Time for a Cinnabon!

[polymods]

✖ THE MALL

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
You step off the ferry and find there is no beach. No, the concrete wharf opens up to a vast, flat plain of pavement. It goes on, and on, and on. Sodium lights on tall poles are spaced at regular intervals, and as you move forward you notice white lines painted in neat rows.Those of you from a typical earth world might recognise almost immediately that you are, in fact, in a giant parking lot.

Up ahead you can see a vast building, a long rectangle flanked on either end by an even larger square. In the very center there is a large, triangular glass awning hanging over an entranceway composed of several automatic doors. There is neon tubing running along the inside of the awning, lighting up the glass so it is a beacon shining across the expanse of pavement you’re crossing.

That’s right, Travellers. We’re going to The Mall.

The building is huge - it takes a good hour to walk from one anchor store to the other at the opposite end. There are stores selling damn near everything - clothes, housewares, books, kitchen supplies, movies and music, electronics - as well as hair salons, nail salons, and a ton of kiosks. The merchandise being sold seems to be from different decades - anywhere from the 1970s to the late 2000s. You can find almost anything you could want!

The flooring is faux marble, the pillars decorated with brass detailing halfway up their length. Potted palms are set at regular intervals. The mall’s concourse is huge and open, with a glass ceiling criss-crossed with metal supports. A fountain jets water coloured by lights into the air over and over in the center of the concourse.

Escalators and an elevator run up and down to the second floor, where the food court is, which is a heaven, provided you’re too worried about MSG. Food from across every conceivable world exists here - no matter where you’re from, you can find a fast-food version of something you’re familiar with. And there’s an Orange Julius!

Truly, a paradise. Kind of weird that the automatic doors won’t let you out the way you came in, but you have everything you need right here! Just be really careful on those escalators - wouldn’t want to get sucked under. And by the way, what’s that noise…?

Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.

3. Any food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities.

4. The people inside the mall are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.

5. Have fun!

---

Ⅱ. BLACK FRIDAY
CW: violence, mob mentality
One of the mall anchors is a huge department store that sells everything under the sun. As you walk through the empty aisles, you’ll notice that there are signs hung everywhere that read “SALE!” Indeed, prices seem to have been drastically reduced. The place seems eerily calm, however; you can’t see any shoppers anywhere.

But if you walk close to the exterior entrance on the far side of the store, you will see them if you look outside.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people pressed up against the glass doors. With a start you see that all of them, from children to the elderly, are missing their eyes. Black, empty sockets stare sightlessly ahead. Store employees, recognisable by their red smocks, stand at the ready.

“Alright, let’s open her up!” one of them shouts, and the employees move to unlock the doors. Immediately the crowd surges forward. The employees pull each other out of the way moments before they can be trampled. The mob rushes through the entranceways, stampeding towards… towards…

Oh. You.

The mob lacks any empathy; people push and climb over one another, uncaring if anyone falls to the ground. You’re pretty sure several of them are actually being crushed beneath people’s feet. Oddly, they aren’t screaming in pain. People’s mouths are moving, but only to form certain words:

“FLATSCREEN!”

“INTELLIVISION!”

“TICKLE-ME-ELMO!”

They are only screaming what it is that they want. They are single minded in their purpose, and don’t care who they hurt in their pursuit.

Make your way to the entrance that opens into the mall and you’ll be greeted with a nasty sight: the gates are closed. No matter what you do to them, they won’t budge an inch, impervious to brute strength, magic, superpowers. That means you’ll have to find another way out if you don’t want to join in the bloodshed. Maybe there’s a ventilation system or a loading bay...

There’s a chance you could just hide out until the sale ends - a store this vast has more than enough food and drink to sustain you, and you could probably get a good night’s sleep in a camping display if it isn’t torn apart by rabid consumers. Just be careful, because the longer you spend trapped in the department store the more likely you are to turn into one of them: mindlessly screaming what it is you want as you tear the store apart.

Notes:
1. There may be a few Black Friday shoppers loose in the mall, but primarily they stick to the department store.

2. Your character might find a way into the mall again, or the parking lot outside. However they manage that is up to you!

3. If your character does turn into a consumer drone, they can be changed back by being taken out of the department store. Maybe go chill out by the fountain in the concourse or get some chilli fries in the food court.

---

Ⅲ. UNDERGROUND PARKING
CW: potential starvation, dehydration
If the two floors of the mall are for eating and shopping, where do the down escalators go? Unsurprisingly they lead to an underground parking lot. More surprisingly, if you choose to enter the lot you’ll find yourself suddenly transported to the inside of a car. What car? Any car! It sure isn’t yours! It’s locked and you can’t get the doors or windows to open. Even trying to break your way out is futile.

Thank goodness you have a way to call for help: your ScryWatch! Although you can still access the public network, your ScryWatch will also now function as a private one-to-one device like a phone or a walkie talkie. You can ask a friend to come and help you!

The second person entering the lot won’t be magicked away, but a friendly mall employee will stop you and hand you a set of keys. Clearly they go to a car… but which one? Better start pressing that alarm button, huh?

The parking lot is massive. The party in the car would be wise to describe what they can see to their seeker. After all, teamwork makes the dream work! You sure don’t want to be stuck in a warm car for a couple of days!

Notes:
1. Your character can post/call the network or text/call an individual - in the latter case nobody else can read or hear the conversation.

2. The car might have some goldfish crackers or something in the glove box, or maybe an old gatorade bottle on the floor, but there’s not going to be enough to survive on for any length of time.

