beleos: (Default)
beleos ([personal profile] beleos) wrote in [community profile] kenoslogs2023-01-13 05:00 pm

⏳ THE SCORCHING ISLE: Oracle Event One ⏳


ARRIVAL
All Bearers have heard whispers of them - the Oracles. Mysterious and unknown entities of an abstract nature, they serve as the heart of each faction’s cause - both as a means to an end and a very real stepping stone in achieving their objectives. To claim an Oracle means growing ever closer to victory: to see your homes restored as they were, or to herald in a new one of your making.

So you go.

A Cornerstone has been set up for each faction; one for the Zenith and one for the Meridian in Yima’s manor and Heliopolis, respectively. They warn you that upon transportation, your safety cannot be guaranteed and there is no telling what waits for you beyond - to be prepared. To make sure you have whatever you deem necessary with you before you go, as there is no telling when - or how - you will be coming back. CONTINUED HERE...

NOTES

  • Upon your arrival, you woke up with an HOURGLASS NECKLACE. Please refer to the Time Mechanics on the OOC Summary and bottom of this post for details on its usage.
  • The COURTYARD is frozen in time. Player Characters and the Great Tree are the only signs of moving, free life in the courtyard. During the intro, time magic does not work.
  • Characters are free to investigate but cannot move beyond the courtyard if you choose a prompt during the intro. You may mingle among your fellow Bearers or speak with [MR. TIBBS] if you so choose. (Also? LOOK AT HIM HELP)
  • Iconoclasts and Stargazers will notice Aspect benefits/detriments now.
  • All characters will be weak for the 24 hours - think like mild flu - and unable to leave until Mr. Tibbs has dispersed them. This is the time in which any threads with the NPC will be carried out.
  • The INTRO concludes with said dispersal of PC’s once interactions concluded. They will be sent to a location around the castle of your choosing; they are free to move about freely from here. Your prompts can start with you waking alone or in the presence of others - whatever you’d like!
  • Your character will innately understand how to use time magic from this point forward. It will come naturally to them, like a skill they were born with.


  • CASTLE: OVERVIEW (p a s t)
    The Scorching Isles is home to the Atirat, a people of sea-dwellers who have the ability to walk on land. (Think mermaids with the ability to shift back and forth between human and mermaid forms.) As such, much of the Scorching Isles is covered in large bodies of blue water and glistening pieces of ice to accommodate their lifestyle.

    THE CASTLE, however, is what dominates the landscape and it's where the Shard-Bearers will be spending their time. The white castle with colorful glass windows is obscured by a thick layer of clouds and fog. Nearly every location on the island has a thin layer of fog that rolls through it, which gives the entire Island an inescapable chill. The castle has artfully built rooms with a CAVALCADE OF DECORATIVE ICE, lavish mirrors, and white plants accented with blue decorations. Several portions of the castle are submerged due to the aquatic nature of the native residents.

    And everywhere you go, you find them - STATUESQUE BODIES FROZEN mid-movement. They are haunting reminders of the power in your Hourglass - the very real power to decide their fates.

    The castle has many winding paths to explore, as castles often do. There are sleeping quarters, HALLWAYS, a wine cellar, and a few large rooms presumably for diplomatic affairs. Players can use these rooms at their own leisure for whatever purposes they see fit. (Exploration, combat, or supply gathering.)

    However, many of these rooms will require some strategy to access their full potential! Atirat were much more comfortable being underwater than many Kenosians may be. Therefore, rooms of higher importance may be COMPLETELY SUBMERGED or require swimming through an underwater pathway to reach them. Very minimal supplies will be kept out in the open for all to reach. More desirable supplies - such as warm clothing, small weapons, treasure, and the like - will be located past or within one of these flooded areas.

    Players may gather supplies within and preserve their Sand or use their Sand to make other rooms accessible and gather whatever lies within! The larger the asset you attempt to unfreeze, the more Sand it costs - and the more drained/vulnerable you will be as a consequence, so choose your path ahead wisely.

    Currently, a pervasive fog is preventing you from wandering beyond the Castle's limits. Should you try to venture past it, your Sand will rapidly be stolen and you will find yourself suffering the same fate as the islanders if you don't move back to safety quickly... However, if you ask Mr. Tibbs what lays beyond the mist - he will tell you about the thriving farmland, the once-bustling village surrounding the castle, and the beautiful coral reefs beneath it. Sadly, they're beyond your reach - but maybe if the Bearers decide to unfreeze them when the week is up...

