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 west of City Hall, you will find a small building that houses the tourist information kiosk. The kiosk is not currently operational, but you may want to remember its location...
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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A WASH, ANYONE?
The coin laundromat is tucked into the first floor of one of the tall apartment buildings. Soap is complimentary, and while the machines say that they cost a quarter per load, in reality they are fully operational without any money being exchanged at all. If you have any clothes that need a wash, perhaps items that have been dirtied by your explorations (or your travels before arriving in the city), you may want to take this opportunity to wash them for free.
From the soap dispenser, you can retrieve packets of detergent in different strengths. There's plenty of stock of for mild to moderate grime and for heavy-duty stains, but there are also a handful of packets with slightly less obvious purposes. For things remembered, says one. For unhappy accidents, says another. Feel free to use whichever seems most suited to your needs.
When your laundry cycle has ended, the buzzer sounds and the door pops open so the clothing can be retrieved. You grab a laundry basket and reach in to start pulling fabric out of the machine by the handful. But wait a second–the more clothing you retrieve, the less familiar the items seem, and by the time you've retrieved the last bundled sock from the depths of the dryer you're absolutely positive: These clothes don't belong to you.
You're sure that you put your own clothing into the machine, but these are someone else's clothes entirely. Did someone sneak in while you weren't paying attention and swap out your laundry? Or did you accidentally open up the wrong dryer to retrieve the wrong load? Maybe you'd better look around at whoever else is in the laundromat with you and have a go at trying to find the owner of these clothes.
Whether the characters have had their clothing swapped or simply opened the wrong machine to grab someone else's laundry is up to the player's imagination, but one thing's for sure: you have someone else's clothes in your basket. Maybe these are clothes that belong to another character in the laundromat, or maybe they're garments that belong to someone that character knew back home. Players are encouraged to mess around with the premise and use it to get to know other characters!
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COME ONE, COME ALL...
Have you ever noticed that flickering sign hanging in the window of that little building around the corner from the parking lot? The one that says PSYCHIC READINGS in bold neon lettering?
You step inside the shop and immediately smell a powerful combination of aromas: herbs, candles, incense, something spicy and warm underneath. It's a small space, cluttered with objects. A crystal ball covered in velvet sits in the center of a table, and there are tarot card sets and drawers full of dried herbs and flowers. On the shelves are various remedies with labels printed so neatly it's impossible to tell whether they're typed or handwritten. Headaches, or hemophilia, and also irascibility and fits of sighing. There are also jars full of less easily-identifiable contents, but a close examination may show you frog legs, fish eyes, rat tails. For some reason, it feels like sticking your hand in one of these jars might not be the best idea.
Toward the back of the shop is a glass case that holds the bust of a woman. As you approach, your movement triggers a light inside the case to illuminate the woman's face–or where her face would be, if she had one. The normal human features of her face are smoothed out until they barely resemble a face at all, with slightly hollowed divots for eyes and a faintly raised bump for a nose. The closer you get, though, the more strongly you feel that despite the absence of eyes, the woman is indeed watching you.
The lettering at the top of the case states FORTUNE TELLER, and a sign affixed to the front of the glass says, Ask for anything, but be careful what you wish for.
You form a question in your mind, then ask your question out loud. The woman shifts, straightening up, and you hear the faint whirring of clockwork and pneumatics moving inside her. She gathers her hands in front of her, cupping them like she's holding water, and strange light emanates from her palms, casting harsh illumination on the blank space where her face should be. Although she has no mouth with which to speak, you nonetheless hear a vaguely female voice intone, "Your fate has been read."
A paper slip emerges from a slot in the front of the case, your freshly-printed fortune, the ink barely dry.
Although the crystal ball will not actually show the future, characters with any kind of herbal knowledge may clock that the herbs and remedies in the drawers and shelves of the shop are legitimate. Characters can ask anything they want of the fortune teller, or make as many wishes as they like. They'll get as many fortune slips as correspond to the number of questions they ask. Players are encouraged to come up with whatever vaguely-accurate fortunes you think work for your character, but if you're low on ideas, you can always try an online Magic 8 Ball or fortune cookie generator.
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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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citylogs2023-06-01 12:00 am
Fumikage Tokoyami | My Hero Academia
[Awakening to an empty train station certainly isn’t what Fumikage was expecting, and it takes a moment for the bird-headed boy to even register the phone buzzing at his side in his surprise. Though instinct tells him to be aware, he eventually finds himself reaching for his phone and hitting the “Yes” option on his phone. Only then do the train doors open, revealing a barren train platform. Truthfully, Fumikage has never seen a train platform this empty before, and it makes the hairs on his back stand up. But with no further option to go, he decided to exit the train and eventually make his way up the stairs.]
