So Familiar a Gleam: Start

[voidtreckermods]

---

JINNJAR CITY

---

"Welcome to Jinnjar City! A city famed as the central power of all of Diagad, and where the magic happens. It has a big history: the birthplace of the first Heroes Association that led to the creation of the Interstellar Justice Alliance, the protectors of the universe. Compared to other places, Diagad's what many people call a superheroes world, but that isn't true. A lot of us don't have the crazy powers that some of the popular folks have! And people like me? We don't care about saving the world! I'm just trying to make it through school, hang out with friends. Live my life!

People tell thousands of stories about us though, and that I can be proud of. When other planets call for help, it's us that comes running to their aid. Our heroes put their lives on the line for anyone who needs a hand, and sure, I don't count myself one of them... but I want to share their story anyway.

Well, I don't need to be telling you about this city, do I? You're a part of it! Always have been, just like me. So I should talk about some funny stuff that's been going on lately instead…”

---

A TL;DR notes version of days/prompts: (click to show)

EVENT BASICS: Un-apped AU characters were taken 1 week before the event from their own worlds, their minds altered to believe they were always from Jinnjar, Diagad. They have a superpower because of this and a new life either living alone or with family (other NPCs or PCs). Go to the OOC post for more info.

DAYS ONE-TWO:

• Strange streams of colour in the sky have appeared, and looking at them for too long causes strange headaches. At this point you’re not sure what they’re about, but you can investigate them. However, trying to get right close to them is impossible. You will never get high enough. Regardless, let us know if characters will be investigating anything!
  
  
• Voidtreckers arrive, be on the lookout. People are excited about finding these infamous criminals, and may be bothering those wearing peculiar watches, or the colours of Blue, Red, Purple, or Orange. You might be one of them: the bothered, or botheree. Many games or movie criminals are some adaptation of these Voidtreckers. A lot of people are worried they’re behind the phoenonem in the sky.
  
  
• Nevertheless, people will still have their own lives to deal with, regardless of worrying events. Play around with what job your character has, if they’re in school, what work they do; if they’re drawn to a night life or just hanging around wherever they like. Characters not used to technology in-canon may find themselves having trouble with this world (despite believing they’ve always lived here).
  
  
• Some of the Voidtreckers who are most resistant to illusions and mind control will be breaking out by the end of the first day. They will have to lay low and plot in secret, figure out how to make contact with others. The SCA comms do not work.
  
  
• Other Voidtreckers might begin having dreams about their past by day 2-3.

DAYS THREE-FOUR:

• Those who have been brought to the world begin to dream of their real and past lives, if just in very small and confusing snippets. Some of those dreams may bleed into reality, and people may start to recognise absolute strangers, but don't quite always know why. This is stronger for Voidtreckers than 4th wallers.
  
  
• Random electronics seem to be glitching in odd ways, particularly the training centres, which lock people in together, even random strangers. Mostly it's harmless and more of a pain. People also swear they think they see the tops of buildings 'glitching' or colouring out. People have been speaking about pets going missing on walks, though the zoos and such are mostly fine, save for some of the higher up bird sanctuaries.
  
  
• More of the Voidtreckers and some of the more resilient guests will begin realising the reality of the place they find themselves in. That this is not their own world at all.
  
  
• The propaganda of the city starts to escalate, warnings about the dangerous voidtreckers and reminding people of how great the city is.

---

DAYS ONE & TWO: SLICES OF LIFE

---

"This is an emergency broadcast to everyone in Jinnjar City. At 08:00 today, a breach into the city was attempted by the invading force known as the Voidtreckers, who have tried countless times before to take over Diagad for themselves. While it's believed the group was resisted, citizen are advised to watch out for anyone acting suspiciously in the city, and to watch out for this emblem. Please call the D-F-O-R-C-E hotline if you see anyone you suspect of being an intruder! Remember to keep low altitudes while we deal with the phenomenon above."

[ RAINBOW SKIES. ] "Everyone's been speculating about what's been going on up above. About a week ago, these long streams of twisting colours suddenly spread through the purple skies of Diagad, rainbow colours inking the clouds. They've been growing out, like merging with the sky itself, and news broadcasts have been telling people not to worry. But what even are they? They say that looking at them for too long causes headaches, while some swear up and down they've seen things in them! I've heard a couple of friends talking about investigating them, but I dunno..."

▷ Twisting streams of colour are becoming exposed in the sky, and indeed, those who look too long high up will find themselves receiving headaches and dizziness. They’ll fade once you look away, but those who do decide to investigate by getting close will experience a tug, as if something yearns to take them somewhere. There will be patrolling Heroes - this world's equivalent of police - keeping an eye on things. Maybe your character is one of them, or posing as one. Maybe your character wants to learn more about what these are. Regardless, they won’t be able to get significantly close to the streams no matter how high they aim.

[ THE VOIDTRECKERS. ] "Gossip is HOT about these Voidtreckers. I remember seeing a movie about them once, based on something that happened years ago. They tried hacking their way into taking over a dyson sphere being built - like a giant structure around a star. There's other stories about them too, but are they really the ones behind this? Who are we even meant to be on the lookout for? I don't know... I'm kinda spooked. But do they seriously ride around in a flying train?"

▷ You've heard about the Voidtreckers, whether you remember stories about them or not. Are you bothered about them? The news broadcasts say they got rid of them - then why are they asking people to look out? And what are you supposed to look out for? On top of the emblem, there's chatter going on about watching out for people wearing strange devices on their wrists, and wearing colours of Blue, Red, Purple, and Orange.

Will you defend your city from these mysterious foes? Be smart about it, or rash? Or maybe you're interested to know more for your own deeds… whether or not they’re the Voidtreckers of tale, they may have resources for furthering your own goals.

[ LIVING YOUR LIFE. ] “But nevermind all that! Life’s about having fun and hanging out with your friends too. I work part time, but I’ve got plans after my shift’s done! Doing some shopping, going to see a movie. I can’t stress out about the funny stuff going on. And I heard the new waiter in my favourite cafe is suuuper cute!”

▷ Despite the few anomalies going on, you still have a life part of Jinnjar City. You have a job filled with devices that you’ve been surrounded by all your life, or certainly longer than a week or, so you know how to work a coffee machine, right? You know how to drive an air taxi!

And where would you take one to? To anywhere: to the gym, one of the training centres, a spa, to the movies - normal things that everyone around the city have always been around. Meet up with some friends for fruit smoothies, or watch one of the shadow displays held by the Georgi’s Gang around every street, putting on shows to mesmerise and delight the kids.

Or how about buying your groceries to take back to your apartment or house? You know what all these fruits are! Right? Right?

… … maybe it’s produce from another planet.

DAYS THREE & FOUR: JUST ANOTHER NORMAL DAY

---

[ DREAMS. ] “Dreams are just dreams, but a lot of people have been talking about them. Like, really being disturbed by them? Not in a creepy ohhh a monster’s coming for me! way, but like, they say they see worlds they swear they’ve been to before. Or see people? I wouldn’t really think about it except, there’s this guy… not like a super cute guy, but someone I think I knew…”

▷ Talk about dreams have been popular lately, though not everyone has them - or, not right away. Sometimes people may be at work, in school, doing nothing in particular when a name (important to their real self) appears in their mind, a flash of scenery. Coming as quickly as it goes. They don’t know what it means, if it isn’t just a symptom of the latest weird gossip influencing them.

But it sticks with you, something you can’t completely dismiss. But surely it’s nothing - right?

[ ANOMALIES. ] ”Just what we need! My friend’s dog’s gotten lost! She was taking him for a walk, and then she just says he went running ahead, and poof! Disappeared! Maybe he saw a cat? He’s always been a lazy chubby thing, but even dogs can’t help themselves, I guess…”

▷ The colours in the sky seem brighter today, closer...but it’s difficult to say for some, unless you’re actively studying them. Sometimes when you look above, you might catch - if just for a second - the tops of roofs glitching out, corners or streaks erased, colours meshing with the walls. You think it might be the light or your eyes, as it never lasts long, and even standing around waiting to see it happen again won’t give you what you want.

You may have other things to worry about than tricks of the light. Animals have simply been...disappearing, and always the ones owned, or particularly birds that fly around freely. People will ask you for help, and it’s weird they need to. Most owners have a tracker chip and app, and either apps show a blank map, or show them just standing in place...a place that when you get there, is nothing, no one.

[ TRAINING CENTRE. ]
“Really though, other than the weird sky business and how jumpy the news has made everyone about the Voidtreckers, the only odd thing that’s been up is some weird stuff happening at the training gyms. Even I saw it! I was just doing my warm-ups for the day when the field I set it to, the sky...these shapes suddenly appeared, dark and looming. It seriously creeped me out. But it’s just a glitch, right?”

▷ Young or old, the training centres around the central district are a popular spot for everyone to give their powers a safe space to be unleashed. While there’s basic simulations that’s free for everyone to use, people can be personal trainers, or even run group sessions in the bigger rooms.

Sessions aren’t always linked, since getting private training is allowed. However, lately, people keep getting jumped into other’s sessions, and can’t get out until they finish the routine. Sometimes they’re simple, where you need to destroy building block-esque cubes, or superspeed through courses twenty times. But then there’s also story modes, such as…

Castle Defence: Help protect the castle of Erna from the tricky Voidtreckers! They’re trying to storm the castle, and the world needs your power to help keep them away. Difficulty is based on the amount of people present, and speed of the individual. Do you turn things green? Then turning a Voidtrecker green will make them pop! Good job!

