❧ It's all fun and games...

[luministimods]

[if anyone is near the town square, they might just notice the cloud of gas begin to dissipate. moments after it's gone, all CATs and vidscreens turn on, showing the black and white image of the mayor, but the smile on his face doesn't even come close to reaching his tired eyes. in the background, one can hear this song playing faintly.]

Greetings, citizens of Luministi. I have a few announcements I'd like to make this lovely Saturday afternoon on behalf of our very own Verita. First of all, our other dear friend, Dr. Resarci, is still on a leave of absence after what seems to be a horrible, stubborn cold struck him sometime last week. And during his well-deserved vacation, even! Probably all for the best he was unavailable and missed former Deputy Drew's execution late last night. My condolences to the families of his victims as well as to his own. Let us observe a moment of silence for our lost citizens.

[he bows his head, the music in the background ceasing while a moment passes in silence. as he looks up again, the music resumes playing]

Secondly, it seems the strange fog that has been hanging about the town has finally decided to move on, and just in time too! Our very own Janus Theatre will be showing double features on its outside screen every night for the next week as part of the celebration of the opening of its new arcade wing. Might want to bundle up, though. I have been informed that we are expecting an unusual cold front to be coming in. Might even see some frost on those lawns in the early morning if we are lucky. Highly unusual for this time of year! Why, I cannot remember--

[in the middle of his speech about the weather, the transmission on only the new residents' CATs cuts out suddenly, leaving the vidscreens still broadcasting the Mayor's rather boring announcement. a moment later, however, a new transmission begins with the Mayor yet again--but something seems wrong, from the disheveled state of his normally perfectly coiffed hair to the buttons of his shirt left undone, even the dark circles under his eyes that are normally covered with a judicious application of make-up. he isn't looking at the camera, nor does he have his normal piece of music on. instead, his eyes are focused on just below the sightline of the camera.]

This is one step too far... I knew hiring him would be a risk, but now this?! [he covers his face with one hand] Oh my poor little girl... I never should have--no, I'll make this right somehow. I never thought it would go like this. This isn't what I wanted! [he clutches a ragdoll of sorts to his chest]

[he falls silent for a long moment, and when he speaks again, his voice is calm and evenly measured] We need to find him. We need to tell--[he notices the camera is on at last]--has that been recording this entire--

[the new transmission cuts out only to be replaced with yet another. a third, but brief, transmission begins, showing the flickering image of what appears to be a grab machine or rather, a whole row of them. a voice exactly like the one heard in the phone booth before its destruction speaks:]

Find it before it's too late.

[and finally, both transmissions cease altogether just as the Mayor is wishing everyone a great day.]


❧ Plot Details: It's all fun and games...

Hmm, something's rotten in the town of Luministi, it seems! But who are our Claudius and Polonius? Where are our Hamlet and Ophelia? Or is this simply another tragedy-in-the-making entirely? Another mystery to ponder, just like Resarci's continued absence in the town, but he isn't the only one now. Someone else is missing... And throughout the week, some of the old residents will start to dwindle away as well. The restaurants won't be as filled with patrons for example, but with the increasing amount of dolls and toys around in the stores, one would think there'd be more children about at least. But there is not a child in sight. Bicycles belonging to the old residents will remain exactly where they've been parked, but their owners won't be coming to retrieve them.

For now, though, the gas cloud has indeed gone away! New residents will begin to recover their sense of self within minutes, but they'll have one hell of a headache as their memories try to reconcile themselves. It must be noted that everyone will remember everything they said and did as their past selves. So if you said or did anything you might regret, well, you've got to handle the consequences now. Ah, the folly of youth...

But on a similar train of thought, as of the Mayor's announcement(s), any time you want to enter and exit a building in town (be it the library, town hall, any of the restaurants/shops, etc), you will be faced with a little game. A question or image will appear in front similar to the holograms usually broadcast by the CATs, and no matter how strong you are, you won't be able to open that door until you answer. What appears could be something simple like a number game where you answer maths questions, or perhaps two cards placed side-by-side and you have to guess which one is going to be higher--or lower--than the other. It could also be something like the shell game, or perhaps you'll have to play a hand of poker. You could very well be asked what number is the 198th decimal of pi. You could also be asked trivia questions, which may pertain to the town specifically but could be anything--and may or may not even apply to your universe.

