JUMP TO MONTHLY PROMPT ↓
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, 3, 4, 5, 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
THE POISON'S IN THE DETAILS.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Monthly prompt includes the potential for body horror, including: mold or fungus; spores; and hanahaki-like symptoms. It also includes the potential for violence, mutilation, or death. Please label potentially triggering content in subject headers and interact responsibly with threads!
With the cacophony of the fun fair now gone, packed up and sent away for another year, the southern half of the park is now empty. That doesn't mean that the park itself is without attractions, though: up in the northern corner, sprawling out across the green, is a curious garden full of winding paths and draping trees, and within it, the smaller poison garden, where a variety of different flowers blossom and bloom along the gravel path. From roses to gladiolus, tulips to belladonna, this garden has many flora that residents may recognize from their homes, and some that they most certainly will not. As residents walk along the paths, observing and smelling and—for the brave—touching these plants, they will encounter a long wooden table, stretched out in the midst of fresh cut green grass.
This table has been decorated for a party, though it seems that all the guests must be late. A strange variety of different sized chairs and cushions have been set out along the long length of the table; it seems to fit at least twenty people, maybe even more. Small dishes and porcelain tea cups lay in random design across the off-white table cloth, used flower doilies and half-folded napkins tucked here and there as though someone left in a hurry. Even stranger still, there are six large, ornate pots of tea, scattered about the table, each warm to the touch and, you guessed it: full of tea. You suddenly find yourself craving a cup, and tuck into one of the chairs to pour yourself some...
...but you didn't think that it would be that easy, did you? Once you've swallowed a mouthful, or even your whole cup, your body starts to feel strange. Depending on the color—or flavor—of the tea you're drinking, you're going to experience some side effects:
| Color |
Flavor |
Effect |
| Red |
Hibiscus: This tart and fruity tea is naturally sweet. |
You will begin vomiting blood. The amount is up to your body's reaction. The correct antidote will fix you. |
| Yellow |
Jasmine: This tea has a light, floral note, and is slightly sweet. |
You will hallucinate something terrifying near you, and may lash out and attack those around you. The correct antidote will fix you. |
| Blue |
Pea Flower: This brilliantly-colored tea has a very delicate, woody flavor. |
You will gradually begin losing one of your senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch). The correct antidote will fix you. |
| Black |
English Breakfast: This is a full body tea, with rich undertones and a bold flavor. |
Something very terrible will begin happening to your body: your hair may start falling out, you may become covered in hives, or your skin may start opening into sores. The correct antidote will fix you. |
| Green |
Green: This tea has a very clean, grassy flavor, like the earth. |
You will begin to transform into a terrifying creature or animal of your choosing. The correct antidote will fix you. |
| Orange |
Ginger: This is a tea with a warming, slightly spicy taste. |
After drinking, you will suddenly fall into a death-like coma. A kiss may wake you, or the correct antidote. |
In a panic, you look for something to help you. Just beyond the table, tucked away into a wall of ivy, is an old wooden shelf, the lettering nearly worn all away on it. Little packets of seeds line the tiered shelves; there are no pictures on them, but the packets themselves seem to all be different colors—and you may notice that the colors match the colors of the various teas on the table.
Ripping open the packet that matches the color of your tea, you find it contains actual seeds—will you swallow them and risk a plant growing in your stomach, just to see if it will counteract the effects of the tea? Oh, surely that's the stuff of fairytales, isn't it?
Residents are welcome to explore the various paths around the outside of the garden, observing plants and flowers of their choosing. The tea party is open to all, and the tea will continue to be brewed somehow, no matter how many people drink it. Players can choose the extent of the negative effects on their character, or have their character remain unaffected by the tea entirely. In order to get rid of the negative effects, characters must either find the correct seed packet that matches their tea and eat the seeds, or wait twenty-four hours for the symptoms to subside. The seeds will not do anything but cure the character—though they're welcome to think something awful might happen.