Kama Aid: Floating spheres have been lured inside a giant 3-tiered labyrinth ball. You must help the spheres - come in optional people-shaped or even cute animals - be released back outside where the air is fresh. Use telekinesis to tilt the tiers like a ball tilting game, or use super-strength to destroy the different tiers!

Dia Mysteries: A theft, vandalism, maybe even a murder. The crime scene is locked down, and something is afoot. Use your telepathy to gain information from the suspects, sneak into a secure area under invisibility... the solution is yours to find in this investigative simulation.

[ A PSA or Six. ] ”Stay vigilant citizens of Diagad. Please report any suspicious behavior to the DFORCE force.”

Announcements blare from speakers on public transport. Adverts pop up as they scroll through Diagnet. All remind citizens to be on their guard, report strange or disturbing behaviour and keep a look out for any of the symbols or colours of the Voidtreckers.

"Heroes don't keep secrets! If you have suspicions about any dangerous people in our midst, let your local DFORCE force know. Speak the Truth. Save the World."

▷ Billboards are plastered with bold posters reminding citizens to keep an eye out for the Voidtreckers or anyone who they might have tried to sway to their side. For those beginning to glimpse that this city might not be what they once had thought, this could be dangerous especially if their families and friends believe the city truly is under threat.

---

credits: text box - city banner - city side - coloured sky by benjamin0000

Comments

Dennis Severs | Purple Team + OTA

[agoodsoul]

WANNA SEE A FIRE? | DAY 1

All this stuff about Voidtreckers is more gossip and speculation as far as he's concerned right now. He's got more important things to do. Like his job for one. Sure Jinnjar is real fancy and high-tech, but shit still ends up bursting into flames at some point or another. He'd joined the fire squad right out of high school almost, since he had powers that were pretty beneficial to that. Immunity to fire? Let's goooooo. He had a fancy fire resistant uniform, but he didn't need the more bulky uniforms some of the others wore, just enough so that he wouldn't be diving into fires and having his clothes burn off. Wouldn't be a cute look.

Folks may see the second floor of a business building lit up earlier in the day, flames licking out windows, smoke curling up into the colors that have tainted the sky recently. Thankfully everyone got out safe, right now the team is putting the remains of the fire out, those with water or ice type powers dealing with that along with a few high powered water hoses dousing things. Dennis is outside away from things, siting on the curb having a cold drink. He may be fire immune, but that shit still hot. One may see him deciding to just dump some water right over his head, sighing.


GENERAL SHENIGANS | DAY 2 + 3

When he's not pulling people out of fires, Dennis lives a boring normal life much like anyone else who's not a vigilante or fancy hero. Riding about town on his hoverbike pretend it's red and worn out looking, nothing too special, he's not loaded, but it gets him from point A to B easily enough and makes him feel like a cool kid.

If not riding around he's sometimes at the arcade, attempting to not fall over his own feet playing some version of DDR, shooting zombies (come join him as player 2!) or shooting hoops.

On day three Dennis is stopped along the side of the rode, squinting up at the sky. Trying not to look at the colors as he's already got a headache from that shit before. No it's the fact he swore he saw some birds just poof out of existence. Not even that, just one second they were flying along and the next they weren't there. He blinked and they were no where. What the hell?

"Did you see that?" He'll ask anyone who happens to be walking by. Please tell him he's not crazy.


DATE NIGHT | CLOSED TO deferences

So far things had been pretty great. They'd gone to a local restaurant for dinner and spent far too long there just talking between downing their food. The sun was going down and Dennis leans against his bike as he holds a helmet out to Sizhui.

"Your brother won't kill me if you ain't home at a certain time right?" Please do not murder him Jingyi, he promises he's a very good boy.

"Was just thinking, maybe we could go for a little ride...?" Like he'd picked him up and they'd rode on his bike here, but he meant a ride on the back roads where maybe he could go a wee bit faster. Make it a thrill for Sizhui.


WILDCARD

PM me if you've got ideas or want to do anything specific! Also Dennis is super susceptible to this illusion stuff, so it'll take a lot to snap him out of this fake life they're all playing at, please do try though!

shenanigans!! Am fine with that being a day 4 thing too

[runicfeathers]

For about a few minutes, holding her head, Willow has been staring at the sky. A deep, nagging, feeling tells her this is a bad idea and that it'll make her sick. Like she's seen it before, but she just can't help but stare at it. Or the tricks played on her eyes. It's been happening all day, and at night she's been having those strange dreams.

And then she sees Dennis staring as well. Even... even he seems more familiar than just being her nephew, but that could be the family ties talking to her. But she doesn't dare ask anyone, for fear of being suspected of being a Voidtrecker, which she knows she isn't!

"You saw it too? I thought I was alone, it's strange!"

Vexen/"Even Firn" | Kingdom Hearts | Orange Team

[thawed_pride]

[Days 1-2, Just Another Day]

Even Firn is a professor of bioechemistry at one of Jinnar's universities, a strict but surprisingly kind cryokinetic who seems to teach purely out of a love of his subject...and just about any other form of science, as well. Unfortunately, this love of his work tends to override his better sense, and in addition to his regular office hours, he can often be found on campus well into the night, either working on personal projects, or preparing practical assignments for his students. Coffee is his constant companion those nights, but he's not above dragging interrupting parties into his academic excitement.

[Day 3, Loosing the Chain of Memories]

Even never put much stock into gossip. It's far too easy for details to get twisted or dropped, and people tell scaremongering stories just to get people riled up. But now, after dreaming of dingy labs and horrifying experiments on terrified victims, he can't say he isn't unsettled, on top of exhausted from what he can only describe as a nightmare.

He'd hoped a nice coffee drink would help clear his mind, but as he takes a seat in a usually quiet cafe, it's briefly as though he's somewhere else entirely. A white room, thirteen strange, towering thrones arranged in a circle, but only five others are occupied, all taller than his. He can't see any faces under the dark hoods everyone wears, but something about the man in the tallest of the seats makes him uncomfortable, despite otherwise feeling utterly empty.

When he comes back to reality (this...is reality, isn't it?), he's pale and sweating. What terrifies him so much about that room, he can't say, but it has him glancing around to confirm that he's not still there, and that the ominous figure (Xemnas? That sounds right) hasn't somehow followed him. When this inevitably draws concerned looks, he clears his throat and focuses on his cup.

"M-my apologies. A dream I had last night seems to have worn on my nerves more than I thought."

[Day 4, Breaking the Chain]

The words that come to him on his way out of his apartment are a twisted sort of irony. 'The memory's wiles can be cruel,' he remembers saying, taunting a teenage boy whose memories have been overwritten with falsehoods, even as he tries to warn him of the danger he's in. 'In its silence, we forget. In its perversion, it binds our hearts tight.'

How utterly humiliating, to fall prey to the very trick he'd scorned Sora for falling for. And the fact that's he in good company is no solace...it means he's now effectively trapped behind enemy lines, with his friends...even his family potentially a threat. It's a good thing he's familiar with subtlety, at least. If he happens to take to wearing a distinctive, front-zipped labcoat on campus instead of the ones normally used in the university lab...well, only those who actually remember seeing him on the train should know the significance. He can only hope Ienzo and Ansem are among those who recognize it...

[Day ?, Wilcard]

For any other situations you want to pester him in.

Day 4

[redmeguca]

Hey there citizen, you wouldn't happen to be involved in any train related illegal activities, would you?

[Kyoko waves to Vexen from a lamppost, wearing both her magical girl outfit and a grin. Her right arm briefly flickers to show her SCA before it vanishes again. If he pays attention to the scene, he may know that the hero Salamander went through a sudden rebrand about three days ago.]

Ken Amada (AU) | Persona 3 | Voidtrekker

[miseris_socios]

[School Daze]

Ken's in elementary school, but that doesn't mean the work isn't difficult. At least it is if you're him. He has a lot to live up to given his (adopted) family, and it's starting to get to him. You might find him in the classroom during recess, making up homework or on the soccer field after school, blowing off steam by himself.

Well, not entirely by himself. Wormmon always waits patiently for him - he'd made an arrangement so that the little buglike entity didn't have to sit out in the rain and instead waited in the library for him. Wormmon watches him kick the ball around with awe in his eyes.

After he's gotten off some of his frustration, the two of them start to walk home, Wormmon riding on his shoulder.


[Home Life] (closed to family members)

Ken tends to come into the house extremely quietly, barely making a sound as he heads into his room. It's hard to even tell if he's home or not except for his shoes near the door and his appearance once dinner is called.

Lately he's been more and more quiet as his struggles with school keep mounting up. He'd never been loud in the orphanage but he'd never been this silent, either. The only one he tells his troubles to is Wormmon, and Wormmon loves Ken too much to ever give up his secrets!

... Except maybe for some snacks... if it's not too secret...


[Wake Me Up]

It takes a while for Ken to shake out of it - the afternoon of the third day. His amulet isn't entirely crafted by him, but he pulls through eventually. Wormmon is still happily oblivious and thinks that this is his Ken, but it's not.

And he doesn't have his Evoker, or his spear, and he feels helpless.

He carries Wormmon along with him, either in his arms or riding with half of him sticking out of his backpack. He doesn't care where he's going, he's just roaming around the city. He's probably in parts he shouldn't be in, but he doesn't care.

Why did he get put with this family instead of the one that adopted him? Do they not actually want him?

He's not sure, and he feels so lost.


[Wildcard]

[???]

home life

[blue_ice]

[ Seto is exhausted. He's had a strange few days, hints of memories telling him that something is very Wrong. But the people he loves most...he knows that's right. So he arrives at home and waves a fresh bakery box outside Ken's door.

