You're probably woken up by the explosion first. A loud, deafening boom comes from behind the walls of the residential district. When you look outside your window towards the darker, more secretive area of the city, you might see the structure around it... crumbling, the land falling in on itself slowly but surely. That might be what wakes you up first. If it doesn't, you may be awoken instead by the sudden jerking feeling behind your navel pulling you from where you are to somewhere... else.
It's dark. The first thing you notice is that it's dark -- and then come the scrabbling sounds of creatures in the dark, like metal being dragged across metal, a chilling, sharp sound. The first thing that becomes clear, as your vision adjusts, is that you're on a rickety pathway, metal and rusting and frail, above what appears to be yawning blackness. Far, far below, there's the faint sound of rushing water, a ways away.
The second thing that becomes clear is that you are very much not alone. Something is out there with you, and from the screeching metallic noises that come ever closer, it seems to be stalking you.
Thankfully, you're not alone -- right?  ...
...........
................
:)
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PHASE I [ ??? ] It’s drafty here. You’re below ground, that’s for certain from the echoes of the wind in the darkness. If you continue on forwards along the rickety, metal railing that serves as a walkway, the skittering noises of creatures in the dark follow -- but they don’t appear.
It seems everyone has been dumped along this pathway at random; you may be with friends, with enemies or with someone you’ve never met before, but either way, it soon becomes clear. There are only two ways to go along this path: up or down.
If you choose to take the path that follows a gradual slope down, the sounds of water lapping against a surface increase bit by bit, the air growing heavier and danker, until finally, the metallic platform gives way very suddenly (watch your step!) to a muddy bank. Down here, everything is darker, and not far away there’s the water. It’s cold and frigid and there are unfriendly creatures that await if you choose to delve into it. However, if you brave those creatures, and dive deeply enough, there is a mask. It rests half-buried by silt and rocks, but it’s there, and can be found by any intrepid explorers.
Somehow, it feels a little familiar.
And if you carry on in the cave system underground, eventually you will come across what appears to be an altar. There is blood on it -- not fresh, but not more than a month old -- and pieces of trinkets. Old bits of cloth, locks of hair, and some of them may even be familiar. Any dropped character who has a reasonably large amount of spiritual or magical power may have left scraps, such as pieces of clothing, trinkets, hair, or the sort behind at the altar.
Maybe that's why they weren't in the Nexus Code.
PHASE II [ ??? ] If you go up, you will eventually make your way above ground. It takes some time, and some luck -- you’ll have to avoid rusty railing and pathways, the path crumbling under you and that creeping sensation that something is following and watching you -- and then you’ll suddenly be in fresh air.
Well. It’s not so fresh, really.
The landscape is broken down and crumbled. It may have once been part of the city of Cerealia, but now it is in utter disrepair and decay. Buildings have crumbled, and debris is everywhere. There are signs of the same level of technology that Cerealia has -- but it is all broken down and utterly inaccessible.
And you’re not alone.
It seems the technology and metal and broken down destruction has gained sentience over its time sitting alone, waiting. And it is not happy to be disturbed. The creatures are made of pieces of everything around them, and when cut down, they’ll just slowly rebuild themselves from the debris.
It might be time to run.
They aren't happy about being disturbed, and you're in their way.
PHASE III [ ??? ] Above ground, there are a lot of broken down buildings.
Some can’t be accessed at all; some are too broken, too reduced to rubble. For those looking for shelter, they'll be able to find buildings where the doors can be forced open and they can camp out on the inside to various degrees of stability. Though the ceiling may cave in or the floor fall out from under you at a moment's notice, it's better than being out there. Be careful, because none of the architecture here can be trusted anymore.
And other buildings... are even less trustworthy than that.
There is a series of buildings in the midst of the wasteland, somehow still standing. They stand there silently, towering over the rest of the rubble in their two-story glory, and if the doors are forced open, it soon becomes clear that the building itself is full of mirrors.
Once, the mirrors had perhaps covered the walls and ceiling. Once, this building might have been akin to something of a ballet studio, somewhere to express yourself creatively. But now the mirrors are shattered and broken into pieces and the building lacks the joy it might have once held. Shards of mirror cover the floor, some big, some not so big, but they still hang from the walls as well and everywhere you look, you can see yourself.
