[IC] False Paradise

[Balthazar007]

Similar to the OOC section's opening post, you will want to keep an eye out for new content in this IC opening post.

High atop a giant mountain lies what locals refer to as Paradise City. All the inhabitants of this city arrive at dawn and in the same way, by safely waking up on a sidewalk or park bench, healed of any ailment and with all bodily scars vanished. They are also found dressed in the same unisex, navy blue comfort suit, much like that of a modern day nurse.

The locals welcome new arrivals in open arms, offering to give them tours and show them the best places to buy new clothes. Whether one chooses to accept their overbearingly kind assistance or explore the city alone, it will become evident that this is no average city. Some streets are futuristic while others seem to resemble idealistic versions of the ages past; one never knows what kind of architecture will be found around the next corner. And venturing off too far in any direction will reveal an invisible wall. Beyond the wall, luscious landscapes below peak out from behind pillow white clouds.

The strangeness does not end at the city’s layout. Upon further investigation, there is no higher authority, no monetary system, basically nothing to create any kind of division of social classes. With no money, comes no need to work. There are no manufacturing plants as anyone can go to a store and request an item to be custom built by a computer operated machine or order the item online. Restaurants are merely themed attractions where people sit at tables where food and drinks are delivered autonomously, only moments after requesting them. In period themed shops, lifelike androids serve their guests 24/7.

After many hours of exploring, one may expect to start feeling tired or hungry, but that is never the case. The longer you stay, the more certain facts become apparent. While inside the invisible walls of this city, you will never get tired, hungry or sick. Furthermore, if you were to become injured, you would bear witness to your body’s new ability to heal itself in a matter of minutes.

Naturally, you may have a few questions such as, “Where am I? How did I get here? How is any of this possible? Can I go back home? What do I do next?” You are not alone. Everyone starts off with the same questions. Eventually, most people give up on their search for answers and choose to live gleefully in the care free city. What will you do?

8 facts you will learn quickly on your first day:

• Day and night pass as usual.
• Weapons seem to be non-existent.
• The weather is always mild and comfortable.
• There are no houses, just free hourly accommodations.
• You can find any kind food or clothes at the stores for free.
• You never get tired and always return to a state of perfect health.
• People eat and drink purely for enjoyment, never getting full and never leaving waste.
• Forms of transportation include: high-speed rails, busses, and single person rides (including animals).

"Good Morning Paradise"

This is the fictional website of two NPCs, Randy and Trixie. You can find their original posts in the IC section. Below are bare summaries of each of their appearances. This is basically a catalog for new people and those back from a long absence.

Day 1

• First they introduced the five new (and first) characters into the world. In overbearing fashion, they displayed personal information of when and where they come from along side pictures of their face and name.
  -
• Then they introduced their website, basically raising awarness for the existance of this section of the IC opening post.

Paradise City Quests

???

Requirements: Lv. 3 per person; Lv. 6 total
Summary: Located on Page 2
Objectives: Everyone must post at least 5 times. Further details to be revealed.
Reward: ???
Completed Quests: N/A

Golden Rule: No god modding another person's character
Silver Rule: Do not post more than once per hour. This is not quite the place.

[Bai Suzhen]

Mira North

Mira wakes up in the park. She doesn't remember going to sleep in the park. She'd have a headache if she'd been out drinking, but as far as she recalls last night the most wild activity she got up to was a bowl of ice cream. Maybe it's a joke? A hidden camera thing? She usually feels more tired when she wakes up.

Mira sits up and swings sideways to sit on the bench. There's no clank as she sets her leg down. There's sensation too, proper sensation, not the crude approximation her prosthetic game. She rolls up the legs on her new pyjamas, not even caring where they came from.

Two legs. Two actual, real legs. She touches them. Pinches them. Everything she can think of to prove that it's not a dream. There's not even a scar. Her tattoo didn't grow back though... in fact, the woven reed pattern around her other ankle is gone too. but it's a small price to pay for her leg back.

By the time another person reaches her, Mira is mostly finished weeping, and is getting to her feet, stretching her legs properly for the first time in years.

