ARRIVAL LOG 004

[larkers]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: New Amsterdam
WHEN: Night of August 05
WHAT: The fourth arrival
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Coercion and loss of autonomy. Further notes at end of log.

> ARRIVAL LOG #004

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, bright sunshine and the rushing sound of a crowd flooding in, a heavy wave of warm air. The nurse moves to stand at the back, checking each passenger over one by one just before they're helped out of the vehicle, quick and methodical. He doesn't climb out after you, moving to sit as the last passenger is unloaded. The guards keep their heads down. Their actions are quick, firm, but not entirely unkind. Once all the passengers are out, they climb back into the vehicle and close the doors. The engine powers up again, and then the bus is gone. You're left alone in an alley, with no idea of where you are or why you've been brought here. The sound of the crowd nearby carries on uninterrupted. Music, chatter and laughter, the occasional sound of a large splash into water. At the end of the alley opposite to where the van left you, the street opens out to a wide artificial river. Gathered on the banks, on several boats across the surface and in the water are hundreds of people: a giant pool party under the blazing summer sun. ◉ Though entirely capable of independent action and thought, new characters will find themselves completely, unquestioningly compliant to any verbal statement which could be taken as a command or request.

> THE PARTY

The message from El comes the same as previous: insistent, not waiting for any active attempt to open it. Scrolling within your vision as if being written while you're reading it. Who's ready for bus #4? Looks like they want you to have some fun this time, they've dropped them off right on top of the river party. Someone get down there and find them before they fall in, please. The New Amsterdam River Party is a near annual event, scheduled for whenever the heat begins to really climb. Located roughly at the middle of the river's length, six large boats take anchor, blocking any water commute for the day. Smaller boats move between them and the river banks, taking any passengers who'd prefer not to get wet back and forth. The area is decorated for the occasion, with several huge palm tree and mermaid sculptures curving over the river, flashing in alternating neon colors. Curling strings of bright lights are strung between them, dangling low and promising a truly flamboyant light show when the sun goes down. For the moment the the focus is fun under the sun. Colorful floats, balls and slides are strewn across the water and banks, with a wide array of water pistols, balloons and slings available at stalls. Beach umbrellas offer shade along the banks, and music blares from the boats, where food sellers have booths and tables to feed the crowd and provide plenty of cool drinks. Lifeguards take posts, watching everything with careful eyes, and large, marked stalls declare themselves to be skincare centers, handing out free sunscreen and reminding everyone to regularly reapply, especially if they've been in the water. In all the colorful, skimpy swimwear and sunglasses, six bewildered people in white scrubs are sure to stand out. Hopefully the citizens are having too much fun to care, but with such attentive lifeguards and event security around, it would be best to find the new arrivals in the crowd as quickly as possible.

> THE 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. ◉ While there were previously also NPC occupants of the safehouse, natives to New Amsterdam, these people have now been moved on to somewhere safer. A few of their belongings remain, discarded or accidentally abandoned. ◉ Gaby will make it clear to all new arrivals that if they have any requests or queries, they should contact her or El. ◉ 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 AUGUST 09. 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 August 9 (November 16). 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 any questions or ideas about how you'd like to get your character involved in the world, or if they'd like to join Morningstar, 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 November calendar rundown for a look at things happening this month. As a reminder, AC for new characters 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 November 20 and close on November 27. 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

Comments

[fledges]

[Oh, cute. Kate grins back, grabbing a bowl and a ladle and scooping some out for him.]

It's chili, except there's no meat, so I'm using a soy substitute I found.

[She hands it over, wiggling her eyebrows.]

Before you tell me how it tastes, just consider that I totally could have thrown grasshoppers in there, and I didn't.

[You're welcome!]

[preceded]

Wouldn't grasshoppers have solved your meat problem?

[Not that he could say he would have found that the most appetizing, but it's certainly an option. He takes the bowl carefully, the last thing he wants to do is accidentally brush up against her fingers, or burn himself on the bowl.

Mostly though, the former. He's managed to avoid it, for the most part]

Either way, I appreciate it. [Beggars can't be choosers, confined to a space like this, without any currency to speak of]

[fledges]

[Kate wrinkles her nose.]

There's no way I'm eating grasshoppers.

[She ladles out a bowl for herself, then sits down at the table, nudging the chair beside her with her foot. The chili itself isn't bad—just very spicy, and heavy on the beans.]

I'm Kate. I'm guessing you have a lot of questions, so I'll do my best to answer them.

[preceded]

No? Even if becomes our only food source?

[He's pretty sure that the Earth would rotate backwards before that would happen- but he's not above grossing her out a little at the idea. If only because it's so much easier to think about at the moment, than to start parsing every little thing that's different from the place he just left.

