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

Malcolm Bright | Prodigal Son

[abrightboy]

ARRIVAL
Malcolm jolts awake in a janitor's closet. It's a memory; it's not real. It feels real. He gets up and bangs on the door. It feels solid. No. Nicky?

He bangs on the door harder with both fists.

"LET ME OUT!" he screams.

I WILL SURVIVE
Malcolm is willing to teach sword fighting, axe throwing or the psychology of murder, but he probably needs lessons in cooking and building a shelter.

i will survive

[cacophonish]

Jeff's got no lessons to offer, and he's something of a poor student, so the ADI employees have been shoving him at every available teacher in the hopes that maybe, eventually, he'll learn one single skill today.

Which is why he's here with Malcolm now. Psychology of murder seems the safest bet. You don't want to trust this skinny musician with a sword or a throwing axe.

"So, uh... Is there gonna be a test at the end of this?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm gives Jeff a broad smirk. “Does that sort of pressure help you retain information?”

[cacophonish]

He considers the question for all of a second before he laughs, a sudden giddy outburst, as he shakes his head.

"Dude, all my old tests are like a crime scene. Red all over." Academic bloodshed via the teacher's red pen. He shrugs with a carefree smile. "So if there is a test I might as well fail it now, save us both the time."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm spreads his hands.

“Don’t attend at all,” he suggests. “Isn’t that an even bigger time saver?”

ARRIVAL

[inlieuofadad]

The screaming is what brings him around. Sharply, rudely, reaching for his gun. He's on his feet in the enclosed space with the weapon out and pointed at the ground before he registers the scream belongs to--

"Malcolm?" There's so much in those two syllables. Desperation, relief, paternal terror. He jams his gun back into its holster and feels around a moment, wrapping his arms around Malcolm from behind to try and hold him still for a moment. "Malcolm! It's okay, you're okay, you're safe. I'll get us out, all right? Do you hear me?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm thrashes against those restraining arms for just a moment when Gil’s voice filters all the way into his brain.

He stills, trembling from the terror and its exertion.

“…Gil?” A beat. “How did you find me?” His brow creases into confusion. “…This isn’t how it went…” he says more to himself than the man pinning his arms to his torso.

[inlieuofadad]

“Easy kid. You’re okay. This isn’t a nightmare. You’re awake, and we’re in… smells like a janitor’s closet. I’m going to let go of you and open the door, all right?”

[abrightboy]

“I know it’s a janitor’s closet; it’s always a janitor’s closet,” he murmurs, shrugging out of Gil’s grasp but not moving away. He watches warily to see if this promised opening of the door takes place.

[citharede]

Athena... has none of those skills. Either the ones he has or the ones he needs help with.

She's more or less wandering from place to place looking awkward and a little uncomfortable, before she comes over to pick up a sword and almost drops it in surprise.

"Jesus! That's heavy!"

[abrightboy]

“Yeah, a two hander might not be the place for you to start,” he concedes. “I have some lighter foils. And knives.”

as long as I know how to cook, I know I'll stay alive

[bossyboiler]

"Have you ever handled a knife before?" Maybe it's the way that she sharpened the serrated blade, like she's cut someone before and she'll do it again, or maybe the learning how to swordfight is just cooler. Who can say? Kate can't but she isn't going to let that get in the way of her providing her expertise to the next person who happens by.

"Would you like to learn how to filet a fish?" She is not going to take no for an answer.

After all, what is a knife if not a small sword?

[abrightboy]

“I’ve handled a knife before,” Malcolm assures.

I was a good father. You were never a good son.

You’re going to kill me. Ten seconds ago: that’s when you decided.

“Recently,” he adds.

He stares at the serrated blade for a moment, then forces himself to look at her, even though his father is on the ground behind her.

[bossyboiler]

The slight pause causes Kate to give Malcolm an odd look but she continues. "Okay. If they want us to learn survival skills, I'm thinking that they expect we'll get lost or have an extended stay in the woods." She shrugs and then gestures to the rainbow trout on the table next to her. "There are plenty of bodies of water around here so..."

She hopes that Malcolm can follow her logic. They might have to live off of the land. There were lakes and streams and that meant there were fish (hopefully). "Now, do you know how to cook? I'm Kate by the way."

