![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apocalypsehownpcs) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
apocalypsehowcomm2023-10-01 12:57 pm
NPC Interactions - October 2023
Please note the following:
- To interact, simply place the name of NPC you wish to thread with in the subject line and provide a starter. These do not need to be complex in their set-up and NPCs can be found anywhere one might reasonably find them. In the office or around Gloucester.
- Each player will be limited to one NPC thread on this post per month. This is to keep things manageable for the mods and to encourage players to share whatever their characters might learn in these interactions with the broader group.
- These NPC threads can be used for AC, but if players are using them exclusively to meet AC requirements across multiple months, the mods reserve the right to request additional non-NPC proofs.
- Interaction with NPCs is not required to participate in the plot of the game. This is simply an additional, optional venue for engagement.
The Warden (i.e., head) of the Apocalypse Disruption Initiative/Apex Detectives, Inc., and a very busy woman. She is short, serious, and direct, but can turn on the charm when she needs to. She is the public face of the business and directs strategy for the organization. She is also an avatar of the Hunt. Her status as an avatar came as a surprise, but she has decided to at least partially embrace it, the better to fight the monsters. Nia has indicated she intends to find a way to get Player Characters home or stop them arriving in her universe and then find a way to stop herself from becoming one of the monsters ADI is sworn to fight. She places the mission and practicality first and has been shown to have the ability to smell Entity affiliation on others, as well as know strategically useful information. Nia is most likely to be found at ADI Headquarters.
This month, she is honing in ever more on Dogtown and those who are investigating it. She wants to know what's going on and who has found what. She's getting a little more aggressive about trying to rally everyone to share that information with each other. And her.
Formerly Nia's assistant, currently working in PR for ADI. They have a close, personal connection with Bonnie. When they're not at ADI Headquarters, they might be found out on the town with Bonnie or dropping in to visit her at the Flophouse. They are average height, polite, and eminently calm. They also seem to have a knack for reading other people.
This month, they continue to be absent for long stretches of time in Dogtown. They return from one of these excursions with new and exciting injuries by the day; although, nothing as severe as the burns they incurred last month. Word on the street is that they're heavily invested in investigating Dogtown. They are barely attending to their work at ADI now, and seem to be ever on the move and difficult to catch. If they're found, they are perfectly polite, of course! And reluctant but willing to share the things they've been finding.
HR for New Arrivals at ADI. She is a motherly, older woman who is typically patient, but also has a passive-aggressive snap to her if someone tests that to the breaking point. She is responsible for acclimating new arrivals and for those with a keen eye, she always carries a pistol in a shoulder holster, hidden beneath her cardigans. Due to an event incident, Pam is missing her left hand; she simply covers the stump with a pinned cardigan sleeve when wearing long sleeves or a pretty, fluffy cuff when wearing short sleeves. She's most often found at ADI Headquarters.
This month, the runaway success (i.e., lack of disaster or horror) surrounding her Christmas in July party has bolstered Pam's hopes for a good Halloween. She's still playing it a little safe with no formal announcement of a party. For now. Instead, she's started the Raising Spirits Initiative to bring a bit of joy and community back to ADI. Stop by her office to drop a 'wish' in the fishbowl she's set out, and she'll try to make that wish come true. She needs assistants for this endeavor, though, should anyone find themselves wanting a bit of a light amongst all the seasonal gloom.
Proprietor of the Flophouse. Bonnie is a tall, red-headed woman from another world, one of the first to find herself dragged into this new reality more than a year ago. She's a Bohemian sort with a lot of manic energy. She also places much greater emphasis on retaining one's humanity over being strictly human. Bonnie has a close, personal relationship with Reyes Amador, and will keep the people in the flophouse apprised of anything important ADI is doing so that they can help, if they wish to do so. She's most often found at the Flophouse or out on the town with Reyes.
This month she has found herself flophouse-bound with a "twisted ankle." Those who catch her treating that ankle, though, will notice far more severe injuries along her leg that appear to have been stitched up and need bandages changed for. She's more snappish than her usual self, clearly unhappy with being stuck and unable to move around. She's always in need of help, though, for jobs and other things to keep the flophouse stocked and in repair. Perhaps you'll weather her agitation to see what you can do to help… or call her our on her more blatant lies.
A young person living in the flophouse as Bonnie's roommate. They are a native to this reality and read a cursed book called The Long Road Ahead around the same time that Bonnie arrived. They now feed on cherished memories to give horrific visions of a potential future to those who wish to avail themselves of the exchange. They are rail thin, sickly, and always keep a blindfold over their eyes. They can sometimes be found in the common area in the flophouse with a white walking cane to guide them. (This NPC provides an IC conduit for OOC 'canon updates.')
This month, the Visionary is out and about in the flophouse more. It seems Bonnie's unhappy mood has left them more willing to engage with everyone else. He's also spending a great deal of time around Cole's room. You might even catch her emerging from the ex-avatar's room looking especially thoughtful.
A young man living in one of the flophouse's unused rooms. He is native to this reality and was originally part of a Desolation-based circus called the Fenix Down Extravaganza. He was called away from the circus on "family business," just before PCs murdered all Desolation avatars of the circus. Formerly known as Pyre, Cole was subsequently known to be lurking around Wolf Pen, WV during the events of Appalachia before he starting lighting fires on his way toward revenge against ADI for the circus and for their murder of his father, Carl Watts, in Wolf Pen. In his search for revenge, Cole attacked a Gloucester Eye cult, thinking it was associated with ADI and was turned from a man made of wax to one made of viscous eye jelly. He has lost cohesion as a being in many ways, along with access to much of his Desolation-based abilities, and is currently trapped in the form of a melted, mostly faceless flesh-blob monster. He lurks in the Flophouse, avoiding contact with people where he can. This NPC was spared by players from death and hidden at the Flophouse as part of a poll that took place in December 2022. As of June 2023, Cole has repaid some of the kindness shown to him by developing a truly private network app just for off-worlders.
