kenoslogs | NOVEMBER EVENT | THE HARBINGER ORACLE

NOVEMBER EVENT | THE HARBINGER ORACLE

HEDGING YOUR BETS

Bearers feel it. Similar to when the Scorching Isles was opened, there is the same tug, from somewhere in the distance. Those who are in springstar feel it from closer, like a blossom of warmth in your heart, you feel the Oracle spring to life. Those in Highstorm feel it too, but distant. Far away. You remember Cyrus’s words, that it would come to life in Springstar, and you know, just from the relative distance, from how far away it feels – He was probably right.

So bearers must make their way to the center of Springstar’s residential district. Finding one’s way to Springstar will be difficult, in fact. Preparations have been underway since Cyrus’s announcement, and Springstar leaps into action. The Legionnaires are already marching by the time the first bearers start moving throughout the city. In addition to any of Meridian’s own preparations, the Legionnaires establish choke points and start organizing evacuations. It will be difficult to make your way through Springstar, but the closer bearers make it to the hedge maze, and what seems to be the oracle at the center, the warmer their chests feel. Throughout the city, it feels warm, like small wicks of heat. The closer bearers become, the more it feels like a torrent. It is burning them to their center and igniting them to their cores. Like the fire of drive, is what it feels like. Like the hunger for something more than just food, or anything else, like the anticipation of victory.

The maze itself is where it is the most intense as bearers start to make their way through the hedge maze. Vines and brambles lie within a neat hedge, and it looks like it is safe to jump, or scale, but the moment a bearer tries to jump it, cut through it, or even go beneath it, roots, brambles, and vines lash out to entrap bearers, and start to drag them down and into the hedges. You will have to figure out a way out – lest you be stuck for seemingly the near future.

Of course, when Dimitri’s hand touches the stone statue in the middle, it all goes dark, and wherever you were, whoever you were fighting –

Every bearer collapses at the same time.

YOU'D BETTER BE A-MAZE-ING!

In the dark, there is that fiery impression of the Harbinger. Competition, drive, disdain for even those that best them. It is clear, in the dark, with your eyes closed, that the Harbinger does not see the Bearers as worthy to obtain it. You feel ghostly hands on your mind, into you, as if it is delving for more, trying to pluck and pull out the right memory. It looks for victories, triumphs, defeats, or betrayals. Something that shows the mettle of the bearer, what it is looking for. When it finds what it is looking for – or is this just a dream? – after the bearer experiences the dream, they will get the distinct impression that it is not enough. That the Harbinger wants more. It wants to see what this bearer can do. It wants to see you rise to the challenge, bearer! Will you do as it wishes, and show it the scope of your mettle, or will you capitulate and let the Harbinger know that it was right – you aren’t enough?

The Harbinger wants you to prove them wrong. Can you do that? Will you use spite to convince it that it is wrong? The Harbinger at the center of this labyrinth imparts to bearers, that it will not allow the weak to succeed, that nobody who cannot reach it, would ever be able to protect them. They look down on bearers, and it is up to you, to convince them that you are worth their attention.

When bearers wake, they will be stuck in a foyer. The walls seem blank, and there is a door, leading further into the maze. It is not… fully dark, everything here seems to be lit just enough to move around without trouble, but it is not bright. Bearers can look left, and right, and see others beside them. They are not alone, but nor are they with others of their faction. No, you can feel it, between all of you, gathered here in one space. The humming of your shared aspect fills the room, as if all of you together in one space feels right.

You will not be able to stay. The foyer lasts only until the last person leaves, and if any try to stay behind and stationary, they will find that eventually a door appears, and the room begins to shrink. You had better get moving!

You must move further into the maze. You will find that grouping up for long periods of time becomes impossible, and moving from one door to the next can find foes, allies, or even neutral parties. Every door you open within this maze, leads to new and unusual locations. You may both walk in, from opposite ends, only to find that the doors are gone when you turn your back. Do you end up on a precarious path over spikes, lava, or even water? Do you walk into a room with your greatest desire, a hunger that can now never be sated? Will you do anything to find your way through the corridors? Will bearers help each other, and resist the call of the Harbinger, or will you push over even your treasured ones to win?

