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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You better not, or I won't forgive you. [Now they can both wear the pathetic joke hat...
That said, the image reflected back in the mirrors seems to remain as it is for now, like a still-shot of a filmed scene. But one sliver shows something that might make the double rainbow a little more sensible: there's a blade beside that body within those reflections, and its tip is missing.
At some point while being led, he'll pipe up again, sounding a little more like himself now that he can shut the images out.]
—Sorry.
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You say you won't forgive me, and then you apologize.
[ a hint of amusement. she never squeezes his hand back because even that's too much for her, but. considering how she's tugging him close with another hand on his upper arm to ensure that she's directing him with care, that's. basically the same thing, really.
how is she supposed to pretend to not care when she's doing things like this. ]
Don't worry about it. We're almost...
[ —except she stops, suddenly, as in one shard she catches an image that isn't unfamiliar. maybe that's punishment for focusing on what kashuu didn't want to see. there's a hand clutching hers tightly too, as she dangles over a pit of darkness in the mirror, and her grip around kashuu tightens without her knowing as the words die in her throat. ]
... We're almost there.
[ it's okay. kashuu has his eyes shut. just keep going, through broken blades and shitty memories. ]
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But Kashuu seems very grateful for it, and he'll stick as close as she'll allow, carefully inching his way across the floor. It's only when she stops that his eyes flutter, like he's tempted to open them but still too scared.]
Milla...? [And then she carries on like before, and that has him even more concerned--
But of course neither of their lives can be easy! And with the constant shift and decay of buildings here, the ground rumbles and rolls beneath their feet as a nearby shop comes crashing down. It's not a lack of trust that has Kashuu's eyes flying open so much as sheer instinct - though of course, with the layout of the room, it's impossible not to see whatever is playing out on the mirrors.]
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( amidst the blood and tipless swords, here's a hand gripped around milla's. a struggling look from the man holding her, and she's yelling, wordlessly, maybe something like "just let me go". but he doesn't. )
—pathetically unaware that kashuu's had his eyes open, which she only realizes when she turns her head to look at him. ]
I told you to close your eyes.
[ ( and then there's a smile of hollow acceptance on her face and she—
—shakes his hand off, and falls into nothingness like a nickelback album. )
milla, like a trooper, urges kashuu forward again. ]
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Kashuu actually jerks forward for a split-second, like the instant reflex is to try catching her even though it's just a shattered reflection and nothing more. ...Well, that isn't entirely correct. If it's here at all, then it isn't nothing, much like the familiar wooden floors and that constant smiling moon.
But then Milla's trying to urge him out, and even though he glances back toward the blackness of that abyss being reflected out at them, he wordlessly allows himself to be pulled until he finds his feet and starts moving again on his own.
Well.
It has been calmer lately, hasn't it? That sure is being made up for in spades now.]
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he's moving on his own now, but it probably says something that she doesn't let go of his hand. maybe it's for his sake, maybe it's for hers—the image of ludger's face as she falls, falls, falls, burns in the back of her eyelids, beside the thoughts of —why a tipless sword? did kashuu break? and she hates this place.
she's silent as she moves, and it's not until they finally reach the doors they entered from that she realizes she's been moving quickly. ]
... Sorry.
[ she should've been gentler. probably. she shouldn't have looked at the mirrors so intently. she shouldn't have stopped. ]
Are you all right?
[ "calm days suck" — ceres, probably.
"i should probably drop kashuu's hand" — not milla. ]
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In fact, it seems that's the only part tethering him to her presence at the moment, since he practically trips over the exit and stares out into nothing for a second or two. It's been a long few days, okay, his ass is mentally strained and exhausted.]
...I'm sorry. [Instead of answering.] I opened my eyes.
[And he saw something painful.]
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Closing your eyes was for you--what you saw with me never happened. It was just... this damn place, so don't bother apologizing.
[ milla makes it a point to be honest and blunt, but she's practised in locking away her emotions when it's urgent, when she's not spilling them all over the place. so, she lies. ]
Answer my question, Kashuu.
[ even if it's a formality. a distraction. though she does care about his response, as her tsun points are now clearly zero. ]
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But he can answer her question, at least. A simple:]
I'm fine. [Or as fine as he could be, given the circumstances. Then, giving more away than he'd like to:]
...Was it really not real? That never happened to you?
