EVENT: Who Do These Belong To? (January 2024)

[citycenter]

WHO DO THESE BELONG TO?

THE NIGHT STARTS TO FALL IN YOUR SPINE. » CONVENTION CENTER — INTRODUCTORY NOTES The day is finally here! If you paid attention to the notices on the announcement board of the convention center (announced in the satisfaction survey at the beginning of the month), you may be aware that the end of January is here, and with it comes the advertised media convention, which will run in the convention center from January 19 through January 22. The first time you pass by the convention center, you realize that it just sounds like fun. Not only because the idea of a media convention intrigues you, but because from inside the convention hall you can hear... people? A lot of people, in fact. It's a hum of noise that sounds to you like the happy murmur of music and conversation, like hundreds of people sharing a space together and enjoying a good time. But surely that isn't possible, is it? There aren't that many people here in the city with you, after all. But even so... you find yourself interested, drawn to the sounds again and again. Maybe the first time you manage to walk away without going inside. Maybe you manage the second time, too, although it's much more difficult this time around. But by the third or fourth time you catch yourself thinking about the convention, the desire to pay it a visit is almost insurmountable, and before long you find yourself making your way to the convention center so you can take a peek at what's inside. The convention center itself is a modern-looking building of glass and metal, letting in plenty of natural light for a warm and inviting atmosphere. Inside, the hallways are wide and carpeted, and all of the panel rooms are kept clean and tidy. Many of the panel rooms are dark and empty, of course, since there's just the one convention taking place right now, but it's easy to see how the place might bustle when there's more than one event going on. Speaking of events—the media convention seems to be taking place in the main convention hall, so that's where you to go find out what's happening. When you stick your head in, you don't see any people, aside from the other city residents who have been drawn to the convention in the same way. That's not surprising; you didn't really expect there to be a crowd. But there is something about being inside the convention center that just makes you feel good. It's not an overwhelming giddiness or any kind of mania, but rather just an overall sense of fun that pervades the space and makes you want to wander around and see what sights there are to see. Between Friday, January 19 and Monday, January 22, characters will feel oddly compelled to pay a visit to the media convention being hosted at the city's convention center over the weekend. The compulsion is a gentle one, making characters feel intrigued by the idea of the convention and interested in knowing more, but there will not be a compulsion aspect that forces them to attend. Upon arrival, characters will be put into cosplay (either by force or by choice), and will have the option to explore the artist's alley, dealer's hall, and the panel rooms around the convention center that will play host to panels on various topics. See below for more information on each of these options! JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS PEOPLE TURN TO YOU IN WONDER. » CONVENTION CENTER — COSTUMES & COSPLAYS As soon as you enter the convention hall, you find yourself wearing a costume, although it's not one you picked out for yourself. That's okay, though! Part of the fun of attending a convention is in dressing up. Maybe the costume is familiar, resembling one of your own outfits from home. Maybe it's the outfit of a close friend (or enemy!), or even that of a fellow City resident. Or maybe the outfit is completely unfamiliar and doesn't suit you at all. If that's the case, never fear—the convention has a set of dressing rooms that you can enter to change your outfit. Just step inside and pull the curtain closed and you'll find yourself wearing a new set of garments entirely. Of course, there's no guarantee that the next outfit you get will suit you any better than the one before. Maybe you had better start hoping you don't come out wearing something silly! Once you've settled on a costume and started to explore, the fact that you're dressed up at all starts to slip out of your mind. Actually, the longer you wear the costumes, the less it feels like you're wearing a costume at all. It just sort of feels like wearing your regular clothes, doesn't it? And if you're going to wear clothes like this, then you had better have the personality to match, hadn't you? After all, part of the fun of cosplay is being in-character! But is there a such thing as too in-character? (If you wear this outfit for long enough, will you be subsumed into it entirely?) It's probably better not to find out. Eventually, you run into someone who knows you well, and that's enough to jolt you out of "character" and back to yourself, and when you leave the convention, you leave your new costumed personality