WEEKS 9 & 10

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WEEKS 9 & 10

AS YOUR BONDS DEEPEN...

The charity event and the dreamscapes have come to an end... and the Fashion District seems a little better than it once was. Your efforts are being recognized, acknowledged by the environment and by Braphine herself. There's still work to be done - the thinning fog allows you to venture even further into the Office District, where there are stronger foes lurking around the corner and in dark alleyways.

Speaking of Braphine, she is pleased by your progress as a group thus far, and has given characters a little blessing: If there is something you've always wanted to tell someone – whether it be how you feel about someone else here, someone at home, a secret you've been holding in, or something else entirely – but have lacked the courage to do so, you may find the strength to say it now. While the God of Conflict forced ugly truths out of you, Braphine would like ones that come from a place of willingness without fear. This sensation will last until the end of your stay here.

How nice, isn't it? To feel like you're finally starting to get somewhere with your fellow Chosen.

The God of Conflict, however, thinks otherwise.

A LOOK IN THE MIRROR...

The world around you has seen a few changes. There are the positives, thanks to your efforts in completing commissions and forming connections, both of which aid Braphine.

However…

If you look in any sort of mirror, window, puddle that will give you your reflection, The God of Conflict is there, looking back at you, gazing at you eerily, freezing you and holding you in place.

"Well, well, well. Fancy running into you here, Chosen. Tell me…do you really believe that you're aiding Braphine in her mission? Do you really think any of the bonds that you've made here matter all that much, so much that it'll stop me, in the end? Don't make me laugh. We'll see how much your flimsy little chains hold up in time."

And then, just like that, he's gone…not without another little gift, though. You will be surrounded by 2-3 Nekyia Shadows once he disappears…in the real world. The Shadows, notably, will not attack unless provoked, and the locals will not be able to see them. As always, the only way you can attack them is through using your Personas; as soon as you engage in combat, you will also disappear to the locals like the Shadows.

For those who decide not to fight them, they will simply stare at you as you leave... but they will each briefly flicker into another form: The God of Conflict. But before you can say a word, they’ll disappear.

However, should you choose to engage in battle with them, any harm done to the environment or the locals themselves through the battle will be tangible. If you slam a Jack Frost into a building, it will leave a dent, in other words. The locals will not be able to see the actual fight, but they will notice the weird explosions and damages happening to them and around them. An important thing to note is that, being outside of the Nekyia, you will drain energy faster as you fight them, but you can defeat them with your Personas as usual otherwise.

THE DARKEST BEFORE DAWN.

So, maybe you didn't spawn a Palace, or even create a weird Nekyia environment like Soujuurou and Joshua have. That, however, does not mean you are free of your Shadow selves.

However, you are trapped with them. If you venture into the Nekyia, every so often when you look over your shoulder, they may be there, watching you, taunting you, following you around, even interacting with people (yourself or others) as if they were corporeal-- blink and you may miss them hovering over your shoulder, and turn the corner and you may just see them in the distance.

What follows your Shadow selves even after you return back to the safety of the dorms are the nightmares... which you find yourself having a little more often than normal. If you happen to stumble into a shared dreamscape, it looks... slightly different from when you last saw it. The nightmares always end the same way, though, even if the dreams are different: your Shadow self is staring back at you, haunting you before you wake up.

For anyone who has already confronted their Shadow selves, however, there is a glimmer of hope. In the Shadow's place is the best version of yourself, reminding you that although this is a nightmare, it does not have to continue forever. You have changed thanks to the people around you. Perhaps this is Braphine's reminder to you that she is still here, and despite her quiet, she's still watching.

Speaking of quiet, though…

…Has anyone checked on Mina lately?

And why does a certain brown cat keep on pacing in the dormitory hallways?

( OOC: A few limitations to keep in mind regarding this prompt:
• Shadows can now appear exclusively in nightmares, in the Nekyia, OR BOTH.
• Since the Dream King has not been vanquished yet, those who want to continue the dreamscape prompt as your nightmares are free to do so (this is optional though). Your Shadows are going to be here regardless!
• In this prompt, Shadows are NOT going to possess any characters. They are haunting you in the Nekyia (and may engage with other player characters, should you desire to go that route)!
• On that note, you can let your Shadows manifest however you'd like – they can yap, they can be completely quiet and stand menacingly, they can appear in quick glimpses and jumpscare you or linger for as long as you're in the Nekyia. They can stick to you or talk to others. Either way, everyone will see each other's Shadows.
• At this time, Shadows cannot be defeated outside of Palaces and mod-run mini-events.
• The same limitations apply to those seeing their best selves over their Shadows. )

WEATHER FORECAST

Balmy weather with a light breeze. Weather looks fair and comfortable for the next two weeks but don't forget to wrap up warmly or risk catching a chill! You wouldn't want to fall sick, would you?