[SashaWindrider]

Azurael woke up startled on a park bench, and was startled enough to vent forth a few choice expletives. Azurael pinches herself hard to make sure this isn't a dream, and the pain from the pinch fades nearly instantaneously. She rolls shoulders as she comes o a standing position - no pain. The shoulder pain she has had for years is gone. "Have I died?" Azurael asks herself. She decides that maybe she has, or perhaps aliens kidnapped her. Either way she needed to find where she was and if she could get home. Azurael notices a girl on a park bench not too far away from her, crying. Azurael walks up to her (Mira) and asks her "What's wrong? Are you lost?"

[Bai Suzhen]

Mira sniffles a bit, and suppresses her tears of joy. "My leg! My leg is back!" she proclaims, as she looks around. For the first time she really takes in the new place. Skyscrapers alongside Tudor timber buildings, her odd new clothes, which the woman in front of her also wears.

"Um... I think I may also be lost though. Where the heck is this?"

[Zombehs]

“Hey… Hey!”

He jolted awake with a start and resisted the urge to glance around at his surroundings, focusing on the startled man in front of him instead. He stared away at the sight of the foreign stranger, and the fellow’s appearance prompted him to take in his surroundings instead. “Wha-” To say he was confused would have been an understatement and he fought to control his breathing, ultimately successful as he took in the futuristic skyscrapers of glass and steel that surround him and blot out the sun.

“I understand you must be confused.” Hearing the stranger’s soft tone, he turned his attention back to the dark-skinned man, mouth open to ask questions. “Please,” the man said as he held a hand up, “just let me explain. You can ask any questions afterwards.” He shut his mouth and nodded in reply, evidently satisfying the helpful stranger.

The stranger certainly wove a fanciful tale for him to hear and his disbelief had only grown when all was said and done. ‘Impossible,’ was of course his thought towards this apparent utopia. Unflinchingly, he sank his teeth into the back of his hand and bit into the skin and flesh. An unexpected reaction given the stranger’s yell of surprise, though he was in enough pain to not pay it too much attention. Yet as he grit his teeth, tasting blood on his tongue, he could also see the self-inflicted wound begin to heal itself. “Well, that’s one way to test things,” the stranger said as he tugged at the collar of his shirt, apparently a bit startled and wary of Sorano if his glances were any indication.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he spit the blood from his mouth with a grimace. The pain had quickly began to disappear as the wound healed itself, though his clothes were now a bit bloody. Well, it wouldn’t be much of an issue if what the stranger had said was true. “Just hard to believe… still not sure if I’m not just dead.” He ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head in frustration as the stranger nodded in apparent agreement.

“Yeah. Some people do think this is heaven of sorts, and I can’t really blame them. In any case, allow me to be the first to welcome you to Paradise City. Name’s Francis.” The stranger finally stood, offering a helping hand that he took to get to his feet.

“Thanks… I’ll take a look around myself for now.”

“Alright then, if you need help don’t be afraid to ask. Everyone should be more than willing to.” With that, the two of them finally went about their separate ways. He was a bit surprised to find that he didn’t have any problems with moving around after a coma of unknown length. It probably had something to do with the magical healing that kept everyone alive in the city. Though it wasn’t obvious, he could still feel the stares of people on him as he walked amongst them. Francis had said that everyone wound up here in these sort of clothes, so frankly he wanted out of them as quickly as possible.

It didn’t take too long to find a “store” where he managed to get an entirely new outfit tailored for him on the spot. An unusual experience to be certain, but one he didn’t have too much issue with as he swapped his clothes. His next task wasn’t much harder, but did take a while longer since the shops capable of manufacturing such an object didn’t seem to be as commonplace. As Francis had said though, people were more than happy to point him in the right direction with but a question.

It was an odd experience to walk through so many different districts in the span of less than a kilometer and he was honestly still reeling as he stepped inside the store. Hell, he could have sworn there was a block that took from ancient Rome if his memories were correct! He blinked a few times, lost in consideration, before an automated greeting snapped him out of it.

It took a bit longer than his clothes, but ultimately he managed to get a nice bike fabricated for him within minutes. Honestly he didn’t care too much about how he got it, and couldn’t help but grin when he turned the ignition and felt it come to life beneath him. As a set of garage doors opened at the sound of a rumbling engine, he flipped the visor down on his helmet and peeled out of the store with a sharp screech.

