WEEKS 7 & 8

[linkupmods]

WEEKS 7 & 8

THE SEASONS TURN...

Time really passes, doesn't it? Before you know it, you're halfway through the time that the goddess Braphine has promised that you'll be here, your home away from home. You are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, maybe, even through all the challenges and eventful (!) twist and turns that have followed you through your stay here. Surely there can't be anything else lurking in the wings, right?

Through the efforts of all of Braphine's chosen, the city definitely is starting to feel a little bit cheerier, in contrast to the temperatures that are starting to cool as the seasons in Sunset City turn and the leaves change their colour. The Shopping District and the Entertainment District look and feel decidedly more warm, and a quick trip into the Nekyia also show that the haze has cleared from both districts, with the Shadows lurking much fewer in number.

Further exploration will find that the haze has thinned to explorable levels in the Nekyia Fashion District - there are Shadows to be cleared, after all. Maybe if you are lucky, they might drop you a little something in reward for your efforts.

DO YOUR PART FOR CHARITY!

On Saturday, there's a notice pinned in the lobby of the dormitory:

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!



Yes, you read that right: There will be a Charity Event for the Temple of Braphine, hosted by no one other than her devoted followers. They sent this over to the dorms to request the Chosens' assistance, it seems, and as the flyer says, this is an all-day event to take place on September 21st.

In the morning, there will be a Flea Market! There's a note from the hosts that they'd like the Chosens to either find a vendor to assist, provide entertainment, or participate as vendors in the Flea Market. At night, a ball will be held with live music, dinner, refreshments, and an open dance floor for all. They are not asking for your assistance with the ball, however; rather, you are automatically invited as esteemed guests and are encouraged to dress your finest for the occasion!

Given that this isn't for another week, however, it is highly encouraged that you shop around to find an outfit you'll look snazzy in for the ball. You can also start preparing merchandise to sell; or maybe, perhaps, you'd like to save that street performance for the Flea Market? Either way, you've got a long week ahead of you…

…but it won't be all rainbows and sunshine.

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.

The next day, anyone who enters the Nekyia will find that, aside from the strange "Palaces" that have popped up, things aren't right yet again…but for an entirely different reason. No matter where you are, you enter the Nekyia to a hallway full of dressing rooms. It's a fairly long hallway, because venturing down it will eventually lead you to a door that has your name on it.

Why don't you journey there and find out what awaits?

–

After seeing "Sayaka" and finding your door, you'll find something even more strange.

That dream you had last night? Well, it's here. Your dream may manifest as a small, contained landscape from your dream; a creature that you may have dreamt of might be scurrying around; another version of you, different from a Shadow; or you could be unlucky and have one of your memories on full display for everyone to see.

This phenomenon will last for the next two weeks, and dreamscapes will shift with the different dreams characters have. It won't be a one and done ordeal, unfortunately…but there is, perhaps, a way you can stop it.

(OOC: Sayaka's top level is NOT time sensitive, nor is it a mod-run event. This can be treated like a regular top level to be tagged at your own pace!

Please see the "A Dream Unraveled" commission for some details on what's causing the dreamscapes to appear! Welcome to your dreamwalking/memory share 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!!!!

Welcome to your log for Weeks 7 and 8! Feel free to use this log for any developments that happen during the next two weeks. There will be no log posted next week, but a top-level for the charity event will be posted instead on next 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.
Don't forget that the deadline for applications and character swaps is on September 28!

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Comments

[moonshaded]

Shitty world, huh. [She repeats Schneider's frequent refrain back at her. Maybe it's that shitty worlds produce shitty people. But still... sometimes she really thinks that she could be happy. At least she could be content.

She studies Schneider's face, some mix of confusion and curiosity that never manifests into a spoken question. Is she a trick, too? Who really gives a shit.] What're you saying? Just accept it the way it is?

[unweathered]

No. [ Her voice is oddly soft but she doesn't look at Kaine. There's too much to take in here] Protect what you have, do everything you can to take back what the world steals from you.

[ Maybe she's not talking about Kaine anymore]

[moonshaded]

You're right. Whatever it takes. We're the only ones who can decide that. [Maybe she's not talking about Kainé anymore, but Kainé hears her words all the same. She's sure in this moment that Schneider feels the same about her life that Kainé feels about hers. Theirs to live. Theirs to say who and what should be in it. If something so important was stripped away, she thinks, it would pebble in her shoe the same way.

Kainé is about to say something else, taking an audible breath as her mouth opens, but there's a voice by the outside window. It can't be described. Maybe it's a boy's. A man's.

"Sorry... late. ... hope ... keep you waiting..."

The sun is showering the house at such a nice angle. The unending day doesn't feel like a bad thing. It's so obvious in this moment that turning around will answer the ꝗᵾēꞩⱦīꝋꞥ and put ēꝟēɍɏꝋꞥē everything back into place. So they can łꝋꝋҟ. Kainé ȼēɍⱦⱥīꞥłɏ đꝋēꞩ.

Then it's over. Everything is gone. Kainé and Schneider are outside a empty, quiet village, returned to where they started, a "dressing room" as cold as steel.]

