whether or not i use the admin graphic is completely arbitrary i don’t know why i use it sometimes and i don’t others, but here it is. anyway, just wanted to give a little update on what i posted yesterday ! at this point, i believe all of you have taken the survey and if i miscounted, i apologize, but feel free to message me if you need to weigh in.
SO, here’s what’s up.
we are becoming a CLOSED group. as in, i am no longer taking any applications for new characters.
that said, there will also be no more ACTIVITY CHECKS. it’s a participate by choice from this moment forward, and if you don’t have the time or the muse, that’s just on you. i’m not going to chase you down for the last few weeks of the group.
we will have a final event, details to come tomorrow :) i actually promised certain members we would have this event as the season finale, so i am going to be following through on that promise. i think it’s going to be really fun to be apart of and it’s actually going to be a first for me in all of my years of roleplaying.
the event will have a runtime of a little over two weeks, but obviously you are all welcome to continue your threads longer, start new ones, or keep roleplaying your characters if you’d like? i’m not your boss. well, i sort of am. but not really.
though if you’re closing out your time here, i encourage you to come up with ‘what’s next’ for your character and to share it, i think we’re all really curious and invested in the fate of everyone’s muses, even if it’s just dropping an explanation in the character updates channel.
i feel like the consensus from a lot of comments and messages is that energy and morale has been low in the group, but we all have a lot of love for it and our characters. i think it would feel wrong to abruptly close things, but i don’t want to keep putting effort into something that people are feeling exhausted with. so, it feels right to finish things off with one last event, tie it all together, and get to share conclusions and sendoffs for our muses. i have loved this group so much and been endlessly grateful for the time, thought, and inspiration you’ve all put into building this story together with me. some of you have been here since the start and i think your ideas and activity have been the integral reason this has lasted so long. and some of you are newer, and your fresh thought, character, and perspective have carried us through the past few months. i’m immensely grateful for you all, this is a group of insanely talented writers and it’s been one of my best rp experiences getting to share and create woodstock with you all.
so, lets have fun for the last of it !! details to come tomorrow ♡
hi ! i just wanted to do a quick update to address things in the feedback form. thank you all for taking the time to leave thoughtful answers, and feel free to reach out to me directly if you want to discuss anything further in depth, i am lowkey scatterbrained this week and i apologize.
nearly all of you ( about 90% ) said you would prefer or wouldn’t care if we closed the group to new members after season 2, though some of you had some stipulations. i think for the moment i’ll just feel it out, maybe we’ll keep it mostly closed but maybe i’ll open some skeleton or oc spots at the start of season 3 before closing to give anyone interested a ‘last chance’ sort of deal ? i do think season 3 will be our last season, i think after 3 arcs in this plot, i’ll have expended my creativity for running things, this honestly wasn’t supposed to last past the first arc but i love u all so much dskjfdo.
most of you said you’d like to continue things with your current character, but a handful of you mentioned a swap or picking up on a second character. if you weren’t here for season 2, it’ll probably work very much the same way where we’ll have a little buffer time between seasons for you to write another character application and do the transition, and you might remember that during this time i revamped a bunch of stuff on the main and blah blah.
i haven’t worked out the details for ‘second characters’ ( which only 3 of you said you might want to do ) but it will probably have specific activity requirements to meet. however, with only a few of you interested, it makes this way more possible to accomplish while keeping the group small.
and like last time, i’m happy to build new characters with you that fit into the upcoming arc. i know a couple of you have talked to me about this already.
a lot of you brought up the ‘messiness’ of this current arc, which...yeah, i agree. i have been trying to juggle a lot as a way to bring in new people but keep what happened last season still relevant, and i know it’s not perfect !! it also hasn’t helped that i wanted to make new roles more integral to the plot and a lot of those skeletons have been a revolving door or largely inactive, causing me to change my plans a bit. this plot is still going to carry out and end as planned for the most part, but i will carry a lot of these suggestions into planning season 3 and make it more of a setting that is character driven rather than introducing a bunch of new elements.
i want to say that despite the ‘revolving door’, we have got some amazing new members this season as well <3 take the bad with the good ig
and to note on pacing – i have added a lot more space between things in our calendar of events. there are really only two big plot drops left and then the conclusion, which will carry us through july.
