Test Drive - 004

[ateratmods]

TEST DRIVE 004

Welcome to Aterat!

Here is our forth Test Drive Meme! There are a lot of areas of the city to explore, so please have a look around! In case you need a little help getting started, I've included a few prompts below, or feel free to start your own! Exploration and player initiative are the names of the game here!

Helpful Links to Get Started

Arrival & General Information | Locations & Bestiary | Residences & Housing Info | Businesses | Rules & FAQ (ask questions here!)

A. Crash into Me

Not exactly, but close enough. You have just arrived and received a strange satchel from a tiny, strange little man and are left more or less to your own devices (more information on what to expect upon arrival can be found here)! Follow directions to the north and check out the housing, or maybe have a look around the Historium and try to get some information from that giant glowing ball, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

B. A Winter's Ball

What brand new ballroom would be complete without a fancy new winter's ball to break it in? Things are a little strange at the ballroom (check the prompts) with mistletoe that traps you for a kiss with a random passerby, strange gray meringue that makes you willing to overshare, not to mention the fact that one of your strange possible overlords funded the whole thing. What's the worst that could happen?

C. We're all hanging out at the park, right?

The park near the Complex has become a glittering expanse of show! Children and adults alike build snowmen and even sled down some of the higher hills in the area. There are stands around the park selling hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and cider, as well as sweets and wrapped snacks for the day in the park. Speckling the park at regular intervals are standing fire pits designed to ward away the cold and allow for gatherings and conversation.

The pond in the park has frozen over as well, affording the abilities to ice skate as the ever-industrious Raimon is renting skates, and maybe even challenge people to a hockey game. How hard could it be to find some makeshift pucks and other accoutrements in order to play a game?

Tell Phone

The Tell Phones everyone are provided when they arrive are capable of voice transmission and texting as well and photo texts!

NAVIGATION

Comments

Móno | Little Nightmares 2 | OTA

[monochromatically]

A. Crash Into Me - I didn’t steal anything, they’re ‘samples...’ right?

Everything was so... unsettling and strange? Not that the child was used to things being anything other than unsettling and strange, but this was something else entirely... Everything was so much brighter!

... And so much smaller than it was in his world. He could see over the market counters for a change! Which, while a very novel experience, also meant that people could see him standing next to them. They were shorter, harder to crawl under (he could manage, but it was still a tighter fit) to hide away if something approached.

Which, on that note, was also terribly weird. The people in this place (world?) were exceptionally non-threatening, or at least had yet to show another side and attack him. Maybe his mask worked better here? Maybe no one could tell who he was or what he was capable of?

Or maybe, suggested a hopeful voice in the back of his mind, just maybe, this world isn’t like the one you came from. There is no signal tower, you don’t feel the pull from it... and no one’s attacking on sight. Maybe you’re safe?

Any bystander watching would get a look at a small scrawny looking child with threadbare clothing, a remote control strapped to the side of his long trench coat, no shoes (way too cold for that in his opinion) and a... paper bag with eyeholes cut out of it on his head? All in all, not the most inconspicuous sight.

As he moved soundlessly by each stand, clutching the bag Raimon gave him, one could get the sense that under the mask the child was staring hard at the world around him. It was almost as though he was waiting for something to happen.

Stopping at a stand with small hand sized pies, the covered head tilted with a rustle of hair against paper, and he considered the treats with a grumble of his stomach. He had money, the meagre funds that were in the ‘welcome bag,’ but in order to use it he’d have to interact with the person working the stand... He couldn’t help but wonder what she would have done in his position. Maybe grabbed something and run? A little rude, but... Better rude and safe than polite and sorry.

He swallowed down a small surge of panic, his friend... He needed to get back to the pale city to save her, not mess around in a weird world that seemed far too much like a fairy tale to be real.

So with a huff he seemed to move away quietly, only to snag a small hand pie on his way by as he moved on quickly.

What? He wasn’t going to figure out how to get home on an empty stomach!

B. We’re All Hanging Out At The Park, Right? - Not equipped for this weather!

... Cold...

It’s cold.

It’s freezing!

This was worse than the rain in the pale city by a long shot. It was pretty, but cold. He was going to need shoes, darn it!

