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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[ she says nothing more and continues to get herself pulled, a bit more voluntarily this time. she continues to keep to herself, not even showing any signs of friendliness. at least, not now. ]
It's just so difficult right now- [ she speaks moments later. at least she's beginning to open up again? ] I don't know what's come over me, but I feel like I'm going to die again.
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"No" is pretty much the only thing he can think at first. Straight refusal.
He'd die before that would happen. Probably. He can already feel the pull of it now, the fear of losing someone important and the stubborn need to keep them safe. ]
You won't. [ He grits his teeth tightly. ] Just keep close. Keep your head down.
[ His hand definitely twists to hold hers tighter, to pull her in closer when one of the robot buildings(? he honestly isn't sure) moves in to strike. The barrier takes the blow, his eyes flashing again to keep it tight in place.
He can see a building up ahead, somewhere that can hopefully offer shelter. ]
Don't let go.
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I've seen those before!
[ from the tour that she had gone in with hawke and some others. those creatures can't be defeate, no matter how strong one is. ]
We have to run!
[ it's her turn to pull him now. ]
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I can't. I can't run and keep this up. Not at this strength, anyway. Give me one second.
[ His breath falls slowly as he holds her steady for a moment, and she'll probably see that creature getting up again, ready to attack again. The shield wavers briefly as he looks towards her instead, and while he's looking at her, that's when he says it again. ] Shieldan. [ This time it's louder and his hand stretches up, striking forward past her as he puts nearly everything he has into making something that might resemble a tunnel of sorts. Though a dome would be more accurate in one sense.
That done, he starts to pick up his pace, letting her pull first if she wants to run ahead. ]
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She really hopes that he's a friend.
And as much as she wants to move through the "tunnel", she can't move that quickly. She wants to wait for him. It's only right. ]
I'll wait. [ she tugs on him, though. ]
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Trust itself, is a double edged sword, wasn't it?
Kilgharrah had warned him countless of times about things like that. How the future holds betrayal. From Mordred. From Morgana. He knows that while Mordred may still turn against him, Morgana he believes to be kind hearted and he wouldn't abandon her. Wasn't this similar in a way? Whatever was telling her that she was going to die--but she doesn't want to give up on her faith in their friendship either.
It's too similar. Slowly, his lips twitch into a soft smile. ]
We can go now. Quickly, before it tries again.
[ He pulls her this time, knowing that she'll catch up easily. Their best hope is that someone else arrives behind them and whatever those things are will be distracted. ]
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This is all so familiar.
[ she's been here before - the dark parts of the colony. this... isn't new. ]
We need to hide before more of those creatures appear.
[ she looks around, obviously distressed, but somehow, the warmth of having somebody else with her is lessening her stress. ]
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Can you keep running?
[ He glances over her, checking she hasn't sustained any injuries. ]
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[ she wishes she could make more sense right now, but so much is happening in her head. she shakes it even, to clear it, just so she can stay focused on what's happening at present. ]
And I can keep running... I'm sorry— [ for being so useless right now. ]
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Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for. The ones that did this. That brought us here. [ His anger flares up at that, and his voice only gets louder. ] They're the ones who should be sorry!
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Eek-- okay, okay! I just- [ a pause then she looks down at merlin's hand. well, there's no way he'd want to take hers now. even if she still is scared. ] It's nothing.
Don't mind me.
[ and she smiles then continues moving forward and into a building. she seems fine now?! ]
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Sorry, I didn't mean-- [ Athena... His hand feels cold now, heart sinking because he messed that up. Her foot touches the floor of the building and his hand moves to clasp her wrist. ]
I didn't mean that. You know I didn't mean that. Not at you.
[ At them, it. Sure. But not her, not when she's already told him about her own ability to hear how people feel.
He tears his eyes away then to look at the room, stepping around her once he notes the amount of glass everywhere. ]
...Did something happen here?
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I know. [ she looks at him, then at the wrist he's holding, then she smiles. everything's fine. her free hand makes way for her cerevice now and she begins to take pictures of the hall of shattered mirrors. ] I wouldn't think you would blame people for something they didn't do, Merlin.
[ as for this place... ] I don't know what happened here, but it's been destroyed for a long time.
