MarinaNova Asylum

[It seems peaceful enough on surface. Just another average evening in the dome. Get some new inmates, have lunch, put a vampire's soul back.

Tonight is the night. They'll either come together as the team she wants them to be or this will fall apart. She gave out the final assignments yesterday. Now, it's a matter of having a little faith that they'll all do their part, and this spell will work.

She can feel the weight of the stake on her belt. It's not that the wood is heavy, but what it represents is—a choice she'll have to make to whether or not to take someone else's choices away.]

(OOC: *Open in that there are areas for different people like those mentioned by name in this OOC organizational post are welcome to tag into the appropriate stage below. Unnamed force members are also welcome to encounter Spike early on or be stationed at the Headquarters. Non-DF players are welcome to tag into the Library thread as uninformed library goers who will be turned away.

Not a DF member, hate the library, and didn't get in on the ground floor, but you have an idea now? Please discuss it on the OOC post!

Stages: Encountering Spike | Headquarters | Library | Final Showdown)

[ He didn't plan to return to civilisation quite so soon but not even Sector 6 is capable of hiding him from the pesky Sentinels. After a few rounds of electroshocks by taser, you're willing to do whatever it takes just to stop pissing yourself. So by early morning on Day 276, Spike slunk back into Marina proper, desperate to get this bollocks over and done with before anyone noticed him back.

The first part is easy. Cleaning public bathrooms is gross as hell but manual labor isn't exactly difficult and you'd be surprised how quickly you can get done with the time pressure of ordinary people waking up. Still, the chance of getting caught is a real one. Want the chance of humiliating him properly? Potentially get a mop in your face? Then now would be the time to use the public restrooms.

His next punishment is... surprisingly enough even more painful. Arts and crafts? Fucking really? Still, it gives him the opportunity to hide out in the art center for a while, writing inspirational messages on rocks and by inspirational I of course mean such motivational phrases as "wanker" and "your mum". To be on the safe side, he'll cover them in the herpes of the craft world — glitter — before dumping them around the dome in the provided baskets. Have fun with that one.

And then all remains is volunteer work, which isn't that bad when you got a murderbro that owns a bar. He's bartended before around here and hanging out at the Devil's Compass doing whatever isn't the worst way he could spend an evening. Only problem is the great risk of exposure, but he doubts the goody-two-shoes of prison would stick their nose in here for no good reason... ]


((ooc: Feel free to run into Spike while he's busying himself fulfilling some much belated punishments! Confrontations are a-okay, as long as they don't mess too badly with the ongoing resouling plot! Pearl shenanigans also welcome, if that's of interest! ))

[Around \ Open]
[Kitty will be at the athletic complex running laps and attacking dummies. She'll also be at the DF headquarters taking care of a few things and between other destinations. Approach with caution. She's not in the greatest of moods and the claws are on even if they aren't out yet. So help you if you throw a popper her way.]

[Sector 6 \ Open]
[This used to be her sector—leader of the patrol team that kept an eye on things. She disbanded that team and reorganized the day Reid left. It wasn't a fresh start so much as a priority shift. She does want to get a special team together to explore and analyze sector 6. She tells herself that's why she's heading in there now, but it's not the only reason. She hasn't seen Tyki since the dreams. Not that she knows what she wants to say to him or if she'd even run into him. Better if she doesn't really. Of course, either way she's likely to run into someone or something.]

[Home \ Closed to Reid & Nathan]
[Long day and she didn't come out of it unscathed. There's a couple of shallow slashes on her shoulder and a nasty bruise on her thigh. They're both currently hidden, but there's a blood stain on the jacket where it soaked through. The material is dark so it's not that easy to see.

Even so she stopped to get an assortment of Indian food and a cheesecake. They might not really go together but cheesecake sounded good and she's the one with the cuts.]

Boys? I'm home.

[ The problem with underwater domes is that they lack escape routes. Heading into Sector 6 is about the best he can do but injuries heal slowly and staying still for too long seems like a bad idea. So he moves aimlessly through the jungle, avoiding the natives the best he can. There's gotta be a better place to hide out somewhere here. ]

1. Sex

[It's a no-tell motel, dark and cheap and anonymous. Unmade single bed, locked door (it won't open, but you can try it), a black coat on the floor.

Blood.

It's a dark stain on a dark carpet, creeping closer to your feet. If you look for the source--and you will, won't you?--you'll find a blonde woman sprawled across the floor. She's stripped down to lacy black lingerie. More importantly, she's gasping for breath. Blood trickles out of the corner of her mouth and streams from the gashes in her exposed stomach. She looks at you, scared. Her blood-stained lips move, but all that comes out is a rattling cough. Run. That's what she's trying to say.