This month, while Cole remains bedroom-bound thanks to his condition, he's been doing some heavy research and coordinating more with the Visionary, the flophouse's other avatar. He seems more distracted than usual for those who come to visit, his conversation sometimes going in circles, looping, or spinning away on tangents before he can talk about the important things he might want to discuss with someone else.
A local “friend” found in a room in ADI’s basement. It’s been discovered they’re perhaps one of the oldest people from another world still around as well as the being responsible for the glamours that have kept non-humans from being discovered. Through the off-worlder’s efforts, they have decided to stick around and help…for now. ADI isn’t willing to let a known monster stray too far, however, and they can be found under heavy and varied forms of observation in their little house not far from ADI’s gates.
This month, Milo is laying low, barely reaching out at all, really. The cozy cottage they've taken over is overflowing with plant life… very aggressive plantlife. Plantlife that has grown up and around and surrounded their cottage in a thick hedge. Those who wander nearby may hear Milo's voice calling from over the hedge, "Hello? Is anyone out there?" Their ADI-appointed guards don't seem to be doing anything to try to trim the overgrowth back.
QUESTIONS
pam.
Pam? Do you have a moment, my friend?
no subject
What can I do for you?
no subject
To be perfectly honest, I wanted to check in with you first. And to see what, if anything, you needed help with.
no subject
no subject
[Rue does not look put out. Something solid to focus on is always good for them.]
Please, put me to work as you see fit, my friend. I am happy to help in the facilitation of bringing someone's wishes to reality.
But speaking of fairies, may I ask you a brief question first?
no subject
Of course!
And I actually have just the thing in mind you could help with. It's not someone with ADI, but one of the people we've been helping for a while. The shop owner we helped with some... Flesh-y incidents. Did you ever meet Kahlil?
no subject
no subject
You first, dear. You had a question?
no subject
I realize I may ruffle ADI's feathers by asking questions, but I make no secret that I have become friends with Milo, the fey who was previously held prisoner in the basement.
[they said what they said!!]
But that is not their true name. It was lost to them before. And a true name to the fey is as much a piece of their identity as their personality. I have come to ask you first, because I trust in your answer more than I might others, and because I know the kindness of your heart.
Do you know what happened to Milo's true name? Is it someone within ADI who holds it?
no subject
I've never heard another name for them. They've been 'Milo' as long as I've known. Maybe it's something the Wardens hold? That's the only thing I can think of. It certainly wasn't shared with me.
Just... just the original bargain. And I was never supposed to know about that, either.
no subject
[Because Rue will not stop until they have exhausted all of their resources.]
May I ask what that original bargain was?
cw: victimization, mention of insanity, death, cruel and unusual punishment, torture, mental anguish
This is- it’s second-hand, mind you. I’ve never spoken to Milo. I heard about it when Nia burst into my office, practically in tears. It was when she’d become the new Warden. Whatever materials were left for her… I don’t know what it was, but she told me the deal that kept Milo here and working with ADI is that every year, we were supposed to pick one person.
We’d send that person into Milo’s room for them to drive insane and terrorize to their heart’s content. No chance for escape, no reprieve. Just… trapped with a tormentor until they died.
Part of Nia’s new duties were to pick the victims and collect the bodies. She… she didn’t want to do it. It’s why she changed the deal when she saw a chance to.
no subject
But they let out the gentlest of a hooted sigh, before Rue is blinking away their surprise and focusing on the conversation at hand.]
And what were the terms Nia changed the deal to?
no subject
She offered to give Milo a big list of names to glamour. In return, they could feed on the ambient fear generated by... you. By the people who were glamoured, the feeling of wrongness when they were outside of ADI. The mild fear they could generate in others with their presence.
It was better than the first deal. We needed it to be better, even if it wasn't good.
no subject
I see. I did not realize any of that, that - that the fear that I inspired, fed not the Entities but Milo instead. That is - [Rue shakes their head, sighing deeply.] Thank you, Pam, for your honesty and willingness to trust me enough to tell me the truth. I do appreciate it.
Milo, I do not your own particular feelings for them, but there is a goodness within them. They have been made to play the trickster villain for so long, but I do not believe that is what they truly want anymore. I have given them my word that I will do all I can to hunt down their true name.
no subject
I've never spoken with them. It's too dangerous for people who don't know all the rules they have. And I don't trust myself with them. I don't... think I can see much goodness from what I've heard about them, but I'll concede you have more personal information than I do. If they want to stop... good. I hope you can help them move that way more and more.
I can... Oh! Is that a wish? To find their true name?
no subject
Ah, I suppose it is. What do you mean?
no subject
[So saying, she grabs a nearby sticky note and writes out 'Fine Milo's true name' on it before folding it and placing it in the jar along with the rest.]
You came in here offering to help me, so I want to help you, Rue.
no subject
It is a kindness. But then again, Pam has always been the only true source of kindness from this place since the beginning. She is the only reason Rue is still here.]
Thank you, my friend. I am touched. [But Rue shakes their feathered to shake the emotion off, so they can smile back up at Pam.]
Now, I suppose that we must get to work with these wishes.
no subject
Now, I mentioned Kahlil. I was thinking...
[Pam will let Rue know about a yarn bombing stunt she wants to pull off. Kahlil's been struggling to attract business, and she wants to give him something strange and interesting right outside his store for people to come and look at... and pop into the shop while they're there looking around.]