TDM #20

[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.) You might even arrive in a section of building that has been demolished, leaving a pit of rubble open to the sky–hope you're up on your tetanus shots! 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. The one exception is the demolition zone off what used to be one corner of the building: it seems the security teams are keeping a particularly close eye on that area to document new arrivals and bring them in quickly.

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.)

➥ The Wheels on the Bus

(cw: spiders; spider eggs; swarms; uncanny valley; loss of bodily autonomy; full encasement)

Beware the bus.
His name is Gus.
Don't shout.
Don't run.
Don't make a fuss.
Gus the bus.
Bus the Gus.
He's big and bright.
A mean old cuss.

The sing-song rhymes haunt the streets of Gloucester this month with young people, in particular, muttering to each other about a haunted bus that just has 'G1_15' fixed on its scrolling route sign. They've taken to calling it Gus, and regaling each other with tales of seeing it picking up and dropping off vagrants late and night when no one else is around to see it.

Enough sleuthing will uncover that these sightings, such as they are, seem to happen around 2 AM along Dory Road, where the Dogtown Trailhead existed before ADI and the local police force had the park shut down. Gus doesn't appear most nights, but for the lucky few who do spot him prowling, two things will become immediately clear:

1. He only seems to turn up when there are two or fewer people around; and
2. Gus is not a bus.

The hulking form that 'rolls' down the street does, indeed, look like a bus… head on. But catch him from the corner of your eyes and you will see that he skitters. The 'wheels' seem to extend in arachnid legs with two poking out from each well. His headlights are fractured, as well, with eight distinct lights winking away in the darkness.

Should one be foolish enough to remain at the single bus stop on this street or approach when they see him coming, they'll find their muscles locking up and, whether they want it or not, their body will move to board Gus. He'll settle down and let you in, should this happen. Welcome to a ride you won't soon forget.

The interior of the bus is filled with webbing and enormous white egg sacks. Try as you might, you can't seem to stop yourself from walking down the aisle and settling upon one of the sacks. You can speak. You can even scream, if you'd like. One of your fellow passengers may be doing so as small spiders swarm across them, slowly wrapping them in silk. But you can't get up, can't move to get off or fight the forces holding you. And as you sit, the swarm finds you and begins to wrap you in your own cocoon.

Once a person has been fully encased in the webbing, they will find themselves slowly losing consciousness. Instead of death on the other end, though, they'll awaken the next morning at the bus stop on Dory Road. somewhere on their person they'll be sporting a new tattoo… one that looks like spider webs.

It's probably fine.

➥ Wax On, Wax Off

(cw: altered perception; characters given cause to doubt their reality)

A single disturbance at a supermarket wouldn't have been enough to grab ADI's attention–Karens will be Karens, after all. But when two videos pop up on social media in one week featuring individuals in the produce aisle of two different Gloucester stores having what appear to be very similar mental breakdowns, it's worth at least a casual investigation. It's a bonus assignment, with ADI offering anyone who is willing to check out the grocery stores in the area a small payment for time and reimbursement for any related purchases.

For the majority of investigators, this little assignment is a big dead end. Local supermarkets, including the two with known events, are to all appearances ordinary grocery stores selling ordinary produce. Just a few people will see an odd sheen to the fruit that's heaped up in the produce bins. Upon closer inspection by those select individuals, the fruit in question appears to be made of wax. Touching it, weighing it in one's hand, smelling it, cutting it open, or even eating it just confirms what they see: it's wax through and through, too lightweight to be real, too smooth and brightly colored and false, a mouthful of lies.

To the people around them, though, obliviously picking out what they believe to be real food, the fruit remains as real and as heavy with juice as one would expect from real, solid food grown from the earth. For the majority of people, both local and interdimensional, the fruit is fruit by every measure, including taste. It's not especially perfect or delicious, not anything out of the ordinary in today's world of hothouse agriculture: it's simply fruit from the supermarket, as one would expect to buy on any ordinary day.

Food or wax? Are you digging your teeth into your next meal, or into a lump of inedible decor? Is perceiving the fruit as wax a delusion, or a hidden truth? Who can say?

➥ Storied Susurrations

(cw: compulsion)

There are many who would claim to hear a siren’s call to their local library. The lure of knowledge, escapism, or simply a quiet nook to help maintain focus, there’s an appeal to wandering the stacks for all kinds of people. Even if you’re not usually such a bookworm you might feel a bit of a draw when you happen past the unassuming building just West of Downtown. It’s ignorable, if gut feelings really aren’t your thing, but the curious might find themselves called closer.

