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

joel | ota

[antifungi]

iii. imaginarium

[ The Cabinet of Curiosities is not a place Joel expected to end up, and present company is likely just as aware of that as he is, as he shuffles between cramped and crowded displays. It is, though, the least busy shop on the street, and therefore preferable as an escape from the cold, misty downpour outside. ]

(a) - [ He's not looking at anything in particular (well, other than the door and the street outside the window, watchful and paranoid as ever), when he spots it, sitting on a shelf between one of those questionably taxidermied ducks and some miniature mechanical contraption that's clearly seen better days. He reaches for his watch on reflex, and as he runs his thumb over the shattered face of it, wondering, the Cabinet disappears.

The cabin isn't really an upgrade, but no place that's sat unoccupied and exposed to the elements for two decades and some change is. Clearly someone's put some effort into fixing the place up, though, and its furnishings have the same salvaged, patchwork look about them.

Outside the windows, green dominates, a couple of broken down cars practically unrecognizable beneath the growth that's reclaimed their rusting shells the only other signs of civilization in view. It's comfortable, for the end of the world. ]

(b) - [ Or maybe he's just staring at one of those ugly little cobbled-together animals when somebody else drags him into their hopeful future. Yeah, that's gonna go over well. ]

iv. gardens

[ Off in one of the quieter, more remote corners of the gardens, Joel has set up a little makeshift range to get a feel for his new bow. He's had it long enough, since the whole mall zombie incident, and while nothing else has come up in the meantime, it's probably better he test it out now before something worse does.

The blunt, intermittent thunk of arrows striking their tree target is certainly not intended to draw spectators, but maybe the allure of free food and flowers aren't enough to distract from it. ]

( iv )

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki follows the sound of arrows, curious. ]

Is there a reason why you're attacking the flora?

[antifungi]

[ Joel has already lowered the bow, arrow no longer nocked, wary of a shot going astray at the sound of movement.

He's not expecting the authority on plant-adjacent activities, flat in his affectation if not entirely devoid of amusement on the arch of his brow. ]

Target practice. I need a better reason?

[dothelokimotion]

Simply curious as to what your true targets are.

[ there is practice for keeping your skills sharp, of course. but there is little that happens on these islands that has been incredibly violent. ]

[antifungi]

[ It's been violent enough, in Joel's experience. Even if it hadn't, though, he's been through enough shit in the past couple decades to have gone well past the point of ever totally letting his guard down. ]

I figure I'll know 'em when I see 'em.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki raises an eyebrow. ]

Here's hoping they don't look like foliage. If you want, I can give you better targets.

[antifungi]

[ Joel arches a brow in turn, clearly doubtful. ]

I'm not lookin' for work.

[ Because magic is the last thing he thinks of, when someone suggests he point a weapon elsewhere. It's still a pretty novel concept. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ his brow furrows, perplexed. ]

Who said anything about work?

[antifungi]

Usually when somebody tells me they have somethin' better for me to take aim at, they're makin' an offer.

[ Though smuggling was more his wheelhouse, certain kinds of work just tended to get lumped together.

This, though, is more in the realm of a joke. (If only in present context.) ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki waves a flippant hand. ]

I have my own talents for such things. What I was offering was my ability to create illusions. Moving targets that present more of a . . . challenge.

[antifungi]

'Illusions'?

[ Color him dubious. ]

Don't know if I'm interested in more weird magic shit.

[ There's plenty enough of it around to fuck with him without him volunteering for it. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki shrugs. he offered and it'll still count for his colour meter. ]

Suit yourself.

[antifungi]

Uh-huh.

You learn that kind of thing here, or was it somethin' you brought with you?

[dothelokimotion]

I am a sorcerer. I learned the skills when I was a few hundred years old.

[antifungi]

Hundreds of years old, magic, and you're still stuck here with the rest of us?

[ Not very reassuring. ]

[dothelokimotion]

There is a difference between magic and miracles.

Besides, if I could, what guarantee we'd survive it? Unless of course you think escape is worth dying for?

[antifungi]

I don't.

[ With a shrug, he crosses the little clearing to retrieve his arrows. Split or not, they can always be reused. ]

But I don't have to like the outlook from here, either.

[ It means dying, eventually, either way, doesn't it? For nothing, if they just fall back into complacency and decide to live like this. ]

[dothelokimotion]

No. And it would be insulting otherwise.

[ loki chafes at complacency and he certainly wouldn't ask anyone to accept it. but he's more patient than he lets on. sometimes.

his circumstances outside of the islands do not bode well. ]

[antifungi]

[ Joel can't claim much better. A gruesome, unceremonious death is his most likely outcome, living day to day in his own world. And if he didn't have someone else's best interests at heart, maybe he would be happy (enough) just to stick around for the ride.

But nothing's ever that cut and dry, is it? Not by half. ]

You do anything other than, uh, illusions? [ Dubious, but look, he's never met anyone magic before. Unless you count that thing on the ferry. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki raises an eyebrow. ]

Yes. I have plenty of spells at my disposal. Why?

[antifungi]

[ He lifts a shoulder in a shrug. Curiosity - there's not a better answer. ]

Never met anybody who claimed to be magic before.

[dothelokimotion]

Ah . . . yes, it is rare among humans. The world from which I hail was full of magic. My entire family had it.

[antifungi]

World I'm from, no one had it. Might've been a lot different, if they had.

[ Not that he'd expect even magic could avert the kind of fucked up disaster his own home has become. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki huffs. ]

I doubt it. I imagine it'd just become another weapon or tool. To be honed to its sharpest edges.

[antifungi]

Not the worst thing in the world, I reckon.

[ Joel brandishes the bow harmlessly again, as he crouches near his pack, tucking the rest of his arrows away. ]

Isn't room for much else, anyway.