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Got the morbs.
✖ VICTORIA'S SECRET
Ⅰ. ARRIVAL & THE TEMPLE
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The ferry pulls into port in the evening, when shadows are long and gas lamps burn through a veil of mist. Dozens of other ships are docked as well, with men unloading crates and boxes from their holds. Beyond the wet wood and lapping sound of the ocean, a city looms like a charcoal smudge on a purple sky. The air is smoggy and thick, and the river that flows from the sea into the city smells foul. Walk the cobbled streets and you will find that the city is crowded and filthy, but full of merchants, pubs, and theatres. Vast wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.
In the center of the sprawling city is a temple with towering gothic spires and huge stained glass windows depicting all manner of beings that might be gods or angels or monsters. You could look for hours and still be finding new figures plucked straight from books of myth and religion. Inside, the main chamber has a grand vaulted ceiling, and dozens of pews line the aisle up to the altar, which is oddly anticlimactic compared to the lavish surroundings: just a plain stone table with a lit oil lamp in the centre. Two hallways branch off on either side of the room: one leads to private baths and a communal kitchen, the other to monastic style chambers with thin beds. Not the most comfortable place to stay, but it’ll do in a pinch!
Alternatively you can venture into the city and find yourself some other lodging - every Traveler has been supplied with some pocket money. Just be careful that it isn’t stolen by some street urchin. Travelers can also find an era-appropriate outfit that will fit them perfectly laid in the first sleeping chamber they visit.
Ⅱ. SEANCE
CW: grief, past trauma.
Perhaps you overhear talk of it at a pub, or maybe you’re handed a small card as you push your way through the crowded city streets. Maybe you just wander in by accident. However it happens, you find yourself being ushered into the parlour of one Miss Mary Price: Spiritualist.
You and several other people are instructed to sit at a round table in a very dark and musty room. The walls are covered in thick black curtains, and maybe you’re the type to suspect that there’s someone hiding behind them somewhere. Once everyone is seated, Mary Price herself enters the room. The lights are all extinguished save for a single candle.
Mary calls out to the spirits. They communicate through a series of knocks, or the movement of a Ouija board. Someone at the table is put in contact with a deceased aunt who reveals the location of a family heirloom. Someone else is able to say goodbye to a son.
Mary Price looks at you with eyes so dark they look black, and asks, “What haunts you?”
Maybe you answer honestly. Maybe you don’t answer at all, but that doesn’t matter because the spirit tapping around the room is more than happy to narc on you and tell the whole room what or who it is that you cannot forget.
You can deny it all you like, but the spirits don’t have a reason to lie. And if you try to mess up the seance, you will spend a month being hounded by an angry poltergeist.
Ⅲ. THE RIPPER
CW: murder, gore, violence.
You’re lost at night. Maybe you were in the pub too late, or maybe you were searching for more illicit fun - weren’t there opium dens around this time? - or maybe you just weren’t keeping an eye on the time. However it happened, you’re on the streets in the dark.
It’s very foggy; you can barely see a foot in front of you. The streetlamps look like dimly burning ghosts and when the odd person passes you they are felt more than seen, just a darker shadow in a world of shifting shades.
Very suddenly you hear a scream - short, and swallowed up quickly by the fog. Still, it’s enough to get you to turn and hurry down a narrow alleyway.
Sprawled on the ground amid a lake of blood is a body. It’s immediately apparent that this person is probably beyond help - their throat has been slashed ear to ear. Your appearance was not expected, however, and you can see that you’ve startled the killer: they’re running down the alley in the opposite direction.
You have a few choices: you can chase the killer and attempt to catch them, you can try to help the victim, you can get the authorities, or you can just walk away.
What will you do?
Ⅳ. RESURRECTION MEN
CW: dead bodies, grave robbing.
You’re not entirely clear on how you agreed to this. Maybe it was a barroom bet gone wrong. Maybe you’re broke enough that you need money fast. Or maybe you want to help some wannabe medical students. However it happened, you’re in the cemetery.
And you’ve got a shovel.
Time to rob some graves! You’ve convinced yourself somehow that this isn’t morally reprehensible, and so you and your partner are just going to get down to business! What corpse should you unearth? You feel like a kid in a candy store!
