meadowlarklogs | ARRIVAL LOG 010

ARRIVAL LOG 010

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: New Amsterdam
WHEN: Evening of October 21 and 22
WHAT: The tenth arrival
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Coercion, loss of autonomy, sexual themes and alcohol usage. Further notes at end of log.

> ARRIVAL LOG #010

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 white scrubs, 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 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 drop some masks on the ground in a tan-colored tote bag. "Pick a mask," they bark, and then turn to 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 sound of various different carnival rides and men yelling for someone to step right up and try their luck on the various assortment of games that are available. Off in the distance, there's a large, hulking structure – perfectly vertical in nature, and people on it twist upward and then come slamming down mere moments later. It seems that you've just arrived as a part of some festivity, though it's probably hard to tell if you're an attraction or a coincidence of this all.

Either way – time to pick a mask. They're nothing special: they go over the head, but no one was ordered to put one on. They show various monsters – generic and otherwise – and it looks like they were purchased in bulk.

◉ 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.

> 10 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN: OPENING CEREMONY

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.

Here we go again. You know the drill by now. Our new batch has been thrown into the middle of a Halloween party. They should have masks on which doesn't make them much easier to find, but I trust you guys can figure this out. You know the signs to look for by now. So… Happy Halloween. 🎃

Having ten actual days dedicated to Halloween may seem like a bit much, but New Amsterdam takes the festivities seriously. Thanks to being a melting pot of two millenia's worth of cultures, they try to touch on every aspect of it. The launch party is a two-day event set in the cultural district. Thanks to the lack of ground traffic, the city easily rolls in what acts as a mini-carnival. The ground throughout the carnival is lit with candle-filled pumpkins, providing a warmth of inviting light as the nights grow cooler. While the carnival shuts down during the working day, it opens again in the evening, allowing working parents to bring their children before the hours come to a close. During this time, children run around with their friends in costumes to ask for candy or food from nearby businesses or carnival booths. Sometimes these children have to perform a task before they get what they've asked for – either through playing a game or answering a trivia question – but they're never turned away empty handed.

The first two days are largely billed as a time for people to come together and have a good time, but Halloween is also known for offering opportunities to local artists to get their work recognized. Whether digital or otherwise, artists are asked to commit to a theme and produce art on the first day of the event that's viewed throughout the next nine days. Part of the tradition is the crunch of trying to produce a work of art with limited notice and time. If they aren't done before the first two days are over, they won't be able to get free advertisement for their work. When the event is over, all of the art will go up for auction, and the artists will receive 75% of whatever is offered for their work. This year's theme is "Remembrance and Renewal" – and most themes from past years are just as open for interpretation.

As it gets deeper into the evening and children have returned home, the festivities turn toward being more adult. While barred from selling alcohol until 9 PM, the various carnival booths change their tune after that point, offering a wide array of alcohol – including their own takes on moonshine. The first night even features a competition over who's brought the best, and everyone's invited to try a sample and put in a vote – for free. A rather savvy individual would likely be able to find themselves well in their cups just off of these samples, as the moonshine contest is the way for the adults to get a treat of their own. For these evening festivities, everyone is allowed to wear a more risque costume, and sex workers come over from the neighboring Red Light District in order to advertise some of their more unique services for the evenings ahead. Every brothel will have a unique theme of its own to mark how special the event is, and their services will match.

Otherwise, the first two days of Halloween are known for allowing kids to have fun and for adults to be anonymous for a little while. Anyone who holds down a day job will still be expected to turn into work, but there's a tacit understanding that most people will be under the weather during this time.

◉ The carnival will have a wide array of rides that are set up rather quickly. There's a ferris wheel with seats that will rotate around a large machine like an atom, but with many different "branches" to allow a great deal of people to go on at once. Everyone gets on at the same time, and the seats "float." Each person can pay for how long their ride is in increments, and extend that time if they so choose. For the after dark people, there is a definite badge of honor in having a good time in a ferris wheel without getting caught with your pants down. Other rides include the Wicked Force – which rapidly takes people up 500 ft into the air and then drops them – as well as carousels that allow someone to customize their mount for an additional amount of money. Want a lewd mount? That's fine … after the kids have gone home to play, and some people like to show off whatever they thought up on Cooltalk.

