meadowlarklogs | ARRIVAL LOG 011

ARRIVAL LOG 011

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: New Amsterdam
WHEN: November 5
WHAT: The eleventh arrival
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Coercion, loss of autonomy. Further notes at end of log.

> ARRIVAL LOG #011

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.

"Stay here," one of the guards barks, right before looking to the guard to their left. "You've got the honors of passing on the message from the boss?" he asks. The woman nods, and then steps just in front of him. "Now listen up, everyone! This is way warmer than I'd ever go for, but he's got a soft spot for you." She offers a twisted smile, as if she isn't keen to play messenger. "Hello, everyone. You're likely wondering how you got here." She pauses to roll her eyes at the joke – because it is a joke, albeit a bad one (in her opinion). "That's not something I can share right now. There are too many hands invested in this pie. But I need you all to stick to the festival, and not go looking for trouble. Don't hurt anyone. Don't look for a police officer. Have fun out there until it's time to process you. I don't actually know how that goes, but the ones like you? They've got it down to a science." She pauses here, looking puzzled. She's read this message in advance, but there are still aspects of it that stand out. Oh, they were warned about the others. To avoid them at all costs, because they'd be looking. "And sorry for the scrubs – I know they aren't great for a party, but they make you stand out. Have a good time. Just don't get arrested out there. I can only pull out my Beijing contacts so many times." This message is read entirely off her neural implant – not that the people dressed in scrubs in front of her would realize that.

After she's done, the last of the guards 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 are many food stalls selling foods in mason jars, as well as a stage off in the distance with people in colorful outfits moving in unison. It seems that you've arrived at some kind of festival, and believe it or not, this is low-key compared to some of the last.

◉ 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 – and that includes the lengthy message passed on from the mysterious patron.

> HARVEST FESTIVAL

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.

Well, everyone, it's time for another round of saving your newly arrived displaced kidnapees. This time they're not blending in at all. It's white scrubs all the way. Probably doesn't really go with a harvest festival – is that some corn-in-the-cob in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Anyway, have fun out there.

The New Amsterdam Annual Harvest Festival begins with a parade bright and early in the morning. Rather than being dressed up with large holographic displays with AR functions that interact with everyone's neural implants, this parade is au naturale. The floats themselves are handmade with careful craftsmanship and designs, especially given the lack of wood available in this world. Everything is bright and colorful. Between each float, there are large dancing troupes dressed in lavish costumes full of colors. Some of the dances featured are unique to this world and its future, while others pay homage to harvest festivals of the past, hailing from regions of Japan, Korea, China, India, Nigeria and the Philippines. The garb itself is unique to these regions – relics of a previous world, celebrating the harvest and promise of what may come in the future.

Unlike many New Amsterdam events, there is very little room for technology and heavy advertisements. While numerous subsidiaries provide donations for the harvest festival, they do so with the understanding that their involvement will be obscured. The harvest festival is meant to act as a way of celebrating the natural way of the world, and of stepping away from technology for a time. That said, there is little emphasis on any artificial intelligence or mentions of the Xelkoven War – it seems as if this celebration is meant as more of a pure revelry of what the Earth used to provide, rather than what humans managed to avoid.

Once the parade is done, there is a large festival in progress. Every worker at the harvest festival is there because they believe in this celebration, and thus they volunteered to be involved. Anyone who wants to be there because they chose to volunteer can. As for the native volunteers – a large number of them will be sporting numerous tattoos of unique symbols that have been seen around the city (most notably the Insomniac's Ball and the shrines to the Displaced). They'll look at any of the Displaced that they recognize with admiration, but won't be quick to engage with them.

The harvest festival is just a one-day event, but it's jam packed full of things to do!

> HARVESTS

While the hydroponic farms around New Amsterdam are always working to keep the citizens fed, they celebrate their harvests once a year at the harvest festival. Many of these farms come together and sell their vegetables in mason jars and even create various sauces for citizens to purchase. Want some delicious spaghetti sauce that's ready to go? What about taco sauce or something to make quick tikka masala? These food stalls have everything ready to go – and they're all too eager to share what they've made. The stalls all offer discounts to anyone who buys their jars in bulk, hoping that they can happily impart their delicious and natural foods to the citizens of New Amsterdam. While hydroponic farms on a whole are "less natural" in how they grow food, these jars of food are less processed. What's in there is, for the most part, pickled or cooked down into a sauce, making it so that New Amsterdam citizens can enjoy a flavorful meal.