The problem comes once you’ve unearthed the body because it seems terribly familiar. Which is… creepy. Creepier still when it starts talking.
Maybe it’s a family member, or an old friend. Maybe an ex partner. Whoever it is, they immediately start telling your fellow grave robber about some incident from your past that you just. Can’t. Let. Go. Of. And even if you whack it with a shovel it won’t stop. Bad corpse! BAD Corpse!
Which of course is exactly what you have to try and do if you want this chatty Cathy of a corpse to shut the hell up.
Sometimes I can still hear his voice...
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The ferry pulls into port in the evening, when shadows are long and gas lamps burn through a veil of mist. Dozens of other ships are docked as well, with men unloading crates and boxes from their holds. Beyond the wet wood and lapping sound of the ocean, a city looms like a charcoal smudge on a purple sky. The air is smoggy and thick, and the river that flows from the sea into the city smells foul. Walk the cobbled streets and you will find that the city is crowded and filthy, but full of merchants, pubs, and theatres. Vast wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.
In the center of the sprawling city is a temple with towering gothic spires and huge stained glass windows depicting all manner of beings that might be gods or angels or monsters. You could look for hours and still be finding new figures plucked straight from books of myth and religion. Inside, the main chamber has a grand vaulted ceiling, and dozens of pews line the aisle up to the altar, which is oddly anticlimactic compared to the lavish surroundings: just a plain stone table with a lit oil lamp in the centre. Two hallways branch off on either side of the room: one leads to private baths and a communal kitchen, the other to monastic style chambers with thin beds. Not the most comfortable place to stay, but it’ll do in a pinch!Alternatively you can venture into the city and find yourself some other lodging - every Traveler has been supplied with some pocket money. Just be careful that it isn’t stolen by some street urchin. Travelers can also find an era-appropriate outfit that will fit them perfectly laid in the first sleeping chamber they visit.
Notes:
1. Unless this is your character’s first island, the High Temple and anything you may have stored there is off-limits this month.
2. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.
3. The city greatly resembles Victorian London, and the technology and general way of life is all of that era. Feel free to explore the city! These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.
4. Most food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities. Most. Some of it’s going to be pretty gross or cooked improperly, so be careful.
5. The people in the city are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.
6. Have fun!
Ⅱ. SEANCE
CW: grief, past trauma.
Perhaps you overhear talk of it at a pub, or maybe you’re handed a small card as you push your way through the crowded city streets. Maybe you just wander in by accident. However it happens, you find yourself being ushered into the parlour of one Miss Mary Price: Spiritualist.
You and several other people are instructed to sit at a round table in a very dark and musty room. The walls are covered in thick black curtains, and maybe you’re the type to suspect that there’s someone hiding behind them somewhere. Once everyone is seated, Mary Price herself enters the room. The lights are all extinguished save for a single candle.Mary calls out to the spirits. They communicate through a series of knocks, or the movement of a Ouija board. Someone at the table is put in contact with a deceased aunt who reveals the location of a family heirloom. Someone else is able to say goodbye to a son.
Mary Price looks at you with eyes so dark they look black, and asks, “What haunts you?”
Maybe you answer honestly. Maybe you don’t answer at all, but that doesn’t matter because the spirit tapping around the room is more than happy to narc on you and tell the whole room what or who it is that you cannot forget.
You can deny it all you like, but the spirits don’t have a reason to lie. And if you try to mess up the seance, you will spend a month being hounded by an angry poltergeist.
Notes:
1. The spirit can communicate through knocks, the Ouija, actually vocalising through the medium, or via ectoplasm.
2. What haunts your character does not have to be the memory of a dead person. It can be an event - maybe they’ve never gotten over losing that science fair in grade three. It is the feeling of being haunted that is important.
3. If you choose to trash the seance, the spirit will follow you for the rest of the month. It can range from annoying to actually dangerous.
Ⅲ. THE RIPPER
CW: murder, gore, violence.
You’re lost at night. Maybe you were in the pub too late, or maybe you were searching for more illicit fun - weren’t there opium dens around this time? - or maybe you just weren’t keeping an eye on the time. However it happened, you’re on the streets in the dark.
