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
getting there! i hope things are well on your end either way <3
Sounds like you're already resigned to staying. [ Said not unkindly, as she circles the counter, to shamelessly duck behind it to start shopping. ] But not from here. Were you in another car?
[ She helps herself to a bag for her carton of cigarettes and a multi-pack of lighters, then exits the counter to browse for a snack and a drink—since she might as well, if it's self-service. ]
they are, just excited about apping in :))) hoping ur taking care of urself!
Not that Midnight sees fit to let go of the image. It doesn't matter. ]
Must have been, if you arrived today as well. I had some more specific items on my shopping list.
[ Alcohol, for one, although convenience stores do appear to sell them in the way they did back in Higashi. The blood, however, was a more specific grocery item. ]
Whether we stay or leave is a concern I leave to a future that hasn't come yet. The present has brought me to you, dear stranger, hasn't it? What's to say that kinder, lovelier things aren't yet to come?
[ It sounds... stupid, honestly. Midnight says it anyway, because he honestly doesn't know. ]
working on my app with some coffee and electrolytes as we speak :')
I'm not sure about you, but in my experience, few kind or lovely things come from this kind of quiet.
[ Not the still of the outskirts of a battle field. Not the echoing silence of a morgue. This is a calm before the storm at best. But at least she's accustomed to those. ]
You're right, though, that we probably shouldn't worry about the future as much as the present for now. [ Said as she slips a pair of tall boys in alongside the cigarettes. They weight her bag enough that she pauses, hefts it, before moving on to the refrigerated section. ]
Have you been to the ground level yet? Any idea if it's safer down here?
oh shit let's go 👏 gl!
I've been upside, but I'm afraid I haven't had enough experience with this kind of quiet to tell you what's safer. The people I've met seem civil enough. No worse for the wear, even if it's been a few weeks since their arrival.
Is there anything to look for? [ Midnight turns to check on the strange Miss's progress through the alcohol section. Height privilege, all he has to do is look for the top of her head. ] I've a little military training, but I can't say that protocol covers large-scale kidnappings.
[ He doesn't sound unreasonably upset, at least. Whether it's reassuring or not, the pressure of being somewhere new and strange doesn't appear to be causing him great distress. ]
you too!
She starts dropping an assortment of snacks—onigiri, sandwiches—into the bag without reading the labels. ]
I can't say I've ever been kidnapped before either. But if it seems hospitable enough, then it's probably fine.
[ No razed areas, she's assuming. She's grateful to be avoiding yet another apocalyptic scenario, though she's vaguely aware that she'll have to prove herself useful at some point if she wants to settle in. She's seen her fair share of films and TV shows like this.
Bag laden with a questionable meal, she turns to find her curious companion again, her mind stuck on a particular clue he'd given about himself. One she, begrudgingly, should at least try to take advantage of. ]
Any interest in escorting a girl towards the barracks, Soldier? Unless it's just a tent city up there.
no subject
With pleasure, Miss, although what's available seems much more comfortable than tents.
[ He finishes looting the antiseptics and loops around back to meet her, motioning toward the door and raising his eyebrows. Whenever you're ready, dear stranger. ]
You're speaking to Midnight, civilian operator with Rhodes Island's Reserve Ops Team A6. What may I call you?
no subject
Hopefully she'll never have to find out, but for now, she'll simply remember to come back to stock up if necessary. At this moment, she's simply amused by that long title, and shows it with a soft smile. ]
Just Shoko is fine.
[ And with that, despite her request, she is the one to lead the way out into the main terminal, the door bidding them a soft pin pon in farewell. ]
no subject
[ That's Shoko-san for both of them, actually. Higashinese and Japanese are very similar in that way.
He smiles in return and lets her guide them both, looking around for anything odd along the way to the nearest exit. He still feels as though someone might be watching them every now and then. It's not really doing much for his nerves, but he's always been the type to keep cool. ]
If you've experience with this kind of silence, I must wonder what it's like when the circumstances escalate.
[ He looks at the side of her lovely head. He may have enlisted himself to bear arms, but he still doesn't have much practical experience. ]
Although I do hate to imagine you in such circumstances. Were that life a bit more kind.
no subject
The world is always a little more dangerous than we expect it to be. But I'm talking more about a calm before a storm. You don't think that's what this all feels like?