again, i don’t want to give away my thoughts for s3 yet, but again, 90% of you seemed receptive to me trying something fresh ? and, of course, you’ll have some heads up about the direction in the s2 finale before it starts, so if it turns out to not spark your muse, it’ll be a good time to leave.
anyway, i just want to reiterate that nothing is set in stone, but this kind of feedback definitely helps me with planning going forward, and i definitely want to be conscious of spacing out this season a little more so you have more time to react to the plot drops. i know we’re in exams season right now anyway, and a number of you are on hiatus to focus on your finals, so . . . if you’re among that number, then good luck, can’t wait to write with you when you’re back ! and, of course, thank you for sticking with this group. it’s been so much fun and i love writing with all of you so much, i can’t wait to try more stuff with you.
good morning, volumehq ! i’m as exhausted as if i went to a cowboy casino cruise . . . though it’s just getting started.
click here to read the full event post if you missed it and let me know if you have any questions.
you’re more than welcome to continue your pre-event threads, especially because i suggest you end the event with a fairly clean slate.
that said, please do NOT plot out the very end of the night / how your muse will get home. the plot drop will take place in the early morning hours as the boat is docking and honestly, i’m still figuring out the logistics, so feel free to plot our or write anything prior to the end of the night.
that said, you should hear from me via discord by this weekend if your character will be involved and i need your input on plotting. i have a day off from work this thursday so i’ll probably sit down and iron things out then.
While the evening hasn’t been uneventful, there hasn’t been any cause for alarm. James is nowhere to be seen, which means it’s hard to feel guilty about opting for drinking, dancing, and gambling. Honestly, it’s a pretty good tribute to Jerry, who would have much rather done those things over hard work anyway.
A loudspeaker rings out, announcing the boat will be docking shortly, and it’s easy to believe that that will be the end.
The announcement is a dull echo for Kem and Max, who stand on the boat's top deck, soaking up the last few moments of the open sky and stars before they're asked to head out and go back to shore.
Crowds gather near the exits, and Christian wants nothing to do with that, so he heads up the stairs – and turns to go right back down again the moment he sees Kem and Max.
“Chris, wait!” Kem calls out. “Can’t we talk?” While typically too fucking stubborn for his own good, Kem’s words make him stop in his tracks. There was a point in time where they would’ve spent most of this night together, drinking, talking. Kem would’ve been the first person Christian would’ve told about what happened with Jamie – whose hat he happens to be wearing right now like they’re some kind of besties.
He sighs and turns around, taking a few steps across the upper deck, fully prepared to say something snide and cutting – if it shuts Kem down and gets him to stop trying, then so be it. Instead, he notices Kem's expression pale ( which is a bit dramatic, all Christian plans to do is say something rude ), and then he hears a click.
“Yeah, keep walking,” says a voice. “You’re in for it now.”
Christian takes a few steps forward until he’s standing closer to Kem and Max.
“Turn around.”
The face he turns to see isn’t James, but it’s two men – both are recognizable from the gang, guys that used to come around and harass Jerry while he still ran the store.
“Yeah, you,” the shorter, stockier of the two guys still has the gun pointed directly at Christian. “We know what you did. Snooping around Jerry’s house after the fire, breaking into the station, and telling the cops fucking everything. That shit’s changed everything for us.”
Realization dawns on Max, and she whispers, “He thinks you’re Jamie.”
Christian looks offended, first and foremost. Then, he touches the hat on his head and rolls his eyes.
“Well, this is fucking stupid,” he sighs.
“SHUT UP!” the man with the gun yells, firing a warning shot.
Kem quickly shields Max with his body, but there’s no cause for concern yet, just a knee-jerk reaction to protect the person he cares most about. Max glances over the boat's railing, and she meets eyes with Eric below, whose attention has been drawn by the sound of the shot. There's not much time other than to mouth "help."
Eyes widen, and he mouths back, “Do what?”
“Something,” is all she can get out.
He beckons his partner over. “Search ‘em.”
