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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.
Re: Arrival
[ He goes to the door and opens it, bowing a little as he does so. He's capable of not being rude sometimes, especially to a woman. ]
No need for dying. We can exit quickly.
no subject
Perhaps someone working here can explain how we got here?
no subject
[ Gojou walks towards one of the office workers and taps him on the shoulder. All he really earns in response is a shooing off so the guy can continue his work. ]
Hmm.
no subject
[Glancing around, she begins to walk slowly, but with confidence in the direction of a closed door in the corner of the office space.]
no subject
[ Gojou follows along, taking the same pace she does. ]
But you seem to be at home here.
no subject
[She raps lightly at the office door with her cane, offering the man inside a pleasant smile.
And that's when the real circus starts, when he realizes Meredith and Satoru are new arrivals, and invites them for a tour, offering them the short explanation for what's just happened to them.]
no subject
...do you believe this?
[ He's leaned closer to Meredith to whisper to her. Of course, they're all close enough that the whispering can still probably be heard by the one who welcomed them, but he keeps his gaze focused on him as he does it. ]
no subject
[She's paying close attention to the information that's being doled out though--she's even pulled out her smartphone to take notes along the way, thumbing at it left-handed.]
man i love meredith so much already. what a good oc
[ Gojou watches her type on the phone, considering for a moment whether he should do the same. But he doesn't really have his phone - he hadn't needed it in Shibuya. Let alone, it probably would have disappeared in all that fighting, even if he had possessed it. ]
I also know for a fact that I was in a place that can't be escaped, before this.
[ So maybe this is a dream? He has to wonder about that. Or maybe a trick being played by that body-stealer, the one he refused to call Getou. That brings to question, then, whether she was involved in the trick or a bystander like him. ]
I'm glad you like her! I know nothing about Gojou's canon, but I look forward to learning more.
[She repeats the words slowly, a tone of concern behind the words. That does sound a lot like a prison--but why would a man who works at a school be in one of those? No, wrong question. Why would a man who tends to be involved directly in the supernatural be working at a school.]
What exactly is your job?
he's from very deep into it, the anime hasn't even covered that far yet
[ But he was so much more than that, wasn't he? He was the strongest one and everyone relied on him to keep those appearances up. He bore the Six Eyes and that had marked him from birth. Somehow, this burden has never grown weary on him - though at the moment, he appreciates the break. ]
A better question is what I am.
no subject
[In most circumstances, she wouldn't dare. It'd be rude--but more than that, it might be dangerous, asking the wrong person who's pretending to be a bog standard normal human person what they are. Aliens, mutants, anyone hiding among the population has a reason to be.]
no subject
I'm the strongest jujutsu sorcerer, and I bear the Six Eyes. Back home, my power is known far and wide. From birth, my existence has altered the normal flow.
[ He doesn't think this will sound very impressive to someone outside the world he lives in, but she did ask. ]
no subject
[That last word betrays her biases. She's used to a world of superheroes and villains, rather than one of magic like him.]
no subject
[ He doesn't correct her about 'super-powered'. It's not exactly true, but if it's how she needs to understand things, so be it. He wasn't one to take things away from people.
Of course, there were actually things he wasn't telling. Like how he intended to use his powers and his students to take down the people in charge. That was a little secret for his ears only. ]
I have one student who isn't, but she is rather adept at handling tools that contain the same energy.
no subject
[The self-aimed joke isn't particularly barbed. She's made sure to make up for her physical failings with excellence in other areas of her life. But honestly, in the face of actual danger, the ability to organize a filing cabinet or compose a corporate memo won't help her.]
no subject
[ Gojou makes this offer easily. He is, after all, naturally a teacher. Even if he doesn't have any official credentials, it's what he is. ]
no subject
[It may have been overhearing this comment that let their tour guide to suggest wilderness training for the new recruits, thus setting a whole TDM prompt in motion. Or perhaps not, and the training would have come either way. Regardless, Meredith pays attention to the tour for a moment.]
Did he just say a magical healer on staff? That's interesting.
no subject
[ So he has to wonder why the healer gets away with it. Gojou will have trouble adjusting, considering his major powers are automatic - all either things he does subconsciously, or what's natural to his body in the first place. Will he have to stifle even the Six Eyes? Closing four of them would be quite the task. ]
I guess we're supposed to use our wits.
no subject
[It's the best logic she thinks she can manage.]
no subject
But I want them now.
[ He's grinning a little, a hint that his selfish sentiment shouldn't be taken seriously. ]
no subject
[She does a great Veruca Salt impression; some pop culture references remain in place regardless of 'verse.]
no subject
I like you.
[ Gojou says this with the air of an belief that this is the highest compliment he can pay. ]
no subject
[By now, they've been through most of the tour of the upstairs and are down in the basement levels of the ADI building--the space for 'processing' new arrivals. It feels more cold, institutional than corporate, and Meredith finds herself sticking near Gojou.]
no subject
It's alright. They're just putting on a show. They want you to feel out of sorts.
(no subject)
(no subject)