Bang Up To The Elephant

[polymods]

✖ VICTORIA'S SECRET

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The fog that has blanketed the city for a month finally lifts a little - there are days with actual sunshine now! Not many, and the sky is still frequently thick with smog, but every so often light pours through the holes in the clouds. The river that flows from the sea into the city still smells foul, but maybe you’re starting to get used to it.

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!

The High Temple has also reappeared at the edge of the city, with its considerably more comfortable lodgings.

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. The High Temple and anything you may have stored there is available to all characters 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. COME UNDONE
CW: dead bodies, archeological graverobbing.
Somehow, some way, you find yourself with an invitation card:

Lord Trewlaney at Home: the Unwrapping of
THE JEWEL OF THE SEVEN STARS!
Half-past Eight
Unwrapping? How saucy! Or perhaps you have an inkling of exactly what that means.

The invitation gets you entry to a well kept home on the more well-to-do side of the city. There are plenty of servants circulating with food and drink of which you are welcome to partake. Society’s elite chatter and mingle all around you; maybe you fit in, and maybe you don’t.

Regardless, you don’t have to wait very long for the main event. The host of this little soiree - presumably Lord Trewlaney himself, a little man with a weak chin and an impressive mustache - stands at the front of the room and holds his hands aloft.

“Ladies and gentleman,” he says in a clear voice. “BEHOLD! We shall now commence with the unwrapping of this, a fine example of Egyptian mummification, who was once called the Jewel of the Seven Stars!”

A wheeled table is brought forward, covered in a purple velvet cloth. Dramatically, Lord Trewlaney flings it back to reveal a body wrapped in ancient linen bandages. The crowd sighs, and Trewlaney’s eyes scan the crowd.

“Ah, you there!” he cries, pointing at you. Or maybe the person beside you.

“You folk there! Here, come up, my friends! You may have the honour of being a part of history!”

The crowd pushes you and your companion forward with excited murmurs. Soon enough the two of you are beside the mummy, and Trewlaney is handing you a pair of scissors. Up close the body smells of cinnamon and something else, something familiar.

“Reveal its face!” he urges you. And so, you cut.

Much to your surprise what is revealed is not a desiccated corpse, but your own likeness. Before you have time to react the mummy sits up and turns to face the audience, who oohs and ahhs.

The mummy’s lips part and it speaks. What does it say? Something extremely revealing; in plain terms, the mummy reveals something an aspect of yourself that you would rather have kept hidden.

Oh dear! You can shut yourself up, of course, but before you do maybe you ought to consider that interfering with a mummy was considered a surefire way to fall under a curse…

Notes:
1. What is revealed can of course be of any degree of seriousness. Murder? Or do you just secretly enjoy RomComs?

2. Shut the mummy up before it has its say and you will suffer the Mummy’s Curse: bad luck that will plague you for the rest of the month!

---

Ⅲ. IMAGINARIUM
The sign above the door simply reads Cabinet of Curiosities. How intriguing! And at the very least you can get out of the chill.

Inside there are dozens of wooden cases with glass fronts, each filled with shelves of all manner of objects. Some look expensive and exotic, while others are almost painfully mundane. There are taxidermied animals, wet specimens, fossils, glass eyes, rocks and crystals, pottery, statuettes… There’s a little of everything.

As you peer amongst the stuffed ducks and fossilized plants, you’ll spot something familiar. It’s an object that you recognise as personally significant whether because it’s from your life back home, or because it’s symbolic. It represents a dream or a hope you have for the future.

If you take the object out of the cabinet for a closer look, you and whoever happens to be standing nearby will instantly be transported to a hazy vision of what that lovely dream is. It won’t last forever - indeed, maybe only a moment. Depending on what that hoped for future is, you might have some explaining to do.

Notes:
1. All futures are something hoped for. They may be completely unrealistic and bittersweet, but they are something wanted and not feared.

---

Ⅳ. GARDENS
CW: mind altering substances.
If there’s one spot within the city where you might be able to find some refuge from the dank scent of ocean rot and the sour smell of body odour, then it’s going to be the Gardens. A jewel toward the west side of the city, you will find a greenhouse containing all manner of tropical plants, and a rose garden with over a 100 different types available for you to enjoy.

