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.
JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS
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.
JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS
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.
JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS
WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.
This month's event headers come from "The Things" and "The Gatherer," two poems by Brendan Constantine. The text of the paper slip comes from Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed.
JUMP TO TOP ↑
|
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
citycenter) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
citylogs2023-07-19 08:45 pm
no subject
[ he hands the bottle back, then props his elbow on his knee and rests his forehead in his hand. ]
Does what happen a lot? [ needing water? having a concussion? heine's generally bloody appearance overall?
the latter is actually shockingly common back home, but even heine can tell that welt yang isn't asking about that. ]
no subject
His arms cross loosely over his chest, head tilting slightly to the left as he peers down. ]
Protesting voices and thoughts inside your head. Or whatever it was you happened to be experiencing at the time.
[ There's only so much he can discern from outward actions. ]
no subject
More than I'd like these days. [ the response may sound flippant, in heine's rather flat affect, but it's sincere. before his brother had made a grand reappearance in heine's life, it had been half a decade or more since heine heard anything from the dog.
and now here he is, not only hearing from it but letting it take control, god, what a monster. heine's brow furrows for a moment before he opens his eyes again and sits up, more slowly this time. ]
It's a long story. I'm not crazy. [ well, he might be a little, but not for that reason anyway. ] I had something... implanted as a kid. It likes to taunt me when I'm stressed. [ that's putting it lightly. ]
no subject
I don't think you are. Crazy, that is. [ Said simply but earnestly. ] If that's all it takes, then I'm probably more crazy than you are. I couldn't sleep when I was a kid because of voices in my head.
[ Hard to sleep when the voices of 300,000 forgotten souls are constantly vying for attention. ]
It must be tough though. Having to put up with something like that.
no subject
what does sort of surprise him, though, is how earnestly welt seems to think heine isn't actually losing it. ]
Two of a kind, eh. [ well, maybe not. at least heine only has the one demon, and as contentious a relationship as he has with the dog, he'd take the dog over 300,000 voices any day.
he blinks, considering. ] ...I guess. I don't remember not having it. But I can't say I relish the experience.
[ a thoughtful tilt of his head, and heine's eyes narrow almost imperceptibly in thought. ]
You still hear 'em?
no subject
I do. They're easier to ignore now though.
[ Or rather, easier to live alongside after seventy-odd years. The solution to getting rid of them would be easy, a simple removal of the core nestled within him that's brought him so much joy and even more pain, but to do that now feels like a betrayal. ]
Most things are easier to bear with time. [ Most, but not all. ] Many things are also easier to bear with the support and company of others.
[ Not that he's going to overstep his bounds and offer when they've just met, but y'know. This guy probably (hopefully??) has some people out there he can lean on if necessary. ]
no subject
sigh. ] Yeah, so I hear. [ and he has heard, in the same way that he's heard fairy tales, for example. friendship as something for other people, not for him.
only fairly recently had he managed to call badou his friend without tripping over the words first, and now look at them. ]
Seems unfair to ask anybody else to tame my monster, though.
no subject
You know what, it's fine. This is fine. It's probably workable. Somehow. It's not like any of this information is being beamed right into Welt's old man noggin as he stands there and looks at Heine with a bemused expression. ]
Maybe, but it's just as unfair to never give them the chance to say yes.
[ Is he playing devil's advocate? Trying to make a fair point? He doesn't sound bothered by it either way, hands sliding into his coat pockets as he leans back on his heels. ]
But don't let this old man tell you what to do. Ultimately no one else can make that choice but you.
no subject
he looks down at his hands and flexes his fingers a couple of times. for something capable of violence beyond most people's imaginings, they look awfully inoffensive. ]
You're right. [ on both counts—that heine doesn't always have to go it alone, but also that only heine can make that choice for himself. ] I'll figure it out one of these days, probably. I hope.
[ he looks up at welt again, considerably more lucid now that the conversation has chased his ghosts away. ]
Thanks for the water.
no subject
You're young, with plenty of time to figure things out. [ Unless this mysterious implant of his also comes with a reduced lifespan....he's not going to think about that. ] No need to rush into things.
[ Not like there's much presure being placed on them here anyway, the city's idyllic nature weighing almost like a curse sometimes. Great for people wanting to live a more relaxed life, but not so great for others suffering from the constant itch of needing something to do. ]
I won't take up more of your time though. I'm sure you have better things to do than be lectured by a complete stranger on the side of the road.