theafflicted | 00

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.

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( 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)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Never been to college yet?

[ Since that's what this place seems to resemble. Riku seems to be familiar with convenience stores and by looking at his attire, it's easy to guess that he's from a world that Hien is familiar with. ]

... Can't say I blame you. Colleges are already strange as they are.

Oh, no, it's not strange because it's college! It's just...the circumstances, and the world we're in...

[ Sorry to disappoint u Hien, but yeah, he's just a regular (?) dude from planet earth. ]

Did you not like going to college?

... I had fun in college.

[ He had friends, first of all. ]

But it's not the lifestyle I could keep.

[ well RIKU will be your friend sir ]

Mm, that's understandable. I feel like it'd have been impossible for me to keep up with college myself, since I'm an idol.

... Yeah, keeping up with your studies is pretty hard as an idol. I already didn't like going to school to study, so when I had a hand in it, it was pretty awful. I couldn't balance them out.

[ ... ]

Oh, the tabloids are gonna blow up about you back home, huh?

Wait – you were an idol, too?!

[ Oh! How cool!!! ]

Haha, I'm sure they'll be fine without me at home, but you must know what it's like to have the tabloids gossip about you, too, right?

Yeah. I worked in the entertainment industry for a while.

[ Hien only looks like he's in his 20s, but he's had multiple chances at this, so he's done so much in that single industry alone... ]

I didn't really stand out though, since what I was best at was giving everyone else the spotlight. Tabloids weren't all that interested in me after I let one of the journalists follow me around everywhere. He said my life was boring.

[ lol ]

Oh, really? That sounds like something our leader would say...

[ He trails off a little. Yamato... Riku really, really hopes he's doing alright. Hien kind of gives off those kinds of vibes, now that he thinks about it... ]

That's not a bad thing though, I think. You get more privacy that way!

Yeah. I actually enjoy my privacy. It lets me sleep in peace.

[ He loves sleeping more than anything in the world. ]

You look up to your leader?

I do!

[ He softens a little, thinking about it. ]

Yamato-san is the kind of person that shields us while giving us the spotlight... He acts a little nonchalant about things, but he really cares about us a lot. Just like a big brother.

The leader who's also the big brother of the group... that sounds admirable. I think I'd do the same.

[ Except Hien's idea of shielding is getting rid of obstacles behind the scenes... he might as well be the shadow janitor. ]

So, what would you think he'd say in this sort of situation?

In this situation? I think he'd be worried, too, but he'd do his best to make sure I could lean on him. Yamato-san...he's not normally the type to leave people who are struggling alone like that...

[ ...but it's too bad he did, just before Riku got here. ]

[ Hien slowly blinks, feeding Riku another onion ring chip. The way he says that makes him think something happened. He wonders-- ]

Did something change in him? Since you said "not normally", so he must have done something wildly different to his usual personality.

He...did. He's been acting weird lately, like something's been bothering him – and then he got into a fight with one of our other friends and they both...left. Not the group, but the dorms, where we all live together...

[ He's pretty sad about it, if that wasn't already obvious. ]

But you don't know what they fought about?

[ ... ]

It sounds like they'll have to cool their heads and then meet up again later to compromise.

I don't, but... Yeah. I think it'll be okay. We've been through worse.

[ He's trying his best to stay hopeful, but his disappearance may have made things worse... ]

Anyway, thanks for letting me talk about this. My brother would tell me to talk about things, so I do feel better!

Your brother knows well. Since it helps you feel better, I wouldn't mind listening if you wanted me to... whenever you need to talk about something.

[ He actually kinda feels bad for Riku, so he thinks he can offer at least this much to help. ]

Ah – that's really nice of you, Hien-san. I promise I don't get bothered all that easily, so you won't hear too much of this from me. But if there's anything I can do to help you, too, let me know!

[ He'll end up taking Hien up on that offer at some point here, to be honest. ]

Alright. I think my room is number 8. You can probably find me there later.

[ He'll probably be sleeping. ]

You know... there's no shame in being bothered by things and wanting help. So anything is fine with me.

00 - prologue

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