You're probably woken up by the explosion first. A loud, deafening boom comes from behind the walls of the residential district. When you look outside your window towards the darker, more secretive area of the city, you might see the structure around it... crumbling, the land falling in on itself slowly but surely. That might be what wakes you up first. If it doesn't, you may be awoken instead by the sudden jerking feeling behind your navel pulling you from where you are to somewhere... else.
It's dark. The first thing you notice is that it's dark -- and then come the scrabbling sounds of creatures in the dark, like metal being dragged across metal, a chilling, sharp sound. The first thing that becomes clear, as your vision adjusts, is that you're on a rickety pathway, metal and rusting and frail, above what appears to be yawning blackness. Far, far below, there's the faint sound of rushing water, a ways away.
The second thing that becomes clear is that you are very much not alone. Something is out there with you, and from the screeching metallic noises that come ever closer, it seems to be stalking you.
Thankfully, you're not alone -- right?  ...
...........
................
:)
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PHASE I [ ??? ] It’s drafty here. You’re below ground, that’s for certain from the echoes of the wind in the darkness. If you continue on forwards along the rickety, metal railing that serves as a walkway, the skittering noises of creatures in the dark follow -- but they don’t appear.
It seems everyone has been dumped along this pathway at random; you may be with friends, with enemies or with someone you’ve never met before, but either way, it soon becomes clear. There are only two ways to go along this path: up or down.
If you choose to take the path that follows a gradual slope down, the sounds of water lapping against a surface increase bit by bit, the air growing heavier and danker, until finally, the metallic platform gives way very suddenly (watch your step!) to a muddy bank. Down here, everything is darker, and not far away there’s the water. It’s cold and frigid and there are unfriendly creatures that await if you choose to delve into it. However, if you brave those creatures, and dive deeply enough, there is a mask. It rests half-buried by silt and rocks, but it’s there, and can be found by any intrepid explorers.
Somehow, it feels a little familiar.
And if you carry on in the cave system underground, eventually you will come across what appears to be an altar. There is blood on it -- not fresh, but not more than a month old -- and pieces of trinkets. Old bits of cloth, locks of hair, and some of them may even be familiar. Any dropped character who has a reasonably large amount of spiritual or magical power may have left scraps, such as pieces of clothing, trinkets, hair, or the sort behind at the altar.
Maybe that's why they weren't in the Nexus Code.
PHASE II [ ??? ] If you go up, you will eventually make your way above ground. It takes some time, and some luck -- you’ll have to avoid rusty railing and pathways, the path crumbling under you and that creeping sensation that something is following and watching you -- and then you’ll suddenly be in fresh air.
Well. It’s not so fresh, really.
The landscape is broken down and crumbled. It may have once been part of the city of Cerealia, but now it is in utter disrepair and decay. Buildings have crumbled, and debris is everywhere. There are signs of the same level of technology that Cerealia has -- but it is all broken down and utterly inaccessible.
And you’re not alone.
It seems the technology and metal and broken down destruction has gained sentience over its time sitting alone, waiting. And it is not happy to be disturbed. The creatures are made of pieces of everything around them, and when cut down, they’ll just slowly rebuild themselves from the debris.
It might be time to run.
They aren't happy about being disturbed, and you're in their way.
PHASE III [ ??? ] Above ground, there are a lot of broken down buildings.
Some can’t be accessed at all; some are too broken, too reduced to rubble. For those looking for shelter, they'll be able to find buildings where the doors can be forced open and they can camp out on the inside to various degrees of stability. Though the ceiling may cave in or the floor fall out from under you at a moment's notice, it's better than being out there. Be careful, because none of the architecture here can be trusted anymore.
And other buildings... are even less trustworthy than that.
There is a series of buildings in the midst of the wasteland, somehow still standing. They stand there silently, towering over the rest of the rubble in their two-story glory, and if the doors are forced open, it soon becomes clear that the building itself is full of mirrors.
Once, the mirrors had perhaps covered the walls and ceiling. Once, this building might have been akin to something of a ballet studio, somewhere to express yourself creatively. But now the mirrors are shattered and broken into pieces and the building lacks the joy it might have once held. Shards of mirror cover the floor, some big, some not so big, but they still hang from the walls as well and everywhere you look, you can see yourself.
