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

[Daisy manages to keep back another wave of tears, for now, and instead leans in to kiss him. All of the things left unsaid being poured into the kiss instead.]

[ He knows it's all right to be upset, but he still at times struggles to convey his feelings in words. The way they've all grown from knowing each other and working towards a common goal is something that shouldn't be lost when they separate. And that's another thing: the separation. If he didn't love home so much, if he didn't want to be cured so much... well, there's little chance they'll be given the option to stay and if they did they would no longer have a goal to work towards. No; as painful as it will be, they must go their separate ways to go back to their lives, and the question is which is more cruel? To have the memories knowing you can never see these people again, or to be spared that pain but be missing out on the experiences of everything you shared.

Joric has probably thought more deeply on matters such as these than he ever has anything in his life. And he's still no closer to having any answers on how he should feel or what he should say. Kissing Daisy back is really the only answer right now. ]

[She hasn't even asked if he's staying with anyone, but the thought seems to slip her mind at the moment as she reaches up to cup the side of his face as she turns her body more towards his.]

[ It's easy enough to read her signals and pull her into his lap. If there was anyone here at the moment he would use more restraint, but Yelena is staying with Natasha tonight so they have privacy here. ]

[Daisy rests her knees on either side of him when he pulls her into his lap, arms wrapping the back of his neck to keep her close to him. She hadn’t come here with the intention of doing anything other than talking, but is it really that surprising? Neither are great at talking about their feelings, but they don’t need to be either. Especially when they both say a lot through their actions.]

[ And for the next hour or so, Joric shows her a great deal of action right there on the couch. It's only afterwards as he's spooning her against him and kissing her shoulder that the reality of what they're facing returns and he turns it into a lingering kiss against her skin.

He'd once tried to be a realist about this situation. This was completely out of their hands so they might as well enjoy things while they can, right? But now his feelings have shifted and his arm tightens around her. ]

I don't want to say goodbye.

Edited 2023-10-15 19:10 (UTC)

[Daisy’s stroking her fingertips up and down his arm when it tightens around her and she attempts to turn in his arm to face him.]

I know. I don’t want to either.

[She says, her voice tired. This whole day has been mentally draining, and while she was able to forget about all of that for a little bit, the reality of the situation has come back in full force.

An idea comes to mind,]

But they can’t stop us from writing to ourselves, can they? What if we write a note to ourselves and put it in our pockets? If we’re almost at the end, then they’ll tell us when we’re actually leaving. Right?

[ He blinks, processing that a moment. ]

I can't see why we wouldn't know in advance. And writing notes... they can't send us back naked, so we should have the notes on us, shouldn't we?

Exactly. Well-

[She looks down at their naked bodies with an amused smile,]

Unless they send us back home when we're--

[They wouldn't do that, right?]

[ He rests his head back and gives a hearty laugh. ]

They wouldn't. They would warn us so none of us are in the middle of something. Besides, we probably have to be standing on the transport platform.

I mean, it doesn't always happen like that.

[Daisy explains, her smile fading a little.]

But I think you're right. At this point, we'll be here till the end.

We will. It has been a long journey to get to this point.

[ He thinks back on all the missions, what they discovered, what was left unknown as they all disappeared back to the station, and the people they left behind. ]

I wonder what will happen to Viveca and Degar.

[Daisy frowns at the mention of Viveca and Degar.]

I don't know. I wonder if they know either.

[She has never grown close with either of them like some of the others have, but she wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them either.]

Mm. Perhaps the orb whispered something to Degar when he made his deal. It's impossible to know unless he says something about where they'll go.

[ He rubs his thumb across her skin. ]

I feel like we should be allowed our memories when we leave. How else are we to prevent ourselves from making the same choices again and having the same regrets?

[Daisy exhales slowly through her nose, feeling content and upset all at the same time.]

If that were allowed, then they wouldn’t need us to collect the orbs—

[She cuts herself when she realizes something.]

If we’re almost done collecting the orbs, maybe we will be able to keep our memories of this place.

That's what I'm saying. Perhaps things are different this time. In the past when people left and then came back, they had no memories while at home, but there were still orbs out there. Things might change once they're all collected, and I think it should change because it makes no sense in my eyes to send us home with our regrets undone with no knowledge of how. We may make the same choices and end up in the same place again, undoing all our work to change things in the first place.

[ And then they will just have to deal with being separated from one another. ]

[It seems like the logical idea of how this might go down, and Daisy is excited by the idea until she realizes...]

Even if that is the case, we'd never be able to see each other again.

[They both come from very different worlds.]

No, we wouldn't.

[ There's sorrow in his voice at that. ]

We will forever be parted. But... at least we will know of each other, and of everybody else. It will hurt, but we'll have the good memories too.

I'd rather hurt knowing I could never see you again, then forget you.

[Daisy says as she runs her fingertips up and down his upper arm.]

Mm hm. The same holds true for me.

[ He inhales deeply, only to release it in a long sigh of frustration. ]

I wish we knew more. All this speculating does my head in.

I know.

[Daisy says softly, leaning forward until her forehead is resting against his and she closes her eyes.]

We can’t ask questions until we return. So I think for now we just need to focus on the mission.

Not an easy feat, but I will try.

[ He does better when his mind isn't filled with questions with no answers, so he'll have to try and keep himself busy. ]

But I know one thing: I wouldn't mind if this mission takes us awhile, so we aren't so close to the end.

Me neither.

[Daisy admits, blindly reaching out to kiss him gently. Even with how cold she’s becoming from just laying here on the couch with him, Daisy is in no rush to leave his side.]

[ He kisses back, in no rush to move either. Though of course it will have to happen sooner rather than later. If they're trying to fit in here it wouldn't do to act outside the norm and have her blatantly leaving his house once everyone is up for the day. ]

Writing notes to ourselves is a good idea; just in case. I will do that too.

[Daisy smiles sadly at that, her fingertips running up and down his arm still.]

What will yours say about me?

● ● ● M I S S I O N 1 7 . 1

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