WEEKS 11 & 12

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WEEKS 11 & 12

YOU CAN'T GET OFF THE RIDE...

The dream king has been vanquished, and with it, everyone’s dreams have returned to normal. For those who have had trouble sleeping in the past few weeks, that’s a relief, right?

You know what they say - one step forward, two steps back.

The border between the Nekyia and the real world is thinning - watch your step, Chosen. With your Shadows still haunting you at every opportunity, turn the corner and you may find yourself suddenly in the Nekyia, tendrils of dark fog curling around your feet even though you’ve spent so much effort trying to clear the previous districts of fog and shadows. Blink, and you’ll find yourself back where you were in the real world, with everyone looking at you quizzically because for a moment, you disappeared.

Braphine’s temple is oddly silent. Where there were once priests and priestesses around the courtyards and the main building, now, when you visit, there is nobody around to attend to you. Walking through the halls of the temple now feels fraught with danger, almost - look into a mirror for too long, and your Shadow may end up looking back at you.

Speaking of attendants – maybe you should check in on your local priestess.

Thanks to everyone’s help with the Business District, it is now... actually, it’s more or less the way it always has been. People are still standoffish, and there’s a tension in the air - it feels like just one little spark is all that’s needed to start an argument or a fight.

In fact, it isn’t even only the Business District suffering these effects. Though specific individuals may retain a fondness for characters who helped them, the population overall seems to have regained its old vitriol towards each other. The Chosen saw for themselves the positive impact they were able to have on the City - what in the world could have reversed it all...?

TEMPTATION TOUCHED MY TONGUE...

You blink, and it’s there. Blink again, and it vanishes.

Perhaps your eyes are playing tricks on you, but where there used to be a park just outside the dorms, now lies a large orange grove. It does, however, look a little shadowy around the edges, like it’s not supposed to be there - and the strange thing is that it can only be seen by Braphine’s chosen. Asking any of the passers by will just net you bewildered looks.

Despite the roiling storm and the grey clouds outside, the sky in the orange grove is clear when you enter into it.

You are surrounded by the smell of orange blossoms, and as the scent envelops you, a strange feeling of unsettlement starts to build.

The oranges are in the right season for harvesting, and somehow you get an irresistible urge to pick one and bite into it. But biting into it comes at a price– you start to forget. It could be a memory, a part of you, or worse, one of the bonds you have made here.

The more of the oranges you eat, the deeper you fall into the grove, and perhaps, just perhaps, you might come into contact with a familiar face that gives you a warning before you fall too deep into it. Keep eating and you won't just forget. You’ll start wanting to eat things that aren’t meant to be eaten too.

After meeting with “Schneider”, you realise there’s only one way out of this hazy mess: help others to help yourself. It could be collecting little memories that glitter like “stars” amongst the trees, and walking people back to the scattered fragments of themselves.

Or it could be helping the shadowy farm workers, who look at you with disdain and ask:

“You city folk here to do some real work for once? Hurry up.”

They ask you to do a number of chores: chopping up firewood, cleaning stables, harvesting the oranges (but don’t you dare eat them without permission) and planting new trees. There’s also a church that you could help clean up and donate your funds towards which makes the shadowy figures very happy. Schneider will not be.

Each successful chore completed is another “part” of yourself returned, and the better equipped you are to help the people around you. Better start working.

It’s odd though. When you look outside the orange grove, it’s almost like the raindrops are moving in reverse.

(OOC: Schneider'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! Welcome to your memloss event!)

WEATHER FORECAST

Gloomy. Grey skies about, and the sun seems to have hidden itself away for some reason. When it isn’t raining or storming, there somehow seems to always be the sound of thunder rolling in the distance. Eagle-eyed characters may even notice a metallic glint through the clouds, every now and then...

Characters that venture into the Nekyia during these two weeks will find themselves occasionally being afflicted with Dizzy during combat. Watch your step.

COMMISSIONS

TREASURE THE TEMPLE

Without the Priest or Priestess to care for the temple, it continues to grow dustier and more dismal by the day. Characters who work together to help with upkeep - dusting, sweeping, wiping down surfaces, even airing it out by opening up the windows - will not only receive the regular rewards, but also find themselves imbued with a gentle desire to spend some time taking care of those they care about, too.

MASTERS OF THEIR ELEMENT

There are Level 50 Shadows to be found in the Nekyia, though thankfully they are not on the prowl. One can be found in each cardinal and intercardinal direction: Garuda in the East, Surt in the South, Scathach in the West, and Fafnir to the North, as well as Dionysus in the North East, Michael in the North West, Alitat in the South West, and Belial in the South East. Each of these enemies has punishing attacks, and will need to be taken on by groups of three or more characters. However, upon defeat they will drop a stone that glows with a soft light that corresponds to an element colour (e.g. pink for Psy, red for Fire); offer these to Braphine’s temple to give the goddess strength, and receive a Magatama in that particular element.

