ximilialog | MISSION: THE SUN NEVER SETS ON AMARYLLIS GROVE

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MISSION: THE SUN NEVER SETS ON AMARYLLIS GROVE

● ● ● M I S S I O N 1 7 . 1

UNIT-Y • PLEASANTVILLE • AFTER DARK • FYI

// INTRO. UNIT-Y  

Over the course of the station’s downtime, even the least astute observer will notice the sudden influx of crewmates aboard the station. Before you can further inquire and investigate this anomaly in your usual routine, your earpiece will ping! with the familiar sound of a newly received mission file. Viveca’s voice immediately follows.

// VIVECA

“Hi everyone, you’ll find details for your next mission are ready. This time the orb has been located somewhere in a town called Amaryllis Grove, and based on my research, the best way to start looking for it will involve blending in with the towns-folk who live there. Just like our last mission, those of you who don’t have natural humanoid forms will have Degar’s potion available for you to help with that. See you on the platform tomorrow morning.”

After reviewing your mission file and gathering all of the necessary supplies and clothing options, those who are well prepared might have enough time for a decent night’s sleep. If you aren’t the sort to sleep before a mission, well … carry on.

When morning arrives, you’ll make your way to the teleportation platform to join your fellow crewmates. Viveca and Degar are already standing by, the latter passing around the aforementioned potion to those who will be needing one. Finally, when the entire crew has assembled, Degar starts to speak.

// DEGAR

“You might have noticed by now that there’s a few more of us than usual – there’s a reason for that, and it’s good news! I think. You see, according to our readings of all the orb shards collected so far, we’re actually coming up to the last couple of orbs. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? For that, we’ve been getting a few more crew members to provide a little more support as we near the finish line. But we can talk more about that after you guys get this orb back here.”

Viveca nods from her place.

// VIVECA

“Good luck, everyone. I know some of you will have questions, and we’ll be here when you get back to try our best to answer them.”

Degar lifts both hands to give them all a cheesy little thumbs up. Without further ado, the hum of the platform, as it begins to power up, grows louder and louder until it’s impossible to hear anything else but the machinery thrumming in your ears. Soon enough, you’ll feel the familiar tug at the pit of your stomach as you’re whisked away from the station and towards your destination. But for a moment that feels both too short and too long, you hear it: whispers, echoes, voices that speak to you in several tenors at once, all of them providing you with a goal in exchange for their help.

Before you have a chance to answer, your surroundings begin to paint a clearer picture. You’ll be found in your usual place of choosing: whether that’s your own household, the park, or one of the several locations in and around town.

Welcome, Orbers, to Amaryllis Grove.

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// PART I.PLEASANTVILLE  

On the day of the Orbers’ arrival, the weather is crisp and sunny, the trees still lush and green with only the barest hints of the leaves beginning to yellow and redden at their tips. As the summer months slowly transition into cooler autumn temperatures, the entire town feels pleasant, even cozy. The clouds in the sky provide gentle overcast conditions and you might think to grab a light coat, or wear a longer sleeve but it is by no means chilly enough to feel anything but pleasant.

Depending on where you decided to arrive, you’ll want to begin your explorations and familiarize yourself with the Grove, which will be your home for the next little while.

1.0 The town of Amaryllis Grove will feel spacious and sprawling while also being cozy and compact. Cleanly paved streets wind in and around residential pockets and cul-de-sacs, threading through the community’s amenities, goods, and service buildings. The community centre, the library, the government offices, and the Mayor’s office can all be found in the main core of the Grove. The police station and television station (playing news and sitcoms in classic black and white) are situated nearby, and are all within walking distance of each other, and the neighbouring retail streets are located just past the block. This includes clothing boutiques, restaurants, coffee shops, grocery and general stores (which will sell all manner of hardware, cleaning supplies, and simple, household magical items). Having a vehicle will certainly help to get around town if you’re in a hurry running any errands, but a bicycle works just as well, and the walkability is pleasant for those wanting to take a stroll.

Everyone here is well-dressed in crisply ironed slacks and button-downs in neutrals, or colourful A-line skirts and dresses with delicate detailing for their tops. Children and teenagers are likewise found in school uniform consisting of dark blue pleated skirts or slacks, and white shirts. With the weather beginning to cool, a well structured jacket may also be a part of the ensemble.