The tea party cannot be destroyed, and items that are moved from the table can only be moved within the perimeter of the poison garden. Characters are unable to steal things from the tea party; they will mysteriously return back to the table if taken beyond the aforementioned border. The tea party will remain there permanently, though the negative effects of the tea will mysteriously disappear after November 1st.
JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS
A DROP OF BLOOD OR A DROP OF EGO.
At the apex of the path that winds around the poison garden is a large greenhouse that looks like it has seen better days. The panels are filthy, covered in dust and dirt and grime, and the doors creak on their hinges when you open them. Inside, the air is hot and musty, but the smell of herbs and spices fill your senses, letting you enjoy the atmosphere. The greenhouse is clearly separated into two different paths: the one to the left has a hanging sign which reads "DEADLY BEAUTIES" and the one to the right has a hanging sign which reads "BEAUTIFUL DEADLIES".
Heading to the left, you decide to observe the various plants there. Shelf upon shelf of various potted plants watch you as you go past; some of them snap at the air, veiny teeth grasping for the delicious meat of fruit flies and ants, and some of them threaten to touch you, with vines that roll and curl outward for just a shivering touch. Overhead, tangles of vined plants and spiked ivy mix together, an oppressive shadow that makes you feel as though you're trapped in this place as you walk through. Be careful: these carnivorous plants might be beautiful, but they won't hesitate to get a little too friendly with you. The floor is caked with dirt, but some of those brown stains might not just be from mud and dust, smeared by shoe heels and work boots. These plants might want a taste of blood.
Heading to the right, you find yourself in a beautiful space, the flowers so large they seem almost overwhelming. Have the plants gotten bigger, or have you simply gotten smaller? Gorgeous purple blossoms, pink petals, bright blue flowers and speckled white flowers cower and bend to cast you under them, like a flower-patterned umbrella sheltering you from the rain. The further you walk under them, however, the more you get the feeling that they're not just there to watch over you: they're there to explore you. At first, it's just a few gossipy whispers, so quiet you might not think they're real; then it's full-blown voices, the flowers bending and twisting as though to speak to each other in harsh, judgmental tones. What are they talking about? Well, they're talking about you—your secrets, your opinions, the things you don't want anyone else to know. These flowers are spilling your tea, and anyone walking along with you is going to hear it.
The back of the greenhouse—if you make it there—has the same doors as the front. They open back out onto the winding, circular path of the poison garden, where you can head back home...or experience the whole thing over again.
The greenhouse is rather large, and characters are welcome to walk through it along any path they wish. The carnivorous plants will possibly nip and bite at your characters, or try to restrain them, but they aren't very strong and can easily be broken away from. Feel free to imagine as much of a struggle as you wish, but they will not inflict any kind of mortal wounds on characters.
The giant, oversized flowers will tell your character's secrets or their deepest darkest opinions—this is open to player choice. The flowers cannot be attacked or hurt, and the only way to get them to be quiet is for someone OTHER than the character they're talking about to scold them or tell them to be quiet. Alternatively, if you can walk the path hand in hand with another character, this will also cause them to go quiet.
Plants cannot be taken from the greenhouse or killed, and they cannot be dug up from their pots. The greenhouse itself also cannot be destroyed, and any fire lit in the greenhouse will be immediately extinguished by an overhead sprinkler system. This place is meant for enjoyment and admiration, not crime!
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 are even some places that other residents have created! 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. We highly recommend checking out the Character-Run Locations as well - they might be great places for new characters to get started!
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)
citylogs2023-10-01 08:38 pm
onni hotakainen ❄ stand still stay silent
ii, ONNI......... MY MAN!!!!!!
I am Don Quixote, valiant Fixer employed by the heroic Limbus Company! And also, part-time employee at the most wondrous Bookstore that has recently made itself home here. Prithee, ser, be at ease, for I am only here to restock on the delectable gummy worms.
