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cityofhex2016-10-29 08:29 pm
modmachine) wrote in cityofhex2016-10-29 08:29 pm
WEEK 01
Somewhere, a gear slips.
It's sunset on Halloween night; a night of celebration for the dead and the once-dead, a night of wariness for those bound closely to the spirits. Everything seems to move more freely on this night; the sensation of boundaries crossed is almost palpable.
A handful of those native to the city will certainly feel such. Between one step and the next, there's a feeling of pushing against something, something you didn't know was there before - and it gives. Physically, nothing changes, but you now know something is wrong, as though waking from a dream. Something has slipped, and you remember. Hajime will feel the sensation most keenly, as the things he recalls lack the sharp details of a demon's memory.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Sixth, the New Arrivals all also find themselves taking steps - the first thing the group will become aware of in the city is being shoved out the door of what seems to be some kind of broken down factory. The alley they step into is wide enough to get a truck through, but shows little sign of human habitation; only a cardboard box, half-dissolved by rain, and a few bits of stray glass from broken bottles can be seen. Their phones and any other communication devices they possess all beep loudly, once, after the door slams shut.
Except... What door? When they next blink, while there's still a vaguely door-like outline, the concrete wall has changed; where the door was, there's a metal sheet, machined with faint circular patterns, seamlessly integrated with the concrete. Banging a fist on it produces a solid sound, as though the metal was at least an inch thick. Though there is a feeling of being watched in the alleyway, no one will approach until they leave it, not even a passerby walking the not-quite-yet-dark street at either end. Until they step out of the alley, it's as though they don't exist.
And there's a good amount of foot traffic passing the alleyway by. Though it tends towards people in a college student age bracket and people in a vaguely street punk sort of fashion with odd accessories, neither is an absolute rule by any rule. Following the flow of traffic leads to a run-down park that's mostly skatepark with a few picnic tables and a small greenspace that's been taken over for a dancefloor. The tables are covered in odd junk and there seems to be some trading going on.
Haseo and Ryoji will both have better knowledge of what the place is, and have standing invitations to the party that's starting up as the Sin-Eater trading post winds down.
Elsewhere: On a beach bordering the bay, a group of changelings holds a bonfire. Periodically, someone throws a papercraft skull into it with extreme prejudice; almost all the skulls are inhuman in some way, though the craftmanship of the paper-mache makes it difficult to tell at times. Those in the know have to be aware that such an overt display won't pass unnoticed by the Autumn King... But the tall and built woman who seems to be the center of the festivities shows no fear in the season of fear.
In the Residential District and even a few places in the Sixth, trick-or-treaters are as much a feature as they are every year. Children in costume run about with little concern for who they approach, while their parents maintain appropriate wariness from sidewalks or cars. A small group of children, however, galivants with no supervision - and there is something uncanny about the trio. It's best to give them a treat if they approach you, else you might find yourself the recipient of a cruel trick in return. Unlike the other trick-or-treaters, they're out and about well past midnight; nearly to dawn, in fact. When the sky begins to lighten, however, all three stop immediately in the middle of what they're doing and - with the sound of mad, fey giggling - bolt off in the direction of the farming district.
The prompts from the Test Drive also remain available for interaction.
The rest of the week:
Weather forecast: Though Halloween is a clear night, clouds steadily roll in for most of the rest of the week, hanging overcast in the sky with occasional breaks and sprinkles of rain slotted in. Mornings are foggy and chill, warming slightly in the afternoons but not varying all too much in temperature. Frost has yet to set in, though, making it possible to sleep outside if you have adequate cover, but it won't be very fun.
Moon Phase: The 30th was a New Moon, so Halloween's sky is decorated by a fingernail crescent that grows to almost a half moon throughout the week.
The Clean-Up: After Halloween, of course, everything must slowly go back to normal. Most folks clean up their own messes throughout the first morning of November, but shards of gutted and thrown pumpkins can be found most everywhere, and at the park where the Sin-Eaters partied, a lone Security Officer inspects the aftermath for signs of unusual activity. Aside from the remains of pumpkins, which are mostly left to rot, decorations vanish over the course of the week and all but a few are gone by Thursday morning.
The College: Though enrollment for the fall semester is over, the deadlines for winter are fast approaching, and there are a number of tables set up in a large area to entice prospective students. Most of them are manned by undergraduates, but the English program's table is staffed most of the time by a single Tired Professor with mousy brown hair. Occasionally, the Tech Student at the next table over takes pity on the man, bringing him a hot-chocolate to help warm his fingers.
