Priority Log - Part 1

[locomodo]

Log 05 Priority (Part I)
Have you all been enjoying your weeks at the spa and/or getting chased by dinosaurs? Well, it's time to get a move on! The next car awaits: it's time for a new priority car. Like last time, passengers will not be able to leave this car for two logs, so buckle in!

The Big Screen Car

As characters enter the car, their phones will send them a new notification...

> OBJECTIVE:

>
>

NAME: The Big Screen Car
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT: Earth-ish, 2021
DANGER LEVEL: [ERROR]
AVERAGE CRITIC REVIEW: 5/5 Stars
COMMON DENIZENS: Varied
CUISINE: Overpriced gluten-sensitive sandwiches, overpriced coffee

...What a weird spam text? There's a lot of those going around lately.

Well, time to get to work!

Passengers will arrive in this car believing that they've lived in this car their entire lives. Effectively a modern AU version of themselves, they will have no knowledge of their powers, their past, or any details about their original worlds. Instead, they will believe they grew up in the modern day, that this is a place called DANACA, and that they work with an entertainment management company, FONY, in some capacity.




Maybe that makes you a director, producer, agent, model, singer, actor, idol, musician, sound guy, make-up artist, e-sports hotshot, lighting tech, beleaguered script writer, overworked intern, some dude who delivers sandwiches and ends up as an extra all the time... As a media giant, FONY has it all! And you're expected to work together on a litany of up and coming projects: the FAMA Awards Show, which will preview several hotly anticipated albums, shows, events, and movies! And that means all hands on deck. Characters will have very little problem with their AU skills, even if they never had any relevant experience in canon.

LOCATIONS

When characters get a breather, the car around them is a busy metropolis city with warm, dry weather that welcomes several beaches and pools. (It's literally LA, but with public transpo.) Enjoy all the modern amenities, like you've never lived without them! Passengers can visit any location that makes sense for a modern city, but here are some hotspots:

Club L'Euntaerio: The hottest club in Danaca! They keep the temperature uncomfortably low as they play only Danacan artists, like The Tragically Lame, or Dreka. Regardless, the night life here is vibrant, so it's a great place to let loose a little.

CN Corner: Not a destination so much as the corner beside Club L'Euntaerio, unofficially known to be the place to make illicit connections. Shady dealings happen here all the time, so it's a great place for designer drugs, information on your enemies, and alley-way shankings.

One drug in particular is on the rise. Sand, which provides Denizens with a mild high, will cause passengers to see people as other other characters from their canon. Even if you're not a fan of drugs, it's called Sand for a reason: it gets in everything (e.g. drinks, gummies, cigarettes, etc).

The New Danaca Mall: A newly renovated mall with three floors of your favorite retail outlets like Danaca Moose and Aboots! The employees are all fed up though, and you may end up hired on the spot for a part-time gig, or to hand out samples and promo materials because you're famous. If you manage to avoid retail hell, maybe you can just grab some boba and a pretzel and chill out with your friends.

Zoo: A zoo and garden with all kinds of strange, interesting creatures! You have your stock tigers, lizards, etc... as well as the odd addition from your home worlds. Trying to remember where you recognize these creatures will give you a headache though, so relax and enjoy your time here!

There is also a particularly troublesome goat here that will try to eat your things, or follow you home.

NOTABLE DENIZENS

Denizens vary from your stock humans to aliens and sentient animals. No one really seems to bat an eye at this — it's simply life in Danaca, where people from all walks of life have ended up. Here are some notable denizens that players are welcome to use at their convenience:

Mister Beaton: Beaton is one of FONY's attorneys, and one slip-up away from being arrested for embezzlement. He only works on full moons, but when he does, he often plants suspicious wads of cash on people, leaving them to be chased by FONY's security dogs in his stead.

Eliza Faulkner: The daughter of the CFO's newest wife, who hates everything and thinks the media is overrated. She dresses in sustainably sourced, hand stitched Amish clothing, and often threatens employees into getting her food or other items by using her step-father's position at the company. She will also spread malicious rumours to cause problems, such as claiming that someone had an affair and is now pregnant. :)

Nettle Tale: A power-mom animal consultant at FONY, who sometimes will dump her charges on unsuspecting bystanders whenever parenthood calls. Her usual pets are an extremely amorous anaconda, and a miniature pony that will cry unless held like a baby, but she's known for leaving all kinds of creatures in unprepared hands!