    LIBRARY (s a f e z o n e)
    The ROYAL LIBRARY - A treasure trove of knowledge, history, and glimpses of a fractured past scattered throughout. The lower floor of the Library is void of much reading material and contains several intricate-looking art pieces on decorative pedestals.

    A spiral staircase dominates the center of the room, with its once delicate structure overtaken by sheets of formidable ice; it leads you toward the upper levels where a sea of books awaits. There are isles and isles of books, most perched on intricately carved shelves. Many books lay in piles or are discarded onto the floor, and scattered papers are common throughout.

    Curious Kenosians may pick out books from the shelves and read on various topics, but players may also pass through this room on their way elsewhere. This area will function as a safe haven where violence and the taking of others' Sand is not allowed; do not disturb the books or Mr. Tibbs won’t be happy!

    NOTES

  • Characters who wish to receive a book with lore specific to the island may comment [HERE]. You will be RNGed a book from a pre-written list of topics. The books may give you a deeper look into the island, its inhabitants, and its history! (Only 1 book per player! Please assume all other books they read are about commonly-available topics.)


  • THE EATING PARLOR (p a s t)
    There are no basic amenities on the island. No hot water, no warm beds, and no salacious magazines (that you know of. heh heh). That would make the Eating Parlour a wise stop for anyone. After all, this could be the perfect chance to procure some provisions!

    The EATING PARLOUR has all the equipment one would need for meal preparation. Dried plants hang from the ceiling, and the walls are lined with mason jars filled with every strange manner of presumably edible thing (Is that a head over there? Hmm… maybe you should check).

    The parlour also comes with a garden under a massive windowed dome so that the inhabitants could have fresh produce at hand. Many plants have withered, but there are some salvageable plants if you know how to look for them. But beware… Some of the plants have a strange blue glow. These plants can spell potential disaster.

    If someone should make contact with these glowing plants, they will crumble into glass shards - glass that will quickly burrow its way under the skin and curse that person with Blight. Blight will make all resources within that person's vicinity slowly age and eventually crumble to dust. (Which I relate to on a personal level tbh.) Iconoclasts will be immune to its effects.

    NOTES

  • Please see the "Blight" section below for more information on its effects.


  • TREASURE ROOM (f u t u r e)
    Faint singing can be heard coming from this room. Once you hear the song, it dulls your senses and leaves you in a haze. There is no stopping your feet from guiding you to it through the doors and into the Treasure room. The door slams shut at your back, sealed with a wall of ice and magic.

    Players will find themselves lured to an icy chamber bordered by a ring of cold blue fire. There is a deep pond that surrounds the platform you’ve found yourself standing on. Beyond its glassy surface and crystal clear water, one can glimpse all manner of treasures - from crowns, jewels, ornate statues in various statues of repair, scepters, spears, and books that seem impervious to the water's cold chill.

    As you come to your senses, you will find yourself frozen in place and at the mercy of a large statuesque being before you. This beautiful and horrifying figure in a perpetual song is the SIREN, the only Atirat you’ve seen in person. She measures nearly 20 feet (6 meters) from her head to the tip of her long-finned tail. She cradles an icy shard in her arms, singing to it as if it were a child.

    She sits serenely in front of a large hourglass filled with white sand, which is bordered by a spear and a lance. Emblazoned in faint text at the base of where she sits reads: “The future lies in our hands.”

    NOTES


    Welcome to the Siren’s Chamber! Players must use their wit, charisma, or some good ol' fashioned elbow grease to escape the room or break the Siren’s magic. The Shard that the Siren holds contains dormant time magic that players may activate by using the Sand within their necklace. Players can access the future in 5-second intervals and use whatever they find in that time period to escape their predicament.

    For example, if they activate the shard by using their time magic, that shard will begin to glow blue. The room around them will shift, and it could change to a point in the future where there is a sword nearby. If you can grab it, now you have a weapon! When the 5 seconds are up and time returns to the present, you will still have that weapon on your person. You may also try verbal communication if you’d like. If your character is someone who would try and talk their way out of a situation diplomatically, they may give it a try!

    It is up to player discretion/creativity to think of a scenario you’d like. Each “future" does not have to be the same across player encounters! What one group experiences may be tailored to the player wants (because branching timelines exist). Let your imagination run free!

    HALL OF MIRRORS (p r e s e n t)
    Should you reach the rightmost wing of the massive castle Library, you will find a door hidden in the very back of one aisle against a wall; it looks as though the door used to be concealed by magicks that have since dissolved.

