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Labyrinth City RP
You know who we are. We know who you are. No one has ever seen us, no one ever will. But you know us, in the very back of your mind, you know who we are. We sneak into your nightmares while you sleep. We tread silently under your floorboards, but you never know we're there. We now offer you a once-in-lifetime opportunity. Meet us at Fifth Avenue East; you'll know where we reside. 12:00 A.M. Tomorrow. At the stroke of midnight. Look under the blue manhole cover.
P.S. Don't be late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The note strikes you as odd.
You live in Horack City, a regular city, skyscrapers lining the horizon, clean cars roaming the well-paved streets. That's the good part of town. You live in what's known as the bad part. Typical; tall brick buildings squashed up against one another, dark back alleys and side streets, contrasting the forlorn grey sky. It seems never to change. The clouds are seemingly glued into place; never moving, hardly even raining.
Ever.
You live out your days in a worn grey hoodie and ripped up jeans, eyes downcast, wandering the side streets and back alleys to and from school. Your only pastime is hiding in corners, listening to conversations and watching people argue while you cower behind gutter spouts. They've never noticed. It's all you're good at.
You've always hoped to find out about a special talent of yours, something that makes you different. Maybe you'd be able to tell time exactly, without ever seeing a clock. Maybe you'd be able to see the truths, or lies, where others couldn't. Maybe you'd get invited to join a secret society and change the world. But you're used to dreams not coming true. You've taught yourself never dream, for it will only become the echo of a forgotten song. By what you know about this city, the only things that can get a person out of the mud puddles and side alleys is a fair pitched singing voice or a well played card.
But you know you're different, deep down.
Strange things have happened in your minds eye, but your mind won't turn them over and over and over again. Because that produces answers. Answers that your mind doesn't want you to know.
What you don't know is that there is an underground city beneath your feet; called Labyrinth City, it is full of criminals, Pirates, and vigilantes who've changed their ways. But the city wouldn't accept them, so they made their own city. They even now tread under your floorboards at night, scrounging for food and supplies. And they need talented children to join them. Children like yourself.
Something else you don't know is that you may be a cyborg, shapeshifter, or have special powers and abilities. They just have yet to surface.
Just like the wind that blew your hair from you face, then stopped suddenly, but not before you glimpsed the note. You hate to worry your parents like this, but nevertheless, you know where you'll have to be at midnight tomorrow.
And you're ready.
_____________________________________________________________________
Okay! I think this is my 3rd, 4th, RP, but all my others have died! Gasp! So, please keep this one alive!
Here's the plot:
You've already heard half of it. You live in Horack City, you find a note inviting you to a meeting at midnight. Basically, what you don't know, is that under the 'blue manhole cover' is an underground city of thieves, vagabonds, and pirates. Only they've changed their ways. But not being accepted into the above city because of their backgrounds, they built their own. At night they sneak under floorboards and between houses, looking for spare food and provisions. They plan to transform their city. I need a little help on the rest of the plot, though. So any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Everyone that joins is either a human, shapeshifter, or cyborg. Here are the options.
Shapeshifters: Only four please, and only one of each. You can be a....
Shadow Wolf (black fur, dark eyes, agile build, can blend with shadows and manipulate them)
Frost Panther (white-blue tinted fur, sapphire colored eyes, can create ice, snow, and frost and withstand cold temperatures.)
Winged Stallion (chestnut or oak colored, white wings, can fly, basically a pegasus)
Ignis Bear (red or orange tinted fur, can create fire, walk in fire, create heat, and create light)
Note: No shapeshifters are in complete control of their powers. Think Elsa in the beginning of Frozen. This way, no one will be OP. No shapeshifters even know about their powers until we are into the RP.
Cyborgs: Again, only four, and only one of each type.
Metallic (your body is made of metal that looks and acts exactly like skin. You can withstand more than a regular human)
Techie (you have extra technology virtually built into your body. For instance, you have a keypad inside your brain that people can hack into [though it's very complicated and virtually impossible] as well as scanner eyes.)