2.0 Once you’ve explored some of the town, familiarizing yourself with the backstory and family history you and your fellow crewmates have corroborated together, perhaps you’ll want to explore your house. Lined up in rows of pleasant, homogeneous pitched roof structures, each house in the neighbourhood will come equipped with all of the necessary spaces to live a perfectly suburban life, the most ideal environment to raise a family and grow old amongst generations of familiar faces. Each one-storey house, in either brick or ship-lap siding and in various colours, will have 3-4 bedrooms, an attached garage for the family car, a living room, bathroom, spacious kitchen, and enough yard space to require both a lawn-cutter and a green thumb for the garden. Interiors have already been furnished with all of the up-to-date items for the time, resembling Earth’s 1950s era to an almost eerily accurate degree.

Say hello to your neighbour when they greet you or wish you a pleasant day. Many will look perfectly human, while others may seem more alien with vibrant skin, an extra limb, antennae, gills, and the like. Some also possess magical abilities which is not seen as strange or abnormal here; however, the magic used in Amaryllis Grove consists of simple household magic to aid with cooking, cleaning, and keeping the house perfectly pleasant – otherwise known as ‘petty magic’. Whether you’re used to such sights will likely depend on where you’re originally from, but no matter who lives next to or near you, they seem friendly enough. They may even invite you over for dinner, or inquire when you plan on hosting your next party.

You’ll cook, clean, sleep, and host parties and dinners with your neighbours of Amaryllis Grove within the walls of your quaint abode so it’s best to get to know the space that will undoubtedly become second nature to you.

3.0 While the concept of ‘Halloween’ does not exist in Amaryllis Grove, other such Autumn festivities are highly anticipated, namely the annual gathering of the harvest. It is otherwise colloquially named ‘the Harvest’. It won’t come as news to any of the residents, as the season ends and food is plenty, the Harvest has been a long-standing tradition to celebrate the closeness of the community, and to express one’s gratitude for the people that you surround yourself around.

Your neighbours may inquire whether you’ll be bringing the same mash potatoes as last year, or perhaps the spiced meatballs that the Alkherns simply couldn’t get enough of — they were just so delicious! Either way, you may want to start coming up with a special dish to bring to the community gathering or find someone to snag a recipe from, as it’ll gain you admiration or admonition, depending on the popularity of your offering.

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// PART II.AFTER DARK  

Sunsets are beautiful, picturesque moments that conclude the end of a perfectly spent day, and the sunsets in Amaryllis Grove are certainly no different. As the town winds down and residents return to their homes for the night, you and your fellow Orbers will follow suit – as is the way of things. The nights are a little overcast during this time of the year, with cloud-cover masking out the stars and the glow of the moon. It’s quiet. Only the sounds of night-insects chirping can be heard, and the soft, occasional coo of a bird asleep in its nest.

4.0 Perhaps you’re catching up on some late-night reading, or grabbing a late-night snack or a night-cap. The last of the evening hours are usually spent in the comfort of your own home until a new day begins, although there is a town speakeasy that remains open until late, if you can find it. Once you climb into bed, there really doesn’t seem to be a reason for anything other than a soundless, well-deserved rest.

You’ll be tucked up in your own bed, or perhaps the bed you share with your backstory-spouse, when you hear a shrill scream that wakes you up from your sleep. High on the adrenaline, you may want to don a robe and your slippers and step outside past your front door where you’ll be joined by other neighbours on your street. They exchange glances with each other, and then may meet eyes with you, and they look scared, with their wide eyes and clenched fists, some of the husbands and wives holding each other’s hands for comfort. It isn’t outside of the norm for such a startling cry. The house in question will be fully lit, with Mrs Myrsdin sobbing into her hands, mumbling, ‘I told him not to say anything! I told him to keep quiet! It came for him–’ as the AGPD (Amaryllis Grove Police Department) approach her, one of the officers patting her shoulder in consolation. Another officer moves towards a cluster of concerned neighbours, assuring them that this will be taken care of, and when they spot you, they’ll tell you the same.

It might seem difficult now to head back to sleep, but the crowd disperses and the AGPD lead Mrs Myrsdin back into the house. The lights remain on for another hour, maybe two, and then the entire block quiets again, the AGPD preparing to leave for the station once more. It seems there’s nothing else to do but get as much rest as you can before the morning ... but everything about this doesn’t sit quite right. Maybe you'll linger behind for a moment, see if you can ask a few questions, gather a bit of information, as it seems that after the brief moment of shock none of the residents seem to be particularly surprised by any of this.

