Author Topic: Act - Zero (Read 19632 times)

Hanako Tachibana · « **on:** October 14, 2012, 02:41:29 PM »

Ah... Friday. The best day of the week. You can stay up as late as you want, because you don't have work tomorrow. Some people think Saturday is superior, because you don't have to work on Saturdays, but you know the truth. You have to go to sleep at a reasonable time on Saturdays, or else you'll be all messed up for work on Sunday. But I digress.

Ah... Friday. The world is slowly turning towards summer, so the evening air is warm and comfortable. The moon is very full tonight, almost additively so. It might be the weather or it might be the moon, but even the usually busy York streets seem to be calmer. Walking through the thick warm air... Illuminated by moon light and street light... The crackling of the mercury-vapor flares mingling with the steady bustle of the city... You almost feel like you are living a dream...

Ah, that was dangerous. It wouldn't be any good to get spirited away now, would it? Of course, it isn't like daydreaming causes spiriting away or anything, but the news keeps advising everyone to maintain a clear head. Well then, with that in mind, what are your plans for the evening? Who are you? Where are you going? What are you doing? How will you spend this beautiful night?

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #1 on:** October 14, 2012, 09:21:53 PM »

Nanashi Sekka hugs his corduroy jacket around himself, willing the weather to be cold enough to warrant it. perhaps if I were in the southern hemisphere, I could get the weather I want...

Regardless, it's Friday night, which means one thing for Nanashi, Library night. On Fridays It's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Nanashi is walking down the street and considering whether to get supper before or after he has had a chance to start diving into the library's older books.

His stomach wins out (as it is wont to do) and he walks into a small but very good Bairong restaurant. He rubs his hands together, hoping that pretending to be cold will make him feel less silly about wearing a jacket on a perfectly warm night.

DonQuixote · « **Reply #2 on:** October 15, 2012, 04:09:26 PM »

*Beep beep beep*

"Damn." I heave myself out of my chair and clamber over to the stove. Turning off the stove with one hand and flailing at the timer with the other, I eventually bring order to my kitchen. With all the care and craving of a drug addict, I carefully--carefully!--pour my ramen from the pot into a bowl. Without looking, I throw the pot into the dishwasher, squirt some detergent in there, and turn the thing on.

Carrying my bowl like some sort of religious relic, I make my way back to the heart of my web. As I slurp from the bowl, I enter my password. The words "Hello, Spider" appear on the screen.

Time to explore.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #3 on:** October 15, 2012, 04:52:18 PM »

Nanashi's Story
You decide to try something new this time, some meal called "Moo Goo Gai Pan" that you've always been curious about, but never brave enough to actually try. It turns out pretty good; not your favourite thing, but certainly something you'd be willing to try again. Alas, it doesn't make you feel any less silly about wearing a jacket on a such a warm night.

On the plus side, you got a fortune cookie.

(click to show/hide)

Spider's Story
Ah, the Internet. It would be such a glorious place if you weren't firmly convinced the government was using it to get at all your personal data and possibly also brainwash you. Oh well, government g-men are no match for your security system. Or your lack of a personal life. or your crippling ramen habit. "Ahh... the taste of Nipponese cuisine..." is what you would say if you were a weaboo. But you aren't.

There isn't anything particularly interesting on the Net today. Just some conspiracy theories you've already heard of. "The government is after our precious bodily fluids" and that sort of thing. Oh, but you did get an email. From an anonymous sender, too.

(click to show/hide)

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #4 on:** October 15, 2012, 07:49:34 PM »

Nanashi chuckles as he eats the cookie, he leaves the small strip of paper on the table, as he usually does, and walks towards the counter to pay, finishing that, he will resume his trek to the Library

DonQuixote · « **Reply #5 on:** October 16, 2012, 11:14:59 PM »

Oh God. An anonymous e-mail, with a cryptic message? They've found me.

Unless...it could be a friend on the inside! Watching me, knowing that they're watching me, giving me a way out!

Make a wish, eh?

I navigate over to Google, click the search box, and make my wish:

"I wish I knew the truth."

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #6 on:** October 16, 2012, 11:28:40 PM »

Nanashi's Story
You pay for your meal and continue your trek to the library. Feeling silly about the jacket the whole way. The librarian greets you as you enter, as she always does, and you nod back, as you always do.

"Oh, Nanashi. I just came across this cool book; I thought you might be interested."

She hands you an old, fairly hefty book.

"Take care of it, it looks pretty old."

(click to show/hide)

Spider's Story
Oh, look at that. 223,000,000 results. Most of them porn or pop music lyrics. And, huh. You don't recognize that site. naraku.co.np.

(click to show/hide)

Creepy...

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #7 on:** October 17, 2012, 12:23:22 AM »

Nanashi smiles at the Librarian. "Oh, Oh my... I haven't read this book..." He smiles fondly. "But I've heard of it." He holds the book gingerly. "I'll be sure to take extremely good care of it. Thank you so much."

