At first it is only dark. The blackness cannot be seen through no matter how used to the dark you are; it's a blackness that defies light in every way.
And then, contrarily, there is light.
Blue, purple, green, the strands of light brighten the way enough to allow the space that you are in to be seen. It's decrepit. Lines of light like strings run through, around and are tied to what seem to be old, half-coded buildings, because it is undoubtedly true that everything present is code.
Everything is slightly off here.
The floor may suddenly no longer be solid, and then you're falling, through blackness and empty space, until you are dropped right back where you were before, an unsettling glitch that truly has no impact in the end. A building, half-finished and unreal, can be walked through as if it isn't there.
And strung up by those lines of light, there are faces.
They may be faces you know, people you have seen before. They may even be the faces of people back home, but they have passed through Cerealia before, and that is why they are here. This is, after all, the Nexus Code--Nexus Space. And you are not alone here; it seems you are all stuck here, and there's no exit to be found. The bodies can't be interacted with; if you try to touch them, your fingers will pass right through them, just as you can't touch the lights.
But the problem isn't with the lights, or the buildings, or the floor, or the bodies. No, the problem is with you, because the longer you're in here, the more your body fades away as your code is corrupted by your surroundings. Bit by bit, you can touch less, feel less, see less, hear less, until it's clear that you're doomed to fade away.
And even worse, the longer you look at those motionless, strung up bodies of friends and family, the more it becomes clear, a niggling sensation that you can't shake: there are faces that should be here that are missing, as well.
|
Welcome to the wrap-up to Cerealia's July event!
Characters have been dropped into the Nexus Code, and there's no easy way out of here; the bodies they will find will be those of any character that has dropped from Cerealia except for those with high magic abilities or spiritual affinity of some sort. Those characters will be mysteriously absent, even if they were dropped from Cerealia before. Feel free to use your best judgement in that.
Please visit the OOC information here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. Characters will be stuck in the Nexus Code for one full day: 8/01 to 8/03, or IC 2/13 through 2/14. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here. Thank you! |
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OTA
And now there's nothing.
No north, no scents, no sound. He can touch, and he can see, barely, but those senses have always been dull to him and carry little meaning.
He was just trying to get home after work, damn it. A brawl had broken out in the nightclub and he'd been forced to whoop some dumbass into next week, but the guy'd had a switchblade rigged up in the sole of his shoe and got a piece of Namur's leg before the end. The gash throbs with each step. Without adrenaline and the thrill of a fight to give him something else to focus on, it bothers him that much more. He just wanted to go home and prop his leg up somewhere and sleep. It'll stop hurting tomorrow.
But now he's lost. The world's gone dark. And shit's getting creepy. Not even Observation Haki helps.
He hears something and jumps, dropping into a defensive crouch, the set of his shoulders showing those who know what to look for that he's ready to fight, but he doesn't bring his hands up, not yet. Who the hell made that noise? Was it you?]
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Rather, she glances over her shoulder after managing to gather the things she'd dropped back to her chest (her precious weapon, but her fingers had just...phased right through it), offering a sheepish look.]
Er, sorry about that! I didn't mean to startle you.
It's just...things. Things are weird here.
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Re: OTA
And what made that noise? It was JK falling through the ground and landing not too far away with a yelp. ]
Mother fucking-- OW.
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Eventually she stops completely, now quietly observing the face of Nui Harime. What a sad creature, to be lumped in here with the very humans that she hates.
She sees other friends, too. There's Yata, Miyamura, Xion... all people who deserve better than to be these lifeless dolls here. ]
What the...? Does anyone know just what the hell's goin' on here?! This place is startin' to piss me off...
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But there's definitely something strange.
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His brow furrows as he surveys Nui Harime. Yes, Nonon mentioned her over the network. If Nonon and Ryuko were to be believed, Nui was a criminal. And though she was very rude, she had posed no danger to Edgeworth then.]
Your guess is as good as mine, unfortunately.
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I DON'T KNOW! I wish I knew... I wish I knew...!
[ it almost seems like she's at her wit's end here. ]
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It's...I really don't know, Ryuko-chan.
[It's not all that strange seeing you here at least.]
For once? I really have no idea.
