(july intro log) WELCOME TO THE CONTAINMENT ZONE! (for real this time.)

[vestigemods]

JULY INTRO LOG

► PROMPT 1 ► WAKING UP

Whenever you're from or wherever you were, you awaken now with the mildest of headaches in-... oh, this is new. For some people, you wake in a cabin - in a bed, on the floor, amidst boxes in the basement - and for others, you wake up somewhere else entirely. Off in the woods. Between aisles in a run-down gas station. Lying on a branch ten feet up a local tree. Perhaps even on a leaky boat out on the middle of a lake. It's mid-morning, and across the nine square miles of containment zone, a little under two-dozen people are waking up just as you are. I'm sure you'll run into some of them soon enough.

This might be your first time waking up where you don't expect to be. If it is, consider yourself lucky to have missed what came before. For those have been through a Loop or three (or five or twelve), you'll find that waking this time feels different. It's as though you've woken from a dream - and that's what those memories feel like, trapped in the semi-tangible realm between dream and reality, though if pressed you can probably discern that they were undeniably real. (Or perhaps you can't - or perhaps some of the memories are missing altogether. This is hardly a precise science.)

Somewhere in your vicinity (in your hand, in your pocket, on your chest) is a smartphone, if you're able to recognize it as such. The models tend to vary, but they all share the capacity to connect to what seems to be an overarching network, able to connect to others with similar devices via text, voice calls, or even video messages.

But the phone is likely the least of your concerns, at least for now. More pressing is where exactly it is that you've awoken and whether or not you've woken up alone.

PROMPT 2 ► THE CABINS + LAKE

As many as a dozen cabins sit in the general vicinity of the lake, some along the shore and some a bit farther back in the woods. Perhaps you awoke in one, or perhaps you're stumbling into one after dragging yourself out of the lake or through a couple of miles of woods. Either way, you're in perhaps the best place you might have ended up. The cabin's amenities are sketchy but functional, and the kitchen is stocked with food...

And let's not forget about the pamphlets.

On at least a couple of nearby tables or countertops sit a handful of them, fanned for display. They're vividly colored, depicting what you might recognize as the landscape outside, and the title reads: THE CONTAINMENT ZONE AND YOU! Within these pamphlets, a conversationally cavalier voice explains a bit about the Containment Zone, which (as it turns out) you're stuck in right at this very moment.


"THE CONTAINMENT ZONE AND YOU", summarized


• Where am I?
  Earth. Well - an Earth. Definitely not your Earth. if that creates more questions than it answers, glance to your left and right and ask any follow-up questions to whomsoever seems least confused.


• Why am I here?
  To feed the elder gods with your death and/or suffering in order to prevent any more of an apocalypse than we already had.


• Can I leave?
  Voluntarily? No. Involuntarily? Probably not.


• What do you mean, 'death'??
  Oh, calm down. You'll come back.


• I have very important shit to be doing/people to be saving/weed to be smoking back home!
  Lucky for you: If you go back, we'll put you back right where and when you left off. You won't miss a thing.


• Isn't that how you break time!? I'm pretty sure that's how you break time.
  Only if you remember this place and/or what you've learned here when you get back. Which you won't.


• Supplies?
  Cabins and gas station.


• Cabins?
  Yours. Pick one.


• Lake?
  Safe. (For now.)


• Moon?
  Haunted.


• Who even are you?
  Call us the Technicians. Individual identities don't matter. We may give you sweets and toys but we're not your friends.


• Do you at least negotiate?
  We'll consider it. Depends on what you're asking for. And, of course, on what you have to offer.


• Wait! I'm (insert emotions) and have more questions!
  How unfortunate. Expect your next pamphlet in 4-6 weeks.




Well, that certainly is... something. Lots to discuss, lots to consider. If you're the get-right-to-business sort, that could easily occupy you for a good long while.

Alternatively: It's a hot day, and you've just ever-so-conveniently learned that the lake is 'safe (for now)'. Why not go for a dip to clear your head? The water is actually impressively clear, offering visual reassurance of the lack of abject horrors lurking below.

Those who do swim find that the lake is, as promised, mostly innocuous. 'Mostly' being the key phrase, as anyone who swims out close to the center will find it getting more and more difficult to stay on the surface. As if you're getting heavier and heavier, or your limbs are getting weaker and weaker. It isn't enough to drown you (probably), but you certainly might find yourself considering how peaceful it might be if you let yourself sink.

These thoughts are simple enough to push away in much the same way you might push through the heaviness of your limbs. One could consider it more a warning than anything: Even that which is 'safe' should be treated with proper caution. (Quick and senseless deaths are junk food to the elder gods - tasty but unsatisfying.)

