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.
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
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!
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 ↑
|
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
citycenter) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
citylogs2023-07-01 11:00 am
no subject
I assume that means there's been other people brought here like this? [Given he somehow knew both that she'd just arrived and had done so via train.]
What... happened? Where is this?
no subject
If by 'like this' you mean on the train, then yes. Everyone I have spoken to arrived the same way. As to what happened, I am still trying to answer that myself. There are some theories floating around out there, but no one knows for sure. Where, is an unnamed city that appears to be similar to a typical city on Earth. I would guess in North America. It reminds me somewhat of New York, but it is not that city.
no subject
Definitely not New York. [She couldn't help a little chuckle at that comment, caught off guard hearing the name of that city.] Way too clean.
[Jokes aside, his words both answered quite a bit and... none at all. It seemed that was going to be the theme around here.] How.. long have people been here? Or brought here, I guess?
no subject
He looked thoughtful for a moment as he thought back. Truth be told, he hadn’t really been paying much attention to time. It didn’t move the same way to him as it did to humans most of the time.] I believe I was amongst the first batch to arrive and I would say I’ve been here approximately one month. At least, I have not yet met someone who has been here longer.
no subject
[That was... she couldn't tell if that particular piece of information made her feel better or worse. On the one hand, it meant no one really knew what was going on, because no one had been there for very long. On the other hand, the less people being 'kidnapped' by the train, the better.]
At least it hasn't been too long, I guess. [Said quickly after realizing she'd been lost in thought for a bit too long. Wouldn't want to be rude, after all.]
no subject
It still feels too long to have no idea why we are here or who brought us here. I am starting to think it is some sort of cosmic mistake. Though I sincerely hope not. If there is a reason, perhaps there is something we can do about it.
no subject
I'm... very confused about my abilities too. [A small line to test the waters and see if she wasn't misconstruing his words. The last thing she wanted was to get herself sent off somewhere else because they found out she was different and weren't happy about that.]
A month with being no closer to knowing anything... does seem frustrating, I'm sorry. [Not that she could do anything about that specifically, but she absolutely meant the sympathy.] I guess it's possible there's no reason behind it, but... I don't know; from what you've described, it sounds too large in scope to really be a mistake or coincidence?
no subject
May I ask about your abilities? Have you found they… do not work as usual? [Of course what he really wants to know is what they are, but only a few minutes prior she had appeared as though she was close to losing her mind so he decides not to press.]
There is no need for you to apologize. It is unfortunate, but I am confident we will figure things out. I have considered that there is no reason, but it doesn’t feel right somehow. It is much more likely that we were selected for some purpose, we simply do not yet know what it is. As you say, there is too much going on here for it to have been a mistake or coincidence.
no subject
I.. control electricity. I felt it immediately on the train that I didn't have access to all of it, and I couldn't feel anything around me in the same way. [She waves a hand around them, at the lights, the train car, the station itself.] Normally all of this would be like... like a constant background conversation or a whole network of string lights that I usually tune out but it's still there and now everything's... quiet and dull?
[She was honestly glad to talk about it, if only because this person seemed to be more situated and calm in whatever mess they found themselves in, and part of her really wanted someone she could defer to.
Not that she'd admit that to someone she just met.
His next comments got a little frown but she nodded, glad she at least didn't seem to be too far off on her gut reaction of this place.]
What... what's been done to try and figure things out? What can be done?
no subject
That sounds quite disconcerting. I admit when I arrived I also felt the absence of something, but it was awhile before I found out just how much I was affected. It is odd suddenly not being able to do something I have been doing for the better part of a millennium.
For the most part, people have been searching the city looking for any possible clue or bit of information. It seems it has taken us all awhile to get our bearings. But some have started to categorize the very little we know and I think we will up our searches more soon. There must be some information somewhere. These things do not happen out of nowhere.
no subject
I haven't tried much yet, so I don't know how much I have if I pushed... wait, millennium? [Oh god, that probably meant he was very powerful if he'd been around that long. Was that how it worked? Swallowing, she tried to nod and not look intimidated as all hell.] That must have been even more disconcerting, then. I'm sorry.
If everyone else is as... disconcerted, then yeah, it makes sense that it's taken a while to get searches going. But if everyone here is searching, then something has to come up soon, right?
no subject
Keeping his expression interested but calm, he nodded as he listened to her. He always wondered who would react to anything he said about time, when he revealed just how old he might be. It was truly entertaining to watch a mortal respond. He managed to keep his face neutral as he looked at her questioningly.] Yes, a millennium. Now, you were saying something about pushing? [He waved his hand dismissively.] It is fine, but thank you for your concern.
