The Seeds of Unrest, Phase Two 🌱

[beleos]

UPROOTED

Time has not been kind thus far, and the future will be no kinder.

The slow passage of days to weeks has seen both cities increasingly ravaged by the untamed growth of the enlarging roots. Their size is enough to uproot buildings by their foundations, if not bisect them entirely where they push through unfettered. In the worst-hit areas, entire blocks are left abandoned - if even standing at all, displacing families and leaving businesses in ruins.

Cetina and Kathova have been in near constant contact with Bearers via Communion, feeding them information about which areas to focus their lifesaving efforts. Yima’s Manor and the Seat of the Tribune - despite their closeness to the Trees - have been fortified by your leaders and act as a base of operations for each respective faction. You will be able to return to either to find sanctuary from the chaos beyond, but the innumerable civilians are not so lucky.

Bearers are tasked with rescue and recovery efforts and requested to assist hands on the ground with taking refugees to temporary shelters. Survivors must be dug out of the debris. Those who are capable of healing will be enlisted to assist at hospitals and triage centers. Supplies must be gathered and harvested from areas that are collapsed and too dangerous for civilians to navigate. If you are feeling generous, you can go on search and rescue missions, as many people are considered missing in both Highstorm and Springstar. Some areas are completely cut off to regular foot traffic by the massive, winding roots bearing countless Blight-blooms. Citizens are succumbing to the Blight flower’s effects persistent from phase one with more and more frequency.

While both cities slowly succumb to a deepening catastrophe, the situation worsens.

STIRRING STORMS

As the days pass, inexplicable and unnatural weather occurrences will randomly plague both cities. They can last as long as a full day or as little as an hour before dissolving entirely.

• Flurries: this snow is tainted by the Blight, making the snowfall look like ash. Any organic matter it touches will be affected by reopening wounds, re-infection of illnesses, or re-experiencing injuries that may have healed over years ago.
• Thunderstorms: these storms carry a frigid rainfall and heavy cloud cover, making already difficult-to-navigate disaster zones harder to clear. As each thunder bellow crashes overhead, you might swear you hear a familiar voice reaching out to you in the fading rumble… one that sends a message - either from the future or past.
• Fog: dense clouds of thick, freezing fog will roll in randomly, making visibility even more precarious. In your search for survivors - or your companions, you may find yourself coming face to face with someone else, instead: a version of yourself (or a companion) from another timeline. You may also hear your own voice calling out to you from within the fog, attempting to beckon you further into the mist.
• General Note: Exposure to any of the above weather patterns will increase your Blight infection.

THE BLIGHT COMES FOR ALL

As if it were not enough to see the cities that have become your salvation at the end of the Timestream falling to collapse and ruin, the Bearers will slowly begin to realize their previous immunity to the Blight is eroding. They will begin to show symptoms of infection that increase into May’s event. ( For more information on the effects of the Blight and purification methods, please see the OOC Summary. )

Now that their last bastion - the Bearers - are just as much in harm’s way as everyone else, the populous’s efforts to formulate a temporary stop-gap solution are being rushed to completion. Time is not on anyone’s side. They will continue to work with those who have been kind enough to volunteer their resources and brilliant minds - collecting materials and attempting to figure out a way to avert their otherwise inevitable destiny.

ORDERS

Orders from your leaders will come as soon as infections among the Bearers have been confirmed.

🌙 YIMA will stress for all Zenite Bearers to prioritize their well-being and to avoid unnecessary exposure, to manage their symptoms as much as possible. They must fight for their own survival to bring in the birth of a new universe - and their lives are too precious to risk. Beyond that, she asks them to save what they can of their people and their most critical structures with the understanding that hard choices may be necessary.

🌞 CYRUS will implore all Meridian Bearers to prioritize the general population's lives and turn their efforts to save as much of Springstar as they can. He will note that Bearers have ways to help keep one another from suffering too much contagion and to coordinate their usages appropriately, to keep one another safe, and watch their backs.

