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
    pyojeol: (pic#15868846)

    [personal profile] pyojeol 2023-01-28 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
    [HER DESPAIR NOSEBLEED... IT'S COMING...]

    -- Don't call him that! [IT'S INSTINCTIVE!! which immediately changes to concern,] Wait, did he say he was gonna go and kill it?

    [this is less 'oh no dokja is gonna get hurt' and more 'dokja u stupid ass why do u never tell me anything, we could be murdering mr. tibbs by now, but NO]
    warmare: (失敗)

    [personal profile] warmare 2023-01-28 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
    [Hayame is powerful. She knew that. She had always relied on that. Where some mountain breeds of jinba might outclass her in pure muscle, some field jinba in the swiftness of their hooves, she herself was an even balance between strength and speed, force and delicateness. And above all else... she knew that even if some jinba might be able to best her, a human never should have been able to.

    Not until Horos. Until Kenos. Until magic, that she did not understand and could not defend against, something that could render that strength meaningless. She did not "hate" magic- No. She feared it... and hate was a convenient cover. But magic now shatters mirrors as easily as her own strikes had, and all with a snap.

    ... Was that it? There is a moment when the voice is silent, and Hayame meets Akua's eyes, her own unsettled state obvious beneath the veneer of readiness until-

    Of course it is.

    The voice returns, cold and judgemental, from other mirrors, the shadow of a centaur pacing around the pair reflecting in surface after surface.

    The strong should need no one but themselves.

    And though that might be for the both of them... the next is more of a whisper, more for Hayame herself, the voice growing vicious as it reveals the words to be an insult rather than a genuine belief.

    Isn't that why you abandoned your own blood brother and denied his aid? Isn't that why you refused to let those free jinba "trick you", with their pathetic little offers of a home?

    The sound of a bowstring drawing echoes in the dark and cold glow.

    Isn't that why you didn't tell the man you wanted to love you that you betrayed him?

    Hayame's own arrows shatter mirror after mirror, a snarl of denial ripped from her throat but weakened by how she can't actually... she can't actually call it a lie. But the words hurt more than the icy arrow from the doppelganger that embeds itself in her rump.]
    gravings: (110b)

    [personal profile] gravings 2023-01-28 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Gray hasn't seen nearly as many horror movies as a normal girl her age, but she still feels an instinctive chill when she sees the lone reflection that fails to follow Dimitri's motion. When it comes to fight or flight—

    Fight it. That instinct is burned into Gray's being, and so she steps forward to stand by Dimitri with the pieces of her large scythe flowing from her cloak and assembling into her hand as if by magic. ]


    Who's there?

    [ The question this time is directed at the reflection, or whoever might be casting it. ]
    epiprocta: (87)

    [personal profile] epiprocta 2023-01-28 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Gen smacks into the wall with a graceless noise. And even more than that physical impact, the inability to process what just happened throws him for a loop; for one very visible, very obvious moment, he's frozen in shock as he struggles to process the abrupt and highly illogical turn of events.

    Then the mace smashes into the leg.

    Brilliant pain lights up all the way through his leg and up his spine, and Gen crumples to the ground with a barely-contained scream, the noise caught at the back of his throat and muffled by the hard clench of his jaw. It hurts -- hurts a hell of a lot more than anything he'd been prepared for -- and the prospect of getting back to his feet feeling impossible. He can barely think at all past how much it hurts.

    It's a good thing, then, that that pain is so severe it helps block out any other pains -- like the jagged prickle of when he scrabbles to snatch up a shard of that broken jar, gripping it tight regardless of the way it cuts into his palm so he can point it towards Tyki. His gaze is bright with a rabid, vicious hatred, now, and there's a surprising focus to his vision even as his voice comes breathless and taut. ]


    -- I'd rather die. Than just sit back and let you do what you want.