MADE IN THE SHADE

And even further in, as you start to catch sight of them, patches of darkness seep into the corners, into everything. They may be hidden, at first. They may lurk underneath patches of leaves, or in shadowed corners. But the longer bearers are within this labyrinth, the longer the shadows seem. They start to reach out, to pull bearers into their shadowy depths. You may feel malaise, or an unwillingness to continue, once you first step within these patches. The longer you are there, the harder it is to get out. You will need help from your friends or dear ones, or sheer strength of will – but can you fight on, as you start to lose the things that motivate you?

And then there are the visions. People you know, love, or trust, they round corners, just ahead. They seem just out of range, and at first, it is difficult to tell if they are there or not. But they happen to reappear, and then disappear around a corner. Try and chase them, if you dare. When your fingers touch their arm, or grab their clothing, or heaven forbid, if you pull them into a hug – it seems impossible to pull away. They were treasured, weren’t they? There is a reason they appear here, to you. Why would you want to pull them away? Why would you –

They reach out, their fingers seem long, as they reach toward your shard – they will not be deterred by clothing or armor, their fingers seem to bend and twist around the junctions – before they find purchase on your shard. They rip it from you, and it feels like you are being separated from something. It’s painful, it hurts, but the last thing you see, as they hold your shard in your hand, is someone you care very deeply for, placing the shard in the same place on their own body, and your own face smiles back at you, and it all goes black. You are gone. Into… nothing.

NOTES

Here are some prompts to set the scene and foundation of the Exalt Oracle! Please refer to the ooc post for more details about what’s happening in the labyrinth! Feel free to direct questions here.

If your character gets killed by a shadow-copy, please let us know in the reporting post that goes up on November 20th if they touch the effigy. If they do not, please let us know on the deaths page! Don't forget to report any dissipations as a whole! Please also let us know if your character is saved by another bearer, or if your character’s shard is taken by the shadow copy for the entire duration of the event. This will not result in any permadeath, but you might get some cool lore! Teehee! If your character defeats a shadow creature, please let us know [HERE]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

✧ Hunger

✦ 1. A Taste of Legacy (cw: suggestive)
[She was here first. Her dark hair, black tights, and dark red sweater seem to be blending in with the shadows of the room. In fact it's possible the only way to tell she's standing with her back to the entrance is the bright white shorts that sit over top of those tights. Pale hands are balled into a fist, and... well, it seems like at first she doesn't even acknowledge who enters with her.

Yet as soon as the door begins morphing back into maze wall, something claws at her. Tearing into her as if hoping to bring out some piece of her only meant to be seen in the mirror. A piece that doesn't usually get the light of day. But down here? There is no watchful sun. No proxy of the moon. In this darkness with dim, artificial ambience, she's allowed to touch upon this piece.

—Yes. This is what she wants, isn't it? To leave her mark. To make sure that she isn't forgotten. To show to others just how meaningful, how impactful, how necessary she is. Bruises, bite marks, welts and scratches. A ring of teeth and red in her wake. Rin Tohsaka yearns to be seen. To be felt. She will lay into them, taste them, and know that she live on in them. In this space it's not about conquering another, but the desire, the ache to be more than just a footnote in the life of another.]

2. ✦ Bittersweet Indulgence
[Isolation. Loneliness. Melancholia. These forlorn feelings blanket the room. Weighing heavy like packed snow, and just as cold. Seemingly out of nowhere a hand grabs at the person who as stepped in. What follows next is not violence, or a need to subdue. No, instead... instead it's Rin. Hiding her expression with her bangs, she brings the other person in close, and pulls them into a squeezing hug. Because why shouldn't she? Because after she has been denied such simple affection for so much of her life... doesn't she deserve this? Her father couldn't even give her the simplest of things, a head-pat, correctly. So she'll take this. From whoever steps in. She'll cling and hold and latch onto. For however long it takes her to feel satisfied.

No. You're not allowed to leave. Yes, they should certainly stay with her until she's done. Even if that means spending a half hour, multiple hours... They cannot leave her behind just like everyone else has.]

