citycenter: (Default)
The City ([personal profile] citycenter) wrote in [community profile] citylogs2023-08-02 12:00 am

TDM: AUGUST 2023





TEST DRIVE MEME

A TRAIN COMES INTO THE STATION.
You wake up on a train.

Your phone is buzzing. It's in your pocket, in your hand, on the seat next to you. It's a normal phone, and you're on a normal train car. One of the lights flickers, a little further down. The world is very quiet. It feels like you're right where you're meant to be. On the phone's surface is a white screen and the words—


WELCOME TO THE CITY. BEGIN ORIENTATION?

▶ YES
▶ NO


Please take a moment to complete your orientation.

Once you're finished, the subway doors slide open to let you out onto the train platform. To your right, the platform continues on and eventually ends; to the left is a set of stairs that will lead you up into the station itself. The platform is quiet, clean, empty—there's no one else around, and the only sounds you can hear are your own footsteps, your own breaths, and the occasional faraway sound of a creaking pipe or rush of air. The train you disembarked will stay there as long as you do, its doors still open, until you finally decide to venture up into this new locale.


As you make your way up the stairs to your left, you find yourself in the belly of City Hall station. The station is large, a sprawling underground mini-metropolis of corridors and storefronts. Here, you may find others like you, freshly-arrived city residents from other realms (or even your own). There is also a subway map, which will give you an idea of the layout of the neighborhood, and ticketing machines, which can currently only be used to buy tickets to a handful of stations located on lines 1, 2, and 9.

If you're hungry or in need of any kind of supplies, there are plenty of storefronts inside the subway station as well—snack stands, convenience stores, restaurants, clothing stores, a pharmacy, and a variety of empty shops that may or may not have ever been in use. Everything is unlocked, and you can take whatever you need.



Characters may stay on the train platform indefinitely, and may re-board and re-disembark from the subway as many times as they like, but the train will not depart nor will the doors close. Once they go up the stairs into the train station, they may hear the train doors closing and the train departing. Another train will not arrive, no matter how long the character waits. Only once they come up the stairs into the station itself may characters encounter their fellow newly-arrived residents and take advantage of what the city has to offer.

JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
The station is located in the city center. It has three major exits that lead to areas of interest in the district, but there are several other smaller exits that lead in other directions around the neighborhood. You are welcome to use any of them, but may find the north, southwest, and east exits to be the most welcoming.
TO THE NORTH
The northern entrance to the station leads up into the sunlight and puts you out in a brickwork plaza. There's a modest building in front of you, three or four stories of stone with a welcoming facade. There's a sign above the entryway—it says City Hall. You may be tempted to explore, if you're interested in learning more about the city and how it functions, but prepare to find yourself disappointed—the folders in the records rooms are full of empty, blank sheets of paper, and the logbooks and balance sheets are similarly devoid of information.


Immediately to the southwest of City Hall, you will find a small building that houses the tourist information kiosk. 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!
TO THE SOUTHWEST
The western exit of the station takes you up into a city park, lush and green with a very light fog still hanging about the trees. There are lampposts on the walkways and benches where you could rest, and plenty of flora, although you can neither see nor hear any signs of animal life. You walk the paths that meander idly through the verdant grass and you feel a sense of peace, some of your unease about this place easing into a pleasant calm. The air smells fresh, like it's recently rained, and you'll find the grass ever so slightly damp should you decide to take a seat.


As you make your way deeper into the park, the trees grow denser and the smell of soil and plant life grows stronger. This is the older part of the park, very nearly a forest, with ivy climbing the trunks of the trees and plants and shrubs growing riotously around their bases. As you turn a corner, you find yourself first in the statue garden, although the statues are harder to see now, choked as they are with ivy. There are many statues, some partially obscured, some fully—very few of them still stand free of the vines and clinging roots. (It doesn't feel quite as peaceful here.) If a statue's face looks a little bit familiar, you may not want to look at it too long.

