polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2022-02-01 12:51 pm

Bang Up To The Elephant

POLYMYTHOS: VICTORIA'S SECRET

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

threeterparker: (238)

Peter Parker | ota

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-06 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)

iii. imaginarium

[ Finally, Peter thinks. Something on this island that isn't related to death or the dead. Seances and mummies are all well and good for some people, but Peter would rather focus on this living. The Imaginarium is full of many curious curios, some of which fascinate Peter, some of which disturb him. But then he sees something familiar on display: his Uncle Ben's wedding ring. When Ben died, his ring had been removed prior to his burial, and Peter's Aunt May had held onto it, telling Peter that Ben would be proud to see Peter wear it someday, once he found the right person to marry.

Peter reaches for it, speaking in an awed voice. ]
What is this doing here...?

[ Maybe it isn't the same ring. But the closer Peter gets to picking it up, the more certain he is that it is. ]


iv. gardens

[ The gardens are beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful place on this whole island. Peter doesn't want to leave. So when he comes across a table set for tea, he decides to sit and stay a while. He picks up the little sandwiches, especially the cucumber and cream cheese ones. Which is why, when someone else comes along, he's laughing a little, feeling a bit lighter than usual, and he waves them down. ]

Hey, come sit with me? This food is too good not to share.


v. wildcard

[ want something else? HMU @ [plurk.com profile] millennialfalcon / ©hris#1234! ]
prodigalmess: (looking up)

iii

[personal profile] prodigalmess 2022-02-11 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ Despite being a man who toils in the macabre, Malcolm's glad to have a bit of a break from it this month as well. Even though he enjoyed hunting the Ripper, last month was rough. The appearance of his sister as an undead corpse who forced him to reveal one of his darkest secrets probably had something to do with that. Malcolm's ready for something a bit lighter.

He's browsing the shelves of Cabinet of Curiosities, looking for something that he can take as a souvenir to the next isle, when he hears the man next to him speak. Malcolm glances up at him and notices that he's holding a ring. ]


Do you recognize it?
threeterparker: (266)

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-16 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Peter's so surprised to see Uncle Ben's ring here, he nearly forgot he wasn't alone. He does a brief double take to the guy, before looking back at the ring, nodding. ]

Yeah. It's... It was my uncle's wedding ring. My aunt saved it when he... passed.

[ Even all these years later, it's hard to think about Uncle Ben's death. Peter reaches into the cabinet to pick up the ring, and the imaginarium around them fades, instead becoming a beautiful section of Central Park in early winter, the last remnants of the leaves are still on the trees, but the grass is touched with frost. They're by the Gapstow Bridge, and there's a couple standing by the foot of the bridge, the man on one knee, proposing to a woman. The man looks startlingly familiar, given that it's Peter himself. From the angle where the actual Peter stands, though, he can't see the face of the woman the other Peter is proposing to, or anything about her. Her hair is hidden underneath a knit cap, so not even that could be a clue as to her identity. ]

What the...?
prodigalmess: (listening)

[personal profile] prodigalmess 2022-02-20 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ That's very curious, and simultaneously horrifying for Malcolm. If something personal of this man's is here, maybe something of his is too. Count on Malcolm to assume it's something horrifying and not something sentimental.

Then the scene changes around them and Malcolm is home. He misses Central Park. It's the little things that you don't appreciate about home that you end up missing the most.

He watches as the Peter in front of them gets down on one knee to propose. Malcolm leans in towards him and speaks quietly, as if it might disturb the scene. ]


Did this really happen?
threeterparker: (141)

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-20 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Peter stands stock-still, jaw hanging. A part of him wants to move, to get a different angle so he can at least get a look at the woman the other him is proposing to, but he's also scared that any attempts to get closer might make the scene vanish. He doesn't know how this stuff works. ]

Uh, it hasn't happened, no. Not... Not yet, anyway.

[ The incredulous tone in his voice makes it sound like he never expected that it would ever happen. ]
prodigalmess: (listening 3)

[personal profile] prodigalmess 2022-02-22 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ Not yet. And based on the look on Peter's face, he doesn't really expect it to. Maybe what they're witnessing is some kind of fantasy? ]

Do you recognize her?

[ He's going to guess that he probably does, though from this vantage point, Malcolm can't see the woman's face. ]
threeterparker: (079)

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-27 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Peter shakes his head slowly, eyes still glued on the scene. The woman seems to be saying yes, and the other Peter stands, grabbing her in a hug and swinging her around, giddy with emotion. ]

No... I have no idea who she could be. This...

[ He never thought he would get to have this. After losing Gwen, he never thought he would be able to love someone the way he had loved her. ]
prodigalmess: (thinking)

[personal profile] prodigalmess 2022-03-04 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
Huh.

[ Perhaps Peter's shock comes from the situation itself and not from who the woman might be. Maybe he thinks that this would never happen. Honestly, Malcolm's not sure if it will ever happen for himself. He's got so many issues. Why would anyone want to spend their life with him? ]

The objects here... maybe they're showing us what we want?
dothelokimotion: (We were only a series of selves)

( iii )

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-02-14 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
Careful.

[ loki's voice rings out. ]

That is an illusion.
threeterparker: (262)

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-16 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Peter's hand freezes an inch away from touching the ring when Loki's words hit him, and he looks over, clearly filled with some kind of emotion. He blinks, confused. ]

Illusion? No, it's... It's my uncle's.
dothelokimotion: (To deny the sky)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-02-17 08:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki shoots him a flat look. ]

It's not real.
threeterparker: (263)

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-20 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The look Peter gives Loki back is one heavy with something close to desperation. This ring is a lifeline, a tether back to his home, his family. He desperately wants Loki to be wrong about it only being an illusion. ]

It's real. It's got to be real. It's right there! I can see it, I could touch it!

[ And yet, he's afraid to actually reach out and grab the ring, just in case Loki is right about it being illusory. ]
dothelokimotion: (We were only a series of selves)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-02-21 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki is not unsympathetic. it's because he is not that he warns to begin with. he is well-learned when it comes to the nature of illusions. they always hurt worse when they fade away. ]

It will not give you what you want. You will regret it.
threeterparker: (055)

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-21 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Loki may be trying to help Peter, but he knows what he has to do. ]

What I'm going to regret is leaving it here, on a shelf in some weird museum on an island in an endless sea of nothing.

[ He's made his mind up. Illusion or not, this ring is all he has left of his uncle, and he's not going to let Loki's warnings stop him from taking it. His fingers close around the worn metal, and the museum fades around them, replaced by a scene of what is clearly an outdoor wedding, a rabbi standing underneath a chuppah adorned in white flowers, with two men in matching tuxedos standing in front of him, their hands joined.

Peter— the one holding the ring, not the one holding his now-husband's hand, stands in shock as he takes in the scene. ]


This is... [ He has no words for what is happening. ]
dothelokimotion: (Your existence is not impossible)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-02-22 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki shakes his head. ]

An illusion.
threeterparker: (078)

[personal profile] threeterparker 2022-02-27 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Peter wants to look. He wants to know who this guy is, who he's marrying. Will marry? It's so confusing.

But Loki says it's an illusion. And besides, it's all a little Too Much for Peter to be able to handle right now, emotionally speaking.

So he places a hand over his eyes, gripping Ben's ring tight in his fingers like a life raft, the one real thing tethering him to the here and now. ]


Tell me when it's over.
dothelokimotion: (Presuming awful things about people)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-02-28 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ quietly. ]

It'll never end if you don't let go of the ring.