Lostman Graffiti [Urban Fantasy]

[Marlowe]

Pfft, Lostman's a furry confirmed.

[HereComesTheSnow]

tentatively interested. got a small start for a character idea. cool with the university student age range, not sure on having met lostman.

[ML]

hello i'm watching this

[DJAtomika]

Interested in this.

[ERode]

Alright, did a bit of a write up for Tenoroshi's layout as a city, as well as the university y'all are students of, cause I'd figure that'd help.

Tenoroshi

Tenoroshi is a coastal city cut off from the rest of Japan by mountain ranges, with only one freeway and a set of railroads leading out of the city. Constantly in renovation in an attempt to fight off stagnation and population decline, it is nevertheless the sort of city that young adults growing up in would be more inclined to leave rather than stay. Still, during the summer, the beaches are nice, and the mountains feature pleasant hikes as well. With the right branding, the Revitalization Committee in Tenoroshi believes that the city can be a hidden gem of a tourist spot.

Tenoroshi can be broken up into nine districts, each which has a train station in for relatively easy commuting.

The Central District is where businessmen and construction workers funnel into during the daytime. An austere, downtown area, usually bustling during lunch time and the afternoon.

The Eastern District is the docks, where warehouses for large freighters are stored. Right now, however, most of these warehouses are not in use, due to the low amount of freighter traffic. The Fisherman's Market is also present here.

The Northeastern District is the beachfront, largely uninhabited and wide open. There are beach huts out there and long, winding walks, as well as rentals for swimgear, but otherwise, it's quiet and peaceful.

The Northern District is a steep area that holds fanciful resorts and hotels that border Tenoroshi's mountains. Further along the Northern District is a Shinto temple, with steep staircases heading high up on the mountain.

The Northwestern and Western Districts is distinctly suburban, with a smattering of convenience stores and laundry services around. The Western District has older infrastructure compared to the Northwestern District, and subsequently has narrower and more complex streets.

The Southwestern District is clandestinely run by the local yakuza, a red-light district that gets more raucous the further south you go. Rent prices are cheaper in this area too, and crime rates, as far as petty crimes go, aren't as high as one would expect.

The Southern District was planned to be an extension of the Central District, with plenty of tall office buildings popping up everywhere. Most of these buildings were left abandoned and unfinished, and most businesses subsequently choose different places to be. Recently, disenfranchised youth have been claiming this area as their own, with live houses and skate parks popping up, and graffiti coloring the unfinished walls.

The Southeastern District extends from the Eastern District as a collection of warehouses. There's more activity here though; most of the warehouses were repurposed as manufacturing plants, and the local railyard is here as well, to service the trains that go through the city.

Hijirido University

Hijirido University is a mid-sized university found between the Central District and the Northeastern District. Amongst natives of Tenoroshi, it has the reputation of the sort of post-secondary institution you'd have if you failed to qualify for a ranked university. The class sizes are small, and course scheduling is a hassle when only core courses have multiple sections, but the campus itself is modern-looking enough and wide open enough to not be completely painful. It boasts a surprisingly strong, and even slightly famous, marine biology program, but that's the sort of trivia that only outsiders are really aware of.

Due to student demands, Hijirido University has recently constructed a new set of three-story sharehouses bordering the Eastern District, so students who lust after an opportunity to live away from their parents, but were unable to quality for an out-of-city university, could still live independently.

There is almost an excess of ocean-related clubs in Hijirido University, from surfing to waterskiing to scuba diving to sailing to swimsuit appreciation, which eats up a lot of the budget allocated to the clubs and absolutely infuriates non-water-based student clubs.

Finally, I guess I'll yeet out some possible ways for all of you to be glued together. Pick your preferred one, or, y'know, come up with your own.

• You all live in the same co-ed sharehouse, and you'll have to just deal with that.
• You're all students in the same journalism/photography/etc program.
• You're all shift buddies in the same sketchy shop.
• You are the urban exploration/occult/etc club.
• Y'all are a buncha vigilantes who bonded over a shared incident.
• You're all members of the cult, the Children of Purity.
• You're all stuck in a hellish love polygon and there's no escape from romantic drama.