[Feel free to use this post as a jumping-off point for logs and interactions! You are also welcome to post your own logs to the community as needed. Mods will be available on plurk and discord to answer questions, and can be hailed for exploration logs off this post.]
It's sunset on Halloween night; a night of celebration for the dead and the once-dead, a night of wariness for those bound closely to the spirits. Everything seems to move more freely on this night; the sensation of boundaries crossed is almost palpable.
A handful of those native to the city will certainly feel such. Between one step and the next, there's a feeling of pushing against something, something you didn't know was there before - and it gives. Physically, nothing changes, but you now know something is wrong, as though waking from a dream. Something has slipped, and you remember. Hajime will feel the sensation most keenly, as the things he recalls lack the sharp details of a demon's memory.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Sixth, the New Arrivals all also find themselves taking steps - the first thing the group will become aware of in the city is being shoved out the door of what seems to be some kind of broken down factory. The alley they step into is wide enough to get a truck through, but shows little sign of human habitation; only a cardboard box, half-dissolved by rain, and a few bits of stray glass from broken bottles can be seen. Their phones and any other communication devices they possess all beep loudly, once, after the door slams shut.
Except... What door? When they next blink, while there's still a vaguely door-like outline, the concrete wall has changed; where the door was, there's a metal sheet, machined with faint circular patterns, seamlessly integrated with the concrete. Banging a fist on it produces a solid sound, as though the metal was at least an inch thick. Though there is a feeling of being watched in the alleyway, no one will approach until they leave it, not even a passerby walking the not-quite-yet-dark street at either end. Until they step out of the alley, it's as though they don't exist.
And there's a good amount of foot traffic passing the alleyway by. Though it tends towards people in a college student age bracket and people in a vaguely street punk sort of fashion with odd accessories, neither is an absolute rule by any rule. Following the flow of traffic leads to a run-down park that's mostly skatepark with a few picnic tables and a small greenspace that's been taken over for a dancefloor. The tables are covered in odd junk and there seems to be some trading going on.
Haseo and Ryoji will both have better knowledge of what the place is, and have standing invitations to the party that's starting up as the Sin-Eater trading post winds down.
Elsewhere: On a beach bordering the bay, a group of changelings holds a bonfire. Periodically, someone throws a papercraft skull into it with extreme prejudice; almost all the skulls are inhuman in some way, though the craftmanship of the paper-mache makes it difficult to tell at times. Those in the know have to be aware that such an overt display won't pass unnoticed by the Autumn King... But the tall and built woman who seems to be the center of the festivities shows no fear in the season of fear.
In the Residential District and even a few places in the Sixth, trick-or-treaters are as much a feature as they are every year. Children in costume run about with little concern for who they approach, while their parents maintain appropriate wariness from sidewalks or cars. A small group of children, however, galivants with no supervision - and there is something uncanny about the trio. It's best to give them a treat if they approach you, else you might find yourself the recipient of a cruel trick in return. Unlike the other trick-or-treaters, they're out and about well past midnight; nearly to dawn, in fact. When the sky begins to lighten, however, all three stop immediately in the middle of what they're doing and - with the sound of mad, fey giggling - bolt off in the direction of the farming district.
The prompts from the Test Drive also remain available for interaction.
The rest of the week:
Weather forecast: Though Halloween is a clear night, clouds steadily roll in for most of the rest of the week, hanging overcast in the sky with occasional breaks and sprinkles of rain slotted in. Mornings are foggy and chill, warming slightly in the afternoons but not varying all too much in temperature. Frost has yet to set in, though, making it possible to sleep outside if you have adequate cover, but it won't be very fun.
Moon Phase: The 30th was a New Moon, so Halloween's sky is decorated by a fingernail crescent that grows to almost a half moon throughout the week.
The Clean-Up: After Halloween, of course, everything must slowly go back to normal. Most folks clean up their own messes throughout the first morning of November, but shards of gutted and thrown pumpkins can be found most everywhere, and at the park where the Sin-Eaters partied, a lone Security Officer inspects the aftermath for signs of unusual activity. Aside from the remains of pumpkins, which are mostly left to rot, decorations vanish over the course of the week and all but a few are gone by Thursday morning.
The College: Though enrollment for the fall semester is over, the deadlines for winter are fast approaching, and there are a number of tables set up in a large area to entice prospective students. Most of them are manned by undergraduates, but the English program's table is staffed most of the time by a single Tired Professor with mousy brown hair. Occasionally, the Tech Student at the next table over takes pity on the man, bringing him a hot-chocolate to help warm his fingers.