Characters who journey into the Nekyia when it is getting chilly may find that Shadows in combat may be randomly afflicted with Freeze during combat.

COMMISSIONS

REAL WORLD COMMISSIONS

NO HORSING AROUND

The zoo is looking for volunteers! They need hands available to feed and clean up after the petting zoo animals in particular. You won’t be dealing with lions on this job, but you will be face to face with goat kids with a penchant for headbutting, so do take care while you work!

ONE FOR THE BOOKS

A new writer is in town to promote their book at the library! The problem is... very few people signed up for the meet and greet. Library workers are looking for volunteers or, really, anyone off the street who can be convinced to at least attend the poor author’s reading and fill out the room a little. Those who do end up attending will be treated to a reading of a high fantasy tale with romance, trysts, and a surprising number of werewolves, but those who manage to stay attentive may just notice a suspicious individual slipping in partway through... A disgruntled netizen has decided to make a mess of the author’s first meet and greet, and will get violent unless someone stops them.

DABBLING IN DELINQUENCY

Some of the students on the island have decided not to return to the classroom after all - instead roaming in packs around the city and causing general mischief. Try to turn them back on the path of decency! Especially when the boldest of them decide you’re a prime pickpocketing target...

NEKYIA COMMISSIONS

FANDOM WARS

“Disgusting... Anyone could pick up that slop and read all kinds of depraved things... People who write that stuff should just die.”

It seems someone got a little too into fights online about books - because their gripes about today’s tales has created a Shadow in the form of level 39 Thoth in the Nekyia. Worse yet, those who are inflicted by Rage by this Shadow cannot be cured with a simple spell - instead, those afflicted will find themselves venting out their frustrations for their battle companion to hear. The effect ends once the battle is completed, or they finish getting everything off their chest, whichever comes first.

KILL THE LIGHTS

“Don’t they see? There’s so much money to be made! If we just expanded our influence...”

A crooked politician trying to drum up support for military activity has generated quite the shadow. A level 40 Eligor can be found deep in the Nekyia’s business district, muttering to himself about all the profits to be had with a little conflict. Needless to say, things will get very, very bad if he goes through with it - take him down before he can start anything!

HORSING AROUND

The Nekyia business district is overrun with Unicorns teaming up with Ganesha to make quite the formidable team of a fierce fighter and a powerful support. That said, those who defeat the pair may just find that their foes have dropped quite a useful healing item...

(OOC: Please turn in your threads for this commission on the rewards page to receive a Bead Chain, which fully restores HP to all allies (maximum 4 including the user) and is valid for one time use during any battle. This is only valid for the first turn in of the commission.)

OOC

READ ME!!!!

Welcome to your log for Weeks 9 and 10! Feel free to use this log for any developments that happen during the next two weeks. There will be no log next week.
We're heading into endgame and AC is due 30 September, Monday, at 2359 EST! The boon for this month's AC has been updated as well - please have a look!
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 are still going strong - sign ups for Atem (here) and Kirumi's (here) capped palaces are still open, and sign ups for our FFA palace will be going up later today.

ic comm | inboxes | ooc comm | full nav

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Comments

cw: discussion of rape continued

[vogelfrei]

[ Celeste is quick in the uptake and doesn't waste time with pointless outrage and sympathies. It helps McGillis feel calm - more than the subject matter itself, he hates imagining the way it might make people look at him. Scornful eyes, pitying eyes... It doesn't matter. They'd probe too deeply all the same. ]

It fully stopped when I was 15.

[ So Celeste is correct - this leaves quite a few torturous years in between. And even after... McGillis didn't cut contact with his "father" until he was 27. ]

cw: discussion of rape continued

[cirquedesang]

[Outrage only puts the onus of managing emotions on the one affected, and sympathy... it's patronizing. Especially to someone functioning under the illusion that they've put the matter at hand behind them.

Even if they're well aware it's an illusion.]

Of course it did.

