![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Time for a Cinnabon!
✖ 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…?
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.
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!
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.
Come on Jessica, come on Tori! Let's go to the mall, you won't be sorry!
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.
Chloe | Detroit: Become Human
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
Ib: Ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da....
He saunters in to stand beside her, smiling. "You gonna go in one of these booths?"
no subject
Is the pitch working? She hopes it's working. And she might not be above using big, blue doe eyes at him. What are the chances such a... unique creative opportunity will arise again?
no subject
He grins and makes an after-you gesture. "Let's do it," he says. "I'm all hopped up on an Orange Julius."
no subject
Heading on in, she holds the door for him both out of politeness and to be certain he's following after her. "Excellent. Thank you. I know it's silly but..." Even a robot can have some weird interests. "Are you much of a singer, Kyle?"
no subject
He laughs. "Not a good one. But I love music. Let's see what they've got."
It turns out that they have everything. All eras, all genres, and what appears to be every reality and planet.
"Dude, this is dope."
Ib.
Oh hell no.
"No," Malcolm says, shaking his head, "you definitely don't want to do this."
no subject
"Look, you can pick the background - and they're animated," she continues, pointing to a poster detailing said backgrounds as though it's a selling point. "And you can choose the first song."
Yes, Malcolm. The first song.
no subject
"Uh..." Malcolm stares at the computerized menu of thousands of songs. "I don't know a lot of pop songs."
Are they supposed to pick a duet?
no subject
"It's okay," she reassures him with a smile. "You can pick any kind of song you like." As Chloe looks at the menu, it seemingly scrolls down a little further of its own accord. And then promptly stops as Chloe decides it's probably best not to do those android tricks and let the nice human go through the options himself.
no subject
"I like jazz standards," he says, clicking on that link. "Maybe... one of Ella Fitzgerald's songs?"
IV.
Find Logan skulking around the corner she's ducked behind. Dressed uncharacteristically in a pair of what look like Ray Bans he strikes the picture of a man who bought gas-station sunnies just to get through a hangover.
At least he's got his wits about him enough to notice she looks on edge. He lifts up those glasses just to squint at her more clearly. "You all right? You look a little twitchy."
no subject
She peers back to double check one of the window displays. All hopes are quickly dashed as the face staring back at her hasn't changed. She retreats back and focuses in on him instead. "The mannequins. They all... look like someone. From home." As by this point in their journey it seems redundant to gloss over whatever weirdness is taking place.
Then she frowns, concerned. "Are you okay?" Given the sunglasses and skulking, perhaps he's experiencing the same thing.
no subject
"The mannequins?" he takes note of that face he's seeing on mostly of them. Or maybe all of them. It's no one to him, but it's enough to rattle her. "Someone you're afraid of?" he asks. It's one part nosiness, and one part survival instincts that makes him want to know just how concerned they should be if this place is conjuring those who haunt other travellers.
"Nah, I'm good," he says. It's genuine if not a little tired. "The fluorescents," he gestures to the ceiling. "They wear on me after a while."
no subject
"He's someone who helped me. Without him... something terrible could have happened." Not just to her. To Connor, too.
And it's awful to have wanted him to do more.
Adept at making herself shift gears away from matters she doesn't want to think about, Logan's lighting issue is put to the fore. "If I may make a suggestion, it could be worth seeing if we could find some light sensitivity glasses?" And there's a chance of it steering them away from so many of the stores with mannequins.