EVENT 023

[sticksandbonesmods]

TAKE ME BACK TO NEO EDEN

CHAOS IN PARADISE

The more problems get solved, the more others start to pop up. Sure, some heroes saved the children in the manor — who are no longer children — but those siblings are now comatose, and the manor is on permanent lockdown, black briars blocking every possible entrance and Corrupting anyone who tries to get in. Sure, some sneaky hopefuls hid a magic circle to help maintain the fog barrier (and keep the Forest out) in a secret location, but now the magic in the Grove feels off. Your spells come out more powerful as intended while the world is out of balance, and it seems like they will for some time.

Maybe in your haste to fix all the Grove’s issues, you forgot about a certain skeleton spirit who shows up every April in some attempt to help you cheer up. Perhaps you remembered, and were hoping he’d arrive. Either way, Mr. Bone-Jangles clatters into the Grove in broad daylight, waves hello to those of you lingering in the centre of the Grove, and snaps his phalanges.

Immediately, a magenta-coloured, swirling portal opens up underneath your feet, and your friend’s feet, and that friend’s feet, until most of the centre of the Grove is consumed by it. Those of you on the outside, free of the portal’s reach, may witness it: everyone caught in it gets pulled into the rift, Heimr and Ydalir and Mr. Bone-Jangles included. In the next blink, the portal is closed and they’re gone, leaving behind flowers where each of them fell.

For those of you who got caught in the portal, you’ll find yourself at the entrance of a city, where a sign reads: WELCOME TO NEO EDEN.

4 C0LD W3LC0M3

Trying to turn around and walk outside the city causes your nose to crinkle as you slam facefirst into an invisible barrier. You can see other buildings outside this barrier, natural as a landscape could come, and yet you can’t progress. The skies are a somewhat odd purplish-blue, though you can’t tell if that’s because your eyes are straining against the bright neon of the city lights or not. Underneath the arcing city sign, a police car labelled “NEO EDEN P.D.” passes by, the robotic simulacra of human law enforcement inside giving everyone a friendly wave before it keeps driving, seemingly having come from beyond the barrier and thus warping into the space, as far as your eyes can tell anyway.

Mr. Bone-Jangles helpfully guides you further into the city, past the holograms of normal humans in neon-glowing techwear going about their business. They don’t respond to anything you do or say, seemingly on a set path, living their daily lives. The city is packed enough to be claustrophobic, cars and holograms rushing past, a stark change from the small-town vibes of the Grove. Those of you who fish in your pockets as you wander will find that your magic notebooks have been replaced with cellphones, and all prior notebook correspondences are there, as well as any new ones. The cellphone does nothing other than connect to group chat, but this one is clearly cooler — you can send emojis, stickers, and GIFs without drawing them.

…those on the other side, however, are getting each GIF drawn out frame-by-frame in the notebooks. Please don’t spam GIFs at your friends.

Additionally in your pockets is a small plastic card — a debit card, for those of you who are familiar with them — containing 1,000 Credits, the currency here. You didn’t think your shells would be useful, did you? Simply tapping the card at any facility that takes payment will subtract the necessary amount… but 1,000 Credits isn’t much. It’s enough to buy a thousand candy bars, but unless you’re frugal, it won’t last you the month. Luckily, it looks like every store on the nearby shopping strip is hiring! From restaurants to clothing stores, to empty buildings that you can make your own business out of… surely this capitalistic nightmare will be tenable!

The lack of animals is noticeable as you head further into the city, toward what signage says is called “Mania Square”. The birds, instead of being your typical Grove plantanimals, are robotic. There’s a severe lack of any pests despite the garbage in the alleyway dumpsters — no bugs, no rodents, no raccoons. Mania Square itself contains a fountain big enough to swim in, the centre focal point of the public plaza, but Bone-Jangles hooks a sharp left and leads you to the apartments instead. Up three stories are small studio rooms for each of you, your names written on the door placards in your own handwriting, and the insides are customized to your exact preference already. A notice pinned above your kitchenette tells you rent is due by April 30th… you hope you aren’t here for that long.

4R3N’T Y0U H4V1NG FUN?

Despite the standard day and night cycle, some of you may notice this place still doesn’t feel quite right, a bit outside of time. That shouldn’t stop you from having fun! And should you need to go back to the Grove — or if you’re someone looking to get into Neo Eden in the first place — you need only to gaze into a mirror placed in each of your bedrooms or apartments and wish to go home… which may lead you to fall catastrophically through it to the other side. Try not to hit your chin on the ground.

Life goes on regardless. In this city, there’s a lot to do. You could go shopping at the strip mall near Mania Square, where Heimr and Ydalir have set up a temporary shop to continue to provide for everyone’s needs. They’ll still take shells, but there’s nothing much they can do if you run out of Credits — both will gently suggest you find work in Neo Eden. You guys own businesses back at the Grove, it can’t be that bad, can it?

The good news is, Mr. Bone-Jangles and his entourage of skeletons who you swear weren’t originally here 12 hours ago are happy to help you get a job, where the interview process involves simply “showing up and asking your holographic boss if you can be employed”. Starting your own business is more difficult — you’ll need a loan from the bank! — but not impossible. Any hologram humans that come in to buy things will ignore you, get what they want, and leave. The only time you can interact with your fellow neon-coloured humans is when they’re making a purchase, at which point their items will digitize and they’ll leave. All very odd, but at least the customers aren’t rude to you… or your skeletal coworkers who have joined you for back-breaking labour.

After work, perhaps you want to head to the amusement park — Thrill Point is an utterly massive one to the far northeast of the city past the river that cuts through the digital roadways. With drop towers, roller coasters, rides for little babies who hate heights and fun, and tons of food stalls to stop at, you could feasibly spend all night here and almost forget that you have to be at your next shift in the morning! If you seek a different thrill, Arcadia is a nightclub southwest of Mania Square, where the music plays all night, the liquor flows freely, and anyone under 21 who enters gets marked with an X on the back of their hand by a harmless laser beam. Just outside Arcadia is a small photo booth named “The Swap”, and if you enter with a partner, both of you hitting the “TAKE PHOTO” button will bodyswap you for 12 hours. It will also print out a funny photo of you as a keepsake. Enjoy being someone else for a while!

Head to the Rent-a-Ride, where you can rent any vehicle on wheels — electric scooters, cars, motorcycles, hoverbikes — as long as you can pay the expensive fee. Speeding will get you a ticket from your local robopolice; breaking standard civilian laws will get you arrested and thrown into the unmanned city jail. And try not to tailgate or crash your ride — not only will you be on the hook for vehicle damages, but you’ll be shafted with a ludicrous hospital fee. Seriously, people live like this?

But, if a calm walk through nature is more your style, City Park and its digital trees to the north may suit your needs. The fish in the river here can be fished up by hopeful anglers, though all are wiggly, inedible robots. Hm.

WELCOME BACK

By April 30th when your rent is technically due, a text message goes out to everyone’s phones… and consequently the notebooks, too, from two different senders:

REMINDER: YOUR RENT IS DUE TODAY! PLEASE PAY 3,000 CREDITS OR FACE EVICTION.

DONT WORY. I WIL RESKYEW U

The messages from the second sender will get slightly more ominous as the day goes on.

GRAB SUMTHING U WANT 2 TAKE WITH U
I WIL REETORN U HOM

HAS ANY1 SEEN MY WIFE
FOWND MY WIFE :)

R U REDY 2 GO?

By evening, hopefully you’ve grabbed something to take back home — something you can feasibly carry without a struggle — because a portal is yet again opening under your feet. In a split second, you’re back in Aldric’s Grove, holding whatever you came with, your cellphones reverted back to notebooks. Mr. Bone-Jangles is nowhere to be seen, but he reappears a few hours later to hand out personal apology notes to everyone reading: “SORY, TRIYD 2 SAV U :(“ before he and his merry band mope back into the woods. He hopes you had fun while you were away.

Next time anyone heads out into the woods, all seems normal… minus the amount of fungi that have started to sprout in absolute droves across the forest floor, unwilling to be torn up from their roots or killed in a way that matters.

Spark Notes

summary

Chaos in Paradise: Mr. Bone-Jangles is back and here to kidnap you to a new location. This is a cyberpunk-esque city known as Neo Eden. No, he does not ask if he can do this first.
4 C0LD W3LC0M3: Further in Neo Eden are your apartments at Mania Square, where rent is due by the 30th. Your notebooks have been turned into cellphones, and you have a debit card with 1,000 credits on it for your shopping expenses. Seems like you'll be here a while.
4R3N’T Y0U H4V1NG FUN?: If you need to move to and from the Grove, there's a portal accessible in everyone's bedrooms via a mirror. Here, you have the freedom to do whatever you want: Rent a car, ride a roller coaster, get a job, start a business - the city is your oyster!
WELCOME BACK: And then all of a sudden, the neon paradise is ripped away from you as you're transported home. You can take back an item with you to remember your time here, if you want. The forest itself has started to grow mushrooms in droves, ones that can't be pulled up or killed. Hm!

out of character

It's already April! What the heck! We hope everyone enjoys this event; please feel free to make up businesses/buildings/things to do, you aren't constrained to what's been written in the post.

updates

- A small shrine close to the inn has appeared in the Grove. Affogato's spirit is tied there, to a black raven figure carved from smooth stone.
- The spell strengthening the Grove's fog wall is buffed.
- Sinann has been powered up, and therefore can enter its human form and go on land. It will largely still be by the river.
- Suri's creations are now and forever weak to poison.
- Pearl has made a terrible rainstorm back in the Grove.
- In Neo Eden, Add has enhanced the jail and made Jail2, which has far more security measures and functions as an escape room of sorts. Please see Add's toplevel below for further details.
- Jail2 has partly collapsed due to White Lily Cookie.

