Watch Your Dreams 1: Welcome to the Mad City

[Overcast]

It was night. In the City Slumbering it was night anyway. In the Mad City one could only follow by the clocks, for the sun never did rear its head in that place. It was midnight in both places, a slight sign you may be up a little late in the City Slumbering, a sign you'd best be trying to find an exit in the Mad City. The air was moist and warm with gentle breeze that made sure everyone was aware of the evening heat. It was comfortable, if you were into that sort of thing, but it seemed to beckon you toward sleep. A tease for anyone Awake really, because it would take much more than a warm summer night to get them back to bed again.

The streets in normality were slowly starting to drain out, as people made their final decision to either turn in for the night or spend their time partying their life away. On the flip side the streets of madness, as always, were a bustle of Nightmares, Locales, and Awake. None of which you could really tell apart at first glance, and to be honest it wasn't such a smart idea to take that chance anyway. Better to leave them lost to their own business than to become involved in it(That is to say if you aren't already).

The various popular districts had their population all at work. The High School filled with the vile education of Mother When and her Ladies in Hating. District 13 creeping along the clockwork rhythm enforced by Officer Tock; inhabitants keeping steady eyes out for the collections of the Tacks Man. The Warrens, just below the streets, still living in that endless struggle between the ever encroaching wax of The Wax Kingdom and their King and all the surrounding Nowhere's that somehow still evade his empirical might. The rooftops see the ever turning cycle of Roof Rats and their bullying ways trying to get the lunch money from the Paper Boys who have to use the place to get around and spread their terrible news that always comes true. And of course the Bizarre Bazaar was filled with activity from all sorts, buying and selling hopes and dreams figuratively and literally.

Still one could not keep their eye off the clock. 12 was a warning. That 13 was coming and if you weren't out by then that every nightmare worth his weight in terror would be taking advantage of your inability to leave.

Just another night.

[Arcanum]

11:48

Greg was walking along a road, returning to his apartment with a bag of fast food take out in his hand. He had already eaten dinner earlier, but he knew that tonight was going to be another sleepless night. He was almost done reading a book about human psychology, but was still no closer to understanding his problem. The world he sought to regain still eluded him, and the past three sleepless weeks weren't helping much. Still he kept his hopes up. The greasy food would help brighten his spirits a little bit, and once he finished the psychology book he would move on to hypnotism and see if that would help.

He reached his apartment and was about to go inside when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was a wooden door, but obviously not a normal door. It was just standing there, on the curb of the sidewalk, right next to a garbage bin. Greg stared at it for a few seconds, blinked a few times, then glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed it. There was someone on the other side of the street but they payed no attention to the door, or Greg for that matter.

Curiosity piqued, Greg approached the door and reached out to touch it. As if responding to his mere presence the door swung open, revealing nothing but swirling white mists. Greg stared into the doorway for a few moments, then stepped onto the road to look from the other side. Still the swirling white mists. He took another quick glance around him to see if anyone was watching, then stepped through the doorway.

He didn't appear on the other side of the doorway, and the door swung shut then disappeared altogether.

[Overcast]

At the other side of the door perspective shifted drastically as he found he was stepping up. The door slapped him on the way out of reality and slammed him into the mess of doorways and windows that was the rooftops. It wasn't unusual if you were used to the place, after all most doors led here so that you could lose yourself trying to find your way to elsewhere. The door behind him was locked shut, and it wouldn't be wise to try to open it again. Then again the doctor didn't know that, in all honesty he knew nothing about what he had just stepped into. He could scarcely understand that he had just pushed himself into another world entirely and that he was sitting just an hour away from learning the dangers of this new place the hard way.

Ain't life grand?

Up on the roof you saw doors opening and shutting as different folks made their awkward way across the Mad City in style. Or at least with more deliberate speed than typically. Origami boys jumping out one door and jumping in another. Strange looking creatures creeping out of windows and down a ladder somewhere. Somewhere a scream rang out followed by an absurdly loud crunch. A taxi cab peeled out of a garage door and sped across the rooftops almost hitting Greg before driving off the roof and down the side of the building.

It was all a bit disorienting really.

Though it was also all quite new, and with the doctor looking for something more than his world he'd certainly stumbled across something different and fresh in comparison. The question was...how exactly was he going to react?

