WEEKS 5 & 6

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WEEKS 5 & 6

THE CALM BEFORE...

The city has more or less bounced back after the disastrous Go-Kart race. While there are still some people recovering, no one’s hospitalized and there were thankfully no casualties - although there were more injuries than might have been expected, on accounts of some brawls that broke out among the competitors and the audience.

In spite of that, the Shopping District is feeling distinctly friendlier these days. Shopkeepers will take notice of repeat customers and be openly happy to see the better-behaved ones. They may even cut characters a discount on the sly for their patronship!

Perhaps as a result, the Nekyia Shopping District has become clear of haze much like the Nekyia dormitory started. While Shadows still lurk there, they are much fewer in number. Should characters choose to explore some more, they will find that the haze has become thinner in the Nekyia Entertainment District, allowing them to work on cleaning out the various Shadows that reside in that area.

WHAT THE FLUFF.

Meanwhile, back at the dormitory…

…trouble is amiss, but the fun kind of trouble.

On Sunday, September 1st, it seems like there's an event for pets being hosted at the parks near the dorm! That's fine and dandy, but the trouble comes from owners being careless and letting their animals run loose. That's right, some of them have been given free rein to explore, and a number of them have taken a liking to the dormitory!

You might be able to blame Dawn – that cat from the Nekyia who also appears to give you strange items! – because she's got bowls of cat food around her that she's feasting on. It's attracted some pet cats and strays alike. As for the dogs, well, they like people. Enough said.

Why not treat yourself to some animal therapy while you can? And if not, wrangling any animals that manage to get free works too!

SUMMER DAYS.

As summer break draws to a close, the Arcade is desperate to not only redeem its reputation, but also squeeze the last bit of pocket change out of people while they’re still on vacation. As a result, there is an ongoing discount on point cards allowing people to play competitive arcade games - Classics like Mirmo Kart and Street Slayer, as well as shinier rhythm games like Dancerun Stardom and LaiLai Universe Plus!

Of course, the hope is that characters drawn in by the arcade games will stick around for the other offerings - karaoke, bowling, ufo catchers, and even a bar (for those 21+!) And if none of these attractions are enough to catch a character’s eye, there’s plenty of other activities to be found in Carnation Court. Besides the restaurants and bars, there are many themed pop-up cafés and events, and even a few empty buildings with a very reasonable lease fee, should someone want to run an event of their own...

While the mood isn’t as open and friendly as the shopping district, it’s still worth a visit to relax and unwind a bit, preferably alongside Braphine’s other chosen. After all, there are Shadows looming on the horizon...

MESSAGE FROM YOUR RA!

Huh...? That's weird. It looks like a really big Shadow took up residence in the Nekyia. Hold on, I'll set things up so the app will give you the coordinates! Could you please check it out?

COMMISSIONS

NEKYIA COMMISSIONS

FETCH QUEST

I messed up…Mom's gonna be so mad at me for losing track of her dog at that event…

There's a shadow in the Nekyia that's taken the form of a Level 25 Nue. It seems to be growling in despair, and echoing the thoughts of this commissioner. Apparently this person lost his mother's dog at the event and hasn't made an effort to find it yet. Fight the Nue and try to knock some sense into this guy, either by shaking some sense into him or by defeating him; they've got a dog to find, after all.

YOU KNOW THAT WE'RE TOXIC

Leave, Braphine. Leave this world to the people. We don't need anyone. We've only got ourselves.

Seems like someone who might be involved with the vandalism incident might have a shadow here, too, in the form of a Level 24 Mokoi. She sounds like she's going to do something more extreme to the place if she isn't stopped. However, be careful… characters hit with Dazzler from this particular Shadow cannot be cured with magic, and must instead be healed by another person’s touch. It’s time to get cozy with your companions.

GET HEE OUTTA HERE

A powerful Shadow has appeared in the Nekyia and needs to be eliminated asap! Black Frost is a tenacious (if cute?) little guy, and can only be fought after taking down three Level 28 Jack Frosts beforehand. Make sure you ration out your spiritual energy and healing spells, this little Shadow can pack a real punch, being at Level 30! That said, for those who manage to defeat him, he should drop a mascot trading card. Turn this in to the priest or priestess at the temple to unlock a bonus new skill for your Persona!