But why stop there? There are also areas where you can stop and have tea with a friend. They even have those little sandwiches with the crust cut off! They have cucumber, egg, and cream cheese. Each of these has a different effect: cucumber sandwiches will provide a mild sense of euphoria, while the egg will give you a lot of energy (and maybe some gas). Cream cheese will make you very relaxed and prone to oversharing. There are also perfectly regular cakes and biscuits available, as well.

Maybe you’re feeling a bit more somber. In the northeast end of the park there is a secret pet cemetery with over 300 tiny tombstones paying tribute to the tragic losses of many much-loved pets. The area is disused, overgrown with ivy and ferns. Sitting there evokes a sense of peace.

Prefer to see some living wildlife? Fear not, the park seems to attract several different types of songbirds which makes it a hotspot for birdwatching. There are binoculars available to use for that purpose. Or you could use them to peer into the city’s seamy underbelly. Just don’t get isolated and weird about it.

Sometimes I can still hear his voice...

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

chester "ches" fields ☽ original (werewolf)

[wolfssegen]

☽ Arrival: A Canadian Werewolf in London

This smell of this place is like a more overwhelming human version of home - he's used to farm animal and machinery smells, but the scent of human waste and smog is overwhelmingly bad, especially with the heightened sensitivity of a werewolf's nose. Even as he leaves his room, dressed in a comfortable cotton button up shirt, a well-worn waistcoat, and a pair of slacks, and a pageboy cap just like one he has back home, he has his nose wrinkled against the smell of it.

Free to explore this place at his leisure, he finds himself a little uncertain where to start as he exits the temple and stands idly leaning on a fencepost, arms crossed, mouth pursed, glancing left and right as horse-drawn carriages drive back and forth on the road in front of him. After a few long minutes observing the area around himself, he makes his decision, and then it's just a matter of looking for company.

Whether coming from the temple behind him or returning to it from their own exploration of the city, he tips his hat to someone he's pretty sure is a fellow...traveler? Then he quickly follows up with a request.

"Hey. Do you have any idea where to get a good beer around here?"

☽ Come Undone

Unlike some people who'd gotten the invitation, Ches isn't particularly educated about the hobbies of people in Victorian London, and didn't pick up on what the whole 'unwrapping' ceremony or exhibition or whatever might be about. At least not until he sees the mummy, which is...kind of horrifying, honestly.

What's even more horrifying is the fact that he's being shoved forward to cut the bandages on the thing, which seems less than respectful to the dead, and to another culture.

"No, no thanks, not really my thing..." he tries to protest, but the crowd keeps pushing anyway and soon he finds himself at the head of it, facing down the mummy. In a last ditch effort to get out of it, he tries to hand the scissors to the person next to him only to be urged to go ahead and cut the fabric. Shifting from foot to foot, uncomfortable, he looks at the crowd pressing in on every side, then at the man doing the urging, and then at the mummy again.

Well, when in Rome?

It's not his finest moment, but he uses the scissors to delicately cut the fabric away from the face of the mummy, hairs on the back of his neck standing up, skin crawling a little. And when the fabric falls away, it's his own face that he sees.

Great. He's probably cursed now or something.

Glancing around to try to see if the rest of the crowd is seeing what he's seeing, he only hears the oohing and ahhing of people in thrall of a spectacle, and then the mummy sits up and speaks.

"I am a werewolf, and proud of it."

Oh. Even better. The weight of a thousand stares directly on his back. Just what he wanted.

☽ Imaginarium

No more accepting invitations to weird mummy unwrappings, thanks. Instead, Ches decides to explore the city a little more, try out a few different local attractions, grabs some pub food and beer, and once he's done that, he finds himself wandering into the Imaginarium on his way back to the temple.

The trinkets on display are certainly interesting, some in a creepy freak show kind of way, some in a more mundane way. He skips the wet specimens in favor of looking at some of the more mundane objects, particularly interested in the tools he sees - some are for farming or carpentry, some are for uses he can't possibly imagine.

