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

"Not much," Zelgadis said. "For all the trouble coming about, I'm not sure I've actually seen one even if the city government acts like there's one lurking around every corner."

And he's feeling uncharacteristically suspicious lately.

"It's nice to meet you too, Anan," Noctis greeted her back. "Sorry we couldn't really help them that well before ... it's weird that our SCA things can translate just about any language, but not robot beeps. Would've helped us out a lot."

"YEP!"

"If you're looking for sanity, I am afraid you are about to be sorely disappointed." She certainly has no illusions that she is at all sane in any way. Really, he could have worded that better. "I have returned to an...acceptable baseline. Is that good enough for you?"

( It's likely true, and never helped by massive cultural differences—Jingyi keeps running into those headfirst and sprawled on the floor for not having a better means of navigating them. Right now, however, it's for a future time: staved off. )

Remember. Remember who you are. ( ~~Simba~~ fellow Voidtrecker. )

Past that, don't get yourself in a situation you can't get out of without a way to call for people to help, right? That's doing plenty.

It was a pattern to continue like this, all in efforts to arrive at the park: which takes longer, waiting for people to clear out enough to the peripherals that he can bring them both back across that street into the taller trees in the wooded section of the park. There's an open section that he leads them toward, because he'd noticed it when on delivery.

That's right. Most his knowledge of the city is from his fake-life's job for earning money.

"Here, if you can curl up here, just sleep. There's a few statues that move and make sounds in another park near here, if we pretend you're one of those, it could work!"

Statues that moved? Back home that meant being filled with spiritual energy and gaining its own awareness, but here it was a matter of construction. Technological construction.

Again, she rolls her eyes.

Clean and feeling better - that's what it will do. While you're here, I'm going to make sure you take proper care of yourself.

She considers it for a long moment.

"My strength is intact - I can work through rubble well. It would also avoid active engagement."

Another pause.

"Accepted - but what about you?"

Curufin is also fascinated by the crazy sky, and he's wandering around outside looking for people who need help. That's his job, being a D-Force Hero. Even though he knows by this time that he's a Voidtrecker.

He sees Tetra and then suddenly she flings a giant ball of water into his face. SPLASH! His face and hair are drenched, and he blinks the water out of his eyes.

"It's okay," he answers. "What did you think I was?"

The more I realized this wasn't real, the more I didn't know. What is a private message in this context? Or an email?

[ The train doesn't have text based communications for the passengers to use. Or anything lasting. Thanatos has no idea how any of that works. Yes, the world may not have given him the capacity to actually use a streaming service. (There's a reason why he carried a textbook everywhere.)

So... Thanatos is... just going to stand here completely unaware of what Murphy just did. ]

She rolled her eyes right back. "You sound like Caitlin." And with that she went in search of the shower. She would, in the end, decide that her underthings could survive the water and could probably use a wash, so would shower with those on before rinsing out her shirt and pants and putting them back on. Then her leather, chain, and tabard. and belt. The socks and boots and the padding she carried. She disliked wet feet in wet shoes.

Hope flew circles around her as she walked back in, wet hair pulled into a damp and messy bun.

"Better?" she asked, dryly. Only thing about her that was.

.. she just had to unintentionally rub that in, huh. It makes his resolve waver for a moment - but only a moment. Inigo knows that he has to do this. That there's no way around this, when it comes down to it. He can't leave her in the illusion, not when it seems things are starting to become more and more dangerous.

So he swallows thickly before speaking up again.

"What you look like right now.. That is normal for you. I've seen you turn into that form multiple times now." He knows that the thought might be overwhelming, but he tries to say it as plainly and simply as he can, just presenting it as the fact that it is. Even if it may be a mindblowing fact. "We've.. actually not lived here for as long as we think we have. Someone messed with our memories. These lives aren't ours."

"You're my friend, I was worried." They free up a hand from around their knees to reach over and grip her shoulder gently. "Rest some more, okay? And stay safe. Your face is all over, out there."

Were he to try to reach out and tell her that just an hour or so ago, she would not have believed him. She would have been hurt that he would even have the audacity to even suggest that what they were living was a lie. Even as close as they were, she was willing to fight him to hold onto this reality.