(OOC: Please turn in your threads for this commission on the rewards page to unlock the new skill, which is separate from your leveling skillset! You may select one elemental skill for light damage to apply permanently to your character's persona. When turning in the skill will be effective immediately once rewarded.)

REAL WORLD COMMISSIONS

FINE DINING

Various restaurants, from fast food and fast casual grub to the fine dining establishments in Carnation Court are trying to outdo each other in terms of promotion, and as such are on the prowl for any free hands to help entice potential customers with free samples and food challenges galore. Grab a buddy and help hawk some bite-sized treats! Or maybe try to beat the record for the biggest burger ever eaten, if you dare.

ALL HANDS ON STAGE

A number of performers were involved in the Go-Kart incident and have yet to fully recover enough to do their parts for the show! For the next two weeks, the Sunset Grand Theater is looking for understudies for roles, as well as stage hands who are willing to ninja around and maneuver props and sets for the actors. The production is a fanciful tale of starcrossed lovers, evil stepmothers, political feuds, and for some reason, a dragon.

PREPARE THE PETS

The pet store in Vermillion Village is looking for some volunteers to help socialize the pets through playtime, as well as feed some of the more persnickety ones. Those who want to pet some adorable balls of fluff and energy can work with the kittens, puppies, and bunny rabbits, while those who are brave enough can try their hand at feeding the reptiles their meals of live crickets and frozen rats.

OOC

READ ME!!!!

Welcome to your log for Weeks 5 and 6! Feel free to use this log for any developments that happen during the next two weeks. There will be no log next week, but we will still be posting a small mini-event on Saturday.
For plotting, please feel free to head over to this post on the OOC comm to post your plotting top levels.
For Nekyia commissions, you can assume that the Shadows will respawn until they've been beaten enough times to go back to normal.
Palaces start this week! Please refer to the Palace schedule here and sign ups for this week's capped Palace here

ic comm | inboxes | ooc comm | full nav

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Comments

[cirquedesang]

[It's not comfortable silence, but it could be worse. Much worse. And so he stays, and observes the party, but his attention is easily diverted back to McGillis when the silence is broken.]

You provoked him.

[A statement, not an accusation.]

Unfortunately for you, not everyone is so easily pushed away.

[vogelfrei]

Unfortunate, is it?

[ McGillis doesn't really know anymore. What is pushing someone away and what is pulling them closer? What Gaelio did to him was both at once. What is happening here in Sunset City is... nebulous and undefined and in shambles, but it's ongoing.

McGillis had a frustrating, unsatisfying, climactic, perfect conclusion to his life - and then his world kept turning. ]

[cirquedesang]

Perhaps.

[He knows how it is to feel oneself getting close to others when there's no real willingness to do so. How there's an impulse to lash out, to hurt... so you're not hurt first. Whether that's what McGillis was attempting with Izou, specifically - though certainly not with initial reply to the post, of course - only he can really say, but.

Well. Celeste knows what it looks like.

And while he may not be one to want to reach out and make connections himself, he is nothing if not... contrary.]

Do you think so?

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis had been hoping for Celeste to elaborate - to make some assumptions that he could then use as a conversational guide-rail, moving further from being asked about his own feelings directly.

Unfortunately, Celeste os a step ahead - too used to that mode of communication, perhaps. ]

I think your whole judgement on the matter is premature.

[ Sure, Celeste is protecting him now, but there is a clear bias towards Izou with everyone in the group and that's... to be expected, maybe, with the man wearing his heart much more openly on his sleeve. ]

[cirquedesang]

[Unfortunately, as is the way when like-sees-like, there was a choice to be made. The kinder option, perhaps, would have been to keep step with him, to allow him to put the conversation on a guide-rail, to allow feelings to remain safely hidden.

He does not choose the kinder option, this time.]

Is it? Then please, correct me.

[Once more, there are no assumptions made outright, no laying of any groundwork for guide-rails.

It was easy to have a swift fondness for Izou, to be sure, with how open he was about everything, but McGillis still has not escaped notice, and recognition is a powerful motivator.]

