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meadowlarklogs2019-08-10 02:17 pm
ARRIVAL LOG 013
WHERE: New Amsterdam
WHEN: December 5 (and a little of December 6)
WHAT: The thirteenth arrival
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Coercion, loss of autonomy. 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. Your eyes are heavy, hard to keep open, but in the glimpses between slow, dark blinks you see two people in front of you: one dressed in a thick set of armor, while the other wears medical garb. Out the windshield in front, there are many tall buildings—all reaching up beyond a normal city skyline, all entirely too close for the vehicle itself.
You realize there is one other next to you. Both of you are in white scrubs and a bright yellow raincoat, hair recently cut but at different stages of growth, and held in place by a simple seatbelt. However, thanks to the IV dripping into your arm, it seems that there's no real need for more than that. 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 lowers from its height and comes to a stop inside of an alley, tall brick walls surrounding where you are. Before either individual in the front moves, one begins to speak. It's the one in armor—she shifts and begins her spiel: "You have very specific steps you need to follow. First: don't look for cops. Don't do anything that would get you arrested. That means murder, theft, or even assuming you won't be spotted doing either of these. You will. Oh, you will. Second: wait for some pals to show up. Ask them to prove you have the glow. And then go with them. You can enjoy the parade if you want." Her hand reaches to push the door open, then she briefly pauses. "Ah, right. The other thing. Tell them I didn't know that the lost ones weren't really lost. I made a mistake." There is a rumble of sound in her throat, and then she gets moving. The nurse joins her, reaching in on each side to pull out the catheter, covering it with a quick bandage.
The guard begins to guide you out after that. Your limbs feel wooden and heavy, slow to move. There is a sound of rhythmic instruments in the distance. The nurse checks your vital signs, murmuring for you to stay put. All of these actions are quick and firm, but not entirely unkind.
After the nurse is done, he nods toward the guard and heads back to the driver's side. The guard joins him. The engine powers up again—soundless against the musical sounds just off in the distance—and then it's gone.
You're left alone in an alley in a mysterious town with a lot of futuristic appearances. Around the corner, several low flying vehicles scoot by, covered in bright lights. A constant jingle accompanies each of these vehicles. It seems that you've been dropped off in the middle of a parade, and for some reason, whoever's released you genuinely thinks you'll be noticeable in all this mess.
◉ 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.
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.
Just in time for some holiday cheer, we've got new arrivals who've been dumped out near the Sinterklass parade. Just two of them this time, so I'm sure a few of you can find time in your busy schedules to go grab them.
Never passing up an opportunity to go big, New Amsterdam calls upon any and all traditions that it can for Christmas time. That means the citizens of this fine city have come to celebrate multiple December holidays, with the first being the most traditional for the former Amsterdam: the Feast of Sinterklaas. All of the city's decorations were set up by December 1st, with bright, colorful lights dressing every building in the central part of the city. Christmas trees line the streets one by one, with a drop box at their bases prepared so that citizens can offer goods for charity. These trees are artificial, with simple and classic white lights and silver and gold tinsel. By time Sinterklaas Eve rolls around, everyone is ready to participate in some true New Amsterdam merriment.
Sinterklaas Eve begins with a boisterous parade that cuts through New Amsterdam, completely indifferent to the steady fall of rain. This parade is garish and full of technological wonder, with the floats designed specifically for this event year after year. There are no repeats, with all three of New Amsterdam's big corporations sponsoring the creation of these marvels. These floats have a lot of moving parts, and each one seems to tell a story of Christmas throughout history, with a few taking a guess at Christmas in the future when humanity is happy and settled on Mars or Jupiter. Any of the Giles Bell floats will be slowing down the procession, ensuring that they give out as much food and clothing as they can (and later reports state that this is thanks to the intervention of Joseph Lynch). Interspersed throughout the parade are many calls for volunteers and assistance to help New Amsterdam, as well as a number of dance troupes and musical acts.
The big man himself brings up the rear of the parade. Dressed in all red, Sinterklaas takes his sweet time to show up on a beautiful white steed. In reality, this steed is a hoverbike designed by the engineers at Pulsar. For the past hundred years, these engineers have worked to ensure that this horse is nothing less than real seeming. Once Sinterklaas lowers his steed to the ground, it walks and gallops like a real animal. The only thing this mechanical beast doesn't do is leave behind a trail of messy droppings—and you better believe that there are debates online about whether it should do just that.
