WAKE UP TIME

[strangerpeople]

WAKE UP TIME

[The first thing you feel when you wake up is...nothing.

You don't feel much different at all when you wake up, no doubt from a very pleasant sleep, even if you may not remember what you dreamed of. If anything, you would have thought it was another normal day.

That thought would have vanished the moment you took in your surroundings. This is not your bed, this is definitely not your bedroom, and well, this is definitely not your home. In fact, this place isn't anywhere you've been before.

Before you can question anything much further, your cell phone starts beeping, flashing a message on the screen for a good several minutes, before flashing your profile, also for a few minutes. Yes, now you have a Title, and a power, even if you've never had one before. And yes, you have a cell phone. Even if you didn't have one, and don't know what the hell a cell phone is. You get the feeling you'll need to keep it on you.

The profile fades back to the home page of your phone - don't worry, you can still access your profile, and everyone else's, on that little lime icon if you really want - even though you have so many questions now. (The help button may... attempt to be helpful in that case.) Where the hell are you? Why do you have a Title? And can you get out?

Perhaps, if you're strong enough. But, in any case.

Welcome, Titled.

There are fifteen strangers in this place.]


((OOC: Welcome!

If you haven't filled out the resident profile or current residents information yet, please do so!))

Comments

[incrediblystressedout]

I

[The last thing Joey Claire would have expected at this point is a normal day. That possibility had gone right out the window with the arrival of horrible giant centipede-snake things into an otherwise normal autumn evening. Still...it's tempting, for a split second, to wonder if that experience was nothing but a horrible nightmare.]

[The immediate unfamiliarity of the room she wakes up in shakes that idea out of her head faster than a teenage girl absconding from a horrible snake-centipede thing. No adoring audience of stuffed animals, no beautiful mural, no posters, no creepy yet weirdly-comforting little brother tree-cave easily visible from the bay window. No window at all, actually. And the walls don't seem to be real either...]

[There's a flashing...something on the nightstand as she bolts awake, and she's not sure why that's giving her a sense of déja vu. She picks it up on instinct.]

...what?

II

[Joey can be found cautiously examining her surroundings and fiddling with her cell phone. She's cautious when she spots anyone else, but it doesn't take her long to associate profiles with faces and realize that, whoever these people are, they appear to be in the same situation as her.]

Uh, hello? Hi. Do you have any idea what's going on here? I think I took a wrong turn from "weird and bad" to "bizarre and awful..."

[theirmagic]

[ Yeah, by now Ursula's... at least bleached her hair, so. Big discrepancy from her profile picture, though, isn't it? How odd. ]

Ah... yes, I think we all did, just a little bit. This certainly isn't my school, I would say. I have classes to teach, too. This is terrible timing.

[incrediblystressedout]

Terrible timing? Uh. Yeah. That's one way of putting it. What on Earth is going on?

[theirmagic]

I... I don't know. But I certainly hope whomever wrote those rules was lying.

[ YOU'RE A CHILD. ]

[incrediblystressedout]

Yeah...I'm okay with the first six, but I really hope seven, eight, nine, and...eight?

[She looks at her phone again to make sure she's reading the numbers right.]

Who wrote this, anyway?

[theirmagic]

... I honestly don't know, but it really sounds like it was written by a young girl around your age.

[ She's not suspecting you, or anything, but it really? Does? ]

[incrediblystressedout]

...I see what you might be thinking, but that's not my typing style. I don't know what half of those little faces are supposed to mean. I haven't really graduated past colon-three to express a kitty cat. And fuschia text? Ugh.

Also, I've never sent a chat message on a cell phone. I didn't even know you could do that.

[theirmagic]

I've... known a lot of girls like that, unfortunately. There were plenty of students in my school like that.

[ She gives a small laugh. ]

I doubt it was you. You'd probably talk like you typed. But yes, you can do that. Granted, technology isn't my strong suit, I'm used to sending messages with a crystal ball through Luna Nova's magical network... that would be Professor Croix's area of expertise.

[incrediblystressedout]

...magical network? Uh...

[Time for Joey's new favorite game: am I crazy or is the person I'm talking to crazy?]

[steelmagnolias]

Nope, not a damn clue.

[He's at least going to be honest with her.]

I was on a plane. Unless it crashed and this is some sort of bizarre afterlife, I can't think of how any of us could've ended up here.

[incrediblystressedout]

Well, something weird was definitely happening to me. I was opening some kind of weird door-looking thing? I think? It's kind of fuzzy now.

[steelmagnolias]

[He's only slightly concerned, mostly because he's from a culture that endorses teens running around the countryside unsupervised.

Mostly he's just worried because that still sounds like a situation where you could die.]

...and then you ended up here.

You recognize any of the names on those profiles?

[incrediblystressedout]

[She shakes her head.]

I don't have the biggest social circle, but a lot of these don't even sound like names from my part of the world. Or. Anywhere.

[What kind of name is Wake, anyway?]

Well, okay, I've heard of a Dio, but I'm pretty sure his name isn't just Dio.

[steelmagnolias]

There's a few who sound like they could be from my part of the world, but... no one here I know.

Dio's probably some sort of weird stage name.

[ His occupation is "ringleader", and Ren's familiar enough with weird stage names as it is. ]

[incrediblystressedout]

Huh. I wonder how he got his stage name in there. I could've been Joey Claire, Extraordinaire.

Or just. Not had my name given to fourteen random people I've never met.

[That said...at least it used the name she's been going by and not what's on her birth certificate. That was considerate.]

[steelmagnolias]

Trust me, Joey-chan, I think most of us don't want our names and personal info just... out there.

[incrediblystressedout]

[She nods.]

At least I'm guessing it's just here? My brother and my babysitter are always going on and on about not giving my full name over the internet, but considering we can't even make calls out on these mini-cell phones, that's probably not a problem.

II

[thegreenhornet]

How do you expect me to now?

[He says that rather bluntly, exasperated]

What, did you find something horrible around here? What else can go wrong besides being trapped in a mall with all these ridiculous rules?

[incrediblystressedout]

[Are adults supposed to cop this kind of attitude? Joey's pretty sure they're not, but she's a bit lacking in role models.]

We could be trapped in a mall with ridiculous monsters?

Just...that's the kind of day I've been having.

[thegreenhornet]

We're trapped in a mall with ridiculous people. There's a witch, some kid pretending to be a detective, a guy who owns a circus, and someone who's looking for God's Gift.

[At least they're not monsters]

[incrediblystressedout]

Well if someone brings up murder, I guess someone's got to be a detective, right? That's how those shows work, wherever a detective goes, someone's going to get murdered.

[Joey kind of hates prime time TV. Angela Lansbury needs to stop going on vacation.]

[thegreenhornet]

Isn't that a myth? Because people would be dropping dead everywhere if that happened.

[If that's true, then everyone in this mall is doomed except Akechi]

[incrediblystressedout]

Well, I don't know any detectives. You're probably right, though. Still, it's good to have someone who might have some idea what's going on, right?

[thegreenhornet]

The only detective here is some kid. He can't be a real detective.

[Who has ever heard of a real teen detective? Ridiculous]

[incrediblystressedout]

You never know. He could be a genius. A lot of performers and musicians are well into their careers as kids.