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ April Plotting
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

code

Comments

QUESTIONS

[sticksandbonesmods]

[chickenchoicejudy]

Are there consequences if you try and drink at Arcadia when you have the under 21* X on your hand? Asking for someone who canonically talks his way into clubs but is also stupid and impulsive. :) He's technically legal in his country now, but not 21 yet. This is not a petition to change it, I just wanna know what happens.

[kingincognito]

please tell me the cellphones have autocorrect and voice to text

[foreversembrace]

If we are ungrateful and rude are we able to slip away from Mr Bonejangles’ city tour?

[magicalsplashflare]

Are the flight height restrictions still there?

INVESTIGATIONS

[sticksandbonesmods]

Please use the following form for investigations:

Character(s):
Location:
Action: What are they looking for? What are they doing?

<b>Character(s):</b> <b>Location:</b> <b>Action:</b>

[kingincognito]

Character(s): Joshua Rosfield
Location: Pretty much everywhere and anywhere in the city, with a focus on the actual downtown city part
Action: Joshua is going to be roaming the city, ignoring actual day to day life there in favor of treating the whole thing like a dungeon to explore. Mostly, he's looking to see if this place is in any way related to the Grove and/or if there is anything here that may be of use to their fight.

NEO EDEN MAP

[sticksandbonesmods]

please assume:
a) anything not labelled means i need you to just make it up because if i label every box in this city i will go fucking insane. you are not constrained to this and only this. please have fun. please make things up in fact.
b) the black wall is the barrier that you can't pass, my map generator only works so well
c) that i am trying my best

[succiduous]

i. a nerd starts a business

[The second the tour finishes, Gnosis veers off immediately from the rest of the group, expectedly. One wonders where the lab he's going to hole himself up in is... but worry not, because he'll find one. A shopfront for sale with ample working space in the back... hmm...

Thank God nothing here works properly, or he might be SOL for a bank loan to make this storefront his. In a few days time, the neon sign hanging above the door will read "Quantifi", and Gnosis will set to work. It'll be another 4 or 5 days before he's seen again, standing on the sidewalk in a pressed suit and with an obnoxiously neon-glowing tie (thank you techwear city very cool).

He waves you down, whether you're on the opposite side of the street from him or the same.]

Are you interested in an upgrade to your phone? I can promise it'll be totally free, if you allow me to use it as an example for my portfolio.

ii. gnosis is in his steve jobs era

[Halfway through the month, every digital billboard and display screen in the city will be filled with a streamed... tech conference? Screens without speakers are subtitled, but others out on the streets are playing sounds. Gnosis is on a stage showing off a host of new tech products, ranging from new hologram-capable phones (that are unfortunately constrained by game mechanics sorry for your lack of DMs still) to robotic assistance shaped like various small animals made to assist with daily tasks and quality of life improvements. It's very much the product of a man who got So Excited to play with the cool shit here that he just went off.

Whether you watch the whole conference or not (the holograms are clapping and cheering, WHAT is that crane DOING living his life like this), Gnosis will emerge out of a tall skyscraper eventually. Maybe he'll run into you on the way out, or maybe you'll catch him later. Either way, he offers a smile and a wave.]

Whether you watched my conference or not, [he starts, looking more energetic than he's looked in the last two years of existence,] I need you to tell my husband that I'm going to win our competition.

[...yeah of course he's doing all this to beat Enciodes at capitalism, of course he fucking is.]

...if you watched it, can I ask for your opinion on the presentation, while I have you?

iii. wildcard

[hi you know where i live]

ii.

[outofsynth]

[It had been sort of hard to avoid the presentation (there are so many screens in this city), so even though he hadn't intentionally been watching he knows exactly which presentation he's talking about.

He has no idea who this is, no idea who his husband is, and no idea what competition he means. Which of course means he has no idea how to respond. Thankfully (?) he also gives him another hook, though given he only paid attention in passing he feels eerily similar to the way he did when he thought he was about to flunk a test in school.]

It was good?

[That should probably sound less like a question.]

Till | Alien Stage | OPEN

[foreversembrace]

[OOC: I'm putting my TLs in dropdowns for Till because they all got a bit long! Please mind the warnings, thank you! <3]

A) 4 C0LD W3LC0M3 | The Barrier | OPEN
cw: PTSD, panic attack, references to human slavery, vehicle crash/broken bones (Im sorry theres a lot)

[All of that wonderful progress Till had been making to no longer be as anxious to go outside is erased almost utterly within an instant, the very moment the portals open up under their feet and they're brought...someplace else.

Neo Eden, though certainly different from the world Till called home all 21 years of his life, is far too similar to the alien world he'd lived in. It's similar enough that even just being here, surrounded by neon city lights, towering buildings and structures, and the feeling of overwhelming claustrophobia ignites a panic response in Till that completely overwhelms him pretty much instantly. What happened? Where am I? Did I go back?

He looks down at himself, placing his hands on his torso. Tugging on the edge of his tanktop. He catches his reflection in a nearby window, and he sees that he's fully dressed in the costume he was meant to wear for the next round.

...

Rooted to the spot though he is, he doesn't miss the robot drones that hum ominously as they hover past overhead, making up the security force that exists in this city. It doesn't matter that the humanoid holograms exist to make it feel slightly more normally populated, because they had this technology and far more back home. It wasn't uncommon to see holograms set up in the windows of adoption facilities of the specimens inside, after all.

As Mr. Bonejangles starts guiding the others on a tour of the city, Till...does not go along with them. Anyone perceptive enough to do a quick headcount might realize that he was there one moment, and gone the next. He's suddenly nowhere to be seen.

The next hour is a blur. He runs through the alleys between city streets, doing his damnest to stay hidden from anything that might spot him and take him into custody. As it turns out, the little snail he'd adopted from Silverash ended up with him, currently stuck to his back like a living backpack and purring violently in an attempt to calm him down...ineffectually, but boy is he trying. With no tour to give him the lay of the land, no information regarding money and housing or anything similar, Till is left pretty much in the dark as he tries to figure out how to escape...and if so, where to. But with enough wandering, Till manages to locate Rent-a-Ride...and not knowing that he even has the funds to rent something, he finds the smallest motorbike he thinks he can get away with and steals it outright from the facility. He doesn't look back, even when he hears sirens blaring in his wake.

Till does not make it far. However long it takes to drive to the nearest barrier, really. Given that Till had no intention of stopping (and he is NOT driving this bike well at all, he's nearly crashed it several times already), it's only thanks to his pet sensing something up ahead being off and choosing to disrupt his owner's drive by quickly slorging up his shoulder so he can- what else- put his blobby head in his face. It results in Till losing control of the bike and spinning out, the bike falling onto its side and skidding a considerable distance after throwing Till off first. The bike, uh. Hits the invisible wall and fucking explodes, sending up a nice little fireball that anyone could easily use to track his location. Including the police, oops!!

But there's some time before they get here, given that Till was massively speeding anyway. It's likely his blurry mugshot of him hunched over the bike with his scarf pulled up to his nose is flashing up all over the city as it is, and they've only been here...maybe an hour? But having escaped before, Till at least manages to drag himself into a nearby alley to hide himself as the bike burns and he waits for the inevitable, because with his left leg broken like it is, there's no way he's going to escape.

Fuck. Fuck! Fuck!!

He pushes himself back against the nearest wall, heaving as he struggles to catch his breath. It's hard for him to tell exactly if it's due to the pain, anger, or panic that he's started crying, his teeth grit as he sucks in painful sounding gasps to try to mask it before giving up and throwing his head against his knees. His little snail reaches out his paws and climbs back up onto his shoulders (he managed to stay stuck to Till this whole time somehow), holding on and purring in his ears.]

B) 4R3N’T Y0U H4V1NG FUN? | The Barrier...2! | OPEN
cw: ACAB, more PTSD weee

[Whether someone else finds Till first or not, the law will catch up with him eventually. Between the theft, property damage, and eventual hospital bill he's going to have, he's going to be severely in debt within like...a single day, but it's fine. He probably needed something to force him to get a job, right?

