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meadowlarklogs2019-03-09 11:10 am
- !arrival log,
- dark angel: max guevara,
- dogs b&c: nill,
- game of thrones: sansa stark,
- gangsta: alex benedetto,
- gdc: wei wuxian,
- kingdom hearts: riku,
- kingdom hearts: sora,
- mcu: daisy johnson,
- mcu: leo fitz,
- mcu: peggy carter,
- spider verse: peter b parker,
- star wars: cassian andor,
- star wars: jyn erso,
- starfighter: cain,
- the vampire diaries: caroline forbes,
- voltron: keith
ARRIVAL LOG 008
WHERE: New Amsterdam
WHEN: Night of October 5 to night of October 8
WHAT: The eighth arrival
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Coercion and loss of autonomy, alcohol usage. Further notes at end of log.
Awareness comes to you in blurred snatches, cloudy fragments of sound and light, color, sensation. Hazy and difficult to grasp on to, but slowly aligning into focus. A series of regular, rhythmic beeps. A medicinal, astringent smell. The sensation of movement, a low hum and accompanying vibration under you. Your eyes are heavy, hard to keep open, but in the glimpses between slow, dark blinks you see four people in black body armor seated opposite you, as well as a man in dark gray scrubs.
You realize there are others next to you. All of you in blue short sleeve shirts and ill-fitting jeans, hair recently cut but at various stages of growth, restrained by straps across your chests, arms, feet, holding you to the bench under you. To your left, an armored interior door, two more people visible, the movement of streets passing through a windshield. You try to open your mouth to speak, but it's as if your tongue is coated in tar, and you manage nothing more than an empty parting of lips.
The vehicle stops. The guard opposite you stands and comes to unbuckle you from the bench, helping you to your feet. Your limbs feel wooden and heavy, slow to move. One guard opens the back of the vehicle, and false, colored light, illuminating the streets in the distance will first alert your senses of being somewhere else, combined with warm air that's only cooled with the setting of the sun. The nurse moves to stand at the back, checking each passenger over one by one just before they're helped out of the vehicle, quick and methodical. He doesn't climb out after you, moving to sit as the last passenger is unloaded.
The guards keep their heads down. Their actions are quick, firm, but not entirely unkind. Once all the passengers are out, they climb back into the vehicle and close the doors. The engine powers up again, and then the bus is gone.
You're left alone in an alley, with no idea of where you are or why you've been brought here.
Around the corner of the alley, there is the smell of beer and a weird yodel-like sound – no, wait. That is definitely yodeling and beer. Further movement forward will lead to you finding yourself in a busy area filled with multiple people carrying reusable cups full of liquid. You've just shown up at a party with a bunch of people wearing nearly identical clothing. The good thing is that everyone is probably too drunk to notice.
◉ Though entirely capable of independent action and thought, new characters will find themselves completely, unquestioningly compliant to any verbal statement which could be taken as a command or request.
The message from El comes the same as usual: insistent, not waiting for any active attempt to open it. Scrolling within your vision as if being written while you're reading it.
I'm starting to think that the arrests last month mean that our friendly delivery men have had to change up what they're doing. Either way - the group waiting for you this time is huge. The get up? Blue shirts, all around. Let's see how long that lasts. Anyway. Arrival #8. You know the deal, don't you? I bet you're all already out there having a good time.
Although New Amsterdam is a mish-mash of world cultures, there are certain traditions that took root in the city as it began to form its identity. Yes, one was Anime Naexpo. Another? Oktoberfest. Hoping to capitalize on the heritage of the region, businesses throughout New Amsterdam pushed for the continued celebration of Oktoberfest. In fact, the only time it wasn't celebrated was during the Xelkoven War, as the fight between humans and AI meant that any celebrations were put by the wayside.
