APPLE ORCHARDS AND TORN DREAMS [OPEN]

[cordibus]

Who: Open Log (All)
Where: Around the city (one prompt at the Green Valley school
Summary: Welcome Ceremonies, Dreams, Stirring a shadow hornet's nest. No big deal.
Warnings: N/A

"Are you ready my black lambs? Let's get to work..."

Apple Picking (General Prompt)

As September begins, the apple orchards of Greenfield Valley school are bursting with thousands of apples of various flavors and colors. There's even an experimental breed that's blue!

Those who have been attending the school know that this means a few important things. The first (and most important of course) is that it means that fall vacation is coming in just a few weeks (despite school having started just a few weeks ago), the second is that the school's menu is going to have a high number of apple-themed dishes until winter, and finally, the opening ceremonies.

The opening ceremonies are - well - one would consider them mostly boring for typical schools. And truth be told, Green Valley is not an exception. A single camera posed at the school's main gymnasium, a large podium in the center. For those who can't be physically there, the school's televisions all synchronized to a live broadcast as does the audio feeds. You can't quite escape it. Yet most people don't - after all it's one of the rare times of the year where the principal appears to wish students good fortune.

The person who stands in the front, Ms Michelle Andersen, is the very definition of an ice queen. Her face is perhaps locked forever into an emotionless stare. Bright blonde hair with blue eyes, both contract to her orange and black outfit.

Behind her, three men, the vice principals, who tend to play the good cops to her bad cop routine and insist that most students call them by their first names unless something really bad has happened; Norman (the most average man on campus that no one would know who he was if it wasn't for his name tag), Jeremy (the tallest staff member standing at over 195cm, thin, a bit of a lisp but he always means well), and Felix (possibly the hairiest man on campus as far as the rumors go, muscular, and a black beard that matches his scowling face when he isn't laughing - which is usually all the time. In fact, he's holding back himself from doing so when Ms. Andersen speaks.)

The presentation is short, as the Principal wishes all the students a great year, gives a bit of data on the number of students (they are up 300 new students from last year), the number of important guests that have passed, then as quickly as she was there, she leaves, explaining that there are additional meetings and events she will explain in greatest detail in the upcoming months.

Afterwards the students are treated to the vice principals singing a welcome song (it goes as well as one would expect it to go), telling the students that they are free to pick as many apples as they want as long as they all get eaten, but everyone is limited to two of the new apples and report to the hospital wards if any of them feel anything unusual after eating them. Just in case.

When the ceremonies are done, students and staff can return to their day...although some of the staff can be heard commenting that the Principal seemed even more...cold this year. Of course asking them for details would just cause them to shoo anyone away and pretend they didn't say anything.

[OOC: Players are welcome to speak to themselves or go have some apples. It's a general school mingling prompt! Additionally, it will be possible to email the vice principals during that week should the characters want to talk with them or ask school questions. Typical school stuff.]

Sound the Rebellion

(Special Prompt for the Unawakened, Monday the 4th)
The school's opening ceremonies aside, the Unawakened’s Monday was rather...strange. The night was plagued with restlessness as they heard the voice of someone laughing. Waking up feeling 'odd', although that differed between all of then - some would feel sick, others have a headache, or some just deciding that wearing a piece of clothing they haven't wanted to worn would look great right now. Perhaps they got a few comments from their relatives about how strange they were acting that day, or a worried glance if they felt sick. It might get dismissed with a wave of a hand.

After all, how can you explain that when they sometimes look upwards, they hear the sound of a child laughing and briefly see a symbol above their heads? Or that this somehow feels...fine?

Maybe in their new state of mind, they might not even notice the people that keep following them around...

Better than a GPS

(Awakened prompt, Monday 4th, day and night.)
"Alright Lambs, time to get to work."

Luci's voice echoed in their phone, laughing. Was he doing a peace sign?

"There's only a few but they'll be useful. I want you to find them and see what you can do. Who knows! Maybe you might be better at this than me, although I doubt it heh heh heh…Now remember what I said! You have to get them to fall asleep...but there's no real rules for that!"

For the Awakened, the symbols above the Unawakeneds’ heads will be as clear as day - Luci will even go so far as play little musical tunes when the characters are close by or distract them using electronics. "Come on! Stop wasting time and do something!"

For the Unawakened who have a relative, it will be somewhat easy. It is the others that will be a pain. Maybe that's why Luci asked for help. Or maybe he just wanted to see his 'lambs' struggle. "Get them to bed! It's not that hard! If you have trouble, just show them the program I've put into your phone and toaster! Or knock them with your toaster first if you want, I don't care! Just go in teams when you go after them, got it?"

It's obvious that 'sleeping' as far as Luci is concerned, is when someone is unconscious - he seems to almost want someone to knock an Unawakened out and then drag him into a room and let themselves go to sleep.

Once the task is done, and the place is secure, the characters will have to do the same. While the hypnotic wheel from the program is the easiest way, there's no hard rule about knocking oneself out either.

MINDJACK
Once the characters get inside, they'll be in the person's mind and dreams. Eddan's memories are predominant, and the unawakened will be standing there wandering around. It will be up to the Awakened to peel back the fabric of reality, much like curtains and show them the true memories of their past...

But beware. Shadows lurk here, and transforming will be necessarily. And if a character dies in someone else's dream...they might never wake up. So be careful...

The main mission is to showcase the person a few memories. Give them an idea that something might be amiss...it can be a little or a lot. Just be careful that the more memories, the stronger the shadows become... When both are done and awaken, ten minutes will have passed. Perhaps it will be time for question afterwards.

