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

Gojou is definitely more careful when it comes to life or death situations. But he hasn't taken much seriously since he got here. He simply hasn't found a reason to yet. Maybe it's where he came from - being trapped in a place where he had no choice but to relax as time failed to pass around him. After that, much of this failed to seem real.

He makes an appreciative noise at the facts as Wesker has presented them. "Do you know this personally? Been experimenting around?"

To be fair, Wesker hadn't seen much reason to be concerned here either, aside from the strange circumstances of his arrival. That was something he still hadn't figured out. Compared to the things he was accustomed to, this place hardly struck him as dangerous.

"I know this from personal experience, yes." Though he wasn't keen to elaborate on his involvement in such experiments. "I've seen a wide variety of new or enhanced lifeforms created through infection and engineering. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination."

"Sounds interesting." Gojou's seen lifeforms created before as well, but this was through fear and other negative emotions. It was interesting what humankind bred when it wasn't looking, and how the entirety of it would completely disown these things if it knew. He has to wonder if Wesker's creations are the same.

"Tell me the one you like the most."

Most of the things Wesker had experience with wouldn't have been received well by the general public. A certain amount of discretion was required, though he didn't find himself caring much about such discretions here.

"I'm a bit biased toward myself."

"Of course you are. You're the only one that knows exactly what you want done, right?"

Gojou gets that feeling. It's when he doesn't tend to cooperate with others, but just barrel ahead with his own plans. If he knows how to solve something, why should he wait for someone else to offer a suggestion?

But he's pretty impressed with what Wesker has been offering so far, and it shows. He's keeping closer now, rather than allowing that distance. His eyes are bright as he looks over his sunglasses at the other.

"If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. Or at the very least, supervise it yourself."

Wesker could appreciate independent people who were confident enough in themselves to come up with their own solutions to problems. Relying on others wasn't always practical or wise.

Gojou seemed very interested in what he did, and that was a refreshing change of pace. Most people couldn't stomach Wesker's work. They didn't want to.

"This seems to be a subject you're fond of. Is it the science you find attractive, or the strangeness?"

"Maybe both."

Probably more the strangeness. But is that really something Gojou can admit? The strange and weird just feels natural to him to be around, like putting on a coat or a second skin. It's not as if he himself wasn't classified under that sort of thing, anyway.

"Science is pretty interesting, but I was always dissuaded from it."

The same could be said of Wesker, though he passed as normal when he cared to. To normal people, his life would look ridiculously strange. And awful. Very awful.

"By superstition? Religion?" he asked. Those were the usual suspects working against science. "Both are equally nonsensical."

"Other things were expected of me." Well, that's better than saying 'probably both', anyway. Although he is not sure about explaining the true situation in full - that he was expected to play a certain role in life and society, therefore doing anything else was frowned upon.

It's not like it wasn't partially his own doing - he definitely enjoyed the perks of the role that he played.

"It's funny how people like to think they're different, but they're really all just the same."

Ah, expectations. He supposed those were inescapable no matter who you were. Even Wesker had lived partially according to someone else's expectations. Though nowadays, he forged his own path.

"Most are, yes," he agreed, sparing a glance at his companion. "Rodents running in their wheels. Slaves to a society they don't really understand."

Admittedly that might not be what the other man had in mind, but it was the way he tended to think of other people.

It wasn't necessarily what he had in mind, but it was close enough. it certainly fit, at the very least. The problem was, the weak formed a collection on their own and infected society en-masse.

"But you do understand it, I assume?"

"Better than they do."

Religion and superstition suffered from similar issues. The lack of critical thinking skills was a real issue with modern humans.

But Wesker's thoughts were drawn away from the conversation when he noticed some writing on one of the stones up ahead. It said... no. He paused in his tracks, thinking surely he couldn't be seeing what he thought he was. His gaze was fixed on it as the cogs in his brain turned. Though he didn't believe it, his blood still ran cold.

Gojou pauses as well, looking Wesker over to try to guess what possibly stopped him. "Do you see something up there?" He'd have to take his sunglasses off to be able to actually perceive there's writing on the rocks, so he hasn't noticed this at all. Not that it would say the same thing to him as it is saying to the other.

He hummed and nodded an affirmative. To be able to write something like that, someone must have known more about him than they let on. If this was some kind of game, he wasn't amused.

"That rock," he said, pointing to the stone in question. "I think we should take a closer look."

Hopefully the other man would see it as well. Wesker didn't care for the idea of being the only one seeing something like this.

"Alright."

Gojou lowers his sunglasses as he approaches the rock and now he sees it. Cold hard facts about him are emblazoned right there, bright as day. He stiffens a little when he sees this.

"This isn't a funny joke."

TDM #1

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