> CHARITY

In a continuation of the mindset during Halloween, the harvest festival doubles as a site for charitable activity around the city. Gaby will ask Morningstar's people to set up a booth to collect any clothing donations, and it'll be obvious that while this booth is not noticeably linked to Morningstar, it's set up every year in hopes of gathering these clothing donations for people in need. The Morningstar booth isn't the only of its kind, and many of the food stalls with mason jars will also have a box for people to donate goods should they want to help people in need. Unlike every other New Amsterdam festival, there are no food trucks. Instead, there is an all-day buffet that constantly rotates out food so that people who are hungry can have a full meal as the day goes on. Everything is free. However, this buffet includes no alcohol – as if to counterbalance the drunken revelry during the Halloween celebrations, there is none on the premises here.

> FERTILITY

In the past, harvest festivals have almost always been linked to fertility. While fertility is less of a concern in 2511 – thanks to the rigid population control – there is a sense of hope that Earth itself, as well as the terraforming colonies, will eventually give way to a future where these mandates aren't as necessary. For now, the harvest festival celebrates the idea of fertility, as well as allowing the Earth to replenish itself. Fertility is an aspect in that, after all. One section of the festival's stalls is dedicated to this ideal, and has a unique tradition brought over from Japan. Each of the stalls feature large phallic structures on the top, and like the parade floats, these are newly made every year from scratch. In addition, the food stalls also partake in an all-natural popsicle contest (after all, it wouldn't be a New Amsterdam festival without some kind of food contest). These popsicles come in all different flavors – from strawberry to pickle brine – and are all slender and phallic in their presentation.

> DANCING

Throughout the day, music will always be playing while some form of dancing goes on on the main stage. Most of the day, this dancing is thanks to the dance troupes that come in and perform, even though they've already done it at length on the parade routes. Many of the volunteers will be put in charge of keeping these dancers fed and hydrated so that they can keep at it – though they're always happy for the opportunity that the festival offers them. When these staged shows aren't happening, they have interludes where festival-goers can come on stage and learn more simplified versions of the different dances from the Earth's cultural history. Once it's dusk, there is a two-hour long dance contest where these troupes compete with one another, putting on a unique show that they've prepared for the event.

> WRESTLING

The other event that goes on all day is an event borrowed from Korea: ssireum. Multiple people enter this wrestling contest, and thanks to the amateur-nature of it, there is little concern about who wrestles with one another (outside of age, of course). The sport itself involves two opponents holding on to each other's red and blue band called a satba. Throughout the contest, they try to put the other person down, making it so that their upper body touches the mat. There are rules set up to ensure that no one brings any real harm to their opponent, and since it's wrestling, there is no room for any dirty tricks like punching, kicking, biting or anything similar. When it's over, the person who's wracked up the most wins throughout the day is given a sash that declares them "The Most Powerful."

> SAFEHOUSE

Located under an abandoned hover-bike garage, access to the safehouse is a hatch in the floor beside a rusted set of metal shelves that used to hold tools and supplies. The immediate area is similarly abandoned: full of rundown and dilapidated warehouses and forgotten businesses, where numerous people squat in hopes of having some stability because they can't afford a place themselves. 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 safehouse is a large space with multiple rooms for storage, with the largest of the rooms 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.

◉ There is a mini-bar set up in the kitchen. The quality of the alcohol inside is akin to what someone might get from the well, but it's well-stocked.

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

◉ 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 NOVEMBER 09 (JUNE 17). 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 NOVEMBER 09 (JUNE 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.

As a note: all new characters arrive after the parade ends.

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 June calendar rundown for a look at things happening this month, as well as some additional notes from the mods.

As a note to the entirety of our playerbase, we are at 58 players, which is 2 players away from our game cap! This is very exciting for us as moderators, especially as we quickly head toward our one year anniversary! There is a very good chance that this will be our last "full" arrival log for a while, though we have plans (and ideas!) in mind for future months.

As a reminder, AC for new characters accepted in June 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 July 1 at 12 AM UTC and close on July 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

↳LET'S PRETEND WE’RE AT COSTCO

[ by this point Alex is use to Gaby’s scrolling message, it took her an embarrassingly long time to clue in that this was the heralding of a new wave, but technology wasn’t really her thing to begin with.

white scrubs

Where had she heard that before? It would be highly inconspicuous to try and get them to the safe house without drawing attention. But the small mason jars filled with delicious (and real) looking food sparks an idea. She quickly buys a few and cradles them in her arms.