---

Ⅳ. MANNEQUIN
CW: automatonophobia
As you walk through the mall, you’ll see plenty of window displays. Gleaming cookware turning on pedestals under mellow lights, toys going round and round in fake wonderlands, personalised miniature license plates - although they’re all out of Borts - and of course plenty of stylish clothes draped over countless mannequins.

It’s always fun to window shop, isn’t it? Which is how you will come to notice that some of the mannequins look awfully familiar.

Everyone has, at some point in their life, treated someone like they weren’t real outside of what you wanted them to be. The romantic interest you put on a pedestal, the friend you only called when you needed them, or the poor bastard in the office who never did anything to you but who you hated on because it made you feel better. The mannequins greatly resemble that person or persons.

No matter which window you pass, they’re there. It looks like they’re watching you. But that’s silly, isn’t it?

With every mannequin you pass, the more your unease grows. Eventually the feeling of being watched is so great that it’s overwhelming. A sense of guilt grows alongside your paranoia, gnawing at your guts until you feel physically ill. Maybe if you apologise to the dummies for treating them like objects?

Or maybe if you just break all of them into pieces.

Notes:
1. Stating how you have wronged the person the mannequin resembles and apologising will cause the guilt and paranoia to vanish. But then, so will breaking them.

2. Could the mannequins sneak up on you? Move when you’re not looking? Sure! the floor, but there’s not going to be enough to survive on for any length of time.

Come on Jessica, come on Tori! Let's go to the mall, you won't be sorry!

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

Questions, comments, concerns?

[polymods]

You know what to do, Travelers! Leave 'em here!

[unkindled_madness]

1. Is there no designated "temple" area within the mall?

2. I'm assuming characters have some kind of stipend with which to purchase things?

3. Are books and other media exclusively from Earth, and are there maps?

[neverwither]

Hi mods!

If electronics are available, are they able to be loaded up with apps, ebooks etc while on the island?

[necrosavior]

For IV Mannequins, Gideon hasn't actually had almost any chance to treat people like they aren't real. The Ninth House generally neglected and spurned her so that she couldn't form relationships with most of them. She then was too interested in getting to know (the like 25) people she met after that or too confused (family reunions are complicated and confusing).

1. Would you accept an exception to the everyone?
2. What would it then be like for her?

[unkindled_madness]

Can the car windows be broken after a character has been rescued from the vehicle?

Sephiroth

[unkindled_madness]

I. Shopping! (OTA)

[Is it appropriate to carry a 7-foot sword around a mall? Probably not, but Sephiroth doesn't exactly have anywhere to put it. At least he is being responsibly conscious of the space around him, carrying it with the blade angled up close behind his back, and not so much in danger of impaling anyone.

Meanwhile, while he isn't excited about shopping, he can recognize an opportunity to obtain some practical items. Perhaps you spot him puzzling over the menswear section (Shinra had most of his clothing tailored, he doesn't understand sizes), or browsing the shampoos at a salon. Maybe even discreetly poking his head into a LensCrafters?

Inevitably, it's the bookstores where he will opt to spend most of his time this month, treating them like libraries and reading plenty of books without buying them. On his first visit, he begins a cursory perusal of the available sections, skimming some of the titles-- but at some point, something brings him up short. An unexpected familiarity: a book he recognizes from home. Instead of pulling it off the shelf to inspect, he quickens his pace, searching intently for a Science section. There is a very specific author he is looking for on those shelves.]


II. Underground Parking (Closed to David)

[Sephiroth's priority on arriving at each new island is to assess his surroundings. Why wouldn't that include taking the down escalator? As is unfortunately common here, the simple action triggers some kind of magic, which whisks him away to... a car.

The make is unfamiliar, but they do have cars on his Planet. He has never driven one himself, but he's ridden in them. The Masamune manages to fit with its hilt resting on the dash and its blade extending into the back between the two front seats. Of course Sephiroth attempts all manner of escape on his own first, from simply trying all the doors to slamming the Masamune into the windshield to searching the car over for any sort of clue. The car offers him nothing but some old receipts and a bag of Cheetos that he very much doesn't want.

Ultimately, he is at a loss. His imprisonment is clearly magical, which feels even more absurd than usual. He considers his options for a time, then sends a message to David:]

There is some magic which traps individuals in the parking garage.

Do you know how to start a car with no key?

((Hoping to do something else with Seph? Hit me up at yinza for plotting!))

i. shopping!

[mewnifestos]

Books again? We really do need to find you another hobby.

[ Ignoring the fact that he's here, too, idly perusing titles that aren't at all familiar, many of them nearly indecipherable. Or leaving off that, anyway, as he slips out of his aisle to trail after Sephiroth - who looks like he's on a mission, presently, so maybe he's on to something more interesting than a bit of light reading? ]

Parking ^_~

[helpdesk_hero]

[And there David had been, just minding his own business in the mall, considering things, only to text a message on his Scrywatch. One that leaves him staring at it for a solid minute while he considers it. Interesting.]

I half feel like teaching someone to hotwire a car is going to get me in more trouble. Have you tried breaking a window?

I. Shopping Buddies!

[neverwither]

( Is this Sephiroth having a browse through clothing? Oh, what an intriguing day indeed. Well, it is for Chloe. Hopefully it will be a suitably useful and tolerably acceptable one for him. At least none of the items have not-exactly-griffins embroidered on them.

Yet.

Going over to him, she’s all smiles and obviously just about to ask if she can help him. Except he isn’t so fond of that behaviour and so she reframes the question. )

Are you looking for something specific? Or just adrift in the sea of v-necks and crew necks and scoop necks?