[The subway platform he finds himself on is just as barren as the train had been. Fumikage looks around down the empty storefronts around him, feeling the uncomfortableness of the liminal space around him. He soon lifts his head to call out into the silence.]
Hello? Is there anyone here?
[When no one immediately answers his call, he frowns, crossing his arms. Beside him, Dark Shadow appears, a look of concern on his shadowy face.]
Where is everyone??
Hmm… Where indeed..?
B - Welcome to the Neighbourhood
[Eventually Fumikage will make his way out of the subway station and out into the city proper. There’s a lot of places to explore, but as Fumikage explores building after building, all he finds is more emptiness. It’s odd; everything’s fully stocked, and yet the only thing missing is the people. It’s like everyone just up and decided to leave one day, leaving everything completely empty.]
[Fumikage eventually finds his way to one of the many convenience stores around the town. By this point hunger has started to settle in, and he eventually enters one of the stores. There’s plenty of snacks and quick food choices to grab, though Fumikage’s eyes settle on a large display of apples. He’s a good kid, and in the hero program, but his stomach growls loudly as he eyes the apples, eventually reaching for one himself.]
I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures…
[Eventually Fumikage finds himself in the apartment complexes, and soon enters a room that seems tailor-made for him; darker-coloured walls, thick velvet curtains to cut the sunlight, a well-stocked fridge and pantry, and even a little dining room table nook that’s perfect for tabletop gaming. It’s perfect, as if Fumikage himself designed it. And that’s what’s got him shaking his head, taking a moment to step back outside of the apartment and look at one of the others taking up residence here.]
Are you finding all this to be… a little too perfect as well?
C - A Wash, Anyone?
[Living at the U.A. Dorms had allowed Fumikage to learn how to do his own laundry, so he knows how to operate the washing machines at the laundromat. He’s currently sitting down, reading one of the provided magazines laying around as he waits for his clothes to wash. Over his shoulder, Dark Shadow is also reading. Perhaps your clothes were mixed up with his, but will you approach him about it?]
[Alternatively, perhaps it’s your laundry that’s replaced with some dark hoodies and a black cloak without you realizing. In that case, Fumikage will have to approach you with a basket of clothes that are unfamiliar to him, but perhaps familiar to your character.]
Are these yours? I could have sworn I had the correct dryer…
D - Come one, Come All
[Spooky, occult storefront advertising psychic readings? For an occult nerd like Fumikage, he’s definitely going to investigate. As a fan of the occult practices, he’s familiar with the herbs and incenses commonly associated with the occult, even if he only knows of them in passing. He eyes pass over each of the bottled remedies and the sets of tarot cards, crystals, and dried herbs. Fascinating… Even in a weird city like this, Fumikage can allow himself a moment to nerd out as he looks over all the occult artifacts.]
[When he comes to the old woman, he pauses for a moment as he thinks of a question, before glancing over to whoever else was in the shop with him.]
Are you going to try your fortune?
E - Wildcard
[Got something you’d like to try out? Feel free to write up a starter, or PM me here or at
no subject
But when it comes to reading her own fortune, Ava is a little hesitant. She glances briefly at the stranger who is also at the statue who asks if she's going to get her fortune read. Ava shakes her head and grips the jar a little tighter. )
Nu-uh. No way. I feel like getting your future read is actually just setting yourself up for something bad.
( Her gaze flicks quickly between him and the statue. )
Do you wanna do it? I just have bad luck. You might get something good.
no subject
I can understand that mindset. Though the future can be subjective; it is our duty to grasp our own fate with our hands, even if we receive a prediction of doom.
[He crosses his arms, humming in thought.]
Still... there are many questions I'd like to ask. I'm not sure which to ask first.
no subject
Well, why not just make a list from most important to least important and just ask all of them? Not like there's a limit.
( There's no sign that says there's a limit, at least. )
Oh. Though I guess you probably want privacy or something, huh? I can get out of your hair if you want.
no subject
[Maybe he could just... ask all his questions. But before he can ponder such a list, he tilts his head before shaking it.]