She has a plan. When she stumbles on a new displaced she'll hand them over and explain they are now undercover sales people.

After all, don’t chefs wear white? It might be a solid enough cover, she hopes. ]

↳ EVERYTHING IS PHALLIC

[ Well, that certainly is a penis. Alex is watching the parade go by while eating some sort of grilled food on a stick and really wishing she had bought something different . Her expression is… not impressed and chewing rather mechanically. Not exactly what she wanted to see during this stressful but also exciting time (because this is her day off and that counts for something.) ]

Really? There’s children here.

[ a slip in her usual mild manner. Maybe Alex has more underlaying sour thoughts than she usually lets on. Especially since yet another person offers her one of those popsicles. It’s going to be a long day. ]

[At first, Eiji thinks the woman might be mistaken. (He takes the jar anyway, not knowing what else to do.) It's possible to believe he's someone else, though he's not sure when he's in white scrubs and clearly wandering.

Then it dawns on him she must be pick-up, and undercover instructions are accepted without disagreement. He wouldn't disagree regardless, but he especially won't disagree now.]

Okay. [Doctor Chef and his miraculous pickled jars.] Are you...?

[Look, he has to be sure he's not being kidnapped for the second or third time.]

[ When Alex considers the fact that the other members of the Displaced have come from highly specialized backgrounds; spies, doctors, leaders of civilizations, her plan seems too overly simplistic and silly to really be proud of. Or realistically be a success. But she’s hoping in this case that a thin veneer of confidence is enough to pull off a successful pick up.

Luck is on her side this time, as the boy seems to be willing to cooperate. But not before dropping the important question.

She has the ‘no one, really’ prepped and ready on her tongue as an answer, but stops herself. ]

I’m Alex. I know the… I received the message too.

[ She motions to the jar in his hand ]

Something is odd this time. If you’re alright with it… follow me. I can bring us somewhere safe.

[ Which is obviously going to be easier said than done in the crowd. ]

[Alex's plan is so very valid, especially in Eiji's book. He's like her: there's no double-dipped in extensive combat, in stealth, in commanding, in engineering. He can barely even hold a gun.

This place? It works. It's so simple it works, and it seems to work pretty smoothly.] Oh... [The message. What she says is so cryptic he can't be sure it's completely for him, but considering the circumstance.

Considering what else he doesn't have to lose...

Slowly, he nods. If he gets there, and it's not right, he'll worry about what to say then.] Okay. I... Nevermind. [He'll save the questions for there.]

What did you mean, "something is odd this time"?

[ He has a question, she can tell that much, and Alex realizes for the first time how used to dealing with straight forward assertive people she's become. The hesitation and second guessing in his voice is something... well, something she herself would do. When she arrived she had wanted answers, but it had been so overwhelming. A lively festive atmosphere is not the best place to be told about mysterious organizations and forced experimentation. ]

Please follow me over here.

[ Alex leads him towards a side street, less people, a little more litter and dirt than the main street, but quieter. ]

You don't have a disguise. It's almost... [ like whoever the kidnappers are wanted someone to notice this time ] It seems like someone is trying to cause trouble. I wonder if there's a goal.

[ Not that any of that will be welcomed news and maybe very alarming ]

[At first, Eiji intends to, for some strange reason for him, try to skirt out of going with Alex. He had been told to "have fun," like an issuing command, but then she gives one of her own, even if it has the bookend of a please.

Oh.

There's a hard urge to do as he's told, and he feels as if he should be worried about this. His legs move without much forethought, and he joins Alex together on the side street.] Disguise...? [The scrubs definitely aren't one, yeah.]

I'm sorry, [Disbelief.] has... this happened before?

[ The command isn't intentional. Not in the least. Just a simple knee jerk reaction to how frightening the deviation from the normal routine is. She's only half aware of the fact that the drugs have the mind controlling like power. After all, no one she encountered her first night had asked anything of her. She had done all the selfish requesting.

His simple question snaps her back to the moment. ]

I-- Yes. To all of us.

[ How vague that answer is is completely misleading. Alex corrects herself. ]

There's a small portion of us. Different from the rest of this world. This is a... different dimension.