The taller, skinnier figure starts to pat them down while the shorter gang member holds them at gunpoint and starts talking.
“Listen, all James wants from you is for you to tell the truth. What really happened to Jerry and the part you played in it. We know you broke into his house; we’ve got proof. And we’re not afraid to use it. But just tell the pigs the truth, and nobody’s gotta get hurt,” he says, giving a pitch that sounds a lot like he wants High Volume to lie on the stand or face certain consequences.
“We figure one of you should come with us, you know, so when the rest of you go back and tell your friends what we said, they know you aren’t joking. And it’s not that we don’t trust you, but…we don’t trust you.”
The skinner partner starts to pat down Christian’s pocket when Christian knees the guy in the nose.
This time, the short guy shoots again with less of a warning, but he's got the aim of a stormtrooper, and glass shatters as a window breaks loudly.
Max screams.
The shots are probably meant to scare Christian, they must want to bring him to James, but Christian just doubles down and punches the skinny guy in the face. Kem sees a flash of silver and acts on instinct. He joins the fray, pushing Christian aside quickly. The last thing he sees before he’s stabbed in the abdomen is a panicked look on Christian’s face.
Then everything goes black.
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When Eric gets Max’s warning, he doesn’t know what the fuck to do. As he wasn’t around for last season’s hijinks, it’s hard for Eric to really take this ambiguous gang pretty seriously. He’s spent the entire night getting piss drunk and starting fights with and about his ex-girlfriend. And now they expect him to do something?
He turns to Chase, a few feet behind him.
“I think…Max is in trouble. We gotta do something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. She said something. They were up on the top deck with some guys; I saw them.”
After a few moments of deliberation, they conclude that creating a diversion is the best bet. After all, it keeps them away from the guys with the guns and potential certain death, AND it will provide a way for Max, Kem, and Christian to get away.
Chase flicks his lighter.
You can never go wrong with a good fire.
“What are you two doing? The exit is on the other side of the boat.”
They freeze, realizing they’ve been caught. As Chase and Eric turn slowly to face the person accosting them, they’re able to breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, they smile. It’s just Sloane.
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Jamie’s one of the last people exiting the boat when he catches the eye of a familiar face. “Fuck,” he whispers, locking eyes with Jerry’s killer – James Coughlan. The second James sees him, he breaks from the crowd and starts running.
“Hey, dickhead! You should be locked up!” And he takes off after him.
Jude, watching the altercation, starts to follow, “Jamie, you shouldn’t –”
“Shut up and run,” he says. “We gotta catch this asshole.”
And the two of them run after James in hot pursuit, back off the dock and onto the boat.
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“Uh, some of the gang’s in trouble,” Eric’s able to get this out before they hear another gunshot and Max’s scream. He pales. “We’re going to create a distraction. So, they can get away.”
Sloane has a pretty good assumption as to what this is about. There are two sides to her, one wants to allow James to carry out his plan, but another heard the way Max just screamed. She’s made friends at High Volume and doesn’t want them to get hurt.
“Okay, then you’re going about this all wrong,” she says. “When everyone’s off the boat, they’re going to shoot off some fireworks. We could probably just…start the show a little early.”
Eric mentions that he was totally thinking that, he just didn’t say it.
“Sure,” Chase chides sarcastically. And then they follow Sloane in quick pursuit through the lower deck to the storage room. Sloane picks the lock faster than either of them could have on their own.
“Woah. Where’d you learn that?” asks Eric.
Sloane says there’s no time for that story. Ironic that James taught her how to do that so quickly.
When Chase tosses his lighter onto the stack of fireworks, there are only a few moments to run, feet pounding on the deck as they hear them go off behind them in an ear-shattering explosion, powerful booms, and loud whines. And then the fire, which starts small, but starts quickly growing on the wooden structure.
“We gotta get out!”
Chase leads the way as they make it to the boarding area, only able to breathe easily when their feet are planted firmly back on the shore. They cross paths with Jamie, who is running in the other direction, back toward the flames.
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The explosion goes off in the nick of time, sending everyone on the upper deck stumbling backward. One of the two men slips over the side of the railing, emitting a Wilhelm-esque scream. The shorter one is flung backward and doesn’t get back up.