He's alerted to the fact he's not alone when his snail- who he's named Jibang- starts to rumble and hiss against the back of his neck, prompting him to startle and lift his head just as a few of the robotic members of the police force storm into the alley to apprehend them. Though Till immediately tries to get up and run, he's sent tumbling to his side the second he puts any weight whatsoever onto his bad leg, not being given time to lift his head from the ground from there as his arms are forced behind his back and cuffed. It's not an unfamiliar feeling, his eyes darting around wildly as he feels someone pull Jibang from his shoulders as they place the snail in some sort of containment bubble for confiscation until Till can be processed (he will be fine he will Escape). He'll be taken to the hospital first given that he's still broken and bleeding from more than just his leg.

He's ready to just accept his fate, his shoulders and head sagging forward as he's pulled up to his knees, until he feels something metal and heavy snap closed around his neck.

Then, it's as if something possesses him in that moment as he thrashes against the metal hands holding him in place, trying to kick, and bite, and do anything in his power to rip himself away. And if he can't manage to do that, he'll just start to scream, because his brain can't think of anything else to stop it.]

C) N0 3SCAP3 | Apartment Complex | OPEN
cw: Disassociation, suicidal ideation (are we having fun yet?)

[A few days...maybe even a full week passes. It's all once again a blur for Till as he disassociates his way through most of it. His hospital stay, the prison sentence. In the end he's let off with a hefty fine and community service after spending a few days behind bars, and more money he doesn't have to spend. He's eventually released from his cell with a cast on his leg, thousands of credits in debt, and his pet snail.

...

For a while, he merely wanders the city aimlessly. He's exhausted. Hungry, despite being fed bland hospital food to keep him alive up until this point. He has no money and more bills than he can afford, and all he can think about is how he wishes he hadn't survived the bike crash. He doesn't even want to go back to the Grove, he just wants to not be here.

Jibang's gentle rumbling in his ear keeps him sortof grounded, at least enough that he doesn't wander back to the barrier again. He's pretty sure he's being monitored now that there's another fucking collar on him, so he can't really go where he might be perceived as causing more trouble. He's not sure how he even ends up there, but a building with a hiring sign in the window eventually coaxes him inside out of desperation. He's lucky one of Bonejangles' menagerie is in there to help him, and at this point he's so checked out he doesn't even freak out seeing the skeleton (again). He's just like oh, yeah, that was a thing.

He's landed a job in modeling, seen as the perfect face and figure for modeling the hottest new clothing trends in Neo Eden. For Till's part, all he has too do is show up and look moody, and the camera loves him for it. He's able to keep the clothing he models, so he won't go without clean clothes at least...no food though. He'll just barely be scraping by for the first little while as his image once again appears on billboards and ads, except this time he's a model, instead of a criminal.

Sometime that evening, he gets shown to the apartments by the very same skeleton (assuming someone else hasn't shown him by now) and finds his apartment, holing himself up inside to find that it, at the very least, feels...oddly comforting, if in a bittersweet sort of way. It's decorated exactly to his tastes. There are even art and music supplies in here, along with his guitar.

If you share the wall, or even hallway, with Till, you might hear the sound of someone playing guitar and singing.]

D) F00D C0URT | A Hot Pot Place, Somewhere | OPEN

[Mid-month, Till has just finally paid off all of his outstanding expenses. Getting anything up until that point had been next to impossible, so he'd basically been just relying on the good-will of others to survive until then. It's quite the humbling thing to realize that you really are just fucked unless you rely on people you don't even know if you fully trust. Especially when he knows that a decent portion of the people who came along probably hate his guts, deservedly so.

He doesn't really know what to do. He doesn't feel comfortable enough here to just...explore like many others have, but staying permanently at the apartment isn't an option unless someone regularly brings him food, which shouldn't be expected for a grown ass man anyway. He has to leave eventually, bringing Jibang along in the hood of the hoodie he modeled last week. He can't get rid of the fucking thing, he'd claim, even though inside he really doesn't want to leave without the little guy. The fact he's on constant alert for dangers and hisses if anyone unfamiliar comes too close and makes Till Upset has been...helpful.

Eventually, he comes across a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves hot-pot style eating, something he's never encountered before. The signage outside advertises a cheap sort of all-you-can-eat buffet for a single payment of 200 credits, which he can just afford on his last paycheck after paying off everything else.

And this is where he'll be for the next couple hours. Yes, hours, because as it turns out getting to just...sit somewhere warm and inviting and eat good, comforting food is the most healing thing a person can do for their brain. It helps that it's pretty quiet in there and not too terribly crowded with soft music playing, so he's able to fully zone out and focus on putting ingredients into the soup, occasionally plucking something out with chopsticks to pass back over his shoulder to Jibang's awaiting mouth.]

[OOC: OOC Plotting comment here!]

C

[menophesto]

[ Mephisto has... well, not had nearly as bad as a time as Till. This place is a lot like Lungmen, so he doesn't really have any personal feelings towards the place. Just a general distaste to being somewhere new again, but he's mostly been going with the flow of things, and largely on a metaphorical leash thanks to Flamebringer. Though, he can't complain too much, since Flamebringer rented a car for him.

Thanks, Flamebringer.

Mephisto has mostly been sleeping in said car, until he has to eat, to which he'll wander into the apartments to look for someone who's be willing to share a meal with him. Truly, it's weird to be so dependent, but he's too young to really be able to get a job, and it isn't like Mephisto would even really want one he qualified for. So...

He does stop when he hears music - someone singing. A familiar voice, even. And without even thinking, he's at Till's door for a little knock. ]

[unheiring]

i. I Don't Wanna Get In Your Way — The Well

[The sun is barely up when Luca makes his way out of the Watchtower. He’s dressed for the day, hair carefully styled and pulled away from his face. This isn’t an accidental trip, but one he’s planned out. Many around the town have probably seen him preparing over the last few days, even — whether it be gathering flowers, bothering Sesa, or even sitting down and… painting?

All that is to say, there are a number of gifts he distributes. Most of them are targeted toward Beiwe, which probably isn’t a surprise. But he knows it would be disrespectful to honor one god and not the other. And also Beiwe seems like a wife girly so… honoring her wife is to honor her, or something. The painting is set upon Ourania’s statue, alongside a bouquet of lilies. For Beiwe, a dagger is laid out, as well as a bushel of buttercups.

Only once he’s satisfied with the arrangement does Luca kneel down. He clasps his hands together and, for the first time in years, begins to pray. His words meander, often unsure, but the ultimate sentiment?

Thank you for being patient with him. For protecting the Grove. And for facilitating the gift of freedom through their guardians.]

ii. But I Finally Think I Can Say — Arcadia/The Watchtower, CW: Alcohol

[Luca, like so many others, is whisked away to the new world. Neo-Eden is about as headache inducing for him as any other temporal fish out of water. The only advantage he has is being used to the technology around the grove, but of course it doesn’t compare to what can be found here.

It doesn’t take him terribly long to find his feet, though, and only a bit longer still before he’s found himself a job at Arcadia. He takes notes on every new drink, writing out long ingredient lists and mixing methods. He even does research on the more futuristic aspects. Unfortunately, because nothing seems keen to travel back and forth with them, Luca eventually resorts to sending them as messages. So you know. Enjoy that.

It’ll take a few days, but eventually anyone who comes to the Watchtower will see why it was so important to send. Luca returns home, and after a few trips here and there, comes back with a number of ingredients for some fresh cocktails. There’s dry ice, glitter, and a lot of bright and vibrant colors. There’s also this thing? Uhhh….

Good news is that he’s offering free samples, so feel free to get your weird fuckin’ drink on, I guess.

Whether he’s in Arcadia or at the Grove, he can’t exactly serve things without trying them. And with all he has to learn and create, he’s trying a lot. It won’t be long (like… embarrassingly short tbh) until he’s hiccuping and swaying. Someone might want to help him home.]

iii. That The Vicious Cycle Was Over — The Shopping District

[Ultimately, Luca makes more money than he cares to spend, especially knowing that he can make his way back to the grove for any essentials. One night, he finally decides to splurge a little. The clothes in this world aren’t exactly his style, but he still tries a few outfits on. Maybe some fashion advice might help?

Eventually, though, he finds a tattoo parlor. He goes back and forth with himself, warring as to whether or not he wants anything. It doesn’t take too long before he winds up in a chair. Though he makes a few faces along the way, it’s a small piece and he’s used to pain, so it ultimately winds up being a non-issue.

In the end, he winds up with a pair of black birds along his forearm. Thanks to whatever enhancements this world has, the two fly around one another, a delicate spiral as they make their way up and down his skin. If he sees anyone looking at him or the art, he holds his arm up with a shy smile.]

It isn’t that bad, is it?

iv. The Moment You Smiled At Me — Anywhere

[Your friendly wild card option!! DM me or hit me up on Discord to plot something, or just throw something my way!]

ii.

[succiduous]

[The text messages got his message, so he's briefly back in the Grove for now. Not quite for the liquor, but as Gnosis sits down at the bar:]

Have you figured out how to make any of those cocktails non-alcoholic yet?

