WEEK 01

[modmachine]

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.]

Comments

Kitty | new arrival, ota

[runs]

A. Arrival

Kitty stumbles out onto the street and immediately swings around, exclaiming in an annoyed suppressed half-shout, "Eärendil, I've told you that isn't-", funny, she wants to say. But there is nobody behind her, nobody that she knows at least. The person that she is glancing up at is definitely not the elf that likes to see if he can set her off balance, but a stranger.

...What.

She backs up immediately, a hand going under the the dark dirty-grey coat that she is wearing which conceals almost everything else about her, ready to grab one of the weapons hidden there.

And probably bumps into the next person. Which will make her jump and dart out of the group in a hasty zigzag, deeper into the alley in search of some kind of advantageous place. Which ends up being the half-dissolved box, that really offers no advantages at all but at least feels like one.

Only then does she properly look, both at the other people in the alley and the door.

[Feel free to interrupt her at any part of this and/or be one of the people she bumps into/yells at]


B. Trick and Treating

She's stressed about the situation. Stressed out about how everything is so wrong, so dull. How there seems to be no AR at all, how she can only see half of what she can usually perceive even without the help of her contacts.

But that doesn't mean that she can't join what all the other kids are doing. What better way to explore a place and figure it out than to join a native group that ambles about the area, talks amongst each other and is let on people's property? Malicia told her about this, so she even has an idea as to what is going on.

It was easy enough to pretend that her "parents" approve of her going out but both work tonight, sadly, and asked her to find a group of kids so her trick and treating would be safe - you see, she only moved to the area recently...

And this is kind of fun. She's found that with added sunglasses, that a mother quickly procured for her, she looks somewhat like some movie character that was popular when the woman was a teenager - a great costume, even though your coat should be black, she said, and let me help you with your hair... yes, see, I know it's hard without your mom helping - so she can blend right in.

And it leaves her with candy, so what more could anyone want?

The observant looker-on will notice that one of the children in this group of trick-and-treaters looks disoriented and will prod at about every decoration while she thinks that no other member of the group is looking. And stare at pieces of infrastructure. She's also uncannily quick and dextrous when it comes to fishing the best candy out of the pot when the horde of children makes a grab for it.

She goes with two different groups in somewhat distant from each other areas and then bids the second group farewell, walking around the corner and then another before stopping and looking around for a good place to sit and examine her loot. And think about what she's learned. No need to pretend that she is going home anymore now that there are barely any people out in the streets.

...An opportunity to wash out the styling gel that the woman used to slick her hair back would be greatly appreciated, too. She reaches up and makes a face when her fingers touch the gooey mess that her hair has become now. Ew.

[Again, you can encounter her at any point of this. :3]

A

[dangerouslyinlove]

It's not until Kitty pokes her head out of the alleyway that anyone from the street outside notices her. And in this case, Ryoji's already a little bit on edge thanks to... whatever it is that just happened. So a small girl who looks that lost is definitely on his radar. "Hey..." he says, approaching with a reassuring smile and staying far enough away to hopefully not scare her, "Are you ok?"

[runs]

Where she's from, that kind of greeting could be as genuine as it could be someone checking out if she's easy prey - the line between looking like a lost child being an advantage because people want to help and it being a disadvantage because she looks like someone who might have some things of worth on her and no protection nearby can be thin, especially in slum areas. This place looks a bit more like the area that she herself is from, only not a slum because there are worse places, but you can never be careful enough.

"I'm fine." It's... fairly obviously a lie, judging by how her eyes flick forth and back across the fronts of the houses around them and it takes her visible effort to concentrate them on Ryoji. "My friends are here, but this place is weird."

[dangerouslyinlove]

Well, if she's got friends around that's good- but he has no real reason to think that she's with anyone. And, even if Thanatos finds it kind of annoying, he does worrying about the living as much as the dead. "The alley, you mean?" he asks, still staying a few paces away so she doesn't think he's threatening her or anything, "Yeah, I guess it would be kind of weird. Were you guys exploring or something?"