It's alright. The questions I have are not private. You're welcome to stay if yo wish.
no subject
( A sharp fang penetrates skin as she bites her lip, a little apprehensive. She's so focused on just what this guy's deal is that she doesn't even notice the metallic twang of blood on her tongue. He seems pretty relaxed about this whole fortune telling thing. Ava didn't believe anything would actually come out of it. It's all probably statements vague enough to apply to any real life situation to make it seem real.
He also didn't seem to mind her presence there. Even if he says his questions aren't private, she feels like this is something he should probably do alone.
But then again, she is pretty curious... )
I'll stay. As moral support or something. I'll even ask some questions after you! It's only fair that if I'm listening in on your stuff then you get to listen in on mine. Just be careful. This could also be some elaborate death trap...
Sorry for the delay! Things got busy on my end
[At her answer, he nods to her, offering a small smile.]
Then if this truly is a trap, we shall work together to overcome it.
[He thinks for a moment as he looks at the bust of the old woman again.]
Truthfully, I would like to ask what happened to this place to make it so barren, but I feel like such a question would not be easily answered.
Apples
You weren't actually thinking of eating that without anyone around to save your sorry ass if it went south, were you?
Re: Apples
Bakugou..!
[He lets out a small breath, allowing Bakugou to pull his arm away.]
I'm glad to see you're well... So you woke up here too, then.
[He'd ask more, but his stomach growls again. He glances sheepishly at the apples.]
It was a risk, but the claws of hunger have scraped against me for some time now...
no subject
[ Pretty normal for the guy though. He doesn't look as alarmed as Izuku had though? So that doesn't tell Katsuki anything about what Fumikage knows and doesn't know.
There's time to ask. later. Right now he's eyeballing the apple. Then slowly releasing the other teen's wrist. ]
Just ain't smart. If you woulda taken a bite out of it and there was poison or something off about it, there'd have been no back up to save your ass.
no subject
[As Katsuki releases his wrist, Fumikage withdraws his hand, rubbing the wrist a little.]
Hmm... you do have a point. I suppose I wasn't thinking straight in my moment of hunger. And given how few people are here, I was willing to take the risk.
[When was the last time he saw someone? Not since the platform, at least... And the one man in City Hall. Far too few of people for a city this big.]
Then what do you suppose we eat? Surely you're hungry too?
no subject
And now the blonde folds his arms over his chest. He's thinking about how to proceed. ]
One of us could take a bite while the other monitors for any ill effects.
no subject
[Realistically, it might be their only choice.]
I can go first, and if something happens to me, then you can come to my aid?
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C + E
So when he came in to poke around and look at everything, he didn't drop what he was doing to pester them. They were safe. For now.
However, the timing was impeccable: the buzzer of Fumikage's dryer going off caught Rakan's attention. His ear perked and twitched towards the sound, and with the clicks of his talons on the tiled floor, he headed on over to the machine to investigate it. He quickly sussed out where the door was, and yanked it open. The hot air hitting his face made his head cock back with a brief grimace, but he pressed onwards. It smelled nice in there, after all!
Also, there were nice things in there! He was already pulling out a black cloak and holding it up to himself, particularly to his cape. It clashed with the gold of his feathers, but he still seemed rather contemplative about it. ]
no subject
Hey! That's ours!
[Fumikage looks up in surprise, before noticing the other man with his hero costume. He frowns, putting the magazine down and standing up.]
Excuse me, but those are my clothes..!
no subject
Oh, shit! [ It came out excited--delighted, even. He kept the cloak en tow as he dashed to the other bird's side, and held it up against them. ]
Y'know, black really brings out the black in your feathers. [ He chuckled and offered it back to Fumikage, albeit not without a tilt of his head. Something was off about this bird. They weren't any Lhotlan he'd ever heard of before, let alone seen. Maybe there was another tribe? He was trying to listen to the song of their energy, but it just wasn't...quite. ]
On the other hand.. [ And he snatched the cloak away again, this time throwing it over his shoulders. ] Black brings out the gold in my feathers, don't you think? [ Is Rakan going to play keep-away?
He's going to try and play keep-away with the cloak. ]
Where, oh where haven't I seen your face before? I mean..I should have; you are Lhotlan, right?
Sorry for the delay! Things got busy on my end
Hey!!
[Dark Shadow isn't really appreciating this game either, but Fumikage keeps him from lashing out. Maybe he can still be reasoned with.]
Even if it does, that cloak is very important to me. I'm afraid you'll have to find your own. And I'm not sure what a Lhotlan is, but you are mistaken; I am human.
too late i've died! everything went dark! it was awful rip me u_u
Definitely lacks the grace he wanted and looked hideous on him, but it was still fun enough playing keep away that he dealt with it.