[Also hi]

[bajamutblast]

i. The Whites Of Your Eyes — Forest’s Edge

[With the snow finally, definitely gone, Dion gets to work on the plan he and Joshua had discussed. A fresh sachet of seeds is retrieved from Ydalir, and Dion sets to finding their new home. He knows better than to go too far into the forest, but he also doesn’t dare let these particular flowers propagate within the town itself.

If anyone takes an interest in his work, he’ll explain:]

They are flowers from my home. Beautiful, but deadly, they have a great many uses around Valisthea. Perhaps that will remain true here.

[When he finishes, a note is carefully penned into his notebook, a warning of what’s to come.]

ii. Turns Black In The Low Light — Around Neo-Eden, CW: Cybertrucks, Alcohol

[If Dion thought adjusting to the Grove was difficult, the sheer amount of technology in Neo-Eden proves to be almost dizzying. He does his best to duck away from the headache-inducing flashing lights, only to find himself in Arcadia. The pounding music doesn’t help much, but alcohol? That might do it.

He’s more than happy to consume whatever smoking, color changing drinks are sent his way, swiping his card without a care. Not once in his life has he been short on money, so why would he worry now? He will absolutely offer to buy anyone nearby a drink while he’s at it. Feel free to drink on someone else’s dime!

Needless to say, he’s significantly poorer by the time he stumbles out of the club, but at least slightly better equipped to tolerate the strange technology. Not that this world doesn’t test his patience all the same. He passes an odd looking… sculpture? Building? Eye sore? Whatever it is, its existence annoys Dion considerably. Still armed with his lance, he shoves it through one of the windows, then proceeds to bash it against the metal. It isn’t long until a number of skeletons join in, the group of them absolutely eviscerating the vehicle.

You’re always welcome to join in. Just make sure you’re out of there before the thing inevitably blows up.]

iii. In Turning Divine — Shopping Center, Mania Square, CW: Alcohol

[Dion is still drunk when he stumbles into the shopping district. He stares at a number of the stores, making various notes of the strange and colorful clothes, before stumbling directly into the display of an entirely different shop. He watches the screen, displaying tattoos of various different colors, styles, and movements, not unlike a child watching cartoons for the first time. As a pair of dragon claws slices through the pectoral of a male model, Dion realizes what he must do.

Which is exactly why Dion can be found outside of Mania Square a few hours later, completely shirtless. He proudly shows off the moving tattoo to anyone that passes by. Enjoy this barrel-chested, half-naked man loudly explaining to you why dragons are so cool, btw.

Or don’t. Maybe you instead find him passed out. At some point, he’d attempted to go to bed, only to trip on his way up the second flight of stairs. He clearly managed to catch himself, judging by the way his arm is pillowed beneath his head. He’s not injured, just sleepy.

Good lord.]

iv. We Tangle Endlessly — Rent-a-Ride, around Neo-Eden

[Drunk Dion can’t last forever, and we all are thanking Greagor for that. Having lost his shirt somewhere in Neo-Eden, and with money running low,, he makes it back to the Grove long enough to procure something new to wear. He still looks out of place, but slightly less so?

His shirt is never coming off, by the way. He is clearly horrified by the tattoo there. Anyone that asks about it will be promptly ignored as he scrambles away. Please don’t remind him.

After scurrying away from yet another question about his new ink, Dion finds himself in front of the Rent-a-Ride. The cars don’t interest him, nor does the malformed truck on offer. Instead, what he settles on is a sleek, if futuristic looking, motorcycle.. It takes a bit of practice to get used to the balance, but not nearly as long as someone might expect a fantasy boy to take. It feels similar to riding a wyvern might, and while it’s been years since Dion has done so, he hasn’t lost his touch.

It doesn’t take long until he’s zipping back and forth across the streets of Neo-Eden. He goes far too fast, and probably isn’t even wearing a helmet, but it feels natural to him. It’s normal, in a place that isn’t.

And hey, he’s so polite that, if he catches someone watching, he holds out the keys.]

Try it. You might find yourself enjoying it.

v. Like Lovers Entwined — Anywhere

[Your friendly wild card option!! DM me or hit me up on Discord to plot something, or just throw something my way!]

iv

[kingincognito]

[ In the time that Joshua has been here, he has mostly been exploring. He's seen plenty of vehicles, of course, but they seem a bit... loud? While he is used to flying and riding chocobos and being around Mid's various inventions, and hell, even riding on Bahamut's back once, it hasn't quite prepared him for the world of cars and motorbikes.

That isn't to say that he isn't interested, though. Particularly since Dion seems to have taken a shine to the motorcycles. It's good, he thinks, that Dion has found an interest, and so he watches fondly. They certainly seem fast...

But, when he's offered the keys, he just shakes his head with a smile. ]

I am afraid I would likely crash. Besides, I am glad to see you enjoying yourself so.

[oleaeuropaea]

i. So Let's Make Trouble In The Dream World — Around Neo-Eden

[Vash… has no reason to be driving a motorcycle. In fact, he has the most negative reasons to be doing so, considering this man can’t drive for shit. But it’s been ages since he’s seen a car, and he’s, well… Really excited! He wants to show off! He wants to be cool! He wants to —

Fall over immediately? Fall off and watch the bike go ten feet without him? Go headfirst over the handlebars and straight into the Mania Square fountain? No, not at all. He wants to do all of the above!

Watch out, because he might accidentally run into you. Or, you know, point and laugh as he crashes again. Either way, have fun. Or stop him. I’m not your dad.]

ii. Hijack Heaven With Another Memory Now — Arcadia

[Vash is clearly having way too much fun. First it was the motorcycle. Now he’s in the club, dressed in the cutest outfit he has. Yes he is wearing the skirt. Plants don’t have gender, silly.

It’s hard to say if he’s drunk or just… himself. Either way, he will loudly yell over the music, directly into the ear of anyone that so much as pauses near him:]

C’monnnnnn, come dance with me!!!!

[No one is actually given the option. They are simply dragged out onto the dance floor.]

iii. I Make The Most Of The Turning Tide — Thrill Point

[It should come as no surprise that Vash ends up at Thrill Point eventually. It isn’t just the rides (of which he gets on many and cries after most), but the food. Unfortunately for him, all of his money has been spent on other stupid stuff. Which is… why you can find him pathetically tapping his card and watching the screen blare red.]

You do not have access to that item. You do not have access to that item. You do not have access to that item.

[If he sees anyone watching him, he will fix them with the saddest, wettest of looks. His lip wibbles.]

I don’t have enough money for treats…

[Whether you help him or not, he will eventually find work for himself. You know. As a literal clown. Make-up and all. He joins in Bonejangles’ gang of silliness, entertaining anyone and everyone. Feel free to toss him a shell tip, or just buy him a pretzel and some popcorn. Either works.

Or, if you don’t… he’ll earn his own money. That’s about when you can spot him walking around with cotton candy, a candy apple with M&Ms, a K-Dog with hot cheetos, a large bag of popcorn, a slice of pizza, a burger with donuts for buns, and a large drink. Like… All at once.

If you’re caught staring, he’ll just smile and hold out his pizza. You know. With a bite taken out of it.]

Try some! It’s great!

iv. It Just Split What's Left Of The Burning Silence — Anywhere

[Your friendly wild card option!! DM me or hit me up on Discord to plot something, or just throw something my way!]

I I HAVE to tag this one

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood just so happens upon the carnage right as Vash is being thrown headfirst over the handlebars and into the aforementioned fountain. It's like watching a trainwreck in slow motion, truly.]

What the hell are you doin', needlenoggin!?

[Sorry he knows he hasn't called you that in a while but it just JUMPED out of him]

[thebladebringstheflame]

i. going for a drive

[Despite his general personality, Flamebringer does in fact know how to drive a car. Safely, too! While he's looking for something to do that isn't shopping with the limited money he has, he figures he'll go on a drive and check out the city lights one night. It's getting later into the evening, around dinnertime, and maybe he'll find food to pick up and bring back... maybe he won't, who knows.

Either way, he spots you as he's headed down the road and pulls up close to the sidewalk, the convertible's roof down and the radio blasting some kind of techno-metal-babble that's pretty horrible to listen to.]

Hey, wanna come on a ride? I'm looking for shit to do.

[Alternatively, if you are Wolfwood or Ezell, the response you get is much different. As he's driving up, he whistles, a sharp catcall cutting through the evening din of traffic.]

Hey baby! Care for a tour around the city before you get a tour around my bedroom?

[You guys can kill him if you want, you can murder him in the streets, no one has to know—]

ii. moping in city park

["City Park" sounds like a cool idea until you get to the part where the "park" is a concrete jungle of fake trees. God this fucking sucks. Capitalism fucking sucks. Like, okay, it's kind of pretty... but it reminds him way too much of how Kazdel looks, so.

Ugh.]

Couldn't even give us real plants, they just had to have neon fucking lights on 'em. [grumble grumble as he's trying and failing to pluck a fake flower from the fake grass] You think if we try to water them, they'll catch on fire?

