redstringtheories

Entry tags:

!tdm

TDM #1

➥ 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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Arrival
What the-

[Mercy blinks rapidly, disoriented as she finds herself going from the sun-dappled shadows of the forest in Leighland to something close to pitch blackness in her eyes. It's a cramped space that smells of strange chemicals and dust, and she grips he dagger she's had out for cutting herbs even tighter as she takes a step backward.

Into someone.

Mercy shrieks bloody murder and whirls, flailing an arm. If her fellow new arrival is particularly unfortunate, they may be stabbed.]

Sticks and Stones
[Never in her life has she held something as fantastically amazing as a camera. Mercy can barely focus on the job at hand with her companion after they're shown how to take pictures with it.]

Wait, wait! Here, let me get a picture of... oh, he's gone. Did you see that bird? He was brighter'n a cherry just come off the tree. It's- Oh, hey... Ain't that one of them stones they said was in the-

[She breaks off, blanching as her eyes skim the words carved into the face of the stone:

'You're the reason Crys is dead.'

Her gaze flicks to her companion, horror painting her features. Are they seeing this? This- No. No, someone couldn't have carved that? How would they even know?]

I Will Survive
You need some help?

[The young woman smiles gently at her fellow... new arrival? She's not heard a term for them beyond that from the people working here. She's dressed in a short brown dress with green sleeves and black stockings. The white cloth of a novitiate covers her head, but there is no crucifix or other notable jewelry about her person. She speaks with what seems to be a Southern drawl.]

I been told I'm excellent at surviving. Specially when it comes to cooking. You know how to build yourself a campfire that don't smoke something fierce?

Shifting Perspectives
Come on. We gotta help.

[Mercy's whisper is urgent as she and her companion watch the person on the beach clawing pitifully at the sand. This is what she's been training for. Brother Earth wouldn't look kindly on her if she let another go to him before their time. No. Not Brother Earth. That's not the one she's serving. This is for the Spring Tide. Life. She is here to bring life.

She starts to stand up, unless her companion stops her.]

► ARRIVAL

( she expects to be dead. there are few details about the underworld considering that those who find themselves there don't return to life but from the sparse texts that are written of it, the old whispers of gods this place is certainly not what zelda expected. particularly since she's found herself in a broom closet.

she's immediately confused, hands coming up to her face in the dark in her surprise, in checking for effects of martin's spell, to see that she's okay-- but what magic would she feel?

it's why after several deep breaths, trying to calm herself, to make the start of a plan does she finally open the door, stepping out into the hallway, looking down it in both directions. and there's at least someone there )

Hello?

( she won't ask where this is, not when this should be the underworld but-- which part of it is she in? )

► STICKS AND STONES

( zelda understands the consequences very well, or at least it's something that she believes. though it makes the task ahead that much more difficult. she has spells that could easily locate magical or paranormal activity but in being unable to use them? this isn't the kind of investigation that she's used to or that good at.

but she's not alone at least. and whilst there's been polite if awkward small-talk on the way over zelda's quieter as they look around, focused on the job in hand.

something that apparently becomes easier to find than she'd expected. which makes her stop, startled and the wonder, a little fear is immediately obvious in her expression because that rock has something far too true on it.

which is why she now speaks up, cautious in it-- ) Those rocks. Can you... read what it says?

( not that it was in any language but english but she also doesn't know how to ask otherwise )

► I WILL SURVIVE

( it hadn't been optional. whilst zelda was open to helping, enquiring about what she could potentially do to help this wasn't what she expected. she was a librarian, investigating through knowledge but being required to learn combat skills or how to use a gun?

someone had tried to hand a weapon to her, to demonstrate the basics with her but her already up hands curl inwards towards her, moving away from it without fully stepping back from them )

Oh, no-- I don't use weapons.

( usually she has magic but after the warning, she's very cautious about using it )

Arrival - Ducts

Binx is no stranger to sleeping cold and uncomfortable, nor to dark, enclosed spaces. What is new to him is awakening someplace other than where he fell asleep. Consciousness comes to him slowly at first as his sleeping mind reassures itself that the threat is over and done, that he needn't awake right away, that the children are--

It's the realization that he's no longer in Dani's arms that has him thrashing suddenly awake, golden eyes wide in the darkness of the vent. "Dani--?!"

