linkingup | WEEKS 7 & 8

WEEKS 7 & 8

THE SEASONS TURN...

Shopping District

Entertainment District

Nekyia Fashion District

DO YOUR PART FOR CHARITY!

Saturday

CHARITY EVENT FOR THE TEMPLE OF BRAPHINE
9/21
FLEA MARKET AM
FORMAL MASQUERADE BALL PM
Come and support the temple when we need it most!

Charity Event

Flea Market!

ball

KEEP DREAMING.

Late into the night on Saturday, you will dream. What that dream consists of varies with each individual, but you will have one, even if you've never dreamed before. This dream could be a core memory, or perhaps about something you've always wanted, your worst fear...the list goes on.

hallway full of dressing rooms.

door that has your name on it.

journey there and find out what awaits?

here.

two weeks

OOC: Sayaka's top level is NOT time sensitive, nor is it a mod-run event.

WEATHER FORECAST

Temperature: hot and humid, but gradually getting cooler! Surprise showers may occur during these two weeks when you least expect it, so stay sharp and don't get drenched!

Characters who journery into the Nekyia when it is raining may find HP-restoring items dropped during combat with Shadows.

COMMISSIONS

REAL WORLD COMMISSIONS

BATTLE OF THE BRANDS

Two boutiques on Amaranth Avenue have been at war with each other - figuratively, at least. The sweet lolita brand Cookies for Mice and the punk brand Panthera Punks started out merely vying for advertising space, but have now been taking rather pointed pot shots at each other in their marketing. As the shops are across from each other, it’s plain to see the owners are taking it personally as they can’t seem to stop glaring at each other from across the road. Won’t somebody help mediate before it escalates any further…?

AN ALTERNATIVE CANVAS

Up-and-coming makeup artists are looking to land a job with a new makeup brand in the area, and their final test: finding a model (or two) to model their work and prove their skill. Characters will find that these artists are on the prowl for willing (or not so willing) faces - but at least you’ll be compensated for your patience as they endeavor to make you look your best?

FISHY FUN FASHION

Saffron Street has been chosen to host a highly regarded fashion show! The theme: aquatic life. They need models of all sexes and sizes to walk the runway in ethereal clothing that brings to mind deep sea creatures like bioluminescent jellyfish, or even angler fish! For those who are not brave enough to walk the walk, volunteers are needed to help maintain the large, specially made tanks the city’s aquarium has generously lent out for the occasion. The tanks are full of friendly fish and plant life to create the perfect backdrop for the show! …You know how to use diving gear, don’t you?

NEKYIA COMMISSIONS

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

She thinks she’s so great… I’ll show her! We don’t need her prissy, holier-than-thou attitude around here! We’ll see how she behaves when her shop’s reduced to shreds…

It seems the owner of Panthera Punks having beef with the owner of Cookies for Mice isn’t just a real world problem - she has her very own Shadow in the form of a level 30 Narcissus. Take him on in battle and help to loosen its grip on her in reality before things get much, much worse.

HER HEART WON'T GO ON

How could he… After all I’ve done, after all the money I’ve spent… He leaves me behind for her?! I’ll make him pay… I’ll make them both pay!!

It seems one of the local models has had a rather nasty breakup, and the ex and other woman may end up suffering a rather harrowing fate if all these feelings of anger are left to fester… Characters who follow these angry rants will find themselves face to face with a Level 32 Leanan Sidhe, a jealous lover all too willing to enact a very real harm on those who wronged her. Fight back against the Shadow and teach her the value in moving on from a lover who was never worth her time to begin with.

A DREAM UNRAVELLED

Deep in the Nekyia, whispers and wails can be heard; a fashion designer bemoans their dearth of ideas, and hotly defends their choice to steal their designs instead. After all, this was their dream, and they can’t give it up now - no matter the cost.

Characters may find the Unfaithful Dream-King in a nest of collected dreams of the populace - including some of Braphine’s own chosen. He will be a powerful opponent for sure, but it seems solving this particular Shadow problem is the only way to ensure everyone can have a good night’s rest once more.

Once he is defeated, he will drop a rare item. Who knows, maybe this will help you in your journey ahead.

(OOC: Please turn in your threads for this commission on the rewards page to receive a stat boost item, valid for one time use during any battle.)

OOC

READ ME!!!!

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September 28

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[Shalem's heart sinks.]

Ah, so you saw the worst. [And by that, he means everything. Everything he'd kept secret, not just to his coworkers, to the people who considered him friends, but also Phantom himself.]

Your reaction makes sense, now.

Does it…?

[ soujuurou looks down, his composure returning to him with each breath he takes. but something about shalem’s response doesn’t sit right with the young man— is it really fine for him to react like this?

he sighs. ]

Well, maybe it does. [ and maybe it’s best to leave it at that. ] It’s just… I don’t understand why anyone would do this.