( i )

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki squints at him. why the sword, why all of this. ]

What are you doing?

anders | dragon age | ota

[mewnifestos]

i. arrival

[ Well, this is new. The trees are all lights and the ground is all stone, and Anders is uncertain he cares for the looming look of that enormous building in the distance, as he steps onto the steady ground of the wharf. It reminds him of Kinloch, isolated in its great lake, crumbling and decrepit and cut off from the rest of the world. 

So, not the best first impression. 

But there's nowhere else to go (not even a safe temple to defect to, as far as he can see), so he follows the crowd, lingering with the stragglers, masking his unease as best he can. 

It's not until he reaches the doors that he seems to brighten, as they whoosh quietly open to admit the other Travelers, as if by magic, and he gets his first glimpse of the artificially colorful, brightly-lit world beyond. A far cry from the Circle on the inside, at least. ]

How welcoming. I'm sure nothing at all could go wrong here!

[ His sarcasm is only lightly tempered by how much he still wants to see all of the strange new sights on offer. ]

iii. p2 [ cw: claustrophobia ]

[ This, though? Is definitely not the kind of sight Anders was hoping to see. It's the wrong kind of exciting, innocently riding one of those moving staircases one minute, then whisked off to some new, cramped cage the next. 

Cars - he's seen them before, but only briefly from the inside. And he'd had other pressing concerns, then. ...And there'd been much more room. He's never been in one by himself, and it takes him longer than he'd admit to figure out just how trapped he is, based on that terrible little familiarity. 

And even longer to realize he might be able to call for help (in a way other than trying to shatter a window or shout himself hoarse, that is). After a bit of fiddling, he manages to get a quick message out. ]

greyyourwarden: not to be dramatic but 

H E L P

wildcard.

[ for prior cr on the parking garage prompt, feel free to assume anders is directly contacting them. prose is fine too. hmu @ gravejuice if you want to plot, or just throw some other mall shenanigans my way. ]

Arrival

[helpdesk_hero]

[David, who had been approaching with literally zero joy at the prospect of two months living in a fucking mall, had to laugh when he heard Anders' comment. Nothing could go wrong indeed.]

Oh, I'vev actually already got money on something that can go wrong here. It's November. Like, one of the worst times to be in a mall. First, we're slowly going to be come with holiday decorations. Then the music will get steadily worse. The food options will shift from pumpkin spice into WAY too much peppermint. And then the hordes.

[He will hate himself later for being on the nose with one of those.]

iii. p2

[quire]

Call him a bit of a trouble maker but he really just can't resist when unfamiliar names pop up on the ScryWatch messaging.

He's lounging in then foodcourt like he owns the place when he stumbles on this one and texts back.

Ω: better dramatic than boring imo

help with what? stuck in a change room?

Hawks | BNHA | OTA

[nanban]

A; TICKLE ME WHAT?

Hawks is just chilling with a soda when he wanders into the huge department store. There's something kind of eerie about this, the emptiness of it. There's sale signs, so where the hell is everyone? He wonders if people living here just get sick of this. What kind of island is this? It's definitely suspicious.

He gets to the end of the store near the exit that leads outside and nearly drops his soda at the sight of all those people with their freaky eyes.

"That is absolutely not normal," he says aloud to no one in particular.

Luckily for Hawks, his eyesight is excellent, so he doesn't have to get all the way up to the glass to see what's happening. That gives him just enough of a head start when they rush in to run the other way. He really only runs a few steps before his wings do the rest of the work. Hawks is very, very fast so anyone who encounters him may just barely see him whizzing by.

He lands near the entrance that leads into the mall, but that's also a dead end.

"Shit," he says. He takes off again before anyone can actually grab him and stays there, hovering above the shoppers. He's out of reach, but that doesn't mean there's a way out.

Find him at any point along this journey. Maybe he dropped his soda and you look up to see him.

Alternately, he might spy someone else about to get trampled. "Hey, watch out down there," he calls out.

[ Let me know if you'd like Hawks to rescue your character from the stampeding shoppers. ]

B; HEY DUDE IS THIS YOUR CAR?

After that absolute bullshit with the shoppers, Hawks is pretty wary of going anywhere else. He sees the escalators, but nah, he's not about that. He's not going down there unless/until he has to.

Fortunately for some poor soul, Hawks checks his ScryWatch pretty often. So he sees the distress call that someone posts.

you got stuck in a CAR?
ok hold on I'll come get you out

So much for avoiding the escalators. He grits his teeth and goes down. At the bottom, he has a run in with an employee who hands him a set of keys. They have no answers to anything, though, which is pretty useless.

He flies through the parking lot, clicking the keys. He can see pretty far away, so he might see someone struggling in a car and zip over to them, clicking the keys he has and hoping for the best.

C; WILDCARD ME

[ something else you'd like? Mannequin run in? Just a random encounter in a weird store? I'm game! Throw something at me here or find me on plurk at boywonder for plots/custom starters! ]

B - No it's Not

[helpdesk_hero]

David hated himself for this. He should have known better, especially after dealing with Sephiroth. But he'd been distracted getting away from a mob of shoppers and gotten onto an escalator without thinking and... Now here he was. Awake and locked into a damn late model Honda that was way cramped when he'd been here for an hour and a half trying to get out.

He'd tried popping the steering column to hotwire the car and pop the locks that way. Then he'd tried cutting the doors open. Hell, he even tried cutting the windows, because his psychic knives should be able to do that. It had only been when frustration had set in that he'd finally messaged for help.