It's as he's moving away from the tools toward the back of the shop that he sees it - what looks like an exact replica of a stuffed dog that Dusty, his little brother, had had as a child. Hands shaking, he opens the little cupboard it's been lovingly placed inside, and pulls the little thing out. Its head flops to one side, soft from being loved so much, and it has the exact same weight he remembers, the same threadbare spots, the same weird redistribution of stuffing from being hugged in the same places all the time.

And then the dream starts, hazy and beautiful, like an old photograph. It's his brother, a tall broad-shouldered young man quite a bit bigger than Ches, with dark tan skin and blond curly hair, blue eyes bright with happiness. He's outdoors, under an arch adorned with wildflowers, standing across from a blurry-faced man he's never met. Both of them are in suits, and it becomes obvious very quickly that the two men are being married. There are chairs set out under the bright blue sky, an old and slightly dilapidated farmhouse in the distance, the trees swaying with a slight breeze, and every chair is occupied by people with loving faces, the familiar faces of his pack. All of them there, together and happy, watching his brother be married to the man of his dreams.

☽ Gardens

The gardens are a nice break from the smog and filth of the city, and Ches takes his time wandering through them. Most of the gardens that he's used to are vegetable gardens, but he's not against flowers, and it's at least a nice view.

But eventually, he gets tired and sits down at one of the little tables offering refreshments. Pouring himself a cup of tea, he observes the cakes and sandwiches, tempted by them. Just as he's about to grab one, he sees someone walking by and offers a smile.

"Join me?"

☽ Wildcard/OOC

Will match brackets or prose. Ches is pretty outgoing, so if your character's not the sociable type feel free to have them just be in his vicinity and I'll find a way to have him talk.

I'm open to any of the sandwich effects in the last prompt, if you have a preference just let me know in the subject line. If none of the prompts work for you but you want a thread with Ches, write me something different or send me a PM to plot!

Arrival

[gravity_grrl]

Roxy is just leaving one of the sweet shops when she nearly collides with a scruffy blonde man. "Oh sorry!" She exclaims and when she looks up into his face she stops dead in her tracks, her violet eyes going wide.

"Omg...Bobby?!" She whispers and then launches herself into his arms, hugging him tightly, a small sob escaping her throat. "OmgBobbyIthoughtI'dneverseeanyofyouagainhowdidyougetherefuckImissedyou!!"

[ooc: First of all, hi welcome!! Second, sorry for Roxy's abrupt greeting but hilariously you use the same actor I use for images of one of her best friends
And Third as a Canadian horror movie fan your title for his arrival made me smile XD ]

[wolfssegen]

"Oh, whoops, sorry for-"

He starts speaking, but then the girl he'd bumped into is abruptly launching herself at him and speaking so fast he can barely understand what she's saying, other than that she's calling him 'Bobby.' And saying she missed him.

Aww, this is not going to end well. He feels bad about it already.

"Hey, hey, sorry, I think you might have me mixed up with someone-?" he says, but he still drapes his arms lightly around her waist, just to make sure she doesn't lose her balance.

[OOC: No problem at all! Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm also a Canadian horror movie fan so I couldn't resist.]

[gravity_grrl]

It probably takes longer than it should for her to realize that this isn't Bobby but she wants it to be him so badly that she tries to convince herself that it is, if just for a moment. But the build is different, so is the voice, and most of all he doesn't hug like Bobby does. Eventually her brain catches up and her body stiffens and she lets go, stepping back and going a bright red.

"Oh...oh god...I'm so sorry....you.."

She swallows a lump in her throat and tries to not start crying again. "You look like someone back home."

[wolfssegen]

When she steps back, Ches drops his arms right away and lifts his hands, shaking his head a little.

"Don't worry about it, seriously. It happens."

It's never happened to him before, but with so many people from so many different places here, he imagines it can. And he's had far, far worse than a cute girl giving him a hug thinking he was someone else. At worst, it's just a little awkward.

Or maybe that's not the worst, because the girl looks like she's about to cry, and Ches reaches out without thinking, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"Hey, hey. Are you alright?"

[gravity_grrl]

Roxy bites her lower lip to stop it from trembling and swipes at her eyes with the back of her hand, clearing her throat and trying to shake off the sadness she's feeling.

