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whentheyooc2021-04-19 08:16 pm
❖ TEST DRIVE [ APRIL ]
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The last thing you recall is falling asleep - regardless of whether you have the capability of doing so or not, they find themselves whisked away into a world of dreams.
Everything is pitch black, tinges of darkness overtaking their sights.
But, in the distance, there is a light. If you try to run towards it, the light doesn’t seem to get any closer, nor does it seem to get any further.
Eventually, you can hear a voice.
“Help us. If you do… your one true desire, your one wish - it shall be granted.”
Most will notice that this voice, if paid close attention to, has a strange sense of familiarity, even if you have never heard it before. It is a voice which people will place as kind, gentle, someone you can trust. Whatever kind of voice that you would associate those words with is the one that you wind up hearing.
Regardless of whether or not you respond to the voice, it continues to speak.
“There is a curse that plagues our land. I bring you here to save it, as this land’s kami.
Fret not, child of man: as you will not be alone in this journey. And we shall make sure to protect your soul as you traverse the Fragments. It may be a difficult, arduous path. But we believe that you will be the ones who can help.”
And just as you open your mouth, whether it is to answer back or to protest…
There is the sound of chimes and running water…
… as you open your eyes.
❖ WELCOME WAGON
The sunlight hits your eyes as you wake up on a stone pathway. It seems that you have been sleeping on solid ground for quite some time.
The chirping of the hummingbirds can be heard everywhere as you find your bearings.
The weather is quite nice and temperate, typical for a spring morning in the city.
Checking upon your person, you soon realize that you may be missing some of your items.
But in place of any potential missing items, you also find three items on your person: a sleek, silver touchpad cellular phone, a striking red debit card with the symbol of a hummingbird that graces it, along with your full name in capital letters that denotes that it is yours, and a key. Regardless of whether or not you may have knowledge of these items, you find yourself intimately familiar with their basic workings.
Looking around, you soon notice that you are at the steps closest to the main entrance of a Japanese shrine. However, while the building is intact, it looks rather old and worn down, like there hasn’t been any proper maintenance on it for years, made even more evident by the amount of dried leaves on the ground.
There seems to be a small garden close by, but all of the plants seem to be practically withering away.
Others like you are here as well - feeling confused, uncertain, or any amount of different emotions. For a good minute or two, you are all left to your own devices, but you get the strange feeling that leaving the shrine grounds is a very bad idea.
Soon enough, perhaps in the midst of conversations, the doors of the shrine opens to reveal a young girl with bright green hair tied up in a ponytail and aquamarine eyes in typical shrine garb - slowly making her way down the stairwell and towards everyone else.
There is a dignified air to her posture as she bows from the waist down before straightening herself to speak in a polite, proper manner.
“Welcome, everyone, to Yawara-cho.
I am certain that many of you have your questions, and that you are wondering why you are currently here. I will be answering those, and any more that you may bring up to me.
I am the current temporary miko here at the Tokimoto shrine, home of the current kami of this land. And as such… I am also the mediary between all of you and the kami. Any questions that you may have for myself or the kami will go through me.
The kami here just wants one thing: to get rid of the curse that plagues Yawara-cho.
In exchange, the kami will grant those of you who decide to assist a single wish of any kind.
That is the basic gist of it. Now, I shall open the floor to questions, to which I will answer to the best of my ability. Be warned, however: there are things that I currently cannot say at the moment. But that is not because I am trying to keep secrets from you, or to make you distrust me. There are just some things that simply cannot be spoken, lest the balance of the Fragments go into chaos.”
She bows again, from the waist down before taking any questions. Of course, for those who may be angry and attempt to fight her - that is also an option, although it might not be in everyone’s best judgment to do so.
And there may be some in the crowd, to boot, that may recognize this face and voice, in spite of her not having properly introduced herself. For those who do recognize her, they might find it rather strange that she’s referring to herself as a miko at all, especially one of a world besides their own. But perhaps there might be some reason behind that…?
Once all, if not most questions are answered, the miko then goes on to explain that they have received a key to the communal housing next door to the shrine, along with their stipend and that she can be contacted through the cell phones or spoken to in person at the shrine before the bad feeling that they may have felt earlier soon flees away, allowing them to explore and investigate their surroundings as they please.
❖ SPRING IS HERE
Upon leaving the shrine grounds, the entire city is their oyster!
Checking their phones, they’ll notice that the date is April 1st, 20XX. For some reason, the two last digits seem to be obscured, although there doesn’t seem to be any reason for that… probably. If asked about the date from any of the other cityfolk, they’ll hear the date properly - but as for the year, they’ll hear the words “two thousand” before the rest seems to come off as static, in spite of the person’s mouth still moving. Even if there’s static, however, you find yourself with a keen understanding of the year, and that the last two digits, strangely enough, don’t really hold much meaning in the greater picture of things.
Starting with the Central District, where the shrine is, they’ll find themselves rather close to the communal housing, where they can either drop off their stuff or at least check out what the rooms are like. They’re pretty basic, all things considered, but at least you’ll have a roof over your head…?