It’s very foggy; you can barely see a foot in front of you. The streetlamps look like dimly burning ghosts and when the odd person passes you they are felt more than seen, just a darker shadow in a world of shifting shades.
Very suddenly you hear a scream - short, and swallowed up quickly by the fog. Still, it’s enough to get you to turn and hurry down a narrow alleyway.
Sprawled on the ground amid a lake of blood is a body. It’s immediately apparent that this person is probably beyond help - their throat has been slashed ear to ear. Your appearance was not expected, however, and you can see that you’ve startled the killer: they’re running down the alley in the opposite direction.You have a few choices: you can chase the killer and attempt to catch them, you can try to help the victim, you can get the authorities, or you can just walk away.
What will you do?
Notes:
1. The inspiration for this prompt is Jack the Ripper but you do not have to use that case as a basis for your killer.
2. You can get as involved with this as you would like. You can have your character catch the killer in a chase, or form your very own detective squad and hunt them down that way.
3. Naturally, walking away from a potential serial killer might not be great for your Scrywatch grading!
Ⅳ. RESURRECTION MEN
CW: dead bodies, grave robbing.
You’re not entirely clear on how you agreed to this. Maybe it was a barroom bet gone wrong. Maybe you’re broke enough that you need money fast. Or maybe you want to help some wannabe medical students. However it happened, you’re in the cemetery.
And you’ve got a shovel.
Time to rob some graves! You’ve convinced yourself somehow that this isn’t morally reprehensible, and so you and your partner are just going to get down to business! What corpse should you unearth? You feel like a kid in a candy store! The problem comes once you’ve unearthed the body because it seems terribly familiar. Which is… creepy. Creepier still when it starts talking.
Maybe it’s a family member, or an old friend. Maybe an ex partner. Whoever it is, they immediately start telling your fellow grave robber about some incident from your past that you just. Can’t. Let. Go. Of. And even if you whack it with a shovel it won’t stop. Bad corpse! BAD Corpse!
Which of course is exactly what you have to try and do if you want this chatty Cathy of a corpse to shut the hell up.
Notes:
1. If you do NOT let go of this past event, the corpse will follow you the rest of the night singing Henry the Eighth I am, I am.
no subject
He's surprised by David's answer, the frankness of it, the concern. Hawks hadn't really been concerned about it, which now that he thinks about it, does that make him an asshole? He's so good with people on a superficial level, but his actual social skills are questionable at best. He didn't actually spend much time with people as a kid, having a childhood in literal isolation, then nothing but Commission approved training. He learned to read people and adapt to them, but…that's not exactly the same thing.
"Aro? I don't think I know that one."
He knows asexual, but not aro.
He fluffs his feathers out and considers. "There's no complications, man. I mean, it was a terrible pick up line, but I refuse to apologise for that." He grins a little, because he knows it's true. But he's serious enough when he continues, "But what is there to be upset about? I wouldn't have jumped right into make out land without the whole under the influence thing, but I'm not sorry it happened, and I'd do it again on my own terms. If you wanted. Or not, if you didn't. We're cool."
no subject
If there was ever a statement better suited to make David trip while walking through a foggy night and stepping onto an uneven bit of pavement, it hadn't been spoken under those exact circumstances. The whole circumstance indeed made David trip and it distracted him enough that the orb flickered out as he worked to balance himself. Shit.
Lack of focus meant a lack of sustained projections for him. Still sucked.
Once he balanced himself he looked to Hawks with the same bewilderment that he had given Carter when the other had suggested Hawks might feel that way.
"W-why? I mean, not why not apologize or why not be upset. Just, why would you want to do that again? I'm literally just a hot mess. And you're this hot guy that actually has real valuable skills and a calming presence and all that stuff and could absolutely get someone who wasn't a mess to kiss you with no effort because, well, you're you."
no subject
Hawks looks just as surprised as David does, listening to that rambling.
"Dude, do you not look in mirrors or something? This isn't deep. You're a hot guy, too."
He rubs the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. For all of his cool guy persona, this isn't actually something he does. He spends all his time being a hero or a spy, letting people do that weird parasocial relationship thing via social media, make whatever conclusions they want. He's never had an actual boyfriend or girlfriend or any of that.