"I, uh yeah. Sorry." She says and then looks back up at him, smiling brightly. "Just embarrassed. I don't usually hug guys so enthusiastically until after they've bought me dinner." It's a bit of an empty flirtation but she needs to get her feet back under her somehow.

Come Undone

[kyley_b]

Kyle doesn't know the blonde he gets shoved up towards the mummy with, but he can guess by his expression that he's a fellow Traveler, and probably a new one at that. He wants to reassure the guy that these sorts of things just happen, and that they're usually not too serious--

But then the mummy, which looks just like the blonde, drops that little bombshell.

"Dude," Kyle says, eyes wide. "Is that true?"

[wolfssegen]

Ches hadn't really looked at the person who he was getting pushed up here with, not until he asks if that's true. Wincing, Ches pushes a hand back through his hair, debating on what answer he should give.

His instinct is obvious - lie through his teeth and make it believable, because you don't let humans know you're a supernatural unless you really don't value your life and have a taste for being hunted like an animal. On the other hand, this is his chance to try it out and see if the people here, being from so many different places, might not be so judgy.

Gold eyes flick around the room, seeing all the eyes on him. Instead of answering the question, he just tugs at the guy's shoulder and ducks his head toward the door.

"Let's get out of here."

[kyley_b]

"I dunno," Kyle cautions, still looking at the mummy. These things usually have a catch..." Still, it's not HIS mummy, so he turns to leave. That's when he realises that the door is past the crowd of people.

A crowd which is looking at them very suspiciously.

"Perhaps he's the one who was murdering all those girls," someone whispers. "Under some mad delusion of being a wolf!"

Kyle looks at Ches. "Uhhh," he says intelligently. "No way."

Come Undone

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm had an inkling as to what an unwrapping ceremony was, and it turned out he was right. He's pretty uncomfortable being here though. As fascinating as mummies are, it's in very poor taste to be unwrapping the ancient dead from another culture as entertainment in someone's parlor.

He's about to leave when he's pushed to the front along with another Traveler, someone that must be new because Malcolm hasn't seen him before. There's a knot in the pit of his stomach. This is all about to go very wrong, and not because Malcolm is superstitious about mummies and curses. Given his past experiences here, it's highly likely that the wrapped body is going to be revealed to be one of his loved ones from home, who will invariably say something highly embarrassing in this very public room. He dealt with the undead corpse of his sister last month. Who will it be this time? His mother? Gil? Maybe his father, here to let everyone know that he's a serial killer?

When the other man tries to hand him the scissors, Malcolm shakes his head. He's not touching those with a ten-foot pole. He will, at least, try to help though. "Listen," he says quietly. "If you want, I can try to create a distraction or something so that we can run."

The man decides to take his chances with the mummy. Malcolm watches as the bandages are cut away, hoping that he doesn't recognize the face under them.

He does, but only because it's the same as the one on the man who did the cutting. Sure enough, the mummy sits up and makes a bold declaration to the room.

Malcolm's silent for a moment, blinking. "Well, that's different."

Gardens.

[puntificates]

Ellie had been wandering around in the way one does when they don't have any particular destination in mind; she had just been letting her feet take her where they would after aimlessly finding her way toward the greenhouse from the streets. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city, though the general grime and stink of things didn't bother her much; it was far more the sheer volume of people and a culture shock she hadn't been prepared for. This was a world, a time, far before the outbreak.

Crazy.

She must have been lost in thought - or maybe just plain lost, because she gives a little jump when she hears Ches's voice pipe up from behind her where she had been caught admiring the roses (blue? she didn't know they even came in blue).

"Man, you scared the shit out of me!"

To be fair... that wasn't really his fault in the least, and her exasperation is leaving her in an exhale of awkward relief more than accusation. Geez, is she getting jumpy? She's having a major sense of deja vu all the sudden, but the hunched tension of her shoulders is already easing as she realizes she had been invited to Ches's tea party.

Shit. Talk about an overreaction.

"...Sorry. Sorry, didn't mean to freak out on you." Okay, she can salvage this. Probably. "I guess I'm on edge, this place is just-- weird, right?" You're with her Ches, aren't you? This is weird?