The kid's always so quiet. Seto can relate to that...but he worries still. ]

Come on, tell me you don't want to sneak a cookie before Dad spots us.

Mimi K. Octoling (Agent 8) | Voidtrekker Team Purple | Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion| OTA~

[consider8]

Day 1: Rainbow Skies

Mimi, an agent cadet of the Marine Protection Task Force, takes her responsibilities very seriously. In the superhero world, idleness is indolence. She wakes up before the crack of dawn to get her stretches in and to take a one mile jog through the neighborhood. Not only was it a good way to start the morning, but she really enjoyed seeing the sun rise above the outstretched sea. Same routine, six days out of the week. Only this time the skies above were... twisted and weird. The normal glow of a new day a patchwork of color and... strangeness. "What the shell...?"

Days 1&2: Day In The Life -- with a private prompt for Inigo

Speaking of routine, Mimi's day is so consistent that its practically etched in stone by an ancient prophet. She goes to school, attend her part time job running errands, drills, and the occasional field work for the MPTF. Strangely, the latest reports seemed to indicate that there were fewer seagulls than in previous weeks. This was chalked up to be uncharacteristic, but one less pest for the ports to have to worry about. Afterwards, Mimi checks in on her friend Inigo at the usual place to see him practice. Sometimes they go out to a local cafe and enjoy the music scene there, and sometimes not.

Its a normal life! She's happy. And yet... somehow, within herself, she can't help but wonder she doesn't... really deserve it.

Day 2: The Talk (cw:sexuality) -- private to Essek and Caleb

Eight loves her adopted parents, and though she had been trying to keep her affairs quiet, there was one thing in particular that she wanted to... let them know about. Though there was never a truly good point to bring this up, she waited until after dinner to break the ice.

"Caleb... Essek..." On second thought--no! This was important! "I... have something I want to tell you both..."

Day 3: Dreams

While usually fastidious in getting enough sleep, lately Mimi has been having trouble staying awake. On several occasions one may find her with her eyes closed. The dreams that come to mind is always the same. A dark subway station. Two people: one short and pale the other tall and dark. A girl silhouetted and standing away, with only a "3" visible on her flowing cape. A statue rising from the sea. A daybreak. The light of the daybreak is always enough to bring her out of the dream. When she looks down she finds herself caked in a strange goo. Its pooling underneath her and disappears quickly when shaken off.

Just what was going on here??

Day 4: A PSA Or Six: Open!

By the end of the four days panic has really started to set in. The world seemed to be going crazy, and there was nothing that made sense. The missing birds, the strange sky, the weird slime, the dreams. Even her fathers said something about this being an illusion. No. NO. NO. This was real. This was true. This was... their fault!! The Voidtrekkers! Everything was fine until they came.

Anger flared in her eyes as she looked at the PSA scrolling across the monitor. "I don't know what your problem is... but I won't let you ruin my city." That was a promise. A declaration of war.

The Talk (cw: sexuality talks)

[essek]

Dinner was.. Well he tries. He's not a bad cook, but he's by far not the best cook. It's strange, he's familiar with all the ingredients and spices he has available to him, yet, he feels like he's missing some, like he doesn't know how to work with most of these.

He keeps having... the dreams all day, causing his head as if it's about to split and his mind race.

Mimi's words catch his attention and pull him from where his mind feels like it's battering up against what feels like some simple mathematical problem he cannot solve. He sits up, looking to Caleb before giving her his attention. Whatever it is she has to say, it seems important and so that automatically makes it important to him.

"Alright," he gives her a soft smile, "You needn't be nervous, you can tell us what's on your mind."

closed to jiang cheng;

[happyends]

By day three or four, definitely more people are starting to snap out of the whole illusion.

But not Madoka. The girl is still wandering around as if nothing has changed from the previous few days, completely unaware of the changes that are happening to some people around her. She's still just going through her usual routine - going to school, having fun after school with friends, going home.

.. or, you know, accidentally running into someone on the streets. Because Madoka happens to be watching one of the videos about the dangers of the Voidtreckers displayed on one of the nearby billboards rather than looking ahead of her, which is why she bumps right into Jiang Cheng.

She stumbles back a step or two, managing to trip over her own feet and fall onto her butt.

"Oh..!"

[fennu]

Jiang Cheng has been seeing through the illusion faster than some of the other people he's been around, which has been both a relief and a curse. The only thing he can blame it on is his knowledge that Wei Wuxian is his brother and would never allow him to wallow too deeply, the same way he hadn't when they had gone to the caves.

If they hadn't been brothers in this world too... Things might be a little more complicated for him. He can accept his luck on that front.

When someone almost literally runs into him he's snapped out of his thoughts, his eyes widening a little as he glances down. He's just as aware of the videos and articles and pamphlets - hasn't Wei Wuxian made enough of them - that they barely distract him anymore, so when he realises who is in front of him his expression tenses just a little.

There's no reason for him to believe she'd know, but...

"... Madoka?"

Yugi Mutou | Orange Team

[sizedoesntmatter]

Day 1
Yugi was running perhaps a little late for college today. His alarm didn't go off and so he found himself running five to ten minutes late. The professor was not going to be happy with him at all.

Running through the campus he was trying his best to avoid passerby, jumping over obstacles, and in general just trying to get to class.

But unfortunately one doesn't always make a perfect run. Maybe he tripped up over something he was trying to jump. Maybe he accidentally ran into you. Either way he probably wasn't going to make it to class anytime soon.

Day 1 Afternoon
With classes done Yugi found himself sitting at a table in the corner of a cafe with a coffee in front of him. He liked being by himself for the most part. It was easier for him. Less anxiety. Plus if he needed friends he can just make them.

The young man though was here for a reason. To watch others and understand their movements. Did he have a reason for this? Probably. Creation does require an understanding after all.

He soon glanced down and looked at the table as he flicked his wrist slowly forming what appeared to be a hand-sized dog based on a rather large breed. It was real by any means but it was able to move and bark but the movements seemed off to Yugi as it soon vanished again as he sighed.

"What is it that I'm doing wrong?"

Day 4 - Dreams
Yugi yawned slightly fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. The dream that he has had the past couple of nights going over and over in his head. What on earth is that about? He felt like there was a meaning to it, but didn't understand what exactly.

But it wasn't like he could easily talk to someone about it either. It actually required talking and he honestly didn't know how to even go about that even after the past few days.

He just seemed a little lost as he started to walk, choosing today to just simply skip college for once and perhaps try and find some answers.

café

[blue_ice]

Seto always stops here before returning home. He needs to decompress, and he usually does so alone...but something draws his eyes to this other student. He seems to be struggling with...something. Was that a dog?

He scoots a little closer, not entirely sure why. So...yeah, that sure is a tall nerd inn glasses saying hello, Yugi.

"...you know you can go to the training center for help with your power, right?"

Callie Cuttlefish | Splatoon Series | 4th Wall | OTA

[ink_sync]

Day 1: Trending News

WASSUP JINNJAR?? Things are crazy out there, huh?? And who better to report it, than your daily news report/podcast of:

"HELLO AND GOOD MORNING YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF JINNJARR! It's me Callie and--!! Just me, I'm afraid! Marie is suuuuupper ill from staring at the sky all day! She was blowing chunks and it was seeriously gross! Like, whoa!"

"Aaaanywho, it's just me, but I'm sure that I can carry this! And I'm sure you're aware of how wild everything is out there! I'm sure many of you all are aware of those weird Voidtrekkers! Who are they? (Who!?) What do they want?? (What!?) Well! Let Callie tell you--!"

"I have no idea!!"

"But if you have any information of who they are or what they are about, LET US KNOW!! We're here in the studios LIVE! So don't go floundering, fresh boys and girls spill the deets!"

Day 1 & 2: On The Town

In between showings, the super heroine SUPER CALLIE likes to take to the streets incognito!! ...which, really, is just wearing a pink beanie and extra large pair of sunglasses. She's not fooling anyone, but she thinks she is. The deception even folds at the first sign of somebody noticing her or asking her if she wants a signature. That's what super heroes do, you know?!

Day 3: Calling The Kids Out

"HELLO AND GOOD MORNING YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF JINNJARR! It's me Callie and--!! Still just me! Marie's uh... dog died! And cat. And uncle. And... wait, if her uncle died, that would mean my dad--AH! Point is, she's not here!"

"But hey! I was thinking about this the other day, and you know what I think? With all this attention given to the Voidtrekkers, no one has taken the time to hear what they have to say! So, this got me thinking: HEY VOIDTREKKERS! If you are listening to me, what are you here for? Why are you messing with our city? This is no judgement, this is just a chance for us to get to hear from you!"

"So let's hear it! Let's hear your side of the story! Thousands of listening Jinnjarians wants to know!"

Elsa | Frozen II | 4th Waller

[stepintoyourpower]

Days 1-2
Elsa always seemed happy working in her ice cream store. Being able to manipulate ice worked wonders and it was always nice to be able to see happy faces enjoying her ice cream.

Today was no exception as she looked at who was coming in with a smile.

"Welcome, what would you like today?"

Days 3-4
When she wasn't working, she always found herself in the library, going to see just what new books were around and what stories were going to be told. Her fingers traced the books in the new section as she tried to find one that appealed to her.

"Which do you think will be the best choice to read?" It seemed like she was talking to herself but soon she turned her head to whoever was nearby.

"Are you the type who like to read a certain genre or do you read in general?"