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[From the sight issues - like running smack into a mural of a dragon that was just there yesterday, Chibi swears it - to... Now, this, complete darkness. He supposes he should have expected it, but it's still jarring.]
[When there is light, he closes his eyes against it, searching for signs of life. No... Nothing, and yet he is still seeing, still maybe breathing. The paradox is strange, and Chibi has to wiggle his fingers to make sure he's still in control of his body. But as he walks further, towards the building clipping in and out, he notices something: Souls. Bodies? People, motionless, lifeless from what light he can see... He realizes to his horror that he recognizes some, but has not seen much of them in awhile. Have they come here to rest? Has CERES taken them here?]
[He reaches to touch a body hanging from the lights, and his fingers pass through it. Chibi is increasingly sure that he's not a body, now, or on the mortal plane at all; it's more like he's in a dream. No, he cannot be dreaming; he was awake just a moment ago. Everything is almost half-finished, almost like...]
What in the Goddess' name is... Are we code, rather than flesh? Is this the underlying reality of this place? [He is turned to the line of bodies, as though one will spring to life and answer.]
later.
[The nearing of mortality crashes upon him like a weight. He's not unaccustomed to the idea that everything, someday, will die - he's seen it in dreams, the fading away of their planet and every other, so many times that it's etched into his memory. But even when he died before he arrived here (just a month or two ago, such a short time ago), he knew that his Wakfu would cycle back to birth him and Grougal again. The Goddess' first children can never truly fade away, after all.]
[Now, he can neither see nor sense Wakfu, and with the dimming of his senses seeming so similar to the physical sensation of death, it terrifies him. Everything which was once motion is now a horrifying, static still before him.]
[Chibi sinks to one knee among the lighted faces - one the AI woman who greeted him when he first came here; one the young man he once saw deconstruct a cerevice on the sidewalk; one the beautiful young lady he saved from the snowstorm, now seemingly lifeless, so fragile - and clasps his hands together in prayer. Under his breath, he mutters:] Goddess Eliatrope, Mother of All, if you can hear me upon the sands of spacetime, allow me to join you. Allow me to meld into Your sea, so I may become like a bottle taken by the waves; allow me to pass into the Krosmoz and become anew. In this time, as others, accept me into the soul of Wakfu once again.
Amen. [And he stands, like nothing happened.
anyone else need their last rites performed??]no subject
[She frowns at his crouch, and at his words, even as she stumbles closer. Yes, it's all scary, and she may very well need her last rites performed, but--]
You can't give up now!
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later
but to spend over 24 hours in it? and, on top of that, to meet lifeless bodies of people who had previously been in Cerealia? no, thank you. England saw way too many faces of people he'd actually spoken with, like Elsa. thankfully, he hasn't seen any of his fellow countries yet. perhaps they were in a different part of the Code.
and then he starts fading away, too. not completely, and not all at once. England notices that there are parts of him that are becoming transparent. and that worries him. will he disappear, too? will he go back home, or to no home at all? will he be left here, like the others?
it's during this mini inner-crisis that he hears a familiar voice. ah, look who it is! it's his date... doing something gloomy. well, they're kind of in the place for it. he waits patiently for the other to finish before speaking]
So you're ready to give up the old ghost, are you? [of course England makes a morbid joke of all this. what else can he do?]
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[This place was kind of cool? A little unsettling, because these seem like actual glitches, and if you combine going through the stuff here with how she was sort of fading before she found herself in this place, it's...well. Unsettling. Still though, kind of cool!
At least if you're ignoring the bodies hanging around. After trying to interact with them, Mabel's taken to pretending they're not there. They probably aren't real anyway. Nothing to worry about. As she wanders around though, you can catch her glancing at them with some vague concern.
What if they come to life and try to jump her like a zombie or something...?]
[B - Later]
[There's one familiar face, though, that all but forces Mabel to start minding the bodies again. Seeing Dipper strung up and lifeless practically stops her heart. There's a good amount of time spent calling up to him, trying to get him to react somehow. Move, look at her, talk...anything. It's all useless, of course, which eventually leaves her sitting on the ground underneath him.
She's completely pulled herself into her sweater, just her feet poking out at the bottom and the top of her head visible from the collar. If you draw close, you'll hear, "It's not real," mumbled over and over again in a small, shaky voice.
