![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Priority Log - Part 1
Log 02 Priority (Part I)
The Mine Car
As characters enter the car, their phones will notify them of a new message…
> ▮▮▮▮▮▯▮▮
> ▮▮*
> OVERRIDE: TUTORIAL MODE DEACTIVATED.
> OBJECTIVE:
>
NAME: The Mine Car
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT: Gothic era
DANGER LEVEL: High
GENERAL STINKINESS: High
COMMON DENIZENS: Humans, ornithrops, bearkin
CUISINE: Peasant gruel, bird seed
There is no sender. Or objective?
But that's fine, probably! The car itself is completely functional, and features a fully developed society.
Passengers will arrive in this car and be immediately greeted by a fog that chills them to their core. The car around them is vast, and yet deathly silent. They'll find themselves starting off in a forest of petrified wood, the ground hard and unyielding underneath their feet, with flora and fauna in various stages of decay around them. While the fog around them is thick, the lights of a nearby village can still be seen from a distance, and as they travel, the dirt road will give way to cobblestone.
Eventually they'll be greeted with a signpost, welcoming them to the town of MINECRAFTIA.
While Minecraftia's denizens are harrowed and distressed, they're quick to warn the passengers traveling through of the ailment, a mysterious illness that is plaguing their town. It's been leaving even healthy youths bedridden, and while the town mayor has passionately declared that he will find a solution, it appears that there's no cure in sight.
Locations
Minecraftia is a foreboding little town, even in the daylight, with murky skies above and fog blanketing the roads. Still, the denizens persist through their daily routines, and won't stop the passengers from exploring.
Clinic: The town's only clinic with the town's only doctor. It's a small, rickety building that operates all hours of the day. Between the rapid spread of sickness and the steady depletion of supplies, it's a grim place to be nowadays. Anyone healthy who visits might be roped in to help, and those who look ill will be quarantined with an uncomfortable bedroll and thin blanket.
Cemetery: Located on the outskirts of town, the cemetery is home to dead bodies, even deader earth, and a deadpan gravekeeper. The exit door is here in a flower-covered plot, but cannot be opened.
Chicken House: A barnyard building home to the town's chickens. Lately they've been more worked up than usual, and taken to flying the coop and finding refuge by digging their claws into the scalps of bystanders. Agitating one chicken may cause a whole flock to descend on you!
The Dark Woods: The village is surrounded by what was once lush woods, but the trees now stand dark and eerie, an unusually thick fog rolling between them. While there are some of the usual, woodland creatures chirruping in the dense silence, they're hard to find. Monsters, meanwhile, are much more common.
The Mines: In the heart of the woods are entrances to the town's expansive system of mines. Stepping inside shows that the dirt and stone is laced with beautiful gems and minerals, but passengers will be shooed away by miners if they try to explore any deeper. It seems there's several dangerous mine shafts underfoot, as well as past attacks by what seems to be mole monsters.
Mayor's Mansion: The largest building in Minecraftia, situated on a hill. While Mayor Chadsef's staff welcomes guests, they will be cautioned not to explore past the lobby, which just smells a little like cleaning chemicals thanks to a diligent maid crew.
Denizens
Players may use denizens as convenient in threads, as well as these NPCs, except for the Mayor. He's a very busy man!
Madam Vermeer: The Madam is a human extremely afraid that she'll die before seeing her son marry. Which means that she is hunting the streets for eligible men and women, and whisking them in droves away into her mansion to be made over, trained in the art of serving, etc. before presenting them to her son.
Cassy Cassatt: Cassy is an ornithrop and the owner of the chicken house. She's shorthanded nowadays, but business-savvy enough to prey on considerate bystanders. She'll rope anyone she sees into helping out, whether it's collecting eggs, feeding or breeding.
Turner: Turner is a bearkin, and one of the nurses at the clinic. He's taken to drinking his weight in mead whenever he's off the clock, and it's not uncommon for his body to be seen unconscious on the road. He'll try to flee or swat blindly if anyone tries to help him, but he really does need help getting home.
