humiliatious | Amphitheater Multiverse: The Wastelands

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;;

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Wow. Aubrey is really taking this seriously. It's nice to see, honestly (even if she is being a bit aggressive - does she really need to be swinging that nail bat around?), knowing what he knows about her attitude the last several years. He tries to return her efforts in kind, suspiciously narrowing his eyes while he puts his hands on his hips. He gives a keen smile.]

I'm not sure how you managed to get your hands on my med kit, but I think you'll find yourself disappointed once you open it.

[Is it empty? He doesn't know. Does it even open? It's a prop, right? She'll probably pick up what he's putting down. "Yes, and" is the first rule of improv!]

If you have something better to offer, though, I'm all ears, Aub-- Oh. I mean...

[Ahem.]

Merchant.

Keep in-character, medic. [Fourth-wall lean with the words, keeping stern in tone. It’s almost like Aubrey’s spent the last few years pretending to be tough shit! Hasn’t always been able to keep it up around Hero, especially not in his grown-up big brother mode, but this place makes it easier. Somehow.] If I open this and it’s a bunch of rocks, you’ll regret it....

[Her own offer, for now, is continued play-threats of violence. Wow! She gestures the bat in her own direction, then Hero’s direction, like an awkwardly-long-limbed watching-you gesture. Then steps slowly, cautiously over to the med kit…

[Knowing Hero, it’s probably tissues. Maybe old homework. Ugh....]

[It's...!

[A half-empty box of Sweetheart ~~Band-Aids~~ adhesive bandages and a warm ice pack.

[Hero offers her a satisfied smile, but...really, he's no good at looking smug.]

As you can see, you have little to no leverage - not with that pilfered med kit, anyway.

If you really want to know what I have to offer, you'll have to show me something that's actually worth my while.

[He's not very good at sounding smug either - that delivery was way too nice!]

[…Yeah, alright. Classic Hero. To his credit, bandages and an ice pack (despite temperature) could be useful. The little Sweethearts are cute, too.]

Lame.

[Kit closed. Aubrey huffs, (play-)indignant.]

You think, uh… [She baps the bat against her own hand, that classic your ass is about to be toat sort of gesture.] this isn’t enough? I don’t really negotiate.

[This improv stuff is tricky, especially since Hero doesn't really have much to offer anyway. That med kit was the only prop he picked up - granted, he didn't realize the "play" would be more like...

[Well, no need to worry about that. Everything will be fine so long as he's here!

[Also, he's kind of forgotten what he's supposed to be arguing for in the first place.]

Listen, Aubrey - if you don't mind me calling you Aubrey -

I think what benefits us the most is working together. I may not be rich in medical supplies, but what I do have are connections.

[Hm? Hm?]

[She rolls her eyes to the high heavens.]

I just wanted your stuff. I have connections, y’know. [New friends. That whole ordeal.

[Still, she is mildly (and pleasantly) surprised to hear Hero's got allies of his own. With a small sigh, Aubrey props the bat against the not-interrogation table, and pulls up the nearest chair. Rickety old thing. The furnishing conditions are pretty convincingly garbage; not a surprise, really.]

But I guess we could use some backup. Who’s got your back?

[This is all pretend, so all he really has to do is rattle off some names, right? He thinks to list a few of his classmates, or maybe his roommate, but...he doesn't really know them all that well. That would probably be a little weird.

[Then again, he could just say...]

I'm the lead medic at the camp down there by the end of the river. That's probably where you were headed, right?

[It's one of the only known friendly stops for at least thirty miles, and that's a long way when most people don't use cars anymore.

[Or, so the script says.]

Edited 2025-04-04 23:09 (UTC)

[Aubrey tilts her head slightly. It is where she’s heading. Isn’t? It would make sense. There’s a spot by the water she likes to take her friends. Hero knows about it. It does make sense. And she trusts him, despite how their reunion kicked off.

[She nods.]

The lake.

[And,]

If we’re going to work together, you should know it’s not just me. [So I want you to be okay with everyone.] So no funny tricks.

[Hero smiles a bit, some fondness that's too deep-seated to be new. It's odd that he doesn't recognize her, but he understands what she means. She's found her own. That's a good thing.]

Your friends are welcome. You can trust me - and I can trust you, right?

[His question holds no accusation. He's already made up his mind.

[They start walking.]

Would you consider yourself a trader, or did you just so happen to find that med kit I...[He turns to her, raising his eyebrows, then raising two fingers on each hand to make quotes.] "dropped".

You probably can. [Mild joke. It was his idea, anyway.

[On they go. Aubrey brings both bat and kit, the latter of which she swings off to Hero no sooner is he done talking.]

I already told you, I don’t trade. [Half-lie. See, not cracking open one’s skull is a perfectly legitimate trade bargain. Aubrey gets loot, and they get to escape with their bones intact.] And you did drop that, somewhere. We’re always looking for stuff to…

[With her free hand, air quotes.]

…“offer.”

[Idiot (fond).]

That...still makes you sound a bit like a trader, you know.

[She said she's not, though, so! He puts up his hands before she can wave that bat at him again.]

Either way, you've got yourself some pretty decent security. Do you really know how to use that thing?

[He's not sure why he'd assume she doesn't. Somehow, she just seems like she must be a nice girl deep down...]

[Ugh, trader, not-trader, whatever. Aubrey rolls her eyes. To her slight credit, she doesn’t point the bat his way again.]

Of course I know how to use it. [She makes a little show of shrugging the shoulder it’s slung over. The wood is weirdly blood-free, all things considered. Aubrey just likes to keep clean.] Why, you think one of your f— campmates [“friends” can be a touchy word, she knows this] is gonna make me demonstrate?

[Somehow she doesn’t want to.]

Amphitheater Multiverse: The Wastelands

something important - every da flyleaf da thread for me

eats every single one of your tags

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*toast… me when typos

toat

kermitnod. toat.

loss of self occurring in 3...2...

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