[ That's the first time she's ever actually said those words out loud in a serious tone. She's an idiot. ]

It's... it's true. I'm not a crazy person. I swear.

[Well, honestly... he doesn't have a single reason to doubt her. Maybe if he were still in New York--he's not, is he?--or if he hadn't been dazed and hauled out of a van.

Raising a hand, he waves it softly, dismissively.] It's okay. I believe you. [Logically, it feels like he shouldn't. His heart, though? He knows, as wild as it sounds, she isn't making it up.

There's too much earnesty in her voice.]

We'll... You can tell me as we go.

Well, take it from me—it's nothing I haven't seen before. [That's because Riku is a teenage boy rather than anything else. But still—even if he's not technically a kid, he's close enough when it comes to their ranks. He knows that he's among the youngest, and nothing about that is going to change.

For what it's worth, the few kids who are around? They don't seem to mind, and their parents aren't keeping the popsicles from them.]

I get the feeling that they have, too.

[ Well, acknowledgement from a child-- scratch that-- teenager that he's taking this better than she is is very embarrassing. She tries to hide a little behind her street food, which in retrospect, is not all that unlike the popsicles in its stick shape. Help her. ]

I... I guess it's... Yes, it's a natural. But--

[ She just imagines Nina's sweet face seeing one of these and it makes her face burn in embarrassment for someone not even here. ]

I guess... I'm old fashion. It's just a shock.

Trust me, after the ferris wheel last month, this is nothing. I made sure Sora and I cleared out of there before it got too—[Uh.] Well, you know. [They are Disney children at heart, so avoiding some of the raunchier aspects of the holiday was important.]

Maybe it's better that they're used to it. I dunno. [Riku is just accepting this as a Quirk of This World. He's not used to standing around in awe. That's not his style.]

You don't have to be okay with it.

Ferris wheel... what does that...?

[ Alex had completely missed most of the Halloween festivities, but from what she's gathered they had held certain elements that were "interesting". She has a vague idea of what a ferris wheel is, it wasn't like they were regularly being set up in the streets of her city, but she cuts her question short after thinking about it for longer than a second. An excited atmosphere and an exciting new addition to the cityscape? She can only imagine what kind of challenge that unintentionally asked of the more adventurous members of society. After all, she dealt with more than her fair share of those kind of clients in the past.

Swift change of subject is on the horizon! ]

Oh! You're Sora's friend from the network conversation. [ He had seemed very sensible during their quick chat. How he is handling this makes a lot of sense.]

It’s um, good to finally meet you.

[Riku's not sure about what part of the ferris wheel confuses her, so while his mind goes one way, hers thankfully goes the other. No part of Riku wants to explain what a ferris wheel sexual encounter seems to be while standing this close to a penis monument.

Really, he's glad that Sora goes around and makes sure he knows everyone so Riku has an in on conversations.

And ... detours around certain conversation topics.]

Which one are you? Uh, sorry. Sora tends to know ... everyone. Did we talk before?

[ Alex can’t help and laugh at that, the thought of Sora’s earnest and grinning face, zipping around to talk o whoever is in sight. She only met the boy once but it was enough to make the image concrete in her mind. ]

Yes, I got the impression that he is a bit of a social butterfly.

[ a bit might be an understatement]

I am Alex. I suggested the story writing. Or just the possibility of such a project! If you decided you don’t like it, that is fine too!

[ enjoy this nervous wreck of an adult, sorry ]

No, I definitely liked it. [Meanwhile, Riku is the image of calm, smiling easily and standing up straight. He makes sure to not draw his gaze over to the popsicles, realizing that this conversation may be better spent away from.

That.

Not may. Definitely.]

I'm sorry I haven't submitted one yet. I'll try to get it to you soon. Sora's, too.

Oh, the wait is fine. I don't mind at all.

[ Let conversation give time to the heat to melt the damn things and be gone. ]

I just thought that it might put a fun spin on learning. My brother never much cared for lessons, but he liked stories. A stack of papers isn't very interesting. Although, I guess that doesn't count since it's all digital now...

I think it's easier when you can take what you've read and use it somewhere. It beats wondering about it, because you already know. And a story—well, every story has a lesson, doesn't it? Or do I have that all wrong?

[It is very possible that Riku has the wrong idea on that one.

Unfortunately, the more they talk, the more likely they'll have sticky hands.

Ah, well ...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

ARRIVAL LOG 011

alex benedetto | open

costco

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

phallic

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject