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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Vietnam
They've all been lied to. In some capacity.
Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't a mistake in the force, or some sort of aberration. That maybe he really is meant to be here, to figure this out? The thought that it's some sort of divine will makes him feel a little more vindicated, at least.
But no less angry. And that's the frustrating part.]Do you think this happened before? [Every time?] Or if this is...something new?
[Though he's not really sure that changes anything at all.]
no subject
But what they have here, they will have to take it into consideration anyway. It's much too dark not to.]
I have no idea, at least not that I know of. [She fiddles with the end of her ponytail, uncomfortable with the idea that this could've been happening all along.] No one who came back and remembered said anything. But sometimes they can take us away. It...[She's not sure if she should be telling a total stranger this, but she has nothing to hide. If it could prepare him as well--] For a situation, I was taken by CERES once for, ah, punishment. But I never saw anything like this.
no subject
But to take that and push it further? Kidnap twice over just to teach someone a lesson--he's not even sure he can think up a scenario where that sort of thing is justified or remotely reasonable.
This is already punishment enough (or, in his case, a harrowing pause where he's not catching his breath so much as praying he can change it).]
FOR WHAT?
[It's not as calm and reasoned as he'd like. But then, he wouldn't say CERES really deserved the fronting civility at this point either.
He's a great diplomat, right?]no subject
Especially now it looks like he's emotionally driven.
She remains as calm as possible, because one of them has to be.]
Admittedly, I was not...doing something legally abiding. [She looks around carefully.] And perhaps here is not the best place to talk about it. The short story is, friends of mine wanted to dig for information, and I couldn't leave them alone. And so when we were caught, CERES was not too happy about it.
[Vietnam, if only you knew who you were talking to?!]
no subject
It doesn't stop the explanation from hitting him hard and rankling. He has to fight that sneer back down to a general unhappy scowl, but it's clear he's not taking her explanation lightly.
It's a gross abuse of power, there is no other way to put it. One step beyond indentured servitude too many, and he's not happy.
That said, he also recognizes--only after the display--that she might just have a point about time and a place, but even out of here, is anywhere really safe to talk about this?]
Then they ought to be more transparent. [Or, it seems, honest about anything at all. The follow up, however, heeds her advice to a point and comes out much quieter, low and just as angry as his sneer had been.] They'll pay for this.
[
Like fuck if he knows how.]no subject
Honestly, she's not happy about it too, but while CERES is still much stronger than they are, she can't do anything aggressive while they have no concrete information. She's not Katsura.
At least he's not as angry now. She will explain everything to help once they're...well...safer, anyway.]
Goodness, that is something I wish for too, if only they made it that easy. [CERES and all their dirty secrets.] I understand your anger. Especially since I have endured. We just need to find out more information before we can do anything, to make sure we have our weaknesses covered.
no subject
But the anger ebbs to a manageable level where he can pretend it's something else entirely, like he's not flouting every oath he's ever taken to try to suss that feeling out and not encourage (or ignite) it. Justifiable as it may be--and he certainly feels it is--he knows deep down that it's still wrong.
He nods, and the tension eases...somewhat.]
How...how long has this been happening?
no subject
Cooling down is the key to victory. As long as they have an Excellent Plan (whatever that may be) they will be able to defeat CERES once and for all.
Without the mental torture, because that was definitely a bust. She's glad to see that he's now simmering instead of boiling.]
I am unsure. I have been here...perhaps over half a year now. But I know there are many others who have been here before me. But it has been escalating more recently.
no subject
[Between the deceptions, the apparently escalating "punishment," and whatever in the hell they've just walked into, there is no part of this that feels like it has a happy ending. The caverns alone are oppressive, cold, lifeless, and even the city outside of all of...this doesn't make him feel much better.]
I think that's our cue to leave.
[Bad feeling or no--and how could anyone see this and not feel the impending dread?--there's not much else they can do.]
no subject
[BAD FEELINGS ALL AROUND. Soon she'll pick up his habit just because it's true.
He's also right in that they really should leave. There's nothing much they can do here, and she's not sure if they're allowed to take anything. Perhaps it's better that they don't.]
Let's go. [She looks around.] I guess we should try heading up?