Continue down the path and you will find yourself in a graveyard, one that seems centuries old. Most of the headstones are worn away by time and covered in moss, rendering them impossible to read. The few that are free of moss are blank, or bear only suggestions of names too faint to be understood. (Was that the name of—no, it couldn't have been. Could it?) Many of the headstones stand at an angle or are toppled over completely, having been subjected to either strong winds or the roots of the trees that grow up from some of the graves, spreading branches toward the sky.
TO THE EAST
The final exit of the station, to the east, puts you out on a quiet surface street. Are you hungry? Or are you paralyzed by choice? There are plenty of restaurants, offering options of almost any food you can imagine. You could try a convenience store—it's well stocked, and the items there seem free for the taking. How about a restaurant? There's no one to take your order, but when you look in the kitchen, there's something on the stove, and it's just what you've been craving. Imagine that.


A few blocks down, you come in through the lobby of a tall building and find yourself in a corporate office. The fluorescent lights are steady and unforgiving, and the cubicles and offices are empty. There are a few pieces of paper on desks, a few folders left in organizers, but everything is perfectly blank. Despite how empty and quiet the office is, it nonetheless gives you the feeling that just a few minutes ago, this place was bustling with workers going about their daily business.


You enter another building and find yourself in the lobby of an apartment complex—finally, a place to rest. The first door you try opens easily into a completely empty living room, freshly vacuumed but without a single piece of furniture. It's a nice apartment, quiet, but with a little too much echo for your taste, maybe. Still, and perhaps oddly, you have no trouble envisioning what life here would be like.

The second door you open leads to an apartment that feels lived-in. Why does it feel lived-in? It's fully furnished with items that seem to go together perfectly, true, but the feeling is more than that—the room feels like someone was just here, maybe standing right in the kitchen only moments before you swung the door open. The air is a perfectly comfortable temperature, and it somehow smells like home despite that you've never once set foot here before. The refrigerator is stocked, and the cabinets are full of spices and flatware and kitchen utensils.


As you look around the living room, you find that there are pictures in frames on the walls and some of the flat surfaces—a seascape, a field, a shot of a city park bench. In each of the photos there's something just slightly wrong with the angle, as though the photographer were aiming for a subject that can no longer be seen.



Characters are welcome to explore the district around the City Hall subway station to their heart's content. The City Hall building itself contains several floors of offices and file rooms, but none of them contain any particularly interesting information. Nonetheless, characters may wish to team up with other newcomers and try to find some hints about the nature of the city. They can also spend a while in the park, the statue garden, or the graveyard. In the blocks surrounding the station there are plenty of options for food and housing, as well as office buildings, storefronts, and alleyways to look around. There are no workers in any of the buildings, and there does not seem to be an honor system for payment, nor any consequences for taking food from the stores or setting up camp in an apartment or office building.

JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM.
Have you ever visited the ice cream parlor located in District 2? It's a pretty quirky little joint!

When you walk in, what you'll likely notice first is the colors. Everything is bright, almost oversaturated—the pink of the leather seats, the teal of the walls, the red of the menu sign hanging over the counter. By all rights it seems like these colors shouldn't go together, but somehow they do, or maybe that's just because being in an ice cream parlor puts you in a good mood. It smells like waffle cones, and overhead, there's music pumping through the speakers at just the right volume, providing some nice background noise to your decision-making process.


Wait, music?

There's a jukebox at the far end of the shop, which seems to be where the music is being chosen. As you head over, the song comes to an end and the jukebox machinery shuffles through its options before landing on a new one. The song sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it? And the longer you listen, the more the lyrics really seem to speak to you. It costs money to pick your own song, so if you happen to have some coins on you—or if you're really, really determined—you can choose the next round of tunes.