This year, the parade procession ends at New Amsterdam's Stadium. Just outside of the stadium, numerous people have left a single shoe with a carrot inside, inviting Sinterklaas and his horse inward. Sinterklaas makes a show of picking up a few shoes, tucking them away, and "feeding" a carrot or three into his horse's "mouth." After this display, he proceeds inside of the stadium, the clopping sound of his horse sent through the entirety of New Amsterdam for all the parade viewers to hear. Now, it's time for Sinterklaas Eve festivities. Given the jam-packed month, this is a one-day affair. The Feast of Sinterklaas is meant to be shared with loved ones, and even the most commercial pushers of New Amsterdam agree with this notion.
> PARADE VIEWING
Given the massive amounts of rain coming down in New Amsterdam, watching a parade is less than practical. Numerous businesses open up their doors for the event, allowing people to purchase spots for their viewing experience. The mid-range floors are the best, and they run for the highest prices. If someone's not able to pull enough cash together to get in to one of these businesses, many restaurants around the city project the parade onto their walls from several angles, ensuring that New Amsterdam citizens can enjoy the parade in a better venue. Most of these locations come with their own catch: someone's gotta buy something if they want to stay. Otherwise, a lot of people stay home and watch on their walls with family, waiting out the parade to partake in the festivities afterward.
> CHRISTMAS MARKETPLACE
Opening on December 5th and closing on January 1st, the Christmas Marketplace is a long-running tradition brought over from Bavaria. Every year, these marketplaces set up shop in the Stadium, lined up in rows. They open bright and early every morning, closing around nine PM every night. The marketplaces are organized carefully, with prepared food on one end, kept away from any hand-tailored wares (as the location can sometimes lead to a drift of smells). Just about everything is sold here: cosmetics (both makeup and for someone's cybernetic), tattoo work, pottery and ceramics, jewelry, Christmas ornaments, clothing—and more. None of these businesses are large, typically choosing to sell their wares online in the offseason. While some of these owners prefer to stay small, others hope that they'll be noticed for their craft and brought in to a bigger corporation. Work of this sort is highly competitive.
> LAST MINUTE GIFTS
A long-standing tradition in Sinterklaas is a gift based around humor. Just inside the entrance of the stadium, there is an arts and crafts center with a lot of ridiculous items for someone to make gifts. Leftover socks with holes in them? Several cups of grasshoppers? What about shoelaces? Stale cereal? The station itself is meant for the most ridiculous of outcomes, and despite everything, it's a rather busy part of the event. Prospective artists may need to wait in line to put together their precious design.
> THE SINTERKLAAS POETRY CONTEST
Where would the future be without a social media contest to spice things up? Starting on December 5th and running to December 10th, there will be a Sinterklaas poetry contest. Admittees are asked to make a post on Cooltalk, this world's Instagram-like social media platform, with the tag SINTERKLAASMIRACLE2019 with their submission to the contest. Any ambitious poets will have to write a poem for a recipient, and then tag that recipient and the contest tag. These poems are meant to be varied, and there are three separate categories: Sentimental Poems, Comedic Poems, and Lewd Poems. Only users 18 and older can enter the third category. Any submissions will get bonus points if they can get the recipient of the poem to make a video reading their poem out loud. Winners of this contest will receive 500 credits, and their poem will be featured in some way on one of the 2512 Sinterklaas floats. Users can only submit to one category, so choose wisely!
(Submissions and additional details will be in the OOC information below!)
> BAKED GOODS
While there will be the usual array of food stands and varieties of alcohol available in the marketplace, the truly standout part of Sinterklaas is its baked goods. These baked goodies are not limited to the Christmas Marketplace, as numerous bakeries around the city drop their usual menus in favor of the holiday delights. These treats are very traditional in nature: pepernoot, speculaas (sometimes filled with almond paste), banketletter (filled with almond paste), and figures made out of marzipan. Some bakeries attempt to replicate the taste of chocolate and put out chocolate coins and chocolate letters, but many people in New Amsterdam agree that they just fall short.