    [ He means it, too. Even when he's barely able to stay sitting up, hunched over as he fights the powerful desire to simply curl up in pain, his focus is entirely on keeping that glass shard pointed at Tyki. He'll swing the moment Tyki draws close, regardless of if it works or not. ]
    epiprocta: (40)

    [personal profile] epiprocta 2023-01-28 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Gen easily ignores the first bit, instead focusing on yanking a few frilly, ceremonial robes out of the way and dumping them on the floor so he can more easily look through the other garments. There isn't much that looks promising, and he gives an irritable huff as he digs himself deeper into the stacks of clothes, looking for anything that might be useful.

    But he does stiffen visibly at what Anders says next, shooting the man a death glare over his shoulder. While he'd previously seemed grumpy and irate, it's clear that Anders has actually struck a nerve this time, and Gen bristles with silent rage for a moment, hand curling into the robe he'd been tugging aside until the fabric scrunches up in his fist.

    -- why should he give a shit about other people's suffering, when he's always had to endure alone? What the hell does he owe other people? Who the hell does this sanctimonious bastard think he is, giving him this holier-than-thou bullshit?

    The mention of his injured leg doesn't help matters. ]


    And what of it?

    [ The garment and its hanger hit the floor with a soft flump as Gen promptly whirls around to face Anders, bristling with caution even as he obviously favors one leg over the other; his hand's immediately come to rest at the handle of the mace hanging at his belt. ]

    I've cave your face in if you think I'm an easy mark just 'cause I'm injured.
    epiprocta: (10)

    [personal profile] epiprocta 2023-01-28 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
    [ His ears briefly perk up in smug satisfaction when Silco admits he has a point.

    Then it's immediately squelched when Gen realizes he actually doesn't know what to demand of Silco.

    Here, it's doubly evident that Gen has yet to fully acclimate to those canine features of his; even if he manages to keep his expression largely controlled, brow furrowed in what only looks to be consideration, the backwards cant of his ears and the uneasy swish of his tail makes it obvious he's not exactly on top of this negotiation. Because what the hell can he ask of a man like Silco? An IOU would be pointless, he thinks; he sure as hell doesn't expect someone as shrewd as Silco to honor something like that. Money? Useless at the moment. And it doesn't look like Silco is carrying any useful resources he can immediately demand, so ... ]


    ... yeah, you owe me one when we're out of here. One extra shot.

    [ It feels like a lame deal -- because why the hell would he even want another hit of that stuff except under dire circumstances? -- but it's better than nothing. ]

    You gonna give me your word you'll keep your end of the deal?

    [ There's no masking the doubt in his voice. He trusts Silco about as far as he could throw him, and he's partly just testing the waters to see how Silco responds to that blatant doubt. ]
    pyojeol: (pic#15863650)

    crawls to u a millennium later

    [personal profile] pyojeol 2023-01-28 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
    [Sooyoung's got a million what-ifs and should-haves tucked in the back of her mind -- every single one showing her how little prepared she is for this -- but her focus is on the battle, on the sudden shift in her surroundings when Johnny flings Sand at her.

    Sooyoung making the leap across the pond and landing close enough to grab a spear, then the impact of the Siren's tail breaking ribs, sending her sprawling --

    Then it all fades, snapping back to normal -- no, the present? The thought knocks around in her head even as she hefts the long heavy spear still in her hand up, and then fires it straight at the Siren in the midst of her song -- he said make an opening and she will, even if a part of her doesn't know how Johnny will reach the Siren, if at all --

    The Siren stops singing, snarling as she lashes her tail in front of her to save her from impalement -- which does, except the spear goes straight through her tail instead, momentarily pinning it onto the stone floor. The Siren shrieks, pulling with her body to try and disengage it --]
    zauneyete: (Remnisc)

    [personal profile] zauneyete 2023-01-28 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
    It unfortunately did. I would not recommend doing that again.

    [ It's said derisively, but anyway! Other than the flicker of annoyance, it smooths over to... a much more tepid feeling. Like chill water with a filmy feeling -- like pollution. ]

    Oh, it's quite simple. Your shard is the essence of everything you are. You will find that if your body dies, your shard can be... planted. And regrown from that.