[ it doesn't take long enough for the mirror shards to suddenly project something, though. ]
tl;dr pain
He spins instantly to look towards her to check she hasn't moved, that nothing has happened, but the shards behind her are playing the rest of the story anyway. There isn't any fear per se as it all unravels, but there is a feeling like he can't stop looking as it all unfolds. He shouldn't, this is private and he knows that if she wanted him to know this she would have said.
But it doesn't stop. He doesn't stop. ]
Athena, are you-- [ Are you okay?
He tries to pull her towards one of the walls, to give both of them grounding.
Little does he know that as soon as the flashes of her memory are almost half way through his own are on different sections of the room. The poisoned chalice that Nimueh had told him of while disguised as Cara, then him as he sips from the cup, collapsing and slowly dying as Arthur tries to save his life and he tries to guide him out of the caves and away from Nimueh with a light.
The Questing Beast knocking Arthur down, sending him to his death bed and Merlin's journey to the Isle of the Blessed. The cup of life. Merlin offering his life for Arthur's. His mother limping into their house, ill to the point of almost dying. The Isle of the Blessed again. Dark, cold. Gaius on the floor, dying slowly at Nimueh's hands and her words Join me. We could rule the world together. His own words. I'd never join with someone like you.
A fight where it looks like he's going to lose, until his hand stretches up, lightning taking over the entire sky until it strikes Nimueh's body over and over until finally she becomes ash.
It doesn't seem to end.
Next there's Cornelius Sigan's attack on Camelot. Gargoyles of stone made to come alive as they crash through the city and the citadel. The truth about Morgana's magic, Merlin's feelings of understanding and trying to help so much that he makes it worse and then most of the druids of that camp are dead, lying on the floor and it was his fault.
Finally, the last memory that flashes is Aredian accusing him of sorcery. Of Gaius taking his place. I must let you go? Gaius saying To do otherwise would be an act of suicide. ]
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she has no time to think about anything that she's seen, or reflect on it, as she falls slowly to the ground, knees first. she feels so dizzy, and she thinks everything is closing in on her. she can't even talk.
her paranoia comes back. was this what merlin wanted to happen? to break her? is that why he took her here? she puts both her hands on the sides of her head and just closes her eyes. she wants out. she's tapping out. she's done. widget's even switched off because he can't reflect athena's emotions at this point.
tears fall down her face, and she doesn't know why. a part of it is because she didn't want to see how she was when she was younger, and another part is because she's so honestly terrified. as much as she wants to call out merlin's name to call for help, but she physically can't. ]
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Sorry, I didn't know this place would... [ Would be like this. It's still trying to fill in the gaps of his own life, Will, the Wilddeoren. It's probably for the best that her eyes shut tight and she covers her ears. Even he can tell her heart is screaming at this point. There's no hesitating when he sits opposite her, hands covering hers to try and give her grounding.
Slowly, his head drops forward until his forehead is against hers, resting it there lightly. ]
I'm with you. [ His voice cracks because while she might be tapping out he can't. Kilgharrah's voice is too loud in his ears when it starts saying Do not trust the witch and he can't help but shake a little now. They can't stay here much longer. They really can't.
His hands slide down then and even when his own eyes are tearing up it's her eyes that he tries to dry with his thumbs. His hands cup her face. ] I didn't want any of this to happen. [ There's a long pause as he squeezes his eyes shut, and finally when he opens them just a slither he whispers: ] Swefe nu.
[ Athena will feel a calm wash over her body as she drifts into a dreamless sleep. Or if there any any dreams, they are only good ones compared to the hell she had to just relive. Not only hers, either. ]
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though once the spell is cast, the huge amount of stress she once felt dwindles away, and her body turns soft as she falls asleep. her body falls forward and her head rests lightly on merlin's shoulders.
zzz. ]
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It's more difficult to move like this, but he won't abandon her. He just needs to find another building. Somewhere more discreet with less mirrors. He doesn't want to see another mirror in a lifetime.
It's easier to just break down now she won't see the result of it, too. As he carries her across the open area into a small ruin of an office he moves to finally rest against a wall. Even as he slides down to sit against it, he doesn't let go of her.
He has a few hours to just rest like this anyway until she wakes up.
It'll give him the essential time to try and regain himself, using one hand to rub at his face, the other curling her in against himself so he can make a clean getaway if they're found, but also for comfort.
