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?
▶ 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.
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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.
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SO A TURKEY WALKS INTO A BOWLING ALLEY...
There's a bowling alley open in the newly-accessible district, and you're invited to come test your mettle!
Walking into the lobby, you're struck by a peculiar combination of scents—shoe polish, floor wax, pretzels and nachos, and something pungent and a little oily. On the wall behind the desk is a shelf full of pair after pair of shoes, in every size you could possibly imagine, and there's a low rack filled with brightly-colored, heavy bowling balls that are ready for the taking. You can also hear the low hum of machinery and the rattle of pins being reset every time someone knocks them down, the bowling alley a well-oiled machine despite the fact that no one seems to be manning it.
You can bowl alone, start a match play (1-v-1), or bowl as a team, but you'll quickly find that bowling is much more fun (and somehow easier) when you're playing with others. Maybe it's because being around other people raises your spirits, but you feel more confident when you step up to bowl, and you find that when you're playing as part of a team, the bowling ball travels faster and in a straighter line, and you seem to be making strikes and spares with much greater frequency. Teamwork really does make the dream work!
If you occasionally see what you think might be the shadow of someone passing behind the machinery at the far end of the lane, don't worry about it—that's probably just your imagination.
If you stop by the bowling alley at night, you will find the place totally transformed. There's a disco ball hanging from the ceiling and brightly-colored lights flashing and dancing around the floor and walls. Any white parts of your clothing glow a delightful blueish color, and you find that you're illuminated in all kinds of interesting shades by the blacklight bulbs glowing in the ceiling. This is cosmic bowling, truly not for the faint of heart!
When you've finished bowling, you may want to stop by the snack area for a pretzel or hot dog, a soda, or—if you're there for cosmic bowling—maybe even a more adult beverage from the food counter on the far end of the building.
There isn't anything especially spooky about the bowling alley—except, of course, being forced to wear shoes that have been worn by a hundred strangers before. Characters are welcome to find their shoe size, grab a bowling ball, and go to town! Characters who come during the day will encounter a normal bowling alley, but they can always come back at night to get the full cosmic bowling experience. There will always be shoes in their sizes, the pins will reset themselves, and the balls will always be returned. Just be careful, those ball chutes can crush your fingers if you're not careful!
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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.
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citycenter) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
citylogs2023-07-01 11:00 am
hey loser, train station
...Keep it. You might need it for something more important than jelly beans.
[ Is it the jelly beans Mob actually wants?? It doesn't matter, ok. ]
it begins...
I guess so. Maybe it would be better to look for shops with people working who know the exchange rate. [and after a bit of a delay,] And who know where we are.
no subject
Better question is why we're here. We all got that message on our phones, right? [ It's not on accident, is the implication with the question. But, with a beat: ] Where you from?
[ Also, Mob: Do you have a bag on you? ]
no subject
Seasoning City, in Japan. [that first, and he does have a bag on him! a school bag, to go with his school uniform. assuming robby knows enough of his japanese animes to recognize those.] This doesn't look much like it.
[or anything at all like seasoning city.]
no subject
But, they can't do anything about that. What Robby's thinking, what he wants to apparently focus now on is this: this guy. A maybe 14 year old? Too young, clearly, is the thing, and Robby nods his head down the aisle. ] I don't know where this is, but you should stock up in case anything happens. Some snacks in case we can't come back this way. Whoever brought us can foot the bill.
[ Is that too serious-sounding? But Robby's unnerved by this, he knows it's best to be on the move, or something is telling him that. Take your chances when you have them. He's walking next to stand in front of one shelf, looking at what there is. They should probably take snack bars and nutty foods, right? The chocolate-and-nut ones are always easy enough to find, and he holds one out, but just for show. ]
You take a look. I can find us some carrier bags.
[ Just one each. The kid can use his own bag, but it might be a good idea to upgrade to a backpack.
...you know, if all these stores are as empty as they have been so far. ]
no subject
[ominous. apparently not going to expound on that.
robby's words are pretty dire, but they also make a lot of sense. does mob want to think about this being a longterm thing, stuck far away in a place that doesn't feel right at all? no, but it's easy to ignore that for the more practical.
and to regard robby with the thought that this guy seems pretty smart and resourceful. maybe a highschooler or older? mob isn't sure, but he follows to the shelves to look over, hesitantly taking a granola bar of some sort to glance over before looking back to robby.]
Okay. I guess this is an emergency. [kidnapping or curse. he's pretty sure master reigen has said something about taking care of yourself like that. so have a determined middleschooler nodding to himself and starting to look carefully through the snacks, trying to find a balance of not taking things unnecessarily but still having something to fall back on.]
no subject
More like, he's just focusing on what he thinks he knows, what he should be doing. If he's been taken from home and lands himself on a strange train and a phone asking him questions, ends up in a station completely deserted of life outside of people in the same boat as you, you prepare, don't you? For the worse. That anything else can happen next, and you can't freak out about it now, especially when there's a kid younger than you, looking the same age as Kenny.
Nevermind the fact he can understand Japanese now, too. He's trying not to think about that either. He's grabbing bags, undoing the pressed plastic so there's a bag for each of them to come back over with.
