Intro Log

[progressmods]

Who: Everyone!
What: Your first magical day
Where: Progress City Tranport Center
When: Right now
Warnings: None planned!



[Today you found a ticket to a theme park. It seems relatively normal, except that it reads: Lifetime Parkhopper Pass to Progress City. ”The Most Magical Pocket Dimension in the Multiverse!” This is not a theme park you have ever heard of, if you live in a world where theme parks are of the norm.

For some reason you’re drawn to the ticket. There’s something… magical in this piece of paper, and you can practically hear it calling out to you, and you feel compelled to pick it up. It’s strange, but it’s a piece of paper, what’s the worst that could happen?

However, the moment you pick it up, you feel yourself being pulled. There is nothing pulling you but there is an overwhelming sensation that something is pulling you by the chest into the ground. You don’t have time to process what’s going on before you suddenly fall over, the strange feeling going away the moment you hit the ground.

It takes a few moments for you to regain your bearings, but as you look up you are suddenly hit with the fact that, wherever you were before, you certainly aren’t there anymore. It appears to be a transport station of some sort, and a very sleek and new one at that. Monorails pass by the station every couple of minutes, with small, slower moving vehicles consistently move in and out of the center.

The innermost wall, right behind where you stand, is lined with portals. It appears that you came in through this portal, but if you try to go back the way you came in, you’ll find that you are unable to enter it, no matter how hard you try.

While the realization that you are now trapped in this strange place, you will soon find that you also have a strange band strapped to your dominant wrist. No matter how hard you try to take it off, it seems like it’s stuck on there.

At least you’re not alone, along with a bunch of other people who arrived around the same time you did, there are humanoid people who seemed to be intrigued by your arrival. They’re all generally nice, but get confused if you ask them why you’re here and why you can’t leave. They will, however, happily tell you the name of the place you’re in if you ask:

Progress City.]

Comments

[spazzed]

( oh. one of those. okay.

he can do this. )

Have I seen you in anything?

( this. this is going to be a fun game. for sure. )

[itsthecount]

Anything by renowned playwrite, Al Funcoot, of course! Especially his masterpiece, The Marvelous Marriage.

[spazzed]

… Never heard of it. ( sorry, pal. )

Did you just say Funcoot? ( OF COURSE HE WOULD ZERO IN ON THE NAME. ) Is that even a real name?

[itsthecount]

Yes, of course I am! [whoops] He's an incredibly handsome and talented playwright, pleb.

[spazzed]

( squints.

squints some more.

squints so much his eyes might as well be shut. ) ... Uh huh.

( whatever you say, buddy. it seems like you're pretty convinced, so he isn't about to burst your bubble. )

[itsthecount]

You sound unconvinced.

[spazzed]

Maybe it's because I am? ( a little. he's a little unconvinced! )

[itsthecount]

Perhaps you should go find one of his plays, though I doubt this...cultural wasteland of a city will have anything.

[spazzed]

Well, what else has he done? ( he's trying to veer this conversation back toward the realm or something normal. though. when the infamous count olaf is being taken into … account —

that just might not happen. he looks around briefly, though, like he's trying to figure out if the guy is right about the culture or not. ) … I dunno, it seems pretty diverse. ( the boy tryna be optimistic, at least. )

[itsthecount]

It makes me want to gag. Not his plays. The city.

[He raises a unibrow. This boy clearly has a few screws loose.]

You have poor taste.

[spazzed]

( all of his screws are ( moderately ) in place, thank you! he just. maybe has a more open awareness thing going for him than you do, pal.

or maybe he just has other priorities to think about. none of which are about plays he's never heard of. ) I have great taste, thanks.

But that taste usually involves stuff like Three Musketeers. ( the candy bar. not the story of three men that band together to be inexplicably dashing and french all at once.

how that's even possible is anyone's guess. might be why he doesn't think of it. )

[itsthecount]

Ah, yes! The novel. Though I loathe books, I know that story well.

[no, it's...it's that story. he's decided.]

[spazzed]

( we are so. so.

s o s o r r y about him.

have a blink. ) There's a story about nougat? ( honestly he knows the story, probably the film sort because he's not much of a reader and there's no telling whether or not they were made to read it in school — but that isn't the point.

the point is nougat. )

[itsthecount]

...That is what the book is about, isn't it?

[however, despite him deciding on it being that story, he also loathes reading.]

[spazzed]

( well, u no. not everyone likes to read.

it's definitely an acquired taste. perhaps even skill. )

Sure, I guess. ( he gets the distinct feeling that they are sooo not talking about the same thing anymore. )

[itsthecount]

Of course! A classic tale. Of reading and such.

[listen, my dude, you're just stroking his ego with this conversation rn. he appreciates that.]

[spazzed]

( mister count sir.

honestly.

narration understands that you read into everything much more deeply than is warranted, especially if the stroking of an ego ends up happening — but how is that even relevant.

whatever. you do you. ) You sound like you … really know your stuff.

( he has nothing. )