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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[ Edna's knocked out her fair share of hulking technological monstrosities with her seraphic artes, it's true, but she's also seen them reform, which means she's seen enough to know that this isn't a war they can afford to wage or even win with the fatigued conditions they're in right now. A blast of sharp, jagged stones pierce one of the nearby creatures in multiple places and it breaks down. ]
This isn't a fight you can win right now. You should get out of here ASAP, while it's still broken.
[ She has to stay strong. She has to be the rock-solid support the group needs right now. The seraph they can always count on, the dependable one. The long, flowing lock of hair with a reddish tint at the tips rests in her pocket, its weight also a reminder of what she needs to do. What the owner would want her to do.
Also blame Sorey, Mikleo, and Rose for requesting this from her.]phase iii;
a.
[ This whole place is trouble. The metallic creatures are prowling about with no signs of stopping, and no food is anywhere to be found. Their human companions are especially in trouble, given that they need food and water to function. Mikleo's got the water supply covered (thankfully), but the fact remains that they can't find food to eat, and need to conserve their energy by resting in a safe place, which this place...does not have a lot of. Therefore, the earth seraph will take matters into her own hands. Practical plans put into action are what she's good at, prides herself in, even.
A few yards away from the buildings with mirror shards, Edna stomps on the ground with one foot, and out from it rises large rectangular blocks of stone which bend at a sharp angle to come together at the top. When the dust clears, a relatively simple stone house (barring the windows and chimney) stands.
For those who can't see her, it'll look like it formed from the earth all by itself. Sensing someone nearby, she swings her parasol over her shoulder and turns to look at them. ]
Not the most glamorous piece of real estate, but it gets the job done. I like to think my work is definitely better quality than these shoddy excuses for structures.
b.
[ She has no desire to see more people have their emotional and psychological wounds, fresh or not, ripped wide open again in front of their eyes like her comrades have. It's true that she strongly dislikes humans, but what she utterly loathes right now are those very structures for making Mikleo and Sorey cry and sob in pure anguish, shoving in their faces an act that hits way too close to home for her. Scrawled in the earth of the wasteland by the tip of a parasol are these words: ]
Don't go in those buildings. [ arrows pointing to the very buildings that stand out by...the fact that they're standing at all. ] There are perfectly fine shelters right there [ with an arrow pointing in the direction of the small but definitely mirror-less and sturdy shelters she's constructed ] and they're way less likely to dredge up painful things.
- a seraph
[ Again, if they can't see her, they can see the words being scrawled in the earth right in front of their very eyes, as if guided by an invisible hand. ]
wildcard;
[ Anything goes! ]
PHASE II
one monstrous arm still manages to heave itself enough to strike down at rose-- to which she blocks with a cross of her daggers. her footing slipping slightly on the ground- struggling on her very feet as it was with the pending hunger. ] E-Easier said than done!
[ The weight bares down harder on her and she starts to slide back as it pushes at her. to think this was what was waiting for her on coming up here. the other way was already bad enough.. the telltale sight of dezel's hat dangling on a loop from behind her on her hip.
taking a breath, she suddenly manages to spin herself and strike her leg right across to the side and send the large arm flying across the way.
to which she's quickly dropping to one knee now, breath heavy. ] R-Right, ready for that Plan B now.
[ the grand escape! she pushes back with a stagger on her feet, looking quickly around. ] Do you remember which way it was?
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Think you have enough energy for that? Because it sure doesn't look like it. We might have to initiate Plan C at this rate.
[ At this rate of fatigue and starvation. The C stands for carry,
as in princess carry.]no subject
[ Yeah no, with her speed and movements? She wouldn't even be able to outrun a puppy. Though she does hesitate because huh, she wasn't aware of that extra plan. ]
What's Plan C?
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iiia.
not having a proper ability to see seraphs certainly makes the house building all the more incredible. flynn's eyes go wide at how the rocks build themselves into a housing structure. this... is impressive. soon after, his gaze travels down to where it feels as though someone's there, though it's probably a couple inches too high to be directly at edna.]
Might you be that earth Seraphim I'd spoken with some time ago?
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[ ...Wait, can Flynn even hear her without using the CereVice? Right. He didn't seem to be able to her words just now, so she scrawls her words in the ground instead with her parasol. ]
yes
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You were right, Miss, your talents are nothing short of impressive.
[are they better than the walking water fountain? hmm... it's still a close tie.]
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phase iii-a now with less cats jumping on my keyboard
...and then the earth starts moving. naturally, stahn jumps up as the small building comes to form.]
—Whoa! [he jumps back a little. and then again when he hears edna's voice. he can't see her, but her voice is definitely familiar, and that's why this time, it's dymlos to interject.
"The earth seraph." he remembers, though he'd been silent when they two of them first met. stahn's shaken up by the whole ordeal right now, so it's probably for the better that at least dymlos knows what the hell is going on.]
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That's right. You're pretty shaken up. I take it you've also been there.
[ He should probably know what there is referring to, all too well.
For once, she won't take a potshot at Stahn. He's visibly shaken, after all, and even she won't stoop that low to rub salt in the wounds. Those buildings with the mirrors made Sorey and Mikleo cry in barely restrained anguish, and she'll never forgive that. ]
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I guess it's the same as it is with Mikleo... [he ponders that thought aloud for a moment as he realizes that he just not going to be able to see her at all. okay, that's fine, he can roll with it. he's kind of used to that anyway.]