[ which happen to be past him, though don doesn't seem too concerned as she goes to move beyond him with a happy hum. ]
They have fast become a staple in my life, and a week without them is a dire week indeed! Are thee fond of sweets, ser?
What?? Someone recognizes him??!!
For fishing? I hate fishing.
[The last bit is muttered under his breath, and he finally exhales and lets his guard down a little as she asks him if he likes sweets. What that has to do with worms, he's not sure, at least until he steps a little closer and notes the bag she picked from the shelf behind him. It seems to be full of brightly-coloured worm-shaped...something? Candy, maybe? He's never seen anything like it.]
I...yes. Cake and such.
[It's a little non-plussed. This woman is...a lot. She reminds him a little of that Norwegian woman who'd befriended Lalli. The comparison sets him at ease just a little more. That, he knows how to deal with.]
Are they candy?
I DO!!!!!!!!! SSSS WAS ONE OF MY FAVES BACK IN THE DAY i played sigrun a while actually
[ hold on... let her-- okay she has to use her teeth, but she'll tug it open. they are always so hard to tear, truly, but that's because she tries to pop it open like a chip bag and not use the natural toothed edge that you're supposed to use.
it doesn't escape her notice that he seems to ease up, just a little, and that's good. as long as onni is a law-abiding sort (by her own laws, which are chivalrous and just) there'll be no trouble from her.
right, the sharing. she'll hold up the opened bag expectantly, piece of torn plastic still in her mouth. ]
so did I! and lol, that makes it even funnier he was comparing Don to Sigrun.
[It's a little brusque, and he's pretty uncertain about the food here still. If he tries that, it'll be the first thing he eats from this place, and who knows if the food here is contaminated and that's why there's no people here? But this woman seems to have been regularly eating the food from the convenience store and she seems fine. Lots of energy. Friendly enough.
Leaning in, he gingerly plucks one of the gummy worms from the bag, raising a brow as he spots a chunk of plastic still in her mouth, and takes a cautious bite, nipping the head off. His eyes widen, and he shoves the rest of the worm into his mouth immediately, chewing and swallowing. It's sweet and chewy and something he's never experienced before. Very good.
Turning, he snags two bags of them from the same rack she'd taken hers from.]
Mm. I see why you like them.
mte
Are they not delicious? Their sweetness is truly unmatched...! There is another kind which is the opposite and puckers one's face most terribly with its sour taste, but I prefer this...♪
[ mmm... worm. ]
I am sure thee must wary of the foodstuffs here, but I can assure thee that the only place one must take care is at an ice cream parlor marked with a bird drawing! Junpei and I have ensured dangerous locations have been thusly noted so one may take care.
no subject
[One of the bags he'd taken, he opens, the other he shoves in his pack for later. Pulling out another gummy worm, he puts it in his mouth and chews, then swallows. Onni is a man who has not been exposed to a lot in the way of sweets outside of fruit, and sweet is a flavour he likes. He's been chasing the high of the first real cake he'd ever eaten since he tried it.]
Oh? What's ice cream, and what did it do?
[Might as well start learning about the dangers of this place right away, right?]
i ONNNIIIIIIII
She hadn't expected the man, but she glances at him, notes his grief, and sighs as though this is something she's had to deal with before. ]
I don't know what you're seeing, but this place messes with people all the time. Faces on the statues that look like people you know, familiar names on the gravestones, you name it, it'll do it.
[ It's said a little brusquely, but not cruel. Sorry, she's like this. ]
What. Two people who recognize him??!!
Rather than being off-putting, the brusqueness of her explanation is soothing almost. It's straightforward, it doesn't play games, it answers his question openly and seemingly without holding back. Lifting a leather-gloved hand, he rubs roughly at his eyes and face, trying to hold the tears back, and shakes his head.]
It seems whatever gods run this place have a strange sense of humour then.
[It comes out glum, pessimistic, with an unmistakable edge of crankiness, the same edge that's on most everything he says. The sharp rush of grief is, at least, fading, and it's easier to hold back tears now. His voice is more stubborn than upset when he continues.]
