day zero

[guestcontrol]

dreamland day zero 42 players remaining. [You wake up in a temporary barracks set up behind an amusement park. The weather is chilly but pleasant, and there aren't any lines for the rides - in fact, it seems you have this place to yourself. The entire park appears to have been abandoned some years ago, and though everything is in working order, it is overgrown with plants and seems rusted and unsafe. As for you, something has happened, though you aren't sure what. There's a throbbing pain in your head, and you can't focus, as though you're coming off heavy pain medications. However you think you should look, you look like a human now. Under the bandages wrapped around your temple, old and smelling like blood, you'll find a recently stitched up scar wound and the inability to focus on your memories. You have no knowledge of how you came to be here; you may even have forgotten certain aspects of your life, or feel confused about them. The fact of your missing memories is obvious, a dark blank spot. Under the bandages around your wrist, you'll find a brightly colored bracelet, decorated with the face of the smiling cartoon animal on your wall, embedded into your flesh. It beeps a merry tune and welcomes you to DreamLand Fun Park. Just then, a voice comes over the loudspeaker.] "Good morning to all of our new guests! The park is now open! We'll get started later, but for now, have a magical day with your new friends! Oh, and there may be a few nasty side effects to your medical condition. If you meet someone having trouble adjusting to reality, please be polite!" [In your room, you'll find a small box containing several personal items - no weapons, magical items, or technology advanced beyond the early 21st century, and nothing dangerous, but otherwise anything you would ordinarily find on your person is there. Of course, nothing with cell reception or internet connectivity can manage to pick up a signal. If you swipe your bracelet against the steel door, it unlocks. You may now explore your accommodations, or venture out into the park.] profiles character statuses setting This is an IC mingle covering the first day! Night roles will go up Monday at 4 PM EST, but you are welcome to continue to thread here once that happens. Make sure to follow any updates on plurk!

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Sigma

[siggey]

A; Barracks (Right outside Bee)

[ I'm still feeling pretty terrible, but panicking in my room by myself won't get me anywhere. At least I wasn't locked in, so after splashing my face with some cold water from the sink, I stepped out to investigate. ]

I'm spending Christmas in a creepy run-down carnival. I guess it could be worse.

B; Petting Zoo

[ I'm surprised to find living animals here. Getting close, I crouch down on my knees, and stare at the two rabbits. ]

Lagomorphs, huh. Nothing weird about you little guys...

[ They do look pretty normal, except a little thin to be healthy, maybe. So why can't I shake off this weird feeling? ]

[aka: Sigma is staring intensely at rabbits for mysterious reasons...]

C; Snack Bar (Carnival)

[ They have ice cream sandwiches. They're calling out to me, I can feel it. If 5 energy drinks is what it took for me to finish that research paper, maybe 5 ice cream bars is what it'll take to give me a brain freeze that'll do something about the throbbing headache since morning?

I'm not suicidal though, this could potentially end worse. Two minuses don't make a plus in reality either, not usually. I have plenty of reasons of wanting to live, too! Even if I can't really remember all of them right now. But anyone with a brain should know you don't just eat anything from suspicious places that kidnap you, and I'm not hungry or desperate enough to just start shoving those in my face even if the thought is pretty tempting right now.

Argh. What should I do...?]

[aka: Sigma is staring intensely, this time at ice cream sandwiches, for lesser mysterious reasons. Intense enough to be openly frowning though, don't get between a guy and his difficult life struggles...]

C

[uncoincidental]

[Sheba has to admit, this intense staring at ice cream bars is pretty funny, but it can only go on for so long before she starts to feel sort of bad for the guy. Does he think it's poisoned or something? So, after watching him stare from a distance for a bit, she slips into his field of vision, grabs an ice cream bar, unwraps it, and takes a big bite.]

Give it a couple of minutes and if I don't keel over and die, you should be fine if you eat one. Or two, or however many you want. I won't judge.

[siggey]

If you don't "keel over and die"?!

[ Before I knew it, I'm standing up with my hands on the table, staring at her like she's grown a second head.

(What IS with fearless little blonde girls and this place?!)]

There's no telling what could happen! How can you be so calm about this?!

[uncoincidental]

[She just keeps calmly munching on the ice cream sandwich.]

They've gone through some trouble to bring us all here. [She shrugs.] So they must want something from us. They'd have to be pretty dumb kidnappers to leave things lying around that can kill us before they have what they want.

[It sounds almost like she's speaking from experience.]

[siggey]

T-that's true...

[ I swallow, but what she says makes perfect sense. This place's been creepy from the start, but nothing looks like it's out to murder us... at least not yet.

I watch her eat the sandwich, before trying my best to stop thinking about that and focus on something else. ]

So... got any idea what they want? Or where in the world we are, freaky amusement park set aside?

[uncoincidental]

That, I'm not sure of.

[She takes another bite of the sandwich and thinks it over as she chews and swallows.] They could be holding us for a ransom of some kind, or they could want us to do something for them. But if they want us to do them a favor, they should've just asked nicely. I'm not really in the mood to help them out after this.

[When she says this, she frowns and taps on the bracelet embedded into her skin with her free hand.]

I'm not sure where we are, either. I've never seen anything like this place before.

[siggey]

I'm just a regular college student and my family's not rich. If they're hoping for a ransom, they're going to be very disappointed. Not much favor you can ask out of a guy who doesn't even have his degree yet, but they were at least considerate enough to gas me after I finished my paper, I guess.

[ I glance back at my bracelet too. It's creepy and somewhat similiar, but I have no idea why. That bee is really tacky, though... This stings. ]

The translations on some of the information panels look really weird too. Is this your first time in an amusement park?