◉ As always, there are a large number of food options available thanks to the local food trucks coming out to sell their food. Taco trucks are the most popular around this time, and that's most of what will be offered. Many trucks will have some homemade candy that they offer for free with each meal – with the option to get more.

◉ Throughout the city, there will be controlled bonfire pits that are lit every night at 8 PM, though they won't be present in the less cared for parts of New Amsterdam. Ahead of the event starting, there will be a website to let people know where these pits are going up so they can set up meeting places with their friends – or even reserve a pit for a private group. Reservations around the more popular areas cost more than ones that are nearing the "disreputable" sections – though "disreputable" is shorthand for rundown buildings in need of repair more than any crime.

◉ There are, of course, costume contests! While many local bars – dive and otherwise – will have smaller affairs, there is a large contest held on these first two nights. Because of the wide array of people and costumes available, someone has to enter their costume according to a certain theme. Some of the themes are: vampires, ghosts, zombies, pop culture (animation), pop culture (action movies), pop culture (celebrities), political figures, historical figures – and more! In the five days that follow, people will be able to go online and vote for their favorite costume. Whoever accumulates the most votes gets a meal of their choice at a number of participating restaurants – HAPPYHAPPYJOYJOY, SOL, Monde Pizza, Sweetwaffel and more – as well as 200 credits added to their funds.

◉ There will be dealers around the carnival trying to get someone to buy something to "heighten" their experience. While the "monster drug" is out in the city, it won't be available here. Halloween is thought of as a neutral ground for the city, and even the gangs recognize that. Most drugs will be hallucinatory in nature, providing effects similar to shrooms. Of course, any drugs are still illegal, and people will want to be careful not to get caught – or buy from the wrong person.

◉ Anyone who chooses to take part in the more illicit and sexual activities will be advised to go home to finish out their nights. Being handsy is fine, but getting caught on the ferris wheel? Well, the goal is to not get caught. Public acts are still illegal, though most people just spend a night in jail thinking about what they did. It's treated as more embarrassing than anything, but sometimes people let things get away from them. Many of the brothels will offer rooms to couples for the evening, complete with toys and supplies to practice safe sex. Even if they aren't spending their night with a sex worker, the themed goods are still there to enjoy.

> 10 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN: THE NEXT EIGHT DAYS

After the rowdier events pass, Halloween splits into two main categories: corporate popups and remembrance. Halloween parties continue to be thrown at restaurants and bars, allowing people to enjoy a more low key version of what was previously available. Many of the bars have karaoke contests and themed parties, and many retail stores maintain a Halloween section until November first. If anyone's been invited to a party last minute – or they need a series of costumes to be extra about the whole occasion – they can hit these stores when needed.

◉ Pulsar's hover car-focused subsidiary, Bakker, advertises their 2512 line of cars by having hover hay rides around the city. Their trucks can hold up to six. Anyone hoping to go on a hover truck hay ride around the city to take in the sights and bonfires in the evening can call one on New Amsterdam's special Halloween app! These rides don't only show the city: they give a glimpse at the large amount of forestation just over the wall, allowing people to see that the Earth is gradually improving.

◉ There are, of course, haunted houses set up around the city! Haunted houses come in two varieties: virtual reality and 4D. Vyonation's gaming subsidiary, Vizija, sets up the virtual reality popups around the city. Due to the high tech nature of these setups, people do have to be on site to enjoy them. They interface with someone's neural implant, and depending on the experience, they can involve puzzles, escape rooms, murder mysteries, or even dissection tables. The 4D houses are the result of a joint partnership between Poe and Polarized – which are subsidiaries of Giles Bell and Pulsar, respectively.

4D haunted houses involve a great deal of props, realistic sights and smells, as well as the potential for certain drugs that can help provide a certain physical or emotional response. Whereas Vizija's simulation comes with the reassurance that nothing is real, Poe and Polarized team up to scare someone – and try to ensure it's as real as possible. Nothing offered at either is illegal, including the drug – though people with a history of heart issues won't be allowed to use the drug at all.