"You're too hard on yourself, David. I like being around you. You get what the hero gig is like. You're funny, you're smart. Like I said, it's not deep. It's just kissing. What happens after that, I guess I dunno. I'm kinda new at that part."
no subject
"You know," he says, taking a deep breath and shaking his head, "everyone always responds to my confusion with pointing out my appearance. I've figured that part out even if it continues to shock me. And people tell me I'm too hard on myself too, a lot."
These were things he was used to. Hell, he was used to getting called smart too. But he's never had someone point out the other things. The liking being around him, the getting what the work means and how it affects them, the funny part. The smart came up a lot of course, he couldn't escape that one. But the rest? It's nice to hear.
"Well, I suppose if you're just going to throw out all those compliments, I just have to accept them as true."
With a gesture he conjures up the orb of light again and considers Hawks by the glow of it before speaking again.
"What if I said I was a bit cold in all this fog?"
they're such dorks smh
He doesn't let go of David immediately because the excuse to stay touching is good enough, considering the situation. He's about to when David drops that cold line. He raises one fluffy eyebrow at that.
"Well. I did have that standing offer, I think. My wings are a little wet, but they keep the warm in pretty good, so..."
Dorks? David being counted among dorks? Surely you jest /s
It was okay, Hawks. While David had some experience in all of this, that didn't mean he was great at it all. So he could manage some bluntness when it was needed.
"Hawks? This is when you just smile, mention how cold it is, and pull someone close. Maybe wrap a wing around them. And definitely save them from their own rambling."
no subject
And David's right, too. Hawks is good at the chill guy act most of the time, but he's always practiced that in given parameters back home. He can do the social media thing, public appearances, but this is new. Relationships with other people like this are foreign territory, but point taken.
"Right! Right." He can't not look like an idiot now, but he can do exactly as David suggests. "It is pretty chilly out here." He slides an arm around David and leans in to kiss him without making a bigger Thing of it. This is a much better angle than the boat ride, since they're standing. It's easy as anything to wrap a wing around him. Unlike a regular bird, or probably many winged hero types, Hawks has total control over his wings because of that telekinetic thing, so there's nothing awkward or graceless in his movement.
no subject
But the chuckle doesn't last long because there's Hawks just... Well, offering a brief, nice kiss. It's nice, fuck but it's nice, and he leaned against he other man, because he was supposed to. The wing around him was also really great. It truly did offer him the warmth he had claimed to want.
"You're a quick learner."
no subject
Strange that in this place, what he does matters less, despite their whole shtick about redemption and ScryWatch colours or whatever. He tells himself not to get used to it. But at least the company is good, and David feels nice against him.
"Quick learner? Let's go for 'good kisser' instead," he says with a grin, leaning in to kiss David again if he'll go for it.
no subject
"Oh, I think you have the potential to become an amazing kisser," David answered, happy to open his arms to the man leaning in to kiss him. And this time, he didn't intend on soft and sweet.
no subject
He laughs a little at the comment.
"I can work with potential," he says. He takes the cue from David, his body language, the way he leans in again. This kiss isn't soft. It's not exactly a dam breaking, but it's at least not restrained. Hawks lets his teeth drag over David's bottom lip and slides both arms around him this time. His wings aren't tight around them, but they're at least involved enough, a warm barrier against the damp, chill air and any nosy passersby.
no subject
When they part he is left smiling, more to himself than anything else.
"Yeah, that's more than a bit of potential."
no subject
That's a weird feeling, one he's not used to, the idea of someone being into him without some ulterior motive.
"You got potential yourself," he answers with a grin, completely cheeky on purpose.
"So...what now? Play it by ear? Keep whatever this is a secret?" There's no rulebook here. There's no image Hawks has to keep up, no Commission to answer to about it. He hasn't talked to anyone much about that, about how much of his life isn't his to live, and he probably isn't going to start right now, but...for someone who can fly anywhere he wants, he's never actually been free.
no subject
"Oh, I've got a lot more than potential. But if you ask me, I think we play it by ear, but I see no reason to keep it secret. I have no shame in how I feel, how eager I am to try. To get to know you in a whole other way."
And it would be a new way. He'd already learned some things, but he'd like sharing this time with honesty.