As soon as your shoes touch the floor of the open main room, the call you’ve been hearing becomes a little louder, if only a little. There’s a whisper near your ear, like someone just a bit behind you speaking too low to hear. Someone familiar. Someone trusted.

Delve deeper. The voice gets more distinct, the words recognizable even if they never go over a whisper. It coils through your ears and your mind and your limbs, a sweet ribbon of promise. Come closer, don’t you want to hear? Don’t you want to know? Look harder.

Towards the back of the main room, near where a cluster of tables stands vigil, sits the history section. Local, State, Country, World, a wide manner of options present their spines proudly, though not a one seems to lay claim to the source of the whisper. Best just to listen, then, to your dear friend’s message.

Those who listen to the words will find information is their reward, information about them. Information about home. Is it the secrets in your past? The concerns of the present? Knowledge impossible to confirm from your future? Perhaps you should listen longer. Perhaps come back and check again. Or maybe just ask your friend nearby, they certainly seem to be listening keenly.

➥ Mod Notes

• ARRIVAL (March 1-31): Two people will almost 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 (or the rubble that used to be part of the building). PC's already in-game are more than welcome to interact with and try to guide new PC's to get them oriented. Please refer to the Arrival page for details regarding the arrival and onboarding process, as well as information about the state of ADI Headquarters.
  
  
• THE WHEELS ON THE BUS (March 1-15): Gus will only appear when there are two or fewer people on the street. There is no way to stop yourself from boarding Gus should you become trapped in his control, nor can characters physically fight against remaining where they are in the bus. Gus does not affect the thoughts of anyone he meets, merely controls their bodies. Those who wind up riding him and earning a spider web tattoo are free to decide where this tattoo is and what, precisely, it looks like. For the moment, there doesn't appear to be any ill effect from the tattoo. Maybe your new friends just want to make sure you remember. Characters may ride Gus more than once. They will acquire additional tattoos for each ride.
  
  
• WAX ON, WAX OFF (March 1-15): Any characters who see the fruit as wax will see wax regardless of which stores in Gloucester they visit; characters who see the fruit as fruit will see real fruit regardless of the store they visit. Almost all members of the general public see real fruit; a smaller majority of ADI investigators see real fruit.
  
  
• STORIED SUSURRATIONS (March 1-15): Characters who go to listen to the books whisper to them will, indeed, be told of some canon information relevant to them either from their past, present, or future! Any characters grouped up will hear the same message as those nearby, as the whispers carry on individually in the voice of someone the character trusts. The message doesn’t seem to change with new or prolonged visits, just the same message offered over and over again without a source.
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Comments

QUESTIONS

[apocalypsehowmods]

Re: QUESTIONS

[worthallthis]

Not saying I'm necessarily gonna do it yet... but what WOULD happen if the guy with the Web-marked trinket living in his pocket investigated the Web-marked bus? Anything different?

Johnny Summer | Lavender Jack

[defendwhatremains]

Wheels on the Bus
Since arriving, Johnny Summer has been walking most places. It's not that he wouldn't like a car, but the cars here are...a bit odd. Four wheels makes them recognizable enough, but they're not the vehicles he knows how to operate. Besides, he's missing one very important thing for the first time in a long time: capital. But it's dark and he doesn't exactly relish being out so late his patrons lock him out, so he decides to give this city's version of a bus stop a try. It was supposedly affordable and the odd shape safe and he's seen many use them in the prior days, so it should be educational as well as useful to his needs.

The bus that approaches catches his attention for it's odd movements at the corner of his eye...yet, when he looks at it trundling closer, all seems well. Must be tired. Being dumped in the wrong sort of Earth was certainly unnerving. He pats the golden cigarette case in the pocket of his white suit jacket to check it's there, but doesn't reach to light one. They were sensitive about where one smoked in this city, apparently. Any that join him might receive a polite nod and small comment on the weather, perhaps even a full conversation if they arrive early enough, but once the bus draws nearer, Johnny's attention becomes affixed.

In fact, all of him becomes affixed. Frozen to the spot, he can't move or draw back in mounting horror as that wrongness strikes him again and roots deep in his mind. That horror turns to chill dread as he finds himself moving toward the opening door regardless.

Wax on, Wax off
'Go shopping for fruit' is hardly an imposition, even if he weren't being paid for it. Gallery had seen a bit of an embargo on some resources, despite what the leadership would claim, and variations in fruit were a treat. Of course he'll go look at them. Buying them might be harder what with how staggering the inflation had become, but he could perhaps indulge a bit.