[Rick Sanchez]

Thirty minutes ago, Clem had woken up on concrete.

Now, passing out on sidewalks? Nothing new, in itself. The teen had grown into quite the street rat in the past few years, and getting into a fight every now and then was apart of the job. Y'know--"boys will be boys", that sort of thing. If the situation were any different, he would've guessed that a few of Rodriguez' boys had been sent after whichever one of them they could get their hands onto after last Saturday. Famous sore losers.

So he'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time, they'd caught him, and his head hit the curb too hard. That's why he couldn't remember last night. It didn't matter, his head was too screwed up for brain damage to change much.

The only problem was that when he woke up, nothing hurt.

A half hour finds the young boy panicking. There's a lot--like, seriously, a lot--wrong with the entire situation. First off, why is he wearing ugly scrubs?

Second, he has no idea where he is. Wherever this is, it sure as hell ain't in Cincinnati--heck, he doesn't think he'd find something like this in Ohio, or any of the other 49 states. Clem's been riding the metro to hell and back since age 10 and has never seen anything like the mismatched slates of mud and brick and then classy, polished steel, worthy of the World Trade Center. He's fairly certain half of these buildings are taller than the towers.

So he paces, muttering to himself with his head in his hands, and digs his fingernails so deep into his scalp that it should hurt but it doesn't and it's really, really weird and it pisses him off. When an older woman with understanding eyes walks up, Clem runs. If she asks him why he's not in school and if he needs to borrow a phone, calls him "Dear" or something of that caliber, he'd snap and strangle her with the sleeves of his gross new threads. And since she looked really nice, he doesn't want that to happen.

He stops at a park that's so much prettier than Dempsey would ever be and it serves to make him angrier. He picks up the nearest object--a baseball that he was sure wasn't there a moment before--and chucks it at the nearest fixture--a bench--because if he doesn't get the frustration out somehow he's going to pop a blood vessel. Or maybe cry, and that'd be really embarrassing. The ball flies backwards and bounces four times before getting caught in a depression in the sidewalk where a little patch of Johnny Jump-Ups are growing. He watches it roll away and turns to kick the bench, but the pain in his foot doesn't last long enough for the swear words to leave his mouth.

With a sharp sigh, he sits down on the arm of the bench and tries to calm down, glaring daggers at anyone who tries to get too close.

[SashaWindrider]

Azurael looks back at Mira, the happiness infecting her also. "I have no idea where, or when we are. All I can gather is that neither of us belong here and this is no place I know of in my country."

Azurael took a breath and decided it would be rude not to make introductions. "I'm Azurael."

Azurael thought it might be a good idea if they stuck together and voiced this.

[Bai Suzhen]

"Mira. Good to meet you." she offers her hand for shaking, and when introductions are over looks about. "I suppose we should take a look around..."

Walking alongside Azurael, Mira looks about as she walks through the park, occasionally stopping to feel a tree, pluck a leaf or check she really does have her leg back.

"Maybe we're in London, or Berlin or the like? They've got some ancient buildings right next to modern ones?" A glimpse of a stepped pyramid makes her reconsider. "Or... Disneyland?"

[CallMeChaotix]

Varian moved around. "Uuuurgh...." Varian then fully woke up, "Huh!? The FUCK!?" Varian got up, startled. He looked at his surroundings. He sniffed, then realized. This WASN'T Foxhound, this place looked way better than Foxhound City. Varian walked around, seeing other people. How did he get here? Why is here? What brought him here?? Varian was confused. "....This isn't Foxhound.....THIS ISN'T FOXHOUND!" Varian started to freak out, people looked at him like he belonged in a Asylum. Varian noticed and ran from the people, he ran and ran. He had to get out of here, HAD to. There had to be a way, until he bumped into someone. Varian got back up and pushed past them. At one point, he dropped to his knees, too tired to move. He dropped in front of two people.

[SashaWindrider]

Azurael had shook Mira's offered hand and was happily walking beside Mira when out of nowhere some-one bumps into her. Some-one wearing exactly the same clothing as her. "Watch where you're going!" Azurael said, followed by "Are you okay?"

[Bai Suzhen]

Mira helps the newcomer up after the collision. Another person in the same clothing. "Hey there. I'm guessing you don't know where we are either? Just woken up here with no idea what happened?"