The yell snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked back at the crow-face person as if he was doing nothing wrong at all, and just having a plain conversation. But as he spoke, his brows raised and he stopped playing with the cloak. ]
You're...human?
How are you human! You've got feathers! And a beak! [ He just thought of a new game! He threw the cloak up in the air, letting the fabric spread out to slow its descent to the ground, and darted back to Fumikage, ducking and staying low to the ground just so he could dramatically try to pop up and put his forearm on this human's shoulder, or lean against him. Whichever was possible.
It took far more magic just to boost his speed than he expected, so unfortunately, his speed was about on par with one might expect from a digitigrade individual. ]
Oh--that's not good. [ The cloak was only halfway to the ground. ]
There's supposed to be magic singing, and you're supposed to know who I am! You don't feel anything? [ He'd try to tug at a feather, and any retaliation from Fumikage would actually catch him off guard. Either way, Rakan was trying to get back to the cloak before it hit the ground, so if applicable, he'd be trying to dart right back to it about now if it wasn't somehow snatched up. ]
Nooooo! Presses F to pay my respects u_u
I don't know what you're talking about..!
[Fumikage has to lean back and bat at Rakan's hand because you don't just pull a guy's feathers!! And Rakan will probably notice that aside from his head, the rest of Fumikage's body is very much human-like.]
[But despite being mildly distracted by the man against him, Fumikage sees how his cloak is falling. And while Fumikage himself might not be fast enough, he has a way to grab his cloak.]
Dark Shadow!
[Dark Shadow darts ahead, and just manages to get the cloak before Rakan can. The shadow holds the cloak triumphantly in his shadowy claws.]
Fumikage! I got it!
F u_u
(no subject)
Welcome to the neighbourhood
Wassat? Is it tasty? Apples!
And that would be an arm stretching in front of you and grabbing a different apple. Something that is both familiar and not to the young hero. Strange bodies should be nothing new but this stranger doesn't look familiar at all. Definitely not in the hero program, even though he likely isn't much older than him.
Oh, did you want this? My bad, my bad! I'll show you a good takoyaki place, okay?
no subject
It's alright. I suppose there are others here...
[Though, he does perk up a little as he realizes just what he's seen. Wait a sec... was that a Quirk??]
[Fumikage blinks at the other kid, before nodding.]
Very well. Show me to where this takoyaki place is.
[As he turns, he takes in the kid before him as he pockets the apple.]
Was... that a Quirk you used just now?
no subject
He considers for a few seconds before it dawns on him what he might be asking about.
Oh, this? This is my Devil Fruit powers! Cool, huh? Sucks that I can't swim but I get to be a rubberman, so that's fun!
He leads the way to an empty food stand not far from the convenient store. Then he stands in front of it, thinking hard until his face turns red. But suddenly, there's food behind the counter.
Look, takoyaki!
no subject
[Fumikage's face scrunches in confusion, but his shoulders do sag a little bit in disappointment. For a minute, he thought he had met another person with a meta-ability, thus another from his world, but alas... Well, at least this guy's friendly.]
[He follows the guy to the food stand, and it's odd; one minute it looks perfectly empty, and the next, there's some piping hot takoyaki that looks like it's come right off the grill. Fumikage blinks in surprise, tilting his head as he studies it.]
How did it get here..? It just appeared??
no subject
Being able to literally eat more than his weight in food is amazing. He hasn't been this satisfied in years. Normally, he has to hold back, just to make sure that everyone gets enough, even though he still struggles with that. He's constantly hungry.
Yeah, Devil Fruit. Where I'm from, we eat a weird looking fruit that gives us our powers. It tastes awful, completely horrible. There's a book that says what some of them are but it's super expensive and rare. For most people, there's no knowing what you'll get until you eat it. And afterwards, you get your abilities but in exchange, the sea hates you. You'll drown if you ever go in water.
Should he just be casually telling a literal strange his biggest weakness? Probably not but he doesn't seem concerned.
It's one of the many mysteries of the Grand Line! It's what makes exploring it so exciting!
no subject
[It's odd that the food here seems to just... make itself. It's certainly miraculous, but still very strange. How is it made? Is it even safe?? It looks delicious, but he's suspicious.]
Hmm... I see. That is much different from my own home. Where I'm from, people are born with their powers, and develop them as they age.
[He gives the kid beside him a curious look.]
Then you are a sailor?