[OOC:The Unawakened characters need to be isolated for the program to run, and so do the players, so half the 'fun' will be setting up the traps so that the characters will be alone.

Awakened might decide to have someone stand on guard while the others go to sleep with the Unawakened, or just all stupidly go together, or find an area where they won't be disturbed - everything is up to you.

The dreamscape can be anything the Unawakened desires! It could be good memories of their time in Eddan or bad memories, a mixture of both, or just silly dreams. Whatever it is, the Awakened will need to 'peel' those memories away - for example showing them that their mother was someone else in their other life, or even directing the person to a mirror so that they can see their true selves. But for each memory - both good or bad, shadows will start to attack both the Unawakened and Awakened. Be careful and let the mods know if a mission goes REALLY bad.]

Comments

[secretmakesawoman]

She hums thoughtfully.

"An interesting decision, but it should be doable. You'll have to rent some space, of course, and fill out the necessary forms. There will be plenty of them, from both the school and city board. The Vice Principals should be able to help you find the paperwork should you get their approval."

[secretmakesawoman]

Biting her lip, Christina steels herself and straightens up. As an adult, she really should keep it together so as to not worry Ran and her friend. Yet they seem to be doing much better than her. In fact, the main worries they appear to have seem to center around this bizarre room. The sooner they all leave, the better.

However, as she turns her attention towards the door, her stomach drops. Christina lets out a sharp gasp, covering her mouth.

"Is that blood? Did one of... those... leave that?"

Yeah, she hadn't noticed it before now.

[kokuyoyo]

"There's a place I have in mind, actually... I've already spoken with the person in charge if it was something they would be interested in once I got the appropriate paperwork." Which he doesn't doubt he'll be able to get, in the end.

Still, while the amount of paperwork isn't a surprise... Reaching up, he adjusts his glasses. "Are you familiar with the amount of paperwork?"

[secretmakesawoman]

"I'm afraid I am not, though I imagine there will be a fair amount of it."

[spoilsfun]

Shinichi glances at the floor and inspects the blood calmly.

"From the color, it most likely is blood. Figuring out the source would likely require further testing than we have access to here."

[kokuyoyo]

"Typical..." Well, that's trying to take on a lot of things, he supposes. Chikusa reaches up to adjust his glasses. "If you don't mind... How do you find time to do a lot of paperwork...? As a teacher..."

[singlefaith]

"Shinichi."

Because how can he be so calm and analytical about this, especially when they don't know what's behind this door?

Drawing a breath, steeling herself, she twists the door handle . . . and nudges it open.

[secretmakesawoman]

Christina holds her breath subconsciously as the door swings open, dreading what might be on the other side.

No gory scene is waiting for them however. The door doesn't even lead to a hallway like one might expect. Somehow, by dream logic, the doorway instead goes straight outside into a Western style cemetery. There is a small stone pathway surrounded by grass and tombstones. A few trees are nearby, though most of their leaves have fallen.

The sky is grey, as though it might rain at any moment.

Christina stares at this from the doorway. "This... isn't what was on the other side before."

[spoilsfun]

He observes the the cemetery with interest.

"What was there before?"

[secretmakesawoman]

"The hotel hall, of course."

She hasn't quite realized that this is a dream, even with all the oddities happening. After all, it is her dream. How easy is it to notice a dream while you are the one dreaming? Not very.

As Christina peers further through the door, the sheer expanse of the cemetery becomes clear. Graves seem to go as far as the eye can see.

[secretmakesawoman]

Christina smiles, bright yet with a slightly tired edge.

"Through resolve and careful use of my spare time. I often find I can get through a good portion between classes, if my preparation won't take too much time. If not, I can take it home to complete."

[kokuyoyo]

"Between classes..." Whups. Just faintly, his nose begins to scrunch up. Attending school is a thing completely foreign to his real self, where he'd mostly taught himself as best he could. Just to get through regular school days, he tries to soak up what breaks he can get inbetween them.

On the surface, however, it has the appearance of just a regular teenage response.

[secretmakesawoman]

She notices the reaction, though she misreads it slightly.

Christina hurries to add, "Of course as a student, I don't expect you'll have much time between classes. Unless you're scheduled for study hall, you will likely have to find time after school."

[kokuyoyo]

"It can't be helped." His shoulder shifts in a one-sided shrug. "This is something I wanted to do... so I guess I need to figure out how to make it work." No matter how much of a drain it is. That's how he's been with everything, after all: forcing himself through it.

Still.... With that said, he starts to get up. "Anyway... Thank you for the advice."

[singlefaith]

There was a moment -- a single moment -- where Ran was relieved at the lack of blood.

That's wiped out as soon as she sees the graveyard. Oh, god, something's going to pop out of these graves, isn't it?

Shinichi will find her pulling a little bit backward, closer to his shoulder. Shadows she can face off against just fine. Zombies, on the other hand, or anything else creepy that flits through this place . . . not so much.

[spoilsfun]

Shinichi glances at Ran with a little confusion. It was only a graveyard. Surely that wasn't worse than all the other things they'd seen here.

[secretmakesawoman]

While the new setting seemed creepy, Christina found it far less frightening than being in a closed off room with those... monsters. She steps out onto the road in a hurry, glancing around at all the graves. Many seemed worn down to time or damage, the names on them obscured to view. However, an occasional inscription could be read here and there.

Christina pauses before she looks any further, noticing the delay. She turns to her companions to make she hasn't lost them.

"What's wrong? It seems safe."