Maybe if she spoke a little louder, she could actually convince herself of that.]
b
[For a moment, he just stands in front of her, watching her mumble over and over again. But after a while, he sits down next to her.]
Hey, Mabel...it's Hiko.
[He's not going to try and force her out of her sweater or anything just yet. Or even to talk if she doesn't want to. But he doesn't want to give her a heart attack or anything by not letting her know he's there.]
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A
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a;
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ota!
Needless to say, when it happens again, he's disturbed and visibly so. He knew what caused it the last time. This time, it's a complete mystery, and that's what he hates the most about this place. It's shrouded in the unknown. Uncovering the truth here is proving to be just as difficult as it was back at home with Soo-won.
But this is not him losing consciousness--it's this place twisting, morphing into something so strange and so foreign; Hak stays put, grip tightening around his Hsu Quandao, and he watches the scene unfold as lights begin to descend down from his apartment. He was just here, and yet, this is a completely different landscape than where he'd been earlier.
What gets Hak to pause is when he sees the forms of his friends.
Yoon, namely. Off to his left, his figure still small as ever.
What draws his attention foremost, however, is short, flowing red hair off to his right. He knows that hair. He can recognize it anywhere. ]
Princess!
[ In a panic, Hak extends his hand, reaching out to her with rugged fingertips; but they pass through her, as if she were reduced to nothing but a ghost despite the peaceful look on her face. Hak's heart stops, and then he turns to try and reach out to Yoon--they're not. They're not here.
They're not here.
There's a moment where he just stares. Stares at the lifeless forms of his friends, of the girl he loves, floating inside of the light. He doesn't care about anyone else around him except for them. Hak--he'd left for weeks, broke into the research center as a security guard, was prepared to think over his next plan of action--and this--this is not what he wanted.
Slowly, rage starts to build from within. He hasn't been this angry, this lost since Soo-won had betrayed him and Yona.
It's clear that he's ready to shed blood. ]
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[That response is rather...well, harsh and unsympathetic. It's not that Sousei doesn't sympathize; he has seen some familiar faces here that make him feel even worse than he already does from having not slept in...well, days. The only positive here is that the music in his ears is gone, and everything is almost uncomfortably clear for him to hear.]
We can't remain here, and we are going to have to keep our heads to get out of this place.
[Focusing on what they need to do, at least, helps Sousei keep his mind off of the bodies just....hanging there, terrifyingly lifeless.
Tenka might be here, hanging there just like that, though if so, he hasn't seen him yet.]
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SPITS
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[Rock Lee has little time to appreciate the fire of youth burning in him again. There's the mystery of their surroundings, and even more...
There are the missing people.
His eyes full of tears, he rushes at them, one by one. He'll go through the person each time, but he'll keep trying anyway.]
Sakura-san!!
Tenten!!
Gaara-kun!!
Yata-kun!!
Dipper-kun!!
[And sometimes, he'll fall through the glitchy floor mid-run.]
Sakuraaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh-!!!
[B. Later]
[Rock Lee stands in the half-wrecked building. He looks up towards the faces of Sakura and his other departed comrades, then back down at his hand, as it fades in and out of existence.
This feels different from the type of fading he was experiencing back in the city. It really feels like... he's starting to come apart.
He looks around uncertainly, with an unusual stillness.]
Is this really... the end?
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She doesn't have the time to think about it when she sees Lee run and then begin falling through the floor. And for all that she says she Doesn't Care and People Are Dumb, she still dives straight for him, one hand out in an attempt to help him.]
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ota
While she can't help herself looking at the familiar faces (Apollo Justice, but if you see her catch sight of him she's not about to talk about it so oh well) - and feeling ill at ease when she can't find one she knows should be there - Trucy chooses to use her time more constructively: that is, she's trying to distract herself (and anyone who happens to want to hang out with her) from all the hanging bodies. Because god. Up until she's faded away too much to hold onto things, she'll sit cross-legged off to one side on a safe patch of ground, determined not to look up. There's no apparent way out of here right now, so may as well make the best of things!