Now all he could do was sit and mope. Good thing he had some old television stuff downloaded on his glasses. Those had come through with him and while he HATED to watch himself, but when all he had was old editing cuts for his old show, he was going to watch it to pass the time.

joel | the last of us | ota

[antifungi]

ii. black friday [ cw: violence, gore, indiscriminate zombie murder ]

[ Everything under the sun is exactly what Joel is looking for. More or less, anyway. After grabbing a suitable backpack to transfer his meager belongings to and some decent clothes (a first, after scrounging for ages), he picks his way down a short list of necessities, as he makes his way through the mall.

Flashlight, some first aid supplies, food and water, a few other odds and ends - and every step gets him a little closer to feeling less adrift, less unsure. Despite the complete surreality of well lit aisles and fully stocked shelves and paying with anything other than ration cards and favors (or not paying at all).

It isn't until he reaches the department store that he makes a beeline for what he's really after, though. Just beyond sporting goods, he finds a deja vu-inducing mishmash of hunting gear and camping supplies, crammed into a back corner.

He's standing in front of a crammed array of hunting bows when that shout rings out, breaking the eerie lull in the store and putting him instantly back on-edge. The wave of stampeding footsteps and overlapping screams is a shocking but not unfamiliar wake-up call. Shit. He leaves behind his prospective weaponry, grabbing the first unboxed item with potential as he sprints for the end of the aisle. One of them bolts past it, only now shrieking something that coalesces into coherence - flatscreen? Joel nearly loses a step (what the f—), but another comes bolting up toward him fast enough he doesn't stop to think.

He swings the bat hard, cutting off another product-placement howl with a resounding crunch and a spray of blood, stopping the eyeless thing in its tracks. But there's still the ravening horde behind it - and it's only by the small miracle of quick reflexes that he doesn't swing on the next person to come bolting between the shelves to escape them. ]

This way! Come on. [ He doesn't stop to wait as another knot of scrambling not-infected come racing toward them, knocking items off shelves and grabbing at everything as they trample over it. ]

iv. mannequin

[ The mannequins aren't as bad as those things in the department store. Or that's what he tells himself, anyway, as he tries to simply ignore them. They're harmless, right? And he has a higher tolerance for guilt and paranoia than most, besides, given they're his only other constant companions, these days. But even that won't hold out forever.

It's easy enough to destroy the ones that look like his brother; it's almost kind of satisfying, in a way. Yeah, he was shit to Tommy, but there are things he hasn't forgiven, either. It makes him feel a little better. A little less on edge.

The next semi-featureless face is a little harder. He pretends he doesn't recognize her, at first, doesn't see the resemblance, doesn't know her name, doesn't remember how they ended things. The guilt and paranoia are alleviated a little, but there's a knot in his stomach that doesn't dissipate as easily, this time.

It's the last that really gets him, though. Maybe the others were just to soften him up, kick him when he's down. Either way, he's had enough. The bat he's still carrying doesn't so much as rattle the safety glass in the mall doors, as he hits it again, futilely. The mannequin standing on a low pedestal a few feet behind him (matching those lining all the display windows, here) is small, barely a teenager in grungy, layered clothes, wearing a backpack and brandishing a small, plastic knife. He doesn't look back as he slumps against the door, illness plain in every line of him. ]

wildcard.

[ plot with me @gravejuice if you're interested in other prompts, switch to prose if you prefer, or just throw me another prompt entirely, etc etc. ]

II

[prodigalmess]

[ Malcolm isn't really one for rabid consumerism, but there are a few things he likes. Tailored suits. Books. And knives. He misses his weapons collection from home and has been searching for something here, mostly for protection. You never know what's going to come at you on one of these islands.

He's perusing the camping section at the department store. None of the knives are particularly fancy, but they're built to serve a more utilitarian purpose. Malcolm is examining a small hunting knife when he notices the strange noise around him. At first it sounds like rain falling on the roof. Malcolm glances up, confused.

When the hoard starts to make its way through the store, he follows a man with a bat to the end of the aisle. With numb shock, he watches as the man swings the bat at the head of the nearest creature. He can tell that these aren't really people, but it's still a shock to hear the thing's head thump like a basketball and then watch the body drop to the floor.

The sound of the man's voice breaks Malcolm's reverie. They've got to get out of here. With a nod, he grips his knife in his hand and hurries after the man. ]

Chloe | Detroit: Become Human

[neverwither]

⭕ Ia. TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO

Glad to be rid of the carnival, a mall is an environment Chloe can get on board with much more easily. Sure, it won’t be just a mall but – shopping! For all her creator’s flaws, monetary generosity isn’t one of them (a net worth of 120 billion dollars makes for little need to be frugal). Frittering money away has never been encouraged but she is admittedly used to the getting and having of things. With most of her purchasing being done online, there’s an element of wonder at being able to wander around to see and touch and be in amongst all the things.

Need some advice or outside opinion? An android who’s happy to play personal shopper is at your service.

One place she can be found is in amongst the electronics. Sorry to anyone who wanted to check out that display iPad as she’s pretty much commandeered it. Nor does she seem to need to use her hands to flick or scroll through anything on said iPad. Currently, she’s watching what appears to be a video of a ballet performance. With the odd angle indicating a view from the box seats, it has the feel of bootleg (albeit a very high quality one).



⭕ Ib. KISS FROM A ROSE

The magical mall continues to giveth unto Chloe as she passes a place advertising to come on in and make your own music video. Well. It would be rude not to, wouldn’t it? It’s not exactly the karaoke bar of her dreams but it definitely sounds fun. Or her brand of fun when dork-mode is enabled, anyway. Singing is good for the soul (even when you aren’t sure you have one) and it’s bound to be entertaining in one form or another so really, will it be that bad?