[vogelfrei]

[ Celeste, you're being very mean to a very injured man. For a lot of physical and some emotional reasons, McGillis finds it hard to think right now and it shows in the way his brow furrows as he looks for a response a little too slowly. ]

Hard to push away people who were never truly close.

[ Realistically, it's been less than two weeks. A good evening at a diner, based on nothing but lies by omission... Does that count for anything? Is that anything either he or the others should want to uphold? ]

[cirquedesang]

[It's apparently his M.O. to make people think when they'd rather not. It's a cruelty in itself, he knows, and the kindness shown in exchange for said cruelty is not pressing fingers to where that brow furrows.]

It is. And yet, is that not what this was?

[It's been less than two weeks. A good evening at a diner, based on nothing but lies by omission may not be something to uphold on its own, to be sure, but...

Even that can be a foundation for something more, so surely it had counted for something. He wouldn't be here, perched on the sofa armrest if it didn't count for anything.]

[vogelfrei]

[ It's frustrating because McGillis knows that Celeste has a point, even when he doesn't want to agree with the way he's framing said point. It's not really about Izou, or about anybody who went to Dennihop, it's... it's something more fundamental.

It's the core belief about himself that he's held onto since he can remember. It's about being solitary, and about how Gaelio forced him to admit he does not necessarily need to be. It's about proving the point to himself, one way or another.

And... ]

... I've built many relations based on lies and facades. I merely told someone the truth, this time. If you want to think of that as provocation, go ahead.

[cirquedesang]

The truth can be provocative.

[A simple statement, presented entirely without judgement, this time. He won't deny he's used the truth as a dagger in his own time. It's easy. With truth comes an honesty to viciousness which makes those less quick to anger difficult to reason away.]

Nearly all my own relations are built on lies and facades. [Nearly.] How one reacts when they find out they've been lied to can be vindicating, for those like us.

[If - when - the person in question reacts negatively, when they withdraw, when they lash out, when any small little thing built between them is forced to crumble away under the weight of the truth crashing into the fragile facade... then the need for a facade in the first place, and the impulse to shutter one's true self away and remain solitary is proven correct.]

[vogelfrei]

[ ... he's really being read for filth here. McGillis can't help but find a dark amusement in it. He's been many things to many people over the years, but he doesn't think he's ever been understood. Gaelio had wanted to, but McGillis never gave him the pieces to put it together. He's jealously guarded his own past, because it would give others too much power over him.

Here, he's experimented with letting the mask slip and with a single nod to Celeste in that dumpster, he's somehow given the man everything he needed to figure him out uncannily well. ]

... you and me are too alike.

[ It's uncomfortable to look in a mirror.

McGillis speaks quietly, both because he's still weak and because he doesn't necessarily want to be overheard by anybody else here. ]

It was vindicating. He really did react just as I knew he would when we went to Kyoto. I was speeding the inevitable along.

[cirquedesang]

[With that nod McGillis had given Celeste the keys to understanding, sure, but in using them, he was handing the man the same keys for his own self. And where McGillis has jealously guarded his past, Celeste has elected to pretend his own never existed.

The benefit of an unaging existence, he supposes.

But one turn deserves another, and so... mutual understanding.

An infinite mirror. Reflection on reflection, on and on until all that's left is a dark, empty void of nothing.]

Awful, isn't it?

[To be seen. To be understood.]

What I don't understand... [Or, perhaps he does, and he's finally going to relent and allow some guiderails to be set up for this conversation.] Is why? If Mina is to be believed, we're not meant to stay long. You could have carried on your lies and let him go home none the wiser, without the attempt on your life. Was it so important to push him away prematurely?

[vogelfrei]

'Important' is not the word I'd use for it.

[ Stupid is more like it, but he's not going to call himself dumb anywhere but in the privacy of his own mind. If he's foolish, that's his own matter to rectify. ]

It was an experiment - a snap decision of an experiment, unfortunately.

[ That is as close as he'll get to admitting it was stupid. ]

[cirquedesang]

No, of course not.

[Yeah, it was stupid. He sees that veiled admission and, because McGillis is confined to the couch and currently staring down a be-googlyeyed cutout of himself, Celeste will exercise the mercy of not giving voice to that.

At least not directly.

His tone sure does, though.]

A successful experiment, for the worse.

[No 'better or-' here.]