Still smartly dressed in all of his white suit but the coat, Johnny makes his way through the humble produce section of the store he's been sent to and finds...fruit. A decent array, but fruit all the same. After he performs his due diligence of checking each display, he returns to the clusters of bananas to pick one out. Perhaps with some pears...and maybe whatever this vaguely spikey fruit is? He stops here to contemplate the merits of a 'dragon fruit' he's holding up while the rest of his minor haul rests in the crook of his arm. The still form of someone nearby, however, has him glancing their direction. What a peculiar face they're making...

"Well, now. I can't say I remember the last time someone looked at me quite like that. Something the matter, friend?"

Storied Susurrations
Of course he knows better than to follow the whispers of an absent Mimley Bastrop into a library; he's a businessman and landlord, not the sort that follows mysticism..and yet it had been some years since he'd heard that voice. Anyone would follow it. Many had and did. Johnny was not special on that front.

Still, he follows it past the rows of books and into the section he'd come to more than once of his own volition in the hopes of finding familiar happenings to the world's history. What he finds instead is a smooth, charming voice even in whisper, where he could swear he could hear that devilish smile just by his ear.

"What ho, old boy! There you are. Listen close, Mr. Summer.
Soon. I will be back soon, I promise.
Together, we will see the city right for good."

No one's about just yet. Even as the voice starts in again, a loop like a poorly taken recording turns over the words and Johnny listens with far too much of his heart, a look of yearning on his face. Was that true? Would Gallery soon know the return of Lavender Jack? Would he be so lucky?

Not while he was trapped here.

Mimley's voice is soon overlapped by another and it takes an embarrassing amount of time to shift his focus to whoever was approaching and what seeming phantom followed in their wake.

[edalyn]

For the library voices, with it being "someone the character trusts" could they hear it as a castmate who is in the game but the character doesn't know that they're here?

[apocalypsehowmods]

It might be hard for Winter to tell this, but the likelihood of Gus appearing rises significantly when he's around Dory Road. Gus also seems to be willing to travel a little further afield to nearby streets, if that is where Winter is. Hey, friend. ::::3c

[apocalypsehowmods]

This will be possible under the following conditions:

1. You have OOCly communicated with the castmate about what is going to be said/have their explicit approval; OR

2. What is being said is taken 100% directly from the canon. No subtext/headcanon interpretations.

[worthallthis]

That's hilarious. I wonder if the Stranger is gonna get jealous of all this attention to its wayward charge XD

[edalyn]

Thanks!! It is something a friend and I are talking about oocly so we'd be 100% on the same page, I just wanted to make sure it was okay as an idea.

Raine Whispers | The Owl House | OTA

[rainestorms]

ARRIVAL

The first thing Raine noticed when they came to- besides the cool, hard floor, and how dark it was- was the smell. It was a sharp, moisture filled smell that hung in the back of their mouth, and ranged somewhere between sickeningly floral and overpoweringly aromatic. It made them gag as they inhaled too deeply, but Raine still sat up, and tried to gain their bearings. As their eyes adjust more, they spot something small, and rectangular, like a box. It looked to be something they could use to get up off the floor, and a sort of confidence befalls Raine as they position themself to try. They grabbed ahold of it, surprised when it moved easily, but decided they wouldn't let that prevent them from at least trying to stand.

It was a decision that Raine would quickly come to regret, though. The box tipped over, and a cold liquid that reeked of the same stuff they smelled a moment ago tipped over and onto them. Raine still tried to stand the rest of the way but couldn't keep balance, as their boots didn't give them much stability to work with. They run into what they can only assume is shelves behind them with a soft oof, things falling off the shelves around them and onto the floor.

The same thing happened as they tried to stabilize themself. This time, however, they're able to grab a hold of the shelf Raine feels it begin to tip forward, but they use their body weight to counter- it works well for them on the aspect of having been able to prevent their own fall, but the same thing couldn't be said for the object that fell, and landed on their head with a loud THUNK before it hit their boot.

“Ow,” Raine winced, thankful that though they were wet, they weren't on the floor.

So much for any attempt to be quiet, though. Most Janitor’s closets typically don't ruin themselves.

STORIED SUSURRATIONS

A library was the only thing that seemed to make sense in this place to Raine. A voice called them— it almost felt like Eda. It beckoned them almost inaudibly, but it told them to look for a book. The voice made the hair on the back of their neck raise, but the desperation to find something that made sense about.. anything that had happened to Raine in the past few days compelled them to listen, to venture deeper into the library.