In the early parts of the day, people may notice kids of varying ages heading towards the school - if they pay close attention, you can hear the chattering of excitement of returning to school for the year and even talk about what clubs one might join. There also seem to be rumors floating about regarding this year’s End of Spring Flower Festival - what kind of festivities that they might be participating in, or who they’ll be giving flowers to.
In the late afternoon, many people can be found at the mall - although those who are more in tune with their spiritual side may sense unease from that area, strangely enough. There doesn’t seem to be anything inherently wrong, however - not on first sight, anyway. It seems that even the mall is preparing for the festival months in advance, as decorations are slowly going up and will only increase as the weeks pass by.
There are even signs of spring at the Central Park, where the cherry blossoms seem to start to bloom.
Heading up from the Central District, some people might find themselves in the Northern District.
While rather quiet on most days, starting in May 20XX, people may notice Mayor Kawakami outside of Town Hall proclaiming that this year’s Flower Festival will be the best one yet!
The Jewelry Store will also start selling flower-related accessories and gems that are purposely shaped into various flowers to emphasize the Festival.
Going south will eventually lead people to the Southern District, which is much more seedy than either the Northern or Central Districts.
Lining up every corner are the 7/11 convenience stores and WcDonald’s - both of which are selling sakura themed items the closer it gets to June. The WcDonalds in particular seem to be offering their very special themed menu, where you can order the Sakura Mcfloat - a pink drink that has cherry soda topped with vanilla ice cream - along with Sakura Shrimp French Fries, which seem to be rather popular on the menu.
❖ THE NIGHTMARE COMES
April eventually comes and goes…
… and eventually, May comes marching in without any remorse.
For some strange reason, the air feels heavier, like the passing of time may have taken its toll on the world.
For those who are more privy to spiritual things, they will soon notice the unease felt in the mall has increased quite a bit. And it’s not just in the mall anymore.
The unease is everywhere.
And then, the world fades into a darkness, followed with a black snow -
Snow that is, in fact… actually soot.
When you enter the world for the first time, all sound disappears, and even if you see others around you, for some strange reason, you cannot hear what they are saying. When your hand touches the fallen snow - the soot - you realize that it’s neither cold or hot, and it just disappears when it touches skin.
Before you even dare to ask where you are, that darkness fades, gone just as suddenly as it came.
Throughout the month, you are taken to that same darkness - sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours… and it gets progressively worse as time goes on.
Welcome to the land of Nightmares.
For those who spend their days at the mall, they will find themselves falling into the Nightmares more frequently than others that do not. But eventually - the Nightmare catches you in its grasp.
Whether you are alone or perhaps with someone else, fear creeps in… almost inviting. Almost as if welcoming you.
And the world is no longer dark. And the world starts to have sound.
The darkness is instead replaced with a rural village, the chirping of cicadas, and houses that are strangely always familiar with you in spite of the environment shifting, as if trying to get used to something…
...as if trying to get used to you.
Familiar voices can be heard.
Those of friends, of family, of loved ones… and they all say the same things.
They do not trust you.
They plan on killing you.
They plan on taking away everything from you.
And in spite of whether or not you’d believe these things normally, in this world of the Nightmare, which purposely tears down those walls -
For a brief moment, you believe that they would actually do those things.
That the potential is there.
But then you blink your eyes, and you’re back in reality.
But then you blink your eyes, and you’re back in the Nightmare.
Back and forth it’s like that, to the point where it seems to grow difficult to tell which is reality and which is the Nightmare. What is truth? What are lies…? Those are questions that can only be answered by you, and you alone.
❖ LET THE FESTIVAL BEGIN
May is agonizing.
Even in June, the Nightmares don’t seem to stop.
But for some strange reason, there seems to be no Nightmares on the day of the festival, a reprieve of the anguish of the month.
School is out, as it is also a city-wide holiday and the streets of all the districts are lined with various booths. Some are selling flowers - if asked, they explain that the festival is one where people can exchange flowers with others, and that if they get cherry blossoms, if they give them to someone they love on that day, you will live together forever with them. However, if they give those flowers to someone that they absolutely despise, you are cursing them to death. Of course, they go on to explain that flowers outside of cherry blossoms can also be given to others, too.
There are also the typical food booths, where people can order varying foods like takoyaki, onigiri and the like - a lot of the more popular ones seem to have a cherry blossom theme, though: such as sakura mochi, or hanami dango.
You can even play various games - at a price, of course. You can catch goldfish through a net. You can even use a toy gun to shoot targeted items to win. There’s even senbon biki - a game of chance where you pull a string attached to a treat… although if you pull the wrong one, you might just wind up having to deal with a penalty game of sorts. And there are so much more games, too.
There are even live performances from the city’s local artists. Of course, you’re also welcome to perform yourself if you ask.
Masks can also be bought, whether they be already premade or ones that are blank, allowing you to custom paint it. There are even areas to do just that!
