Welcome To The Village

[number_2]

Who: Everyone who was signed-up for the excursion
What: The Village December Excursion
When: Dec 1st - Dec 23rd
Where: The Village
Warnings: Involuntary capture and confinement including immobilization and restraints, violence, injury, maiming, possibility of death, torture, coercion, gaslighting, mind control, drugging, scientific experiments, and extremely inaccurate depictions of mental health facilities/hospitals, among other potentially triggering themes. Please mark all threads appropriately.




"Good morning, good morning, good morning!" A voice that sounds very similar to Friday's chirps over a loudspeaker outside your character's home. Yes, their home.

Overnight, all the passengers who signed up for this excursion have been transported to their very own personal cottages. They will awake in a bed that is familiar to them. While this home of theirs does not necessarily have to resemble the place they were born or raised, it will be a perfect replica of a place they truly thought of as their home, down to the most minute details.

The cottages are self-contained, the size of a large studio apartment so, in some cases, they may only resemble the bedroom and living room of a person's home with a shrunken-down kitchenette and bathroom adjoined. But the heirlooms of their past are here. A favorite doll? A treasured family portrait? Trinkets you have long forgotten about? All of them will be here, somehow. (All except for weapons, that is.) They are indistinguishable from the real item, down to the molecule.

After that wake-up call, the voice continues on to express that the weather will be warm and sunny, with no rain forecasted. A brass band concert is announced, to start at noon on the lawn next to the living chess set. And once that bit of news is wrapped up, lively marching band music will begin to play. And it will continue to play. All day. From every speaker...including the ones hidden in their home.

Welcome to Your Village

It only gets stranger from here. Characters may be dismayed to find that they are without any of their original clothes or belongings. They awake in conservative button-up pajamas. The closet in their home is full of the latest Village Fashion to choose from. Everything is The Village label brand, including the tin cans of food that stock the kitchen and any of the groceries you could get at the General Store.

Your ship phone rings. When you answer it, you will be greeted, once again, by the voice of Friday. "Your number, please? Of course, you have a number. Look at your badge." If they look down at their chest, they will discover a small round number badge has been pinned to their pajamas. Was that there before? It bears the symbol of a Penny-farthing Bicycle, with a number in the spokes. This is their number.

"No names here," the voice of Friday chides, "Only numbers. Number 2 would like a word with you at the Green Dome. He requests you come for breakfast. Thank you!" Before they can protest further, the line goes dead.


Some Notes:

No matter how many times your character tries to take off and disregard their number badge, they will always find it re-attached to their clothes again the moment they look away and look back.

Your characters still have their phones but now they can only make calls instead of sending texts. They also do not take or store photographs anymore.

If your character destroys or damages anything in their home, or in The Village it will instantly repair the way things used to on the Serena Eterna.

The noise from the speakers can be muffled by covering it with pillows or other creative items, but cannot be stopped entirely. (Sorry Phil)

Comments

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion almost didn't go, partly because it didn't occur to them to ask anyone who's been here longer than they have for directions and partly because they got sidetracked by Pratt. They're one of the last ones through the doors. Dubiously, they pick an arbitrary chair and sit in it. They can't eat any of the food in front of them but the smell is inoffensive.

// How did you get such extensive information about us?

Between their conversation with Pratt earlier and the questions Karkat just shouted at Number 2, customised lodgings appear to be the norm rather than the exception.

[number_2]

"That would be telling, I'm afraid. But, I trust the home we created for you was to your liking? If you have any complaints I'll send maintenance over to attend them."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

It's the way Bastion's shoulders ratchet up that conveys their tension, since their faceplate doesn't have the articulation for it. It doesn't seem very likely that someone who can pull a perfect recreation of that old building out of their past right down to the crumpled flyers for Computerwelt Von Ritgen with coupons that expired in 2052 would have overlooked a basic amenity.

// There's no electricity. Send an electrician, please.

[number_2]

"Of course Number 128. Just a moment, please." He reaches forward and picks up the green phone on his desk.

"Hello, maintenance? Yes, Number 2 here. There seems to have been a bit of an oversight. Could you send a mechanic 'round to Number 128? Yes, missing electricity. Yes. Good. Thank you." He sets the phone back down on the desk and smiles.

"There we are. It will be fixed by the time we finish breakfast. No trouble at all."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// Thanks. Their audio tone comes out neutral, their desire to respond politely balanced against the fact that this human is confusing and they don't trust him.

// Why 128? It's a round number in binary and hexadecimal, but that has nothing to do with them personally.

[number_2]

"Why not?"

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion makes a little discontented hum in audio. It's not the first time they've been arbitrarily numbered, but combining it with that cordial attitude is confusing and suspicious. Especially coming from a human, since they've noticed a pattern of humans preferring to refer to them by their dictionary-word model name over their model number.

// Are there 128+ people here?

[number_2]

"Oh, I couldn't say for sure if there are. But I think it suits you well enough."