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

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Ben.

[ Her voice is softer now. She does grab his arm, now, but safely where his sleeve covers the skin. Only once he's stopped in the midst of the crowd does she look around and recognize maybe the middle of a crowded festival isn't the right place to point it out, but after shifting her gaze around to a few strange faces, she decides not to let it bother her.

The crowd shifts them back and forth. ]

If I'd woken you up to say goodbye, I would never have made it out the door.

[ There's no mistaking the fondness with which she says this. Whether she attributes that fact to his appetites or hers isn't really the point. It's the truth. It was true on the Supremacy, and it's true now. ]

( her fingers wrap around his wrist, and he pulls her close, against his chest, his other arm slung loosely around her lower back.

they haven't been that close since that night. pressed tight and practically sharing each other's breath. his eyes linger briefly on his mouth as if debating throwing caution to the wind and kissing her right there.

instead, he contents himself with holding her, his fingers pushing into her hair ㅡ longer, now, though it's still got some way to go before it's back to its previous length. )

[ There's a familiar hitch in her breath. The startled sound of someone who hadn't been expecting intimacy, who doesn't quite know what to do with it. He's warm, wrapped around her. Solid. Rey finds herself aching for the kiss that he doesn't complete.

Instead of closing the distance herself (she's keenly aware of how she too had resisted contact and why), she shuts her eyes and leans into the way he smooths his palm over her hair. It's a buffer between their skin. Safer. She eases into accepting the touch, like getting used to hot water. ]

Ben ... [ His name comes out simultaneously yearning and wary. Accepting this seems to implicitly demand that they disregard all of its complexity. The doubts that she had run from in talking with Daenerys are catching up with her. Shunting them aside, she wraps her arms stubbornly around his middle and turns her cheek against his sternum, a firm and possessive embrace that's almost comical for how stiff and unpracticed it is.

She seems ready to say something else. Then, her stomach growls. ]

Go. ( and for all there is a reluctance to let her go now that she's there in his arms, warm and responsive as he remembers, he knows better than to get in the way of rey and her first love.

getting her to take a break, to eat, had been at least part of his original plan. )

Get something to eat. I'll be here, waiting.

[ Rey draws back to get a look at his face. She's not sure what she's looking for there. Just...evaluating. But she knows what she's looking for when she finds it--assurance that it's the truth. He'll be here. She is starting to get comfortable with the fact that she can depend on that. ]

Yeah. [ A quick nod and she's off. When she finds out the food is free she switches from a one of everything approach to trying to figure out what she really wants to try, and as soon as she has a small meal's worth, she heads back to Kylo. It's not as much as she normally eats, but she's keenly aware there are others who need the charity more.

After all, she's been one of them. ]

Have you looked around the festival yet? How was the parade? I could barely see.

Colorful.

( the parade, he means. the floats themselves had been a rather remarkable sight, leaving him wondering just how long they had taken to build — and where. with space being at such a premium it was difficult to imagine that they were building them out in the open much less in someone's backyard. )

There's another smaller parade happening later. ( he'd heard mention of it as he'd gone looking into the eating contest. ) Something to do with— ( a wave of his hand, casually dismissive. ) promoting fertility.

Yeah, well.

[ Rey snorts. It's not really a laugh. Not enough air comes out, and her smile isn't wide enough. But it's there. ]

Hands where everyone can see them, all the same. Apparently, their festivals can be misleading. [ She shovels food into her mouth at that time, then gestures to her plate in consideration. ] Probably just about fertility for the plants, yeah?

( she sounds disappointed and it's then that he decides they're going to find this second parade, that she'll watch it from his shoulders if necessary. he inclines his head, an invitation that she follow and begins to walk in the direction of the stalls he recalls from earlier. )

I don't think it's quite that simple. ( certainly from a cultural perspective, it stands to reason that different groups would have different ideas of what the word meant. of how best to celebrate it.

she might get a better idea of what he means the closer they get. the decorations shifting gradually from ears of corn, flowers and pumpkins to something a little more risqué. )

Oh.

