First things first, I guess, so... sorry for not being around. On the network, I mean, since I've been all over the City. Physically. And not all over, mostly just around the Centers, but still--not on the network. Sometimes I forget it's here, you know?

Plus, having conversations with someone who'll talk back? Way more fun than talking to myself.

Second, I know things've been rough lately. Not so much curse-wise, but it seems like almost everyone's had someone important to them leave the City. I haven't been here as long as a bunch of people--well, that I can remember--so I can't say that losing people gets any easier. What I can say is that things'll be okay. Maybe not now, maybe not soon, but they'll look up eventually.

So if you've had a friend or a loved one leave and you're hurting or upset or a little bit of both, just try to remember that things won't always be the way they are now. You can fall in love more than once, and that thing people say about strangers just being friends you haven't met yet? Totally true. There're plenty of people in this giant city, so you don't need to be alone. ...I mean, unless you like being alone. That's completely okay. But if you're not a fan of being alone...

And if you don't know where to start looking for friends, my name's Penny. I'm all for meeting people.

Side note: there're fresh cookies at the Welcome Center. Like, haven't-been-out-of-the-oven-for-more-than-half-an-hour fresh. If you're around, go ahead and help yourself!


[ooc: SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT! If your character either volunteers at or stays at the Welcome Center or Youth Center, there's a community for that! Guess what? There's a meme, too! Please visit. I'm very lonely.]

Hey, everyone who's new! Don't freak out, okay? You're in the City and it's a weird place, but you probably won't be here for very long and almost everyone's really nice. Oh, and time stops in your world when you leave it, so it's completely okay if you were in the middle of something. You should plan on being here through tomorrow sometime, so if you can find some friends who'll lend you a couch, that'd be a good idea. If you don't have anyone, look for the buildings with the signs that say "The Welcome Center" or "The Youth Center." We have some beds in both places, and no, you don't have to be a kid to stop by the Youth Center. Curses're special that way.

Both buildings'll be offering free food and drinks for as long as possible. Sorry for anyone who was waiting early this morning; these curses don't exactly come with warnings, so it took a while to get everything together.

Anyway! My name's Penny and I'd be happy to help you out if you have any questions or need anything. You can either talk to me by using the video-thingy you're watching this on--there should be a button that says record reply or something like that--or, if you see me around, give me a shout. I hope you have a good time!


[text; unfiltered]

PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE CITY: Thank you so so much to everyone who's been stepping up and helping out! Quadruple thanks to you restaurant and cafe owners. You guys are the best. But even with all this help we're still completely swamped so if you feel like helping and you're not already signed up with one of the Centers, we could really use you.

And if anyone's interested in helping to run either the Welcome Center or the Youth Center, please please please let me know! Thank you! ♥


[action]

[Penny is all over the City's main square, trying to oversee both centers while running errands and trying to be helpful. She may or may not be carting meals, bedding, or other sundry goods. Tumbles, a half-collie mix, might be following her around. Whatever she's doing, though, she's genuinely eager to lend a hand to anyone with a question.]


[ooc: Anything goes, fourth wall as you like, and please forgive delays on my end!]

[Penny, currently seventeen and rocking a pixie cut, is digging frantically through a pile of papers (they're just off screen, but the odd piece of wrinkled notebook paper goes flying by). Judging from the background, she's sitting in the hall at Westerberg High.

And talking to herself.]

You know when people tell you to prioritize the stuff you should get done? I think I did it wrong, so I'm basically doomed for finals.

[Or maybe she's talking to the network. She shuffles papers for a few more moments before giving up, putting the papers down in favor of the network device.]

But you know what's worse? I'm too busy freaking out about finals to freak out about anything else like the twenty-four people who starve to death every minute or the seven trees an average American goes through each year or anything relevant. [pause] No, I guess I'm still worried about the usual stuff. But seriously, finals on top of that? I'm never going to need to know this stuff in real life.

[She pauses again, rethinking this.]