    The stairwell leads down and into darkness. Once you reach the bottom, shimmering light cast from an unknown source beneath sheets of glistening ice will illuminate your new surroundings; you are in a maze of mirror-like ice. This labyrinth is silent save for the quiet creaking of shifting ice that may disquiet you and leave you uneasy regarding the stability of this area… but it holds beneath your feet.

    Mr. Tibbs had told you that the “Kaleidoscope” - where your Sand is counted - rests through here, so eventually, you must brave the journey. Is it a trick of the light? Maybe the product of an especially active imagination…?

    Did you just see one of your reflections move without you?

    NOTES

  • Please refer to the OOC Summary for details on the Hall of Mirrors!


  • THE BLIGHT and TIME MECHANICS

    BLIGHT

  • Blight is an infliction that will age supplies and infect people with a creeping disease that steals their Sand. For objects, this includes weapons, food, and items like cloth. It will take a few days to deteriorate things beyond use - so watching your supplies and acting accordingly is in your best interest. Generally, it will make it more difficult for PC's to get by given that their already scarce resources will dwindle and deteriorate - especially since it's 'contagious' through touch.
  • The Blight will not act quickly enough to severely hamper infected persons, but repeated exposure will cause effects to a person's body - notedly protruding VEINS in the face and extremities, a lower body temperature, and increased agitation. These effects start out mild and grow more severe with each 'dose.'
  • Characters must touch an object/person that is Blighted to become inflicted with Blight themselves. When that happens, it will become easily identifiable as Blighted from the faint blue, shimmering outline around the infected subject, as well as the WITHERED, FROSTBITTEN or ashy appearance it takes as it progresses.
  • However, there is one single perk with Blight. (Or is it a perk?) Players will feel reduced impact by the cold surroundings, making the climate around them somewhat more hospitable. Beware of falling victim to a chill you can't feel...
  • TIME

  • To use your Sand, each character is granted access to and innate knowledge of a spell they channel from their Shard that automatically manipulates their Hourglass. This allows the remote control of Sand (aka gathering and dispersing), as well as the ability to pull Fragments of time from Shards.
  • Fragments are literal pieces of you taken from your Shard. They manifest as memories or images displayed on little shards of broken glass (think of the memory being played out in real-time on the mirror's surface), and can be crushed to convert into Sand automatically, either voluntarily or by force. The only stipulation is that the parties must be close to one another, and the Fragment must be exchanged while both Bearers are still. This means someone has to give it to you, or you need to immobilize them before you take it - one way or another.
  • Once the Fragment is crushed, the memory and associated time of that person's life is lost and your character will suffer amnesia until the Oracle is claimed. How deep this goes is up to you; they could lose a large chunk of time - even all their memories surrounding a person or place for a big payload of Sand, or they could lose very little for a meager net gain.
  • Sand is automatically gathered or distributed by your Hourglass and added/subtracted to your running total. No need to micromanage. Convenient!
  • Please note that using Sand to unfreeze anything (resources, a door which can be then opened, etc) is an unpleasant experience. Each time you use Sand in this way, your character will be left feeling weakened and flu-like for an hour or two, which will leave them vulnerable. This effect stacks and scales up to outright KO-ing them for a few hours if they go crazy, so unfreezing too large of an area is off the table!

  • NOTES
    • An OOC POST will be coming shortly explaining how Sand is going to be tallied and the Oracle claimed.
    • Should your character attempt to unfreeze any NPC's, please respond [HERE]. NOTE: unfreezing NPC's may result in physical violence with CW's for severe mental instability/illness and a potential reference to self-harm.
    • HAVE FUN!!!
    CODING
    passio: (pic#12189865)

    [personal profile] passio 2023-01-16 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
    [ dextera half-expects the archangel to forcibly seize his time and leave him here, frozen, but such malice never comes to pass. he’s instead met with the archangel’s impossible smile and imperturbable charisma, despite the acknowledgment that they are enemies.

    that’s how it’s going to be, then. dextera doesn’t know how to make sense of the twist of anxiety he feels in hearing the archangel coolly place that distance between them with just one word of acknowledgment. you can’t have it both ways, he tells himself, but the logic doesn’t really serve to comfort him. ]




    [ he nods, curling his hand around the pendant and letting it fall back against his chest. ]

    I wanted to know… what you’re going to do.
    pyojeol: (pic#15904257)

    a!!

