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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…?

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sounds good." She says and skips cheerfully alongside him.

"So! We must be like a super awesome powerful duo." She states, "Because did you notice that the second we started talking about how we wanted a shopping island we got one?"

Quentin can't exactly remember the last time he was in a mall. Especially for leisure and not business, but it's all very nostalgic for a life he didn't live so much as watched in movies and on TV.

He points at the menu behind then pimple-faced clerk at the Orange Julius stand. "The big one," he clarifies as he ruminates on Roxy's words.

"Hm. That's food for thought," he says. Maybe not thoroughly convinced, but always willing to entertain the idea that he's more powerful than even he realizes. "I wonder if anyone else considered it. We should ask around. And then see if we can do it again. You know, recreate the situation as best we can but with whatever we wanna see next."

"Oooh good idea!" She says and then looks thoughtful. "What would be a good island to hit next? I'd love somewhere with a bunch of dope dance clubs."

"Clubs could be fun," he says, watching his drink get blended.

"They're obviously willing to riff off of actual places, times, and cultures," he points out, gesturing to the space around them. "Sooooo... I could go for like. A fun take on the Shi'ar empire. They don't know much about house or trap but I'm basically a God to those people," he shrugs.

It's a very big Julius the clerk hands him and Quentin's eyes light up as that first sip hits him with delicious nostalgia.

Edited 2021-11-10 03:42 (UTC)

The fact that Quentin wants their next island to be a place where he's considered a God isn't lost on her, the boy sure has an ego but that's not necessarily a horrible thing in her eyes. Sometimes you need a big ego to get by.

"What are the Shi'ar like?" She asks as Quentin sips his drink, motioning that they should move towards the Starbucks kiosk. Orange Julius is okay but she wants an iced latte.

He'd tell you it just seems logical really. Who wouldn't benefit from that kind of power?

He slurps on his tasty new accessory as they make their way to Starbucks. He stops briefly at one of those digital mall-maps to see what kinds of shops this place has to offer in terms of upscale couture.

"Imperialist. Aggressively expansionist. Kind of obsessed with bird imagery and specifically lacking in creativity and imagination. But also like... decent landlords? They do a lot of conquering but they're awfully open to letting the people and places they rule over be totally self-governing. So. Meh." he rambles. "All the best parts of their culture are probably adopted."

Roxy leads them into line at the Starbucks, ordering herself an iced latte.

"Obsessed with bird imagery?" She asks, because out of all of that it's the one thing that sounds interesting to her. "Why birds? Do they worship them or something? Evolved from birds?"

"I dunno where that stems from actually. Big feathery head-pieces. Titles like; Raptor. Fearful worship of a big destructive firebird," he shrugs.

"If I had to guess I bet the fiery bird-God came first but I've never seen an Ancient History of the Shi'ar textbook." Which, maybe he should look into before he gets too accustomed to being chummy with their bird God.

"According to that map the bougie shops are on the upper levels," he smirks."

"Huhn.... Yeah that seems like a likely reason."

She gets her iced latte and then nods towards the escalators, "Upper levels. Got it." There's a pause as she takes a long sip of her latte.

"Urm so, confession time? I don't ever really go into bougie places. I've only ever owned a designer dress once and it got ruined in a fight in Italy. So like....I can offer opinions on how stuff looks but I'm not gonna know a ton about who made it."

There's a moment where something unsaid feels positively palpable so when Roxy breaks into it Quentin almost expects something bigger. Something worse. Some kind of I'm in love with your boyfriend type confession. By comparison this seems a welcome foolishness.

"Oh yeah, hey it's cool. I didn't either. I mean, before I reinvented myself. It wasn't really something I gave a shit about. And don't get me wrong, I still like street style. I just really like it when it's high rent street style, you know? High-low culture remixes are totally my jam. Which, frankly, I feel like you'd be way into too. You give me sorta punkish vibes no? Trust me, I like to be wearing the most expensive shit in the room, that looks like I found it at the thrift store. That kind of subversiveness fucks with people."

If Roxy knew that Quentin was worried about her confessing her love for his boyfriend she would probably wet herself laughing, she loves Kyle sure but only as a friend. She thinks that the two of them are adorable together, and as a total romantic she would actually fight anyone who tried to break them up.

His comment about her fashion vibe is actually quite flattering and she blushes a little.

"Oh uh thank you. I grew up in a trailer park so I used to get all my clothes from actual thrift stores."

Paranoia is just one of those flaws he's very adept at rationalizing as self-preservation.

"There's a lot to be said for someone who can dress well with no money. Anyone can drop fat stacks to look great. That's not a skill. You can't buy taste," he says glibly slurping on his drink.