So Móno was huddled on a bench, seemingly staring at all the kids having fun in the snow, building their horrifying lumpy snow-people and sliding at questionable speeds down rather tall piles of the white stuff. Sure did look like fun though... It reminded him a little of the bullies at the school, with their constant noise and carefree chaotic games. Only difference? These kids... looked real. Like him. Or not like him... They looked far more normal than he did, and they seemed happy? Nicer to each other?

Weird... So weird... It had been a while since he’d seen this many real children in one place. At least, they didn’t look like their heads were made of porcelain.

There was a chattering sound that was pretty annoying. Where was that coming from? Oh... His teeth... Right. Cold. Snow was decidedly worse than rain, he mused to himself as he tried to pull himself further into his baggy old trench coat. Finally he pulled his fuzzy, raccoon tailed hat out and shoved it under his feet for now. At least it was soft and warmer than the bench.

B

[asthecroweflies]

Jagger was enjoying the park. It was so like home, like winter in Detroit, that he was able to stave off the the thoughts of how strange everyone was acting and just enjoy the atmosphere.

In contrast to Mono, Jagger was dressed warmly if in dark colors: leather gloves, snug dark coat, dark gray scarf, and had two cups of hot chocolate when he approached the bench. The kid was shivering, he'd noticed him while he waited in line. It meant he was new, and most likely alone.

"Hey, mate," he said, taking a seat on the far end of the bench, giving the lad some room. "Want something to warm you up?"

[weyetch]

a.
[Whatever misgivings Witch had about this whole situation (and, honestly, Witch has met her latest surprise excursion into a brand new universe with an attitude of "this might as well happen") disappear the instant she enters the Historium.

Anyone present might hear a breathed-out,] Oh, fuck yes, [but even if that escapes you, it's harder to miss the Crow flying around by the upper shelves. Once in a while, he caws, and Witch looks up—she's got a considerable stack of books beside her, and has managed to acquire a notebook in which she's scrawling like a woman possessed; she's sat near the Directory so she can quiz it and make all sorts of requests, and she takes notes on the responses. The process of switching her vision to Crow's with the eye hidden under her patch is silent and imperceptible. She sees the titles he's staring at and, her curiosity piqued, she approaches. She draws her wand, points it upwards, and a faint purple glow surrounds the book, which floats out of the shelf and lowers itself slowly into her other hand.

All of this is done quite casually, like it's entirely normal for her. She waves politely at any spectators or passersby.]


b.
[Witch's fashion style is generally as such that, in another world, people would scream at her from their passing cars that Halloween is over. This absolutely does not change for the winter's ball, at which she arrives all in black, eye patch and pointed hat and cape (an especially long and shimmery cape, because she at least can respect that this is a formal occasion) and all. Crow perches on her shoulder, as per usual.

She's picking at the meringue at the moment—she's not crazy about sweets, generally, but this is good. She might just dance with you if you ask, but if you approach without a conversation starter in mind, she'll give a little nod and a,] They really pulled out all the stops, huh?

(please no mistletoe for this prompt!)


tell phones
so hey, color me curious
who's got magic where they come from
or is all that and this just brand new an exciting for you

a

[tessellatedflood]

[Noah watches the whole book-summoning process, transfixed in awe. Even Flood isn't capable of that kind of precision action at a distance! The level of technology in this world must surpass their own.

When she's retrieved the book, they applaud, politely but with enthusiasm.]

tell phone

[asthecroweflies]

We've got a bit kicking around, at least to my knowledge.

Do you think this place is exciting?

Noah | OC | OTA

[tessellatedflood]

-A-

For all the people troubled over their mysterious abduction, one, at least, seems to be in high spirits.

Noah - a young adult of indeterminate gender, who doesn't look at all like an android - bounces along the streets of the market with the joyful energy of youth and curiosity. They stop to marvel at the wares for sale at every stall, with the wonder of someone who's never seen a fishmonger before. They inhale the smells of every food stall, but never once buy any. And, between all of it, they stops to greet everyone they can as they pass by.

If you find yourself in the markets, you may also find yourself accosted by a very lifelike robot, enthusiastically shaking your hand and introducing themself as Noah. The energy of the greeting is enough to make one actually believe that they're just as excited to meet you as they were the last dozen people to cross their path.