behind… for the most part, anyway. Characters who attend the convention will be put in cosplay upon arrival! This cosplay can be an outfit of their own from home; could be the outfit of a friend or enemy from home; or could be the outfit of another current or former City resident. It could also be something completely silly, like an inflatable t-rex costume. Those who aren't satisfied with their original costume can make use of the dressing rooms to change. However, entering the dressing room to change doesn't mean they'll get a costume that's better than the one they're already wearing—the new costumes are "random" (although OOCly left up to player choice, naturally) and may be even sillier, skimpier, or less suitable than the one they had on before. The longer a character wears a costume, the more they will begin to take on some of the traits of the character whose costume they're wearing. This can be fairly broad (e.g. someone puts on an "adventurer's costume" and begins to behave more adventurously) or fairly specific (e.g. someone puts on Gale Dekarios' robes and starts speaking in precisely his accent). The costume may also be accompanied by physical changes to make the cosplay more "accurate," such as changes to eye or hair color, and may even convey a weak version of that character's canon powers. However, coming into contact with someone who knows the character well and would be able to tell that they're not acting like themselves is enough to break the effect and return the character to their normal personality. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS WHO DREAMED OF FIRE, OF FLIGHT. » CONVENTION CENTER — DEALER'S HALL & ARTIST'S ALLEY Entering the main convention hall brings you face to face with the Dealer's Hall to the left and the Artist's Alley to the right. The hall is an enormous space with high ceilings and table after table laid out to form rows of booths separated by aisles for walking. There are so many tables to look through, so many that it almost seems impossible to look at all of them, but the colors are bright and the atmosphere is fun, so you figure you may as well give it a try! You decide to start to the left, in the Dealer's Hall. It's absolutely chock full of different types of character (?) merchandise, some of which you recognize and much of which you don't. Some of the characters are ones you've seen before, the mascots from the traveling carnival that came through the city in September: there's a smiling bear with an extra row of teeth, a goose with two heads at the end of its long neck, a dog that's missing a couple of limbs, and a cat with its eyes sewn shut. Further down the aisles, though, you begin to see some familiar faces. At first it's just figures of animals and monsters that you recognize—a chocobo, a sumpter beast, an abnormality. Some of them are cute and stylized, while others are shockingly realistic. And then, even further down, you begin to see the person-shaped merchandise. A figurine of someone you recognize from home; a notebook bearing the face of another resident of the city. There aren't as many types of merchandise bearing faces of people you recognize, but you could easily find acrylic stands, keychains, figurines, and other printed goods for "sale" at the convention. On the other side of the convention hall is the Artist's Alley, where much of the printed merchandise seems to be sold. Similar to the Dealer's Hall, the displays start with the City mascots, the bear and goose and dog and cat and any number of other somewhat off-looking animals. There are posters and wall scrolls, smaller prints, stickers, and even art books available. Further down the aisle, you once again begin to see the faces of people you know, either from home or from your time in the city. There are lovely portraits drawn of them, with backgrounds either evocative of their home worlds or set right here in this very city. In fact, some of the drawings are eerily realistic... almost like they were drawn from a real-life reference picture of the subject doing something mundane. And at the very back of the aisle is the 18+ section, full of "spicy" art and doujinshi. For the most part, the faces in these books and prints aren't visible, similar to the pornography available in the media store—but if you search hard enough, you might be able to find yourself represented somewhere. The Dealer's Hall and Artist's Alley are what one might expect from a smallish-sized convention: a variety of items available for "sale," from figurines to keychains to art prints and everything in between. Some of the merchandise features the same mascot characters as were available as prizes at the carnival, while others feature either animals/monsters from character canons or recognizable characters either here in the city or from back home. Characters are welcome to take things home with them as they desire without consequence! 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. This month's event headers come from the poem "for girls who are addicted to hurting themselves" by Kai Cheng Thom. JUMP TO TOP ↑

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