I dropped off that headstone myself.
I marathon-read it once though I've fallen off, he was one of my faves
Which is why she averts her eyes, after a brief glance to meet his to show it's not because she's uncomfortable. ]
Hate to break it to you, but this is the least of it. This place is probably going to drag memories from you out into the open, whether you like it or not. If you end up second-guessing whether you're losing your mind or not, it's not you, it's here.
Probably.
It's always nice to find other people who like his cranky, obscure butt.
Well, he's certainly not looking forward to dealing with this place if this is the least of the mind games it's going to be playing.]
What do you mean by dragging memories from you?
[She's easy to interact with, straightforward, and he finds himself liking her more than most new people he runs into because of it. It's not like Reynir, forcibly trying to befriend him, just sharing information and not being invasive or asking about what he'd seen. She even looks away after a glance at him, to give him his privacy. He scrubs at his face again, feeling more even-keeled again, and takes a deep breath, holds it for a moment, then huffs it out.]
I'd like to be prepared, if this kind of thing happens a lot.
You're among friends for sure
If only everyone could be this easy to talk to, honestly. ]
For example, about a month and a half ago, a bunch of us got stuck inside a mall--like an indoor shopping area, if they're not a thing where you're from. There were figments, people from our pasts, who'd chase us around or run from us, and touching them gave you memories of killing them, or them killing you.
They weren't actually there, but we all saw them and interacted with them.
Excellent. <3
That sounds bad.
[A statement of fact, understated maybe, in the way Onni so often does.]
So this place can cause us to have shared hallucinations, then. I wonder how it works.
[Maybe, if they knew that, they could put a stop to it.]
no subject
[ She sure hates things she can't beat up. ]
Instead, more people just show up every month and something else aggravating happens. If you're the lone wolf type of guy, I get it, but you're better off finding at least one person here to keep in contact with.
Unfortunately, dealing with things on your own doesn't always work out here.
[ Which. Greatly sucks. When people get involved when you're trying to not get caught up in things-- ]
no subject
[It's a simple noise of assent, but he means it, nodding a little. He doesn't doubt this woman would've done that. She looks fierce when she says it, and he believes her.]
More people arrive every month? At the same time?
[That's...strange. Very strange. It's like there's some sort of pattern he can't quite nail down. It makes his head hurt a little, and he makes a low grunt of annoyance. She's continuing on though, still in that straightforward way he's coming to like so much, explaining that you need people here, even if you're a lone wolf elsewhere.]
Can I keep in contact with you?
[It's blunt, but that's just the way he is.]
You're easy to talk to.
no subject
You can do what you want. At least I'm someone who's been here a while.
[ Though if he wants to keep in contact... ]
You can call me Gebura.
OMG, I don't think he's ever liked someone this quickly before.
dsjkfd I'm honored in her stead
I'm glad someone is!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
iv - text; un: d.larusso
Words on a screen are probably safer. ]
Hello.
These are communication devices. You are speaking to another person right now. I assume this is the first time you have seen one, right?
un: onni
After fumbling with it for a moment, he decides it would be easier to use without gloves, and painstakingly types letter by letter.]
Communication devices? You're another person with another of these things?
You're right, it's the first time I've seen something like this. I'm used to radios.
no subject
[ .. Turning on the video now would be proof, but-- yeah, Daniel is still worried about the startling thing.
So instead of doing that, maybe it's better to go with plan B, he figures. ]
If you want, I can prove it. And maybe show you a little bit more on how to use these things. Do you know where you are? I can come over.
no subject
[The second part is interesting, and Onni considers for a few moments before replying.]
I'm in the garden, you can probably find me by the smoke from my fire. I believe you, but it would be nice to know how to use this thing.
no subject
I'll be over there in a little bit.