Perhaps even more so than having to work during an anime convention, Oktoberfest is not a fun time for customer service workers. All around, various different cashiers, food truck chefs and drivers, rickshawers, couriers and more find that they don't have a choice but to dress up in Dutch costumes recalling times of the past. These costumes are typically pulled out of some back closest and generally assigned to the employees, so some of them won't fit all that well. The problem is that it isn't cool enough to be dressed in these as the days cool off, and the only saving grace is that they get to work at night rather than the day. The early parts of their shifts are miserably hot, and things don't get better from there. If your character is a customer service employee, they can expect some uncomfortable days ahead.
Somehow, the discomfort of the various workers doesn't come in the way of the loud and festive activities. All around New Amsterdam, various tents go up selling a lot of different wares, many of which are probably second hand junk that people are trying to sell off for a few credits. This is the time when the Black Market stops working underground, instead opening temporary store fronts in tents that are far too nice for the wares they're providing (but at least they're trying to be a less obvious money laundering front). If someone's looking to get in good with the underground or get a sense of how to find these places for some actually illegal goods, Oktoberfest is a prime place to start.
Otherwise? Oktoberfest is likely full of what anyone would expect: a lot of beer, funny looking Bavarian clothing, a lot of live music, and a lot of opportunities for drunken folk to put on a good show. If your character is the type to look for an opening to grab some attention, this is the place to do it.
◉ There will be a lot of beers available in pretty much every single tent. The drinking age in New Amsterdam is 18, but it's equally unlikely that anyone will be checking implants with how busy everything will be. The most popular beer this year? "We're Lucky We're Not Cyborgs," an extremely hoppy IPA made by the most popular brewery in New Amsterdam. All of the beers are available in bottles that you can return for more, as businesses no longer sell alcohol by the can. Think of growlers – but in a far more manageable size! Feel free to come up with the cyberpunk name of your dreams for the beer. Or people can just drink the New Amsterdam River – which is the name of the beer with a picture of the man-made river on it. It's cheap, but reliable. Oh, and for those of you that don't like the taste of beer, there's cider and mead on tap at most places as well.
◉ There will be various stages all over for acts to perform, but the schedules will not be full. Before long, the characters will know that Oktoberfest is where some people plan to get discovered. And … it's also a place where some people become social media sensations, in either good or bad ways. Need to propose to someone? Need to show off your abs? These stages are the place to be. If someone's not up there, take the chance and make it your time to shine. Or … go down in infamy.
◉ Most of the food throughout the festival will harken back to its German heritage, albeit without a whole lot of success. There are sausages, but much like the hot dogs of today, it's likely better that you don't ask what's in them. A safe bet is the large array of potato dishes around. These are delicious – and cheap!
◉ There are some competitions, too! Virtual fencing – albeit in a very, very amateurish way – and virtual crossbow competitions happen throughout the three-day event. And then there's yodeling. One of the stages will be dedicated to this the entire time. Yes, people practice to win big, but that doesn't mean that everyone has to practice.
◉ Like with Oktoberfest of the past, celebrities will have their own VIP tent right in the heart of the financial district. If you have a favorite music, film, or movie star and they have a penchant for partying, this is the place to be. Sneaking in will be hard – but not impossible. Though some will find that they might have to work this tent. These celebrities can't go without their coffee or beer, after all.
Access to the safehouse is a hatch hidden behind stacks of empty storage shelves in the back of an abandoned supermarket in an outer district of the city. The immediate area is similarly abandoned, empty stores, flanked by several blocks of dive bars and clubs which cater to more niche tastes. A place where people can come and go unseen, or, if seen, not spoken of. A dark haired woman called Gaby is ready to greet the new arrivals and get them settled in, brusque and no-nonsense – she'll be open for in depth questions later, but will advise everyone to ask the people who brought them in for the beginning bits of information.
◉ The safe house is a large open space, filled with rows of basic cots set up to sleep a large amount of people. Basic, but outfitted with everything necessary for daily life. A few doors lead to back rooms for storage, medical care and a large communal bathroom, and past the long rows of cots there is a communal kitchen, fully stocked, and an eating area. Privacy is at a minimum.