Will you try?]


2. Birth

[Everything's bright and white. Sterile. It's a hospital, but no one here is hooked up to IVs or being rushed to surgery. No one is screaming or muttering or talking about the last football game at the intake desk. There's no one at all.

Except for Nathan.

The boy is dressed in a prison jumpsuit--orange, of course--and seated on the white tile floor, cross-legged. There's a bird's nest next to him. It's empty, but a single baby bird, young and covered in downy feathers, is cupped in Nathan's hands. It chirps. The teenager looks up at you, confused and a little distressed. What is he supposed to do with this tiny life?]


3. Death

[It doesn't matter where you are. Maybe it's somewhere in the prison; maybe it's someone's home, or maybe it's nowhere at all. All you see is the blood. It's on your hands and your clothes. It soaks the formerly-white bedspread under you (when did a bed get there?) and speckles a business card sitting just out of reach. The card doesn't say much. Dr. Spencer Reid.

Your blood-slicked fingers are clutching pale arms, trying to keep deep cuts (vertical--you cut vertically when you're serious about killing yourself) from draining the teenager on the bed dry. Nathan is prone on the bed. If the knife in one of his still hands is any indication, those cuts are self-inflicted.

Just in case there was some doubt, Nathan addresses you. He's mumbling, but he appears lucid enough. If you can make out his slurred words, you might get the impression that he's telling you to go--to not save his life.

Whether or not you listen is up to you.]


[ooc: Feel free to pick one as a starting point, but know that one scenario might turn into another if things go that way. Also? Warnings for blood, the murder of prostitutes, and themes of suicide. Oh, and your character might get stabbed. No guarantees, just throwing that out there.]

[ Option one: UnSub of the Week. ]

[ You’re hunted. Maybe you really did something, or perhaps you’re falsely accused but whatever happened, they’re on to you. The FBI is closing in. They know where you live, big black vans swarming like bluebottle flies outside the building, men and women in dark blue flak vests filing in, weapons at the ready. They’re on to you.

The soft footsteps of worn sneakers are coming closer in the hallway. They’re on to you. They’re almost here. ]


[ Option two: Compulsion to Move ]

[ You find yourself in a loft apartment. It’s dimly lit, shadows concealing most of the furniture aside from a lit circle in the middle of the floor. Two chairs pulled up, facing each other. Perhaps you’re tied to one of them, or maybe you’re just a bystander. Whichever you are, Reid is sitting in the other. Hands tied behind his back, blindfold fastened over his eyes.

Whatever is happening, it’s clear you’re not alone. ]


[ Option three: Phantasmagoria ]

[ The room is warmly lit, a deep golden sunshine filtering in from the tall windows, glistening off the leeches that are slowly and endlessly seeping out of the walls. Sawdust is flickering through the air, catching the light and piling onto the floor in soft, golden mounds, rippled like sand dunes around the electric chair that stands in the middle of the room.

There’s someone sitting in it, zipped up in a body bag. Slight movement reveals that it’s not a corpse. Aside from this, the room remains still and calm. ]

[001. Trains]

[It's scenic, long stretches of green hills and towering blue skies. In the distance is a wide expanse of water, glittering in the afternoon sun. The wind rolls through, bringing up the smell of the water through the open doors of the box car. The train's traveling slow, and it's through the floor of it he feels every familiar jostle and bump on the tracks. He lounges there, outstretched with his hands behind his head and the sun soaking warmly into his skin.

He doesn't care about anything but the feel of freedom. There is nothing else but this.]

[002. Forsaken]

[The hallway's dark and nearly endless, stretching out to dark expanses and turning or twisting should you walk too far past the only open door. The path will always lead you back, to a checkerboard floor covered in shattered glass. Lightning cracks behind half-broken windows, where red velvet curtains hang and the entire room may seem dated to those who aren't from the late 19th century. Obscured paintings, plush rugs beneath old curved couches in the parlor -- there's a lingering feeling of dread.

And there's Tyki Mikk, hunched forward on one couch with his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands.]

[003. Wildcard]

[If you have another idea, feel free to IM/ PM me and we can wing it.]

[Dream 1 : Misspent Youth]
[You're in Chicago and a young girl brushes past you. Her face is a little dirty. Her hair is a little mussed. The clothes aren't tatters, but they could use a turn in the washing machine. She should look familiar. You've seen this face before, but it's younger—thirteen to be exact. She doesn't want you looking too closely though. After all, she's going for your ring or watch or wallet. Whatever you might have. In fact you might have these things even if you shouldn't normally. Don't worry, you won't have them for long unless you catch her.]