When you're done at the jukebox, you can go check out the serving area of the shop. Behind the counter you can see milkshake mixers and waffle cone makers; there are ice cream cakes in the freezers that line the wall; and when you approach the main counter you can see the tubs of ice cream in almost any flavor you can imagine.


Pick a flavor, whichever one's your favorite! Do you want it in a cone or in a bowl? There are regular cones and waffle cones, and all kinds of toppings—sprinkles, syrups, gummy candy, mini marshmallows. Decorate your ice cream however you want, the sky's the limit when it comes to choices! You can even come back for seconds if you want, or thirds. Who's going to say anything about it, after all?

But the more of your ice cream you eat, the more you start to feel… strange. Maybe you're starting to get angry, or sad, or giddy—maybe you feel romantic, or feel like you want to tell a secret to a stranger, and you're not really sure why. You also can't quite seem to stop eating your ice cream, and the more you eat, the less worried you feel about whatever's happening to your emotions. After all, why be concerned about that when you have something so delicious in front of you?

Flavor Effect
Strawberry You find yourself compelled to seek out strangers and tell them a hidden truth about yourself
Rocky Road You find yourself compelled to seek out strangers and convince them of some egregious lie
Vanilla You are overwhelmed by a sense of total calm, and can only speak in aphorisms and platitudes
Rainbow Sherbert You are overwhelmed by amorous feelings towards whoever is near you and try to cuddle or kiss them
Chocolate You feel suddenly morose about something in your past and cannot stop crying until someone consoles you
Bubblegum You become uncontrollably giggly and giddy, and can only speak in rhyme
Caramel Ribbon You become angry and perhaps even violent, trying to attack anyone who comes near
Mint Chocolate Chip You suddenly have a common but exaggerated phobia (for example, a fear of heights where the step down off the curb is too much)



When characters first enter the ice cream parlor, they may notice that there's music playing overhead! That's from the jukebox, and the lyrics of the song may sound like they're particularly apt for a character's circumstances. Players are welcome to choose their own jukebox songs for their characters—it doesn't need to have appeared in canon, but characters from modern times are welcome to recognize the music being played. (Players can also feel free not to pick a real song at all, and instead just describe the overall sound of the song and content of the lyrics!)

This is an ice cream parlor, so of course there's also ice cream to be had. Characters can serve themselves whatever flavor combination they want, but shortly thereafter will find themselves suffering certain emotional effects depending on what flavors they chose. These emotional effects, shown above, will last for roughly an hour before slowly dissipating, and their intensity depends on how much ice cream the character ate and whether they were able to recognize what was happening and stop eating. Not every flavor has an emotional effect, so players can also choose to have their character eat a normal scoop and go about their day.

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 ↑



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whatsamada: P4AU (Cancer)

[personal profile] whatsamada 2023-08-04 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[It was a good thing that Ken just came out of fighting a bunch of other people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have noticed Izuku coming from behind. With a sigh, he gave a nod.]

Yes, I think so. Just...I think I saw something I wasn't supposed to.

[How was he supposed to react to seeing the name of a dead teammate on a tombstone?]
whatsamada: P4AU (Cancer)

[personal profile] whatsamada 2023-08-04 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Before Ken could say anything else, he quickly took a step back. Realizing that Shinjiro was breathing differently, he probably had taken things a little too far. Widening his eyes, he wondered if he should be the one to leave and not say anything else.

As he stood there, his expression changed before giving a low whisper.]


No, I didn't but I learned a lot from what happened.

[...]

And I still regret everything that happened that day.
whatsamada: P4AU (Chop Suey)

[personal profile] whatsamada 2023-08-04 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[The moment he heard someone coming by, Ken found himself crying even more. There was nothing wrong with showing his emotions, there really wasn't! And yet, he still couldn't help but feel like the kid that he was as he didn't really know what was going on.

For all he cried, he didn't know why this was happening to him.]


I-I don't know, I just...I just ate something and then I suddenly started feeling really bad!