ANOTHER EN-TREE-TY

The Tree of Life continues to sicken, yet - thankfully - the progression of the Blight is slow. Still, Bearers will find themselves occasionally compelled to take a moment to sit beneath its boughs and vibrant leaves, even as some begin to show signs of discoloration and rot. Any characters who sit with the Tree with the purple leaf they found on their person after phase one will find it warming to the touch, its veins laced with gold. This effect will be even more effective if taken into the cavernous roots beneath the Tree! While this may fill you with a temporary sense of calm, it doesn't seem to have any other effects... yet still, you are compelled, if not curious.

The Tree has offered you this gift for a reason. Perhaps you will find its use before long.

...As long as you - and Kenos - survive long enough to discover it.

CODING

Comments

[epiprocta]

[ The fire's not helping much, is it. His eyes narrow at the sight of her still-trembling fingers, and though he looks around at their surroundings, there's no sight of anything he can use as fuel to get a proper fire going. And even if this was helping a tiny bit, it's not like the oil in his lighter's going to last for more than few minutes.

... damn. He's not doing that hot himself so he hadn't wanted to resort to this, but. He knows what he has to do. ]

Nah. No super strength. [ There's the sharp clink when Gen snaps his lighter shut and promptly pockets it once more; if blowing through the oil right now isn't going to help much, he might as well preserve it for later. ] Just sturdier than it used to be. But that's not much use at the moment.

[ He'd brought his hand up to the high collar of his shirt, and his movements pause for a split second at that joke. And while that pause is so brief as to be almost dismissible -- it's probably harder for Misa to ignore the odd, sharp prickle of guilt that accompanies it. Recent events had allowed him to push the matter to the back of his mind, but ... he'd never told Misa about his current alignment, huh. Even if it's not something that he's deliberately kept hidden from her, it still doesn't feel good to lie to her by proxy. ]

Still, guess I could lend you a hand when you need. [ He resumes tugging down his collar to palm his shard, but he avoids meeting Misa's gaze for the moment. ] Just gimme a call whenever all this shit blows over, and I'll drop by. -- here, hold out your shard.

[ She looks like she might pass out soon if they don't get rid of some of her Blight. Might as well get it over with quick. ]

[lifespanned]

[ Content as Misa might seem to look past any and all suspicious behaviors from her close friends and those she loves, she does pick up on them. That sharp jab of guilt, the way he suddenly averts his eyes. Misa is nothing if not observational and somewhat obsessive when it comes to keeping control of a steady relationship with those she cares about - and that of course means uprooting anything she has a problem with as soon as it happens. Her natural instinct, whenever she feels even the slightest shimmer of doubt, is to investigate ruthlessly, and at times, invasively.

She thinks it'd make more sense if he felt guilty about refusing - not about actually offering to help. Her eyes squint a bit, almost imperceptibly, but after some short hesitation, she obeys and (struggles) to take her own shard out. Maybe he feels guilty about having to take care of the Blight? That doesn't feel right either, but she also wants to give him the benefit of the doubt... it's not like she wants him to be secretly guilty and hiding something from her. And so, she holds her dark shard out to him on an open palm. She's still willing to show him that trust. ]

Well, don't do the Blight thing if you're gonna make me feel bad about it later. [ It's meant to be banter, but it comes out half-hearted, her eyes boring into his expression despite his averted eyes. ] What's the matter? You don't have to feel bad that I'm like this, you know.

[ Is that the source of it...? ]

[epiprocta]

[ He manages to meet her gaze for a moment at that attempt at banter before giving a low exhale. Though the corners of his lips do lift in a faint smirk, it's not of the mocking variety. There's no real derision in his voice, either, when he mutters, ]

That's not it, dummy.

[ He looks away again after uttering that chiding insults, though this time it's only so he can look towards the mace he has hanging at his belt. It's not a bladed weapon, but some of the edges at the head of it are sharp enough to serve his purposes; he furrows his brow as he presses his thumb to one of those jagged edges, then swipes it across just hard enough to leave a gash.

Gen doesn't hesitate at all before leaning forward to squeeze some of his blood onto Misa's shard. And it's only after those few drops have landed that he says, quietly: ]

You know I'm not on that side right now, right? [ No. He knows she hadn't known. Misa isn't the type that would have feigned ignorance without a very good reason, and he can't think of why she might have played dumb about something like this. But at least in this moment, he can play along and pretend she knew the whole time. ] So going to Highstorm too much is a bit ...

