Week 1

[linkupmods]

WEEK 1

AWAKENING.

You were taken. That much is obvious when you come to your senses and see the world around you. You feel a little groggy – just how long were you asleep for? – but you should otherwise be alert, enough to realize that the surrounding area is unfamiliar to you. You are in front of what appears to be a modern dormitory (or, well, just a large building, for anyone who's never quite seen anything like it before). The area is decorated with balloons, streamers and other miscellaneous decorations with a giant "WELCOME" banner spanning across the front entrance.

You have a moment to look at the people around you. Strangers. No one here looks familiar to you whatsoever. Furthermore, it feels like there is something stirring in your heart, waiting to be brought to light, waiting to speak your truth...

You might need more time to let that sink in, but that time is interrupted by a voice.

"Oh wow it actually worked- Um, I mean! Hello!"

The speaker is a short, plain-looking young woman with dark hair in a bob cut, her hand raised to catch everyone’s attention.


"Welcome to Sunset City! The goddess Braphine needs your help, so she’s called all of you here to fix this place. Fortunately, it should only take about three months of cooperation, I think? Probably. So...

Welcome to your new home away from home!"

The young woman - Mina - goes on to explain the current situation: everyone here has been summoned by the goddess of community and connection, Braphine, in order to rebuild the connections of the people of Sunset City. Lately, the people have become more and more isolated from each other, getting into fights and arguments over the pettiest of details.

While Mina doesn’t know the details, exactly, what she does know is that the goddess instructed her to prepare these dorms for residents ("that’s you!") and to more or less act as her representative. Mina will also note that everyone’s dorm rooms have already been labeled with their names, and that the goddess has deigned to gift some in particular with the means to defend themselves - which is to say, when characters do eventually make it to their dorm rooms, those who did not arrive with one will find their gifted weapon waiting for them with their name handwritten on a tag attached to the item.

For now, people can use their phones to access an app that will allow them to see any currently open commissions - complete the commissions, and they will not only help the community, but also earn money and rewards! And if your character doesn’t know how to operate a phone, well... Mina will patiently guide them through the process, don’t you worry.

If your character has any other questions, they may talk to her at the party, or otherwise contact her via phone!

WELCOME PARTY.

After speaking with Mina, you may have an idea of what you're supposed to be doing here. Things don't have to be all work, though, because despite the state of the city, you are allowed to have fun and get to know one another.

Mina has graciously set up a welcome party for everyone, which will have refreshments inside and outside the dorm, and games available for people to partake in throughout the day at their own leisure! Indoors, there are a variety of board games for you to mess around with. Outside, there's a pool, basketball and tennis court set up with appropriate equipment. Of course, you aren't limited to just those, as there's a small open field at the dormitory where you can play ball in other ways, too. Interestingly enough, there are also some training dummies available for you to use...maybe to put your weapons to use?

Don't forget about the arts and crafts section inside, either, where nametags are laid out for you to create your own (or others')! You can also use this section to create decorations for the dormitory, your room, or even something to give to a fellow dorm mate.

EXPLORE.

You're free to explore the town, too, at your own leisure, to get used to your new home. The city is bustling with people, but for some reason, many of the residents don't have good vibes. They seem unsettled, unhappy for whatever reason. It's not pleasant, but nobody will go out of their way to bother you, unless you trip into them or initiate pvp yourself.…The random trash scattered around various parts of town might make it hard to avoid the former, though. Be careful not to trip on a banana peel, a stray canister, or even something as large as a throwaway tire on the side of the street. The residents will not react positively if you try to interact with them in any capacity.

That being said, for all that the city seems gloomy at a first glance, there is surprisingly an advertisement for a go-kart racing contest coming up in three weeks, and the go-karts are two seaters! The flyers posted around town read that this is a competition for pairs; the driver's seat (left) has a gas pedal, and the passenger's seat (right) has the brake. Looks like the events are being hosted by one of the popular arcades in town, too. Even so, there are prizes for first, second, and third place; the grand prize consists of a good amount of cash, a trophy, and one (1) free night at one of the hotels in Carnation Court for both people. Why not team up with someone and enter the competition, or just find some people to practice with?