[He said quickly before wiping the tears away. It was odd, he never really cried that much before. The last time he did was 2 years ago and...]

Is this supposed to happen? W-Why am I...?
icanfixer: (14)

[personal profile] icanfixer 2023-08-04 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ...

she's loading up her spoon with harmless moose track ice cream and flinging it at him. ]
burstmodes: (pic#12191692)

[personal profile] burstmodes 2023-08-04 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ah, whoops. he sort of does that sometimes. minces things together without being too specific.

prompto wants to comment about the gym thing – never been a gym guy but he actually doesn't mind running, especially since he tends to gain weight sort of easily – but the questions that follow seem a lot more interesting than chatting about exercise. ]


Nah. Can't say I've ever heard of those places before. [ he skips in his step just a little, angling his body toward robby as he walks. ] Which means you probably don't know anything about where I'm from, huh? Not that it's bad or anything. I think it's kinda cool.

[ he gives him a warmer smile. ] I'm Prompto, by the way.

[ he'll circle back around to possibly hanging out after the gym in a second. ]
firstwaters: (Default)

Ryne Waters | Final Fantasy XIV

[personal profile] firstwaters 2023-08-04 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Keeping the books

[ Ryne spends a while scouting out the station, checking it for places to hide, potential makeshift weapons, potential threats. For the first hour or so, Ryne is the ideal little sneaky thief. And then she gets to the part where she actually starts taking stuff. ]

Let's see. Sandwich. Water. Bubbly water. Um- oh! Sticky bandages and painkillers, just in case. Should I pick up extra? I might find someone. Oh, but if it's for someone else, should I make a separate list for that...?

[ There's a small pile of treasures on the counter of the convenience store, and she loads them into paper bag one by one after writing something down in a notepad. She appears to be making a proper list of everything she's taking and from where. A normal thing to do when scavenging in a strange new place. ]

ART!!!!

[ You are intruding upon the creation of perfection.

The contents of the bowl are exceedingly, crushingly pink. Strawberry ice cream, covered in strawberry syrup and just a little white chocolate sauce. The gummy bears on top of the bowl (all pink, naturally) are arranged into a circle, all staring inward at a swirl of whipped cream with a pastel pink gumball on top of it as if they're members of a very strange cult. All of it covered in glittering crystal shards of popping candy.

Right now, Ryne has taken a handful of sprinkles and spread them out on a table. She's humming along to the jukebox (...kind of humming along to the jukebox. She doesn't know this song but she's trying so hard) sorting them into little colour coordinated cups, the pink cup closest to herself.

But the thing about slowly, carefully assembling a hashtag-aesthetic ice cream bowl? Ice cream melts. One of the gummy bears slips from his place to fall into a rising sea of pink goo. ]


Ah- oh no! My bear!

Network post

network post, username: minfilia
Is it safe to eat the rocky road 🍨🍨🍨?

I don't want to judge it without giving it a chance, but I don't want to break my teeth either 🦷🤕.

Are they big rocks, at least? That way I can avoid biting down on them. That seems better than little gritty rocks.


WILDCARD

[ Or bother her! Ryne's priority is going to be exploring the city and taking notes on everything, but the concept of 'just vibing and being a weird teenager' is pretty important to her, too. As a result, she can be found pretty much anywhere. Expect to catch her gawking at things she wouldn't be able to find in her fantasy setting and putting up helpful little notes about any of her mind-blowing discoveries (see: normal modern-day things). And being incredibly polite to vending machines. ]
strongroots: (yulelog)

[personal profile] strongroots 2023-08-04 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He thinks it's cool. Robby doesn't comment, just tips his head a little non-committally with his eyes forward. The guy already knows his answer--that is, Prompto knows his answer. A different kind of name for a different kind of person. ]

Robby, [ he'll answer, a glance given Prompto's way with it. Robby keeps at a casual pace, not in any rush; there's the end of this path and then the road to cross before they come upon the buildings, and then where Robby intends to be. Unless something comes up; but already, with this guy... ]

You sound like you'll do okay--better than some people. [ He doesn't know if it's comforting, but it's meant as a compliment. Not Robby's level of normal, but that's not bad, in a place like this. If you can just be cool with the implications of other worlds. ] Everyone's from...really different places. You hear stuff. It takes a while to get used to.

