⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 1st - 7th, 2017
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: Memories begin returning to the displaced as the fall gets chillier. How the hell did we end up here, again? Also, apparently, the fair is in town.
Warnings: Individually marked!

PORTLAND BY NIGHT↴ Memory regains will come into effect at the beginning of October, to whatever degree you've decided upon, and may be regained at whatever pace you desire from then on. For those with their full carnival memories, it will be like waking up in the body of someone else - for those with half and half, it will be like rapidly recalling sets of memories from a totally different life. Those with full amnesia will simply feel as if this is how it's always been. Unfortunately for you, memories aren't the only thing you have to deal with. The supernatural community of Portland is bustling all of a sudden - could your presence and these events somehow be related? ► THE OUTER CIRCLE: As of the start of the month, the Portland Circle of Enlightenment will find itself starting to get swarmed with members from other chapters. Most notably, it would seem that a small cabal of top mages from the North American Enlightenment Council will be making their home in Portland's HQ. For anyone but the highest of ranks, the purpose behind their visit will be unclear, but it seems like something is definitely up on a metaphysical level. The Circle will be buzzing with rumours of unique planar activity and threatening omens. It seems that it all started with an unusual flare of activity in the planetary ley-lines, starting approximately a week ago. However, even if you would usually be the type to keep tabs on such things, you will find that you oddly have no memory of observing this phenomenon yourself. ► THE ANIMAL FAIR: Good news, the fair is in town! Or, at least, it would be good news... if this was a regular fair. Instead, what's being observed is a bunch of nearly identical flyers, spread all around Portland - each of which bears only the words "THE ANIMAL FAIR", a seemingly bloody paw-print of unknown origin, and the directions to a vague forested location outside of the city. It's dated for October 7th, and all instances of its posting having been discovered with a scattering of rose petals, crow feathers, and pre-burnt matches laying on the ground around them. Most are taking this to be some kind of bizarre viral marketing campaign, but others may know better. ► THE EARTH SPIRIT: If you have connections to The Pack or any of its many variations, you'll probably hear whispers of something very odd that occurred last week - according to the elders, it sounds as if the Earth Spirit, the magical and spiritual center of the planet, has suddenly taken a wound. It's not clear why or how, but there is a fair bit of concern among spiritual types, as it is werebeast belief and nebulous magical fact that the magical forces within the earth are the source of all magic here, as well as the source of life. While many werebeasts claim to have felt the Spirit succumb, you strangely have no memory of such an event occurring. Though things do feel strange, if you know how to tap into the Spirit yourself. ► THE WAR CRY: Though Anath's rain of terror across North America lasted for the first fifteen years or so of the Severing, most independent demons have had enough time to start taking the arch-demon's relative inactivity for granted. For that first while, the warrior queen had seemed determine to rebuild an army on earth by forcing her scattered brethren into service - only for her to gradually settle down in a fortress somewhere in Texas and dig in her heels. Of course, this was too good to last - it sounds as if she and her demonic legion have begun tearing their way up the west coast, their goals remaining a mystery. Their destination, however, is almost certainly Portland.

Comments

Sora | Dorm Room | Closed to Joker, Snake, and Tamaki

[destiny_key]

Sora woke up on the 1st of October feeling very... odd. Looking around, the room seemed the same, and he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. He shuffled through his memories, but nothing weird had happened the night before. Maybe it was just the idea that Halloween was right around the corner?

It took him a moment to realize what the problem is.

He skipped classes that day, trying to figure out what all these new memories in his head were supposed to mean. It didn't make sense, and he didn't think he could handle trying to stuff more information into his already full head. Instead, he's lying in bed for the day, lost in his thoughts. It's likely he's still there when anyone comes back to the room.

It's SO WEIRD thinking about this guy talking normally.

[ophidiarex]

It was a while before Sean returned to the dorm. He had a lot on his mind, as well, though he attributed his own memories to a dream more than anything else. For that reason, he had gone to his first class on time, hoping that the memories faded, as knowledge from dreams so often does.

Unfortunately, no such luck was had. The memories got worse, and he ended up slipping out the back of the room and returning to the room he shares with Sora and their pets, expecting to be alone, or at least for only the ghost to be there. That Sora hadn't headed to class was... worrying at best.

"Are you ok?" his voice was quiet, but firm as he approached his roommate. "Need anything?" He slipped past Sora to start his coffeepot going. They probably both need it.

lmao

[destiny_key]

He hadn't expected Sean to come back to their room so soon. They don't share any classes, and his roommate usually left before Sora in the mornings anyway, so he hadn't expected to be missed so soon. Not that he minded; it was nice to be missed, sometimes, but right now he just wanted to clear his head.

"No, I'm okay," Sora answers raspily, sitting up slowly and putting his head in his hands. The memories were getting more and more vivid, but the volume of them had slowed at least. "I just... It's been weird."

