savetheearth | [General Log] Tuning Towers, Sept. 22 onward.

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[General Log] Tuning Towers, Sept. 22 onward.

Who: Any and all!
Where: The site of Tuning Towers (and/or en route accordingly), at the heart of the business district in Locke City's downtown.
When: September 22nd and onward.
What: Following that mysterious buzzing sound to its strongest point! Perhaps you made plans with numbered associates for a trip downtown, or perhaps you went a-wandering alone to follow the noise yourself - surely you'll hardly be the only one.

[Tuning Towers, the third-largest building in the United States and Locke City's most prominent feature, from a tourist perspective in one sense and quite literally by another - look up and marvel, if you will, should you not be a bit too distracted by the circumstances.

Even if you needed to focus to tune into the buzzing in your brain at the start of whatever trip you took, you'll find that by the time you come close enough to the tower to feel a rising sensation of tremors beneath your feet - unnoticed, as far as one can tell, by the crowds, which almost never lack presence around the building - you'll be able to hear it very easily without even trying. It isn't terribly intrusive in the first couple of days after the return of the lights in the sky. As September moves on and into October, however, the intensity will grow all the more overbearing.

It is, indeed, even worse if you enter the building - only the ground floor is accessible to the unauthorized by the tower's maintenance and management or personnel of the companies making use of it. Apart from that, among the indoor crowds, you'll find nothing unusual on the ground floor - and if you'll find that the buzzing loses its strength the higher you go if you take a trip up to one of the observation floors.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Should Derek have been out and about after his little public incident? No. He definitely shouldn’t have been.

Knowing that didn’t prevent exactly prevent him from going out though, although he was trying to wear the whole baseball cap and sunglasses look. One incident he could still potentially talk his way out of, two? That would be pushing things.

When he’d heard the buzzing in the mines, his hearing had just started to kick in, or return if the past lives idea was worth trusting, and he’d ended up incredibly disorientated. Now he had slightly better control over the heightened sense, and the city didn’t echo the sound around quite as much.

Risky or not, he was intent of following the sound this time. ]

[ The buzzing wasn't letting up, and DJ was having a hard time sleeping. He'd noticed it getting stronger as he moved in one particular direction -- it was stronger at school than it was at home, at least -- so if he kept following it, he had to wonder what would happen. Might as well, he guessed.

He was keeping an eye out for anyone else who appeared to be heading in the same general direction -- other members of the numbers club, whoever -- as he skulked down the sidewalk toward the business district of town, feeling totally out of place. ]

[ Well, Derek was certainly heading in the same sort of direction, although he was still unsure of exactly where he was going. Presumably somewhere with several levels below the ground, that was the only logical explanation for the noise also being present in the mines. It had to be originating between the two points.

Still, despite heading in the same direction, Derek wasn’t really keeping an eye out for other network users. Instead keeping his head down and simply trying to get by, while avoiding other people, through his sense of hearing and brief glimpses of shoes. ]

[ DJ certainly wasn't about to go walking up to strange people and ask if they could hear that weird buzzing sound, that would just be dumb, so he walked in silence for quite a while. For several blocks, there was only one guy he could see who kept going in the same direction, even when he turned. Head down, moving as though he had a destination in mind. DJ thought he looked kind of out of place, too.

When the guy didn't change direction after two more blocks, DJ crossed the street and started walking next to him, just to see what would happen. ]

[ For the most part Derek kept on as he had been going, simply relying on his hearing to lead the way and trying to block out the rest of the world. The less he focused on the people around him, the easier it was to zero in on the buzzing noise.

Keeping his head relatively low, he tilted it to the side just a fraction when someone started walking next to him. Trying to get a look at the person by glancing out of the corner of his eye. From what he could tell, he didn’t recognise them from anywhere. Could still be a coincidence that had them going in the same direction. ]

[ Right. A coincidence.

DJ has to cringe a bit as the buzzing grows louder and louder. Casually, as if he's asking about the weather, he asks, ]

You hear that?

[ If not, he can play it off as something he thought he heard, or the wind. ]

[ That certainly caught his attention. Okay, maybe it wasn't a total coincidence, given the way the comment had been timed with the increased buzzing sound. ]

Yeah. I hear it.

[ Annoying as it was, and painful in Derek’s case, at least it meant they were still following the right track. And hopefully getting close to wherever the sound was coming from. ]

[ DJ rubs at one of his ears. Not that it helps. Headphones didn't even help. ]

Great. Ideas?

I don't know about you but i'm going to keep following it.

[ He'd already spent a week or so suffering from daily headaches, one more wouldn't hurt. And maybe if they found the source, they could shut it off or something. ]

What a coincidence. I'm hoping to see what's at the bottom of this.

[ His eyes dart around to the other, unaffected townspeople milling about. What is so special about the people with the numbers in their head that only they can hear this, that only they are affected by this stuff? ]

Not a complete coincidence. Some of the others are probably wandering around too.

[ Most of them had tried to look into the sound while they were down in the mines, chances were high that all of those people were investigating the new noise. Give or take a couple of newcomers on top of that.

There were likely more network users walking around than not. ]

A lot of 'em are too curious for their own good. [ Said one of these two idiots following the buzzing. ]

[ He could call the guy out on that comment. He's so very tempted to do it. But he doesn't. ]

The curious ones seem to get things done around here.

[ ~Irony~ ]

Fair enough.

[ He tilts his head as they come to an intersection, and turns right. It sounds stronger from that direction. ]

[ Naturally Derek follows. It's not as though there's another route he can take to get to wherever faster.

Instead he simply rolls his shoulders and lowers his head again as a group of unaware citizens walk past. ]

[ It's almost overwhelming, now, as Tuning Towers lies at the end of this street. DJ frowns at the building -- who would design a building shaped like that? Seriously?

Hmm. ]

Think we've got our culprit.

[ By the time they reach the tower, Derek's visibly cringing at the noise level. The downside of advanced hearing, loud sounds that are already painful the hear are even more unbearable. ]

You think?

[ He shakes his head a little before pressing onwards. ]

It's probably coming from inside of it.

[ He has to tilt his head toward Derek to be able to hear him over the sound. ]

Well, let's take a look, then.

[ He picks up his pace, marching resolutely right up to the front entrance. ]

[ Derek gives a simple nod before quickly following. With any luck this will just be a matter of going in, turning something off, and leaving.

Who's he kidding, why would it be that simple? ]

[ The odds have to even out at some point. It can't always be ridiculously complicated.

Wow, yeah, it is even more ridiculously loud once DJ steps inside and stands in the middle of the lobby. ]

Holy shit. [ ... he says much louder than is necessary. ]

[ And it's right after Derek steps into the lobby that he sincerely wished that he owned, and had brought along, some ear plugs. Or had some headache tablets actually on hand. ]

Come on. The quicker we find this thing, the sooner we can leave. [ Or not find it as the case may be. And hey, one loud shout for another because his idea of noise levels is now incredibly warped. ]

[ Shouting at each other is great. People are probably staring.

DJ stalks about the lobby, frowning and eventually coming to a standstill right in the center. He gestures to Derek and shrugs. The sound is loudest right here. ]

[ Okay, so maybe they should try to keep their voices down. Or at least Derek probably should, he's already attracted enough attention for a while.

He watches DJ move around the area until he comes to a stand-still, they probably look weird enough without both of them wandering around. Upon noticing the gesture, Derek reluctantly moves into the center. Definitely the loudest point, he gives his own gesture pointing directly down. ]

[ Still frowning, DJ crouches down. Yep, the sound definitely is louder closer to the floor. He nods up at Derek.

And then, because he can't fucking hear anything and shouting is a ridiculously bad idea right now, he starts for the door. Just. Expecting Derek to follow. He stops in his tracks for a second as a memory trickles to the surface of his mind, but he shakes his head and keeps walking. Great, an echo. He can focus on that later. ]

[ Derek gives one last glance around the area before following. By all appearances the tower itself seems normal, save for the strange sound obviously.

He does end up stopping dead in his tracks for a brief moment as an echo hits him. While he does try to shake it from his mind as quickly as possible, he can't avoid the sudden chill down his spine. He can spend some time thinking that over when he gets back home though. ]

It's definitely under that place.

25th September

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