And then, the reflection changes. From one blink to the next, you see a memory playing in the mirrors. Your memory. You’ll see a glimpse of one of your most traumatic or life-changing moments, broken up but clear in the shards. Blink and look away, and it’s gone, only to show up again in the next mirror a few moments later. Surely it’s just a trick of the light, right?
Except if someone else is with you, they’ll see it too -- and you might end up seeing a bit of their own past as well. Hope you're fond of sharing.
PHASE IV [ ??? ] If you survive the monsters, the crumbling landscape and the untrustworthy buildings, you may eventually find a terminal. It is buried deep among the rubble. One turn around a corner, one stumble into a hole, and you will find it. It sits there, out in the middle of nowhere; the building in which it used to be housed is apparently long gone, reduced to nothing but rubble.
And if you turn it on, there is a brief message.
Transmission Broadcasting.
Transmission Connected.
And then, there is a face.
BONUS [ ??? ] For those who have been wearing their masks a little too much, they might also start to notice that there are some strange effects attached, which worsen the more they’ve been wearing said masks. How badly they worsen is up to your discretion.
➝ Broken Mask: An intense feeling of paranoia, focused on whoever your character is with. They might also begin to remember fabricated memories of being betrayed by those people.
➝ Barcode Mask: Everything will begin to have value to them. There will be whispers in the back of their mind of the worth of their friends, the worth of a monster, the worth of everything around them. An intense need to own and consume as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
➝ Dripping Blood Mask: An intense lack of self-worth, a hollow feeling and thoughts of being weak and empty. Feeling as disposable as possible and an intense listless along with it.
➝ :( Mask: A need to prove yourself, to show everyone how strong you are as quickly as possible. You can do things, you can be of worth to everyone around you. Why won't they see that? Why?
➝ Ivy Mask: A choking sort of terror from all things metal and technology based, and a need to lash out against it. An intense distrust for anything that they feel is against the laws of nature.
➝ Grey Mask: More personable than normal, more emotional, more empathetic. An intense feeling of kindness and gratitude to those around you and a renewed love of life.
➝ Feather Mask: A dulled, lack of emotion. A detached feeling to everything around you. A sort of bland curiosity towards things without any empathetic reaction.
➝ Bloody Fingerprints Mask: They'll feel absolutely fine. No change.
The effects of the broken mask can stack on top of the others, if they chose to break their mask after the other effects began to appear. No other effects can be stacked, as no other changes can be stacked.
PENALTY [ ??? ] For characters who die while in the dark parts of the city, things will get... a little strange. They will die as normal, but they will wake up almost immediately after their death -- in the Nexus Code. They will have a few surreal moments to be there, to see their friends who have left Cerealia hanging lifelessly from odd, glimmering strands (though there are some faces, of course, that are missing, anyone who was spiritual, or magical, seems strangely absent) and then --
They’re back to being dead.
When characters revive in Cerealia, anywhere from one IC day to three or four IC days later, they will find that things are… not quite right with their code. They’re glitching, for a lack of a better word. Sometimes, their fingers will phase right through an object, their own limbs registering as cold and lifeless. Sometimes, they will see a face watching them -- but when they turn around to try to see who it is, the face will be gone.
These effects will last an IC week, before slowly things go back to normal.
That was strange.
[ 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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Open;
[Minato only happens to be wearing his normal clothes as he hadn't been sleeping during the time of the explosion. He'd gotten up with a jerk and had planned to call someone before being pulled away in a flash, finding himself surrounded by darkness seconds after.]
... [He lifts up his CereVice for a moment before tucking it away, a hand clutching tightly to his Evoker as he takes a few careful steps downwards, trying to locate the sounds of water he heard shortly after being taken here.
The floor eventually gives way and Minato finds himself dumped onto a muddy bank- lacking the resources to check the water he simply moves on to the caves in the hope of finding something. He gets his wish soon enough, reaching a bloodied altar that sickens him to the bone even before catching sight of scraps from a red cape that looks all too familiar to him.