And then, the reflection changes. From one blink to the next, you see a memory playing in the mirrors. Your memory. You’ll see a glimpse of one of your most traumatic or life-changing moments, broken up but clear in the shards. Blink and look away, and it’s gone, only to show up again in the next mirror a few moments later. Surely it’s just a trick of the light, right?
Except if someone else is with you, they’ll see it too -- and you might end up seeing a bit of their own past as well. Hope you're fond of sharing.
PHASE IV [ ??? ] If you survive the monsters, the crumbling landscape and the untrustworthy buildings, you may eventually find a terminal. It is buried deep among the rubble. One turn around a corner, one stumble into a hole, and you will find it. It sits there, out in the middle of nowhere; the building in which it used to be housed is apparently long gone, reduced to nothing but rubble.
And if you turn it on, there is a brief message.
Transmission Broadcasting.
Transmission Connected.
And then, there is a face.
BONUS [ ??? ] For those who have been wearing their masks a little too much, they might also start to notice that there are some strange effects attached, which worsen the more they’ve been wearing said masks. How badly they worsen is up to your discretion.
➝ Broken Mask: An intense feeling of paranoia, focused on whoever your character is with. They might also begin to remember fabricated memories of being betrayed by those people.
➝ Barcode Mask: Everything will begin to have value to them. There will be whispers in the back of their mind of the worth of their friends, the worth of a monster, the worth of everything around them. An intense need to own and consume as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
➝ Dripping Blood Mask: An intense lack of self-worth, a hollow feeling and thoughts of being weak and empty. Feeling as disposable as possible and an intense listless along with it.
➝ :( Mask: A need to prove yourself, to show everyone how strong you are as quickly as possible. You can do things, you can be of worth to everyone around you. Why won't they see that? Why?
➝ Ivy Mask: A choking sort of terror from all things metal and technology based, and a need to lash out against it. An intense distrust for anything that they feel is against the laws of nature.
➝ Grey Mask: More personable than normal, more emotional, more empathetic. An intense feeling of kindness and gratitude to those around you and a renewed love of life.
➝ Feather Mask: A dulled, lack of emotion. A detached feeling to everything around you. A sort of bland curiosity towards things without any empathetic reaction.
➝ Bloody Fingerprints Mask: They'll feel absolutely fine. No change.
The effects of the broken mask can stack on top of the others, if they chose to break their mask after the other effects began to appear. No other effects can be stacked, as no other changes can be stacked.
PENALTY [ ??? ] For characters who die while in the dark parts of the city, things will get... a little strange. They will die as normal, but they will wake up almost immediately after their death -- in the Nexus Code. They will have a few surreal moments to be there, to see their friends who have left Cerealia hanging lifelessly from odd, glimmering strands (though there are some faces, of course, that are missing, anyone who was spiritual, or magical, seems strangely absent) and then --
They’re back to being dead.
When characters revive in Cerealia, anywhere from one IC day to three or four IC days later, they will find that things are… not quite right with their code. They’re glitching, for a lack of a better word. Sometimes, their fingers will phase right through an object, their own limbs registering as cold and lifeless. Sometimes, they will see a face watching them -- but when they turn around to try to see who it is, the face will be gone.
These effects will last an IC week, before slowly things go back to normal.
That was strange.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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Stahn
Definitely. I may not know everyone here well [or likely even a fraction of them even not so well] but I wouldn't wish being alone here on anyone else.
[There is a certain sense of suffocation stuck dwelling on one's own with their memories.]
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[he offers yukina a small smile—it's probably not the most consolation, not when they've both been pretty shaken by what's happened. but he's trying, and honestly... he likes the way she things.
(it must be a protagonist thing.)]
Being alone in a place like this is too dangerous. If we can help other people... we'll all be better off. Then maybe we can find our way back into the city, too.
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I hope so. At the very least we won't be worse off working together with one another.
[That said, she adds perhaps as an unintentional way to distance themselves from the collage of memories they've gone through thus far:]
I've never been among this many people for this long. My village is fairly isolated.
[It's both interesting and stressful, to be honest.]
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It's a little overwhelming sometimes, isn't it? [he smiles softly, one of understanding.] My hometown is pretty small too; the first time I went to a big city, I couldn't believe how many things there were.
[he pauses for a moment, and then adds:] Even being in Cerealia for the first time was kind of overwhelming because it's so much bigger than anywhere in my own world.
