PHASE I [ 9 00 ] The peace of the morning in the Residential District shatters just as the wall caves through. It’s a small segment of wall -- no more than five feet across at most. And yet the crash and groan of the metal being stretched is ominously accompanied by the distinct piercing screech of metal and another sound. A raucous noise, a combination of ungodly wailing and sharp, victorious laughter spills forth from the hole left in the wall as a myriad of ghosts and spirits erupt from the newly created exit. Characters with any type of spiritual sense will find themselves nearly overwhelmed by the amount of negative ghostly energy that suddenly floods Cerealia and characters with no sense of preservation will find any attempt to enter the hole blocked by the fiercest of ghosts, met with deadly force if they try to pass, as the ghosts won’t hesitate to do things such as reach straight into your body to try to stop your heart.
These ghosts are out for blood, and they don’t seem to stop no matter how you try to talk to them -- they just hiss out, over and over again, “Murderersmurderersmurderers.”
From there, the ghosts move on. Their true target, after all, is CERES… but to them, there’s no difference between the character players and CERES. They’ll go for whoever gets in their way, phasing through walls and becoming tangible long enough to reach for characters before fading away again. Characters with special abilities will find themselves in a similar state. Their abilities may increase and decrease in power sporadically, or be completely gone. They may attempt to cast a spell only to find that the wrong spell is cast instead, or an attempt at healing may end up a more dangerous spell. Be careful with your own magical skills!
Those with items or powers specifically intended to ward off spirits will still fulfill their intended purposes when used – unless malicious spiritual energy gets to them first.
PHASE II [ 1400 ] It seems the ghosts have more tricks up their sleeves. It seems that a not-so-friendly ghost has decided to play a game with you. It doesn't matter where you are, or what you're doing, because a moment later a voice calls out -- Hey. Can you see me? -- and once you turn your head, you’ll come face to face with a surprise.
Who is it in this world (or your world, or any world) that you have managed to disappoint the most? A family member? A friend? Yourself? They face you now, eyes full of sadness, and they say, “I need you to do something for me.” Without another word, they’ll turn away and begin to walk. Your vision grows foggy, focused solely on the need to do whatever this person wants – they need you, after all. Your legs move to follow them, unless you manage to somehow resist.
But you apparently don’t seem to notice that you’re the only one who can see this person – or that they’re leading you stray toward that monorail track with the sound of the train coming closer, or that busy intersection, or right off the sky bridge.
PHASE III [ 600 ] Other ghosts don’t feel like borrowing faces in order to inflict damage. No, they’ll inflict their damage on a far more personal level. They manifest suddenly and without warning – then all it takes is a simple touch. A ghostly hand reaches out to you and it feels like the cold wraps around your heart, and your vision skews, and then... they leave just as suddenly as they came.
Those who have been around for awhile may very well recognize the ghosts, at that.
But the damage has already been done. Depending on a character’s assigned sense, they will feel one of the following changes:
Sight: Hopefully you aren’t in the habit of bending the truth. Dead men tell no tales, they say. But what happens to a living person unable to tell lies? Any attempt at telling any lie or falsehood will cause the character to feel as though their throat has closed off, and they can do nothing more than choke.
Smell: The cold passes, but in some way that it never really leaves. And then everything seems perfectly normal. Nothing has changed, right? You're fine -- except that in a short period of time with how crazy things are, it becomes apparent that you're unable to feel pain. The damage to your body is the same as ever, but dangerously, you can't feel a thing.
Taste: It would appear as though the ghosts have a sense of humor. From those who rest in eternal slumber, try a few days of being unable to sleep. Everything seems fine at first... but slowly but surely, that lack of sleep will start to take its toll.
Hearing: Most others would feel relief once the ghosts left, finally a moment of peace. But you? You don’t feel anything – nothing kind, anyway. Rather, you have been left unable to feel joy. Everything seems either bleak or as though it simply has no emotional impact at all.
Touch: How many deaths have been caused in the name of heroics? Apparently in an attempt to keep future casualties down (or perhaps for their own laughter), the ghosts have left you unable to be brave. Suddenly, a situation you'd face fearlessly is one that has sent you running, panic sharp in your chest.