◉ New characters will be asked to pick their beds, and provided with a change of (second-hand, mismatched and somewhat threadbare) clothes and basic toiletries.
◉ While there were previously also NPC occupants of the safehouse, natives to New Amsterdam, these people have now been moved on to somewhere safer. A few of their belongings remain, discarded or accidentally abandoned.
◉ Gaby will make it clear to all new arrivals that if they have any requests or queries, they should contact her or El.
◉ There will be shifts when Gaby isn't present in the safehouse because she's shorthanded following the UNA attacks in our January event. New characters will find that if they try to open the hatch to leave during this time, it'll be sealed shut for anyone without a registered implant.
◉ The drugs making new characters compliant will remain in their systems for a few hours after their arrival at the safehouse before finally beginning to fade. They will be gone entirely after a night's rest. In the meantime, they may want to be careful of what others say to them.
◉ New characters will be given rudimentary access to the network on arrival in the safehouse, but will not have their ID set up yet. They will be able to make posts and replies, but their messages will be anonymous and they do not have inboxes yet.
◉ New characters will not be allowed to leave the safehouse until OCTOBER 9. These 4 days are for them to adjust, learn about the world they've arrived in from their fellows, and for El to speak with them and work on setting up their IDs.
As everyone goes to sleep, a familiar stomp vibrates through New Tokyo on the other side of the world. The wall outside of the city is stable at first, holding up, but the vibrations continue. The creature this time is twice as large as the one that hit New Amsterdam – 800m high, yet not seen until right around when the vibrations began. It should have been, by all rights: New Tokyo is no less secure than the other cities around the world, with constant surveillance and a dedication toward maintaining an idyllic life for its citizens. Its behavior is similar: it slams its tail against the outer wall of the city before it gives way, the destruction nearly absolute. In a panic, New Tokyo's UNA forces and police force move into action to try to bring down the monster and protect its citizens.
At the same time, whether they're still awake or already asleep, something stirs inside of the displaced. Their chests will glow without anything to bring it about – no power drawn on, either innate or new, and no skin touching. This glow seems to fatigue any of them if they're still awake, and will send anyone already asleep into a deeper one. Once they're under, the stirring within will give way to unrest that foments dreams and visions for many of the displaced. If they had a dream while they slept, characters will wake up with a burning sensation in their chest.
As for New Tokyo: it will be left in ruins by the time the UNA soldiers there manage to take down the monster. Several sections of the city remain intact – almost out of luck – and the governor of New Tokyo reports that they believe this monster came from outside of the city, having been given life by the unsafe conditions outside of the megacity. Within a few hours, this statement will be revised, with the governor admitting that he doesn't know what the monster was or where it came from, only that their surveillance saw that it came from outside.
The three dreams below are what each character will experience, though you can feel free to assume they managed to jar themselves awake before the dream finished. To get a dream, please comment below to get an RNGed number for the dream that they'll be having. Since these are unnatural dreams, you can feel free to have your character remember it in its entirety – or not, if that's what you'd prefer.
If you have multiple characters, we suggest you only have one experience a dream, but it's ultimately up to you!
> DREAM 001
A blue glow illuminates the site – offering light on a foggy morning, with everyone having completed their journey to this final destination. A sense of fatigue and relief that washes over everyone there, but also an inner warmth that seems to radiate from the site itself. Huge rocks rise up on either side of the site, acting as shielding barriers for these followers and what lies ahead of them. Despite the lack of natural light cast through the thick fog, there's still a distant glow, leading them forward.
You find yourself among these people, well aware of the many miles you walked to get here, most of it on an incline. Around you, the clothes that people wear are worn, tattered, made from wool that's begun to wear down. How long have you all been traveling? It's hard to say – hard to guess, only that you know that you were all drawn here. No single story is the same. Some saw symbols: triangles that glowed when they saw them in the periphery, as well as bits of circles coming together. The tree of life. Perfect like nature in its finest form. Others could never put the words to what they experienced.