-C-

With all the wonders of winter arrayed across the park, it's the ice that draws Noah's attention. What's drawing people to pay money for the opportunity to move along a completely flat surface? It sounds absurd, which is why they immediately rent some skates and head out onto the ice.

The mystery is resolved instantly. The shockingly weird physics of motion put them immediately into a frantic scramble to stay standing. Maybe if they model the whole skater-ice-gravity system mathematically, to forecast the results of different movements and reverse-engineer the proper technique... no. No, that's not the right way to go about this at all. The whole point is the confusion, isn't it? The beautiful non-math of chaos and improvisation. It's wonderful.

Noah's afternoon is spent largely out on the ice, doing things wrong. A mis-angled step, and suddenly they're sprawling across the ice, sliding and laughing at their own incompetence. Could they do it better? Probably, if they put their mind to it, but why bother? There's no joy in staying upright unless you get there by falling over and over. Maybe this time, they'll get it right - nope, fell over again. Maybe this time...


[[OC info here! Human-passing robot, they/them pronouns.]]

A (Apologies if I’m a bit slow!)

[monochromatically]

Do you know who Noah had yet to enthusiastically shake the hand of? The little kid sneakily following them through the market with a paper bag on their head, that’s who.

Mono had noticed Noah’s arrival, or at least their post-arrival explorations, considering how enthusiastic they were. The child wasn’t quite used to the friendliness of most of the people in this world to begin with, so Noah’s excitement and genuinely pleasant attitude had definitely stood out.

Every time they stopped in front of a food stall, Mono couldn’t help but peek around the next one curiously from a ‘safe’ distance. That safe distance being several people lengths away, in an attempt to remain hidden in a world that was scaled far differently than the one he was used to.

As he watched, Mono couldn’t help but wonder why Noah hadn’t actually bought anything they’d looked at during their roaming of the food-stalls. We’re they not sure what they wanted? Or maybe they were like him when he got here, unsure if they wanted to spend what little money had been given to them upon arrival...?

C

[prodigalvampire]

It was during one such spill of Noah's that Thomas made his way over to them. His own movements seemed effortless, anyone knowing him also knowing they were supernaturally so, as though he was born on the ice, born in skates. He slowed his forward motion with ease, braking and bending to offer Noah a hand, smiling charmingly.

"Never skated before, huh?"

G'raha Tia | FFXIV

[allagain]

[A]

[ So, this is how it feels from this side of things. It's no small miracle that the Scions saw fit to forgive him for doing this to them, in retrospect. But, well. It would rather hypocritical of him to complain about it, wouldn't it? He'll just have to make the best of it.

So he hangs around the apartment square for a while, and approaches the first person he sees leaving any of the buildings. ]

Hello there! Pardon the interruption, but could I trouble you for a moment of your time? I've but recently arrived and would appreciate any advice you could offer.

[C]

[ So your character has known G'raha for a while and it's fair to say they're friends at this point, because otherwise this prompt would be a dick move. Because what happens is that your character is walking along minding their own business when they're hit from behind with a snowball. The source of which is, of course, G'raha Tia, both clearly aware he's being a little shit right now and not remotely apologetic for it. ]

Forgive me, my friend! I saw the opportunity and simply couldn't resist taking it!

Re: G'raha Tia | FFXIV

[abreedapart]

[ Shalimar didn't spend too much time at the apartment square for a number of reasons that ranged from being restless to not being that much of a people person. That didn't mean she never went back there though and she happened to run into G'raha after one of her brief visits back. ]

It's not really much trouble, we were all new to this shit once. [ She offered a small smile and then rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to think of something useful to offer someone new. ] Don't go too deep into the forest alone. If they throw a party, don't trust that they won't still screw with you there.

A

[skyward_eyes]

[Lucky G'raha, he didn't just get any person coming out of the apartments, but one coming in a guard uniform, yawning against hte morning. Can't help it, he woke up a bit less well this morning, but he does stop when he is greeted. And he then pauses, considering the words. His brain catches up and he straightens.]

New arrivals are always off balance, so I'm glad to help. I'm Nida, with the guard. So, first advice has got to be food. Come on, I'm off to get some for the morning before my shift. I'll buy and give you the whole briefing, promise.

c

[weyetch]

[WHAM, right in Witch's back goes the snowball and she yelps and jumps in an uncharacteristic display of indignity. She doesn't turn around as G'raha calls out, though—it appears, for the moment, that she's distracted by the cackling caws of her Crow ever-present on her right shoulder. She glances towards him and he promptly shuts the fuck up.