[ She leans against the side of the escalator to rummage through her bag, to tear through packaging. She's polite enough to not smoke underground. She is not polite enough not to have a cigarette in her mouth, ready to be lit the moment they're outside. ]
I'm usually on the sidelines of the storm, but maybe that's why it's easy to smell one coming.
no subject
[ His tone would be quite factual if he wasn't completely aware that this is probably a bad thing. More than aware.
Having someone so confident and clear-eyed nearby is doing wonders for his morale, even if bolstering it wouldn't have been very difficult in the first place. When he says things like, "Just seeing your face is enough for joy to sprout endlessly in my heart", he's being quite literal. He's also aware that it's a losing battle to make anyone believe that. ]
Never was the strategist in my squad, though. Forward thinkers, planners... I leave these things to others. I'm much too optimistic to think of the worst.
[ A self-congratulatory statement with a too factual tone. He's an optimist. It's caused him problems. He's working on it. ]
no subject
Not exactly a planner either when it comes to a battlefield. [ Her words are exhaled in a cloud of relief, though she is polite enough to turn her head, and let the wind take it away from her unusual companion. ] I handle the medical emergencies. But hopefully no one will need anything like that.
[ Again, it isn't optimism, or even a real hope that her one area of expertise will be useless. It's just something a doctor is supposed to say.
She lets the words hang as she turns towards the nearby city map. It's as plain as to be expected, but she is a little surprised to see things like housing marked on it. Suspiciously, there are no hospitals or police depots, and that sparks an immediate worry. She keeps that to herself, of course, and simply ashes her cigarette as she gestures toward the map. ]
Any recommendations?
no subject
A medical professional, huh... Midnight's met his far share of doctors and nurses. He's met more medical staff in the past year than he has in his whole life. Good people, all. Just tired and a bit humorless. Understandable, given the profession.
He walks up beside her, pointing at the map as he speaks. ]
Well, I came up here, and went to this grocery store here, then this shopping center before checking on this stop where we are. I was going to see the park next, but if you'd like a safer bet, I believe the shops I passed were mostly clothing stores. There was a hardware store and what looked like some sort of toy store as well.
[ Honestly, Midnight is pretty game for anything. It's not like any of them have any place to be, right? ]
no subject
How do I get back to Shibuya?
It's a question of when too, of course, but she pushes them both down, deep and secure until a safer time to consider them. ]
The park sounds best, I think, especially with how creepy the station was. It seems pretty large, too. [ A pause. ] Maybe we'll run into someone else out there?
[ It's as much genuine curiosity as it is dim hope. They surely can't be the only two here; there were too many empty spaces where snacks and beverages might go. But this city is as dreadfully quiet as the one she'd left behind, and while she feels nothing particularly off about Midnight, nothing about the city feels off in the way she's used to. ]
no subject
Ah. There may be someone else. I've met a few others since I've been here... A couple as lost as we are, but there were a few who have been here a bit longer.
[ Miss Shoko may not see anything particularly strange about Midnight, but Midnight's already had to disabuse himself about what constitutes normality here. He's only met a handful of people with the normal beast vestiges so far, and he's still coming to the terms that most people here may not have any at all. ]
no subject
Instead, for now, her worry manifests more as wry amusement, as she ashes her cigarette and folds her arms, choosing to lead the way rather than linger at the map. ]
I don't know that I'd call myself lost. A city is a city, isn't it? [ Said, perhaps, a little too casually. And it might be that she realizes that, along with the fact that she should probably be a little more welcoming to a stranger—the idea of fearing Midnight, in any capacity, doesn't occur at all. ]
Sorry for not offering—do you smoke?
Sorry about the wait, August has been very busy for me!
Ah, no, thank you. Drink is my vice of choice.
[ To the point that others often think he walks through life a bit tipsy. They're both right and wrong!
He enjoys her lack of fear. She'd made a proper decision to be cautious from the outset. Fear and caution around strangers is normal. Midnight is a fan of normal people. ]
A city is a city indeed. One only needs an introduction to its individual idiosyncrasies after the basics. [ He hums, checking his mental impression of the map to make sure they're on the way to the park, but letting Shoko lead. ] I think I've read a book like that once... Cities are like people, in that respect.
august has been kicking my butt too so no worries at all!