The voice was painfully sweet to Raine, and it overpowered reason or rationale that would've told them to be smarter. But Eda’s voice led them to the history section, which they supposed made sense, so Raine followed. They dug through shelves of books to look for what they were promised; a vague smattering of information about home in a realm completely detached from theirs.

Despite their newfound obsession, however, Raine had a method to their madness- they took stacks of books from shelves, and picked through them one by one, so much that they’d surrounded themself with quite a few books at that point. On the table, chairs, even the floor— but still, nothing.

“Come on, Eda. Give me something else. What am I looking for?”

cw: guns

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

What happens if someone tries to shoot at or harm Gus from a distance? (I'm sorry Gus ilu)

arrival.

[ruevealing]

Maybe surprisingly, it isn't the first time Rue's come face-to-face with someone in one of ADI's janitorial closets.

The thumping around draws the owlbear's attention as they are walking down the hallway back to their office after lunch. It's been an eventful day already - meetings and paperwork and an especially exciting paper jam in the fax machine that absolutely was hexed at some point in the past, but still, the soft groans of pain are more than enough to drag Rue from their thoughts.

The door opens on a mess of a scene, Rue peering down owlishly at where Raine is laying, no doubt wet and aching and bruised.

"...Raine?!"

Peggy Carter | MCU | OTA (will match style)

[assays]

🎯 ARRIVAL

This was not the SSR office. The last thing that Peggy remembers was lounging in one of the other agent's chairs with a snack in hand. Her first thought was that she was drugged and kidnapped, then brought to wherever the hell this place was. But she didn't feel like she had been drugged. Her mind was clear, and her body was alert.

She searched her pockets for any clues, only finding the remainders of her snack, her SSR badge and her pistol. At least she had a weapon. Peggy ate the rest of the snack before withdrawing her pistol, prepared to shoot if necessary. She decided to look around the area first for any indication of where she might be, searching desks and drawers and finding absolutely nothing useful.

"Bloody hell!" She exclaimed mostly to herself, but the words do echo around the room.

The only other option that presented itself was to venture out of the office and explore in the hope of discovering more information.

Peggy has been in more harrowing situations than this. She's come close to dying on a few occasions so exploring an unfamiliar building in unfamiliar territory should be a breeze.

---

🎯STORIED SUSURRATIONS

Peggy was certain that she heard Sousa's voice ahead of her as she walked down the street. Had he been here the whole time and she hadn't realised? She couldn't make out what he was saying, but she continued to follow it until she's standing in front of a building with no sign stating what it was.

Eventually, she found the entrance and stepped inside, just as the voice started to get stronger, encouraging her to come in further. Peggy ventured deeper into the building and stood still for a moment, looking around for any sign of Sousa.

"A chief's work is never done."

The voice said. Now Peggy is even more certain it was him, but it didn't make much sense in the context of where she was.

"Daniel." She called out into the room, using his first name. "This isn't funny."

"Search the books." Came his voice again. "You'll find out what you want to know."

It's a vague instruction because there are a lot of shelves with lots of books and it would be much easier if she knew for certain that Daniel was real and this place wasn't messing with her.

"Fine." Peggy muttered to herself, turning to the nearest bookshelf and examined it closely, reading the spines to see if anything jumped out at her.

---

🎯WILDCARD
(ooc: Want another thing? Feel free to leave a prompt, DM me or poke me on plurk @ marymoo)

cw: guns, threat of self-harm, compulsion

[apocalypsehowmods]

Hey, so that's not very nice? Why would you point a gun at Gus? Gus is offended. Gus thinks you should maybe take a little time to self-reflect on what it's like to have a gun pointed at you. John (or anyone else trying to use a weapon on Gus) will find themselves unable to fire/throw said weapon and will instead find themselves turning the weapon on themselves.

But Gus is b̷̅̃e̷͛̂ǹ̷͛e̵͍͝v̷͊͑o̴͑̓l̵̽̂ě̵̛n̷̤͒t̷̿́.. After a few seconds with the threat of harming yourself with the weapon, people will find themselves freed from Gus' grip. If they remain where they are, rather than fleeing (or if they try to attack again), they will find themselves being pulled toward Gus. Time to ride the bus.

arrival

[heyunderoos]

It isn't a wild surprise to have new arrivals seemingly just pop into existence in this part of the building. At this point, Peter is aware enough of it he tries to avoiding this area. He didn't want to cloud any of Donnie's active readings for data collection with his presence by getting in the way.

