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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[Thank goodness it isn't a death-in-three-days sort of curse.]
At least you're not going to die if you don't pass it on or anything.
....Are you?
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[Why did you say something like that, Shiho?! Kazuya suddenly looked a little worried, and he patted his chest while looking down, as if expecting to see some physical set of instructions taped to his chest about how this curse even worked. No such luck. Rude ghost was rude]
I feel okay? Like, I'm not going to keel over dead any time soon. But... huh, I guess a curse like that would probably kill me instantaneously, like, random heart attack or something. [...] Aw shit, what if I am gonna die? Ah, goddammit, Mimi! Why did you say something like that?!
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Well....I could...check?
[With psychometry.]
But if it passes on to me, I'm going to be really mad at you.
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[Oh, right, Mimi was an esper like Hyou-Kyou and Koyo. He wasn't quite sure what it was she did exactly, but he knew it was vaguely like Hyoubu's mind-reading. Ahh, should he let her? He won't lie and say the thought of another person rummaging about in his brain didn't fill him with uneasiness, but he was more concerned over Shiho. Bel was an unpredictable beast, and while it hadn't retaliated so far against Hyoubu snooping about his surface thoughts, it did express an intense desire to messily murder the esper for his "trespassing". Yeah, Shiho coming into contact with that, bad idea.
Plus, well, the cat would be out of the bag then. To Shiho he just had weird, freaky fire powers. If she looked at him with her own weird, freaky mind powers, then she'd know about his... problem. People did not react well to demons, from what he learnt from past experiences. He had enough mobs and attempted lynchings to last him a lifetime, thanks]
With your esper powers, right? Kinda like Hyou-Kyou's weird mind and body checking... thing. [Apt way to describe psychometry, Kaz] Can that even pick up on ghost curses? I mean, I don't much about psy... psy-geometry or whatever it's called, so...
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I don't know. It's not like I even want to pick up on your weird ghost curse. [She's just
worrieddoesn't want to be responsible if anything happens to him.]But...it might help. [She's starting to wonder though if this isn't a situation where it would be better to have Hyoubu do something like back with Sakaki...] If you want.
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[Now Kaz was in an awkward position. He didn't want to cause offence by rejecting her offer, by making it seem like he was squeamish of mental interlopers (he was, but still, he didn't want it to be obvious), and therefore, of her, but neither did he want to say why doing "psychometry" on him was a horrifically awful, terrible idea. Bah, this would be easier if he could lie, but he couldn't!]
I would... like to know more about the ghost curse. [He spoke very slowly, obviously picking his words with care] But, there's... uhm, I'm don't wanna be rude but, when you check, you won't read my mind, will you? Or, peek in there too deeply?
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[She knows the whole mind reading thing bothers a lot of people and she won't lie and say that she won't. Shiho puts her hands behind her as nonchalantly as she can.]
It's kinda...unavoidable. That's why I said we'll only do this if you want.
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[Kazuya dithered, partly torn between self-preservation and the desire to not feed Shiho to an ancient, ravenous demon. He really wanted to know if this ghost curse was deadly or not. Like, considering how the ghosts were so hellbent on murdering the citizens of Cerealia, it wouldn't surprise him if this "No Lying" business was the prelude to his descent into a curse-filled death (...again). It wasn't as if Bel was being helpful, having washed its hands entirely of this day after the monorail inci-
... wait a minute.
Kazuya briefly turned his attention inwards. Bel wasn't around all the time, as strange as it sounded. The demon dipped in and out of his conscious mind, preferring instead to dwell somewhere in his subconscious. What it did there, Kaz didn't know, and didn't want to know, but he knew that unless Kazuya started freaking out or began feeling powerful emotions, the demon wouldn't lift its head for anything. So... hopefully, it might not notice her peeking in, if she was quick enough. Yeah... yeah! This could work! He'll find out if he was cursed to die and maybe do something about it, and Shiho comes out of it unscathed!