[ and that’s said quietly and hesitantly with the slightest hint of guilt. ]

I’m sorry. This is obviously really private for you— I won’t tell anyone.

[How can you even tell anyone about such things? Shalem has no idea, but he doesn't have much brain power to think of potentials, words, lines and consequences because he is doing his best to not lose his bloody mind. Have a panic attack. A full meltdown.

He can't do that right now.

That's why he's taking another deep breath-- this time, for himself.]

What exactly did you see, Soujuurou? Because, obviously, you saw something that distressed you so. That is less important than my privacy.

I saw you when you were young and watched you grow up. It was all really fast, like a bunch of things put together...

[ soujuurou wracks his brains to comprehend the scenes that he just saw, but decides that there's no point in interpretation. it's better if he simply says it like it is. ]

You were given weapons and a name. Something about how no one strays from the script. From there you all did training drills and um...some more artistic stuff. Singing and dancing and whatnot. Like the idols. [ what an odd thing. he's come to see things like singing and dancing as wonderful things thanks to the idols, but in this case it's the total opposite. ] Then you saw how they took a child that wasn't doing too well and they... [ he takes a deep breath, pushing down the fear that he felt there, not just shalem's but his own. ] They killed and buried that child.

From there on, you grew up. I saw people get killed on the stage and then I watched you save the target you were supposed to kill. [ he nods. even though objectively it would be better to say that shalem ran away, soujuurou doesn't want to see it that way. he would much rather see the good in what the other did, by refusing to take a life. nonetheless, the discomfort is still clear on his face. ] That's when you grabbed me.

[Now, Shalem lets go of the boy and sighs heavily, placing one hand on his hip and the other on his face, closing his eyes tight and pinching the bridge of his nose. Definitely staving off a headache right now. A headache due to tension and stress.

Soujuurou didn't just see secrets that should be deeply buried forever-- he saw everything.]

You saw my entire childhood boiled down to a few minutes-- and the stolen childhoods of everyone who was eaten up by that Troupe and dedicated their lives to obeying. [When he straightens up again, he looks like he could sleep an entire week and still not be energized.]

That said, if I'd seen it all over again, I would be looking for a window right about now. But you're taking this remarkably well.

Mm... maybe it's because it's not my past? But...

[ but... ]

It also felt a familiar, in some ways. [ he glances back at the painting, though quickly turns back towards shalem in fear of being pulled once again. ] We didn't do singing or dancing, but we had daily training drills in the mountains that were pretty harsh too. I was only really bothered by the murders and the fear in your eyes. Clearly they had you doing something that wasn't right.

[ "not right" might feel like the understatement of the century for someone like shalem, but for soujuurou that's one of the highest criticisms that he can offer. harsh training is normal to him and bestowing identities and roles to others is as well. but from shalem's point of view, it was clear that this was wrong. ]

But should I be keeping you away from windows, then? They make pretty bad exits, especially the ones that are higher up.

Edited 2024-09-21 15:01 (UTC)

I just wanted some bloody fresh air... [But!! That's not important anymore!!

Shalem starts biting his lower lip as he looks at Soujuurou-- really looks at him, studies him, how he holds himself, how he speaks. How he acts. He's... a lot like Phantom, actually. And a little like himself, but far, far more like Phantom. Blank. Waiting for orders. For someone to take him by the hand and lead him along, because he cannot think much for himself. How did Shalem miss those signs?]

You just described my life to be something wholly like your own experience, did you notice that? Perhaps the specific details of our training are not the same, but the broad strokes, the doing away of extras who cannot muster up the strength, the training, the lack of any civilization nearby to tell that what was being done to us is wrong... Don't you think, perhaps...

Don't you think that we are alike, in some regard? Hence, how could you minimize your experiences?

...

[ ...? ]

Am I minimizing it? [ soujuurou tilts his head, brows knit together in confusion. yes, he did say that their trainings were similar, but to soujuurou, that's where the similarities start and end. right?

the discomfort is clear on the young man's face as he continues thinking, and quietly amends his statement. ]

I don't know. In the mountains, people died, sure, but it wasn't because someone killed them. They'd die from animal attacks or illness. And people also went missing, but...

[ why? why did they go missing? and where did they go? it was some of the many questions that plagued soujuurou, only to always be followed with a pang of guilt for even questioning it in the first place. that's just how things are, they said. that's how they always have been, and there's no reason to stop. ]

I don't know. It feels wrong to call it the same. I never had that fear that you had in your eyes.