[What— why— you're going to get arrested, can't you just do something normal like feed the fake fish and buy balloons and ice cream from the hologram lady parked at the side of the road? Go down a slide? Ride the swings??]

iii. fight club

[In the seedy underbelly of Neo Eden is a very, very illegal fight club that you're not supposed to talk about (apparently). Somehow, Flamebringer finds himself here... and boy, he makes hella cash doing it. He's racking up credits faster than any old retail job could possibly give him. While others are out there doing "honest work", Flamebringer is punching the shit out of some people — be they corrupt robocops, holograms that are just acting the part (and really well, though he's upset by the way his fist goes through them like come onnnn), or other fight-inclined people that may make their way down here. A few of Bonejangles skeleton army are here... and man, they hit hard. Them and the robocops with the corrupt software.

They pay him for each round he wins, though he does wind up with a show of injuries for it. The holograms are easy, they act the part like they do at the retail businesses and go down; the robots are less inclined to be nice to him and usually fight dirty. Even though Flamebringer isn't sure "who" is paying him, he's having a fantastic time getting this pent up energy out.

Perhaps you want to join him in the ring for a punching match? Or, alternatively, you might catch him smoking in the nearby run-down subway station, perched on an unmoving escalator, graffiti on the walls overhead... injured to hell and back, but offering you a cheerful wave as you pass.]

'Sup?

[His nose is bleeding. And it's midnight. Flamebringer go to bed challenge.]

iv. wildcard

[hello. hi. give me your ideas.]

i

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood is NOT on his bike right now, probably because he got arrested once for speeding or property damage or causing a public disturbance or Whatever The Fuck honestly take your pick, which means he's the perfect target for getting catcalled. He flinches briefly at first when he hears somebody whistling at him because hello he will kill you, until he actually looks over and sees who it is sitting up there like an asshole in their convertible.

...okay yeah he will still kill you, but it will be less of a "I'm killing you because you catcalled me" sort of death.

He makes his way over, sauntering across the street until he's able to make it to the car, folding both of his arms on the edge of the window with a raised brow.]

Pretty sure catcallin' is illegal in some worlds, yaknow.

[eidxiety]

i. rent a ride? no. crash a ride.

[The vibes on this city are very much... uh. Eye-burning, he'll call it. Ain supposes it's a nice enough change; he gets to walk around and look at new things and be ignored by holograms. The lack of real people in this city is uncanny, but it all seems to function... and he's too depressed to think further on it. He's had A Time recently.

The thought of getting to drive a car is intriguing enough, though. He drove an airship once, five years ago — how much harder could this be? Thus he heads to the Rent-a-Ride and rents a small, sleek-looking hovercar in bright purple. He gets behind the wheel of it, aaaaand the buttons are too complex for him to immediately understand, so he reads the owner's manual in the trunk for too long to try to make sense of it. Eventually deciding it's too complicated and that he gets the gist of it, Ain puts the hovercar in drive (which makes it, what else, hover off the ground by a couple feet), leans out the window to see how high up it is, and thinks to himself: I can totally get out of this parking lot without a problem.

Unfortunately, "drive" is not "reverse", so he drives forward into the car in front of him. Just a gentle tap. Okay, no problem, so he has to back it up... and proceeds to do just that, except he backs into the car behind him. Uhhh...

If you don't happen to walk into the parking lot and see this happening, maybe you'll catch him ten minutes later, when he figures out how to get further down the parking lot, only to hook a sharp right and crash into a pole.

If he nearly hits you at any point, he's sorry.]

ii. depressing ass retail job time

[To pay off his debts accrued from being unable to drive, and also to get money to do things with, Ain heads off to the shopping district, where it's easy enough for him to find a tailoring shop to work at. He figures it's similar to what he already does, and how hard could it be to make products for a bunch of hologram people? Especially because there's skeletal staff here that seem happy to see him, and he thinks it must be hard to sew without muscles.

Unfortunately, real retail work is not at all like the hobby-esque shop he maintains. Holograms apparently have a lot of complaints. Customers in general are pretty mean, even if Ain doesn't understand what they're saying because they can't speak. A lot of them gesture or try to break things like animals in a zoo, and he is literal seconds from trying to whack one of them with his pendulum out of irritation at one point before he remembers that it won't do anything.

Grr.

To top it all off, the materials available in Neo Eden aren't at all what he's used to — there's wiring through them to power the neon, thicker fabrics that feel like trying to bend sheet metal in his hands. Frustrated one day with this job, Ain heads outside of the shop and sinks into a sit on a cold metal bench, head in his hands.]

I hate retail. Working for a living is stupid.

[This is his first retail job :( he thought it would be fun :( ]

iii. amusement park

[The last time Ain went to an amusement park, it was infested with demons. He swears he'd almost prefer that to the empty shell that is this one. The screams sound like stock sound effects from one of Mizuki's video games, and the holograms don't actually look like they're having fun to him. At least the food is good, and the drive over here wasn't that bad (assuming you drove, anyway, because otherwise both of you walked like sad schmucks without vehicles). The rides here look safer, too — the ones in Magmelia were almost certainly not, not that it bothered him at the time. Looking back, though...

Anyway, with a cotton candy stick in hand, he walks with you through the park, looking a bit more enthused than he has in the last while.]

What do you wanna ride first? Don't say the ferris wheel, because I want to do that last and I'll make you go alone~.

iv. wildcard

[you know the drill etc]

III I will be doubledipping like with FB's I'm just taggin this one first

[lupusxylem]

You're gonna leave me there? Kinda harsh...

[Wolfwood smirks as he walks along with Ain at his side, letting him hold onto his elbow as they walk. He promised Ain they were going to go on a date and hey, this wasn't exactly planned, but it's kindof the perfect opportunity for it. He can't think of something Ain would enjoy more, especially after all the stories he's heard about the demon amusement park.]

[diplomaticimmewnity]

I. Someone unleashed the capitalist and we're all suffering for it

[ Enciodes is a very charismatic man, so it's not hard at all for him to get a business going for himself. First, he rents a car, and then pays people to rideshare with people who just do not know how to drive. After that, he buys a storefront, as well as advertisement space, and within a week, "The Silverash Party Bus, Limousine, & Taxi Services" (or just "The Silverash Transport", as it's shortened) is all over the building screens and in commercials and on posters. Unci is the business mascot, and he even sells plushies and keychains of her at his storefront, as well as said transportation services.

You wanna go nuts on a party bus? They're fully stocked with champagne and music and disco balls and what not. How about a limo, to feel fancy? Or, do you just need a simple Taxi service? Silverash has got you covered.

Or maybe you're just here because you're wondering what the fuck a "celebrity endorsement" means in Neo Eden. Like? Hello??? Silverash???? What the fuck did you do. ]

II. Wildcard
Just be in my walls, I love you-

:)

[succiduous]

[So the competition is going well for both of them. Gnosis is holding tech conferences, Enciodes is making Unci into a marketable Creature and making sure no one dies in a car wreck by being stupid... but also yeah what the fuck is a celebrity endorsement, there are no fucking celebrities here? How did he pull this off.

Gnosis is visiting Enciodes' office today after one of his conferences, showing up in his suit and tie with his ID badge lanyard tucked into his shirt pocket. The second he's able to find his husband (hi, he loves you so much you're doing such a great job), he leans forward and puts both hands on the desk, and—]

Celebrity endorsements?

[kingincognito]

i. 「resonance」 - In the Grove

[ Joshua has heard of a great many things since coming here. Strange things. Fantastical things. Things he has never heard of back at home in Valisthea. But a mobile skeleton that can open portals is not one of those things.

Watching the ground swallow up half the Grove had not been easy. Particularly when Dion had been one of the ones taken, and he'd been helpless to stop it. With the ground now closed back up as though nothing had ever happened, there's no following those that got swallowed, either.

Wherever Dion had been taken... at least he has the earrings. That is Joshua's only real comfort.

But until they hear something from those that were taken, or until they can find something out, he's really at a loss, honestly. He manages to keep himself busy most of the time, but whenever he finds himself wandering, it's always back to the center of the Grove, where flowers are all that remain of the people that were spirited away.

On the first day, you'll find him seated somewhere, one of the flowers plucked from its plant with his fingers slowly twirling the stem. A leather-bound book sits open on his lap, a pencil settled in its binding, but his eyes are focused thoughtfully on the petals.

Any time after that first day, though, you'll find him in much less thoughtful spirits. Instead of the flowers, his interest is now held by the book and significantly more excited, and his pencil scribbles notes or sketches approximations of the things he's seen in Neo Eden. ]


ii. 「through the night」 - In Neo Eden

[ featuring such exciting things as wielding a sword in broad daylight and struggling with technology, plus exploring and pondering the night club and maybe spending his money on some clothes?? or something

Once Joshua does find a way into Neo Eden, it's... well. An interesting experience, to say the least. It both reminds him of the Sagespire and looks nothing like it at the same time, which means that, at first, he is most definitely roaming Neo Eden with his sword drawn. He isn't foolish. He remembers all too well what awaited them in the Sagespire.

