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Entry tags:
- arcane: vander,
- arknights: gavial,
- bastard!!: dark schneider,
- black butler: sieglinde sullivan,
- expanse (the): amos burton,
- fate/: quetzalcoatl,
- fate/: rin tohsaka,
- fire emblem: claude von riegan,
- genshin impact: tartaglia (childe),
- genshin impact: zhongli,
- granblue fantasy: eustace,
- magnus archives (the): the archivist,
- orv: dokja kim,
- star wars: cassian andor,
- star wars: jyn erso,
- trigun maximum: vash the stampede
The Seeds of Unrest, Phase Two 🌱
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.
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.
🌙 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.
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.
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.
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Her hand moves to her heart, counting the beats beneath her skin, before moving slowly to stand. ]
King Arthur... must have been as impressive as the legends made him seem.
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My feelings on that Saber are a bit conflicted. She was undeniably beautiful and chivalrous, as a king or a knight should be, but I think something tormented her.
[Rin uses female pronouns if only because aside from that battle dress, she's only seen "King Arthur" in her own clothes that she let her borrow.]
While the Grail killed and consumed the servants for power, she remained intact. Darkened by its mud and doing its bidding. Perhaps the evil in the Grail tempted her in some way? She was human once, after all.
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Gray doesn't know the answer behind King Arthur's apparent subservience to the tainted Grail. Such things were for her mentor to mutter to himself about without heed for how nutty he sounded to the people around him. ]
Human... I suppose so.
[ The people of Gray's village treated Arthur like a god, and somewhere along the way maybe Gray began to believe it a little too. Being able to experience some of that power has done little to dispel the notion, and yet Arthur was never proclaimed to be anything but a human being.
In any case, now isn't the time or place to be ruminating on the existential mores of a knight from the Dark Ages, glorious and important as that knight may be. With the adrenaline fading away, Gray remembers that the last time she spoke to Rin, she said something quite offensive to make Rin storm off. She still feels a little awkward about it, truth be told, but mostly she feels she shouldn't bother Rin anymore with her presence. Mages are a proud breed of people with little time or tolerance for the feeble, so Gray will be considerate and excuse herself. She bows a little toward Rin. ]
Thank you for your help. I think this means... I'm the one who owes you now?
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Forcefully Tohsaka hooks her arm around Gray's — linking them tightly.]
Not until I get you back to your place safely.
[After all how would her pride allow anything less? What Gray does after Tohsaka makes sure she's safe is beyond Rin, though.]
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U-Um. If you're sure. My house is in the academic district.
[ She can't pronounce the proper name of the district very well, so this is just what it's going to be called.
Despite the fog, Gray's sense of direction isn't bad, so she'll start to gently pull them along. Her arm curls to rest more naturally in Rin's grasp, the movement absent-minded as she keeps her ears sharp for anything else that might come their way. ]
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Your blood earlier — it was like sap. Have you been pushing yourself too hard, Gray?
[Tohsaka already knows the answer. She already knows what she wants to do about it. It's just a matter of leading Gray there.]
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[ The question is unexpected. There's a second's pause as she scrambles for a defense against Rin's statement, which definitely feels accusatory. ]
We've been told to help as many people in Springstar as we can.
[ "We" being the Meris, of course. ]
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[Tohsaka leans in to get a better look at Gray's face. Usually she allows the girl to hide herself, but right now she's putting emphasis on being accusatory.]
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I just haven't had a chance to take care of it. There are so many people who need assistance...
[ The excuse is feeble even to her own ears. ]
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[Stern are her worlds, and there is a finality to them. There will be no arguments, and this is definitely going to happen.]
Once we are safe within your home I will purge some of that for you.
[An apology for that dress. An exchange for the harsh fantasy (nightmare) of becoming that Saber.]
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Gray's silence in this case is consent. Properly cowed, she looks away and focuses on navigating the warped streets of Springstar. With a bit of root-hurdling and a short detour, Gray and Rin will eventually arrive at a simple, up-until-recently well-kept house with a sizeable backyard. If Rin looks closely, she might notice a little chicken coop and a single horse stable out back. It's a nicer arrangement than Gray's family home in Wales, but she figures it still must look like a hovel to a mage from an established family like Rin.
She opens the front door and steps back to let Rin in first. Through the doorway, she might see that the interior is straightforward with only token adornments: a quaint blanket here, a comfortable-looking set of furniture there. It's all impeccably neat and clean as if she was expecting a visitor today. ]
It isn't much, but please make yourself at home.
