TDM #1

[apocalypsehowmods]

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➥ 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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Comments

[simulatio]

[Of all the things he'd expect to receive a compliment for, his skill with guns certainly isn't one of them. Sure, he had been showing off, but it had been more intended toward these detectives that seem so keen to use them for their own purposes, rather than any of their other hapless captives. Because that's what they are, aren't they, when it truly comes down to it? Captives? A leash is no less a leash for its length.]

Ah... thank you.

[His gaze sweeps over her as he takes in the stranger. Young, female, approximately his own age. He smiles like he would for a magazine and flicks his thumb to engage the safety before turning to face her with a gesture to the earmuffs now dangling around his neck.]

If you intend to spend time on the shooting range, I recommend some kind of ear protection. I can help you, if you like, Miss...?

["Allies" were always Ren's strength, not his, but there's never been any harm in making a good impression on someone.]

[writetheway]

[Oh, this boy has a very sweet smile. She's not sure what she was expecting out of someone who was so good with a weapon, but he seems quite soft-spoken, too. She gives him her best smile in return.] Monika. Since the people who work here seem really insistent on us being able to protect ourselves, I thought something long range would be a good idea, but it must be pretty obvious I've never been around real guns before.

[Monika's build looks reasonably athletic for your average high schooler, but yeah, she's obviously not built to be beating anyone up any time soon.]

If you have tips, I'd love to listen! And I should ask your name, too.

[simulatio]

Ah, forgive me. Where are my manners? My name is Akechi.

[He inclines his head, smile fading to something that only just tugs at his lips as he glances down to the gun in his hand and weighs it. It's a heavier model than he's used to, designed to deal damage over being easily concealed, and not something he would give a beginner.]

I'd certainly be happy to walk you through the basics, [he says with another, smaller smile, tilting his head and taking a few steps back toward the rack of firearms.] It isn't as easy as movies and video games might lead you to believe, but nor is it overly difficult, either. Any idiot can pick up a gun off the street and figure out how to use it: the key is becoming more of a danger to those who wish to hurt you, rather than to yourself.

[Or to him. These so-called apocalypse-preventers seem rather keen on separating them into pairs. He hasn't made it this far just to be shot in the back by an inexperienced fool trying their best. This isn't the Metaverse, after all.

He selects a smaller pistol and pulls the magazine out of it, offering the empty pistol to Monika to hold.]

How does that feel?

[writetheway]

[Monika takes the gun carefully, like she's holding--well, a gun. She saw him take the bullets out but there's still a strange, forbidden feeling to the whole thing. Earlier, looking at the brass knuckles and the knives, she'd thought it would be best if she stood back; this is the result in a place that would even try to teach her how to use brass knuckles in the first place, isn't it? Stand back away from the action. Pull the trigger. Click delete. It probably shouldn't feel a little exciting.

Monika is, if nothing else, careful to keep the gun pointed away from anyone. She seems to have some innate sense for the dangers of weapons. (Maybe she hasn't seen anyone use a gun for real, but other weapons--) (that wasn't real) (it was real enough)

She keeps her poise, mostly. There's nervousness around the edges, but she's trying hard to keep the presentation of normal girl and balance it with helpful even as she tries to figure out where that balance even lies. Akechi seems nice and he's offering to help her out; she'd like to make a good impression.]

It's not as heavy as I thought. [But it's not as if it's light, either. Maybe it's more that she thinks it should feel heavier?] It's a little scary, but I think any weapon would be like that.

[simulatio]

[He nods in approval when she doesn't immediately try to point it at anyone or anything. He'd been half-expecting the frivolity of the Phantom Thieves, to have to snap out a hand and redirect her aim to the floor. Even an unloaded firearm shouldn't be pointed at a person during practice.]

Much of the weight is in the ammunition, [he explains, offering his hand if she wants to hand the pistol back. Wine-red eyes study her carefully, noting the nervousness; honestly, he'd be surprised not to see any, though he's impressed with her poise.] Having a little fear of a weapon is hardly a bad thing; it means you'll take it seriously.

[His lips turn down in a hint of a scowl for a moment at the memory of Ryuji's impulsive recklessness and bravado, Ren's show-offish showboating. Perhaps it's that which leads him to remark,] Though I must say, I wouldn't recommend carrying a gun unless you're willing to fire it at someone. There are tasers if that's something you'd be more comfortable with.

[There's no judgement in his eyes as he looks her over, though, measuring her resolve. He knows what it feels like to take a life, the rush of power and guilt in equal measure. It's not something he would force on anyone if he had any other choice, but nor is it something he's qualified to discourage, either.]

[writetheway]

[Monika had tried the tasers earlier--it had hurt to use for reasons she can only assume are connected to her status as an electronic projection. That doesn't mean she won't use it if she has to, of course, but having other options is ideal. Akechi has a point in that there's no point to carrying a weapon she's not willing to use. Is she willing to pull the trigger on someone?

She thinks she could do it. She doesn't want to think about what that says about her, but does she need to? She already knows what she's like.]

I don't think I'd want to start carrying one around right away... [Monika's voice is thoughtful, her nerves settling until she can put them away in the back of her mind.] But if the ADI thinks we're going to be in so much danger that they'll let us all learn how to use these, I think it would be good to practice.

[simulatio]

[Akechi doesn't answer immediately, giving her that little bit of extra time in case she wants to retract that statement. A beat, then he nods once, a corner of his lip twitching upward in what's almost a subtle smirk of approval.]

I agree. It's a useful skill to have, even if it's something one hopes not to need.

[He doesn't lower his hand, though now he does hold up the magazine he'd confiscated earlier for her to see.]

Would you like me to show you how to load this kind of pistol?

[writetheway]

[Monika examines the magazine (with her eyes, not her hands). That's what really makes it dangerous, unless she plans on throwing this gun at someone and hoping for the best. But they're in a gun range right now. This is where you're supposed to use guns.

She nods and finally offers him the pistol back, barrel still pointed down.]

Yeah, that's where we should start, right? [Well, maybe gun safety is where you start in general, but as far as actually shooting a gun, you need something in it to shoot. Monika's expression is sharp and interested, like she's sitting in a classroom and expecting to take a test on whatever Akechi is going to show her soon.]