Unless, you know... you're a teacher and you're listening to this. Teachers, you're an invaluable part of the American workforce and it's completely not your fault that the high school students in Finland test way better than students in the United States. [If Penny didn't sound so sincere, that might have come off as sarcasm. It's not.] That'd be my fault. Not by myself, I mean--not even I can blame me for that--but students like me who could do better and never get around to it. Motivation issues.

[A sigh.]

Okay. I'm calm now. Ranting's good for the soul.

[And with that nugget of wisdom, she ends the feed.]


[ooc: Action/messaging/whatever, in school or out, is awesome. Feel free to have characters know Penny from any junior-level classes, art, or band (she plays violin, which... isn't important, but it seems worth pointing out). Replies will come from aprettypenny .]

So... um. I'm sure most everyone's noticed by now, but Derek Morgan left the City.

[There is a pause. If silence could speak, this particular silence would say, "And that sucks. A lot."]

That means the Youth Center doesn't have a keeper and no one's teaching self-defense classes anymore. Is there anyone out there who'd be interested in taking that over? The classes, I mean. It doesn't pay, but it comes with the fuzzy feeling of knowing that you're helping a bunch of people learn to protect themselves. As one of those people who were learning, I'd really, really appreciate it if someone could pick them up.

Contact me here if you're interested, I guess?

Also, is there someone named Mercy out there? I don't know about you, but I got a note when Derek left and it looks like we're looking after the Youth Center. That's cool with me, I'd just like to meet you. Maybe share notes... figure out how to work this, you know.

...That's about all I know, City. Business as usual, right?


[ooc: THIS WAS POSTED YESTERDAY. So May 11th. Pretend with me.]

I know I probably don't post to the network like I should--keep up with things, tell everyone what's going on in my life, things like that--but the City's just so weird that I can't ever think of anything to say if I'm not replying to someone else. 

What do you post after a ship sinks and people who're really important to you kind-of-die?  "Hey, sorry you guys froze to death and drowned.  That totally sucked.  It's cool that you're alive, though!"  Or when there's a crazy Shakespeare serial killer running around?  "So I heard that a couple more people were murdered in really awful ways.  I even knew one of them.  Bummer, right?"  What about when you spend the weekend being a completely disgusting... rotting... thing?  "Sorry for not coming out of my room.  My body decided to go all zombie today and I thought it'd be better to stay in.  I would've posted, but a couple of my fingers fell off.  It's okay, though, because everything went back to normal at midnight on Sunday."

I mean, what do you even say?

Also, that zombie-rotting thing was completely true.  I don't know if that curse is supposed to make us dead people think about how we're not really alive or if it's just meant to gross us out.  The grossing out was a complete success... not so much the first one.  I don't know about anyone else who's dead, but I'm pretty okay with it.  It happens to everyone, right?  I'm pretty lucky, I think--I get to hang out here instead of going wherever it is people go when they die. 

Oh!  Totally unrelated, but what do you guys think about cards for City-related occasions?  I know I've talked to a couple people about this, but what do the rest of you think?  Do we need sorry-about-what-I-did-during-that-curse, thanks-for-taking-care-of-my-body-when-we-body-swapped, congratulations-on-living-here-for-so-many-years-without-going-crazy, or I-heard-you-died-and-that's-horrible-but-I'm-glad-you're-better cards?  I don't want to make the stuff that happens here any less important, but there're just some occasions that call for cards.  Tacky?  Inspired idea?

Seriously.  I think this could be a thing.


[ooc: I'm being a jerk.  Posting and running.  I'll play catch-up with all of the things tomorrow, and my apologies to anyone waiting on me!]

Crazy week, huh?  People dying, people coming back to life for a day, the network turning into a weird version of The Sun.  I'm not a fan of gossip.  What people do, who they do it with--that's all their business, no one else's.  

I'm even less a fan of murder, but I'm sure the police will take care of that.

Coming back to life, though... that's really something.  I ended up running around the garden most of the day.  Maybe this doesn't make sense, but being alive seems to make everything brighter.  Things taste better, flowers smell better, running is more fun.  I never would've guessed that I'd actually miss getting my heart rate up and needing to breathe.  It was a nice day, but being like this--being dead, I mean--isn't bad.  It's way better than not being in the City would be, and I still get to do the things I care about and meet people.

