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

[tadaishi]

[A few months ago, Tadashi would be unfortunately used to this kind of thing. Suddenly get abducted for a murdergame, then another game, then some final battle--wait, that wasn't an abduction, but he's ended up in a lot of strange places with little to no explanation.

But he's been home for a little bit, long enough that he doesn't wake up immediately expecting to see some run-down bedroom or hotel room around him. Long enough that picking up a strange ticket is somewhat worrying.

And still, his first thought is]

Again? Are you kidding me?

[After the initial shock, he's going to go investigate the monorail hub, to see if he can at least figure out where he is and maybe what's going on this time around.]

[seasonthree]

"Again?" Are you telling me that this sort of thing happens regularly?

[haha what the fuck]

[tadaishi]

Dunno about 'regularly', but it's happened to me more than enough times already.

[Sorry dude.]

[seasonthree]

...How many times.

[tadaishi]

Three, counting this one.

[greatwidesomewhere]

Again? What do you mean, 'again'?

[Here's a familiar face, Tadashi! Except, well, she doesn't look at you with any kind of recognition. Only the polite, if urgent, curiosity of someone who's just found themselves in a very new predicament.]

[tadaishi]

[Nice to see you again too, Belle.]

You know, the whole kidnapping people thing?

[greatwidesomewhere]

...No, sorry, I'm. Not sure what you mean.

[You ok bud?]

I've been kidnapped before, but never like this...and really that was my own choice. I wasn't...I wasn't spirited away like this.

[tadaishi]

[Are you okay?]

You... [That's not how kidnapping works, that's just...okay, voluntary kidnapping is a thing.] Wait, do you remember who I am?

[greatwidesomewhere]

[Belle looks...incredibly puzzled as she looks up at Tadashi, searching his face for any hint of familiarity, but...]

No, I'm sorry, I've never seen you before in my life.

[tadaishi]

Oh.

[That hurts a little bit, that she doesn't remember him. Or if this is a multiverse hub, could be a Belle who's never met him before.]

Well, uh...that's okay. Sorry for the confusion. Nice to meet you, then; I'm Tadashi.

[kindaruledatit]

Yeah! That's what I sa-

[Wendy, still wrapped up in her own frustration at yet another unwilling change of scenery, heard the complaining coming from over in this direction. And she turned as she spoke... She certainly didn't expect this.

Honestly, at least Tadashi was more in Wendy's good graces by this point.]

Oh hey, Tadashi! Sup? It's been a while.

[tadaishi]

[He's glad for that, and also glad to see someone familiar that also recognizes him.]

Wendy! It has, hasn't it? I didn't think we'd run into each other again already...you went back to Oregon, right?

[kindaruledatit]

Yeah! All the way back home. And you went back to... wherever it is you're from! Right? It's like San Francisco but not, right?

[Help her, it's been a while.]

[tadaishi]

California. You're close, it's San Fransokyo...'San Francisco' isn't wrong, it's just an old name. It was renamed after being rebuilt following an earthquake...sometime in the early 1900's.

[Way before he was born.

There's a random history fact for your day, Wendy.]

[kindaruledatit]

Ooohhh. Yeah, it's uh, still just San Francisco in my world. Sorry. Cool, though!

[Not even the strangest thing she's heard today.]

So, got any ideas about how we're getting out of here?

[tadaishi]

I wonder how different the two cities are, if yours was never renamed.

[Too bad he didn't think of this when everyone was together, he might have been able to go visit Wendy's version of the US. And possibly gotten stuck there. Hmm.]

Not yet. On the plus side, we're not crammed in a single building this time...maybe we can get back the way we came in.

[Indicating the portals.]

[lusito]

So how long do you think it will take before someone commits a murder here?

[... Hey Tadashi, guess who else is here.]

[tadaishi]

[That sentence tells him a lot--that this is the Joshua he knows, the one who remembers what's happened in the last year...and who apparently has the same thoughts about the situation Tadashi and Wendy do. Silver lining.

Josh doesn't get a hug for this reunion, but Tadashi is very happy to see him nonetheless.]

I'm hoping for 'never', but it's usually about two weeks before someone cracks. I thought the games had stopped...?

[lusito]

As did I. Then again, I suppose it's possible that there could be someone out there who took issue with how things went regardless.

[... But then, Joshua shrugs it off with a smile.]

On the bright side, it looks like we get to spend more of our quality time together here.

[tadaishi]

Of course, definitely a plus! I'd just rather spend the time somewhere that isn't...here. Even though it looks like we've got a whole lot more room in this place.

[Presumably those trains and...other things...go somewhere besides this hub, and hopefully they're rideable.]

[lusito]

Indeed. Shall we go and investigate our new surroundings, dear?

[spazzed]

( he's used to being in weird places. but it usually tends to be weird planets looking at weird aliens ( some of which are kind of cute, sometimes, but that's not important! ); so he hears again and he takes that to mean it's happened at least once before, which means this guy is used to being displaced without a whole lot of informed consent.

he doesn't approach him initially, waiting at least until he's making his way around the hub and sliding up all nonchalant-like with his hands in his pockets, mouth pulled to the side. )

Do you know where we are? 'Cause I don't. ( nice conversation-starter there lance. this is why you're not allowed to talk during diplomatic stuff. )

[tadaishi]

[Ah, someone new! Unfamiliar, whichever. They're all technically new here, just some of them know each other.]

'Progress City' Some sort of pocket dimension...that's all I know, and that's only because it's on the ticket.

[He pulls the ticket that brought him here earlier out of his pants pocket, waving it a little at Lance.]

[spazzed]

( hey, at least you've got that going for you, buddy. he hasn't found a single soul he's familiar with yet. maybe, eventually.

he laughs a little at the waving of the ticket, because at least he's read that much even though it's left him with even more questions that he'd had initially; he tugs out his own, frowning at it, like it might somehow give up some of its secrets if he keeps staring.

it isn't going to happen, lance. save yourself the headache before it starts. ) Yeah, I read that much, at least. Pocket dimension. ( his frown turns into something a little more comical, a little more exaggerated — and one might actually say cartoonish.

ha. ) The heck does that even mean? ( if hunk were here he might wonder if it's like a dimensional calzone separated from the rest of. well. everything. or something. but hunk isn't here, and that joke has to be made in smalltext. )