Each of you feel the draw now. It resonates within you, fills you up. Just ahead, there are structures that seem to float in space, and when you draw closer, a clear, light blue bridge appears. The walk forward requires a leap of faith – and there are some unwilling to take it. Afraid. They wonder if they've wasted their time.
But you haven't. You walk forward, and the bridge carries you forward. You can't tell if you're walking or literally carried, but eventually you come to an alcove where a strange circular structure stands. As you step closer, it comes to life, a mixture of lights and – no, not sounds. But the same resonating warmth.
You walk into it and –
– you find yourself somewhere else. Somewhere new.
> DREAM 002
– this is not where you belong where you've chosen to live – this is not it this is not it this is not it –
Your fingers spread, wrapping around the nearest metal instrument to drag it close. You test the edge against your skin, drawing out a sharp pain. You never asked for this particular experience. But every day, you feel it.
It's time to take back what you can. The walls around you are white, pristine. Somehow, you know that they weren't a day ago. One of the others you know got sick, doubled over after a bad interaction with a medication. You see them now, dark rings under their eyes, a shaved head. How do you know this? Your mind doesn't answer you. You just react. Someone in a coat as white as the room draws closer. Checking your vital signs. Your breathing picks up – your lungs hurt. You lash out with the instrument, cutting deep. A bright red spreads. A sick smile creeps over your lips. You know that color, deep within you. You know it.
And then there's nothing.
And then life moves on (your life moves on). Has time passed? The room is different. The person with the red splotch of color on their lab coat is gone, and your build is different. More gangly, uncontrolled. Deep down, you feel an unabiding frustration. You hear a shout: "Put them down!" It's too late. A fire erupts. The doors seal.
> DREAM 003
You recognize the walls. The building. But there's some barrier between you and it, a constant, subdued fog that lies between you and your surroundings. The lights are bright. Everyone moves in a single file, dressed in the same white scrubs. You're among them. The workers walk alongside you, occasionally checking your vital signs. Sometimes they make you grab each other's hands, noting the shift in reactions or responses.
The air here is cool. Stale. Your head is cold, recently shaven. Like everyone else, sans a few. It looks like it's been a while since they had a haircut. You don't recognize them, not like the others. You're certain that you recognize the others.
Thought is difficult to process. There's an IV into your arm. You try to make out more of your surroundings, but the fog encroaches and takes over. You're missing your chance. Your chance to know where you are – were? Who did this to you?
Distantly, you see a marking on a wall. Letters. P - R - O - PROJECT. You're certain of it. What else is there? Nothing. No. Something, but not another word. It's a symbol of some kind, or – an animal? There's a splotch of yellow, bright and prominent on its breast, with a dark V that cuts down. The fog obscures the rest.
This arrival log is a little different, as it doubles as a prologue for our monthly event! Everyone's character can have one of the dreams, and it'll hit them anytime within a day of the attack on New Tokyo. This does include anyone new to the game! So, please go ahead and comment below to have your dreaming character assigned a number. All assignments will be random on our part!
Welcome to Meadowlark, newbies! You're now free to post to the network and logs comms. To reiterate, your characters will have no IDs or inboxes, nor be allowed out of the safehouse until OCTOBER 9 (MARCH 17). At that point it's expected they'll have gotten a good idea of their new situation from their fellow characters, and will have discussed their background and job potentials with El in order for their false IDs to be set up.
All arrival logs act as mingles, so older players can please feel free to top level for the festivities described!
If you have any questions or ideas about how you'd like to get your character involved in the world, please head over to the plot engagement post and drop us a comment! For questions specific to this log, there is a thread below.
Please check out our March calendar rundown for a look at things happening this month, as well as some additional notes from the mods.