Chad Chadsef: No matter how famous or successful you might be, the head of FONY entertainment, CEO Chad Chadsef, is a very busy person! In fact, you can't ever seem to get an appointment or spot them, no matter how you may try.

OTHER

It's like you've been here forever, but... sometimes, you wonder if that's really the case. Maybe it's a slip-up at work where you forget your lines, or a sense of ill-placed deja vu, or a reflection in the mirror that doesn't match what it should. Characters may experience glimpses of their real lives, but they will be joined by an unsettled agitation and chill. The longer they dwell on it, the colder and more disorienting it gets, until they finally pass out with a fever.

Opt-out: For a few, this 'new' life doesn't seem to take root. Players that would rather opt-out of playing an AU will have their characters wake up in bed, still surrounded by their AU life. However, they won't recognize any of it. Whether it's a call from your mom, a job as a singer you've never had, or the very world around you, you'll realize that it's all a fabrication of the car.

These characters will feel a slight chill all the time, despite the weather. The more attention they draw to themselves, and the more they try to enlighten others of the car mechanics, the colder it gets, as though the chill is physically gripping down on them. NPCs will start to stare blankly at them, and a sense of dread will settle in their stomachs. It may be wiser to try and play along until you know what's going on.




OOC Notes

• AU Plotting: Players are encouraged to AU their CR! Everyone can already know each other, whether in passing or more, so feel free to user our plotting post to collaborate on AU details. Consider also filling out your FONY employee profile in the comments for other players to reference!
  
  
• Powers: Characters may keep their powers or not, player's choice. Keep in mind that they will not cognitively be aware of their abilities, and may not know how to use or control them. Think of a "Spider-man discovering his powers for the first time" scenario.
  
  
• Transformations: The Halloween curses will no longer be effect this log. Non-human characters can opt to transform into humans, but it isn't required.
  
  
• Backstories: For ease of AU purposes, players can make up whatever countries they like, etc. Characters do not need to be from Danaca originally, but everyone should live a reasonable commute from work.
  
  
• Items: Characters' inventories will be in a trunk at the foot of their bed, though they may not remember what they are. All characters are allowed one free item from home.

Go wild with it, but feel free to reach out with any questions on Discord!

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l'euntaerio

[unrepentant]

[They'd run into each other this morning, or more accurately: Anakin had found him. Having been one of his clients before he'd gotten a pretty good read of the man's schedule and habits. Like missing breakfast. How anyone could start the day without a full stomach is beyond him- but given the way the twins are as soon as the sun's up... maybe it's genetic. He brings the most exciting boring bagel he can (stone-ground 14grain with flax seed) (why would you even??) and light cream cheese- and Obi trades him one of those criminally over-priced hipster coffees from a spot near his place.

It's this part that's different.

Anakin can't remember the last time he's been out; definitely before the twins were born. And it's entirely owed to the man at his side.

They make quite the contrast, but they're an unselfconscious familiarity between them. Obi-Wan stands just outside of the main doors, under the overhand, and Anakin is around the corner with his back pressed up against the wall- taking a long drink from a water bottle. The bass vibrates the air around them, Anakin almost thinks he can see the little molecules, buzzing around. Warm from dancing, his head tilts back against the stone and it tilts his smile up towards the sky.]

I can't believe you're having more. Who are you and what've you done with Obi-Wan Boring Bagel?

[onlyhope]

[ The taste and smell of Sand spreads across his tongue and fills his sinuses. Obi-Wan inhales deep and exhales through his nose like a dragon, the smoke coiling around his head and drifting off into the night. This is a semiregular haunt for him, but he can count on one hand the number of times Anakin has come out. Having twins that are toddlers eats up a lot of time, especially when one is a single father. Obi-Wan had raised his own boy through his turbulent years, but he had a partner when he was wee, so he can sympathize with how difficult it is for his friend. ]

There is nothing boring about my bagels, you simply have a stomach made of iron.