Christian catches Kem, who is soaked in blood. There’s little time to process, but Max and Christian have known each other long enough that they can communicate without words.
They’ve got to get out of here.
“Shirt,” she says, holding out her hand. Christian quickly strips his off, and so does Max, and she ties the two shirts together and uses a shattered table leg to create a makeshift tourniquet for Kem. She saw that in a movie once and has no idea if it will work but figures it’s better than letting him bleed everywhere.
While Christian does most of the hoisting, Max does her part in helping him get Kem down the steps. Then, flames in their wake, they speed walk out toward the dock, meeting up with Chase, Eric, and Sloane, who are waiting for them near the water.
They’ve got to get Kem to a hospital. Now.
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The boat itself is starting to sink. It’s crumbling in place, flames rising as the structure descends lower into the water. It'd be suicide to charge back onto it, but nothing feels more important to Jamie than taking care of unfinished business between death or life. The unfinished business hangs in the air and haunts every High Volume employee, but it's even more personal for Jamie.
That was his father.
Granted, they weren't super close when Jamie was growing up. But during the years Jamie worked for him at High Volume, they had another chance. Jerry wasn’t just the vague idea of a father any more, but someone Jamie could admire, someone that he looked up to. Someone that he was able to consider family. But they never had much time – there was so much that Jamie never got to ask him.
Though, to be fair, it’s more blind hatred than regret that drives Jamie’s legs forward as he runs after James on the boat.
“This is going down!” shouts Jude, who can barely feel any part of himself now that he’s so hot and sweaty. He’s definitely not getting paid enough for this.
Jamie can’t see anything other than red; he just keeps running. The floor beneath him has started to crumble, and before he can take his next step, the boards in front of him fall into the waves. He’s prepared to take the leap to follow James, but as he jumps, he’s jerked backward onto the ground, hitting it hard. He doesn’t even feel the burning sensation taking over his leg, only able to look forward as the boat beyond them collapses, James disappearing into the flames.
He doesn’t note anything but a burning sensation in his leg, and when he looks down, he can see Jude whacking it with his jacket, putting out the flames.
“Jeez, you’re welcome,” Jude says.
“I could’ve caught him,” Jamie wheezes, looking out into the smoke rising over the water. He’s sure he could have. A few more steps and he would’ve been holding James by the neck – if Jude hadn’t held him back.
“You could’ve died, that’s what,” Jude retorts, holding out his hand. “I hope you can walk. We gotta go.”
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The accident is written about in the paper the next morning, April 10. The explosion is attributed to the gang, and it’s even mentioned that James Coughlan was rumored to be on board. However, the body that was found was not his.
There is only one casualty.
The burned body recovered by police belonged to another gang member, ironically one that Marty will recognize in the paper as the man they threw a coffee cup at before the fire started in High Volume last year. Christian will recognize him as the guy that held him at gunpoint.
All of the High Volume employees gather at the hospital that morning to see Kem. While they’re not all allowed in the room at once, they’re told by nurses that no vital organs were punctured, however it nicked his spleen and he’s been receiving blood transfusions. He’ll experience cramping and difficulty getting around for the next few months, but is expected to make a full recovery. He will be in the hospital for the next week for surgery and stitches. But he will recover.
He’s lucky. They all are.
But the court hearing has been rescheduled for mid-May.
This isn’t over.
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ADMIN NOTES:
the break-in that the gang keeps referring to was our first season one plot drop. jamie is the only still-present character that took part in it, and honestly, it’s the most illegal/suspicious activity that could cause them trouble in court.
the fire that the deceased gang member started is written about in this plot drop. kc, josie, and marty were all present.
the fire/explosion, the death of the gang member, and kem’s injury and the general cause (stabbed by a gang member) are all common knowledge. anything else is more hearsay and can be passed around via rumor mill. this is a good time to use our group instant messenger discord chat.
i understand there are a number of plotted threads still ongoing. you’re welcome to keep those up and finish them out, but i encourage you to drop threads that are less vital to plot/relationship development and start new ones. i’d love to see new starters going, and of course, any new threads must take place AFTER the event.
