InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "to the windooooow to the wall!"

Nawanaka Toshimi [輪中福美] (thrown_to_winds) wrote in disappear_plot,
@ 2010-03-14 15:59:00

Dungeon: NakaNetwork Broadcasting Tower
Who: Investigation Team, Shadow Toshimi
What: The inevitable.
Where: Paradise.
When: Beach trip.
Why: Because it was always fated to happen.

It appears to be sunset. The group stands on a cliff. At the edge, the drop is about 30 feet before the solid rock becomes a sandy beach. There are thick, dark, rolling clouds in the sky; they block out almost all of the remaining sunlight on that side. The wind is fierce. It does not seem to be raining, but the ocean waves are huge and crashing against the cliff violently. Towering before the group is a lighthouse. It seems that perhaps, given the storm and the darkening sky, the beacon should be shining. However, the top of the lighthouse is as dark as the rest of the sky.

There is only one door to enter, and there is no doorknob. Should any attempts be made to push or pull it open, the door will not budge. Not that it matters much; there is a pen flapping around in the gusts of wind, tied to a red string coming from the wall right next to the door. Until someone catches it, it will flail dangerously near the face of anyone who comes too close.

Next to the string is a clipboard with a piece of paper. The header of this piece of paper reads: “NAKANETWORK: SPONSORED BY NAKACO”. The NakaCo logo is on the side, although a close inspection will reveal that where the words “Innovation, Elegance, Positive Change” are usually present are the words “Nepotism, Selfishness, Inevitability”. The second line reads: PREQUALIFYING APPLICATION. Below that is a legal statement written in tiny, unreadable print; by squinting, party members might be able to make out phrases such as “NakaCo assumes no liability for accidental or intentional maiming”.

There is space below the statement for everyone to sign.

The next line reads: “Thank you for applying! ^_^ Now it's time to test your trivia knowledge. To qualify, applications must be submitted along with Nawanaka Toshimi's most important possession. Regrettably, we cannot allow participation in NakaNetwork activities until an application is fully complete."

Upon later visits, next to the clipboard there is an old, worn-out baseball cap, nailed to the wall through one of the size-adjustment holes. Once somebody has signed the paper, the clipboard, paper, and pen fade out of existence. Something pulls the red string to withdraw in the direction of the door. It then stops and forms into a doorknob, which should turn and allow the group to enter.

(Post a new comment)

	thrown_to_winds 2010-03-14 08:11 pm UTC (link)
	OOC info will be posted here. (Reply to this) (Thread)

THINGS TO NOTE

thrown_to_winds
2010-03-20 02:39 am UTC (link)

1.For almost the entirety of this dungeon, there will be times when certain characters need to be more active than others. These characters will be determined randomly; please pay close attention during your character's turn. I realize this isn't the best gameplay mechanic, and I apologize for not finding a way around it.

2.Consciousness of the difference between your knowledge/skills and your character's knowledge/skills is strongly preferred to the alternative. If a situation arises where you feel your character would know something that you do not, please raise the issue over OOC chat or private IM.

3.Accommodations will be made for characters who did not bring weapons.

4.This dungeon places the current exchange rate at 100 yen= 1 USD, for simplicity's sake. For the math-impaired, this means that you can go two digits into any amount and add a decimal point for the USD equivalent. For those used to other currencies...apologies.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	thrown_to_winds 2010-03-14 08:41 pm UTC (link)
	Pre-investigation posts, if you have them. (Reply to this)

	thrown_to_winds 2010-03-20 06:25 am UTC (link)
	Logs go here. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Entrance, Lucky Spin thrown_to_winds 2010-03-28 02:49 am UTC (link)
	http://kettledragon.net/kondohole/nakanetworkbroadcastingtowerlog.html (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Prizes, Danger!, Pawn Shop, Agreement or Disagreement, Game Over, Miniboss, Reactions thrown_to_winds 2010-03-29 08:45 am UTC (link)
	http://kettledragon.net/kondohole/nakanetworkbroadcastingtowerlog2.html (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Screaming, Test $ 10 Billion, 8-12, Least Effective, Shadow Confrontation thrown_to_winds 2010-04-06 07:42 am UTC (link)
	http://kettledragon.net/kondohole/nakanetworkbroadcastingtowerlog3.html (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Bossfight, Conclusion thrown_to_winds 2010-04-09 05:10 am UTC (link)
	http://kettledragon.net/kondohole/nakanetworkbroadcastingtowerlog4.html (Reply to this) (Parent)