Chadsef: The mayor of Minecraftia, who is notably wealthier than the rest of the citizens. He's young and inexperienced, but carries a Birds of Economics degree, and is determined to bring jobs to the town. He'll just need to make sure people are alive to do them first!
Other
The longer that passengers remain in the car, the more they'll learn, and soon they'll realize the following:
- They are not immune to the illness. They can't determine what it is that triggers it. At first it's a sense of fatigue, then hunger and irritability. Then, the numbness will begin, starting in their extremities and spreading up their limbs, until that numbness turns into pain. Eventually that pain will lead to madness, a state of delirium where they begin to behave erratically, endangering themselves and those around them.
- There is something in the woods. Though the passengers saw nothing when they arrived in the woods, at night they can hear growling. Venturing outside will reveal grotesque creatures emerging from the fog, rampaging into the town and tearing flesh and stone with their massive claws. These creatures appear rabid, familiar but warped, and they swarm the town with no regard for their own safety or benefit. Examples: (1) (2) (3) (4)
- Corpses are disappearing. Despite deaths, the cemetery isn't seeing any more business. Rumour has it that a certain wealthy denizen has been paying to have the corpses taken away. But to where, and why, remains unknown…
Numbers
Numbers! Everyone starts with one that glows on their bodies — as a fun thread mechanic, we suggest they're somewhere visible, but it's up to you!
Because while this is not IC knowledge yet, numbers are determined by how troubled your character is. This may be based on their past actions and crimes, but also alienating habits, regrets, personality flaws, trauma, etc — a higher number does not necessarily mean they're a bad person, but it may signify a difficult time in their life, or substantial personal issues.
As passengers enter this car, they'll notice that their numbers may begin to change in response to certain actions and decisions. The general rule is that numbers change as characters work through their issues. If they make a decision that serves to better themselves, their number will decrease. But if they make a decision that is ill-intentioned, their number will increase. Players can change their number as they see fit going forward.
OOC Notes
Exploration: Players may submit on-going threads here to get a short mod tag with further discoveries in any given location. Characters can potentially earn items or clues as to the car's objective this way. Please limit your explorations to one per player; we will let you all know if we have the capacity to do more!
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
locomo e2 traincationFAQ & Game Info / Calendar / Taken
Applications / Reserves / Hiatus & Drops
FULL NAVIGATION
no subject
[ Is he meant to be keeping eye contact? It definitely isn’t bringing him any sense of peace to be stared at so intensely. Most of Jack’s trouble is definitely the alcohol, but it can’t be helping that the entire process is only serving to heighten his target’s nerves and feed back into the loop. ]
[ But eventually, something gives. The anxiety breaks even and then finally begins to ebb. Skimmed off the top before chipping into the stress—the panic, the fear, the guilt, the shame, the impending sense of doom, the whole wretched cocktail this place has served to pour down his throat. It digs well beyond this current affliction; even muscles pulled taut for perhaps years straight begin to slacken and leave him swaying where he sits, propped against Jack’s palm and slumped on an elbow against the table. ]
Okay, [ The word slips out on the faintest breath of a laugh before he can collect himself enough to balk. Pull himself back down to earth enough to concentrate, and Jack won’t quite strike a wall in his endeavors so much as he’ll hit a speed bump steep enough to wrack the suspension. It’s coupled with a hand thrown up to swat Jack’s arm aside to break the connection. ] All right, man, that’s enough—
[ But these sudden jitters are a drop lost in the sea of serenity he’s found himself plunged into. Frankly it’s… it’s an uncomfortably hollow feeling. Like his entire body isn’t quite sure how to hold itself structurally without a solid scaffold of tension, and now all it has left to work with is this gelatinous tranquility that it almost never encounters in any real quantity. But also, he’s not entirely certain how much he can come to care right now. It’s fine. Is it fine? ]
[ It’s fine enough for now to slouch back against the far wall, put some distance between the two of them, and scoff another laugh of sorts. ]
Be honest, was that magic or d’you just hit me with horse tranquilizer?
