redstringtheories

Entry tags:

!tdm

TDM #1

➥ 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.) 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.)

➥ Sticks and Stones

(cw: hallucination, potential mind-control)

Weird things happen in Dogtown, everyone knows it. The Apocalypse Disruption Initiative (ADI) is not above taking advantage of that to test out the waters for its newest arrivals. They're not looking to send anyone to their death, though. That's far too much paperwork, you'd been assured with a wink from the employee who'd directed you to the park trailhead. You've been left with another person. 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, there seems to be something odd afoot with the stones around the park. Instead of the questionably useful advice they offer, there is, instead, something embarrassingly or horrifically true about you carved into the stone. Trying to show your companion or gauge their reaction will net nothing; they will simply see their own truth. It's only when you admit to what's on the stone that it seems to become visible to others or any camera in your possession.

Take a picture. The least you deserve for the trouble is some money.

➥ I Will Survive

"We'll have others with you, but all of you will be out on your own for missions, so to speak," the ADI employee who had led you down to the underground training facility explained. "You'll need to have some basic skills. Even if you're not going out soon or ever… it's safer to know these things."

Basic skills, in this case, appear to mean survival and weapons training. The room you've been brought to on Floor B3 below ADI Headquarters is a massive, underground gym, and there are sections set up for various skills practice. One side of the gym is dedicated to fighting: bare-knuckles, wrestling, knives, and tasers are all out on display. There are also a few guns, but those are reserved for people who can prove they can manage the other weapons first. The other side has areas for fire-making, building a shelter, navigating without a phone, supply preparation, cooking, and basic first-aid. Through a side door, there's also a small pool where people are being taught the basics of swimming.

Any or all of these skills would be useful in a dangerous situation, and there aren't enough native ADI employees to cover training for all of them. If you show that you're proficient with something, you'll be asked to man one of the areas to assist in training others. If you're at a loss and looking lost, you will be pushed toward whatever skills practice area is physically closest to you, whether you wanted to learn anything about that or not. Best make the most of it… and try not to kill anyone or burn anything down.

Even those who have refused ADI Housing and taken themselves to Bonnie's Flophouse will find that they're welcome for this training under the strict understanding that no supernatural abilities will be used. Bonnie will have informed them of it and helped them get to ADI to ensure they learn some of the things they might need to survive... and also just to bond with the people they'll be working with for the foreseeable future.

➥ Shifting Perspective

(cw: body horror, implication of near-drowning, violence, potential for blood, gore, drowning, death)

The beaches around Gloucester are numerous and varied with reported supernatural activity at many, if not most of them. For those working with ADI, they'll receive the direction in a mass email from Reyes Amador, the assistant to the Head of ADI. For those not technically working at ADI, Bonnie will provide the same information.

All,

We have received reports of strange noises and sightings at Coffin Beach. Please take at least one other person and investigate. A $300 bonus will be offered to those who bring back evidence of the source of these reports.

Take Care of Yourselves,
Reyes

Those who head to Coffin Beach will find that the sand beneath their feet squeaks softly with each step, like the faint sound of a poorly-maintained hinge protesting their movements. It makes stealth especially difficult, and those who wish to maintain their cover would do well to stay farther up into the vegetation and off the beach, itself. There aren't any houses out this way, just coastal marshes, the beach, and some higher ground with low-growing shrubs, tall grasses, and thin trees.

For the patient, those who wait for night to fall, they will be rewarded when they hear the sound of someone crying. Searching the beach, they will be able to spot a young person who appears to have washed up in a kayak on the beach. The young person is visibly injured in some way with blood coming out of them. Those who approach cautiously may get the sense that there is something not quite right about this person. Man or woman, their face is too long, their angles too sharp.

There is something wrong. It's not the injury.

There is something very wrong with what this person is.

They will not respond to any calls or move from where they lie, half-submerged in the surf. Anyone who approaches within a few feet will discover they're not nearly as helpless as they seem to be, though. The person will burst from the water with a powerful thrust, attempting to tackle anyone nearby and bite them. The person's face transforms into a long, fanged maw, trying to rip and tear and drag their prey into the ocean with them, away from any safety.

➥ Mod Notes

ARRIVAL: 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. Please refer to the Arrival page for details regarding the arrival and onboarding process.
STICKS AND STONES: If so desired, to facilitate CR, characters may feel themselves compelled to ask about the stones when they see their truth written on it. Resisting the compulsion will become more and more difficult as time goes on.
I WILL SURVIVE: Characters may be students or trainers in this scenario. They might be able to get away with small displays of supernatural abilities if they want to risk it and if they find themselves with the necessary reserves of power. Anything significant will have them immediately removed and asked not to return to ADI for a few days.
SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE: Characters may fight off, capture, or kill the creature. If they successfully capture it and bring it back to ADI (or call for someone to come and do that for them), they will receive a significant monetary bonus beyond the promised $300 for their work. If characters successfully kill and document the kill, they will also receive the bonus and instructions to push the body out to sea. If a character is taken by the creature, they will be killed. Please bear in mind that if a character dies in the TDM prompt, they are dead. A different version who doesn't have TDM memories may be apped in their place.
↬ Main Navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ooc: spoilers for Persona 5 Royal!]

A. Arrival

[Goro Akechi wakes up.

That, in and of itself, is surprising enough. When the world had faded to white and shattered around him, he'd fully expected that to be the end. For a moment, as he comes back to himself, the he considers the idea that he might be in his own, fully-deserved, hell.

