middleofsomewhere | So Familiar a Gleam: Start

So Familiar a Gleam: Start

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Then we'll just have to get the cat out of the tree too! Just... just... move. I'll get it. With my GUTS if I have to!"

A face flashed in her mind. A dark menacing voice. Don't believe guts are everything. She shuddered and paled as the brief moment came and went. She...

She should be terrified. And she was. But... not because the menacing figure with the dark voice had been scary. At least, not that way. But because something had fluttered inside her chest and...

And she'd only felt that once before. And was determined to never feel it again. So why...

She might have forgotten Adrien was there, her face was now folded into a frown as her arms crossed and she tried to figure this out. She was, actually, amusing to watch when she got like this.

She should be scared of the man. She nodded. He had been taller than her. Angry. Not angry. Not just angry.

Her hand shot up and clapped over her own shoulder like she was shoving something down. Hate. That had been hate. Delicious dark hate.

No wait. She dropped her hand and shook her head. That wasn't her. She didn't like hate, right?

Well, she did hate Shotaro.

Rage filled her as she thought of him, and the air around her seemed almost to thicken with her rage. Her hands curled into fists. Her shoulders shook. But not like she was about to cry. Like she was about to beat the snot out of something. Fury. Rage. HATE. These were all clear on her face.

She hated Sho. Hated him, but what could she ever do against...

Another flash. Just a voice this time. Her own voice. She couldn't catch the exact words but...

But she looked like someone had just offered her water when she was dying of thirst. Like she had hope all at once. She almost sparkled with it.

Showbiz. She was going to get her revenge through...

Wait what?

She looked startled and confused. Showbiz? Her? People looking at her? No way! She shook her head wildly, like a dog trying to dry its fur. No way. No way. She had no interest in...

But while shaking her head her eyes caught another glance at the cameras and she froze, staring at them, as if transfixed.

"Plagg isn't afraid of heights and I can talk...to...him..."

Adrien just kind of stares because there is clearly something going on here and after a bit, he reaches out to touch her shoulder. "Kyoko?"

She jumped a mile again when he touched her, paling.

"I'm sorry!" she bowed. Again and again and again. She then quickly darted around him for the tree and started hauling herself up into it. She was, shockingly perhaps, good at climbing the tree. She moved fast. Her moves were... not elegant, but there was strength in her arms, and as she focused on the task... more confidence in the set of her shoulders than she'd ever shown in school.

Kyoko forgot everything else as she got absorbed in her task. She found hand holds easily enough and moved to the right height. Then she paused, studying the branches out ahead of her. She frowned a bit. It was a bit thin where the tube was, probably couldn't hold her weight. But she was going to try, anyway.

She started forward, careful but confident. She was crouched slightly, a hand loose to either side of the branch as a guide and to grip if she slipped. She made her careful way to the tube. She was fine. She had this. She shifted position to lean forward and grabbed it. "Got it!" She hugged it to herself, pleased.

Which was about when the branch started to crack under her...

There is so much about this that is familiar and right, but also extremely worrying at the exact same time. She really needed to breathe. She probably shouldn't be climbing trees.

Except she had already run off and...

He whistles for Plagg to come to him, and he moves under the tree because he can feel it. He knows he's gonna need to react.

"Just be careful," he said as she moved up the branch.

Then he heard the crack and he tossed up Plagg as the branch snaps. The cat already knows, twisting in the air to grab the branch, turning it into dust before landing with grace.

Freeing up Adrien to get into position without getting smacked by the branch and catch Kyoko.

She had frozen at the sound of the first crack and had been trying to figure out what to do and then the branch...

Was just gone.

She screamed as she fell, landing in his arms. What? WHAT?!

Edited 2021-07-09 06:16 (UTC)

"The branch wasn't going to support your weight," Adrien said, shifting his grip to make sure Kyoko wasn't about to slip. "A cat is the only one who could get up there safely."

"But the cat couldn't get the tube down," she pointed out, suddenly and shockingly reasonable for the moment. She held up the tube, to show it.

"Plagg is a very talented cat who isn't afraid of heights. I can also talk to him," Adrien said. "Are you okay? Your job dedication is admirable, but that was still very dangerous.

"Yes, perfectly fine! Even if I had broken my leg, it would not not have stopped me from doing my job!" she declared firmly, intensely, and... way too loudly.

"That....isn't a good think, Kyoko?" Adrien said, looking concerned.

"Of course it is! One needs to always do their job, perfectly, no matter what happens! Even if you are sick or hurt, you can never let the guests see it! They have to feel glad that they came, and like you are happy to see them!" she declared, as though this was a lesson she'd repeated so many times it had become a part of her very psyche.

And it had. Which was why it broke through the cracks of the illusion and slipped in.

"....Kyoko, do you need to speak to a union representative?" Adrien said. "Or child services? Because it really sounds like you need to speak to someone because there are strict laws about children working for a reason. My yearly schedules have to be approved by outside sources for that reason."

Child... services....

She paled. Just dead pale.

"No! No! I'm fine, really! I just work hard is all." She would have been backing away quickly but he was still... holding.... her.....

Her eyes went huge and she started struggling, trying to get down. To escape. For lots of reasons.

If someone from child services started poking around, they'd find out she was here without her mom, that she'd lied about her age to the people she was staying With. She'd be dragged back home and her mother...

She shuddered, terrified and sick to her stomach just picturing how much her mother would hate her if that had ever happened. How much Sho would enjoy watching her suffer.

She would rather die than go home. She just had to last another year. Just... one more year. Then no one could drag her back, her mother would be able to forget she existed. She could keep trying to forget Sho existed...

Well.

That was a reaction that spoke to him on a deep, spiritual level.

"Kyoko! Stop!" He put command, authority in his voice.

"Put me down! I should get back to work!" That... that was an excuse he could believe, right?

"No! Kyoko, you need help!" Adrien said.

A broken plate, yelling, crying, pleading, flashes of moments-

"Please, I understand!"

"No! I don't need help! I just need to get back to work so I don't get fired! And to do my homework! And get good grades! I'm fine! FINE!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So Familiar a Gleam: Start

Re: Adrien Agreste (And Plagg) | Miraculous Ladybug | CRAU: TheWake | 4th Wall Guest | OTA

Re: Adrien Agreste (And Plagg) | Miraculous Ladybug | CRAU: TheWake | 4th Wall Guest | OTA

Re: Adrien Agreste (And Plagg) | Miraculous Ladybug | CRAU: TheWake | 4th Wall Guest | OTA

Re: Adrien Agreste (And Plagg) | Miraculous Ladybug | CRAU: TheWake | 4th Wall Guest | OTA

I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif

Re: I had to make a new icon for this, sadly could not find a gif