[ Even his voice sounds smoother, less grating, almost completely devoid of its usual accent. Calm, civil, pleasant... How unnerving. ]
no subject
He listens when it's enough and breaks contact. Jack is tactile though, so he can't help but swipe his thumb under Vidal's lower lip and across his chin with a very pleased and gentle smile. ]
That's it, sweetheart. You did good.
[ As slimy and sexual as he is, he doesn't mean to come across that way even if it sounds like it. He knows sometimes people have a hard time letting those emotions go and he could sense that struggle. His eyes dim to their typical off white color and he breaks all contact. ]
It's a gift, Viddy. All of my kind have it unless they have a defect. It's one of the only things the humans felt like we could keep as far as our abilities go.
So, I cherish it.
[ And use it for good when he has the chance to which might be a desperate reason WHY he always wants to. It somehow makes him feel better about all the wrong things he's done in his life. ]
no subject
[ Immediately sniped with the ghost of a smile dropped as his head jerks away from the superfluous little touches, but there's no crease of a scowl in his expression. Exasperated, maybe. Tired, definitely. But the calm still lingers. He does face himself forward again though, elbows propped up on the table, right back to being closed off. Like clockwork, no matter how relaxed he might be. ]
[ Eventually the frown reasserts itself too, but it isn't what usually passes for annoyed this time. ]
What exactly are you, anyway?
[ It's a question he's very used to asking, and with a lot more tact, but frankly Jack isn't worth the effort of beating around the bush. He is, regrettably, worth the curiosity though. Had been, regrettably, since they’d first run into each other. There’s a lot going on here and it's throwing off his mental species flowchart. ]
[ As for being allowed to keep anything, that sounds like an entirely different can of worms. One step at a time. ]
no subject
I could be the beeeeest thing that happened to you in bed if you would allow it.
[ CEASE. ]
But I’m sure that’s not what you meant by your tactless question.
[ OH.. how very curt. ]
People seem to understand better when I say I am a monster, but specifically a dragon, so let’s start with that.
no subject
You couldn't. [ Without missing a beat. He'll even throw in another scoff of a laugh for good measure. ]
[ And it wasn't, good catch, Jack, very astute. Vidal's eyebrows hop up the moment he starts laying it out for him though, and he twists enough in his seat to give the self-proclaimed monster some impressively clinical elevator eyes. They land and settle up at the top of Jack's head for a second before he clicks his tongue. ]
Dragon. Y'know, the ears were throwing me off. [ Disarmingly fluffy. He tips his head to the side as if trying to catch them from a different angle before sitting up a little straighter. ] Is it just in the blood or are you a shapeshifter of some sort? Werething? Probably not a curse—that's more of a family bloodline-random deal—you don't got enough tails to be typhon and honestly you're touchy-feely enough to be sarkan, but that’s just splittin’ hairs at this point.
[ He's taken Monster 101. And Monster 201. You can skip ahead a few chapters... And is this instigated contact? Him reaching out to flick Jack lightly in the chest like he's flicking a bug off his shirt? Are they finally speaking the same language? ]
So what about it, big guy, those horns for decoration or do you got Godzilla on standby in there?
[ No. If the guy wants to talk to him like a piece of ass, Vidal can talk to him like a science project. ]
no subject
Jack isn't completely irritated yet, but the attention and flick on his chest is enough to at least wipe any lingering smirk off of his face, thin eyebrows lifting. ]
I shift, but only into that alternate form.. which I don't have access to right now. This..
[ He gestures to the collar around his neck. It's a little more than just a collar around an animal— it goes in his skin and the tech itself is very thin nd almost.. fused to him at this point. ]
..communicates to something they've put inside of us that represses our true potential.