Today he can't completely avoid it since he's kind of trying to weave his way through the building to the canteen. He's kind of having a late lunch after getting side tracked with a project.

A woman stalking out of an office gun in hand is enough to make Peter slow to a stop, warily looking at the weapon then back at her. The seventeen year old has to wonder why his luck is like this sometimes.

"Um, are you new-?" He questions warily, wondering if he's about to be shot. That would kind of suck actually. "Cause- there is like an orientation you can go to, they might be a little iffy about the gun thing though. No one really likes being shot, it's not really great! I mean, it hurts- not that I've been shot, I mean, no-" He has definitely been shot before, and has no idea how to stop talking

Re: arrival

[assays]

Luckily for Peter, she doesn't have an itchy trigger finger. So when he comes into her view and stops, Peggy quickly assesses him to see if he posed a threat or not. She did notice the way he glanced at her gun. Perhaps she shouldn't fully let her guard down yet.

"I am new." Her reply is curt. "And I don't care if they're 'iffy' about the gun. I'm keeping it."

Assuming that he was also taken from wherever he was from and brought to this place, Peggy reckons she shouldn't direct her anger out on him. He couldn't be anymore than sixteen or seventeen. A kid. Who seemed to ramble on for a bit.

"As someone with numerous scars from bullets, I know much it can hurt."

But she survived.

"Where exactly are we?"

(Excited for this thread! Raine’s already on their feet tho, btw~)

[rainestorms]

Raine was about to try and finally move, but they freeze when the sound of a doorknob turning, and light cracks through an opening doorway behind them. They turned, and squinted their eyes as they adjusted to see a large…

Owl?

Raine’s first instinct was Eda, and they were prepared for another round of having to lie that they were brainwashed, but Raine held that thought.

The mossy green hue, pointed ears, and the clothing the strange owl creature wore was enough to tell them this wasn’t their old friend. Raine didn’t relax, though. They finally looked at the things on the floor, at the things that fell on them. They were.. foreign. Some brightly coloured or shiny, but none familiar. Raine looked past the stranger, into the hall behind them. It was very.. white, and not at all like anything in the Boiling Isles that they’d encountered.

“How do you know my name?” Raine asked, their posture turning from hostile to guarded, but worried. The stranger didn’t seem threatening, but Raine didn’t quite know if they could trust them quite yet. Raine stood unmoved from their position, and clutched the shelves despite not really needing them anymore.

“And.. how did I get here? I was just getting home for the day after…”

Raine didn’t finish that sentence, but shut their mouth and frowned. They’d let the stranger answer questions before they threw any accusations, but it felt a bit coincidental that an owl found them. They hadn’t seen Eda since their encounter at the parade, but… they wouldn’t necessarily put it past her to try again. Raine certainly would if they were her, but also didn’t make sense. This was all too foreign to be Eda.

Wildcard AF because I do what I want!

[bossyboiler]

What's a secret organization without a little bureaucracy?

It is sometime after orientation that Miss Carter winds up in the Administration department. All newcomers do. It's where they get their housing assignments and take photographs for their ADI identification. It's an eventuality that all must succumb to.

Kate is working in administration that day when she sees Peggy approach the department. Having never seen the woman before, Kate automatically assumes that she is new. (But you know what happens to people who assume right?)

"Hi. You must be new. I'm Kate."

Wheels on the Bus

[graveyounglady]

The woman who joins him at the bus stop as the night draws in is young and offers him a friendly smile. A look over her would show that she seems to be... a bit dirty. There are some stains on her knees and there's something dark under her nails, like she's maybe been gardening. She probably shouldn't be taking the bus back to Bonnie's place when she's a little less put together than she usually is, but with the ground still partly frozen, her little graverobbing excursion earlier had been harder than usual, and she's tired. It should be safe enough.

Or so she imagines. The man she's with seems like a fancy sort. "If you're looking for a taxi, sir, I don't think they got them 'round here. Closest might be a nice little restaurant they got the street over. Blue Fin's the name!"

Storied!

[byeeeeeeeee]

Hunter is on his way to check out his latest haul when he hears a familiar voice. He peeks around the bookshelf and that's...that's a lot of books. It puts the pile Hunter is carrying to shame. At first glance, he thinks that maybe someone is cleaning or reorganizing the shelves, because why else would they be littered all over the place like this? But then he spots Raine and...Well, no, it doesn't make any more sense.

Flapjack, who had been nestled up against his neck, abandons his perch to occupy one of the book stacks. Hunter follows, squinting to try and read some of the titles.

