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redstringtheories2021-07-04 06:36 pm
TDM #1
(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: 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.
"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.
(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.
- 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.
Pope Creek | oc
Pope doesn't know what to think about all of this. He's dealt with spiders and creepy sounds and he's feeling kind of at home. Now they're sending them out into the creepy woods and, well, he's feeling right at home.
Now he's there on the edge of a trail with a camera in hand and someone else tagging along while he hunts down paranormal information. He's been assured they won't let them die. He's heard that story before, and the reassurance is anything but. Especially with someone else there with him.
He's torn on that. He's used to being alone but if there's something or someone out there looking to kill him, having someone he can sacrifice to them isn't the worst idea. So he offers his best smile, all cheery and joy as he gives them a curious look.
"You ever done anything like this before? Not my first hunt, I admit."
I will survive
Living his life in the woods, Pope knows a lot about survival skills. So he throws himself into the hand to hand combat first, enjoying himself as he gestures for someone to come closer.
"Come on. Try it." His look is casual and friendly, but he is a skilled and aggressive fighter with a hunger for blood.
He is doing great with the hands on camping skills, willing to show others how to start fires and other off the land skills he's learned. He's doing great.
Right until he gets to the pool.
He stares at it, glancing back at another and then at the pool.
"How deep you think it is?"
Most of his time in water hasn't been in this form, and he hasn't really learned how to swim. He was much more on the side of drowning people not swimming with them.
Shifting Perspective
There's an ease in the dark and in the woods. It's natural, even if these aren't his woods. This isn't what he's known but it's familiar and comfortable as he slips along the edge of the trees, looking down along the beach. He is all about collecting the money. Not that he's ever cared much about it, but he has been having fun about whatever the hell this place is, and he is enjoying playing along with their games.
So when he sees the body on the beach, catches the scent of blood, he feels like his gut it knotting up. Others have come and gone all night, he's heard them along the beach, and now he's watching as another heads onto the sand and heads down towards the injured party.
Suddenly it all seems to sync in his mind. The blood. The prone body. The lack of acknowledgement to draw others in. He knows it because he's done it!
He doesn't even think about it, rushing forward just as it lunges for the other person. The sound he makes isn't entirely human, shouting out in what is more a roar than yelling as he rushes forward. He's not usually the hero but he can be on helluva jealous monster as he tries to get between this creature and their intended victim.
(ooc: Pope is a cryptid with shapeshifting abilities to hold a human form when it suits him. He's based on the Pope Lick Trestle Monster (a goatman) in Kentucky. More details can be found here.)
Shifting Perspective
Honestly, with something leaping at him from both directions, the Asset is expecting that this is an ambush, a trap with two monsters. That Pope is here to take the intruder out and rescue the second monster, possibly just to ensure a meal is had by both of them. And so the Asset will probably have to fight both of them.
Shit.
((ooc: Bucky is taken from the helicarrier fight, and doesn't actually properly believe he is Bucky Barnes yet))
no subject
He spins with the force, catching himself and dropping down to one knee, drawing himself down and away from the two above him. He had thought there was just two predators on the beach, but now he's wondering. Pope could be fast. This guy made him look like a slacker.
"Whoa! Damn, dude. I was just trying to keep you from being eaten by the target," he says, string up at the two of them as he shifts backwards even as he pushes himself onto his feet. Every part of him aches for him to shift, to let them face a nearly eight foot goatman rather than dealing with this in his human form.
But he wasn't finding himself in a prison here.
"Look, I'm here with whoever the crazies with the what the hell ever they are. Sent out here to find... probably that," he says, gesturing at the creatures. "Is that a siren? Wow, I thought they were just urban legends," says the cryptid.
no subject
... well. He gives the beach monster a shake to remind it to quit struggling, then focuses most of his attention on Pope. He does not, perhaps interestingly, make eye contact. "I don't know what it is. I was just going to kill it." Though if Pope has another idea, he'll take it under advisement. The siren, or whatever it is, renews its struggles (presumably at the idea of being killed), making unsettling gurgling noises.
no subject
Until right about now because, truth be told, if this was home he'd just shift, probably kill them both and go about his day. Rules are starting to seem dumber by the day, but he's not looking at being offed and dying a young cryptid instead of growing a true legend.
"Yeah, you could do that. If it can be killed. Possibility is, it can't be," he says in calm, steady tones, his accent soft and faintly Appalachian. "Or we can call the Apocalypse loonies and let them come for it so you don't risk someone videotaping you offing some girl on the beach."
Not that he's adverse to killing it but he's not having this be the first time he's caught on camera. He's not even sure what he'd look like. He's never been photographed in either form.
no subject
But he supposes Pope has a point. The Asset is more used to taking out targets he's set on than bringing them in, so it had been the first thing to come to mind. Perhaps their handlers want a live subject, instead of a dead one.