[ This might be the most serious that Vidal has ever seen him as he talks about this. ]
no subject
[ What's more immediately satisfying is the fact that that incorrigible smirk has finally faded. Had he touched a nerve? Oh it’s time to get out the forceps and tease this under the microscope… At the explanation, though, Vidal regards the thin collar, apparently less of a choker necklace and/or some life choice to wear fetish gear in public than he’d assumed. ]
Like a chip or something?
[ Chipped like a dog at the pound? His eyes narrow a bit, but his brow furrows with more concern than suspicion. He’s played a part in his fair share of proverbial wing-clipping, but it was never anything that felt quite as intentionally permanent as this. Just a momentary stunning for safe handling or transport. Chemical buffers, electrical signals, lead-lined material, there’s a temporary solution for everything. ]
[ Repressing true potential is the antithesis of his entire career. ]
Why the fuck— [ Muttered under his breath before he catches himself. ] —Why, no, that… that checks out for humans, yeah, I’m not gonna touch the politics.
[ There’s a reason people with extraordinary powers tend to keep it to themselves. There’s a reason his work is covert. But where he’s from, those people are few and far between, nothing like an entire species(?) that couldn’t hide even if it wanted or deserved to. ]
I mean I assume it’s not something you can just rip out.
[ Consider his shop talk for the sake of causing revulsion momentarily disarmed. ]
no subject
But that was years ago. It doesn’t matter to the government, though, no matter how clean your crime record is.
He reaches and takes one of Vidal’s hands, hoping the other man will allow it. It’s more of a Jack is wanting comfort now and not the fact he’s trying to flirt with Vidal. Surprisingly. He cups his other hand over Vidal’s and his expression is rather soft— nothing like Vidal has seen before. ]
Oh, Vidal. You wouldn’t understand.
[ Vidal. Not Viddy or some other pet name. ]
We are required by law before a certain age before our powers come in. Some as young as five years old. Yes, it can be removed.. the technology on the outside and the inside, but it isn’t easy.
And they know. At least, they know when you’re back in my world. I’m sure I wouldn’t get noticed here, but I haven’t tried.
[ Mostly, he’s not sure where his chip is and is lacking the tools. He’s not the best surgeon either. He breaks all contact and takes a glance out the window. ]
My world is in shambles cause we have been at war for years.. which is why I don’t mind being here. I can run and hide. I can taste a little more freedom.
[ a little bit of backstory activated! Nice work, Viddy. ]
no subject
[ This right here is one of many reasons why the agency doesn't particularly answer to the government on anything. You point out one new little marvel and they swoop in to regulate it, like gun-jumping vultures picking the bones clean of something that hasn't even stopped breathing yet. That's clearly an entirely different situation, of course, but hey, deeply systemic racism and arbitrary government restriction of bodily autonomy? haHaHAHA he's from modern america dude he understands a little bit. ]
You'll never know until you try, I guess. But it was a nightmare and a half trying to find anything to take stitches out, I don't even want to think about putting them in.
[ Not to mention all the other shit that comes along with surgery, even back-alley-improv. Anyway, Jack ought to be grateful that gestures of pity are a hell of a lot easier than words, even if it does involve contact, because he can have that hand for the duration of his little sob story. The moment it's freed though, it'll be tucked away for safe keeping, arms folded. ]
Well I'm glad you can enjoy your little vacation for the rest of us, but I'm gonna be honest with you, I am not drunk enough for this.
[ He doesn't do drunk therapy to begin with and this is an unfair advantage you've brought, Jack. ]
no subject
Mm. Yeah. Neeeeever know 'till you try.
[ Finally a hand lifts in dismissal. ]
You seemed curious, so I thought I'd explain so maybe you understand why I have a Godzilla in there and your interested little mind won't be able to witness it. It's fine. We've lived like this for decades now and I'm just accepting it at this rate.
[ That's why his faction split. One reason. He got scared. He couldn't handle seeing his people die at the hands of his leadership. There's too much regret. That's why he's learning to just deal with it instead of continuing to act in the revolution. ]
I'm not asking for someone to whine to about all of this if you're thinking that, but I explained it even if it's difficult for me to.