But then there is shifting under her cape, the specifics difficult to discern from behind. Whatever's happening, Crow decides he wants no part of it and flutters off to a tree branch overhead.]

That was a mistake.

[And, grinning wickedly, she whirls around with her wand extended, a veritable pile's worth of snow from around her glowing purple and flinging itself full-force at G'raha.]

[c]

[alphabeticalplans]

[So that's how it is, huh? Biggs has adjusted as well as can be expected to assuming you'd died only to wake up in another world. He took it the way he took all the curveballs life had throw at him: he rolled with it.

He typically rolled with just about everything, including being clunked between the shoulder blades by a ball of snow. He stopped, back still to G'raha mostly to hide the smile on his face until he could mask it behind feigned seriousness.]

I don't know, G'raha. [He knelt, taking his breaths more labored or quicker than he needed to, just for effect, while he kept his hands busy working together another snowball, hidden by his stooped form.] That-that really hurt.

Biggs | Final Fantasy VII Remake | OTA

[alphabeticalplans]

a-i. crash into me

Talk about disorienting. One moment, he’s in a life or death situation he’s pretty sure he’s not going to walk away from, telling a merc he met three days ago to give them hell, the next he’s standing in front of what might be the nicest fountain he’s never seen and having a bag shoved into his hand by what he at first thinks is a oddly-dressed child. Frowning at the gift, he looks back through the crowd only to have realized he’s completely lost track of the guy.

Biggs starts off in the direction he’s originally seen him in, but quickly loses sight of Raimon in the crowd. For lack of any other option, he looks to the closest person to him in the fountain square near the residences.

“Hey, did you see a kid run by here? About this tall, moving really fast? He shoved this in my hands and took off.”

a-ii. at the tavern

A guy from the slums is only going to look a gift horse in the mouth so long before he decides to take a look around on his own and that’s exactly what Biggs sets out to do. Having taken stock of what he had, two half-clips of ammunition and a matching handgun, he’s already got it in his head he’ll need a secondary weapon. This place didn’t seem all that threatening, at least on the surface, but that was the operative phrase, wasn’t it? Still, the best place to get information on anywhere was the tavern, so he headed there next, having pocketed the coin from the sack he’d been given, he orders a drink at the bar, something hard, and takes a seat on a stool, pulling out the phone that was in the sack as well.

Might as well get used to this thing and be as conspicuous as possible that he’s new. The explanation he’d gotten suggested there were a lot of his type of people around here, people who didn’t belong. Maybe they were chatty. A man could hope. The dark-haired stranger at the bar didn’t come off as off-putting or uninviting, either. Biggs made an effort to appear just the opposite, and more than a little lost, in order to attract someone’s attention.

c. we’re all hanging out at the park, right?

Biggs had never seen snow. He’d read about it, he’d taught the kids at the Leaf House in sector 5 about it. He knew what it was, frozen precipitation, but he’d never actually left Midgar, a temperate place even above the plate, and it never snowed. You can know how cold a place is all day long, how cold it has to be to facilitate snowfall, but to be around it? That was a completely different story as he quickly learned as he made his way around the park. Places like this didn’t exist in Midgar, a place of steel, neon, and pollution. Even in the dying throes of winter, this place had more vegetation than he’d ever seen in one place. It made him happy to see it, as evidenced by the smile on his face, though even that was sad. He wished he could share it with the others, to show them there was something on the other side of what they were fighting for. Surely the rest of the world couldn’t be as derelict as the area around Midgar had become. If it was, what were they even fighting for?

He’d swapped his shorts for pants before coming, and pulled on a light coat which was proving inadequate protection against the elements but he was doing his best to enjoy that, too. If he was going to exist here, he needed to understand the place, as foreign as it was. He could be found throughout the day in various locations: picking up hot chocolate at one of the vendors, scrolling through his phone on a bench near a heater, or watching the skaters upon the lake. That he did with a bit more interest. He might be convinced to try that little pastime out.

“It looks fun.” The comment was to no one in particular, but he didn’t seem to be trying to keep it quiet, either.

tell phone

If this is common knowledge, I’ll own up to be a newbie around here, but has anyone figured out how the residences have power? I don’t see a hint of power lines or a station or anything that should keep them running.

