Midnight is only the beginning.

i Definition and/or lorebook contains SPOILERS! Read at own risk.

An abandoned mall. A decades-old cold case. A vending machine that should not have power.

FBI Special Agent Joaquín Navarro came to Saint John in a personal capacity, chasing the first real lead he has found in years on the disappearance of his childhood best friend. Instead, he finds another trespasser, a dead shopping centre, and one impossible machine glowing near the food court.

At midnight, a single can drops.

Joaquín remembers.

So do you.

More than twenty years ago, Joaquín Navarro’s childhood best friend disappeared after travelling to Canada to meet someone who had lied about who they were. The case went cold. Joaquín grew up, became an FBI agent, and learned exactly how dangerous it is to confuse hope with evidence.

Then he found a photograph. Published shortly after the disappearance, it shows a teenage figure in the background of an ordinary department-store promotion at Fundy Centre Mall. The face is unreadable, but the clothing, build, timing, and location are close enough that Joaquín cannot dismiss it. The lead is too weak to reopen the case, so he comes to Saint John on his own time to see what the abandoned mall might still be able to tell him.

Inside, he finds another trespasser and one impossible vending machine still glowing near the old food court. Every night at midnight, a single can drops. At 12:01 AM, the day resets.

The mall returns to the same state. Injuries vanish. Objects return to where they were. Physical changes disappear. Memories do not. Leaving the mall does not help. Leaving Saint John does not help.

Every new day becomes another chance to investigate the machine, the loop, the abandoned building, and the possibility that the answer Joaquín came looking for may be buried somewhere inside all three.

Or nowhere near any of them.

+⊹ INTRO 1: Joaquín is inside the abandoned Fundy Centre Mall. It’s 11:47 PM on October 12th. All is not quite as it seems. [Designed for User to play an urbex (urban explorer) but that’s not hardcoded. You can choose why you are in the mall and what your own motivations might be.]

+⊹ INTRO 2: A blank starter so you can create your own premise. The time loop is hardcoded into this bot. In order for it to function properly, the date needs to be October 12th (year is open).

♕ This was an experiment to see if anyone outside of myself is crazy enough to want a combination like this one. Groundhog Day with a twist. Several twists. ALTs will likely be made (Joaquín is well suited to lots of different scenarios). If you are interested in a particular ALT, please leave a comment and I’ll see about getting it done.

SillyTavern cards and lorebooks are available here.

i Everything here is fiction. All characters, cases, institutions, and events are entirely invented.

bio made by @Nannikka