achates | [DAY 0] TDM.

[DAY 0] TDM.

Error in final launch sequence:
Failed to execute MI command:
target remote localhost: 01633
Error message from debugger back end:
Cannot access memory at address 𝟹͚̽𝚡̰̍̂𝟸̠̯̘ͭͧ𝚌̭͉̺͖ͥ𝟿̳̰̒̇ͅ𝟷̦ͣ̉͌̅𝚋͓͎̈̒̀𝟻ͭ̌͂𝟷ͩ̓𝟾̦
Failed to execute MI command:
target remote localhost: 01633
Error message from debugger back end:
Cannot access memory at address 𝟹̖͇͕̃𝚡͉̹̯͇̻̉̓̂𝟸͚̹͈͓̩͚̲̼͒̾𝚌̱̠͙̝̪͇̈̌̂̃̄ͭ𝟿̱̜̪͓̳̹ͤ̊̈́ͦͥ̑𝟷͖̱̝̀̒̇̂̄̈́̓̇ͅ𝚋̥̯͉̹͛͛̊ͤͦͩ𝟻̬̮̈́̋ͯ͛̉̐𝟷̋ͩ̔̔𝟾̼
Waiting for debugger connection...
Debugger connected
Debugger connection lost.
Waiting for debugger connection...
Debugger connected
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Debugger connection lost.
Shutting down...
Rebooting
Download in Progress:
File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:12:33.131
Rebooting
Launching Demon Summoning Program. . .

You open your eyes to the end of the world, but you do not see it.

Instead what rouses you is screaming and crying, blood and tears: all around you are signs of life. Inside the overturned train, people begin to awaken, sprawled on the ground as if thrown violently from their seats, broken bones and bleeding wounds struggling to rise from the carpet of shattered glass from the windows at their feet. Emerging from the wreck, characters will find themselves at the edge of a dense forest, a towering stone wall at their backs. Bright eyes peer out from the shadows of the foliage, more and more blinking into view like stars in a darkening sky, but despite being drawn to the scent of blood that hangs heavy in the air, nothing steps out of the forest. Not yet.

None of the passengers can recall what happened, what they were doing on a train, where it was going- there's more they can't remember, but overshadowing the gaps of memory are things they have gained in return. A familiar item that is not theirs. A gemstone that feels lighter than it appears, as if hollow inside. And a device that wraps around their wrist (or rests on their head, or hangs around their neck, or however it presents itself to each character) that starts up on its own the moment the character turns their attention to it, as if waiting. Each character's COMP has a "navigator" selected at default, either "A☆L☆A" in bright neon orange, or "K5" in cool slate blue, although the presiding navigator can be freely switched between them.

Heya, boss! My name's Ala, your new navi!

You wanna know something really funny? Go ahead and touch the map on the corner of the screen to enlarge it. See all those little red dots? Those are demons out to kill you. Haha! You're surrounded!

Heya, boss! You can call me Keigo, your navigational AI.

If you touch the map on the corner of the screen, you can enlarge it and see the positions of all your allies. Looks like some of you are already heading out: see those little blue— oh. That one just disappeared. ... Try to stick together.

Along with providing a map with enemy/ally positions, the navigators will walk characters through the demon interaction, recruitment, and summoning processes, with advice varying between the two navigators (click to expand)

Just beat 'em up and force 'em to join! They can't say no if they're dead!

Nobody is immune to bribery, not even demons. What do you even have, though...? No matter what, don't let them get that life stone.

More demons incoming! Ooh, you're screwed. You'd better run! Don't worry, I won't tell.

Let's hide here. We'll wait here until that demon passes, then move!

Look, a body! Are they still alive? Wonder what's in their pockets...?

It's already too late to help. But better them being demon food than you.

Or, you could stay. There is nothing forcing anybody to leave the relative safety of the train. Those who stay behind will find the conductor's cabin empty, save for a small black cat perched on the headrest of the driver's seat that peers out with bright golden eyes at those who enter. Otherwise, there are no signs of a fight or struggle inside the cabin. Elsewhere, there is unclaimed luggage in the overhead compartments with an abundance of clothing and blankets, although characters will not find any of their own clothing except what they're already wearing. The dining cart is still stocked with enough food and beverage to last each passenger at least two days— maybe longer, if people keep leaving/dying... But at the same time, maybe shorter, considering the pervasive hunger that gnaws at the pits of everybody's stomachs, an emptiness that yearns to be filled by something... more.