[runs]

She makes a face of disbelief at him and her tone indicates that she thinks that he's trying to make fun of her and she'll now in return indicate that he's dumb.

"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.

[dangerouslyinlove]

...Oooookay, now Ryoji's becoming concerned. "It always looks like this," he says, looking over the girl's face for any sign of... well, anything. This could just be her being kind of a brat about everything being boring (the pulling out of the smartphone could kind of indicate that), but everything else? Not so much.

"...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.

[runs]

"No."

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?

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Ok," Ryoji says, offering her a little smile. Forcing anything isn't going to help, and even Thanatos seems to feel some sympathy for the kid. (Ryoji tends to project human emotions onto his geist, whether or not that's actually what the being feels or is capable of feeling.) "I'm sure your friend will be able to help you out, but just in case..."

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.

[runs]

...Wow, guy, you're really antiquated.

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.

B

[crazycatvampire]

The door opens to an extremely tall and somewhat menacing figure, draped in a black cloak that actually manages to cover his whole body, and face hidden by a round white mask. But the figure, for all he all but oozes creepiness, holds out a candy bowl, and says, "I think I'll go with treat. Take what you like."

His voice is rough and deep, but friendly, and the tiny townhouse is decorated cheerfully, so obviously trick-or-treaters are welcome.

[runs]

The children pause for a moment while they look up, and up, and up, and one of the mothers in the background just starts to make concerned noises to the other when the littlest child has an epiphany, points a finger at the tall figure and declares: "You're the one who threw up a lot!"

Kitty has no idea what this is about and wants to reach out for the bowl, but the tiny kid grabs her hand and declares: "You can't take anything from it or it will eat you!" Kitty stares down at the kid. This is just... bizarre. What is going on.

Guess who has never dealt with smaller children than herself.

[crazycatvampire]

Corwin isn't any better, head cocking to one side in confusion. "I'm not going to eat anyone," he promises, baffled. "Or anything, for that matter." No, he got his energy elsewhere.

Then, because the children seem so certain, he asks, "Where would you even get that idea?"

[runs]

Well, Kitty thinks, the kid might have a point. This guy feels really, really ...not nice. Worse than Malicia by far, and Malicia is one of the people with the last essence left in them that she knows.

Something else and deeply unsettling, but it reminds her of that feeling.

Meanwhile, the kid exclaims: "I've seen it! You gave the people gold and then they took it and then you ate all of them! And then Chikaru made you throw up!" The child giggles. "And you threw up everything."

Two others of the younger children nod firmly, while one of the older one says in a know-it-all wisdom-of-age voice: "But that was a film. It wasn't real."

[crazycatvampire]

It's not until the older child speaks that Corwin realizes what's going on, and he huffs out a little sigh, disappointed at his choice. It had just been the most enveloping, concealing costume he'd found.... "I should have researched this more... this is just a costume, I promise. I don't have the powers of that character in the film. I couldn't eat any of you, even if I wanted to. Which I don't."

[runs]

The children consider this.

Kitty finally has enough of having to hang around this creepy guy. As much as he doesn't seem to pose a direct threat, she has a bad, bad feeling, and just steps ahead, grabs whatever candy from the box and pulls back as far as possible, until she almost bumps into one of the accompanying parents. At that point she freezes, uneasy but loathe to show that she is creeped out, and instead stands straight, affecting an almost haughty tone. She's got this. Nothing happened that would make her look like a coward, no.

"You can see that his mouth is too small. Just get the candy and let's go to the next house, or the evening will be over before we move on."

...Maybe he is possessed by some kind of toxic spirit? She can't see something, but that doesn't meant that it isn't there. It might just hide itself well.