For those of you who might be visiting the shrine on this day, you might notice that the shrine has been tidied up for the occasion, and that there seems to be a stage set up on the grounds. When asked, you are told this: “Now that we have a proper shrine miko again, we can have her honored performance!” Many praises and talks about excitement for her are spoken about, but if asked further about her, personally - they’ll get the same response. “I don’t know.” It seems that in spite of how overjoyed they seem to be for her performance and how it will make the festival better… they don’t seem to actually know much about the miko, and who she is. Strange.
Nevertheless, the shrine offers many varying fortunes especially for this day. If one is looking for the shrine miko in particular, she appears to be missing - asking for her will be told that she is busy preparing for the evening’s festivities.
During the evening festivities, the shrine takes center stage.
In the performance area, three people come up to the platform: the city mayor, Mr. Kawakami, Old Lady Abe, and the shrine miko, dressed in her usual garb.
The mayor speaks up.
“Good evening.
To end today’s festivities, we shall be blessed by our miko’s performance and grace, honoring a long tradition that we continue to improve on each year. During this performance, we ask you to remain silent and raise your flowers to the sky.”
He then gives a proper bow as both the mayor and Old Lady Abe walk down the stairwell of the performing stage as the miko takes a bow, holding in her hands what seems to be a cherry blossom branch. Her head turns towards the musical performers, nodding at them before they begin to play.
As the music plays, the miko’s performance begins, taking practiced steps on the platform, raising her branch in time of the beat.
When the music ends - so does the performance, as the miko bows, quiet, and leaves center stage, only to be replaced, once again by the mayor and Old Lady Abe.
This time, Old Lady Abe speaks up.
“As tradition goes…
Please, look up to the sky, and give thanks to the kami of this land.”
And as if on cue, people can even see the fireworks that go off - all in the shapes of various flowers and also in varying colors. If you ask around, you can even buy some fireworks of your own to light up in the night sky.
And it seems like maybe, everything is going to be alright...
❖ TILL DEATH DO WE PART
[cw: brutal murder]
...the day after the festival is when the beginning of the end truly starts.
You can see it online. On the television. On newspapers.
SHRINE MIKO FOUND DEAD ON THE STEPS OF CITY SHRINE!
For those who might be wondering if this is true or not, if they run to where the shrine is, the area seems to be covered up in a massive amount of police tape. Not to mention that there are many police cars surrounding the shrine itself.
Days play out as normal until the final day of the month. The Nightmares have ceased, at least for now.
That is, when everyone wakes up to the sight of the entire city in flames. No matter what abilities they may use, the fires just cannot be doused as everything, everything turns into ashes.
Opening their eyes again after everything has burst into their flame, they find themselves in what seems to be a purple void, where their feet can reach the ground of some floating platforms.
Surrounding them are glass shards - to which if they look at them, they will find the scenery of their home worlds, along with the world that they had all just died in.
And amongst them is the miko that they had met on the very first day - the very same one that had been killed.
“I am very sorry that things had come to this…” she speaks, her eyes not meeting any of theirs, sounding apologetic. “As promised, your soul will continue to be protected. Some of you will return. Some of you will not. That choice is not mine to make, however. So, whether I will see you again or not… has yet to be seen.”
Therefore -
This is where our chapter ends, in our prologue - of Paradoxium Fragment: When the Hummingbirds Cry.
—
Welcome to the world of Paradoxium Fragment: When the Hummingbirds Cry!
This is the first test drive meme, which will also serve as a proper interest check for the game’s release. As of right now, the estimated length of the game will be something from 12 months (4 cycles) to 2 years (8 cycles). This is an invite-only game, meaning that upon reserving or applying, you must be on either of the mod’s timelines. We will be allowing +1s as well after an initial reservation period. Please check the FAQ for more details.
That being said, a few things: characters will have their powers upon arrival with nerfs as necessary. If you are unsure, please feel free to contact either of your moderators and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
This TDM will also not be considered as canon, meaning that any interactions will not be pulled over for the game proper, but can be used as a sample for the application.
If you have any questions regarding this particular TDM, leave a comment in the questions section below. If you would like to investigate any particular area, either mark it in your toplevel - if going solo - or mark it in your tag. We will also have a toplevel for players to link us their investigation threads so that we do not miss it.
NPC interactions are also welcome and will have their own separate toplevel for both general NPCs and for the miko. When asking for an NPC, please state in your toplevel who you are looking for and what time period. The mayor and Lady Abe are currently unavailable at this time. In addition: the miko cannot be contacted on the day of the festival until her performance is done.
We thank you for your time and hope you have a wonderful test drive! And we’ll see you guys once again… when the hummingbirds cry.
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It's a pretty big city, very different from Hinamizawa. It seems to be somewhat futuristic - at least, to us. There are three main districts. The central district, which is where we're at right now. We're basically in the center of the whole city, at the shrine.
And then you have the northern and southern districts. The northern district is where you can find the mayor that runs the place and the southern district has a mafia family that is basically in control of that area.
Is there anything specific you need to know though, Rena?