5.0 The skies are blue and the sun is bright, and as Amaryllis Grove wakes up to a new day, everything feels as though Mrs Myrsdin never screamed into the night, with no signs of the AGPD having visited, and not a whisper to be said of Mrs Myrsdin's husband disappearing. If you try to investigate what happened at the house last night, Mrs Myrsdin will conveniently be absent, and any neighbours around you may either greet you with the most firm, reassuring smiles, or an outright aloofness to ignore anything you say. They’ll interject by telling you about the Harvest festivities, or make a comment about the weather. Some might sound snappish and dismissive. One thing’s for sure: everything feels tense.

But as the skies gradually shift to an overcast, one of your neighbours may gesture to the sky with another plasticky smile, commenting about the brightness of the sun. ‘It sure is bright today,’ they might say, the comment seemingly so off-handed. It’s casual, polite, and a little strained. ‘It’s got a far reach.’

It’s too bright to stare directly into the sun without damaging your eyes, but as you glance up just past it, you might notice that the sun looks a little … too close. And it doesn’t look a whole lot like a sun either, though it is bright but it looks like a large whitish sphere with a piercing, golden iris and it seems to be watching. This certainly wasn’t in the morning’s weather report.

6.0 As you continue to settle in Amaryllis Grove, you may begin to pick up on other strange things that you hadn’t noticed before – not surprising, considering the whirlwind of events that have taken place in such a short period of time and having to grow accustomed to the daily lives of the residents in Amaryllis Grove.

There are figures that resemble people scattered around town in all shapes, sizes, and races, replicated with excruciating detail, all the way down to their expressions and poses. In their everyday wear, they stoically fill in corners and take up empty spaces, and while it can’t possibly be true, their eyes seem to follow you as you move past them – even with the empty gazes of their glassy eyes. They’re made of metal and clad in something soft and pliable to make up their skin. Once you know what you’re looking for, they almost start to make themselves more visible to you. But if you study them for too long, you may begin to feel a little nauseous and queasy, and temporarily experience vertigo. Or you may start to have feelings of paranoia settle in, making you short-tempered and twitchy.

These figures can be found almost everywhere around the town, but they will mostly be populated in and around the residential blocks, looking as though they’re busily living their lives in passive background poses. They’re easy enough to miss if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, and they’re so life-like you almost feel rude staring for too long, in case they turn their heads towards you.

And on the next night, you might catch the glimpse of a dark, stationary silhouette of a man in the Myrsdin house just before Mrs Myrsdin draws the curtains closed.

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F Y I

• The events in this log take place during the month of October.

• If you have questions about any of the prompts or the mission in general, please direct them HERE.

• To explore a specific location or speak to any of the NPCs, please submit your search request HERE.

• And finally, your soundtrack for this log: ♪ ♪ ♪

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ her voice is gentle. ]

We're trying.

[ if they hadn't tried at all, things would be worse. as yoda always said. her eyes flicker for a moment. yoda. yoda was gone. ]

What it's like, being married? I'll admit, it's never crossed my mind before.

"I wouldn't know," he answered, keeping his tone carefully low. "I never thought of it, either."

But then, after a pause, after remembering conversations that were had not long after he'd passed the bar, after his disastrous first case, Miles added, "Though I was told I should. Apparently being married is good for your reputation if you're in the legal profession. And here, it seems to be a requirement. ...At least I know him."

[ she glances at him, curiously. she senses deep feelings. ]

But you're not close?

"We used to be." If she is tuned in to his emotions, those four words come with pain, loss, and, somehow, endurance. Just looking at his face, though, none of that is evident. Perhaps a distance in his eyes, but nothing so dire that someone without empathy that came from a psychic- or force-based power would notice. "But we were children. Growing up changes people."

It hadn't changed him for the better, however. He was absolutely certain of that. Still, he kept his face neutral until he looked toward her once more. Their ages weren't that different - less than a decade, certainly. "Perhaps we should get the ingredients for the chowder."

Change isn't so bad. New ground can be found.

[ there is hope. or so she'd still like to believe, despite it all. at his suggestion, she nods. ]

That's a good idea. What about you? Will you be picking up yours as well?

"I have mine, but I'll go with you rather than leave you in the cold. It wouldn't be fair of me to do that." He wasn't going to just list things out, write instructions, and then send her off on her own. That would be terrible. You didn't do that to people you'd offered to help. "You're also free to use my- Our. Our kitchen."

He hadn't checked with Phoenix, but Phoenix could just get over it. Some decisions could be unilateral. (Even if he did feel a bit like he was being petulant about it. He'd reflect on that later.)

[ she smiles, a bit wider. ]

Thank you. I might take you up on that. I think my brother would interfere otherwise and I want this to go well.

Miles nodded easily and then, figuring they had decided, he took a step back and offered, "Shall we go?"