[ Again, hi: he's the one it takes a while to get used to, despite the tone that makes it out as a general warning. ]
burstmodes: (pic#12270326)

[personal profile] burstmodes 2023-08-04 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ if he knew about the kinds of things prompto has seen, he might understand a little more, and if they become better friends, he'll definitely tell him about it. maybe show him some vids and pics he'll transfer onto his new phone before his original one dies. memories of home. things he doesn't want to forget in case he's stuck in this place for a while.

and also? prompto had done most of his freaking out as soon as he'd stepped off the train. ]


It's nice to meet you, Robby, [ he chimes immediately, slowing just a little to keep pace. he's used to walking fast, used to walking for miles on end without a break. prompto comes to a stop at the crosswalk, only hesitating briefly before continuing on. ] I think the hardest part's gonna be all this, uh, emptiness.

[ where are the rest of the people? why does it feel so... quiet? ]

How long have you been here?
whatsamada: Pixiv User: 463466, P4AU (Fine Great)

[personal profile] whatsamada 2023-08-04 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[And when said ice cream manages to nearly hit him, all he could do was a raise an eyebrow.]

...What was that for?

[No seriously, what??]
anthropophagite: Mine (Normal - pic#8283091)

1. b

[personal profile] anthropophagite 2023-08-04 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Kaneki has been exploring as well. he started with the kiosk and the tourist centre, but since those were empty, he went to the bank as he expected people there to protect... well, whatever people keep at banks. There was no one there, either.

he has met a couple of people - some have arrived today, others have arrived a couple of months ago - but none has been here for very long. Apparently, the city is... deserted.

Still, he wants to make sure, so eventually, he heads to the offices as well, only to meet more of the same: no people.

No, actually, there is ONE person: Bulla. Kaneki spots her and of course, he approaches, but her question makes it obvious she too is a new arrival.

"Some people have been here for a month or two. But I don't think there is anyone who has actually lived in this City for longer than that."
onlythans: (💔 not to mention)

network; un: archon

[personal profile] onlythans 2023-08-04 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Usernames don't actually mean anything on this linkshell network, but that doesn't mean Thancred's heart doesn't still stop dead in his chest when he sees the one appended to this post.

He doesn't dare to hope, for one thing. There are too many other, more likely possibilities. He himself very nearly chose louisoix as his own handle, just for the sake of having one that would ensure any Sharlayan-adjacent arrival would immediately want to seek him out. And there are rumors of this place playing fast and loose with those who ought to be dead, but Minfilia would know better than to use her own name, surely. She'd choose antecedent or wild rose or rising stones. The fact that this is as blatant as it is — that's all the more reason to think it isn't her, frankly.

The other likely possibility is that it's exactly what he'd done in reverse. If someone wanted to get his attention, it's assuredly the name they would choose. It doesn't mean it's her. It could be anyone. It could just be a signal. More likely than not, it is.

It's only once he reads the message that a slow, anxious-fluttering sort of notion begins to dawn. The sort he doesn't dare to hope for — but it sounds almost like — but it could be —

The first draft comes out riddled with typing mistakes. His fingers are trembling slightly as they move over the keys.]


safe enough for a sweet tooth
twould go well with coffee biscuits


[Is it, is it, is it? He can hold his breath for ten minutes, and maybe that will be more than long enough to see what reply he might receive.]
strongroots: (buy some tea)

[personal profile] strongroots 2023-08-04 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's kind of funny, watching the guy stop at the crossing. Probably for him, and it's a brief thing, where Robby keeps moving (though, he would have stopped too if Prompto didn't keep up--just to tell him it's alright). ]

A couple of weeks--maybe a month? [ He has to admit, brow furrowing some. ] It's hard to keep track; nothing happens, there's no news or nothing to keep track for. [ It's not like there's even any karate to go to. ]

This is the third month this's been happening? Whoever's behind this hasn't done or showed up or anything. [ Oh. ] But there was a party, something like it. The first people saw it? It got set up without anyone noticing, out in the open, I think. Then a bank opened up a while back with some stuff in it.

