wellie: (Default)
Well Mod ([personal profile] wellie) wrote in [community profile] wellcome2023-08-31 05:00 pm

3.2 Event

3.2 Event Plotting

OOC announcements
Welcome to month 2! We're near the midpoint of the cycle and oh boy is it hot out there.

There will be no event post on the main comm. Instead, make your own logs to include these prompts, and any other prompts you want to add. There will be a mini-event log mid-month.

Use the happenings form to report on what your character’s been up to! Did you break something? Did you get into a screaming match in the middle of town? Spill the tea! Everyone’s thirsty for gossip.

Post any bulletins to the bulletin board.
Plotting/CR form
Fill out as much or as little of this form as you like:


New this month

The weather

The weather continues to worsen. In addition to the dry heat from last month, heat lightning crackles across the skies at night, flashing bright. It’s joined by unusual lights in the sky. They seem to have migrated up from the edges of the desert, and they can be found hovering over town in strange formations, blinking at random before disappearing. When the lights are present, the air feels heavy, and smells of ozone.

During the day, heat bakes the desert to a shimmering, cracked surface. Wildlife is practically nonexistent and even the cacti are starting to dry out. Some taller saguaros can be found swaying dangerously, their bases dry and thin. The desert is eerily silent.

At the hotel

The dining hall features one long table and the same meals every day: a nice, continental breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and a roast for dinner.

If you want to go for a swim, this month you’ll… also find an “Out of Order” sign on the door. Inside, the pool is bone dry. Uh-oh. There doesn’t seem to be enough water to fill it back up.

Water is in even shorter supply this month: The taps splutter and spit air instead of water occasionally. It takes forever to fill up a glass or a bottle. Showers will be even shorter, as the water will run out after around 3 minutes. Better hurry through that haircare routine! Don’t even try taking a bath, that tub won’t fill up.

The General Store

The General Store is still full of fun outer space paraphenalia. You can find stationary with stars on it, candles shaped like planets, slime with alien-shaped charms in it, plastic astronaut helmets, whatever your heart desires as long as it’s useless, novelty, and space-themed.

This month, there’s a special on star-shaped pool floaties and novelty sunglasses! How helpful.

Around town

The diner’s special for the month: galaxy brownies! They’re thin, they’re gooey, they’re covered in chocolate frosting and cute little sprinkles.

The jail’s back in action, and with it, everyone’s favorite Coyote Sheriff! This town is definitely big enough for him, too. He’ll be found at the jail during the day and the Cactus Pad at night, taking up a stool at the bar. Slide up a seat! He can’t speak any known language, but sometimes there’s value in silence.

When you visit the few other locations in town, you’ll find the employees friendly and welcoming, although they may say some strange things, in addition to the handful of phrases they usually say:
The receptionist: “Remember, we take water rationing very seriously here at the Staywell. Do your part to save water. It’s for the good of the town.”

Owner of the General Store: “Runnin’ a special on pool floaties! Make sure you stay cool in all this heat, y’hear?”

The bartender: “Remember: Alcohol dehydrates you.”

The waiter: “Boy, it’s a steamy one! How about a nice sweet tea to cool you off?” And he serves you a sweet tea, whether you want one or not.

The gravedigger: She’s nowhere to be seen during the day. At night, she’s digging graves.

The sheriff: Silently watches you like he knows what you did.


Wanted: Dead or Alive
Content warnings: incarceration, animal attacks

The sheriff’s back in town, and he’s got company. Everywhere you turn, there seems to be a coyote, perched on a barrel or crossing the street, watching you with bright, intelligent eyes. They’re not menacing, exactly. They’re not trying to hurt anyone, but they’re definitely watching, waiting for something.

Unfortunately, the sheriff isn’t the only thing that’s back.

Seemingly overnight, the town is absolutely plastered with posters.

Not just any posters: Wanted posters. With your face on them.

Or, well, something that’s probably supposed to be your face. Is that really how your nose looks? Each poster has a drawing of a character, as well as a crime (or list of crimes) they’re wanted for.

There can be as many wanted posters as you like, and as many crimes as you like. The crimes can be real, or made up. They can be serious, or not. The drawing of your character doesn’t even have to be very good.