"Raine. Hi. Is, um..." He casts his gaze over the books strewn everywhere. "Everything okay?"

Arrival

[clavesregni]

Caitlyn's clutching a sheaf of notebooks and disorganized papers to her chest, and has her phone pressed to her ear. She's been making calls all day, and walking down the hallway isn't the best venue for it, but she was too loud for the library, the canteen was too loud for her, and there's a pile of dirty dishes looming in the apartment that she's not ready to face. So she's looking for an empty office.

"If you could just tell me the name of the suspect, I--" The man on the other end of the line cuts her off with a polite reminder that there is a strict chain of custody for evidence related to ongoing cases.

She's scowling about this when she suddenly finds herself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"I. Um." Should she hang up? Even with the phone lowered away from her ear, she can clearly hear the man on the other end saying, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you, 'Officer Kiramman,' that impersonating a police officer is a federal offence. And then he solves one of her problems, albeit not the most pressing one, by hanging up.

Instinctively, she keeps her hand up around shoulder height, not wanting to make any dramatic or sudden movements lest she be shot. "I-is. Is there something I can do for you?"

Aki Hayakawa | Chainsaw Man | OTA, will match style!

[self_less]

ARRIVAL:

Although he is in an empty office, Aki doesn't really notice his surroundings. It could be said that he's not noticing much at all. He's sitting in a corner, having foregone all chairs. A few things stick out, such as the fact his clothing is tattered and some of it's bloody.

His eyes seem unfocused and unable to settle on anything. His gaze darts around the room, but not in a manic sort of way, but rather a lazy sort of way. You can just sort of tell that if he was standing, he'd be swaying.

This guy definitely isn't getting himself help. Anyone up to doing it for him?

The Wheels on the Bus:

Obviously, eventually, he comes back to himself. He starts working with the ADI, finding the pace of the job to be familiar and comforting. Not that any of the things involved in said job are actually comforting. Far from it, to be honest.

So when he's out at night and finds himself drawn to this odd bus, he is less like 'fuck no' and more like 'what, again?'. He just knows the feel of his body being controlled - he doesn't even think about it anymore. Boarding that bus is so easy, and the inward parts don't even make him flinch.

"Right," he says, because he does find himself able to speak, "Am I not to think this is the work of a devil?"

Well then. He'll figure out how to break through, soon - but for now, Aki is just going to observe everything around him.

Wax on, Wax Off:

Aki doesn't understand why they've been sent to investigate a grocery store, exactly. It doesn't seem real up the ADI's alley? But, while he's starting to learn how to question authority, he still has a problem with not following blindly.

So he goes. The fruit turns out to be wax, fake, an invention to mimic. And why is that? He picks up one and sniffs it, but obviously doesn't choose to bite in or anything. He's not Denji.

Aki feels like declaring this is pointless, but he can't bring himself to. So, dropping the fruit back down, and rolling up his sleeves, he looks at his companion.

"I suppose we better gather them up."

WILDCARD:

Anything you want!

Storied; this is post-WS Bucky who has very minimal memories, sorry Peggy :D

[worthallthis]

Winter is slowly replacing the books he lost in a recent event... thing... that destroyed his room, so it doesn't take much prompting to get him into the library, looking for the used book shelf.

He stops short, though, at the sight of that hair. That face. Jesus fucking Christ. "What are you doing here," he demands before he really thinks too hard about it, too startled to care that he's being rude.

arrival

[friendsfordinner]

Cornelius Hickey, a man somewhere vaguely in his twenties, wearing an ADI jumpsuit, looks at Aki. Then looks at his clothes. Then looks back at Aki.

"I'm not cleaning it up if you bleed everywhere," he points out. He barely does any cleaning as is, he doesn't want to do more of it!

Re: arrival

[self_less]

A long moment of silence, then. Perhaps too long. Maybe this person will think he's not going to respond? But finally,

he looks up, his eyes only sort of focusing on the other man.

"I'm bleeding?"

His wounds have long since healed. It's mostly other peoples' blood, to boot. But he doesn't actually recall that fact.

wheels on the bus!

[thefinalpower]

It isn't the voice that alerts Power to the horrible spider-bus's new passenger... it's his scent. She would recognize that scent from miles away, and the last time she smelled him... well. He hadn't exactly been Aki, and she really doesn't want to think about that right now. Especially not when she can't move!

"... Aki?"

The tentative, cautious voice comes from the very back of the bus, where Power sits, half-webbed onto a pile of egg sacs.