Commercial

thrown_to_winds
2010-03-28 09:35 pm UTC (link)

The lights fade until not much is visible. Off to the side, where there was nothing before, hangs a high-end TV screen with the NakaCo logo. The voice of the Fail Gene, now coming from nowhere in particular as an announcer voice, sounds:
“Lucky Spin! Is brought to you by NakaNetwork! Sponsored by NakaCo! NakaCo! Nepotism, selfishness, inevitability! And by the following corporate sponsors:”

The television screen shows an old, boarded-up storefront overlooking a cliff not unlike the lighthouse entrance from earlier. The sign has a logo and reads “Yutagoro House of Surf”. Cheerful music—the kind one might expect to hear in an advertisement for a beach merchandise store—is playing, although the store has clearly not been open for quite some time. Four young teenagers approach, chatting. One of them is a younger Toshimi in a familiar-looking baseball cap, one is a tallish boy with the face pictured in the photograph attached to the Fail Gene, and the other two are a boy and a girl who look quite alike. The girl is the first to speak. “You sure this is all right, Ginji-kun?”

Ginji grins a wide grin. “No worries, Keiko-chan! Nobody's been here in years, right?” He walks up to the surf shop, runs a finger on the door, and shows it to the rest of them. It is covered in grime.

The other boy inquires, “That's great, but what are you gonna do? It's padlocked and the windows are covered.”

Ginji winks back at the other three, pulls out a lockpick, and spins it around his fingers.

The shot changes; the screen now shows the four of them exploring the dusty, out-of-use surf shop, upbeat music still going. Ginji's voiceover: “If there's something fun you can do, you'd better do it while you have the chance, right?”

The shot changes again to the four of them laughing and struggling to catch a wave in a sunny, blue ocean. “This is awesome, Ginji!” Toshimi exclaims with what would seem to be uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “We gotta do this again!”

The screen shows the surf shop logo again, and Ginji's voiceover replies, “Definitely! Hey, Toshi-chan, maybe someday we can do this in Okinawa!”

(Reply to this)

Video Daily Double!

thrown_to_winds
2010-03-28 11:55 pm UTC (link)

Toshimi is eating lunch in a somewhat run-down classroom with the boy and girl who look alike from the surf shack commercial, all in traditional school uniforms. The fourth boy, with the Fail Gene's face, is not present. “Hey, Toshi-chan, what'd you put for that future hopes survey?” asks the girl. Rather than answering, Toshimi frowns into her bento box.
The boy chuckles a bit and wraps an arm around Toshimi. “There's no point in that. Toshi's going the same place as the rest of us, right?”
“Yeah. Sure,” Toshimi answers, taking another bite of food.
“Even with your exam scores?” the girl seems to want to continue the discussion.
The boy shakes his head and continues, “I wonder like, what percentage of people at this school put anything but 'employment' on that paper.”

(Reply to this)

thrown_to_winds
2010-03-29 06:17 am UTC (link)

The surrounding area freezes and flickers to black a couple times, until it fails completely. For a moment the group is nowhere in a sea of television snow, and the accompanying sound is loud enough to drown out everything else. The snow all at once gives way to a set of color bars, which last only a moment before the lighthouse and its surrounding area returns—although this time, there is no color. They seem to have moved about 500 feet from the lighthouse, as there is now a paved road and a highway fence between the group and the tower, which turns inland and uphill before reaching it. Except for the group and their possessions, everything is black and white. The sound of wind blowing is even louder than the television sound from before. Colorless sand flies about and the tall grass is blown flat, but the air feels totally still.

For a brief second, the wind quiets down enough so that black-and-white Toshimi and Ginji can be heard, and then seen, coming up the road. Toshimi is wearing the baseball hat that had been nailed to the front of the Paradise version of the lighthouse.

“--and so I told him---”
“--ahahahahaha!”

But the wind quickly becomes too loud again to hear anything else. Toshimi grins—sincerely, without the usual uncomfortable sense of falsehood—and Ginji seems to be telling a story.

