MarinaNova Asylum

[Action; Sector 4; outside the new flower shop]

[Between forced sleep and a grueling heatwave, Yuuki's managed to keep herself plenty busy despite whatever shenanigans are tossed around the domed prison. From gardening, to gathering supplies and lots of set up she's barely remained still in one place for more than a few minutes. Anyone who frequents sector four may have seen her around much more often, in conjunction with a new shop that has come together rather nicely over the course of the last few days. It settles in nicely among the businesses and brick buildings. Beautiful flowers and plants decorate the entrance, with an elegant yet simple sign overhead that reads 'Nine White Orchids'.

The sign that would indicate that they're open is flipped around to indicate that it isn't yet. But the door is propped wide open with a wedge which proves that someone is inside. A soft, feminine voice can be heard humming inside, lyrics heard intermittently. The sweet, dulcet tones reach outside the shop, intertwining invisibly around anyone within hearing distance. Be careful not to listen too closely, or it's possible to find oneself inside the shop without really thinking about it.

But then maybe you're the type who would have peeked inside anyhow?

Otherwise, the girl humming to herself might set foot outside on her own, a pot of flowers in hand, should one remain unaffected or linger outside the door.]

[Private to Yuuri Shibuya]

Yuuri-kun, can I talk to you if you have a moment?

(OOC: Her singing voice can have an enchanting affect on people (Particularly vampires if relevant or desired). Feel free to use that if you like. Otherwise feel free to resist or remain unaffected! She's not intentionally doing anything. Her desire to do well and be able to draw people into the shop is simply leaking out. Here's a Permissions Post for anyone who might find it useful.)

[Private to Suzaku]
Hey, can you meet me at Defense Force headquarters?

[Open Action]
[Kitty has been keeping to herself since the shared dreaming. That still ended in a surprising amount of running into people, but today she's falling into her regular routine again—exercising which can become sparring if someone has a mind to join her, looking into things at Defense Force headquarters, planning some lessons for the technology classes she teaches which she'll go head and take care of in the library, some meaningful shopping of essentials and some idle shopping of random stuff because sometimes you need a baseball cap with an octopus on it? And of course, she's got to eat!]

| HEATWAVE EVENT INFO |

Upon waking up from the dreams, Martha's first thought was she clearly needed therapy. She elected to stay in her flat that day.

The next day she discovered she was out of tea. Perhaps it was time to get back out into the world dome. They were only dreams after all. It's not like anyone else experienced the same things, right?

Her day was much like any other. She started at the Coffee Bean for a quick pick-me-up, then spent some time in Trois park meditating. She did need to get some shopping done as well, both for food and clothes, so she could be found in the various sectors getting things.

Late in the evening, when she was sure Ianto would be gone, she even ventured over to the library to grab a novel or two.

1: Face of the Enemy

[You're in a tent. The worn canvas does little to keep out the biting cold, and the dim light provided by a number of candles does even less to chase away the darkness creeping in from outside. A threadbare rug covers the dirt floor—a futile attempt to make a hovel feel like a home. Gaeta and a young woman are silently pulling on frayed clothes. The rumpled blanket on a nearby cot hints at what took place before your arrival.]

[The young woman finishes buttoning up her blouse and turns to Gaeta, a sad smile on her face.] I'll try to get more of them out. Do you have another list?

Yes, I... [Gaeta shuffles through a stack of papers on a low desk to find a list of names. Last name first, alphabetized. He offers it to her with considerable hesitation.] This is it.

[She takes it, touching his fingers with hers and lingering a bit too long.] You can trust me, Felix. We'll get as many of your people out of detention as we can... together. [She leans in to kiss him. Everything about her is sweet and gentle.] Trust me.

I do. [He squeezes her hand and escorts her to the door.] I'll see you soon?

Soon. [She drops his hand and turns to exit the tent. Her smile twists into something darker as she walks into the cold night.]

[Gaeta runs a nervous hand through his hair and smooths out the wrinkles in a shirt that will never be unwrinkled. He notices you for the first time.] Frak! [Clearly, you were not expected.] What are you doing in here? It's after curfew.


2: Collaborators

[The halls of the Galactica are rusted and dented and covered with the kind of dirt that accumulates with age and never scrubs off—a far cry from the sleek spaceships on television and in movies. The lights are low. The battlestar's low hum is interrupted only by the occasional footsteps on metal flooring...]

[...and, now, an angry male voice. It comes from the launch bay to your left.] Turn around! On your knees!

[You follow the noises into the bay. Gaeta kneeling on the floor, hands ziptied behind his back, looking up at the six people circled around him with equal parts shock and resignation.]

Felix Gaeta, you've been tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity by a circle of your peers, as duly authorized by the President of the Colonies. [The woman sounds impatient. These words don't mean anything; everyone knows how this ends.] If you have any words to offer in your own defense, now is the time.

[One of the men in the circle—the only one who looks like he would rather be anywhere else, doing anything else—glances over at you. He's desperate. For what, you don't know. An ally? Someone to help him put an end to this?]

[What do you do?]

Dream 1: Family Time
[Sam is seated at a dining room table filled with what looks like a traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey and every starch you've ever seen and "salads" that have nothing to do with vegetables not to mention a row of pies just waiting for afterward. He's sitting at one end smiling and laughing and apparently holding up his end of some lively conversations except everyone else at the table—as far as you can tell—is dead.]

