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
a. locked inside the vault.
He can't recall ever being here, how can there be something of his? But he somehow found himself in the city so he does suppose anything is possible. Now the only way for him to find out what the box's contents are is for him to locate it and then open it.
As he walks along the wall, guided by the numbers, he can hear the sounds of someone speaking. It's not strange that there would be someone else here it's likely they too were drawn in by the metallic sounds. Perhaps they are also searching for their deposit box? He continues to follow the numbers, his steps picking up as he gets closer to the correct box only the loud bang of the vault door shutting suddenly brings him to a halt.
He forgets the search for his deposit box and rushes towards the door. Not only does he find it shut but there is a familiar figure attempting to yank it open. Slowly making sure his steps announce his arrival he approaches, although once again he pauses seeing the green sparks surrounding Izuku. ]
I don't believe it's feeling inclined to accept your request.
[ He'll laugh softly, good naturedly. ] I am not sure what weird entails for you. You weren't about to try to punch the door open were you?
no subject
[The alarm on Izuku's face is clear. He's very concerned about how his new friend somehow managed to get stuck in here as well. He has to chalk it up to how weird this entire situation is. The vaults must have drawn them in and before they knew it ... they've been locked in.]
Well- I ... [He frowns at his own curled-up fist because he had been thinking about smashing the vault door to bits. But his power isn't as strong as it used to be so he thinks doing something like that might result in a broken hand.] That was my first option. But something tells me that won't work either.
[He pulls at the door handle and nothing will shift.]
What I mean is ... Sometimes I've read in stories that if you get trapped in a room together with someone else there's always some sort of trick you have to do with that person to get out.
[...]
I'm hoping it's not that.
no subject
He is much in agreement that if his friend did punch the door then it would result in them still being trapped in the vault but Izuku would then have to contend with a broken hand.
Stepping in close, he too reaches for the handle and gives it a tug; not that he believes this will make a difference. The two of them moving such a heavy door? Impossible! Plus, he was sure that he heard the sounds of it locking shut. No matter what it isn't going to open until the door is unlocked. ]
I am glad that punching the door is no longer being considered a viable option but even the two of us won't be pulling it open. Then I suppose we'll have to follow one of these stories you've heard. So what kind of tricks would you like to try together?
[ He is amused compared to Izuku's worry, even if he can admit he doesn't want to spend the rest of the day trapped in here. The only fortunate thing is he ended up with good company. ] But since you're hoping not to resort to those tricks, what if we search about the vault and see if there are clues that may lead us out instead?
no subject
So he nods. He turns around with a small frown on his lips as he looks at the rows of vault boxes.]
I think that's a good idea. Maybe we should start by checking if there's anything strange about the security boxes.
[...]
If we can't find anything... Well, let's not think too far ahead yet.
no subject
He looks away as he tries to regain his composure. ] Izuku, have you gotten a chance to open your security box? I do wonder how there would be something on mine in there. But then I suppose much like we were brought here they can also bring items from our homelands.
Shall we have a look at mine? [ He'll laugh softly then. ] I am kidding of course, if there was something useful in there I am sure you too would have received something to help you get out of the vault.
[ But he is going to start walking around the big security room searching for anything that can help them make their escape. It's strange, but while they aren't exactly in danger yet (someone might come here and let them out), this is the first time something this eerie has happened to him. ]
no subject
I... I did. What was inside was something from my home world. Something I wasn't expecting to see ever again, actually... I don't know how it ended up here. But your guess is about the same as mine.
[He looks down almost sadly before he pulls the item out of his pocket. It's a worn-out playing care from some sort of card game. It looks like a hero card with a character named All Might on it.]
It had this card inside it. I haven't looked at it since I was young.
[He glances back at Xingqiu.]
I'm not sure what the correlation is here but maybe you should check yours too?
no subject
[ Considering only that then it could be just about anything in his box, but as he listens to Izuku explain further, then it can be surmised that the item in his vault box might also be something related to his childhood? Curiously he takes in Izuku's expression before letting his gaze drop down toward the playing card — it has obviously been thoroughly loved. Leaning in he can read what is written on the card. ] All Might?
That's something you must cherish completely if you've kept it safe since childhood. For most children, it is rare to see fragile items survive for long. You know there is a card game in my world... is this card based on someone?
[ He can't stall forever, but he is genuinely curious about the card and even through his inquiry he is motioning for Izuku to follow after him. He already knows where his vault is, it's just a matter of getting back to it and actually opening it. ]
no subject
All Might is the name of a hero in my world. He's my favourite one and he's... also my mentor and my teacher.
[He has a small fond smile on his lips.]