[Bard The 5th LW]

Edmund was never quite sure how he got here. It mattered little to him though, he had little motivation to move or get up. He was a really boring person. He just sat at his little corner of the roof, leaning against a small raised wall, as chaos buzzed around him. He was always inconspicuous without trying, the passing people and paper boys usually passed him by without a sideways glance. He briefly took account of the doctor who had appeared, but it mattered little to him.

So he sat unphazed as life passed him by. He kept an odd and unnatural calm about himself. Hew supposed his current little nirvana on the rooftop was something like sleep. Out of nowere however, his eyes flickered back to attention, and in an uncharacteristic gesture, he gave a bief wave to Greg, as a means of saying hello.

[phil_]

Why isn't my key working?

What are you doing in my apartment?

What do you mean, I'm "not in your records?" I've lived here for six months!

Why aren't Mom and Dad answering their phones?

Rob wandered through his neighborhood, ruminating on everything that had gone wrong in the last few hours. It was already past midnight, but it wasn't like he was going to sleep tonight, anyway. Rob turned the corner to go to the convenience store and maybe buy a sandwich. This was when he noticed a strange door across the street. The black paint was peeling and the dark window beside it was too dusty for Rob to see through. However above the door was a friendly-looking sign, reading "The Place you Want to Go," and a Rob could hear the dull murmur of people inside. "Eh, let's see what this is all about," Rob said as he pulled open the door in search of sandwiches and the company of those who were also awake at this hour.

Instead, he found himself in the midst of a street lined with tents and blankets, surrounded by bizarre creatures peddling even stranger goods. People and monsters crowded around him, and it was all he could do to not get swept up in the current of bodies. Amidst the roar of the shopping public, Rob asked himself, "What is this weird place?"


Wesley had been wandering these weird streets for about an hour. It was like the series designer wanted to set the story in New York, but only had period pieces to inspire him. Wes almost expected certain immortal gangsters with bad accents to pop up. Wes knew a bit about history, but it was still odd seeing stores that sold just one thing instead of, say, Dollar General. He'd been in a watch shop, and they just sold watches. They didn't even sell jewelry or anything; just watches; watches with 13 at the cardinal point. Plus, unlike in Heaven, the stores weren't all closed, in fact it was quite the opposite. Every counter was manned, every light was on, every door was open.

"Isn't the Mad City wonderful, Wesley?" Wes turned around to find that strange girl inches from his face. "Well, what do you think?"

Of course, Wesley had been unable to think for several seconds of anything but Sakura. Her long, pink hair. Her shining, purple eyes. Her tiny, perfect nose. The soft hum of servos as each simulated breath escaped her smiling lips. The fact that he had finally gone insane and that all hope was lost. Wes choked out a strained, "It's great."

"Sugoi!" Sakura pecked him on the lips without warning. "I knew you'd love it, Master." She coyly touched her lips. "But you'll never love it as much as I love you."

[Overcast]

Voices yelled their wears out to sell, local or not it seemed everyone here was stuck in a single sort of path. Each vendor had their specialty, from the obvious chef selling off his fine cuisine, to the nightmare selling time with the broken stopwatch face. They all held up their same pitch of what you need, and how they had it, sometimes it was just a little too specific for you to feel comfortable with, like when the stopwatch yelled,

"All the time you need to study for that final exam! Time is the key to a 4.0 average, to the Dean's List, and to the future you desire!"

They all had their little thing to sell, and while they wouldn't argue outright with each other they yelled as hard as they could to be louder than anyone else nearby. The result was a cacophony of sound and bustle that screamed of the chaos that drove the economy.

Off to the right, under a sign labeled information, sat a local in a typical business environment dress shirt and slacks. His name tag read Oscar, and he seemed to be the only one not yelling. Because he didn't seem to need to ask for people to come to him, more than enough Awake battered him with awkward questions of how the place worked. His answers were slightly cryptic, but if you had been here long enough you could say it was because there was just no straight answers to anything here. Just the most recent likely assumption.

At any rate it was a place to start, if Rob was willing to ask.

Meanwhile, the help desk may not have seemed so obvious to Wesley. It wasn't meant for someone who was a bit more familiar with the place, instead he was being harassed by multiple merchants of proper gifts he could give his robo-wife. Some offered prices so low that you could assume there was some sort of scam at work. There were others who were asking him to sell his love, and whether they meant Sakura or the emotion itself was still up in the air, for it seemed like such an emotion was not often ripe in The Mad City and sold for a rather good price. They didn't offer that price to Wes, but then again a Merchant had to make their money somehow.