These experiences are made unique for everyone going in: people are allowed to opt out of anything that might make them uncomfortable, or even add in something along the way. If someone is feeling too much anxiety thanks to the drugs, they'll find a counter-drug added to their system to negate the artificial effects rather quickly.

◉ Remember that art contest? Anyone who finished a work will find their art somewhere in the city – and that includes anyone among the Displaced. If anyone is looking for artwork that's similar to what's been featured on the shrines, there will be a few, only they will seem more inviting. Whereas they celebrated people before, they now involve hands outstretched, welcoming someone down a blue-lit path. The same imagery – triangles and overlapping circles – will still be present, especially on the hands as tattoos.

◉ Five days before the 31st, there is a tradition of everyone donating a knife from their house to make it so that "spirits" can return safely. While no one in New Amsterdam genuinely believes that they might be visited by a spirit, the odd occasions around the city recently have lent some credence to this superstition. There will be knife disposal boxes all around the city – and anyone who doesn't give up a knife, butter or otherwise, will be seen as a bit of a spoilsport.

◉ On October 29th, there will be a procession from one end of the city to the other that starts just as the sun goes down and finishes when everyone has reached the other side. As you might imagine, this is a very, very long walk, and many people slip in and out according to what they can individually manage. People walk with candles along the way, and there will be booths selling new or replacement candles for a low price. Since the procession goes along the path of a lot of bonfires, it won't ever be difficult to get them lit. The purpose of this? Everyone uniting in remembrance: of a world that's healing, to celebrate the lives lost to usher in a peaceful era, to thank everyone on the colonies for offering a humanity a new home, and any personal losses that people might have faced. Even though there are still billions of people alive, there is the sense that everyone knows that they remain on Earth on borrowed time.

◉ For the last two days, people light candles and put them in their windows, and they also leave food outside of their windows and in the front of their apartments so that "spirits" can return safely. There's an implicit understanding that most of this food will be taken by people who aren't doing as well, and much of it is nonperishable. Anyone who's down on their luck will see candles in the window and will know that they will likely find food there. Many people stock up for this occasion so that they can replace any food. Unsurprisingly, most high-end apartments with well-off people don't honor this tradition, but people in mid-to-low end apartments will almost always have something to spare in the spirit of charity.

> SAFEHOUSE

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.

◉ Any belongings from previous safehouse occupants have been packed up – and that includes any current Displaced who just got back from a trip. If someone left something out while they were in New Tokyo, Gaby will tell them where these objects can be found. For her part, she's just trying to get everything set up for the upcoming move.

◉ Gaby will make it clear to all new arrivals that if they have any requests or queries, they should contact her or El.

◉ Once everyone that El spotted has arrived back, they'll be informed that the safehouse will be a temporary location. By the end of the month, everyone will be moving to a new location about fifteen blocks away.

◉ 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 25 (MAY 19). 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.

> FINAL OOC NOTES

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 25 (MAY 19). 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.

If you have an artist character, please feel free to comment below under our QUESTIONS header to submit a description for a work of art! As long as they submitted something, you can feel free to assume they made some credits off of the whole experience!

Since there is a part of this log that involves explicit sexual activity, please remember content warnings. If your character engages in a sexual act, slap a warning on that! None of the drugs available at the event will involve aphrodisiacs or anything that will remove consent. Some of the brothels may involve play with that, but everyone entering those arrangements would need to consent from the start. We're well aware of the sensitive nature of having a Red Light District-adjacent event while characters are under the influence of compulsory drugs, so no characters will be forced or asked into any acts against their will. There will be no exceptions to this. In addition, any newcomers won't be able to skip off into a brothel because they're new, won't be able to confirm their ages, and they won't have any other identifying information. Otherwise, please be respectful and check everyone's permissions.

As a blanket reminder, all arrival logs are designed as mingle logs for the entire game.

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 May 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 May 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 June 1 at 12 AM UTC and close on June 8 at 12 AM UTC. If you do not reply to AC, you will be considered idled and dropped from the game. We will not post a warning list.

> NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I am aware of that but in this case, you need to listen to me. If you are not on the network, then you could run into problems that are hard to correct. I am not telling you this because I think you cannot handle yourself. I had to do the same thing when I arrived.

[ honestly, trying to explain the technology of this place was going to exhaust him. he was not a great welcome wagon. ]

Daisy is someone who knew you before. A friend. [ true but that is not what he really needs to tell her. ] She is also my — we are —

[ words. words were hard. ]

We're together. [ there. that is the truth. perhaps it is not the entirety of the truth but it is enough for gaby to know what is going on. he can build on that. ] We have been for several months now.

[ gaby could have figured it out by the way he stumbles over explaining it. they are more than together. it feels like she's lost something but at the same time she never had it to begin with. is she even allowed to feel anything about it at all?

they take everything seems like a cruel joke now.

gaby closes her eyes and so she doesn't notice the faint glow through her shirt, doesn't notice the frost creeping across the glass under her fingertips. gaby tries to tamp down on any upset and the glow mostly subsides, flickering faintly like a heartbeat as she tries to settle her own emotions. a brittle smile is pressed across her expression, eyes opening again to look up at him. ]

I'm glad.

[ she's a liar but she has no right to be anything but. ]

You're a liar.

[ he knows her well enough to know that but even if he hadn't, he'd be able to tell she was lying. she hides her emotions well in most instances but he'd watched what felt like a year's worth of feelings cross her face just then. ]

I'm sorry.

[ though he doesn't know what he's apologizing for. this was no one's fault. emotions, as much as you tried to control them, had ways of making it known that you weren't always totally in control. ]

She is a good person, though. I think you will like her if you give it a chance.

Shut up.

[ she'd said it in german and maybe that is what makes it sound so harsh. filled with suddenly too much anxiety parading as energy she stands up and paces away only to turn immediately back. ]

Don't apologize. I am glad. [ don't call her a liar, either! ] You and Solo are both too stupid to be by yourselves. You need someone and now you have someone.

[ she is glad and simultaneously so sad. ]

[ she snaps at him and though he listens, his jaw tightens somewhat. but he doesn't snap back. she's reacting to a jarring, unwanted situation and he will not add to it with his anger. ]

She would agree with you in that regard. [ that he was stupid. his agitation eases the tiniest bit. ]

But Solo is much stupider than I am. [ focusing on the important things here. ]

Then she's smart too.

[ in addition to being a good person, as he said. she had been listening, it wasn't what she chose to immediately respond to. part of her doesn't want to give daisy a chance, good person or not. maybe she won't, she doesn't know.

she presses the glass to her neck, finding it colder than expected, before it slides to her temple, head dipping down just enough to catch the flicker of blue.

cannot stress this enough: was zum teufel. ]

Illya. What is that?

It is...not easy to explain. It has something to do with the empathy bond, I believe.

[ but there were other things that triggered it. he remembers how bright his chest had been after that dream. ]

Here. Let me see your hand.

[ this needs to be explained so she is not surprised with it but he does not even think that maybe right now is not the time to touch her. ]

[ empathy bond doesn't sound like anything she wants but she knows, implicitly and without any doubt, that illya won't do anything that would cause her pain.

she has some reservations and the wariness is plain on her face, but she holds out her hand regardless. ]

It will be all right.

[ he reaches to take her hand, closing his fingers around hers and the bond activates instantly. his own feelings pour through the link: confusion, wariness, worry, concern, and relief arc through the bond.

he tries to keep anything resembling love muted so as to not hurt her further. it's there but he presses it down. ]

[ the glow is so bright because gaby feels so much.

many of the emotions are the same as what is coming at her from illya, but stronger than all the rest is a loneliness she doesn't even realize she feels because it has always been there, a muted darkness that has enveloped her since childhood.

and she's angry, she is so angry about so much. she is so angry that the same shimmering icy frost that had covered the glass starts creeping across illya's hand, spreading out from where gaby's hand touches his before she wrenches her hand back, breathing hard, eyes wide. ]

What... Why is that happening?

It's your power.