[ ... ] You should watch what you touch. I mean... it's hard to explain, but we got things that belonged to us that made us talk about them. You didn't even realise it.

[ And that's probably so vague, right? Robby wants to warn for it the moment it comes to mind, but even for him, that could sound way too suspicious of everything. Maybe? But he's now trying to wonder if there was anything quite like that before. There's odd things, but item-that-makes-you-blab is kind of... ]
miyagimagic: (120)

C

[personal profile] miyagimagic 2023-08-04 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ .. well, that sure is a painfully familiar sight.

Even if Daniel - this Daniel, that is - hasn't actually gone far enough to kick a kiosk over it, he definitely did go through the same thing on his first day here, getting painfully frustrated about not being able to find a single hint as to what was going on here, despite the situation being unsettling enough to seem to have been lifted straight from a horror movie.

It's why a sympathetic expression appears on his face as he moves to approach the other man, putting his hands up slightly in a gesture that he hopes shows he comes in peace.

You know, before he's the target of the next kick and all. ]


I get it. These things are frustrating, huh? It's like nothing here can make sense out of anything.
burstmodes: (pic#12270326)

[personal profile] burstmodes 2023-08-04 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it is vague, but it's also... ]

Creepy, dude. That's what it sounds like. [ which might not be a good thing considering. buuuut if he can make it through the night camping while daemons roam around in the dark— maybe it wouldn't be so bad here? then again, he'd never done well in complete silence and with other weird things that just happen. ] But the third month? You mean that you know of or that's the longest people have been here?

[ his mind is all over the place now, unsure what to ask that might not get either of them anywhere. not that he blames that on robby. he doesn't want to exist in a place that just gives him the chills every time he walks out the door either. ]

Don't touch too much stuff. Got it. [ it's mostly a reassuring mumble to himself. ] I'm guessin' that happened to you?
miyagimagic: (011)

welcome

[personal profile] miyagimagic 2023-08-04 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ...

Is that--

Is that a teenager with blood all over his shirt.

If there's anything in the world that would alarm Daniel LaRusso, it's definitely this. He doesn't notice it at first while he's moving across the city, just spotting a figure in the distant, but then realises said figure definitely looks.. red, huh...

And the moment he realises that looks an awful lot like blood, the man's pace quickens as he moves into the direction of the figure instead. His eyebrows are already drawn together into a very, very worried frown that's mirrored in his eyes when he stops next to Kaneki. ]


Hey-- Are you alright? [ And before Kaneki can even answer, Daniel is definitely already moving on to saying: ] It's okay, I can help.

[ Granted, it's not like he knows Kaneki isn't actively bleeding out. The blood on the shirt is very much visible, but since it's hard to see its source, Daniel figures the boy might just be wounded underneath said shirt.

His words are a little rushed, clearly worried - but at least he does know a couple of doctors he could take this boy to..

(You know, even if it'll prove unnecessary in a few moments. But while Daniel is still oblivious as to the true reason behind the blood, he's definitely fussing.) ]
miyagimagic: (036)

ii

[personal profile] miyagimagic 2023-08-04 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Even though the city feels so big and empty, Daniel is at least used to seeing people while passing through the park. Not a whole lot - not certainly as many as the size of this city would indicate, for one - but there's usually always someone around.

.. granted, it's not often a young girl with what seems to be angel wings, but he's also slowly growing used to things being.. a little different in this place in that sense, even if it's completely beyond the standards of his own world.