[unweathered]

...like that, I'm sure you'll find it again.

[Is this the certainty of belief, or a prayer for someone to succeed where she had failed? Schneider isn't sure. But then the warmth of the sun disappears and when she turns around...there's nothing. The village feels so much more barren and empty now, than it first did when she entered. She had seen the warmth, the hope of family. Friendship. An ephemeral hope of the future or past?

Schneider is quiet, and if they're still touching, she reaches up again to touch her hand to Kaine's briefly. Is it from sympathy? Understanding? A question? She's not sure. She's never had friends before, unlike Kaine]

Our lives are our own to command.

[moonshaded]

[They are still touching, and because they're still touching, Schneider will be able to feel her shaking with a mix of loss and anger. She might lash out, so she eventually withdraws just enough to not take Schneider's arm off with the directionless anger flowing through her.

She stares at nothing in particular. It's already all unraveling from her memory, even the little snippets of whatever was missing. Yonah was there, and Emil, and -]

... Shit. [For maybe the first time someone else might have heard, Kainé's swearing sounds more helpless than anything else, hopelessly lost. She's started to cry but doesn't seem to realize it.]

[unweathered]

[Ah... Schneider freezes for a moment at the sight of Kaine's tears. She is familiar with bitter anger concealing a wounded heart. She is comfortable enough with soothing her sisters' tears and regrets. But they've had a place in her heart all her life.

But she does want to help. She does want to understand what moved Kaine's heart this way. So she reaches up with a handkerchief to touch it gently to Kaine's cheek.]

...I'm sorry. It is...frustrating, is it?

[moonshaded]

[She freezes, too, having not fully realized her tears. Kainé doesn't try to hide that she feels an impulse to pull away, but when the touch turns out to be gentle, it's so unfamiliar and so longed-for that she stays there, basking in it for a while.]

I don't even know why I'm crying.

[It's been such a long time chasing the phantom of something she doesn't feel any closer to finding, but this...is a little more raw. It's the first time she's fantasized about something like this, and she still doesn't feel any closer to knowing what's missing. As the cavern between realms gets wider, the more detail she loses.]

Did you hear a voice? [Even that no longer seems real.]

[unweathered]

Loss is...painful. Even if enough time passes, it can eat away at you.

[Since Kaine stays still, Schneider's touch is a little more firmer, more reassuring. Ah. Not so different from comforting family then. It was still someone she liked]

I heard it.

[moonshaded]

[After enough time being frozen, unsure of how to deal with a touch that is kind and soft and soaking up every second of something that feels like it's been missing for years, she leans into Schneider's hand. Just long enough for it to be obvious, then she coughs and turns away, trying to downplay her tear-soaked eyes.]

I've been having dreams I can't explain for a while, but that one was new. [It's so much nicer than the others have been, but everything still ended the same way. Empty... except that someone is here now, waiting for her on the other side of it.]

... Because that's what it is, right? And I'm awake now? [There's something girlish and uncertain in her voice. She really isn't sure.]

[unweathered]

[ Schneider reaches out to take Kaine's hand again. Warmth. It's a reminder for her too that she's still alive]

Mmhmm. You're awake. It's warm, see?

[ Softly ]

Dreams can have meaning. If it's something important, then...maybe it just needs time to grow stronger.

[moonshaded]

...Yeah. It's warm.

[She's subdued and a little quiet, somewhere between embarrassed by her feelings and desperately searching for a proper way to express them.]

It's not even possible. But if I was the kind of person who could live like that... I'd want it.

[Wouldn't that be fine with her, no matter what else happened, no matter what they were, no matter what would happen to the world? Just living with those she cared about and feeling like each day was important?]

[unweathered]

The fact that you want it means you can live like that.

[ She'll hang onto Kaine's hand, and start walking. She understands in a way... she's got a colder heart than Kaine for sure. But hadn't she understood the importance of family regardless?]

I think it's still possible. I see plenty of terrible people living happily all the time. Why not you too when you're a better person?

[moonshaded]

[It's been a long time since she held onto anyone's hand like this. It isn't unpleasant, but it does make her feel childish. It feels saccharine for the both of them, almost as if it's something that nosy goddess would be happy to see. She looks down at their linked hands. Maybe she should pull away.]

You're right, but I'm not better. [It's very direct. She's not hiding some secret heart of gold or anything. There's no sense in getting sentimental about that - what's deserved and what isn't.]

Where are you heading?

[unweathered]

[ Schneider doesn't bother correcting Kaine on what she means by 'better'. She likes Kaine so automatically that makes her a 'better' person, someone she does want to have a good life. And there's something to be said about having a measure of integrity in all this crap too]

I'm not sure. Should we try leaving...?

[moonshaded]

[She looks back at the empty town just once. She'd like to deny it. It's dumb and weak, and Kainé feels like she's been fooled. There is no trace of that happier place left; just the place Kainé has been for ages now, alone.]

...Yeah. There's nothing here, right? Let's get out of here.

[unweathered]

[Schneider keeps holding onto Kaine's hand as they make their way back to the exit. It's not difficult. This is a reconstruction of a memory, a world not here. They can leave with ease if they want to]