Are you sure it's not the same? [Shalem's tone is soft as he straightens up and looks directly at Soujuurou. His current expression is unreadable to most normal people, but Phantom could never understand him when he makes this face-- he has no doubt that Soujuurou won't be able to understand it either.]

Are you truly sure? You see, these organizations, they do something different to people depending on what their uses are for them. For me... they wanted me emotional, because that was my role. But for another... he was meant to be something else, and so he become something else.

He's quite like you.

The one with the cat ears?

[ soujuurou would retort that he has no cat ears and therefore cannot be phantom, but his own gaze stays fixed on shalem. he doesn't know what the other is trying to accomplish by staring at him, but considering the situation, he feels like he shouldn't take his eyes off of him.

he can't help but be curious however, so despite his apprehension, he mutters a simple question ]

What did he become?

Sometimes? He's full of life, dancing on the battlefield as if it were his stage-- it's the closest that either of us will ever return to it. [He sounds almost sad. Nostalgic for the old days, what has happened, what could have been, what he could be now if he didn't suppress himself... Which makes him pull himself out of those thoughts again because not suppressing himself is unacceptable.]

But sometimes, he is listless, wandering the hallways like a ghost until I take him aside to speak to him. He doesn't think, he doesn't speak to anyone until spoken to. He performs his duties and then disappears. He remembers very little of our shared past but outside of chasing it forever, does not know what to feel about not remembering.

He is... a puppet, sometimes, waiting for someone to take up his strings again.

I see much of that in you.

Please don't compare me to a puppet, that's very rude.

[ he says the comment without much bite behind it, but significant to soujuurou all the same. though he has only seen one puppet in his lifetime, it's enough to put him off from others in the present and future. it's the only part that he feels like refuting, since the rest of it... well, he can't find much fault in it.

and he doesn't know how to feel about that fact. he can't even bring himself to argue the shalem's comment about being a ghost, because what is he if not a dead man walking? what was it that father eiri had said about him? that he was a person with no self? a person that could accept everything because he had nothing?

... ]

I don't know how you want me to respond to any of this. It's been months since I left the mountains now. What is left for me to chase?

[ and this, he says with an uncharacteristic bitterness, a sharp longing for his home. just what is shalem looking to gain from this? soujuurou doesn't get it, and it's starting to get frustrating. ]

[Shalem tilts his head. Seems as if he's getting to Soujuurou. So he simply cuts through the chaff.]

What was it they raised you for, Soujuurou? What were you meant to be, for them?

Or did they never tell you that?

...

[ ...

he sighs, his gaze pained with guilt. a part of him feels guilty for continuing to question it, even now when his current life and the mountains are worlds apart, but... ]

I'm not really sure. But I've wondered before...why they needed to train us like that in the first place. Whenever I think about it, I feel like they had to have a reason beyond self-defense but...

[ he doesn't know it. or, if he knows, he can't bring himself to admit to it. the discomfort is clear on his face, as it's something that he knows he shouldn't even be questioning in the first place. and yet he has before and continues to do so-- the grave sin he keeps committing over and over again. ]

I shall tell you what I saw when we encountered a little feral boy and chased him until he became tired of fleeing. [Shalem shakes his head.]

I saw someone who was trained not to defend themself or others, but someone who knew how to kill with their bare hands. I saw someone who hit all of the softest spots on a person's body, and watch their victims survive only because of sheer luck.

People don't raise a child to do that unless they were planning on using those skills, that strength, unless that child is the means to an end.

You’re saying we were being trained to be murderers.

[ soujuurou understands that he only attacked because he felt like he was going to die. it was a struggle that any cornered animal would take, because it’s simply the nature that’s been engrained in it.

but then what happens when you live on that boundary of life and death constantly? where every day is the same and yet any day could be your last?

in that case, the concepts of life and death simply lose all meaning, leaving nothing behind. and a human that cannot distinguish between either could barely be considered a human at all, could they? what could that be, if only a tool?

… ]

Yeah, I figured as much.

[ and yet, that longing remains in his tone like a bitter aftertaste. ]

[Shalem stays silent for as long as it takes Soujuurou to say it for himself-- he's not so arrogant or condescending to think that the boy wouldn't be able to come to the conclusion that the serpent had been gently shepherding him to. And when Soujuurou finally does? He gives a grave nod.]

Yes. Such goals are achieved by any means necessary, even if it means changing the child entirely to something they can control.

You saw it, did you not? How our butler always affirmed who I was according to the script. [And perhaps even the way their god Himself came, and always for Phantom-- the Troupe's Solitaire, their Diamond.]

If I had stayed with them, I would have become yet one of those masked dancers in crimson, taking aside the audience one by one, and giving their heads to the Master for His favour. I don't remember who I was before they told me what I was to them. Do you?

I would consider you fortunate if you do... but also unfortunate.