So instead of looking up, she shuffles cards. She always has decks of cards on her - decks, plural, because a card trick is the bread and butter of the magical world. Like a hat trick, or a panty trick. Trucy's good at faking cheerful and holy hell is she determined to do it here. If cards don't work, she's got a little magic to go around... ]
Fancy a game of poker?! Or whatever kind of card game you like. I know lots, and if I don't know it, I'm happy to learn. We can play for secrets, or candy you can give me at a later date, or buttons, or whatever, I don't mind! Credits are, of course, also an option!
[ From the excessively professional way she's shuffling those cards, taking Trucy Wright on in a game of poker (or whatever) might be a questionable life choice. It doesn't help that she's a human lie detector, though that's solely based on her ability to read body language - still, have you really got anything better to do? Her professional show-business smile is megawatt and firmly in place, and she's determined to stay stubbornly optimistic until she can't hold a single card any longer. ]
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What, no magic tricks?
[He was expecting something like "pick a card" given the item in her hand. But poker works too, he guesses.]
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He almost reaches out, yet a number of reasons stops him from doing so, chief among them the faded look of his hand. He pulls it back, only then realizing that he's able to see straight through it. The change was so gradual that he didn't notice until now.
Was it always this quiet here? It's as though his senses have dulled, for even his voice sounds far away as he mutters to himself.]
So it's happening, huh . . . The feeling's different.
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Some she recognizes, but most she doesn't.
She keeps looking, though. She doesn't know why, but she gets the feeling that there's someone missing. Maybe a lot of people.
But she sees IV first, and in front of him, the pink-headed boy who looks familiar--and that's a sufficient distraction, for now.]
They're really bad at this, huh?
[Every time they try to fix code...]
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OTA
An ossuary for defunct code... I wonder if this is to be our grave as well.
[He ponders it aloud to no on in particular, and lifts up his hands; his fingertips are already vanishing, the fading code spreading down to his hands and wrists. Likewise, his sight seems to be dimming around the edges of his vision, sound becoming more muffled...
Despite that, though, he seems remarkably calm. After all, the samurai way is in knowing when to accept the end with dignity.]
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It's different, seeing Klavier suspended in lines of light, like the unfortunate victim of a giant spider's web. Even though his sight is beginning to fade, as if it was slowly clouding over, there is no mistaking Klavier Gavin. He reaches out slowly to touch the younger prosecutor's sleeve, and a sharp intake of breath follows after Edgeworth's fingers pass through Klavier's arm.
Edgeworth has come close to death before. He doesn't fancy repeating the experience, even if this would probably be more painless.]
This is... [He shakes his head.] Is there truly no way out of this? [Was this really going to be their end? What has happened to those who have left them...would it happen to them next?
No. Edgeworth has been sent away from Cerealia before, and he came back. This shouldn't be.]
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He'll look back up the way he fell from as though trying to make sense of it before he even turns to notice you.
If not that, he'll be slowly walking. He almost looks like he fits in here, with his markings glowing lines of green, green a similar shade to the strands of green light. He'll be looking at faces, at those "people" here, lips compressed and faintly luminous yellow eyes narrowed.
So this is that code...?
Perhaps you'll catch him as he hesitantly reaches out to a face he recognises, only to flinch and snap his arm back when he can't touch.]
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[ Hi, Naoki, it's your girlfriend. Who finally isn't freezing, but doesn't look all that pleased to be where she is right now. ]
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well, heck. she's even crying right now as she looks up at the bodies before her. there's definitely a lot, even ones whom she doesn't know. but there's xion, gareki, klavier gavin, apollo justice, and that's just four names amongst the many bodies she's familiar with. ]
This is— [ no, even if she's talking to herself, she can't say it out loud. but she knows it. this is what will happen to her, too. ] I'm going to be...
[ she tries to reach for apollo justice, maybe there's something she could do. but she just passes through him when she does, and it just makes her crying even louder. ]
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Of course it's Archer, ever the stoic. He might not be good at being a friend but no one ever said he wasn't good at being a rock in a storm. That, for one, was just about all he was good at.]
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OTA
[ Maybe you'll see a flutter of white hair as Mary slips through the floor for the eighth time, only to reappear back in place, frazzled and confused. Maybe you'll see her later, apparently on more secure ground(?), as she stares up at the bodies. She can't find Cole, but there are other familiar faces, ones that make her gasp and try to call out to them. Yoon, Shin-Ah, Ki-ja. Nesso. Elza. Xion.
