linkingup | yoon's palace

Hello, welcome to yet another free-for-all Palace, this time for Yoon! I encourage both existing and new CR to come on in and get to know the boy, as well as the other participants! Please feel free to come and go at your leisure. ICly, this is happening on September 14th.

The Palace will begin OOCly tomorrow, September 14th at 2PM EST. You may sign up before then, or at any point during the Palace! I will be around all day tomorrow and Sunday, and I am hoping to wrap up by Monday late night EST at the latest, due to my timezone. However, I am not opposed to taking a few more days to wrap up if need be.

If we go past Sunday: My tagging will be sporadic at work, so any subsequent rounds will be posted ~between 11am-12:45pm, ~5:30-6:30pm, and 11pm onward (all EST). Please keep this in mind when signing up!

Please ping me on Discord if you need to tap out! Autopiloting is absolutely allowed, or we can say that your character is pushed back to the beginning of the Palace.

Character Name:
Timezone + Availability:
Element + Level:
Role: Fighter or Utility
Injury Permissions: Not looking to kill anyone here, but please let me know what your limits are just in case!

PALACE CONTENT WARNINGS: Starvation, self-sacrifice (which can tie in with suicidal ideation), and a scene with some human trafficking implications (but nothing in extensive detail). I will always warn for these subjects, including any content warnings that pop up along the way.

Edited 2024-09-13 15:32 (UTC)

[ In the Nekyia, characters will find that something different is happening yet again. The area where the city's library is has transformed slightly. The building is still there, but there are vines, plants, trees growing on and around it. It looks like it's being overrun with forestry, almost like the plants are trying to overtake the building. There are ethereal-like butterflies in different colors – red, white, blue, green, and yellow – fluttering around. They are all emitting a soft glow.

However, you can tell that the library is pitch black, but something inside of the library is glowing even brighter than the butterflies. Its glow is a light shade of orange, the one sign of light in an otherwise dark building.

> Investigate? ]

[ Yeah, you sure aren't at the library anymore.

In fact, you're in a village that looks worse for wear, sitting on dry, barren land. It's cold. Despite its appearance, it isn't abandoned, either; there are people here, but a lot of them look sick. Tired. Freezing. Some of them may not be alive anymore upon your arrival.

There are others who are walking around – people who seem to be faring at least a little better than the rest. Some homes smell like something's cooking, which normally wouldn't seem like a big deal, but…

You are suddenly very, very hungry, and you are freezing – but you also have nothing. There is also nothing around you but some people with food to eat and clothes to layer on yourselves.

With a little bit of investigation, some people you spot in the area are:
- A woman cooking in her home
- A young man carrying a small sack of potatoes
- A traveling merchant
- A woman carrying clothing
- A gentleman with wool and herbs

What will you do now? Leave them be, plead? Negotiate? ...Steal? ]

(OOC: Please bold what you decide to do! Feel free to discuss, but each character can make their own choice – including leaving the NPCs alone – but those who choose to interact can only pick one NPC (individually) right now to encounter.

In this phase, hunger is a sensation, not a status effect, unless stated otherwise.)

Edited 2024-09-14 18:50 (UTC)

[ In the midst of your little adventure, there is the sound of footsteps. It can be heard anywhere, no matter where you are, and will lead you toward the west end of the village. Anyone who cares to investigate will see a figure approaching. He is a tall, blond man with bangs that cover his eyes.

You can hear whispers that he carries riches.

He doesn't seem to notice you just yet. Do you approach? And if so, how? ]

[ You've made your meals, your medicinal ingredients, and some of you now have some additional items with you. Things are going well, aside from the fog and the plants...which finally spring into action.

Schneider and Soujuurou slice at the plants. The plants don't like that very much. They recoil, as if they're offended, and then they launch themselves forward again. Vines wrap around Schneider and Soujuurou's ankles immediately, and squeeze them for light physical damage.

Then, four other plants rise up and ensnare Sayaka, Yi Sang, Arven, and Haruka. Sayaka and Haruka are now inflicted with Sleep. Yi Sang is Brainwashed. Arven is Confused.

Before you spring into action, some of the flowers on the plants will emit pollen. The pollen will create two things that everyone can see – an image of Yoon with a group of people, as well as a scene in which Ik-soo tells Yoon to go and see the world with the girl with red hair plus the tall man in a blue robe. Yona and Hak, their names are. That's it, though, before the battle ensues.

It's on you, now, to break free. ]

[ The flower is cut down and split apart, torn up from the outside going inwards. It's wilted, dead on the ground, never to come back again. Yoon's appearance have you given both questions and answers, but at least you got that final piece of confirmation that yes, this is his Palace. And knowing all of that, what was once violent and hateful seems to be no more, as the petals turn a dark shade of brown.

But you know better. You know that it's not over yet. You've got someone you need to see. You made that hot pot for him after all, didn't you?

It's not over.

The hut rumbles, and in the same fashion that Yoon and Yona entered the boat, you fall through the floor. ]

Edited 2024-09-15 17:46 (UTC)

[ You have defeated Yoon's Shadow. The Yoon that some of you met just before Palaces began has returned. It shows in how his eyes shimmer with guilt, regret, remorse – hope, worry, and compassion. Despite everything, he is alive, and he is well.

The sky now has fragments of everyone in the Palace, showing their happiest moments in Sunset City with or without Yoon, reflective of how he won't forget to cherish those moments moving forward.

He takes Sayaka up on her offer for a hug, even if it's not the world's greatest.

What he wouldn't give to tell Sayaka that he'll patch up her leg; apologize to Atem for attacking when he wouldn't, and to Richard, Shalem, Joshua and Yi Sang for all the hassle; tell Maika that he'd like to learn more fighting from her; let Haruka know that he swung his sword with incredible fervor; tell Mafuyu that the life she's lead was not one to be ashamed of.

He'd like to joke to Aubrey that this must be payback for the last time, make Aaron wipe that smug grin off of his face sometimes, tell Arven that his tower has fallen but that he doesn't have to be at the bottom of it alone. He wants to let Ai know that he's happy she followed his instructions so diligently.

He'd like to ask Aerith to hang out, and tell Fray that his courage is only because of everyone here. He'd like to tell Schneider that he'll fight through the guilt, and he'd like to ask Sunrise if her bandages are holding up okay.

He would like to return to his room and talk to Celeste about one of his books. He would like to try all of the foods that Soujuurou left for him that are no good by now.

All that comes out, though, are choked sobs and the outpouring of tears and emotion. His heart is heavy with the knowledge that he's hurt people, people who are his allies, victims of war like he is. Yet, he knows that these are all people he's only just met, who were willing to fight their way through his own personal hell to bring him back.

And he is so, so thankful. ]

SIGNUPS

MECHANICS (READ ONLY)

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE (CW: Themes involving starvation/hunger)