Still, at first Daniel figures he just ought to leave the girl to her business, but when he realises she's practically barely moving, just sitting there with her hand hovering over the grass, he can't help but approach - though calmly, a tiny smile on his face, especially considering how relatively young Nill seems to him. He wouldn't want to startle her, not even accidentally.

"Do you want to touch it?" It looks like that, after all, even if Daniel can't really imagine why anyone would want to touch grass.. But he's not going to question it, not when he doesn't know the girl's circumstances. Those wings mean she could've lived a life beyond anything Daniel would even be able to imagine, after all. "It's okay, no one will scold you for doing so, you know."
anthropophagite: windroars (DNS) (Normal - nervous laugh 38 - 4PKrbgM)

[personal profile] anthropophagite 2023-08-04 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ why indeed, it's a teenager with blood all over his shirt.

It's his blood, at least? Not that any answer and explanation to that would make the scene any less weird and alarming. Unless Kaneki says it's paint, but it doesn't look like paint at all, no.

When he hears someone quickly approaching, Kaneki turns his head, and the worried look on Daniel's face gives it away: this man is worried about the teenager with blood all over his shirt. ]


Oh- I'm okay, I just-- [ HM. Coming up with a lie on the spot is hard ] It's not blood. I mean, it's fake- [ wow, Kaneki is just great at this ] I'm not wounded or anything. [ and Kaneki's hands are also not covered in blood, which means he did not kill someone, no someone almost killed him, but Kaneki is sticking to his lie about it being fake blood ]

I'm sorry, I just arrived like this and I wasn't able to change it yet.
Edited 2023-08-04 17:53 (UTC)
strongroots: (allyourhopeless)

[personal profile] strongroots 2023-08-04 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Longest people've been here, far as I heard. This'll be the third month--and no one knows anything.

[ And if people have actually been around longer, then that sucks for them more than it already does just to be stuck going into a third month. Robby's now angling his walking into a certain direction, may even point and give a quick "That's the gym", to an otherwise very unappealing building with a sign board over above glass doors and full-sized windows, but with nothing written above.

Very normal. ]


But, yeah. In the bank; people found things that belonged to them, and when they picked them up, [ a shrug, ] they talked. There's things like that around town--you can't go some places, food shows up in the restaurants you walk into. [ He crinkles his nose. ] I thought that last one was bullshit, but I went in and checked. Whatever you think about.

[ He checked once, and never again. One day, he might appreciate magically appearing food. For now? No thanks. ]
icanfixer: (21)

[personal profile] icanfixer 2023-08-04 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Thou art thinking too much.

[ loading it up again--

to put it in her mouth. ]


Or rather, thou'rt thinking too much on thine own. If thee allow thyself to become too engrossed in worries, in stress, in the anxiety that this city may inspire in thee with all that it does, then that is the city's win. I am not asking, of course, for thee to turn a blind eye, nor to shut thy mind off from the strange happenings, but rather to understand from the start that it would seem, to my companions and I who have been here something of a time, there is a goal in disquieting us.

My dear friend Junpei knows more on that subject than I do, however, for it is far above mind to think too much of. I prefer to act rather than merely twiddle my thumbs in thought. And my act right now, in defiance of this dastardly city which seeks to unnerve, to take away that which is ours, is to eat ice cream as if nothing is wrong!

[ also, because ice cream is so good, and there are so many flavors she wants to try. and toppings. she's really loaded her bowl up with them, or she did at one point, but she's been working through it. ]
firstwaters: (i am a sneaky bastard)

[personal profile] firstwaters 2023-08-04 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The difficult part about sending messages isn't the ciphers. It isn't the potential danger of another person getting information that they shouldn't have. It's letting the receiver know that there is a message in the first place, that that message is for them and from someone who can be trusted. Most people don't spend every moment looking for clues.