    [personal profile] pyojeol 2023-01-16 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
    --[me as aki: oh same aspect cool hehe, oh no same aspect

    unlike matsui and the other weird-ass savants though, Sooyoung remains perfectly human! In that she's not radiating anything other-worldly, even as she tilts her head at the way the shikigami dissolves, curious rather than surprised.]


    -- Do they just do your bidding? [ABRUPTLY] Or can you see and hear through them too?
    passio: (pic#12166652)

    [personal profile] passio 2023-01-16 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
    [ dextera simply shakes his head as he places the entire peach half in his mouth. it doesn’t really sustain him the way meat would, but there’s something soft and giving about the fruit that satisfies him nonetheless. even though using sand does make him feel a little faint in the creeping aftermath, just being near another person makes him more comfortable in withstanding it. ]



    [ rather than insisting on communion like he might with someone less skittish, it feels wiser to stay with his usual silence.

    he holds up the jar and marks half of it with his hand, then checks crona’s face to make sure they understand. they’ll share. ]
    sanguinary: (blorbo)

    [personal profile] sanguinary 2023-01-16 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
    [IS IT?? IS IT A HURDLE THAT HAS TO BE CROSSED????

    Anyway yeah he's not here to strangle her, he's here to take her blood (not ominous). He's just giving her a look that's genuinely baffled and the vibes are also genuinely baffled and also kind of squiggly with a lot of other Complex Emotions that are hard to pick through which showed up the second he spotted blood. Don't worry about it.]


    Enough blood is coming out that someone should catch it, though.

    [SHE'S CATCHING IT.]
    sanguinary: (stilted)

    [personal profile] sanguinary 2023-01-16 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
    [TRULY THAT. EXACTLY THAT...

    But that's fair enough, people really are getting wild as hell in these here halls. Matsui's seen enough of war and of combating moralities that he's really not surprised by the shift in many people's demeanors, either. It's still a little sad to see, but in the distant sort of way that such a long-lived spirit would view it.

    More importantly, though, he shakes his head.]


    I don't feel that it is important to do so.

    [For him personally, anyway. Sometimes you're just a little creature vibing through trials and tribulations without any major attachment to any party's end goal.]

    --Have you had any of your injuries seen to yet?
    exhound: (21)

    dad fight

    [personal profile] exhound 2023-01-16 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
    [Vander has been in Go Mode from the moment the horde of Shard-bearers had been released into the castle itself to begin their mission in earnest. The castle is vast, and with the cold and the underwater passages making things difficult at a baseline, the work ahead of them had been slow and tedious. Needless to say, he’s spent nearly all of his time in this place amongst other people—mingling with the crowd in the library when he needs a breather, pairing up with others for deeper searches into the enormous building, putting his brawn to use in making sure others didn’t run into trouble.

    This feels like the first time all week where he’s really allowed himself to take a moment to be alone, where he could take in the calm and quiet and put the mission and all the pressure it comes with out of his mind. It doesn’t really hit him until now just how truly exhausting this all was.

    So he sits on the edge of a sturdy, frozen table in a room that looks to have been some kind of office in the days that this castle once thrived, idly examining a bookshelf settled against the back wall. The room is off in a side passage not terribly far from the library they’ve kept as a tenuous safe space; just a short stroll to allow himself a little breather before he ventured farther out into the hallways once more. He takes in the stillness of the space, long neglected during the lonely years this spell—curse?—has held this castle, one hand idly drumming against the battered pair of old gauntlets sitting on the table alongside him.

    He’s not convinced that all the running around they’re doing at the behest of the furry little Mr. Tibbs is going to prove all that fruitful in the end. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions lingering over this entire venture, and he contemplates just how all this time-aspected Sand is supposed to bring them any closer to their ultimate goal.

    He sighs and rubs at his face with a hand, grateful for the solitude to hide his frustrations.]
    baltimores: (029)

    [personal profile] baltimores 2023-01-16 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
    [ A flat stare at Mr. Tibbs' literal interpretation of his question. (Nevermind why the otter might feel ostracized when there's nobody else around who so much as looks like him; that's not a depth Amos has ever had to consider.) A flatter stare as he continues to swish around through the air. ]

    Doesn't seem to bother you a whole lot that they're frozen though, does it.

    [ It's... That's what he can't get past. It's wrong. Give a fuck, don't, but at least don't treat it like a game. ]
    gravings: (113)

    pls forgive the manhandling 🙏

    [personal profile] gravings 2023-01-16 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Congratulations, Atsumu gets Doppelgray! As she crashes into him, her scythe goes flying, clattering awkwardly away thanks to its awkward shape.