He's not alone, but it's not Dani or either of the teens. Binx's gaze fixes on the person sharing the vent with him, his back up. He lets out a fully feline yowl, as much an attempt to distract from his mistake in speaking as it is a warning to this person who appears to have kidnapped him.

Arrival - ADI Housing

"Oh, snap," mutters Binx, gazing in dismay at the apartment door that has closed and latched in his absence. He was sure he'd wedged it open--someone must have come by and closed it. With a resigned sigh, he jumps and tries for the doorknob. Then again. And again.

Round doorknobs are the worst.

Sticks and Stones

Regardless of his partner's attitude, Binx hadn't bothered to even try to bring the camera ADI had attempted to provide him. The equipment manager had muttered something about attaching a go pro to a collar for him the next time, but she has another thing coming if she thinks Binx will let himself be subjected to the indignity of a collar.

The moment they left headquarters, the yellow-eyed black cat trotting along beside their new employers was instantly replaced with the illusion of a teenage boy, his long hair tied in an unkempt ponytail. An illusion is all it is; whenever someone forgets and reaches out to touch him or give him something, he seems to duck out of the way or fumble whatever he's handed, letting it drop to the ground. He seems a bit startled whenever anyone notices him an engages him in conversation, and meets the gaze of anyone looking at him with an odd expression, like he finds their behavior bizarre. Of course, from his perspective they're all looking at a point more than five feet above his head most of the time, so he might be forgiven for requiring an adjustment period.

Their guide says something or other about him and his partner splitting the bounty if they get any photos, but as soon as they're left alone Binx contradicts them.

"Don't concern yourself about the money," he says. "I haven't any use of it; you can have it all."

I Will Survive

There's little one can teach even a human-brained cat to do with a weapon, or a set of firemaking tools. Binx had tried to simply slip out after someone joked about using him as target practice, but instead he's found himself cornered in the side room with the pool.

"Thank you, but I do know how to swim," he's protesting, which is unfortunately only met with insistence that if that's the case, he can demonstrate.

We gotta help? Says who?

( Samatoki has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, watching the poor person, stranded further into the sea than he'd feel comfortable with at night.

He goes so far as to grip her wrist from the place he's crouched in. )

Don't be so damn hasty — ain't this sketchy to you?

Arrival
[There is a pain that blinds him, but here, at the end of the world (again), he has Martin and he is loved.

And then he is somewhere else.

The pain hits like a freight train, and he feels empty. Hollowed out and left a husk, a shell. The Eye has not left him, not entirely, but the crushing weight of not Knowing suddenly is intoxicating and horrifying.

He has a moment to revel in it, to stare around, before he realises how badly he's bleeding. And it doesn't heal instantly beneath his fingers.]

O-oh. I- help?

Sticks and Stones
[There is a click nearby, and Jon whirls to face it, immediately on guard. He knows that sound. He knows what it heralds, and he feels sick that he can hear it in this new place. Hasn't he done enough? Hasn't he fed the Web enough?

He gives the tape recorder a hard look.]

Leave me alone.

[And then turns his attention back to the standing stones.

They look like rocks, but when has something looking normal ever been an indication of anything?

He walks around it, and sucks in a sharp breath of air that tastes of blood and tape at what's written there, carved into the rock.

This is your fault]

I don't think this is a mundane rock.

I Will Survive
[Part of Jon wants very much to help these people. He should. it's his fault. all of this is his fault. He's obligated to help them really.

And part of him looks at this training room, with the weapons and supplies and wants to laugh. Or be jealous. Angry maybe.

He wants to sneer at the people training with guns, like guns had ever helped them Basira shooting over and over again until Daisy's monstrous form fell. Like the mundanities of survival had done anything to stop the apocalypse.

But that would mean revealing himself. And while he probably deserves whatever punishment might be meted out to him, he doesn't want to die. Not until- he needs to know if Martin is here, if he's okay.

And he thinks he can be more use alive. Maybe he can prevent the apocalypse here.

So he slopes over to a corner, gives the fire-building area a wide berth, and finds himself looking over maps. Actual physical maps.

Might not be a bad idea honestly. How many phones had he got through at home?

He settles down and starts trying to work through the instructions with single-minded intensity.]