It doesn't always have to be one or the other. I mostly only smoke when I'm nostalgic...or stressed.
[ She does not and will not elaborate, but gets the feeling that Midnight won't fault her for a bit of deliberate mystery either way. The lack of interrogation—and more pointedly the lack of him fussing—is a refreshing change from what she's used to. Hopefully he'll stay uninvested in the way she puts her body through hell for even a small semblance of control over it. ]
The quote sounds familiar, though. "Cities are like people." [ Another polite exhale, off to the side, to be carried by what little breeze there is as she attempts to lead them towards a bit of greenery. ] I probably know it from a song, not a book, though. I don't have much time to read for pleasure.
[ Another pause. Another soft smirk. ]
Should we be looking for a bar instead of a park?
ty!!
If I ever find a copy of the book here, I'll lend it to you sometime.
[ He can't, unfortunately... No books. Not that he knows that yet. He has, however, seen signage for several drinking establishments here and there, so he grins in return. ]
I think there may be a few on the way there. Haven't been in to see the selection. I wouldn't mind some company for that excursion, if you're up for it.
[ There's one coming up, coincidentally! How nice. He stops at the door and nods toward it. This one? ]
<3!
And when they stop, at what looks to be a relatively modern-looking place, she nods in return, letting herself and then arching an arm back to hold the door for her companion. After snubbing the very last of her cigarette on the wall, of course.
The inside is black and chrome, with unlit signage that surely comes alive at night. The only thing that blinks for now is the LCD menu board, touting drink specials and boasting of hours for happy hour. She doesn't recognize the cocktails, but she's quite familiar with several of the bottles behind the counter, even if the only familiar things about them are the shapes and colors. She glances at the row of draft beers as well, but doesn't recognize any of the labels or cartoonish mascots adorning some of the handles. That settles it, then: this isn't some mock-Tokyo. ]
Anything particular you like? [ She glances to Midnight, subtle mischief on her face as she perhaps too-immediately settles in. ] I know how to make a few things. If you don't mind a heavy pour.
no subject
He takes a look around the premises, but the interior of the bar is what he's used to as well — normal, the same way the convenience store and everything else in the city has been aggressively normal — so he follows the good doctor to the bar and slides onto a stool at the bar with the ease of someone who indulges at the bottle a bit too loosely. He sets the plastic bag on the bar so he doesn't forget it, then touches hand to chin, humming in thought. ]
Oh, by all means. Thank you. I'd like to request something simple to start, though. Wouldn't like to keep you waiting for your own drink, after all.
[ And it's easier to keep track of her hands that way. Well... she does have a nice pair of hands, and he does enjoy others work in areas they know best, but he's only just met her. People he likes don't get a pass from his watchful side. Not in the way they used to. ]
no subject
Her hands reach for those bottles carefully, less for their fragility and more because she's trying to trusts her memory as she pulls an assortment. ]
Simple. To start.
[ Echoed with the sound of the smirk on her face as she collects a few clear and a few dark liquors. Rather than ask his preference, it's easier, she figures, to just make a matching pair of her own favorites. While she considers, she rummages for tools—spoons, ice, produce, glasses&mdash. As many times as she's gone out for drinks, she's never been on this side, and her bar at home is quite simple.
Memory, again, is dredged up as she chooses what's most likely the correct glassware, setting one tall and slim, and one short and broad glass on the counter. From here, it's just a matter of double checking the bottles with a smell (and, in one case, a quick taste from a shot glass), before she pours, in full and unassuming view. And as heavily as she promised, no jigger in sight.
Into the short glass goes (relatively) equal parts of whiskey and amaretto. Into the tall glass, goes quite a lot of gin, a bit of syrup, and some lemon. Each gets stirred (with the same spoon, after a quick rinse) and they're both generously iced. She presents both, without flourish and without napkins, to Midnight. ]
Highball-style drinks are popular in Japan. [ A gesture to the clear drink—a very gin-forward Tom Collins-esque mix. ] But I like a whiskey drink too, now and then.