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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walk of shame....
He has no idea what he's doing. He'll probably say the wrong thing. But what kind of friend was he, if he didn't let her know that he absolutely didn't think that was true?
So he reaches out, gingerly, to put a hand on her shoulder as she meets his eyes. ]
You are not a mistake. [ Careful, softly spoken, calmer than he feels. ] I think you're an amazing person because you are. I'm not just saying that to make you feel better, either. You helped me when you didn't even know who I was, when I was feeling scared and lost and - there you were, reaching out to me and helping me, and you didn't stop to judge me for a second. You don't know how much of a difference you made to me that day.
[ He pauses, searching her face. ] Can I tell you about that memory I wanted to forget?
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Dipper...
[ Her eyebrows draw up and together. She knows, too, that they shouldn't be here, that she's sick, that she promised Mary she'd get to safety if she needed it...
But despite herself, she only nods, instead. ]
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He takes a deep breath, jaw set, and he doesn't glance away, no matter how the onset of lingering guilt makes him feel like he should. ]
That ghost looked like someone important to you, didn't it? [ Whether it was someone she cared for or not, it had to be someone that had a measure of influence over her to get her to follow it. ] That sort of thing...seems to happen kind of a lot around here. It happened to me when I was in the jungle a few weeks ago on an expedition. There were these trees, and...
[ His fingers tighten on her shoulder, just a hair. ]
They tricked me into seeing my family, and when I followed them away from the group, I found a monster instead. A lot of people got hurt by it, and I felt like I was responsible for what happened. That's why I wanted to forget.
[ His voice quavers, because this isn't easy, and he has no idea if telling her this will even help. But it might, and as long as there's that chance, he has to try. So he swallows, and goes on. ]
In the days after it happened, I felt like such a failure for letting myself be tricked like that. I felt...useless, because I wasn't able to do anything to change what had happened - what I thought I had caused. I'm still not really...it's still tough. But the thing is, the thing my friends told me over and over again after it happened, is that it didn't make me weak because I followed them. Whoever you saw, they were important to you, weren't they?
It doesn't make you weak because you followed them. It doesn't make you a bad person, or a mistake, or anything like that. All it means is that you were willing to believe in something, in someone, that you were probably only following because you felt compelled to help them, because that's the kind of person you are. [ Then, he manages a crooked smile. ] The same kind of amazing person I think you are.
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But in the end, she doesn't smile. If anything, her expression turns even more sad, her brow tightening, and she ends up glancing away, at the space where the ghost once was. ]
Saix...
[ Xion doesn't look back at Dipper again while she speaks. ]
That's the name of the person I saw. He was my superior. It was my job to go on missions he assigned to me. But sometimes... sometimes, I'd fail. Because I wasn't strong enough... once, he told me I was a mistake the Organization never should have made.
[ Xion lowers her chin, looking down at the ground instead. ]
I don't want to help someone like him. I don't know what I was thinking. You see, I left the Organization behind, because ...
[ ... because ... ]
... I needed to find out the truth. When I did, I was branded a traitor. I should have realized there wasn't anything he could ever want from me again. I guess I just always ... hated how disappointed he was in me.
i'm sorry
"Once, he told me I was a mistake the Organization never should have made."
And the ghost had done the exact same thing, using that same face, to trick her, again. It's infuriating - it's cruel, and a loud voice in Dipper's head cries out at the injustice of it. There's so much he doesn't know about her, but there's another conclusion he could draw: life had not been fair to her. He draws his hand back from her shoulder, letting it fall to his side.
He's so bad at this. He'd tried so hard to not say the wrong thing, and where had it gotten them? She sounded sadder than he'd ever heard her before. But they're in too far now to just walk away. If he can't try to make this right, if he can't fix it, even just a little...
He has to try. ]
That doesn't make you weak, either. I don't...I don't know what you've been through, but you're not weak because you hated that he was disappointed in you. No one wants to be a disappointment. It's just - part of being human, I guess. You didn't want to let him down, even if he was a total jerk. No one could blame you for that. I would've done the exact same thing.
Everyone has regrets and things they wish they could do differently. Whatever you did in the past, whoever you were? It doesn't matter. It matters who you are now.
YOU ARE NOT
But she's not human.
What we are is so different than the people here. People with hearts... so much is different for them.