The questions can be as hard or as easy as you'd like--but if you received a gift basket from the mayor after helping to solve the poison riddle, you'll find that you'll receive harder games to play, causing you to be more likely to suffer a penalty for a wrong answer. If you give a wrong answer or lose the game you're playing, the door you're trying to enter will remain closed and you'll have to try again until you get it right. But that isn't the real penalty.

And if that isn't enough, you'll have to play a little game to even get into your own homes, but any questions or riddles there will always revolve around your own personal data. Unlike in town, however, it won't let you know whether you're correct or not. The door will still open no matter what, but if you answer with a lie--yes, it can tell if you have--then you will incur the same penalty as you would elsewhere in town.

But what is this penalty, you might be asking! Well...with each wrong answer you give, the more you'll change into a doll version of yourself. The change won't cause any physical pain for the most part and could go by unnoticed at first. It could start small: a few strands of hair replaced with yarn or synthetic hair, loss of appetite because you'll have no stomach to feed--or you'll begin coughing up bits of fluff and have no idea why--even the loss of a few inches in height as you start to shrink. Your eyes might even become buttons, but you won't be able to tell immediately because your vision will remain. Anything could happen, really. Clothes will change as well so there won't be any naked dolls running around town. These changes will grow more severe as you lose at more games. For example, a character could eventually shrink to only 2-3 feet tall. A full transformation into a doll is possible, but you'll still be able to do things, though a doll body will limit how fast you can run/walk, how much you can lift, etc. You might even need help from those who aren't fully changed, especially if you go to the grab machines in that state.

The grab machines aren't hidden or anything, not by any means. The Mayor mentioned a new arcade wing in the Janus Theatre, and what a wing it is! It's so big and wonderful they had to transform the lower levels below the theatres into the new arcade just to accommodate everything. Any arcade game you can imagine is there, ranging from Pong to Skii Ball to air hockey, all the way up to fully immersive virtual reality chambers where spectators can watch your adventures on the outer screens. Like any arcade, the machines spit out redeemable tickets to win any number and caliber of prizes, but it's the grab machines that are the most important. Why? Because they contain the lost items stolen when the gas cloud first overtook everyone. The only way to get them back is to play. Any character who retrieves their item from the grab machine will get an extra bonus as well--their item will be released along with a golden coin embossed with a lion on one side and a sun on the other. Those characters who earned one of these coins during their first week in town will receive two coins when they win--the one they lost and a new one.

To play any game in the arcade, simply pay for it with your CAT. There are no coin slots or coin machines around. Just games and a prize station. Oh yes, and playing these games and losing holds the same penalty as it does if you fail trying to enter a building. Perhaps that's why there are so many abandoned bicycles near the theatre...

Oh, and just as a reminder, this is our last call for any applications! Applications close on August 28th!

As always, if you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to comment here!

Have fun~

Comments

[grimmjerk.livejournal.com]

I ACTUALLY HAVE SOME QUESTIONS oh how the tables have turned.

Just two! :3

1. What happens if the game comes up, but they don't play? Like, they just leave or some such.

2. I'm not sure if he'd make it as far as the arcade, but I assume Grimmjow can't just smash one up to get his stuff back?

[luministimods]

Indeed they have!

1. If they don't play/leave, they automatically disqualify themselves and they are penalized anyway! Oops.

2. Ohh, forgot that part, actually! Like the phone booth (in the plot just before the murder one where you came in) and the doors to any building that won't happen without a correct answer and such, the grab machines are extremely resilient and can withstand anything he can give them--and will not break. He'd be more likely to hurt himself than anything.

[grimmjerk.livejournal.com]

..................man.

He's gonna be a doll by tomorrow.

But thank you~

[luministimods]

It's all according to plan! I mean. You're welcome~~

[arrowspride.livejournal.com]

Poor Grimmy 8D

Don't worry, Ishida will make you clothes~

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

*pfft* THAT I would like to see. <3

That, and him and Sophie talk sewing. XD

[grimmjerk.livejournal.com]

HE'LL PASS.

...until someone loses an eye.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

(it had to be said. XD)

ahhh, no! Poor Verita! o.o And poor Drew! (Capital punishment here? Seriously?)

+Question!
Can someone play the crane game to retrieve another person's item?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

+Another.
I'm guessing that Fuu would get no reply if she tries to contact Verita? Unless someone would pick up in her stead XD

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

Completely related:

HERE MODS. (http://community.livejournal.com/luministi/19657.html)

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

+Another. [asdjkls, I need to get to sleep.]