[ He returns, lofty but playful, as though he too hadn't subsisted by scraping the bottom of the barrel himself in the past. Rolling his weight, he presses his shoulder against the cool brick of the building, and it puts them at a right angle to each other. Anakin is a long, lean splash of black under the lights of the front door, a contrast to Oi-Wan's pale fabric cast dark by shadow. He isn't looking at Obi-Wan, but instead up at the hazy stars blotted out by light pollution. Obi-Wan admires his profile, the way sweat has made his hair curl under his ears. He takes another drag and let's the Sand spread through his lungs and soften his muscles around the edges, nudging residual stress aside, without taking his eyes off the younger man. ]

The offer stands if you change your mind.

[ He reminds, but blows the smoke away from Anakin so it won't float into his face. ]

[unrepentant]

I didn't know you could be a bad influence.

[It could sound like an accusation, but the shape of the syllables is more conversational than anything else. They've been broaching this new territory for awhile now- the professional slowly giving way to familiarity, to intimacy, to friendship. They're many years away from the young father ugly crying in a FONY elevator, and the company lawyer hunched over his dinner table at two in the morning. Obi-Wan turns, something Anakin's aware of in his periphery only because he's having a hard time looking away from the stars. With the earthy, warm smell in the air and Obi-Wan's smoke curling up from him like a great dragon- Anakin has a the strangest feeling he's forgetting something. Something really... important. But it can't be that important, or he wouldn't have forgotten. Right?

...Was it something about the twins?
The babysitter?

The easy reminder is lobbed back at him and Anakin huffs a laugh. His hands tuck into the pockets of his jacket and he turns, mirrors the man's position against the wall.] But I guess it's better than drinking the stuff. [Which he has, Sand had dusted the rim of his glass long before they came out for some fresh air- a break from the throng of bodies.] I swear its all over my teeth.

[onlyhope]

[ There's a long pause between Anakin's first conversational comment and the moment he turns his shoulder to the wall to mirror Obi-Wan's position, and in it Obi-Wan feels a sense of rising trepidation. Like something is about to happen, and he feels everything in him start to tighten to defend against it. But then Anakin is looking at him, his blue eyes crinkled and a stray curl falling into his face and the feeling is gone. Obi-Wan lifts his cigarette to his mouth, smiling around it as he inhales deep. ]

That is exactly-

[ He speaks on the exhale, a cloud of smoke coiling around his head and drifting off. ]

-what you said last time I was a bad influence.

[ He ashes the end, the spicy-sweet scent of spice coiling into the warm air between them. Obi-Wan holds his hand out to the side, so it won't smoulder at Anakin. A beat follows and he says, quieter, almost conspiratorial: ]

Cannot deny it's effectiveness, however.

[unrepentant]

[The cigarette is extended between them, like a tiny campfire the long thread of smoke drifts up over their heads, curling into the night. Anakin takes the offering with two fingers of his own, bringing the filter to his mouth to take a long drag. The flavor of it doesn't just hit the back of his tongue, he's sure he can taste it all the way down in his lungs.

The breath is still held deep in his chest when he passes the cigarette back, nodding his thanks despite the way Anakin immediately resumes his teasing.] Yeah, and I'm gonna remind you of that- [Cannot deny its effectiveness, he almost snorts. Which would've been a mess if only for the coughing fit that threatens to follow.] -When we're trying to sneak back in without waking up Cal, and the twins.

[onlyhope]

[ It wasn't exactly an offer, more like... making it readily available. Anakin said no before, and Obi-Wan is not the sort to press the issue, not with something so inconsequential anyway. What he does do is watch Anakin as he takes the cigarette, as he puts it between his lips and inhales. It smolders at the tip, lights up his face: the scar bisecting his brow, the shocking blue of his eyes. Obi-Wan feels the familiar squeeze in his heart, the kind that tightens his lungs and makes his body tingle. He thinks my God, I love this man, and wonders if enough Sand and alcohol would finally make him brave enough to admit it to his face.

It just never seems like the right time.

Anakin offers the smoke back and his words tingle something in the base of his spine. The thought they would have to sneak around, parents fumbling through a courtship ritual. Suggestion where Anakin has made none, desire that he has tried to smother to the best of his ability out of respect.