Your wanted posters could have your given name, preferred name, or it might give you a new outlaw name, reminiscent of criminals in the Old West.

When you look at one, you’ll feel a very strong urge to confess to whatever is on the poster to the first person you see. The more you hold back this urge, the more explosive the eventual confession will be, so maybe just get it over with?

As you confess, you regain a memory in that moment of whatever you're confessing to, as long as it's a real "crime" that your character committed. The memory hits them immediately.

Too bad they don't have much time to take in what just happened, because The moment you confess, you and anyone around you will be swarmed with coyotes insistently trying to herd you to jail. You can get free of this with a little creativity, but the more you confess and escape, the harder they'll try to take you to jail. If they succeed, you'll be locked up for 24 hours before being set free.

You may regain up to 3 memory points with this prompt.

tl;dr:
  • Coyotes are around town, and they're watching you.
  • The wanted posters are also back, and have your name, face, and list of crimes. The crimes can be real or fake.
  • When you see your poster, you feel a strong urge to confess to the crime.
  • If you confess, you both regain a memory of the crime, and you and whoever you're with will be immediately arrested and taken to jail by the coyotes.
  • You can escape jail, or you'll be released after 24 hours.

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers
Content warnings: body horror, abduction

It happens suddenly. You’re minding your own business, going about your day or night, when a beam of light shines down from nowhere. It surrounds you, lighting up the ground and the edges of your vision, so bright that you can’t seem to see anything else. You’re paralyzed, standing there in the light; your limbs won’t respond to you, no matter what you do. The light flares brighter and brighter, and you’re lifted off your feet, pulled up off the ground by a force stronger than anything you know—

That’s the last thing you remember. Light, and levitation.

When you come to, you’re back in town, but you’re not where you were when you were taken. In fact, you aren’t even who you were when you were taken.

Congratulations: you’ve woken up in someone else’s body. All your memories and personality are otherwise intact, but you sound like them, you feel like them, and you certainly look like them.

Which might be a problem this month! Apparently, the sheriff and his coyotes can’t really tell that anything’s changed. Even worse: while you’ll still definitely feel compelled to confess to your crimes, should you see your own wanted poster, if you see the person whose body you’re piloting on a poster, you’ll feel the same urge to confess to their crimes as loudly as possible, and you can definitely still get arrested for them. Too bad there’s no such thing as a trial in this town!

To get your body back, there doesn't seem to be a way except to wait until the same light comes down and switches you back into your original form, although there’s an equally strong chance you’ll just become someone else instead. Everyone will be back in their original bodies by early October (although, feel free to have it take a little longer if you like!).

tl;dr:
  • Body swap! You get abducted by the lights around the town, stolen, paralyzed, and lose some time.
  • When you come to, you're somewhere else, in someone else's body. You keep your own memories, personality, and skills.
  • If you interact with the wanted posters, you'll feel the urge to confess to the person whose body you're in's crimes, and can be arrested for them.
  • You can return to your own body, or swap to another character's body, by being abducted again.
  • Everyone will be back to normal by early October.

UNEARTHED
Content warnings: N/A

The lights in the sky seem to congregate over an area in the desert, and that area looks a little different than the rest of the desert. While most of the desert around town is flat and featureless, this area is craggy and irregular.

If you follow the lights, you find something that wasn’t there before: maybe revealed by the storms, or brought by the strange lights in the sky, but now this area, roughly a mile outside of town to the east, is littered with strange structures: vehicles.

And not just any vehicles: ships. Ships of all kinds. Ships made for the sea, the sky, outerspace. Ships from your world, perhaps, or from any world. Giant starships to tiny dinghies. One ship is bigger than the others: a massive structure half-buried in sand, its curved hull visible even from the town, glimmering in the overbearing sunlight.

Parts from these ships are salvageable, from sheets of metal to wood to tech that may or may not work. It all looks very old and degraded by its time in the desert. Who knows what you might find in there?