[ The whole.. smoke from the fire thing is slightly ominous, Daniel thinks. It sounds like a controlled fire, at least, but is someone truly making a fire out here? Then again, if this person doesn't know what phones are, they might be from a time before those, where it was a little more normal to just do that..
.. even though they know what radios are?
Daniel tries to figure it out in his mind on his way over, but he can't quite reach a consensus. It's why he drops the thought, telling himself he'll figure it out when he sees this other person for himself.
It's at least pretty easy to follow the smoke, and after a while Onni should see a middle-aged man approaching, waving with one of those City-issued phones clutched in his hand, probably having figured it's the easiest way for the other to realise he's the phone guy. ]
no subject
[And he does put on a pot of hot water to boil, adding the tea leaves he'd brought with him from home after a while, so they can boil together.
When someone approaches from the trees at the edge of the clearing he's in, Onni glances up, seeing a regular-looking man waving the communication device at him, and figures it must be the person he was talking to. He pulls the pot off the fire, and offers a little wave.
Daniel will see a man dressed in a tunic and pants, with leather boots and gloves, wearing a thick cloak made of fur with the wide hood pushed down to rest on his shoulders. All in all, he looks like the forest hobo that he is, dressed like he's out of a fantasy novel.]
Hello.
no subject
[ Unless his displayname was nothing but gibberish, but.. going by his outfit, Daniel kind of assumes he probably just put his actual name into those questions asked by them on the train, ending up with that as his display name. Especially since he doesn't look like he even knows what a display name is.
Daniel would say this place really needs to think more about what's familiar and clear to new people who are arriving, but-- he knows it's not like this city and whoever is behind it truly cares about them, anyway.
Still, he offers a friendly smile as he approaches, sticking out his hand that's not holding the phone for an offer of a handshake once he's close enough. ]
I'm Daniel LaRusso. It's nice to meet you. You know, despite the circumstances.
[ No one likes being kidnapped to some odd empty city, surely. ]
no subject
[The username hadn't made much sense to him, so it's nice to get the man's actual name. Then again, the username thing is much like Daniel assumes - completely foreign and nothing he's ever thought about needing. So he'd just put in his actual name when it asked for one.
Once the man is closer and offers his hand for a shake, Onni holds out his own gloved hand and clasps it, shaking firmly before dropping it and going about pouring the tea he's brewed - nettle and dandelion, collected from some of the plant life in the park - into two cups, and offering Daniel one of them.]
The circumstances...
[That comes out sounding a little grumpy, though it's not aimed at his new companion at all. Onni's just frustrated and upset and disoriented at being in an entirely new world out of nowhere.]
Anyhow. Thanks for coming. You said you could show me how to use this thing?
[He holds up the communication device, dangling between two fingers.]
no subject
It's why the man looks so unfazed by the grumpiness in the other's tone, still giving Onni a smile - though it perhaps turns a little bit more gentle with sympathy. ]
Yeah. It's pretty important to know in this place, since it's pretty big and empty. [ So running into people isn't always super easy, especially if you're looking for anyone specific..
So clearly it's time to introduce someone who's either from the past or - judging by experience here so far - from some weird fantasy world about the wonders of modern communication. ] Which means everyone's communicating through these.
[ Daniel shows his own phone. Just to make it a little easier, since it means Onni can look at his own device and try to copy some of the stuff Daniel does, if he'd like. ]
What you did a little bit ago actually sent out a message to everyone in this place. That's when you have something to say to everyone here, or a general question, or something like that. People can recognize you by that name that's right there above your message-- that's what this strange place asked us to enter when you wake up in the train. It's how people can recognize it's you saying or asking something, even when you're writing text, rather than talking with your voice.
[ He pauses for a moment, glancing up from his device to look over at the other. ]
Making sense so far? [ It's not like Daniel is 100% sure if this is too slow or too fast for the other, after all. He doesn't have personal experience in suddenly having to adapt to such a wild technological shift.
No, not even as a middle aged dad, okay!!](no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)