[ Rey's eyes go wide and at first she averts them, looking thoroughly uncomfortable with the display. Then she glances aside and notices no one else is acting like it's grossly inappropriate, so maybe she should try to blend better. She clears her throat. ]

Oh. [ She sees now. She sneaks a peek, slowly lifting her eyes, a sheepish grimace on her face. Then she glances over at Kylo from the phallic display and notes with dry humor-- ] ... It might actually be bigger than yours.

Just a little. ( he allows, mouth curling up at the corners in a smile that, though brief, is definitely there. )

The ㅡ ( a wave toward one of the sculptures as they pass, shining pink and surprisingly accurate, ) decor is meant to be from the same continent as New Tokyo.

( one of the vendors had helpfully supplied him with the story behind their festival. and perhaps he should have warned her ㅡ he had certainly been alarmed at first ㅡ but that would have deprived him of seeing her reaction, pure and untainted by expectation. it's more than worth it. )

Really? [ The pleased look she's been wearing since catching that smile melts away and she surveys Kylo, then the scenery. For a moment she looks thoughtful, then -- ] I must have been sicker than I realized if I didn't notice cocks everywhere.

[ He's referring to the rest, she assumes, but it's worth making the joke. Up ahead, there's a banner for an-- ]

How do you make a contest out of eating?

Perhaps they only bring them out for special occasions.

( there's doubtless a joke in there somewhere. one that he wouldn't think to make deliberately but stumbles upon, unwitting, as seems to often be his way with most sorts of humor. it's not that he lacks it, per se, but there has been painfully little to laugh about in recent years. )

Why not find out?

( since there's more than one contest running, it seems. he'd seen several advertisements earlier and while he hadn't thought to sign up for any himself, it occurs to him now that, actually, this sort of thing might be right up rey's alley.

that he'd also get to see her consume her weight in phallic confectionary is just a bonus, really. )

Edited 2019-06-28 18:44 (UTC)

[ Rey approaches the stall boasting the flier, and the owner, grinning, reaches down into a cooler to get an ice pop for her. When Rey starts talking about paying him, the owner dismisses her with a throaty laugh, 'That's not what this is about.'

The ice pop is, of course, long and slender with a mushroom head. Her eyes bug slightly when he passes it over, but she holds onto it all the same. At the same time, he explains how to use their implants to go online to vote for their favorites.

Spotting Kylo at her side, the stall owner grabs one for him too. 'We hope you'll come see us sometime,' he says. ]

Are they all like ... this? [ She doesn't know how else to frame it. But she's visibly perplexed by the popsicle's shape, and the stall owner just laughs at her. There's no answer. Just a laugh. Like she should be used to this. Which, well, is a sort of answer. ]

Apparently.

( he shouldn't laugh; he shouldn't, but he does: a soft, huffing sound that is accompanied with a slight shaking of his head. )

You were eager enough to try your hand at the real thing.

( hand. mouth. he thinks he's being incredibly clever, doesn't he? even going so far as to press the ice-pop to his lips, as if to prove a point. the flavor is unlike anything he's tried, recently ㅡ unlike anything he's tried at all, but if there's anything several months spent in new amsterdam has taught him it's to be open to new experiences. )

[ For a moment, Rey's jaw falls open, slack with offense. She scoffs.

But she doesn't really have more than that. Because, well, she had been eager, and even if he's teasing her for that, it's not going to stop her from being eager again the second time. So she doesn't have a good rejoinder. ]

That's a good look for you. Mouth full. [ This is what she ultimately comes up with, if only because it means he can't sass her. Then she licks the popsicle. It's a rose flavor. Little hints of lemon, maybe rosemary too. She's surprised by how simultaneously herby and sweet it is, but actually, it's quite good. So a cursory taste turns into stuffing it into her mouth for some ardent sucking without ceremony. ]

( his response is to reach over and ruffle her hair, like this is an entirely normal thing for the pair of them. a part of him good get used to this, he thinks, just as the other part, the larger part, reminds him that that is simply not possible. that there is too much at stake to be throwing it aside for the sake of his own wants.

but he does want.

he wants desperately. and figuring out what to do with that is something that has been slowly consuming his thoughts. something he pushes aside, now. forcing himself to be in the moment instead. to feel the sift of her hair through his fingers, to catch the hitch in her breath that's shock that might give way to laughter or some bark of offense. )

Edited 2019-06-29 23:57 (UTC)

As I recall, I wasn't the only eager one.

