Action over the course of a few days

[not_good_not_wicked]

Marisa eventually made it home from her adventure in the mines. As she was covered in dirt and scratches and a few bruises, her mother called her in sick the next day, but also grounded her for skipping school and then not being able to come up with any kind of good explanation for where she had been. She didn't feel the need to share that with the network, though. She spent most of that time in her room, filling pages in a new journal she had picked up with all the details of the strange memories and skills she had recalled. Eventually she did start showing up around town, because her mother spent most of her time bunkered up in her office, writing, and was not hard to avoid.

So Marisa can be found around Locke City, generally doing all the stuff that a teenager who wants to have fun and make friends does. She's laughing just a bit TOO hard sometimes, and sometimes holding onto things with just a little bit too much force, but she figures there's no one in this part of the country who knows her well enough to look for the subtle signs showing that she just watched a homeless man die, almost got killed, beat a monster to death with a baseball bat, and might slowly be going insane with all these weird memories (or delusions?). She's trying to convince herself that she's not half a step from flipping out.

You might run into her:
- At the arcade, tearing down Bakura's high scores. Just to prove she can. She's succeeded at a few games, mostly ones involving flying around and dodging.
- Scavenging the mall food court for free samples (But not buying anything)
- Reading piles of random books at the library (Bt not checking anything out because of her already mounting late fees)
- At music stores listening to music (but not buying anything)
- At clothing stores trying on clothes (but not buying anything)
- Anywhere else a teenager might go to have fun without spending a lot of money.

video; iPhone

[earnedmystripes]

[It's been bothering Kotetsu for awhile--the fear and horror and distress of the others on the network since the mine incident. The confusion and the frustration in others not sure who or what they're turning into. Kotetsu thinks he's lucky, in that regard. He's yet to have many memories of this "former life", or alternate self, or whatever it is. There's been little that's really turned his life upside down since first finding out about Paul Ben and the conspiracy the police are involved in.

Kotetsu is still frightened himself, still unsure of what it all means or why them or what to do, but he feels he needs to do something.

When the video comes on, it's late in the evening, and Kotetsu is wearing a simple sleeveless white shirt rather than his usual button-down shirt + vest combo or his police uniform. If you look carefully, you can just catch a glimpse of the stitches in his side. He looks serious, too, no trace of his usual goofy grin or animated flailing.

It takes him a little bit to get going, though--a couple false starts, a bit of fumbling over words, but he pushes on despite it. He's never been the most eloquent, but what's been on his mind is important enough to make the effort.]

... I know things've been--rough, lately. What with the mine and all the...stuff we've been dealing with. The "other us" stuff.

[He sighs, rubbing at his neck tiredly.]

Listen, I--whatever happens, whatever...changes or memories or whatever we get, we're still in this together. We're still us, and maybe we are just some random people with nothing really in common who got dragged into this mess for no reason, but. This is--it's our lives, our home, as crappy as it can be sometimes, and like hell we're gonna let a bunch of alien bastards take it from us, right?

[There's a bit of a pause, and then a couple numbers flash across the screen. The first is his network number.]

The second one's my personal cell. If anyone needs me for anything and I'm not around on the network...[A tiny, self-deprecating laugh] I'm not good for much besides putting cuffs on crooks and shooting shit, but I'll do what I can. Even if you just need someone to talk to, or...someone to drive you to someone you need to talk to.

Don't worry about if I'm busy or sleeping or whatever. Just...know you're not alone, I guess.

002 ♦ Action

[peacefulwinter]

who: Winter and OPEN
what: Almost dying is a real drag, so Winter's in the library trying to take her mind off it. Hilarity (and possibly other things) ensues.
where: The biggest library she can get into; ergo, the big public library.
when: June 18th

( I can travel to other worlds, meet new people, and go on adventures... without leaving home. )

01 | text (via notebook)

[thorny]

[the first thing that appears is a very elegant string of Japanese kanji. someone obviously doesn't give a fuck about this network's language abilities]

This is a literacy test. Do you pass?

[and then it (fortunately for you non-speakers) switches over to English before continuing onward]

An access code leading me to a secret forum? How quaint. I was almost expecting to be given a decoder ring for my troubles - or should I be expecting one in the mail now that I've made my presence known here?

But I suppose that doesn't matter very much. From what I've seen this board is filled with absolutely fascinating people of the highest intellectual caliber. I can see why we've all been thrown together here; every discussion I've seen has been absolutely riveting.

Hopefully my own contribution will be able to hold up to the impossible standards of my fellow readers. Prepare yourself, I'm about to launch the conversation topic!

How many of you are familiar with the Lolita style of fashion?

3 - text

[testsonseashells]

Decided to collate information collected from Sage. Said he spoke for Earth, which chose us to defend it (Earth apparently sapient?). Claimed invaders "alien", "inhuman". Apparently, controlled Earth in past, and are attempting to reclaim it (suppose this supports claims of "gardening" on negotiation forum). Told to find "seven Gems of Earth", one located within mine, and forge seal in order to keep invaders out. According to Sage, won't be able to defeat them.

Should clarify: don't know if Sage is trustworthy. Merely reporting on what he told us.

Upon completion of message, Sage died. As of now, whereabouts of corpse unknown. Return trip to mine entrance to find corpse failure.

Will edit this to reflect new information. As always, LSR clinic open to anyone injured in mine or wishing to have physical alterations examined.

Also, considering dubbing invaders "Gardeners". Thoughts?

video - bathroom mirror; timed to Saturday morning

[entertainaplanb]

[Becky's been a little nervous about showing her face on the network thus far, but... what the hell, she's met enough people in person by this point. Besides, she's not really sure how to describe what she thinks is the latest result of one of those vertigo spells.

So she grabbed some old lipstick and wrote her network number on her bathroom mirror; pardon the London Underground shower curtain. Her hair's down, and she's wearing a purple t-shirt and jeans.]

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

[She holds up a gun... sort of. There's no obvious place to load bullets, and that cap thingy at the end certainly wouldn't let anything out. Not to mention all the dials on it.]

Very steampunky, to be sure, but this one's got me stumped.