As a reminder, AC for new characters accepted in March will be 10 comments across 2-4 threads, while current characters will need to provide the full AC of 20 comments across 2-4 threads. AC will be posted on April 1 and close on April 7. If you do not reply to AC, you will be considered idled and dropped from the game. We will not post a warning list.
no subject
Kovacs. [ he shrugs. ] What name would you have assigned me if I decided I didn't want to give it to you? Boris? Rudolph? Something very nasty and vulgar that would make my ear turn pink?
[ perish the thought. ]
no subject
(But yes, sweetheart does make her bristle. She's punched men in the face for less. Water off a duck's back, Agent Carter.)
His last comment does earn a sharp exhale, close to a laugh but not quite. It's genuine enough. ]
Far be it from me to offend your delicate sensibilities. So tell me, Kovacs. [ Her brow quirks. ] How does someone so sensitive, [ to use his own word, ] do enough time in a rebellion that he becomes as jaded as you are now? You were remarkably quick to dismiss the idea of one fighting for, what sounds to me like, a similar cause. Or was helping the poor and unfortunate just a turn of phrase?
no subject
she was still talking to him. he was kind of impressed. not enough to tell her that but the feeling was there. ]
It wasn't just a turn of phrase though, no. I did that sort of thing awhile ago. Century or so, if my memory serves me correctly. But, sometimes shit happens and you decide it's not worth it anymore.
[ stronghold. stronghold happened. and it ruined a big part of him. ] So now I like to sit things out. Keep the sanity intact.
no subject
What's past is past and all that. No use in dwelling. But her curiosity is, as always, piqued and insatiable so she listens closely to what he does deign to tell her.
Are they just going to skip neatly over the offhand comment of being at least a century old? Bloody hell, all right, then. ]
And nothing in a hundred years has tested that resolution. I find that hard to believe.
no subject
[ being dead and completely detached from reality. ]
No time to find something to test that resolution. No reason to try and rediscover my motivation. But if you think you've got something like that, by all means, we can test it out.
[ she might even be successful. ]
Just don't get your hopes up.
no subject
I'm here to pour some tea and answer questions, not change hearts and minds. As I said, what you do after you clear that hatch is up to you. Explore the city, see what sticks and what doesn't.
[ A little one-shouldered shrug. ]
As for me, I never stopped wondering how we got into this mess, so I leapt at the best shot I had at finding answers. You might prefer to sit things out, but I can't abide the thought. [ He might think that's naive, or idealistic. She's been accused of it — a wonder in of itself after the war. ] Although whatever it was that drove you to that point, I am sorry it did.
no subject
[ he doesn't know how to handle it either. stronghold happened. people died. he'd smelled the rot and seen the blood. it was done and it was over with. couldn't go back and change it and the sympathy wasn't going to comfort him. ]
You think you're really going to find something?
[ dubious. so dubious. he wasn't sure what to think of a place that could save him from what looked like an explosive death without him knowing. that just didn't fucking happen. ]
no subject
Peggy presses her lips together in thought at the question. ]
You can always find something if you look hard enough, [ she says at length. ] What you find is another story altogether. But I've always been interested in stories.
[ About people, places, secret organisations that try to rule the world. That sort of thing. ]
no subject
Maybe you'll get it from me one day. No promises.
[ but hey, sometimes he drank too much and got a little mouthy. mouthier. maybe one day they'd be having a drink together and he'd spill his guts. ]
I do have plenty of stories. [ it was getting him to share them that was the issue. ] Maybe I'll look into that for employment. Motivational speaker. I'd be good at that, I think.
no subject
[ Look at this tall, salty statue of inspiration. She's as dry as he is: ]
You'd be perfect.
no subject
[ right into your arms, peggy. it'd be very romantic and ridiculous. ]
But I appreciate your encouragement. Maybe I'll look into that if every other fucking job in this city doesn't work out.
no subject
For everyone's sakes, let's hope you aren't forced to take on that last resort. [ She considers him a moment, then: ] In all seriousness, I'd suggest thinking of a cover that best highlights your strengths so that when you speak with El, they can cobble together a history that opens the right doors for you in the job market. Consider it getting off on the right foot.
no subject
And what if my strength is killing people?