A question anyone passing might want to ask themselves as Chloe hopefully looks out for someone to join her. There's only a 52.7% chance that she'll want to do Britney so the odds are almost in your favour. Pals (or extremely accommodating strangers) don’t let pals make terrible green screen choices alone.



⭕ IV. LET ‘EM SAY WE’RE CRAZY

As all good things must come to an end, so must Chloe’s enjoyment of the latest island. Strolling around, she notices how a men’s store mannequin looks kind of… off. A processing error? Possibly. Maybe there are a few kinks still being worked out from her grand adventure in breaking her programming. Or maybe its just… these places being these places.

Each time she goes by a window, the more aware she becomes that she wasn’t wrong. The mannequins all have the appearance of a somewhat dishevelled middle aged man. All staring at her. All watching her. Keen eyes that see through things.

What do they see? She knows. Oh, she knows. And he must know, too. That’s why she’s being watched. Her thirium pump pounds wildly in her chest, face flushed its light blue as her LED spins red.

That man… Without him, there's a chance she would be dead. Or something that isn’t her. A great man she’s grateful to.

Yes. That’s what she sees him as. All she sees him as. Not as her ticket out.

To avoid the gaze, she ducks behind a pillar and presses her back against it, eyes squeezed shut. She can feel them still, staring.

A man. A badge. A title. A ticket out.



⭕ WILDCARD

[ Want to choose your own adventure? Catch me at another_thoughts_hat or via PM and we can do a thing! ]

Ib: Ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da....

[kyley_b]

Kyle walks by... then backs right up. "Chloe!" he says cheerfully. He's not exactly a mall kind of guy, but he's happy to be somewhere that seems (at least for now) reassuringly normal.

He saunters in to stand beside her, smiling. "You gonna go in one of these booths?"

Gideon Nav | The Locked Tom | OTA

[necrosavior]

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
OOC: Harrow mentions/actions made with permission

What Gideon is mentally calling Third Island resembles Canaan House in a structural sense. It is a massive sprawl of hallways with more rooms than Gideon cares to count squashed together. These doors are (generally) open, though the ones out of the structure are locked. While alarming, this too is like Canaan House once the skeletons had pushed the shuttles down into the water. Like Canaan House, Harrow decides the first course of action is to map all the rooms to create their own scrawled authenticated maps. Gideon points to the maps already provided. Harrow nabs one for the details she considers important and Gideon grabs a backup because she doubts they agree on what's important and the first will likely be ritually drowned in ink.

The process takes hours. Harrow furiously writes down her notes, and Gideon jots locations for bedding supplies (of the bag variety), food, clothing that looks cool, warm, and/or comfortable, soap not made from people, dirty books, and makeshift weapons. In all, it hasn't been a bad idea to map the place because she is making record time power walking between the noted stores to build up necessary supplies. No one else is running or even jogging, with ever increasing bulk of bags (the Ninth House panniers could actually be useful for once) so she leaves a morning run for... well, the next morning. It gives her some time initially on her own, able to run into people.

She can also be found the next morning jogging around the mall.

Ⅱ. BLACK FRIDAY
Sometimes it pays to be built like a rock. Gideon weathers the initial rush of people standing firm. Seeing people get trampled makes her swim upstream. She's firm, and people don't care to get back at her. It's not like she's holding anything they want. The trampled people don't approach saying thank you or noticing her at all. As soon as they're up, they're off toward whatever it is they want, even with a broken arm, a bloody and broken nose, a head injury, etc.

It's ridiculous. In a Second House kind of way if the goods were Blood of Eden terrorists and they were killing them.

The doors back into the mall are locked too now. Gideon—don't tell Harrow—wishes she had Harrow's annotated map. She skirts around the store with the vague inkling that they saw other doors or entrances/exits. Somewhere. It's a lot harder to tell in the throng of people, but Gideon's used to things being a slow wrenching process. No one's even trying to shoot her with a crossbow.

Ⅳ. MANNEQUIN
CW: mentioned child neglect/abuse, mentioned murder/attempted murder (of children) likely in comments to come

Gideon halts suddenly in the hallway on her third lap of the mall. Slowly, she steps back and back and back until she reaches a set of displays she is asbo-fucking-lutely sure wasn't there on her last lap. They couldn't have been there during the map making process, surely? Gideon frowns. Would Harrow have said something? Would she ask Gideon to confirm something is only in her head? Harrow isn't here, so unless crazy catches when you share a headspace, it's real. At least, as real as the mirror magic on Second Island.

Even though the great-aunts and Crux are as still and dead as the reverend father and reverend mother have been for the last seven (eight?) years, they look far too at peace. Crux doesn't deserve to look at peace like Harrow brought him personally to the Mithraeum to smugly flip her off from the ceiling. It does fit that he looks more alive dead than he looked as a living breathing person. Stylish veils cover the great-aunts' faces. Even blind, they recoiled from her for as long as Gideon remembers. Prayer beads hang from each hand; whenever Gideon looks away she hears the clacking sound that echoed through Drearburgh. When she looks back, the great-aunts are as still as can be. Pelleamena and Priamhark are posed pulling back, as though worried Gideon will break the glass and brush their fitted black formal wear.

Her heart rate spikes at this mockery, at the same age-old treatment Gideon has known her whole life. She hasn't forgotten it, but the bright painful life and un-life at Canaan House and in Harrow and the generously peopled (and insected) islands has made it easier to forget. For a day, a week, every night when Harrow sleeps holding her tightly. Words said an eon ago haunt her. The more you struggle against the Ninth, Nav, the deeper it takes you; the louder you curse it, the louder they’ll have you scream.