PROMPT 3 ► THE GAS STATION

At the south end of the containment zone sits an old gas station, run-down and overgrown at first sight. It sits alongside a cracked asphalt road, one which (as you might discover) bisects the containment zone from the east wall to the west without a single other building in sight.

You may have woken up here, or perhaps you found it at the pamphlet's behest. Either way, it's a discovery that you'll thank yourself for many a time as throughout the next few months here, for reasons that become apparent the moment you step inside.

In sharp contrast with the outside, the inside of the gas station looks... well, like a functional gas station should. Floors and surfaces seem recently-wiped, shelves seem stocked and organized... It's enough that if you're familiar with gas stations as a concept, you might find yourself reflexively glancing around for an attendant.

But no attendant seems to be present. Just shelves and shelves of goods - perishables and nonperishables, first aid supplies and whatever else one might expect to find at such an out-of-the-way pit stop, all ready for the taking. You might even find an extra surprise. Oh, and let's not forget a nice array of THE CONTAINMENT ZONE AND YOU! pamphlets on the check-out counter, in case you missed them back at the cabins.

Maybe you encounter someone here - are they friend, or foe? Maybe they're as lost and confused as you are. Maybe they're reaching for that last fucking can of Spaghetti-Os and you're serious about your fucking Spaghetti-Os. At least one person is definitely waking up in a gas station fridge... Maybe you're lucky(?) individual who spots them and has to decide whether or not you've discovered a corpse where the soda should be. The world (or, at least, the gas station) is your oyster.

PROMPT 4 ► THE WOODS + BARRIER

The vast majority of the containment zone is covered in evergreen forest, populated with wildlife that look and act disarmingly normal. It may, in fact, be a nice quiet place to stroll in order to clear your head. While large swathes of the woods are moderately dense, there are a number of paths to make your way along should you choose to. Birds sing overhead, deer occasionally bound across the path ahead... If you didn't know any better, you might be able to forget that this isn't a normal stretch of woods somewhere not far from home.

But nothing in the containment zone is truly harmless. The blackberry bushes that line many a cabin (you remember, the ones that make your mouth and tongue go numb?) are out in force in the woods, and out here they're even more of an infernal menace: While the cabin variety only cause havoc when ingested, so much as a scratch from the woods variety's thorns will induce a tingling numb in the affected area that lasts for the better part of an hour.

And let's not forget the lovely field of "wildflowers" that definitely aren't not infested with poison ivy. It's a shame, really. The flowers themselves are quite pretty, an array of pastel blues and pinks and oranges. It's almost like a painting, if touching that painting happened to make you itch, burn, and blister for one-to-two weeks.

But why are we talking about flowers? What you're truly interested in is the containment zone barrier, aren't you? That's fine, you're bound to encounter it out there somewhere. It's invisible until you touch it, at which point a honeycomb pattern ripples out from the point of contact. As a general rule, the barrier gives back what it gets: Place your palm on it and you'll receive a faint uncomfortable buzz. Run headlong into it, and it will ricochet you multiple yards back into the woods.

The barrier stretches all the way around the containment zone without a single break or point of yielding. No further buildings can be seen beyond the barrier, nor any real sign of civilization at all save for the gas station's road stretching past the barriers and out of sight. The only thing of passable interest is the somewhat concerning tree sitting at the far end of the field across the street from saud gas station, at least two-hundred yards past the barrier. At this distance, it's a bit tricky to make out what flocks in the tree's branches. Those have to be birds... right?

► MOD NOTES ►

• This log takes place from July 4th onward, arguably through whenever the event goes up - though you're welcome to toss up your own logs in the meantime. I'm gonna troubleshoot the HTML to leave a space for IC dates, but I didn't want to waste any more time on that right now.
  
• Vestige is now open for business! You're welcome to post logs + network posts of your own, post memes on vestigechat, whatever you want.
  
• This log is functionally intended to be a tour of the containment zone for new characters and players, with dashes of mild horror or discomfort along the way. Don't worry: The actual horror is rolling in later this month. (I'm tagging this under 'event' anyway, just to keep track of it.)
  
• You can literally have your character wake up wherever you want within the containment zone, even if I didn't list it. Go nuts.
  
• It's worth noting: None of the cabins are recognizable as the precise one from the TDM loop, nor is the forest fog still present. The forest is recognizably the same flora/fauna, but that's about it.
  