Robo (you are part robot. You might have a computer system in any part of your body, as well as talk and move strange)
Half Steel (you have some steel body parts. It can be an arm, a leg, an eye, anything you choose. They aren't visibly steel until later in the RP though, because of high tech coverings that you don't know exist)
Note: Again, the powers are limited. And you don't know about them yet.
Humans: four types, one of each.
Mind Reader (you have very limited mind reading/prediction skills.)
Levitator (you can levitate from the ground for short periods of time.)
Time Warper (you have very limited time warping skills, as in you can replay a few seconds from the past, or make yourself one or two days older. You can also tell time exactly. )
Truth Seeker (you always know what's the truth and what's a lie)
Note: see previous note.
Regular Human: four, one of each.
Nerd (knows a lot, reads a lot)
Tech Nerd (can work and build technology)
Riddler (clever, solves mysteries and riddles easily)
Agility Freak (backflips, handstands, karate, you name it)
Note: these are normal humans, but very talented.
Remember LIMITED POWERS. That's the key.
Here's the charrie sheet!
Name:
Gender:
Age: (13 and up please)
Species: (Human, Shapeshifter, or Cyborg)
Appearance:
Appearance as Shifted/Cyborg: (optional)
Personality:
Most Often Seen:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Powers/Abilities: (see above lists)
Backstory:
Here's mine!
Name: Ariana Graldë
Gender: Girl
Age: 15
Species: Shapeshifter (Shadow Wolf)
Appearance: Long black hair, usually tied up in some kind of complicated knot. Pale skin, almost silver in the moonlight, one green eye and one gold eye, both cold and menacing. Tall and slender, agile. Wears black boots with brass buckles, black leather vest over a red and black striped shirt, black gloves, sparkly gold leggings, and dragon scale green eyeshadow.
Appearance as Shifted/Cyborg: Long black fur, one green eye and one gold eye, both cold and menacing.
Personality: Seems cold and unfriendly at first, but is a good friend once you get to know her. She might look like a rebellious teen, but she really just has an unfriendly stare and likes black. I'll develop her more in the RP.
Most Often Seen: Doing dangerous tricks such as flipping off of rooftops at night, and sneaking around.
Likes: Dark Chocolate, the color black, wolves, shadows, justice.
Dislikes: Criminals, bullies, injustice, wimps.
Strengths: Agility and Gymnastics. Some fighting. Sneaking.
Weaknesses: Dark Chocolate, Cute Puppies (though she'd never admit it).
Powers/Abilities: Shapeshifting, blending with shadows, manipulating shadows.
Backstory: Mom died, was raised by her father in the sewers, they on,y come out at night. He was one of the founders of the Labyrinth City.
Rules:
-No OP charries please.
-Not a lot of crushes, please. Everyone needs to become pretty close friends in this RP, but I don't want any love triangles.
-Again, LIMIT your powers, people.
-Only 16 people can join, then after that, we'll see. Just request after that. We will start after we get two of each type of charrie.
-We'll start with one charrie per person.
-I'd like developed charries and detailed, well written posts.
-Don't join if you aren't going to post often.
-Have Fun!
submitted by Leeli
(January 19, 2017 - 1:02 pm)
(January 19, 2017 - 1:02 pm)
(February 12, 2017 - 3:53 pm)
(February 14, 2017 - 10:02 pm)
(February 20, 2017 - 5:55 pm)
(February 20, 2017 - 8:33 pm)
(February 20, 2017 - 8:19 pm)
Yes! Yes, yes, yes we can start! Thank you so much for topping this! I thought it was dead for good! I'll kick it off in just a second.
(February 21, 2017 - 12:40 pm)
Prologue
Ariana~
I slink through the shadows below the rooftop, and shimmy up the rusty, black iron ladder. Once on the rooftop, I pull the papers out of my jacket. These are the letters that will save our city; I only hope they fly to the right people. I wait until the wind begins to whip wildly, slinging my hair around my face. I don't bother to brush it away. I stand on my tiptoes and let go the slips of paper.