[Feel free to use this post as a jumping-off point for logs and interactions! You are also welcome to post your own logs to the community as needed. Mods will be available on plurk and discord to answer questions, and can be hailed for exploration logs off this post.]
Halloween
...The figure might look familiar, even though she wore her hair open and didn't have sunglasses when they met a few hours earlier. In fact, he is kind of the reason why she is here now - she let him escort her "home" into one of the better areas of town, where they parted. And that better part of town happened to be adjacent to his area, as she just found out. Well, there are worse coincidences.
Kitty stares up at the man, looking him up and down with disapproval.
"Why are you just wearing normal clothes?"
no subject
"Hello again! I guess I'm just too grown up for costumes." Or more accurately it's a private joke. He's masquerading as a
man with a reasonnormal person. "You out with your aunt tonight?"It's not safe to wander Hex alone, after all. As he well knows. He fingers a scar - one of many - across his knuckles, memory flaring again. From punching a vampire in the teeth or a fight where he didn't dodge fast enough, surely. But when was it? And where? Something about Romania, but he's never been there, has he? Even though his grandfather taught him the language. He always did mean to go, someday.
no subject
She doesn't stay on that topic for long though but returns to the original one.
"You have to dress up." Ivokat and Malicia had joined forces on this point last year around the same time - really only a few months ago - when telling her about Halloween in their home countries. It were stories, sure, but all the dressing up has been fun so she is a bit annoyed that he hasn't dressed up. And the stories provide a good background for demanding that he wear something else. "Because you dress up so they won't recognize you when they come for you. If they recognize you, they'll take you away and you won't be seen again, or not in many years."
no subject
"Who will recognize me? Who'll take me? I can protect myself, especially in my own home." His laughter fades to a smile, bright despite the dark bags under his eyes. "I've been away for years before. It's hard, but I came back. I'm not afraid, and I'll be fine."
no subject
And just going by personal experience, you'd probably hide from someone more powerful than the state that you pissed off, like a megacorp or a crime syndicate. She wouldn't have pinned them down as the enemy in these stories a year ago because she knew first hand that they weren't interested in taking prisoners when they were getting back at you, but she has since learnt otherwise. Hiro they just wanted back.
More easily, without the running away aspect, you'd just hide from someone whom you pissed off or who declared you wanted. Staying low for a few months after a botched job or a job that blew up into your face, that kind of thing. Or maybe you're just an unfortunate soul that they're looking for for some other reason. Picking their interest by performing magic without permission, for example. Or just someone talented or otherwise interesting enough for an extraction. Sometimes it's the freelancers who get you, too.
In the end she isn't sure.
"Depends on who you are and where you are and whom you pissed off or made interested in catching you. The people that think that you shouldn't just run around freely."
In her personal case, she's always been the most cautious about Desert Storm Securities, mostly because she, an unregistered mage, lives right next to a facility that at least in theory is watched by them. She might not have someone to provide for, but she has still someone helpless at home who would be an easy instrument of pressure against her if ever tracked down.
"And if they feel strong enough they won't care if you're in your own home."
It would be a severe disadvantage to her because of Chantalle, but she can see how it could be an advantage. You can install all kinds of defensive and security tech around your house if you're paranoid enough. ...She might be eyeing his house a bit cautiously now. Good thing she didn't step on the lawn to look at the giant pumpkin over there.
"And just that you were away for years doesn't mean that they have forgotten you. They might still come across you when looking for someone else and remember. Or run into something that makes you interesting again."
She realized belatedly that she just spilled too much honest thinking there, but. It could just be a result of watching too much trideo, right? Right. Gosh, guy, just don't be a drag and dress up already. She'll even help with the makeover.
He might be way too much of a worried adult, but he was nice back there and taught her how to use swings, so she feels like spending time with him might be fun. And he might know more about this place than a bunch of kids. Sure, she cannot ask directly. Not that she is even sure where she would start asking. But she can still listen.
"You can look boring on all other days of the year." C'mooooooon...
no subject
"I'm not worried." He's not armed the systems in place just yet, but he's awake and able to run. Besides, he doesn't want some kid tripping the alarms. They don't call the police. They call other hunters, which is probably worse, and usually has a quicker response time.
However, the change in tone, the childishness poking through in her voice, is enough to make him grin and loosen up a bit. "I suppose you're right. What do you have in mind?"
no subject
Are there any characters that you want to dress up as?" She really has no clue what people know and like here. There's a few people from movies that she could think of, but she doubts that they'd know or recognize them here. She snickers. "Or, if all else fails, we can put a pumpkin on your head and you can be pumpkin man."