(OOC: Please see our OOC section for sign up details.)

NETWORK.

So, about those phones...there's a non-zero chance that you may post your live thoughts onto the network without meaning to. Likewise, you may also unwillingly comment on someone's post with your thoughts while reading it. Yes, this phone grabs from your psyche, for better or worse! Well, mostly worse, but oh well. There isn't a fix for this "bug" just yet, but you can still use the network intentionally! Just don't be surprised if you get a bunch of notifications for a post you didn't even know you made.

COMMISSIONS

TOP MODELS

A local boutique is looking for people to model their clothing, but they plan on taking group photos instead of single shots. This will be a summer-themed photoshoot with summer outfits (not necessarily swimsuits!), and the photographer (who is cranky, sorry) plans on encouraging all kinds of interactions between their subjects for some unique photos. Participants will be able to keep the outfits they wore for the photoshoot! How nice.

CLEANUP

You've seen the questionable state of the city streets. Should you feel like doing your part by cleaning up some of the trash, you may find something valuable hidden in all the rubble. And who knows? Maybe some of the residents might actually respond kindly to your efforts... (Cleaning up can unearth things like jewelry; collector's items; small, old electronics -- just to give you an idea! Go wild.)

PVP ENABLED

Basketball, volleyball, soccer match anyone? Monopoly? Uno? Or, better yet, a sparring match with your fellow dorm mates…? Whatever you feel up for, Mina would like residents to get some friendly ("friendly") competition going in the spirit of getting to know one another.

LEAVE YOUR MARK

The arts and crafts area has a large paper canvas taped to one of the walls with a "DRAW ON ME!" post-it stuck to it. There's a lot of room to be creative with this, and yes, you will get paid for just decorating the dorms a little bit through this commission!

OOC

READ ME!!!!

• Welcome to your event log! Currently, Personas and Elements are NOT in play but you have your weapons with you regardless. These things will be unlocked when we introduce the Nekyia in Week 2.
  
• Please use the OOC PLOTTING POST for all plotting purposes. Please do not plot in Discord.
  
• If you would like to sign up for the Go-Kart Contest, please fill out the form and submit it here! There will be a follow up to this in a Week 4 mini event. :)
  
• Furthermore, we have a very big series of events we are planning to do in later weeks. We will OOCly give details and open signups early in Week 2, with the introduction of the Nekyia. Keep an eye out for that as well!
  

ic comm | inboxes | ooc comm | full nav

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Comments

[bloodweapon]

arrival

[A man in a full suit of armor with a sword as big as he is strapped to his back stands among you. His arms are folded, his light yellow eyes narrowed as he listens, but he says nothing and doesn't have much of a reaction to the information... or everyone else's reactions.

This... is not where Fray should be. He was in the middle of something very important and yet now he's here, presumably with no way back until the three months are up and they've done whatever this goddess wants of them. It's almost amusing in its absurdity. This just sounds like sidequest hell.

Well, for now he'll play along. And "playing along" means holding up the walls at the welcome party. You can find him watching everyone with a critical eye... and yes, he brought the giant sword. Don't worry about it.]

cleanup

[Fray didn't exactly intend to take on this commission. After all, why should he help these people when he's forcibly been dragged here against his will? But on seeing the state of the city... well. He was going to explore anyway, so why not take some time to clean up?

You can find him gathering up trash at any place in the city, expression as unreadable as usual with that mask on. He doesn't seem to mind the work any, despite his many internal complaints, but a partner would probably make this go faster...

If Fray catches sight of you, he's going to call out:] Have you also come to see what this city holds?

training/sparring

[Or maybe you stumble across Fray while he's in the middle of swinging that massive sword of his at a training dummy. Though his swings are slow, there's a lot of power behind each of them, and he wields his weapon with both precision and ease, as though he's very used to its weight. He'll only stop if you get close - otherwise he'll keep going and you can interrupt him at your leisure.