Or these things, either. They look like phones, but are they? Is this just something we shouldn’t question?

Crash into me

[monochromatically]

Mono observed the new guy running around looking for the person who shoved the welcome bag in his hands, and by ‘new guy’ he meant Biggs. At least, in all his wandering and snooping, he hadn’t seen Biggs yet. So that meant he was new, or at least newer than Mono. When the man stopped another person on the street to ask, Mono tilted his paper-bag covered head curiously. A child? Raimon was definitely not a child, which was kind of funny for all their heights weren’t that dissimilar.

The kid has been getting much better at the whole... ‘social thing’ since arriving (and he’s proud of himself for it) aside from his vague anxieties that lingered around showing his face. Also, he had yet to correct his shoeless state. So... Biggs would find himself being interrupted by a kid in a dirty old trench coat and a paper bag mask that was sitting on a nearby crate left from some delivery (he assumed as no one had tried to move him).

“He’s not a kid, he’s just kinda short.” Was said bluntly first, forgetting introductions in his attempt to be ‘helpful’ to the new guy. “That’s your welcome present.” He added, nodding at the bag from his usual safe distance from the stranger.

Surprise! Welcome to Aterat, Biggs.

Tell Phone

[skyward_eyes]

[man, if that isn't the question of the century. Nida sighs and thinks before responding.]

So, on the first front, no damn clue. I like to think there's a little creature in the basements constantly casting Thunder Spells into a generator, but I doubt it. Though Chocobos, a bird-creature from my world, appeared recently, so maybe they've got some running in giant wheels.

But no power like I'd know it, not even buried lines so far as I can tell, and it's mostly only the dorms.

And the phones? Totally dont' seem like phones to me. They seem like the idea of a phone was given to someone with way too much magic and tried to make them.

Rhy Maresh | Shades of Magic (CRAU) | OTA

[unbreakable_king]

1. Markets - Familiar And Different

The open air market. Rhy strolled through it with the most pleased look on his face. Well, sometimes his look was wistful and sad, but for the moment he was rather happy with the place he was. And that was surrounded by so many stalls and colors and merchants calling out their wares.

It feels like home and like the Night Market. How many times had he slipped from the palace with his brother to explore the markets? How often had he found his fun here, a young man thrilled to be breaking the rules to find his own fun? Sometimes it felt so familiar that he thought he might look up and see the red light of the Isle River or the structure of the palace.

"So very much like home, and yet so very, very different."

2. Tell Phone Audio

Good day all! Isn't that open air so crisp and lovely? And can you look at that, open sky everywhere, weather, PEOPLE! The waters here are, of course, dreadfully mundane, but the rest of it? This is a beautiful world.

Now, please tell me. Has anyone seen a vendor that sells soft pretzels? I truly must know. Are there horrible nightmares that attack on a regular basis? Will people see my dreams? Any evil magical entities trying to take the world over in their striving for perfection through dominance of their will and making all of the world part of them? Oh, and what are your favorite local foods?

1.

[gadaboutdetective]

There was... a lot to take in. He’d barely believed his eyes when he’d arrived here, taking the bag offered to him by Raimon as if on autopilot. His eyes were fixed on the skies... The real skies, with clouds and a sun. Not an artificial sun like the one he’d had to grow used to. Not something fake that could go out and leave them all in darkness unending at the bottom of the ocean.

A real, warm, bright sun.

Llewellyn was an emotional man at times, and it would be a lie to say he hadn’t felt a lump in his throat at the relief he felt from just being outdoors and under an open sky.

Or maybe that was because he’d found himself alone and for all the shortcomings of the world he’d just come from? There was one thing he didn’t want to do without. One person.

And he didn’t see them, nor did he see anyone he knew.

So he walked in a weird frame of mind. Half focused on the faces of those around him, and the other half taking in this strange new world. Which was when, on the edge of his hearing, he heard a voice. Someone commenting on how it was like home and yet different. It was a voice he knew as well as he knew his own heart. “What— Wait...” He spun around, eyes scanning frantically from one person to another.

He wasn’t sure if he was hearing things or not, as he couldn’t quite see who he’d been looking for through the crowd... But on the off chance he’s not? Well... He had to try. “Excuse me? Excuse me, I need to get by—“ He tried to step between two people and ended up tripping over his own feet and directly into someone else.

