TEST DRIVE MEME #1.

[therunning]

OPTIONS: WAKING UP You wake up in a studio in an apartment building that's got windows all boarded up. You remember being sick, you remember dying, and you probably can't believe this is the afterlife. If you head out into the hall you'll see that others are heading out too, looking just as confused as you are. All of you died, most of you of the same thing. If you head down to the front office, you'll meet a native resident who will explain in brief that you're in Aqora, a settlement living among the undead and that people like you show up every so often. You'll be given an informational pamphlet, a shitty cell phone, and a walkie. Then you'll be expected to figure it out. No one has time to hold your hand. EXPLORING Miscellaneous things here: shops and restaurants turned into places to live, apartments full of people living day to day, the main focus (the library) being the hub where people come to learn and children go to school. Because school never ends, even in the apocalypse. Feel free to buddy up with other newcomers to figure out what the hell is going on. OR, say you've been here a while. It's time to figure out how to get more supplies! Let's go on a supply run. You'll just be heading out past the barricades to start, and you'll have to dig through buildings to try and find things. If you're lucky, maybe you'll hit a cache. If you're unlucky, you'll find too many undead to fight. No one goes out alone though, so hopefully your partner can help. "NETWORK" Someone has set up a rudimentary network using the nearest cell towers. You can communicate with others in the area but only via voice and text. Anything further out is voice only via walkies. You can have a username or leave it blank. Have fun, campers.

Comments

yoshitaka mine | yakuza

[hakuho]

waking up - spoilers for this weirdass game from 2009 no one has played

[ well. this wasn't what he was expecting, to say in the least. he tries to get his bearings, accepting the pamphlet, cell phone and walkie. honestly the cell phone doesn't seem that shitty compared to what he's used to. mine's pretty good at hiding his confusion but damn, who would've assumed hell is america? wild.

he should take the time to process this. he should stop and think about everything - about kiryu, about his decisions, about daigo. but stopping to think about the implications of everything leading to this would only be harmful at this point. if the situation is as dire as it seems to be explained to him, then slowing down and stopping wasn't an option. the only option was to keep moving and not get attacked.

by zombies.

by fucking zombies.

maybe he didn't die after all and this is all just some kind of strange fever dream. or maybe this is what happens when you serve up people's heads in boxes -- a cruel and fitting punishment for cruel actions.]

Aqora...

[ he pages through the pamphlet idly as he looks around. maybe he can get some information from the people milling about. ]

Exploring

I don't need a partner.

[ mine continues to insist this, unless your name happens to be Daigo Dojima. ]

You'll only slow me down.

[ it's not the most polite thing he could've come up with, but honestly, he's dead and he's Tired of trying to play nice. especially when people keep insisting on cute team ups to go out into the world and find stuff. he's got this. besides, he doesn't really want people to know he's still got his gun on him. better that he shoot zombies where the others can't see, then have them try to get him to forfeit his weapons for the good of the community. ]

"Network"

I'm curious: has anyone been down in the parking structures? What about beyond the walls? I'm trying to assess whether we're relying on ghost stories to guide us.

waking up/exploring maybe

[tojoclan]

[ Hi his name actually happens to be Daigo Dojima. He'd woken up in the same strange circumstances, dead from a strange disease. The Tojo Clan would be in shambles without him. Majima of course didn't want to be his successor. It was a nightmare. Perhaps waking up in a zombie infested city would be something of a break from all the clan's politics. Sure, it's not the afterlife he was expecting, but he does know a lot of good men that died, doesn't he?

Like Mine, for one. He's impossible to miss, looking so impeccably steady amidst all this. Daigo's a little flustered himself, but mostly he's trying to wrap his head around this mess. ]

...Mine?

[ Didn't you die several years ago? ]

[hakuho]

Daigo-san...?

[ for a moment he sort of stares at him blankly, like he's trying to assess whether or not it's actually daigo or some kind of cruel trick. but he'd recognize daigo anywhere, even in the afterlife. true, daigo looks a little older now presumably from continuing to carry the tojo clan, but not old enough that he would've died from natural causes.

mine takes a few quick steps to catch up with him, looking him over. the yakuza was a bad business to be in if you wanted to have a long life expectancy, true (especially with how things had been going since the second chairman retired), but... being the chariman was supposed to mean you lived longer.

he doesn't look like he's been wounded -- would they, though? it's not as if he'd had any signs of his death -- but mine is morbidly curious. also curious in the way that if he could go back and haunt the fucker that killed daigo, he'd make their life hell.

mine wants to ask, but he can't. it just doesn't seem right. so, instead: ]

Have you been briefed about the situation?