• You're welcome to include a network post with your top-level (or to put it up on vestigenet as per usual) - but don't forget to consult the NETWORK: USERNAMES ARE FUCKY drop-down of July's Infopost before you do!
  
• Direct any and all questions at Trace on plurk/discord or (for slightly slower answers) this top-level.
  
• My deepest most heartfelt apologies for the lateness, I failed to factor in my own godforsaken attention span.
  

Comments

[skittering]

( alright. apparently he's swimming after all. lalli steps to the bank of the lake with a bracing sort of sigh, and then he's wading briskly into the shallows with the practiced ease of one who grew up in the forests of many a lake-island. as soon as it's up to his waist, he dips under instead, closing the distance to the rotting boat not unlike a frog propelling itself through water.

he resurfaces at boatside, hands pushing his hair from his face before lifting to rest on the boat's wooden rim without quite enough pressure to help it sink. this is about as close to namine as he can get from the water, the way she's positioned herself carefully in the center of her seat - and though the summoned wind still pushes the boat along (he swims alongside with a kick of his feet), it's even more clear now than from the shore that this boat won't make it to the shallows. )

Over here, ( he says, one hand extending out toward her. for good measure he adds, ) Slowly. ( he'll get ahold of her somehow regardless, but this is much less messy if they can get her out of the boat without it capsizing.

if she does manage to reach him, he'll guide her over the edge and into the water, wordlessly wrapping her arm up around his shoulder to indicate that she should hold on. ) Curl up your legs and stay beside me. ( not in front or behind him, that's how to trip him up as he swims. as it stands, he can keep them afloat well enough. with both legs treading (hence her curling hers out of the way) and one arm paddling, he'll start guiding them along the surface toward the shallows. )

[lethechained]

[ Although she didn't need to ask whether he could swim since his actions more or less implied it, it's still something of a relief to see him take to the water so easily. A portion of the distress rising in her chest ebbs as he draws nearer, because no matter how much she's forgotten, she's re-learned already that - going by his actions so far - he really will try to keep her safe, as he said he would.

But that doesn't fully negate her trepidation about complying with his request. She looks it, too, paling a little when he asks her to move - yet she doesn't make him wait long before she does as she's told. With careful motions she edges toward his side of the boat, but no matter how slowly she does so, the rapidly decaying vessel grows increasingly unsteady. It sways disconcertingly as her weight shifts to go over the edge with his assistance; for a second there it looks like it really will capsize.

Which becomes a moot point once she's successfully slipped into the water, a startled gasp escaping her that sets off a brief cough as the lake splashes lightly up around her. The boat rights itself, but by then it's taken on so much water that its sinking accelerates considerably. Naminé is awfully tense, frightened little thing that she is, but despite clearly being quite uncomfortable with the whole situation, she remains helpfully calm. Outwardly, anyway; there's a simmering panic between her ribs that she patiently ignores as she holds to Lalli the best she can. (At first her nails threaten to dig in for grip, but consciously she makes the effort to relax her fingers, because even now she has the presence of mind to do her best not to hurt him.) ]

Right, [ she responds, a touch breathlessly after the awkward landing in the water. When she curls up, she hardly gets in the way at all - or as 'not at all' as can be in the context. (Sometimes it pays to be small.) And all of this is well and good, but - the sooner they get to shore the better, as far as she's concerned. ]

[skittering]

( not only did lalli grow up surrounded in saimaa's island-dotted lake, but said lake was riddled with the infected. he learned to swim, and he learned to swim very efficiently. slow swimmers are dead swimmers, or worse.

collecting her from the boat goes as smoothly as it possibly could, all things considered - and though having a passenger does make him stroke and kick harder for half as much distance, they end up making it back to the shallows with no further incident. she'll notice the change in the cadence of his swimming as his feet finally touch the floor of the lake, stepping instead of kicking. a couple more steps and, ) Should be able to touch the bottom.

( which doesn't mean she has to let go, just that she no longer has to weigh down on him quite so hard. )

[lethechained]

[ No matter how many secondhand memories Naminé has of swimming, they're not quite enough to compensate for the fact that this is the first time she's ever been in the water. It's also the first time she's so much as seen this large an amount of it with her own two eyes, and although she might have looked forward to the opportunity, it feels a bit like a bad joke to experience it this way.

And she does notice how his movements change, largely because her attention is hyper-focused on everything she can physically perceive at the moment. Hesitant to act on it, she waits for his word before carefully extending her own legs toward the bottom of the water. It feels like they're going just a little too long, but then her toes scrape the muddy floor of the lake; her head naturally tips back to keep her face above the surface as she tries to make contact well enough to support her own weight.

