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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.]
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"No. That." The girl makes a vague gesture at the area, trying to indicate ...everything, really. "It's so dull. And there are stores, and none of them advertise anything."
Is he trying to make fun of her? Or...
Perhaps her contacts are broken. She wouldn't know why, why both of them, but perhaps that is the problem.
Well, there is one easy thing to check that, and she's never had much patience with waiting for some task until she won't offend someone because she's suddenly ignoring them mid-conversation. So she pulls her commlink, which looks a lot like a smartphone, out of her pocket and checks the surroundings. Or what should be the surroundings. There's just... nothing.
She'll ignore Ryoji for a moment longer while she just stares down at the screen. What.
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"...Do you need me to get someone?" he asks while she stares at her screen, not even seeming to do anything with it. He can only think of a few explanations and none of them seem good.
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The answer comes quickly, firmly; indicating that she'll be happy to back this no up with force, if necessary.
The only people that she would want to come for her are people that she is absolutely sure don't fall under "someone" - which she assumes would be some kind of security service staff or a social worker. Both would be the very last thing that she needs. She is way better off not existing officially.
And she can survive alone. She assumes, at least, she's never had to try. But she's better equipped for it than most adults.
And besides: If she was going to be official... they would figure out that she's not human. Not a person in the same way her fake IDs claim her to be. Things would probably get even more complicated from there.
No, she definitely doesn't want him to "get someone".
"I'll call my friends when I need them." Surely she can still call them?
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He's still staying a little ways away, but he pulls out a planner and writes down his name and phone number to give it to her. "This is my number too, if they're busy or something. My name's Ryoji. I'll try and help, if I can." He's not sure if he expects her to ever use it, but the option is there.
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Or really paranoid. That could be it, too.
She accepts the slip of paper and studies it before pocketing it.
"Why do you want to help me so much?" Sometimes being overly direct gives you the best results, she's found, because people don't expect it. And being a child, she has also found that showing such behaviour will be met with a lot more lenience than if she was an adult.
Connections are always good, and she'll definitely keep him in mind, but she can't really believe that it is altruism driving him. Nobody is altruistic towards other sentient beings, in her experience. Often not even towards beings that aren't sentient.
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Ryoji recognizes that technique, because it's one he kind of uses himself. Though he's not sure which of them use it more intentionally. "Well, I guess because even if you can totally take care of yourself, I get worried when people your age are wandering around alone. And it's always nice to make new friends, isn't it?" The first is far more the motive, but depending on her perspective the second might be more appealing. Or believable.
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She mulls his explanation over for a moment. Poor little children versus wanting to befriend her. She isn't sure if she buys either, but guesses that there might be some truth at least in both. Whatever that truth is, exactly.
She might have to tail him. See what his deal is.
"I'll keep your number."
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"Ok. What's your name? You don't have to tell me, if you don't want." But it would be helpful if she does call him.
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Are you from Atzlan or what.Ever heard of just sending your number to someone's commlink?
...Her name. There will be a pause that takes just a few seconds too long as she decides on which name to give him. A fake ID one, a fake one entirely, or her streetname (which is also her ...not birth name, because cats don't give names that way, but her first name).
Her real name will sound fake to him, probably, so she goes with a fake name that she uses quite often.
"I'm Ebru."
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It's pretty clear that's probably not her real name, but Ryoji appreciates the caution. She might actually be able to handle herself out here... he hopes she can. "Nice to meet you, Ebru."
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She assumes so, but maybe he will elaborate a bit, and confirmation is always good. As is a local contact.
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He looks old enough to her that he has to be working something to pay for his expenses. Sure, that always also depends on the financial status of the parents and he looks like he's at least from a middle class one, but even so she figures that he should be that old already.
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She can spot evasion when she sees it. She uses it often enough herself.
"...And what do you study?" Ivokat has explained university to her. It is like school, but freer, he said, and then he had to explain what school was, too. Now a lot of things that she'd had seen on TV growing up made more sense, but Kitty still decided that both sounded very boring.
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"Nothing in particular, yet. I'm just finishing up my first semester, so I haven't picked my major. I've got a little bit longer to figure it out." Thank goodness. "What kind of thing would you like study, if you were in college?"
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She frowns in confusion at the talk about being in uni without a specific subject and picking majors. Ivokat mentioned nothing like that. Weird. She's not sure if she should believe it or if he's weaselling around an answer and hoping that she doesn't catch him because she is a kid.
"I don't want to go to college. It sounds boring." She's never seen the appeal.
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Ryoji chuckles a little. "Some of the classes are. But people keep telling me it'll be more interesting when I pick a major- that's when I'll get to learn the stuff I find interesting." The problem is just... figuring out what that is.
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"And what do you find interesting?" That's the obvious follow-up question for someone who doesn't know that that is Ryoji's exact problem, here.
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Knowing what you like is, in her opinion, one of the actually easiest things. She always knows what she likes. (She also never has had to make a decision of the dimension of what subject to pick in college, but she doesn't realize that.)
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She's worked with way too many defectors of various kinds from various places to not have this criterion high up on a list of things that you should think about when you work towards a job that'll make you employed with some group or corporation.
See? It's easy.
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