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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phase iii ; closed
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[ athena saw the whole thing - from one vision to another - but she understands that it's all just an illusion. and upon hearing the scream of her best friend, she throws away what disturbance she was feeling and is immediately overcome with worry.
she kneels down and pulls ai closer to her, making the other girl feel the rhythm of her heart. ai may not be able to hear people's hearts, but she should be able to hear and know that athena is there. ]
I'm here. [ athena strokes the other girl's hair. ] You're fine, okay?
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I'm not... I'm so tired. I hate this.
[She hates herself.]
I can't do anything.
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That's not true. You've done a lot in this place, and you even saved my life! That's more than what I've ever done! So please...
It's all right to cry, but please don't think you're incapable of doing anything.
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... When they all look at me like that... All I feel is that... That I'm not enough. I'm not enough and there will be someone better.
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You can't be better than everybody. The best you can do is be the best Ai possible.
[ a pause. ]
And I already know you're doing a great job at it.
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[The images change to those multiple pairs of blue eyes again before they disappear.]
... I never said anything... I never talked about it did I? I really... I really could be replaced back home.
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What do you mean?
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Just close your eyes. You can probably miss seeing everything else.
[Or let Archer's memories take over the mirrors. It didn't bother him though it might make people think things about him that he'd rather they not.]
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They keep looking at me.
["They," being the other numerous pairs of blue eyes and every once and a while, that single eyeball flickers across the mirrors.]
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Try to focus on the others then, if you're so worried about it.
[Namely the ones that have been jacked by Archer being around. Him, broken and bleeding and filled with swords, standing on the lonely hill, filled with anger. Or others, surrounded by angry people jeering as a rope is tied around his neck. One short drop and it's all over for him.
Archer doesn't react to them, having seen these things a dozen times over in his eternity. They were what drove him on.]
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Oh... He is a Spirit after all, is what she thinks. A Heroic Spirit even.
... It occurs to her that a lot of heroes were tragic. Especially this hero-hating man. The more she watches his memories, the more her heart aches. It aches for him, for herself, for everyone she can't do a damn thing for, and it aches because of that weak arrogance.]
... Archer?
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[And he wasn't in the mood for answering, despite carrying Ai around. Well, instead of around, away from here. If her mind could find elsewhere to focus, the better for him...and for her. Really, even for someone who hated dealing with people, he didn't like watching others cry. It niggled that bit of hero that still resided somewhere in that ice block called his heart.]
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Sorry.
[... There's a relief in being held though. Unlike before, there were people who kept supporting her even with the way she is. Even this man.]
Just... One question though. There are safe buildings right?
[For a lack of a better word. Better than the mirror rooms though.]
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[Ai can probably feel him shrug because he really doesn't know.]
I'll be heading for an exit but I can't guarantee anything. If you want to close your eyes until we're out, I'm fine with that.
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1/2
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There was a time when he could approach people's pain with more objectivity: "does it bother you?", people would have asked, and he would have said (with more conviction than he gave himself credit for), "no, I'm used to it".
People hurt. Life is unfair. The world keeps turning, despite it all.
He knows that the kindest thing to do in this case is to leave this well enough alone; pity never helps, and there's not a thing he can offer for troubled pasts but platitudes and empty promises that might hurt Ai more in the end. Is he really one to say that things will be better? That things can be better?
But he moves towards Ai anyway, kneels next to her. Offers her one burn-scarred palm to cover a shard of glass on the floor, another eye replicated in cold, remorseless detail. ]
...If you tell yourself that, it'll become the truth.
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I'm...
... I'm so tired.
[Her face is halfway buried behind her knees, bangs covering her tired eyes, emptied of its emotion, and yet unfathomably sad.]
I don't know why I'm here.
[Why does she matter if back home she only disappointed everyone?]
I say things like wanting to support others, but... I can't even do that for myself at a time like this.
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Here's a girl that touched his hand and confessed to being weaker than she seems, and he knows that these are the kind of moments that really mean something in the grand scheme of things. Not his individual pain, not her individual pain, but the attempts, the things that come in between.
He settles his knees on glass, pulls his hand away in a gesture that might seem cold if he doesn't replace it; the hand goes on her shoulder this time, lightly. ]
Your uncertainty won't change the fact that you exist. [ Stern words, delivered with a solemnity that implies that he's taking this as seriously as anyone could be expected to take it. ] You'll fail yourself and fail others more times than you'll succeed. That's also a fact.
...But even so, you'll live.
[ He closes his eyes, to respect the fact that maybe, just maybe, Ai doesn't want him to see the rest of her memories. ]
Most of the time, for others, that's enough. [ For her to just be alive, to be there: sometimes that counts for everything. ]
1/2
She lived in the dark. Nothing to live for, no one to please, no one to depend on, no one to call a friend, no one to scold and help her through this idiotic and frustrating despair.
Until now. Fighting Lan and keeping Hau, Tuyet, and Lien alive was the first true weight. Here in this ever changing planet, Ai had found even more weight. Looking forward to every day, wanting to meet and please people, depending on others and being depended on, scolding and standing up for herself, having so many people to call friends, and being able to be sad.
"But even so, you'll live."
Adolf Reinhardt's hand on her shoulder and his words is a reminder of that burden. She remembers her words to him back on the sandy beach, when she saw his physical signs of pain, about not wanting to ignore those whether it was hers or others.
There's no way to avoid this anymore.]
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Mr. Rein-...
... Adolf?
[His name is said gently a whisper that barely echoes throughout the mirror room.]
Even though I'm a disappointment...
[Tears fall, this time without accompany sobs; just quiet streaks that stain her cheeks as she speaks with muffled, clumsy words.]
I'm glad a disappointment like me can... Fail here. Where I can meet everyone. And you.
Thank you.
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This isn't the first time he's seen Ai cry, but it never gets easier— her happier tears were easier to handle because of the sentiment behind them. This is... different.
He opens his eyes when she starts talking again, keeps them fixed on her as she finishes and trails off. ]
Disappointments depend on your perspective. As long as you remember that you have worth, be as disappointed in yourself as you want.
[ Lifting his hand from her shoulder, Adolf wipes at Ai's face with one sleeve, rests the fabric there to collect the moisture from her skin. ]
Cry as much as you need.
It won't kill you.
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One hand reaches up to touch his sleeve.]
... I want to live.
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Hiro felt like those were something that he wouldn't be able to get out. It just reminded him of the sounds of his friends back home... Every time they gotten hurt, he always panicked.
He will just lean down with her and hug her from behind. As much as he enjoyed talking up a storm, this was a situation where words weren't needed.]
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... Hiro??
Did you... You saw everything?
[Why does her heart have to drop at the prospect, why was it so hard to talk about in the first place, if she could have talked about it at another time and not a place like this, not this, not this...
Her head's in a whirl and she feels ashamed and yet here he is... Her hands reach up to touch his arms and she takes a deep breath, exhausted from her cries.]
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