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ximilialog2023-10-08 08:05 am
- ! event log,
- ace attorney: phoenix wright,
- bbc sherlock: john watson,
- fear street: ziggy berman,
- grishaverse: the darkling,
- gundam seed/destiny: yzak jule,
- my hero academia: toru hakagure,
- pacific rim: newton geiszler,
- shta: sherlock holmes,
- star trek aos: leonard mccoy,
- terminator: the t-800,
- the old guard: andromache,
- the untamed: wei wuxian,
- the witcher: yennefer of vengerberg,
- transformers: minimus ambus
MISSION: THE SUN NEVER SETS ON AMARYLLIS GROVE
● ● ● M I S S I O N 1 7 . 1
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.
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.
Viveca nods from her place.
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.
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.
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.
F Y I
• 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: ♪ ♪ ♪
no subject
(Arisu, he's talking about Arisu).
He watches for a while. And a while after that. And finally, as one song winds down and croons up into the next, he can't quite keep himself from settling a hand lightly at Yujin's waist, voice rich and warm with fond amusement and perhaps a little mischief as he asks of Yujin's current dance partner from over his husband's shoulder: ]
Mind if I cut in?
no subject
"Oh, all right. But you'll have to let me borrow him again soon, Stephen!"
The woman departs for some other party game without another word. Soon, she'll be gossiping with the other housespouses about this. Romance isn't dead yet, just take a look at those two-- and after how many years of marriage?
Meanwhile, if Yujin is embarrassed, he isn't showing it. (He thinks. His back is still turned.) Instead, he's leaning into it, both literally and figuratively. Yujin slowly spins about, careful not to disturb the position of the hand at his waist; one of his hands neatly takes Stephen's free one and holds it; his other hand settles into place on Stephen's upper arm. There's a little smirk like a dare on Yujin's lips as he looks up into his partner's face.]
Hello, my dear. I was wondering when you would come get me.
[Rather than beginning a dance again immediately, Yujin sways slightly, his eyes still fixed on Stephen's.]
no subject
I was feeling magnanimous. [ A slide of the hand at Yujin's waist, fingers sneaking around to encroach on his back a little more and settle again. Just enough to stake a clear claim for anyone watching on. ] It didn't last.
[ Stephen Strange's generosity of spirit extends to the greater good, and occasionally the lesser good of a chosen few. It doesn't extend to surrendering an entire evening of Yujin's company to the grateful residents of Amaryllis Grove.
It's difficult sometimes to find the line between play and performance. Here he barely bothers to draw it, the need for the distinction growing less and less. ]
Having fun?
[ He doesn't interrupt the sway, or demand it develop any further. Instead he steps in closer, killing their proper stance so he can lean down (smirking all the way, maintaining eye contact until Yujin's face falls out of focus and he dips his attention down) to place a lingering kiss on his cheek.
Maybe a little performance there. Then again, isn't that just part of the game? ]
no subject
Well, you held out admirably. For a while.
[Sure enough, someone looking on from near the desserts mutters something quietly to her fellow housespouse, causing them to erupt into titters of laughter. Yujin pays no mind to them, simply content to be in Stephen's company once more.]
Yes, I am.
[But just as he's about to continue chatting about the evening, Stephen leans in closer. Yujin stops, blinking back his surprise; the hand in Stephen's grips him just a little tighter. And then Stephen... merely kisses him on the cheek, lips lingering there.
If his cheeks are slightly pink when Stephen pulls away, it's just Arisu and Chishiya's heavy-handed drinks. Really.
The hand on Stephen's upper arm drifts higher, stopping at the dip between shoulder and neck, Yujin's fingertips drifting nearer to Stephen's nape. His voice drops lower and more suggestive, murmuring quietly enough that only Stephen can hear it:]
Seems that you're having a bit of fun, yourself.
no subject
[ He murmurs back, and if the cadence isn't enough to betray the truth in it then the look in his eye should be.
They're closer now, merit of both Yujin's actions and his own, and the feel of his hand settled high, more intimate than before, lowers a little of Stephen's contextual awareness. Enough for his lashes to dip as he glances down over the fresh tint of Yujin's cheeks to stare at his mouth. He stays that way for a beat or two, and when his gaze lifts again it's to look out over Yujin's shoulder toward the tittering housespouses, his own smirk kept conveniently isolated to the side of his face mostly concealed from their line of sight by the back of Yujin's head.
Maybe not lacking the contextual awareness afterall. ]
You're scandalizing the neighbors.
[ 1. The neighbors are absolutely not scandalized, they are seemingly overjoyed, and 2. who's scandalizing the neighbors?
But Stephen's all eyes back on Yujin now, letting that smirk spread, companionable as it is mischievous, and maybe they don't need to really dance. Maybe they can just stand here, close, swaying lightly as the music plays on, and maybe if Yujin isn't careful, or is indeed exactly careful enough, Stephen really will slip. Give the neighbors something to revel over. ]
no subject
To his surprise, something uncharitable tugs at Yujin when the other man's eyes return-- at long last-- to him. Perhaps Stephen isn't the only one whose magnanimity has run out.]
Hm.
[His hand tips Stephen's head lower, the space of a breath away from a kiss. Where their lips might've met, however, Yujin instead angles away, raising himself up on the balls of his feet to bring himself nearer to Stephen's ear.]
Then let them be scandalized.
[And just like that he's back on solid ground. Yujin squeezes Stephen's hand and continues on without skipping a beat, the tone and volume of his voice back to its usual.]
Now, the dance, if you'd still like. Would you like to lead, or should I?
no subject
He swallows down his own surprise. Composes himself and the bewildered, impressed twist to his expression. ]
... I think you've earned the lead.
[ That was quite a move. He's willing, when he's bested, to defer to superior skill.
Knowing this place, there'll be plenty of opportunities to turn the tables later on. ]