[ the words are a bit strained while he deals with the pain that the cold of the ice presses into his hand. it's not unlike when he ices himself after a fight but this had been unexpected so he shakes his hand out and presses it against his side. ]

Everyone is given something like that when they arrive. That must be yours. Something to do with the ice.

[ his was anger related. who was surprised? ]

There are people here who can help you with that when you are ready.

[ her power.

gaby wants to throw up.

this is all Too Much, but now at least illya's love life seems the most unimportant thing of them all. she can't explain why she was supposedly here before, why this place is an apparent gap in her memory, but at least there could be a reasonable, rational explanation for it: trauma or amnesia or a mass hysteria like the tanganyika laughter epidemic or maybe it was lsd.

turning her friend's hand to a popsicle has no such explanation.

she abruptly sits down again, overwhelmed. nothing waverly had ever taught her prepared her for something like this and it's far more daunting than living as a spy under the stasi. ]

I'm sorry.

Why?

[ he shakes his head and then takes a careful seat beside her, making sure he doesn't touch her. ]

I still struggle with the power they have given me. I lose control more often than I should.

[ and each time that happened, he heard about it and how it shouldn't happen because he should be working to make himself better. ]

It is a lot, I know. But there are people here who will help you, Gaby. Myself included. Anything that I can do.

[ it's comforting to have illya next to her. it might not be what it was before, and honestly before was only even an almost, but all six feet and more of illya is still a comfort to gaby. he's familiar, above all else, and she knows that he will look after her.

he threw a motorbike to protect her and napoleon. it isn't as if he is going to let all that hard work be for nothing and throw her to the wolves. she nudges him so gently with her shoulder, still afraid she is going to turn him into a snowman, and looks up at him with sad, guilty eyes. ]

What did I do to deserve having you as a friend?

[ nothing! and she knows she is lucky that illya let all that lying slide. and she is lucky still. ]

You did not have to do anything but be yourself.

[ and that had been enough. he liked who she was, lies and all. it wasn't like he hadn't told a few of his mine in his life. ]

It will be all right. I promise you this. Right now, it might seem like things are chaotic but it will be all right.

[ he would make it so. ]

I promise.

I believe you.

[ there is no one more stubbornly determined than the russian. he ripped the fender off her car, for fuck's sake. it does little to temper the anxiety running up her spine like an electrical current, but words never can. ]

Good.

[ it is something. a start. ]

Do you need anything?

[ therapy.

a drink.

a small dog to tote around with her so people only pay attention to the dog and not to her.

hair gum.

maybe the dog could be a miniature poodle.

a miniature st. bernard even though it's a fiction that they carried little casks of ale around with them.

gaby sighs, running her finger through her too short and not cheerfully bouncy hair before frowning. time to conceal instead of feeling because feelings are for losers and gaby teller if a fucking winner. ]

You owe me a car.

A vehicle?

[ his eyebrows inch up towards his hairline and he shakes his head. ]

That might be slightly difficult to get immediately but...it is something I can work on.

[ he was going to have to put in some overtime. ]

Illya, I'm only teasing.

[ but now she knows he is gonna go hard on looking after her and that will not do. she'll address it at a later date when she has something to hold up to prove she doesn't need any more of his help. ]

Oh.

[ he purses his lips and clasps his hands together .]

Well, there is still a possibility of a vehicle if you save enough money. I tend to walk.

I enjoy walking.

[ and there is a train that doesn't stop at checkpoints for russian thugs to lumber on and needlessly badger people. she hopes. she assumes. she hadn't seen it, but she'd heard it, faster and smoother than anything she remembered. 1963 this is not. ]

You will get plenty of opportunity for that here.

[ it was a big city with plenty of places to walk to. she would not be disappointed if walking was what she wanted to do. ]

But there are ways of getting around without a vehicle as well.

[ he pauses, wringing his hands together a bit. ]

Do you need anything?

No.

[ she shakes her head slowly. she needs a lot of things, but right now gaby can't think of anything. everything is so... baffling, she has no idea how to sort out what she needs when the entire world is different. ]

Time.

[ he nods. ]

Should I leave you alone?

ARRIVAL LOG 010

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