EARTH 24*(&A$%7HGKPOI

[capemods]

WHO: All transdimensional imPorts.
WHERE: The town of Capers.
WHEN: October 24th, noon, to October 29th, noon.
WARNINGS: Probably violence, but alert me if something else evolves and I can update this.
SUMMARY: Lachesis pulls a group of Cityverse imPorts into another world adventure -- here be the wilds of the west, and dinosaurs!
FORMAT: As you please!



You arrive at the town of Capers from one split second to the next -- from the asphalt and concrete of the City to the dusty and earthen dirt of this wildwood space. The sun is hot and the sky is streaked with thin clouds. The landscape of the town is sparse, utilitarian; you'll find saloons and dance halls, quarries and fenced corrals, the local gaol and the hanging scaffold, the shops and medical facilities (barbershop included). In fact, the logwood architecture of the buildings direct into those four major categories, and the structure of the town forms something circular, much like a compass. You might have been ported in at any of these places, as Lachesis would have delivered you at random.

The sun in the sky burns a golden yellow, peering down at you like some celestial eyeball. Almost feels like it's watching you.

You're wearing your clothes and you've got your communicator on you, but that's about it. You can still contact the Network, but you cannot leave this world. And since you look like such an outsider, it takes only a few moments for you to be ushered by local Samaritans to the Capers Town Hall. There, in his white suit and black belt, stands Mayor Eisner -- and he greets you warmly. He tells you that Capers is used to extradimensional pioneers, and he's happy to invite you into his town. But for a town like his to survive at this unilateral crossroads, certain customs must be observed -- you understand, there's a method of expectation that enables order. You might catch glimpses of other imPorts filing in, being escorted by the kindly souls they came across. Mayor Eisner asks you your name and your favorite color. He asks you if you're a spiritual individual, or more secular. He asks you about the first animal that comes into your mind.

Then he ponders your face for a moment.

Then, with a strong and genuine pat on your shoulder, he tells you who you are, in his town of Capers.

You are free to reject or accept the role, but that all comes with respective consequences.

Welcome to Capers, hero.

Comments

[guestlectures]

Alana made a face.

This was more of a reaction to the drink she'd just downed that anything Chilton had said.

"I'm-" Oh god, that was strong. "Personally I'm more comfortable with dinosaurs than super powers." Dinosaurs had existed, at least. It was documented science. Watching someone walk through a closed door, on the other hand, had no basis in science that she could understand.

[slightlyoffchilt]

"Careful, now," he said, watching her expression in action with the unrelenting drink. "Perhaps you ought to take it easy?" Pretty hypocritical words, coming from the man who had so easily downed shots past his own recorded limit.

Nevertheless, he mulled against his brew, scowling only slightly less.

"Have you seen many more imPorts? I'm cautious of our time spent here, of the roles thrust upon us -- it seems more like an exercise than anything else," he said. It was a wet admittance, something wrenched from the depth of his heart.

[guestlectures]

Wrinkling her nose, she considered the rest of her glass. After the initial kick, it wasn't completely abhorrent. And no. She wasn't taking any advice on drinking from the man who was currently marinading himself at the bar.

"There are a few of us here, all over the town." She took another drink, paused again to let it go down. "What I wouldn't like to say to the Mayor and the way he assigns jobs."

[slightlyoffchilt]

"But will you?" He found himself interested in her hypothetical, the idea of someone standing up (anyone, though preferably not himself) and providing some cogent counterargument to the mayor of Capers. Chilton liked the idea of Alana doing such, in case it gruesomely backfired -- after all, the mayor had been fairly clear in outlining why he designated roles to incoming individuals.

"Maybe you ought to," he said, lightly, his tongue licking around the edge of his glass as he watched Alana. "The heroic thing to do, isn't it? Offer a different perspective?"

[guestlectures]

"Trust me, some of the others here have already given me some ideas for what to pass on." Some of it nearly unrepeatable in polite company. Another sip.

"The problem is this town seem to be incapable to accepting that anyone wouldn't want to follow the mayor."

[slightlyoffchilt]

"Well," he said, grimacing. "How bad can it be? Surely no worse than the humiliation already endured -- for some of us."

Chilton glanced over at Alana, scouring her face for any sign of returned aggression. He knew his envy wasn't particularly subtle, but he wasn't particularly sober either. Doctor Bloom was resoundingly compassionate -- one of those types -- and he figured he could slip in a few oilslick punches before she started calling him on his bull.

After all! He was a man riled with trauma. She'd understand.

"An entire, insular society that simply accepts their authority. Do you think it's a mass neurosis? Or just something in the water?"

[guestlectures]

Any aggression expressed, Alana presumed, was being directed at the town. It would have been irrational to blame or be hostile towards other ImPorts who were in similar situations.

"I'm worried that it'll turn violent. At the moment it's just isolated cases of ostracising the ImPort who isn't playing their role-" But she wasn't sure it would stay that peaceful for long.

"It's happened before. An insulated group led by a charismatic leader-" It seemed a logical enough explanation.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Chilton shrugged, mulling in his own self-pity. While the scenario that Alana proposed was an interesting type, Chilton found himself oddly disengaged -- perhaps, because, his own identity had been compromised. Under normal circumstances, he'd have loved to wriggle inside the mind of a charismatic cultish leader -- so few were sampled back home. Material was so sparse.

"If our alleged superpowers still work -- and don't they? Perhaps we could maintain some aggressive front. Perhaps we could, ah, engage civil disobedience."

Chilton wasn't precisely a rebel, and the words felt weird in his mouth.

[guestlectures]

Snort. "I've yet to discover that I can shoot lasers from my eyes, you?"

It was a point of concern, actually. Apparently she'd acquired some sort of powers, but as of yet she'd found no indication of what they might be.