[Her voice takes on a gloomier tone that is very unlike Penny.]

Jenny went home.  I checked the Hall and there she was.  I'll definitely miss her.  I didn't know her for very long, but she's always so sweet and cheerful, and she's pretty much the only person I've ever had a serious conversation about freeing the animals in the zoo with. 

She said I could be part of her family, too--that I'd make a good sister.  I've never had anyone invite me into her family before.  Having a family...

[There's a brief pause, a sniff, and then, with forced brightness:]

So!  Charlie, Sophie--shopping tomorrow, right?

Okay. I think he's asleep...

[Penny's speaking in a whisper, network device held close. She looks unusually high-strung and--is she wearing a purple pajama top? At this time of day? Yes, she is.]

I need someone who can pick locks.

[She turns the camera. There's a silver cuff around her wrist... attached to a silver chain...attached to another silver cuff that happens to be on the wrist of Peter Vincent. Peter appears to be in a drunken stupor. Penny directs the device back towards her face.]

Okay. This is the first time he's been quiet since I woke up--next to him in his bed! Not that--I mean, of course I wasn't there on purpose, so this has to be a curse, but he keeps saying all of these things and I can't change my clothes because I know he'll look! I'm all for giving people second and third and fourth chances, but this is crazy and I need someone to save me before he wakes up and I... I don't even know. I don't think anyone can hold me responsible for anything I might do.

[Penny glances back over at Peter to make sure he's still out. Her whisper might have risen slightly above a whisper there.]

If you reply to this, please reply quietly, okay? And not with text. My typing's awful with one hand.

Okay, City. Question time.

Say this is the second time you've been in the City and you have no idea what happened the first time around, although there are some awesome people who remember you. Now say it's, you know, one of their birthdays, and you want to give them something special and thoughtful, but you haven't really gotten to know them as well as they know you and you have no idea what you might've given them for their birthday before. What do you do?

Also, for anyone who was following that rainbow a couple days ago--did you find anything? Dumb question, but stranger things've happened.

I hope everyone's still doing okay. If anyone ever needs anything, I'd like to help. If you can't reach me on the network-thing--sometimes I forget to turn it on when I'm running around--I'm usually hanging out around the Welcome Center. This is absolutely not aimed at anyone specific.

( Filtered to Peter Vincent // Ridiculously Hackable )


[ooc: Ever-so-slightly forward dated to the morning of March 20th when I have no intention of being awake, so open to anyone cursed with The Worst of Me.]

[Penny--still in the desert, if her surroundings are any indication--looks a little worse for the wear. Her sunburn is peeling, she's not terribly clean, and her cheery expression has an unmistakeably stained look about it.]

Hey. Just checking in... you know, so no one's worried, although I don't know how many people're still over here to worry. Which is good! I hope things're looking better on the other side.

It's actually not too bad over here, now that the slugs've let up. I'm getting to be useful--always good--and the whole lack-of-hygiene thing stops mattering after a few days. My shoes're totalled, though. Figures I'd get zapped to a desert wearing heels.

[She sighs.]

So! Anyone know if this is a permanent thing? The desert and the glass?


[ooc: Still in the desert with the doctors (just Wilson and House by now, I think?) playing (a not very glamorous) Florence Nightingale. Video, audio, or action as you like!]

[The feed begins with static of both the visual and audio variety. This gives way to a nice shot of sand--as if everyone isn't tired of seeing that--and Penny's voice.]

--need you to work, please? I'm not Survivor material and this seriously isn't going to end well if you're broke--oh! You're recording?

[A dizzying spin and Penny comes more-or-less into focus. Her expression is difficult to see, darkened as it is by the diffused white light behind her. She's sitting cross-legged in the sand, a white blanket over her head forming a makeshift (and uncomfortable) tent. It's better than being baked to a crisp.]