I watch helplessely as they fly to and fro, scattering across the city. Over rooftops, under branches. I resent having to do the job in broad daylight, but no regular kids are up a midnight like myself, so it was really my only choice. I watch the last paper drift out of view, and then do a few handsprings off the roof.
I land on a regular looking manhole cover, open it, and drop down inside.
The only catch: It's blue.
(February 21, 2017 - 12:49 pm)
Guys, Mira may seem kinda oblivious, but her mom and dad really did't speak to her about betrayal since she's so hard to lie to.
~Mira
Weird. I know weird. Weird is when you were sitting in the front row with the driver in a bus when, BOOM! everone dies. Including your parents. Weird is when your best friend won't tell you she's been chatting with the popular girls. And that something is up. And that all of a sudden, she won't talk to you and all the other whisper behind thier hands when they see you coming. But get this, I recieved a note last night:
You know who we are. We know who you are. No one has ever seen us, no one ever will. But you know us, in the very back of your mind, you know who we are. We sneak into your nightmares while you sleep. We tread silently under your floorboards, but you never know we're there. We now offer you a once-in-lifetime opportunity. Meet us at Fifth Avenue East; you'll know where we reside. 12:00 A.M. Tomorrow. At the stroke of midnight. Look under the blue manhole cover.
P.S. Don't be late.
Weird. Even weirder: I know what they're talking about.
(February 21, 2017 - 9:36 pm)
Iris~
"Iris. Hey, Iris? Are- are you awake?" a tiny voice says in my ear. Instantly, my eyes fly open. I sit up in bed, alert.
"Wha-?" I gasp, looking around.
"Oh! Um, Iris..." the little voice says. I look down, next to my bed, to see one of my young room mates, a five-year-old girl named Genesis. She's standing awkwardly by my bed, small hands wringing the hem of her nightshirt.
"Wha's wrong, Ginny?" I ask, my voice a little sleep-slurred.
"Um... I think I might have, um... wet the bed," she whispers, looking down, ashamed. I supress a sigh, though the sigh isn't for her. It's for whoever in her short life scared her so badly that she won't even go to an adult when she's had an accident. Instead, she wakes up to her fourteen-year-old room mate.
I throw back the covers on my bed and swing my legs over the side. Taking her hand, I lead her to the bathroom, on the way grabbing a washcloth and towel from the linens closet. I run the tap until the water is semi-warm, then let the washcloth soak.
"Here. Wipe yourself off while I go change the sheets, ok, sweetie?" I say, gently shutting the door behind me. A few seconds later, I hear her turn the faucet off. Another stop at the linens closet, and my arms are filled with replacement sheets. I quietly strip the bed, trying hard not to wake up the other two children who share the room: eight-year-old Ernest and Molly, who's two.
As I start remaking the bed, I hear Genesis slowly shuffle inside. She stands sleepily in the doorway, one hand clutching her well-loved stuffed rabbit, Flopsy. I stop what I'm doing, take her hand, and lead her to my bed at the other end of the room. She clambers on and curls up on her side, watching me with half-closed eyes.
When I'm finished, I scoop her up into my arms and carry her to her own bed. She sighs contentedly as I tuck her in, then shuts her eyes. Asleep.
Back on my bed, I watch the moon out of the window. The clock on the wall says it's a few minutes past midnight. I sigh.
Suddenly, I see something flit past my window. I open the window, reach out and snag it as it breezes by. It's a little piece of paper. A note.
(February 21, 2017 - 10:05 pm)
(February 22, 2017 - 7:35 am)
Lucas
~~
Shuddering, I glance up at the exposed pipes overhead as water drips from a rupture in the metal lining. If I squint my eyes, I can see a cockroach scuttle across the shadows, followed by several of its kind. "Ew..." I moan under my breath, trying to take up as little space as possible in this filthy place. Just ahead of me my aunt lurchs into a dingy armchair and crashes down on it, springs squealing under her weight.
"Yer room's upstairs," she slurs, blinking her eyes sleepily. "Get to it, boy." Curling my lip, I walk around her in a wide berth and start to drag my luggage up the stairs. Glancing back for a second, I can see a tiny flicker of sparks and curling smoke winding towards me, and I roll my eyes and turn away from the disgusting smell.
