00 - prologue

[afflictionmods]

PROLOGUE

It doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing – something strange begins to happen. There's a sudden burning sensation that wraps around your right wrist and part of your forearm. If you glance at the affected area, you'll find that it's...glowing.  The glow is pale blue, and it's so bright that it hurts to look at. The burn itself isn't so painful that you feel like keeling over just yet, but it does hurt nevertheless.

But before you have time to try to soothe the pain, you start to feel lightheaded, dizzy. Perhaps some of you may attribute this to any injuries you may currently be sustaining. For those who were previously unscathed, however, there's quite possibly no explanation for this other than the sudden appearance of the mysterious burn on your arm.

There is no time to mull it over, though, because it is the last thing that you see before the world suddenly fades to black.

-----

When you regain your senses, your vision is blurry; but when it starts to even out and you survey your surroundings, you find yourself sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair. Looking around you’ll see rows and rows of chairs, all facing the same way towards a desk, a podium, and an empty wall. A projector hangs from the ceiling and the lighting is bright and artificial... For some of you, it might be reminiscent of a college lecture hall. For others, you might have never seen anything like this before.

Your wrist, by the way, feels perfectly fine...though there’s now some kind of strange marking on it. It looks like a scar of some sort, and if you choose to touch it, it doesn’t feel inflamed or damaged in any way...but that doesn’t mean you don’t experience any pain. Perhaps the last thing some of you remember is a hard-fought battle, and the aches from your injuries still linger; some of you might not even remember getting hurt, and yet, your body aches like it has; for the lucky ones who feel fine, well. Pray that it lasts for a little while longer.

Because the moment someone gets hurt – emotionally or physically – there’s a small chance you’ll feel it, too. Where and who and what it’s coming from, though, is on you to figure out.

In front of you on the desk is some kind of device – a tablet, for those of you who are familiar. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be capable of doing much of anything right now, other than take photos and videos with the Camera app. There's also a translating app for those of you who need help reading some of the text around campus, as it is all in English. (Verbally, however, you can understand everyone in your own language. Tablets are also in characters' native languages.) It seems to be incredibly durable and hard to break, but you may want to be careful with it regardless.

Something shifts in your pocket (or...in your socks/shoe/what have you, if pockets aren't a thing) as you move around. Should you reach in and feel for it, you’ll find some kind of card – those who are familiar with modern technology will recognize that this is some kind of card you need to swipe. It has your name and a photo of you on one side, and the back of the card has the word "KEYCARD" on it.

There are also other people here, scattered throughout this mysterious classroom you’re in. In fact, there’re a bunch of you — 29 others, to be exact.

And now... you’re free to do whatever you want. Mostly anything, at least, given that once you step outside and explore, you’ll notice an ominous fog behind the various buildings within view. Still, this is a good time to get your bearings, check on what you have - and don’t have - and talk to the people around you until orientation starts.

-----

( OOC: Welcome to your Intro Log! The partner system is in effect for the Intro Log, meaning that yes, pain share is happening! For some notes regarding the partner system, your character will not know who their partner is upon arrival. It’s entirely possible that they find out now if their partner gets or is already injured, or if they can pick up on their mood. Otherwise, they’ll find out later today...!

Anyone who tries to leave campus grounds will have to enter through the fog, but no matter what, they will mysteriously wind up back onto campus grounds. And for clarification, the keycards are what characters need to gain access to their dorms!

Finally, we will have an NPC Reveal at 6pm EST today! )

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[pr159]

[ Well. Rideaux feels like shit when he regains consciousness in the lecture hall, but that's par for the course. With his long sleeves and leather gloves, he hadn't had a chance to see much beyond a bit of a blue glow that showed through the fabric before he passed out, but now he's sitting up in this stiff chair and pulling off his gloves as he looks around. He squints at the oddly shaped "burn" on his right wrist... and then looks over at his left hand with a frown, closing it into a fist and opening and spreading his fingers again, testing the sensation in it. What the fuck.

Some time later, he's got his gloves back on and is checking out the health room to see what tools of the trade he's got available to him here... aaaand it's not a lot. He looks at a box of tongue depressors, unimpressed. ]

They'd better hope they don't run into any emergencies here...

[ ...And this tablet has a camera and he doesn't have his GHS on him, so you can also find him pretty much anywhere, taking smiling selfies and then immediately looking displeased again as soon as he lowers the camera. ]

Health Room

[imitationsoul]

[ Though Miach was headed elsewhere, the mumbled commentary makes her stick her head in for a moment. This room is... interesting. Everything looks so manual and not a medcare unit in sight. This man clearly isn't impressed with it either, but is that for the same reasons...? ]

It's downright primitive by modern standards, isn't it?

[pr159]

To put it nicely. [ tosses that box back onto the shelf. ] Though who knows, maybe this place is usually staffed by spirit arte users. Still primitive, but not entirely useless.