What he does is raise both eyebrows, ashing without glancing at where it falls. Sand settles in his blood, blunting the sharpest edges of his awareness, making his smile loose. ]

We have had many more successes than failures in that regard.

If you're so worried you can always come back to mine.

[ The words out before he can think better of the phrasing, tumbling off the direction of his thoughts, but too late to take back. ]

[unrepentant]

[Most of Anakin's life is tangled up in FONY. It's where he works, where he had the accident, where he met everyone he'd call a friend. There have been whole weeks where he's never left the lot when he's been put on a project and whole days he's spent side by side with the same one or two people, hunkered down and focused. So it isn't spending time with Obi-Wan that's different, it's spending time outside of a club instead of a soundstage. It's the Sand that's softening Anakin's shoulder and Obi-Wan's expression, and it's the strange knowledge that he doesn't have to rush anywhere.

It's his weekend. The kids are looked after.
-Has it really been so long that he's just... forgotten how to do this?

The embarrassment he feels is tempered by the knowledge that he'd had kids when he was still mostly a kid himself; if going out was supposed to as familiar as riding a bike then Anakin can be comforted by knowing that he missed the lesson in the first place. Besides, it's hard not to picture Obi as a stick in the mud even before he was a lawyer. Not that they don't have fun! But it's nice to know that his companion isn't going to be any better at kegstands than he is.] I dunno...

[It sounds like he's hedging, but they both know he's not. Anakin grins, crouching down to snag the water bottle he'd left on the cement between his feet with a lazy, unhurried swoop.] Are you gonna take me out for breakfast in the morning? Because I've looked in your pantry and it's 80% protein bars.

[onlyhope]

[ It shouldn't mean anything really. They have been living in one another's pockets for some time now, and Anakin has been to his place at least half as much as Obi-Wan goes to his. Far easier, really, to go to the babies than it is to cart them everywhere else. This isn't even the first time they would be on their own without the children.

Still.

His eyes follow Anakin as he bends, the curve of his long spine, the pull of fabric over his shoulders before he stands back up. Obi-Wan is, truthfully, one of the last people one would expect here. He over works, he barely stocks the pantry because Cal spends a lot of time out and about and he simply forgets to do anything but drink caffeine. Sand has been part of his life for a long time, but when he starts to remember who introduced him to the spice his mind shies violently from the moment. All he remembers is the color red. Are you going to take me out for breakfast? ]

I will do you better and take you to that brunch place you like so much.

[ The cigarette back between his lips, face turned slightly away but eyes still on Anakin's face. The cheerfulness taking on a measure of gravity. Just enough to make his conviction apparent, and that despite the banter he isn't joking around. ]

I'll let Cal know not to expect us. Let me take care of it.

[ The word it masquerading as what he actually wants to say and doesn't: you. ]

[unrepentant]

[He relaxes differently around Obi-Wan, but then, he figures it's probably harder not to, given just how long they've known each other. When the accident had first happened it's not like Obi was mean or anything, but Anakin can look back now and see his own suspicion. His own wariness, and the reluctance to accept an offer of help when his entire world felt as if it'd become nothing but pain. If it hadn't been for the twins... maybe he wouldn't have said yes at all. Maybe his worries for the future, the self-loathing and the anger would have pushed him out of the company, the town, the country.

Obi-Wan had been unexpectedly patient in weathering the storm, navigating his charge through the tumult of change- helping with bottle time, with groceries, with all the minutia of daily life when he hadn't yet been fitted for a prosthetic. Anakin isn't ashamed of himself, but he isn't self-absorbed enough to miss how much has been sacrificed on his behalf. Obi-Wan would never say it, but he'd kept Anakin on his feet when he barely knew up from down.

When he looks up through his lashes and the messy tumble of his hair, its to see Obi-Wan looking back at him. Smoke curls away from his fingers and drifts off into the night. The sight softens something in Anakin's expression, not for the kind offer, but maybe just for the familiarity. In what universe would their two worlds ever collide? And here they are.

Hands empty and by default, restless, Anakin toys with the cap on his bottle- not quite opening and then not quite closing, a steady rhythm that the uninitiated might assume was nervousness. He isn't. He hasn't felt nervous around Obi-Wan in a long time.] Does that mean you're staying with us the rest of the week?