Each and every time, Mary calls out to them desperately, pleading for them to wake up, to open their eyes, to be okay.
Each and every time her voice breaks when it doesn't work.
(There's a memory, or a figment of a nightmare, in the corner of her mind, tiny fingers reaching for her mother, who hadn't reached back.) ]
N-no... please! Answer me!!
[ Someone will probably have to drag her away, she'll be at this for awhile. ]
[ B. ]
[ It feels weird to be translucent. Not entirely-- she can still feel, with some effort, but she's also able to see things through her palms. Things like... the lights, when she holds her hands up, darker shapes that are strangely hard to focus on.
Is she dying? Will she end up strung from a light like her friends? ]
... Are we going to die here?
[ She asks, softly, of no one in particular. ]
a. inundates you with tags, why not
And he follows the sound, seeing a back and that's a little girl, isn't it?]
Hey... [It's not one of those voices she's looking for, but he still calls out as gently as possible as he approaches:] I'm sure they'd answer you if they could, but... right now, I don't think any of them can.
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b.
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open;
[ For the last few days, Illyasviel von Einzbern has been going through hurdles. These hurdles are of the physical kind, and although the tiny magus has now returned to what seems to be her normal body instead of the doll one which she borrowed for a few days, she finds herself in yet another unfamiliar place. It's dark, it's cold- but not in the literal sense.
Aimlessly, she wanders around, as if trying to find something, someone, anything familiar.
Then her feet skid to a screeching halt. She had gone to accept that a certain somebody was no longer in this world, and now she sees him, Emiya Shirou, floating with those empty eyes staring at the distance, and that alone causes the petite girl to reach out to him, her fingers almost touching the skin, but no cigar. He's not there, he's not real-- and it shows as she tries again, and again, and again, acting like a broken record before she stumbles, falling face flat on the floor.
She manages to get up slowly, but by that time, there's only anger and bitterness in her expression, tears lining the corners of her eyes as she yells, frustrated, as if she were a child. ]
Stupid, stupid, stupid-- onii-chan, you idiot! [ She slams her fist onto the ground as she sniffles, tears running full force down the sides of her cheeks. While Illya has noticed, she doesn't seem to even care. ] You promised that you wouldn't leave me alone again before I killed you!
[ What a nice younger sister, ladies and gentlemen. ]
⊲⊲⊲ option ii.
[ Later, she's finally moved on, moved past the bodies. All there is now is a cold expression on the girl's features. It's as empty as it could be, and it certainly shouldn't belong to a girl her age. (Or at the very least, her physical age.)
While people are talking about death and possibly dying, the small girl doesn't seem to care about that as she walks by with two bird-like familiars at her side, only taking a glance at herself every now and again as she seems to fade in and out of existence. ]
This was how it was meant to be, after all. Well, whatever. It's not as if I didn't expect this. [ Her voice is completely cold and devoid of any sort of emotion, clearly unbefitting of her. ]
i
[ Nanoha's voice is gentle as she puts a hand on Illya's shoulder. She's not trying to lecture her, just break up the tension with a little bit of humour.
Nanoha didn't exactly know Illya well, but as always, she wasn't going to leave a crying child alone. Even in the depths of what looked like digital hell, she still couldn't do that. ]
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not that the light scares him either; it's something he can wield even in the deepest darkness. even as things feel increasingly wrong, even as he falls and lands in a loop, roxas manages to keep his cool. he's dealt with worse, right? so it's not that bad. he can always summon his keyblades if there's a threat—in fact, he's prepared to when the lights come into view, when he sees things that make little sense.
but then the faces come into view. most are unfamiliar to him. he's only been in cerealia for a few days, after all. but there are two he sees that he knows; the first is riku, clad in a coat that matches roxas's own, eyes covered by the blindfold; it's just as roxas remembers seeing him last, during their clash just before he was forced into the powerpoint.]
Why... why is he— [he begins to spout with bitterness, but before roxas can finish that statement, there's another that catches his eye, someone who takes priority. this one is also clad in the body-length black coat. but this one is his size, a girl.]
Xion!? [he barely chokes the name out as he runs forward to where the image of her body stands. of course, it's unresponsive, and roxas doesn't know what to make of this. she's here? is she not here? is she okay? can he save her?] Xion! How.. how can you be here? Xion!