Gideon curses. The memories of working with Harrow, of fighting constructs, cajoling a dinner out of her, of everything Ninth she felt keenly the month before bites her. She bites her lip. "I won't scream," Gideon declares to the missing mannequin. She says to no one. Her fingers reach for her sword, but it's not there. The machete is, but even Gideon Nav hesitates before smashing a glass window. Instead, she's stuck, not able to just walk away, not able to stand the mannequins in the windows, not willing to smash the whole display (for the attention it would draw).

Quietly, Gideon fumes from the middle of the hall, with her back to an informational stand.

this is so late bc RL, but I am here if you want to backtag it! featuring: mall goths.

[northerndragon]

He can’t say this place is the strangest yet: not many of them have been familiar, and each time, it’s been in different ways. Some have had more chances for peace than others. What he can say of this place is that its strangeness is unique to it, so far.

So why are all these dummies dressed the way they are? There were some girls and boys down by where the food is who looked a little like this, but only a little. And he didn’t see this girl, who seems to always be with Harrowhark and who reminds him a little of his sister’s sworn sword, admirably strong and not very girlish, around those children. They are not the source of what looks like distress. It’s the dummies.

Why isn’t she with Harrowhark? It’s that and her expression that makes him approach her. He likes Harrowhark, for herself and what she reminds him of. He would be a friend to her friends.

“You all right?” He asks it gently.

Roxy Spaulding| Gen13 | OTA

[gravity_grrl]

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL:

"OH MY GAAAAAAAAWD!"

You would think that Roxy is having a religious experience from the amount of joy that comes forth out of her mouth when she steps inside the giant mall, well I mean, it's pretty close to that. As a self proclaimed Mall Bunny this is one of her favorite places to be and helps her feel almost normal and like she's home.
She's all but bouncing with excitement and should you be nearby you should prepare yourself because this girl knows how to shop and will drag you along with her....

Ⅱ. BLACK FRIDAY:

Not only does Roxy love to shop but she also loves a good deal so when she sees all the massive SALE signs in the department store she can't help herself, she has to pop in. Which turns out to be a horrible mistake when she sees the screaming hordes of eyeless people.

"Holy shit!" She squeaks as the awful crowd surges forward, "What the fuck do we do?"

Ⅳ. MANNEQUIN:

Usually Roxy loves window shopping, it was one of her main sources of entertainment when she was young as she grew up poor but that didn't matter because you didn't ever need money to look at all the new fashion trends.
Looking was always free.

But there's something not quite right about the last few stores she's walked past, for one thing the mannequins are all starting to look the same. Which okay, most times they all look pretty similar but the look that they are all starting to have isn't your normal blank canvas type of look.
They are all suddenly starting to look familiar....

They are all starting to look short, muscular and like her ex-boyfriend.

"Oh shit."

Ⅳ. WILDCARD: Want to do something totally different? Hit Roxy up, also feel free to switch to brackets if prose isn't your style.

Arrival

[nanban]

Hawks isn't really put off by the mall at all, but he's wary of it. The carnival wasn't as horrifying as he'd been imagining, but he figures it's just a matter of time before some terrible other foot drops here. This mall looks outdated as hell to him, but whatever. Maybe there's stuff to eat that's a little better than carnival food? Hawks likes junk food, but come on.

He hears Roxy yell with excitement not far away and turns to see what that's about.

"You're really into the shopping thing, huh?" he asks. He's teasing, but gentle. He's not going to begrudge someone enjoyment.

David Alleyne | Marvel-616 | OTA

[helpdesk_hero]

A. Arrival
Coming off the ferry had left David wondering just what was going on here. But the closer and closer that they got to the destination, the more and more David hated it. A mall.

The last time he'd been to a mall it had been in the sixties and he hadn't really liked being roughed up there. At all. This? This was making him nervous.

But he went inside and immediately cringed at all he saw. How was this even a thing?

"Can we just go to the next island and skip the mall? What do I look like, Jubilee?"

Okay, that's an old joke but he made it anyway.


B. Food and Clothes and Books
If there was one advantage to a mall, it was the ability to acquire things. In fact, David had a few things he needed to take care of immediately. First thing first he circled the food court to determine what offerings there were and was soon seated with some food. Nothing like a plate of really lackluster pasta to make you feel at home. Given he chose a table with plenty of seats, it would be very easy to join him to eat

Later one David of course had to go off and remedy another issue he'd come across recently: better clothing. David moved confidently through stores, picking things off of racks to select clothes. He even smiled over a nice leather coat that reminded him of home. In the end though he was clearly giving some extra attention to the yellow sweaters, perhaps because they would match the glasses with yellow lenses he now wore.

And of course, there were books. So much of time on the islands seemed to be quiet and pensive, waiting for something. So really, one needed something to pass the time. For David that meant books. He absolutely was spending some time in the bookstores, going over the title on every last spine. If only someone might recommend something to him.


C. Black Friday
David had made a joke when he'd entered the mall. The joke had been simply that being trapped in a mall in November was probably the worst thing a person could be. In a way, he had brought this on himself. Maybe he should have thought more before going into a store plastered with SALE signs. Especially a department store.

He heard the calls before he really processed what was going on. Tickle-Me-Elmo, really? But when he turned and saw what was going on, David cursed.

"Shit," he cursed as he started looking for a way to avoid the approaching mob. "Fucking hate the mall."

