collectedlogs | INTRO LOG #1

INTRO LOG #1

Welcome to Collected’s first Intro Log! The information we’ve provided about the setting is not exhaustive - feel free to interact with the setting as you see fit. Rather than have specific prompts, our event posts throughout the game will generally have information listed out like this and players may come up with their own prompts.

If you have questions about the setting or the intro log, please ask them HERE in the comment thread! And most of all, have fun, shoppers.

PROMPTS

The first thing anyone does is gasp for air.

It’ll feel like the first breath you’ve taken in years. That’s right; before you can even become aware of your surroundings, the most immediate thing they’ll process is that you’re in water. Foul smelling water - like rotten eggs and decay. It’s pitch black, and you’re swimming in it with only your head above the surface. If the smell doesn’t deter you, the longer you stay in will; the water stings to have on your skin, chemical in nature.

So - you need to get out. This water can’t be okay to stay in. Once you’ve gathered enough about your surroundings, you’ll see that you’re inside a mall, of sorts. There’s a large (non-functioning) escalator in front of you that will lead you to the semi-safe havens of the second floor - but be careful, because everyone’s going to be gunning for that only exit.

» Once on the second floor, exploring will lead you to a few notes of interest: Long windows and tall glass doors show the conditions outside. The sky is a burnt orange, and there is a thick sort of fog on the horizon. Nothing for miles in every direction - just an empty parking lot, completely devoid of life or any sign that anyone has come across this place in many years. Even so, you’ll find the windows and doors unlocked, so getting outside is easy… the problem is what’s out there.

A trip outside will make it instantly clear why you see no life outside the mall’s walls: exposure to the radioactive sun outside causes your skin to bubble with welts, and the thick, toxic air of the outside is impossible to inhale without keeling over. It’s blistering hot, too. Even non-organic creatures would melt or be eroded by the sun’s radioactive qualities. One thing is abundantly obvious: you cannot survive outside. Not now, at least. Those who receive a burn or other damage from the conditions outside will discover that strangely enough, upon returning inside the mall, the wound begins to heal up on its own. Slowly, and extremely painfully, but it’s healing. That’s strange…

» Another thing of note is that there’s a food court on the second floor. There, you’ll find a variety of abandoned restaurants that have varying amounts of non-perishables inside - canned vegetables and preserved meats, as well as dusty old jars of sauces and the like. There are a few walk-in freezers with hefty locks on them, but if the locks are broken or picked, there’s actually some frozen rations, as well! Many of them are not labelled, so the dining experience will be pretty hit or miss. None of the stoves or cooking appliances in the food court work anymore, either, so you’ll have to get creative when it comes to cooking up these ingredients. (Or just, you know, eat them cold.)

» Throughout the mall’s bathrooms, water fountains, and gym showers, you’ll find that all the water in the mall is suspiciously clean. Like, way too clean to be normal in a place as run-down and clearly abandoned as this. You’ll find that toilets flush completely fine, and shower water heats up (eventually). Should you be grateful, or concerned?

» There’s an electronics store on the second floor, as well, along with a internet cafe. Should you try to turn on the computers in the internet cafe, you’ll find that it only opens to the same forum page: a site called Mall Watch. It’ll prompt you to make an account and password if you try posting to it. In the electronics store, you’ll also find that any phone you forage for and try to boot up will also only open up to this forum page. Weird!

» If you’re looking for a place to sleep, the department stores of the mall still have a variety of furniture sets collecting a lot of dust. Then again, no one’s around to tell you where to sleep - and maybe you don’t trust all these new faces you arrived with. If you’re okay sleeping on the floor of a random store, more power to you.

» You’ll probably want to do something about your clothes that were stained by the black water on the first floor.. try foraging for some clothes! Looking around, you’ll find that some clothes stores have some stock left over, though everything’s generally a mess in clothing stores - it’ll take you some time to find anything that’ll fit you. Looking around enough on this second floor, you might end up stumbling across some of your own belongings or clothing, or those of your peers.

More than anything, the longer you explore and scavenge the mall, you’ll recognize how eerily silent it is. If not for you and your peers here, this place would be totally desolate. Clearly, there’s no one around for miles, and as far as you can tell, you’ll only be able to survive here for as long as the supplies here last. No one’s coming to save you - no one even knows you’re here. In every sense of the word, you are alone.

For now.

NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ 01. excuse me that's my emotional support alter ego | limited to one response please! ]

[Congratulations, you have found among the various mall trinkets and refuse an old-school theater mask. It's clearly handmade, though competently, and seen a lot of wear and tear. The reasons why you hung onto it are your own, I ain't your mom, but it is Clearly In Your Possession. It has caught the eye of one (1) oddly dressed teenager, who is making a very obvious beeline in your general direction. The mask's direction, specifically.

Then he seems to belatedly notice you.]

Hey! Um. Where did you get that?

[Where do you think, idiot? says Zuko's inner voice, and he visibly winces. But alas, there is no way to unsay the words.]

[ 02. what's the opposite of serendipity | ota ]

[He finds it in a pile of otherwise nondescript clothes. It's because of the color--Fire Nation red, the most familiar shade to him in the world. All he sees is a scrap of cloth and he's digging it out before he can think not to. And when he does, he stops and stares at it for a good several seconds, knuckles white.

It's her robe. Azula's robe. He's paid enough attention to figure out that most everyone has had their belongings scattered around this bizarre place, and this can only mean one thing: his sister is here. Which is very bad news for him.

He digs through the pile in which he found the robe until he finds what he's looking for: one of those strangely crafted coats with cropped hoods. (A hoodie, in other words.) It's, like, a horrible carrot orange, but it's his size and having the hood up kind of hides his face.