[ honest question. it is a strength and it's something he's done for both the right and wrong reasons. but there's also a part of him that just wants to see how she reacts to the question. ]
That gonna set me up with a great office job?
no subject
It might make you popular in the underground fighting rings, [ she says thoughtfully. She does size him up a little now out of instinctive wariness, but he's built like a fighter and he'd been in a resistance group. Those are often not bloodless. She can manage. ] But you might have to pull your punches. I doubt there's much profit to be made in routinely killing your opponent.
[ A beat. ]
But what do I know? I just work in a great office job. [ Her lips quirk a fraction, parroting his own words back to him: ] I could be totally off base.
no subject
[ a sense of deja vu settles over him and he blinks, giving his head a shake to push away memories of that particular time in his life and that particular person. they were both memories — dust — so what was the point?
there was none. ]
Not really an office job type person. But, good to know there's at least some entertainment here. Blood's more my thing than staples and paper clips.
no subject
[ Non-committal. If she wasn't keen on keeping a close watch on Kovacs before, she certainly is now after a statement like that. Who is he to pass judgement like that? Who are any of they? She's fought in a war, she's weathered that storm and the casualties of it, and history is written by the victors. But not the soldiers. ]
Well, you ought to know neither are necessary these days. Paper is a thing of the past. [ A huff of breath. ] Which makes my present ancient history, I suppose. Everything happens in here, [ she says, tapping her temple with two fingers. ] And our IDs are linked to practically everything we do because of it.
no subject
You're just a font of fucking knowledge, aren't you? [ what would he do without you? ]
I'll keep that in mind when I inevitably decide to look for employment somewhere. Maybe I'll ask you for a recommendation. See what kind of sweet, nice things you tell people about me so I can get a good, cushy job where I sit on my ass and twiddle my fucking thumbs all day.
no subject
As I said: here to pour tea and answer questions.
[ What would you do, indeed. ]
Oh, I doubt the word of an overqualified secretary will do you much good. Besides, you don't need me to do the talking for you — you obviously have enough charisma to manage any interview on your own, being an aspiring motivational speaker and all.
[ There's a flash of a smile, there and gone. This reminds her of Thompson, a little. The same kind of give and take. ]
Speaking of tea, yours is getting cold.
no subject
[ he'd honestly forgotten about the tea so now that she's brought his attention back around, he does take a sip. it's not bad. it's definitely not alcohol which is what he's been putting in his body pretty consistently for awhile but it's not bad. ]
I don't need you to do my talking for me but if you wanna just follow me around and compliment me all fucking day, I wouldn't be opposed.
[ your dream job there, peggy. ]
no subject
At what point in this conversation did you decide I would be the person most suited for the job?
no subject
It's fuckin' fate. Or whatever the fuck you believe in. Something powerful brought us together for this very reason.
[ bullshitting 101 with kovacs right here. a master fucking class. ]
Too bad the pay's shit, huh?
no subject
[ She's also used to his antics after serving with a company of rowdy men for the better part of three years.
As for the shit pay, well. She's been living in a motel. Although perhaps she'll finally have saved up enough between her job and the stipend from Morningstar to afford the down payment on a tiny studio in a slightly better part of town. ]
But all joking aside, something powerful did bring us here. Aren't you in the least bit curious to know what or why?
no subject
Suppose so. But, not like I can do anything about it now all things considered.
[ they wouldn't let him fucking leave. so, he was kind of out of the detective game for the moment. ]
Maybe I'll be more properly motivated after I've slept. No promises.
no subject
Then I'll leave you to it. If you need anything, [ she offers, leaving the sentence hanging. She does mean that, despite the rocky start. ] You'll see me in and out of here most nights.