Might Fuu get any useful answer when she asks the staff at the Arcade who had access to fill the crane game machines?

[luministimods]

1. Unfortunately no. Residents will find that their missing item is in a machine all to itself--Fuu gets her own grab machine, basically!--and that if she tries to play on any of the others, the machine won't work even. It won't even take her credits!

2. For right now, that would be correct! Sorry to say, Verita is out of action for this one.

3. In the continuing theme of the townspeople lacking actual answers, Fuu will yet again find that the staff have as much clue as she does.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

1. Ahhh, interesting!

2. *sadness* Too bad~! (Expect a call to the Mayor again now. XD)

3. Splendid. I expected nothing more, but I am forever optimistic. ^^

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

... oh my god.

brb consoling a furiously heartbroken muse

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

... I hope you guys realize that Xion is probably going to have a complete and utter meltdown at some point during this event. :Db

DOCTOR, SHE'S GOING TO NEED YOU. JUST. FYI. yeah.

[bit_impossible]

Awwww ;_; *hugs her tight*

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

fffffffff she was almost making me cry when I read this post

She is currently curled up in a ball in the back of my head, refusing to talk to anyone but Verita or the Doctor. *dies*

GOOD TO KNOW, FRIENDS DISAPPEARING = TRIGGER.

[bit_impossible]

Oh gosh, now I feel really bad for grinning like a loon while writing it... ;_; Verita isn't really gone! She's just a bit...well, let's insert a clever doll pun here that my brain is failing to come up with this late >.>;

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, AS A MUN-AUTHOR-THING I THINK THIS IS AMAZING. IT WILL MINDFUCK WITH HER SO BAD. I will probably be grinning the entire time she freaks out because I just. ... have that reaction to things... for some reason...

... I am not going to repeat the things Soraface is saying.

[fortune_sought]

I would like to note that this is all Jchan's fault. And gah, don't link me to a post I can't respond to ;_; VERITA WISHES SHE COULD TALK TO YOU, XION!

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

Does the call just go through to an answering machine?

[fortune_sought]

You make a good point since yours was a video message (not just text)! Let me get that.

Question, part four.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Can someone hold open a door for someone else, or open it from the inside for them, to avoid them getting a quiz?

[luministimods]

If it were only that easy! Unfortunately, the door will close after the first person has answered and it will use any amount of force it can to close if someone tries to piggyback on that answer. (It won't close so limbs will get broken/or worse in the doorjambs. Just hard enough to give a warning.)

And if someone tries to open a door from the inside, the door will think that person is trying to leave and will engage that person in a game instead!

And, in case this question pops up, if anyone tries to use a window or breaks through a wall to avoid using a door, they will still be forced to play the games because that is still entering and exiting the building in some way. Doors just happen to be the easiest way of going in and coming out. It's basically a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of situation.

Hope that helps!

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Haaah. Brutal. ^.^

Helpful as always! Thank you!

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify - are the regular residents (what's left of them) being subjected to the door quizzes as well?

[luministimods]

In a fun twist, the regular residents really are having to deal with the door quizzes this time! It's why the population is slowly dwindling and why there are more and more dolls left lying around town. The only big difference is once the regular residents become dolls, they can't move or anything; whereas if the new residents do change into dolls fully, they'll still be able to go about their lives but just in a doll body.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

It is quite the twist, that they get to suffer with us for a change...

Thank you!

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for all the questions o.o
I was just going to e-mail this one, but I thought perhaps I'd post it instead seeing as it's relevant to this post still. (And Farrah's going to need to see the answer, because Fuu will be asking Brax about this shortly XD)

In the law books (like the ones that Fuu nabbed for Brax a while back (http://community.livejournal.com/luministi/15156.html?thread=810548#t810548)), what would they say about capital punishment?

The whole thing with Deputy Drew's execution is shocking to Fuu, and seemed to fly in under the radar. There was no further announcement since Verita announced Drew was in custody, no public trial... Fuu's no lawyer, but she knows that there should be a fair process to these things, especially if death is involved. Not to mention this is supposed to be an idealistic town...

[luministimods]

Ah, this is a tough one. In Luministi, the use of capital punishment is never employed unless an extremely heinous act has been committed--which there has been. The only time such a punishment will be considered is if the crime is murder. And there was a fair process to it--except that no announcement had been made that the trial had started and ended. Deputy Drew had the right to a speedy trial with a jury of his peers, which took place behind closed doors at his request.

