The Big Applesauce

EVENT: THREE DAYS OF RAIN



At seven o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, July 30th, it begins to rain. It's not a drizzle or a downpour, but a steady, soaking sort of rain that puddles on the sidewalks and saturates the ground. The storm seems to park itself over Manhattan for the morning, and reluctantly rolls out to sea shortly after noon.

An hour after the skies clear, any rifty who got caught out in the rain may start to notice something unusual: namely, that they're escaping the notice of others. It's as if the rain has washed something out of them, and they're slowly fading out of others' awareness. Afflicted rifties are still corporeal, visible, and audible - they're not ghosts. But as time goes on, they'll continue to slip beneath everyone else's notice. By the evening of the 30th, they'll find that others' eyes tend to slide right over them, and afflicted rifties will have to grab people by the shoulder or raise their voices just to get a little acknowledgment.

Over the next two days, the effects will only worsen. Unless a significant effort is made by both parties, afflicted rifties will find themselves relegated to the background, their voices on par with the ambient sound of traffic, their faces as noteworthy as any given brick on a wall, their touch the equivalent of a sudden draft. Those who were not caught in the rain will still remember their fading friends, but they'll have an increasingly difficult time physically focusing on them.

On the bright side, afflicted rifties will be able to perceive one another with typical clarity, allowing them to easily interact with one another, if not the general population. The network will also be less affected than the rifties themselves, so text messages may be more easily perceived than speech (though by the end of the 31st, text alerts from afflicted rifties will be less noticeable than usual).

Most importantly, the weather isn't done with them. There will be occasional, sudden cloudbursts over the course of July 31st and August first, and another little soaking will reverse the effects of the initial storm. By evening of August first, everyone should be back to normal.

[OOC: Initial reactions to the fade-out can be posted here. Other shenanigans can go up in their own posts using the tag 'event: three days of rain.' Whether your character is affected and for how long is up to you, though it's safe to say that as the first of August draws to a close, rogue cloudbursts will be difficult for any still-afflicted rifties to avoid (we're not saying a tiny raincloud will spontaneously coalesce above the heads of afflicted rifties regardless of whether they're outdoors or not, buuuut we're not saying one won't, either). Backdating is, as ever, allowed and encouraged. And since this takes place over three days in game, forward dating will also be allowed if you want to get right into day three terribleness.]

When the sun rises over Manhattan at 7:02 on February 5th, a ripple runs through the Rift and across the city. Rift activity monitors everywhere go haywire for a few seconds, before settling down as if nothing has happened.

However, everyone who's been through the rift or has been affected by it will find themselves unable to understand language anywhere but in their own heads. Letters and numbers will lose their meaning. Anything spoken aloud will sound like gibberish to the listener.

Telepaths and empaths will still be able to communicate through feelings and memories, but anything that relies on language will be indecipherable.

Romac and rebel operations will more or less break down, and a ceasefire will take effect. People from both groups will start to gather at Bethesda fountain around noon, sharing drinks and hotdogs. In the evening this gathering will evolve into a party, with an ecletic band of whoever happens to own instruments playing wordless songs with people dancing.

By sunrise tomorrow morning, everything will have returned to normal.



There will be event posts where everyone can tag in that takes place at Bethesda fountain. Anything that takes place anywhere else should have individual character posts.

Please tag all posts set during this day with 'event: speaking in tongues'. Feel free to backdate to this date to participate.