I must assume that anyone here with powers is suffering the same affects, though I believe not everyone here has them. If we all get on board, then yes, I am hopeful we will find something. [That was a bit of a lie. He wasn’t about to stop looking, but Loki was a bit of a pessimist in this. It was starting to look like the only way they would find out anything was if those who had taken them decided to give it to them.]
no subject
Pushing.. like, trying to see what I could do even while feeling like this? I'll... admit, I spent so long trying not to do anything that it's a little weird to think about risking it, so I didn't.
[This early, she needed the hope frankly, so at his last comment, a little hint of a smile showed again, even as her shoulders slumped slightly with a sigh.]
That makes sense, they weren't ubiquitous by any means where I came from, but so long as everyone is still willing to work together, hopefully they won't care too much? [Biases and prejudices being what they were, and all.] Do you think.. it's something technological going on or something else?
no subject
So far, of the people he’s spoken with, Loki hasn’t found anyone too overly biased against magic or other sorts of abilities. Though he has found some aren’t too fond of such things, none so far had been outright mean about it.]
That is a good question. I have to assume that there is technology at play, but the larger parts seem much more magical to me. I have never heard of technology that could bring a number of people to a location, from all over time and space and keep them here just with the use of technology.
no subject
And she wasn't sure if she was more scared to find her powers were still enough to be dangerous, or to find that she was without the thing that had shaped so much of her later life.
She sighed and nodded, pushing those thoughts away to focus on his next comments.]
That makes sense: I haven't heard of anything that could do that either, but I imagine I know less about the potential options than you might. [Mr. Millennium and all.] Could it be multiple places' magic working together? Or does magic not really work like that?
no subject
No, that is a possibility. Some magic is quite different from others, the casting is different, the effects are different, but that's just as much to do with the wielder as the magic itself. If you get the right people together though, it is possible that various magics could aid each other into doing some spectacular things. It could also enhance any technology in play as well. [He couldn't help but think of how S.H.I.E.L.D. had being using the Tesseract when he had come to... retrieve it.]
no subject
Huh. I guess.. that could be the how or the why. Or both? Not that it really helps to just theorize but, it's good to know that's on the table. [She certainly felt like she was floundering in the deep end in terms of trying to understand what was happening, let alone be helpful at all in escaping, but even what little information this man had was helping calm her down from the absolute panic she'd been in earlier.]
no subject
That has been much of the issue here. Many of us have theories, but whoever is responsible has not left a single clue, at least not one that anyone has been able to find yet. I am sure that will change at some point. We must have been brought here for a reason. They will have to tell us what that is sooner or later.
[As she calms down, Loki finds he feels better though he is unsure why. As much as he is unused to being helped, he is also new to helping others, at least outside of his brother.]
no subject
Okay so, keep an eye out for new things and keep going over the old, I guess? [Was that the take away here? Probably not, but she was glad for any sort of direction.]
[Ah, but before she forgot, she offered the man a little grateful smile.]
Thank you, by the way. For stopping me from panicking and telling me about this place. My name is Althea.
no subject
[That was actually the biggest concern for Loki. Why give them absolutely no information? Stealing people from their lives and then leaving them no reason as to why was a recipe for disaster in Loki’s opinion.
Before he can stop it, his eyebrows shoot up in surprise at the thanks. He is very much not used to people thanking him for anything, really.]
You are most welcome. It is nice to meet you Althea. You may call me Loki. [A bit awkwardly, he gave a bit of a bow of his head.]
no subject
[But she's going to try and focus on the positive, now that this kind man gave her so much information and helped calm her down, and nods back.]
Loki? Like... the trickster god? That's really cool! Um.. if you don't mind me bothering you for a little longer, is there anywhere that people have... congregated, I guess? Like.. is this mostly a normal city with apartments and hotels and grocery stores or am I going to be really shocked again when I get up to street level?
[It was partially a joke, but if there were any more big surprises waiting, she'd definitely rather know now and not risk freaking out again.]
no subject
[A glint of amusement sparked in Loki’s eyes. He did so enjoy being recognized.] Not just like. I am he to which you refer. And I do not mind you bothering me at all. It is mostly normal up there, as you say. Apartments and stores with anything you might need. I should warn you there are no people from this city, only those who have arrived as you just did. Also, there are no animals of any kind. So that is quite odd.
[He shrugs slightly, trying to make it seem less weird than he knew it was.]