Mm, you're right. I came out from there a little while ago. [he won't ask what she's been through or what she saw there, because it's personal. that's just rude. but it's pretty clear that he's not too enthused with any of this.]
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Wildcard
He doesn't sleep, though. It's both because he'll feel better sleeping when they're not on the lookout for any of those sentient, murderous piles of scrap metal, and because his thoughts have been rather...dark and pervasive. As the hours tick by, maybe even as small as minutes, Mikleo's just kept feeling worse. No, not worse.
Empty.
Honestly, the water seraph isn't sure when it all started. Now, all he can think about is how worthless he is in this situation. Sure, Mikleo can give them limitless fresh, clean water, but that doesn't help the humans with getting food. Not to mention, he's not as strong or experienced as Edna. She's in her element, too, which makes her the best seraph here. Mikleo's simply disposable in comparison.
Maybe Mikleo should be alarmed and concerned about how he's feeling like this. How his thoughts are slowly going into a vicious, dark cycle. Yet, he just can't seem to care. Not about himself, at least. Mikleo still finds the capacity to care about the people he's close to, but that's starting to decrease, too. Slowly, he's starting to not care about anything.
He rubs his eyes tiredly. Hell, the seraph can't even care enough to push through this and set aside his feelings like normal. It's not like him....]
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The young water seraph looks tired, and she can't blame him. They've been unable to find actual sustenance for the humans in their party, and humans need to eat. It's already taking quite the toll on them. Without Mikleo, they would've probably been in even more suffering from dehydration at this point. ]
Are you sleepy? Sleepeo.
[ With her parasol, she lightly jabs him in the shoulder. It's a relatively gentle jab in comparison to...99% of the ones he's received in the past. It's also a gesture of trying to retain some semblance of normalcy in their group. ]
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Of course not.
[There's none of his usual bite in it. Just a ghost of what it used to be. Still, Mikleo feels like himself for the moment. A chill settles over the back of his neck as the thought occurs to him that if he'd been without his friends right now, then he'd probably get killed pretty quickly and not even care.
Another thought comes unbidden, chasing after that one: I'm the most disposable member of this group, so it's not like it's going to matter one way or another.]
...Edna? I need to ask you for a favor.
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And then it gets to 'a seraph'.....that was familiar. She had met someone who had talked to her about seraphs.]
...Thank you for your kind advice.
[Does it look crazy to be talking to no one in particular? She doesn't mind.]
May I ask where you are? Is this magic? Psychokinesis?
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Right here in front of you. Of course you can't see or hear me normally. Part of being a seraph.
[ She recognizes this girl but her name slips her mind. ]
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[She didn't know seraphs were normally invisible though.]
Why were you not invisible back then? Has something happened?
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phase III
So being the rational-thinking person she is, Weiss approaches this mystery woman and her magic rock house.]
Um, hello. How... did you even do that?
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Seraphic artes. I'm an earth seraph, after all. Is the "earth" part enough to clue you in?
[ She waits for a few moments, to see if Weiss can hear her as well. Spiritually-attuned humans could sometimes see her and hear her, or only hear her without seeing her. Like a spooky ghost. Other normal humans? She might as well not exist, unable to be seen or heard. ]
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Uh, yeah? [She has no idea what any of that meant, but she can definitely make the connection of "earth seraph" means "can do stuff to rocks" at the very least.]
I've just never seen anyone command earth with that much control before. It's impressive.
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ii
What about you? I can't just leave you here!
[Visible or not, he can't just leave like this...so he'll keep fighting, as necessary.]
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You're wasting your energy, and last time I checked, there isn't a way to replenish that anytime soon. Now go. Or do you think I can't handle something like this?
[ Seraphim don't need to eat or sleep, so she and Mikleo have been handling the more strenuous tasks, allowing Sorey and Rose to conserve their energy. ]
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I'm not leaving! It's not that I don't think you can handle it, but you shouldn't be alone out here!
[Nobody should be alone...teamwork...you know, protag bullshit.]
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iii - b
( she looks younger than him. that's a first, huh? not that appearances mean much in a place like this. )
he'd already had his fair share of mirror mirror land to know what the warning is saying, so. hello from the weirdo cat boy watching you quietly, edna: ]
That's a pretty helpful message to put out. Kind of wish I'd been late getting here so I had this before I went in myself.
[ his eyes scan the words as she writes them, following the arrow... and the inquisitive look on his face says that he's pretty sure those shelters weren't there when he ran through this area previously.
... he won't voice that. ]
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[ Edna's aware that seraphs aren't always believed in, and to those who can't see her, it must be kind of weird to see writing on the ground sprout up suddenly, which is why she tacks on that "a seraph" at the end. To reassure people that it's not some creepy ghost, just Edna. (Who is debatably worse.)
She raises an eyebrow at the whole...getup Chat's got going on. She's seen some pretty out-there fashion choices, but this kind of takes the cake.
attachments and costumes are different shut up!!]Poor boy. Were you so traumatized by the experience that you now wear that getup to hide your pain and humiliation? Because that's the only reason I can think of for why you're on all fours and prowling around in a cat suit.
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yeah like wearing a top-hat that you can customize to be the size of your body is any better.still perched on all fours, he straightens somewhat, as if showing that the "getup" is totally and completely fine. thinking back on the experience does get a pause, but he's dwelled on it enough. ]
Pawsitively destroyed. [ so, he can play along. ] I'll live through the judging looks if it means a life of "are you actually wearing that" icebreakers and an opportunity to make sure no one sees my crying face.
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