B is for Books

[gravity_grrl]

"You should get this one." Roxy says, popping up from behind one of the bookshelves that David was inspecting. She holds up a trashy romance novel that has a woman and a dinosaur on the cover and is titled 'Taken by the T-Rex'.

Kyle Broflovski | South Park (AU) | OTA

[kyley_b]

I: Mall Madness
[Closed to Roxy and Quentin]

Why is 'Africa' always playing in the mall? Kyle's not really sure, but there it is. He probably wouldn't notice so much if he hadn't been dragged into some clothing store whose name he hadn't bothered to look at and was now currently stood in one place with items of clothing being piled into his arms by both his friend AND his boyfriend.

Yes, Quentin and Roxy seem so totally in their element. Kyle is just a pack mule.

"Guys, do you seriously need this much shit?"


II: Down in the Underground

One second he's at the entrance to the parking garage, and the next... Kyle sits up, confused, and bangs his head on the roof of the Smart Car he's in. "Ffffffuck!" he curses, rubbing his skull. Naturally he tries the doors, swearing even more colourfully when he finds they refuse to open. The electric windows are likewise shut, making the interior already warm and stuffy.

He takes to his ScryWatch and addresses the network with a video:

"Uh. Hey. Hi. I'm stuck in a fucking car? Can someone come get me out?"

He settles back in the driver's seat and sighs. "I feel like a fucking abandoned poodle," he mutters.


III: Today's Special

Kyle is looking at hats when he realises that one of the mannequins across the aisle looks a lot like Leopold Stotch. He slowly sets down the tuque he was holding, eyebrows knitting together, and stares at the smooth skinned dummy with its pale blonde hair.

"That is fucking weird," he mutters aloud.

He turns his back on the mannequin, determined to look at more hats. He's managed to find a trapper hat like his old favourite, but as he goes to try it on he spots another dummy. This one, he thinks, also looks terribly familiar. "Heidi?" he asks softly. "What the fuck?"


IV. Wildcard me baby!

Mall Madness

[gravity_grrl]

"We're not buying all of it, we have to try it all on first." Roxy explains as she rolls her eyes, because duhhhh Kyle.

"Kyyyyyyle, this is like, a golden opportunity to actually have clothes that we like! I'm going to try and get as many cute outfits as I can while I'm here."

Malcolm Bright | Prodigal Son | OTA

[prodigalmess]

I. ARRIVAL

At this point, Malcolm can't tell if these islands are getting progressively better or worse. Which is scarier? A creepy carnival or a temple dedicated to suburban consumerism? He's not sure.

Speaking of temples, this particular island does not seem to have one. They have everything, including a store that sells only thimbles, but no temple of which to speak. Malcolm purchases an air mattress at a camping store and beds down in a small hallway off of one of the mall's main arteries. It's not that far from a bathroom at least, so that's a bonus.

From the bag that he's carried with him from island to island, Malcolm pulls out a set of hand restraints. He loops them through the curve of a pipe protruding from the wall. This is how he has to sleep so that he doesn't end up hurting himself or someone else. He just hopes that for the four or so hours that he manages to sleep that he doesn't rip the pipe out of the wall during a nightmare.

"Home sweet home," he says to someone near him, someone who is clearly wondering what's up with the restraints. "Nothing like tying yourself to a wall to sleep, right?"

III. UNDERGROUND PARKING

Over the course of his time at the mall, Malcolm has bought himself a few creature comforts. He's trying to stay out of the menswear stores. As much as he would love a full wardrobe of new suits, they would be a pain to have to carry from island to island. Plus, he doesn't even know if they'll come with him to the next place anyway. He's limiting himself to one. Okay, two.

To keep himself from buying more extraneous crap in the stores, Malcolm goes exploring, which is how he finds himself in the underground parking deck. Suffice it to say, he's surprised to end up inside of a car. After searching for keys and finding none, Malcolm tries to get out. The door won't budge.

Panic starts to set in. Malcolm isn't completely claustrophobic, but he doesn't like the idea of being stuck in a small place. He tries throwing all of his weight against the door, banging on the window and even looking for something in the car that might break the window. Nothing.

He's going to have to call for help. Fortunately, the ScryWatch network seems to be working. He types out a quick message.

User: sherlockfreud
SOS - Is anyone reading this?

Malcolm takes a few deep breaths as he waits hopefully for a response.

IV. MANNEQUIN

By now, he's so used to the mall that Malcolm almost knows what all of the mannequins look like. Almost. As he happens to pass a women's clothing shop, the mannequin in the window catches his eye.

Eve?

It looks uncannily like her, with long blonde hair and green eyes. Her smile is a little sad, a look that he saw often on her face. Malcolm stares for a moment and then, creeped out, moves on.

Except here's another mannequin that looks like Eve, posing in a window for a sporting goods store with a tennis racquet. Here's another Eve, wearing a lacy white wedding dress.

All of the mannequins are starting to look like his ex-girlfriend. His deceased ex-girlfriend.

Malcolm feels like he can't breathe. He has to get away. He starts to run, and ends up slamming into someone because he's too distracted by the creepy mannequins.

"S-Sorry..."

V. WILDCARD

I'm always open to wildcard options! Feel free to PM me or message me at sparks_fly.

Underground Parking

[northerndragon]

[The place is big, and Jon is tired of it already. He’s sitting on a wooden bench in a little corridor off to the side of the market. It has little signs that look like people, and the word INFORMATION, although he is sure they cannot give him the kind of information he seeks.

