middleofsomewhere | So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

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So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

JUST Ā̸̛͇̹̈́͌͐͛̐̋͝Ǹ̵̠͍̲̘͈̮͈̺͔̤͙̳̓̔͑͌̒̓̃́̄̚͘Ớ̶̻̱̄̓͆͂̈́̄̔͋͌̽̀̕͘T̵͙͍͓̻̩͙̻͙̹͎̫̘͇̱̈́̌̓͝ͅH̶̭̻͇̰͈̯̦̹̦̗͐̒́Ẽ̵̡̡̘̳͉͇͚̼̗̣̩͎̞̏͒̈́̏͂̈͝Ř̴̠͋̐͘ NORMAL DAY

"Jinnjar citizens. Unfortunately, all train travel will be closed due to issues on the lines. Members of the Voidtrecker Express have been located around the city, and are deploying trickery to agitate and confuse us. We ask any volunteers at this time to help us locate any suspicious objects and people, and to restrain them.

For the f̴̘̯̰̦̺͖̔͌̋̃ũ̴̢̖̦͙̩̼̺̪͚͍̥͈̜̝͋̌̒̊̚ẗ̶̪̺͕̤̯̞̤͓̝́̑̄̎̊̕future of our city!"

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

EVENT BASICS:

DAYS 5 & 6:

By now, some people have broken out of their fake lives while some haven't. Tension is rising in the city as people are led to believe this is by the Voidtreckers, which some will believe due to illusions and messing with one's heads is believed to be one of their many tactics.
Some oddities are occurring with travel, and glimpses of how the city is made beginning to show. The streams of colour - the void - are getting brighter. Electronics are not working well. Some monster sightings are seen, but not to a large degree.
The prompts here are light to give characters and players time to ICly coordinate, as Voidtreckers are being more actively hunted. Some faces are known. You know who you are, troublemakers.

DAYS 7 & 8:

The world is really starting to go a bit wild now, with more things disappearing, animals on the loose and more monster sightings.
By the end of day eight most people have realised the truth though those who are very susceptible to mind control or very stubbornly wanting to believe in this world will still be trapped, believing this is the Voidtreckers doing.
There are monsters to fight, people to keep calm and a plan to make.

[ HOME SWEET...HOME? ] By day 5, the people of Jinnjar are in a state of anxiety more than before. There's those who realise they're not a part of this world, never were, while there's those who still cling onto this life. Health services say that the source of confusion comes from the colour trails that are brighter than ever in the sky, while the D-Force/Heroes have it confirmed - internally and publicly - that there are Voidtreckers amongst them.

The media shows pictures of potential suspects, some Voidtreckers, some not; a man with the same face as two others, one who made a show by creating ice in the middle of the street. Your face may be shown, but don't worry - they're asking people not to play vigilante.

That'll surely keep people behaved.

[ TRAVEL REVIEW. ] As if it couldn't get more frustrating, most of the trains are down. Air taxis are still available for short journeys, yet some people have the bizarre occurrence where they end up in the wrong spot, and even remember going in this wrong direction...but never say anything about it. Those using the tele-pads will also find themselves not always arriving where they should, or worse, suffering intense headaches, swirling colours behind their eyes, their thoughts jumbled for as long as ten minutes before it passes.

You might want to walk.

[ MAKING DO. ] Still, with all the chaos, many are trying to live. You have a life here, no matter what some other force is trying to make you believe,

For our HEROES: The cinema has rethought its showings due to the worrying happenings of the last few days. Clearly a boost in morale is needed and so they have pulled out some of the great films of the past. Action films that show heroes beating the bad guys, disaster films where the good guys beat the aliens, stop the natural disaster or thwart the secret agency looking to take down civilisation from the inside, at the last minute. Even the childrens films have taken on a pro-hero and triumphant air.

It's not quite distraction though, how could it be when every film has a warning before and after. REMEMBER TO REPORT ALL SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY TO DFORCE and WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE SHOW. REMEMBER TO WATCH YOUR SURROUNDINGS AS CAREFULLY AS YOU DID THE SCREEN.
Fun Park: It's for the kids, but one of the largest arcade parks has a special discount on everything to anyone who come visit. It's even advertised across the news: For half the price, get amazing fun and even better food! Kids younger than eight or from the orphanages get free access everywhere!

It's time not to think too hard, and to ignore the trouble! Play laser tag, racing cars or get a high score on the dance mat!
Encroaching Dangers: Something new is beginning to happen, as the city continues to shift. It starts at night, those that stay out past when the streets go quiet might see a shadow, might hear a growl.

Rumours and reports start to spread about monsters on the street.

DAY SIX: HELP FROM INSIDE

[ AID. ] DIAGNET is full of videos but one that has started doing the rounds is of a small droid and a cat. It's not hard to see why it has gone viral, the cat and cleaning droid are chasing each other around an apartment, caught on a home security footage. The cat tries to catch the droid but every time it gets close the droid turns to chase it and the cat runs away. It has been uploaded with stirring orchestral music, which adds to the madness.