There was the problem of her possibly finding out about his fucked up business with Bel but... ah, he'll... he'll burn that bridge when he gets to it. Or is it cross that bridge...? However that saying went]
Okay, let's do it. But, be quick, please? There's... uh, how to say... [As bad as he was at lying, he sure did miss having the capacity for it. Geeze] My... powers... [Oh, Bel counted as a "power", thank God] When it comes to mental things, uhm, they can get a bit... agitated? Like, I'll try to hold it down but, uh, I accidentally burned Hyou-Kyou once when he did something like this, so... [he sighed] I'm just trying to say to be careful. My powers don't like strange people poking around in my brain and it might lash out.
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Way, way beforehand.
She can't help but to get the suspicion that this is one of those situations where Minamoto would tell her to wait, and that it wouldn't help anyone at all if both of them went down because of Kazuya's powers. Even without him physically here, her conscience did a passably good enough job at reminding her of all the various things that could go wrong. She doesn't know the extent of his powers, if he's anything like a level 7, what if you get stuck, etc etc...]
.....it doesn't really work exactly like that.
[She pauses as she tries to come up with a solution that wouldn't involve her being caught up in a mental attack, eyes straying briefly to his shirt...]
What about if it's just your shirt? [That would be as good as anything, and she wouldn't have to touch him either, would she?]
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[Kazuya looked slightly puzzled - as he said before, he knew practically nothing about psychometry, so he didn't understand how that was a viable alternative. Still, she was the expert, he supposed and... hey, if she was, uh, "reading" or whatever it did to his shirt, then she wasn't reading him, right? She'd be safe, and Kazuya wouldn't have to deal with calming down an angry, territorial demon! It checked out!]
Uhm, I think that would be fine? I mean, so long as it's not my brain your picking, Be- er, my powers shouldn't lash out. [He held out his arm, so Shiho could touch the sleeve if she wanted] Though, I dunno what help my shirt will be...
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[She looks at his arm contemplatively, already certain that this was going to work, but...]
It's probably better if you take it off. [It's not like she hasn't seen everything the last time they went to karaoke anyway.]
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[Kazuya felt no shame or hesitation in stripping off in the middle of the street. He pulled his arm away, and went about removing his headphones and then his shirt. Once it was off, his headphones were left to rest around his neck, and he held out the shirt ready for Shiho to take]
Here.
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[That's what makes her the expert here, clearly.
She reaches out to touch the shirt, and pulls her hand away as soon as she discerns that this is indeed some kind of weird, spiritual curse.]
...Yeah. It's a curse from one of those ghosts. It doesn't look like you're going to die though.
[She knows better than to ask him why he was thinking so hard about "Bel" before giving her his shirt.]
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Well, I guess there's my silver lining. I can't lie but, hey, I'm not gonna die at least! [He then let out a weary sigh, tucking his shirt under his arm since he couldn't be bothered to put it back on whilst juggling with his headphones] Geeze... do you know how long it's gonna last for? A few hours? A day? Please don't say forever, because I will cry.
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You could use this as an opportunity to start living an honest life.
[She's kidding.]
It'll only be a couple of days.
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An honest life? Psh- huh, wait. Days? I'll walk around like this for days!? How the hell am I supposed to function like that?! Do you know how much I lie?! Practically all the time- wait, shit! [HE DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT GODDAMN YOU STUPID GHOST CURSE] No! Ignore that!
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Ignore what? The fact that you lie all the time? I can't do that~
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[Yup, that was him groaning out her nickname like a tortured little brother, complete with the pout and kicked puppy eyes. Ahh, what if she told people he was a chronic liar? No, even worse, what if she asked to know what he lied about?! Too troublesome! Way too troublesome to deal with!]
C'mon! Don't be an asshole. Just, uh, pretend I never said that and, uhm, I'll... ugh, no, it's too painful to say... [But he must, bribing is the only thing he had in his arsenal! Well, okay, he could lock her in a cupboard for a few days instead if he really wanted to, but he had a feeling that that would have Consequences] I'll... buy you... stuff. Ugh, that physically hurt to say...
[If you couldn't tell, Kaz was a miserly bastard. Him paying for someone else?! Unless you had a near death experience, you'd pry his credits from his cold, dead fingers...]
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