It's an unpleasantly unfamiliar feeling to be so oddly balanced, and she can't quite hold down her tiny but tangible shiver. Her arm trembles slightly as she endeavors to relax it so as to not lean on him as heavily, and though she's successful, it seems she's reluctant to let go of him entirely. ]

I'm sorry that-- [ Her face is scrunched even as they begin to climb higher along the shore and she can lower it again. ] -- you had to come in after me.

[ Which is probably a silly thing to say first when one is still recovering from an at least vaguely near-death experience, but there you have it. ]

[skittering]

( it is silly. enough so that lalli doesn't offer more than a faint throat-sound of acknowledgment - and only that much because he's learned that ignoring dumb apologies upsets people.

once they've taken a few steps, reached a bit shallower a spot and she's no longer struggling quite so badly, ) Should teach you to swim. ( if they're here for that long. the papers in the houses made it sound like they might be. like they're trapped. something he won't worry namine with yet. especially not while she's soaking wet and cold - which, at the very least, he knows how to fix.

once she eventually does let go of him, he starts off up the shore toward the cabin he and emil woke up in. they aren't keeping it, but it has a fireplace so it's as good a place as any to take her. ) This way.

[lethechained]

[ Naminé grows less tense the closer they get to land, and carefully relinquishes her hold on him once they're at a depth where she can walk more normally. Water drips from the bottom of her hair as they wade to shore, and she wrings it out along with her somewhat preoccupied, ]

I've always wanted to learn.

[ Trailing along after him, she makes an effort to squeeze some of the water from the end of her dress as well, but it's a largely futile effort. The very first hint of a breeze has her folding her arms around her middle; her dress is thin enough already, but soaking wet it's almost worse than wearing nothing.

And she knows that'll require dealing with, but she still lifts her eyebrows at his direction. He seems to know where he's going, which of course piques her curiosity - not that it slows her down any when she follows after him, catching up to keep pace. ]

We're not in the cabin this time, [ she observes, though of course that's obvious already. More importantly, ] How long have you been here?

[skittering]

( meanwhile, as she wrings out her dress, he's collecting the layers he shed from the log where he draped them as the pair of them pass on by.

it's only when she speaks a second time that he glances her way, noting the chilly tension with which she carries herself, the uselessness of her dress for such things. were lalli a more naturally thoughtful person, he'd be draping his own jacket over her shoulders. instead, he simply glances to the cabins ahead - their destination is one of the nearest. ) This morning, ( he says... and because of the cold, he does add on: ) Be inside soon. There's a fire.

[lethechained]

Not long, then...

[ It's just above a murmur as she files the information away. Somehow it's comforting to think she wasn't as far behind as she could have been, with time such a confusing matter in the loop.

And since Naminé's not accustomed to being around thoughtful people, the idea that he could lend her a layer doesn't even occur to her - not that she would have let him without a little fretting on his behalf, especially while her own clothes are so damp. Instead she finds relief in the promise of any kind of warmth, and breathes a grateful, ]

Good. I guess that's another reason I'm lucky that you found me when you did.

[ More and more, she's coming to believe that. Curious, she looks ahead, peering around to take in the cabins in search of the one they're headed for. She has the presence of mind to examine the direction he was looking in first, then to glance upward in search of smoke from a chimney, though she doesn't voice her guess aloud. ]

UGH my bad, here i am

[skittering]

( it may be a bit hard to discern, since the actual front of the cabin is tucked a few yards back into the woods, but a wafting trail of smoke trickles up through the trees from the very fire he mentioned. it should just plain be warmer inside - the cabin's drafty but not so much as to take on a chill.

before long, they're making their way up the couple of steps to the front door. he heads inside, leaving her to close it behind them as he beelines for the aforementioned fire, pressing a couple of new chunks of wood into strategic places (just for maintenance purposes, it's not at risk of dying). ) Sit where you want, ( he offers, whether that's on the couch or literally right here on the toasty hearth. )

SHOOSH shoosh, it hasn't been long at all!!

[lethechained]

[ The unfamiliar trees make it difficult to know exactly where they're headed even with the smoke, but she has a direction and a guide, and that's reassuring enough. This really is a beautiful place, though Naminé has only a small part of her mind to dedicate to appreciating that at the moment. The rest is too busy pondering what might come next.

Stepping into the cabin, the girl hesitates briefly in the doorway. Her head turns slightly as she scans the room, looking for similarities to the structure they all spent so long revisiting before. A beat late she moves further inside, then reaches back to carefully close the door behind her, almost as an afterthought. ]

Thank you, [ she responds to his offer, tone somewhere between relieved and affirmative. Her attention goes to the couch first, but an errant drop of water creeping down her side reminds her that she'd only make it as damp as she is. In an effort both to stay warm and to refrain from causing him any trouble, she makes her way over to the hearth and sits down there, legs curling next to her.