[Far be it from Anakin to accept an offer without making Obi-Wan suffer in the process.] Because you haven't mentioned groceries and again- 80% protein bars.

[onlyhope]

[ He isn't nervous. Obi-Wan can see the softness of his expression, the easy slope in his shoulders. An unwinding of tension that follows him around when normally his whole attention flung outward, passionately in the moment. He isn't a loud man, but something in him shines like a sun, drawing the eye. Back when they first met he might have thought the twisting of the cap were a nervous habit, but he knows now that Anakin is simply always on the move in one way or another.

Obi-Wan cants his head, one eyebrow lifting archly. His posture changes to face Anakin more squarely as he recognizes the arena they're stepping in to. ]

Is that the deal?

[ Because they have had to strike many, negotiations brokered over what Anakin would allow, Obi-Wan learning to navigate how to discern what Anakin might need when he doesn't have the words to ask. Something that started as a foundation of trust, but can, and has, become something of a game. ]

Mine tonight, with breakfast and no young ones, and yours the rest of the week?

[ Mischief makes Obi-Wan's expression narrowed, but mostly because he believes he's getting the better part of this exchange. He holds out his hand for Anakin to shake on it. ]

[unrepentant]

[Mine tonight his brain shouts on loop. With breakfast and no young ones Like watching the light turn yellow and flooring the gas.

It shouldn't kick his stomach the way it does. Between the separation and the accident and the custody they've been living in each other's pockets for months. Obi and Cal have tooth brushes at his place. That means something right? Anakin's personal relationships might be messy at best, but he's pretty sure that the whole overlap-of-personal-belongings is a thing. And it's not even a new thing! It's an old thing!

But Obi-Wan arches a brow and swings all of his attention in Anakin's direction- and instead of feeling like one of a thousand times that they've bantered over bottle time or morning bagels, Anakin feels like he's just leapt off the side of a building and is waiting his stunt harness to catch him. He steps easily into the space between them, adrenaline fizzing in his brain, smiling with a slash of teeth.] Are we doing this every week now? [His flesh hand extends, shaking on it despite the way his mouth starts running.] Pretending we don't have shared custody of my place?

[onlyhope]

[ He comes close, even though his words dictate something else, and this is something he understands now. Sometimes Anakin says something but does not do it himself. Not because he does not want to, not because he does not try, but simply because that is the way it is. One cannot fit a round peg into a square hole. In order for it to work, the edges need to be sanded down, or they need to find another route. Compromise. Attentiveness. Determination.

Anakin's hands are work worn, the same but different from Obi-Wan's own. They have matching callouses on their thumbs and forefingers, and Obi-Wan squeezes his hand firmly. It's no different from every other agreement they have made, and yet.

In the sultry light of the street Anakin's eyes shine with anticipation. Obi-Wan feels himself respond in kind, like some sort of tether ties them together, and it tugs his heart into kicking against his ribcage. He puts words to the thing and Obi-Wan doesn't know if Anakin wholly understands the implication. Technically, they have known one another long enough. Technically, they have shared his living space long enough. Obi-Wan has mail sent to Anakin's address because he is more reliably there than he is at his own apartment. If he can't get a hold of Cal, he knows he will find him on the couch with the twins if he isn't working or with his friends. Obi-Wan has no groceries in his own apartment because they stock Anakin's cupboards. ]

My name is not on the lease.

[ Obi-Wan twinkles at him, evading the question with semantics, letting his hand go after a beat too long and sucking the Sand down to it's ashes. But it's there, now, tapping knowingly in his throat. ]

[unrepentant]

It could be.

[It should sound like a challenge. There's enough of a setup between them and more than enough history for this to be one of their volleys. But Anakin tips his hand in his earnestness. He sounds his age, and maybe in the moment, outside of a noisy lounge and smoking Sand- his hands stuffed his his pockets and his hat pulled over his ears- maybe he even looks it.

