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!
  

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Comments

[bloodandstars]

[ Oh, she likes an opponent who's got the right attitude. Her smirk is, by Maika standards, positively friendly when she bounces back a step and gives him a "come on" wave with her hand. ]

You better have more than that.

[fullmoonmutt]

Oh, I do.

[ ...or he doesn't (10), but at least it's a tad better than before. Eli makes his move, darting forward with the quickness of someone used to dodging about. He'll give grabbing her around the waist and hauling her up a try, but there's more than enough room to counter him. ]

[bloodandstars]

[ He's fast, and she's light enough after the last year's nonsense that she isn't impossible to lift. But she also doesn't let that deter her in shifting so she can knee repeatedly at his upper leg to try to knock him off balance (15). ]

Now you're finally getting warmed up.

[fullmoonmutt]

[ And just like that, he's on the ground again (1). Thankfully, this is a friendly match, so he isn't breaking anything, though he does land poorly enough that the wind ends up knocked out of him. ]

...hh! [ what is going on how is he being this much of a loser right now ] ...shit... one sec...

[ He's going to struggle back to his feet eventually, intent to continue in spite of the wheezing. He's fine. He's fine! ]

[bloodandstars]

[ Some days, rng does you like that... Maika is chalking it up to the disorientation of being yanked to another world, though he does get a slightly perturbed look with the hand up this time.

That was... you know. A little sad. ]

Maybe we should switch to whatever your sport is supposed to be.

[ Okay. It being sad isn't going to stop her from trying to rile him up for a better fight. She can tell the willingness is there so maybe he just needs to be more pissed? ]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ That offered hand is taken but begrudgingly! Begrudgingly! ]

What? Hell no! [ He doesn't know its actual rules, anyway! ] This is fine! This stupid place has just made me a lot slower and weaker than I usually am, alright?

[ Amazing, that's the explanation he's going with? Although Maika's already on board with that thought. Being dragged into a strange world has been disorienting for him. Still, he's up and ready to keep trying and mimics the stance he's seen Maika doing at the start of both rounds. ]

C'mon!

[bloodandstars]

[ That pitiful excuse actually pauses her for just a second. Hmmm. ]

It did? I thought I was just feeling like shit because of the...

[ Well. Nevermind. Musing like that can wait until after all feelings have been thoroughly wrestled into submission. Maika visible shakes off the thought and squares off again. ]

You asked for it!

[ Luckily the dice also finally found mercy in their heart for Eli. Maika's (3, 6, 7, 8, 20, 9, 5, 3, 17, 3) against his 10d20 (9, 13, 13, 8, 5, 10, 2, 10, 17, 19) nets him six wins and only two more losses, and by the last she's flagging visibly. ]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ ...thank you, dice gods. Eli was beginning to feel like a useless idiot. The worry that he really had been relying solely on his lycanthropy to be good in a fight wanes somewhat every time he wins, and it doesn't suffer much when he loses, either.

In the end, he feels it's been a fairly even go of it, and when Maika looks to be flagging, he'll call it quits. He's looking pretty winded himself by now, anyhow. ]

Ha, alright. [ He's the one offering Maika a hand up this time. ] I'm out of it. Let's take a breather, eh?

[bloodandstars]

Hnph.

[ It's nominal agreement, but there's a note of disappointment in her snort — it's got a lot of meaning packed into one little huff of sound, alright. But she sighs and shakes herself out before reaching up to take his hand. ]

You're out of it? I haven't looked that pathetic in a fight since I could walk. ...And maybe not before then.

[ Ugh, she wants to go again... But if they go again, they really will be here all night. With another sigh, she hauls herself up on their gripped hands and bounces to her feet. ]

[fullmoonmutt]

Aw, c'mon. If we kept going, I bet it'd even out.

[ Once she's on her feet, he'll let her hand go and take a step back. ]

It was still pretty fun, right?

[bloodandstars]

[ Is she being consoled right now? She wrinkles her nose a little as she stretches and rubs the back of her neck, but she's too relaxed after a few rounds to get properly sulky about it. ]

Most fun I've had since I got pulled to this goddess-forsaken planet. At least Golga had razer hounds. I was starting to think I could get nostalgic for that.

[fullmoonmutt]

[ No! He's being positive! This is a rare moment, Maika! ]

Ha, same. [ But dang, those were some unfamiliar words. ] The fuck is a razer hound, though? They sound, uh... sharp?