[Floch]

Holy shit!
I like

[ML]

did someone say a romantic drama cult sharehouse?

[HereComesTheSnow]

More seriously, I kinda like the urban exploration club, vigilantes, or shiftmates ideas. As funny as a love d20 is conceptually, I'm not too sure my dude would fit into it.

[Opposition]

I'm also drawn to Urbex/Occult club or sharehouse ideas though am 100% for the mega-complex love game. That would absolutely put writing skills to the test and leave tensions high.

Really I could go for most of the ideas. Shiftmates/in the same degree program/a cult? are all interesting options as well. The concept I'm toying with could work for any of the above.

[Crowvette]

I'm interested in this. And honestly, most of the options given for a group cohesion are good enough that it'd be hard to pick one.

[Marlowe]

Alex I'll take the first and last option. I do love me romance.

[Exit]

Sharehouse. Shift buddies. Urban ex.

[HereComesTheSnow]

Okay, bit of a preview done. I think I could make this work with most prompts, and I'm willing to fine-tune further if necessary.

I coulda been a contender...

Name
Arizawa, Iwao
Facade
The first thing people notice about Iwao is his bird’s nest of dyed blonde hair, almost indulgently stereotypical of a yankii or other such delinquent— but the second is his eyes, hollow, earthy, missing a certain spark to them. He doesn’t bother with talking tough or picking fights, though his now-habitual coarse manner of speech and bold yellow hair can sometimes pick the fight for him, regardless of his intentions. In any case, one look at his dense knuckles reveals (to the observant sort) a long story of thrown fists. A bit tall and definitely wiry, his youthful looks are usually in a decidedly neutral, melancholic cast. He’s a rather reserved guy, not one to really speak unless spoken to, and rarely smiles or mentions friends. In class, he can’t seem to focus, but he routinely attends in spite of his inevitable checking out. At night, he runs, hands infallibly wrapped up as though he were still a boxer. A slave to his own habits, he listlessly drifts in and out of each day on automatic, solemnly bereft of the grand dream he once held. It's only on those nightly sprints through Tenoroshi's winding streets that he seems to recapture some semblance of vigor— pounding down the road, it's as if he's both chasing something a long way away and fleeing another nipping at his heels.

To he whose ambitions are "greatness or nothing", they must never fumble that opportunity to be great. Rarely can they ever bear to be anything else.
Core
Street gossip. Idle rumors. Urban legends. They’re interesting, they’re different, and most importantly, they have nothing to do with the hole he dug for himself. They are, without a doubt, there to be encountered. What more reason could a guy need?

[Marlowe]

@HereComesTheSnow I love him! I might need to think about mu character more.

[ERode]

@banjoanjo@Opposition@sassy1085@Ambra@Exit@OwO@HereComesTheSnow@Crowvette@Mercenary Lord@Anakin@DJAtomika

Thus far, here's how things are looking in terms of the group-glue. I feel like the majority hasn't voted yet, but hey, we've got time.

Sharehouse: 3
Program:
Shift Buddies: 2
Club: 3
Vigilantes: 1
Cultists:
Love Polygon: 2

For those of you who haven't been around from the first page, please answer the following two questions.

How many of you wanna go right out of the gate having already encountered Lostman and/or having been involved in some incident before? To clarify, any power granted to you will either change yourself (suddenly becoming incredibly eye-catching and attractive even though you look like a trash gremlin) or change the world (setting things on fire via an exertion of your will), and there are equivalent and opposing repercussions for doing so (you lose memories of your real friends, your body temperature drops).

What do you most enjoy in RPs? Winning in brutal combat? Piecing together mysteries? etc. Try to pick one, ye?

And here's the Initial CS Template as well, in case it was missed. There will be a slightly bigger version of it popping up once I make the OOC and the Discord, but that's not going to happen until next week.