Thankfully, there's no further disturbance. Just eerie silence. ]
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widget switches on, making a small beeping sound as he activates and displays a light blue background with a white smiling face. and athena slowly opens her eyes. her cheeks feel stiff from the tears she had let out a couple of hours ago, which shows when she starts blinking. ]
Merlin?
[ right... he was crying too, wasn't he? he was also in pain—so much pain from all those flashing images.
she looks to the side and runs a finger through merlin's cheek. she's still shaking, and what she's doing is terribly belated, but it's not like she can tell at this point in time.
maybe later, once she's become relaxed some more.]
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It's when she says his name that his head rolls to the side to look at her. He's stiff from not having moved for hours, shoulders locked, legs numb. But it's been quiet, it's been safe.
When her hand reaches up though, he doesn't squeeze his eyes shut like she had done that time he fixed the flowers in her hair, but his eyes do flutter closed as he takes a slow breath in and out.
His hand reaches up to catch hers, squeezing lightly once. ]
I'm alright, don't worry about it. How do you feel?
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I didn't mean to break down like that. [ and slowly, she puts down both their hands on the floor, to rest between them. ]
I don't know what came over me.
[ first, remembering bobby fulbright, who tried to framed her for murder, and then seeing her mother's death again... it just wasn't cool. and right now, she doesn't even care that merlin saw what she was like back then, and what happened to her mother. she's already told him that her mother is dead, anyway.. it's fine.
as for what she saw, though. . . ]
You've gone through so much.
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You have nothing to apologise for. Whatever those mirrors were... they're to blame. And it isn't as though you haven't had your own set of incidents either.
[ He lets his own hand pull up though, not resting as he reaches to push her bangs out of the way. It's a slow movement, giving the chance to pull away if she wants to. ]
What I've been through was for the sake of a better Kingdom. For Arthur's sake. For Camelot's sake. I wouldn't change it for that reason. [ His hand moves to pull back then. ] I still have a lot more to do.
[ In other words, that's what he'd be going back to. That's why he's been a hell of a lot more reckless and carefree here.
Until now, anyway.
Then, softly, he adds: ]
I'm sorry about your mother.
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she looks at him, eye to eye. and it's then that she can tell that what he's saying is absolutely genuine. it must have been so difficult for him to do those things: to choose one important thing over the other; to kill somebody; to--
ah... then again, while justice in los angeles—in her world—may be sending murderers to jail, she also sends them to their deaths. it's... only fair. it's justice. what she did was right, as well. even if she hates it when people die. ]
Arthur- I mean... Prince Arthur must be lucky to have you around. You're so reliable.
[ she laughs softly. at least she's feeling relieved now to smile. ]
My mother— it wasn't that guy in my memory who killed her. . . It was somebody else. But he's been arrested now. So... everything's fine.
[ she did what she had to do. her purpose in life was to make sure the truth was unraveled. and likewise, she still has more to do. ]
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You should tell him that. [ He shifts to sit up a little, not breaking eye contact all the while. ]
It must have been difficult. I could feel it... Even if things are resolved now, it's still... [ The pain is still there. It probably always will be. ] My mother is all I've always had, at least until I went to Gaius. It's why. Nimueh.
[ His body feels like it has a nervous twitch to it, talking about this with someone who isn't Gaius. ] She wasn't supposed to take my mother or Gaius. [ He pauses. ] I offered my life for Arthur's. No one else's.
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to offer his life for somebody else's... athena would do the same. athena had done the same, even if a lot of people didn't agree. she was prepared to be given the death sentence just for simon blackquill to be deemed innocent by the court. it was painful, and a difficult choice to make, but she wouldn't have had it any other way.
but the truth came out eventually, because nobody gave up on athena at that time. merlin's circumstances might be different, but she knows how it feels to dedicate one's life to something, or in this case, someone.
and it's thinking of these things that make her start crying again. not because she's sad, but because she's suddenly overcome with happiness. she can't believe she doubted this guy just a few hours ago. his heart is so true. it may not be pure, but it's true and genuine, and he means well.
she says nothing, though she does giggle in between her sobs. it's happy crying, at least, and she wipes her eyes slowly because, wow... this is embarrassing.
they should have talked about a crying emoticon for happy crying. ]
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