Not, uh. Not going into the fact that he had wanted to turn right back around and go back into the Sagespire even after all of that. But that's neither here nor there.

But! Once he gets his bearings, Joshua feels secure enough to put the sword away, and that's when his urge to delve into strange new places in search of information really kicks in. He can be found examining literally everything with the curiosity of an enthusiastic tourist. Holographic people? Fascinating! Trees that aren't actually trees, but instead are some sort of construct? Intriguing! Thrill Point? ... frankly a bit terrifying, but it seems like others are having fun!

He also seems quite interested in the clothing style of this place. It's nothing he's ever seen before, and it gets a special note in his book as he stands in front of a clothing shop, peering at the displays within. Though, it's very clear just looking at him that he has no idea what he's doing in terms of fashion. There is clear interest in his expression, but also a distinct note of confusion. ]

A change of clothing may not be a terrible idea, but...


iii. 「better the devil you know」 - In Neo Eden

might someone be able to explain why this bottle of liquid stings the inside of my mouth as though it is full of angry bees

[ He has given up on trying to use the tiny on-screen keyboard that keeps changing the words that he spells out to something else entirely. He is now using Voice-to-Text. Please look forward to it. ]


iv. 「wildcard」

[ if you want to do anything different, hit me up, you know where to find me! ]

iii

[unheiring]

That... sounds like alcohol to me.
Where did you get it from?

Nicholas D. Wolfwood | Trigun Stampede | Open

[lupusxylem]

A) PR1S0N R0W | The Prison, but starting on the Network first | OPEN

[You know, this is not the first time Wolfwood has been imprisoned, but it sure is the first time he’s been to a proper jail.

Well, “proper” is a loose term, because from the looks of things this one isn’t particularly heavily guarded. Not that he’s taking any chances here, biding his time though he is…but hang on, why is he here in the first place?

Why, speeding. Obviously. But not just speeding, as Wolfwood thought it would be a smart idea to try to just outrun the cops that were following him. To his credit, he did manage to lose them once or twice in the winding streets on his motorcycle, but it was going to happen eventually that he’d get turned around and cornered when he doesn’t know the full city layout. So. Oops!

So…since he figures since nobody is going to be visiting the fucking prison of all places-]

somebody meet me down by the prison
need a distraction so i can get out

B) MAY 1 TAK3 Y0UR 0RD3R? | The City | OPEN

[After THAT little brief stint in the slammer, Wolfwood comes to quickly realize he needs money. More than he has, that’s for certain…and since he isn’t interested in being ping-ponged in and out of a jail cell, he isn’t going to start stealing what he needs. It’s very unlikely that he’s going to find work as an assassin of all things in this place, though, so…

That’s how he somehow finds himself stuck working retail. But not just any retail. It’s the worst retail Possibly Imaginable: fast food service.

He’d honestly rather be working the kitchen, given that holograms don’t? Really eat?? So he imagined he wouldn’t really have to “cook” anything…but no, he gets stuck immediately on the cash register. He’s wearing a eye-searingly neon worker’s uniform with a hat that he refuses to wear properly, looking very much like he’d rather be literally anywhere else.

In the most monotone voice, he asks:]

Welcome to Monolith Burger home of the Monolith Burger can I take your order?

C) N1GHT L1F3 | A rooftop bar, somewhere | OPEN

[With as many tall, sprawling buildings as there are here, there are bound to be a few with an accessible rooftop. This one here just so happens to double as a bar, which means Wolfwood has naturally found himself gravitating towards it. Whiskey in one hand and a cigarette between his teeth, he finds an edge of the roof to sit on so he can look at the city below as he drinks, his tail curled loosely on the roof behind him.

He doesn’t look up, but if he sees someone come near out of his peripheral vision, he’ll speak as he gestures to the city with his glass.]

You kinda miss views like this when you ain’t seen ‘em for so long. You’d think the forest would be preferable to the urban chaos, but it’s turned into kinda the opposite, don’tcha think?

[OOC: OOC plotting here!]

A) crying

[succiduous]

How and why did you already get arrested?

Stan Pines | Gravity Falls CRAU | Open

[charlastan]

A. Initial Grand Theft Drag Auto Race D (Neo Eden, Around)
[Why the hell would Stan Pines, expert criminal and con artist, buy a car? No, obviously he's going to steal one - and it turns out to be almost as easy as stealing cars from the past!

Every car he grabs is some sort of future Cadillac in a classy color like black or red, with bright neon tail lights, and while none of them will ever compare to the Stanmobile back in Gravity Falls, he missed driving a car like a maniac.

And oh boy, drive like a maniac he does. Only about have of his arrests are for the stealing - the other half are for the way he whips around corners going 90 miles an hour, or how he keeps trying to challenge the other drivers to races at stoplights, or how he's crashed into more than one robotic shrub around town - with no damage to himself, of course, but it's still "reckless destruction of property" or whatever.

But hey! He'd be happy to take you for a drive, or show you how to hot wire a car! He will (probably) be (slightly more) careful with a passenger. ........Probably.]

B. Jailbirds (Neo Eden, Prison)
[Inevitably, Stan gets arrested. You know, as you do.

Honestly, it could be a lot worse! He gets thrown in a cell, but the cell bars are almost stupidly wide and the RoboCops don't stick around as long as they probably should. The first time he gets booked Stan tests it, sliding himself in and out of the bars with little difficulty. But honestly? He could use a nap in a spot where neon lights aren't shining in through the windows. This is some city that never sleeps bullshit, and the stone bench feels kinda good on his back. He can nap for like an hour and then go. It's not like it's going to actually get harder to break out.

So when someone else turns up while he's napping he cracks an eye open and looks them up and down, before unnecessarily hazing them. You know, for the fun of it.]

So, what're you in for? Murder?

C. Scams! Scams for everyone! (Neo Eden, Mania Square)

[So apparently they do actually need money, which means it's time to get to scamming. If his family asks him if this is really necessary when he could simply open up another shop or even just go back to the Grove early, he mockingly parrots it back to them - "Is ThIs Is ReAlLy NeCeSsArY, sTaNlEy?" Let him have this! He will, however, let anyone tag along as long as they don't rat him out.

Stan is running Two Scams while they're in Neo Eden:

The first is a classic gold brick scam. Literally. Stan's spray painted so many regular bricks with some sort of neon gold paint he found and is selling them in the Square to anyone he spots with purchases, usually calling out to them first.]

Pfft! Looks like Big Credit got you! Y'know that's not even real money, right? The second computers start exploding around here you're not gonna have anything - and they are gonna explode. The only thing that I've ever learned about future worlds is computers explode into eventually. But I've got something that won't explode...

[And he reaches over and pats his pile of gold bricks.

His second scam is even simpler, and a favorite from home with a fun new twist - pug smuggling. The gold bricks are replaced with boxes that seem to have some sort of...metallic barking inside them? It's muffled by the cardboard, but Stan looks around anxiously as part of the act.]

Hey-- hey you! You look like you can keep a secret. C'mere. These puppies are real hot, y'know. Just got 'em this morning and if I can't move 'em all before midnight they're just gonna have to get sold for scrap.

[They won't. Stan will literally just sell them again tomorrow. But if you get this far, Stan might let you peek...

...and inside the box, one Robot Dog Toy looks up at you with love in its eyes.]

D. Wild card (Neo Eden, wherever)
[For your other nonsense crime needs!]

B, but sort of Wildcardy-

[magicalsplashflare]

[ Mamika has not been arrested, but he knows an alarming amount of people who have been. Thus, here she is, in her full magical girl outfit and wand, on the other side of the bars with the biggest, most worried pout. ]

Mister Uncle!!! You don't even seem a little worried about being here - you know jail's supposed to be real bad, don't you???

[psychokinesia]

[A - Crimes]

[The Grove left a lot to be desired in terms of technological enrichment. Too much talk of bullshit magic and gods, only a couple low-tech prosthetics he could spot, no cute robots... even Magmelia had more to offer him than this backwater dump. Really, it should be no surprise at all that Add has been holed up and depressed since he arrived. It definitely has nothing to do with anyone else, or his social anxiety, or any other stupid or embarrassing reasons.

But in Neo Eden? He can't take two steps without stumbling into some shiny new piece of tech. This place might as well be a goddamn paradise.

Add can be found exploring every inch of the city, but if anything is consistent, it's that he's pretty much always elbow-deep into some piece of machinery he definitely isn't supposed to be prying open. Signs and billboards? Parking meters? Vending machines? Security systems? Traffic lights? Cars? Robot animals? Holo-projectors? Delivery drones? The actual police? Nothing is sacred, all exists for him to take apart and study. He's so absorbed in his work that he won't even bitch at people for staring at him. He mumbles to himself as he tinkers, his drones flitting around him as they try to keep the growing pile of dismantled components organized on the ground.]

[B - Jail]
(cw: panic attacks, slave trauma may or may not come up, u have been warned)

[So anyway, turns out the cops don't like it when you dismantle their robot coworkers.

