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

[Mae initially intended to walk right by this place (anything that reminds her of a doctor's office is a big No Thanks), but she can't help but notice the weird sketchy guy with blue hair ~~and pronouns~~ using what looks like tongue depressors to break into his tablet like some kind of MacGyver.

Don't mind is she just comes on in.]

Whoa. You have a whole operation going here.

[Idia's definitely turning a corner of this place into something less doctory and more mad scientist-y. He's taken over the desk with the computer and really made a mess of it all! Right now he's trying to undo a screw with a repurposed pen.]

If they want to hide their digital systems from me, that's fine, that's fine, but there's always a backdoor to these kinds of things. I'll open them up and expose their secrets!

[... what a weirdo. He doesn't look up while he's saying it and then sticks his hand out expectantly,]

"E" pen. [he's apparently asking to be handed a university pen with a big, novelty "E" attached to one end. The other end has been pounded straight to resemble a flat-head screwdriver.]

[Mad scientist-y is rad, though. She'll take it.

It takes her a second to realize what's happening, but- oh. Oh! She's being asked to help! She can totally help! Take that, Beatrice!]

"E" pen, got it!

[Which one is the E pen... it takes her another second to realize he literally means the pen with the big E attached. But she did figure it out! Score one for Mae!]

Here you go.

[The "E" pen handed over with the lightest brush of his fingertips against her paw. He twirls it between his fingers before putting it into place to try and remove a screw, twisting it quickly before abruptly sitting up from his hunched-over stance and,]

Paw? [hey, buddy, get your head out of the narration!]

[Rather than being blessed with vision beyond the fourth wall, he's realizing exactly what his fingertips had brushed against and how it felt suspiciously like... toe beans. He swivels his head abruptly to look at his mysterious assistant and,]

[Hm.]

[Hm.]

Ah, hm, I must be seeing things... f- for a second there, I thought you were a cat.

You must be, because I'm not!

[Her ears twitch as she says this, in a very catlike way.]

I'm a person!

[Does she sound like she's meowing? She's even wearing clothes!]

[There's a long moment of staring at those ears, staring down at Mae's paws, but...]

[... w- well, she says she's a person...]

[Wait, doesn't that mean he should be nervous!? Person... Cat... they didn't have the distinct person-like features of a beastman, but they definitely weren't a cat either, and they had too different of proportions from something like Grimm! Where was his social anxiety scale supposed to fall?!]

... y- yeah, maybe some matter of perception or something... Hiiieee, it's not even like I pulled an all-nighter before this.

[Good luck puzzling that one out, Idia.]

Sometimes I get confused, too. Once I thought I saw a ghost! Turns out it was just some guy.

[A shitty guy, but that's not related to whether or not he's a ghost.]

Need me to hand you anything else?

Ah, well, ghosts are real. [everyone knows this]

... but, yeah, it's more likely to just see someone in a costume. The kind of... "meddling kids," ghost.

[he's still a bit unsettled but he has a task in front of him, so that helps.]

Um, well. I don't have anything to hold the tablet steady... so... you could hold it while I'm trying to get the screws off?...

That's what I keep saying!

[Even if it was a guy in a costume that time.

But anyway, she moves around the table so she can get a better angle for holding the tablet. Idia gets to see her little paws again...]

Here. This good?

[widdle... paws...]

[Usually, Idia doesn't welcome help from anyone unless they've proved their competence. This is more of an exploratory investigation, though, and- this cat-like-person gave him the impression of a younger sibling who, given a task, was a lot easier to manage than left alone.]

[(Idia is two years Mae's junior but details, details.)]

Ah, yeah, that's good.

[He can exert a bit more force and actually start to get one of the tiny, inset screws turning. Getting it past the initial stuck phase means he can start turning his wrist quicker until he's removed the screw.]

Plus one, next~ [he nudges for them to rotate the tablet to the next screw]

[Mae will rotate the tablet with him, then keep holding it steady. She manages to stay quiet for about twenty seconds, but soon gives up.]

I'm pretty good with machines too. Once I built a sustainable furnace using junk I found in a basement.

[This is complete bullshit.]

...And my friend Bea helped. [Translation: Bea actually fixed the furnace.]

"Sustainable"? As in green tech or as in it kept running for at least an hour before it exploded?...

[twist, twist, twist]

[In the back of his head he does stop to think, ah, well, of course, "my friend," isn't it great to have friends~ Rub it in his face why don't you. At very least, if they were all kidnapped, then they were all mostly on equal footing! Every single one of them was friendless in this moment!]

[... ah, maybe he shouldn't be so internally spiteful to paw pads.]

Green tech! It didn't even make it a few minutes!

[Genius.

Anyway don't bother with those spiteful thoughts, Idia, it's not as exciting as you'd think. They're friends by forced proximity.]

So what are you trying to do, anyway?

[That was it's own luxury! ... maybe. Or maybe he'd start relating to Bea despite having never met her.]

If this place doesn't give us any answers, then I'll take them myself~

[with another screw undone, he can use his fingers to pry part of the frame of the tablet up and reveal the circuitry inside.]

Tech can't hide secrets from me~

[It’s possible he could.]

Ohhh, so are you some kind of hacker?

[That’s pretty sweet.]

I was a "hacker" when I was seven; I like to think I've ascended to a higher plane by this point.

[I'm sure that sounds cool to someone, Idia.]

00 - prologue

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