    In the next moment, Graygray comes barreling around a corner, her normally mild face now sharp with the intent to slice and dice. She dashes forward, a shot from a cannon, her scythe raised to strike—

    Except Doppelgray has jumped to her feet and hauled Atsumu up with her, dragging him in front of her to make him a human shield. Given the height differential, this may be awkward for him.

    Gray's eyes widen as she recognizes him and she tries to skid to a stop, but she can only brake so hard within a fraction of a second. She has too much momentum — so all she can do is move her scythe aside and bulldoze into Atsumu and Doppelgray both to make an even bigger chaos pile. ]
    baltimores: (030)

    04, cw references to suicidal ideation, child prostitution, rape

    [personal profile] baltimores 2023-01-16 09:11 am (UTC)(link)
    [ "You stupid fucker," is the voice emanating from somewhere within the hall, a vicious growl, a pointed and barbed comment not even remotely directed to the new party that's deigned to join them. "You know you'd be doing everyone a favour if you died in here."

    It's Amos' voice, clear as day, but in a tone none of this universe have probably ever heard him speak in before. There's something deeply personal about it, something he whole-heartedly means, but at the same time it's not him. It shouldn't take much to register the scene itself — Amos with his teeth gritted, a sort of growl in his throat as he's got one hand gripping his doppelganger's head, trying to push it away; his other hand gripped into his doppelganger's arm. His doppelganger, for its part, is scrabbling with said arm to get a hold on Amos, its free arm trying to pry Amos' hand off its face. Both have grips deep enough to bruise, interlocked with one another, but only the doppelganger is doing any talking.

    The sound of hoofbeats diverts his attention for a second. Just one second, Amos' eyes flicking in Hayame's direction, and then his doppelganger has him down and on his back, pinning down both his arms. He isn't immobilized yet, though it's close — Amos bucks up with his hips, trying to bend his legs, drive the soles of his boots into his doppelganger's stomach, but all he manages to get are the legs — enough to momentarily dislodge, but not enough to actually escape his doppelganger's grip.

    He remains pinned. His doppelganger scoffs, voice filled with disgust.

    "That shit didn't work when you were five, you think it'll do anything now? I'm saving you from yourself. Be grateful that's all I'm doing."

    The words make him thrash harder, but his opponent matches him in strength; his fighting doesn't really do anything. All Amos has left is to try to lock wild eyes with Hayame — do not let him die like this. Any other way, it happens. But not like this. ]
    baltimores: (009)

    library

    [personal profile] baltimores 2023-01-16 09:22 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Eventually, the kid just sitting in the library grabs his attention.

    Amos has been in and out a few times now, whenever he needs to recharge from all of the other goings-on in the castle — and every time, this guy has been here, seemingly doing nothing. Might as well be frozen in time himself, except for the part where he's very clearly alive. Just... apathetic as all hell, apparently.

    He doesn't recognize him from anywhere; not from around Highstorm, nor the mass communion earlier. Has no clue what his deal is, other than the fact that he isn't really doing anything probably makes him non-threatening.

    So, Amos goes to sit right beside him. He's quiet for a few moments before turning to look at Heine, in case he wasn't aware he was gonna address him at all. ]


    This the plan? Just wait everything out?

    [ Just some casual conversation. ]
    baltimores: (132)

    iia

    [personal profile] baltimores 2023-01-16 10:07 am (UTC)(link)
    Maybe they liked the water better. [ A beat. ] Or maybe they knew we'd be coming, and it's just to fuck with us.

    [ Amos is mimicking Atsumu's movements, trying to stay light on his feet, get the reps in, get the blood flowing. Hell, Amos can more than hold his own, but there's an athleticism to Atsumu's body that indicates that he knows what he's doing better than Amos does — part of it's probably from the youth. And the fact that he actually played a competitive sport. That too — that he figures it's best to follow his lead.

    That, and he doesn't want the kid to go it alone. Amos had said over communion that he could help him, right? So here he is. Helping him by accompanying him. An extra pair of eyes, a pair of fighting hands, just in case. ]


    Though you'd think if they liked the water so much they'd put all the stuff worth grabbing on dry land. Make them have to work for it, not us.