As minutes stretch into hours, it becomes painfully clear that nobody is coming to help. Everybody only has each other, this town, its inhabitants. The forest is dark and unforgiving, near impossible to navigate even with a map. Strange creatures jump out from the shadows, eyes bright, mouths salivating, hungry. Strong hands claw through the dirt underfoot to grab at people's feet, pulling themselves up, mouths wide open, hungry. Sharp talons swoop down from the skies above, snatching characters up into the air, crushing skulls and snapping spines. Hungry. The demons here seem delighted to see such a feast wandering right into their home; those who are stopped for attempted conversation express surprise that characters are able to see them, but ultimately the hunger wins, and hunger does not listen to reason.

Casualties are inevitable. Blood mist permeates the air, and follows even as characters break out of the forest and across town, all the way to the fraying end of the world. Out in the open, however, the sun rays beat down bright and harsh, and those hungry eyes shy away from the sunlight to remain in the shadows, inside husks of buildings and thickets of overgrown fields. Characters will be able to find refuge in the greenhouse and the church, and some of the standing houses are truly vacant (as opposed to "surprise! there's actually a demon inside!" vacant); the only eyes that follow you are those of photographs hung crooked on the walls, of familiar strangers and forgotten friends. Look, there's a picture of you too.

Other locations require more caution to explore:

The sound of crying can be heard from the upper stories of the school building, thin wails echoing up and down the deserted halls, and human-like shadows peer out from the broken, unboarded windows, as if watching. A barricade inside the front doors makes it difficult to enter from the main entrance, and with most of the windows boarded up, the hallways inside remain dark even during the day. The smell of rot is prominent, heavy and cloying, especially in the auditorium-become-mausoleum that is littered with crushed bones, thin and brittle, every last scrap of flesh already nibbled away. A flock of demons crowd around outside principal's office, where a blizzard blows through the entire hallway, rendering visibility near zero and temperatures below that.

The hospital is also deathly cold, breath visible in puffs of mist that sometimes form into screaming faces, and when all is still and quiet, you look up and see yourself. Shadows form into mirror images of the characters who enter the hospital, silently approaching others and attacking once the person's guard is down. If a demon borrowing your face isn't bad enough, Phantoms go a step further and take the form of people who are close to your character: friends, family, foes. Exploring the hospital may or may not be worth the potential backstabbing, considering the fact that the supplies found are maybe not the most sterile, half the equipment is rusted or corroded, and a lot of the medicine is unlabeled tablets and capsules inside unlabeled bottles (essentially, take at your own risk). Moreover, hordes of all sorts of demon ghosts will bar characters' way down to the basement, gathering in massive numbers anytime somebody tries to descend. Electricity bounces around the top of the stairway down, while bright flames lick the bottom of the stairs; particularly unlucky characters may be hit with a confusion spell, liable to throw themselves headfirst down the stairs to be consumed by the waiting demons below.

Hauntingly beautiful music can be heard from within the concert hall, and listening to their song puts you fast asleep— possibly in the middle of the street if you're not careful— while those who manage to make it past the front doors are immediately frozen in a hunk of ice or electrocuted to a crisp before being kicked to the curb. The concert hall appears to be actively guarded, and it's clear that strangers are Not Welcome. Even the other demons keep clear of this building, drawn to the music but lingering far enough to not be overwhelmed. Characters may have an easier time of initiating conversations with demons from around town or inside the houses nearby the concert hall.

The crackle of electricity can be heard from inside the power plant's upper stories despite the blackout, and the entire building shakes from time to time, as if caught in a thunderstorm, or an earthquake. A slow drip... drip... drip... can be heard throughout the building, of amorphous demons clinging to the walls like mold and leaving puddles of caustic acid Everywhere. Anybody who enters the power plant's front entrance is met with a massive agglomerate of black Ooze that has expanded to fill the entire first floor from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, preventing anybody from going upstairs while it remains. Arms and legs poke out of the demon's body in places, desperately clawing and kicking, weaker, weaker. done.