If you do come close, he pauses, Deathbringer still in hand as he turns to look at you.]

Are you here to train as well?

[Or, if your character looks like they'd be good in a fight:] Spar with me. I intend to keep my skills sharp here.

cleanup

[amortristis]

[ Man, this city really is a mess, huh. Morgan was only really out here to explore and see just what was so dire that everyone needed to be brought here to fix it, but... between the unsettling atmosphere and the blatant disregard for people's surroundings, it's enough to even put her on edge.

Fray's voice cuts through it all, though, as she looks in her direction. It's kind of a discordant look, seeing someone as imposing as him doing something menial like picking up trash, but she doesn't really seem to notice that much as she crosses over to him. ]

I was looking to see what we were working with. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't all this. [ a pause, and a squint at what he's currently working on. ] What about yourself?

[bloodweapon]

[Fray has stumbled on a pile of discarded electronics - things he doesn't recognize, but are all definitely broken beyond repair. Some of them are larger and heavier than others, but for the most part they seem easy enough to transport to the nearest dumpster.]

Agreed. This city is different from what I'm used to.

[Which may be understating it a bit, given he's from a fantasy world that isn't quite caught up on tech yet. Mostly. It's a Final Fantasy so you know how it goes.]

I see little reason not to help out in this regard, however. It isn't as though the work is considerably difficult.

[The reward's a nice bonus too, but you don't usually do sidequests for the rewards (because they usually suck).]

[amortristis]

[ She nods in agreement -- even Nekomi wasn't anything like this from what little of Japan she saw. Certainly not desolate like this, at least. ]

Have you been making any progress?

[ Right now she's got a distinct problem with seeing the forest for the trees, so she's not really sure how anyone really could. Clearly the problem with this place as a whole should be the concern, right? Not just picking up trash? ]

[bloodweapon]

[looks at the trash he's tossed in the dumpster, looks at the remaining trash just like. everywhere.]

Not really. But until we've a better plan of action, it's better than remaining idle.

[Fray does not do well with being idle, after all.]

training

[unweathered]

[If Fray looks up, he'll see a petite girl in a barely there red feathery dress and oversized black suit jacket, with a red umbrella in hand, twirling it. She has a gun holster on her thigh, but she doesn't seem inclined to take her gun out yet.]

I was curious about the kind of 'fighters' the goddess decided to bring in.

[bloodweapon]

[Fray shifts his stance to sheathe his blade on his back as he notices her. The gun is something he notices right away, but that's simply out of his usual sense of caution.]

We certainly are a varied bunch. Many of them don't strike me as fighters to begin with.

[unweathered]

[She's petite, with no sign of any actual muscle tone. Even if the gun looks like it could break her wrist]

A lot of them look like they've never seen a drop of blood, let alone a fight. And the natives here are exceptionally rude, but they seem to be very cozy in that rudeness.

[bloodweapon]

[maybe don't shoot that thing then, ma'am!!]

It sounds as though we've been brought here to help with that, in some capacity. I've yet to see how any of us would be able to do that.

[Even the nicest people here are going to have a hard time breaking through the jerks that live here...]

sparring

[goei]

[Both Izou himself and his sword are smaller than Fray's, but he doesn't seem intimidated at all. In fact, he snorts a little at the proposition.]

Sure. But don't start complainin' when I make a fool of you and that oversized western blade of yours, yeah?
[He sure seems confident.]

[bloodweapon]

[Ah, a Far Eastern blade, he'd certainly recognize one. Fascinating - a different fighting style than those Fray is used to seeing, and one he's eager to spar with.]

You'll regret those words when I defeat you.

[so how would you like to do this? dice rolls (goodbye fray x2) or handwaving? i'm down with whatever so!]

[goei]

[I feel like these two are differently skilled but probably equally matched so I'm good with dice rolls if you are!!]

Hah! If I had a coin for every big idiot who thought he could beat me with brute force I'd be able to retire in luxury. Don't say I didn't warn ya.