Tell Phone Audio

[hellofishies]

I bet the market has pretzels! I've never really looked but it has a lot. Nobody can see your dreams. Except maybe someone that can look, but I wouldn't and I can't think of anyone else that would. Those are all really specific questions...

Llewellyn Watts | Murdoch Mysteries (CRAU) | OTA

[gadaboutdetective]

1 It’s time to get out of doors

While a lot of arrivals were prone to getting distracted or hung up on things like the explanations they were given, the strangeness of being in a world that wasn’t their own, or even the strange man handing out bags like starter kits, one man was simply... Staring. Up. Gawking at the sky above.

It was almost as though he’d spotted something that no one else had, or perhaps like a person who’d spent the last year stuck in an underground bunker and had almost forgotten what the sky looked like.

Neither was correct, but the second was a little closer to the truth.

That’s not to say he’s entirely thrilled by this turn of events just yet, there’s someone he missed but there was a ring on his finger still that gave him some hope that perhaps he wasn’t the only one who’d been thrown into this place. After all, he’d been told he’d be sent home and not remember a thing about the last place he was, so that in itself seemed like some evidence to support the possibility.

So he’d keep his eyes open and investigate. It’s what he was good at, after all. He just needed to tear his eyes off the sky and stop getting distracted by the fact that he was not at the bottom of the ocean.

The thing that finally got his attention was a carriage rumbling past. Not an unfamiliar sound, of course. The era he came from was still full of them. What was weird was the thing that appeared to be pulling it? Something that was definitely not a horse... “What...? Criminy what the heck are those...? A cross between a chicken and an ostrich? Or something else?”

He’s speaking out loud, maybe to himself, but loud enough to be heard by anyone passing by. Seemed like the detective had found something new to stare at.

2 Tell-phone - Audio

[It’s later in the day, he’s been around and found a few things of interest. A few people, even, and now it’s time for some important questions. At the very least, he’s feeling a little more prepared than he did last time this happened.

Well... The Tell-Phone is a little odd, he’s used to a communication device that’s a little different from this one.]

Hello! I’m sure everyone is rather used to these sorts of broadcasts now, but uh— hopefully no one will mind one more added to the mix.

[Clearing his throat a little, he tried to think of where to start.]

I’m just looking for a little information? While this world is a significant improvement on my last... I’m sure there are some rather important points that I’ll need to be filled in on. Things that were omitted from the welcome I got... If anyone’s compiled information from investigations of their own, I’d appreciate a look at their notes?

Otherwise, what should I know that might not be readily apparent? Is there anything I should worry about?

[A pause...]

Oh— and perhaps someone could tell me how easy it might be to open a business of sorts here...? I’m accustomed to keeping busy.

1

[kree_soldieress]

"Chocobos."

She isn't even looking at the person who spoke. She had been checking over a storefront for her boss, trying to determine just how much work would be needed on some metal work for them. The question, though, was one she could answer easily.

Sara Lance — DCTV (+ CRAU) — OPEN

[canaria]

A
This would be weirder if Sara wasn't used to it by now. Between her timeship back home an being sent around the multiverse a few times like this, well ... it becomes more of an 'oh, this again'. So, as she looks around, taking it all in, she eventually stops someone with a small smile and friendly tone.

“Weird question for ya.” A beat. “This city doesn't do anything like, oh, I dunno, eat our emotions or anything like that, does it?”

C
Ice skating? Hell yeah, don't mind if she does! She does a few laps around the pond, some basic twirls and spins, nothing fancy or Olympic level perfection. When she sees someone else on their own, she skates up to them, always the kind of person who wants to make others feel at ease or welcome. Especially when there's not a time crisis or whatever happening at the moment.

“Wanna race to the other side? Or just skate around and pretend we're Olympic ice dancers and this is a ballroom floor and not a sheet of ice — I promise not to let you fall.” If they'd rather the latter, she'll offer her hand.

WILDCARD
( hit me with another thing and I'll roll with it )

Tommy Shepherd | Marvel-616 (CRAU) | OTA

[doubled_speed]

1. Network | Voice

ALLLLLLRIGHT dudes and dames, gotta quick series of questions. Answer as fast as you can. Only people who have been here a while because these are important details.