Dipper is. Dipper's a real person, one who was born, one who had birthdays and a childhood, one who knows what love is, one who knows what a family is, one who has memories that really belong to him, one who ... has a heart that belongs to him. He wasn't created in a lab. He's not a puppet. He's not a monster.
Not like her.
The whole time he talks she does not look up. They've been sitting on the ground this entire time, on this bridge, where ghosts could come across them, where other people could come across them, but she can't bring herself to move. Dipper... he's so kind. And so brave... from the day they met on the network, when he was trying to work through something terrible that had happened, to when they met in person and he pledged so bravely to be her knight... all the time they've spent together until now, and he's done nothing but make her feel ... happy. And in return... in return, all she's done is lie to him. About what she is...
He thinks she's a human like he is. Maybe that, more than anything, is what makes her a monster. That she's been letting him believe something like that... ]
Who I am now...
[ She sounds distant and troubled. When she begins speaking again, she only intermittently meets his gaze. ]
There's so much you don't know... about who I am. About ... what I am. [ Xion squeezes her eyes shut, forcing out the word. ] I'm ... I'm so scared you'd hate me if you knew the truth. That's why ... that's why I haven't told you.
[ Gently, slowly, Xion reaches out to take the hand he had on her shoulder, and surrounds it with both of her own. ]
When you talk to me... I really do feel like someone special, and amazing. No one ever talks to me the way you talk to me. [ For the first time she smiles again, though it's still sad. ] I don't know if I could bear it ... if you ever looked at me the way Saix looked at me. But ... [ More softly, to herself: ] Doesn't someone like you deserve the truth?
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But with the voice of reason comes the voice of doubt. Doubt that he could trust her, that he'd been wrong to do so so willingly, without a second thought. He'd trusted her as soon as he'd met her, when she didn't even know who he was and yet had offered him the peace and advice he'd been seeking so desperately. He trusted her enough to tell her that person on the network was him. He'd trusted her enough to tell her what he just had, about the jungle.
And yet, doubt comes so easily to him. The way it creeps up in the corner of his thoughts, and he can pick apart things she's said, subtle hints he glossed over before. He doubts himself, his will to see this through, to make the right choice right now. Because what could he do?
There's so much you don't know about who I am.
He could make a choice. ]
I could never, ever hate you.
[ Like Mabel made the choice to trust Stan. when Dipper had been blinded by his doubts. Mabel believed. ]
And...maybe there is a lot I don't know about you. But there's a lot that I do know, too.
[ Like his friends when Dipper blamed himself for the devastation in the jungle. Dipper had doubted he could move on, but his friends believed.
He moves his free hand to wrap gently around hers. ]
I know that you're kind, and gentle...you think of others before you think of yourself. You have this...joyful laugh. [ A small, warm smile. ] You're smart, and genuine, like you're just excited about life, and having people around you to live it with. I know we haven't been friends for that long, but...
[ He could make the choice to trust her.
His voice is careful, raw but gentle, as he squeezes her hand. ]
I trust you, Xion. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, because I trust you.
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[ He trusts her.
He doesn't know anything about her, he doesn't know what she is, and he knows he doesn't know her ... and he chooses to trust her anyway.
Xion bows her head, looking at their hands linked together, tangled up and warm ... and this time really smiles, in a way that splits her face, wide and watery and beautiful. Her chest is clenching with an emotion she can't name. But what she does know is that Dipper ... makes her feel safe. Safe, and ... like maybe she could be worth something. Really worth something.
Without disentangling their hands, because she can't bring herself to, Xion lifts one of her arms rubs her cheek on her bicep. Her eyes had watered up, you see, which is a strange sensation for her. ]
I trust you, too. You're ... really special.
[ She pulls in a deep, steadying breath, sitting straighter and smiling at him in a warmer, surer way. ]
I really do want to tell you, I just... don't know if I'm ready. Give me time, okay?
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Maybe he has no idea what he's doing, but maybe he's doing okay.
His smile grows to match hers as he nods slowly. ]
You got it. And whenever you want to talk - about anything, even what you had for breakfast or something - I'm here to listen.
[ ...Okay, and maybe now they can worry about getting off this bridge. ]
I've got a little ghost-free base set up not too far from here. I can take you there, if you want.
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Yeah. We should get out of here. I need to rest for a while before I keep going...
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Then I'll make sure you can get some rest. [ Ghost hunting can wait. He's got a friend to take care of first. ]