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.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Arrival
[There is a pain that blinds him, but here, at the end of the world (again), he has Martin and he is loved.

And then he is somewhere else.

The pain hits like a freight train, and he feels empty. Hollowed out and left a husk, a shell. The Eye has not left him, not entirely, but the crushing weight of not Knowing suddenly is intoxicating and horrifying.

He has a moment to revel in it, to stare around, before he realises how badly he's bleeding. And it doesn't heal instantly beneath his fingers.]

O-oh. I- help?

Sticks and Stones
[There is a click nearby, and Jon whirls to face it, immediately on guard. He knows that sound. He knows what it heralds, and he feels sick that he can hear it in this new place. Hasn't he done enough? Hasn't he fed the Web enough?

He gives the tape recorder a hard look.]

Leave me alone.

[And then turns his attention back to the standing stones.

They look like rocks, but when has something looking normal ever been an indication of anything?

He walks around it, and sucks in a sharp breath of air that tastes of blood and tape at what's written there, carved into the rock.

This is your fault]

I don't think this is a mundane rock.

I Will Survive
[Part of Jon wants very much to help these people. He should. it's his fault. all of this is his fault. He's obligated to help them really.

And part of him looks at this training room, with the weapons and supplies and wants to laugh. Or be jealous. Angry maybe.

He wants to sneer at the people training with guns, like guns had ever helped them Basira shooting over and over again until Daisy's monstrous form fell. Like the mundanities of survival had done anything to stop the apocalypse.

But that would mean revealing himself. And while he probably deserves whatever punishment might be meted out to him, he doesn't want to die. Not until- he needs to know if Martin is here, if he's okay.

And he thinks he can be more use alive. Maybe he can prevent the apocalypse here.

So he slopes over to a corner, gives the fire-building area a wide berth, and finds himself looking over maps. Actual physical maps.

Might not be a bad idea honestly. How many phones had he got through at home?

He settles down and starts trying to work through the instructions with single-minded intensity.]

[ Trevor is, also, rather seriously injured... but he's been in this state for two weeks and pain is a familiar companion regardless. What bothers him far more is not recognizing where he is, but before he can really get a grasp on that he hears someone calling for help. He's up and rushing towards the man (a bit stiffly) right away, and the blood is impossible to miss. It seems they've arrived in similar states, as there's nothing in the immediate vicinity that could have caused such an injury. ]

You'll be alright. Apply pressure if you can, while I find something to staunch it.

[ ...where are they? Can he find anything or shall he sacrifice his cloak to the cause? ]

[It would be ironic, wouldn't it, if he bled out on the floor in another place like this, after everything. He should have bled out on the floor years ago. Maybe things would be better if Basira had been just a little too slow to stop Daisy from killing him.

He sucks in a breath, and he could almost laugh, if he wasn't in so much pain. He doesn't know what to do. All this time, and he doesn't know what to do!

A man approaches him, and he stares up at him. He's exhausted in a way he hasn't been since Upton House. Worse.]

I'll try.

[He presses on the wound and it just throbs. He shouldn't be able to feel his blood pumping.]

[ There doesn't seem to be anything around made of cloth -- what strange place have they found themselves? -- and although his cloak is questionably clean it's better than his own blood-stained tunic. Trevor sighs and sacrifices it to the cause, pulling it off his shoulders and cutting it up with one of his daggers. ]

Alright now, let's see... a gut wound is nasty stuff, I'm going to have to make sure it didn't hit anything important.

[ He nudges Jon's hands away and tears his shirt to reveal the area, then starts pressing around to see if anything gets a stronger reaction. He's not especially gentle, but does seem to know what he's doing. ]

[His hands feel slick with blood. He should be used to this by now. He'd tried to cut off his own finger for god's sake! He's no stranger to blood. But it still surprises him, how liquid blood is, how slippery.

He thinks it should heal. He knows he isn't entirely cut off, but it's taking so long!

The man nudges his hands away and pulls away the ragged remains of his shirt, and then presses against the wound. Jon gasps in pain, feels sick at the feeling.]

Hurts. I- I think it's near my ribs.

If it's angled upwards that might be better for you. I don't think you have organ damage, though... it isn't bleeding as freely as all that. Here we go.

[ He goes about binding the wound as best he can, glancing around at the unfamiliar structure they've found themselves in. ]

I'd do better with a thread, or even a hot fire, but we make do. Do you know where we are?

[He hates this. He hates that it makes him miss being more of a monster. At least he would heal then. Here? He isn't sure.]

No. I have no idea. I wasn't here before.

[It doesn't look like the Institute, even before it became the tower.]

You think?

[ Gojou scoffs this out, kicking at one of the rocks with his foot. He clearly doesn't like what he sees written on them, either. He looks at Jon with a cynical smirk. ]

Someone has a funny sense of humor.

[Jon forces himself not to roll his eyes or otherwise show his irritation. Remember back in the Archives. Tim and Sasha and Melanie and Basira and- and Martin. Try to trust. Try to not drive people away.

God it's hard.]

These sorts of things don't seem like they have much of a sense of humour.

[It's not strictly true, although they go more for the poetic irony sort of humour.]

[ Gojou wouldn't be offended if he rolled his eyes, he'd be amused by it. He doesn't tend to handle other people's irritation with care, but rather whether or not it entertains him. ]

Maybe so, but if you let it get to you then they're getting what they want.

[ He raises his camera to peer at the rocks through it, trying to see if what's written is also written according to the lens. ]

From what I gather, these things are rather adept at getting what they want anyway.

[The Eye must be feasting on him right now, on that nasty little secret wrapped up in his brain. It had never shied away from feeding on its own Avatars.]

Does the camera shoe anything?

These things?

[ Gojou lowers his camera and shakes his head. ]

Just normal rock.

The things causing this. Not specifically the rocks.

[They're a symptom, not the cause.]

Hm, annoying but not unexpected.

You seem to know more about this than I do.

[ Gojou goes up closer to one of the rocks, pushing his sunglasses up farther so he can try to sense any energy coming from them. ]

Care to let me in?

Jonathan Sims | The Magnus Archives

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[Sticks and Stones] [CW: fictional virus referenced]

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