PHASE I [ ❓❓❓ ] And then the Flamines are there.
They just appear, suddenly, as if from nowhere. They’re a race of mercenary aliens, and fighting is all they know -- they’re definitely not going to be easy to kill by any means. They seem to have a natural resistance to magic: aside from very specific types of magic (in particular, light magic and anything highly spiritual), they absorb it. Light magic and spiritual magic can harm them, but it will take a lot to take one down.
They can be stabbed, if you can get that close.
But good luck.
Of course, they look like nondescript black shapes with masks until you knock the mask off...and then you can see the true shape of the Flamines.
They’re here to kill you all. :)
PHASE II [ ❓❓❓ ] As if that isn’t enough… it seems the Flamines’ arrival was the last straw for Cerealia and the Nexus Code. There’s a tear in the sky, and from it… the Nexus Code, where all of the lost friends from before, can be seen. It can be entered, even, though remaining there too long can be detrimental to your health.
But people are there.
Old friends, strung up and lifeless, can be seen there, unmoving.
And…
Then some of them move. They open their eyes. They remember how to breathe. And they’re able to return, able to stagger their way back into Cerealia and take their first breath of air in a long, long time.
Welcome back to the chaos of Cerealia, friends.
Unfortunately, you’ve got nothing but the clothes on your back while murderous aliens are rampaging, so hopefully you’re able to think fast. It’d be unfortunate to die so soon after coming back.
As for spiritual and magical characters who were not in the Nexus Code...well, when they return, they’ll find that they’re covered in old, dried blood, and their clothing might have tears in it, as if from a knife.
There are no scars, though, and they’re otherwise fine. Strange.
PHASE III [ ❓❓❓ ] As if this chaos isn’t enough… there are also the masks. Regardless of whether or not characters were around to receive them the first time, regardless what they did with them before, the masks will suddenly reappear in your characters’ hands. They can be tossed aside, but they’ll reappear again eventually, unable to be truly shaken.
Characters who received them before will receive the same mask they had before.
Characters who didn’t receive them before will receive a mask according to the trait that’s more prominent for them.
Either way...it’ll have a profound effect on the Flamines.
They will go after any character with a broken mask in a bloodthirsty rage, intent on murdering them. Characters with a barcode mask or bloody mask will be the next likely to be chased down intently by the Flamines.
Characters with a :( mask will be killed if they get in the Flamines’ way, though they will not go out of their way to chase them down.
Characters with a vine mask or feather mask will be treated with wariness, though they may still be attacked if they get in a Flamines’ way.
Characters with a grey mask will not be killed unless they are first the aggressor, as will characters with a bloody fingerprint mask.
Naturally there will be exceptions to every rule, but the masks will change how the Flamines’ generally act towards characters!
PHASE IV [ ❓❓❓ ] But something’s not quite right.
Regardless of the battles against the Flamines, it seems Cerealia’s just been under too much pressure lately. Something had to give --
And it’s the code building up the characters that really suffers.
Their code has been hanging on by a thread without CERES to maintain it, and now… it’s finally giving out. The glitches that afflicted characters before will be even more prominent now; they might glitch from place to place, or have their powers go totally awry in odd ways. There may be a lack of powers suddenly, or a sudden difficulty staying on the ground as gravity stops working on the character.
They might suddenly be unable to breathe, or go cold, or very nearly die --
But it can be controlled, too, with effort. Characters can learn to control the glitches, gaining an ability to almost teleport, or ways to tweak their powers in exciting new ways.
With a lot of effort, they could even possibly reverse a death -- but only their own, and only once.
BONUS [ ❓❓❓ ] There are also… birds?
Flamingos, to be exact. Who knows where they came from, but either way, there are plastic flamingos chilling all over the place. They’re just normal plastic; they don’t move, they can very easily be destroyed --
But if you touch one with your bare hands… it’ll have an interesting effect.