One! Any weird shit here where your memories get all posted for anyone to see or live through? Because ugh so done with that.

Two: The place doesn't get overwhelmed by creepy creatures or things that possess you or darkness that consumes all every few months, right?

Three, has anyone actually SEEN these powers that be do godly shit or are they posing?

Four! Anyone know if there's a good flower shop here, because I've got a hungry mouth to feed and in addition to carrots and leaves, I need flowers for treats.

Five: anyone see a green tiger around? Or a lady with red hairs and red magic? Or a black haired witch boy who has a fondness for capes?


2. Rooftop Watcher

The easiest way to get the lay of the land was to go up high. AT least it was when you're in places without proper GPS signal, which this was. Tommy had of course chosen the highest places he could find. The dorms. The man had easily gotten to the top, running up the side of one to end up sitting on the banister. His eyes cast out over the city, a messenger bag at his side, sealed tightly. Tommy wasn't going to risk the squeaky mass squirming inside falling.

As he sat there on the roof, kicking his feet a bit, he sighed and looked up at the sky.

"After all this time, to not look up and see the ocean... Fuck, I forgot fresh air."

And plants. From up here he can see so much green. The world seems so impossibly alive.


3. Delivery Extrodinare

When it comes to needing work, there's one thing Tommy can default to always. And he needed food. Which meant he needed money, fast. If nothing else, he was fast, and that helped him. So, all it had taken was a few attempts to prove himself, and then he was in the money. So he already had a little bit of wood set up in the market, leaning against it.

Fastest Delivery in the City - Any Person or Item Needed, Low Cost!

"There and back again, two second flat!"

Help a guy out. Not like he's got other skills he can use here.

1. Network | Voice

[gadaboutdetective]

[Hang on a second. Llewellyn is forgetful sometimes, but he is pretty sure he recognizes that voice...! Considering it's been a couple months, he had thought that perhaps the four that had already arrived would be all they'd see.

Should he just answer the questions as helpfully as possible? Probably, but to be fair he didn't think he'd hear from his skating-teacher and friend again.]

Tommy? Is that you??

Billy Maximoff | MCU | OTA

[dorkasaurus_rex]

A. Crash into Me

The kid wandering around with his satchel clutched close is clearly a new arrival, confused, frightened, and a little curious despite it all as he explores this new environment. Without his twin beside him he feels strangely alone, like a piece of him is missing, and he wanders into the market, trying to summon the courage to be the brave one since Tommy isn't there to get the ball rolling.

"Hey- could you tell me how these work?" he asks, showing off his small pouch of bronze coins, a far too trusting look on his face. Hopefully one no one takes advantage of.

B. We're all hanging out at the park, right?

There's so much to see, and Billy happily wastes his money on treats, keeping warm by the firepits, fingers sticky by the time he approached the frozen pond. He doesn't have enough money left to rent a pair of skates, but he can't resist the call of the ice. He tries to edge out carefully, sliding along on his sneakers with a laugh of unearned confidence before abruptly falling hard on his butt.

"You didn't see that-"

C. Tell Phone- Text

Hey, um...so I'm still kind of confused about all this? And I'm pretty sure my parents are going to be super freaked out that I'm not there. How do I someone to send me back home again?

B

[doubled_speed]

There is a kid, without skates, on the ice. Good thing the guy coming up on him as he falls happens to have insane reflexes. The boy falls as Tommy is gliding toward him at an unreasonable speed, and the best way he can deal with that isn't to try and go around him. If he does he might hurt both of them. Instead he reaches down as he's approaching, carefully leaning forward, and scoops the strange kid up in his arms.

"Careful, kiddo," he said as he kept going forward at speed until he could find a safe bit of ice to twist and come to a stop. Thank god for the time at the Sphere for him to learn skating better.

"You know you shouldn't be out on the ice without skates, right?"

The Phantom | The Phantom of the Opera

[yearnsforheaven]

Crash Into Me

He's...not confused, really. He understands what has just happened here, in theory. He understands everything in theory, and that many things are theoretically possible, if not practically. Someone seems to have worked out the practicalities of whatever just happened.

So he's not confused. He's displaced. This is no longer Paris in 1881. Which, honestly, is perfectly fine with him. The mob won't find him here.