Comment on the exploration prompt with what type of ship your character is exploring to see what you might find!

tl;dr:
  • In the desert, a ship graveyard has been unearthed.
  • You can explore the ships and find interesting and salvageable things. Comment on the exploration comment to see what you find!

anglophone: (002 | those wooden boys)

[personal profile] anglophone 2023-09-02 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
Oh Alec has reasons, reasons that can be revealed either by 1. seeing his memory of getting incredible, top notch advice on future conduct or 2. honestly just asking 'what the fuck are you doing' at the scene of his upcoming crimes.

Actually he might be able to get the confession more than some other people might - it's a gnarly scene, but reviewing it I can cut it off before the eye trauma and retain the critical part for my purposes. The major gist of it is Alec being assured by the ethical compass of his little villain group that using his powers for new and exciting types of crime is a reasonable call.
hellonspectacles: (He surveyed his work and saw it was good)

Re: Palamedes Sextus | The Locked Tomb

[personal profile] hellonspectacles 2023-09-02 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
OBVIOUSLY she needs to tell him to chill. Your body is a temple, Cam!! He has to look after it! It's gonna stress him out so much!!

I am extremely excited at the idea of an exploring thread where Cam gets to do psychometry and Pal gets to be athletic.
anglophone: (004 | let gravity win)

[personal profile] anglophone 2023-09-02 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
The first thing that will happen with the gravedigger is Alec getting punched in the face by her, which will lead to him deploying his already accumulated NPCs to restrain her for the take over. I'd be thrilled to have someone either 1. see him get punched in the face while surrounded by his puppets or 2. see the middle of the whole possession process.

And come on Dax, you're a tentacle monster. Give Alec some slack here!
hellonspectacles: (Default)

[personal profile] hellonspectacles 2023-09-02 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
I would absolutely LOVE for Pal to see Alec's full-on shady side in one way or another so that he can be properly Not Mad, Just Disappointed. Given he will be in Cam's body for most of the month, this might be even more terrifying than usual because...Cam is very good at looking terrifying.
anglophone: (002 | those wooden boys)

[personal profile] anglophone 2023-09-02 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, nice! Come see Alec zapping the panicking waiter, it'll be fun, I'm sure!

The waiter is actually the one I've been most debating whether Alec would see it through or not, so who knows? Maybe Pal-Cam can flex that disappointment all the way into a save.
go_loud: (Default)

Re: Palamedes Sextus | The Locked Tomb

[personal profile] go_loud 2023-09-02 04:19 am (UTC)(link)

We don't even know if these are their REAL bodies, Pal! (I'm actually curious about that but I feel like I've been asking the mods 800 questions. If they get hurt, does that stay with the body when it's returned to owner?)

Meanwhile she's like "omg NO ONE TOLD ME BOYS SWEAT SO MUCH and this one has negative muscle tone. Do we get a six minute shower if we hop in together because it's just anatomy and I feel GROSS." (Also a salient question for the mods! Lol)

More seriously: I actually really enjoy that this timed itself so we're jusssst talking out them already sort of nudging at and working out where their comfort zones are and it's like quick, switch places!

Which of course is angsty because of bodysharing in canon (-- even in Cam's case it evokes a sort of hypothetical What COULD Have Been were they to have gone the path of traditional Lyctorhood, though a little less on the nose -- I do have to decide if I'm giving her That Knowledge and if so, in what manner), but...it could be good for them to have to deal with in a context where it's not the only choice. And it also, very literally, prompts some perspective on how they see themselves vs each other.

I am SO excited about exploring. And about letting Cam be an adept and Pal be tough for a little while. I have seen one roleswitch AU for them ever and was like WHY IS THIS NOT A THING and now we get to do it :D :D I'm excited both for her having to figure out what all this input is and ALSO because I feel like her ability to get the theoreticals will make it so much easier than someone who's never talked over this stuff.

go_loud: (just worked out)

[personal profile] go_loud 2023-09-02 04:30 am (UTC)(link)

Whoa, she's like Wake and Gid/Pyrrha ACTUALLY had a baby, but you know, 4070 years ago. Thanergy neutralizing, even! I love this backstory and I am INTRIGUED and also CAM will be thoroughly intrigued if/when she finds any of this out.