    [ There's the vaguest sensation here -- of choking -- before it's clamped off, severely, and that communion returns to chill, filmy water. ]
    warmare: (組んだ捥)

    [personal profile] warmare 2023-01-28 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
    [Hayame had not replied, when Ernesto had said that it was good to see her again before they parted near the Tree. ("Alive and healthy," he'd said, and she thinks they both knew why he didn't say "well".) But she had remembered it. She tells herself that this is only because of how rare it was that someone found meeting her a positive thing, but. There was perhaps another reason.

    Not one she would ever easily admit.

    Instead... he half smiles at her, and she frowns back, lips thin.]


    - Why? The fence sitters will not go with you?

    [Her arms tighten where they cross, her fingers tapping along a bicep. He obviously hadn't joined Meridian... if he had-]
    Edited 2023-01-28 07:10 (UTC)
    gravings: (038)

    [personal profile] gravings 2023-01-28 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Jesus Christ. The downside of a giant scythe is that it isn't a precision instrument, so when Matsui goes and gets tangled up in his doppelganger AGAIN, it robs Gray of her scything capacity. It's all she can do to keep the Matsuis straight in her head.

    She doesn't actually want to watch any Matsui dying a slow and animalistic death even if it's at the hands of the original Matsui, so after a few moments of impotent spectating, she yells a little (but only a little). ]


    Um, Mr. Matsui, would you like to borrow my weapon?!

    [ Which one was the right Matsui again... ]
    warmare: (組んだ捥)

    [personal profile] warmare 2023-01-28 07:28 am (UTC)(link)
    [... Hayame is actually not that cold. Thanks to her kind's higher body temperatures and more equine hardiness, only the more unnatural, magic-based castle temperatures affected her... but, it's not like she's about to let anyone of these people see her sweat. Or... shiver, in this particular instant.

    Her glare, though, is icy. If almost always was, that wasn't anything personal, but it was still an intense thing, perhaps, the first time it was encountered- cold, and hard, the gaze of a woman who brooked little nonsense, humor, or... much of anything beyond the mission and the battlefield. In that first moment, she sizes up this delicate looking human in front of her... and there is no hiding that she doesn't look impressed. She says she didn't want to cause trouble, but-]


    You don't think it would be a bother if a Zenith took your [TIME] and helped their accursed faction achieve victory with it?

    [Hayame's voice is just as cold as her gaze, her imposing posture still... and waiting for the answer.]
    spilledinkpot: (pic#16200125)

    [personal profile] spilledinkpot 2023-01-28 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
    I am afraid not.

    [The phrasing is polite, the remnants of memories of how a man had used to speak, but... he does not feel sorrow for it. Or for much, perhaps. It is difficult to miss something you have forgotten. One thing he has not forgotten, however...]

    I do know about humans, yes.

    [The table is a good choice. It allows him to sit across from her (with a brush of his long jacket out of the way and a curl of a long, whip-like tail) but keep a certain distance and barrier between them. Best for preventing accidents.]

    There was a young girl in my care. She had a healthy appetite.

    [... And he had been one, once. But that is something... he keeps to himself, for now.]
    salvageable: (pic#16171964)

    [personal profile] salvageable 2023-01-28 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Damn, imagine being prejudiced to a good guy like Anders who sets up clinics in libraries and helps the needy... Couldn't be Dokja. ]

    I hope so, too, but people like that can be kind of...

    [ He trails off and makes a flippant gesture with his free hand. He's sure the message comes across even without having to say it. On to more lighter topics! ]

    My world didn't originally have magic, but when it appeared, it quickly became obvious that you either had to adapt or die.