OOC

Welcome to Day 0! What better meet-and-greet is there than everybody being tossed into the fray to fight for their lives? ('': For convenience, here are the game info, locations, and demon compendium pages; please use these as reference for what more can be found in the setting.

The characters' COMP will turn on only after they notice and focus on it. If they do NOT activate the COMP, they will not be able to see the demons or interact with them in any way other than being killed. Activating the COMP will allow characters to see demons and somewhat understand their language, with an added effect of allowing physical attacks to harm demons, and mitigating the damage taken from demons.

For characters who app and are accepted, please report demon recruitment here. Characters who are just tdming do not have to report. Recruited demons are inclined to listen to their summoner, but are not necessarily friendly at the beginning: if your character shows weakness, the demon may be just as likely to eat them as they are to protect them.

There will be no NPCs in this game other than the two navigators and some key demons. You're on your own for now!

This first event/tdm is open to the public, and can be used for test driving at any time after the game starts. I'll be keeping a pulse on threads for when characters have gotten their bearings and seem to have a general idea of how they want to proceed into the next day, and we'll go from there.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(ooc: Despite the canon title, this is a horror game. Character info & content warnings in journal.
(Between canon point and memory alteration, Yuri is behaving substantially less timid than usual. How quaint!)

wrong track
[Yuri ought to be panicking.

[Lightheaded. Ravenous. A cacophony of sound and broken glass, figures strewn throughout the car. She wants to find someone; can’t recall who. In the pocket of her blazer, cell phone nestled as usual, retrieved, hijacked by one voice or another—neither trustworthy, surely both listening. A switch; orange, blue, orange, blue, mocking; she contrasts both options thoroughly, fixated, differences in tone noted, memorized, clues in an ever-unraveling horror, blood roaring—

[She’s so entranced by the damn phone that she walks right into you. Typical teenager.]

Ah, I’m… sorry…

[An initial sputter, and then it trails—as if questioning the need for apology at all. The device blips; Keigo considers you an “ally.” It considers everyone in this train an ally.]

Are we… familiar?

carriage return
[There’s no need to run blindly into the fray. Yuri can later be found lingering in the train, whether haunting the cabin, sifting through luggage, or eyeing the dining cart. She has no interest in being the first to die; other people can pick through morsels beforehand, long before Yuri peels herself from the wall.

[Still, hunger gnaws. If you don’t catch her watching, she’ll be rummaging through the supplies herself. A luggage solid enough to kill a man is pulled aside, stocked; but this isn’t just a supply run. Yuri pilfers through the stores with intention. Looking for something....]

under the light (cw: violence, sexualization thereof)
(note: Location, and by extension the specific demon, is a wildcard. If you don’t have a preference, I’ll randomize it!)

[Anticipation snaps, one way or another. There’s no point in stagnation. Yuri has left the train, and every twitch of adrenaline has been building towards this moment: a demon, entangled with the young woman; in her hand, a knife, ornate patterns marred crimson—whose blood, lost in the motion. The gouges are relentless. COMP dropped nearby, buzzing furiously; something—friend, foe, worse—close, close, close.

[Would you like to interfere?]

[obligatory wildcard]
(Hit me up via journal PM for a custom starter! I don’t use Plurk.)

Edited (word repetition my beloathed (+obligatory wildcard)) 2024-08-29 20:41 (UTC)

[He interferes.

Not to save her - he's no hero. Erratic, desperate, wild - she's holding her own, maybe.

Maybe she's not. He doesn't care. They need numbers for whatever shit is happening. Need people alive, battle ready, not food for a fucking shadow.

It's thrilling - hunters becoming hunted. He refuses to be prey.]

Hey genius - take a step back and heal yourself. You look terrible.

[First aid - whatever. Back away from the blood soaked creature he's got an eye on. It's so fucking weak now that she's slashed it up. Not even worth his time and will take seconds to dispose of.]

[She was searching for a girl. The moh shuvuu isn’t her, but it’s something like her, because this corner of the hall was empty until she showed up, and it’s Yuri’s head she’s gone for. But mittens are nothing to a blade; unpracticed stabs slice through a clumsy, muffled grip, and she won’t mess with her anymore, because she can’t—

[A voice. Unfamiliar. The knife is jabbed towards the neck of the bitch, and Yuri turns to the speaker with eyes wide and wild. Broken nose, swollen eye, tangled hair and bruises clouding her face; skin sliced in the fray, somehow.]

