vaeraooc | TDM 001

TDM 001

» arrival.

You were doing--something. Thinking something, walking somewhere, through something, when suddenly you find yourself somewhere else entirely. You've stepped through the Gateway: an empty doorframe in the middle of a large clearing, facing away from the large city known as the Capitol. When you first step out, you're alone. There's the distant sound of a soft tune on the air, like the world itself is humming pleasantly around you. The air smells sweet, pleasant and serene.

A glance around shows a soft, blue barrier surrounding the Gateway, approximately 10 meters away from the Gateway itself, and surrounding it in a wide circle. Attempting to escape from the barrier proves useless, and the moment you step even slightly away from the gateway, it grabs the attention of the Gateway's guardian:

It's difficult to make out her shape, at first. A wispy wind, a few branches swaying in the wind, the sound of breath in one's ear. She phases into existence against the wide of the Gateway, and immediately along with her presence comes a feeling of being safe. Maybe you're more suspicious of it. Maybe it feels comforting. It takes her several moments to fully form, keeping her distance but lips twisted up into a gentle smile.

"Welcome." Her voice is soft, more of a whisper against the wind than sound itself. "I apologize. I can. . I can feel that you do not belong here with us. You are from elsewhere, not quite the Between but not here either." Her head tips to the city, before she continues,

"Please, make yourself comfortable. I will see what we can do regarding your presence."

Her form falls apart, small little leaves gathering at the foot of the Gateway. The blue barrier opens with enough space for you to exit; there's nothing keeping you inside of it, and it will wait for you to exit before closing behind you.

The city's within close enough of a distance to walk to, and it seems to be bustling enough. . or, you could always explore the forest around it. The space between the Gateway and the City. Talk to those who have also walked out of the Gateway around the same time as you had.

» into the city.

The Capitol is bustling. Full of individuals of all shapes, sizes, and colors--beings with four legs, or six legs, or iridescent skin who pay no mind to the newcomers walking straight into their city. It's evident by looking to the buildings within the city that this whole place is new. The buildings show barely any signs of wear and tear, the streets are pristine. The structures are of all shapes and sizes; one may be walking down a block of street and pass by a large skyscraper, and directly next to it, pass by a circular building extremely low to the ground with doors there's absolutely no way someone over two feet tall and with more than twenty pounds of mass would be able to fit through. The signs around the city are in all kinds of languages; some matching those from Earth (English, Arabic, Latin), and several others incomprehensible.

There's some kind of market currently taking place: several stands with miscellaneous items ranging from magical to simple food items line the main street going through the center of the city. Items offered are free of charge; grabbing hold of an apple, or a charmed item will only earn smiles in response from those running the stalls. Stopping a local will get you answers of varying levels of helpfulness: a smile, clicks in a repetitive pattern that sound like it must mean something. The more humanoid members of the crowd may offer a few words, "Ah, you're new! Welcome! Thank you for joining us!" before continuing on their path.

» a particular case. (network)

Several hours after characters are left to wander around the city, they are tracked down by two young, near-identical ( although their appearance keeps shifting, like they can't settle on a hair color, a skin color, a height ) brothers who offer them a sympathetic smile and hold out a YDEX to them, explaining the functionality of it and how to turn on the language interpreter, access the (barebones, new) network they have begun setting up for them and others like them.

They explain how to choose a username, how to access the map functions, point them towards one of the newer apartment buildings on the edge of the Capitol with instructions on how to reach it, and let them know they'll inform the doorman of their situation and that they would be coming to stay in one of the new apartments. They leave with the promise of providing more answers soon, most likely through the network itself.

In the meantime. . it looks fairly empty, there's a few accounts listed as having access to it. Maybe see what's up with the rest of your new pals?

» dreams never hurt so much.

It's one week after the initial batch of arrivals that it happens: something else steps out of the Gateway, something warped. Myra will whisper soft into the ears of newcomers and settles alike: a be careful, she's hurting without offering anything else.

She wanders the city and the construction sites: a young preteen in a massive hoodie and boots, hood pulled down over her face. Get close enough, and you'll hear the sound of her teeth clicking together hard, grinding, before she tips her head back towards whoever gets close and--screeches. The sound is loud enough to hurt, digging painfully at eardrums until all sound around those nearby fades away to nothing, and the girl disappears. Characters will find themselves losing the ability to:

• hear
• speak
• decipher directions / extremely directionally challenged

While they may lose one or more sense, the girl is nowhere to be seen when they turn their attention back to her. Luckily, the effect wears off after an hour and those who were hit with it will regain their senses, as if it had never happened at all.

Trying to touch her proves to be futile, her body phasing through any attempt at physical contact. Trying to chase her down proves similarly pointless: she will walk around corners and disappear behind them, turn around and simply fade into nothing. Her appearances are random, appearing through the Capitol, inside houses, restaurants, only resorting to deafening those who she senses has intentions of moving towards her.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nah. 's way too late for me. I'll be wrinkly and leaning on a cane by the time I'm forty. If I even live that long.

( also: already wrinkly apparently. no point in hiding it now, is there? )

And unless it's plastic surgery, skin care isn't going to get you that far. So what'd you do? Cryostasis? Secretly a ghost?

[ damon can hear his naggy brother in his head, telling him not to share the secret because it's only going to make things worse. but stefan isn't here, is he?

he can't be because he hasn't seen 'sold out' signs for journals everywhere and all the fun hasn't been sucked out of the city. ]

Robot.

[ he doesn't give a crap about keeping a secret, he just wants to see if he can make this guy believe he's a goddamn robot. ]

Very sophisticated robot. I have free will and everything. And no, I don't have an on/off switch that you can play with.