Dream 2: Too Long (That's what she said)
[Your face is cupped between Sam's hands and your lips are already together so you might as well kiss back, right? It's been a long time for him, and he's prepared to make this worth your time.]

(OOC: Death warnings for dream 1 and sexy warnings in dream 2. Plotting if you have other ideas or need to discuss anything. You're welcome to just jump in!)

[1] The Dark Hour

[Surely you're in a dream, or rather a nightmare. There's no other way to describe your surroundings. It's night, and you're in a city - that much is normal. Everything else is wrong. The sky is an eerie, sickening green, the buildings are dark, the streets are the deep red of dried blood. The moon hangs impossibly huge in the sky a few days away from full - luckily for you.

There are coffins everywhere. Standing upright in the crosswalks, in the drivers seat of cars, clustered under darkened streetlights and by bus stops; every place people would be at this hour.

Above it all, rising high against the green sky, is a tower, twisted and misshapen and impossibly high. You can see it no matter where you happen to be right now; outside a school dorm, in a certain alley by the train station, standing on a suspension bridge over a dark bay. There's something wrong with that tower, you can tell just by looking at it. It shouldn't exist.

If you have a watch you'll find it stopped at precisely midnight. In fact any electronic device you have on you will have stopped working. Everything except the robot girl gleaming pale and alert next to you in the darkness.]

[2] Tartarus

[You're inside the tower, because where else could you be that would fill you with this much dread? The walls are that same dark green as the sky outside, the only light is a sickly yellow from the moon leaking in through the occasional window to spill across the stained, checkered floor. It's a maze in here, but if you wander far enough you might fin the stairs. You can take them up if you'd like but you'll never reach the top, not tonight. You could come every night for the one hour you have and fight your way upward and it would still take you a year to reach the summit. And every night the maze will have shifted, changed, morphed into some new shape.

You're alone, and yet not alone. There are no other people here, just the monsters. Shadows that roam the halls with you. You can try to hide, and you might succeed. You can try to fight, and maybe you can overpower one or two but you won't be able to keep it up for long. This place is a nest of Shadows, and there will always be more. Maybe if you're lucky someone will find you. Or maybe you'll be trapped here, forever.]

[It's weird. As desperate as Damon has felt for company, now that he has it ... it's overwhelming. Which is ridiculous, because it's not like there are even that many people in this stupid prison place, but there it is. So he doesn't actually venture outside much.

But he still craves company. Which brings him, once again, to this stupid social network.]

So. A petting zoo. Is this a prison or pre-school? [God, he sounds like Seinfeld right now. What has his life become?]

[You know what's a terrible idea? Going outside when outside is a dark place full of raptors and wasps and inexplicable feelings of terror. Gaeta thought that he could be useful—he's used to keeping cool in a crisis, and sometimes a level head is just as much help as someone who can handle a weapon—but all he managed to do is get stung by a wasp.

Just his luck.]

Giant bees? Completely irrational fear? Those weren't in the brochure. Thank you, wardens. [This is the voice of a man who is trying not to sound terrified and failing miserably.] Don't go outside. I know it's tempting with the dark and the warnings from the Defense Force, but be smart. Don't try to be a frakking hero.

[This has been a PSA.]

...Someone's still alive out there, right? [He doesn't sound sure.] It's been a couple hours since I heard a broadcast.

Happy Day 365, Marina Nova!

Hear ye, hear ye! Inmates, prisoners, fellow underwater dwellers! Lend me your ears and hands and actually just bring all of you because we're having a ye olde Renaissance Faire to celebrate a full year in this bubble under the sea!

The dome has of course been decked out appropriately. Flickering torches light the pathways, interspersed with larger bonfires that you can cosy up to with that special someone - or perhaps just a glass of honey mead. Pennant banners hang across the gates and along the buildings, sporting the proud coat of arms of the prison (a lot of purple and octopi, for some reason) and many of the clothing stores offer time-appropriate options for those of you who still knows how to have fun. The kiosk has even been re-imagined into a castle.

Many areas within the dome has activities to partake in and, if you're skilled or lucky or both, prizes to win!

( Let the celebrations begin! Fanfare! )

Enjoy!

[Video]

[The video opens on a man sitting squarely in view, his bearing better suited to someone awaiting a big job interview than a newly incarcerated prisoner.]

Hello, MarinaNova Asylum. My name is Felix Gaeta. I'd say that it's a pleasure to join your ranks, but I don't want to start off on a lie.

I've been over the information I was provided with on arrival and it left a number of things unanswered. Namely... [a pause to pick up a notepad] ...is all of this really virtual, and, if so, does anyone know where our bodies are?

Do you have a leader or any kind of civilian government?

Is everything here actually free for the taking, or are there strings attached?

[He pauses again, flips a couple of pages, and sighs.]

Maybe this is a better question: do you have an archive or some other collection of information that hasn't been provided by the wardens? No one wants me to go through all of these, including me.

[And scene.]


[Action]

[Gaeta can be found at the library—taking notes, likely—or at any of the many eateries in Marina, admiring the sheer selection available. He won't go out of his way to be friendly.]