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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no subject
It's--
[The sound of a whip snapping through the air interrupts her though, making every fiber of her stand on edge.
The mirrors show a series of images then - slaves being beaten as other work to try to build the fort. Lili herself, struggling and losing strength. The noises that fill the space between her and Rise are those of whips, of angry yells, but others begin to stand out. As the soldier grabs for Lili, his cruel mocking tone is heard, "Looks like you haven’t taken a single sip of liquor!" and despite her protests against it, he insists, "Oh well that’s no good, I’ll give you some. Here, take as much as you want!" as she chokes on the liquid being forced on her.
Another girl, red-haired and the same age as Lili panics and calls for her, but Lili only fixes a gaze on the guard after spitting out the offending liquid. With a voice as cold as ice, she says, "Thank you. I was just thinking that I wanted to wash my face."
As for the Lili in front of Rise, the one still on the floor with her, she seems shocked to see the memories play back to her. It feels like so long ago, even now.
Her mouth presses into an angry line. It's another scene that this place has decided to show her and it's one that she hadn't been expecting. Still, only one word leaves her lips as she moves to stand.]
Pathetic.
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If she'd seen the things from her dungeon, then...these are Lili's memories? The girl beside her suddenly gets to her feet and Rise herself scrambles up after her.]
Wait, what was that all about? [She's shocked, yes, but also...angry? Angry on Lili's behalf mostly because how dare someone treat a person that way.]
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But Lili is remarkably calm when she gets up and starts to walk, her anger washing over her almost as protection to keep her from feeling hurt. It's odd. The way that she hasn't had water in the past two days is almost familiar to that sensation. The desperation for liquid. It keeps her going.]
It's where I was before here.
Disgusting, isn't it?
[Disgusting that they treated her like that or-
Disgusting that it was her own mistakes that led her to end up in that situation?]
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Why would anyone think that's an okay way to treat someone? [To treat her specifically. It's disgusting, and it's clear that she's going with the first option. It wouldn't be like her to blame someone for situations like that. It doesn't seem fair at all.] Lili, who are you?
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Well, she supposes she never did a proper introduction. It makes her glance back at Rise with a slightly more distant, scrutinizing gaze. She doesn't think Rise would treat her differently but even still, she feels the need to clarify:]
It doesn't matter here who I was, right?
[Everything that led her to those infuriating moments.]
It's nothing of importance to someone like you.
[To someone who doesn't even know her original world. What does it matter?]
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The difference is that Lili wants to separate herself from it as much as possible. So she shrugs under the calculating stare. She's used to being scrutinized. It doesn't bother her anymore. (Well. Not much.)]
It doesn't, no. [Still, seeing that memory echo through the mirrors and acknowledging that it's fact...it's not cool.] It's a good thing we have the freedom here to be who we really are, isn't it? [A small comment, something meant to just be taken at face value but at the same time..."I think I understand."
What a weird, weird thought.] I'm impressed. I don't know if I could have done what you did in response to that kind of treatment. [She could have, probably, but it would have bothered her immensely. Did it bother Lili? It's hard to tell but even she's not heartless. She had feelings.]
no subject
It's a notion that Lili understands, though even now she finds herself struggling with the concept. Who is she? She's weak - and she's been trying to change that aspect of herself more than anything. That's why she's been trying to take up sword lessons, that's why she's distanced herself from some of the people who love her most just to try to protect them.
There are stupid decisions that Lili's made and they continue to come. Then Rise says those words - "I'm impressed" - and Lili bristles for a moment before remembering that Rise doesn't understand. There's no way that she could.]
... My name is Lili An. Daughter to the General of the Water Tribe - which means that I used to have some claim to a fifth of my country's lands. But I was exiled a few months ago because I - [betrayed my father, committed an act of treason, did what I thought was right. but she can't say those things.
So she shakes her head, leaving that one unfinished.]
I'm a fool, though. I persisted even after I was banished from the capitol. There's a drug called nadai plaguing my lands and I tried to follow it to the source, but I was deceived. Instead, someone dear to me and I were forced into that awful, boorish labor without food or water--
[Her hands clench into fists. They tremble, though she doesn't know whether it's from fear or anger.]
Don't be impressed by me. I've only made mistakes. I refuse to believe that I deserved to be treated that way but - I was only there because of my own actions.
no subject
It's...abuse, really. And it's degrading, but she can only look on quietly when Lili says that it's her own fault.]
Even if you were there because of your own actions, that doesn't give any sort of reasoning why people can act on something like that. And if anything, it's the fact that you're even acknowledging them as mistakes. That's more than some people ever would admit, even if it weren't true.
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[Lili shakes her head then, furiously certain of this. It's a little hard to shake some rather well-trained self-loathing, Rise. No matter how Lili sees it, it was her fault and it was her fault that someone important to her was put in that dangerous situation as well. Isn't that the most unforgivable thing?
Perhaps if it was just herself, she would only know anger.
Yet it was because of Yona's company and reassurance the entire time that fills her with guilt. So regardless, Lili keeps moving forward and one hand comes up to wipe any tears pooling at the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand.]
.... It still doesn't solve anything. I'm still looking for the answers to the problem itself.
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Do you think you'll find answers to that problem here?
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[Which is Lili's firm, unyielding "Of course."
Because even if she's weak, even if sometimes she's not sure what she should do, she's always been resolutely firm of what needs to be accomplished.
Letting herself stay this weak?
Not acceptable.]
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So instead, she focuses on the now.]
Of course I agree...
We can't stay here.
[And so she moves to take the lead into the darkness.
It's fine - they'll make it through eventually.]