THE THINGS I GAVE YOU.
» THE BANK — INTRODUCTORY NOTES
District 2 is open, bringing with it access to new and interesting locations—including the city's main bank branch. The bank is a large building with a stone exterior, wrought iron grating on the windows, and large, heavy metal doors that take surprisingly little effort to open, their hinges silent and well-oiled.
Early in the day on July 19, characters in the vicinity of the bank will hear first a low, metallic creaking sound from inside the building, like metal straining against metal. This is followed by the sharper noise of locks disengaging, and then the large, heavy doors on the front of the building swing open slightly, enough to let a person through.
Directly inside the doors is the bank lobby, and beyond that is the main banking floor, with elegant marble flooring and dimly lit chandeliers. It would appear that this was once the main commercial bank of the city, although it is now completely empty, with no tellers behind the counters and no cash in any of the drawers.
You may rifle through the tills and filing cabinets to your heart's content, but similar to the files in City Hall, there is no useful information to be found—all the papers are blank, or are empty forms without any personally identifying information. There are no monetary devices to be found either; this is, after all, not a city that operates on a cash system, so there are no coins or paper bills in any of the tills or, indeed, anywhere within the bank.
What you might be able to find, though, is a rack of delicate, burnished brass keys on a wall toward the back of the main banking hall. Each of these keys is attached to a stamped metal keychain bearing a name on one side and a number on the other. Some of these may be names you recognize, and some of them may not, but they are all names belonging to current residents of the city, and each key corresponds to a safety deposit box within the vault at the back of the building. Can you remember what you stored in that box for safekeeping? Maybe you had better go find out.
At the back of the main banking hall is a vault secured with a large circular metal door. The door is currently unlocked and propped open; it can be closed, but cannot be locked (intentionally, anyway) from either the inside or the outside. The vault contains row upon row of safety deposit boxes, each locked. Participating characters who are in possession of a key can open their own safety deposit box, but it is not currently possible to force open any safety deposit box that does not belong to them. After August 1, players will be able to use their safety deposit boxes to store their own belongings, and break-ins will become possible with prior player permission and appropriate consequences.
Below sections detail the safety deposit boxes for both choose-your-own-adventure players and randomized players! Please see the randomized matches for this event HERE.
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IT'S TRUE, PEOPLE TAKE THINGS BUT RARELY.
» SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES — A SELF-GUIDED TOUR
For some of you, getting into your safety deposit box is quite straightforward.
You take your key from the rack behind the teller's counter and make your way back through the building and into the vault. It's cool inside, the temperature well-regulated and the air dry. On the walls are rows upon rows of safety deposit boxes, and it may take you a moment to find the one that corresponds to the number stamped on your key. Does that number mean anything to you? It may, or it may not.
When you find your box, it takes very little effort to open it. A slide of your key, a quick turn, and the safety deposit box's door springs open to reveal the metal container within. You remove the metal box from the wall and bring it over to the table in the center of the room, clearly placed there for this express purpose. Maybe there are others around, or maybe you're alone. Do you remember yet, what it was you put in here? Well, there's no time like the present to check.
You open the safety deposit box to find—something that shouldn't be there. It's yours, that much you're sure of, but you didn't bring it with you to the city. You reach into the box to pick it up, and the surge of memory is immediate, sending your mind back to your strongest memory associated with the item in your hand.
Then the vault door swings shut, trapping you inside with whoever else has the misfortune of sharing the vault with you right now. No matter what force you try, the door won't open again. There doesn't appear to even be a mechanism that unlocks the door from the inside, and from within several feet of metal and stone, no one on the outside will be able to hear you shout. It seems hopeless—how long can anyone last, trapped in a place like this?
Should you turn back to the open safety deposit box, you might notice a slip of paper resting on the bottom. The paper looks aged, like it's been in the box for quite some time, and in printed text it reads: "Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it."
Maybe it means you should let another hold the item you've retrieved from the box… or maybe it means you should share the weight of memory. Try to interpret the meaning in whatever way you can. But should you decide to unburden yourself, and share with someone else the weight of the item you're holding in your hands, you may find that there's a means of escape after all.
Once you free yourself from the vault, for the next several days you find yourself feeling rather honest, like you may not be able to stop yourself from confessing the truth about the item you now carry…
Characters who wish to participate in the event, but who do not wish to randomize the contents of their safety deposit boxes, can open their safety deposit boxes to find an emotionally significant item belonging to the character—player's choice as to what the item is. The only guidelines are that it should be small enough to fit reasonably in a pocket and may not have any magical or weapon properties. Similarly, players are able to choose the memories associated with the items in the safety deposit boxes. The vault door will remain closed until the characters in the vault explain to each other the significance of their items and the memory associated with them, at which point it the vault mechanisms will disengage and the door will swing open as if it had never closed to begin with. However, for the four days following the event, characters who carry their safety deposit box item on their person will feel oddly compelled to tell other characters about its significance and meaning.
