who's there?

And keys have been sent! Please check your character's inbox to find out what they've received. Everything should be in order, but if there are any issues please let me know.

Even though everyone was told simultaneously about the keys and accompanying clues that their characters were given, that doesn't necessarily mean the characters all have to receive them (or notice that they have a key on them) right away, so you don't need to rush to get any posts in about it. But as of this post your characters can start talking about their keys at any time. This leg of the plot will end (i.e., everyone participating should have communicated in some way with the other characters about the key they've received) at 12:00 AM PST on February 1st. Information on the second half of the plot will come soon after that.

It's been nearly a month since the first slew of arrivals into this little niche of space and time. Perhaps it's even been long enough that you have become accustomed to waking up here, despite its strangeness, its impossibility. Perhaps not. Either way, waking up on one particular morning is going to have an entirely different novelty to it than what Pandora's has provided thus far.

In a couple of days, your character will awake to find a key on their person. None of these keys will look exactly alike — one may appear to be something that would fit in the knob of a modern apartment, while another may be a large skeleton key better suited to an old castle. One thing each key will have in common, however, is a length of string tied to it with a label at the end. And on the label will be, well, anything. It might be a poem, or a drawing, or a thumbprint, or a sticker. Whatever it is, it's meaningless to you. Maybe you throw it away. Maybe you're feeling ambitious and attempt to fit it to one of the many doors in Pandora's (you won't have any success). Maybe you show it to someone, and — if it's the right someone — you discover that what was meaningless to you is most certainly not meaningless to them. In fact, it symbolizes one of the deepest desires of their heart: a loved one they have lost, or an object they haven't been able to find for years, or something they hope to accomplish.

Starting at the time of this post, you will have 36 hours to sign up for this plot. Your participating character (or characters!) will receive a key with another character's "clue" attached to it, and a key with the clue relevant to their own deepest desire will be given to another character. You, the player, won't know who has your character's clue, nor will you know who the clue your character is holding belongs to. To sign up, send a PM to ajar with the appropriate character journal, containing a description of their clue. (For example, Harry Potter's may be a drawing of a Snitch, indicating his deep desire to win the Quidditch World Cup.) DO NOT POST THE CLUES IN THE COMMENTS. Go ahead and talk amongst yourselves and indicate that you're signing up, but the clues themselves should remain a secret.

Keys will be assigned and distributed soon after sign-ups are over, and your characters can start posting about them any time after 5:00 AM PST on the 28th. If you can't get around to posting immediately, that's okay; your character can find the key on them any time between the distribution and midnight on the 1st. Please feel free to comment with any questions!

TO BE CONTINUED.