Polite, conversational - and he was already thinking back to the last time he made chowder for the list of ingredients. He doubted they'd have fresh clams, though, so most likely they'd have to use canned. Hm. He'd contain his distaste at the thought. It wasn't as if he had access to his usual bank accounts here, besides.

Yes, of course.

[ though ahsoka keeps pausing now and then. not long, but just to take in the sights. after leaving the temple, she had gotten more familiar with coruscant, but they never had places like this, where all things simply congregated for the masses. it was fascinating. ]

I take it you're sort of familiar with this kind of place?

"It's... a very dated and idealised version of where I'm from, yes," he said, walking evenly with her, books having been replaced on the shelf long before they left the shop. Their stride was almost even; Miles was not a tall man. There were only five inches of height between them. What he did have, however, was stubborn posture, his back upright, his shoulders squared as a matter of habit. His expression didn't tend toward pleasantness, but his tone was much more congenial. "This is more reminiscant of the American ideal after World War Two. The style gained the name 'mid-century modern' by the time I was born. So roughly forty years before I was born."

He glanced over. "I take it you're further removed from this?"

I hadn't even heard of Earth until recently. I'm from another galaxy.

Even in the bigger planets and cities, I'd never experienced something like this. It's strange. I always thought I'd seen so much.

Another galaxy? Miles looked at her more earnestly, then, brows lowered in curiosity as he asked, "Which galaxy? Though I doubt it would have the same name to you as it would to someone from Earth. We named our own the Milky Way."

And then they'd named a candy bar after it. Humanity, he thought, was inherently ridiculous.

[ she pauses, tilting her head. ]

I don't think it has a name. And I think it's quite far from Earth, from the looks of it.

He made a sound that was very like a laugh - not in amusement, but more confirmation. "That seems more sensible than humanity. We, as a species, tend to name everything, and only rarely are they names worth mentioning."

[ she chuckles. ]

Earth is a pretty strange name.

[ like calling your planet dirt. ]

At last, there was a hint of a smile on his face. "In many of our ancient cultures, there was a belief that humanity came from the ground. That we were born from and sustained by the land. It became a mother figure, often thought of as a goddess. Before humanity knew that we lived on a planet, we knew we lived on land. So the Romans called it Terra, the Greeks called it Gaia, the Hindu called it Prithvi, and the Germans called it Erde, which eventually became Earth as the Germanic languages circled the planet with trade routes and, unfortunately, white supremacy."

[ so much diversity on a single planet. it makes her wonder how big it was. ]

In my galaxy, we all mingled freely. Togrutas, Weequays, Gungans, Twi'leks. Traveling between planets is easy and people settled all over.

So I guess we're more of a cultural mismash.

[ there is the jedi culture, but that is too sore a point to speak of. ]

Easy travel between planets... "That sort of travel is still fictional to us," he said, thoughtful. "We've landed exploratory missions to our moon, but no further. Not yet, at least. Your galaxy must be older than ours - or you progressed much more quickly."

[ she considers this. ]

I couldn't tell you. There have been centuries of upheaval now and then, but we've always been able to travel.

I guess we all take it for granted.

"We're all given to taking things for granted. But..." Another glance to her and then he let that faint smile settle on his face. "I'm glad to know it isn't a condition native only to the Milky Way."

[ she chuckles in good humour. ]

No. I'm pretty sure you can find it anywhere.

She seemed mature. The centuries of upheaval seemed that maybe she'd seen some of that. And upheaval, he knew well, tended to mature people more quickly. Or perhaps it was just that trauma matured people. After all, the former could cause the latter with more ease than he wanted to think about. And besides, he needed to tug the conversation back to the topic they'd started with since they were nearing the supermarket.

A moment's thought and he found the right segue: "Just as I took it for granted that I would be able to find the ingredients I needed earlier. It just occurred to me that I haven't the faintest idea if this store has clams."

I suppose there isn't a fishing station or market to hit up.

[ she thinks. ahsoka really should have learned more outside of war. her education is failing her. ]

"I don't think this is an ocean town," he agreed. "Unless they have frozen, canned will be our best bet for freshness." Even if both had him wrinkling his nose a bit. He was used to the fresh fish in Los Angeles. "I admit I'm spoiled to what I can find back--"

Was it risky to say? But then, they'd already been speaking of another galaxy, so they'd already said more. "Back home."

[ she hums. ]

Back home, these things were handled easily. Until it wasn't.

[ because she left. and no longer had that safety net. ]

● ● ● M I S S I O N 1 7 . 1

F Y I

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