Day 1

[the_aunt_general]

It was always the last call of the day. In this case, someone talking about 'witchcraft' at a local shop which...wasn't against the law, technically speaking. But from the sound of it, the caller may have existed since a time when it had been, Amaya reflected, a bit darkly. But said caller had connections and so orders had come down from on high.

Send someone of rank. Which is why she was outside of an ice cream shop - an ice cream shop - rubbing her face. Did this person think the refrigeration was the magical part, or...?

But then she saw children running out of the shop, looking utterly delighted. With the most creatively shaped ice cream she'd ever seen in her life. Well.

Now she was actually interested. She entered the shop, very carefully ensuring her armor touched nothing, nor the shield strapped to her back.

Well, at least the woman running the shop had a nice smile. Seeming happy? Delighting children? Yes, that completely justified spending money on ice cream, somehow. She carefully and slowly expressed herself in sign language:

Hello. I can read lips. Whatever is the most chocolate, please.

Renge Houshakuji | Ouran | 4th Waller

[ukidokiotaku]

Extra, Extra. Read All the Gossip
Even though Renge was still in high school and was part of the school newspaper she still tried her best to get said newspaper more open for the public.

So here was Renge standing on a box as she coughed slightly. The abilities of making her voice heard are ago. She might seem so much louder than a normal human.

"Ladies and gentleman, come on and all to the best newspaper the world has ever seen~ Come read stories of love triangles, broken hearts and stories of danger. You might even get some heartwarming stories. All of this and more is available for a limited time, so come get it~"

Voidtreckers
Renge was honestly worried about the rumors as juicy as they were, they were still dangerous. However, that won't stop Renge from trying to get the news about it. So she is going around and getting into people's faces about it.

"Hello, can I interest you in an interview?"

Re: Renge Houshakuji | Ouran | 4th Waller

[souls_of_roles]

Extra Extra

Kyoko probably made for great gossip, honestly. The way the transfer student seemed terrified of most of her fellow students, and... didn't she look just a little too old to still be in High School? And who even bows that properly these days or is so polite to teachers?

But where Kyoko normally avoided Renge... Something seemed to have snapped in her and she was now stalking forward, seeming... furious. There was a darkness to her that was also... new. But then just walking intentionally towards Renge was practically proof of pod person activity.

"Stories of love? BROKEN HEARTS?" she started out loud, and got louder, angrier. "For what? To entertain people? Oh yes, let's laugh at the person stupid enough to fall in love! Let's enjoy their suffering! Love is poison to the soul! If you escape with JUST a broken heart, you're lucky!" She shouted, raging. The aura around her seemed to grow darker yet, her chest heaving with fury. And pain.

Greg Universe | Steven Universe (Interstellar5555 CRAU) | 4th Wall Guest

[fragileandsoft]

Days 1-2

Obviously the sky turning weird colors is worrying, especially with the weird rumors about. But just because something is freaky and probably bad news doesn't mean you can't appreciate the beauty of it.

With a notebook and a guitar, Greg's set up a spot for himself on a park bench with a clear view of the sky. He's alternating between sketching the myriad colors, plucking at a few strings and murmuring some experimental lyrics of the Train to Eternity, and... sitting with his head in between his knees.

He probably ought to be a little more careful about staring at those nausea-inducing colors too long.

Days 3-4
By this point, Greg's setting off small light shows of his own; his anxious humming has set off his musical manifestation powers, pops of color and light swirling in vague agitation as he tries to calm his nerves.

It's familiar, and not in a warm or reassuring way. It's a constant nag, the sense that he's forgotten something important, something integral. Most people are satisfied brushing it off as dreams, but he's filled with such a profound sense of unease by it all that he's driven to distraction. Distracted enough to knock right into someone minding their own business.

"Ah jeez. I'm so sorry, I wasn't, uh-- h-here, let me help you up."

Day 4

[seacub]

"OOF-!"

Emporio it seems was also distracted- though perhaps for other reasons. He's not wearing any of those four vital colours of course. He's a bit smarter than that, and if anything he's wearing black and white in addition to his jeans. His hat's black too! And technically Jotaro's.

But briefly, as Greg moves to help the boy up, he might catch sight of an odd device on the boy's wrist....

"Um...Thanks," he mutters nervously, reaching up to adjust his hat with the arm that isn't burdened by such a device.

Rapunzel | Tangled | Orange

[adropofsunlight]

Do the sky be like that?
Rapunzel looked up at the sky wondering what exactly was going on. But also...the sky looked oddly beautiful. She just couldn't help but look at it for a moment. After a couple of moments she had an idea.

So she sets about sitting down on the floor a notebook sitting in front of her and paints sitting at the side. Eyes glancing up again she studied the colors and the pattern before going to pick up a paintbrush to start.

She may or may not be in people's way but she is a little too focused to notice.

Coming home - Locked to Usagi
It had been a while since she last had been home and she even managed to bring home cookies she had baked for the occasion. With a knock at the door she simply waited, knowing that it would just be rude to come right on in after all.

Charity work
Rapunzel always enjoyed one thing when not in college and that was charity work. being able to help others always made her so happy. Today charity work was trying to see if people would donate something for the children at the hospital.

"Excuse me. We're having a charity drive right now and I was wondering if you would have anything to donate? It's for a good cause."

Re: Rapunzel | Tangled | Orange

[kaylinneya]

Sky

Elianne Neya, who was a cop that Rapunzel had probably seen around the orphanage helping with the kids on her days off, stopped when she saw the girl painting like she was entranced.

Something about that. Something....

She started to step forward, stopped. Something was off, something wasn't quite right.

Kaylin's cat, on her shoulder, chose that moment to bite Kaylin's ear, hard, before yowling at her.

Kaylin's cursing was loud, varied, ongoing and... creative. It was also quite multilingual. At least one of the words sounded almost... feline?

But she was no longer staring at the paints, for whatever that might be worth.

Danny Fenton | Danny Phantom | Team Purple

[schrodingersghost]

Rainbow Skies:
Danny wasn't sure why, but something about the colors in the sky drew him. Despite (or maybe because) all of the warnings he can't stop himself from climbing up to the highest place he could find and staring up at them.

Something... he wanted to get higher. He wanted to see what was hiding up there.

Well, up until he suddenly gained the worst headache he could ever remember having. He staggers back, covering his eyes with his hands trying to block out the light.

"Ow, ow, ow! Headache!"

Living Your Life, Day 3
Danny throws his backpack into his room as he arrives home after school.

"Raven! Dani!" he calls. "Are you ready to to go? We'll be late for the movie!"

Castle Defense, Day 4, Morning
Danny usually enjoyed training with his friends. He wasn't a very powerful hero yet, but training like this was supposed to help. (Maybe one day he'd even manage to get a better name than Intangi-Bill). Plus doing things with his friends was always fun.

But after Dani's dream last night, he couldn't help but fret over her. He couldn't remember the last time she'd had a dream that bad. It must have been really scary.

So all through training today he'd been a little distracted. He'd made a couple of dumb mistakes earlier, almost getting them caught by one of the attackers. So this time he was determined to focus and get them through.

And just as he moves to phase through the castle wall to check for more enemies in the next hallway, he gets a flash of green in his mind.

Green light, green energy. It was running through him, electrocuting him, changing him, sinking into his bones and blood and DNA.

Danny doesn't even realize he is screaming until he runs right into the wall in his distraction. For a brief second, there is the barest flicker of green in his eyes.

Re: Danny Fenton | Danny Phantom | Team Purple

[dnaofahalfa]

"Coming!" Dani called, shoving her sketchbook into her bag before heading out to see Danny-

She follows him down to the lab, Danny thrown over his shoulder, knocked out, a mix of excitement, but doubt, so much doubt-

Dani shakes her head. Oh, like Danny woukd ever die his hair white. "What mivue are we going to?"

Wen Ning | The Untamed | Voidtrecker (Blue Team)

[deadwenwalking]

i. day one. the voidtreckers.

[There's something very familiar about the term 'voidtrecker' beyond what he's always known about it from the media, but Wen Ning can't quite put his finger on what it is. He has to dismiss the thought - it's probably just because he's been seeing it on the news so much lately.

Were they really dangerous? The name doesn't sound that threatening. Sure 'void' is a bit suspect, but 'trecker'? If they wanted to play the role of the villain one would think they'd use a name like 'Voidstalker' or 'Voidpirate' or something that actually strikes fear when heard. Then again, one should never judge another group simply based on their name.]

Has anyone... actually seen any?

[Looking up from an article on his phone, Wen Ning addresses anyone who happens to be with him at the time.]

They make it seem like they could be anywhere.

ii. day two. living your life.

[Time off from work means it's a great day to go to the movies. Wen Ning has been looking forward to a particular apocalyptic zombie movie for a while now. This one is sure to be better than its equally apocalyptic zombie predecessor, since this time the zombies are mad and back with a vengeance!

He's made himself comfortable with a large bowl of popcorn and a zombie-themed soda cup (complete with green lid!) and has made it partway through the movie before something about all the undead begins making him uncomfortable.

They shouldn't - he's watched plenty of movies like this. The sight is nothing new. But he finds himself reaching for his neck with one hand and sinking down further into the chair...]

iii. day three. a psa or six.

[Every time Wen Ning hears the announcements he's more and more bothered by them. As far as he knows he hasn't done anything wrong, yet he keeps feeling as though he's going to be suspected of wrongdoing. Why?

The latest one is too much, and he takes off on a sudden dash toward any sort of alleyway or building that might be able to keep him out of sight.

But he's not a Voidtrecker, is he? So why does he feel the need to hide?]

iv. wildcard.