> CHRISTMAS TUNES
Even in 2511, musicians still try to strike gold and put out a record that will be sung for years to come. Many of these musicians fall short. This year's offerings include a tasteless tune called, "The Kaiju Ruined Christmas!" Put out by Fred-Er-Reek, the New Prague native makes light of New Amsterdam's recent plights. Despite insisting that his song was written long before the November EMP, Fred-Er-Reek refuses to walk back some of the song's harshest lyrics. Fred-Er-Reek has a history of releasing songs like this, and has a following of annoying fans that attack any naysayers of his music on Cooltalk. There are a number of websites that keep up with his current celebrity beefs. Thankfully, most of the other offerings throughout the years are more pitiful and a bit bland. The good news is that Whitney Houston had put out a holiday album, and most people have defaulted to putting it on repeat.
> SINTERKLAAS VERSUS KRAMPUS
To wrap up Sinterklaas Eve, a rather dramatic show ends the day's festivities. This show gets the same attention as the parade, and it's shown in nearly every frequented business. The show itself is a rather acrobatic staged fight between Sinterklaas—who's definitely a younger, fitter version of himself compared to who was seen earlier in the day—and the evil, dastardly Krampus. While Sinterklaas is good and pure, Krampus threatens to destroy the meaning of the holiday season as everyone knows it. Casting and preparations for these shows begin every January, with the staging itself unique to the year. This year, Krampus takes on a more reptilian appearance, reminding New Amsterdam citizens of their recent struggles. The show itself is an hour-long, heavily choreographed fight. Parkour is a large part of it, as well as special effects to make them seem as if they're moving in either slow motion or very quickly. This year's fight ends with an amazing display of pyrotechnics as Sinterklaas rides his steed into Krampus and blows him up. As the show goes on, there are various different broadcasts. Some let the show play without commentary, while others have commentators who either treat this as a real bout or provide "director's commentary," giving running interviews with the show's designers as it plays.
> THE FEAST OF SINTERKLAAS
Once Sinterklaas Eve comes to an end, it's time for the big day itself. In the past, many gifts were delivered on Sinterklaas Eve. Almost all businesses close for the Feast of Sinterklaas, giving people time with their friends and family. It's time to exchange gifts, eat a lot of good food, and watch mediocre holiday movies. For anyone who's unfortunately out of a home this Sinterklaas, Joseph Lynch and Elin Zepatka have bought out numerous abandoned warehouses around the city and quickly brought them up to code. These locations will offer buffet style food and a warm place for people to sleep that night. If someone is squatting elsewhere, they're welcome here, as these buildings offer proper circulation of air, heating, and a lot of wonderful blankets.
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. Gaby is back at the safehouse now, 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 the two newcomers 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. For the season, Gaby has also set up a large metal container full of mulled wine. Anyone's free to take some home if they'd like.
◉ On The Feast of Sinterklaas, Gaby will bring in several large containers of food. There are potatoes, devilled eggs, salads, candied carrots, roasted brussels sprouts, as well as a variety of breads and baked goods from the local bakery Eerken's.
◉ 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 DECEMBER 09 (AUGUST 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.
Welcome to our two new characters! 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 DECEMBER 09 (AUGUST 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.
In order to submit to the Sinterklaas Poetry Contest, reply to the Sinterklaas Poem Submissions thread below! To get an idea of what a Sinterklaas poem is, follow this link, this link (under point 8), or this link. Along with the IC contest, we'll be rewarding the winner for each category with 30 DW points. Submissions are due by September 15th! Thank Tona and Kira for inspiring this part of the arrival log, since they very clearly wanted to write IC poems!
There is also a Sinterklaas party that is open to everyone! That log is here. Only Faith and Silena will not be able to attend, as they won't be available just yet. Feel free to tag in and thank Jenna for putting up the traditional party log.
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 August calendar rundown for a look at things happening this month, as well as some additional notes from the mods.
We will be posting our OOC Event Planning Post for our August event on Monday, August 11. In addition, we will need to delay our setting update to the end of the month because of some complications in the mods' lives.
As a reminder, AC for new characters accepted in August 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 September 1 at 12 AM UTC and close on September 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.
safehouse
Truthfully, he's not surprised to see someone try to slip out. It's not the first time someone's done it. It won't be the last, either. He's sure of it.
Once she heads toward the hatch to make her way out, he looks thoughtful.
And then he finally speaks:] That won't work for you. You'll have to make it through one of us.
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You think you could take me?
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He smirks in response.]
Right now? You'd have to beat me and a door that's locked tight. Even if I didn't stand a chance, it'd still stand in your way. [A beat, considering her lack of logic.] But I don't think you're thinking clearly enough to beat anybody.