Edited 2024-09-22 07:17 (UTC)

I’ve never lived anywhere else but the mountains.

[ in other words, there was no self before the mountains— it could be argued that there was no ‘self’ in the mountains either. they were all well-oiled cogs, moving in perfect tandem to survive the harsh environment. it was a life where you needed nothing, you wanted nothing, and, in consequence, you got nothing. the purest form of life, removed of any excess that could slow down or sully the mind.

which is why soujuurou still feels the weight of his questions far more than any other heavy weight he has carried. because they’re all unnecessary things that only cause him pain, as his wish for a better life is thoroughly incompatible with the life of nothingness he had been raised in. ]

I didn’t even know there was any life outside of the mountains for a long time— I thought that was just how everyone lived. That’s all I ever had.

Which means... you had nothing. [Well, he still doesn't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing!

But organizations like theirs have never been good.] You're the perfect blank slate for them. And, looking at you now... I doubt they ever made an attempt to change that.

It's too late for me to change my ways, and I can only suppress who and what I am until the day I die. But you? You are young, you can learn to find yourself away from them. I want to help you with that.

Does everyone have to call me that...

[ he's not the first to call him a blank slate. nor is he the second. and something about that fact irritates the young soujuurou further. he knows he shouldn't be, that shalem isn't necessarily wrong, and that the snake is simply trying to help but...

frustrated, he sighs. ]

I'm sorry, Shalem. But there is one thing that you're wrong about. I understand... I've understood for a while that their purpose was for something bad. And, obviously, I don't want to become a killer.

[ even though he has nothing, that his life was probably prefabricated for a horrible purpose, soujuurou desperately wants to hold on to that one thing that made up most of his life. ]

I don't know if I was happy there. It was tough, and any day could have been my last. Actually, now that I think about it, I probably hated it. But that's still my home. I don't want to lose that, even if it's fake.

[ that field of flowers, the beautiful autumn weather, and the stars that used to be so close that soujuurou used to think he could reach out and touch them. he doesn't want to lose that too. ]

...But I know I have to change. Every day, I get farther and farther away from the person I was back then. It scares me. What if I can't recognize the person I am?

Hmm. [He's thinking! Let him think.

He makes a circuit around the room, tail flicking behind him. It's more animated than usual, when it simply used to drag on the floor and only moved to wrap around something, usually his leg to stay out of the way. Every so often, he looks back at Soujuurou, gazing at him like he's looking right past his skin and into his very self.

Then, eventually:]

Soujuurou, how old are you?

[ soujuurou watches closely as shalem begins to pace, perfectly still in the center of the path.

he wonders what it could be that troubles shalem so much, but once he asks his question, soujuurou figures that he’ll get his answer soon. ]

17. Is something wrong?

You're quite young, not even an adult. [Which is a concern, but also a relief-- Soujuurou is still young enough to be able to turn his life around with a bit of pushing. The sort of pushing just depends on how he'd react to said pushing. Quite paradoxical, and yet it makes sense.]

Every day you get farther away from the person you were back then, but you are seventeen. One day, you will become eighteen, and then nineteen, and then twenty. You may emphasize that, however...

A person is not the same person they were at fifteen when they reach seventeen. Many things happen in the span of two years when it comes to children, all because you're still growing.

Even as an adult, it's typical to not be the same person at thirty as you were at twenty-one. [Oh, he just aged himself... and casually dropped a hint as to how old he was when he left the Troupe.]

What are you truly so afraid of? The comfort of knowing for certain, in the face of a lifetime of facing the unknown ahead of you? That is merely called the inevitability of life. Of growth and maturity.

So people are constantly changing, is what you mean.

[ soujuurou mulls over this fact, his expression unchanging. maybe there's a hint of discomfort on his face, at the thought of this so called inevitability. ]

I think that's the part that scares me the most-- everything in the mountains was always the same from one day to the other. If it weren't for the change in seasons, I would believe that I just lived the same day over and over.

[ wake up. train. wake up. train. wake up. train. a life of pure monotony to the point where not even day and night mattered to them. ]

But I think you're right. Even one day in the city is totally different from the next, so in a year I'm sure that I'll be a completely different person. I just... still don't know what kind of person I want to become.

[ it'd be nice if someone could just point him in the right direction and let him go but... well, even he knows that's not going to happen. ]

[Shalem stops pacing, and sits down on the Victorian settee. But he never removes his eyes from Soujuurou, simply navigating with the help of his tail.]

You just need someone to guide you. [Oh look, it's as if he read Soujuurou's mind--

No, Shalem was already guiding him to this sort of conclusion with all of his prodding.]

Someone to say the right things to make you think, and help you come to a conclusion.

WEEKS 7 & 8

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