if you would like to give your character any minor injuries following the wreck, i think bruises or skinned knees or other 'every day’ easily treatable sort of wounds would be totally realistic in a frantic escape from a sinking boat. if you want your character to sustain anything more serious than that, please message me to check in on it so that we don’t have twenty sprained wrists or whatever.
feel free to utilize the character-updates channel on discord to update us on how your character ended the night.
hi, everyone ! hope you’re all doing well. i just wanted to give some general updates for the month and check in. first of all, thank you so much for sticking with us through a busy time – there have generally been like at least 5 people on the hiatus list due to major life events since the month started, so i know things have been crazy asf. consider this also a gentle reminder to send your hiatus requests through the main, because it’s harder for me to keep track of and save stuff if you send it on discord and i see it while i’m mobile or whatever.
additionally, we’ll have a plot drop later this month which will open us up to original character applications – i think it’ll be nice to get some fresh new characters in here, i know some of you probably have wanted connections you don’t have filled. i’d also suggest to not be scared of our #wanted-connections tab on discord, if there’s something you really want to do, maybe you’d be surprised that someone who’s already in the group could do it with you. and, of course, if you’re an older member and there’s anyone new you haven’t plotted with, please reach out and make sure they feel welcome. if you do literally nothing else this week, do this <3
following that, we’ll have an event at the end of this month. i won’t say anything more than that, but i will say it’s an event i’ve wanted to do in rp for like 3 years at this point and i’m finally getting what i deserve. i think we might do a couple thread/starter prompts with it like we did for christmas task just to get those that are around writing with someone new.
also, i wanna go back to using the ic messenger chat again...is everyone down? can i start sending random messages in there or is that gonna be weird? comment what u think.
finally, as always, i’m here to help with whatever you guys need, just reach out, it’s what i’m here for. love ya !
the re-opening party is surprisingly a huge success. pretty much the entire town comes out to support high volume, despite jerry’s reputation about town. after all, the main reason that a town like woodstock can sustain businesses like this is because the townspeople are supportive of the community. and, okay, perhaps there was some gossip about town – everyone wanted to get a good look at jennifer and her daughters, some of the older people in town able to remember when she vanished twenty-four years ago. now, there’s a logical explanation for it all, and just like a town like woodstock supports the community, they’re also very nosy about what’s going on in it. jennifer actually puts up with this graciously – it’s good for business, after all, and there are a handful of people from her past that it’s nice to catch up with.
including the owner of the mean-eyed cat bar, aaron masterson. jennifer went to high school with him and they wind up catching up in the back for nearly an hour – prime time for those workers that like slacking off. it’s probably just a coincidence, but it’s no secret that the mean-eyed cat has seen a huge dip in business after what happened to jerry. there’s no clear ulterior motive behind the two’s rekindled friendship, but it’s hard not to recognize the connection. the high volume employees will start to notice aaron around the store a lot more.
well, the ones that aren’t hyperfocused on saving their own skin. just a few days later, on march 3, 2000, those who were employed under jerry receive a court summons for march 18, literally just two weeks away. they’ll be represented by a public defender. insight from marty’s father is that with the evidence they’ve provided to the courts about jerry in the past, it’ll likely be a quick trial resulting in a fine. worst case scenario is, yeah, a few years in prison – but he says that’s highly unlikely.
jude kimura wishes it was a little more likely, though. after all, it’s not just loyalty to james that he’s carrying around, but pressure from the rest of the gang – he and sloane could end up just like jerry if this doesn’t go well, and they’re starting to get in pretty deep, invited to staff parties and after-shift drinks with the rest of the crew, they’re fitting in seamlessly undercover. after a closing shift with just sloane, jude takes a collect call outside from james.
james: “ listen, aaron said last year that they all showed up to the bar in these funky costumes asking about jerry. they weren’t just sitting pretty waiting for him to come back. ”
jude: “ okay, so what ? ”
james: “ so, they’re probably connected to the break-in at his place, too, which we’re being charged for. if we can tie them to that, they’re gonna have to re-open the investigation. ”
jude: “ i've got a shift with singh tomorrow - we've got some history, so i think he trusts me enough to talk. ”
james: “ be careful. ”
jude: “ i will. bye. ”
jude hangs up the phone and glances around the empty alley before heading out to discuss this with sloane, predominantly telling her to try and find out more about the break-in. he doesn’t know that around the next corner, eric green, who forgot his walkman, is standing, listening in. granted, it all didn’t make much sense to him, and now he’s just bummed that he showed up five minutes after the alarms activated and he’s stuck without his walkman for the night. super bummer.