[If understanding could sound like sympathy, though, now would be the time those lines would bleed together. Because that's close enough to when his own "clientele" shifted that he understands the significance. It leaves an unpleasant taste in his mouth.]

And no one would believe you if you told them, because of where you came from.

[No surprises there.]

cw: discussion of rape continued

[vogelfrei]

Actually, I believe a lot of people in the upper echelons of Gjallarhorn had reason to suspect. It just did not concern them enough.

[ The rumors that reached his ears were only ever about his own nature and character, never touching on the esteemed Iznario Fareed, but... Well, the man takes his favorite blonde little toys with him on political journeys from time to time. His proclivities wouldn't be hard to put together for anybody putting their mind to it.

But that's not enough to make people want to put a stop to it, not when doing so would mean undermining the Seven Stars, the most powerful houses in the world. It's all rotten, decay spreading from the inside out. ]

Which is just as well - in the end, the influence of the Fareed family was of great use to me.

cw: discussion of rape continued

[cirquedesang]

Of course. Such things never do seem to have an effect on those they ought to.

[Not when keeping quiet and looking the other way is easier, more convenient, more beneficial for those ignoring the wrongdoing. It was one thing for Celeste's own plight to go ignored - dirty little street orphans being used and abused was an unfortunate matter of course. For that to extend even up to McGillis's station was... grating at best.

It really is all rotten from the top down.]

The influence of the Fareed family should have been yours without his proclivities.

[...But it wouldn't have been granted without them. It's a mess, truly, but at least where others might have been angry, Celeste is... annoyed, yes, but there's understanding, too, and exasperation. They wouldn't be here as they are without all that had happened, regardless of whether or not it was right.]

cw: discussion of rape continued

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis scoffs at that. ]

I would have lived a life a lot more like yours if it hadn't been for his fetish - and McGillis Fareed would never have existed. McGillis Montag... well, try as I might, I can't quite imagine what he'd have been like in adulthood.

[ If he'd even reached adulthood at all... McGillis sighs and leans back a little, hands bracing him against the bed. ]

Anyway. Long story short, it's been an irritating week for dreams, but that doesn't mean that any intimate context whatsoever is going to set me off. I did have my share of consensual encounters as an older teenager and adult after all.

cw: discussion of rape continued

[cirquedesang]

[Yeah, that scoff is definitely deserved.]

Hah, and it'd be far too much to hope for a McGillis Fareed without it.

[Because as they've established - it's all rotten from the top down.

And now here they are, come full circle.]

But they've all been entirely on your terms, with you in full control since, no? You have offered me far more power over you than I would ever dare to ask, or have offered anyone myself.

[While he's certainly flirted with the idea of biting McGillis, he does recognize the gravity of the offer, all things considered. Flighty words in public spaces let them keep the idea well within the fantasy of a high gothic romance novel. Here, now, with traumas laid bare, the reality is much more raw and the trust shown with just the offer is almost overwhelming.

It nearly has him leave without touching on it again, if not for the vanishingly slim chance of maybe, just maybe, being able to grant a dreamless rest.]

Perhaps it is selfish to wonder why I deserve that trust.

[Shared trauma and pure, simple understanding doesn't feel like enough, but... maybe that paired with the experiences here is. He's certain it would be for him, were their positions reversed.]

Whatever it is, I won't betray it.

cw: discussion of rape continued

[vogelfrei]

[ Of course it has been exactly as Celeste described - wholly on his own terms, relinquishing very little to nothing to his partners, who considered themselves grateful to get into his pants at all. Celeste would know, because surely he's been the same way. ]

If you betray it, you're dead.

[ There's no threat in the words, it's really just a fact as they both know it. There is no way to offer up trust like this and not retaliate to the fullest should it be broken.

And then, after a short pause: ] You're the only person I've known who gets it.

[ Maybe it's not like that for Celeste - twenty years of sex work will put you in contact with a lot of people who have sobstories like their own. But McGillis has lived among the upper crust, wholly isolated. And even outside of that... the miserable teenage mercenaries he attempted to bond with did not know his specific brand of misery. McGillis has spent his life entirely isolated in this pain.

The only people who share his lot are the other blonde boys from Iznario's boarding school - and those are people McGillis has spent his childhood beating the shit out of, leading to him avoiding them like hell in adulthood.