Well. At the least maybe it'll help him notice her before she notices him. There's one problem: it zips up, and he'd really like to cover up his own distinctively red clothing as much as possible. He has never seen a zipper before. The mechanics of it seem to mystify him, especially since he's still got the robe clutched in one hand.

I mean, he'll figure it out. But it's giving him more trouble than you might expect. Take pity on him, maybe?]

[ 03. wildcard ]

[Ok listen I am garbage at general prompts and I'm not gonna pretend otherwise. I'm sorry. If neither of the above click with you then hit me up and I'd be happy to work out a scenario with you! I will respond here with closed starters as I write them. You can PM me or friend me on plurk at cerebrah. Or just throw whatever you want at me yourself and I'll roll with it.]

⟪ she spends the first few days scavenging and getting the lay of the land. this place is convoluted, but she is starting to make sense of it, and besides, the constant onslaught of tasks – find food, find shelter, every single basic need suddenly being associated with work she actively has to do – it does her some good, even if she can't quite formulate that thought herself. there is a part of her that hasn't felt like herself ever since her father left for the earth kingdom, there's a hallucinatory edge to her vision, things are either maddeningly incomprehensible or too sharp, too focused.

but she's holding up. there's some facts she has begun to embrace: she's trapped in this mall with a bunch of strangers, none of whom seem to be from her world. the territory itself is hostile. until a ruling structure is established, she should make some effort to lie low. isn't that how she conquered ba sing se? don't play all your cards at once.

does she look alright? no, she looks like she's sleeping no more than two hours a night, she's evidently taken scissors to her own hair a couple days ago, and she'll occasionally stop to talk to herself. but all of that is comparatively fine until she rounds a corner and sees her brother, standing upright, and looking entirely real.

his knife is in her pocket, but she doesn't raise it. why would she? he's not really here. there's no way he survived that lightning. is there? ⟫

What? What do you want?

⟪ considering that he's probably just trying to get through another day at the mall, that's all pretty blame-laced, isn't it. ⟫

[Well. So much for his disguise. Not that he spares much of a thought for it, as he falls into a defensive stance as soon as his eyes register who he's looking at.

He'd been preparing himself for this ever since he found her robe--which he still has on him, rolled up in a backpack he'd found--but it's a different thing entirely to be confronted all at once and out of the blue. He actually forgets where he is; for a moment, he's back at the Western Air Temple, staring at her smug expression as she clings to a cliff-face.

But then something in him stops, because that's not what he's looking at at all.

There's something wrong with his sister. There's something manic in her eyes and the set of her mouth, and the way--she? or something, someone else?--has mangled her hair. He's never seen Azula like this. She's always been so perfectly composed, so invulnerable, in the face of what would make Zuko utterly fall apart. He can't imagine what it would take for her to unravel in this way.

He wants to ask what did he do to you? But he doesn't. He can't afford to have sympathy for her. When they go after Ozai, Azula will almost certainly have to die as well. He has to tell himself she's beyond hope, that she always has been. She's crazy and she needs to go down. Zuko can't give Azula any quarter, now or ever--that's where she does her best work. It's how she's always taken advantage of him.

But looking at her now, he still can't bring himself to attack. He doesn't relax. He doesn't speak. But he doesn't make a move, either. He waits to see what she'll do, braces himself to react as soon as she so much as twitches. ]

I thought so.

⟪ she breathes it out, but even that is louder than whatever rational voice she's got left inside of herself in this moment. later, she'll pull herself together again and make it through another day, but right now? right now, she's undone.⟫

You can't do anything.

⟪ but she doesn't move, not really, only takes in air and fights the urge to laugh. loses, laughs. there's a sense of control to this now: sure, her mother show up unasked, and now zuzu dearest has joined her, but as long as they can't touch her, there's nothing to fear.

not that she fears either of them. ⟫

Haunt me all you want. ⟪ it seems that once she started talking, she has trouble stopping. there are warning signs she's wrangling with, the bright orange thing he wears is not from ~~their~~ her world, for instance, and neither is the bag he carries, but he's just trying to mess with her, isn't he? ⟫ You and mother both.

[Zuko has no idea what any of that means. What he does know is: Azula still isn't attacking him. Part of him is screaming at himself not to question it, to take his openings wherever he can get them, that Azula could easily be playing him again. He knows Azula would never afford him the mercy he's already showing her by hesitating. He knows she needs to be taken down sooner or later, and it's to his advantage to do it while she can't, apparently, put up the fight she usually does.

He knows all this, but he doesn't want to fight her. He's never wanted to. She's his sister.

He still doesn't relax. He has to be careful about this. But it hadn't been so long ago that they could still talk to each other. Hadn't it?]

Azula, what are you talking about? [Their mother is--gone. Has been for years. She couldn't--she couldn't possibly be back.]

You're gone, Zuzu.

⟪ why does she shy away from saying he's dead? he's dead. lightning all the way through, he's not surviving that unless his little water peasant friend works a miracle. and there's no telling – maybe azula gets her chance to off her, too. then she just has to wait.

there's a shaking to her hands that she is trying to suppress. instead, she touches the knife – unlike him, she's not made the connection that objects here equate their owners from home. ⟫

You challenged me. You should've known better. ⟪ it sounds more like an accusation than a taunt. ⟫

[Zuko shifts his weight, not taking his eyes off of her. This is another game of hers he doesn't recognize--he'd thought she'd run out of those a long time ago, but here he is off-kilter again.

He can't tell if she's acting. Azula always lies, he tells himself, but something in her expression makes him hesitate. She always lies, but she's never lied like this.]

You challenged me. [It's the truth, as far as he knows.] You followed me back to my friends.

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wildcard more like feralcard

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02

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2

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1 if that's okay!

👍👍👍

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