So it is that he’s alone, taking his rest, when the message comes through on the ScryWatch. A strange name to it, but the Travelers come from all sorts of places.]


un: jon.snow
My name is not SOS, it is Jon Snow. I will help you if I can, and if you need it.

Dani Ardor | Midsommar

[midsommaring]

[cw: discussions of death by burning, possible other discussions of death or violence]

I. ARRIVAL
It's been a while since she's been to a mall. She's honestly a bit overwhelmed. She bumps into people occasionally, trying to look everywhere at once. The smells of the food court are actually kind of enticing. She's pretty sure she smells a Cinnabon.

The problem is, she has no idea where she's going. So she'll wander, until someone stops her.


IV. MANNEQUINS
It's impossible. She watched him burn. But there is Christian's face, in mannequin form, staring at her from the other side of the window. She can feel tears welling up and she presses her hand to the glass as she slowly slides to her knees on the floor of the mall. "No, no, no no..."


V. WILDCARD
[HIT ME!]

IV. MANNEQUINS

[extrasensory_problems]

One of the things about being psychic is that you pick up on other people's emotions easily, even if you are trying not to. Carter is also by nature a compassionate and empathetic young man, the result of these two things means that he is practically a homing device when it comes to people being upset or in pain.

So it's not really surprising that the second he walks within a thirty foot radius of Dani he feels her anguish and zeros in on it, walking towards the feeling and then spotting her. Kneeling on the mall floor, crying.

The second he sees tears he jogs over to her, his brows creasing together in concern and he kneels down.

"Hey." He says softly, "Are you okay? Miss?"

Quentin Quire | Marvel 616 | OTA

[quire]

II.  BLACK FRIDAY

How many Orange Juliuses (Julii?) is this for Quentin? Too many. And by the way his cup echos with every slurp it sounds like he’s running low as he stands in front of a massive wall of TVs, basking in the sweet glow of all that mindless sensory input again. God, he’s missed OLED light.

He picks up a control and tinkers with a couple of game consoles. A PS5 might make this place more bearable, he thinks. But then… there are some consoles here he doesn’t even recognize and the thought of playing video games from some other dimension is too interesting an opportunity to pass up. He picks up an unfamiliar jet-black controller and mashes some keys until he figures out the menu only to find the screen flick out on him. He blinks and looks around to find someone heaving the console out of it’s plugs.

“What the fuck?! It’s a floor model you, knuckle dragger!”

This particular shopper takes no notice of his frustration though. Instead they look up, wide eyed and scurry away to another department.

Half expecting to see a hallway full of blood or a pair of scary twins behind him Quentin turns instead to see a surprising throng of people razing this department store like a tidal wave.

“Nope. No. Nuh huh. If I’m going to be killed by an angry mob it’s not going to be in a Sears.”

II b.  BLACK FRIDAY 2: TOTALLY CONSUMED

Thoroughly unaware of the potential side effects of messing with the shopping mob for too long, Quentin is primed to become completely consumed by this cult of consumerism.

Uncontrollably clawing his way to the top floor of designer menswear department might be less dramatic on someone of his stature if not for an impressive suite of powers that he has no qualms about wielding to get what he wants.

As he glows an intense pink the screaming sound of straining metal comes from the escalator. He heaves violently on the step chain inside, sending a crowd of zombie shoppers flinging back down the steps they’re trying to ascend.

II b

[speed_of_snark]

Leave it to these two to be the ones caught up in a testament to pointless consumerism.

Jean-Paul, however, is still in control of his faculties, although only because he'd managed to miss most of the initial rush simply by virtue of already being in the designer menswear section, thoughtfully comparing trousers with the pickiness of someone used to having a personal tailor.

When he hears the rumble of the crowd and then the horrifying scream of metal. He zips out from the change room and stares at the sudden chaos.

"Quire?!" he shouts. "D'fuck are you doing?!"

Logan | Marvel 616 | OTA

[howlett]

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL

As soon as the particular scent of floor wax, new plastic and a distance smack of Cinnabon washes over him Logan’s turning for the door only to find it’s not so quick to let him out as it was to let him in.

“You’re fucking kidding me…” he grumbles and rattles the thing again but no. It won’t budge. Not without force at least. Which absolutely crosses his mind as a next step. With a SNIKT his claws appear and he reels back like he’s prepared to make short work of that glass panel when he gets the distinct feeling he’s being watched.

A pigtailed girl eating an oversized cookie from a paperboy that reads Mrs. Fields stops and stares at him, mouth agape.

His claws snap back into his hand and he adjusts his jacket as if he can tamp down his temper with that little adjustment. He turns away. She continues to stare.

“Boo,” growls.

The last bites of her cookie hit the floor as she books it back towards the food court. He winces a little.

Ⅳ.  MANNEQUIN

Has he mentioned he hates this place? Probably. Before he think of a new way to say that, the feeling of being watched comes back to him. There’s no nosy children this time though. Just a lot of vacant expressions on mannequins wearing shit he can’t believe any one would pay money for.

Maybe it’s just the incessant hum of the fluorescent lights finally getting to him. He shakes it off and makes for the exit, but not sooner does he pass by another display window then he recognizes the faces staring back at him.

“Are they… they’re not real. Are they?” He taps on the glass.

I

[helpdesk_hero]

To call the display surprising and amusing would be an understatement. David hadn't even known that Logan was here, not for certain. More than that, he hadn't even suspected it. And to see Logan there while David was already sipping at a drink from the Orange Julius, well... Yeah. That was a thing.

Especially when the girl dropped the cookie.

"I know malls suck, but come on, the kid isn't the one that trapped you here," he observed, his voice level.

Good thing he wasn't laughing, right?