B

[jingler]

[In the petting zoo at the same time is K, tending to the lambs. Or well, he's sadly watching them and feeling sorry he has no food to give them. They seem so hungry too, but none of the food in the stands would be appropriate he thinks.]

If only there were fresh vegetables or grass even.

[He hasn't noticed Sigma yet, but he's a little too absorbed in the lambs right now.]

[siggey]

We could probably drop by the mess hall and look for something there. Canned beans can't be that great for them either, though.

[ I don't get up, but I do almost fall on my butt when I turn my head to see who talked, just now. That's a REALLY suspicious suit... No wonder his voice sounded weird! ]

[jingler]

Yes. I am worried - it is sad that they may die of starvation while we have plenty to eat.

[He turns around then and immediately freezes up, realizing who he just spoke to.]

Sigma? ...You're here too?

[Was he not alone captured?]

[siggey]

Blame it on the responsible jerk who kidnapped us in the first place. I still can't believe how many kids I've seen since I woke up, but malnourished animals to boot? This amusement park is messed up.

[ I was going to stand up until I realized what the costumed man said next. ]

Wait... what?

[ WHAT?? ]

[jingler]

What?

[He says, genuinely confused at his reaction.]

Have I...made a mistake? You are Sigma, aren't you? At least you look slightly similar to him, right down to the same clothes.

[Maybe it is a mix-up then. Or he has amnesia as well - he hopes that isn't the case.]

[siggey]

What do you mean, too, and how the hell do you know my name?!

a

[poyoyon]

Christmas?! But Ibuki hasn't bought anyone presents yet!

[ OH NO ]

This is a horror! A travesty! An impossibility!

[siggey]

[ My ex gave me a pretty stiff break-up message, so I stopped having to worry about gifts ever since it happened last week... ]

Shouldn't that sort of stuff be done in advance? But we're in an amusement park too, so you can probably just find a tacky souvenir or several and use that.

[ And who's Ibuki? Don't tell me... ]

[poyoyon]

Ibuki didn't even realize it was December! But she will get right on that!

[ if she remembers............ ]

Where's the snow, though?! Unacceptable!

[siggey]

It was the morning of December 25th before I got gassed by a creep in a mask. My college's in the Californian Desert, so it doesn't really get cold enough for snow.

[ I shrug. This girl is... pretty eccentric. ]

Don't you remember which day you were kidnapped on, er... Ibuki, right?

[poyoyon]

Eh, of course! Ibuki was kidnapped on her first day of school! ...the first time, Ibuki means! After that, she sort of lost track of what time it was, and then she was kidnapped from that place, she guesses?

[ double kidnapped

whoo ]

[siggey]

[Being double kidnapped is still better than 1. being kidnapped and 2. being told this isn't actually where you're SUPPOSED to be kidnapped to, apparently in another future the same kidnapping premise winds you up somewhere different entirely


actually both is pretty awful, let's just make a DOUBLEKIDNAPPING support group]

Oh, sorry to hear that...

[ It sucks, but this is awkward. What else can I say? ]

But if you're in school, doesn't that mean it should be September or something? How do you lose track of time going to school, anyway? Shouldn't there be calendars everywhere?

C

[eventhandler]

Why don't you, ah, try one?

[Says someone who has an equally intense stare, and a rather frail voice for such a body - Royce looks at the ice cream sandwiches, before looking back at Sigma, his mouth a thin line.]

Or is something stopping you?

[siggey]

I'm thinking about it.

[ I answer honestly before turning around.

...Huh, a guy who looks older than I am. That's surprising, when I've mostly kept running into young teenage girls since morning. ]

Yeah, like how suspicious this entire place is.

[eventhandler]

It is indeed very strange. An abandoned amusement park...I wonder why we've been brought here?

[He folds his arms with a frown.]

Do you have any clue...? Or are you, erm, like the rest of us?

[siggey]

We might find out soon. Our kidnappers wouldn't get all of us just to make us spend the rest of our lives here, right?

[ I shake my head. ]

I thought that cloaked man in a gas mask might be responsible for this, but then someone told me that's apparently supposed to be part of another kidnapping I am GOING to be involved in.

[ Maybe I should grab some of those sandwiches and just go for it. Can't exactly replace liquor, but sugar's better than nothing, right?

...Wait, but one's a depressant and the other's a stimulant... Uurgh, great. How'd I even get THAT mixed up? ]

[eventhandler]

Perhaps. Perhaps not. An amusement park is no place for...spending the rest of our lives.

[He looks intrigued at the mention of this gas mask, tilting his head to the side like a curious owl.]

Wait. Another kidnapper? A man in a gas mask...? Who was the one who...well, brought you here?

[siggey]

Kidnapping over forty people and making them spend the rest of their lives anywhere is screwed up.

[ I'm glad I'm sitting, so I can just slouch on this table. ]

I donno, could be a woman too, impossible to tell with their getup. Last thing I remember was getting in my car at 2AM on college campus. The damn engine suddenly wouldn't start, and just before I was going to punch the console, white gas started spewing everywhere. I couldn't get out either, and only noticed the shady person with the gas mask from the rear murror before I passed out.

[ I rub my face, replaying the events in my head once more. ]

So I assumed the same person brought me here, but then I talked to some girl who said one moment she was home, and the next she was here. Another said she... uh, stepped into something like an elevator, but instead of bringing her to the floor it was supposed to go to, she was dropped off to this park instead.

[ Sheesh. Am I the only one who actually went through the full procedure to a shady kidnapping? Why didn't I get to skip the "be freaked out by a creepy person" part too? ]