[ talking to the man you love after you died for him for the first time: #nailedit ]

[tojoclan]

[ Daig, bless his heart, is completely oblivious. He knows Mine's always been pretty intense. Intensely lonely, anyway, so he must be happy to see a familiar face in all this. Oh, Daigo, you big dumb. He sighs with relief, a bit eased at the thought of having someone he can trust by his side. ]

Somewhat, I think. [ He'll say it since they're both thinking it. ] Before you ask, I became infected with some matter of illness before waking up here. I didn't think it would be so serious... and yet, here we both are.

[ He shakes his head. ]

I'd never given the afterlife much thought, but... I wouldn't have guessed it would be like this.

[ Like, why are they in America? ]

[hakuho]

[ mine nods. if it was an illness, he has no one to haunt. which is too bad, because he'd come up with some pretty dope ways of haunting people while they were standing here but no one is really worth his time. too bad. ]

I'm sorry.

[ it sounds a little hollow, but it also sounds a little meaningful too. sometimes it's hard to tell with Mine. ]

Since they seem so adamant on the idea of partners, perhaps we should partner up.

[ please!!!! daigo-san!!!!! ]

waking up.

[thecost]

[ unfortunately it is not a fever dream, which means the zombie thing is totally actually a thing, which sucks, and sucks more when you realize that some people here are actually NOT dead from before. yikes.

so anyway.

when kei sees someone looking kind of lost he wanders over, head tipping aside. he looks a little ... well, they both look out of place but kei is comfortable in his way of it, sleeves rolled up to his elbows displaying tattoos, with more crawling up his neck, down his fingers, so on and so forth. the side shave is fine, whatever.

smoking is a little weird for a doctor, but also whatever. he waves once, thinks better of it, inclines his head politely.

for some reason when people come here they can all understand each other, but you can force a native language if you try. kei tries for japanese, just in case. familiarity. ]

I haven't seen you around. Getting your bearings still, looks like. How's business?

[ it's osaka-ben, so, you know, 'how's business?' is as good as asking how he's doing. ]

[hakuho]

[ although mine generally has a pretty good poker face, sometimes his judgmental side finds its way to surface past his finely chiseled display of stoicism, and when kei opens his mouth and that sweet, sweet osaka-ben comes out mine quirks an eyebrow, a slight smile playing on his lips. and by smile i mean "judgmental af smirk."

here are the things mine knows about hell:
1. it is apparently in america
2. the japanese ppl speak with kansaiben
3. there are zombies
4. little orphan children are being educated instead of being fed to zombies which seems like a waste of canon fodder

(mine is the worst. an orphan hating villain. im putting him on blast.)

anyways the smile/judgmental asshole look disappears as quickly as it comes and he nods. knee-jerk reaction to speech aside, kei's obvious from the same side of the law as he is. and while his ink might be a little more gaudy and ostentatious than is mine's preference, allies were allies. ]

That's right. It's a lot to take in, admittedly. [ especially when the last thing you remember is purposefully jumping off a building but ehhhhhhh it's fine. ] I understand this is Los Angeles...? [ or was, least. but he manages to pronounce the city's name well and not just because of the understanding thing. he speaks english fluently hes a real businessman in addition to being a shady yakuza businessman. ]

[thecost]

[ kei has a good poker face too but he visibly rolls his eyes at that judgemental expression, as brief as it is. kei is not the worst, ftr, and is glad orphans get to go to school, what the fuck dude!!!

he's that guy that would run a hospital as a tax shelter but it would be a real hospital instead of a fake hospital because he likes helping people.

at first he just nods with a little understanding 'mm' noise, tapping some ash to the pavement before crossing his arms over his chest. ] Los Angeles is right. Was right. I've been here since the beginning and I still don't know who named this little place what it is now. [ he takes a drag - where does he get cigarettes, who knows, being the doc has its perks - and hums idly. ] We do okay generally. Akiyama Kei, I'm the doctor around here. [ he grins and it's a little wolfish. ] If you have any questions, I'm most likely to hang around to answer.

[ :) :) :) ]

[hakuho]

Then this settlement is lucky to have someone like you, Akiyama-san.