(Anything else!)

Living Your Life

[schrodingersghost]

Danny usually enjoyed terrible monster movies. But something about this one... it was bothering him on some weird level. Like it was something too familiar.

He blinks as the guy in the next seat sinks down.

"Hey... are you okay?"

Xehanort (nee Theodore Murphy) - Orange Team - OTA

[mustknow]

Rainbow Skies and Rumors

Xehanort's not around. There is this other guy, who looks suspiciously identical but named Theodore Murphy instead, who has very obviously been living in this city his entire life. Although pretty young, he's made a decent start for himself working for D-Force as one of their many desk jockeys, angling for a management position after proving himself very, very good at picking out the right hero to track down specific villains or handle certain crimes, and having several popular heros on a first name basis has benefits.

Like being invited along on a completely innocent survey of the ribbons of color across the sky, because he's perfectly capable of holding scientific instruments and is intensely curious. No harm's likely to come after all! Which means he's up on the roof top of one of the higher towers, with aforementioned instruments and a lone Hero on speaker phone.

A short invite had gone out to any other idle scientific types who might be interested in taking some photos or readings for posterity. So long as they could get to the roof.

"Okay, Ted, we have a good view from here but shift camera two over a few degrees will you?" Some residents who turn up might even recognize the voice on speaker, a tech-oriented young Hero named ShockJock.

Ted, who is CLEARLY not Xehanort, frowns and works on adjusting the camera just so. "Everyone in the office is suggesting this is just a new form of aurora, but I don't know if that's just the line we're supposed to be telling people. It doesn't look like any aurora I've ever seen."

"That's what we're told! But I heard a rumor from Reliant.. now, don't pass it on but Reliant heard that this is actually a psychological attack. Those stories about the Voidreckers being back? This is just the prep to soften us up."

That earns a disgusted snort. "You don't believe that do you?"

"You don't believe it's an aurora, do you?"

Livin, via groceries.

Rumors aside, Theodore has an actual life to keep to, and he is nothing if not excruciatingly punctual. To the park for most of his lunch break to see about fattening up the local birds with breadcrumbs and get some fresh air, and then inevitably back to work at the office.. but on the way home, there's plenty more to do.

Like grocery shopping. Which means taking the time, very slowly and very carefully, to feel each and every single odd looking but completely familiar fruit for the right firmness and texture, and then the right smell. He has the meticulous care of someone sixty or seventy years older than him, and has gotten tacitly approving looks from various seniors before for this.

But a fruit must be picked carefully. Some are supposed to be squishy! Some are supposed to be firm! Some are supposed to smell like socks, and the expression of revulsion that crosses his face when that particular fruit is sniffed is apparently a good thing because in his basket it goes.

Another shopper?

"Avoid the mirror figs, they all smell off." It's helpful advice, given freely! "I think they got frost-shocked."

Dreams, anomalies, what lies beyond

It's the park again, early evening, and Theodore's brought his usual mix of seed and breadcrumbs and treats for the birds, but not a single bird is in sight. Or even heard. Not a rustle of feathers or cheep anywhere, and the young man seems... distinctly puzzled by this, watching the sky and trees with a frown on his face, small bag of goodies still held in one hand.

No birds. Where could they have gone? "It's strange, isn't it?"

To no-one in particular, but the question is posed anyway, distant and thoughtful. "Things are going missing. Pets. Birds. Is it the colors in the sky? Is it.."

Something more? Something connected with the name in his dreams, something that made the world glitch and fritz out in the corners of his vision, something so deeply disturbing he didn't want to think about it long. He knew, surely, on some level .. didn't they all? But he rejected it firmly. To do so would be to question the life he'd worked hard for, fought for, struggled to achieve on every level simply to try to give a little back to the equally hard-working father who'd raised him -- no.

He wouldn't allow it. What could he possibly have, other than this? This was worth fighting for. A home, a family, a place he belonged-- "..Something else I suppose.."


[Wildcard: hit me with something else!]

Livin via.... breadcrumbs? (Lunchbreak)

[wewillwewill]

Found you.

There are those scenes, you know? Where a cloud of birds are suddenly startled into flight. And once the flurry of wings pass, a figure can be viewed where they once... weren't.

There's no trick to this, this time. Elidibus has been making use of more mundane means to get around. But he can discern SCAs. And the people who have been pulled into the illusion are fundamentally the same people.

Xehanort has a very distinct aether which the Ascian has come to recognize.

But by all accounts, the man had walked into the area just like anyone else would. Wearing a loose white button-down shirt with long sleeves, black slacks and black shoes and nothing that looks anything at all like a train logo involved. The SCA is hidden under the shirt sleeves and plenty of people wear pendants, so those shouldn't raise any immediate alarms, right?

If it's a bench 'Ted' occupies, then Elidibus will approach. "May I join you?"

Rich Goranski | Be More Chill | Voidtrecker

[firewalled]

A. You can make it on a wish if you want to

Rich hasn't always been happy, but right now? Life is good.

He's got a pretty cool dad, and he still keeps in touch with his biological siblings as well, splitting his time between staying with them and visiting his dad regularly. He got to go to college (that school fire and all the trauma that came with it was a good enough sob story for a scholarship) and make some friends. Plus he got to keep on chasing his dream, with the help of his powers to make his music truly ear-catching.

It's easy to quite literally run into him as he makes a mad dash to his next university class, or perhaps you'll spot him at a coffee shop, where he does gigs once in a while. It's nearly impossible to see him without his guitar in hand.

If you're particularly unlucky, you might find him busking in one of the plazas. Technically, he could probably get in trouble for this, but... well, considering what he's actually doing, getting a slap on the wrist for loitering or whatever petty misdemeanor they label street performers with is nothing. Because as Rich sings, it's quite easy to weave power into his tone, compelling people closer, showering praise on him and dropping their spare change in his instrument case. Sometimes they even drop jewelry, watches... probably a couple things that definitely shouldn't count as spare change for a lowly guitarist.

Feel free to drop your valuables in his kit... or plug your ears and tell him off for scamming passersby.

b. Sleeping to dream about you, and I'm so damn tired

But good times never seem to last for him, do they? He's used to having the odd night terror, but recently, they've been more and more frequent. He can hear himself, calling out for people he doesn't recognize. He can see a bathroom, his hand up against the wall and cornering some mousy kid that looks at him with a mix of horror, desperation, and tentative... excitement?

If he's really unlucky, he sees flames, but he doesn't think these are the ones he remembers. They're all around him, but he can trace their source to a lighter, in his own hands, and... wasn't that just an accident? An electrical issue?

He frowns to himself over a cup of coffee after one of his gigs. He's working on lyrics (i.e. doodling) on the side, and so when he reaches for his coffee again, he doesn't exactly look where his hand is going.

When he hears the clatter of porcelain and a splash, he swears, looking at the person next to him.

"Hey! Shit, sorry, I didn't get any on you, did I?"

c. To join the black parade

Rich has seen these billboards and posters a lot more often lately, but seeing them around school is new. He makes a face at one, and oddly, he feels the urge to tear it down.

But he doesn't. He just looks over at whoever might have stopped to check the bulletin board and jerks a thumb towards it. "Hey. You don't believe any of this crap, right? About these Voidtrecker people. They're probably just making it up to freak people out."

A

[mynameisallen]

Allen wasn't happy about having to go here, but he knew that his adoptive mother would at least want him to check out colleges and so he has done. Not to make her happy or anything, but because he was bored and there was nothing else to do when skipping school for the day.

Thankfully he is wearing his headphones today while he explored and so wasn't drawn in by the music. Instead, he just looks over casually and just stares for a moment while he has his music playing through the headphones.

It's at least not long before he pauses his music.

"What are you doing and why are people throwing watches and shit at you?"

Q'uila Sunrise (CRAU!WoL) | Final Fantasy XIV | Purple

[dragoonrouge]

Clear-minded

Kelly had never been more thankful of her job than she currently was. Number-crunching had been a safe haven since she was little, something logical and all-consuming to drag her focus away from the barrage of emotions that flooded towards her thanks to empathy power, and the last few months had been especially horrendous with everything spiralling from Albert's injuries and the constant play of 'what-if' even as her and Eli spent their time coaxing the youngest triplet through recovery that had lead to a constant aura of fear and anger choking up the house.

Fortunately, Albert had been showing some improvements recently, which mean that Kelly could spend a day or two a week back in the office as the head of a large company's accounting department. Unfortunately, she was so focused on getting into work on time that she didn't notice the cluster of emotions heading towards her, colliding with a person walking in the other direction, and sending their phones clattering to the ground.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"

Everyday Heroism

Kelly's powers, unlike the eldest of the triplet's, aren't suited to directly fighting villains like the Voidtreckers. However, she always vowed to help her brother in his work by doing heroic things on a much smaller scale. She may not be strong but she knows negative emotions when she feels it. And so she approaches the person leeching negativity like a miasma and offers then a hand and a smile.

"Hello, you look like you could use someone to talk to?"

Clarity

It was a fair number of days since the announcement about the treat of the Voidtreckers had gone out and it had certainly been an interesting one. The swell of emotions around building and intensifying each day until Kelly Q'uila finds herself staring at the familiar face of another Passenger with steadily mounting horror.

"Oh fuck." The expletive is dropped with a quiet finality as the situation starts to sink in for this Warrior of Light.

Clarity (day 4)

[adregem]

Cognizance is jarring.

