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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"So, you became a zombie as a result of a lab experiment that you did not consent to? I wonder if there is any way to reverse it and go back to being human?" Not being able to dream would be a terrible loss from Curufin's point of view. And being able to control other zombies would not be good enough compensation for that.

He gives Murphy a sympathetic look. "I hope the authorities won't do any of those things if they identify you as a Voidtrecker. Even if you don't care, losing one's life is an awful thing."

"Been there, done that, didn't work enough to count for much and I lost something important." The core of why his daughter had loved him.

He'll take the loss of dreams. Besides, human is overrated, and even if he misses it sometimes, he's glad to be without it.

But right now the headache could almost make him rethink that standpoint. "I already lost it once. That's part of the whole 'zombie' thing. Not that I like it but c'mon, just make it quick and not like my braincells are leaking out my ears."

"What did you lose, besides your life?" asks Curufin.

Human does have its downside, Curufin would agree with that. Still, what else can we be? There is also a host of good things about it, as Curufin learned after living a life of making terrible mistakes in his own world.

"Aren't there people on the train that you are connected to? If there are, they won't want you to die."

Edited 2021-07-22 05:16 (UTC)

"Something more important than that." He says with a flat seriousness that's rare for him, though there's no way for Curufin to know that.

But it immediately ebbs when Curufin suggests that anyone on the train would give a single solitary rat's ass if something happened to him.

"I am known to be a pillar of the community. I'm sure they'll be crushed." He says in a way that he truly doubts they'd care much at all. "All the people that care about me are living out their days braining zombies. Anyone here wouldn't even notice."

However, the flat seriousness registers with Curufin. He understands losses. "What. . . or whom. . . did you lose?" he asks.

He smiles a little. "I wouldn't doubt you're a pillar of the community," he says, though he has heard the sarcasm. "Red Team does appreciate members who are dedicated to the team's goals." He has no way of knowing whether Murphy evinces any such dedication, but somehow Murphy looks formidable enough to be a fighter. "If those people who care about you are all in your world, then it might pay to cultivate some friendly relationships on the train."

"Why? I'm gonna know anyone for a month and then they'll disappear anyway." He rubs his temple with a notable wince, and does not answer that first question or acknowledge it otherwise.

"Just keeping it casual. Water-cooler talk is fine." He generally assumes not that people won't care, but that almost all relationships in life are fleeting, there are few constants. So he has a habit of being blunt with everything. His tenderness is carefully reserved and rarely doled out.

"And it means if this headache gets worse I'll happily eat a bullet without consequences, wake up later, and check my tallys."

"It's true that people disappear from the train. I myself have lost family and friends. And still, I think it's worth the effort to make connections, even though I may lose them." Curufin doesn't press his question about Murphy's loss. He knows that some people don't like to talk about such things, and Murphy does seem like a person who doesn't like to advertise his vulnerabilites, at least not to just anyone.

"Hopefully the headache won't get worse. No need to shoot yourself in the head. I wonder if Senku is anywhere around? He's one of the Voidtrecker physicians, and he might be carrying a medical kit with him, and it might incude some remedies for headaches."

"Right! Senku. Isn't he out there doing a thing? I think he's doing a thing." He gestures loosely towards the middle of the city. He's not magic. He doesn't fucking know. Psychic is psychic. God he needs to learn this cultivation shit or something so he's not useless.

"If I see a guy with his hair growing towards the sun, I'll hit him up. Right now I don't even want to bother looking."

He sits heavily right where he is, head in his hands, squinting hard. "It's not just here, you know. I come from an apocalypse. I have two reliable friends on the entirety of Earth, and they set the bar very, very high." Warren and Doc are incredibly special.

"Senku may be out doing something, but he always responds to requests for help. The trick would be to find him. I hope he turns up."

He comes nearer when Murphy sits down and sits beside him. He speaks softly, "Your apocalypse may be very different than mine, but our worlds are both falling prey to forces that could destroy them. I understand the problem. Who are your reliable friends, and how did you make your connections with them?"

"Being forced to travel across country with them as guards so I could be experimented on against my will, while chased by bounty hunters and running into idiotic idealistic communes of humans doomed to die miserably."

He tips his head back and rubs his temples. "The world is a grand, miserable place and I've always thought that to constantly find the beauty in it is a disservice to the people that have to suffer through it. And to find only crap in it is denying the small joys that exist here and there."

He raises a hand to flip off the sky. "And that's why this fucker keeps getting it wrong. You need both."

"So, your guards turned into your friends? I guess they must have seen that you were not merely an experimental subject, that you had value as a human being -- zombie or not."

Curufin nods when Murphy rubs his temples. "I agree with you about the nature of the world, for the most part. It is a place full of disasters, pain and misery. And yet there are small joys, and sometimes even great ones."

He smiles a little. "You do need both."

"I said they were my friends, I didn't say I was theirs. I was a job."

That's not entirely true. Roberta had said she loved him. But at one time, she told him clearly she wasn't his friend. Doc? Doc he just thought was generally friends with anyone. But to Murphy he was the best one he had.

"Look, I've done some world-building. I've seen some idiot world building. This is ass." And it's painful.

"Pathetic, that they only saw you as a job. You deserved better than that."

Curufin, of course, knows nothinng about Roberta and Doc, or the complexity of their personalities and attitudes. He only feels that Murphy may have gotten the short end of the stick.

"You've done some world-building? So have I. And I've seen others trying it and failing at it. I agree, whoever is doing the world-building here is. . . not exactly brilliant at the task."

"It was what it was." And what it was was complicated. But right now Murphy's head hurts too much to feign tragedy and agreement that he deserved better. On a better day his pity party could be glorious. Today he's just in too bad a mood and while Curufin is a pretty guy and he absolutely wouldn't mind the sympathetic attention, the only part he's thinking with is his straining head.

"Alright, I really gotta find something. This is gonna be the death of me.

Curufin really would like to help Murphy, and he wishes he knew where Senku was, since the doc would likely have some headache remedies in his doctor's bag. This pretty Elf also like to keep the sympathy flowing, as it seems to help some people in bad times.

"What do you have to find? And why would it be the death of you?"

"Tylenol." He says somberly. "I'll take Doc's toilet meth at this point. This headache. I don't know why it's so bad. It's like it was at the River. Remember that? With the mushrooms?"

"Tylenol, eh? I'm pretty sure Doctor Senku has it, but I don't know where he is right now." He looks a little confused. "The River? With mushrooms? You're talking about a Voidtreckers mission that I missed, because I was out in the Void at the time. At least, I think you are. You had a headache then, too?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

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CW Drug mention

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