"So, here it is..." I murmur under my breath, surveying the attic. Well, it's certainly a downgrade from my old room. Stupid disease, I think angrily as I toss my mounds of luggage against the wall. I thought we'd had those all cured by now. If Mom and Dad didn't get infected, I wouldn't be in this--hovel now. But I am, so I better see what I could do.
As my aunt's not working, or at least I don't think so, heating's a nonexistant. The butler warned me about that when he arranged for me to live here while my parents recovered, but... I don't really mind the cold. Grinning, I watched my breath float into the air in a hazy cloud, relishing in a sharp chill. Maybe I could get used to it here.
But after a few days, I'm sure I can't. Honestly, how do any of the street rats survive in places like this? There's dirt and rust everywhere, and you've barely got enough money to eat off of. Luckily I brought a pretty penny with me, but still--no more tailored clothes, I've no idea where Belisama is, hope she's not lost--none of the nice things in life. I don't even to sit down on the 'bed' for fear of it caving in beneath me.
Taking in a deep breath and trying not to wince at the smell--would it kill my aunt to get an air freshener or two?--I try to look on the bright side.
But wait, there isn't one. Nothing ever happens here, filth and muck are abound, and every time I go outside I get stared at by those heathens on the streets. Who lets them run around like that, anyways? "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" I mutter, quoting Dickens under my breath. I want to get out of here as soon as I can.
Just like that, the tiny, fragile window on the wall rattles with a sudden wind, and as I look over at it I'm surprised to see a blue paper with words scrawled across it plastered to the pane. Scrambling to my feet, I rush over to the window, flip it up and over, and trap the paper inside before it can blow away again. Peeling it off the smudged glass, I scan it quickly and raise an eyebrow in confusion. What's all this tripe about a 'blue manhole cover' and someone I can't see? And what about midnight? As I think this, though, my mind travels back to one of my expeditions out in the bad side of town, and spotting a blue-painted manhole cover in a back alley. Some thug had glared at me (are suits really that strange to see?) so I hightailed out of there, but I suppose I could find it again if I wanted to. And maybe, just maybe... this is a chance to get out of this place.
So I decide to take it. Midnight it is, then.
(February 23, 2017 - 10:10 am)
(February 23, 2017 - 2:09 pm)
Those of us who have posted can't really post anymore until everyone else does or Leeli posts about the meeting under the blue manhole cover.
(February 25, 2017 - 1:40 pm)
Dana ~
Smearing the excess grease on my cargo pants, I peel open the rotary compartment of the clock I'm repairing. "Another jammed gathering pallet," I mutter. "No one ever cleans these things out." Fortunately, it's a quick fix. "That will fetch us just enough quid for supper," I tell my cat Quart with a gentle nudge.
I heave the clock into my arms - it's nearly as tall as I am - and Quart and I set off to deliver it back to its owner. The only people who have proper clocks live in the rich part of Horack City. That is, the people who had their own houses.
When my client opens the door, she scowls. "Took you long enough."
"I told you, I can get it back within 24 hours at best, no sooner."
She appraises me, and I suddenly become conscious of my shabby, stained pants and gloves. Her outfit is no less shabby, but she is wearing a dress and an apron. "Well. I'll take the clock," she said, pulling it away from me. "And you just run along now."
My grip on my wrench tightened. It made a formidable weapon when necessary."Ma'am, you owe me - "
"I said, run along!" Her face had turned red and I saw a flash of fear in her expression. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small child behind her, clutching a dingy doll. I could feel my heart melting.
"Of course, ma'am," I whispered. "Thank you for your service." I left.
Just as Quart and I were rounding the bend back toward the alley where we slept, a letter skittered onto the sidewalk in front of me. I looked around to see who had lost it, but there was no one.
With trepidation, I opened the lettter and read it. There was a strange feeling in my chest. I knew this letter was for me.
"Looks like we're making another trip tonight after all, Quart."
(February 25, 2017 - 4:45 pm)
(Sorry, I'll make this present tense next time.)
(February 27, 2017 - 10:03 pm)