But... For those Voidtreckers who have already regained their memories that little droid seems familiar indeed. As do the sounds that punctuate the music.

beep beep beep boop | boop

boop boop beep | boop boop boop

boop boop | boop boop boop | boop boop boop | boop beep | boop beep beep | beep beep boop | beep beep beep | boop

boop beep boop beep | beep boop | beep beep boop beep | beep

boop boop boop | beep boop beep | boop beep beepp | beep | beep boop beep

boop beep | beep beep boop | boop | beep boop beep | beep beep | boop | beep | beep boop

Of course it might not be anything, just weird droid sounds that haven't been fully edited out of the video.

[ MOONDUST CAFÉ. ] It might be that they figured out the message or, it might be that a friend is dragging them to the cafe. But for those that make their way there, they will find the Moondust Cafe is a bustling cafe on the edge of a park, near local transport links.

For those that say the right words, a slightly bored looking teenager manning the counter waves them to a side door. "Best sit downstairs, service will be quicker."

Downstairs has a fair number of tables and booths and is lit by coloured lighting making everything look a little obscure. There's soft music playing, not loud enough to make it impossible to hear each other but enough to make it a little harder for evesdroppers.

Mingle, discuss. This is probably the closest to a safe space there is.

[ LOST & LOST. ] You may have spotted it already - that is, spotted what's missing. There's been the pets, the birds in the sky, a pen or apple or wrench from the garage. But now, with every single bad thing going on, more is starting to disappear. Machines stop working, from air conditioning, freezers, your Jinnjar MP3 player, to TVs and more.

And in some business buildings, even entire rooms are gone, their floors empty of more than the door you opened to find this out. Even the heroes seem worried and they quickly clear any affected areas, chasing away bystanders and sealing off whole wings of office blocks.

None of them have answers though, except that this must be the Voidtreckers doing. After all who else but that group could have power enough to do such damage?

DAY SEVEN & EIGHT: UNRAVELLING

[ OVEREXPOSURE. ] Everything is starting to escalate. The headaches are getting regular the more you're outside, buildings are starting to go missing around the outskirts. People see parts of the city flickering, and when they reach certain sections of the city, they find they can't go beyond it.

Life tries to go on, but as more areas of the city begin to be sealed off and considered dangerous, even those who are most stubborn about pretending everything is normal can see that is is not.

[ LET LOOSE. ] The breaking down of the city has caused a lot of chaos, but one of the biggest problems are that parts of the zoo have vanished. Walls, fences, enclosure roofs. Meaning that the animals inside are no longer confined and are now prowling the city streets. Real birds now fill the sky that the fakes left empty.

And they aren't all that's there. Twisted creatures are becoming more common on the streets of Diagad. Creatures that look almost like animals but warp and twist between them, one moment a bear the next it has horns and then it is a wolf. But no matter how they look those claws and teeth are bad news for everyone.

[ CRUMBLING, CRUMBLING. ] By day eight whole streets are disappearing. homes, houses. people need to be moved in closer around the congress sector. Colours crackle through the sky like lightning and the world shakes often.

It's not just the infrastructure but the memories of those in the city. Dreams have come realities and all but the most stubborn have begun to realise that this world is not their own. They are from another place. What is going on? Why are they in this city? Who are these people who are their 'family'?

Confusion and anger are growing in the streets and it is perhaps time for the Voidtreckers to come out of the shadows.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah, it does seem like there's a bunch of things going on, and the story about these 'Voidtrekkers' doesn't really make sense."

Curufin chuckled affectionately. "I guess I can't stop you from worrying. And to me, empathy seems the most valuable superpower of all."

He paused to think about his answer. "The point of the Voidtrecker Express is to journey through the Void and go to worlds that are in trouble, and try to help the people there. Sometimes these worlds have called for help from any Voidcraft that is available, and sometimes the train just seems to have an intution about where we're needed."

"Whoa! That arrow of yours has some serious power! I bet that really makes your enemies quiver."

Was the pun really necessary? Yes, yes it was.

"I..., thanks, I guess? I'll try not to bring anything like that home."

"Not everyone. Just Dani and my sister. And my friends." A pause. "And all of my ghost enemies."

The worst part about that absolutely terrible joke is that he laughs at it. He doesn't even have a quiver, but it's still funny. (Most Centaurians would.)

He catches the arrow when it comes back.

"Been usin' it for a long, long time so I've gotten real good with it. Alright, boy, you're gonna end up runnin' me ragged what with the flyin' but if you keep scoutin' ahead I'll catch up with ya."

She meant the mob and security forces, but even if she knew what Alice was thinking - what would one more thing be, now? One more misunderstanding, one more negative thing.

Just data to be dealt with, this way. And, in that mode, she interprets things through her own paradigm, carrying over into other, even more dangerous territory.

"No, it was...ideal. A state this unit has wished to achieve, and should have known better than to accept as real. There were layers of impossibility."

"They could be from other worlds, or something like it." Eight chimes in, thinking about the words of where Nory came from. Though she was muddled in the illusion at the time, she noted at the time that it sounded very similar to the train... or maybe it was another planet? "I've seen several people that I had never seen before, so I agree that it would be better to assume that people are from different places if they aren't a part of the illusion."