(He takes the time there to breathe, to tell himself to breathe. If this is somehow a joke, he can flip his shit later. If this isn't a joke, he can flip his shit later, too. Just do what makes sense right now. What might make sense if this is really a kidnapping.) ]
Name's Robby, [ he offers as he comes back over, hands him one of the other bags. A smile, too--maybe it's convincing. ] We don't need to grab too much. Didn't know if you have room in that other bag.
[ It's kind of slim--maybe there's books already in there? Good for snack bars, probably, but what about a bottled drink? That's Robby's thinking, anyway. ]
no subject
there is another part of his brain that pokes around the fact something doesn't feel right. the city yes, but a little in him. something is wrong. something is muffled. he decides not to think about it. (8%)
he's laid out a few items, mostly smaller, protein bars or granola, maybe a few that actually look good. when robby comes back he lifts his head, blinks, quickly moves to offer a bow.]
It's nice to meet you. [besides the uh. kidnapping? curse?] I'm Kageyama Shigeo. [another beat before he decides to offer,] People call me Mob.
[he's not sure how to navigate talking to a western person, first names and family names and- oh, maybe he shouldn't have offered his full name? oh well. he takes the bag and opens his own, which does have a few notebooks inside but looks like it could carry a few things without too much trouble. maybe one or two bottled drinks, definitely many snack bars.]
Just my homework. I hope we aren't here too long. [otherwise he's going to miss school. priorities...]
no subject
[ You never know, and if there's anything Robby wants them to be, it's prepared. Maybe it's pointless, over the top, but he'll walk around-- Mob? Mob--and check out the shelves himself, see what there is and pick himself a few things to take. Plenty of bars, and he'll grab a bottle of drink--Mob can share what he was up to, as Robby does.
It might be an idea to tell Mob to ditch the homework, but he doesn't want to. That feels too far--he doesn't want any of this to be that far in worrying territory. ]
no subject
he takes the plastic bag, starts trying to fit things in his school bag too. a decent amount, and now his attention is more on robby, curious about him.]
Are you in school? Um, usually. [when not kidnapped maybe. robby seems like a reliable older classmate. a senpai, if you will. senpai robby.]
no subject
[ Which is to say, he's not absent because of the break. He doesn't look away from filling his bag as he answers. He's not choosy, and manners isn't going to keep him from throwing in as much as he likes. It's not getting overly bulky, but Robby will want to see if there's a better backpack somewhere in another shop down the road. Just easier to carry, for one. ]
I was staying with my dad. That's the last thing I remember, [ anyway. ] I wasn't out at the time. I fixed up a door, was hanging around his place, and then I'm on a train.
[ That makes him pause. And the question seems pointless, when no one cares about a karate instructor, but he'll look over and ask anyway: ]
Your parents do anything important?
no subject
[here is mob, once again not realizing that's nosy. he zips his bag before moving to get a couple of bottle of water, taking a moment to examine the unfamiliar labels and such.] That's what happened to me, I was on my way to school and then I was on a train. Nothing felt strange about the time before.
[... his parents? a beat and mob realizes oh, maybe if it was a kidnapping it's for money? smart, but-] No, they don't. We don't have much money either.
no subject
Long story. [ Short story, actually, but hopefully a Japanese guy will understand the meaning of that without explanation. And Mob's answer to his own question is about what he guessed it. So, nothing to do with their families. Just two randomly picked guys. ]
We're sounding unluckier by the second. [ He doesn't feel the humour in what he says, but he gives Mob a look anyway. Turns around to face him proper a moment after. ] Best thing we can do is look around and see what we find. Hanging around with some of the other people might be good; I don't know who we can trust here, but accidentally hanging out with someone involved in this on our first day isn't gonna be the worst thing.
But we could walk out of this station, [ Robby continues, lips pulled, ] and everything I just said might mean nothing.
[ Somehow, this might turn out alright. (Ignore every reason this isn't alright.) ]
no subject
all this talk does make him say.] If we were brought here for a reason, I wonder what it'd be. Those questions seemed kind of silly.[robby didn't seem to be psychic and neither did many of the others, so it probably wasn't that linking them. he saw a lot of adults so them both being young didn't make much sense.
hm, thoughts to probably leave to clever people like robby. he nods to this, straightening.] So I guess we should see what's out there before anything. Maybe there are people living in the city, though...
[he glances around again, the faintest of frowns.] This place isn't like any place I've seen before. There's nothing here at all, it's like no one ever lived here. There aren't even ghosts.
no subject
[ A bunch of people ending up on trains from across the world, thinking that their subway station was empty. The kind of shit where talk of UFOs come up, and the--paranormal? No. Gotta be the aliens.
Maybe it's not what Mob meant, but Robby scoffs anyway, will take it for the light note it is. They probably have enough for snacks and such in the meantime, right? Robby steps into a spot that shows the different aisles, but nothing particularly stands out. Though he does look back at Mob as he brings up about ghosts, gives a slight frown.
Ghosts? Probably slang, right. Like homeless people. ]
They're probably elsewhere. It looks more like...a set. [ A set with a functioning train station, and with everything actually stocked properly. There's no use trying to think about it, though--Robby's mind is actually on seeing the rest of this city, regardless of what's waiting for them. So he focuses, gives a small nod. ]
Ready to find out?