[ophidiarex]

Weird day all around, sounds like. Sean pauses as he puts (cheap) grounds in the pot. "Weird how?" His own dreams are giving him a bit of an ache in the head, but it seems like Sora's got it worse. "Headache or something?"

Apparently the ghost is out, because the grounds stay in his hands, despite the quiver they make as he looks at Sora. The dreams... Sora was in them. Sora bit him in them. Hurriedly he puts the filter in the machine and goes to rub his neck. It's fine. He's not... he's not been attacked. Certainly not by his roommate. It was just a dream... right?

[destiny_key]

"Yeah, kinda..."

Sora wonders, not for the first time, how much Sean knows about him and his visions. He's definitely had them in front of him before, but did his roommate just think he was clumsy? Or had some kind of mental heath problem? He'd walked in on Sora talking to Joker and Tamaki before, too. He wonders how well Sean would take the supernatural goings-on.

"I... remembered something, I guess."

[ophidiarex]

Probably better than Sora would expect, given all that Sean is. Of course, Sora doesn't know about that, though the others probably do.

As he adds water to the machine (straight from a water bottle, because ain't no one got time to go to the bathroom for water), he thinks. "Something... embarrassing?" It's the only thing Sean can think of that would hold up Sora so badly. Unless...

Unless he had a dream. Like Sean's dream, of a second life under a different name.

[destiny_key]

"No, not really," Sora answers slowly. "It was like... a dream. Like a different life, almost. Like a pretend memory."

He's not really sure how to describe it. It was like having a vision, but in reverse, like he was seeing something that already happened instead of something that was yet to come. Sora runs a hand through his messy hair and looks around the room a bit. It's barely noon, and he's slept all morning, but he's still tired.

[puddingemote]

Sora skipping classes means the room isn't empty, but Sora ignoring him to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling isn't particularly satisfying to Tamaki. He did some of his normal haunting things, like knocking some books off the desk, making the lights flicker, and slamming the door, but when that still isn't working, he decides to change tactics.

He comes over to sit on Sora's bed, staring at him. He reaches out to poke him, but he still can't make physical contact with people, so it just makes Sora's arm feel a little chill on that spot.

"Are you sick?"

[destiny_key]

Tamaki is being more annoying than usual. Normally, this doesn't get to Sora, as he usually finds his attempts at haunting hilarious, but today they're just giving him a headache. When the lights start to flicker, he groans and tries to bury his head under his pillow. If there was ever a time to exorcise this ghost, it was now, but unfortunately Sora can't even tell him to go away.

He feels a chill on his arm, and he peeks out from under the pillow to look at Tamaki.

"No... Yes? I... don't think so. No."

It's a pretty piss poor answer, but he's not really physically ill. He just feels like trash.

[puddingemote]

At least he's not ignoring Tamaki anymore.

"If you're sick, you should go to the doctor. Or you'll die."

He guesses if something were actually seriously wrong with Sora, Joker would probably do something. The angel has been hanging pretty close, besides running out for groceries. Tamaki's a little jealous.

[destiny_key]

"I'm not gonna die. It's not that kind of sick."

Sora wonders, briefly, if Tamaki died because he was sick. It would make sense.

"It's just my head."

[puddingemote]

Tamaki wonders.

"So like, a headache? Migraine?"

Tamaki glances around the room, but it's already pretty dark in here; other than when he flickered the lights earlier, everything's off and the curtain is closed. It's pretty quiet, too, other than some people playing video games in the room next door.

Tamaki gets up and floats straight through Sora's bed and through the wall.

[destiny_key]

"Mmm, yeah. Kinda. I guess."

The memories didn't cause the headache, but he definitely has a headache now because of them. He's about to tell Tamaki as such before he goes and disappears through the wall. Sora shudders a bit at the cold of the ghost, but otherwise just stares at the wall where he left.

Well, bye, then, he thinks, lying back down. At least maybe he could rest now.

[pipers_son]

To the surprise of no one- which basically means Tamaki and obviously Sora himself right now- Joker doesn't stray from his charge's side once. Instead, he goes to get some things at the nearest cheap grocery store. Because he's trying to set a Good Example (tm) where it concerns the young boy, he even pays.

That would explain the presence of some of Sora's favorite soup- Joker knows him well now- and some orange juice being set down by his bed. Carefully, the angel goes to check his temperature. "How we feelin'?" he asks lightly.

[destiny_key]

Sora leans into the hand, despite the fact that he doesn't really feel warm. In fact, physically he's fine, really. His head is where the problem is.

But, surely he can tell Joker the problem? If anyone knows what's going on, it's probably the angel, and if not, he'll at least be sympathetic. Right? No one understands him better than Joker.

"'M fine," Sora sighs in answer. Slowly, he sits up, and leans into Joker's side. "Head hurts a little."

He pauses slightly before continuing.

"Been having weird visions."

