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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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She looks around her for a moment. If she moves back a bit, the space should be big enough, and... let's see.
She soundlessly retreats until she is in the bigger space behind the two crates and then curls up before shifting, which will be equally soundless but take a moment. And then take another moment to apply mask to herself... good.
The girl that stands up behind the crates, little more than her head and a bit of her shoulders visible, looks like her - just with regular eyes and dressed, in this case a t-shirt, colourful trousers and ballerinas. There is a risk in using her own face, but she didn't think about that in time and now it is too late.
"It's not a trick.
Why did you try to steal my clothes?"
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"Well, it seemed like a trick to me... and I wasn't going to take your clothes. If you're living in a place like this, you probably need them."
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That's about as bad, though in a different way. She needs her clothes more, but she will be able to replace them more easily, too.
At least he doesn't seem to contest that she lives here. She'll probably have to move a bit, now, but it still makes this conversation easier.
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It's kind of hard to have any sort of real skills that aren't criminal when you haven't been to school in three years.
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"And that is why I have to keep it. It's harder to replace than most other things, and I'm too young for people to give me work directly, so I couldn't buy a new one even if I knew the right people for it." And she doesn't have her team to accept jobs on her behalf here. Nor... do the kind of jobs that she tends to do to exist, at least not nearly as close to the surface as what she's used to.
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Not yet, at least.
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Duh.
Also very clearly not actually answering either of the questions wrapped up in his words. She'll come around the boxes now, stepping into better view of Tobias - just a nine year old child in a t-shirt, colourful trousers and ballerinas, nothing fancy or unusual or even fear-inspiring to see here, nope - and then walking over to where he dropped her gun, keeping a very close eye on him, ready to fight again at a moment's notice.
"If you don't try to take my things, I won't try to hurt you."
no subject
(He's never liked it when his Horror fed on the dreams of children.)
"Okay." Just calm and gentle, that's how he'll handle this. That's probably the best way... "I'm kind of curious how you moved those boxes, though. You don't have to tell me if you don't want." He's not getting any kind of reading off of her. No scent of blood, no crackle of electricity, nothing. It's as if she's totally human, but he's never met a human who can do something like that. Maybe a demon, but he knows what happens when he tries to pick up on those.
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She won't give more of an explanation - not necessarily because she's being evasive, though that is there too, but mostly because she can't really explain it much better. In the end, you just reach out and grab something.
She picks up the gun and continues on to the pile of clothes, placing the gun on it and settling down on top. As full-sensory as her mask is, it doesn't come with actual loops, pockets, holsters or whatever to actually place things in. The illusion also very minorly overlaps with the fabric that she's seated on now, too little to really see it unless you know that you're looking for it.
no subject
It's cool. Weird, but cool. He watches her with sharp eyes, rubbing his shoulder from where he impacted the wall. "I won't try to take your stuff, I promise." As much as he can, at least. Until his Horror decides that it's hungry again, and chases into her dreams with sharp talons and high winds.
"Do you live here all alone? It can be kind of dangerous out here..."
no subject
She assumes that that must be it, in a way. It doesn't work with just her brain - there are reasons why she is very cautious about keeping her ears warm in the winter - but it comes pretty close.
"I'll move now." Because he was here. But her answer indicates at the same time that yes, she considered this the place where she lived. Only for a few days, since she arrived here, but without anywhere else to go it was an important anchor point. "Why where you here?"
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Sure, he could get a 'real' job, but that would make it easier for someone to find him. No thanks.
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"Whom would you sell it to?"
If this is someone buying stolen goods, they likely are some kind of fixer, maybe they can point her to a Johnson or at least give her some idea of where to find a fixer who can, or something that will at least point her in the right direction...
Which would of course require finances that she doesn't have, but usually you can also trade in services. Even if they think that they can only send you on courier runs.
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Maybe he shouldn't be telling her this. It would be competition, after all. But he can't help but feel bad for a little girl who looks like she has no one.
... As long as she's not a Strix. But there's nothing to indicate that... yet, at least. There's a little light in the room, and she hasn't flinched back from it, so she's... probably fine.
no subject
That would be disappointing.
....It's uncomfortably chilly to sit here like this, and she's picked up enough from metahuman society to actually feel slightly awkward when naked in this body. So she gets up again and grabs the coat to put it on. Everything else would look weird - you don't put trousers on when you're already dressed - but she's wearing little enough to justify putting a coat on.
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"Yeah? I mean, that's what pawn shops do." The people who frequent them sometimes do other things, but he's not explaining that to a kid.
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Or at least that was her observation. She's never actually needed to initiate a contact with someone that she hadn't already had contact with prior to that, though...
She buttons her coat up and sits back down, pulling her legs under the coat. That might mean a disadvantage should there be a fight, but she doesn't get the impression that that is where they're headed.
no subject
Maybe he should take another look. He concentrates, trying to pierce through anything that might be hiding. There's got to be something more here... and he blinks in surprise when he sees it. She's... not wearing anything other than the coat, which makes him glance away - and as he does he notices her eyes. Yellow... there's something wrong.
"... I'll look away and you can get dressed..." He says slowly, moving slightly towards the window. "... And I'll need you to step into the light. Just to check something."
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Tech.
She curses internally and drops the useless mask completely, grabbing for her clothes with one and her gun with the other hand and retreating towards the wall behind her. She should have left when she could.
"Why do you want me to step into the light?"
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How strong is he? He doesn't look like much, but looks can be deceptive - if he noticed that she's dual natured and concluded that she's a shapeshifter, he must have some kind of magic ability. At least he doesn't look like he used other means to be able to perceive astrally.
Because what else could he mean? There is nothing else that she should read like. And she knows that some people consider all paracritters monsters, and that most don't consider them real people, no matter how sentient they are.
"We're just people like everyone else."
She quickly pulls on her trousers and then starts to slip into her boots. Everything else won't be visible if she has to run, but the coat only covers so much of her legs, and human feet are sensitive in all the wrong ways.
no subject
He pulls out a lighter, and flicks it open. If she freaks out, then he'll know. "Some sorts of 'monsters' are. Some are the worst kind of things imaginable. I just want to figure out which one you are."
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...Second boot on.
"I'm no more of a monster than you are."
She would never call herself harmless, innocent or anything like that, but she feels like there is a line between herself and the term monster that she isn't significantly closer to than any average metahuman. Certainly not the ones that she usually surrounds herself with.
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But now that he seems to have stopped considering her a threat, she is curious. Still wary, but curious.
"And what kind of monster are you? ...If we're not going to talk about each other's secrets you can tell me, right?"
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So this is happening on the 6th of November, if that's okay with you?
That works!
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