When they are not far from the turn in the road, the sound of the wind becomes louder still. Toshimi's baseball cap flies off her head, blowing back in the direction they'd come from. Surprised, she turns to chase it. Ginji laughs and turns around, walking backwards slowly.

Within a moment, Toshimi is able to catch her hat, and waves it at Ginji. The wind suddenly goes dead silent. Toshimi calls out, “Ginji-kun, wait up!” and starts making her way back to the turn, hat clutched in hand. The sound of the wind picks up again, louder than before.

Some large, white blur slams itself unceremoniously into Ginji. Both he and the delivery van hit the highway fence. The van keeps flying. Ginji, rather, crumples to the ground, still grinning.

Toshimi, too, falls to the ground as, in shock, she seems to have forgotten to use her legs. For a moment, she is frozen in wide-eyed panic. Still staring wide-eyed at the overturned van (empty of a driver) and its victim, she reaches for her cell phone. The sound of the wind gives way to piercing, murderous, terrified screaming, and even as the group's surroundings revert themselves back to the Agreement or Disagreement set, the screaming continues.

(Reply to this)

thrown_to_winds
2010-04-06 03:12 am UTC (link)

A door labeled “Apt. 10”. Toshimi opens it to see her two friends, looking somber. Toshimi herself has the usual smile plastered on her face. “Takao-kun, Keiko-chan. Please come in.”

The two glance at each other, but make no movement to enter the apartment. Takao speaks first. “We heard you're moving.”
Keiko adds, “To a private school in Iburi.”

“Uh-huh.” Toshimi's tone is markedly cheerful compared to the others.
“Because your uncle just...suddenly decided he cared about you?” asks Takao.

“Ah...hmm, well...” Toshimi's smile is constant as she ponders a reply.
Keiko isn't going to wait for one. “Now that his own son is dead...”
This is enough to break Toshimi's smile; she looks somewhere between depressed and bewildered.

“A replacement Ginji. Isn't that terrific. It's just what you've always wanted, right, Toshi-chan?” insists Takao. “To go and be rich in the big city and leave us all back here in Yutagoro.”

“If you think about it, it's really a sweet deal on her end,” Keiko's tone has turned bitter and somewhat mocking. “Especially since she doesn't even care about what happened.”

Toshi wrings her hands. “Wait, no, I---”

But Keiko won't hear it. “No. Ginji-kun is dead and you saw it happen. The funeral was in your own house and you didn't even show your face. You just skipped it.” Toshimi has taken to staring at the ground and doesn't seem to have a response, so Keiko continues, “But let me tell you what happened. Ginji-kun's mother didn't cry. Your parents didn't cry, your uncle definitely didn't cry. Everyone at that funeral was just going about like it was business as usual. Me and Takao—me and Takao were the only ones grieving for him, and you? You're not even sad. You definitely weren't. You just---where the hell were you?”

If Keiko's goal is to make Toshimi feel guilty, it is clearly working. Taking pains not to look at either of them, opens her mouth to answer and nothing comes out. She tries again, “L...lighthouse.”

“At the fucking lighthouse,” mutters Takao.
“Just ran away to the fucking lighthouse,” Keiko scowls. “And now you're running away to Iburi. So that's all you're ever going to do from now on, is run away?”

For a moment the image changes to Toshimi running from the scene of Sato Kei's dead body. From the Paradise Sanzu River, all alone. And then, through a locked door at the beach house.

The image quickly goes back to the scene, though, and by the time it does Toshimi has recomposed herself and smiles blithely back at Keiko.
“All you've been doing since he died is smiling,” Takao states.

“All the time,” agrees Keiko, voice rising. “Always smiling, smiling. Smiling like you've got nothing to be upset about. It's like you're happy. It's like you're happy he's dead!” Her voice has now elevated to yelling. “You're happy he's dead because you're making a profit from it! Well, good! Go! Go run away to Iburi and leave us here and make a profit off of the death of someone you were supposed to care about! Go and be rich, I'm happy for you! I'm so fucking happy for you, Toshi-chan!”

Toshimi's eyes are wide and quickly filling with tears. Once the shock has worn off a little, she shuts them tight and, slowly and with great effort, forces her face into some contortion of a smile.

Takao taps Keiko and makes a “let's go” motion with his head. Toshimi sniffs, wipes her eyes and shuts the door.