The thought makes him shudder, the plates in the metal arm shifting with a mechanical buzzing noise, glinting in the starlight. Live subjects. He doesn't like that. "Then you can call them," he says after a tense pause, making himself say it. "I will restrain her."
no subject
He opens his mouth, then closes it as he steps closer. Staring at the arm for a minute and then looking at this guy. "That's wild,' he says, nose wrinkling even as he pulls out his phone and lets them know they found it.
He lowers the device. "Think you could knock it unconscious? Might be able to find something to bind it with."
no subject
He looks back at his struggling captive, frowns at the dark buggy eyes, and squeezes, cutting off air flow. It's possible this thing doesn't breathe air, but without being in the water, gills won't do it any good, either. With luck, before long, it'll be unconscious from lack of air. That seems the safer route than bashing it in the temple, if the longer one. Less chance that he will kill on accident.
"It may be some time before anyone gets to us," he points out.
no subject
"This town ain't that big," he says, sounding slightly skeptical even as he shifts to try and look it in the face without getting too close. "Never seen something like this before. Not that I've seen much like this,' he says in a soft voice, curious more than worried. "Course, never seen anyone that makes gadgetty noises either so..."
no subject
He doesn't like that thought, either.
So, frowning a bit, eyes on the choking and flailing creature at the end of his arm, he specifies, "Cyborg. I suppose is the term." Not clockwork. There's advanced electronics in that arm, not clockwork. But machine merged with a human body is a cyborg, he's pretty sure.
sticks and stones
It's certainly different to have someone tag along she doesn't know but, well. That just means she has to get to know him, doesn't it? They're on the same team now, right? Team Disrupt-The-Apocalpyse go! Yeah!
"Looking into strange occurrences, saving the world?"
She turns around, walking backwards to smile back at him, phone clutched eagerly in her hands.
"Yes! Usually I have my own gear, though. A Magical Spectrometer or a Door. Magical Apps on the phone, too, though those are more a thing my colleague does..."
no subject
He grins at that. She's so bright, and she seems entirely precious just in that moment. She's the type that if she had taken risks on the trestle, he might have given her a scare before the train got there. Before it was too late.
"I just do research on strange occurrences. I host a podcast on them," he adds. The podcast industry was the best thing in the world for him because he could do work without being seen, and if he used his natural voice, no one was more the wiser. His real voice that was usually a rough growl and not the soft Appalachian vowels on his words now.
"Magical apps? So there really is an app for everything, huh? How many times you saved the world?"
no subject
There's another beam and then she thinks for a moment, ticking off the fingers of her hand.
"Um, so there was that time we stopped the Serpent Brotherhood from cutting the Loom of Fate, then another when he stopped the evil sorcerer Prospero from taking over the world... oh! And that one time we fought Apep, the Egyptian god of chaos!"
She keeps ticking, talking about some other minor encounters before she trails off, realizing how much she's babbling.
"I'm sorry, it's just, in my world it's all very hush-hush and I never get to talk about these things so it's just great to have it all out in the open? I'd love to hear your podcast!"
no subject
He paces her as she walks backwards, shifting only slightly so that his gaze is going past her. Easily tracking her path in case there's a problem in her way. He's not ever been the hero type, but for the time being he's okay with playing along.
Besides, most of his attention is on her and all she's sharing with him. He hasn't had a lot of friends or companionship for a lot of years, and he never could risk getting too close to anyone. This place feels different. It's one of the reasons he hasn't started off for Kentucky.
"You probably know a lot about what I talk about," he says, grinning at her. "I did cover Apep and other chaos gods once though. Mostly it's a mixture of local folklore and how it links to other stories." Like his own story and the billy goats gruff and their bridge. All of the bridge legends, honestly.
"I'm beginning to think they brought a bunch of us in because of our knowledge about these things. Maybe all of us with that place have knowledge about it in our own world. Though I could've done without the talks about not lettin' me die because it's too much paperwork."
no subject
"In my world, there's an organization not unlike this one. They're called the Department of Statistical Anomalies and they do the same thing. Turning the whole supernatural world into a situation that needs to be handled bureaucratically. All the while distrusting magic in general."
That last part sounds definitely wistful. It's clear that whatever she does at home, she's not a part of that particular force.
But he makes a good point and she taps her chin.
"If this world needs experts from around the timelines, the event must be quite bad. Maybe it would have cataclysmic repercussions along separate worlds and dimensions?"
no subject
Like he's going to reveal himself to strangers trying to prove he's lying, and all while they're armed.
It's all things he's never bothered himself with, but he guesses if this could destroy his home, he should try and help. Maybe try and help.
"If that's the case, you think they would tell us. Might make some try and help rather than thinking about taking off, you know?" Because maybe, just maybe, he's thought about that.