[Because he cares about Milla, he makes no secret of it, and even if it's unusual for him to pry in any form - he can't help but push the topic here.]
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—or not. ]
Was yours?
[ she shouldn't pry either. she doesn't, never. she lets things go, numbly accepts and pushes aside and it always ends up hurting more when people show they care. when she ends up realizing she cares.
that question is an answer of her own.
milla wants to know too. but they could also just forget this ever happened, and never speak about it again. ]
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But somehow, in a situation like this, saying "no" would feel even worse. Besides, it's not like his history isn't out there for anyone to view if they were to get curious - a little sidenote in the grand chapter of the Ikedaya Affair.]
Yes.
[And that's that.]
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yes. that's that.
her grip around kashuu's hand tightens, unconsciously. he met her with honesty, and it means she'll meet his with her own. she hasn't talked about this with anyone except for sousei, and even then she was vague... now, here, kashuu saw everything. and she did too, though she doesn't quite understand it.
it's fine. is it fine? it's... kashuu, at least. obnoxious but earnest. inexplicably likeable. inexplicably a friend? ]
The sword that was there...
[ broken. which wouldn't mean much to anyone but... with sword spirits, that's a pretty big deal. obviously. she wasn't seeing just one body there, was she? she saw two. ]
—Let me see yours.
[ the weird request is worded forcefully, no please, but the voice she makes it in is more subdued than usual. like he flinched forward when she fell, she needs her confirmation too that, right now, of course these are just bad memories. ]
no subject
After a few seconds of silence, he'll add:]
That was a long time ago, back before Haruji summoned me.
[And so there the divide is: the end of one life, and the beginning of a new one with hundreds of years of waiting in between.]
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and there's her confirmation. ]
I see. [ a small exhale. she isn't sure what else she can say. sorry you broke? sorry i saw? you're here right now, at least, so— ] You can put it away now.
[ at least they're still not in there. the fatigue is really hitting her now, both emotionally and physically. yeah, milla really hates this place. ]
... Sorry.
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What for? [Though, he at least assumes it's the latter so--] It's not like either of us meant to.
[See those things, that is. Personal and painful things set up on display like they're nothing, which gets under his skin and riles him to the bone, as this place often does. Still, it's not like he's about to excuse himself either. If Milla is apologizing then he will, too. An apology in different words, anyway - a simple:]
You don't have to talk about it.
[Because he knows that if his is true, hers likely is, too. It might be a hypothetical situation that hasn't happened yet, or it might have already come to pass, but it had clearly bothered her and he wants to give her that out if she needs it.]
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milla shifts her weight, a hand settling on the hilt of her blade. she'd never envisioned having this kind of conversation with anyone, nevermind kashuu, and here she is. ]
It's not like it matters much. It's— just history. Facts. If you want to hear about something like that, I don't mind telling you. You saw already.
[ ... ]
And I saw yours. It's fair. That's how friendship works, right?
[ no it's not but maybe if she makes an amazingly wrong comment it'll help defuse this tense knot in her head and chest. ]
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So he nods - because it's the same for him. It's just history (even if they both know that isn't the case) and facts are better to state, because they can come with a sense of depersonalization that is sometimes desperately needed.]
I wanna hear about it, then.
[If they bothered showing it at all, it must still be important, no matter what she says... Right? So - he wants to know, even if part of him wants to seek refuge in the familiar and just carry on like nothing happened.]
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in return: ]
You'll have to tell me about yours too. You're not the only one who wants to know.
[ there. straightforward and honest, if not slightly less sentimental than she feels. she pauses, uncertain if she'd gone too far with that.
no, this is already farther than she'd ever told herself she'd go. milla swore to herself to be apathetic, and look how that was turning out. was she wearing herself out more by fighting it? who knows. she's too tired at this point to try. ]
... Let's move. If we're going to spill life stories, I at least want to find a way back while we do it.
[ or. death's story? hah. it's a tad bitter, but she doesn't wait for his response as she turns to move. it's mostly so she doesn't have to look at his face and think about how she didn't have anything better to say besides "sorry" for what she was shown, or how completely incapable she is then and now, whether it be with the things she had to do or the things she should know to say.
how she probably won't even know what to say when he tells her what happens, too. ]
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[It's not too much, at least. Kashuu is appreciative of how straightforward she is - it gives him something to ground himself with. And-- if he really thinks about it (which he doesn't now, but he might later), he'd find that it's much more reassuring to think that she'll understand more about him instead of just having that fragmented memory to go off of.