Celeste is the only one who gets it. Intrinsically understands and accepts, rather than looking at him in horror when even a fragment of the truth is revealed. ]

cw: discussion of rape continued

[cirquedesang]

[He has been much the same way indeed. Even - especially - when allowing others to believe they had the privilege to spend time with him when he was simply out for a meal, it was on his terms. Sexual partners for the sake of sex even more so.]

If I betray it, I am no longer myself, and the man I am now would want you to end me anyway.

[Just like there was no threat in McGillis's words, Celeste's were similarly matter-of-fact. With some, age brings a sharp loss in humanity. Even if he hadn't decided to hold on to aspects of his own, he still would be unsettled by the kind of change in himself that would make him do that sort of harm.]

...Another dubious honor we share, it seems.

[Sure, twenty years of sex work did put him in contact with many others with similar sob stories. That didn't mean he interacted with them. That didn't mean he shared his own. McGillis was isolated among the upper crust, and Celeste isolated himself among the lowest. It wasn't as though finding others to commiserate would help their station, anyway. No, time was better spent crafting masks and clawing upwards so they wouldn't have to recognize themselves in others.

And then they found themselves here.

Celeste is the only one who gets it. McGillis is the only one he's allowed to get it. So they can understand, and accept, and, maybe, just a little bit of the horror can be lessened.]

cw: discussion of rape continued

[vogelfrei]

This town really has done a number on us. Luckily, I'm sleep-deprived enough to not think about it too hard for the time being.

[ He's betraying himself in new and exciting ways every day, so this one feels... profound and benign at the same time. The hardest to do because of the subject matter, but also the easiest to do because it's Celeste... and Celeste gets it.

So McGillis decides to take this moment to unbutton the collar of his shirt in order to allow for better access to his throat. Don't mind that there is already a bitemark on his collar - that one was made entirely by human teeth and doesn't matter to this specific situation! ]

So we have a trade deal, don't we? You get caffeine and I get to pass out for a few hours. We're both profiting.

how many tags will we not have the cw

[cirquedesang]

You'll have to share your thoughts once you've rested.

[He knows McGillis will have them. One more little benign similarity - their minds are just as unlikely to rest as their bodies.

That collar unbuttons and immediately eyes flick to newly exposed skin with a remarkable similarity to the way one might look at a plate freshly revealed from under a cloche at a fancy dinner. Given the nature of what they are and the position they're in... it's mildly predatory, in an oddly benign way, but even that dissipates as soon as he sees the bite already present, replaced with a knowing, conspiratorial smile as his gaze returns to McGillis's face.

He knows. He knows you know he knows, and that you'll just have to sit with that.

Idly, he considers biting over the mark already present. On the one hand, it would hide this exchange rather effectively, but on the other... it would be an overstep, and would feel like erasing the claim already there. So the thought is filed away to go unmentioned, right next to the surprise that McGillis is offering his neck when he could bite anywhere - certainly somewhere less intimate - with equal effect. He's choosing to believe it's because somewhere there's an affinity for the tropes of drama and gothic romance, even if the only thing gothic or romantic about this sleep-deprived exchange is the vampire bite itself.]

A mutually beneficial arrangement. I will not take enough to do you harm, but should you want me to stop early... I will not fault you for doing whatever you need to.

[One last provision. One last reassurance. One last moment to back out while he shifts on the bed to get closer. A hand goes to his neck, fingers spreading over skin, with his thumb even running over his jaw. Something to lean against while fangs sink too easily, too painlessly into the flesh of the opposite side.]

... stay tuned...

[vogelfrei]

[ It had legitimately not occurred to McGillis to offer anything but his neck - he's giving blood to a vampire, of course it ought to be the neck! Maybe the logistical possibilities of it would have felt more obvious to him if he'd slept any in the last few days, but as it stands... yeah, the novels and movies are influencing him. It has to be the neck. It'd be a waste to do anything else.

He thought he'd be more excited about it (it really is like in a story!), but after their solemn conversation he mostly feels apprehensive as he bares his throat and tilts his head to give Celeste easier access. He braces for pain and the pain never really comes.

Instead there's a surge of pleasure that makes him gasp out loud - even knowing it'd happen, it's startling to feel it actually happening. McGillis does not often allow his mind to go blank with enjoyment of anything much, so the way Celeste's teeth are tempting him now... Ah, this is awkward. It's good and it's awkward because it's good, and his hands tighten into fists at his side.

But he's going to let Celeste have his fill - because he wants to trust somebody else for just a moment. ]