citycenter: (Default)
The City ([personal profile] citycenter) wrote in [community profile] citylogs2023-06-19 09:02 pm

EVENT: Welcome to the City! (June 2023)





WELCOME TO THE CITY!

TOURIST INFORMATION.
Directly to the southwest of City Hall, you notice a building. It looks welcoming, with an inviting glass facade and a sign above the entryway announcing it as the "TOURIST CENTER." It's a humble building with a receptionist's desk on the back wall opposite the entrance, empty magazine shelves lining the side walls, and a few spinning brochure racks full of blank pamphlets. Anyone is welcome to peruse the tourist literature, though they won't offer much information, being primarily filled with pictures of the surrounding area—City Hall, the park, a statue garden, and the surprisingly heavily-featured cemetery. There are a few sentences sprinkled throughout about basic offerings of the city, such as apartment complexes and office buildings, as well as a few maps with the same limited scope as the larger version on the wall behind the receptionist's desk.


The main feature of the tourist center is the interactive kiosk installed dead in the center, right in the middle of a few rows of uncomfortable chairs that fill the small room. It's noticeably in the way of any would-be foot traffic through the tourist center, and something about the technology seems a little more modern than the computer behind the desk or the landline phone on the wall. The kiosk is a tall silver rectangle, about average adult height, and the upper half is a screen welcoming visitors to touch it to activate the kiosk. If you were to touch it, the screen would come to life with simple dialogue inviting visitors to ask it their questions.

However, residents should note that the kiosk is only programmed to assist with exploration within the available areas of the city. It may not be able to answer every question, and tampering with the kiosk may result in unreliable or inaccurate answers!



The kiosks are styled after this kind of interactive directory and will display text in whatever language the player character speaks, with optional text-to-voice for characters who are not able to type. (For vocals, think of the flattest, least affected robot voiceover you've ever heard.) The kiosk is programmed to answer questions related to tourism in the city, and can be asked for food or lodging recommendations, directions to various shops and locations in the district, and basic information about the city itself. Characters are able to ask as many questions as they please, but should note that not all questions can be answered in full by the kiosk system and overloading it with questions may yield interesting results.

Attempts to hack the kiosk will result in a twenty-four hour shutdown to reboot the system. During the reboot, the kiosk will not be available for further questioning or hacking attempts. Should characters pry the kiosk casing open, they will find the insides completely empty of any mechanical, electrical, or computing components.

JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK.
It's a brand new day, a mostly-sunny June morning. The sky is blue except for a few straggling white clouds, the sun is warm, and there's a welcome party being held at City Hall. Come on down!

There are quite a few activities set up in the plaza just in front of city hall, immediately to the northwest of the subway station. Although there is no one there to man it, there is a barbecue and accompanying table of foods–burgers and hot dogs that stay warm, ice pops in a bucket of ice that never melts, sides and drinks that never go stale. Towards the southwestern side of the plaza is a bouncy house shaped like a carousel ride, and no matter how many people enter at once it never seems to get full–isn't that fun? There are balloons and pinwheels decorating the picnic tables and chairs and a "WELCOME TO THE CITY!" banner hanging from the entryway of the City Hall building.

No music plays in the air, but is an old boom box tucked under one of the picnic tables, and to the right of the building's entrance is a raised dais containing the instruments belonging to a string quartet–although where the quartet is themselves, one couldn't say for sure. Still, they probably won't mind if someone takes over their instruments for a little while. There is also an electric keyboard for those inclined, and although it doesn't appear to be plugged in anywhere, it will still turn on.


Other knick-knacks and odds and ends offered by the organizers of the party include sidewalk chalk–partygoers may find it especially difficult to remove–bubble wands, and maybe even a few pairs of rollerskates hidden around for those who are especially interested in finding them.



The welcome party will be set up by sunrise and will stay through the entire weekend. Characters are welcome to eat the food, drink whatever they want, play music (if they brought a CD or cassette tape, or know how to play a stringed instrument) or play in the bouncy house. Any food or beverage consumed or decorations removed or destroyed will reappear when no one is looking.

JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.
The party continues inside City Hall, with a large room just off the main hallway being dedicated to the occasion.

Just like the tables and chairs outside, the tables inside City Hall are decorated with champagne glasses and balloons, and there's sparkly confetti dusted along the tablecloths and on the floor. This is where the alcoholic beverages are, bottles and glasses stored on a table toward the back wall. There is, of course, no bartender, but as long as you're of age you're probably welcome to pour yourself a drink, right? (And if you're not of age, well–who's going to know?)