Now, the news of the execution should come as a shock because announcements about the trial at any stage or the date of the execution hadn't been made on purpose. Why that is, well, we can't tell you just yet, unfortunately, but look at the effect the announcement had on Fuu, the poor girl.

However, if anyone does happen to go investigating on their own, they will find that there is no special room or area outside where an execution would take place. Nor will Deputy Drew's body be found in the morgue located in the clinic or any records of it having been housed there at all. The execution of a murderer in a small town such as Luministi would have created quite the spectacle--but yet it didn't. And not even anyone claiming to be relatives of Deputy Drew or even his supposed victims have come forward at all. It's been far too quiet on many levels...

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Heh, now that will just creep Fuu out, that there is no grave to pay her respects at. (Which will lead to her being nosy and trying to find out why. ^^)

Very sad! Fuu has a soft spot for Drew, seeing as he's one of the first people she met. It's presumably too late to set things right for him, but it certainly feels like there has been a terrible miscarriage of justice (and general rottenness all around XD).

It sure would be nice if a record of the last time Luministi employed capital punishment was still around. But I'm guessing that was 362 years ago, and went up in flames like the rest of the history. Convenient, that.
Is there a way to tell when the law for capital punishment was first incepted? (ie, 362 years ago, or at the founding 700 years ago?)

Yes, this whole thing certainly should be causing a stir...

[luministimods]

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to tell when it was first established. Just that it's been around for as long as anyone can remember.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Ah, naturally!

Thank you for all the help! ^.^

[collector]

Is all of that info that Brax could find just by asking around town?

[luministimods]

Yes--with the exception of the announcements not being made on purpose. That's going to be one of those things where, say, he asks the kind old tea maker about it and she'd go, "You know, I don't remember an announcement about the trial. Must have missed it..." and toddle off.

All the peculiarities there that would seem off to Brax and all the other new residents is easily dismissed by the regular residents (well, the remaining ones, anyway) for one reason or another.

[collector]

Another question! Another two. I'm so sorry. For one, townspeople are going missing and dolls are appearing, but are there any townspeople in the in-between state? And in the laws or in information he could get about the trial, would there be anything about the jury pool (that is, if any of them are townspeople or from Centropolis or who knows where) or if the venue was in Luministi or not?

[luministimods]

Nope, they either are dolls or people who are just that good with the games. (Granted, they get easier questions more often than not, especially the owners of the shops.)

He would find that all members of the jury were residents of Luministi ranging from waitresses/movie attendants at the Janus and other normal workers around town, but not any of mod NPCs. Sadly though, all of the jurors have been turned into dolls. In fact, anyone involved in the trial with the glaring exception of Sheriff Iussus is now a doll.

[collector]

(That's considerate of the question-asking-thing.)

Would he be able to confirm that they're all missing? Either by getting their names and asking the Sheriff if any of these people have gone missing, or by simply asking the people there to see if any of them are still around? I don't want to overstep.

[luministimods]

(It is indeed.)

Yes, he can confirm it if A) he gets a list of who served on the jury from Miss Osculia. We can assume that this exchange took place. Osculia would have been very busy with her own duties and would have given him a list, then bid him good day.

And B) he goes to the Sheriff's office and speaks to a deputy--he could try Iussus, but he'd only be brushed off and told to speak to a deputy anyway. The deputy would give him the most current list of people who have been reported missing.

[collector]

Thank you very much!

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

Modlies! o/ Question about the backtagged fight with Grimmjow.

What would've happened to Xion after the gas? Like. Would Grimmjow have been the only one jailed, orrr... idk. What consequences would she have faced?

[luministimods]

Xion (and Grimmjow) would both be thrown into their townhomes and held under house arrest for 24 hours. Their wounds would have been tended to though!

As a note, Xion and Grimmjow will both find that they can't actually leave their homes no matter what they try, and that includes if they break the vidscreen in their home and the repairman comes over. They won't be able to leave the opened door.

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

... lmao WHY WOULD XION EVER

oh wait, Grimmjow would

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

NEW QUESTION

Do the new residents get slowly turned into ragdolls specifically, or can it be any kind of doll (i.e., ball-jointed, porcelain, etc)?

[luministimods]

They can turn into any sort of doll actually! Whatever you'd like~

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

EXCELLENT.

Now I need to turn Xion into a porcelain doll and have her face wash away in the rain AHAHAHAAHAHA... HAHA... ha...

I mean, hi.