TDM #12

[apocalypsehowmods]

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(NOTE: Changes have been made to our standard Arrival and Dogtown prompts. All players and potential applicants are encouraged to closely review these.)

➥ Arrival

(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.) You might even arrive in a section of building that has been demolished, leaving a pit of rubble open to the sky–hope you're up on your tetanus shots! 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. The one exception is the demolition zone off what used to be one corner of the building: it seems the security teams are keeping a particularly close eye on that area to document new arrivals and bring them in quickly.

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.)

➥ Birdswatching

(cw: scopophobia; paranoia; unnatural animals)

Weird things happen in Dogtown, everyone knows it. And the weird things have been getting worse. Much worse. The rise in dangerous rather than merely uncomfortable or startling phenomena has put an end to ADI's use of Dogtown as a testing ground for new recruits. Under ADI's advisement, the City of Gloucester has officially and indefinitely closed Dogtown to the public, and work is ongoing to construct barriers around the entire park to prevent trespassing. Dogtown's borders are now patrolled by Gloucester law enforcement as well as ADI employees from the Investigations and Security divisions, who document phenomena visible from outside its borders and actively keep people out. New arrivals who volunteer for the work may still find themselves dropped off outside the borders of Dogtown in order to beef up patrols and help document paranormal activity while receiving an introduction to the kind of work ADI does. An employee will give 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, explicitly instruct you not to actually enter Dogtown, and leave you with another person at the edge of the park. 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 record any paranormal activity visible from outside the park. Those who succeed in documenting anything peculiar will receive a $100 reward to be used as they see fit, but those who are caught entering Dogtown in pursuit of such proof will be reprimanded and receive no reward.

This month nothing appears to be out of the ordinary at first glance, which might make the increased vigilance around Dogtown seem like a bit of an overreaction. Sections of the park's border are bustling with contractors installing fences and the new police and ADI patrols are fresh enough to be alert to any hint of danger, but Dogtown itself just looks like an ordinary, if overgrown, park from out here. The sun is shining, there's a pleasant breeze to offset the summer heat, the birds are….

The birds are not singing. There's movement in the trees and undergrowth, to be sure, the sound of small animals going about their business...but no birdsong. No cawing, no hooting, no trilling. That's not to say there aren't any birds, though. Once you start to look for them, you'll spot them among the branches: birds of any species one might expect to find in the area are not only present, but present in higher numbers than normal. And they're all just...staring at you. Watching. Even when you turn away you can feel their beady little eyes on you.

It's when you step out of view that they do start to sing, or at least to make noise. They call back and forth as if to inform each other of your movements, keeping tabs on you, always keeping you within eyesight of at least one bird. They're waiting for something, waiting for the moment in which to attack, waiting for your moment of weakness.

You mustn't be weak. You mustn't give them an opening. But even after you depart the outskirts of Dogtown, they're still watching, all of them, every bird in Gloucester turning its gaze upon you as you pass. They're everywhere, making your skin crawl with the knowledge that no matter where you go or what you do, they know, they see.

Are they the only ones watching? Did that stranger look at you out of the corner of his eye? Is that child watching you from their window? What are they planning? What do they want from you? Is that pity in their gaze, or is it scorn–or is it hidden rage, biding its time? Nowhere is safe. Nowhere are you free from eyes upon you, ears listening at the door.

And the birds keep singing now.

➥ Current Events

(cw: thalassophobia; mild scopophobia)

There aren't many mandatory activities at the Apocalypse Disruption Initiative. The higher-ups prefer not to impose upon their people's free time. Everyone enjoys different things and finds different ways to relax. After recent events, though… they're making one exception: The (newly) Annual Beach Barbeque! The Staff Development Department is keen to help find new ways to get people outside to enjoy what good times there are, and have set up a few different areas for people to engage. Attendance is noted upon arrival to a particular section of the beach where the events are being held. Those who fail to turn up will find their pay docked and persistently encouraging emails to the effect that they might want to visit the Counseling Center if they're having trouble connecting with people.

Riptide
Surf and boogie boards, both, have been laid out on the beach, ready for someone to pick up and hit the surf. The waves in Gloucester aren't much to write home about, but they make an easy start for beginners. Care should be taken, though. There are reports of some rip currents in the area that seem to crop up unexpectedly. You might find yourself suddenly pulled out much farther than you expected. And the ocean stretches out into the horizon, far, far bigger than you might expect. The shore seems so far away.

If you're lucky, you're not alone out here because getting back to shore seems a daunting task, indeed. Or maybe you're playing lifeguard and spot someone in need of help. Be quick! It's unclear just how much danger these waters hold.