Bars and chains make Add more than a little antsy, so the first time in jail isn't great for him. Despite arriving drugged out of his mind, it doesn't take long for him to start pacing and rattling the bars like a maniac. Might be having a panic attack! Might actually tear the bars apart before he sobers up enough to just break the electronic lock. He's having an awful day and he's not above taking it out on his cellmate, so maybe don't push too many of his buttons unless you want to start a fight.

For the second visit on, though... it is shockingly easy to break out of jail, which makes it a lot easier to just suck it up for a few minutes and then break out again. But it's too easy. He hacks the lock one time and they still haven't changed the password? The bars aren't even that sturdy? The security in the prison is downright pathetic, he's embarrassed to think he was ever anxious about this place.

So, he still breaks out, but he skips the part where he leaves. Instead, Add goes back to his destruction-of-property crime-spree but in the prison. He's taking apart the cameras and security locks and muttering to himself, putting things back together with new parts and programming, swapping out materials, adding new features...

... after a certain point, the robot cops just kind of leave him to it?? It's like walking into a store with a ladder or a clipboard. A guy starts reconstructing prison cells and they have to just assume he's supposed to be here. If you ask nicely maybe he'll break you out?]

[C - Jail 2: It's An Escape Room Now]

[As the month goes on, there is a new layer to the prison escape metagame.

You awaken in a cell. This is, perhaps, not the first time you've ended up here, but something is... different. The walls and bars look new and shiny, covered in mysterious panels that look like they might open through an unseen method. They're also much sturdier, heat- and magic-resistant, and electrified in all the places you'd typically try to escape through. The locks on the outside? Moved elsewhere. Weapons have also been confiscated. This place is locked down, motherfucker.

But all is not completely hopeless. Should you start poking around, it's not long before a crackling voice fills the room.]

Kukukukuku... looks like my trap has caught another rat. Well? Let's have some fun with this, shall we?

[You are in a cell. There is a plain bed and a toilet here. You may also examine the barred door, barred window, the mysterious panels, or mysterious voice. What do you do?]

[D - Wildcard]

((yall know ill do whatever BlueFlewFedUQueen/DM me etc etc))

B - First time in jail baybee

[foreversembrace]

[Add just-so-happens to be plonked right into the cell that Till has already been stewing in for several hours, at this point. Add on the number of hours spent in the hospital getting his broken leg set and cast, and it’s basically been more like an entire day and some change…and the exhaustion has set in. He already had his panic attack, but having someone else freaking out this close isn’t exactly helping him stay calm, either.

But he can’t so easily get up without grabbing his crutches, so he’s just staying seated on the floor near the back of their shared cell, watching Add pace like a tiger in a cage.]

Stop. There’s no point.

[mooninthewater]

I. Neon Bites

[ Ah, Neo Eden! Where towering skyscrapers are draped in vibrant neon lights and the air hums with the buzz of technology and lights and cars, Mizuki is here... and ecstatic to be. You'll catch him in a new outfit while he's here, as well. He's excited to check everything out here, but on being told everything costs credits here, he knows exactly what he wants to do. Thus, he runs his own food truck, "Neon Bites," a colorful, graffiti-covered vehicle that serves the most delicious fusion street food. With his usual Seaborn-y twist that makes all the food look... kinda gross, actually. But apparently it tastes amazing, and because of that, word gets around. Especially when he parks himself right outside Sesa's video game store.

Every day, he sets up shop, where the aroma of sizzling ingredients draws a crowd. Music plays from the front of his truck, some variety playlist of techno, dance and punk. His food truck is equipped with high-tech gadgets, from a holographic menu that changes between seafood dishes and the vegetarian options, to a robotic server that brings dishes to those seated on the benches around.

Mizuki gives the biggest smile if he recognizes you, giving two excited waves with his hands, and gesturing to the truck very excitedly. ]

II. Fountain

[ At night, Mizuki does not stay at his apartment. Rather, he will promptly be found in the fountain in the heart of Neo Eden. He's curled up under the water, fast asleep. Y'know, like a freak-

You're pretty sure he's not supposed to be in there? Someone should probably let him know before the cops get mad. ]

III. Going home

Hi! It's Mizuki!

I don't know if anyone wants, but I could probably bring something home for you, if you'd like. I'm alright with leaving my things here. My home back, uh, home is a bit like this place, so it's not like I'll be missing much.

Also, side note, I know I was running a food truck instead of an office for therapy, but, like, you all know you can still come talk to me if you have an issue, right??

IV. Wildcard
You know where I live.

wildcard!

[lilyberation]

( at some point before mr. bonejangle's antics, white lily cookie enters the therapy building, tugging at the sleeves of her sweater self-consciously. she's never been inside before, and it's a little overwhelming...? aaaaa. aaaaaaaaaaaa. )

Mizuki...? You gave me your card the other day...?

[cryopathy]

i. there's a HORSE in the HOSPITAL
[at the start of the month, kiera seems... chill. they adapt surprisingly well for someone from a medieval world. or as well as someone can "adapt" when they're still riding and bringing their horse everywhere. yes, in the elevator of the apartment building. yes, in the drive-thru line of any of the local fast food joints. yes, even in the hospital, just like your memes.

if you happen to pass nearby, and don't know any better -- sorry, pinto grigio is biting your hair. and kiera just smiles and looks at you with... uh... both eyes. turns out the eyepatch was unnecessary for the past year and few months? don't worry about it.]

Ohhh, yeah, don't stand so close. [big smile with teeth. yes, the horse still has you in her jaws. F.]

ii. potions
[as it gets later and she Realizes Things, kiera will... degrade, mentally. the losses of the past few weeks have weighed heavy on her, and one in particular makes her realize how desperately she misses someone from back home.

at some point, she has a veritable smorgasbord of various fast food (mostly chicken and fish) laid out on a bench, and she's... mixing various sauces and spice packets into different containers? should you happen to stop by, she holds up a chicken tender box with a couple different cups of mystery sauce inside.]

Red, orange, or yellow? [entirely deadpan as she offers, no hint of her usual smarmy or overly sweet attitudes here. that chicken strip is ice fucking cold, by the way.]

iii. wildcard
[[ blease y'all know i am down for whatever. plotting ]]

ii.

[sailingfor]

[Thorns just happens to walk by at this exact moment. Not sure what kind of science she's doing, he replies flatly:]

Yellow.

[livlaughlove]

[vash has since informed livio that razlo once again popped out and back in at the beginning of april to cause a little chaos of his own. as a result, throughout the whole month, livio has an animated tattoo of generic cartoon dogs dancing. not only do they floss, but they move along his body whenever he tries to hide them, so they're always in view. he tries long sleeves, and they move up to his neck. he tries a turtleneck, and they move down to his hands. he covers his whole body, and they move to his cheeks. eventually, he accepts his fate and just goes back to his t-shirts.]

i. teddy bears for the teddy bear
[how did he end up in a shopping mall? irrelevant. what matters is that he has somehow ended up in front of a toy store called stitch-a-stuffy, in which the customer chooses an empty teddy, partakes in intricate rituals to imbue it with love, and dresses it once it's been stuffed.

there are so many options, each one hopelessly more adorable than the last.

he is on the verge of crying, voice choked up.]

I dunno how to pick. All the ones I leave behind'll be so darn sad.

⸸⸸

ii. back in the grove
[throughout the month, at least once a week, livio makes an announcement in the netbook.]

Supper at the inn. Please come get some, especially if you're low on credits. There'll be leftovers. Just look in your mirror to get back to the Grove.

[depending on the day, the meals change, but they're mostly southern comfort food meals, always with meat, a veggie side, and some kind of bread. chicken fried steak, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings – mashed potatoes, green beans, peas and carrots – biscuits, rolls, cornbread – and all their like are to be expected. always at least one thing that's filling and most people can stomach, even if they're spice sensitive or have dietary restrictions.

and yes, he is in there cooking approximately a dozen servings every time. it'll freeze, don't worry about it. if anyone dares to enter the common area, he'll wave them down.]

Come on, have a seat. It'll be ready soon!

⸸⸸

iii. calling all gays/bis who don't know how to drive [closed to ain/wolfwood/vash]
[hi. if you're dating livio, he's well aware you're absolute shit at driving. no, wolfwood, you can't escape this because you've already been arrested for speeding. it counts as sucking.

so, livio insists on picking you up and dropping you off both to and from work. he moves his own schedule around for it, and he's always on time – early, even.

before work, he has some coffee in the drinkholder and waffles in a napkin ready to go for you, in addition to a bright smile. he is a disgustingly chipper morning person.]

Mornin', hon. I packed you a lunch, too.

[and for after work, he has the car pulled around before your shift is even up. the drink in the evening is uncaffeinated – herbal tea for ain, sickeningly sweet soda for vash, and root beer with bourbon for wolfwood. (just don't tell the cops he has open alcohol in the car.) and he bakes different cookies every day, as your treat for surviving another day in dystopian corporate hell!]

How was your day, darlin'?

[congratulations, y'all have officially unlocked domestic doting husband livio.]