[crazycatvampire]

Corwin considers a moment, then crouches down, on the kids' level, and sets the candy bowl down on the porch. He straightens up again and backs away. "There," he says, sounding pleased with himself for coming up with a solution. "Now I'm not giving it to you. You're just taking from a bowl on the ground, so even if I wanted to eat you, I would have no reason do. Which I don't," he repeats again.

1/2

[runs]

...As creepy as this guy is, and as much as she just wants to bail, only her pride rooting her in place, she has to admit that he is trying to do his best to not scare anyone. She's seen Simon do that with a sheltered upper class extraction target who had likely never been that close to anyone affected by goblinization before. Making yourself small, keeping a distance, verbal and physical gestures to convey that they're no threat.

Still, she stays where she is as the other children rush forward to claim their prizes and then quickly rush away again, ending up standing somewhat nearby Kitty.

The group leaves quickly after that, with a wave or two from the tiniest children.

2/2

[runs]

Kitty will return, though. Not the same night, but a little while later during the day, and just start surveilling Corwin's house. From a safe distance, but she has good eyes in her cat shape too, which she's taking for this.

Something is wrong with this guy, and considering that she has really nothing better to do, she wants to find out what it is.

B

[chalicejoker]

...that child is looking at infrastructure. Odd. Hajime's been wandering out where people are celebrating, taking photographs here and there as he tries to figure out the human oddity that is this holiday thing, and trick-or-treaters are just another curiosity. He's been telling curious parents he's with the newspaper, and they wanted a few general shots of trick-or-treaters for some feature article the next day. It's good enough to mollify them; he's an excellent liar.

But he's keeping an eye on the one kid who seems to be able to see the infrastructure. That's worrisome.

[runs]

She hangs back every once in a while, not far enough to make one of the adults that have accepted her into their group look for her worriedly, but far enough that nobody will turn towards her and talk to her, to look at the odd gears in the walls.

...Some of them look like they're just free and out in the open and - a quick glance around - if they belong to someone the person sure isn't watching her right now, at least not by what she can see. Nobody seems to be watching her. There are a couple of trick-and-treaters in all directions, but they are all preoccupied otherwise. A few adults too, and the guy from earlier today with the Big Secret - a photographer, huh? She has absolutely no interest in him knowing that her and that cat are the same, so she'll treat him like she doesn't know him. Him and the other adults seem to not be looking either, though. She isn't thinking further than that at the moment, about that there might be other guarding mechanisms less obvious to her.

She quickly leans down to pick up a pebble from the side of a building and swings around to in one smooth motion toss it between the gears. Maybe that will do something with them. ...And then a few more, if nothing happens. Just for good measure.

[chalicejoker]

Now she's messing with the infrastructure. Hajime approaches, though it's just a little quicker, a little faster, a little more where the hell did he come from than a normal human's approach might have been. He's too quiet. "You shouldn't be doing that," he says quietly, though he's just casually standing around with the camera and not actually looking directly at her.

[runs]

She recognizes the kind of approach, even though she notices it too late and jumps a bit once she does - dropping what additional pebbles might have been in her hand - and thus refrains from looking directly at him, either, instead throwing a glance at the group which she was with, that is currently walking up to the next door.

"Why?"

It's clear enough that she will heed the advice for the moment, at least until she has heard the reasoning behind it.

[chalicejoker]

"It's going to attract the wrong sorts of attention." He supposes the attention he is very casually paying now qualifies. "Dangerous attention." There's a pause. "Are you a stigmatic?"

[runs]

Under normal circumstances, she would ask more before accepting such an assessment, but considering their last encounter and what he said (and especially what he didn't say) about himself, she assumes that this has to be in some way related to it and relents fairly easily.

Whatever he's running from, she has no interest in attracting it's attention. She would rather not attract attention, period.

"A what?"

[chalicejoker]

"Someone who brushed up against something they shouldn't, can see the infrastructure. Who knows the truth of things." Hajime tilts his head to one side as he debates exactly how much he wants to let on here. "Comes with visions, a certain understanding..."