[Monika's smile, when the other woman asks if she needs help, looks a little frazzles. Does she look that lost? Well, Monika supposes she probably does. Her skillset doesn't have anything to do with cooking on anything besides a stove or in a microwave. Still, there's some excitement to the prospect, tentative as she's allowing it to be inside her.]

This is all pretty new to me. I've only seen people start fires like this on TV. [By "like this", she means without a lighter or matches, though even campfires with those things are pretty theoretical to her.]

A moment ago, Jon was asleep with his head on his desk, which was doing his spine no good at all. The cat's yowl and the sudden lack of his uncomfortable chair co-conspire to make him try to jerk upright, which introduces his head sharply to the roof of the narrow duct. He swears, voice hard, and clutches his head, staring in confusion at the cat, and the space around them.

"... What?" is not asked specifically of the cat, because of course, cats don't speak. No matter what he thought he heard right before he was awake.

[Mercy frowns at the man and sets her jaw. She still keeps her voice quiet.]

Says my order. The Spring Tide comes to help and heal. We can't just leave someone like that. They washed up in that boat and they look hurt. How would you feel if people just left you like that?

Monika misses the cat's muttering; as she turns the corner, all she sees is a cat jumping adorably at the doorknob like it's a person trying to open a door. It's the kind of thing she'd want to take a video of and show to her friends under different circumstances.

"Hello, kitty!" Monika says as she crouches down, cheerfully unaware of just how clever this particular cat is. "I thought pets weren't allowed here."

Oh -- hello!

[Whether he was who she was talking to or if she'd spotted someone more human-looking down the hall, the black cat that pauses to turn and look at her has the audacity to simply reply as if there's nothing unusual about him doing so.]

Well, that's--that's not particularly incriminating body language Binx can make out in what little light is available, even if the loud clang and the swearing makes him startle. Relaxing only slightly, he steps cautiously closer to sniff at the man. Smells like what most people smell like, he decides, a little irritated with himself for thinking he'd learn anything that way. He doesn't turn to explore the space in which they find themselves, ears swiveling in search of sounds behind him but eyes fixed on Jon.

TV... that-that's the thing we got in the big dormitories, ain't it?

[Mercy beckons Monika over to an area where different varieties of wood have been separated into piles.]

Starting the fire's just part of it, but it can be a good one if you got the right tools. They got, uh... matches, they called them. But you just need a good set of flint to do it right, honest. But the first thing you gotta do is learn to set it up.

[A pause.]

Oh! Oh, and I'm Sister Mercy. May the spring bring life to you and yours.

Three hundred years of experience tell him to keep his mouth shut, metaphorically speaking. The last day, however, has done more than a little to rattle him; he's learned quite suddenly about great evils beyond even his own painful experiences. And this girl, he knows by seeing her here, has been dragged from her home the same as he has.

"They aren't," he says, making his decision. All the same, if she's offering a hand to pet him he'll bump his head into it. He's not too proud for scritches.

[ Marcus is a friendly sort, even if he isn't sure what to make of the situation they've found themselves in. Perhaps there was some chatting along the way, but when Zelta startles and indicates the rocks Marcus adopts a more serious expression. If nothing else, he's used to looking for signs.

Except the rock has a rather personal statement carved into it. One he certainly doesn't like being in public. ]

I can, yes. Strange...

[Mercy is busy snapping pictures of... everything. She has a magical tool at her fingertips, and she's thoroughly distracted by it.]

Hmm? Read what... what?

[The young woman's eyes widen. She's always worn her heart on her sleeve, so the thought of trying to hide what she sees doesn't even cross her mind.]

What-what's going on here? That ain't- That's not what's supposed to be on them rocks.

Rubbing the back of his head, Jon props himself up on an elbow, frowning as he looks around the duct. The Buried? It'd be a rather toothless instance, if that's the case. Although he knows better than to trust it'd stay that way.

"Right, cat..." he says absently. "Where do you think we are?"

Edited 2021-07-05 23:06 (UTC)

[ Trevor is, also, rather seriously injured... but he's been in this state for two weeks and pain is a familiar companion regardless. What bothers him far more is not recognizing where he is, but before he can really get a grasp on that he hears someone calling for help. He's up and rushing towards the man (a bit stiffly) right away, and the blood is impossible to miss. It seems they've arrived in similar states, as there's nothing in the immediate vicinity that could have caused such an injury. ]

You'll be alright. Apply pressure if you can, while I find something to staunch it.