If we do this while she's in Pal's body, she gets bonus necro powers, but doesn't lose her ability to know HOW to use a sword (just the physical part stays with the body -- I already said this, didn't I) which -- although Need would probably handily neutralize the thanergy against someone who's just figuring out how to use it, might give her a little bit of extra advantage. And I'm down for Cam getting beaten but still proving that she's a worthy opponent, maybe?

If anything, she'd definitely just be a) impressed and want to learn from anyone who DOES beat her and b) want to rematch in her own body and see how it goes with her own reflexes. Also like. Talk to Need for a gazillion years because WTF HOW COOL IS SHE.

(There is definitely a "if I had a nickel for every time I'd been around a haunted sword. Well, I'd have two nickels, but--" meme needed here.)

hasapoint: an old woman's hand proffering a sword hilt (Default)

[personal profile] hasapoint 2023-09-02 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
hee. Need doesn't know most of it herself! and tragically doesn't know about her magic-nulling power yet. She'd be pretty put out if magic came out in a sparring bout without bringing it up beforehand and she rather does dislike necromancy as it's not dissimilar to blood magic where she's from - she's baseline suspicious of Palamedes because of that, but is civil and reserving judgement. If it's in play she goes for the takedown a lot faster!

Need is pretty quick and powerful and utterly coolheaded under pressure, but with the limits of old lady shape she does tire faster than she'd like and can put herself out of active commission for the day by overdoing it. Cam in her usual body would typically win, I think, but Need's not particularly bothered by being the best or not, and Cam just being interested and not a terrible sport would get a bit of respect.

Haunted swords are just cool!
d9x: (Default)

[personal profile] d9x 2023-09-02 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been thinking about this since you posted it. I'd love to swap Dax and Cam before she settles into Pal's, first of all!!

"Memories in tact" in the post made me think that Dax might become a moot point, but I think you're the one who is right here...

With how I'm playing Trill, while Ezri would retain Dax's memories, she'd be separated from Dax, so I want to say she'd temporarily lose the voices/impulses of the other hosts and whoever is in her body would have those... that's pretty good fodder, honestly, between the CamPal issues and the added bonus of breaking up Ezri's "they're just memories" notion.

About Trill voices: there is flexibility! What sounds fun to you? I think any range of "she's in Ezri's body, so she's actually hearing these voices and I can work with you to write them out a bit" and "Cam can't really process the symbiont's communication, so she's just getting bizarre impulses/cravings and weird flashes of colors in her head" are all plausible.

I think it would absolutely be possible for someone to take the backseat to Dax (we see that happen sometimes with Dax's hosts, even) but I think that would be really hard to pull off unless the other person is super familiar with Dax! But I think playing into it being it's an active push and pull to maintain control might be SO fun, especially for the lyctorhood parallels conversations incoming. (There would not be a host actively trying to push Cam's consciousness aside, to be clear, I just mean re: the impulses).
masculinitea: (Default)

[personal profile] masculinitea 2023-09-02 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
well he's gonna do that then
masculinitea: (Default)

[personal profile] masculinitea 2023-09-02 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
pauses

annoyed sigh

are there any ships with like. sexy female figureheads that could be removed.

regardless Vic is drawn to wooden sea vessels without knowing why but his huge bigness means he can't climb or really get into them mostly. He wants to find cannons and cannonballs, and that's only partially because they're good for lifting. Maybe rope? Sailcloth? Hardtack?
hellonspectacles: (Default)

[personal profile] hellonspectacles 2023-09-02 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahahaha perfecttttt. If Pal's Disappointment can stop Alec from committing horrifying acts, then it truly is powerful.
toteninsel: (15)

ariane yeong | signalis

[personal profile] toteninsel 2023-09-03 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
Your name: floral
Your pronouns: she/they
Contact: [plurk.com profile] moonlanding or PM or the game Discord
OOC limitations: none

Character name: Ariane Yeong
Permissions: here
General impressions of your character: Ariane is a short woman with long white hair, red eyes, and a generally sickly appearance. She tends to dress in dark colors, mostly red and black, with a fondness for wide-brimmed hats, vests, and flowing skirts. She can come across as a little eerie initially, although after spending three months in Wellstone, she tends to open up to others more than when she first arrived.
CR you're interested in: Everything! With one exception (see below)
CR you're not interested in: Romance - Ariane is spoken for. She is a big softie, though, and would love to hear about *your* character's romantic drama

