Amphitheater Multiverse: The Wastelands

[pantheraliam]

Amphitheater Multiverse

The Amphitheater is a mysterious place. It's in the space of a blink that you appear outside one of its many entrances. You're beckoned inside, taken to the center, where the showrunners assign you a role. Another blink, and you're no longer surrounded by rows of crowded seats. The crowd and cast have disappeared. Whatever role you were given, that is your life now, even if only for the duration of the performance. Be careful, though. It's easy to get lost in the role you were given. It's not uncommon for performers to forget who they are.

Performance: The Wastelands

It's a scenario which has fascinated since the very inception of story-telling: What happens after the world ends? It seems that's what's occurred here. Shops and houses are left empty of life, looted of supplies. Strange, mutant plants grow wrap around buildings and overtake forests, which infected animals slip out of to attack. Towns are less so towns, and more so guarded fortresses which only allow certain individuals in and out. Supplies are scarce, and trade has devolved into a bartering system. Camps of survivors are scattered throughout the countryside and abandoned villages, with some bigger groups splitting up into factions. Infighting is common, as well as altercations between groups. The world has become temperamental, anxious, everyone always prepared to attack. Those affected by the mutation find it even harder to survive every day, met with a whole host of biological and social obstacles. Everyone's goal is to survive. What role will you play?

Dramatis Personae

scavengers & survivalists

Scavengers and survivalists survive on their own as best as they can. They are loners who travel from settlement to settlement, trading supplies they've found before moving onto the next place. Some prefer to live off grid entirely, and only interact with others when passing in their travels. Others hide away in cities and towns, away from the eyes of the factions that govern them, stealing what they need. Generally, these types believe that others will slow them down, and are concerned more with their own survival than anything else, which makes them poor companions.

leaders

The world as all knew it may have ended, but so long as there are people still alive, they will need leaders. One might lead a small settlement with only a handful of people, merely interested in surviving. Instead, one might be the leader of a powerful faction in a major fortress city, with hundreds at your command. There are religious leaders, as well, which devotees follow faithfully in all that they do. Whatever the case may be, the leader is, at the end of the day, someone responsible for the wellbeing of the many others that depend on them.

traders

Traders are apocalypse-made merchants who survive by collecting and selling items between settlements. Some of these merchants travel, moving from settlement to settlement and providing goods for travelers on the road, and some reside in settlements, providing goods for the town. They may sell anything from rations to weapons to medical supplies, and generally tend to have good relationships with leaders, due to their many connections. They are good salespeople, exceptionally clever with words, and may convince you to leave with something you don't need, or give them something you do.

the affected

No one is quite sure what caused animals, plants, and people to all start changing - why some are affected, and others aren't - but some strange mutation took hold after the world came to an end, rendering some something between human and beast. They are not mindless, and they are not hungry, but they have been known to attack - transform into monsters which blindly lash out until their prey has been disposed of. This only happens when they are provoked, however...

hunters

Some believe that the affected must be disposed of, studied, or otherwise detained until an explanation for their condition can be found. There are a few leaders, both religious and otherwise, who claim to be researching a cure for the strange affliction. They hire hunters to find the affected and bring them to their headquarters. Other hunters have more personal reasons for wanting to seek out the affected and dispose of them.

devotees

In times of great crisis, such as these, people find themselves desperate for a guiding light to follow. Devotees pledge themselves to leaders, objects, gods, etc., and follow them dutifully no matter what they're asked to do. Some religious factions condemn the affected, while some celebrate and welcome them, and others still that want to research them; likewise, there are some factions that welcome anyone, some that only welcome allied factions, some that welcome no one. It all depends on what one has decided to devote themselves to - the point is, they're devoted.