There was this relative safety in the busy little shopping arcade, the likeliness someone would tear you apart the old fashioned way here was relatively low. It could still happen, but the Nightmares here preferred to cultivate their prey so when they dismantled the Awake they could have a few things to sell. Rather than just ending up with a corpse or a new Nightmare that might end up as competition back at the market.

So maybe it wasn't perfectly safe, but if you kept your wits about you it was about as good as you were going to get.

[phil_]

Rob, with no other leads, pushed his way to the man under the sign reading "Information." He planned to ask for directions back home, but, as he listened to the bizarre questions others were pelting the man in the suit with, he started to realize that the answer wouldn't be as simple as "Two blocks that way; take a left." The phrase "The Mad City" was thrown around a lot; Rob assumed that must be what this place was called. People also asked about Nightmares, probably referring to the strange creature among the crowd. Listening to the questions of those around him was certainly more helpful than listening to the answers.

Rob, in the spirit of the mob he was engulfed in, yelled out to the man, "Why is my apartment not mine anymore?!" It was a question that seemed silly to ask, as it required the man to already know his situation, but somehow it seemed like the right thing to say.


Wes had wandered into a much more crowded part of the city, or maybe he'd been led there by Sakura. Either way, the crowd was hard to bear. A man who seemed like he'd dressed himself via exploding laundromat sidled next to him with hands full of fancy combs. "Everybody needs a comb, friend. How about you get one for yer girl there? Gifts are tha key to keepin that spark alive." Wesley jerked away from him as he thrust a tortoise shell comb with a few stray hairs dangling in its teeth under his nose.

Sakura laughed. "Oh, Master, I don't need anything as long as I have you." She took his arm and pulled him away.

"Uh, Sakura," Wesley mumbled as he brushed off her arm. "Do we really need to be here? I'm not... I'm not good with crowds..."

More peddlers started yelling at the two as the crowd shifted. "Trust me, Master, this is the safest place to be right now," Sakura cooed while regaining her grip on his hand. "You do trust me, right, Wesley?"

[Overcast]

"Someone traded it away."

The answer was basic. It really didn't answer anything other than the question that was asked. And even then it only hinted at the big picture. It was a start though, and about then the sign at the table was terribly clear,

One question per person.

A damned thing. One hint and sent away to further mill in his confusion. Though if he was going to find someone who could trade away his apartment like that, and perhaps with it everything else, it would probably be best to start here. Who knew how long the questioning might take, especially when the only thing most of these creeps cared about was getting some profit for what they offered.

What other choice was there though? He was completely new in a place confusing for those who are familiar with it. He was definitely in a bad way.

In the meantime Wes had best to listen to his wife. For unlike Rob he actually had a vaguely knowledgeable creature to keep him safe and on a relatively safe path. A fantastic advantage. Though the question was if he would listen. If his self conscious nature would overpower the wise words of his mechanized significant other. If his need for comfort was stronger than his tendency to buckle under the sweet words of a pretty lady.

There were eyes watching him from afar who softly weighed the possibilities of him leaving the bazaar. Trying to find the realistic answer before the reality actually set in. He stared down differently than most of the merchants, but instead with a strong sort of pity. A strange image on the face of a nightmare, which while it was difficult to tell at first, but when you saw his eyes it was clear as day. Each one was perfectly mirrored, so when you stared into them you could only see yourself staring back.

If you caught sight of him that moment you might just remember him, but then before you could place him he was gone. Aware he was seen and fleeing while he still could. After all that robot had a great deal of potential when it came to whipping ass. No need to antagonize it early. There were still plans, but they had to wait for the right time.

[Arcanum]

Greg was stunned, that at least was a given. The sudden shift of environment first made him think that he had finally found the world he had lost. Then he saw all the doors, the strange origami boys, and a million other things he didn't recognize. No, this wasn't his world. In his world he knew everyone and everything's name, and they all knew him, and none of them behaved like anything in this world.