A wildly inappropriate voice cheerfully reads, “This message brought to you by NakaCo!”

(Reply to this)

thrown_to_winds
2010-04-06 06:05 am UTC (link)

The floor is dark when the team enters, and not much can be seen, although they seem to be surrounded by gigantic television screens, several inches apart from one another, forming some kind of vaguely circular room. The screens, at first, show a NakaCo logo, but other than that they seem to have given up on supporting their corporate sponsor, and merely play a scene:

Sunset again, this time, at the top of the lighthouse. The room inside is surrounded by glass windows. Toshimi and Ginji are outside, and their feet hang off the balcony as they watch the lighthouse's shadow, casting longer and longer over the waves. Ginji is telling a story.

“...and so then I woke up, and the entire executive board was looking at me like I was some kind of garbage. You'd think if the meeting was so important they'd focus on that instead of me, you know?”

Toshimi seems only half-listening, pondering the ocean with a serious expression. “Mmmhmm.”

Ginji continues, “Being a CEO must suck big time, right, Toshi-chan?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“I don't want that kind of life. I want to go out and enjoy the world! So why should I have to sit behind a desk my whole life?”

“It doesn't matter why,” Toshimi answers, “You have to do it because you're Nawanaka Ginji. That's the person you were born as.” She scowls at the water.

Ginji looks surprised. “Woah, look at your face!” he remarks cheerfully. “Toshi-chan, you don't have to worry about it.”

“I'm not,” Toshimi says curtly.

“You upset?”

“Why would I be upset?” Toshimi attempts. “After what I found out the other day, about the entrance exam scores? Of course I'm not upset.” There is an obvious dejected tone in her voice, though. “I should be happy, right?”

“Shouldn't you be?” Ginji shrugs. “You had that same weird little kinda angry look at the grocery store today, too, right?” Toshimi has no answer. “You know, when we met that guy who was on the baseball team with you in elementary school, working the counter? Kuroi-san?” Still, nothing in reply from Toshimi but a glum look in his direction. “You told him you were happy to see him, but I was all, that's a really weird face for someone to make if they're happy to see anything.” He places a hand on his chin as if trying to ponder this, but gives up. “I don't really get it...is it a girl thing? Oh, wait, Takao-kun didn't turn you down, did he?”

This, at least, provokes a response. “No...!” Toshimi looks somewhat offended at Ginji. “No, it's not a girl thing, sheesh.”

“Well then?”

“It's more like...you won't get it.”

“Mm.”

“More about the kind of universe that we live in.”

“Uh huh?” asks Ginji, “and what kind of universe is that?”

“It's the kind of universe where you can be born smart enough to get a perfect score on your high school entrance exam and, through no fault of your own, still never go further than a grocery store checkout counter!” she snaps. “Kuroi-senpai did just as well on his exams as I did when he took them, and look! Look at all the good it did him.” Her tone returns to being gloomy and somewhat lacking in energy. “For all we struggle, there's no way people can control what the universe throws at them. We may as well just be...baseballs. The only memorable thing that could happen to us would be getting slammed out of the park.”

Ginji processes this silently for a minute, and then shrugs again. “Ahh, you were right, Toshi-chan. I don't really get it.” After a moment, though, he adds, “I always thought it was more like surfing than like baseball.”

“Surfing.”

“Yeah, surfing. Look out at the ocean.” He makes a sweeping motion, indicating the entire ocean view before them. “You're worried that no matter how much you struggle, you're never going to be stronger than those waves, right?”

“Right...”

“Well, you're right about that much, you just can't make waves come when you want them to. Even if you paddle out there on a surfboard, all you can do is wait. But when the waves do come, you can have a good time...and when they don't come, you can float on your back. That's why, surfing.”

Toshi regards Ginji with an impressed I had no idea you were capable of intelligent thought look for a few seconds, and then returns to her scowl. “That doesn't change anything.”

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	thrown_to_winds 2010-04-06 06:08 am UTC (link)
	Ginji sighs and leans back on his hands. “Who said anything about changing anything?” For a moment, there is only the sound of the waves before Ginji adds, “Stop thinking so hard, Toshi-chan. Just smile and be happy. You can do that, right?” Toshimi stares at the sea for a minute before gloomily agreeing, “Yeah. Of course I can do that.” (Reply to this) (Parent)