The biggest moments in life are those in which we accept change. And I don't mean when you've bought a pack of hobnobs at the shop and only had a nice crisp twenty in your wallet. I mean those times when we acknowledge that everything will be different from now, and embrace it. Those are the times we grow. And in doing so, we improve. This world has a transition coming.
Will we embrace it, or will we crumble?
[Music 1]
Imagine in your minds eye the sprawling, bustling city of Okahame from above. The people bulge and swarm among the streets, moving like busy ants from their homes to their work places. Cars slide silently about the complex maze of roads almost as if in some kind of strange dance. And as you get closer the sounds hit you. The buzz of life. The people talking and walking and breathing along side one another, the cars, the distant siren, the random tastes of music from the occasional open window. All of it coming together to create one noise. One city. One life... Down on the streets and amid the crowd, you would feel the weight of all that life if you cared to try. And down onto the streets is where your minds eye should take you, because there you will meet someone. There, you will meet "Dave". I do not know Dave's real name. Nor where he came from. But I know this: Dave is the single most important living person on the planet.
He has short, neat and combed-to-the-side hair. His eyes are brown. His skin has never dared to even dream of catching a tan. He wears a cheap suit and tie, the latter of which has little pictures of cakes all over it, because it is his birthday today. And like everyone around him, Dave is on his way to work. So, the question you must be wondering right now is simple. Why? Why Dave? Why is Dave the single most important living person on the planet? Well, that's easy.
That's because about two days ago Dave was walking to work just like you had imagined. And when he was half way down a busy street he got a splitting headache. (It looked like a real doozy, I've seen the footage.) It built up fast and only got worse. Eventually Dave couldn't take it anymore. He dropped to his knees clutching his forehead and screamed out in pain.
Twelve nearby people dropped dead. A thirteenth man fell into a coma. Dave ran away and disappeared in the confusion and horror of it all.
The authorities are trying to tell us that this incident was the work of a gas-leak. A gas-leak on the main streets of 2nd Noon. A gas-leak that hit thirteen -fourteen if you include Dave- people, in the center of a tightly packed lunchtime crowd, and nobody else. Don't believe it. It's ridiculous. You can't keep burying your head in the sand and claiming that nothing at all strange is going on in the world. Because it is, and we need to accept it. Because then we can prepare for it. We can adapt and embrace the change. And we either do that or it'll destroy us, that is if we don't tear ourselves apart first.
And this is why Dave is the most important living person. He is proof. Sure they have scrubbed the tapes, scoured the internet for leaks and put out false information about what really happened. But Dave himself is proof. Living proof. And if we can show people that, well, the governments won't be able to put the genie back in the bottle.
So, I don't know your real name Dave, or if you'll ever read this. But if you do. Come and find us. We want to help.
Signing off.
~Myriad
[Music 2]
Thomas tugged at his hood, tucking his head deeper within the cloth. He looked about warily again as he had been doing every few seconds for the past few minutes. Hell, he'd been doing it for the past few days. But even more so now as he contemplated his actions. It was one thing to keep your face hidden and skulk around on the streets, it was another thing entirely to enter a building full of cameras, computers, and exactly the type of people that might recognize the mysterious 'Dave' from the photos Myriad had leaked.
He took a deep breath, tugged at his hood again, and strode into the internet cafe as casually as he could. Which wasn't too casual. Luckily nobody seemed to have started pointing in his general direction and whispering. So he kept moving, found himself as empty a spot as he could, and logged into his Myriad account. Quickly as he could he opened up his usual Myriad chatroom and hoped there were people around. CosmicShit, CobaltPeacock, Ladders, Yami, Dexamillion01, Tailor, JackOfNoTrades and snack_attack. There were a good few people online. That was probably a good thing. Maybe one of them could help.
It didn't take Thomas two hours to reach the meeting point. He was on the 5th Noon side of the bridge looking out over the east river. There were a lot of people around. The was a small shopping district on this side of the bridge. It made sense, there was a lot of foot traffic. Just looking around now he could see a great deal of people milling about in clusters or solo headed from shop to shop, stopping by the hot-food vendor. Sitting on benches and such. Doing normal things that Thomas wasn't sure he'd ever get to do again.
He leaned against a railing and tried to look as inconspicuous as he could. It would have been easier if he hadn't lost his phone back when 'it' happened. He could look so damn inconspicuous with a phone. He'd just pretend he was texting people or something. Hell, maybe he actually would text people. That'd confuse the hell out of everyone who was definitely staring at him at this very moment. 'Oh he's just pretending to be texting so nobody pays attention.' They'd think. 'Nobody is buying it.' They'd say. Then they'd sneak a peek and 'Oh, what's this? He's really texting people? Oh my! My world has just been blown wide open. I don't know what's true anymore. Maybe I'm the one who's pretending to text people. I need a lie down befo-'
"Hey dude." Said a soft voice from behind. Thomas almost had a heart attack then and there. He spun in a flash to look at who had spoken, all his greatest fears overcame him at once playing out in his mind. "Woah, woah. Chill. Calm. It's me. Tailor. You know, we're meeting here and stuff. Just. You take a minute man, you look rough."
Thomas fell back against the railing in a particularly vigorous lean, breathing heavily into his shaking hands. "Oh god. I thought you were the police or something. Can we go now?"
Tailor cast a glance around. "Have you met Yami yet?"
"What? No." Thomas asked with a look confusion
"Then we can't go yet. He'd complain for years if we didn't wait for him."
"Yami's coming too?"
"Yeah, and few others. People got over excited about Myriad showing up in the chat. They decided to make this the 'first official group outing' or something. We'll just hang out here for a bit. People will come. You want a hotdog while we wait? I'm gunna get a hotdog."
OOC:
Edited by Unbelievably Majestic, 04 April 2016 - 11:28 AM.