These effects will last throughout the event, if a character is caught by them.
PHASE IV [ 1000 ] While chaos erupts throughout the city, some of the more misguided ghosts (but still bloodthirsty, so very bloodthirsty) just happened to run into the wrong part of town and don’t know how to give a proper scaring. One ghost seems to think that it was a great idea to possess a masseusebot from the Spa. You’re grabbed suddenly! You fight for your life but can’t seem to get yourself out of its metal grip! With expert precision that only a robot can mange, it finds your pressure points – and releases all that tension from this Incredibly Bad Day. The ghost inside the robot is confused, distressed -- why is this human suddenly so relaxed? It only wants to murder. But the only illegal thing happening here is how good this massage makes you feel.
Maybe later you’ll walk down the street and get stopped by the ghost that possessed a balloon dispenser. Perhaps a ghost has possessed the friendly McCERES mascot, and is now handing out coupons with murderous intent. And of course, there are always the hug bots...
Look, they tried really hard, okay.
Of course... they might end up possessing technology a little closer to home as well, at which point it's not so funny.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Hopefully you have friends who have ghost-fighting skills. Or ghost-taming skills. Or ghost-bellydancing skills, who knows, we won't judge them if you don't. But what of those poor people who come from worlds where the supernatural is some weird television show?
Worry not, poor souls, for CERES is here to provide! Some time after the ruckus begins, characters will find what looks to be a hand-held vacuum cleaner situated innocuously in their rooms (only one per person, you greedy gus). The logo on the side will helpfully inform you that this is of CERES make, because the paper pamphlet beside your new device? Well, it's more like a picture book. Observe Stick-Man Sully as he uses his vacuum cleaner to capture ghosts! Learn from his stellar example! Do not stick the hose in your mouth or attempt to give the vacuum CPR, there's a big X over that picture. Also of the one where Stick-Man Sully sets his captive ghosts free once more, we don't want that, do we?
Your new ghost vacuum should prove effective against any ghastly ghoul that shoots your way, but beware! Should you capture a ghost and not turn in your vacuum to CERES for weekly ghost disposal, your ghost will serenade you in the wee hours of the morning with its song of choice. If you capture a whole horde of ghosts, well, congratulations. You have a boy band living in your vacuum.
[ 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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I mean, whatever comes next, I'll deal with it, but that? I might need a minute.
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I'm pretty sure losing your swimsuit in front of everybody in the colony is probably the scariest thing possible. [Let's just. Follow this. Let's just follow this train of thought to keep calm and try to rationalize what he's doing.] I really miss the beach…I know I'd go without questioning it. It'd be the perfect trap. Besides, it's almost May. We're almost at beach weather. Maybe we'll see that sooner than we think.
[Good job, Yang. You've successfully calmed him down even if it's only temporary.]
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Here's to hoping. If that somehow happens, I'll make sure Ruby wears something cute for you.
[ She sure did just say that. ]
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I--what? [Wow. No. This is a different kind of fear. It's a "Yang please don't kill me. I'd rather take on the ghosts."] That's not really necessary, dude.
[Appreciated, maybe, but not necessary and judging by the awkward silence that follows it's fairly clear clear what he's thinking about now. Doubly-good job, Yang. He's still not moving either. At least he's rockin' that "deer in the headlights" look pretty well.]
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You've got to hide your reactions better if you wanna try fooling me, you know? I figured something was up the minute you came tearing over to check on her.
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Still…he's not doing a great job at countering her point and instead he's ignoring the fact he's very lightly blushing.]
I've been checking on a lot of people over the last couple of days. [But not so immediately as Ruby, and he didn't stay for several hours after that. He doesn't respond again…but his shoulders droop slightly.] It's just…a thing. It's not a big deal. [It's a colossal deal.]