When I got this card it was when Kacchan and I opened the same pack and we both got the same one. He was so happy about that. That was a long time ago.
[He sounds slightly distant. But he looks up and shakes it off.]
Card games are popular, I'm not surprised that they are in other worlds too. Do you play card games?
no subject
Hearing Izuku speak about the card he can hear admiration in his tone for this hero. A hero that it seems he is close to. Imagine having the opportunity to gain knowledge and be guided by a lauded figure. He finds himself mirroring Izuku's expression, that smile is infectious. ]
Even if it was a long time ago it's obvious you clearly recall the joy that you and your friend once shared. Just seeing you with that smile on your face, you know it's making me miss home. More so the friends I have there.
[ Was something bothering Izuku, for a moment Xingqiu thought there was a wistful expression on his face. Perhaps he can slightly distract his friend by telling him about the card game from his world. ]
Do you want to know something? In the card game that I play, there are cards created based on some of my friends. Those are the ones I play with. The game is called Genius Invokation TCG... summoning of the seven saints. Although thinking about... Ah, never mind.
You know a story was also created to go along with the game...
Hm. I thought about it for a moment but I am not particularly attached to that book so I doubt that's what's waiting for me. Perhaps the cards I play with...? I should just open the box. Or would you like to have a guess at what's inside?
no subject
That sounds very nice, Xingqiu-kun. Having cards based on your friends and using them too sounds like it would be the best way to play. And I'm sure your friends must like seeing you use them too.
[There's something about Xingqiu that tells Izuku that he's definitely a cherished friend. His friendships must be important to him if they do things like that. Izuku's longing expression is gone now but he wishes he had that sort of closeness with Katsuki. His lost card is just a reminder of that.
He nods quietly.]
I'm wondering if there's a card or two in your vault box too. Maybe we'd have a full game soon. [He laughs sheepishly.]
no subject
Now all he has to do is fish the key out of his pocket and finally open the box. ] Well, I can't really say. We don't have too many opportunities to spend time together in Liyue. We're typically busy but when a holiday comes around we don't miss the opportunity to spend time together.
But as much as I would love for my casket of tomes to be waiting for me, I have a feeling that it is something else entirely. Well, I won't leave you in suspense any longer.
[ The time has come for him to open the lockbox. The key fits easily and after a turn, and a click the lockbox is open. Waiting inside is the stamp seal carved by Kazuha and designed by Albedo. He recalls that day and his struggle with his signature, working diligently through some nights in an attempt to make his readers happy. Yet it hadn't been enough, if it hadn't been for his friends then he isn't sure what the outcome would have been.
Slowly he reaches inside taking hold of the stamp. ] So it really wasn't cards...
no subject
Oh? What is it...? Is it something important to you?
[If it's anything like Izuku's item it's something that ignites a thought or memory...]
no subject
A seal.
[ True but there is a story behind it and all it takes is a single glance towards Izuku for him to see curiosity all across the boy's face. He musters up a smile to hide away the difficulties that come with recounting the events — in choosing the appropriate words. There are secrets he's kept from his closest friends. There are some things he isn't ready to reveal about himself. Yet just holding this item made with care through collaboration whisks him away back to the memories of those days spent in Inazuma.
The weariness of those nights spent writing, his aching hand. The delightful freshness of Inazuman cuisine from sea to dish. The scent of blossoms carried on a briny breeze. The sound of wind and surf. Closing his eyes a moment, there is another similar sensation, and looking at Izuku once more he knows what it is. ]
It's silent here with just the two of us. I can clearly hear the sound of your breathing, and my own along with the beating of my heart. You know I've often been surrounded by people, yet in those times I've felt incredibly alone. I think in this moment with just you here it doesn't feel that way at all. That time, when my friends came together to create this stamp, they worked so hard to help me. It's that same feeling having you here.
[ He pauses a moment seeing an aged page within his lockbox. He ends up reaching for it too. He doesn't read it aloud, a soft sigh does escape his lips. ] Well, you shared so much about yourself with me. I think I should do the same. Admittedly this is embarrassing to say but as long as I remember, I've struggled with my poor pensmanship. It's not impossible for me to craft a stylish and beautiful signature but there was an occasion when time was of the essence, I couldn't slowly and meticulously pen out my name.
This was created to help during that time.
no subject
[As Xingqiu explains his tale... The sound of the vault clicking open will get louder and louder. A slow ticking that makes Izuku look its way.]
The... doors? Are they opening? Xingqiu-kun!
[Not to derail from Xingqiu's storytelling. Izuku is actually so interested in listening to his friend talk. And... It might be unlocking the vault??]
The seal... Your friends made that for you to help you through that time, ne? How did it make you feel when you were able to finish your work?