, grim-faced as he nods to George. ] Let's get this over with.