Link Up! Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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linkingup2024-09-14 11:29 pm
linkupmods) wrote in linkingup2024-09-14 11:29 pm
WEEKS 7 & 8
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.
Characters who journery into the Nekyia when it is raining may find HP-restoring items dropped during combat with Shadows.
COMMISSIONS
REAL WORLD COMMISSIONS
NEKYIA COMMISSIONS
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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Though Haruka wouldn't know, when the painting starts to move-- no, it doesn't just start to move, but becomes reality, solidifying into proper figures and not just brush strokes. The gothic haven is gone, and before Haruka is the figure peeking out from behind the curtains. The curtains are in fact the opening to large tent, and an older gentleman dressed like a butler is peeking in on the inhabitants of the tent-- a bunch of young teenagers who have just barely started growing into themselves. Oddly, many of the children seem to be blurry, features, especially faces, indistinct, as if someone hasn't yet figured out how these children should look.
The only two who are actual people among this grouping of children is a little snake with lavender hair and a tiny black tail, and a little cat with ears too large for his head. They hold themselves at a distance from the rest, like young wallflowers.
The butler says it's time to train, and the children file out of the tent and into the sunlight, though the elder man calls the little snake aside first. If Haruka really looks, he might just note feathers in the elder man's hair.
Remember that you are modest and gentle, boy of the abyss, the butler tells the little snake, who gazes up at him with wide eyes. That is who you are according to the script, and none of us shall deviate. Modest and gentle.]
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Haruka follows them out, trying to reason with himself. He shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, because he doesn't... he doesn't know what's going on, here. All he knows is that it reminds him of things he'd rather not be reminded of, and he stands behind the snake with a small frown on his face that gets deeper as the man talks.]
Hey, what the hell are you doing...?
[Will the man even here him? With how the other kids look, it feels like he can't do anything, but this—it's too familiar even if it's so far from anything he's experienced.]
cw: cults being abusive
Majority of the adults are slim in build, graceful in movement, and many seem feminine in gestures. And all of those adults who share body language also share appearance-- long and wild red hair, body-hugging red dresses with long, flowing sleeves, bone-white masks, and bone-white horns peeking out of their hair. With the little snake now present, the adults gather in the middle, gesturing for the children to gather as well.
Some of them gesture, and the children copy. Then they strike a pose, the beginnings of a dance, and the children copy. Nearby, the music begins, and the adults start a dance with fluid, practiced movements that gets wilder and more physically demanding with the wild music.
And the children have to keep up, not that many of them are able to. It's only natural that they struggle, and only the little snake and the little cat manage to keep up-- and only after some repetition of the dance. It's clearly difficult, it's tiring, some children stumble away from the dancing group, but even as it dwindles, the music doesn't stop. In fact, the kids are pushed to return to the dance, a grueling exercise for young teenagers.
At the end of the day, they return to their shared tent, stumbling, leaning on each other, tired, possibly even hungry. But the little cat is taken aside by a giant shadowy figure, and the little snake is taken aside by the butler once more, to reiterate what he said earlier, so whatever was told to the little cat is unknown.
Time moves past the night, and the dancing drills begin again. Time moves past the night, and the dancing drills are run again. And again. This is what their lives are like, a snapshot of a week in a traveling troupe.]
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The seemingly endless cycle of training reminds him of when he was young and stupid, fooled by false promises and trying so hard to do everything that was asked of him. The intensity makes him angrier, too, as he watches the children get pushed to their limits. It's not how real training should be—they should be allowed the time to recover to prevent injury, but...
There's a sense that nobody cares about that. His hands have balled up, nails biting into his palms, but for now he manages to convince himself to keep from reacting no matter how much he wants to punch that butler. There's going to be some payoff for all their training, isn't there? There has to be a performance coming up... eventually.
He's not looking forward to seeing what it is, honestly.]
cw: child endangerment
The dancers in crimson are nowhere to be found near the makeshift stage. Instead, people in dark cloaks are, their features indistinct with their clothing. What's more, they all have daggers in their hands. So do the children, for that matter. They come to the lesson with all sorts of daggers in their hands, the little snake carrying a stiletto in his hands, his grip showing that he's comfortable with it.