Exhaling slowly, she regards the fire for a long moment. The warmth doesn't take long to ease some of her discomfort, yet she remains quietly folded in on herself. Presently she adjusts her position, shifting to peer up at him along one shoulder. ]

Are there monsters, this time?

[ Her voice is small, a little tired - and resigned far more than fearful. ]

[skittering]

( a sideways glance is cast her way as she settles - maybe making sure she hasn't settled too close to the fire itself, or maybe he's just seeing if she's actually settled at all (or if there's something else she needs first, whatever that could be). but she has always been pretty easy to satisfy, which might very well be part of the reason they get along as they do. he has no idea what to do with fussy people, aside from sit there and let them fuss. how he ended up nearly so close to emil is still a wonder to him.

'are there monsters, this time?' ) Not yet, ( he says. ) Don't know if there will be. Feels... different, this time.

[lethechained]

[ Not yet. The disclaimer is both inherent and well-justified, but in spite of it Naminé feels at least a marginal sense of calm upon his assessment. Even the length of time he says he's been here is more peace than she was accustomed to having in the cabin, and with a slow exhale she nods, shoulders relaxing by a fraction. ]

The fog is gone, at least. [ Not to mention she's never woken up, you know, in a boat before. ] And if there are no creepy basements...

[ Then that's a start. As much of a relief as it is, though, there's still a part of her that can't help being apprehensive. ]

But it's strange. Nothing seemed different the last time I woke up back there, so... what changed? [ Something outside of their control, perhaps. Still, it bears asking, ] Did you notice anything unusual?

[skittering]

( it's true - the fog is gone. in fact, he has scouted out the perimeter of their cage and he can't even find the same patch of woods where the fog once was, let alone the cabin in the middle of them. and though this cabin and a number of others seem to have basements and some of those basements even have stuff in them, none of it seems to be anything more than junk. nothing to touch and summon some kind of monster or spirit. no danger at all, really. which brings us back to: not yet.

her question is a good one, if frustrating just because he doesn't know. there was nothing about his last time in that cabin that suggested it would be his last, nothing that implied an escape or a transition or whatever else, at least not that he saw. he might have missed it. he's observant, but he's used to scouting for dangers, for resources, for safe routes - tangible things, not some abstract sign that they'd be switching from one mind-game to another.

and so he shakes his head. ) Nothing changed. ( he's going to stand by that, because on the factual level on which he operates, nothing did change. ) Maybe it was always supposed to end.

[lethechained]

[ It's hard to find comfort in the fact that their experiences aligned, considering it tells them nothing more than they each already knew - but perhaps having confirmation is worth something in and of itself. Her brow knits, eyes troubled as she agrees, ]

Maybe.

[ The implications, however, bring a shiver to her spine that has nothing to do with her wet clothes. She folds her arms more tightly around herself in a futile attempt to combat it. ]

But... if that's the case, then - why? [ So much of their previous experience felt deliberate, from beginning to end. ] Why go to all of this trouble in the first place?

[ Though she directs it at him, the question is rhetorical; she wilts a little thereafter, quick to amend it. ]

It's not fair of me to ask you. I suppose - that's a question for whoever it is that put us here.

[ She'd have less to wonder about if she'd already seen the pamphlet, so chances are high she'll feel silly later for saying, ]

… Although I don't see why they'd answer it.

[skittering]

Already answered it, ( he sighs, glancing away from the fire now to the pamphlets, two of which still sit on the table not far from the hearth. it's full of... a lot of things she won't like to hear. but she doesn't deserve to be in the dark, and lalli doesn't want to waste breath answering questions the papers already answer just to try to soften the blow.

so he nods toward the glossy folded papers. ) Read it.

[lethechained]

[ Her, 'what?' gets lost under the crackling of the fire, but perhaps it isn't necessary. The startled perplexity on her face says it all, her mouth working itself into a bemused little shape as her head turns to follow his nod. Usually she's unhappy to be right about something awful, but being wrong in this case still feels rather bittersweet. Despite an instant's mild trepidation, Naminé lifts herself up just enough to reach for the nearest pamphlet. Settling back down again, she begins to look it over.

It doesn't take long. Neither does the faint pallor that overcomes her skin as she goes back, re-reads it a second time as if in disbelief, then in a murmur-- ]

Death and suffering...?