[bloodandstars]

[ What is positivity and can she eat it...

The question makes her snort, half amusement and half wry. ]

"Sharp"'s about it. They've got a few dozen claws and more teeth, eyes all over. Pretty sure whoever named them that never saw a dog in their life.

[ She hopes so, anyway. Otherwise what the fuck was wrong with their original planet? ]

[fullmoonmutt]

Sooo, a monster. Got it. At least you got some dangerous stuff wherever you're from. Everyone else keeps acting like I'm the weird one when I say my home is full of demons and shit.

[ Finally, someone normal. Kind of. A little. ]

[bloodandstars]

[ Maika gives a shrug, like: demons and shit. Yeah. ]

Maybe they already killed off all the demons on their worlds. Or they think they have. [ Hah. ] I thought this world was the strange one, but maybe we're the odd ones out.

[fullmoonmutt]

Wait, your world actually has demons, too? For real?

[ Holy crap, he really isn't alone! ]

[bloodandstars]

"Dmon" means a lot of things to different people. But we've got Monstra, Dracul, Old Gods... Isn't that what yours is like?

[ Or was he trying to pull a prank on her or something? But that doesn't make sense. ]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ Eli has to think, which leads to him running a hand through his hair and giving it an idle scratch. Hm. ]

Huh... I don't know if ours got special names or nothing. I kinda just call them for whatever the look like and most people do that, too. Like, wolf demons, actual vampires versus the, uh, people on Earth they turned, shit like that. Mostly "assholes" work for all of 'em.

[ He gives a shrug. ]

The R&D guys would probably have a list of real names, though. That just ain't me.

[bloodandstars]

Sometimes name have power. And sometimes? When something's got its fangs sunk into you, "asshole" works just fine.

[ She gives a shrug of agreement and a little huff. ]

Doesn't sound like we're from the same planet after all. But some things aren't that different anywhere. [ ...Okay, not all things. She's curious enough, so: ] What's "turned"?

[fullmoonmutt]

Too bad. Kind of sucks to be alone but I'm getting the feeling everyone is.

[ No one from the same world, even different Earths. Weird as fuck. ]

Turned? Uh, like, back when the demons first invaded, the ones who could change humans into something else kidnapped tons of folks and made them into their own personal troops. We have a way to help them regain most of their humanity now but the physical stuff is, uh... like...

[ There's a hint of hesitation, but he'll go for the most obvious difference between himself and a regular person. He bares his teeth and reaches up to pull back one side of a lip further to show off how he has a wolf's teeth, not a human's. ]

Thith.

[ This. ]

[bloodandstars]

It's starting to look that way.

[ It really sucks when the pithy things she wants to say aren't even true anymore. But whatever. He's giving her more useful information now and she can refocus on that...

And on what he's showing her. She leans in to take a look, her eyes lit half with curiosity and half with something just a little like envy. ]

You're... a human, with goddess marks? [ What the fuck. She blows all her frustration out into a sharp sigh. ] ...Shit. What a way to get them. At least teeth are something you can use.

[ But there's definitely not a single trace of envy in her voice now, that's for sure. ]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ With what now marks...? ]

What the fuck are goddess marks?

[ He has no clue. They're simply what's left of a change that was forced upon him. There's more, of course, but he won't list off everything having lycanthropy offers. On paper, it's great. In practice, it's... also great, mostly, right up until it isn't. ]

[bloodandstars]

[ She jabs a finger towards his teeth, not actually close enough to poke. Despite the wrestling antics, she does in fact respect personal space. ]

Those. Or a tail. Slit pupils, claws, gills. For arcanics, even if we're born looking human, usually those appear when we age. I've never heard of a human growing something like that. And plenty have tried.

[ Demons, huh... ]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ That earns a, well, a scoff. ]

Yeah, well, I've had all of this bullshit since... what? Six, I guess? I dunno. Don't even know why that bitch wolf bothered. A little kid isn't going to make for a good soldier.

[bloodandstars]

Maybe your demons aren't so clever. What do wolves know but teeth and hunger, anyway?

[ And six is a shitty age to have that happen, but Maika doesn't know how to show sympathy to someone taller than hip-high on her. ]

You got away? Since you said you got "most" of your humanity back.