OOC

Hello! Welcome to Amphitheater Multiverse, inspired by former game 7Dead's AU/amplitheater premise. Essentially, characters enter a magical amphitheater that is holding a performance (this time it is "The Wastelands," a post-apocalyptic story), and they are cast in roles. This transports them to the setting of the "play" - essentially one big collective AU you can TL and play in (your characters can either be aware they're in a play, completely lost in their roles, some combination thereof, etc.). You can play out multiple roles/enter & exit the amphitheater more than once.

Please follow basic DWRP etiquette, don't be a jerk, use CWs in subject lines/read them. Play anyone you want - canon characters, OCs, fandom OCs, AUs, CRAUs, etc., etc. This event is open for anyone to play. You do not need to know me or be on my plurk list or anything like that. If you have any questions, please direct them here, or hit me up on plurk at pantheraliam (just note that I don't add people unless I know them). Have fun, be safe o v o;;

Comments

something important - this time it's post-laby and not lost in the role at all

[sadpoem]

[Sunny's fingers fiddle at each other, lips twitching slightly in a not-quite smile.]

That...was really convincing.

post-laby but maybe lost a *little* bit. as a treat

[headhooligan]

[Bravado, fin.! Aubrey takes a small bow, breaking into a smile.] Heh, thanks, Sunny.

[Slinging the bat back over her shoulder (snagging a hair or two along the way; look, it’s been a while since she wielded the one with nails), she gives a small nod in the direction of the lost object: a very familiar knife.]

We should really figure out how to get back soon, though.

[Shouldn’t it be with him…?]

hehe...

[sadpoem]

[It should...Sunny thinks it must be a different knife, but when he checks his pocket (same oversized hoodie, and it's decent weather for it), he finds nothing. He frowns, taking the knife back and looking it over. He really can't remember losing it...

[He supposes the magic just stopped working...]

How...?

[He's not sure who he's asking, or what. Whatever this is...eventually, it will pass, just like everything in this (?) place does (?).]

[headhooligan]

[Playtime’s over. Aubrey watches Sunny pick up a knife that’s supposed to be on his person at all times, and frowns.

[Come to think of it—]

It’s probably just, some… [She waves a hand.] Weird reality thing, or whatever. Again. [He had that knife in the empty future, didn’t he?] There’s probably someone else stuck in it, too.

[With a renewed grip on her old bat in one hand, Aubrey reaches for Sunny's hand with the other. They remember, now. That's good....]

[sadpoem]

[Sunny takes her hand, of course; squeezes, releases, again and again. They've started to walk, but he's not sure where to. There was a time where just this uncertainty would be enough to leave him blacking out. Omori doesn't come, though...]

Someone...else?

[headhooligan]

Yeah. [A wasteland isn’t really new, is it? There’s no reason for extra concern.] One of our friends, maybe.

[She doesn’t voice an alternative.

[Aubrey has learned to be steady for Sunny, grounded by that squeeze, release, as much as she returns it. These dried trees and crackling undergrowth don’t look a thing like Somnius, but Somnius has never looked entirely like… well, itself. It won’t be the first time she’s watched the sun dip below an alien horizon, swallowed unease as they pass buildings long abandoned.

[That’s fine. They have each other. That’s good.

[But why these weapons?]

Hey, Sunny. [She’s not sure.] This is kind of out of nowhere, but... does this place seem familiar to you at all?

let me be self-indulgent with my cross-muse-referencing

[sadpoem]

[Dread starts to creep as they walk. Sunny asks himself "who," but he still hasn't figured out the "where". The sun is going down, and the dark makes everything worse. He starts to pulse his grip around Aubrey's hand faster as his heart speeds up in time. Then, she asks that question...

[He turns to her, a small frown on his lips. He nods. Doesn't she remember...?]

Eren's camp.

[Naturally, when everything went to hell, that's where he and Aubrey went - Xie Lian and Kenma too, Luz, everyone. A farm that size makes for a decent base. He points forward, the direction they'd already been moving. It's just up there...]

we make the rules now

[headhooligan]

[That’s right. Nothing bad ever happens at farmhouses in post-apocalyptic settings. They will not find a single cannibal.