Poseidon Quivers
ADI recognizes that not everyone may want to actually get into the water. There are tools (some simpler, some more sophisticated) for designing sand art, whether it's a castle, a more elaborate statue, or some sort of trench to bury your enemies. One of the native ADI staff is also encouraging those with an artistic flair in the sand arts to teach others. Maybe you're learning something new or maybe you're a student. Either way, you're bound to get covered in an unpleasant amount of sand. Some of it tingles in a way that leaves patches of skin feeling numb long after the sand has been brushed away. Some might also experience a numbing of their emotions, as well, when affected by the sand. Maybe that makes it easier to deal with all of this…

We Feast Upon the Flesh
What's a barbeque without food? There's the standard fare of hotdogs and burgers (with veggie patties and tofu dogs for those less inclined toward the carnivorous), and then there are the Gloucester 'favorites.' Someone’s had the thought to bring a battery-powered fryer out to the beach, and the scent of truffle fries and fried clams fills the air.

Be careful when eating, though. The seagulls are watching. Waiting. Taking from those who look like the easiest marks. Their gaze is upon you, beady and staring. Even when they're not actively bothering someone, the sense that their little black eyes are observing is intense.

➥ Spot the Difference

(cw: bodily harm, stalking, bullying, altered perception)

Unfortunately, it's not all sun and sand by the seaside. Saving the world never ends, and Sable at the docks has gotten word to ADI that there have been a handful of incidents involving a shipment of goods that are meant to be headed for the General Store. They’re all mundane objects, but there have been some reported mental breakdowns and a few injuries. Before anyone will touch the boxes - and definitely before they’re put on the shelves for customers - someone will need to comb through the boxes to identify exactly what is causing the issue and ADI is paying a bonus for anyone who is willing to shoulder the danger.

The problem? The workers who were affected have no idea what caused any of it. As far as they can remember, they were handling absolutely normal items. Anyone investigating will have to use their own powers of observation to figure out where the danger is coming from. Or possibly trial and error. Because the vague reports do mention that these unlucky workers were touching the objects, heavy gloves and even grabber tools will be provided so that direct contact is not necessary.

The afflicted boxes have been sequestered away in a small warehouse (really more of an oversize shed). There are a handful of them on otherwise bare shelves, as if anything else has been moved somewhere else. For a space that is holding dangerous items it's... Actually it's pretty mundane.

So are the objects that need inspecting. They range from toys to cups to cleaning instruments of all things, all perfectly normal goods. Perfectly normal. Except when they’re not.

The differences that mark out the Entity-touched goods are incredibly easy to miss. As subtle as a face painted on a mug with too-wide eyes or a plush wolf toy…that happens to have one or two little metal teeth tucked away in the back of its open mouth. There’s a crate of fancy silverware sets, engraved with patterns. Most are floral in nature, but somewhere in there, there’s a set where the pattern is more reminiscent of blood... or tears. Maybe spiderwebs.

Touch one of these wrong objects, and suffer the consequences, whether it's an unshakeable sense of being followed (or the conviction that the people closest to you are out to get you, hearing whispers of threats in the voices of your friends) when handling the toy plush, wounds appearing randomly on ones’ body when holding a knife, or the certainty that your body parts are changing in shape or size when handling the mug. One of these things is not like the others.~

➥ Mod Notes

• ARRIVAL (July 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 (or the rubble that used to be part of 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, as well as updated information about the state of ADI Headquarters. During characters' absence in June, it seems ADI finally received the necessary permits to demolish a portion of the building–if asked, NPCs are open about the fact that the demolition was meant to test the theory that destroying Headquarters might prevent further interdimensional arrivals. It hasn't worked.
  
  
• BIRDSWATCHING (July 1-31): Feelings of dread and paranoia regarding birds, humans, and even animals in general will follow exposure to the staring eyes of the birds in Dogtown. Characters who leave the area immediately after noticing the birds' unusual behavior will experience only minor effects; the degree of paranoia and how long it lasts is proportional to the length of time one spends near Dogtown while aware one is being watched by the birds, and the effects may last several days. Hiding under the covers or in a windowless room seems to help, a little.
  
  
• CURRENT EVENTS (July 5-Onward): While the beach barbeque only lasts for one day (the 5th), the supplies for creating sand sculptures and various water-based sports will be available for the rest of the summer for characters to avail themselves of, either as a learner or as an instructor. Escape from the riptide is possible without outside assistance, but will be challenging. There is a distorted perception of just how far away the shore is. While the sand can be collected for analysis, there will be nothing scientifically notable about it. Even removed from the beach, though, some of it seems to cause intermittent numbness (both physical and emotional). This will be an ongoing effect.
  