Nanashi walks over to one of the tables in the back of the Library, wiping the dust off the table with his jacket sleeve, he rests the book down carefully. He takes off his jacket, folds it, and puts it in the chair across from him. He sits down and runs his fingers gently over the cover, reading the letters again. Nanashi carefully opens the book and begins to read, mumbling the first line to himself, then proceeding to read silently.

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank..."

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #8 on:** October 17, 2012, 12:25:42 AM »

(click to show/hide)

Huh, you can't read anything after that. You just can't seem to focus on the letters... Or maybe they aren't in Welsh?

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #9 on:** October 17, 2012, 12:42:04 AM »

"Hmmmm.... Interesting Interesting... The first line seems to be in welsh, but after that..." Nanashi takes out a pen and paper and begins trying to scribble down the characters, but he can't seem to get anything out. He closes the book and looks down at the cover.

"How odd."

He can't help but feel like there is something weird happening. The vague fortune cookie could not possibly have forecast the event of finding this book, which is clearly not the original text of Alice in Wonderland. Nanashi had never been a superstitious man, though, so thoughts that something supernatural was happening quickly faded as soon as they formed.

He gets up to go get a drink of water.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #10 on:** October 17, 2012, 12:45:07 AM »

You head over to the drinking fountain and take a quick drink. Feeling refreshed you head back towards your chair. And stop. One of the flyers on the wall doesn't say what it said when you got up...

(click to show/hide)

And you're feeling a bit dizzy...

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #11 on:** October 17, 2012, 12:59:31 AM »

"Dammit, I wish I knew what was going on."

DonQuixote · « **Reply #12 on:** October 17, 2012, 12:59:41 AM »

My wish has been received, eh? I bet that's code for something...I wish I knew what.

I'm going to research the naraku.co.np domain and see if I can sniff out any clues.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #13 on:** October 17, 2012, 01:07:19 AM »

Nanashi's Story
Oh, huh. The flyer looks the same as it always did. Weird. Maybe if you didn't feel so dizzy...

You return to your chair, and pick up Alice in Wonderland again. The "She made a wish." text is gone, as is the strangeness after it. You get a small way through the book, but your reading is hampered by the dizziness and sudden tiredness. Maybe you're ill? Oh, huh, that text thing again.

(click to show/hide)

Then even that blurs out. The last thing you can remember is the librarian rushing up towards you.

"Nanashi! What's wrong!"

Spider's Story
That's... weird. Clicking on the link gives you a 404 error. And if you try the search again, it doesn't show up...

You check through your sources, ask some of your friends, but no one has even heard of this 'naraku.co.np' site. The '.np' means it's from Nippon, but that doesn't actually tell you anything. You rub your head in frustration. Or not. You feel really dizzy all of a sudden. Well, that isn't going to stop you from getting to the bottom of this. You open up a Nippon > Welsh translator and type in 'naraku.'

(click to show/hide)

The text blurs, and you collapse. The dull glow of your many screens and the soft whirring of hard drives fades away...

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #14 on:** October 17, 2012, 01:11:27 AM »

And, slowly, you wake up. You slowly pull yourselves upright, and wipe the blur out of your eyes.

You seem to be on... a boat. Of some sort. There are other people there with you. Some other guy and a girl in a strange outfit.

(click to show/hide)

You can't quite make out what the boat is moving through. Some sort of black space, filled with strange glowing shapes...

(click to show/hide)

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #15 on:** October 17, 2012, 01:22:25 AM »

Nanashi sits up, in a daze, and rubs his eyes. His circular lens glasses push up to his forehead and he rubs his lids and mumbles in Cyrillic

(click to show/hide)

He stands up, he seems to be fairly well dressed- A lime green shirt with a red bowtie, a black vest and Grey slacks. Maybe he's like, a salesman, or a professor, or something like that. His hair is black and comes down both sides, growing thick. He stands up. He's not USED to being on a boat, but he probably has been on one before. He leans against a wall for support as he rises.

"Where are we?" he says in Welsh.

DonQuixote · « **Reply #16 on:** October 17, 2012, 11:12:03 PM »

Blinking in the sudden light--real light, not the dim glow of my monitors--I adjust my bifocals. I haven't shaven in a few days, and my black T-shirt is stained with the dust of too many chips of too many kinds. Brushing the various food remnants off, I realize that I've gained a bit too much weight since I bought the shirt--not that I'm fat, of course. Just...slightly less thin than I used to be.

I scratch the stubble on my neck as I survey my new surroundings.

"...Jesus Christ, am I in the internet?"

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #17 on:** October 17, 2012, 11:16:32 PM »

The girl doesn't respond to either of your comments. She appears content to simply pole the boat onwards towards... you suppose its destination.

A large red object drifts past. Or rather, you drift past a large red object. It looks almost like a Nipponese torii.

Maybe she didn't hear you?

DonQuixote · « **Reply #18 on:** October 17, 2012, 11:24:45 PM »

I walk over to the young lady and tap her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, but where the hell am I?"

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #19 on:** October 17, 2012, 11:26:50 PM »

"Don't touch me."

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Author Topic: Act - Zero (Read 19632 times)