Those are their drills for the day-- for the week. Sparring against their seniors with weapons, using whatever they can do to get the upper hand... And failing, of course. They're still young, understudies, even. What hope do they have to properly winning? Their seniors are not kind either, they push their juniors around, throw them down, and even swipe with their own weapons. They're not afraid of injuring anyone, a callous disregard of the lives of those younger than them. Even the little snake and the little cat are having trouble.
Whenever a child stumbles or falls over, the adults standing at the fringes whisper among themselves-- their words are indistinct, but their disappointment is palpable.
The next day is the same. And the next. And the next.]
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This escalated, which shouldn't come as a surprise, and in a way it isn't, not after the things he saw from Soujuurou and Jordi's... whatever they were. There are all sorts of insane things he's seen even in just these few short weeks, so this might as well be happening.
That doesn't mean that Haruka is just going to stand idly by, even though he doesn't know what he can do about anything happening. This might not change anything at all, but seeing the kids get pushed around and injured... He's moving before he can really think about how he's absolutely outmatched, stepping in between the adult and the little snake, trying to block their next attack and grab their arm (7). What he's going to do afterwards... He'll figure it out. Or die trying.]
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He's saved from being killed (3) by a new arrival. A sudden presence that causes a ripple through the crowd and the children, an indistinct figure towering above everyone else, difficult to look at but impossible to ignore-- it's the same presence that was taking up the little kitten's attention. Everyone bows to them.
Even the children, tired and clumsy as they are. Even the little snake, who spares Haruka only a glance.
The newcomer's voice is deep, booming, and sinks into one's very bones. Raises a hand and beckons to the kitten. That is all for the day. Solitaire, come.
With that, everyone returns to normal, the students disperse, and the little snake starts to leave, head hanging so no one else gets to look at his face as he walks away in shame.
Haruka is free and safe. He's lucky, even if he's not lucky enough to escape the judgement of the adults, commenting about his form, the force he exerted, even how he fell. How did he even get to that age with that sort of pathetic technique? Surely, his teacher would have dealt with him a long time ago.]
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Haruka isn't concerned about his safety.]
Fuck off. If you have anything to say, say it to my face instead of gossiping with each other.
[if he dies in this dream... rip,]
But I guess you like it when people are just obedient, don't you?!
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They take Haruka in hand, grips on his limbs firm as they take him away, their hands so strong that escape is almost impossible (17). This encampment is in a forest, and they take him deep, deep into it, until the tents and the music disappear, until the sounds of fighting, training, are all gone. Just him and the cloaked figures now.
And a little snake, creeping through the brush, doing his best to remain stealthy as he follows them, as if the adults do not already know he's there.
They do know he's there, they just don't care. They simply throw Haruka to the ground, and take their daggers out. And slit his throat.]
2/2 cw: child death
There is, however, a real body where they had thrown him-- the body of the child who'd been having the most difficulty with the recent training sessions. One of those shadowy, unnamed children lingering in the background and lacking in detail.
There's an almost violent rustle of leaves and bushes, and the little snake shoots out of them to run all the way back to the encampment, as the adults begin the process of burying the corpse in the dead of night.]
MAN_STANDING
Haruka watches them bury the child the moment, not sure what to do, but... He takes a deep breath, turning and heading back to the encampment. He wants to see if he can find that snake with lavender hair... or that kitten. They seem to be the best of the kids, and that just makes him the most worried for them.]
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Instead, the snake is at the fringes of camp, hiding in between rocks and trees, under a bush with his tail wrapped around his leg. He's not crying, but he looks shell-shocked. Enough that he doesn't notice Haruka? Or... perhaps he can't perceive Haruka at all.
This is not a memory anymore. This has become a nightmare. A long dream.]
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He doesn't stop searching until he finds the snake, pausing for a moment before he sits down next to him. There's a long, long silence, before...]
...Shalem?
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He takes a few swings with the dagger, a few stabs in the air, the way his teachers had been showing him earlier. He has a terrified look on his face, like he's only doing this kind of training so he doesn't die, the way his peer did. To become competent enough that they wouldn't take him aside for being weak and useless.
Haruka may feel hands on his shoulders, a tight grip, but there's no one there but himself, and a very, very young Shalem.]
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He tenses slightly at the feeling of someone unseen gripping his shoulders, but not for long, the tension loosening. He doesn't look back, not caring if whoever (whatever?) it is means to hurt him or not. (Or if it's just a figment of his imagination.)]