[it's fruitless, his efforts. and even as he reaches forward to touch her, roxas is met with that intangibility. he can't touch her, he can't reach her, he can't do anything for the best friend he's been so desperately wanting to return. and naturally, he isn't taking it well.
for quite a while, he'll be relentless in trying to do something—anything to connect with her. and when that doesn't work, he'll eventually slump to the ground, pulling his knees to his chest, resting his chin, and even pulling up his hood. he can't leave her alone, even if there's no "her" to get back right now.]
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It's really you, isn't it? The one I chose...
[If only he could just take that blindfold off, he'd have his suspicions confirmed. He reaches up, but hesitates, drawing his hand back. The blindfold reminds him of Illidan, of darkness, of horrible burnt-out sockets where eyes should be. Even if he could touch him -- which he can't -- maybe it would be better to leave him be.
It's then, finally, he notices the hunched figure at the corner of his eye, sitting on the ground near the motionless body of a girl. Both wearing that familiar black coat.]
...Roxas.
[He approaches him carefully, and crouches down in front of Roxas. Not touching him or getting too close just yet.]
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OTA
Oh, now what?
[Now what is abrupt darkness, and a silence that's as worrying as it is welcome to her ringing ears after the last few tumultuous minutes. She hasn't gone and died, has she? Bulma's fairly certain she'd recall being caught in a stray ki blast or crushed beneath a chunk of debris.
So... probably not dead, then. Definitely not in the well lit nighttime streets of the city, either, although as her eyes adjust she realizes it isn't entirely dark. She gets to her feet, dusting herself off absently--this is the third time she's landed on her butt today, and it's disheartening how inured to it she's becoming--and takes a step forward...
... and yelps in surprise as her foot goes right through the floor. A second of comically pinwheeling arms later and she's falling...
...and falling...
...and falling...
After the third circuit she's no longer screaming, realizing that she's caught in an endless loop--through the floor, and down, past a blur of purple-green-blue lights (and is that a face? that's a face why is that a face oh god what isn't wrong with this place), floor again--and as she falls she spots someone below and throws out a hand.]
don't just stand there HELP ME--
B: It's Momplicated
[It's been A Day. A long, long day, and Bulma is ready for it to be over. So ready. Beyond ready. All she wants is to go back to her apartment, curl up on the couch with a few beers (and a bottle of wine. make that two bottles) and smoke a cigarette. Then yell at Vegeta, if he's crazy enough to show his face after what he's done today.
She doesn't know if she wants him to, or if she just wants him to stay as far away from her as possible for a while. Maybe a long while. She'll decide when she's had time to process just how furious she is. Smart money is on incandescently, but miracles have been known to happen.
There's no way today could get any worse... which is, of course, what someone thinks when they want the universe to prove them wrong. It obliges in a big way.]
... Trunks? [No. No. Not happening. She's lost it, she's seeing things, there is absolutely no way she's seeing what she's seeing, but there's no mistaking that purple bowlcut--that's her future son tangled up in strands of blue lights. She claps a hand over her mouth, frozen for a second, two, and then jumps up, insubstantial fingertips snagging the trailing end of his long coat and tugging.] TRUNKS!
A
egobody from his fight the other day.He had assumed himself imprisoned again up until he heard some unholy shrieking coming from above. Unholy shrieking that sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn't pinpoint where, no did he particularly care to. Had she not been the only other person she ran into, he may very well have just let her keep falling after making such an infernal racket. But beggars can't be choosers, and he would rather have poor company than none at all. So last minute he reached out and caught her by the back of her outfit, moved her to his side, and unceremoniously dropped her onto the ground. Consider yourself helped.]
Explain your presence.
wow rude illidan (I love it)
He aims to please... when it benefits him.
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A
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B
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Open Discussion
But he's not here to mourn, or to consider his mortality. He's trying to piece everything together. He'll address whoever's around him.]
My, my.
I'm interested in hearing any theories on where exactly we are right now.
[He has a strong theory forming already, but he'd rather hear other's insights first, and see whether they support or contradict what he is thinking.]
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[ Might, she implies, not really certain. It's what she heard about in the powerpoint, after all. ]
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