Especially after realizing you've gotten so well-adjusted to a life that isn't your own; that you're happy to a degree, reliving bygone eras of school-time and youth. Roland's eyes widen as Q'uila curses, close to his face, bumping into him at the park. While he could argue she was only inclined to react violently based on her assumed reality, he no longer has the mind or perception of a fake him, of a twenty-year-old that never was. His mind and his senses and his memory is back at full force...

...which means Roland knows the park is far too public to react thusly, and eyes are still hot on anyone who might look or sound even remotely suspicious. He has to lead them out of here where they can talk, out of sight and out of mind. So he pretends, and as he does so, hopes Q'uila catches his drift.

A firm hand wraps around her forearm, his smile natural but his gaze twinkling with laser-focus. 'I know. We need to go. Now.'

"Hey, it's you! I interviewed you for our paper on Corporate Research way back then, do you remember?" He laughs convincingly enough. "Gosh, sorry. You work all over the place you must not remember. I'm Roland, from Jinnjar U? How've you been?"

General Amaya | The Dragon Prince | Fourth Wall Adventures?

[the_aunt_general]

Day One - Proceeding (With a nod to Sir Terry Pratchett)

The key thing, she always felt, was getting out and about. If you're going to guard, be seen to guard. Technically, given her rank with the defense forces, she didn't have to, but...it was good to be there, regardless. The citizens should know you, you should be amongst them - how else to protect them if you're just some faceless, armed person to them?

She walked the same beat every day, the same one she'd walked since she was a cadet - she knew everyone's name, and most of them knew hers. A number had picked up enough sign language over the year that they could fluently communicate.

You proceeded, you didn't walk. A swinging of the leg, letting momentum do the work for you - it carried you all day. In this case, it carried her from an excellent breakfast on her rounds. Maybe there was a new shop, or maybe a crime to be pursued.

A passing low-ranker handed her the latest broadsheet with a salute. She read it, rolled her eyes, and deposited it in the nearest trash. Ugh, she hated propaganda. Nothing much she could do about it, but she wasn't going to harass random citizens over whatever paranoia upstairs was feeling.

Day Two - All Work, No Play (F/F for this option, if trying for a date.)

She had, finally, bitten the bullet. The precinct secretary had set her up with speed dating. She didn't much like it, but...it'd be nice to meet someone, wouldn't it? Well, ok, fine, she did as part of her daily work, but not that way, and meeting someone was...difficult.

She was, after all, deaf and though she was proud of who she was, there were plenty of others who didn't react nearly as well as they ought to, in her book. But more than that - she was a professional woman. She was very fit, very dedicated and...well, there were also plenty of people who didn't like those things, either. But, here she was. Because when Amaya did something, she did it right. She'd selected a blue dress that didn't hide who she was, but wasn't too daring either.

She sat, nervously poking at an olive in her drink with a toothpick.

[Open to this going great, hilariously badly, or hey, your character is just there and there's a meet-cute, whatever!]

Day Three/Four - Defying Orders

She didn't like what was coming down from headquarters. So, since the orders were clearly stupid and required violating every law she believed in, she'd opted to defy them.

And she had enough deputies who would follow her rather than the orders of the state so that her corner of the city would be a relative safe-haven for Voidtreckers. 'Heroes don't keep secrets', her rear end. When the state is screaming you're the enemy - without any proof whatsoever, which she rather required - she felt they had every darn right to keep a secret.

Which is why she stood outside a small building, leaning against it - and when she saw someone who certainly looked like they were on the run from other, less...intelligent members of DFORCE, she waved at them, frantically, gesturing towards the door.

Her suit of armor might well instill confidence, or the way that any DFORCE members approaching her will damn well do so warily once they figure out who she is - but safe haven might be just around the corner...

Defying Orders

[tactlesstantei]

[Masumi wasn’t as careful as she’d like to be, and ended up being chased by several DFORCE members. Desperate to get away and avoid capture, she takes the first opportunity and ducks through the indicated door, barely noticing the person who had helped her in the first place.]

Thanks, they would have caught me otherwise…

[It’s only now that she notices the armor this other person is wearing and realizes that this is another one of them.]

Crap…

Willow Amarina (Willow Aikawa) | OC | Voidtrecker (Orange)

[runicfeathers]

(OOC: I will match with prose as well if you prefer to do that instead of brackets! Go right ahead and do assumed CR with our chars since it's an AU'd event setting. Her current family that I can think of off the top of my head is V "Vincent" as her husband, Casper as her son, Dennis as her nephew, Anafiel as an older brother, and Hajime as her twin brother. Willow works at a hospital with healing powers/holy magic based abilities and does falconry on the side by giving presentations and lessons about birds of prey with Nova as her main companion for these presentations.)

Days 1 & 2
[Hospital work lately has been getting more busy with all the people accusing others of being those Voidtreckers they've been warned about, especially when there's been rumour of infiltration. How terrible, that means there'll be more work and less chances to be home before it gets dark at the end of her shifts.

But luckily it hasn't been as stressful as she's worried, it's well staffed and by the time she gets off she can sit at a cafe for some time before going home as she reads the recent news of other falconers.]

(OOC: For day 2 she'll have a headache from a "strange dream", noticeable from how she'd be rubbing her temples off and on as she works or sits in the cafe.)

Locked to bodyoftheseus Day 3
[Casper is currently away at school, not due to be back until much later in the day and Willow has thankfully had most of the day off, only having to run out and deal with a small emergency at a nearby park where a kid had fallen off of something chasing a cat that disappeared according to him. On her way back home, she stops at a place Vincent likes and gets the two of them some tamales, as well as sends him a text to let him know she's on her way home with food.

Once home, she kicks off her shoes and finds him in the living room.]

Spare a minute for tamales? Have you even eaten today or have you been working on getting everything working?

Day 4
[As if the dreams and now frequent headaches weren't bad enough, Willow's begun to really notice things behaving strangely, especially after a discussion she had while Casper was away. Things seem to be rather off, but it's not enough that she's convinced yet that this hasn't been her life although she's questioning it. The skies have given her headaches and she's seen the things seeming to glitch out.

Even now she's just staring skyward at birds disappearing, a little too intently at that. Watching as a few of them fly off into nothingness.]

How... odd. This doesn't seem right.

Wildcard!
(See something you don't like? Or want to combine something? Have at it. I can be found on the discord server under 'Ren'/TsundereShadow#6350 or on plurk @ TsundereShadow if you want to toss a plot idea my way!)

day 2

[youandyoualone]

Willow? [her older half-brother asks, with a frown.] Are you quite all right.

[Like Willow, Anafiel is red-haired, though his is threaded with grey. He's a literature professor at the local university, specializing in medieval poetry.]

Lan Wangji / The Untamed AU / Blue Team / OTA

[eternalinquiry]

Day One/Two
By day, Lan Wangji was the slightly harried head of archives that are buried in the basement of the Public Library. He's the most senior member of staff purely by the number of years he's been working here, which feels like a really long time and no time at all. He knows these stacks like the back of his hand and he relishes in the peace and quiet the archives offer him on a daily basis. This is why it's rather disturbing that he cannot find any records that match the strange rainbow lights in the sky, and has had a headache for nearly as long as they have been around.
"What information are you seeking?"

By night, he is... still the head of archives but also the retired hero REGEN-T, known for coming back from the dead despite whatever is thrown at him. He isn't active anymore, but he still has a couple connections down in the hero ranks and gets their information about current events. REGEN-T was not involved in the last voidtrecker experience, but he keeps an eye out for anything odd after the PSA telling everyone to be alert.
"I do not think getting close to those lights is very wise."

Day Three/Four
Things have only gotten stranger as the week goes on, Lan Wangji had completely forgotten how to use a photocopier and watched a lady walking a chihuahua that seemed to flicker in an out of reality. He is more than slightly disturbed and is having nightmares every night that involve large battles and a lot of screams. Needless to say when he sees buildings beginning to glitch, he does a small double take and finds himself glancing around to see if anyone else is shocked.
"I will have to take the rest of the day off, I am more tired than I expected."

He can be found at: the movies, trying to take his mind off things with such a fascinating medium. Or the training centre; trying to work off the strange sense of unease with various tactical pursuits.

Lan Wangji has had a healthy suspicion of the government since always, but now it's only getting worse with every propaganda piece about the great city. If one is playing he can be seen to be frowning up at the speaker, almost visibly questioning it.
"...True good does not come from those who talk about all they have done."

As the day goes on he will begin to notice the inconsistencies piling up and up; the animals disappearing, the lack of any clear memories before the start of this week. The later in the day it gets the more suspicious he is until he sees a small purple Logo spray painted on a signpost; the train. Then he remembers. Now his priority is simply working out what to do next.

Dairine Callahan | Young Wizards| Voidtrecker (Orange)

[wizard_redfive]

Day 1 - Living Your Life

Being a wannabe upcoming hero, Dairine wasn't scared of any Voidtreckers. Either they were handled already... or they weren't, and she'd kick their collective behinds.

What was more pressing on her mind at the moment was becoming a proper Hero. Surely her powers were impressive enough to manage it by now! However, Dairine was unfortunately stuck sitting through classes instead.

For her credit, she does stay quiet and pay attention — if you count glowering as paying attention. However, as the class wraps up and folks start packing up for their next one, Dairine grumbles, "This is such a waste of time..." as she shoves supplies into her bag.

Day 3 - Anomalies

After school, Dairine had taken a detour to practice her powers. Her little laptop is walking behind her as usual, though today it softly repeats, "Uh oh," every couple of minutes.