[bloodweapon]

[dice rolls it is!

Fray wastes no time in moving, swinging that massive sword with a strike that would probably hurt a hell of a lot if it actually hit, but thankfully it's slow enough to dodge (2). Let's see who comes out on top, then!]

sparring... sort of

[umurice]

[You ever enter a room and a guy with a Big F***ing Sword just gives you strong 'stranger danger stranger danger' vibes? Hiiro doesn't even think about it, acting on instinct as he immediately brings his fists out and gets into a fighting stance, alarmed and ready to fight.]

Who are you?!

[Look, sometimes you're just trained to be alert around people with powerful auras and assume they're ready to fight you to death at any time. Don't worry about it.]

[bloodweapon]

[...looks at the poor guys' fists, considers his own armor...

Fray sheathes his blade and holds up a hand.]

I mean you no harm, if that's what you're concerned about. I presume you are one of the ones who was brought here as well?

[umurice]

... Ah, you talk.

[He had mistakenly assumed he was a monster. Look, he's never seen a man in full armor before.]

... As well? So you're also brought here by the goddess?

[bloodweapon]

So I do.

[If it sounds amused, that's just your imagination!!]

I was. I have no idea why she chose me, but yes, I am one of the recent arrivals.

arrival

[skypsalms]

[ she absolutely will not worry about the man in a full suit of armor and a very large sword staring at everyone in silence. absolutely definitely not worry about it. if anything she seems unbothered about the whole look of him and what sort of impression that he is definitely giving off.

what does worry her is the vibe he's giving off—sort of. ]

You shouldn't force yourself to be here if you don't want to be.

[ er. ]

I mean here. [ she'll gesture to the space around them. ] Around everyone else.

[bloodweapon]

[That gets a soft sound from him that is definitely not an amused "heh".]

I would learn more of the others brought here - and what better way to do that than to observe?

[skypsalms]

I suppose you're right.

[ she hums for a moment before speaking again. there's absolutely no way that she would ever counter that he go physically interact with anyone given how he is right now. besides, she is here sort of people watching along him, isn't she? ]

But luckily we have plenty of time for you to observe everyone and learn more about everyone. I'm sure there will even be opportunities to see different sides of everyone.

[bloodweapon]

Indeed.

[He falls quiet for a moment before speaking up again.]

I must admit, I'm curious why this goddess chose us specifically. I imagine she had her reasons.

[...right? please tell him she didn't randomly pick us—]

training!

[drawnorigin]

[The armor stands out quite a bit—it's not the brilliant white armor the Lumopolis armor likes to wear, and nobody else seems to be as prepared for battle as the man with the ridiculous sword.

(Is it paranoia or just habit? Not that Jeno's about to pry, because the answer isn't relevant to him in the slightest. Still, the thought passes through his head.)]

Something like that.

[He's holding a cane—actually holding it, like it's some strange artifact and not something to support his weight.]

I'm not sure what they expect me to do with this. It's not like anyone will pay for a sword swallowing act while the city's like this.

[what sword,]

[bloodweapon]

[Fray sheathes his blade, inclining his head slightly in greeting.]

Ah, a hidden weapon?

[A sword hidden inside a cane; it wouldn't be the first time he's seen something like that.]

It seems that everyone was given a weapon of some sort, even those who do not normally need to wield them. This is the one that was given to you?

[drawnorigin]

Yes, as clichéd as it is.

[He draws the sword slightly, enough to show the blade. For as gimmicky as it is, the blade does look sharp.]

I'm not sure why, but perhaps this is all they had on them. Or they thought it suited me.

[He's not sure how it would suit him, but it's a possibility?]

[bloodweapon]

I'm curious why they've given weapons out so freely to begin with, when it seems as though the townspeople mean us no harm.

[Or maybe they just took one look at Fray and went "no, let's not antagonize that one". Regardless!]

Still, it is a blade and should be handled carefully. Do you know the basics of handling and maintaining a weapon?