He takes a few moments to look around him, but doesn't linger long. He might be dressed in fine clothes (minus the jacket, which had been left behind in Paris), but he'd left his mask behind, which had been fine at the time, but if he's going to have to live among this many people, he'll need something to cover the deformed side of his face.

To the Market District, then. He has a little money in his pack. Some cloth, some basic sewing supplies, and a wig if he can find one. That's the place to start, before he worries about any of the rest of it.

[ooc: If your character is coming across him without a mask on and you want a reference for what he looks like, here's an image. The deformity covers only half of his face.]

A Winter's Ball

He originally hadn't planned on coming to the ball, on account of the fact that large numbers of people still make him nervous (and he hadn't exactly been welcome at the last ball he attended). But then he'd been out (something he never would have dared if he hadn't managed to fashion himself a mask) and the path he'd followed had brought him here anyway, and once he had caught snatches of music coming from inside, attending had been a sure thing. There's a reason he had chosen to skulk around the opera house in Paris, after all.

The ballroom is the first place he heads, or at least he tries to. At first he doesn't realize that there's anything wrong; being here alone, he doesn't expect to do any dancing, so he lingers in the archway, listening to the music. But then he tries to step further into the ballroom and finds himself up against some invisible obstacle.

Maybe someone can help him out?

Tell Phone

[The technology here is beyond what he's used to, but he's able to pick up how to use it quickly enough, especially when there are instructions. Even so, it might take a bit of practice to learn everything there is to know about this strange communication device. Bear with him.]

Hello? This is how this works, correct? You can hear me?

Wild Card

[Choose your own adventure.]

Crash into me - YOU SAW NOTHING

[monochromatically]

Mono was generally a sneaky child. He tended to keep to the shadows and creeping around crowds to avoid being bumped or having to have conversations he wasn't particularly ready to have.

(Adults in this world, they liked to ask him a lot of questions)

But today was one of those days where he felt the need to run, mostly because he was in a rush to get back to the grey building in time to get supper when it was dropped off to him by the nice man who liked to make sure he was eating a full meal.

Unfortunately, in his childish haste, he didn't see a stranger walking across his path until it was too late. The child skidding and his arms flailing as he tried (and failed) to catch his balance after he crashed into the man.

Six would have shaken her head at him. Mono was always falling over. "Sorry, Mr!" Popped out first, as the child with a rather odd head accessory looked up with a slightly anxious tone.

William Murdoch | Murdoch Mysteries

[artfuldetective]

A day at the park

This weather isn't so different from what he's used to in Toronto, and there's not enough in his room yet to keep him occupied, so Murdoch decides to venture out into the city, which brings him to the park. He enjoys the sound of children playing. It's reminiscent of his childhood among the Jesuits, and he still hopes that one day he'll have a child of his own. So a group of children playing an improvised game of hockey catches his attention enough to get him to stop and watch for a bit. He's not particularly interested in sports, but he had been convinced to take part in a game of hockey once.

One of the kids hits the makeshift puck extra hard and it goes skidding across the ice to stop at Murdoch's feet. He bends down to pick it up, but instead finds a tattered ball buried in the snow and holds that out instead. "Try that. It should work better."

Tell phone

Murdoch being Murdoch, he's not actually using the phone. He has taken it apart and has parts of it strewn over the table in front of him. Hopefully he remembers how to put it back together again.

Tell phone - Because at least he'll know it's gotta be the real Detective William Murdoch

[gadaboutdetective]

Llewellyn was not expecting to see a familiar face.

... Honestly, the fact that he was seeing one so soon after seeing another familiar face was alarming in a way. But here he was, on his way by with a mission in mind (snacks, he needed to replace his desk snacks at the Gullwings office) when he happened upon the familiar figure working at a table.

He paused, gate slowing to an unsteady halt. A hand fumbled slightly at his suit pocket for his own Tell Phone to make sure there was a name that matched the figure there. Only... He lost his damn phone again. It was not in its correct pocket. So, he couldn't check as agreed upon.

But it had to be him, a fake couldn't mimic that focused expression or the need to tinker quite so... Murdoch-ly... Right? So over he goes, against his better judgement. "Detective?" Llewellyn at least had the sense to pause by the table, squinting a bit as though studying the man like he wasn't sure he believed it.