She shakes her head, and continues "I'd think we were kidnapped or on some prank show if I hadn't regrown my leg and lost my tattoos... This is some sci-fi stuff right here. Think we're escaped organ-transplant clones or something?" Mira sounds like she's joking, but there's a hint of worry in her voice.

[Balthazar007]

The morning news is an unavoidable spectacle in Paradise City. It’s a moment that everyone takes out of their busy day of frolicking to listen to the same two happy faces. They are displayed on every TV, electronic billboard, and even floating holographic displays that pop up in older style streets. With a beautiful artificial sunrise as their background, a young man and woman recite the “important” news of the city.



“GOOOOD morning Paradise City! It’s us again, Randy McFeelgood!”
“And his much more attractive co-host, Trixie Goodlife!”
“Oh Trixie, you hurt my feelings!”
“Oh shut it Randy. Since when do you have feelings?”

The couple laughs in sync, stopping at the same moment as well. Their perfect harmony of joy may seem a little unsettling, but after a while, most people get used to it. After all, it’s widely believed that they are a pair of androids or perhaps a computer program. That being the case, what else would you expect?

“So Trixie, will you do the honors of welcoming todays new arrivals or should I?”
“I think I will this time, Randy. You can go next time.”
“Okay, if you insist!”
“Today we have five new arrivals!”
“Oh wow, five!? That’s my favorite number!”
“Mine too! Anyways, let’s all give a warm welcome to these new darlings. We all know how hard things can be in the beginning.”

On cue, almost everyone in the city starts to applaud. The few people that don’t clap are presumably new as well. After an appropriate amount of time, Trixie begins to introduce each new inhabitant one by one. Introductions consist what period in time and what part of the world they come from, all while showing a picture of their faces and names. At the end of the introductions, Trixie signals another well received applause.

“That sure was lovely, Trixie! You did a great job.”
“Awe thanks, Randy!”
“And since you did the morning introductions, I’m going to do the morning announcements!”
“That sounds fair to me!”
“We only have one important notice to share with you all today, but in my opinion, it’s the most important announcement we have ever made!”
“Oh, you always say that, Randy!”
“Shhhh!! The new people don’t know that!”
“Hahaha!” “Bahaha!”
Anyways, as I was saying, we have but one announcement today. Today-"
“And every day from here on out!”
“Exactly! Every day from now until the end of days, you will be able to look back on our morning news reports. We will be posting a summary on our new website, “Good Morning Paradise” dot com. I suggest buying a smart phone when you get the chance. That way, you can look up our website wherever you may be! If you don’t know about smart phones or the internet, just ask a friendly face. We’re all in this together!”
“And I hear that many of the stores are having a sale on new phones! Buy one free! Get one free!”
“Hahaha!”“Bahaha!”
“Well that’s all for today!”
“We’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Until next time, this is Randy McFeelgood-"
“And this is Trixie Goodlife!”
“Signing off-"
“And wishing you all-"
“A Perfect Day in Paradise!!” “A Perfect Day in Paradise!!”

[NOTE: Check out the section labeled "Good Morning Paradise" added to the IC opening post.]

[Bai Suzhen]

Mira steps back in surprise as a hologram is projected from what she had originally assumed to be an ordinary lamppost. As the pair continue their artificially cheerful report she walks over, waving her hand through it, covering some sensors with her thumb and generally interacting with it.

"That... kind of raises more questions than it answers. At least we've got a name for this place. And the grass is green, and the girls are pretty. Five new arrivals? I'm guessing we're three of them... I wonder where the other two are..."

[SashaWindrider]

Azurael looks shocked. "That looks like some serious tech they have. We've only just started basic holograms." Azurael paused and a worrying thought occurred to her. "Judging by how high tech that is, perhaps it's military. Maybe, we are in a military experiment."

Azurael sincerely hoped not.

[Rick Sanchez]

One of those missing two had tripped himself in a panic when his sulking was interrupted by a strange rendition of Good Morning, America, as broadcasted by a nearby digital advert, a few blocks off from our protag trio. Someone had spiked the volume (when did billboards get the aux cord?) up enough that Clem could hear its annoyingly perky hosts from across the street. What was with this neighborhood? He folded his arms and quirked an eyebrow, swaying to look at the couple from his spot on the concrete where he'd fallen as if they could see his attitude through the screen.