When she turns to leave, he sets off after her immediately, following behind her but only slightly. He'll also be silent, waiting for her to start speaking first, not wanting to rush her or seem intrusive. ...Well. More intrusive. He supposes this entire conversation is intrusive by nature.]
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but what she says isn't an explanation. it's not "i was hanging from a pit because i was going to be a sacrifice, and it kind of sucked. it's: ]
How important is duty, Kashuu?
[ it's related to the reasons she let go, but it's also a question she's been asking herself ever since she fell. she needed to die, even if it wasn't there. but would she have done it if she hadn't been forced into that situation?
talking about this with kashuu now reminds her that she's still not sure if she would've been a coward in the end, if she still is. if she was, then. maybe this is when she finds out. ]
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[How important is duty, she asks the sword... His answer probably won't be surprising, but it might be a little surprising that he takes so long to answer. It's not something he's entirely sure about, after all, and since this topic is heavy and serious, he wants to give it his full attention and consideration.
How important is duty?]
...It's really important. [As a sword who protects those who wield it, duty is an intrinsic part of his life.] But— I think it's different for some people. Because sometimes a person's duty isn't the same thing as what's best, right?
[There are always those cases of traitorous people who did what they did to best serve a king or a country or their most loved ones, shoving aside what they were supposed to do for what they felt was right.]
I think it's important, if your duty is something you believe in. If it's like that, it could be the most important thing in the world.
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Good answer.
[ her response is kind of about the same. she knows personally that someone's duty wasn't the best course of action—how getting so blind about a mission could have massive repercussions, and narrowing in on one outcome because it coincided with your beliefs made you ignorant to possibilities.
she also knew not having a duty and purpose was equally terrible. ]
It's complicated, [ milla says again, continuing as even and apathetic as always. ] But I'm not the only Milla. You know about parallel worlds, don't you? I took the place of the... [ here she actually hesitates. real one? ] ... Milla of the world I ended up in after... something happened in mine, and because of me, she couldn't return.
[ she isn't sure how much sense this makes. her situation was just a big mess of things, but she wants to make it as clear as possible. ]
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His brow is furrowed, but he doesn't seem to be too lost, even if he also isn't quite connecting where this is heading just yet. That's more willful ignorance on his part than anything else, though. If he really wanted to, he could easily connect the strings of logic here - but who would want that, with the inevitable outcome?]
Okay... I think I get it so far.
[And then he's waiting for her to continue, like he expects this to somehow be turned around at the last second. Like maybe that long drop into nothingness was just a way home for Milla, rather than the actual conclusion.]
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she's not sure how she's expecting him to react to what she'll tell him, just like she's not sure how she's expecting herself to react to what he'll tell her. it'll hurt, probably. she won't know what to say, probably. and she reminds herself again—history. ]
The "duty" I had before was gone. I didn't have anything to do with the world I was in, except for the duty that came up when they needed that Milla: die, so that she could come back.
[ honestly, that's all she was good for there. she wasn't their real milla, just a fake, and those were facts too. ]
I took too long to decide because I'm a coward, I guess. Someone took it into their own hands. They opened up that pit underneath me. They were going to kill a girl who considered me something more than a flimsy imitation, unless that idiot you saw let go of my hand and moved to save her.
[ he didn't let go, she reminds herself. she's not even keeping her own biases out of her retelling now, the feelings she'd locked away just kind of. spilling out. she shouldn't be showing these weaknesses to anyone. but now that they've been hinted at, she's too worn to put up the walls anymore.
she stops walking. ]
He wouldn't. I was needed there, nowhere else, so I did. I saw that other Milla nod at me as I fell, then nothing.
[ nothing, and so there's nothing more to say, a silent "that's it" drifting in the air. it really is pathetic. ]
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And there's something about that-- about the other Milla just nodding that absolutely sets his blood on fire. A part of him thinks how dare she because that Milla is not the one he's come to know, and therefore is not the one who has his loyalty. His Milla was put into an awful situation and had to cast herself away, and the only acknowledgment she got was a nod? Bullshit.
His fists clench at his side, and he finally breaks his silence with a simple:]
You aren't. [But after a few seconds pass, he manages to scrounge up a few more words.]
...You aren't a coward. If something like that is your "duty", how could you be a coward at all? Wanting to live is natural, isn't it?
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