    [ Maybe these fish guys do deserve to be stuck like this forever, is a totally normal and not at all petty thought to have — and surely not one that's going to intensify the second he hits the icy water. ]
    baltimores: (073)

    threefold reflection

    [personal profile] baltimores 2023-01-16 10:39 am (UTC)(link)
    [ It's the burst of flame more than anything else.

    It's easy enough to enter the hall, to take a cursory look at his own reflection staring back at him — again and again, reflections of reflections from all of the mirrors in here. It's easy enough to make his way down, map this place out, determine if it's time to go through to the end.

    It's very easy to do so, right until he comes across the scene — Akua, the woman he had met by the reflecting pool maybe a month or so ago and has curiously not seen much of since (had she been busy?), dispatching of some weird beasts that had come out of nowhere. At least she's got this covered—

    And then there's the fire, and without thinking, Amos charges ahead. A shield's only as good for as long as it'll hold, and doesn't exactly give her much room to work around. She still needs to attack — or someone else does. He's still some distance away, so he uses a touch of gravity magic to make the doppelganger heavier, less able to freely move about, before aiming to.

    Well.

    Body slam her, apparently, leading with his shoulder in an attempt to fully send her to the ground.

    It's instinctual. Despite her absence Akua had still been pleasant to talk to, a likely sort of ally. If he can help her, then he should. It's just what you're supposed to do. ]
    prizeneck: (80)

    [personal profile] prizeneck 2023-01-16 10:39 am (UTC)(link)
    Your feeling is right.

    [He knows himself. He knows himself, and therefore the laugh. Of course this place would bring something like this to the surface. It started with memories, and now this.

    There's a joke here about what would you do if you ever found your own doppelganger, which could go from funny to some Freudian approach to how people need therapy.

    Mamoru isn't really focusing on that, though, mind settled around him, cast on the person approaching — Gu Yun, he remembered hearing that in his mind before — and their surroundings. He knows what he's doing; a man relegated to the inside of his mind, whether by his own self-imposed loneliness or his own physical disability, sits with his thoughts often and long enough to know where the fuck ups are, fought them, was defeated, and accepted them.

    (Used them as a convenience, sometimes.)

    The quirk of his lip he sends the Marquis is just as dry, but the snap he does throw is aimed over his shoulder.
    ] Done your assessment?

    [The voice that replies is moving, scattered. He feels like laughing again. Of course, even as a reflection, he wouldn't just be a sitting duck. 'I have. Wasn't planning on fighting two, but you know I ain't opposed.'

    Still, while his thumb is lying ready on the hilt of his cane, just enough to flick the blade out of its sheath, Mamoru knows that he wouldn't attack anyone from behind, anyway, in this case.

    He sends a look to Gu Yun.
    ] That answer your question?
    prizeneck: (54)

    [personal profile] prizeneck 2023-01-16 11:11 am (UTC)(link)
    [Mamoru wants to laugh. He recognizes the gait, somehow, even if this time it has shifted into something cautious, the intent different from the last. This guy had felt jocose the last time, taunting at his lack of knowledge while griping about the state of this world and the ones they left behind.

    But he will give him credit for still trying, for aiming straight at his kidney.

    Ruthless, he'll appreciate that.

    The flick of his wrist is well-practiced and fast, and he doesn't need to shift his weight much. With a mere slide of one of his feet back to pivot at his hips and waist, Mamoru smacks the offending wrist away with the hilt of his cane and smacks at Silco's shins with the tip of it.

    The silence, though. He's fought with someone who was this purposeful about their quiet before.
    ] You think invisibility will work with someone who's blind?
    appeale: (that we made our home)

    [personal profile] appeale 2023-01-16 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
    [ what a relief that someone actually responded to her, and only one person at that... Rudbeckia had said it as a PSA, but she didn't actually want to talk to everybody in the damn room; now she can retreat to a corner under the excuse of conversation. she comes to Anders with slightly unsteady steps, feet dragging under the exhaustion of whatever curse has befallen Stargazers as well as her nearly-empty Hourglass, and unravels the scroll in her hands to show him. ]

    Ah—I think so... maybe.

    [ Ruby hedges with a sort of self-conscious nervousness about her, as though she's worried she'll get in trouble for making a more certain statement. —well, no, that's exactly what she's worried about. the whole reason she decided to play dumb here in this third life, instead of trying hard to keep up as someone smart the way she did in her first, is that she knows the consequences for falling short. if she tries to speak as though she isn't an idiot, people will doubt her, and argue with her, and if they argue with her then they'll become angry and they'll...

    anyway. she just needs to toe the line carefully. that's something she's very good at. ]


    This says that people in the castle were "irrevocably changed." I don't know what "it" refers to, though...
    baltimores: (013)

    amos burton | zenith | exalt

    [personal profile] baltimores 2023-01-16 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
    i. eating parlour

    [ Loathe as he is to spend any of his sand — to lose any of it — a guy's gotta eat. It's exchanging one weakness for another; lose some of his life source, or lose energy vital to keeping him alive to begin with. It's an ugly tradeoff.