Annoyance morphed into confusion as their report progressed, and then a sickly low feeling when he saw his own face (it wasn't even a nice picture, in his opinion).

"New arrivals"? Had he been kidnapped and taken to some freaky hippie-psycho socialist community? But--that was a guy from the end of the 21^st century? Aw, no way in hell. He had to be dreaming. Or dead. Maybe this was heaven?

Cue vaguely hysterical laughter. Clem slumped into the back of the park bench, smacking the base of his skull into it methodically.

[Bai Suzhen]

"Well, it's not that advanced... expensive, perhaps, but nothing you can't pick up at a store... speaking of, I think the announcement was right about getting us phones. If they really are free... well, at least we can stay in touch."

[Bai Suzhen]

Mira shakes her head, to clear it of all the questions going around in it, and starts walking towards the exit of the park.

"So... we're supposed to believe that people have been snatched up from across time, and deposited in this city for reasons unknown. Unless this has been set up just for us, I think we can assume people have tried to figure out what's gone on before. And, if they meant us harm, why dress us and leave us here?"

"So with that in mind... I'm going to go get one of those free phones. Maybe see what clothes they have here... you coming with?"

[SashaWindrider]

"In my era, this is advanced technology. For your era, probably old stuff." Azurael said.

"Perhaps we are prisoners, in some sort of experiment. Perhaps they hope that if we can not see the walls holding us in then we will fail to realise we are imprisoned. But, resources are important." Azurael said, keeping pace with Mira. "Clothes first, I think. We stand out a lot in these clothes".

[CallMeChaotix]

"..I don't get what the fuck is going on..." Varian walked around, something was up. This has to be some Effed-up prank show. Varian climbed up a building, to see what he where he was. "...Whoa...did I die..? Is this Heaven?" He stared at the places around. Foxhound City didn't look this good. He was in wonderland? He didn't know. He dropped off the building, safely and started to walk off. Varian thought it actually might be nice here, he walked over to a fountain, and sat down. "....." Varian then got up.

"....Something's wrong about this, but I can't resist to say....THIS IS AWESOME!!" Varian yelled, people heard him. People stared at him like he was a crazy guy on crack. "Uuuuh..." Varian noticed, and ran from the crowd. He climbed up a weird building. He said it once, he'll say it again. BETTER THAN FOXHOUND CITY. He climbed up another building, he then wall-ran on a skyscraper's window to another building. He barrel rolled onto the building and should've broken his ankle, "..Huh..!?" His ankle was perfectly fine. This is some weird heaven, he thought. Or was he a Anime character in some weird-ass Sci-Fi. He'll never know probably. If he can't break his ankle here, he wonders, can he jump off a building and survive without breaking ANYTHING!? Varian smirked, got up and jumped off the building.

"WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

[Zombehs]

Unsurprisingly, given the lack of other vehicles on the streets, he got more than a few strange looks from the people on the sidewalks or even on public transit. Not that it particularly bothered him given the almost empty roads meant he could floor it, and the rumbling from the engine filled whatever street he was on at the moment; music to his ears. He nearly had a nasty spill the first time he hugged a corner only to find out that the district style had changed from smooth road to unpaved paths. He screeched to a halt, heart hammering at the near accident, and simply stood there for a moment to catch his breath and calm down.

At the same time, a floating display popped up nearby and caught his attention. Though stunned, it was only for a moment as he had already came to accept that this city housed technology easily decades if not centuries ahead of what he knew. It only took a few moments before he was sufficiently creeped out by the two and the artificialness of it all. He frowned as introductions for the five new arrivals were made, and shivered a bit as the people around him all clapped in time with one another. ‘The hell is with this place…’ The cheerfulness of the two broadcasted only unsettled him further and he crushed the urge to get on the move again. Everyone else seemed glued to the broadcast and he didn’t want to draw more attention from the weirdos that lived the city than he had to.

When it finally came to an end, he didn’t hesitate to throttle the engine and shoot over the unpaved ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust as he did so. His eyes scanned the cityscape for the closest way out of its boundary, and the tire screeched as he jerked the bike into a sharp turn.