    [ He sounds so casual as he explains. ]

    A lot of people chose to adapt, and ones that didn't, well. You can imagine that just left the one type of people to survive.
    salvageable: (pic#15332057)

    [personal profile] salvageable 2023-01-28 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
    [ wow i regret the ability to read

    And oh, this introduction is suddenly veering into a territory that Dokja had been entirely unprepared for. He stalls for a moment, more out of surprise than anything else, before trying to recover from his very awkward pause. ]


    I... I'm Kim Dokja.

    [ Help. What about him screams friend of Yoo Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung and how can that be changed. He looks genuinely concerned when he asks his next question. ]

    They told you about me?
    salvageable: (pic#15332052)

    [personal profile] salvageable 2023-01-28 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
    I was hoping for something of value.

    [ Though you probably have a lovely singing voice, Jiang! ]
    sanguinary: (but you know i know)

    [personal profile] sanguinary 2023-01-28 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
    [The way his introduction to Dokja was Sooyoung blasting mental images of him into his head while going "I HAVE TO MAKE SURE THESE IDIOTS DON'T DIE", and Joonghyuk spilling his memories everywhere... He pauses to consider his answer to this for a second. Why is everyone in this bar so stupid.]

    In ways. [GIRL HELP. At least he'll further elaborate, since he seems to realize that that isn't sufficient after a second and has no qualms about sharing things.]

    I share an aspect with Han Sooyoung, and she is very loud. She has shown your face to me before. [Then, inclining his head forward a little:] I was given a memory by Yoo Joonghyuk in exchange for one that I shared with him, back when the reflecting pools were being used in such a way. You were there, as well.
    sanguinary: (requiem)

    [personal profile] sanguinary 2023-01-28 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
    [HE'S JUST GOING TO MAKE HER DESPAIR NOSEBLEED FASTER AT THIS RATE.]

    You are not "friends"? [This is said with the same inflection as he usually speaks with but considering they're Aspect Connected, she'll be able to tell most likely that the vibes behind it are "lmfao" HELP. Anyway he just shakes his head.]

    He did not. As far as I'm aware, no one has any intention of attempting to do so, though perhaps we should consider it.

    [MURDER!!]
    spilledinkpot: (pic#16200112)

    [personal profile] spilledinkpot 2023-01-28 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
    [- He materializes from nothing.

    Thankfully? for Teacher... He cannot, actually, smell Silco's cigars. He can only see the smoke, and assume it has a smell. He doesn't recall it, despite recognizing the vice. The urge comes up, unbidden, to comment that the habit is not healthy for the lungs...

    But he does not know where it comes from, and so he does not say it in favor of just answering the question at first.]


    No. But the tunnel was far longer than I anticipated.

    [He finishes hauling himself out of the water, placing the makeshift bag in front of the other man before stepping back out of reach.]

    There was not much remaining in the rooms I found, but there was some food untouched by Blight.

    [He brought what wouldn't be spoiled by water- mostly what seemed to be salted fish. But also-]

    Is that your "magic"... ?

    [He had been granted the use of such, supposedly, upon his Harmonization. But to be fully invisible, hidden from sight... ?]
    salvageable: (pic#15423524)

    [personal profile] salvageable 2023-01-28 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
    [ NO IT'S WORSE THAN HE THOUGHT

    Can you spot the blood draining from his face, Matsui. Yeah, he knows Sooyoung is too unhinged for her own good, but sharing a whole memory with Yoo Joonghyuk? Dokja's life flashes before his eyes and he sees nothing good there. ]


    What was the memory?
    sanguinary: (tell me your motive)

    [personal profile] sanguinary 2023-01-28 08:38 am (UTC)(link)
    [HE SPOTS IT!!! HE HAS AN EYE FOR BLOOD!!!!!

    While Dokja's busy witnessing the entirety of his cursed life in 500x speed, Matsui's watching his face - the blood draining from it, but also any expressions that shift across, the tilt of his brow, the look in his eye. There's a bizarre intensity to his scrutiny, like something old and alien studying an unfamiliar thing.

    And then he says:]


    You were enjoying a meal together.

