modmachine: (Default)
Hᴇx - ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴅ ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ ([personal profile] modmachine) wrote in [community profile] 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.]
chalicejoker: (Contemplative)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-05 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
"Hex Digest. It's a weekly publication." The sort of freebie they put out at the grocery store checkout, that sort of thing. Not an impressive publication, but it paid the bills.
crazycatvampire: (gray)

[personal profile] crazycatvampire 2016-11-07 10:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. He knows that publication, in fact, and also knows it is not actually about cats. His shoulders droop a little. "That, yes, okay. I must have missed your article, or maybe it's not out yet."
chalicejoker: (Skeptical)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-09 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't think it's out yet," Hajime says almost absently. "Something about a delay at the printers'."
crazycatvampire: (Default)

[personal profile] crazycatvampire 2016-11-14 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh. All right." It's sad, but at least maybe he has something to look forward to. "I'm Corwin," he adds, since they do seem to be having a conversation, and surely people ought to know each other's names if they're having a conversation. Besides, this photographer person hasn't even looked at him funny yet, so maybe he won't be as bothered as some other people.
chalicejoker: (Normal Expression)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-16 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm Hajime." He's not experienced enough with the intricacies of human communication to realize just how awkward this conversation actually is. This is fine, just fine, they're both two normal humans, even if something is striking him as strange about Corwin. He just hasn't figured out what yet.
crazycatvampire: (calm)

[personal profile] crazycatvampire 2016-11-16 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
It's rather astounding that he's not getting funny looks yet, honestly, and Corwin is going to go with it while he can. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He goes next for the staple question: "Have you lived in Hex very long?"
chalicejoker: (Standard Expression)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-17 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
Hajime nods. "Long enough. And you?" There, he is having a decent human conversation, this is working, right?
crazycatvampire: (curious)

[personal profile] crazycatvampire 2016-11-17 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, not really very long, at all. Only a couple months, long enough to find a house to rent and a job, but I'm still really new," Corwin admits, shaking his head. "Do you like it here? If you've been here long enough?"
chalicejoker: (Huh)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-19 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
"I like it as well as I've liked anywhere else." Not that he's been anywhere else. "And yourself?"
crazycatvampire: (grin)

[personal profile] crazycatvampire 2016-11-21 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's fascinating," Corwin says with a kind of innocent earnestness. "So many people, all doing different things. I'm not very good with people, but I'm trying to get better, and this seems like a good place to learn. Don't you think?"
chalicejoker: (Contemplative)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-22 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
"I think it's an excellent place to learn." They're on the same page more than either of them realizes. Hajime hasn't even picked up on how strange the question is.
crazycatvampire: (teeth)

[personal profile] crazycatvampire 2016-11-22 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Corwin answers that with a smile, feeling like someone might actually understand, for once. Too bad his teeth are all uneven and maybe a little more pointed than they should be, so it doesn't give quite as friendly an impression as he'd like. "Have you met very many interesting people to learn from, if you've been here for a while now?"
chalicejoker: (Default)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-23 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Here and there." Hajime shrugs. "I run into a lot of people in my line of work." Because it's not like he's going to talk about the family he adopted, even if something about that occasionally nags at him, makes him feel like he's forgotten something, which should be impossible...
crazycatvampire: (thinking)

[personal profile] crazycatvampire 2016-11-23 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"Taking pictures?" Corwin recalls, eager to show he'd been paying attention to the conversation. "Do you take pictures of people, then, too? What all do you take pictures of?"
chalicejoker: (Just brooding)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2016-11-24 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
Hajime shrugs. "Just about anything people will pay me to take pictures of."

He still doesn't realize how that sounds.