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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--> Trowa & Naoki
[Quatre isn't sure what he feels, really. The pain is blending into an odd sort of numbness, the cold that is rushing through him. The change though, the warmth that starts to crawl its way through him is soothing -- and he's grateful to Naoki for that, even if he doesn't entirely understand it.
He feels tired, all at once, overwhelmingly tired. Death is inconstant here, and he knows that, but it's still... he's frightened. He shouldn't be frightened, should he?]
It's all right... [Is the distracted murmur he manages to Trowa's words. A hand lifts, downright shaky really, as he settles it at the hand at his shoulder maybe clinging just a little too tightly for a moment.]
I'm fine. It's... [I'm scared. It's cold. I didn't want to... not like this. Not without...]
I'm sorry... [He murmurs it to both of them, eyes falling slowly shut. It's too much effort to keep them open.]
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[Naoki's hand is still glowing faintly white where it's pressed to Quatre's head... but now, that glowing stops and he pulls his hand back slowly. His expression has twisted because he feels the moment where there's that last fleeting flicker of pain, fear, regret, before it all...
Wisps away. His throat goes tight and it feels like the rest of his energy just drains away, utterly.]
... I'm... the one who should be apologising, [he mumbles, as though he forgets that Trowa is there, bringing his hand up to his own face. He balls it in the hair above his forehead, heel of his hand pressing against his eyes.]
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Quatre's hand sets on his shoulder and Trowa shakily moves his own to cover it. To hold on as much as he can, though he already feels the warmth starting to seep away. Or maybe that's his imagination.
It feels like all of his emotions are trying to well up at once. He wants to yell or sit in his cockpit or– anything. Whatever would keep the blonde from fading away like sand eroded by the ocean. ]
No one should be apologizing. [ His tone comes out strangely even. An out of body experience, as he stares at Quatre's face.
(They're all so young). ] This isn't your fault.
[ It's this place, he thinks, and Trowa starts to hate Ceres more with each passing second. ]
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He doesn't move, doesn't say anything, his head lowered.
If he had energy, if someone else weren't here he'd do more of what he already did-- raze the area around them with energy, destroy anything that still lingered, stood. But he doesn't, and Trowa is here so it stays anything reckless he might be tempted to do.
After what feels like forever, he looks across at Trowa.]
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Glancing away from Quatre's still face, he takes in Naoki's expression– it feels like a reflection of his own. Numb. When Naoki looks up, he keeps eye contact, sort of a way to offer a silent consolation. After what seems like too long, he hesitantly reaches out, hand covering the blonde's, a suffocating emotion sitting in the back of his throat. ]
...This isn't your fault. [ A repetition. ] If it can be placed on anything, it's Ceres.
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I blame them, too. [Quietly.]
I've... thought this before, but... [...] What's the use in having power if you can't protect people?
[It's... not really a question he expects an answer to. But it conveys well enough the sense of helplessness he feels right now, with a friend dead and laid out before him.]
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Who doesn't? [ It's getting harder and harder not to. ]
The other alternative is being powerless, all the time. [ Looking up, he tilts his glance to Quatre's face, brows knitting together. He thinks about their gundams, about Operation Meteor, about taking matters into their young hands and determinedly pushing for a better future. Fighting back against OZ and the Alliance and anyone who threatened the safety of those who couldn't take up arms.
(Because they had families, they had lives and so much more to worry about). ]
Come on. We shouldn't leave him here like this.
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[He doesn't know which is worse, right now. Powerless or having powers and not being able to do anything all the same. He palms one hand (still bloody, streaked with blood not his own) over his forehead and through his hair before he slowly shifts his legs under him.]
Want me to...? [To carry Quatre. The question remains unfinished.]
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I’ll give you a hand.
[ And with that, he partially gets up from his crouch, moving to support the blonde’s shoulders. ]
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...
[Do they bury him? They probably should do something like that. Back in the Vortex World, Naoki never had the chance to do that for anyone who ought to have gotten something.] Let's find a safer place for now, huh?
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(It creeps him out and makes his stomach churn). ]
Agreed. Once we're out of the more dangerous areas, we can go from there. [ And hopefully they won't lose anything more in the process. ]