General ideas or plans for the month: Have you seen Elster? Now you have! Ariane's crewmate from her deep-space exploration mission is now in town, and it's stirring up a lot of complicated feelings in Ariane. We have curiosity, anxiety, guilt over not being able to remember much about her, and so on. She'll want to talk about this very exciting development a lot, so if your character has had a thread with Ariane before, there's a good chance she'd bring this up to them in some way, shape or form.

Event ideas:
wanted: Ariane's posters will be for "Officer Yeong," and will display a younger Ariane all suited up in her military uniform. She'll be wanted for crimes that are in conjunction with her treatment of Elster aboard the Penrose - things like "showing the Replika movies," "failing to read the Replika's technical documentation," "treating the Replika like a person," etc. It'll be a good way to kick off a convo with Ariane about Elster, if that's of interest!

invasion: I'd love to do some body swapping, and I'm open to close or new CR for this one! When in Ariane's body, characters will feel physically weak and experience some chronic pain, but will also be able to use Ariane's psychic powers to create powerful hallucinations.

unearthed: Ariane will be exploring a generic version of a Penrose-class spaceship from her canon! TBD on what she'll find, but she'll probably get a lot of memloss nosebleeds while exploring this one, and I'd definitely love for her to have a few fellow explorers here.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Most likely Y but not 100% sure atm!
Edited 2023-09-03 00:12 (UTC)
d9x: (Default)

[personal profile] d9x 2023-09-03 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
Tagging into this because it sounds like we have a similar idea — would love Dax to find a Vesta class ship. She’d also be looking for communications tech for his project — maybe they can scavenge the same ship together? She would have more familiarity, together they might be productive!
go_loud: (Default)

[personal profile] go_loud 2023-09-03 10:27 am (UTC)(link)

Yeah, I think — because the Dax symbiont is physically connected to her body, not just her brain, they sort of both get parts? The way you’ve described it — that Ezri would retain memories but wouldn’t actively have the past hosts piping up, — at least makes SENSE to me!

I agree that it makes for REALLY good timing with other things we’ve planned! I keep starting sentences that are …exactly what you’ve said lol. Basically it’s just all very nicely thematic (if complicated for them).

Off of that, I think I DO want at least some comprehensible thoughts/images/language, but the level of comprehension can be relatively chaotic — Cam’s SO much about control all the time that I think suddenly having impulses and instincts that are clearly not natural to her and vague impressions or literal snatches of running commentary would be — well, intensely stressful for HER, but fun to play for ME, and i like the idea that Ezri and Cam can help each other a bit too, Cam with not letting Ezri feel isolated and Ezri with talking her through it a bit. And/or interpreting.

(You may have to give me a cheat sheet on what the previous hosts are generally LIKE in Dax’s head — and what maintaining control even looks like. Or Ezri may just be able to IC, at least the last part. Like - Cam’s instinct is going to be to try to fight to narrow down input to “her” thoughts, partly defensively and partly literally because that’s suddenly a lot of sensation! But I’m guessing that’s not a good approach and balance is better for everyone. Depending on how it plays, Ezri may get the incredibly rare experience of Cam panicking in front of someone.

While wearing Ezri’s face, just for extra meta, you know.

sighsheavily: (Default)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2023-09-03 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Tell me more about the hinged gold device & the writing on it!
AND tell me what could be read from the mended book pages after someone graciously gets rid of the bugs for me bc ew
outofsynth: (you can take it)

[personal profile] outofsynth 2023-09-03 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
NOT GREAT PROBABLY.

But that does sound like a lot of fun to me!
masculinitea: (Brooo!)

[personal profile] masculinitea 2023-09-04 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
enh not that hot but he'll take it. Booty!

I am going to guess that the cannons are cracked/pitted and not useable even if there had been black powder but yeah sure he'll drag those across the desert, he's got the hoss hocks for it.

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