There's also a large open space at one end of the room, clearly meant for dancing, although just like outside there's no music playing. But just because there's no music doesn't mean you can't dance, right? And the more you drink, the more you start to feel like dancing might be pretty fun. The party will go all night, so grab a partner and put your best foot forward!



Just like the party taking place outdoors, the indoor portions of the party will be set up by sunrise and will continue through the weekend. Inside is the more "adult" party, with tables for conversation and alcoholic beverages readily available. Characters are welcome to take glasses or bottles with them, but should they put them down anywhere outside, they'll be able to find their bottle or glass inside on one of the decorated tables. Characters do not need to get drunk in order to dance, but optionally may feel that drinking more makes them want to dance.

JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS

WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.



If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.

JUMP TO TOP ↑



» navigation » network » logs » ooc » mod contact
laidtocrest: (pic#15948680)

who am i to turn down 500 kiosk prompts

[personal profile] laidtocrest 2023-06-21 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
[Sylvain's first thought is, "I bet this he's one of the weird Device People." He doesn't say that. But this guy gives off a vibe. He's got a certain...mood, one can say. Hopefully not a contagious mood.

Maybe he's wrong? But call it a hunch.

Instead, Sylvain opts for a polite-curious-disbelieving teenager look (he...hopes) in response to all of that. Team up? To be decided.]
Why the cemetery?
coolerjunpei: (fuq.....)

[personal profile] coolerjunpei 2023-06-22 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
[He's got a certain mood for sure, well-spotted. Junpei doesn't necessarily expect everyone around him to get into this particular mood with him - after his banger of a time getting told he was Wrong and Too Negative online, he's settled for being a curmudgeon alone - but he also doesn't intend to censor himself about it.

So: the mood. He brandishes the tourist lit idly, like, why not the cemetery-! But,]


How should I know? It's not like they're going to write "Hey! You're all welcome here!" on the gate to the place, right? That's too on the nose, even for someone sick enough to trap us all here.

[the mood.]

Still, look at how much of this is just... pictures of the cemetery. It's got to mean something.
laidtocrest: (pic#15948678)

[personal profile] laidtocrest 2023-06-23 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Sure, why not, he can check out the pamphlet with Device Guy (Probably), admiring the pictures. Gestures to pass it over, if Device Guy (Probably) is so inclined.]

Maybe.

[Sylvain sounds doubtful, but after a second-]

That's to the 'too on the nose' part, not the pictures of the cemetery part. [Because it occurred to him, after he said it, that it could sound like he was saying, "Maybe, but I doubt the cemetery means anything."]

I've known some...uh, people. [Nobles, but are nobles really people?] Who'd go for that on the nose sort of thing. But, that doesn't matter: you've seen the cemetery yet?
coolerjunpei: (ok!!!! it's not blue!!!)

[personal profile] coolerjunpei 2023-06-23 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
You mean you know some idiots?

[Ha! Zing! Truly, Junpei is a master of wit. He hands over the pamphlet and crosses his arms, more visibly on edge without something in his hands to fidget with. The longer they linger in this tourist center, the worse it will turn out, he's pretty sure...

Not that jumping at the chance to go look at the cemetery is, like, any better at all. But.]


I've just been looking around in here... You want to go look at some, uh, graves?
laidtocrest: (i haven't even played it yet)

[personal profile] laidtocrest 2023-06-25 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
[That's definitely not a pick-up line or a date but also the way it's asked makes Sylvain think of pick-up lines and/or dates, and he just blinks for a second, before, shrugging.]

Yeah, sure! Sounds like my idea of a good time.

[It doesn't, but, also, some things are necessary, and since he can't indiscriminately trawl for pussy to eat just yet (lack of people to act as buffer when things go bad, you don't shit where you eat, paranoid people on the network means that there's a high amount of crazy currently and while crazy can be fun in bed crazy also means people at your door early in the morning screaming your name, Dimitri doesn't have anyone else to fall back on so he needs to check in on him every so often to make sure he's still alive so all nighters are more difficult to pull off) why not investigate to kill some time?]

So...you got a place in mind or are we just trawling all of the graves?
coolerjunpei: (only 5 months til that keyword changes)

[personal profile] coolerjunpei 2023-06-26 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
Why would I have a place in mind? I don't hang out in graveyards. The whole thing is the place.