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He's one of those. A great many of the Displaced, as Poe called them, seem to be. Goody-goody types who just want to do the right thing. Stalwart. All white hats, taking up arms to bravely ... well, do not much of anything. Keep her locked in this place, from what she can tell.
She bares her teeth. ]
You don't know anything about how I'm thinking.
[ She draws a step closer, her ill-fitted boot sliding across the concrete floors. ]
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But go on. Try to get out. [He lifts his hands up in the air to show he's going hands off.] I'll stand right here and watch you fail.
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[ Because certainly, if she's trapped in here, his attitude is making her ache to put the hurt on something other than herself. It'll at least left off the steam that's building up the longer she's stuck in here, pacing like a caged animal. She wants to disappear. She hadn't been able to fend off Poe's kindnesses, however drearily delivered. But she wants to get gone, and fast, now that all is said and done.
She's not cut out for this sort of thing. ]
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[If she's going to fight him, all she has to do is lunge at him and make a show of it. Riku isn't interested in a fight, but he's down to handle it if things go that way. Again, he can't help but have that tiny bit of competitiveness in him from his youth.]
I'd try the door first. Then if I'm wrong, you don't have to waste your time with me.
[Unless she's stalling? He looks at it and then back to her, expectant.]
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Many would say she is, but she's not. Aversion of a fight after she knows she's feeling weak and vulnerable and pretty damn un-Slayer-y has nothing to do with the fact that she slowly searches his expression, then lets her shoulders slump, dropping her hackles, and backing up towards the door.
Hell, if he's gonna let her, there's no sense in not trying. Some part of her still imagines he's wrong. Some part of her is still convinced, even now, that she can just grab the door and yank it open with all her considerable Slayer strength and forget any of this ever happened.
She'll be free and clear and indentured to no one.
That's not what happens when she pulls on the door. ]
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The remarkable part is where there is no judgment in his gaze. He doesn't think less of Faith for trying to get out of the bunker. Being trapped somewhere sucks, but he's learned patience. The fact that she tries the door instead of picking a fight and avoiding it says a lot. To him, it seems like she either wants to prove something or wants to hold on to hope or—something. It could be any number of things. It helps that he doesn't know her.
Instead, he stands still. Silent. Waiting. No arrogance, even feigned to get under her skin. Nothing like that. He's not that kind of jerk, not anymore.]
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She grabs for his throat. She doesn't mess around. If she can, she tries to steer him towards the door, because Faith operates best when she's slamming people into things, and she thinks maybe that'll make her feel a little bit better. Stress relief. Slamming people around does it best.
But she's not as strong as she once was, that's for sure. ]
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They're about halfway to the door when that happens. Riku's strength isn't diminished by being here: that doesn't depend on keyblade stats, and the dude's biceps are huge.]
Ask next time.
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Instead of knocking her back this time, Riku just turns out of the way at the last second, letting her move past him. Time to play whack-a-mole with Riku.]
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[ Faith's miss only fuels the fire of her anger. She throws her arms out at her side, then takes a swing this time, skipping right over trying to persuade him into anything and stepping right up to trying to get what she wants out of this -- and the only way Faith knows to get what she wants is violence. ]
You scared? Come on, hit me. There's only two ways this goes: either I'm out that door, or I go down.
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[All too confident. It's somewhat feigned, but not entirely. Riku knows (feels) he has the upper hand.]
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At least he learns quickly?]
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And all that comes across is a flurry of chaotic emotions: the kind of anger that grows out of fear, like a trapped animal; hate, but not for Riku, for herself; frustration that should be strong enough to bring tears, because she's powerless -- she feels powerless. She tries to bear down on him, growling out through her teeth, because all she can feel is the stomach-dropping feeling of recognizing a mistake, and well.
Faith knows how to tune that out by now. She lives with that feeling all the time. It barely breaks the surface of what's going on in her. ]
Open the door.
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His hands move out, pushing her sharply off of him.]
Stop it. You have three more days. That's all.
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[ Faith growls through it, fear pitching her voice up to keep it from being too authoritative. ]
I'm out. Somebody else can take my place around the campfire while you all sing kumbaya and togetherness.
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[ She shakes her head. ]
Not interested.
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[Okay, these are probably not "helping words," but they come out anyway. And ... well, Riku will own them since he said them.]
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You think you know me? [ Never mind the hypocrisy. ]
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