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

[theearth]

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.]

Comments

Sept. 27, late afternoon!

[elfstoned]

[Aaron's taking what looks like a casual stroll around the outside of the buidling, hands in the pockets of his coat.]

Wow this got long, sorry

[blind_devotion]

[Alexa had left her first encounter with the network wanting to ignore it, to leave it alone and never think about it again. It was all too big, too scary, too dangerous. She'd never wanted anything more than a normal life. But then she saw the pink lights in the sky.

The flash of memory that returned with it - horrifying and painful - if anything, made her want all the more to turn her back on this. But. The buzzing in her head. After that first night it almost vanished, but it was still there if she focused on it, and it was like picking at a scab or not thinking about elephants - she just couldn't seem to leave it alone. And then, while biking through the Business District, she realized...it was worse around here. Much worse.

She tried to ignore it, but she just couldn't. Like picking at a scab in her mind, she kept thinking about it. And the more she tried to put it out of her mind, the more it bothered her. Until finally, driven by a combination of curiosity and a desire for confirmation...she started wandering the business district, following the buzzing to where it was strongest.

She was trying to act natural, of course, but she wasn't doing a very good job of it. Especially as she approached the Tuning Towers and felt the earth start to shake under her - then she started visibly freaking out a little as she took tentative steps forward.]

it cool bro! poor girl is freaking out; OBVIOUSLY SNEAKING UP IS THE BEST SOLUTION

[elfstoned]

[Aaron caught sight of her from about thirty feet away, noting the nervousness even at a distance. It was obvious -- either she was a member of the numbers club, or insane. Either way, her visible freakout was bad news.

Aaron came up behind her, his footsteps quiet even on the pavement, voice low.]

Shh, not so obvious! If you've come here to hear what can be heard, then you should know that we can't draw attention to ourselves.

Re: it cool bro! poor girl is freaking out; OBVIOUSLY SNEAKING UP IS THE BEST SOLUTION

[blind_devotion]

[She freezes up when he speaks. Oh god. She should have known this would happen. That girl had warned her she was in danger, that there were people out to get them, and she hadn't listened, and now...]

Please don't kill me. [She said in a quiet, frightened voice.]

[elfstoned]

[Aaron blinks, then shakes his head -- almost laughing.]

Kill you? Certainly not. What on earth gave you that idea?

I only wanted to warn you -- to ask you to be a little more cautious. There are people looking for us, and while they probably won't kill you either, they will arrest you. After that -- well, I don't know what they do with us when they find us.

[blind_devotion]

[She managed to relax just a little bit.]

Sorry. Some of the others told me...that, um, we were in danger. I thought you were one of them. The ones that want to kill us.

[Have you noticed that she's not very good at this? She's still standing ramrod straight, as if paralyzed with fear.]

[elfstoned]

...I'd be happy to talk about this with you, but not here, not out in the open. Come on, away from the towers, before you do attract dangerous attention.

[He'll gesture for her to follow him.]

[blind_devotion]

..yeah, sure. Okay.

[She follows, still glancing over her shoulder every few paces. Why had she come here in the first place? God, why had she been so dumb?]

[elfstoned]

[He's going to lead her to a cafe or something, a place with outdoor tables that is crowded enough that the background noise will cover up their conversation. He'll sit her down at one of the tables, then fold his hands in front of him. His manner is businesslike, but not unkind.]

How long have you had your number?

[blind_devotion]

[She sits down, still glancing around her.]

The number itself...a long time. Since I was a kid. But I had no idea what it meant until. Like. A few days ago.

[elfstoned]

[He nods.]

How much have you been told?

[blind_devotion]

Um, most of it, I think. That we're all connected to this network...and we have flashbacks to some other life, that we'll start to change...and that we're in danger.

[elfstoned]

And you've been told who to avoid?

[blind_devotion]

The police, right? And...maybe some others?

[elfstoned]

The police, the military, and ThunderCorp. I believe at least some of our city's organized crime is on ThunderCorp's payroll, as well, but I hope you don't need my advice to stay out of that kind of trouble.

[blind_devotion]

I...don't think that will be a problem.

[Seriously, forget conspiracies, if she hears 'organized crime' she's going the other way to begin with.]

I can't believe how...I mean, they've got their fingers in everything. Whoever 'they' are.

[elfstoned]

Not quite everything, only a lot. Just one business, the police, the military, and some of the gangs. The schools are still free, and the media.

[He pulls a breath, then sits back, stretching his legs out straight.]

As for who they are, we've got a couple of faces, a couple of names, and have even communicated with the thing that seems to be in charge. At least, of local operations.

[blind_devotion]

The...thing?

[That sounded ominous.]

So it's not...human?

[elfstoned]

I don't think so. Or at least, what we talked to wasn't.

...it sounded like a machine. A--an auto-responder. If you asked it the same question twice, it would repeat its answer, word for word.

[blind_devotion]

Oh.

[Well, that didn't sound as bad as she'd thought.]

Then I suppose whoever set it up could still be human?

[elfstoned]

It talked about its operations being -- hmm, what was it -- "anything outside the scope of humanity and nature," I think it was. Though I suppose it theoretically could have been of human origin, I doubt it, considering its stated willingness to exterminate humanity.

[blind_devotion]

[On second thought, maybe it was even worse than she'd thought. She pales visibly.]

Exterminate humanity? Oh god. This is...this is really happening, isn't it?

[elfstoned]

[He holds up a hand, and looks a little like he's sorry he frightened her.]

Sssssh! Yes. Yes, it is.

But you need not be involved, if you don't want to be. There's even a way to forget all this, if you choose to.

[blind_devotion]

Sorry.

[She's pretty embarrassed about freaking out like that.]

That's to leave town, right?

[elfstoned]

[No judgment. This is pretty freak-outable.]

Yes, it is. Step outside the city limits, and you'll be outside immediate danger -- nothing they have will be able to detect you were ever more than normal.