redstringtheories

➥ 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

Meredith immediately glances around to see if there's marshmallows nearby. Because a fire and sticks like this clearly means smores, right? But that might not be what Caduceus had in mind.

"All in the same place, trying to get on the same page. I imagine that's part of the idea behind having us teach one another--not just so the ADI can see who has what skills already, but to attempt to establish teamwork between us, to begin building rapport and trust."

She's spent a lot of time thinking about how ADI does things, watching the watchmen as it were.

There is definitely a bag of marshmallows, because someone has a sense of humor. Caduceus isn't exactly sure what they are. But he is more confident about some of the bell peppers sitting there. And he knows how to cook meat, even if he doesn't really eat it.

"We're kind of community creatures, I think, for the most part," he says as he looks around. "Even if we like to think we an do it on our own. That's not really how most humans work. Or my people, really."

It hadn't really occurred to Caduceus to give more scrutiny to the ADI, but... maybe he should. They seem to know what's going on, after all.

"I'm afraid I've never met one of 'your people' before, Mr. Clay." If he's going to call her Ms. Idlewild, she'll return the courtesy. But of course, that's again not really a question.

She does grab for two of the marshmallows, clearly recognizing them for what they are. Don't mind her having dessert before her lunch here.

"Even if people can't get things done on their own, though...the way history is written, at least where I'm from, stories tend to be told about Great Men. The inventor, the explorer, the leader. Children in school learn the story of Christopher Columbus sailing across the ocean to the New World. Or George Washington leading the colonial army, and later the country. Or Gregory Beltran discovering the first superserum. No one cares, particularly, about those who weren't the heroes. The secretaries and lab assistants and sailors on the ships. Or any of the other nuances in the stories, either."

"I'm a firbolg, though I don't expect that will mean much." But, it is what he is, and now she has a name for it.

"Do you really think the inventor, the explorer, the leader were alone? Maybe you don't know their names, or history has deemed them unimportant, but your Columbus wouldn't have gotten very far without a crew, nor can a general lead an army of no one. Inventors have mentors, assistants, family. Like you said."

Caduceus shrugs. The others may be nameless, but they are no less important than the assumed protagonist of the stories. Caduceus takes out his bag of spices and looks through it for what he wants. Then he cuts the bell pepper and sprinkles a mix on the inside.

"Someone remembers them. And history would be vastly different without them."

"Firbolg." She repeats the word, foreign on her tongue a couple times, making sure she's solid on the pronunciation. Because getting it right is important, after all.

By this time, her marshmallow has merrily caught fire, and she blows it out, waiting a moment for the outer layer to cool before peeling it off and eating it before repeating the process. There is a proper art to marshmallow consumption, and for Meredith it involves repeatedly charring it, layer-by-layer.

It almost makes her smile real. Almost.

"Do you think we'll be remembered? If we manage to save this world, I mean. Or will the whole thing be tucked away as a secret, forgotten until the next threat of apocalypse?"

He watches her roast the--whatever that is. It smells like burning sugar, and Caduceus watches with quiet fascination as it catches fire, as she peels the charred layer off and promptly goes to light it up again. Clearly she has worked on this method, maybe at the camp she mentioned...?

He rests the peppers on some coals to let them roast that way.

"Does it matter if we're remembered if we stop the end of a world? I'm not here to be honored for doing what's right. For preserving what life I can."

Death is part of the natural order, but this doesn't sound like a natural thing.

"I mean, I'm here, I'm going to put in the work regardless. I need to earn my keep around here, after all. They're feeding us and housing us and taking care of us, so we owe them that much." She shrugs slightly, washing the bitterness out of her mouth with some more of her marshmallow.

"It would just be nice to get a little acknowledgment for what I do at some point in my life. As a treat."

Caduceus is quiet for a moment, absently watching the puffy sugar catch fire again. He doesn't hurry to fill the silence, and it draws out enough that one might think he's lost in thought. But, eventually, he nods a little and says:

"Thank you for being here, Miss Idlewild. I have no idea what's going on, but I'm glad you're with us."

That's not a bad start, right? Everyone deserves to feel appreciated and it seems like such a little ask in the face of all this. Caduceus remembers his peppers when they actually smell ready and he lightly plucks them out of the fire to let them cool off.

She watches him rescue his peppers, hesitating slightly. "Thank you, Mister Clay. That helps."

She's clearly a little embarrassed about having to ask for someone to help fulfill her emotional needs, watching his hands instead of looking up at his face.

His gaze flicks up and he smiles at the young woman.

"Happy to help," he says, warm and mildly cheerful as he picks up one half of the seasoned and roasted pepper. He offers it to Meredith before plucking up the other one. Still warm, but not too hot to handle with bare hands. He sniffs cautiously before taking a small bite. Caduceus closes his eyes and hums happily at the taste, satisfied with how it came out. The tip of his tail flicks.

Then he peers curiously at Meredith's marshmallow.

"Is that just sugar?"

"Mostly sugar, with gelatin for structure. After the pepper, you should try roasting one or two. They're traditional campfire food here on Earth--often with chocolate and graham crackers. Not something they have, where you're from?"

She accepts the offered pepper, and nibbles the end off it.

"Wow, that's good."

"Thanks, got pretty good at cooking over campfires," he says before taking another bite out of the pepper. "But those seem like something Jester would really like."

He smiles at the thought of her. It's strange to be on his own again when he's been with the Nein since he left the Blooming Grove. He hasn't really been without them, but now here he is, neither in his home nor with his odd found family.

Caduceus works on finishing his pepper while reaching out with a long arm to pluck up the bag of marshmallows.

"Jester--is that a friend of yours from back home?"

She glances up from her pepper at him. "Are they another firbolg?"

TDM #1

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