But she isn't most people, and someone who would want to talk to her specifically would know that. Coffee biscuits implies someone from the Crystarium, maybe. But the username implies someone who knows the title that most of the scions use. ]


Really? I would have thought it might be too salty to go with coffee biscuits. It's salt flavoured, right? I can't think of any other rocks that people eat.

[ Thankfully, she doesn't need to send a message in code. She would be introducing herself to anyone who spoke to her anyway. ]

My name is Ryne. Coffee biscuits used to be trendy with everyone where I come from. They're not as popular now, but they're still my favourite.
burstmodes: (pic#12270313)

[personal profile] burstmodes 2023-08-04 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it definitely feels normal. everything almost looks the same, and it would be relatively easy to get lost in a place like this if he kept going on his own. good thing he's with someone who seems to know their way around—even if it just might be this part of the city. if he edges just a little closer to robby as they walk, he doesn't mention it whatsoever. ]

Are you serious? [ prompto stops for a second, clearly surprised. maybe almost a little excited. ] Like anything? That sounds... I dunno. Too good to be true.

[ reality has settled back in, and though he wants to try that out some time, he's already basically glued to robby's side once more. ]

Everything you've mentioned so far is unreal. Like, almost crazy. Or spooky. [ ugh, now he's thinking about ghosts. great. ] D'you think this place has a curse on it or something?
strongroots: (megafone)

[personal profile] strongroots 2023-08-04 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Robby stops a second after Prompto does. Looks back, and maybe he would share the sentiment if....they weren't in a spooky, eerie, 90% empty city, but for Robby?

Yeah, he definitely gives the guy a funny look before he continues walking again. ]
Give it a go.

[ That's all he's going to say. At least he isn't really thinking about how close or not close the other guy is. The thought doesn't even cross his mind. Instead, he huffs at the mention of a curse, a mirthful sound. ]

Good of a guess as any. I thought microchips. [ Still does, sorta, except the actual cause means jack shit when you can't do anything about it. ] Are curses a real thing where you come from?

[ He asks it after a beat, rather casual, something that sounds normal along with the subject. But he's asking for his own curiosity, or--is it curiosity? His own benefit, perhaps.

Getting a hang of what different worlds have going for them, and all that. ]
burstmodes: (pic#12995394)

[personal profile] burstmodes 2023-08-04 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ there's a little nod at that. give it a go. maybe he would after he's gotten some time under his belt and is a lot more familiar with his surroundings. he can only take so much weirdness in one day, and arriving on a train in an empty depot had already nearly filled that meter.

prompto does hum under his breath at the mention of microchips though. ]


It could probably be anything we think of and it still not be what's really going on. [ he sighs, laughing softly at the question. ] Nah. Well, not that I know of? We've got, like, magic and Astrals? Oh, and these creatures that hang around in the middle of the night called daemons? The usual stuff but not curses.

[ he scuffs his boot on the ground, only slightly aware he sounds a tiny bit insane. ] Not things you'd have in Cali?
guujis: (pic#16125394)

[personal profile] guujis 2023-08-04 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh no... Prompto, hide yourself from Yae if you ever meet in person... She smells kindness and innocence all over these texts like blood in water.]

It's true I care about details. It's part of my job, after all. The sentimentality not so much. Well, unless it helps marketing.

Aren't you all a sight. You must be the shorter one with the blond hair, then? How cute. You look very happy with your friends. I hope that, for your sake, you'll find them soon. And of course I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Have you visited that little dessert shop they opened? I've seen a lot of people mingling, so it would be a good place to start.
burstmodes: (pic#12995406)

[personal profile] burstmodes 2023-08-04 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's too late. he's done for (probably). ]

oh yeah??
what kinda work do you do?

i'm not that short!
[ he's totally short. ]
but that's me :)
and thanks!! if you see any of them you've got my number already haha

oh... um
i haven't stopped by there yet but i can give it a go
have you gone?