✧ Domination

1. ✦ Knuckles for Me, Knuckles for You (cw: violence)
[Tohsaka paces the room. Again and again she finds herself in these dead ends without anyway to get out until another person falls in the trap with her. Were she here longer she'd start leaving marks on the floor with the furious way she skulks about. Frustration boiling over into anger. Self loathing at its peak. She needs to let it out. To take it out on someone. To make another suffer for her relief. She needs to show that she's not so needy, so weak, so pitiful. To purge herself of disgusting failures and laughable faults. She will be better, and her "opponent" will be the proof of that when she stands over them — she's sure of it.

Note: For this one I'd like a normie physical altercation or at least an evenly matched battle if things delve into spell-casting. A draw or blood spilled both ways. We can hash out a win-lose oocly too.]

2. ✦ Control and Submission (cw: suggestive/sexual)
[Something burns inside her. A need. It makes her mouth dry and her body pulse. It is a tug, a pull, a compulsion. Every vile little part of her, every little part she wants to keep in check, bubbles out. Spilling from her like a goblet overflowing with wine. It's too much too ignore, and the perceived outcome too sweet to deny. As if blinded by yearning she knows she has to make whoever joins her crumble. To call her name and beg for more. To have them squirming under her touch and falling apart. When they step in she lowers her lashes and gives the other person a sharp smile.

Note: Rin will attempt to be the dominator in this scenario, but I am interested in both her overtaking someone and her being outdone or overwhelmed by another so please feel free to pick either side! Whatever you think might be most fun.]

[If you want a thread and these don't work, please reach out to my plotting comment so we can discuss me creating a tailored starter made just for you! You can also PM me if that works better. I will be posting ]

[When they were all gathered by Aspect, Rin didn't stay with her fellow Harbingers long. Why would she? They're all the same way, after all. Amazingly selfish and convinced they're better off working alone. Her experience with dodging the traps has been... mostly positive. With only herself to worry about she hasn't met any... ways to embarrass herself yet. Not that she can handle her own, it's just that a Tohsaka who tries to show off is a Tohsaka that gets their ass kicked by the universe.

Eventually she runs into a familiar face. Not someone she'd want to run into during an Oracle's trials, but Rin isn't exactly afraid of enemy confrontation. The moment their eyes meet, Rin smiles — though there is little mirth in it. They're both practical women. There isn't a need to pretend to be friendly in a situation like this.]

It's you. Feeling cramped in here?

[Hayame would have preferred to run into someone else.

In order to claim the Harbinger Oracle, however... There was very little she was not prepared to do. She has galloped through the halls to avoid being crushed by a stone, she has hauled herself free from a trap that would have skewered her had she not procured (and actually had time to put on) enchanted armor, she has fought with her enemies...

And now she is face to face with a Zenite, in a trial in which the effigy has all but implicitly said that they must abandon anyone and anything in order to accomplish the goal themselves. That is why, even though she had no grudge against this woman- even though she was one of the few of Zenith that she could actually tolerate to even look at or suffer to listen to... Hayame's knuckles pinch the shaft of an arrow in her quiver.]

Ah. I am looking forward to the end.

[And a Meridian victory. But Hayame has never been able to secure such a thing on her own before. As far as she was concerned... her faction's losses were the result of weakness, of too many of their number refusing to do what needed to be done and those willing not enough to make up for them. This time, though. This time, only she needed to be strong enough, surely. And if she was going to claim the Oracle...

Though she does hate all of Zenith for their stance, for daring to stand there and proclaim that they would fight to rob her of her world, the lives of all that resided in it, there is no particular anger on her face when the arrow is notched on the bowstring. Just as there is none when she draws the string back, nor when she releases the arrow aimed at Rin's chest, all in a single smooth motion in the space of two seconds.]

Rin Tohsaka | Zenith ✦ Harbinger

Closed Starters

Hayame ✧ Tit for Tat

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Mordred ✧ Weakness as a Curse

Senti ✧ Strategic Sacrifice

no subject

Yuri ✧ Teacakes for Two (or three, or four, or more—)

no subject

Quetzalcoatl ✧ She Came to Save You

the title is UNFAIR!!!!!

Amos ✧ [She was] Always Brilliant

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Nebula ✧ A Poor Relationship with Honesty

💕 it's lovely

domination 2, go big or go home ig

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