    Which might explain why that mason jar is as close to him as it is, one large arm wrapped firmly around it, tucked in the crook of his elbow — if he had to spend his own life source just to eat then he is keeping all of this for himself, fuck you very much. Amos is seated in a corner, walls to his back and side, leaving him less open to ambush; he is also seated as far away as possible from anything that looks even remotely blighted. It isn't even the blight itself, as every now and then he'll look up, staring at that blue glow some of the plants sport like it's going to come to life and attempt to consume him. Call it a prior parallel experience he doesn't want to take any chances with.

    He tenses as he hears footsteps, using that arm to pull his jar in closer to his person as he lifts his head, stares in your direction. If he recognizes you — either as Zenith or a close friend — then his body will slacken and he'll loosen his hold on the jar, opting to simply return to eating, no worse for the wear.

    But if he doesn't recognize you — or knows you to be Meridian — then he'll bare his teeth at you, hackles up, food firmly within his grasp, and snap, ]
    What?

    [ He's a hungry animal and this is his kill. He'll tear your throat out if he has to; maybe even regain some of the sand he had to spend on it from your own. ]


    ii. hall of mirrors

    [ At some point, he's going to have to map out this maze — and maybe it's better to do it now, when he's still got some sand to spare, than to wait until it might be too late. Especially with the way that otter is, since he doesn't trust him one bit.

    It's easy going, at first. Amos isn't sure what to make of the sturdiness of the ice, so he uses his gravity magic to make himself lighter, just in case. And then he can practically glide through, cover plenty of ground with relative efficiency.

    Get so used to his own reflections that he doesn't even notice when one moves independently of him, stepping outside of its mirror to grab him from behind, try to wrestle him into a chokehold.

    Amos sputters, grabbing at the arm around his neck with both hands in an attempt to pry off its grip, all the while spinning around in an attempt to dislodge it. He knows how to make gravity work in his favour, so he does, sending his doppelganger careening into... an entirely different mirror, it shattering upon impact.

    That's about when Amos hears someone else's footsteps. It couldn't possibly be another doppelganger, right? He whirls in your direction, only for his own to get back up and tackle him from behind, sending the two of them to the ground, his doppelganger pinning one of his arms in the process. Yes, he is going to feel this in the morning; in the meantime, maybe a little help? ]



    iii. wildcard

    [ or whatever! plotting comment, arii#6412, or [plurk.com profile] cadiai to plot further. ]
    Edited 2023-01-16 11:54 (UTC)
    prizeneck: (74)

    [personal profile] prizeneck 2023-01-16 11:40 am (UTC)(link)
    [The way he looks at this man is gruff but not barbed as much as it should be.] You're making fun of my words?

    [He jerks his head towards their surroundings, the way people use the place as a way to R&R, to fiddle through the rows of books and tomes and piles of scrolls.] Just seemed like you read something shocking.
    prizeneck: (25)

    [personal profile] prizeneck 2023-01-16 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
    What about 'Tibbar', then? [He wiggles the book in his grasp, his hand raising just to make sure it's the otter's line of sight.] Just read an interesting book about your life as a Knight. What's that all about?
    baltimores: (098)

    vander —

    [personal profile] baltimores 2023-01-16 11:57 am (UTC)(link)
    [ He doesn't know how he ended up here; just that he has.

    The room is so busy that it's easy to get caught up in his surroundings. Even though he has a dagger sheathed at his side and a familiar greatsword strapped to his back, Amos' eyes go straight to the spears about the room before anything else. Then the jewels. Then the fact that he's been rendered immobile, and that's about when he starts to panic.

    A panic that doesn't really manifest itself in anything other than wild eyes, because, frozen in place — the exact thing that he's been trying to avoid.

    When the siren stops singing to take a breath his chest heaves, gulping down air, as he scrambles in behind a large pillar just in time, out of her path. It's at that point that he realizes he isn't alone in here, recognizing that someone else has been sealed in here with him.