[abrightboy]

“I’m not known for my cooking,” he admits. “Or my eating. But I haven’t gone fishing in twenty years.”

I will survive -- GUESS

[conning]

Thank god, something that makes sense.

Neal falls easily into teaching mode when it comes to cooking, doling out information on basic kitchen safety along with the bare-bones basics of how to, you know, keep things from burning and also not die of food poisoning.

He may or may not think Malcolm needs a little extra help when it comes to prepping his chicken parmesan to bake.

[abrightboy]

Considering he hasn’t added marinara or parmesan, it probably looks that way as he pokes his head in cupboards looking for something else to put on it instead.

When he realizes the instructor is sort of… hovering, he looks over, hand still on the cupboard door handle.

“…Hm?”

[conning]

Neal doesn't bother trying to hold back a smile.

"Not a fan of chicken parmesan?"

[abrightboy]

“I’m not against it as a concept,” Malcolm explains. “It’s just… too much food all… together.”

Arrival

[gaijinsleeve]

Well that was an abrupt but not disappointing end to three and a half seconds of heaven. Tak tsks at the ruckus the other person is making. At almost 6'3 the closet is only big enough for one of them and he isn't keen on staying much longer than he needs to either.

With a very forceful kick Tak almost takes the hinges out the doorframe along with the door. Unfortunately if Malcolm was still pounding madly against it, his momentum might have carried him out along with the door itself.

Tak dusts himself off and while he makes no attempt to calm Malcolm down, he at least doesn't just walk off and leave the panicked man behind.

"You're welcome."

Re: Arrival

[abrightboy]

When the giant awakens, Malcolm startles aside. At 5’7”, he’s not taking up much room and when the door opens, he tentatively sticks his head out. It’s not what he was expecting. He looks at the larger man.

“Am I imagining you?”

[gaijinsleeve]

He understands hallucinating. It's happened often enough to him that while he's not patient about babysitting, he is sympathetic enough to give a real answer, even if he can't help the bite of his caustic sarcasm slipping out.

"You're not my type." Also, the picking up (pickupping?) usually happens at a more opportune time.

"No. I'm real. You're probably just sleeve-sick. It'll pass." Tak assesses their immediate surroundings with a critical gaze, jaw clenched and eyes hard. He has a gun tucked behind his back that comes into better view when he takes a few steps forward. The grip is fairly standard fare but the shape of the barrel, 'FUEL CELL' written on a hexagonal cartridge, not anything recognisable. It looks like a 3D printed prototype for a first person shooter game set in Generic Dystopiaville 2037, something sci-fi that makes comical 'blam' noises when it's fired. Tactical boots, faint scars on his face, an imposing demeanour like he gets paid to smile; maybe he just exudes that kind of military, seen-some-shit, fight-or-die energy.

"Come on." He turns to look at Malcolm again and jerks his head down the long, fairly empty corridor. The lights are on so someone's probably home.

I know it's a bit late so you can ignore if you want, but I just figured out what I want

[artfuldetective]

Did someone say the psychology of murder? Murdoch knows a little about that, though he doesn't know as much as Malcolm does. It had still been an emerging field in his lifetime, and he never had the benefit of a university education, either. He's just glad to have someone to talk to about it in Julia's absence.

He hasn't forgotten why they're here, though. While discussing the finer points of murder with Malcolm, Murdoch has also been showing him how to construct a basic shelter, a skill retained from his days as a lumberjack (which he will explain to anyone who asks);

"It won't do much for staying warm, but we'll work on building a fire next."

WILLIAM MURDOCH /SCREAMS AND GRABBY HANDS

[abrightboy]

Malcolm is rather pleased with how the shelter has turned out. While he’s been literally and figuratively dragged to the woods at various times by his father, he’s never had to survive in this way. He’s never built his own shelter before, even in a controlled environment like this facility.

“I’ve built a fire before,” he recalls without thinking. He pauses. “But it’s been a while. I don’t… really remember it.”

[artfuldetective]

"I've done it more often and more recently than you would expect for someone who lives in Toronto." Not that he's complaining. He likes getting away from the city once in awhile. If only he'd stop stumbling across murders when he does so. "Have you cooked over a fire?"