He just hadn't expected hell to smell so strongly like cleaning products.

And be so annoyingly cramped. In the darkness, he can't tell what's jabbing into his side -- if he didn't know better, he'd think it was a broom handle. One breath, two, then he shifts experimentally, bending his knees, his elbows, cautiously rotating his neck. He still can't see anything, but he's alive. Or at the very least, he's not fully dead, and that's about to become someone else's problem.

With a wordless growl, he lunges forward what little he can, scattering what sounds like cleaning supplies here and there, banging gloved fists against every wall in an attempt to find the door and break it fucking open. If you're outside, it just sounds something like a wild animal trying its best to escape.

If you're inside, well. Watch your head.]

B. Sticks and Stones

"Find and record paranormal activity," is it?

[A young man in a sweater vest and khakis stands at the entrance of the park, unfolding the map and glancing over it with evident boredom and thinly-veiled annoyance. A beat, then he folds the map and turns toward his partner, shaking his head with a sigh.]

Well, let's get this little "orientation" over with, shall we?

C. I Will Survive

Hm.

[For a boy who looks to be barely out of high school, Akechi seems more than comfortable with the weapons on display. With an expert's precision, he checks to see if the pistol he'd chosen is loaded, weighs it in his hand, ensures the safety is on. He slips protective earmuffs over his ear and sights down the barrel downrange toward the target.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Two shots to the chest, one to the heart. His eyes remain cold and dispassionate as he surveys his handiwork with a soft hum and removes his earmuffs.]

If nothing else, they certainly seem well-prepared. I wonder how seriously the police here take firearms licenses?

D. Wildcard!

[None of these work for you? Want to do something else? Use this prompt here! Akechi can generally be found anywhere exploring both the building and the town, generally trying to familiarize himself with everything. He'll accompany someone for shifting perspectives as well!]

(Akechi has come to his senses much quicker than Ren has, honestly speaking. He swears he's even hearing a faint ringing in his ears, the world spinning and his pressure dropping from his arrival and he swears his knees might as well give in and have him fall onto the floor.

Except-- Before he even has time to process this abrupt welcoming, there's already a godforsaken noise of someone making chaos out of despair, and he follows the sound to offer a gentle hand to the forearm, or hopefully the forearm, as he gathers all his bearings to finally speak.)

Don't worry. We'll find the door.

Edited 2021-07-06 00:34 (UTC)

[Well, Ren can certainly try for his arm. In all the ruckus of trying to scramble his way free, Akechi doesn't quite hear the voice for what it is. Instead, he feels trapped, not alone, VULNERABLE and his head snaps back in that heady mixture of intent and instinct that accompanies a fight for his life. With any luck, he'll headbutt his attacker. With more luck, he might break its nose.

But he's never been lucky.]

Get your hands off me!

(BANG echoes in his already sore brain from the impact on his forehead, and Ren sends a hand to the assaulted spot as he takes a step back, crashing accidentally on the shelf and sending more plastic containers flying onto the floor. Luckily, because he is not Akechi, none fall on his head.

... But he recognizes the voice. He's heard it unhinged rather often by now.)

Akechi? It's Ren.

Ren?

[It's as much snarl as statement as Akechi goes still. The only sound is the residual echoes from full containers and empty buckets clattering around in his attempts to break free, and his own ragged breathing. It doesn't help him feel any less trapped, but the sound of Ren's voice is some small comfort, to be sure, if only as a source of familiarity.

He bites back another growl and, more carefully this time, starts trying to feel around the walls. Focus. Think. Think.]

A Palace shouldn't collapse physically like this, so where the fuck are we?

I don't know.

(Don't assume he knows shit about shit. Didn't he get into their whole ordeal blind as well? As per usual, Ren just goes, and that's what he's planning to do. After all, losing it would prove of little advantage, so he just joins the other in his quest to feel the walls until he finds an edge.

Bingo.

He doesn't even have time to dwell on the fact that Akechi wasn't supposed to be here. He might have fought alongside him when the time came, but they fixed their reality. Akechi wasn't supposed to be alive, and it tore him inside the longer he thought about it, but this wasn't the time to discuss these things. They needed a way out first and miraculously, his hand brushes against the doorknob.)

Found it. Ready?

Ready.

[He follows the sound of Ren's voice, taking those few steps closer until his shoulder brushes the other boy's for a sense of his own location. Whether or not this is the Metaverse, whether or not their guns even work, he has no intent of laying down to die. Again.

The door might be locked, but now that he knows where it is, Akechi braces a hand on Ren's shoulder for balance and lashes out with a savage kick. Once, twice, and the door bursts open, bouncing off the wall and nearly slamming back shut in their faces from the impact.

Rather anti-climatically, there's no one on the other side, no ready target for Akechi to take out his anger on and expel the residual fear thrumming through his veins. Instead, to all appearances, it looks like a normal office building. No bright, sterile white lights, no inky-black tendrils of data. No rapturous, false Garden of Eden.

Just an office building.]

Come on, [he says shortly, tugging on one of his gloves to tighten it and striding forward with a confidence he doesn't truly feel.] We aren't going to learn anything by standing here.

Goro Akechi | Persona 5 Royal

honey i'm home - arrival

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

sticks and stones

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

C

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

B

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

i will survive - apologies for no html, i'm on my phone, but feel free to use brackets yourself!

👍