[imitationsoul]

[ Spirit arte...? Yeah, that means nothing at all to her - she should have expected as much, maybe. ]

Interesting. I was going to comment on the lack of medcare units and medicule paste, but we seem to have different ideas of what state of the art might mean.

Not like that's a bad thing though.

[pr159]

[ Hm. He hasn't heard of either of those things by name before... which is certainly odd, since there shouldn't be any Elympion medical technique that's unknown to him, and Rieze Maxia is too backwards to even have technology. ]

...Apparently so. [ Interesting, indeed. ] Where are you from, exactly?

[imitationsoul]

I currently live at Dian Cécht in Baghdad - the leading medical facility of the world... the world as I know it, that is.

[ So it is pretty hard to imagine that spirit artes are actually a thing in her world and she just hasn't heard of whatever it is. She may be a prisoner more than an employee at the facility, but she still soaks up knowledge like a sponge. ]

Judging by all the conversations I've had so far, it is an experience that's rather unique to me.

[pr159]

[ It's not out of the question for high-deviation fractured dimensions to have some cities with different names from the ones existing in those same locations in the prime dimension. But if that's what he assumes they're dealing with, the apparent discrepancies between the prime dimension and whatever version of the world she comes from seem pretty implausible. ]

I suppose so. [ ... ] You live in a medical facility, you said. Is that as something like a doctor or researcher, or as a patient?

[imitationsoul]

[ Huh. She's never had to describe what she is to anybody, because she's not really allowed to talk to anybody outside the facility anyway. Legally, she's dead and all.

As she replies, she thoughtfully plays with one of her braids. ]

Closer to the latter - right now, you could call me a test specimen?

selfies

[partymagician]

[ Fai happens to be passing by while he's taking a selfie, so he pauses to get himself in the background of the photo. ]

Having fun?

[ Doesn't seem like it, judging by that displeased look. ]

[pr159]

[ wow, get out of his shot???

he shrugs. ]

Could be worse. It's got some halfway decent filters, at least.

[ "displeased" is just kind of his default. ]

[partymagician]

Filters? What's that?

[ He knows about coffee filters and car filters, but that's it. ]

[pr159]

[ Oh, you're one of those. ]

It's like a preset effect that alters a picture's color and lighting in a particular way. Like so:

[ He will show one of the (very attractive) pictures he just took, and then slap this place's equivalent of an Instagram Amaro filter over it. ]

In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, most are designed with the intention of minimizing the appearance of any imperfections.

[ NOT THAT HE HAS ANY (okay he has many but he also has makeup) ]

[partymagician]

I see...

[ The pensive, yet unserious, expression on his face gives a bit of doubt to that. ]

Are there any cute ones?

[pr159]

As far as filters go, no, not really, but there are plenty of stamps you can add for decoration.

[ He throws on some cute little rainbows and flowers or some shit. And then a skull and crossbones. ]

See? Something for everyone.

selfies

[selfconcept]

[ Hien happens to be in the area and takes a video shot of Rideaux taking a selfie and then immediately looking displeased. ]

Wow. From 0 to 100.

[pr159]

[ Hey, he didn't sign a release for that. ]

It's a useful skill when you're a public figure.

[selfconcept]

Yeah? What do you put on a mask for?

[ He looks like a model, is what Hien is thinking.

Hien puts down his tablet and his checkerboard-patterned eyes shift over to Rideaux. His voice is distorted with static, so he might sound like a garbled up demon. ]

The entertainment industry?

[pr159]

[ please keep thinking that ]

I'm a doctor and a director at the Spirius Corporation. It's necessary to put on a smile for both patients and shareholders from time to time.

[selfconcept]

Oh. Politics.

[ He didn't think political figures had any selfie game, but who knew. ]

Must have great bedside manners as a doctor, then.

[pr159]

Well, business, really, but I can't say the two aren't intertwined.

[ He shrugs. ]

Maybe not, but people tend not to complain too much when you've just saved their lives.

[ until they see their bills lmao ]

health room

[cheerfuldays]

Oh dear... it is really lacking, isn't it?

( it's super not reassuring to their current situation, honestly. but she at least notes the wheelchair and crutches- here's hoping no one ends up finding them necessary. )

[pr159]

[ looks at crutches, then at rideaux's past game history... looks away ]

To be fair, I suppose this isn't the sort of place where you'd expect to encounter medical emergencies on a regular basis... though assuming that you won't is still a rather irresponsible gamble.

[ especially given... whatever the fuck is going on with all their wrists ]

[cheerfuldays]

Mm. It's important to be prepared. Especially at a university! I've heard all sorts of stories about alcohol mix ups and stumbling!

( which probably immediately gives shizuku away as Not A College Kid. but she sounds very sincere in her concern. )

[pr159]

I don't think "stumbling" is really the biggest risk there.

[cheerfuldays]

To be honest, I don't want to think of the the worse options. I'm sure there's more than we could think of, too...