  
• SPOT THE DIFFERENCE (July 15-31): As indicated in the prompt, contact with the afflicted items will result in various different effects. With some of them, gloves will be enough to prevent characters from being affected, though others might be stronger (this is up to player discretion.) Feel free to play with the established effects or create your own, though please use content warnings for anything not already mentioned in the prompt. The effect from these objects will last for an hour or two and then fade away.
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Comments

[worthallthis]

The look Winder gives him (or, well, his left cheekbone) is vaguely disgruntled. "Didn't you pay any attention in orientation. The fear entities. Gods. Whatever they are. They use everything around us to try and scare people, to get power. Sometimes it's phone cases. Sometimes it's dolls." He looks back at the gulls and guesses, "This one might be the Eye."

Since there was that book warning them in the library list. And all the stupid birds are staring.

[easilyamused]

He notes that the man doesn't quite meet his gaze - interesting, that, though it doesn't necessarily signify anything in particular - and his eyebrows lift slightly at the irritation.

"I paid attention," he says. It's a little dry, a little exasperated, because the whole thing still sounds incredibly ridiculous. "But I wasn't expecting magic pigeons."

Sorry, seagulls. You've been downgraded.

"Seems like a lot of effort to go to for not very much reward."

[worthallthis]

"Unless they have avatars, little things like this is all they can do." Winter steps back, shaking his head a little, turning away from the gulls but listening to them in case they get closer again. "The more little fears add up, the more they'll be able to do. And the watching isn't all these do. They make you feel watched even after they're gone. It's. Uncomfortable."

Understatement, there, given how paranoid Winter is under the best of circumstances.

[easilyamused]

"Given the cameras up everywhere, I'm surprised everyone doesn't already feel watched all the time," Methos says dryly. Coming from 2001, the sheer amount of surveillance everywhere - not just on ADI grounds, but everywhere - came as a bit of culture shock.

"Avatars - those are like the high priests of the fear gods, yeah? Not physical manifestations of gods on Earth?"

See, he has been paying attention. And maybe even doing a little extracurricular reading.

[worthallthis]

"Cameras can be avoided." Winter does so almost below the level of thought, at this point, it's that trained into him. "Birds are harder to avoid. People are harder to avoid. Besides, it's a magic feeling thing, it's not really being watched."

He glances over his shoulder at the gulls, one of which had tentatively hopped closer, and glares at it until it hops back again.

"Avatars are people who have given the fear entity more of themselves, in exchange for power. And they spread fear more powerfully. We recently killed a few." Hopefully killed them, anyway.

[easilyamused]

"Are you sure about that?" Methos asks, and gestures towards the gulls. "They seem pretty watchful."

But inclined to keep their distance as long as the large, cranky man who's clearly willing to kick them is in the area. Which is unusually intelligent for seagulls, at least the ones he remembers from Seacouver.

"When you say more of themselves, what does that mean, exactly? I'd read that they often have cults, but that sounds a little more involved than your usual satanic baptism."

[worthallthis]

"Not always. Katie Dunn didn't have a cult. She just had... a lot of selves. She could break off her shadows into clones, and then when you killed the clone it wouldn't hurt her." Winter scowls, he still kind of hates Katie Dunn, then shakes his head. "It take you. The entity's power. It makes you want more. And the more you scare people for it, the stronger it gets, the more of you it gets. I have one. I try not to feed it, because it's wrong." And because he doesn't want to be controlled ever, ever again. "But I know what it feels like."

[easilyamused]

That sounds bad - not the cloning woman, that just sounds like a bad movie - but the consuming power, fed by cruelty. Not just bad, but familiar. His reaction is subtle, a slight increase of tension in his spine, a shift of his attention off the birds and onto Winter.

"What happens when you kill them?" he asks. It sounds like academic interest, but the signs are there. "Avatars, or people with a connection to these entities? Does the power redirect somewhere? Someone else who's attached to the same one, or some other-" another flick of his hand towards the gulls "-vessel?"

[worthallthis]

Yeah, he notices the signs. He can't necessarily explain what they're pointed to, but he can tell the guy has some vested interest in the answer. "I don't know," Winter admits. "When I killed one, I didn't see any power going anywhere. It might just go back to the entity. Or it might dissipate harmlessly. Or it might stay with the body, trapped there. The one I killed kept trying to reassemble herself, until we buried parts of her in separate places."

[easilyamused]

He blinks at that, long and slow, then gives himself a brief shake as though throwing off an unpleasant mental image. Which it is.

Especially if you're imagining it from the perspective of the person reassembling.

