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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ii
[ Not again. Not again. He won't watch this twice, he won't, he can't--
Yu comes out of practically nowhere. Probably because once he spotted Minato from afar, saw how close he was to a busy intersection and saw that he was only getting closer, he knew he had to do something. Rational thought didn't even figure into it. Even for someone normally so ruled by logic and calm, measured reactions as he. Pure impulse (panic, panic, a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart) drove him to kick up into an immediate sprint, and he all but slams into Minato when he reaches his friend, desperate hands seizing his shoulders and pulling him away, away, off the street, somewhere safe, away from the ghosts and their horrible voices, at least for a moment.
Even when they're somewhere quieter Yu doesn't let go, his hands still on Minato's shoulders, his head bowed, a cold frisson rolling through his frame. ]
Don't say something like that.
[ I'm sorry.
Yu looks up, and his eyes are flint and steel. ]
Not again. Not when I could stop it.
[ He'd sworn to himself that if he could stop it: never again. ]
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Yu-san... [He sounds tired already, exhaustion creeping up over the days from lack of proper sleep.] You heard what I said? [The lack of energy shows even in his eyes, its usual gray appearing dull before Yu's own] I didn't mean to say that, but it looked like there wasn't anything else I could do. [His tone might have been flat, but there's the faintest trembling of his shoulders that betray how he really feels having come close to death's door without wanting to be.]
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But it's the tremble in Minato's shoulder's that makes up Yu's mind. ]
I did.
[ Without any hesitation, he uses his grip to pull Minato into him, arms folding around him in a hug. The first breath he pulls in shakes, but the second one is steady. ]
You know as well as I do. This is why we have friends to rely on.
[ Their bonds.
We aren't alone. ]
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It's also the main reason why he'd ended up fleeing from Yu during the library event, not out of concern for his personal space as one might have assumed given his nature, but as he truly had no idea why he'd even reciprocated a little.
That part he'd been forthcoming with since Minato feels that Yu deserved to know as much, but it's only now when he's pulled into a hug that he can put a word to how he feels like having someone hugging him without having to ask first.
Safety.
Yu's already seen him suffering worse than this without pitying him or trying to fix him the way someone less understanding might have, and in leaning into the hug with a single breath drawn he acknowledges that he doesn't mind being held like this.]
You're my friend too. [His tone's wry, but it does say something that he can afford to crack a joke.] ...Thanks.
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The piece of his heart that stubbornly refuses to do anything but know Minato cracks a little more, as it's done bit by bit since the day they met, and that sympathetic resonance echoes throughout all his nerves. It's improbable and impossible and for a split second his blood sings the very same way it did that day. Of course, right now, it's for very different reasons. Even so, he ignores it.
Minato's leaning into him. Yu's eyes hood.
He doesn't say anything, glad though he is that Minato has the strength and presence of mind to joke. He doesn't feel a need. The circle of his arms, his hands on his friends back, say anything for him that he could possibly say out loud.
Of course.
He lets go after a length of time that's neither too short nor too long, somehow, stepping back with one hand still on one of Minato's shoulders. ]
Where will you go from here?
[ He'll take Minato home, is the implicit offer. Not that anywhere is truly safe right now, but he might have a slightly lesser chance of dying there. ]
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With others he's simply happy to give all of himself over, glad to see his friends living their lives fully and to be of help without asking anything as he doesn't need it. He doesn't need a hug to be exact and neither does he need to be taken home, but the fact that Yu had considered both of these things and had brought food while he was sick means a lot to him simply because Yu's looking out for him like a true equal.
The sick feeling in his stomach's gone by the time Yu lets go and Minato's perfectly calm again, if still worn-out from his recurring nightmares.]
The Residential District. [Those words are chosen for a good reason; Minato's hardly going to hide when people are in need, and Yu should be aware of that too.] That's close to where the ghosts are coming from...the sooner we figure out how to seal the wall, the better. [And in following Yu he'll ensure that his friend doesn't get trapped either.]
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And in that way, he feels they're equals, too.
There's a subtle shift in Yu's expression at Minato's choice of words. It's barely there, a shadow at the corner of his mouth, a gentling in the shape of his eyes, but if you knew him, you'd call it a fondness, a knowing. Of course that's Minato's answer. Yu nods, and drops his hand. ]
Alright.
[ He doesn't feel a need to say or even ask whether or not they'll go together; he feels it's rather implied. ]
We'll go. You're sure you don't need a minute to rest, first?
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No, I'm fine. ...I felt that something dreadful was going to happen moments before the wall broke, and we might get overwhelmed if we don't do something to stop them quickly.
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[ Having no particular connection to messianic powers or purity himself, Yu didn't get sick this month, and also didn't feel the same dread that others with those connections did. But he doesn't doubt Minato's word. He simply nods. ]
Alright. We'll do our best to look out for each other, and do what we can to put an end to this before anyone else gets hurt. Let's go, Minato-san.
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Let's go.