TLDR !
feel free to continue old threads, but anything new that you start should take place after this plot drop.
the store is doing great . . . and so is jennifer’s social life ? she’s rekindled a friendship with old friend aaron masterson of the mean-eyed cat, and not only is he hanging around the store, but his daughters start to see him around the house. ( @sleevcdhearts & @beeancas )
all characters involved in season 1 have received their court summons for the identity theft charges associated with jerry.
jude is informed of the undercover operation from last season, and possible connection to the break-in at jerry’s. he talks to sloane about it. ( @kimurahh & @sloanefm )
i forgot i had this ‘admin note’ banner made, i can’t remember the last time i used it. anyway, i’m just going to go over some of the questions and results from the feedback form. it’s still in the discord if you want to do it, love to hear from you guys and better late than never, but i’m just making this one post. -kati
01. activity. everyone seemed to be in agreement that our current system works – and i agree. one or two people mentioned that the system works but i could be stricter, and while i’m not going to change the rule, i will be checking blogs more closely to check that you’re replying to at least 3 different people in your past 5 posts.
02. new muses? most of you expressed interest in keeping your characters, but if you’re one of the few that feels like your character’s storyline could be coming to a close, there will be an opportunity for you to swap and work on a new character with me in early february. so, if you’re someone who wants to swap muses in the future, start thinking about how you want to round out your current character’s story. remember to run major plots by me.
a lot of you expressed concern that the group might become larger with the addition of new muses, or worried that a bunch of new characters might change the dynamic of the group, so i want to make it clear that i do not ever intend to make this group larger than 20 characters. i am a small group person, too. however, if any skeletons are re-opened, at this point in the group, i would rather retire them and write new ones that are suited to next year’s plot drops, since a lot of these current skeletons were written with the ‘jerry’ plotline in mind. or, there might be situations with people changing characters like mentioned above. so, yes, there might be new characters, but i won’t be making the group significantly larger – when i asked about new characters, i wasn’t asking about the size of the group, so don’t worry.
i guess i should clarify that from this point onward, any re-opened skeletons will just be retired.
03. dashboard events. about 40% of you wanted longer events, so i will extend our next event to two weeks and we can test it out, see if it feels like too much, and if it does, then i’ll dial it back again. and, yes, as requested, it will be new year’s themed :)
04. coming soon! here are some of the things you guys wanted:
more collaborative plot drops: of course! i will work these in as much as i can, i apologize that there were only a couple chances to do so in the past, mostly poor planning on my part. in the past, i also chose them by putting names in a generator and taking out people that were on activity check or hiatus. that worked okay, but i might be more methodical in choosing people who haven’t done one – that said, i will continue to choose people who aren’t on the activity check or hiatus, that just seems fair and i’m honestly not comfortable assigning plotting to someone who is busy. i don’t think i’ve ever made the selection process clear before, so those are the deets.
that said, if you have ideas for a plot development or something your character would do, feel free to message me. i do my best to keep the plot flexible and interactive, so i will try to work your ideas in.
i will be contacting some of you about our first 2022 plot drop shortly :)
new locations: coming soon in january! i’m starting to work on these and i’ll share them on the main when i’m done.
honesty hours/meme days: we’ll also do one of these soon ♡
tasks with pairs/partners: :) wait two days, besties !! but also there will be more next year, too. granted, these will all be opt-in because it sucks to be paired with someone who can’t be around to do the task with you.
05. character updates. people mentioned wanting sort of a recap because the dash can be difficult to keep up with sometimes. it’s hard, but maybe i can do this with some group participation, maybe once a month i can prompt people to say what their character has been up to in the #character-updates channel or something ? we’ll try this at the end of the month and maybe see how it works.