“Terrible”? [She’s grinning. Nearly laughing.] I feel alive.

[But she is tired. The demon’s neck is too guarded for that sloppy blow, and she writhes under the slasher’s thumb. Yuri ought to stop, back up while she can. She doesn’t. Likes to think it’s a death throe.]

[Abnormal. Odd. She turns with glee - a blood splattered face sporting unattended injuries that adrenaline must be coating like thick, viscous ointment.

Far be it from him to rip away someone's life. To tear them from prey they rightfully caught.

They can team up now. Temporary. Damage done to the beast, a clean cut will end it. A sword with a jagged edges - meant to tear, kill, maim until they beg.]

Then let's massacre it - pluck out all its feathers and gouge out its eyes until it's screaming for mercy.

[He'll give her an opportunity to fully kill it - stays at the edge of battle to slice it apart if she fails.]

If you can't deliver a killing blow, make it wish you did.

[“Then let’s massacre it,” music, “pluck out all its feathers” a melody “and gouge out its eyes” a song “until it’s screaming for mercy” a crescendo—

[Then she’ll make it sing along.

[She’s heard the Club President has a lovely voice—wonders how she’d sound ruined, grappled underneath Yuri like this mass that used to be a shadow. Could have been a shadow; picked the wrong target. Now her voice ought to stay, so with the next thrust the blade is plunged between its eyes—amber, not emerald, but gleaming all the same. Blood spills in rivulets down her every shaking pore. She’s beautiful.

[The stranger’s suggestion is taken quite literally, and why wouldn’t it be? Portrait of Markov, chapter Mjk=— dGhlIGdpcmw= torn limb from limb, a craving fit only for fantasy. Too crass for reality. Hour unknown— an overturned train crawling with strangers, naught but bloodshed outside; the sensible never stood a chance. Feather. Twitch. Feather. Strangled noise. Two, maybe three plucked with finesse, and then Yuri surrenders all control and closes her fists around her bones and shreds—

[The end would be easy. Could be close. But release is better with anticipation, and she has yet to hear her beg. She can, she can, she can— Her body needs to breathe. There’s an audience.

[Chest heaving, Yuri glances once more to the onlooker.]

Let’s.

[Surely she’s ruined more than one.]

[She's deranged.

Follows through on an erratic request he can barely remember tumbling from his own lips. One, two, three feathers - bones cracked. It doesn't beg and this girl seeks to make it happen.

He laughs - full of mirth and high spirits. High pitched. Quick. As if it's one of the funniest scenes he's ever witnessed.

The shadow isn't going anywhere, sputters like it exists. Bleeds like it's real. Doesn't beg because it thinks it's stronger. It's not.

It's not.

It never will be.

He takes the cue, not that he needs it. This shit has gone on long enough - it should be begging. Pleading. Wishing that Akechi had negotiation skills and groveling for the last of its pathetic existence to be painless.

It doesn't.

It doesn't.

He'll make it.]

You're nothing but trash.

[It can't fly. Flutter. Its mimicry of human language garbled. Escape routes broken, prey in their hands, no alarms ringing or backup to take them down.

He's hungry. Tired. An aching head that hasn't stopped throbbing and an unquelled rage following a moving target.

The weapon in his hand too kind - he presses heel against whatever remains of its throat and digs

crushes

slow, agonizing grinding into the dirt itself.
It's worth less than soil. It doesn't beg. He forces pressure to his foot, then pulls back, a skull bleeding around it from ripped out hair, feathers, whatever the fuck it is. Garbled something. Not begging. Cursing them, maybe. He could give a shit.]

What a disappointment.

[Not worth recruiting, not that he would - if this girl does, he could care less. The COMP flashes with helpful verbal cues - recruit it, recruit it, recruit it and-

He presses down in full to strangle the last of its breath out of it, unless Yuri takes a stand to recruit the little bastard.]

[Fiction is one thing. Heel comes down on throat, and to the extent that the creature can breathe at all, it gargles. Drowning on blood and its own spittle. The COMP flashes, orange acid in the wound; Just beat 'em up and can't say no if they're dead—

[Yuri doesn’t listen to artificial voices. They can listen; they can’t control her. She controls herself. She can. She stands, unsteady on her feet, allowing him to finish her—

[—feels violently ill—]

Hah… Pathetic.