Character Sheet

[Character Image]
Name Last Name, First Name
Facade
The biometrics of your character, their outward personality, as well as miscellaneous information that pertains to stuff such as their habits, hobbies, quirks, and backstory. Think of it as the level of information you'd be able to get on a first impression, or as friendly acquaintances.
Core
What reason do they have for pursuing the unnatural happenings that normal people know to avoid? You can be as vague as you'd like; I just want some indication that you've thought about it.

The RP will still be running with a group of 4 to 6. Seeing how there's an excess of 11 of you, I will probably be cutting out some. If I feel like strapping on my jetpack for a ride into Hell, I might bump up the maximum number to 8. Unlikely, but maybe. Regardless, I will be closing sign-ups at 11:59 PM PST, Sunday. Get your sheets in before then, alright?

[HereComesTheSnow]

I don't think Iwao would have met the Lostman yet, and as much as I enjoy a good fight, the ideal would be to see character arcs move forward and interact, if that makes sense. I was pretty drawn to the "character-driven" aspect.

[OwO]

bwaa that's the start of my character

foto

Name: Shimamoto Aya
Facade:
Urban photographer by hobby and student/part-timer by occupation, Aya is an eccentric. She's often the shortest in the room at her height of five foot even. Her blood runs eclectic with her attention span (or lack thereof). Most of what she does is what interests her at the time. She often calls herself a failure of a human being, though others would call her a human cat: a nocturnal being that acts entirely on instinct. It doesn't help that her other hobbies include sunbathing, lounging around, skulking around, and chasing around small animals. It's actually a miracle that her student life has been rather successful. While amiable most times, Aya is prone to bouts of aloofness.
Core:
An unsolved mystery is pretty interesting.

[HereComesTheSnow]

Looks fun! I think the “failure of a human” thing is an interesting thread of commonality to pull on.

[RoflsMazoy]

Reeeeally hope you don't mind me squeezing in a character sheet for consideration. I'm greatly interested in the premise, but I'll understand if I don't make the cut.

The believer who doesn't believe, make your choice.

"I'll be able to leave Tenoroshi one day... right...?"

Name - Fujiwara, Reiko

Facade - Normal girl. Keeps her head down. Bites her lip if she has to. Keeps on walking by. It's normal to stop for a few moments. It's normal to help every once in a while. But one in a hundred, surely someone will take a stand for the fallen amongst the multitudes. Among them all, it could be her. But she is just another face, another name, what would it mean to them?

Core - Anxiety. Indecision. One of many, but being one of many does not guarantee solidarity. Afraid to make a choice one way or the other. What side of the blade will she choose to fall? Teetering on the brink of destruction with every tug of her heart strings. Every siren call. Every scream in the night. Such as it is for any resident of the underbelly in Tenoroshi. Does she have the power to make a difference? If she sought the Lostman, would she find it?

For starting relations I think I'd go sharehouse or club. Mostly club for me, I think?

[banjoanjo]

Looks like I shouldn't make a joke vote for Love Polygon now. I'll put it in for Shift Buddies instead. Nothing brings people together better than the throes of part-time retail. And Cults.

Otoya

Name:
Nagaku, Otoya
(長久 音也)

Facade:
Otoya's not exactly a show-off, but the dude exists so loudly that you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking it. His hair is long and unkempt in an emulation of his more successful musical peers but his clothes are kinda ritzy for what he claims to be raking in. Otoya’s that indie-looking tosser who’s always squawking around the Fine Arts building. Stubborn, argumentative guy. Usually heard going on about The System bringing them down or how soul-bearing his Art is, etc. That or the perpetual new gigs his band keeps getting. They're independent from the university, produce some decent bangers, but infamous on campus for the wrong reasons. He’s disciplined, he just also happens to be obnoxious as fuck.

Core:
Knowledge is power, power is control, and these streets are his. He's got siblings growing up here, y'know. If he's gotta quash the unknown to keep his part of town in a satisfactory state then he's gonna fuckin' do that.

And, y'know, outside of that, if this power he got is anything to go by, maybe he and the Lostman share some common interests.