Which was how she got to this state in the first place.

There was no denying that something weird was happening and that the world itself wasn't working. A lesson she remembers from class was something like 'a scientist must be willing to abandon their current theory if confronted with evidence that goes against it.'

She's silent a long time before voicing her conclusion. "That's something the girl I was trying to catch -- the Voidtrekker -- was saying. I didn't believe her. And now here I am." She took a moment more to consider, her tone lowering and becoming... hurt, rather than angry. "...how long have you known that? How long have you been lying to me about being my childhood friend?"

"Errrrugh. Tough family situation. Sorry to hear it."

Not that he was really shaming the guy to begin with about not telling his parents. But a good thing they are clueless, huh. How do you even get around that?

"So ghost you's a celebrity back home?"

As much as a ghost can be?

"Yes, Chiff was made like that. His code is translated into understandable code in other cultures but it is not translated into a widely understood language by an SCA."

Chiff beeped and she smiled again. "Though sometimes that is less than helpful. Still, thank you for watching out for them. It was good to be reunited again."

"Yes, I picked up the same strange readings. This place, whatever it is has not been found by void travellers before."

And that was unusual nowadays.

"I'm a voidscout so helping people throughout the void is my job. The voidtreckers... Had less choice than most but they have saved countless lives before, I have seen it."

She smiled gently at Selene. "We have both been tracking this entity for a while, though it took a while for us to realise exactly what it was capable of."

Exactly. The 'avoiding active engagement' part is exactly why Alice suggested that, and she's glad the other picks up on the idea. As long as she can keep Guri out of further hands of the D-Force without making her feel like she's totally useless, Alice figures she's at least doing a decent enough job.

"I.." She starts, then lets out a sigh. "I'm not sure."

She feels so tired. Her head feels like a jumbled up mess, to a point where she's not too sure she can function at all right now, let alone function properly.

"I suppose I should keep myself out of too much danger as well."

What's a sneaky way of jogging one's memory? Tidus folds his arms, humming lightly in thought.

"There was one time we saw them in the city, right? Or...inside a big sports gym. Wasn't a Purple Team having a meeting? And there were some guys with a sword..."

Doesn't that sound bizarre? ...or does it sound slightly familiar?

He nods and moves to where he has already gathered his things. The few belongings that he knows are his true items and not the fake articles of this world. He already had them in a convenient place, knowing that when it was time to move he was going to have to do so quickly.

He walks back over to Demyx. "We can proceed to that place."

"I only found out after I last saw you."

It's not a lie, though he's glad that it's the truth. Inigo isn't too sure if he would have been able to take the hurt in her tone if he knew it was really her fault. But hadn't snapped out of the illusion himself until yesterday or so - and since then he had spent time with Tidus, mostly, trying to go around and snap people out of it. Too busy to see his friend.

"I-- I don't think any of us have known for long." Or at least, Inigo hasn't met a single person who snapped out of it right upon arriving in this place, so he's assuming it's more of a recent thing. Especially with things seeming to get more and more chaotic. "But it's not.. like we're not friends. You are my friend, regardless of who we really are. I'm here to help you because I care about you."

And that emotion, at least, shines through clearly in the look in Inigo's eyes.

"Cool. Uh, do you need me to carry a rabbit or something?"

The least he could do was offer that much, at least, unless they were just going to hop along with them and if that was the case...well he'd have to take some back routes so they didn't get spotted.

"A few people, actually, and I mean I was staying with some of them too." Demyx said with a little hum, although he hadn't managed to encounter them in such a way to wake them up.

"What do I do with them?" He blinked at the talismans, but accepted them and Tidus' word that they would work.

"Someplace safe," Loki replies in a reassuring voice. He's glad that he won't have to literally drag the man to safety. It means he can pay more attention to the surroundings, listen for sirens.

He quickly casts an illusion over both of them to change their appearances to random humans. On a sudden thought he alters the other man's, giving him a poorly-bandaged head wound. A plausible reason for him to be so listless.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

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Re: Skip beat spoilers

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Is this okay? Sorry, I didn't get here as soon as I had hoped!

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