    [Help.]
    spilledinkpot: (pic#16200102)

    [personal profile] spilledinkpot 2023-01-28 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
    [This man says he will not kill... and it is an honorable sounding vow. But despite how polite his own mannerisms were...]

    I would not say such a thing aloud to others, whether they be Zenith or not.

    [His hands clasp loosely behind his back, the stance almost of a professor or lecturer.]

    If you are not willing to do such a thing for the sake of your convictions... It is likely you will fail against someone who is.
    spilledinkpot: (pic#16200115)

    [personal profile] spilledinkpot 2023-01-28 08:47 am (UTC)(link)
    [... Ah. She is holding it that way for his sake.

    Though he had planned to refuse anything that she attempted to give him, seeing as he hadn't actually lost something he could use by giving away the meal and it was going to a fellow Zenith... He reaches out to very carefully pinch the scrunched end of the hair? bow in his black gloved hands, pulling it closer to his face to examine it. The bow he understood, but...

    It is his turn to be curious as he moves the scrunchie over his hand, stretching the elastic by splaying his long fingers out and back in a few times.]


    ... How do you apply it to the hair? The bow is already tied...

    [If he is thrown off by being gifted such an obviously feminine item, he certainly doesn't show it. If Shiva were to return... she might be delighted by such a thing. He would keep it.

    But he needs to know how to use it properly, or... she will surely laugh at him, and his ineptitude with such things. Not that it would be so bad, as long as he could hear her laughter at all.]
    spilledinkpot: (pic#16163509)

    [personal profile] spilledinkpot 2023-01-28 09:15 am (UTC)(link)
    Three months...

    [He repeats the time aloud to himself, as if musing on whether he ought to give himself the same sort of limits before he assumed that he was a failure at the task. It had been... just nearly a month. Only a single month. And yet, in that short time... his gaze drops to his hand, fingers curling as if holding something when there is nothing but air.

    It did not feel short at all, somehow. If he could have three months, six months... if she would grow up, and the Curse never touch her-

    There seems so much he means to say, but first... the clothing is folded. He straightens back up, beginning to move towards the ice cold water, wading in as if fully prepared to carry on their conversation beneath the surface. Ah... He bends, fishing for rocks that line the edge of the pool and beginning to put them into his pockets. Walking is easier than swimming.]


    I also care [cared] for a child. She is younger than your charge, however- she is but six.
    ragou: (5.)

    [personal profile] ragou 2023-01-28 12:32 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ A slow blink, followed by a bark of a laugh at the latter suggestion. ]

    Mmmm, my spells are common thingsー some for light, some for simple illusions. [ Pointing to each paper doll that corresponds, long nails tapping the mono-eye painted on its surface. ] But, hm! It does intrigue, the thought of giving ourselves away in pieces over such trifles.

    [ His knife-sharp smile spreads; reaching up to his ears, Douman unhooks his large magatama-shaped earring from its dangle, and places it on the table. ]

    I suppose it comes down to how much of me you'd like to possess, Tyki-dono!
    ragou: (33.)

    [personal profile] ragou 2023-01-28 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ "A good person".

    The assignment of those terms to the being that keeps them on her palm, at her beck-and-call, inspires something dark and indignant in the pit of Douman's gutー not because he resents being here, exactly, or the treatment that's been extended to him (not quite awful, by skewed standards), but because divinity is rarely ever good. Thinking of Yima as such feels so trite, so...

    ...well, human. Like anthropomorphizing the sun in an attempt not to be cowed by it.
    ]

    I see! What a relief it is, to hear as much.

    [ The act doesn't drop: Douman does sound emphatic about Yima's so-called benevolence. ]

    I expect the only way we'll make it out of this situation is to remain true to our loyalties. To waver would be to doubt, and doubt may lead to weakness. I fear that most of all.

    [ An amiable smile, despite the nature of his words. Reaching out, Douman brushes dust off of Amos' arm. ]