Introduction


Things are not going well, to no real fault of your own. When you were young, you had dreams, ambitions, and energy to enact those plans. In your imagination, a stick could be a sword and pillows could be a fort. Waking up was less of a conquest and more of an enjoyment. The world was colored until it drained itself out into the drab gray you see it in now. Trying to close your eyes after the daylight hours is just a reminder of all the things you have yet to accomplish. Turning on the television that once held all the things your heart desired now only holds a silky reminder that you are not as far along as you probably should be, as you probably could be if only you tried a little harder, did a little better, stepped a little further.
What seems to be an easy early morning jog for others is more of a downhill spiral for you. While others can use your bruised and broken frame as landmarks on the smooth roads to their dreams, you feel stuck in place, lost in every sense of the word. No, advice is not what you've asked for, so don't give any. No, you don't need a helping hand when you can't even bother lifting yours from underneath your frail frame. No, negative reinforcement only makes you feel worse and the positive kind just makes you feel false and undeserving.
Depression is a terrible thing.
Every day medical science is making further and further advances, pushing the bounds of disease and illness further and further back.
But of all the different ways we reassure ourselves, the least comforting is this: "It's already too late." When you were born, you could have been anybody. So quick and malleable, your parents could look at your face and see a future president. They tried to mold you as you grew, but they could only work with what they had. And when their tools stopped working, they slowly handed off to you, asking "What do you want to be when you grow up?". There's a certain art to becoming who you are. A teenage personality is a delicate medium, it's emotions are almost too heavy to handle. You have to keep yourself together, and tease out the good parts without stretching yourself too thin. You can never stop moving for too long, of focus just on one side, or you'll fall outta balance and never stand on your own two feet. You can't ignore your flaws, but you can't just fix them either and force yourself to change even if you keep getting burned.
But the toughest thing to master is the sense that your personality is hardening over time. That the fire that kept you flexible all these years is dimming, and you're becoming set in your ways. You can still recall the heat of youth, that once kept you warm on a dingy couch, or a night in the wilderness. At any given time you remained untouchable. At any given time you knew that you weren't just you. You were also the person you will one day soon become. But now it's hard to deny that you are anyone but yourself; you are who you are, for better or worse. For all your wondering what kind of person you were going to become, you forgot that question actually has an answer, and that 'one day' will soon arrive, if it hasn't already.
Now you wonder if you can change, even if you wanted to.
Could you fix your mistakes? Could you escape the howling winds of madness and uncertainty that have begun to blow down your security?
Or would you even want to?
Setting & Plot

Life is complex. Life is kind and life is cruel. But never in that order. Life strikes those it arbitrarily chooses with disease of the worst kind: the disease of mentality and altered perspective. Society calls these diseases "mental disorder" and you are forced to become a bystander to life, rather than a main character. Luckily, you've managed to find the most comforting of arms. The arms of Brink. While not a hospital, nor a rehabilitation center, Brink offers it's patients the luxuries of both, while giving a steady paycheck to those beneath it's care. The catch? The drugs prescribed are untested, experimental, and wild. The patients of the facility have all given consent to become the collared guinea pigs of the clinic all for the hope of normalcy.
The staff are friendly enough. The drugs don't seem to have any major fatal consequences, and the steady paycheck of $400 a week. Not exactly a glamorous amount, but fair enough to attract troubled individuals hard on their luck. Should they deem the person too unsafe or too fragile for the main of society, they provide in-clinic housing. Ready to accommodate your needs as they develop your eventual cure.
However, life under Brink's watchful eye is never always what it seems. Experimental drugs are one thing, but scratched away or missing labels, whispers behind locked doors, and their odd rate of tossing patients into a mental healthcare center are another. The oldest group of subjects have begun noticing trends in their symptoms. While the pronounced effects of their depression, mania, or anxiety may lessen, they're often accentuated by, bouts of psychosis and delusions. These open-eyed dreams are often of similar things; Shadows in the dark, twisting things in the corner of your eyes, and a void of being that claims authority over those who see it. In addition to the hallucinations, is the nightly problem of sleepwalking. Sometimes simply a few feet, other times a patient will awaken on the other side of town, with no memory how they could have made it there. Sometimes, patients will experience nothing for months on end, other times it's a nightly issue.
While certainly something to worry about, these issues are watered-down enough to where only the oldest generation of patients have even begun to notice the effects. Yet any questions aimed at the Brink staff lead to vague answers and false promises.
However, for those caught under their arms, life still goes on. The storm will pass, and they are forced to pick up the waterlogged pieces. Relationships are built, and friendships destroyed. Society may be a distant thing for those in the clinic, but the program has started something of a society of it's own.