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[Her reference to the lights of the city can't be missed. Cerealia is a dazzling bright place when one has been used to the duller glow of candles their whole life. The first time she saw it after being dropped in from that swamp, it had taken her breath away.]
It's like looking up at the night sky.
[Her laughter is faint and soft. She's not one for loud laughter anyhow but she definitely can't put too much heart behind it in the current situation.]
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[it's still really distracting, though he's had a few weeks to get a little more accustomed to the way it works. artificial light isn't entirely new to him even if it's not the most common thing in his world, but the neon lights, the glow of headlights from vehicles, and moving billboard advertisements—he almost needed to shield his eyes from it back then.]
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[A beat, then she admits lightly.]
I'm not sure I'm really that used to them yet.
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[he frowns a little—it actually reminds him a bit of the memory she'd been privy to, as he'd been on one just moments before that happened back then.]
I don't really like them too much, though.
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[The way they just sharply and quickly move upward or downward. The sensation of quickly ascending and descending is definitely one that a person must get used to.]
Otherwise it's ... somewhat easy to get used to this place. Except for certain moments.
[The sudden ViViD excursions, the carnival turned gooball. Here.]
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[he smiles a bit, he can get behind this logic, at least.] That's why I don't think it's all bad here like some people might.
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There are people who think that?
[And then once she says it she knows how silly it honestly is. She seems quickly apologetic.]
Of course there are. With everything CERES said about our homes...
[It's only natural people hate the place, right?]
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[he gets it, on some level. they don't exactly paint a promising picture, even when they try to, after all.]
I want to think they're not really as terrible as some people think, though.
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[She can only be honest here.]
Some say their presentation was all a lie and that our worlds are fine. Others have said they believe CERES is the true enemy.
[She falls silent a moment, brow furrowing.]
It would be good if they were lying. It also wouldn't be good.
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[he pauses, thoughtful. he's not really sure what to make of it—he's not good with that sort of thing at all, and he never has been.] I wonder... if they could be lying to us for a good reason.
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[Her shoulders slacken some.]
There are things I must take care of at home.
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[though stahn purses his lips for a moment, still a bit thoughtful even with his convictions wholly present.]
But I don't think I can hold it against them if they really do mean well.
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[Because this is being dragged into human war, isn't it? Or if not exactly human war, it's certainly not a demon's war... is it?
There are so many different things here. It's not solely humans against demons and there are even other demons from other worlds here. And the one human she's confessed to didn't precisely go running so.
She wrestles her thoughts a moment before she asks a little gently.]
May I confide in you a moment?
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Mm, of course. I don't mind at all.
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[he won't get into the specifics of how his sword is the copied consciousness of a 1000 year old warlord imbued into a crystal. mostly since most people can't even hear the swordians, it gets complicated to explain. but he figured that's enough... besides knowing seraphim and other non-humans. to stahn, it's really not much of an issue, so he can say it casually and unfazed.]
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[It's a habit she doubt she'll ever truly break, no matter how long she stays here. The Demon Commandments are still an absolute in her mind after all. If Lili accepts it and Angelo treats it so casually though... well, it seems Stahn might as well.]
I'm a demon. My kind have hidden for some time from humans to avoid being used by them or pulled into their wars. For CERES to do exactly that is troubling.
[Not that she means to ignore the humans here or the other races and types of creatures here but... well, demons will always come first and foremost in her thoughts for now.]
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but regardless of what books say, he knows that yukina is a good person. so if she's a demon, then it just proves that demons are not bad by any sort of default. and that's why he's able to gloss over it pretty quickly and get back to what's more important in this conversation.]
Hidden away... I guess it's hard to hide from them when they're so strong. [he frowns a little, but he still looks thoughtful.] I don't think they really care what we want or believe in. Or if they do... maybe their reasons are just that much bigger than us.
I don't know, it's really hard to figure them out.
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[...]
I have been called overly serious before.
[Maybe Chitose and the rest of the chieftains really were right...]
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[he purses his lips; stahn definitely seems a bit befuddled by that.]
You seem like a normal amount of serious to me. There's a lot to worry about here... Even I can't ignore that much. [and stahn's definitely not the most serious of people until it really counts. he knows when to buckle down, but he's no the type to overthink things on most occassions.]
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It's very tiring. The worry, I mean.
[Not that she never worries but she's not akin to worrying this much constantly. That and the adjustments to new technology...]
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