His listlessness crumbles instantly, practically tripping over himself running to the altar to get a closer look. When someone finds him he'll be staring at it wordlessly with his face obscured and his head lowered, but the trembling of his hands and what seems like incoherent strangled sounds coming from him say more than any words could.]
Phase III;
[It takes Minato a fair while to bother making his way above ground, and he eventually finds broken down buildings all around him. Not trusting them to be stable, he simply ignores the crumbling buildings and trudges on, his mask having been tied to his right arm all this while.
It's the sight of intact structures that manage to grab his attention and he wanders in, instantly feeling on edge when he sees the mirrors all around him. Minato sees nothing out of the ordinary at first and it's only when he turns around to leave that he hears crackling fire from a shard that just happens to be within sight.
Yet it's gone again when he stares at that piece and should someone approach him he'll look at them listlessly, pointing a single finger at one of the plain shards.]
There's something strange about these shards...we should leave. [Strange indeed, and he should have looked away from the shard so that this person wouldn't have seen a burning car and a bloody hand hanging limply out of where the car's window should have been, or a a small child standing away from the fire, staring at what must be the car's wreckage.
Judging by the pained sound Minato makes immediately after that and the way he looks away at once, it's probably personal...a little too personal.]
Wild Card;
[Feel free to PM me if there's a scenario you'd like to do and we can sort it out! No death scenarios though.]
[OOC note: Minato has the bloody mask and he's involuntarily worn it twice, so he'll be suffering its effects pretty badly.]
phase 1!!
She places one hand on his arm.]
Turn away.
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His eyes are empty, betraying little of the turmoil he's feeling inside. He has so many questions to ask and so many answers he doesn't want to hear right now: Is that Akihiko, all that's left of him after saying he'd never forgive him if he leaves? The depths to which those thoughts affect him go well beyond the shell he's constructed for himself, but he has to pretend regardless that they don't hurt for now- there's people who need him and he can't disappoint them.]
Vietnam- have you seen anything like this before?
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But the way he clenches his fist is more than words can ever give. He found his friends' belongings.]
I haven't seen anything like this before. Not this place, or this...area. [She hisses in disgust.] I can't even guess what happened here.
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Phase III
So he tracked him. By this point, he knew Minny's smell inside and out, so he was able to pick through it as he trudged through the broken wasteland, all the way up towards an intact structure - a building that he entered with open hesitation, making sure to keep his eyes lowered and away from any reflective surfaces as he stepped in]
...?
[What was that noise then? It sounded like...]
Minny? [Kazuya chanced glancing upwards, determinedly ignoring the mirrors to see Minny standing alone and tense amongst the broken shards and mirrors. Oh, thank goodness, he was...] Minny!
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It's not so much the accident that disturbs him as much as his reaction though, painfully aware that something's been wrong with him ever since he set foot in this dark place. Watching his parents die was one thing and the desire to have replaced them suddenly rising from the depths of his heart was quite another, and the latter is what has left him reeling.
He does notice at once though that Kaz is deliberately avoiding looking at the reflective surfaces, latching onto that observation so he doesn't have to talk about himself.] You've seen what was in the mirrors too?
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[Kaz carefully made his way over, feeling somewhat foolish at how his gaze skittered about the floor, skimming over any glass shards he could see, until he stopped within arm's reach of his friend. He reached out, gently grasping Minny's arm, just to make sure... yup, solid, warm, real]
C'mon, let's get you out of here. These mirrors are nothing but trouble.
[Indeed, from the corner of his eye, he could see a shard sitting innocuously by his foot begin to show a smeared, hazy picture, too distorted to clearly make out. The unexpectedness of it almost made him stare. What, no Belzaboul this time?]
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Phase I
Minato...? [Glancing down at the altar he sees what he'd been staring at.] What is it?
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Hiro-kun. [Minato could never lie about his friends or say that seeing their remains were nothing, but he's highly unused to talking about the darker parts of his life regardless and there's a forced edge to his tone when he answers.]
Those red scraps of cloth...they're from a cape belonging to a friend of mine. [A friend from a future he'll never see, a friend who said he'd never forgive him for vanishing however jokingly it was which stopped being funny the moment he got a ping from his CereVice.]