Well? Are you going to do anything?
[It's directed at whatever may (or may not) be there with him and the young Shalem, because he knows very well that someone in Shalem's position can't choose what to do himself.]
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The boy's swings become more frantic, less practiced. Desperate, afraid. And yet he still doesn't stop, sparring with an enemy only he can see. His teachers? The little kitty? His peers? That giant figure that took Solitaire away?
He manages a wide, strong swing that leaves a gash in a nearby tree, shredding through bark and causing the sap within the tree to begin to well up.
The "boy of the abyss" smiles widely, wildly, his growing fangs on display, just for a moment before his expresion sharply drops and he drops the dagger. He puts his face in his hands and shakes. The sound of the first sob that escapes him is remarkably lower than the voice of a boy who hasn't even hit puberty yet-- more like the voice of an older man.
The grip on Haruka's shoulders grow stronger, and he may just feel a yank, until the scene he's looking at disappears and all that in front of him is an adult snake, almost a decade older than that boy in the forest. Shalem's eyes are wide.]
Haruka. [Shalem's voice is soft, almost hoarse.]
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He looks up at Shalem, scrambling up to his feet. There's a brief—very brief—where it looks like Haruka is going to say something, but then he's stepping forward. There's no hostility to his actions, which isn't to say Shalem will pick up on it, or that he'll be prepared for Haruka burying his face in his chest, clinging onto Shalem in a hug. (i'm using the 15 for this u can't stop me)]
I'm sorry.
[For what happened...? Or for the fact that he saw something that must be so painful to remember? It's not his place to pry into these things, and he doubts it's the sort of thing anyone would want someone to see, much less someone like Haruka.]
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Shalem is not expecting the hug, nor is he expecting the apology, and he freezes, unsure of what to do. What is happening right now?]
Sorry... for what? What happened?
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I don't think I was supposed to see what I did.
[He at least has the decency to step back after he says that, collecting himself. He hugs his arms close to him, looking down at a spot on the floor.]
Maybe it wasn't really, but... You know. Strange things have been happening, lately.
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What are you talking about? I don't know what you saw.
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I...
[Right. Starting over, from the beginning.]
I walked into this lounge, with all these paintings, and I walked up to one that looked like someone looking around some curtains... then I found myself in some camp, where there were all these kids being... trained... to dance and fight...
[He trails off, glancing back down.]
One of the kids looked kind of like you. Same hair color, a little tail... And there was another kid, with these big fluffy ears, while everyone else was kind of fuzzy? Or covered up in robes.
[Except for that butler, but. Fuck that guy, honestly. Haruka thinks he's the worst.]
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Haruka saw his childhood-- not the entire thing, but a significant snippet of it. Solely because every moment he spent in that Troupe was an opportunity for the claws they had in him to dig just a little bit deeper.]
A day in the life. [A soft murmur in response to Haruka.] That was what my life had been like until I became an adult.
[So yes, he'd been in theatre at some point or another. But he didn't drop out to become a bodyguard. Haruka just assumed, and Shalem filled in some details.]
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Hm. He wonders.]
...Is this why you didn't come to spend time with us?
[He straightens back up, arms dropping to his sides.]
When we went out for hot pot, I mean. After Yoon... y'know.
[Had a palace and all of that nonsense.]
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I shan't deny it was one of the reasons-- it's best not to go into a celebration like that after a battle.
[Well, it's also far more nuanced than that, but it's not as if Haruka should know everything, even if he has seen quite a lot. Shalem really just doesn't want to be a part of a social gathering, for this reason and that.]
But also... It is a celebration for friends, among friends, and I am not among those counted as friends.
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Considering the look on the young Shalem's face when he cut the wood, and the way it quickly crumpled... He doesn't have all the pieces, and he might be entirely off base!, but he thinks he has an idea of why post-battle parties might be off the table.
That's not the important part. Or, well. It's important, but it's not something Haruka can speak on.]
...Why do you think nobody would see you as a friend? You would be as welcomed as anyone else.
[He huffs.]
And running away just makes sure you don't get friends. It's a self-fulfilling thing! Next time... take a break for yourself, then come stop by. I'll make sure things go long enough for that.
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