[Dream 2 : The Kiss]
[Lips are pressed firmly against yours. It's been awhile or maybe forever. There's a longing in the way she sighs and a hint of urgency in her touch. It doesn't matter who she was dreaming about before you came into this dream because now it's you and whether things get more heated or frigid just all depends on how the dream goes.]

[Dream 3 : Tombstones]
[Welcome to the cemetery. As far as you can see it's just barren land dotted by markers—some crumbling into ruin. There are names on each, but you can't seem to read them all. A few stand out—Carmen Pryde, Theresa Pryde, Piotr Rasputin, Spencer Reid, Allen Walker, Tyki Mikk, Peter Parker, Zelgadis Greywars, Itachi Uchiha, Data, Nathan Harris, Jack Harkness, Ton Phanan, Ianto Jones, and there are more. In fact, the longer you stay the more names you might make out and even recognize even if Kitty doesn't. Don't worry, it doesn't stay so still and somber forever. Eventually, they'll come for you too. Was that a rumble in the distance?]

(OOC: Just let me know which dream they are starting in and we can always transition to another one listed or something custom if you like. It's a dreamworld! Oh! And I'm totally fine if the middle one goes into NSFW material. Also fine if it doesn't!)

As you may have heard, there's a beehive in Sector 4 now. Don't worry, bees only bother you if you bother them first so if you're worried about getting stung, just give them a wide berth and you'll be fine! Oh, and if anyone wants to learn how to keep bees I'd be happy to show you!

There'll be honey crusted cup pies available at the Devil's Compass as soon as I've gotten a harvest. Stay tuned!


[ Closed to Ton Phanan ]

Everything okay? Are you back in your own body safe and sound?


[ Closed to Tyki Mikk ]

Hey... are you still in the jungle?

[It looks like Kitty on the video screen, but the actions are very out of character since she is currently phasing her hand through everything she can reach; a plate, a book, the tarantula cage on the desk. She tries to phase through her own head and ends up smacking herself in the face. The smirk that follows is one that should be very recognizable to anyone who knows Ton Phanan.]

Hey, does this mean I get to be in charge of the Defense Force? I've always loved the idea of minions. My first order is that you should all were silly hats.

[It was the heaviness Kitty noticed first before her eyes were even open. At least waking up in Ton Phanan's body is a pretty good distraction against the pain she normally feels when she wakes up to find Reid went out to sleep on the couch again or even that thread of panic she tries to deny where she fears maybe he disappeared again instead. But this morning is all about figuring out what's going on and damage control. She starts by listening to the vague daypost.]

[Video | Private to Ton]
Stop touching my boobs. [The voice sounds and feels very wrong to her. She even clears her throat, but it doesn't change anything.]

[Voice | Private to Reid]
Hey. We have a situation. [She keeps her voice low since he's likely in the next room. She really wishes these things would text suddenly.]

[And a little later...]

[Voice | Open to everyone]
You've probably already noticed something strange going on. I want to get a head count here. Who is affected? Who isn't? Anyone in danger with this? Let me know and we can get the force working on it.

Oh, and this isn't Ton.

[Action | Open]
[It takes awhile before she's ready to test the new body out elsewhere but she isn't going to stay cooped up all day either. There's bound to be some chaos and she needs to do what she can...without her powers. And why are his wrists too large for her claws?]

[Private to Kitty Pryde;]

[Chuckling under his breath.] So when're you coming by?


[Action;]

[Tyki Mikk's at the Devil's Compass for a while today, seemingly packing up a few bottles of varied spirits into a small wooden crate and stuffing other assorted oddities in as well. He'd gotten the idea of taking to Sector 6 for a while. To get a look around and find some semblance of peace perhaps in the only seemingly unexplored part of the dome to him. Some change in a routine of bar wiping and card tossing. He yearns to use his hands to build something, do some sort of manual labor and that's exactly what he'll do there.

But for now he's just packing a few useful things, and picking up a few tools and the like from various shops. He can be found across the dome if not in the Compass, carrying some things in the direction of Marina Nova's sixth sector.]

( Not a fan of tl;dr? You can skip all of this. Sufficed to say she's in a bad place right now. )

So here she is at the Devil's Compass—Tyki's bar—because there was a bet and she lost so she's his bar maid for awhile. Maybe that time has elapsed by now. She's not putting a lot of thought into it. For days now she's been trying to hold herself in check. No drinking. No fighting. No screaming. No crying.

Right now she's just going to pour herself a shot and throw it back.]