I'm rejecting that possibility based off the fact you're calling them robots rather than ai. The ones I know're all pretentious as fuck and usually hate walking around in stupid, shit, humanoid bodies. Something about bipedals being real inconvenient.

( close though. you tried your best, damon. )

You want to try again, or?

You know other robots?

[ the hell do you come from, aidan? whatever, guess he hadn't watched enough science fiction movies to get the whole thing right.

so fine, he's not a robot. or an ai, even. ]

Fine, fine. You caught me. [ he holds his hands up in surrender. ] Vampire, then.

[ he says it lackadaisically, wondering if that's going to get another incredulous look or if he'll be believed this time. ]

( somewhere with asshole ais who like to bitch about how stupid humans are, where else. for all he knows, damon could have been an exception to the rule he's noticed. or something slightly different than the ai back home. but damon doesn't argue his point, just. throws out something that's actually ridiculous.

not that aidan reacts to it aside from. lifting a shoulder in a half shrug. )

The "I'm hungry so I'm going to take a bite out of you and suck you dry" kind, or?

There's a different kind?

[ his brow furrows because the only other kind of vampire he knows is the stefan kind, the one who swears off blood and decides that drinking from bambi and thumper is going to be good enough to last him.

the vampire equivalent of a vegetarian. ]

Man, I have been missing out. Somewhere out there, there's a vampire guru who's helping others get in touch with their plant based diet sides.

( you never know. could be energy vampires out there somewhere, that suck the life out of people. or whatever. )

Sounds about right for me, to be honest. Find the guy on the network going on about how stupid pretty he is, only to find out he's a bloodsucking vampire.

[ he smirks, shrugging a shoulder. ]

We all have our things, don't we?

[ and his is being a vampire. ]

Don't worry, I'm not planning on draining you. I had a full meal a little while before this place decided it needed me. You're safe for a few hours.

Give me a warning, so I can at least make a good go at escaping your grasp?

( listen joking about being murdered is the only way to cope with the potential of it and he'll stand by it. )

[ he wouldn't kill you, aidan. then he'd lose out on any future meals. he's stupid but not all the time. ]

We'll see.

[ those noodle arms weren't going to be able to get away. ]

So, what's your thing, then?

I don't have a thing.

( yes he does. )

I'm just a boring, normal human who does normal human things.

[ he doesn't believe that for a minute. everyone had a thing. ]

So, you're trying to tell me that your thing is being boring and dull?

[ what a lame 'thing', aidan. ]

You could have made something up there and lied to me. Didn't even try.

Yep, absolutely.

( why would he give damon something better, that sounds like a lot of effort. he does relent a little bit for, )

And pissing everyone off. But that's more of a hobby than a thing.

You know, the more you deny that you've got something, the more I'm gonna think you've got something good.

[ and he's going to nag and nag and nag until he gets something juicy. ]

Pissing everyone's a talent and a hobby. Not everyone can do it. You haven't pissed me off yet, though.

[ but it's not very easy to tick him off. ]

I'm aware.

( that he's just piquing damon's interest. causing more problems than he really needs. but alas, he's not going to stop any time soon and has no intentions of back tracking. )

'cause I haven't been trying. Sounds like an even worse idea now.

Starting to wonder if you're thing is lying out of your ass.

[ he really wants to think you're not boring and normal, aidan, but you're making it hard. ]

Or probably more like....I don't know, you're a secret serial killer. Like to peel off skin and wear it.

[ it was aslways the calm ones, wasn't it? ]

You think I could do that? With these scrawny ass little arms?

( he's not raising one again. damon already shook him around a bit. once is enough, thank you mister vampire. )

Can't lie about muscle mass.

You get a good weapon in your hand, you could make up for the noodle arms.

[ not that he thinks that's it but it's true. have you seen some of the serial killers out there? bunch of scrawny runts. ]

Probably better that you're not that, you know. Might make being around you uncomfortable. And I'm actually not hating you right now.

What does being a vampire mean for you?

( a moment's pause. quiet, before he continues with his question, )

What can you do? Are you fast? Strong?

Yes and yes. Being a vampire means I am better than everyone else.

[ in everything but emotional openness. being a vampire did not improve that at all but it did improve how well he can cover his lack of emotional availability. ]

It means I have to drink blood and I sleep in coffins and I turn into a bat. All the better to spy on people I wanna check in on.

[ would aidan believe that? time to find out. ]

So if I took out a knife and tried to stab you with it, chances're high I wouldn't even get close.

( not exactly a threat because clearly he is not holding a knife even if he does technically have one stashed in the back of his shirt but. )

Well, either that would happen or...you would stab me, ruin this shirt, and piss me off because this is the only good shirt I have in this place.

[ and that would not be a very good thing. he eyes the shirt and then aidan. ]

Do you want to stab me? I'd give you a head start if you wanna give it a try?

Not yet. I wouldn't want to ruin your only good shirt and piss you off.

( maybe later. the fact damon doesn't seem worried about it at all is also a good sign he probably shouldn't try for it. )

You get stabbed often?

More often than I like. It's more of a nuisance than anything.

[ unless someone decided to hit him juuuust right. but considering he was still alive, no one had managed to do that yet. ]

I think it's a hobby for some people. [ like his brother. ] Stab Damon Salvatore and instantly enjoy an hour's stress relief. I'm very helpful to the world.

Maybe I'll have to try it out sometime. See if it does help with stress.

( he won't. that sounds like just asking for trouble. and he's all trouble'd out. )

More of a nuisance? I feel like healing up from constant stabbings'd be a pain.

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