[Oblivious, Aubrey nods back. She tugs Sunny in closer, still walking, refusing to wallow.] We’ll find shelter there. [In the encroaching dark, she can’t tell if it’s the Horizon they’re looking for. But intact buildings seem like a rarity out here, and she’ll take it over the empty open.

[Every so often, she checks the sky for a trusted palisman. The branches for the zip of maneuvering metal. The shadows for a surprise flame in blue.

[Nothing.

[Around the farmland’s fields, only a rickety fence stands guard. Aubrey half expects barbed wire. But she scrapes her nail bat against a plank, and it snags nothing. A squeeze for Sunny, then. They’ll keep moving.]

what's going on? don't ask me

[sadpoem]

[Sunny and Aubrey watch and listen for the same things - anything familiar, but nothing comes. They're right at the perimeter of the farm, but Sunny can't ever remember there being a fence. Maybe he never got close enough to the edges. They step over and start down the slight slope of the first field, folding out into others. Sunny sees the barn before he sees the house, and there's not a sound - no hooves, no squawks, no voices calling.

[Sunny grips Aubrey's hand.]

Where...is everyone?

we’re COOKING that’s what goes on [sound of absurdist aurora borealis from the kitchen]

[headhooligan]

[For all its silence, the space is oddly… is “clean” the right word? Surely unmaintained fields would grow unruly, nothing like these nigh-gridded stalks. No sign of animals, no sign of people. Blank, almost.]

I don’t—

[Wait.

[By the corner of the building, beneath a browning conifer: a small pile of gifts. It’s so… odd, out of place, neatly-wrapped like it’s been waiting for them. An unanswered wish—

[Aubrey blinks. They’re not meant for her.]

[sadpoem]

[Sunny's head tilts to the side, but he looks more frightened than curious, his grip on Aubrey's hand growing tighter. This isn't Eren's farm at all - they passed a car just before arriving here, and Sunny...has seen these gifts before.

[When he first arrived in Visium, every second felt like a new dream. He hasn't felt that way in a long time.

[He tugs on Aubrey's arm, backing away from the familiar scene. The last place he wants them to be is trapped in one of his dreams.]

Aubrey--

[Something rustles among the tall stalks.]

[headhooligan]

[Immediately Aubrey steps between Sunny and the noise, one hand still behind her to grip his, the other positioning her weapon like a sword. The weight is different; the threat at the other end is not.

[And Something does appear. Long limbs; long face; pointed ears that could be mistaken for one of those damn wolves, but—

[In the center of its face, a singular eye.

[Aubrey grips Sunny’s hand like it’s the last time she ever will. Tension keeps the rest of her rigid, ready to strike.

[But the nightmare doesn’t move. Only watches. Unblinking.]

[lostfriend]

[What will you do?]

1/2 [not here] DOROTHI!!!

[sadpoem]

[It's funny how Sunny used to wish that Omori would disappear.]

2/2

[sadpoem]

[Every cell in Sunny's body constricts with fear; he's left frozen.

[And the nightmare doesn't move.

[And they don't move. Sunny's body screams run, and they don't move. And there's no Xie Lian, no Eren, no Luz, no Omori - no one to save them at all, and they don't--

[Sunny takes a half-step back, tugging again on Aubrey's arm. Move, move, move, move. He forgets to calm down.

[Something stretches out toward them, a long black limb, slipping across the ground like a shadow. It starts to wrap around Sunny's ankle.]

NOT THE NOT HERE…

[headhooligan]

[Sunny moves before Aubrey. She glances over her shoulder when he does, her own eyes wide; the shadow snakes past her feet, movement in the periphery that forces her focus down—

[Aubrey stomps. The bat slams into the dirt. She all but throws herself at Sunny, as if her own body can block the one behind her—]

[The voice is strangled. They both hear it. Do you want to dream forever?]