[—the phone grasped by a hand slick with blood and snapped shut. The demon is silent. It doesn’t move.

[It’s just some girl. Its blood is on her hands, this young man’s shoe. For the crime of hunger.

[Yuri is not satiated. Its final breath was yours—]

Nothing to say for herself. [She feels like she can’t breathe. Won’t take her eyes off the body.] Completely mindless.

cw: gore, violence

enteloki - 2024-09-07 00:48 (UTC) - Expand

no-cw combo breaker

flickerback - 2024-09-08 06:06 (UTC) - Expand

aw :(

enteloki - 2024-09-09 16:15 (UTC) - Expand

[ They aren't— shouldn't be— but Minato stares back at her anyways like are they?? It's very possible. He's not the best with faces, and tends to keep to himself, and on the flipside there is very little that stands out about him either. ]

I- maybe...? [ ARE THEY ] ...Not too familiar, though, I guess. [ Apparently. considering the fact that he doesn't know her name, or who she is.

His COMP takes the form of a music player hanging on a lanyard around his neck, its screen with the faint orange glow of the other navigator, but the map zoomed in on the train so that the screen remains blank. ]

[Teen in a school uniform, teen in a school uniform… Not recognized, but not not recognized, either?? Yuri scans him for a moment, trying to pin the outfit’s details, maybe recall a school name, but…

[Nothing.]

I do… tend to keep to myself. [Hasn’t done a great job of that, as of late! That said, his uncertainty may be a relief. Yuri is certain she’s left an… impression.] I may be thinking of someone else....

[She glances down towards his device, glowing warm despite the blank screen.] Do you carry that often? I don’t recall ever seeing it.

Always.

[ The device hanging there over his chest, he means, although he does hold and regard it with some curiosity. ]

The music is still there, but there's a "navi" inside now. Also it's orange. [ he adds, because bright vibrant orange is very much NOT his color, it draws too much attention. ]

Looks like the upgrade might be useful, though, if you want to see it?

[ The lanyard remains around his neck, but he does hold the music player out to Yuri if she wanted to take a look, just assuming she doesn't have one of her own. He wouldn't think so, since she said she's never seen one before. ]

[She does indeed lean towards it, squinting slightly at the zoomed-in blank. The glow and the “navi” are familiar enough, though:]

It was this or “K5,” right? [Still watching his screen, as though something might pop up, Yuri holds up her own phone, screen out. It lingers on the blue, a stray thumb swipe throwing the map way off-focus from the train.]

I believe… mine has the same program.

So you chose "K5"...

[ Or maybe she's like Minato, who looked at his COMP and saw it was orange and just accepted his fate without question. He looks at the map on her screen; with "K5" as her current navigator, it's blue dots on this map as opposed to Minato's own, and the two of them can watch in real time as people leave the train and enter the forest, only to get picked off one by one, their lights snuffed. The ones in groups or at the very least pairs seem to be doing better, getting further, but their lights don't all shine on forever.

Minato breathes out, lifting his gaze. ]

It's been a while... Has anybody come back? Said what's out there? [ whether it's worth risking their lives for? then again, if the promised ending was freedom, who would turn their back on it and face the demons a second time just to let others know? ]

[A choice, insofar as this is where the figurative cursor has landed—for the moment. Yuri has been indecisive; vision swimming with dots, blue, red, blue again, lives extinguished with less than a breath. There’s something dehumanizing to the spectacle, to merely observing it; it makes her sick.

[She keeps watching.

[—That is, until the young man speaks again.]

Ah… to my knowledge, no one has. [Phone withdrawn and screen promptly shut off, as if images of carnage can be dismissed so easily. Yuri steps back straighter.] I suppose to do that, you’d have to watch a blue dot or two… I haven’t been keeping that close an eye on any of them.

But I’m certain this train won’t stay a refuge.

Yuri | Doki Doki Literature Club!

under the light

RNG said school for the highschoolers (cw violence)

cw: violence all the way down dear lord

cw: suggestive torture as a treat

cw: not-so-suggestive torture as a treat, violent thoughts, violence!

cw: continued violence, actual death

wrong track

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Wrong Track

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carriage return

BB MY BELOVED

THROWS HER AT YOU

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