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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[One minute, Minatsuki was going clothes shopping. The next minute, she finds herself feeling like she's somehow come out of a bad fall, because when she comes to, surrounded by darkness, she actually screams, which causes the skittering noises to grow more rapid and louder, even though nothing comes out.
But she feels the cold breeze, and she realizes that, somehow, she's alive, and shakily rises to her feet with a loud, disdainful sucking of the teeth (was I fuckin’ scared?), stumbling forward through the walkway----]
a. [Ultimately, she find herself going further and further down along the path, shuddering and coughing due to how stale the air is around her, letting out irritable grunts at the foul odor and pulling her shirt collar up over her nose.
That's when she accidentally kicks a stray pebble against a nearby wall, and it echoes loudly enough for most people to hear. That's when she sees shadows. The sounds of sloshing from the surrounding water. She tenses, calling upon whip wing---]
---The fuck?!
[While she manages to slit the throat out of these hospitable fellows, several more come crawling and rushing in from the surrounding darkness, and Minatsuki finds herself getting backed into a corner as she tries to follow their erratic movements in the poor lighting, whip wing flashing and lashing around wildly…]
ii. ( closed to lop ) You gotta be fucking kidding me...
[With an exasperated, and slightly pained, groan, Minatsuki drops to her knees once she reaches the strange altar, hoping to find some kind of shelter. Instead, she finds this freaky satanic bullshit. Just her luck, and what doesn't help is that she's now covered in cuts and bruises from being ambushed several times by the resident creatures in trying to stealth her way through the caves.
She's already ripped her shirt to hell and beyond to create makeshift bandages to at least keep the deeper wounds from bleeding too much, but she's pretty sure the day's nearing to a close, and she's not sure she's got enough gas in the tank for more spelunking.
Minatsuki flops onto her back, blearily looking up at the altar and all the offerings surrounding it, sneering weakly.]
Tch. Not even anything goddamn useful, huh? Shit---ow---
[Idly turning on her side while wincing, she wonders if she's just going to be stuck here by herself.
If anything, it'd probably be karma, and the thought makes her snicker bitterly, but there's a hint of anger and fear on her face as she squeezes her eyes shut.]
phase ii.
[While Minatsuki is used to being starved out----Deadman Wonderland, or rather, Tamaki Fuckhead Foxface, had a habit of exacting some pretty nasty retribution upon the prisoners when he wasn't happy, or when he just felt like it---but she had the advantage of contraband over there, and here, well.
Let's just say she's decided it'd be a good idea to scavenge. She's started small, digging around trash receptacles and broken-down vehicles. Nothing. Her stomach growls, alongside her own annoyed growl as she stomps away from the ruins of what may have been some kind of small corner shop.
Should anyone be within the immediate vicinity, or approaching the store themselves, Minatsuki’ll shake her head, sucking her teeth, saying:]
It's a dud. Don't fucking bother. [And she looks around, raising an eyebrow.] Seems like this is some kinda inner-city district, anyway. Might have better luck in the swankier area if---
[---That's when another ruined car goes flying overhead, straight into the corner store itself, and promptly---]
----Shit! Move!
[Regardless of whether or not the other person moves, Minatsuki scrambles out of the way just as the car explodes, dive-rolling to the left to avoid the resulting debris. The footfalls that ensue quickly prompt her to stand back up, yanking her earrings off to summon whip wing while warily scanning the area for the car-chucker in question…
...And finds herself faced with three odd bootleg Transformer creatures. Great. As one raises an arm to toss a fallen streetlight, she swiftly lops it off with whip wing, only to watch it regenerate using other pieces of debris. She snarls, briefly eyeing whoever her compatriot might be, snapping:]
You got two choices----either let your balls drop and let's get to tussling, or run before you piss me off if you aren't up for that shit!
phase iii.
[Day three and she's already too old for this shit. But the series of oddly tall, looming buildings further into the ruined city look promising in terms of scavenging---it looks swanky enough---so in she goes, cutting the doors down with whip wing, only to be greeted by nothing but...broken mirrors.
Minatsuki starts pinching the bridge of her nose. Well, fuck a duck---can her luck get any worse? Letting out a scoff, she's turning on her heel when she catches a movement out of the corner of her eye, and turns back around.
Her eyes widen, and her mouth is slightly agape. She stands stock still; it's like her body refuses to move.
But it's unmistakable. The woman's clothes, her hair, her face, her smile---
----It's her mother, as well as herself, as a child, pruning some flowers. Her mother gently guides her younger self's hands as she goes---]
No! I...f...fuck you!
[---Minatsuki shatters the mirror outright, breathing heavily, her expression a mix of seething anger, slight fear, and even slighter…hurt? She furiously shakes her head.]
I...I'm over that shit, dammit!
( ooc: the full memory will play out in different imagery depending on whoever tags! )
ii
so when he spots that strange alcove (?) from a distance, he breathes a silent sigh of relief and stumbles towards it. it doesn't look like much, but if it just provides him with a dark nook to hide in for a few hours, to rest up a bit, he'll be fine.
too bad it's already occupied. ]
-- oh. [ a wide-eyed blink when he rounds the corner to find someone already there. but any disappointment or surprise that might have been on his face vanishes almost immediately, quickly replaced by concern when he sees the state this stranger's in. scrapes, cuts, bruises, and makeshift bandages. ] -- you're injured.
[ it might be a statement of the incredibly obvious, but at least that's not all he does. almost even before he's done speaking, lop quickly crouches down before minatsuki, hand fumbling at the clasp of his shoulder bag for a moment before he pulls out a little first aid kid. ]
Um, it looks like you've lost a lot of blood ... Would you let me look at your injuries?
iii
He's mostly been avoiding people since getting dropped in here, because the powers that be managed to grab him while he was out of armor, just sitting around in his apartment. Lucky for him he's never not armed, but he'd be happier if he'd had his armor on him as well. So he's gotta front load the charm, he figures. The only advantage he has unarmored is that he's a fairly non-threatening person, even with the tattoos and ink.]
Those mirrors fucking with you too, huh? As if this place wasn't already shitty enough.
[Nice and smooth, stopping a few paces away from the agitated girl, just in case.]
Phase III
Minatsuki-san! What is wrong?! [His gaze shifts around quickly, between her and the other mirrors...]