Eventually she reaches a store displaying various screens in their window. After glancing around to see who's nearby, Dairine begins to focus. One after another, the screens turn off, then back on in seemly random sequence. She's just about the think of another potential test when Dairine sees the shop's roof glitch out in the light. She yelps, and the screens all go black.

"Uh oh."

"Uh..." Dairine turns to whoever's walked into her practice routine. "If anyone asks, that wasn't me," she says, pointing up. Which probably sounds ridiculous since the roof is back to normal.

Day 4 - These PSAs are Getting A Bit Much

Those who know Dairine might notice her being oddly quiet at times. Perhaps that isn't so strange, with all the worries circulating through the city.

But privately, Dairine is ruminating. The dreams had jolted her memories. She remembers seeing the mission briefing, but she cannot remember reading it or leaving the train. Could the train actually be behind this? Or had it been compromised?

As yet another ad pops up while scrolling Diagnet, Dairine can't help but suspect the worst.

They've been set up.

Huffing out a sigh, she slides her phone away. "I hate this."

3!

[mustknow]

As one of the many desk jockeys of the D-Force, the city's predominant source of heros, Theodore generally kept a weather eye out for fellow young people who looked like they might be interested in taking up a more Honorable and Just cause for their city!

Dairine qualifies. She's on a couple of lists on a couple of desks. But it's the tiny repetition of 'uh oh' that has drawn his attention; he's never seen her, only heard about her, and MAY be able to connect the dots in the near future..

As the roof glitches out, and then returns to normal, Dairine's audience of one clasps his hands behind his back, looking thoughtful. "What are your gifts, if I may ask? Technology control?"

Asch [AU] | (Tales of crossover AU) | VT'er

[oncedriven]

1. Training (Train optional) (Days 1 and 2)

There's always a good number of people around the training gyms, and Asch isn't exactly an exception. Officially, his brother works here, but Asch has been doing volunteer stuff for almost as long. In particular, he's usually the one the gym relies on to get around physical powers that have gone out of control and locked people into or out of the training halls. Teleporters, even relatively limited ones like Asch, are just too damn handy for that kind of thing.

It's more accurate, though, to say that Asch spends his time on the move. The Knickknack Knockback and its 'affiliates' always need knowledge of what's going on in the city, and people who can get across it faster than the restrictions on public teleportation. Asch is one of those people - a scout, some might call him, but he can hold his own well enough if it comes down to it. You can catch him all around the city on the first two days of the mission, investigating anywhere fights have broken out and anything else that might need some extralegal muscle and intervention.

Which, with the rumors of the Voidtreckers about... Well, you might get a smallish redhead not exactly asking you about them, but if he hears anyone talking about the matter, he zeroes in and notes that person down to approach more casually later. Or maybe to just listen in, or to have someone else do it. The point is that there are questions that need answering, and it's his job to answer them.

And finally, at home - what is normally a hard skin of efficiency slips, just a bit, to reveal the caring pulp underneath. Towards his brothers - though not as much towards any guests they might bring over - Asch is downright fussy, touching his concern with wry humor and a sense of the ironic. And it's only to his brothers, as the second day draws to a close, that he confesses to a strange feeling in his chest, foreign as a splinter, an increasing sense of panic and something is wrong that doesn't feel like his own.

2. What we do not know that we know (Day 3 morning/afternoon, closed to Jade)

The third morning dawns with a pull in his chest, which Asch does not know and can't identify, but cannot escape. It tugs him a direction, some nameless promise of knowledge, but simply teleporting isn't bringing him close enough. He has to go on foot; he's not sure why that's the proper way to go about it, just that he knows that it is, that it will avoid something fighting him every step of the way.

The walk leads him to a place he vaguely knows; the home of the bar's accountant, who he's met a few times, but never had a particularly close relationship with. So why does he feel so confident in just walking in? Why isn't there a key he needs to pick up to even unlock the door?

(He knows you're coming, says something in him that is and isn't him.)

In the kitchen, the pull finally abates, and it settles. In the kitchen, Asch has just interrupted what's probably a normal, routine morning (or at least a normal, routine mental breakdown). In the kitchen, he's left to try and find the words to the questions that beat down the walls, and finally he settles on -

"You're one of the Voidtreckers, aren't you?"

- because above all else, somehow, he knows that Jade will tell him the truth.

3. The waiting game (Day 4)

And on the fourth day, things are starting to come back together - in pieces big enough for the parts of Asch that are Asch the blade to be simmering with rage, because memories are all that a blade has for themselves, memories are the closest thing they have to holy, and by all that is holy and several things that aren't, he's going to chop this illusionist bastard's dick-or-equivalent-organ off. Possibly with his teeth.

But outside of that, Asch knows like an instinct how to keep a cover. While Jade is off getting as much attention as he can - and the mountain of ice prompts a texted REALLY? that he doesn't really expect an answer to - Asch fits himself straight back into his usual routine. The main issue being, now that the illusion is fading from his mind, so is the teleportation trick that he had only a few days ago.

Still. It's probably fine. Asch takes his usual volunteer shift at the gym and nothing terrible results, and then he goes to the bar and stakes out a table. It's probably obvious that he was missing the day before, too busy sorting his shit out, but for now, he's making contact with anyone he recognizes or intuits to be a train passenger - thank fuck for hyperintuition - and being a little less discreet than he usually would, as he asks questions to gauge how much the people around him have figured out what's going on.

Dark blades may be subtle on the whole, but subtle information gathering is not a skill that Asch the blade possesses, after all. And even with his core crystal hidden under a shirt and a leather jacket, Asch is more and more a blade as the day goes on. Those who are already out of the grip of the illusions or well on their way to remembering their own lives might be able to notice the glow of red through the black teeshirt he's wearing, or perhaps even more notably, the glowing red lines reminiscent of swirls of cloud that crawl up the sides of his neck, becoming something more like waves at the bottom near his collar.

Training Gym

[nutkrusher]

Cassie will almost undoubtedly be one of the first people he approaches when she reaches her gym. She more than works there, she practically lives there. The whole place would fall apart without her. She's not sure how they managed when she was on her honeymoon.

She acknowledges him with a nod as he approaches, but doesn't stop setting up the equipment for her next lessons. He'll have to ask formally for that.

Lapis Lazuli | Steven Universe (CRAU)

[oceantier]

Exposition. ((Mostly here to scene set rather than serve as its own prompt -- prompts further down.))

Three years are up.

Maybe she wouldn't come.

Maybe she's changed.

Maybe she's forgotten.

In reality, Lapis believes none of these things.

Her former partner is as inevitable as the tide. If there were an ocean between them, Jasper would tromp through it, step by deliberate step until she reached the shore. Single-minded. She knows what she wants. She gets it.

There was a time when that used to be attractive. When combining efforts with Jasper used to be freeing. That much power, their abilities playing readily off one another . . . they were untouchable, inevitable together. It was heady. No one could touch her. No one could begin to touch her.

No one could begin to touch them.

She misses that. Of course she misses that. While she never particularly cared about what they stole, she misses the havoc they could cause. Alarms blaring. The shattering squeal of metal blasted from its hinges. The fear in someone's eyes the moment before the glass twisted their limbs.

In that moment, she was someone. Someone worthy of being seen. Being feared.

Without Jasper, she's simply Lapis. In the last three years, she hasn't known if that was okay. There's a part of her that feels chipped away from a greater whole, incomplete. Jasper's inevitability, her unshakable confidence, were a support. A grounding point.

But in the end . . . a crutch. Only after their defeat did Lapis realize how much. She'd had a year in prison to think about it -- probably would have had longer had she not testified against Jasper.

She'd torn away the scaffolding holding her up . . . and in the aftermath, even years later, was trying to figure out how to stand.

But the years were up. Jasper was coming. Inevitable.

It was only a matter of time.

Prompts

A. You've rounded a corner and nearly run into a villain. Or rather, a former one. You likely remember her image from the news or the network -- a lengthy crime spree three years ago with a bearlike woman as a partner, stealing masses of gold and diamonds from bank vaults. (Or maybe even you fought her once yourself at that point.) Heroes fighting them had found themselves encased in glass, twisted into statues of themselves.

She'd served a year (whispered that she'd sold her partner out for more), then was free.

If it's any comfort, you don't seem to be who she expected either. Jumping back, she's yelped loud enough to startle eyes in your direction from across the street, scattering a mass of canvas and tubes of paint across the sidewalk. A paintbrush is about to roll into the gutter.

B. The wind coming off the river is fresh, light. You'll find Lapis in one of two ways: Painting, attempting to capture the movement of the water with watercolor on canvas, her brow furrowed in quiet, frustrated absorption, or having abandoned her easel, climbing to the second rung of the guard railing, thin knees braced against the last rung as she breathes in the wind. She looks very much like she might take flight -- or at least that she'd like to. The gem embedded between her shoulderblades gleams faintly, a quiet, shimmering blue like sunlight on dark water.

C. Not Lapis at all -- she's gathered up her things and left as the sun sinks lower -- but you find another woman making her way up the riverbank. She's well over six feet in height, perhaps closer to seven, with massive hands that look as though they could readily twist metal. The railing as she grasps it whines a high-pitched, pleading note as she hauls herself up, the thick, metal rod of it looking nearly fragile in her hands.

Golden eyes flick over you, and despite her size, she hefts herself over the bars as though her own weight were nothing. Like Lapis, it's very likely she's familiar . . . for the same reasons.

A.

[bestbrotherever]

Loki, as a Hero well-known in his home city if not necessarily here, definitely recognizes the famous villain Lapis when he runs into her. He even knew that she had been released from prison. Like most Heroes, he was told to keep an eye on her if he saw her, just in case, but that someone was handling her should she start to cause trouble again.

