TDM 01

[ride_technicians]

↞NAVIGATION

WE DON'T

A quiet beep and a series of mechanical clicks draw you to consciousness once more, regardless of how you found yourself on the other side of dark weightlessness. You open your eyes to find yourself standing within the gates of a seemingly rundown amusement park, the forward motion of your feet suggesting you had just stepped through the turnstile directly behind you. A look backward also reveals a row of faceless, inky shadow figures, all seemingly waiting for you to move out of the way and allow them to enter after you.

Another beep, and should you choose to investigate, you will notice a small screened device embedded within the flesh of your left wrist (or elsewhere should that be impossible) The screen itself is dark with static aside from a bright red heart monitor that moves about in the top right corner. It's locked on that glitching, garbled visage, and doesn't respond to any taps or shakes of the wrist.

Floodlights click on from high above, providing a new source of lighting outside of the fiery sunset sky and revealing that this park may not have been as rundown and abandoned as it had first seemed. Off key music blares from somewhere unseen, loud enough to cause discomfort but not severe enough to rattle the teeth from your skull. Previously motionless figures suddenly begin to move, articulating and bending in uncanny ways as they wave and beckon you in towards the park. Their porcelain masks plaster on a cheerful demeanor despite the cracked and dirty state of the masks they wear. Stretched out across the promenade is a clearly handmade sign, the once-white cloth dirtied with years of dirt and grime. Even so, the words GRAND REOPENING! are a clear and stark contrast, painted in some dark liquid that oozes and drips onto the cobblestone below. Streamers and string lights drape haphazardly across the buildings and over the walkway, accompanied by several dozen sad balloons that seem to have lost the majority of their helium long ago.

In the distance looms the dark foreboding shape of a massive Ferris Wheel, standing motionless like a silent sentinel keeping watch over its dominion.

One of the masked dancing figures ripples its way towards you, shoving a pamphlet towards you with a hand that doesn't seem to possess any proper joints for the fingers to move the way they do. This close it's easier to spot that the dark void behind the eye holes seems to go on far too deep, and it isn't an illogical leap from there to come to the conclusion that perhaps there is nothing within this costume to pilot its movements. It moves and sways to the whims of unseen strings, playing the part of a puppet to another's command.

The offered pamphlet appears to be a map of the park's grounds, and whether or not you decide to take it the being soon thereafter slowly retreats back to its starting position. As it reaches its spot, the limbs of its body go slack and it slumps forward slightly, seemingly lifeless. A rippling wave of inactivity seems to roll through the other gathered figures, and one by one they all enter a state of identical deactivation. The music abruptly cuts off. The lighting from above flickers away with a loud electric hum, leaving only the light of the setting sun to guide you. Somewhere behind you, a shadowy figure slowly morphs to take on the form of the next park guest, and the whole routine will repeat itself in an endless loop the moment they gain consciousness the same way you yourself did.

Welcome to AMUZE ★ MENT AVENUE! The park is now yours to explore to your heart's content.

MAKE

The Ferris Wheel at the center of the park continues to play the part of a stone monolith, serving as a landmark to help you orient yourself as you wander the grounds. More of those masked beings seem to be everywhere you look, in various states of animation; some are sweeping the cobblestone walkways, while others seem to be in charge of concessions stands and game stalls that you pass along the way.

And on the subject of game stalls and food stands... You seem to have wandered into the area containing a surplus of both. A big aluminum sign hangs high above your head, spelling out the words PRIZE ALLEY! A central courtyard stands before you, containing a stone fountain depicting what appears to be a seal as it sprays muddy water out of the tip of its snout. The music has returned to this area, though it seems less bent on being overpowering and more content with being the soundtrack to your adventures.

Game stalls litter the area, all begging for you to give them a shot. The one closest to you in particular seems to draw the eye in a way you can't quite understand, and closer examination reveals that the goal of this one seems to be to break a stack of plates with the bucket of baseballs on the stall counter. Another masked figure stands at attention at this stall, waving at you as you approach and motioning to the row of bagged goldfish that sits along the countertop. They all seem to be in excellent condition, and should you find that you cannot resist the urge to try to win yourself a new pet, you may discover that the plates shatter to pieces regardless of the skill behind your aim.

Congratulations!

Winning your new scaled companion doesn't seem to be without its drawbacks, however, as the masked figure promptly reaches behind the counter and hefts a huge ten gallon tank up and onto the surface in front of you, thunking it down with enough force to slosh around the water inside it.

You didn't think you were going to keep that fish in a tiny little bowl, did you? Of course not. You were entirely aware of how inhumane such living conditions are, after all. Please enjoy lugging this aquarium about with you for the remainder of your stay; it's even fully cycled and equipped with an automatic filtration system, courtesy of The Entity.

DREAMZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The sun hasn't seemed to move at all in the time you've spent here, giving you no indication of just how long you've loitered. Ancient looking animals lope about the carousel before you, and beyond that stands the tall shape of a large multicolored tent.

A sign above the open entrance flaps reads CIRQUE ILLUME, the painted-on C a glaring contrast to the rest of the letters, which are carved in wood and bolted on. The flaps of the tent itself are open, though it doesn't appear like anyone is inside. Rows of bleachers line the inside of the tent, facing and surrounding a central raised platform that seems to be the main stage area. Above your head, trapeze bars hang lifelessly, suspended by ropes and scaffoldings that don't quite seem capable of supporting any weight.

The main stage is vacant of any furnishings, and the overhead spotlights are dark and shuttered. You get the distinct feeling that you shouldn't be snooping about in here, though whether that deters you from doing just that is entirely up to your discretion.

ooc

Feel free to have your character wander about the various park attractions as you see fit! Everywhere listed on the locations page is currently available, with the only exception being the Hi-RiZe, which is undergoing maintenance for the duration of this TDM.

Comments

[familyproblem]

Huh.

[Not that he actually believes any of this - he knows what a horoscope is, and as far as he's aware, it's firmly in the realm of myth. No claim to psychic prescience, no connection to astronomically-affected Pokemon, just calendars. Or something. Really, this is more about the guy expressing himself than it is about constellations.

...Not that Gladion really gets it beyond that. The whole concept...rubs him the wrong way, for some reason.]

What are the cards for? [Surely they're not just. Like. An informative slideshow.]

[starsmoothie]

They're tarot cards. Have you ever heard of them?

[This guy seems like he's not suuuuper into astrology or divination at all, so Noah won't be shocked if the answer turns out to be "no".]

I can tell your fortune with them, if you ask a question that is. No "yes-or-no" type questions, though. It has to be something like... "how do I attain success in my career" for example.

[familyproblem]

Nope.

[Lucky guess!

Gladion considers that for a moment, gaze on the cards. When something comes to mind, he snorts very quietly.]

What's it gonna take to get out of here?

grabs my tarot cards

[starsmoothie]

A great question! And not one my usual clientele asks, either.

[Noah shuffles the deck again, this time with the intent to actually do a proper reading and not simply show Gladion the pretty pictures on his admittedly very pretty deck. (Noah thinks it's a very pretty deck, at least, and this is not subject to opinion at this current point in time.)

Then, he sets the deck down flat in front of him, puts his hand over the cards, and hums before drawing one off the top. Like the rest of his deck, the art depicts something cosmic, a knight drawn in white ink amidst a backdrop of the stars.]

Reversed Knight of Swords... [He hums, but if Gladion listens closely he might hear a muttered "ah, fuck". Noah, however, is not in the habit of telling people the news is bad news by deflating about it, so:] Basically, someone or something is preventing it. It's a circumstance out of your... our control, really. What I'm getting from this is that whatever is keeping us here isn't willing to let us all go.

When the Knight of Swords represents a person, it can mean someone cocky, impulsive, and someone who might put others in jeopardy. It's often associated with an air sign like Aquarius, Gemini, or Libra... someone who likes to talk people into trouble, someone who can be dangerous.

[He leans back from where he's sitting, folding his hands in his lap. Then, thoughtfully:]

Basically, some Gemini is keeping us here. [Noah has Gemini-specific hate.]

[familyproblem]

[Gladion actually wanders forward to see those pretty pictures better!

Honestly that particular one is kind of cool. Fuck if he understands why a "knight of swords" is "cocky" and "impulsive", but hey.]

Does it have to be a person? Can an "air sign" be some kind of force from the sky?

[-wait why is he talking like this is serious evidence. BAITED. CONTINUED MILD TO MODERATE EMBARRASSMENT]

[starsmoothie]

[Noah has that effect on people!]

Huh... I guess it could be. If the Gemini keeping us here [he's so stuck on this] isn't a person, but is some sort of sky entity? I can see it.

[The irony in all of this is that Noah is a Gemini Rising, but he's not going to say that to a guy who just barely learnt his sun sign five minutes ago.]

Are you familiar with "forces from the sky"? ...what's your name, anyway? Maybe we ought to start there. I'm Noah! Noah Ebalon.

[familyproblem]

[Yes. Yes he is. Extremely.

Gladion shrugs in casual dismissal.]

Gladion. Nothing specific in mind. Could be anything, right? Or something to do with all that fog?

[starsmoothie]

Hm.

[He'll let the fortune-teller persona slip now. It's time for Serious Noah.]

Don't know. I do know that the fog is keeping us in somehow, so it could be that. [A beat, and then he ventures,] I have a friend, you could say, that I can sense just outside the fog, like he might be lost in it. It's kind of freaking me out a bit. I don't think going into the fog is a good idea.