Characters will suddenly find that they have the abilities or the last person they touched -- but without any of the practice or ability to control it, of course.
Still, it might help with that pesky Flamines problem, right?
[ 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. ] |
Welcome to the beginning of Cerealia's endgame event! Please visit the OOC information here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. This event will begin 11/03, or IC 11/18. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here. Thank you! |
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As I'll ever be.
[ ...and then. ]
I love you. [ The tone doesn't come with a sense of finality but it's rather casual, he just wanted to say it out loud for once. Amidst everything horrible that's happened so far, this is the only thing that can make him smile right now. ]
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He says something else, and her hand stops midway.
As his confession, spoken, leaves her heart fluttering, an impossible and giddy lightness going from her stomach to her breastbone, Pyrrha can't bring herself to look at him. Her courage could very well crumple if she does. Later, she'll be choking on her regrets, bleeding the consequences of this moment: the moment where she says nothing in response, where she pushes the door open and steps out onto the roof without ever saying it back.
With a light toss, the mask slides across the rooftop floor. The weapons remain hidden in the darkness of the stairwell as she crosses into the vague light of this destructive day, waiting.
And waiting.
And... ]
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Alright, you alien dirtbags, let's see how you handle Team JNPR!!
[ He goes to reach for Crocea Mors at his side, but realizes that it's actually just orbiting around him. ] ...Huh?? [ Did Pyrrha do that? ]
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... ] Jaune, I think you're doing that.
[ DID THEY FIND HIS SEMBLANCE? -- No, that's crazy. ]
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[ No time to discuss it however, the first Flamine homes in on them as it climbs on the side of the building and makes its presence known. ]
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The bellowing shriek of agony it gives off is downright inhuman, impossibly loud, and she only just resists clapping her hands over her ears. ]
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Alright, that's one down! A-Are you oka--
[ It's not dead, however! A tentacle wraps itself around Jaune's foot and begins to reel him towards the Flamine, just as it stand up again. HELP ]
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Her first strike had been a necessity of combat. Her second is pure aggression, protectiveness over her partner and fear of being separated from him lending a fire to her muscles and her semblance.
Ignoring the weapons entirely for a moment, Pyrrha rips a chunk of the metal framing out of the doorway and brings it down on the tentacle, again and again, striking at the smokey, inexplicable substance until it dissolves, releasing Jaune.
It's still not dead, though.
Pyrrha's beginning to be a little worried now. ] Jaune--
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Thanks!
[ A second Flamine has already reached the top, lunging at Pyrrha from behind until Jaune stands up and impales it with Crocea Mors, then with all his strength flings it over to where the first one is. ]
Something's wrong, they-- they're getting back up!
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More weapons shoot out from the doorway (they had literally robbed an entire store, it seems) but each strike is feeling less and less effectual.
And then there's Jaune exclamation. ]
Maybe we're just not hitting them in the right spot. Can you see a weak point? [ Hands thrusting, all the metal chaos around them stills, weapons hanging in the air like pictures. It allows the Flamines to inch close again, yes, but it will also lend an observable moment. ]
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...P-Pyrrha...
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She looks over at him, expectant. ]
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[ And why both are homing in on Pyrrha once again. First one from the front, the other circling her to get her from behind. ]
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She closes her eyes for a brief moment, her only protection from an anguished expression.
When she opens them again, Pyrrha looks like she did that night, gazing up at the tower following Ozpin's apparent demise. Before, she had been economical in her use of their grand theft weapon; now, every last one flies out into the open. They may not be able to kill the Flamines, but they can pin them down in a way that they won't be able to get back up again. The inhuman shrieks of pain they let out are amplified as she brutalizes them onto the rooftop floor, turning them into pincushions, dark ichor pooling and staining the ground as they bleed without inhibition.
That takes care of those two, but the others... ]
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That... should do it. [ But now that they know what they know... ] --Pyrrha! We gotta regroup with the others, there's no point in fighting them for now!