He steps back and gives her a long look. "Lapis," he greets her, coolly.

Vegeta | Red Team | OTA

[renegadeprince]

I – Living your Life
Sure stuff might be going strange right now, all that panic about the Voidtreckers, and lights in the sky, but it doesn’t stop life from going on, which included Vegeta opening up his café. Just Sayin’ is a rather simple and clean setting, almost cosy with its limited seating but still room for those who are regulars and new comers to find a spot to sit. There’s also a range of baked goods and cold items to be ordered along with a range of coffees and teas, and even a fancy sweet range for those wanting something a little bit extra.

He’s found most of his days working there, greeting those he recognizes as regulars and during quieter times either prepping stuff for later rushes or the next day, or sitting back behind the counter with a book to read and his own drink. As the days go on and those dreams happen, he’s still there but… confused and maybe a bit more curious to those changes going on around them, seeing if he can get any information from his normal customers if they too feeling the same thing.

II – Behind the Scenes
Even after the day ends Vegeta will be around the café once it closes, but not in the front area. Instead he will move into the back area, it dramatically different to the front; hard metal surfaces, everything extremely clean and with the slight smell of disinfectant in the air, cabinets of medical supplies locked away until they were needed. All with a door set up with an intercom so he can be warned and decide who to let in. It was a medical stop for the powered beings in the city, a safe place to go to get patched up either with conventional means or via Vegeta’s own powers of healing. And he’s seen a range of damage come through that door.

While this will be available during the day as well for emergencies, it’s after dark where Vegeta will camp down until the early hours of the morning for any incidents that need his help.

Wildcard

OOC: Let me know if you want earlier, oblivious Vegeta, or later in the event and starting to question stuff.

Living Your Life

[nutkrusher]

It's a good thing Cassie has always gotten along reasonably well with her new father-in-law, because she goes to this place all the fuckin' time. She waves, smiles, and nods as she enters the shop.

"Morning, Vegeta. How's business?"

Ple Two | Blue

[pleple]

I

Ple is a good kid who keeps to herself - mostly, she focuses on academics, on training her special abilities. After all, she has a father to make proud, and that meant making the most of the very talented child she was, to the exclusion of anything else. Still, some of the rumors about town were a bit interesting. These Voidtreckers or whatever they called themselves... in a flying train of some kind? Ple kept an eye out for anyone that matched any of those descriptions, and an ear open to anyone talking about the rumors, but she didn't really think it would affect her. It wasn't her job to solve the problem, not at her age, even if she was sure she could do something about it.

Still... "I wonder if the color coding means anything in particular?" she asks, curiously. It has to have some obvious purpose, right?

II

The training from their last stop fresh in her mind, though, and constant talk of Voidtreckers, and the reminder that her name just felt off added up. Familiar faces who weren't familiar. The more she tried to sort her mind out, the more the seams already showed.

She didn't belong here; she didn't have a real childhood, and she was, in fact, more combat ready than most of the adults. Wasn't that a fact?

She was one of the Voidtreckers. Ple Two. And she wasn't sure who else had figured out that they didn't belong here, had seen how fake the very nature of this world was, and so she had to figure out how to keep having casual conversations without giving anything away. You know, asking about school or their job and desperately hoping for a hint that they've started to get it as well. Hopefully her awkward attempts at conversation don't stand out too much.

III

By the time warnings were going out, she was actively seeking out anyone - familiar or otherwise - who she could catch noticing anything unusual. Her outfit was mostly monochrome, but with a few splashes of blue to hopefully indicated her awareness to anyone who knew her and realized what was happening.

"Doesn't it feel like... something is wrong with reality here, with the things people have been seeing? Not that it's not, you know, still wonderful here." Okay, she's not very subtle. "And I'm sure it's under control, but it's just really... conspicuous... isn't it?"

iii

[blitzcheer]

Who'd thought these two would find each other. But Tidus himself has been keeping an eye out for people, and while his acting skills aren't the best...

"Hey, if you're worried about the news lately, we can talk about it - Ple?" Is he being subtle too, is he giving off the Signals. He nods his head to the smoothie bar they're near. "We can get a drink and sit near the skate park. You can tell me how your team's doing."

There was a wall nearby - that should work. Just two younger people looking like they're hanging out. Might even get away with looking like Ple Two's older brother.

Essek Thelyss | Critical Role | Orange Team

[essek]

[Rainbow Skies]

Essek doesn't like to be away from home, but he has access to many more resources here at the University to investigate the rainbow lights in the sky. Being an Astrophysicist, these kinds of phenomena are adjacently related to his work, especially with how no matter how high anyone goes, they can't reach them. Perhaps it was an aurora like phenomenon.

Honestly, he could use a break. Want to distract him for a bit?


[Better Homes and Gardens] Closed to family & friends of family

Eventually, Essek relents and heads home by mid afternoon. Research is getting him nowhere and he has so many things to do at home. Mimi and Caleb help of course, but Essek has a select few things he keeps to himself to do. It's nothing against them, he's just very particular about his garden.

Which is where he can be found, wearing his sunhat and gardening gloves, Essek is pulling some weeds and using his super power to fumblingly help some sprouting bush to grow.

If you're family, he's going to hand you one of the pesky cats that keep trying to chew on his flowers with a "Here, hold this."

If you're a friend of Caleb or Mimi's, he will smile, holding said cat to his chest while he looks up at you from his sunhat. "Oh, they are out actually, but you are more than welcome to come in and wait."


[Home-Sick] Closed to Family - Caleb, Eight, Beauregard

Today is bad, Essek's curled up on the couch with a number of cats staying close to him. He keeps flashing in and out of... he doesn't know what. Dreams? Delusions? His head splits and aches as his mind batters against something, some invisible wall. He tries to distract himself with a book, a heavy book on the stars and constellations. Part of him knows it's his favorite, but as he reads it everything seems new.

He squeezes his eyes shut against a sharp throb as a name comes to mind. "Jester?" His head whips up like he'll see... see who standing there? "Ah, sorry, I-... I must have nodded off, is there something you need?" He smiles, but it's strained.


[Late Night Wake Up Calls]

It was late evening when he fled the house.

Essek can't remember if it was Caleb or Mimi, someone called Thyla's name, the white fluffy cat that they adopted a yea- no, she wasn't real. None of this is real. He heard Thelyss instead of Thyla and everything crashes back, everything. His mind opened up and breathing against the weight it was suffocating under. He flinched away from his family, muttering about needing some fresh air and left.

It was taking every ounce of his strength to not give in to his desire to float. He was blocks away now, coming to a stop, his back against some garden wall of a nearby park. There's a merp as he looks down to find that one of the cats followed him, that Frumpkin followed him. He scoops up the cat, holding him close.

"How do we fix this? None of this is real, we have to wake him up. Light, Beauregard too. We cannot leave them trapped," he mutters it into the cat's fur. Perhaps you're close enough to hear that, but when he notices you, he looks up alarmed, fumbling out a: "Ah, sorry, I lost my cat. He was lost. I.. found him. As you can see."

Some former Shadowhand he was.


[Subtleties and Subterfuge]

Essek remembers having the previous mission explained to him, the illusions, but he remembers the off handed comment about colorful lights at the end, at the center of it all. Now there's the mass illusion they are all suffering and the rainbow lights above. Surely it's not coincidence. He refuses to believe it, so he's doing what he can to research what's already known at the University, trying to subtly look for those responsible for this around town, but he knows almost no one from the train, not really. It's hard to know if someone is acting normal or abnormal.

If approached, he will just calmly tell them: "Ah, I apologize, I am researching the rainbow lights, hoping to get a solid platform for my hypothesis to arrive on."


[WILDCARD!]

[Have fun and hit me with whatever you'd like to do! Also, Prose or bracket are fine! Do what you're comfortable with.]

Subtleties and Subterfuge

[adregem]

Finally. More of us.

By the swing of the fourth day, Roland understands this was all part of the mission - but it's different, so vastly different, from the others he's attended to. To affect almost all of them, assigning tailored memories, crafted lives...This was intentional, this was an act of violence directly against them. And he would not have it, not even for a second.

The moment he reawakens from the lull of the illusions, Roland is immediately moving towards action. There are hints of his previous, fake life that he uses to his advantage, especially as they all operate under the assumption that they're victims planted directly into enemy territory. No allies. No train to pick them. No goals assigned. Thus, Roland perks up his ears. Watches the forums, pretends to be the twenty-year-old student from university like his peers believe to evade the D-Force. Tries his best to assemble those who have awakened, though Jinnjar is impressively huge. He goes back to his arsenal of tricks, to the life he created for himself before the awakening. If not for the DiagNet, what else could he use to his advantage?

The university he frequents, of course. This is how he finds Essek, even if the face is not one he is acquainted with. Just having woken up from luggage before the mission even began, he missed the newcomers during the last stop. At the very least, he can't ignore the wording, too precise to be a coincidence. Platform.

It'll be easier to get away with hushed whispers and hiding in confined spaces, away from prying eyes here. They would be safe under the blanket of buzzing students going about their day. Roland drops his book on Diagad history, assuming his persona...leaving behind the same heavy-handed hints only a person deliberately looking for them would recognize.

"Is that right?" He answers seriously, folding the spine back into place and setting the book away, a finger to earmark where he reads. "Are you a new T.A. around here? If so, I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I'm Roland. With finals underway, I really just don't have the time this days to make rounds..."

The finger under one part of the book slowly moves to tap his 'wristwatch'. The SCA in plain sight.