[ -- difficult. Not that he's going to voice that word. Gen only sighs before holding out his own shard in his palm, meeting Misa's eyes to gauge her reaction as he continues at a controlled neutral, ]

... I'd only do it 'cause you ask me to, you know.

[lifespanned]

[ She lets out an exhale as his blood seeps into her shard, the stiff fingers of her free hand fumbling to produce a small, silver blade from inside her jacket. But her resolve to hold up her end of the deal is only dampened by the words that accompany Gen's side of it — starkly incongruent with her own idealized, and perhaps delusional view of the world around her. Her brow twitches once, somewhere between confusion and incredulity, before she can stop it from showing. ]

...What are you talking about?

[ It's a forced, disbelieving huff, her expression turning dismayed. Then... hurt, then betrayed. Even his assurance that he'd only come to Highstorm if she were the one to ask him to do it doesn't placate her, her blade hesitating over the flesh of her hand. It goes further than that, because she actually pulls her hand back, like she's going to refuse to finish the ritual with him because of this, even to her own detriment. Because it'd be one thing if he were just procrastinating, or was just still unsure of where to go. But those words — going to Highstorm too much is a bit — tell her what she really needs to know. ]

You can't be on that side!

[ She says, firmly, unyieldingly. It's as if this fact is obvious to her, and should be obvious to him too — rather than the prissy, flighty annoyance she might show him on a regular day during their banter, she actually manages to look truly irate, despite her half-frozen state. Even Misa looks a little surprised at her own outburst, quickly trying to come up with a way to verbalize or explain what's in her heart. But all that comes out, surprisingly simple but deeply stubborn, is: ] I don't want you to.

[epiprocta]

[ He'd been keeping his gaze steady on her, shard held out without wavering despite her clear agitation, but those last words do finally earn a blink and a slow exhale. 'I don't want you to.' Somehow, the blunt, straightforward, almost child-like honesty of that statement hits him harder than any rational argument she could have thrown his way. Gen looks down as he lowers his hand for the moment, looking down at his shard sitting in his palm, absently rubbing his thumb against a jagged edge. ]

... s'not like it's anything you have to worry about. This side's a mess, y'know.

[ 'This side.' The Meridian. He tries to say it casually, but Misa can probably feel the faint prickle of discomfort that swims through his veins whenever he has to talk about himself as a Meridian. After all, it's not like he's ever really felt like he belongs amongst the Meridians' ranks. ]

Well, there's some strong people, but everyone's so busy bitching at each other that nothing really gets done. And 'sides, it's not like me being on this side makes'em any stronger. Even if I ended with some abilities after ending up here, I was still just a normal person before all this. It won't really make a difference.

[ He's being deliberately obtuse, and he's sure she can tell. But talking about his alliance with the Meridian in terms of manpower and combat abilities makes it easier to brush off, he thinks. For now, he wants to get the subject off the table, at least temporarily -- Misa's Blight needs to be dealt with first. So with that said, Gen raises his shard once more, holding it forth a little more forcefully. ]

C'mon, hurry up. I don't like having it out for too long.

[lifespanned]

But... but it does make a difference, you stupid idiot.

[ She says, harshly as she can through her chattering teeth. Her glare is real, feeling her temper flare hotter at the way he tries to side-step the issue, and the quiet resignation with which he speaks of the being with the Meridian. And for a few moments, she genuinely considers refusing to do the ritual at all — it wouldn't be the first time (nor the last) that she felt the need to be dramatic and stubborn enough to get her point across, even if it meant bodily harm would come to her.

But what can she do? Gen is a Meridian. She can't die in front of him — what if one of his allies sees them? Would he still be on her side then? She hates even entertaining such a doubt, but she feels backed into doing so, given the avoidant way he's talking about this.

So, instead, she stubbornly drags her blade against the back of her palm, holding out her hand just barely far enough for the blood to drip against his shard. ]

Even if you're not doing anything for them, you're still over there. What about when Zenites see you as an enemy for being on that side? That's a huge difference! So why are you acting like this isn't a big deal?