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

[number_2]

The door opens and they are met by the butler who ushers them in wordlessly through the double doors and past, to Number 2's chamber where he is sitting cross-legged in his chair just as he was the first day they saw him.

"Come in! Come in! I was just about to have tea. Will you join me?"

[ossie_oswald]

"Our dear Number Two! What fortuitous timing- thank you, thank you, if you don't mind-"

Ossie hands his coat to the Butler and makes his way in, already beaming.

"Far more pleasant in here without all of that excessive company- wouldn't you say, Giles?"

[ring_for_giles]

"Exceedingly so" Giles agrees, and if he's fallen back into old habits of keeping one step behind and to the side of Ossie, that's neither here nor there. Just be glad there isn't a 'sir' tacked on there as well

Ossie is the charmer of the two of them after all.

[number_2]

"I have to agree. Not to be too hard on my other guests, but they really do lack for manners. I'm in the process of correcting that." Not ominous at all.

The butler returns with a tea cart laden with a pot of Earl Grey, lemon wedges, sugar and cream, and scones on the side with jam.

"Ah, here we are. Please, help yourselves to a scone. They're fresh." He leads the way by reaching for one, himself.

"Now, I understand you have a request to make of me?"

[ossie_oswald]

Ossie claps his hands in front of him in delight, immediately falling back in to old routines with the serving and distributing of tea and such. Is it odd that breaking bread with the likes of Number 2 feels comfortable? It shouldn't, and he knows it. He got good at navigating the Master, but complacency is death.

"Only a very minor one, of course, we've found this place just to our liking so far," and of course he already knows. Probably exactly what he's about to ask, too. No matter, all chipper smiles and charm.

"More of a small administrative request. Would it be possible to, er, alter our accommodations, such that I would be living with our dear Number 242, as it were? No need for any remodelling, no, nothing strenuous, just permission, sir."

He's not expecting it to come for free, but you don't lead with what you're willing to do for it, just in case he's feeling especially magnanimous.

"You know- these scones are just like how I remember our cook making them when I was growing up. Just the perfect crumb to them, wot."

[number_2]

"Thank you for the compliment. My butler makes them just so. He's a dream. I couldn't function without him. Jack of all trades, that man. Well, almost. No good at singing, I'm afraid." Who would know? He's never been heard to speak.

"Let me get this right? You wish to reside as a couple?" Number 2 asks as if he's trying to clarify. He did already know, of course. He's had some time to consider it.

"That sort of thing is usually reserved for married couples, you know?"

[ossie_oswald]

Ossie gives him a politely confused expression, like a little squint to his smile.

"Oh!" he says suddenly, a hand going to his chest, "so silly of me, of course, I do often forget to explain this to those... less magically inclined. Mea Culpa. By the standards of our people, we are. Signed a magic agreement to share everything we own, written into the very weave of fate itself, wot. I am so terribly sorry for not making that clearer. Must have been dreadfully confusing for you, ey wot?"

[number_2]

Number 2's eyes go a little colder. "I understand the rules of your world are different, but we are in my world now. We go by my rules. Is that understood?" He pauses to take a dramatic sip of tea.

"We have plenty of religious figures here. Any one of them could do the ceremony. Since you are already as good as, I see no reason why this would be a problem for you. Just a formality, you see."

[ossie_oswald]

He doesn't flinch.

"And of course, being as magnanimous and gracious as you are, you'd allow me to make a few simple requests, would you not?"

[number_2]

"That does depend on what the request is, but I see no reason not to hear what they are."

[ossie_oswald]

"Hm?" Ossie asks, adding- "oh- I can't imagine they'd be very taxing, of course, mostly to do with the catering and flowers and such- but I suppose- mm," he looks thoughtful for a moment.

"No, no, I suppose it wouldn't be within the... capacity for this place to provide. So sorry, I was thinking of what the Cottage back home is able to achieve. Dash the whole idea, wot, wouldn't want to overtax anything."

[number_2]

"If that's what you've decided," says Number 2 with finality. "It's a shame I couldn't help you more. But should you change your minds, you both know where to find me, don't you?"

[ossie_oswald]

Drat. Didn't take the bait. It was a risky gambit to begin with, but that's alright. Rome wasn't built in a day and the Master wasn't won over in an hour.

"Just as you know where to find us, mm?" Ossie smiles, standing himself up from the table before he can be dismissed, "I suppose I'll be seeing you, then?"

[number_2]

"Yes." He stands too, because that's polite. "I'll be seeing you."

[ossie_oswald]

"Not if I see you first!"

God this guy fucking sucks, Ossie's out.