» the city network

( cw; cannabis )

[ There is no softness to the voice that murmurs onto the network in the midst of the night when people should be sleeping. Those sweet souls are not her concern if they don't wish to hear. She offers no comfort, but a reminder of what's been lost—what can still be taken.

In doing so, the woman's raspy words creep out from beneath the shadows with a voice that drags—no, it crawls—over ceaselessly hot coals. In its shudder to whisper out a poem borrowed from home, there is a smolder always bordering on a choked gasp. But no hurry, no hurry. Where do you have to be? ]

Old Yew which graspeth at the stones...that name the under-lying dead; Thy fibres net the dreamless head, thy roots are wrapt about the bones.

[ To that, a pause that looms with omen. ]

The seasons bring the flower again, and bring the firstling to the flock; And in the dusk of thee, the clock beats out the little lives of men.

[ Now, a strange yearning nearly begins to dissipate the smoke that seems to scorch her throat.

Hush, take a moment. Take a breath; hold it. Feel the shiver of a fingernail at the nape of your neck, feel it trace the curve of your ear to borrow your attention. Only just. No, don't turn. Don't touch. Just listen; the whisper can still singe. ]

O not for thee the glow, the bloom...who changest not in any gale, nor branding summer suns avail, to touch thy thousand years of gloom.

And gazing on thee, sullen tree, sick for thy stubborn hardihood; I seem to fail from out my blood...and grow incorporate into thee.

[ For a time, it seems that may be all. Then, in the same hush she speaks with a more particular address: ]

I hear that we have been denied the ephemeral — to exist endlessly within a perverse mirror of God’s image. Here, nature should protest. Instead it menaces with its silence.

[ There is a silence of her own while Vanessa takes a drag to sigh out a thin stream of smoke into the evening air. Her voice now drops so low it grates and pinches too close, like gravel against tender feet. Tickling whispers are gone; they flee the weighted melancholy that persists. ]

We carry on within a dollhouse between worlds. Do not be tempted by its pretty trinkets, lest you truly be cursed to wander the demimonde forevermore.

[ Denial still rules paramount over the rumor of immortality, but the lack of bodies is an...unsettling implication. ]

...The graves lie empty.

Okay. Hopefully me putting IMPORTANT at the top helps denote this as actually something I personally think is important. Got the idea from username dynamight, so credit goes to them!

But serious talk: this is an experiment. Or it's an Abnormality, maybe? An enclosure either way. Either this city itself wants us here because it's lonely and it wants people around, because what's the point of a city without people in it right?? Or the scientists outside want us in so they can shake us up in this little jar and write down their results. Not sure what end goal there, we'll find out soon enough.

If anyone has any proof or any other theories, please feel free to discuss. I'm open to ideas. And I know figuring out what this place feels pointless, but if we can aim towards figuring out the what, then we'll be able to figure out the how soon enough, right?

And has anyone gotten any useful information in general? I've been nosing around, but all I get is redacted snippets with no actual details to work with. Which cycles back around to my two theories above, I guess; either we really are the first ones to get sucked into this Abnormality and it's just been made out of several lonely people wanting a better life and world, or it's artificially made in which case there's not going to be any public figures or history to learn about.

Anyway.

I just think that we should all check in and talk about anything we've learned. Don't feel like you have to talk to me only, either. Talk amongst yourselves. Information should be freely shared so we can get out faster.

Also if you saw me at the party, hi, I'm the guy with the bug arm, that's me, if you didn't know. Yes it's disgusting. Yes, I hate it too. No, the food or water or air in this place isn't the reason I have the bug arm. I've had it for twenty years or so now.

Okay that's it.

[feel free to mingle online, he's just desperate to feel like he's achieving something here!]

[Now, Junpei is fairly certain they're all here for some kind of fucked up death game, because why wouldn't the third time be the charm!!— but until some mysterious costumed weirdo starts getting on all the screens and making announcements, there's not that much to go on. He can skulk around town glowering suspiciously at things for long so long.

Sooooo.]

if anybody wants my vote, it's t minus however the hell long before we all start killing each other. would love to be wrong, but if i live long enough to say i told you so, yknow. yippee.

so.

why do *you* think we're here? wrong answers only. top 3 by popular vote get a prize.

[Does he have a prize to hand out... No, no he does not. He will find some cheap garbage in one of the shops and write a 1ST/2ND/3RD PLACE on it, no problem. Eventually. Maybe even a sticker.]

and what do you guys think about picking code names? you know, just in case.

[big talk from username junpei]

Different worlds? Okay. Still, I gotta see what I'm working with here since the last time I was in a place with people from whatever universe was at 1 AM at the coffee shop and everyone had the grand idea to suddenly order Neapolitan frappuccinos. So here's how I'm going to narrow down and categorize all of you for my sake.

First off, how do you pronounce GIF? With a 'g' or a 'j'

Answer carefully 😉😉😉

(and if you don't get it, don't worry about it, you just get sorted into the other category)