    And when recognition dawns in his eyes — oh, thank god. Hey buddy. With a shaky exhale, Amos steadies himself, before jerking his head in the siren's direction from behind his pillar. ]


    How do you wanna tackle this?

    [ Or, more specifically — how do they want to go about getting close enough to kill her? 'cause it's gotta be done. ]

    [personal profile] halsband 2023-01-16 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
    [At first, the book doesn't seem like anything interesting; some fantasy novel with a fancy looking title because the contents are probably shit. He regrets 'offering' to read it as soon as that snarky "please" comes out of Mamoru's mouth. Also, he's horrible at storytelling, and just basically changes the names and locations around: instead of the adventures of Tibbar the Knight in an undersea kingdom, it's a girl named Jane, and she's interchangeably a Lady or a Princess in a land of vast desert, getting mixed up with some witches and learning magic and whatever-the-fuck else. He drones on with it, no emphasis on anything, and some details conflict by the end, and he shuts the book and tosses it on top of the shelf.]

    Well, that was boring shit, yeah?

    [There's not much in it Heine can use for his own means, it just makes him more suspicious of that otter guy. Pointless.]

    [personal profile] halsband 2023-01-16 01:09 pm (UTC)(link)
    [Silco's motives are difficult to understand right away; he wanted to destroy everything...? Heine's eyes are on the knife and looking for any tells of when Silco might strike, adjusting his grip on his own knife, fingers twitching. The moment Silco moves right, Heine intends to rush at him and go for the jugular, make it quick.]

    What... you afraid if the other guy wins, you have to go back or something?

    [If worlds can actually be restored.]

    [personal profile] halsband 2023-01-16 01:33 pm (UTC)(link)
    [This whole line of thinking tiresome and depressing and it's making his headache worse.]

    Not even close to the first time. You said many-

    [And there goes the chair, sliding a bit too much from a shift in precarious balance and tipping over, jostling the bookshelf behind on the way down, the clattering of heavy wood hitting the icy floor loud in the expanse of the library. Fuck. Heine mutters to himself as he gets off the floor as casually as possible, sets the chair back up, and sits... normally... This didn't happen. He leans on his elbows on the table and doesn't quite make eye contact.]

    How many shards? Everyone's got a label, right?

    [Are they putting all of them together, one of each? It's the first thing that comes to mind.]

    [personal profile] halsband 2023-01-16 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
    [There's some guilt on Heine's part too, though it shows less obviously and is only reflected in the way his gaze is a little less hard. Fucking kid is likely traumatized and he'd made them cringe in on themself like that. Whatever, he's not apologizing for it because this isn't the time.]

    It's fine.

    [The terseness of that is basically a warning not to draw attention to his faults and embarrassing reactions; there's a goal to accomplish here and that takes precedence to any awkward interactions.]

    But if you got an idea, fucking tell me. I don't know anything magic shit, and I'd just go rip her throat out if I could make it over there.

    [Which he can't, because he's not as fast as he could be. He'd had other ideas, but can't go through with them either as any damage he intentionally does to his own ears won't repair itself. Really a poor strategist, Heine's understanding that now, previously relying on assumptions of near-invincibility.]
    passio: (pic#15613718)

    for amos.

    [personal profile] passio 2023-01-16 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ really and truly, dextera isn’t targeting amos specifically. the logic bears out like so: he needs sand to replenish what he’s used, he can’t ask for sand from his fellow meridians nor the unharmonized, and there are some people on zenith that are off limits too. amos is someone he knows he won’t lose face with, although their last conversation ended as close to amicably as the two could have possibly come.

    they still don’t understand each other, and as such, dextera is not worried about losing a potential ally. ]




    [ he needs to immobilize amos somehow, which is a more difficult task than it might have been in horos, where he’d had time to make traps. he starts off simple, then, using one of the spells he’s tentatively learned to grasp in his time here to conjure up the illusion of a moving shadow in amos’ periphery, hoping to get him to turn. ]

    [personal profile] halsband 2023-01-16 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
    [Heine pays no attention to Amos as the man approaches, not until he sits right there when he could take any number of chairs in this room. Fucker. He's still pointedly ignored for a moment, but Heine can feel eyes on him and finally acknowledges his presence with a quiet sigh; looking over, a suddenly sharp glance when he could have been mistaken for sleeping with his eyes open before, arms crossed and slouching in his chair. Beside him on the table is one single book, small and thin, a soft leather cover and no title on the front cover or the spine. Heine pulls it a little closer as he sits up straighter.]

    Working so far.