[pipers_son]

Not a fever.... Then... Joker frowns a little as Sora leans against him, wrapping one arm around him and squeezing his shoulder lightly. Headache- then he should have brought in water instead of juice, along with some painkillers.

With that said, it's almost unsurprising to hear the cause, and he clicks his tongue a little sympathetically. Always the bloody visions...

"What've they been about? I can check on 'em, if ya like." Anything that keeps Sora from getting into trouble, or making himself feel wore if those visions have gotten him into this kind of state.

[destiny_key]

He feels a little better, now, or at least better than he did earlier. Maybe talking about it would help. He feels so confused and exhausted, and he wants to just fall asleep and not talk about it like he did when he was little.

Somehow, he doesn't think Joker would let him get away with that anymore.

"They're... weird," Sora repeats tiredly. "It's like... visions, in reverse. Like I'm seeing something that already happened. More like memories, but I've never seen them before."

[pipers_son]

Visions in revere? "That's new," he says, stating the obvious as he frowns. Still, in the end, it's just something to say as he looks off at a wall in thought. Memories but he's never seen them before.... Hm.

....Oh. Mouth twisting a bit, he looks back down to Sora.

"Do ya think ya might be gettin' someone else's memories?" It's not completely unheard of, after all, for psychic abilities to be a bit nebulous. The mind is a complicated thing.

[destiny_key]

"Someone else's memories?"

Sora thinks about it, but it's hard to imagine. It had felt like him, in those memories. At a carnival, on an island, in a town that looked familiar but not at all, it still felt like his own memories, no matter how displaced from real life they were.

"No," he says after a time, shaking his head slowly. "I think they were me, somehow. But also not."

SURPRISE rin. Open to roomies of course!

[flashover]

Halloween! IT WAS HALLOWEEN SEASON! It was Rin's most favorite holiday, what with all the parties and candy and costumes... He usually just went as himself (being a half demon had it's perks) but he also liked to make his own costumes... And Sora, his new bestest best friend from intro biology, was gonna participate with him this year if it killed them all. GROUP COSTUMES.

Now, Rin had been over to Sora's dorm before -- and Sora had been to Rin's house -- but Rin had never met his roommates. Sora knew what Rin was, what he looked like, but... well, Rin wasn't going to risk scaring anyone else. He may be only half demon, but the half genes he got? Well, they all went to appearance.

KNOCK KNOCK.

"SORAAAAAA. You weren't in class today!! I brought notes! Like, not from me, either! I got em from that girl that actually takes notes!"

[destiny_key]

It's the end of the day, and Sora had thus far managed to avoid loud noises and bright lights that aggravated his headache until the banging at the door. He wonders if this is what a hangover feels like, and resolves to never get drunk ever.

The door knocks again, along with Rin shouting at him from the hallway. Of course. He debates leaving Rin out there until he went away, but he'd probably just stay and annoy the heck out of the neighbors until someone let him in. And he'd gone through the trouble of getting Sora the notes. He'd feel bad leaving him out there.

Sora groans and sits up, before padding over to the door and opening it, squinting at the bright fluorescent lights in the hallway.

"...Hi."

[flashover]

Yeah, Rin doesn't exactly do the whole "go away when ignored" thing. He'd just fly into the window, probably, and plaster himself against it until Sora gave in.

Or the window broke, one.

When Sora opens the door, Rin's smile fades and he lets out a low whistle.

"Dude. You look awful," he says, sidling into the room like he owns the place. "Did you get mad wasted without me last night or something? Dude! I told you to call me!"

With a sulky frown, Rin hands over some photocopied notes, stapled together.

[destiny_key]

Sora takes the notes, but doesn't look at them. He doesn't know how much reading he can handle right now, honestly. They instead get set on the desk to maybe peruse later.

"You know I don't drink," Sora answers tiredly. "It's gross. And even if I wanted to, you know Joker wouldn't let me."

He follows Rin further into the room and sits back down on the bed, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes in an attempt to rid himself of the headache.

[flashover]

"Oh, right," Rin says, rolling his eyes a bit. "Your 'guardian angel'," he adds, making airquotes with his fingers. "Mom thinks the angels are so dumb... Still trying to do their jobs even though Heaven doesn't give a crap about 'em. I ain't got nothin' against 'em myself."

Most of the angels he'd run across were... actually fairly chill. With some exceptions, of course.

"..... Soooo... if it wasn't a mad bender, what's wrong? You getting sick?" Rin sits on the edge of Sora's bed, looking a bit concerned. "Do you need some tylenol or something? I can make a drug store run!"

[destiny_key]

Sora looks up and actually glares at Rin for the guardian angel statement. What's so hard to believe that Joker cares about him? It seems like he's the only one who does, sometimes.

But then he sighs tiredly and lies back down, crossing an arm over his head. He doesn't have the energy to deal with this right now.

"...You know I see stuff sometimes, right?" Sora begins slowly. "Been seeing a lot of weird stuff lately. It's making my head hurt."