citylogs | TDM: JUNE 2023

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TDM: JUNE 2023

TEST DRIVE MEME

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?

▶ YES
▶ 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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[🥦 a. train station arrival]

[Waking up on a train comes is a complete surprise to Izuku as he opens his eyes. The buzzing sound of his phone vibrating in his pocket brings him back to consciousness, adding to the disorienting haze of his slumber. Blinking and looking around in confusion, he tries to make sense of his surroundings.
Izuku finds himself still clad in his semi-tattered hero attire, the once vibrant yellow scarf around his neck now torn and stained with specks of blood. Uncertain whether it belongs to him or someone else, a sense of unease washes over him.

Suddenly, realization strikes, causing Izuku to jolt to his feet in a mixture of shock and panic. How did he end up here?? With cautious steps, he makes his way out of the train, the doors sliding open to reveal an empty station. He calls out, his voice filled with a blend of apprehension and curiosity.]

Hello? ... Where am I? Where is ... everyone?

[He’s never seen such an empty train station before in his entire life. Not when he lives in a busy Japanese city. He pulls out his phone and checks the message which makes him frown again...]

Orientation? What kind of orientation is this? To what?

[For now, Izuku tries to wander around the empty station for any other people who might be around, hurt or otherwise. If he sees another person he’ll try to greet them cautiously with a pitched, "hello??" Or he can be found trying to puzzle out the station map of the city,]

... I wonder if it’s cliche to say I’m not in Musutafu anymore...

[🥦 b. welcome to the neighbourhood]

[After getting his bearings for now Izuku will do his best to try and do some reconnaissance. He’ll look up to the towering empty buildings from the empty streets and then clap his hands together to activate his quirk. He should be able to get a better view of this city from a higher vantage point. So, someone might witness Izuku suddenly shooting up into the air and floating his way upward, no strings attached...

As Izuku reaches about three stories up, a sudden wave of instability engulfs him mid-air. His body starts to wobble uncontrollably! He yelps and finds himself struggling to stay afloat. Suddenly, he’s falling like a rock and he’s going to hit the ground hard!

Or he’s going to fall right towards an unsuspecting you!]

Watch- Watch out! I can’t stay floating?! Ahhh?!

[What’s wrong with his quirk?!]

[🥦 c. a wash, anyone?]

[He has to get a change of clothing... Izuku wanders to one of the laundromats and decides he just has to get a change of clothing or at least wash his current tattered hero outfit. It’s better than wandering around in his stinky worn-out gear.

Since this place is completely empty Izuku thinks it’s safe enough to strip right there on the spot (he double-checks to make sure no one is here or sees him do this!!). He strips right down to his yellow and red All Might print boxers and stuffs all of his washable gear into a machine and starts it up. Here’s hoping that it’s washed before someone else walks in here...!

When he opens the machine at the ding? Izuku finds that his entire load is not his green hero suit.]

... W-Where’s my gear?! It was right here?!

[A boxer-clad Izuku grabs at the lip of the machine and frantically tries to sort through the items that are completely not his! They’re probably yours...?]

[🥦 d. network post]

[Since Izuku can’t be the only person who’s wandering around this empty city he tries to do his best to reach out. That’s what a hero would do.

Enter username... >Deku.]

Hello? My name is Midoriya Izuku. Can you read this? Are you as lost as I am?

If you’re hurt or you need help please try to tell me what landmarks are around you. I’ll try to make my way to you as fast as I can. We should work together to stay safe!

[🥦 wildcard]

[do you have something else? feel free to put it down here! you can dm my journal if you want to plot something out!]

[ He knows those boxers. Bakugou Katsuki would know them anywhere. First of all, because it's All Might merch and that means he immediately knows everything about them. The make. What fabrics are used. What year it had been released and for how long. Secondly, he knows of only one person that would still wear those...

Even before a familiar shock of green curls make themselves known. Izuku is pulling his head out of the machine and kind of panicking.

Not that Bakugou is focused on that. Rather - ]

Are you really running around in nothing but your shitty boxers? Instead of "shitty nerd" maybe you should be "pervy nerd."

Ack?!

[Izuku practically yells on the spot, smacking his head on the top rim of the laundry machine with a loud crack!]

Kacchan?!

[~~just how much does he know about limited edition all might boxers~~]

I wasn't running around anywhere I was trying to get my hero gear clean enough to wear before I- Kacchan you're- you're alright?! You're here too?!

[...! That's the more important thing to note here not Izuku standing here in his boxers with his hero gear missing?!]

Shouldn't you have a little more situational awareness? Some fucking hero.

[ Yet the display actually allows for him to breathe easier. That's... That really is more the Izuku that he knows. A dork. A brilliant, brave moron. A moron that smacks his head on things because he doesn't even register someone like Katsuki as a threat.

But then he's... What? Why is he reacting like that? ]

Obviously if I wasn't here then I wouldn't be standing in front of you! Damn it, I'm fine!

[ Relatively speaking. ]

[His danger-sense quirk (if it's even working correctly right now) would have told him if a real threat was coming at him and since he rarely sees Katsuki as a threat he really just didn't register his approach at all. He wasn't expecting to see the blond boy in a place like this and honestly, he's not sure how it entirely makes him feel. It's pure shock and relief.

His fingers grip tightly to the rim of the laundry machine's lid and for a second he just plain forgets he needs to put a shirt on.]

It's not that I'm letting my guard down, not in a strange place like this. I don't know where we are and everything is incredibly empty... But I- That's not the entire point, Kacchan! You-

[...]

It's a relief to see you.

[And he looks ... okay? Izuku was expecting Katsuki to be in some sort of bad shape but for redacted reasons, Izuku is glad that he seems... put together. Enough to insult Izuku, at least. And that's always a good sign.]

Midoriya Izuku | My Hero Academia

C

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welcome to the neighbourhood

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D

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B

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welcome to the neighbourhood

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b

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d @dazaiosamu

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B!

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