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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[Naoki's voice is soft. Barely there. With a flick of his fingers and a flash of light, Yurlungur and Pixie appear. He glances back urgently over his shoulder to check on Quatre, noticing the growing amounts of shapes lumbering toward them.
He directs one demon to one, another to another, and focuses his attention on one, shooting a mass of flame in its direction. It goes down... surprisingly easy.
More surprising... is how it starts to gather itself back together, arm made of debris starting to scrape its burnt parts and further wreckage into it.] What... [Oh, that's annoying as hell.]
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This is going to be complicated.
[But there are more of them, and Quatre moves back to put space between them. If he can draw a few off, keep Naoki from getting overwhelmed, maybe he can give Naoki a chance to take care of the ones near him at least.]
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So he's turning, looking toward Quatre--
Something huge and looming steps in his way, swinging a huge fist down at him and Naoki ducks out of the way, the ground shivering where it impacts. It's slow enough, but Naoki's heart rate is surging up.] Quatre-- [And he's shouting for him (he can't see with this thing in the way!) as wind blasts from his hands, forcing the monster a step away from him.]
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The blond finds himself backing up rapidly though, with the creatures, monstrosities approaching all at once. He ducks back, further away from Naoki now, dodging and trying to keep some distance between himself and the approaching monster.
He's trying to watch his back too, but he's backing towards one of the broken down buildings. It just isn't empty.
So Naoki might, just about now, hear a pained scream.]
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When that scream reaches him his whole body goes rigid, his heart leaping up in his throat. Then he moves, power rippling around him, nearly palpable, as he tears his way through the creature in front of him, his fingers renting it in half, splitting it apart before forcing his way through.
No, no, no, this can't, isn't this like-- His voice struggles, dying in his throat as he moves, as fast as his feet can take him, catching himself with his hand when he gets too low to the ground in his dash, panic and fear overwhelming him--]
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But still on his feet, trying to fend off the pair of mechanical monsters that are coming at him. Hell, he even manages to take the legs out from underneath one, and he even catches sight of Naoki in that moment before the other creature lunges for him, driving a jagged length of metal that is masquerading as the thing's limb straight through him, impaling the small blond back against a crumbling wall.
This time he doesn't scream, but all his breath leaves him in a pained, near silent rush.]
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And he watches it all. As though in slow motion. Naoki's mind goes blank and, where Quatre can't scream, he can, a sound less human than animal. An amazing, terrifying pressure of sheer power bursts out from him at the same time as he moves, the ground giving way under him. Bursts of light zigzag through the ground, shooting up, disintegrating anything in their way.
It's too late. It's not too late.
it's not it is it's not it is
Further away, his demons are cringing, quickly moving away because that light is spreading without stopping, bursting up, destroying anything as Naoki lets it. His eyes are just pinpricks of red light as he finally reaches, the same white light that's bursting from the ground exploding from his hands, to the creature that has Quatre impaled and if it could scream, it probably would as it dissolves, burned by sheer light.
Somehow, somehow he manages to stop that energy from getting too close to Quatre, that length of metal disintegrating just short of his chest.]
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But he doesn't want to look away, wants to make sure that Naoki is okay because the glimpse that he caught of his friend in that moment before the bursts of light began. He sees the thing in front of him effective immolated and braces himself for the heat.
When it doesn't come, he's surprised somehow, trying to see through the dimming light, the settling chaos what just happened.]
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[He reaches behind Quatre to where that metal is still pinning him, embedded in the wall, and his fingers crush through it as easily as if it's made of paper instead. He's moving to catch at his body, hold onto him carefully and bring him down toward the ground to lay on his side, every tentative and gentle movement much at odds with the landscape around them that he all but destroyed.
The earth's been scorched to pieces, great cracks running through it, the creatures from before gone-- for the moment. They'll be back, if they can manage to locate any debris from among the ashes.]
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Trowa has seen broken down architecture before, has been the cause of it in many cases. The hollowed out shells of buildings shouldn't be unnerving, but they are. Perhaps it's an over paranoid imagination, but he feels like the bits of rebar, steel, and concrete look like skeletons. Remains from a time that's obviously been forgotten in some way.
He has felt eyes on him as well, which is even more off-putting. Thankfully, he had time to grab his gun before he'd been yanked into this mess. Though, his pajamas aren't exactly what he'd call the more reassuring gear.
A scream up ahead catches his attention and he's just about to try and sneak around it when the ground shakes, light spilling out of the cracks close by. Is this something to do with the creatures here? Is it all going to collapse underneath of him? Balance thrown, he crouches to the ground, heart beating fast at the potential danger. A loud yell erupts in the air, sounding unearthly and animalistic.
And then there's silence. White noise of further collapsed buildings settling. Dust hazing out the immediate area.
Coughing, he pushes himself up to his feet again, gun in hand. It's a short sprint towards where the cacophony had just taken place and as he rounds the corner, the visuals start to clear. Some part of him really wishes it hadn't. Eyes widening, he rushes through the rubble, hopping over great sections of shattered concrete. ]
Quatre!
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It's too bad. He's always hated being cold.
He wonders if he should be afraid, more afraid anyway. This is dying, isn't it? But then, he hadn't necessarily expected to live through the war to begin with, so in a way, it's just borrowed time running out, isn't it? And maybe it's not the end. This place is strange, but still. Quatre has regrets.
His gaze flickers up to Naoki and he manages what he hopes is a reassuring smile.]
It's fine. Are you okay?
[The sound of a a familiar voice has him looking up, eyes wide and trying desperately to focus because, wasn't that, just now,] ...Trowa?
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Stop worrying about me... Of course I'm fine.
[He tries to steady his voice, but it's no use. He looks away from him for just a moment as he sets a hand carefully on Quatre's head, his palm glowing white. It's healing. Him pouring every last bit of his energy there.
Even though it's already too late. It's probably warm, if nothing else..]
Trowa's coming, so don't... [Don't die.]
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Too bad he's forgetting all of his logical arguments against it in this moment.
Pulse ticking fast, he makes it to Naoki and Quatre, expression stripped more bare than he can remember. The injury is fatal. He'd known it when he first caught sight of the two of them, but still. Walking away felt like ignoring reality. Slowly, he crouches next to Quatre, opposite of Naoki, trying to school his face into something he's more used to. It's only half successful. Maybe. Hands strangely steady (maybe he's just seen too much), he sets one palm on the blonde's shoulder. A small comfort. ]
Quatre, you... [ What's he even trying to accomplish? Or say? ] I'm sorry.
[ None of them deserved this. But especially not Quatre. ]
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