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A CRASH-SITE IS SACRED, WE'RE FAITHFUL.
» SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES — A JOINT VENTURE
For others of you, the contents of the safety deposit box may be considerably more disconcerting.
You also take your safety deposit box key from the rack behind the bank teller's counter and make your way back through the building and into the vault. It's cool inside, the temperature well-regulated and the air dry. On the walls are rows upon rows of safety deposit boxes, and it may take you a moment to find the one that corresponds to the number stamped on your key. Does that number mean anything to you? It may, or it may not.
When you find your box, it takes very little effort to open it. A slide of your key, a quick turn, and the safety deposit box's door springs open to reveal the metal container within. You remove the metal box from the wall and bring it over to the table in the center of the room, clearly placed there for this express purpose. Maybe there are others around, or maybe you're alone. Do you remember yet, what it was you put in here? Well, there's no time like the present to check.
You open the safety deposit box to find—wait, what is that? It certainly doesn't belong to you. Tucked inside the safety deposit box alongside the item is a slip of paper with another name on it, as well as a cryptic message: "Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it." The item isn't yours, but it does appear to belong to another resident of the city. Maybe your safety deposit boxes somehow got mixed up? It seems like it would be a good idea to find this person and return their property to them.
Whether you encounter the owner of the item in the vault or elsewhere in the city, when it comes time to hand the item over, two things happen. One—the doors are locked tight, refusing to allow either you or the item's owner out until you both understand what the item is and what it means to the other. To unburden your heart is the only way to free yourself.
And two—as the owner of the item explains its significance, you find yourself oddly captivated, resonating strongly with whatever emotion the item's owner most closely associates with it. You may not be able to see the memory that the other person describes, but you can certainly feel the emotions they felt—after all, the easiest way to unburden oneself is to share the load with another. Isn't that right?
Once you free yourself from your enthralled state, and once you have your own belongings returned to you, for the next several days you find yourself feeling rather honest, like you may not be able to stop yourself from confessing the truth about the item you now carry…
Characters who opted to randomize the contents of their safety deposit box during the plotting post, or who plotted a joint experience with another character, will open their safety deposit boxes to find a small, non-magical but emotionally significant item belonging to another player character in the city. They will need to find the owner of that item and return it to them—this can either be inside the bank vault or in another location within the city. Regardless of where the meeting takes place, the character holding the item will find themselves unable to leave until the character who owns the item explains its significance; as they do, the holder of the item will find themselves swept up in the emotional highs and lows of the memories associated with that item, allowing them to share all of the feelings, regrets, joys, griefs, and rages that the owner experiences in the telling. Additionally, for the four days following the event, characters who carry their safety deposit box item on their person will feel oddly compelled to tell other characters about its significance and meaning.
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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.
This month's event headers come from "The Things" and "The Gatherer," two poems by Brendan Constantine. The text of the paper slip comes from Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed.
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citylogs2023-07-19 08:45 pm
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[ a duel? with gebura? it perks don up immediately, mostly because she does miss fighting given she doesn't get to do it anymore and it was her main squeeze in the city. not as a fixer, but as a sinner. ]
Thee merely need to name the time and place and I shall be swift upon Rocinante to meet thy blade with mine own!!! I would be honored to do battle with thee, for I feel I could learn much from it!!!! Furthermore, I haven't a single issue with thy terms!!!!
[ in general... she'd say the same to roland too, but. she doesn't want to fight him. there's something about him, really, that makes her not want to, but she can't put her finger on it. maybe it's his someguyness. maybe it's something else, like the way she can't read him at all. ]
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Duly noted. I'll reach out when I've figured out the details a little more.
... And Rocinante is...?
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anyway, it seems like don's been waiting for Someone to ask, because she's kicking a foot out high... her. golden? sneakerboots? marked clearly with the name she'd spoken, beaten up and clearly loved. ]
Rocinante! Not a day goes by in which I do not wear them, for they are my stalwart companions and trusted steeds! I am one of the most nimble of my fellows, and I have them to thank for such feet fleetedness!
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Because she is just looking at her choice of footwear and of course she has named it (them?) because of course. Carmen would have been thrilled to run into another City-dweller who had an actual sense of imagination. ]
...
Right. I'm glad your shoes came with you, at least.