It should sound like a challenge. It should sound like a punchline.
And Anakin realizes it the moment the words have left his mouth- the moment he finds himself stranded in the space between them watching Obi-Wan's face thinking about extortionately priced coffee beans stored beside packages of formula. About the extra counter space in the bathroom that he was never going to use anyway that's dotted with aftershave and cologne and fancy hair product. His eyes widen.

That's the thing about fear, it's never as far away as it seems.] I mean-

[onlyhope]

[ His heart stops.

It should be a challenge. If not a challenge, then maybe a threat. The joke is meant to run through all of his words and back again, an endless practiced volley. But Anakin opens his mouth and what comes out isn't any of those things.

It's honesty. Plainness laid between them without any of the embellishment. And it's done in a way that only Anakin could do. Obi-Wan's mind traps him, locks his words up when he should let them loose. He would never call himself hesitant, but he is always thinking about the consequences of his consequences. Standing in the moment with the will to jump is difficult. Not like Anakin, who is always here and now, who would leap from buildings and motorcycles fearlessly. Who faced down the judicial system when he was barely an adult and had children to take care of. Who leaves his coffee cups all over the house, and helps Cal with his homework. Who will remind him to get off of his computer because he's eaten nothing but a bagel, the one Anakin brought him the same morning.

Everything, all at once, snaps into perfect focus. His pulse starts up again, double-time.

Seconds have ticked by with only Obi-Wan's shocked silence between them, so it sounds loud to him when he blurts out ineloquently: ]

I would.

[ His heart hammers against in his ears. He sucks in a tight breath. He watches Anakin with the same hopeful trepidation reflected back at him. ]

If you are asking. I would.

[unrepentant]

[He starts trying to fix it before he's come up with anything else; a small manifestation of the way Anakin has always interacted with the world. His hands get ahead of his mouth, his feet get ahead of his thoughts. Stillness is an idea, something for other people the same way that private islands are meant for the ultra rich. All he knows is the speed of light, of sound- an individual big bang that's spreading out in all directions all the time.

I mean gets out of his throat and Anakin swims in silence, terrified by how wide Obi-Wan's eyes are, by how intertwined their lives have become, by how easily that could all be obliterated right now.

He sucks in a breath and the rushing in his ears makes him so sure he's just misheard. Anakin visibly staggers, on uncertain footing not because he can't do this- but because any moment now the ground beneath him might disappear.] You would [Do those words mean what he thinks they mean?] You would?

[onlyhope]

[ Is it irony, or serendipity? That this had been the exact thing on his mind, an unattainable bauble, and Anakin has somehow plucked it right out of his brain? Or is it neither of those things, because this has happened before. Anakin, dropping into his life all but on accident and slotting in perfectly. Knowing him, somehow, better than anyone had. Obi-Wan has had a lifetime of want, things he had carefully set aside for the good of everyone else around him. And here is his young friend, hunched with hat low around his ears, wide-eyed and offering him one of those very things back.

There is no other choice. Or rather, this has always been the choice.

Obi-Wan reaches for him with his whole body. A single step forward, his unoccupied hand clasping Anakin's forearm because his fists are still hidden in his pockets. When they are close like this, Obi-Wan needs to tilt his head up to look him in the eye. It feels infinitely important, somehow, that Anakin understand how sincere he is in this choice. That all he had to do was ask, and Obi-Wan would be there: ]

Yes.

[unrepentant]

[There's a strange unreality to the moment that Anakin feels in too many places and too many ways to name. It's probably the drinking, and the Sand, and the night itself, he thinks- as time hangs around them like stars in the sky. Obi-Wan is still looking at him and Anakin finds that despite the silence, he isn't afraid. There's a lightness in him, lifting out of his chest, off of his body- opening up inside him without a thought to caution.

Obi-Wan steps closer, reaches across the space between him to touch his arm and Anakin feels that lightness bubbling up in him until he starts laughing. Not hysterically, not loudly. But dazed, disbelieving- and so afraid to be happy but ready to leap anyway. He stares down at the place where they connect, brings his chin back up to stare at Obi-Wan's face. He's sure there are supposed to be words, the right words, the best words- but Anakin has never known what they are. He's never known how to be anything but this.

Anakin surges forward and hugs him- hugs Obi-Wan to his chest and finds that he's still laughing when the man doesn't dissolve like a mirage, or a dream.]