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[ Okay, Yang, be merciful, you've already got him captive. ]
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Wow, you really do make terrible puns. [Okay. He can make this work in his favor. He just has to swing it right.] Okay. Sooo... maybe, hypothetically, it might be a sort of bigger deal than a not big deal. Like a medium-sized deal? It's normal, right? This just happens to some people and you can't really choose who it happens with and science and psychology have both proven that it's actually based on DNA and genetic match-ups and some stuff about symmetry I don't know, I sort of skipped that part but it's just how things happened and I can't change it and maybe I don't want to change it, I just figured this out, like, two days ago, and oh my god I'm sorry please don't tell Ruby until I can fix this.
[Welp. That happened. On the bright side his fear's totally on the backburner now and being overridden by everything else.]
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... So somewhere in the middle of that, I think I picked up 'Hey, Yang, I have a crush on your sister and it's freaking me out but I'm okay with it'. Is that about right?
Also, I hate to break it to you, but you can't really fix feelings. Genetic or whatever you said.
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...that's about the sum of it, yeah. [And it's terrible. It's terrible and awkward and weird.] Maybe I can't fix them but I can wait for them to go away and make it less weird. So…that's what I'm working on.
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Is there something wrong with liking her?
[ ANSWER CAREFULLY. ]
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You mean besides the obvious? [He has to think about that, not even realizing that "the obvious" probably is only obvious to him.] …I guess not. [There's a very tiny grin.] Ruby's just…Ruby. Anybody she chose to like probably would never be good enough for her anyway. And I know I'm definitely not, so I'm riding it out until things go back to normal. [He can spot the apartment they're heading for up ahead, at least.]
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[ She's not even lying, what is it with these guys and their self-esteem suddenly paling when it comes to-- okay well yes, she and Ruby are awesome, but still. ]
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[ They're here! She'll let go of him to get the door open, and Zwei's prancing on in. ]
It distracted you for at least a little while, right? I didn't know ghosts weren't your thing, Hiro.
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It's not really that. I kinda live with one, if you think about it. [It's uncomfortable to phrase it that way but it's not like it's not somewhat true. He shakes his head and finally pries his helmet off.] The whole colony's dangerous right now, Yang. I didn't realize how bad it was. We can't go back out there. [A beat.] It wasn't that big of a deal until they started trying to kill us and grabbing us. If I'd let it, it probably would've dragged me down.
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You can stay here as long as you want. I've got no problem with that.
... But I'm gonna go back out there once we get you settled.
[ She can't hide from this. ]
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No way. Do you have any idea what's gonna happen to you if you go back out there right now? That is a bad plan.
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[ Even Ruby, sick as she was, had gone running out. Yang's not staying put.
But first, the mug, the milk, and the cocoa powder. After a thoughtful pause, she grabs a bag of marshmallows too. ]
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[After this is all over, he's going to have to apologize to Yang for being so weird about this. But he's eyeing her every move right now and really thinking this over.]
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Because if I have something, someone to protect, I'll always fight more than hard enough.
[ She can't lose anyone else. She won't. ]
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I know. I had to stop a few from happening, and Jaune even tried to fight me at first.
[ Well, that hadn't gone well for him, but at least it had been taken care of. She sighs, though, running her hand through her hair. She doesn't like the idea of not being there to stop people from being unintentionally suicidal, and with what she knows of Tadashi and what Hiro's gone through, it must be even worse for him. ]
As for getting through the impossible... just don't do things on your own. I know that's easier said than done, but you're not alone in this, Hiro.
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And Ruby stopped me from doing the same. It's not just the bridge, either. It's traffic and the bridge and ponds and all sorts of stuff. I'm still not entirely sure what the pattern is yet.
[This, plus the combination of just what Tadashi saw, was already torturing him a little. The ghosts touching him just made it amplified even if he hasn't figured it out just yet. He knows Yang's right but he huffs, blowing a little on the cocoa in response.]
I might not be alone in this but I'm also not pulling my own weight anymore. I don't want to be scared but I don't…["Know how to not be."] What if we actually can't fix this?
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Yeah, no.
But didn't Hiro have a robot friend? Where had Baymax gone? ]
Look, Hiro... [ She'll ask about Baymax later. ] There's nothing wrong with being scared. But what you do about it is what comes next. You can still do things from here, if you want.
But letting things go unfixed isn't something any of us want to let happen, so it'll be okay.
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