[Well, this is absolutely going to suck shit, he already knows. He gestures for the pamphlet back, since they might as well take it along with them. Before they march right out the door, though, he stops at the front window of the tourist building, to squint across the street. Until they walk out of the building they haven't committed to the creepy graveyard move, so - give him a minute to scope it out from in here.]

It's right near here, isn't it? Somebody told me it was in the park...
laidtocrest: (pic#15773909)

[personal profile] laidtocrest 2023-07-01 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
Honestly? I haven't really looked into it. [He could say the real answer: he doesn't know Junpei well enough for that. But hey, he politely peers out as well as if he's looking for the graveyard.]

That it? [Probably not.] How many people do you think we'll see there, uh... [Insert name here...? Moving on.] You're definitely not the only one who had this idea.
coolerjunpei: (001)

[personal profile] coolerjunpei 2023-07-03 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Well, look at the pictures.

[Badum tsh... There are plenty of graveyard pictures in the Literature, after all. Junpei stares out the window for another moment before he sighs and heads for the front door. Alright, time to do something toeing the line between investigative and creepy.]

Are you ready? I'm going. [always announce when you open a door--] And who cares who else is there? Maybe the real party was in the creepy graveyard the whole time.
laidtocrest: (pic#15948680)

[personal profile] laidtocrest 2023-07-08 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Isn't that how it usually goes with parties? The real party's always somewhere else.

[But sure, he'll follow. Even if he feels like he's missing something. Just gonna trot along.]

And...I dunno, it's usually nice knowing who's got the same idea as you. Gives you ideas on who to approach for other stuff along the same lines, yeah? The guy who skips out on a party to check out the graveyard might...you know. [Be down to raid a morgue if they ever encounter one.]
coolerjunpei: (party time v-neck)

[personal profile] coolerjunpei 2023-07-10 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
Nooo, I... don't know.

[They're heading out now, officially, but Junpei still spares a semi-confused look over his shoulder. He doesn't do the ethically questionable stuff outside of a professional context or a literal locked room murder game, so no, he doesn't get this connection. People go to graveyards for normal reasons all the time. So they say.

Whatever; unimportant.]


Besides, the internet- [he does finger quotes for this,] -can find you all the like-minded freaks you'll ever need, and you don't even have to stomp around a creepy-ass graveyard to do it. Like, what the hell is this?

[Here, a gesture around in a vague circle: All This, what are they even doing. This was his idea.]

I could just let half the town make fun of me online again and save the walk, but here we are.
laidtocrest: (i haven't even played it yet)

"huh," I thought, "did she ever tag me back, now I think about it?" Then I looked and saw...

[personal profile] laidtocrest 2023-07-19 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
[For completely unrelated reasons, Sylvain takes a half-step back as if whatever Junpei had was contagious and he might catch it. But this has nothing to do with Junpei, and, if Junpei looks at him, he's going to pretend like he saw someone over there and had to take a half-step in that direction to get a better look. Fully prepared to commit to the lie, make up a person he saw over there, in that direction. 100% prepared to raise his eyebrows, like- what, you didn't see that person over there?

Also...

...what is the internet? Things Sylvain might one day ask someone or figure out on his own. The lack of reference books is a bitch and a half in more ways than one.]


You...had a tough time, huh?
coolerjunpei: (but if he watched back to the future)

[personal profile] coolerjunpei 2023-07-25 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Junpei doesn't notice any kind of odd behavior - he's just skulking his way across the street, so he doesn't pause to notice Sylvain doing anything out of the ordinary. Lucky for both of them, perhaps...

But, hm--]


What, online? I've had worse in, uh, real life.

[They are officially into the park now, though, and Junpei remembers that he doesn't actually know how to get to the graveyard. "In the park" was all he had, so...]

So, do you know which way to go? Which direction looks spookiest?
laidtocrest: (i haven't even played it yet)

[personal profile] laidtocrest 2023-07-30 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
[He has a lot of questions and not enough answers, like what this guy means by things being worse in real life because one, what the hell is that phrasing supposed to mean, and, two, what sort of shit did he go through exactly.

Thankfully, he's being given a distraction, and so, with confidence,]


That way?

[...okay, so, maybe the confidence levels are like a 6 out of 10 - not the worst, not the best. But, listen.]

Dunno if it's the right direction but less trees that way, I think.