[ judgment aside, doctors are important and doctors who are shady are like 5 times extra important so he's marking kei down in his books as an important person to keep around. ]

Are there others who assist you?

exploring

[witwanton]

[Perhaps unfortunately for them both, Merlin is used to dealing with stubborn, rude assholes who refuse any sort of help just on principle. In fact, it's almost nostalgic for him.

He grins, shrugging nonchalantly.] I'm used to keeping up with people much faster than me. I'm more stubborn than I look, and I'm not afraid to admit I need back-up out there, so you're not getting rid of me so easily.

[hakuho]

[ mine's eyes narrow at the dig. ]

I'm not afraid to admit anything, I just know my capabilities.

[witwanton]

[He holds up his hands as if in surrender.] I'm not saying you are! Maybe you don't need any back-up, but it doesn't hurt to have some, yeah? Sometimes things go wrong, no matter how capable you are. If you really don't want me along, you should talk to whoever's deciding the partners.

[hakuho]

[ he's quiet for a moment. ]

If you come with me, you're responsible for your own safety.

exploring

[choosetruth]

Good thing I don't need your permission.

[She has her gun. She has her MP3 recorder. She needs batteries and bullets and to find what stories exist outside the relative safety of the settlement. Teaming up makes sense. She shoots him an annoyed look through her sunglasses.]

Are you coming or are you gonna waste time bitching about it?

[hakuho]

[ damn, the girl's got some serious balls on her if she's walking around with her gun out in the open assuming no one is going to take it. and, honestly? that's a level of brazenness mine respects.

so he acquiesces.

incredible. ]

Fine. You look capable enough. Get in over your head and it's not my problem.

[choosetruth]

And get in over your head and I'll probably help you out anyway because I'm not a dick.

[She gives him a smile that wouldn't look out of place on a shark.]

I've been doing this a long ass time. Believe me, I know what I'm doing.

Exploring

[manasponge]

[ Marcille flipped her hair over her shoulder, and puffed out her cheeks like an overgrown chipmunk. ]

How impertinent! It's not like I asked for you specifically, you know!

[ All she wanted was a meat shield to soak up those zombie hits ok ]

[hakuho]

Great, find someone else to go with.

[ simple problems with simple solutions!! ]

[manasponge]

Oh, no you don't! If you think you can chicken out of this and leave me to carry everything myself, you're mistaken!

[ She hefted a large, well-used pack on her back, allowing it to settle. ]

If the medicine supplies run low, everyone's in trouble. That's why I requested to be on this trip in the first place.

network.

[notlucky]

Any of our runners can tell you that all that's outside the walls for as far as we can get in current circumstances is the dead.

I don't go on runs myself, but I've been down in the structures. They're not pretty.

[hakuho]

"Current circumstances"? Are we planning for a future where that changes?

I'm not afraid of descriptions.

[notlucky]

Yes and no. Jamie wants to expand further and Kei wants to keep protecting what we have so that we don't lose any more people than necessary. We lose the most people on runs and even more the further we go out.

Almost every group that goes down to the structures gets totally obliterated. The only reason my group came out mostly unscathed was because we went in with a small supply of flares and noisemakers to set the dead off elsewhere but we don't have enough of a supply of those to clear the spaces out.

In short, the parking structures are slaughterhouses.

exploring

[buildabazooka]

[Tulip just. Raises an eyebrow.]

You one'a them misogynist types?

[Because if anyone's being slowed down around here, it's her, thank you very much. And she can't think of a better reason this asshole would have a problem.]

Promise I'll keep my girly squeals to myself.

[hakuho]

[ i mean.....he's in an All Boys Club™ but he shakes his head ]

It has nothing to do with your gender.

[buildabazooka]

[She just gets real close into his business. She doesn't know or care that he's some kinda bigshot gangster. Tulip's been insulted and she doesn't happen to know when to cut her temper, so she makes sure he knows very well that she's currently holding a baseball bat, tapping it against her hand. One that's meant to be used for zombies, procured from the communal weapons supply, but she's got no problem using it for other things.]

Okay. So you're just a big man. And the big man thinks he ain't got no business watchin' so I don't get bit.

[She taps his shoulder lightly with the wooden bat.]

You don't gotta worry your pretty li'l head over that. I've taken out more'n just zombies on my own. Anyone's gonna be a liability, it'll be you 'n your ego, big man.

[Does she have to shoot down another helicopter just to get taken seriously around here??? Fuck.]