Gotham might not have been anything close to Paradise- but it wasn't short on the basics]

Dick. [He sits down when she pushes the chair out with her foot, sending her another quick flash of a smile in thanks, and after setting the bowl down on the table, scoop up a generous spoonful, so he can carefully start to blow on it and cool it down. As an after thought-] And yes, I'm serious.

Thank you. I'm going to start with with the obvious, how long has it been since you showed up here?

[fledges]

[Kate laughs, raising her eyebrows at him.]

I wasn't going to make fun of your name.

[Because that would be pretty awful.]

I got here with the last batch. About three weeks ago. There are a lot of people here from... similar versions of Earth.

[preceded]

I didn't quite think that. [He might have- there's two kinds of people- the people who like to crack every phallic joke in the book, and the people who are just too surprised by the idea of it, in this day and age, to actually believe him.

He'll respond to his full first name if he has to, at press or charity junkets- will use it on legal documentation- but he won't abide it in long term use] It's nice to meet you- even if the circumstances are less than ideal.

[Satisfied that he's not going to burn the roof of his mouth, he takes a bit of that chili- and his eyes widen briefly. It's not that it's bad, it's just that he wasn't expecting the heat. He coughs a little and then chews as quickly as he can, with his fist in front of his mouth, until he can swallow it down.

Jesus, Kate. ] You, uh- you sure like your spice, don't you?

[His grin's a little more crooked, more sheepish] It's...Good.

[fledges]

[Ugh, he needs to chill with that smile. She's not prepared for it! She just grins back, clearly endeared.]

It's a new kid hazing ritual. Probably

[That's absolutely and obviously a lie.]

So, where are you from?

[preceded]

So three weeks is about the time I'll stop being one?

[On one hand, in the grand scheme of things, three weeks is nothing. He's been worlds away from Earth for much longer- but that had been voluntary. On the other, it's far too much time already.

There's a bit of a frown to his face, that quickly smooths over at the next question. And he notices that smile is working for her- so he's just going to keep that charm turned on, there]

Gotham. At least, that's where I was before I was here. And you?

[fledges]

[She jabs her fork in his direction, eyes widening.]

Gotham!

[So many Gotham kids.]

What is it with me and running into people from Gotham? I need to start pinning numbers on you. And I'm from New York.

[preceded]

I heard there was a few of us around.

[So he's not exactly surprised by the recognition. It's not that far from New York, and even if Gotham doesn't quite exist as is in her universe- any of the multitude of people from their pocket of the multiverse could have introduced her to it.

It's just- rather noncommittal. At least until he finds out which ones had clued her in- and how they'd gone about it]

Not a bad system. Only- how are you planning to navigate it? Order of arrival? Or the better company?

[fledges]

Hafid gets the number one spot.

[She says that automatically, with no real consideration. Then, in a teasing voice, she continues:]

I guess the rest of you will just have to impress me. I'm not above being bribed with food.

[preceded]

I can't say I expected that.

[Of all his family members- Damian often finds it the hardest to relate to other people, especially if he doesn't have to do so in front of a crowd- or if he has to be genuine about it.

But he's glad- if it's true]

I'm afraid you've come to the wrong brother, if it's bribes you want.

[fledges]

Why didn't you expect—

[And then Kate processes that second thing, and she blinks at him, eyebrows going straight up.]

Wait, you're Hafid's brother? What?

[preceded]

[His eyes widen a fraction. Somewhere between startled and amused. And you wonder why he wasn't expecting it?]

Yeah. You don't see the resemblance?

[That's terrible. They're all adopted. There's a bit of a pause] He's not the only sibling that I have here, either.

[fledges]

[She shakes her head, amused.]

Malone, right? Jeez, how many of you are there?

[preceded]

[....]

...Right.

[What the fuck, Jason, honestly. He shakes his head slightly and angles for some more of that chili- he'll be honest, but without much detail.

He doesn't know his secrets aren't really secrets anymore, sorry Kate] A few, not all of them are here.

[fledges]

[She hums thoughtfully at that.]

Big family, huh? Are all of your siblings as pretty as you?

u deserve this icon

[preceded]

Mm-hm.

[It's softly hummed, non-committal. He can't say it's bigger than it used to be- even if it's true, and likely would have continued to expand, if Bruce stuck to pattern, if he hadn't-

Well. He wasn't the only parent Dick has lost, and his family is an ever shifting landscape because of it. He has regrets- but he's not sure he would change it either. It'd be difficult to make that choice- when he wishes he could have everyone, equally. The old family and the new]

Are you- wait. What?

[He can honestly say he never would have guessed the conversation would head in this direction]

BLOWS KISSES

[fledges]

[Kate laughs, clearly amused.]

Sorry, was that weird? It was probably kind of weird.