⸸⸸

iv. wildcard
[plotting meme]

it's for me prompt

[eidxiety]

[Ain crawling out of the dystopian fashion hellscape and getting sadly into Livio's car... he hates it here he wants to go back to his normal tailor shop. Ugh. No one yells at him at that one, why are the holograms programmed to be mean before they go back to being static and unresponsive? Is this a scripted thing??]

I hate retail. Retail is stupid.

[And he sadly picks up his tea, swirls it around in the disposable cup, and takes a sip. At least this will calm him, maybe.]

Why are the holograms programmed to come in and yell at you? I can walk through them and they don't say anything, but they get to the counter and start screaming... and then they'll just walk away! It's weird!!

Ryan Akagi | Infinity Train | OTA

[chickenchoicejudy]

A. Bright City Lights (Shopping District, first week)
[This place is constant stimulation in a way Ryan never could have dreamed of. Every five seconds something new has caught his eye.

It's not even that he's never been to a city before - he has! He likes them a lot, they're so big with so much cool shit, but this feels different. Everything's metallic and neon, even things that really shouldn't be, and there's some new digital thing happening everywhere he looks. Even his new netbook has new shiny things, and he's caught himself getting totally absorbed in looking at it all.

Unfortunately, Ryan is also money blind. They were given a 1000 credits! That's like, a TON of money if it's dollar to credit, right? So he isn't really thinking about how much anything costs and just trying every single thing he can. Right now, that something is figuring out what counts as interesting clothing here. The stores have had so much neon and metallic, and even items that fully light up, but Ryan has specific taste. He's also a social creature, which means he has somehow roped you, friend or stranger, into coming along with him.

When he comes out of the changing room of this little boutique, he's wearing red pants that might as well be painted onto him, but he's frowning.]

Ugh, I didn't think these would be plastic on the inside too...

[He picks up one leg and bends it at the knee, showing off how much they SQUEAK. Sensory bad!! Sensory TERRIBLE!!!]

Did denim like, go extinct or something?

B. Party Time (Arcadia, early/mid month, cw: alcohol, irresponsible drinking)

[There's so much to try in this weird new world during the day, but at night? Ryan has to check out all of the night life. There are drinks that glitter and glow in the dark! He's pretty sure he saw someone get a drink that was literally smoking! When is he going to have a chance to try them again?! Plus there's so much future music he hasn't heard!

If he's with Min-Gi he's a little more restrained about it - especially since they're both "under-age" by this city's standards. They still have fun! Having fun is easy together. But sometimes Min-Gi is working and Ryan is left to his own devices. And it is unfortunately so, so easy to overdo it with a credit card in his pocket and a total inability to say no to something new and shiny.

Which means sometimes Ryan turns up at Arcadia with arm warmers and red glow bracelets to try and hide the fact that his hand was marked with an X. He hates looking at it anyway - it reminds him too much of something else that used to be branded on his hand. But now he can't see it and he's basically just sneaking into a club again, like old times.

You might catch him on the dance floor, enjoying the buzz he has going and these new beats he's never heard. If you dance with him, he might even give you one of his glow bracelets! Or, you might catch him at the bar, wobbling a little bit but waving big as soon as he spots you.]

Oh my god. Dude. You haaaaaaaave to try these, lemme get you one!

[And with all the confidence of someone who totally doesn't have an X on their hand, Ryan flags whoever is manning the bar and asked for two more shots - one for his "good good good friend here" and another one for himself.]

Look! It jiggles and it's-- it's got lil stars!

[He wiggles it in his hand and laughs! Like it's the funniest thing he's ever seen!

Or maybe it's closer to the end of his night and the whole room is starting to tilt. His feet feel kind of heavy and uneven, and his head is swimming and drifting further and further out to sea, both tell-tale signs that he probably should have stopped a drink or two ago and that it's time for him to head back. Maybe dunk his face in the fountain on the way, see if that helps a little. He pitches to the left a little when he hops off the barstool, but laughs it off and insists he's good.

He's not really. But maybe someone will come with him, and help him not get arrested on his way back to Min's apartment?]

C. Let's all go to the lobby (Lumina Theatre)

[And then it happens. He runs out of credits.

It happened at the actual worst moment it could have (hungover, while attempting to buy coffee). Panic set in immediately, because Min-Gi's been working all month but Ryan somehow blew through all of his own money in like two weeks? Two and a half? The important thing is that Min-Gi has taken this seriously from day one, and Ryan got distracted like he always does.

He's...never had a job-job. He thought maybe he could busk to make up the difference and then some, but he has no idea what the Credits equivalent of tossing bills and change into a guitar case is. He saw something about...Benmo? Somewhere? Maybe an ad somewhere? But trying to figure it out under pressure just made his head itch.

Fortunately, it turns out he doesn't actually have to be that good at anything to get a job somewhere. All he had to do was turn up and ask for a job at one of the movie theaters and boom, job. Better yet, when he asked if there was a job up in the projection booth, the neon workers just gave him the okay to go on up.

There's no job in the projection booth. He didn't know it when he asked, but since everything is digital the entire system is automated. So...his job is babysitting machines, watching movies through the little projection hole without getting in the way, and napping on the floor to the white noise of machines whirring. He feels kind of bad about it - Min-Gi would definitely not consider this actually working - but he gets a lot of free popcorn, and it's actually...kind of nice to not have new stuff in his face every two seconds.

If you find yourself at the movies, you might catch him in the lobby refilling on popcorn or getting himself the least nasty drink they have (which he's decided is good old ginger ale cut with Goblin Energy). When he spots you, another real person, he waves! He certainly looks like he works there, with his vest and uniform.]

Hey! Seeing anything good?

A.

[outofsynth]

[Min-Gi has tried to explain the clear disparity between credits and either dollar they have familiarity with, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in. It's sort of a relief that Ryan's found something he doesn't like, and even more of a relief when Min-Gi looks up from where he's sat outside the changing room and actually sees how little those pants leave to the imagination.

He averts his gaze quickly, praying his face hasn't heated up in any visible way. Or that his eyes hadn't initially lingered for too long.]

You'd think this far in the future they'd have figured out how to make all fashion comfortable.

Min-Gi Park | Infinity Train | OTA

[outofsynth]

A - 4 C0LD W3LC0M3

[There's no arguing that this tour is creepy. Even if this place wasn't eerily reminiscent of the dreams he'd been having the month before the circumstances would freak him out.

The end of the tour brings little relief. It's unnerving seeing his name printed in his own handwriting on a sign he knows he definitely did not write. He doesn't like it, and instead of entering he lingers, scrutinizing the nameplate for any giveaway or flaw that would make it obvious he wasn't the one to write it.]

B - ARCADIA

[Despite the lively atmosphere, Min-Gi does not appear to be impressed. He has a shimmery, almost space-like mocktail before him, but he's barely paying attention to it.

Instead he seems to be more concerned with scowling at the lasered-on "X" on the back of his hand. It's not just the fact that it marks him as underage that irks him, but it probably comes off as that, and he won't pretend that it isn't annoying if asked.]

They couldn't just use a regular stamp? Not everything has to be about lasers.

[It's not Min's first time in Arcadia, so he's at least not too anxious about whether the mark will disappear or not, but that doesn't mean he has to like it.]

C - SONG FOR A FUTURE GENERATION

[Min-Gi manages to look both very at home yet slightly on edge as he experiments with the demo synthesizer set up in one of the several music stores he's come across. Although it's definitely outside any reasonable price range checking out what's available in the future is still an opportunity he can't pass up. It feels like a betrayal of his Barold, but with its bright touch screens and countless effects it is pretty exciting to see all the different things it has to offer.

Even the keyboard seems to have had its keys replaced for sensors that offer fun visual feedback without any of the physical satisfaction that comes with pushing down the keys. He's not sure he likes that, but for once he's not put off from trying things out. Besides, it does look kind of cool to see the ripples of light left behind by his fingers once they lift from the keys.

He plays snippets rather than full tracks, either synthesized arrangements of classical music, or familiar songs from the 70s or 80s he'd used when he was learning how to play.]

D - I WANT A DOG

[It's late at night as Min-Gi walks his dubiously obtained robo puppy. He looks anxious as it sniffs around the fountain, giving its leash a few tugs in an effort to move it along that's making no difference whatsoever.

It takes a passerby to finally divert its attention, its purple plastoid ears perking as it spins around, yapping as it wags its stubby tail. Min waves his arms frantically, attempting to quiet it.]

Sorry. Sorry. I promise it's friendly.

[He does seem very worried about something though...]

WILDCARD

ooc: If you have other ideas I'm open to them! My plurk is thlayli, or I can be reached through PM.

d

[livlaughlove]

[livio is coming in from an evening run around the city (the whole city? maybe. don't worry about it) when the barking makes him jump. he saw min-gi, but not the little guy -- though as soon as he realizes it's more machine than animal, he laughs. a bit too loud, in his embarrassment.]

Oh, no, that's okay, y'don't gotta apologize. It's, uh -- huh, didn't know they made robot dogs!