Welcome to 'Prefeton', my latest attempt at a character RP. This RP is a coming-of-age story where you will write a high-school aged character who will gradually develop extraordinary powers while, at the same time, you unravel the mysteries as to what makes your home town so... unusual. This is not a sandbox RP though the actions of your characters will have ramifications.
At the start of the RP your character's powers will be relatively weak; however, there will be major time-skips which it is assumed that you have improved your current powers or developed new ones.
The RP will be set on the fictional Prefer Isle, dominated by the small town of Prefeton where your character lives which sits off the coast of Maine.
If you've RPed with me before you will know that I have a habit of writing my RPs together, and this one is no exception (and will fit into the extended 'Andromedaverse'), though there is no need whatsoever to go and read any of my other extant RPs or do any background reading - in fact, I would thoroughly recommend that you don't!
Finally, the RP will remain open to newcomers right up until the final chapter and I am always happy to give you a potted summary of what is going on.
If you are interested in joining, click on the great big 'OOC' button above and wade on in!
Chapter One: Land of Confusion
Which is, also great theme music...
The young woman in uniform was sent flying by the explosion, flying across the front room of the old derelict house in a shower of shattered glass and debris. Her flight was broken by the kitchen counter, knocking the wind from her. She looked stunned, confused, but there was a man there as well. Black hair, Eastern-Mediterranean features, the beginnings of a beard forming on his face. He reached down for the woman, concern in his dark eyes as he helped her up to her feet, "We need to run!" he gestured at the doorway.
The young woman looked familiar though Atalia couldn't quite put her finger on who she was. She was sure she knew her from somewhere. The woman's radio went off, words coming in a language Atalia was unfamiliar with, though she understood every word as if she were, "Sergeant, get the Professor out of here, we'll hold them off..."
The motioned at the door again, urging the injured woman forward, "We need to go, they'll be on top of us in a moment!"
For a moment his eyes met Atalia's and the scene dissolved. Instead she found herself staring into twin dark pits - the sunken eye pieces of a mask. The person in the mask was talking, his voice hollow and echoing from behind the wall of metal, “You claim to come from a planet called 'Earth' which is not on any of our star charts. You are reportedly a scientist. What is your name?”
There was a woman, a prisoner supported by two people in black armour. They looked like something out of Star Wars. She croaked something, though Atalia missed it, it was so quiet, but for a moment Atalia wasn't listening anyway, her eyes were drawn to the great vista in the window behind the man. It was space, but space like she'd never seen it before. Space unimpeded by the glare of city lights or the atmosphere of a planet. It was hypnotically beautiful. Dimly she became aware the man behind the mask was talking again, "... as a scientist on that ship, I want you to explain to me how you managed to bring your ship here.”
“I’m not that kind of scientist.” The prisoner pleaded, “I’m a biologist, I was studying mice, I don’t even know what happened myself -”
“In which case,” the masked man replied, cutting off her babble, “You are of no use to me.” Something about his tone suggested he knew more than he was letting on. His hand went to a blade at his hip. Atalia's heart leaped in her chest...
Everything was connected.
... she lurched forward, sitting bolt upright in bed, covered in sweat, the duvet tangled around her like ivy around a tree. It had happened again. It wasn't real. None of it was real. But what isn't real, Atalia? She hated dreams like this and they had been coming more and more frequently: vivid, violent and hinting at some inscrutable truth. People would think she was nuts if they knew.
She reached across to the bedside table, turning the alarm clock so it faced her. 7am. Atalia groaned, falling back onto her bed. It was way too early... but there was no way she was going to get back to sleep after that dream. Maybe she needed to see a shrink or something? She wasn't sure. Once people were a bit drunk at the party tonight she'd have a go at talking to one of her friends. Maybe that would make her feel better. It was probably her diet or something.
Disentangling herself from her bedclothes, Atalia crept into the bathroom and switched on the shower, washing away the sweat, though none of the memories of that strange, unfading dream. She stayed in the shower for a while, letting the warmth of the water sweep over her before eventually switching it off. The water was pleasant, but she couldn't push the dream from her mind. There was only one thing that could do that. Wrapping herself in a towel, she padded back to her room and dressed, pulling on a warm pair of trousers and a puffer jacket before retrieving her recurve bow from the bottom of her cupboard.
The slow, methodical process of clipping the limbs on, then stringing the bow began to settle her mind, though it wasn't until she was outside, falling into the familiar rhythm of archery, that Atalia finally began to feel calm again. Draw. Anchor. Aim. Release. There was something calming, almost meditative about the process and within a short while all thoughts of the dream were gone. Atalia was one with the bow and the bow was one with her.
That evening, 6:00pm, unnamed beach north of town...
Atalia was one of the first to arrive at the party. It was her party after all. It was a good location, isolated by a stretch of woods from the town itself meaning that no neighbours would call in to complain about the noise. There was room, as it got darker, to light a fire on the beach and, best of all, there wasn't anything on this side of the island, so there was no reason for any boring killjoys to show up. Of course, there was always a chance someone would break curfew with their parents and then someone might come looking out in one of the 'usual spots', in which case the party would be over, but there were hours to go before that!
A few of the guys from the football team were huddled around one guy's car. She stopped by to say hello, flirted a bit, but not so long that they got any ideas, then left them to it, wandering out onto the beach with a bottle of cheap bourbon and a plastic cup tucked under one arm. She wandered out to where she could sit in the sand watching the waves crash against the beach, creeping to few inches from her outstretched boots before retreating back to the sea.
Last night's dream was still eating away at her. Of course, it was total nonsense... unless it wasn't. She'd been having quite a few dreams recently. The woman in the uniform figured quite prominently. She was annoyingly familiar looking; if she could only figure out who she was, maybe all of this nonsense would stop? Sighing, Atalia drew the bottle out from under her arm, pouring herself a couple of shot's worth of liquor which she downed in one, before immediately pouring herself another. If she couldn't clear her mind, at least she could get drunk, "Hey!" she yelled up the beach to the people with cars. Who needed a car if you were never going to leave the island? "Someone want to put on some music? Make it something good," she smiled sweetly up the slope.