He left just a day ago. [The edge is gone now, replaced by a hollow accompaniment. The only comfort Minato can take in right now is that the blood on the altar is clearly too dried out to be that of his friend, desperately hoping that these scraps were scraps and little more.]
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[Xion. Yosuke. Minato's friend. Who else would leave soon?]
Do you recognize any of the other stuff?
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phase iii;
Saiduq places a hand on the young man's shoulder when he's addressed in such a strained voice. It's a gentle gesture, one he hopes is of sufficient reassurance. ]
Yes, we should.
[ Since Minato's given him permission, so to speak, he'll whisk them both away from the shards and the interior of the building in a blink of an eye, teleporting right outside of it. ]
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Why couldn't that have been me? A chill runs down Minato's spine as soon as he realizes what he's thinking of, but he's looking away and a slight tremble is the only indication that he's feeling anything at all.]
...Thanks, Saiduq. You didn't have to do that for me, but I appreciate it.
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[ He'll give Minato the time and opportunity to collect himself at his own pace. ]
I did not have to do that for you, but I wanted to.
[ Because they're friends, and that's what friends do, right? ]
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i
...Arisato-kun? [ She wonders if maybe she should let him be, but in a place like this, that wouldn't be a good idea. ]
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...Kirigiri-san. [Most days that greeting would seem normal, but from the quiet way he mutters it this time it feels vaguely like something Minato's also saying to keep himself distracted from whatever he was looking at.]
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Shall we move on? [ As much as she wants to take a closer look at the altar, that'll have to wait until later. ]
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iii;
...Don't tell me what to do.
[The words come out of her mouth before she can stop them. She pulls away as an uncomfortable feeling wells up inside of her:
'Don't trust him.' 'He's lying.'
One hand goes to her throat, half-imagining a collar around her throat as she looks at the memory flashing across the mirrors and fights the paranoia.
'This is Minato. You know him. You know him.'
She swallows hard.]
....you okay?
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III-ish?
That didn't make it enjoyable, however.
The palace of mirrors is deplorable. She's seen enough on her own to realize that they are reflections of memories that one would rather not recall in detail. To ignore them entirely would be discounting the importance of why they're there in the first place, but it doesn't make it easy to accept. Of course, it shouldn't be surprising that one of the memories she sees play again in front of her is that of SEES gathering at the rooftop, only to find-- ]
Arisato--Minato, are you there?
[ No. She'll reach out to him, hoping he's within range. It's practical, right? If a little bit of a selfish need to reassure herself that he is. ]
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iii
Keeping the team together and keeping morale up is a job and a half, especially when resources are so scarce on the ground. There's been talk of going back to the underground, going back to the dark water, trying to kill those creatures for food, vile as they may be; it would be something, at least. Yu pushes everyone on, because what other choice is there? They can't give up. There's no other choice, no other way. Deep down, though, he worries. He always worries, under his skin where no one can see him do it.
Minato he worries about more than most. Minato wore his mask. And Minato has been acting ... strangely. After all his care, all his theorizing, it would be impossible not to notice the connection between those two facts. It's why he joins his friend for the exploration of this building; loathe as he is to leave anyone on his team, for many reasons, he's especially reluctant to let Minato go anywhere alone for too long.
He remembers green, bright green, splashed with vivid cloying red.
Yu only nods, frowning, at what Minato says; he's about to head for the door when the mirror shards start showing clearer images, and he freezes in place, eyes going wide.
It's the noise that gets him to move. Maybe this is forward of him, again - but a sound of pain that visceral... with one arm Yu pulls Minato to him in half a hug, ducking his head, his mouth just brushing over Minato's hair. Everything about his stance is stiffly protective, almost like he's angry. ]
Minato-san... we don't have to talk about it, but you're right. We should get out of here.
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iii
[He's seen his memory a couple of times already, and he's going to ignore Minato's now, especially since what little he saw included a small child. He's going to assume that's Minato, so...
Definitely not going to push it.]
It's kind of therapeutic to smash them, though.
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