[ ...where are they? Can he find anything or shall he sacrifice his cloak to the cause? ]

[Oh, Mercy hasn't heard of TVs? The ADI people had told her people were coming from different worlds; maybe she should have assumed that would include places that don't have television. Every peculiarity makes things feel more fantastical, and she's wary of that feeling, but it's not as if her perspective on reality was the most normal, anyway.]

My name is Monika. It's nice to meet you. [If she's Sister Mercy, does that make her a nun? Monika moves to the various piles of wood. ] If you want, I could tell you about TVs in exchange, but I don't think that will help much with survival...

1) Arrival

[ Gojou is a bit surprised by the change in surroundings. Time doesn't pass in the Prison Realm, so he has no idea whether he's been there for days or years. All he knows is that he had been relaxing just fine when suddenly there's a whirl of imagery before his eyes, then he finds himself in a rather standard looking bathroom.

He lifts his blindfold, just to get a gander at the place without looking at its cursed energy. Lowering it again after a moment, he shrugs and looks around to see who else is here. He can sense someone there. ]

Friend or foe?

2) Sticks and Stones

[ Gojou shifts uncomfortably as he stares at the stone. 'You killed your best friend' is written in blazing letters across it and he's not happy with this at all. It's not as if he's ashamed of the fact, but it's not exactly something he wants to advertise either. ]

Do I have to take a picture of this?

[ He steps in front of the stone, trying to block what it says from anyone else here. ]

3) I Will Survive

[ While Gojou is holding back from using his powers, he still makes a formidable opponent when it comes to martial arts. The people in charge quickly learned this and put him to work training others. He likes teaching, so he doesn't object to this. However, his method of teaching is a little more hands on - involving actual fighting to learn the moves, rather than going through the instructions. ]

4) Shifting Perspective

[ Gojou is not really bothered by the sense that something is 'wrong' with the person. He's encountered things like this before and he's sure he will in the future, again and again. From the feeling alone, he's assuming this is a supernatural creature, and he keeps his distance for now. ]

Be careful. Don't be drawn into its act. Something is going on here.

Edited 2021-07-05 22:28 (UTC)

I reckon that'll help with surviving this place

[She kneels by one of the piles and starts gathering handfuls of tinder.]

It's real strange here. And people saying miracles are bad things... but this whole place is a filled up with them. Just this building... never seen anything like it. This far underground's a place for miners, not ordinary folk, and not a place that looks like this.

You lost your cheer awfully quick.

[ Gojou glances to the rocks and then back at her. He can see his own horrible truth written on them, but he's not sure he wants to admit this until he knows for sure what she's seeing. ]

Read something you didn't want to?

Monika absolutely is offering a hand, and she keeps it held out even as she startles at the cat responding to her.

"I'm sorry, talking to you like that must have seemed really rude!" Monika says, and tries not to think about all the fictional stories with talking animals. "Do you live here?"

Here as in this specific apartment, because now that Monika knows this cat talks, the adorable jumping turns into someone who got locked out of their apartment. Or maybe a very literal cat burglar?

You might need to start.

[ Gojou's voice is gentle but no-nonsense. He doesn't close the distance to push the weapon at her again, but he does keep holding it out. He's looking over his sunglasses at her with a serious expression. ]

Otherwise, what will you use?

I- I don't- ah...

[They need to leave this place. It feels suddenly like this wonderful and miraculous place is significantly more dangerous than she'd thought. It's a sickeningly familiar sensation that she hasn't thought about in years.]

It's just- I think... someone's playing a joke. [A cruel and horrible joke.] What-what do you see carved there? [She points toward the rock.]

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Page 1 of 57

TDM #1

QUESTIONS

Mercy Graves | OC

zelda schiff ► the magicians

Thackery Binx | Hocus Pocus

shifting perspectives.

Jonathan Sims | The Magnus Archives

I Will Survive

no subject

no subject

ADI Housing

Arrival

no subject

no subject

no subject

sticks and stones

Sticks and Stones

no subject

arrival

no subject

Satoru Gojou | Jujutsu Kaisen

no subject

sticks and stones

no subject

i will survive

no subject