"I didn't grow up rich either. And I tried to look ivy league, but it probably just came off like your run of the mill pointdexter." He hops at the edge of the escalator and looks around up here. There's anther level up still he realizes and points to the next bay of moving stairs. "Up one more. I spy a Chanel."

She smiles, feeling a bit more at ease now that she knows that he isn't going to mock her for growing up poor.

"I'm sure you looked cute all Ivy League style." She says and takes a long sip of her iced coffee.

"A Chanel? Oh...uh...Are they even going to let us in?"

He snorts derisively. "No I looked like the Phantom of the Flea Market," he says, recalling an impressively dated array of drab argyle's and corduroys.

He is a snob, no doubt. But the way he wields that snobbery often keeps people guessing about him.

He turns to Roxy before they reach the top of that escalator and puts his hand firmly on her shoulder and looks her in the eye. "Rule number one of existing in rich-people-spaces. Never for a second doubt that you belong there even more than the sales people do. They can smell trepidation. Look bored and unimpressed by the whole thing and they'll mistake it for the scent of money."

She stops short when he puts a hand on her shoulder, her violet eyes looking into his innocently.

"Bored and unimpressed." She repeats and then breaks into a smile because this actually might be fun, now that she has Quentin to help guide her.

"Got it. Should I sniff with disdain at everything?"

"Not everything. Just like, it's ok, but you've seen it done before, you know?" he advises before marching into that Chanel store holding his food court ice cream smoothie like it's a dry martini.

The clerks eyes flick up to Quentin and then to his offensive choice in beverage.

"Can I help you?" she asks.

"I doubt it," Quentin claps back like a reflex without so much as turning to meet the woman's eyes.

"Ahm, we do ask that you don't bring things like that in here," she says. There's a look about her as though she's still testing the waters. Uncertain about where she stands comparatively to this scrubby boy and his friend.

Finally he looks at her. Then at his drink. He slurps it audibly and then dangles it out towards her. "Mmk. You hang onto it for me then." When she doesn't take it immediately he waggles it at her until she does. Reluctantly.

With his hands now free Quentin breezes past her for the small, but curated mens ware department.

She nods and follows Quentin into the shop, trying to keep her eyes half lidded and lazy looking. She also tries hard not to burst into laughter at the way Quentin shakes his Orange Julius at the clerk.

Roxy shoves one of her hands into the pocket of her leather jacket and strolls past the clerk nonchalantly, sipping at her latte, almost rubbing it in her face that she's also bringing a drink into the store. She joins Quentin at the menswear section and waves at hand at some of the articles of clothing.

"Hnm. I was expecting more."

Quentin's sizing up a simple black blazer when he hears Roxy hum like she's underwhemled. "From what? The staff or the clothes?" he asks as he tries it on.

It fits perfectly, because like everything in here it's all designed for someone as lanky as he is, but generally it's a pretty plain garment for someone as loud as Quentin.

Edited 2021-11-13 05:34 (UTC)

"Ha! Both." She says with a grin and then looks at Quentin in the blazer, wrinkling her nose a little.

"Mehhhh. It needs something to punch it up."

"It's supposed to be understated. Invisible even," he says, smoothing out the lapels of his new jacket. "It's coded luxury, you know what I mean?"

She looks at him blankly for a second and then snorts.

"No. Not at all."

He whirls around to look at her and make sure she's not pulling his leg.

"Coded luxury. Designer brands and styles that are meant to fly under the radar. Sure the fit is perfect, and the fabric, cut and finishing are all top shelf stuff. But the average consumer wouldn't recognize it as designer. Blasting logos Gucci and Versace on everything is a poor persons idea of dressing rich. But this..." he turns back to the mirror to enjoy his jacket again. "This is like a secret handshake amongst rich people. If you know you know."

Edited 2021-11-13 06:11 (UTC)

While his boyfriend explains how rich snobs work to Roxy, Kyle is nervously sitting in a salon chair. The cut is first, then some sort of conditioning protein treatment he doesn't understand. He just sits and reads one of the fantasy novels he picked up at the bookstore, eventually being turned loose.

He wanders toward the high end shops, idly feeling the back of his neck. Shaved down at the back and sides, curly on top, Kyle's hair looks downright presentable for once.

Mentally, he calls for Quentin and when he's told where to go he ambles that way, waving when he sees his friends.

Edited 2021-11-13 06:48 (UTC)

Roxy shrieks and runs over to Kyle when he comes into the store.

"Omg look at you! You so pretty!!!!"

Quentin smiles a smug kind of smile as soon as he lays eyes on the familiar redhead. It's one part delighted by the way Kyle looks and one part incredibly self-satisfied to see how right he was about the whole thing.

"Well?" he asks. "Do you like it? 'Cause you look like a complete snack."

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