Hey! I'm hoping someone sees this because I could use some help. I woke up yesterday in this building that definitely wasn't the building I went to sleep in, but that wasn't so bad because there was some water and food and... you know, a couple of walls. I couldn't get this dumb video phone to work, but I didn't start freaking out about that until this morning when the walls decided to turn into sand and--and I swear I'm not making this up--I heard growling.

[A shadow passes outside, just behind Penny and her sheet tent. She stays silent until it leaves and continues in a whisper.]

Did I mention the things? There're things out there. Growling things. So if anyone's getting this and knows what to do, I'd really, really, really appreciate help. I think I saw the carousel a ways off yesterday, but other than that... no idea where I am.

[Bright light comes streaming in from a hole in the blanket; sand falls on the device's lens.]

Oh no. Nononono...

[More sand falls and the feed ends abruptly.]


[ooc: Action of the saving-Penny-from-whatever-desert-beasties-you-please variety would be amazing. Any replies to voice/video/etc will be answered later.]

[The video starts with... absolutely nothing. After a moment, however, the obstruction--a hand--moves away from the lens to reveal a slightly frazzled-looking Penny.]

Hey there! If you're new to the City or just visiting, I hope you're finding everything okay and not too worried. I keep hearing that this curse should've ended yesterday, but I'm sure you'll get back home soon. You're not missing anything, I promise; time stops while you're here. Nice, right?

Right.

If you need anything or you're looking for someone, it's pretty safe to ask anyone who looks like they live here. Most everyone's really friendly, so help's not too hard to find. You can also look for the sign that says "welcome center" and head for it. There're plenty of volunteers around the center who'd love to help you out, including me--but seriously, everyone's nice, so don't be afraid to ask questions.

Oh! And I'm Penny, so... y'know. Come say hi.


[ooc: Pretend this was up a little earlier? Anyway! Here's Penny and I can't think of anything that wouldn't be okay. She doesn't know what happens after her death in DHSAB, so expect some freaking out if your character chooses to enlighten her. This particular Penny doesn't remember her previous stay in the City, but you're welcome to throw old friends at her regardless!]

[Maybe the amplified ticking that only just stopped had gotten to her. Maybe the reality of her situation took five days to hit home. Whatever the reason, Penny doesn't sound particularly chipper. One might go so far as to say that she sounds outright shocked.]

Oh my god. This is all completely real, isn't it? Not just the City, but all of it. What Hammer said, the death ray, Billy, dying, coming here... all of that actually happened.

The City and the dying--that I can deal with. Death happens like everything else, right? But Billy's a supervillain... a real villain with a death ray and everything. And Hammer's supposed to be a hero and he actually told everyone that we slept--oh god. Laundromat-frozen yogurt-shy Billy has a death ray and Captain Hammer's a total... a total jerkface, and he never did care about the homeless, and why does that bother me more than Billy being Dr. Horrible? But Billy--Dr. Horrible--didn't actually shoot anyone, and Hammer made the death ray explode...

And then--

[There's a long pause, but the recording continues. Penny's quieter when she speaks again, as if she's not talking directly into her network device.]

That really happened. All of that happened.

Billy's sweet and a supervillain, Hammer's--and then what happened to the shelter when the death ray exploded? Who else...?

[Another pause. This time the pause stretches into silence until the device times out.]

[The network is treated to a nice shot of the snow-covered cement in the City Square and a muffled voice.]

Are you sure it’s on? I don’t see the—oh! Thank you, that makes a lot of sense, actually. You have a good day, too!

[After a momentary blackout (caused, no doubt, by a hand over the lens), a pale woman with red hair comes into view. Her sheepish smile is largely overshadowed by the considerable amount of blood on her blouse.]

Hey there. I’m Penny, I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing, and I definitely don’t know where I am—which is completely okay because I think I just died…? [she shakes her head, flustered] I know, that sounds totally insane, sorry. I promise I’m not a crazy person, just… you know, kind of confused.

[She pauses, thinking.]

Um. Does anyone know what’s going on? Or where I could get a new shirt, maybe?  This was a cute top, too...