(OOC: Forward dated to later in the afternoon/evening. Someone has no impulse control. Spencer Reid IS back today. He's just not contacting the public yet for reasons.)

[Audio | Encrypted to Defense Force]

[How often does she use audio instead of video?]

I want to make some changes to our structure, but this is up for discussion and input so don't go carving anything into stone yet.

We're having trouble balancing some of the combat teams with members leaving and the prison isn't exactly tiny, but it's not giant and sprawling either, so I think we should consolidate into two regular teams and a specialty, auxiliary team for sector 6 investigations.

I want to combine sectors 0, 1, 2 and 3 under Jack. And sectors 4, 5, and 6 under me. Then Jack and I both need to choose one or two members to keep trained and up to speed on everything. [In case we disappear.]

We'll work out who can also be part of the sector 6 team later once we get the kinks worked out of this. [Not a top priority.]

Deanna and M'gann I want to talk to both of you about the interview team. [Since she's suddenly alone there.]

We also need more volunteers on dispatch until we can get it restaffed.

[She clears her throat. She can get through the rest of this. One word in front of the other until she gets there.] I also want to make Data the head of the investigation team [the pause isn't long, but it is meaningful] since Dr. Spencer Reid is lost in the stabilizer.


[Audio/Action | Open]

Reid is gone. Keep your condolences. [This has been a courtesy call from his grieving girlfriend, and that's all you get. You might see her out working though. Keeping busy might be her friend right now. DF headquarters, training hall, library, educational facility, and yeah, the Devil's Compass.]


(OOC: Like she said, this isn't in stone yet, so keep your eyes on the Defense Force sections of the upcoming Sunday Speakeasys for more details! Join the DF here. Current roster. Notes on Reid's disappearance)

[Welcome to the school fair brought to you by Euphemia and a lot of hard working volunteers. Things may seem a little more homemade and less polished and plentiful than they do during a warden-run celebration, but everything was done with a lot of heart. As you walk around you'll find:

Informational booth. There is a brightly-colored booth when you first come in adorned with school catalogs and multi-colored gift bags featuring pens, pencils, highlighters, notebooks, bookmarks, binders, and more. Euphie will be there much of the day enabling new students and teachers.

Booths for classes and activities. Teachers were all encouraged to have displays or games or just be there to talk about what they offer for however long they're willing. Leaders of organizations that exist or that they want to create can do the same. And if someone wants to make a kissing booth or something no one will stop them!

Food. They are set up in sector 0 with all the food carts hosting a variety of street foods, perfect for eating on the move. There are also tables set up with desserts including cake pops, carmel corn, and cookies-on-a-stick as well as coolers with non-alcoholic beverages.

Games. There's a duck pond where you pull out a rubber ducky and get a simple prize that corresponds to the number on it. There's also a ring toss and a target hitting game with a paint ball gun. Since it's a school fair there are also some learning games like a trivia challenge. Chess boards have also been set up for people to enjoy, including one giant chess board where you can use the giant pieces or your friends. You'll also find life-size Jenga blocks. Don't worry, they are a light weight material in case they collapse on you.

Giant Puzzle. In the morning there is a large-scale puzzle set up surrounded by paints and brushes. The puzzle is already assembled, but blank. Each piece is larger than your head. People are encouraged to paint on it until it has all been filled. That afternoon it will be broken up for people to reassemble.

Stage. There's a small stage with a variety of instruments lined up in hopes of people showing off various talents from singing, to playing music, to dancing, to reading poetry, or juggling. Whatever they might want to share!]

(OOC: Everyone is sooo welcome to get engaged! Do something fun, weird, dangerous with a booth or the stage or anything in your comments. Need some extra plotting?)

[You won't hear them coming. You won't see their snare. The mistletoe bots are out and they're hunting you, two by two. You can run and you can hide, but eventually you will be caught, and then there's nothing left to do but kiss your way out!]

(OOC: Mingle until your lips are chapped! Information on mistletoe bots event.)

[Nathan is a smart boy. He’s quick to catch on and even quicker to realize that being a prisoner in a giant underwater bubble with disembodied overseers is a lot more exciting than being a prisoner in a psychiatric facility. Being crazy—and Nathan has never had greater faith in his lack of sanity than when he woke up under the sea in an orange jumpsuit—adds slightly more excitement to the equation than he might like, but he’s willing to test this new prison before getting homesick.

He sets aside some time to get acquainted with the rules, the map, and the remarkably urban prison before trying to send any messages, sulking aimlessly about Sector 0 and into Sector 1. Nathan doesn’t mean to sulk, honestly. The fifteen year-old is no broodier or more morose here than he was at home, but the teenager finds it hard to shed a sulking air. The habitually-hunched shoulders, sickly pallor, and inability to maintain eye contact do nothing to help him in this regard.