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[It's all, quite honestly, better than what Rin has now. In a place such as Kenos she cannot rely on the old patent money the Tohsaka family had, nor does she have the same resources because of it. Starting from scratch may have humbled Rin — or maybe she was always the type of person who knew, and acknowledged, she had it easy.
Either way, it seems Rin is pleased with the place as she nods. Before Gray even answers she'll try to navigate to the kitchen.]
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[ That's Hospitality 101. She hurries with light steps to the kitchen, assuming Rin will be capable of settling herself where she's comfortable.
She only has a couple choices of tea, so she picks the one most similar to the oolong Rin chose for them the other day. Gray is reasonably sure she can make a decent cup of tea; her mentor would have complained otherwise. So she washes her hands and prepares the tea like it's her job and she has a fussy customer. It technically was her job and she did have a fussy boss that required frequent babying, so her hands are well-practiced as she goes through the motions, if a bit sluggish with the accumulation of Blight.
If Rin is feeling nosy, she'll find that Gray's kitchen reflects her remote countryside upbringing: rustic, with small selections of the most basic staples. Moreover, with her appetite on the modest side, there isn't much by way of volume. One could get the impression that Gray's breakfasts are as simple as a hunk of buttered bread and cheese.
Meanwhile, Gray injects a bit of chatter to break the silence. ]
The bad weather has been coming and going lately, so if you'd like to wait the fog out, it shouldn't be too long...
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While Gray makes the tea Rin will nosily poke around the kitchen. Making sure Gray takes care of herself. And for the most part? It seems she does. In the most simple ways, but... it's still reassuring. Though the urge to grab her by the arm and run her around on a little window-shopping date in the Antiques and Baubles Market does bubble up.]
How generous of you! I think I'll take advantage of that for sure.
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As she works, questions return to Gray's mind, but she remembers how well things went the last time she and Rin had a lengthy chat, and she stuffs her questions into a mental closet. Instead she plates up some snacks to go with their tea: some water biscuits from a tin with sides of cheese, honey, and marmalade.
When everything is ready, she moves to set everything at a small dining table by the kitchen... but by then, her exhaustion has settled back into her bones, and she puts the tea and plate down more clumsily than she would like, tea sloshing from the pot. ]
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Sit. You're worse off, so I shall finish it off. How do you like your tea?
[As she awaits Gray's obedience, and answer, Tohsaka moves the plate to the center between them, and begins pouring the tea carefully. Does her host want sugar? Honey? Whatever it is, Rin will take it from here.]
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As is... thank you.
[ She doesn't have much of an appetite at the moment anyhow; if there's anything she looks forward to in the tea, it's its warmth. She peers up at Rin as she takes care of the tea, trying to detect any annoyance about having to take over the pouring. ]
You're good at taking care of other people, aren't you?
[ A.k.a. a nice person... ]
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I had to be. I lost my father at the same year my mother was handicapped. I looked after her until she passed.
[Tohsaka adds a pinch of sugar to her own before pouring. They'll both get a perfect cup of tea, and Rin will consider her feelings over the water biscuits as she sits down.]
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She pulls her tea closer, hands cupping it for warmth, but it doesn't help. ]
And then you joined the Holy Grail War.
[ Rin has already been through a lot. Lord El-Melloi II was the same way, already full of goals and passions at a young age. Reines was pushed to do and scheme more at an even younger age. Gray feels woefully behind in that regard, though she probably shouldn't be comparing herself to mages in the first place. ]
May I ask what wish you were trying to grant?
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[If she could achieve that, then there would be no reason for worry or anxiety of living up to her father's legacy.
Tohsaka stirs her tea gently.]
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Did you ever happen to meet a Master named Atrum Galliasta?
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[Maybe he was one of the Masters she just never saw? Lancer or maybe Caster's?]
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[ In Gray's head, it might have been a Servant who rode dragons. How awesome that would be. ]
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[After all, her Archer identified the rest of the Servants. Saber King Arthur, Lancer Cu Chulainn, Rider Medusa, and Berserker Heracles.]
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[ Hm. How does Gray feel about that? Mystified, mostly. ]
He had so many resources behind him. I suppose it's hard to plan when Servants are involved. If they were all like King Arthur...
[ Of course she still remembers how that felt. Even if Atrum Galliasta had an army at his disposal, she has little doubt that Arthur would have been able to defeat it single-handedly. ]
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