The Brink clinic is a decently-sized white building situated at the intersection of a back road and several alleyways. The building is boring, but functional. The upper floors are dedicated to the staff, while the lower floors to the lobby and patients. The city itself is exactly that; a city. The name is unimportant and mundane, while the residents are tired and gray. Life certainly occupies the buildings, but it doesn't thrive, it survives. The darkest corners go unpatrolled, and the police hold their power like a baby does a rattle. A tight grip, but an uncertain one. The city is indistinguishable from any other, yet lacks defining traits to put it on any particular map. It exists because people live here, and continue to do so. Stonetown is a force to be reckoned with, in the same way a forest is. Tranquil, chaotic, and yet somehow contained.

Characterization and Regulations

This RP will be focused on characters and their interactions. There is no "main goal" of this roleplay, except for your character to seek treatment. Secondary goals would be things like uncovering Brink's secrets and building stable friendships and forming natural enemies. Most, (if not all characters will be patients or friends and family of patients that live or simply work for Brink in their medical testing facility. I will be playing the whole of the staff. As far as characters go, you may have as many as you wish, with whatever qualities you like. However, Shared Delusions has no supernatural forces. There is no magic, no angels or demons. While this RP does take place in the near future of a old city, all mundane technology is essentially the same. Perhaps the iPhone 10 is out instead of the 7, but other than small technological improvements like these, all things will remain the same. I would like the story to focus on the characters in the RP and their interactions with each other and the world around them, though I have no qualms with these characters not being in their best state of mind. One is allowed to believe they have superpowers, it is another to actually give it to them.
Characters that are patients under the program will require one mental illness. The main of which being depression. Anything else, be it Antisocial personality disorder, Dissociative Identity disorder, or even general Anxiety will be accepted and treated under the program. Violence is allowed. This is still a functioning society, so there will be obvious consequences for attempted murder, suicide, or anything else. Please do not be overly graphic when describing scenes of violence. Describe what is necessary, useless gore and grotesque imagery is both rude and unwanted. Sexual actions however, are prohibited. If you and another RPer agree that your characters are having sexual relations, then take it elsewhere, and only allude to it here.
As far as posting goes, I'd like to see roughly 300 word posts about once or twice a week. Posts will be narrative-style, in the third-person. That means if we were to print these pages, it would read like a book. Mistakes are understandable, but please proofread your work before posting. Collaborative posts are allowed, and are counted as a post for all participants. Collaborative posts must still meet the 300 word limit. To collab a post, simply talk with the other person and agree on a format, a medium, and poster. I prefer to use Google Docs, but there are other methods online. While I want the CS to be in a clinical tone, I'd like the writing to remain creative and in whatever tone you naturally write in. If you're skilled enough, attempt to write the story in a tone that matches the outlook of your character(s).
I'm willing to bend on the posting requirements, based on the flow of the RP, actual life, or anything you bring to my attention, I'm more than happy to extend that time for you, so long as you explain yourself and let me know of your absence in advance. On the other hand, if you vanish like a vampire at noon then I'll keep your place open for two weeks before making a in-game reason they are suddenly gone. I will also be allowing others to take on your character, if they so wish. Disappear for long enough without even a peep into the black, and I'll remove your character completely. Character reservation is easy. Simply tell me your initial ideas of the character, (the more the better), in the OOC. I'll hold open your spot for as long as you tell me you'll need it. Just communicate with me, and we can all get along perfectly. If you reserve a character, but fail to deliver and don't update anyone, a slightly modified version of the rules above will come into play. I would prefer that everyone have an faceclaim, but I have no requirements of it being a famous actor or celebrity. It could be the cute boy from across the street for all I care. Just be sure it looks alright on the CS.
I'd appreciate it if you all used the provided character sheet below. Please write from the clinic's standpoint. This should be a clear description about everything that Brink could reasonably acquire about your character. A lot of people misunderstand what I mean by clinical tone. They think it means using big words, or trying to sound smart. Or they think it means a focus on "grimdark." This is not correct. The following are things to remember when trying for the right tone.
Be Precise And Concise.
Be precise: Avoid ambiguous wording. Be concise: Don't use many words where fewer will do the job. Don't use longer words just because they "sound smarter" (unless they actually are more appropriate). Avoid ambiguous or flowery wording. Don't use more adjectives than are necessary. You're writing a technical paper — write plainly.
Be Professional.
You're writing from the perspective of a Brink researcher. Most professionals wouldn't send their boss a report with a fart joke in it. You also probably wouldn't use slang in a research paper for school. As well, researchers should try to be detached and unemotional in their writing. Not because they don't have emotions, but because letting that slip into their writing makes them seem less objective and makes the writing more emotionally charged.
