★ The Hosts
The people who maintain the Machine and this experiment are all mod characters. Some are helpful, some are misguided, some are cruel, and some are dancing to a higher power's tune. While they can change and may appear with varying frequency, there are some constant influences.
★ The Shop
The shop is a quaint wooden cottage that happens to be perhaps a bit futuristic on the inside. It's run by a man named Grey and the double jokers on the gaudy sign make it hard to miss. He's all too happy to sell characters the things they need - even information - for the right price. Can they afford his prices? That depends on what they have to lose. On the plus side, his employer wants him to hire new employees. As long as those employees don't try to get into the back room, behind the purple curtain... Oh, and don't even try to attack him. The door has a trigger to detect harmful intent, and you really don't want it to go off.
Though NPCs can see the shop, whenever they try the door, it is locked. They may, if they are lucky, catch a fleeting image of the twins in the window, but they won't be allowed in. Regardless of what they try to use - magic, technology, or explosions - they will not be able to get into the shop. The door will open only when player characters are alone (or alone with other player characters).
★ Main Hosts
Meredith ☆ Meredith Sault represents what she simply refers to as 'the Order.' It has a real name, but she doesn't think that you need to hear it. There's something distinctly eerie in her mannerisms, from the distant voice to the fluidity of her movements. Her robes hide her eyes in shadow, but her lips, often curled in amusement, are always visible.
Meredith is not your friend, but she is not your enemy, either. She will not be bought, coerced, convinced, or made to care, for she values little and considers everything to be transient. She will not attempt to trick you, but she often speaks vaguely - or else callously offers shattering information, a small smile the only hint at her reason for doing so.
Raymond ☆ Raymond Keys works for a man named Jed, and that's all he has to offer on that situation. He looks stunningly average, brown hair, brown eyes, average height, dressed in greys and like he can't decide between business or casual. His stature and appearance always seem like he's just barely tolerating being there.
And when he says you make him sick, he means it. He comes from a long line of people with the ability to sense the inhuman, but no one has ever had it as strong as him. He has no problems treating you with utter contempt and disgust, but will at least play at being nice to get his job done.
Grey ☆ Grey, as he calls himself, works for the same man Ray does. He is the new owner of the shop, and can be found there at almost any hour of the day or night, frantically writing away in a notebook (always with a green cover). He seems normal enough, though sometimes, when he smiles, it's like he has too many teeth...
Derogative ☆ Derogative is an insufferably cheery, usually asleep, new addition. When dealing with most humanoid beings, he tends to take on a human form; a man in his early forties with short, messy brown hair, bright green eyes, and usually dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket. Though when in the shop, he tends to prefer his natural form: a giant canine-like animal with a golden ankh on his chest.
Most of the time he does odd jobs for whoever needs him for anything, he takes his role as Guardian seriously, but it would be best for everyone if he just remains as doofy and scatterbrained as he allows himself to seem.
The Twins ☆ The Twins are comprised of a girl and a boy - Lapis and Lazuli respectively - who look shockingly young and like perfect, pale porcelain dolls. Everything about them is sheet white and neat, wearing old-fashioned clothes, cropped hair and generally seeming quite delicate if not rather unsettling.
Don't be fooled. The Twins are sly, amoral business types. Everything has a price and nothing is sacred. They appear to have ties to everything corrupt - the mafia, crooked cops, etc - as well as everything good - heroes, orphanages, whatever - and keep their cards close. People tend to end up in debt to them but if you have what they want, they might just be your best friends.
Also, they have a creepy tendency to talk in unison, as if they share a mind. The only way to tell them apart is Lapis's slightly higher voice and the fact that they each wear a braid but on different sides of their heads. (Lapis wears hers on the right, Lazuli's on the left). If you listen closely when they move, the sound of gears can be heard. CURRENTLY MISSING.
Roe ☆ Not much is known about this woman. She fixed the Machine after it crashed from misuse, then disappeared. She seems to be irritable, because she very much is. Recently she has appeared again in glee at character suffering and annoyance that they were getting a vacation. She's a bundle of joy.
★ Contact A Host
In this post, you can ICly contact a mod character. You should leave a comment of whatever your character is doing to get attention - going into the shop and so on - as you would with normal tagging. If you have a preference for what character you get, give their name in the subject line. For the purposes of this post, the characters that can be contacted at any point are Meredith and Derogative.
However, if you do not specify which character you want, you may receive messages from others involved in the workings of the Machine.
OOC Info
★Summary ★Communities ★Rules ★Suggestions ★Contact ★AdvertisementThe Machine
★The Astral Plane ★Deviances ★Realities ★Reality Changes ★Experiments ★DeathConnections
★Network ★Postal System ★Hosts ★Permissions ★Hiatus & DropApplying
★Taken ★Arrival ★Applications ★Reserves ★Wanted