[ Suddenly, the building shakes a little. ]
What? That... didn't sound good...
[ It shakes again! But nothing happens so far. ]
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[ Swallowing, she grows both still and silent, feeling how the building seems to be quivering beneath their feet.
Belatedly, Pyrrha notices that the Flamines that had been encroaching on the skyline are no longer in their line of sight. When it all clicks, panic registers faintly in her face before it's quickly replaced by firm, unwavering efficiency - a look she had worn a lot, once. ]
We need to -- [ She's cut off when the shaking trails into a rumbling noise, the foundation even less stable than it had been a moment ago. ]
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[ The ground cracks between them, and then Jaune falls through the rooftop cement about two floors beneath them. ]
I'm okay! Ow. [ Then small pieces of debris begin to fall on top of him. ] A little less okay.
--Pyrrha, get to the Sanctuary!!
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We have to go.
[ Not leaving without him, nope! ]
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[ Of course Pyrrha wouldn't leave without him, he doesn't hold it against her for disobeying the order. It's his fault for falling in the first place, and the fact that Pyrrha now has to risk her life for him. ]
If we jump out, I could break our fall with my boots. [ You know, the ones with installed boosters.
Their plan may be solid, but the building is certainly starting to not look that way. In fact, just as he lets Pyrrha pull him up, he immediately pushes her away from him when another piece of the ceiling comes down on Jaune. Pyrrha will notice that the force of his push wasn't just natural strength, but instead he used her own Semblance to send her all the way to the edge of the room.
And then Jaune falls a couple of floors down again, this time without any sound from him. ]
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Difficult, not impossible.
Because Pyrrha does see him. She sees the building come down on him, not around him. She sees the floor crack beneath his feet, catches his gaze and sees the look in his eyes the moment before he falls further.
There's no cries of surprise when he falls this time, no beleaguered insistence that he's okay. Later, this is the moment Pyrrha will fixate on, when she stumbled into their empty apartment, too tired to turn the lights on: the moment where debris made his collapse unreachable, or maybe she just assumed it had been. The moment where he was silent, or maybe all other sounds just drowned out his pleas for help - would he, though - and Pyrrha didn't check. The spray of glass from the window had been rendered meaningless by a quick activation of her aura, but she would have gladly taken every nick and cut if it meant he would have been on this side of the room with her.
The matter is taken out of her hands when one of the two pinned Flamines from the roof falls into the room, on this side of the gap. Its pulsing is laboured, mask stripped from its face as dark ichor pools in its inhuman crevices. Weapons continue to jut from its body.
Lifting her chin, Pyrrha decides all at once. Reclaiming just one of the weapons, the javelin that had reminded her a little of Miló in weight and size, she jumps out the window.
Leaving Jaune.
Leaving --
Later, she does two things. First, she scours every inch of the first few floors of the building, sifting through rubble until her hands crack and bleed, and then continuing beyond that travail. Eventually, she reaches a point where the building is too destroyed to go any further, and only barely gets back out before it collapses entirely. No sign of Jaune.
Secondly, she tries calling him. Maybe she does that one first; grief and horror makes her memories somewhat erratic. At the time, all avenues seemed reasonable. Later, she won't be able to tell anyone whether she called him or searched for him first.
The line is filled with static.
Helloooo! You've ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Jaune Arc! If ▓▓▓▓▓ answering, it [ bzzt ] means I'm probably off somewhere fighting monsters or... doing something really ▓▓▓▓▓! You know how [ ------ ] it is, a leader's schedule ▓▓▓▓, I'm probably in school, but I'd totally do those ▓▓▓ if I ha— They’re here to kill you all. :) They’re here to kill you all. :) They’re here to kill you all. :) They’re here to kill you all. :)
When she tries a second time, all she hears is, we're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed.
His picture is no longer in the CereVice contact book, and Pyrrha?
Well, she doesn't go to the Sanctuary. ]