His attention inevitably turns to the headset. It seems simple enough to operate, and he has nothing to lose by trying to call someone. He is, after all, probably experiencing some kind of weird dream or hallucination. What’s the worst that could happen if he moves that little button to “voice”?]

Hello? [His voice is smaller and more hesitant than he would like it to be. Some of that hesitance is related to how stupid he feels. Who designed these headsets? He probably looks like he’s talking to himself, and he’s not that kind of crazy.] Can anyone hear me?

I don’t know who I’m calling, so if you can hear this, just… call back, I guess. [The teenager fumbles for a slightly less awkward sentence to hang up with.] …Thanks. Bye.

[Or awkward is good, too.]

[The Devil's Compass is no longer littered with candles, save perhaps a few on the bar that add a little something to the dim lighting that recreates the old-world style of tavern the place is modeled after. It's actually quite clean otherwise, with Tyki lounging in one of the booths with a bent knee up on the seat and the camera looking at him sitting there with a cigarette drooping out of the corner of his mouth.]

If you haven't been to the Devil's Compass yet for the drink or my company, I'll give you two further incentives.

[Sidelong he reaches to crush out the cigarette, a plume of smoke coiling upward.]

One, there's fresh pie thanks to the lovely Charlotte.

[His eyes flick up to the camera with a dangerous glint while his lips curl.] Second, this week we've also got a barmaid. She doesn't bite but she might scratch.

[And so Tyki's bar is open as always but with a mingle! And for the next week Kitty Pryde (the elder) will be roped into being the Compass' barmaid due to a bet gone wrong. Tyki will be exceptionally cheerful about this, more often behind the bar than usual (which in itself is fairly often) at least while she's on the job. This means he'll be rather friendly and talkative. Best time to meet him, really. He'll have a thread right here.]

[THE DEVIL'S COMPASS - SECTOR 4]

[So things had been pretty neutral lately and Tyki's found himself oddly complacent. so maybe that's why when the lights stay out come morning hours and he's roused to wakefulness with nothing but a dark expanse around him that he feels more alert. Maybe it's just the deep call of the darkness that sings to him on a level the sun never can. But he's been here far too long to trust anything in the dark, nor be surprised by it.

So he conducts his day as usual, for an intangible man has no fear of what lurks in any shadow. He departs for the Devil's Compass in Sector 4 and roots through it for useful items. He lingers, the entire place lit up by the flickering amber light of candles on nearly every edge. It beckons the weary or the lost.]

[VARIOUS LOCATIONS]

[Oh, yes he's seen those raptors - and tonight wouldn't be the first time he's fought them. Defensively, instinctively, simply for the pleasure of it, he goes about fending them off and even in some cases seeking them out. Something about expelling pent up steam, whirring gears that are lately so out of use. At least, while battling those weird waves of - no, he's just killing them. No reason. No other effects stir anything in him, not a drop of any uneasy feelings.

From fresh faced and impeccably dressed, wandering with a candle in hand to speckled with raptor blood in your light's reflection he's easily encountered anywhere in the dome. His eyes might be crazed, even, glinting dangerously gold. Careful now.]

[ Today is a day where most would be at risk of oversleeping.The dome lies dark like in the dead of night. The sun hasn’t risen today, streetlights casting a dull yellow glow and occasionally flickering out into nothing, only to spark back to life a moment later. There is no electric flicker from the kiosk. The Wardens are still. The wardens are silent.

The dome isn’t silent. There is a rustling of leaves, a snapping of twigs. Claws, scraping against concrete. The inhuman screech of an animal in peril, an animal hunting, an animal hunted. A screech that promises sharp claws and sharper teeth and blood.

The dome isn’t still either. There is something moving, thick as a shadow, tangible as a chill down your spine. Something that doesn’t belong here, something that snuck in when no one was looking. A boogeyman under the bed. A ghost in the closet. A will o’ the wisp, blinking in and out of existence under the flickering streetlights. Whatever it is it’s moving, leaving a trail of cold, dead fear wherever it passes. Something dark. A shadow so pitch black that it blots out the very lights in your heart, dragging your fears out screaming and kicking, reducing even the strongest, toughest man to a blubbering baby.

Perhaps best to stay in bed today, Marina. ]

((OOC: Event information HERE. We ask the winners of the raffle to fill out a simple survey and then tag into the Vapor thread HERE! Happy mingling, Marinanites! ))