[ Which is the closest she'll come to a dig at him, but she's faintly prickly with defensiveness. He had, after all, discouraged her from her eagerness. She's hard to take seriously, though, with her short hair fluffed by his hand. It's long enough for the top half to be tied up now, but just barely.

It's harder to take her seriously when she slurps on the popsicle again, twirling it in her tight lips to suck off a layer of ice. ]

Hey. [ She looks distracted by a pair of people moving through the crowd. Shaved heads. Geometric tattoos. ] I keep seeing those designs around. Do they look familiar to you? [ The symbols are from the shrines, but she can't place them. ]

I did, didn't I?

( there's something almost rueful in how he says it, like he can't believe he was ever so foolish. it had been a night of learning, though. and as he watch her lips close over the popsicle's head, he thinks that perhaps he won't be so quick to discourage her going forward.

but then she mentions designs and his head twists, catching sight of one of the volunteers. the tattoos, in particular, catch his interest. )

The one with the interlocking circles look familiar. ( it takes him a moment to realize why, that that same design had featured prominently on one of the shrines he'd seen at the riverfront. )

I feel like I keep seeing those designs everywhere.

[ This is why you can't bring her into public.

She beelines for the tattooed volunteers. They're not the only ones, of course, but now she has confirmation that it's a recognizable pattern. In a moment, she's engaged with the two men. They look excited to see her, which is ... strange.

If Kylo follows quickly enough, he gets the highlights: ] What are those shapes? [ To which they answer 'proof of God in this world.' Rey balks and looks between them. ] How do you figure? [ And they set about explaining the geometric patterns. ] I know I've seen these before ...

( it's that phrase "proof of god" that plucks at him, his thoughts turning to — ) It's the shrines, yes? ( the question is directed to one of the men, who nods, smiling; it's a smile that reaches his eyes, warm and genuine. )

We've had the good fortune of seeing one or two — just the smaller ones, of course. The larger ones always see too much traffic. ( or are being bought and sold on whatever market traffics in such things. something he doubts the original artists had intended. )

It's very beautiful work.

[ Rey smiles, looking at Kylo briefly in a way that seems to seize upon yes, we're using this conversation to learn as much about them as we can. ]

Yours? [ 'No,' one laughs, 'The ones we have set up are less remarkable. But we know some of the artists. You too, right?' He gestures between them. 'Markus? Do you know him?' ]

Ah, yeah.

I worked with him briefly on one of his projects. Not a shrine, unfortunately— ( because if he'd known about that he would, perhaps, have been better equipped to engage these men in conversation.

as it stands, he makes a note to follow this up at some point. markus had seemed interested in learning what he could of alderaanian botanical art. perhaps this could be used. ) but he's very talented.

( a wave to one of the men's sleeves, a particularly large design wound around it in shining lines of ink. ) Is there a particular meaning behind each design?

[ Rey, meanwhile, is a little awestruck by Kylo Ren being an onion with many new layers even now. She lets the man finish explaining the meaning: the shapes are found in nature and history, and are representative of a religious belief for them. These particular shapes signify interconnectedness. ]

I didn't know you made art.

[ She blurts it out, and the man who'd just been explaining laughs. That draws her attention back towards him. Right. ]

Did you say religion? [ Her brow furrows. ] But the people you've been drawing ... [ 'Yes,' he says. 'It's an honor to speak with two of you personally.' ]

I don't, generally.

( not for years, in any case, and only if you'd consider having lovely penmanship an art. but, now's not the time. he picks up the thread where rey leaves it, head inclining. )

Every god needs an avatar. ( a guess, but an educated one. if the gods are sleeping then they'll need someone here to act as their representatives, to see that their will is done. in a sense, the force wasn't that different. the sith and the jedi each standing in as the voice of their respective sides. )

[ 'Gods,' says one of the men. To hear them tell it, there are seven, all of whom were involved in its creation. But it's more about respecting the natural world. ]

Funny place to live if you have a love of nature.

[ But then, there's no living outside of the megacities anymore, is there? ]

We also follow a religion that's concerned with the natural world and its balance. Do you have a temple somewhere?

[ They shake their heads — if Rey and Kylo want to participate, they know where to find the shrines. ]

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ARRIVAL LOG 011

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