"Are you sure she stopped? Some dead woman's hands tunnelling through the earth to reunite with the rest of her certainly sounds like something out of a horror story."

[worthallthis]

"We tested it by burying most of her pieces in sand and ashes first," Winter promises grimly. "The pieces stopped moving. We buried other pieces further away, more hidden, just in case some asshole came across the rest and cleaned it up, or something."

[easilyamused]

"Hopefully deep enough to keep the cadaver dogs at bay," Methos says, tone dry, the line of his mouth twisting in a small grimace, as though the idea of cadaver dogs coming across the pieces of a dismembered woman is one he finds, shall we say, unappealing.

In truth, it really isn't a pleasant thought, but he's seen - and done - far worse.

"Was there beheading and a wooden stake involved? Or just sand and ashes - and why those, by the way?"

[worthallthis]

"No, a grenade," Winter says matter-of-factly. "We blew her up. Because bullets and knives weren't enough. The sand was an accident, until we found out it worked. We were just trying to find a way to keep her from reforming. I don't know why it worked, just that it did. Maybe because her power was fire. Sand douses fire."

[easilyamused]

He just...looks at Winter for a long moment, then sighs and shakes his head. "If you're trying to pull one over on me, you have the best poker face I've ever seen."

Which doesn't mean he necessarily believes the story Winter's telling - just that the man himself believes it.

[worthallthis]

"I am very good at poker," Winter says, expression and tone exactly the same.

Okay, that was, in fact, meant as a joke. Expression and tone included as what makes it funny, in Winter's head.

But then he shakes his head, and is truly sober, maybe even weary. "You'll see. If you're here for more than a week or two, you'll see. Just don't scare people on purpose to get power. I wouldn't want to have to throw a grenade at you, too."

[easilyamused]

There's a second's pause, then Methos chuckles, putting a slightly-nervous edge on it that isn't genuine, though the amusement itself is. "You are good."

He pauses, then frowns slightly. "I'm a college professor, not an evil magician. I don't think I've ever scared anyone with anything worse than an exam, and then only if they never bothered to show up to class. But what do you mean, if I'm here for more than a week or two? I thought we were here because there's nowhere else to go."

[worthallthis]

"No one knows why we're here. Or how to get us back to our own worlds. But people disappear." Winter shrugs, looking back out over the ocean. Thinking a little bit of Meredith. "Probably dead. But we just don't know."

[easilyamused]

"No bodies? That's ominous." He follows the slant of Winter's glance, and shudders a little for real. As bad ways to die go, lost at sea is up there.

"Are you sure they're not being kept somewhere?"

[worthallthis]

"If they are, nobody's found them. Could be the ran off, the world's a big place." He doubts Strange ran off, though. Or Meredith. "Could be they got eaten by monsters. Or dumped in the ocean. Or buried in concrete. Or sucked into yet another dimension."

His mostly-forgotten background in sci fi mingling with his skillset for disappearing people.

[easilyamused]

"Cheerful prospects," Methos says, tone dry enough that it should reduce the coastline to desert. Alas, the water remains, lapping hungrily at the sand.

"I noticed 'found a way home' isn't anywhere on your list." Which is...not a surprise. If escape were easy, why would anyone have stayed at all.

[worthallthis]

Winter knows dry. He's very good at dry. He snorts at the comment.

Then, more seriously, "If some of the missing people had found a way home. They would've told the rest of us." He shakes his head. "And I. Don't think the entities would let us go so easily."

[easilyamused]

"Even if they weren't sure the door back would still be there if they took the time to tell you?" he asks, eyebrows lifting. "You have a lot of faith in your friends."

Then again, he could easily see MacLeod doing exactly that - but MacLeod is a rarity, and too altruistic by half.

"So you think these entities had a direct hand in bringing us here?"

[worthallthis]

"ADI didn't. And a lot of us come in with connections to one of them already. It's the only explanation that makes sense with the available intel." It's occurred to him that there might be some other power out there that brought them, specifically to fight the entities, but he hasn't seen any sign of it, so he's relegated the theory to wishful thinking.

[easilyamused]

He's about to ask after proof of ADI's lack of involvement - that's a great deal to take on faith - but the man continues speaking, and the latter statement seems far more immediately important. He can always circle back.

"Connections from back home, or do they latch on somewhere during the transition?"

[worthallthis]

"On transition, or shortly after," Winter says, sounding vaguely annoyed by it. "My world doesn't have magic." That he knows of, anyway. He's very sure it doesn't have giant fear entities, at the very least. "I'm enhanced through scientific means. Or I was. And I had one my first day here. Anyone who is something other than human in their world. Lands here with that connection."