[ UNLIKE MIMICRY. A shame. Truly a shame. ]
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don wobbles a moment before setting her foot back down. safe. ]
As am I! Though loathfully, my lance did not. [ ... wait!!!
be natural, don quixote. act absolutely natural. perfectly normal. you got this. ] Kehm. Speaking on weaponry, my friend... what did thee wield, back whence thou were a Fixer?
[ ohhhh she is naaaaailing this absolutely normal. yup. she is not asking this for any reason but to get to know her. yeah. ]
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As a Fixer? [ Well, she didn't say as a Librarian, not that the answer is much different these days. ]
A variety of things. But the favored one was a sword--a pretty big one.
[ It's weird to say she misses Mimicry, but when you wield a certain sword long enough and just kind of ignore its efforts to take you over, it becomes sort of empty when you lose it yet again. ]
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Oho, I see... That rather suits thee, I think, given the swordswomen I have met thus far. And Sir Roland? He feels... as if he could use most things, and like thee, probably has -- but I am ever curious of my fellows, and whilst I have thee here...
[ ask her instead ♡♡♡ ]
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[ Well, let's not talk about all the things Roland fought her with when he was having a Time. Between him and Angela, you could definitely say the weapon set was... diverse? Hm.
That's just borrowing power from the Abnormality, though. Probably doesn't count. ]
No idea what he favored before his Librarian job, but it's usually a sword when he's receiving guests. You're probably better off asking him directly.
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[ don? thinking? wow. she clasps her hands behind her back as they go. and as she continues, because she doesn't wanna speak somewhat ill of...... an ally...... behind their back. ]
My companions wield a variety of weaponry, so I am used to seeing and fighting alongside many kinds. Young Sinclair wields a halberd back home, for instance -- when last did thee see such an instrument of battle? -- while Ishmael bears the weight of both shield and mace. There are a number of whom have blades of various lengths as well, from splendidly sharp daggers to the powerfully long zweihander! That is why I was curious of thine.
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I see.
[ But also-- ]
I'm not a fan of unfinished sentences. What did you think you were overthinking?
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...
[ mmmmmm. she seems a little bashful to say, but will come out about it-- ]
I ask thee because Sir Roland is not particularly a direct person, when it comes to answering questions of himself. There is always a secondary set he draws from.
[ it's awfully familiar. ]
But I suppose this may be one question he will answer without issue, is all.
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Well, everyone in the City has things they'd rather not talk about or remember, for their own purposes. [ Roland is just coping in his own way, even if some of those wounds are festering now because slapping a bandage over something doesn't necessarily mean treating it properly.
She would know. ]
But it's probably a safe topic.
me backtagging and it's just this. sorry geb
I should hope so. It is always interesting, to see what one prefers... Another such topic seems to be, adjacent of Fixers, Colors whom we are a fan of. Though of course, who would not admire the Red Mist?!
[ ouuggh red mist maam... she is the end all be all of fixers... so righteous, so good, even now she is...!!!!!! ]
It is difficult to find merch of her at this point, however... Collectors hold fast to what they have, and it is troubling to find even a pin that bears a passing resemblance to her own... It would take all of one's life saving, and I have yet to even obtain the limited editions of other Fixers whom I admire... Ah, but if the chance came I could have something of she, then I would forsake near all for it!!! I do not know if he is as devoted as that, but it is alright if he is not; considering the age he seems, I would imagine it may be somewhat embarrassing for him to express glee the way I do.
[ ...
embarrassing... a middle aged man fangirling over a color... yeah... ]
I'm crying
[ She honestly has no idea how much merch of her exists and it's not like she was all that big on being in the spotlight. Nothing existed with her signature and even if it did, very few people even knew who "Kali" was. As she is now, there's even less to give away her true identity, especially without Mimicry present.
Which maybe is for the best because the last thing she needs is anyone else fangirling over her with an even more fanatic degree of enthusiasm than Roland. ]
It's like you said. He just has a different way of expressing his thoughts on it. But it's there, if you know how to look for it.
[ Or if you stand there and watch him fumble for formality. ]
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Will thee tell me the signs?
[ please she CLEARLY HAS SEEN IT don's dying to know that he's Just Like Her ]
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[ Gebura! Killjoy! ]
Just tell him if he doesn't tell you, I will the next time you ask, and I'm going to be brutally honest about it.
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Mistress Gebura, has anyone told thee that thou art the best in the whole world?
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[ Her lips twitch faintly. ]
Maybe once or twice, if that.
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[ for bullying roland, she means. in a nice way. ]
Though, if I may be honest, I hope he doth protests, for I very much wish to hear what thee have to say as well... ♪