He stood there for a few moments in a daze before a taxi careened past, the pure shock of which made him lose balance and fall on his ass. He glanced around to make sure nothing else would try to run him over, and spotted a man waving him over. At least Greg thought the man was waving him over, it could have been a simple wave. Regardless, the man looked normal enough among this mess and Greg needed some answers.

"Hi," said Greg as he approached Edmund. His voice was polite and friendly, but a bit of hostility crept into it when he spoke again, which made the whole thing sound a bit odd. "Do you mind telling me what the fuck this place is?"

[Overcast]

The question seemed to carry, it sent off a sort of scent. Something that read new and interesting and workable. Something that people might just be willing to read. With that scent of a brand new scoop one of the traversing Paper Boys stopped short. He looked toward the two Awake, his folded features crinkling in with interest. When the one stopped two more stopped. More were starting to notice as well and since this was their major means of moving about even more were bound to appear. Each one taking their own opinion on the situation, each one looking for the next big story.

And the next big story was Greg.

The grinning origami creeps started moving together. By luck not all of them just those original three, others seemed to be debating whether or not anyone would want to here a story of some newcomer to the Mad City, but those three saw something in him.

The tragedy was Greg couldn't possibly know just how much danger he was in being targeted by those rumor spreading bastards.

But maybe Edmund would, and if he wasn't feeling so spineless he might find the inspiration to save his fellow insomniac.

----------
Paper Boys x3: Pain 6. You can fight but you open up the possibility that they will start swarming you. With each one adding another two pain to the mix. You can also run, there isn't saying you won't get more pain that way, but escape might occur before the others can make up their minds.

You currently are running on the protagonist roll rules. The protagonist in this conflict is Greg, he is running on 3 discipline dice, and Edmund is coming in as aid adding an extra 3 discipline himself. Edmund cannot dig into his extra dice for this conflict. Greg can.

Remember that if you don't take them down early in the fight or escape there will be a Pain 10 with Greg's name on it to try to get past the story.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Edmund briefly raised an eyebrow in curiosity as Greg came towards him. He had only meant to say hello to the fellow. Oh well, suppose human contact isn't the worst thing that could happen.

"These would be the rooftops," Edmund replied, his voice dull, if a bit scratchy. "These are sort of the secondary roads," he continued, "that taxi is one example of human transport. It is also the information highway, but only if you're gutsy enough to try and deal with the .... paper boys."

Speak of the Devil, the little origami fuckers arrived on the scene, pestering Greg. "Looks like you got front page," Edmund said indifferently, "these guys tend to just look the other way when I'm around, but they seem to like you. That is a dangerous predicament, they never have anything good to report. If they have their way, you may be reported having sold drugs to puppies tomorrow. Lucky you." His apathy was astounding.

"So wat'cha going to do about it," Edmund asked, still laid back and relaxed. This may prove interesting to see how the poor schmuck tries to handle the paper boys. Maybe if he comes up with a good idea, Edmund will do something beside be a passive douche bag.

[phil_]

"Someone traded it away?" "One Question per person?" Bullshit. He had to know something about this person if he knew that he traded Rob's apartment away, whatever that meant. Rob wasn't going to just let this go. Something about his answer must say more than he meant it to, this Oscar.

OOC: I'm making a major use of Rob's Study ability to study Oscar's face and answer for info on who "someone" is. Of course, I'm throwing my first Exhaustion die into the mix 'cause I have to, plus I'm throwing all six Madness die in because screw it, we're doing it live! So, 3 Discipline, 1 Exhaustion, 6 Madness. Let's make things interesting!

IC: Wes's situation remained largely the same, a dance between Sakura's attempts to pull him closer and his attempts to pull away. The robot noticed the eyes watching them from the darkness, but decided to say nothing. Or maybe it was Wes who noticed, but didn't want the dance to stop. Such are things when the line between person and hallucination blurs.

[Arcanum]

Greg gave a little half nod to Edmund's response, but was otherwise a little preoccupied being unnerved by the approaching Paper Boys. Edmund's words were a little unsettling as well, and Greg felt like there was something else about these Paper Boys that he wasn't being told. Whether that was true or not, he didn't plan on finding out.

"You seem to know these things better than I do," he said to Edmund, "so you can have fun here. Meanwhile I'll be leaving."

Greg turned and started to walk away, then glanced over his shoulder to see the Paper Boys following him.

Something tells me nothing about this place is going to be easy...

With that thought, Greg started to run.