She leaned forward, her eyebrows furrowing. "What I want to know is why go through all this trouble? What is it that the... person? AI? God?" She shook her head. "Why go through the effort of giving us us an entirely new life? Because they want us to forget?" One, she'd confess, was one she'd very readily accept as reality.

Link was worried. He didn't want this girl to get into trouble with the law, and the way she was talking, she certainly would draw the wrong sort of attention. But, it didn't feel right not getting her help either.

Doctors had to keep this sort of thing confidential right? It wasn't like she was a danger to others...as long as she wasn't on that bicycle.

"Um..."

"Ah true. Master Fu tends to do a lot of that whenever he wasn't taking care of us kwamis." At least Wayzz seems calm enough to talk about his owner who will soon be former owner.

Carapace merely nods and follows Chat as Wayzz flies back into the bracelet as well.

Steve's already frowning, trailing after - although he doesn't sit - and about to ask what the hell tethered to the train means and how they cut that tie, because that's what they're gonna do, clearly, when Bucky goes on and -

And that, finally, is a lot to swallow. More than the gone in outer space for two years bit, because that had seemed straightforward. This... is a little twistier.

"But you're not dead," is the first part of that that seems worth parsing. "I mean, unless I am, too, and this is a really, really weird version of, I don't know. Limbo."

[ That awkward moment when he remembers how much of a disaster demi he is.

Still, Murphy won't have to worry about someone touching his phone for much longer as Thanatos pulls away. ]

I don't... I don't know how to do that. What's an email?

[ Also, Thanatos reveals that the screen to his phone is utterly cracked from when he threw it against the wall earlier. ]

Curufin answered, "It's all true, what Anan and I have said. And we are here to save you from that entity that is casting illusions everywhere." Curufin, too, had found an illusion that he had no objection to, that of a family on this false Diagad. He would miss that illusion when it was completely broken, even though he knew now that it was an illusion.

[Masumi, meanwhile, does flinch, briefly startled at the sudden change of scenery. She recovers quickly though, and takes the chance to glance around the area. At the stage, the audience, the others, the surrounding area. Everything seems normal so far, but given what she'd asked to see, Masumi can't help but feel that this can't last.

So she goes with this, waits to see what will happen next. It would be rude to not go with it, especially after asking to see.]

Wei Wuxian keeps in mind the staging itself, the dimensions of it, and the sting and the pain of his own transformations. Beings formed from pain do not necessarily rise above it, as he knows. There are breaking points.

There are times where everything becomes a jest, and you just one more broken piece of the game board. When everything loved is taken away, and there's nothing you could have done to change it.

The audience is rapt, and he flits his gaze over the scenery, hears words and tilts his head up to look skyward. A beautiful day, indeed. "There was no warning," he says, looking up. "Was there."

"All of them so far, but I've only been on two others. I've heard some don't, but I'm not so sure."

She whistles through her teeth, studying the ragged remains of the illusion. "How'd you manage to only hit half of it?" she asks. "I've seen magic dispelled before, but never just part of a spell."

Unless it's a trick layered over a trick, but she can't see any hint that the original illusion remains beneath some obscuring veil.

"Yeah. Alive, and probably still on this plane." She projects more confidence than she feels. If they were on Exandria, she'd be certain, but the train may have changed things, which is a disconcerting thought on multiple levels.

"There's some magic that outlasts the person who casts it, but it's usually the really powerful shit. The kind of thing built to be permanent. But alive doesn't mean ok. Did they say anything about where they'd hole up, or just send you to me?"

She seemed to struggle for a moment more before that illusion seemed to snap.

I'm Ninomiya Rui, the CEO and creator of GALAX.

"I know that, but if they exist, they haven't been brought before the courts right? I just think there's more we don't know...but it's kind of scary. I wouldn't want to run into a Voidtrecker."

Rui nibbled on a licorice whip.

"Nothing like a little flair." Demyx grinned, he was that kind of person after all.

"You think so?" He chuckled lightly. He wasn't too surprised, but he was mildly impressed.

"I can learn plenty just by listening."

Come on, I can find you somewhere safe. There's some vacant places around here that aren't assigned to any of us which is for the best for hiding.

[ Don't hide in your assigned home Della, bad idea. ]

She's glad to hear it, but thee fact that she wasn't told anything more beyond "go there if things go wrong" was disconcerting. In truth, Eight would have had not even bothered with that, long since being used to taking care of herself independent of others. Were it not for the cats, it was entirely likely that they wouldn't be having this conversation.

She shakes her head in response to her question. "They didn't tell me anything." Perhaps it was to protect her or perhaps they really wanted to be rid of her. Her hands tighten and she blurts... "Ms. Beau... you know them well..., right?"

"You know, the Voidtreckers." Demyx said. It might be strange he wasn't calling them friends, but for him he didn't think most of them were.

"We do missions together so, I mean, that's work."

"Easier sounds better. If it's fake, it left some very real guts on my sitar, yuck." He complained lightly. He ended his wiping with shooting a small amount of water at it to clean it properly.

"That's a really good plan, I've been working on that too. I don't know how successful I am though. I tried."

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So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

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Re: Skip beat spoilers

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ROTFL that

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