Follow the rules, Communicate, and I'm ready to see you all!
- Code: Select all
[img]https://placehold.it/300x300[/img][right][size=200] [font=courier][b]「FULL NAME」[/b]
[b]/////////////////////////////////[/b][/font][/size]
[size=80][b][font=courier]"Something iconic your character would/has said."[/font][/size][/b]
(Place a 300x300 image of your character to the left of this. No Anime or Drawings. Then delete.)
[size=90][font=courier]Full Name:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| Your character's full name.
Nicknames:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| Nicknames for your character. Add in "quotes".
Age:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| Your character's biological age.
Gender:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| Your character's gender.
Sexuality:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| Your character's sexual preference.
Ethnicity:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| Your character's ethnicity (& Nationality)
Former Residence:[color=transparent]xx[/color]▖| Where your Character lived before Brink.
Current Residence:[color=transparent]x[/color]▖| Where your currently lives. (Stonetown or "Brink Research Lab")
Former Occupation:[color=transparent]x[/color]▖| Your character's former job. If schooling, put "student".
Dialogue:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| BBCode Font Color
Thoughts:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxxx[/color]▖| BBCode Font Color
[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx[/color][/font][/size][/right]
[hr][/hr]
[font=courier]Hair Color: [color=transparent]xxxx[/color]▖| Character's Hair color. (Head & Body)
Eye Color:[color=transparent]xxxxx[/color] ▖| Character's eye color. (Please be realistic.)
Height:[color=transparent]xxxxxxxx[/color] ▖| (In Inches)
Weight: [color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color] ▖| (In Pounds)
Suffers From: [color=transparent].[/color] ▖| Character's Disorder/Disease/Disability
[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx[/color] ▖| Character's Disorder/Disease/Disability
[color=transparent]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx[/color] ▖| etc. . . (add more if needed)[/font]
[color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color][size=125][font=courier]■////////////////////////////////////// [b]「about FULL NAME」[/b][/font][/size]
[left][font=courier][b]Disorders[/b][color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color][/font][/left]
[font=courier][justify]An in-depth description of your character's disorders. Paragraph-style, please.[/justify][/font]
[left][font=courier][b]Disposition[/b][color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color][/font][/left]
[font=courier][justify]Your character’s personality. Paragraph-style, please.[/font][/justify]
[left][font=courier][b]Traits & Quirks[/b][color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color][/font][/left]
[font=courier][justify]Describe your character’s strengths, weaknesses, and oddities. Paragraph-style, please.[/font][/justify]
[left][font=courier][b]Preferences[/b][color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color][/font][/left]
[font=courier][justify]Your character's likes & dislikes. Paragraph-style, please.[/justify][/font]
[left][font=courier][b]History[/b][color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color][/font][/left]
[font=courier][justify]Biography and how they came into Brink’s care.[/font][/justify]
[left][font=courier][b]Other Notes[/b][color=transparent]xxxxxxx[/color][/font][/left]
[font=courier][justify]Anything else you’d like to mention about your character.[/font][/justify]
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"I am worthless if I am fat. And I am fat."
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"If I end up like daddy, please save me." - Raven at 7 years old
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Shared Delusions {Reboot}
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Shared Delusions {Reboot}
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Shared Delusions {Reboot}
How is everyone? I'm excited to see you all. Requisition characters, or simply chat to others in this tab.
I'll also make announcements relevant to everyone in this tab. This is also a nice place to reach me with additional questions about the RP and absences. Basically, if you are confused about anything, ask away here.
I'd like to be organizing the patients into three "phases" or groups. Basically, each phase would receive an altered version of the drugs being tested. The first phase is the oldest, and therefore have been there the longest. As a direct result, they are comfortable with the routines and rules of the program, and have begun to notice the cracks at the edges. Phase two would have just started to become familiar with the staff and the building, but still sort of unused to the odd secrecy surrounding everything. They might smell something fishy, but simply won't have enough experience to lay any true claims. The third phase would be the newest, and have JUST been admitted into the program. As in, the final person would have been admitted only a couple of days before the beginning of the RP.
The groups don't mean that everyone in one group started the same day, but it does mean that they will likely have similarities in symptoms or disorders. (To better test effects of a drug). I'd like to try and spread things out evenly here, but I'll take feedback and volunteers.
Also, if you're looking to collab a post with someone to make interactions and also fill the word requirement, I'm putting the link for this group's Etherpad right here. If there's any remaining questions, feel free to ask.