(OOC: Please turn in your threads for this commission on the rewards page to receive an Elemental Magatama which deals medium damage to one target in one specific element, and is valid for one time use during any battle. This is only valid for the first turn in of the commission.)

BONDS AND CONNECTIONS

”My connection to Sunset City has been interrupted... I no longer have the strength to support you as I did before. Look out for each other, and keep forging new bonds; they will protect you when I cannot.”

While characters have gained strength from the bonds they’ve forged, there are still those who are freshly arrived with no such defenses; characters who make the effort to establish relationships with faces they have not interacted with much so far will be rewarded. If the character has not been used for a Social Link writeup, they are fair game! Characters may choose what activities they partake in at their own leisure, whether that’s battling alongside one another in the Nekyia or using one of those coupons for a free dinner at a fancy restaurant. They should, however, have a focus on getting to know each other during the activity.

OOC

READ ME!!!!

Welcome to your log for Weeks 11 and 12! Feel free to use this log for any developments that happen during the next two weeks.
Please note that there will be no log next week BUT there will be a network post going up for endgame plot purposes going up once Week 11's palaces are complete!
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 Haruka's palace are underway and will start later today, and our Clover (capped) and Moon (FFA) palaces will be going up later this weekend!
Don't forget to check in with AC to get your endgame unlocks and submit your rewards/Rank 10 social links before 20 October, 11:59PM EST!

ic comm | inboxes | ooc comm | full nav

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Comments

[moonshaded]

They're not. [She wouldn't lie to Schneider, and she won't lie to this dangerous manifestation of her feelings, either.] All of this was gone a long time ago. There's still a reason it's like this.

[When the shadow weasels away, all she can manage is a surprised "hey!" as her hand grasps for empty air. But what was she really going to do? The callout is the truth: She can pave her way to the heart of someone's feelings by cutting through shadows, but what about the part after that when all the broken pieces get carefully pushed back together?]

I already told her what I'd do. [It's another reminder, a necessary one, that the Shadow doesn't know everything and can't say everything for Schneider, either.] If she's forgotten that, I'll remind her.

[unweathered]

Then find her. You know the name of this game now.

[The shadow says cheerfully and then...vanishes, leaving behind a white flower attached to a small branch. It's all quiet now, the shadows hard at work on their illusory farm]

[moonshaded]

Count on it. [Disgruntled but determined. Schneider's shadow is a little shit, but so is Schneider herself.

Many of her previous journeys into places like this have exacerbated her rashness, and her blindness and poor dice rolls have kept her from noticing important things before. She got a 19 for perception/insight this time, though, so maybe she'll learn something from it as she passes her fingers along the petals- if there are other flowers like it around, any details about it, if it seems safe to take.

(If it does, she will.)]

[unweathered]

[Thanks to Kaine's newly acquired perception, she'll notice a certain glow/b> about the flower and its petals seem to bloom a little more, pointing further into the orange grove. Does Kaine follow?]

[moonshaded]

[Yay, she successfully has eyes.

This reeks of the bookstore and Soujuurou's violent memories. Of course she follows the flower's directions. It can only be guiding her somewhere nice.]

[unweathered]

[There is no violent memory here, but just peaceful sounds of a peasant farming family getting on with their lives. But it does take Kaine to a bigger crop of flowers. If Kaine is good with her flowers, she'll recognise them as lilies]

[moonshaded]

[It's...a relief, probably. She's not dumb enough to think that everyone here was always picturesque and perfect without any pain, but still.

The patch of lilies seems out of place on the other side of the orange grove. For it to be here, it has to have been placed with either care or purpose. What happens if she moves to the center of it?]

[unweathered]

[She trips and falls over a dead body.

Just kidding. But she does find the real Schneider - adult and all - curled up and sleeping pretty deeply. She looks content, and cozy for once]

[moonshaded]

[Ah... she's sleeping.] Crap. [Kainé mutters, then looks around. Maybe that orange wedge is finally catching up with Kainé, or maybe she's just suspicious of the whole thing... because she doesn't know what she feels when she looks down at her.

She sits down next to the sleeping woman, not immediately going to wake her. She does have a few more things, at least, to mutter in this quiet field.] You don't wanna be forgotten, right? But forgetting's a fucking nightmare, too. Pretty sure you'd hate it if it stuck, so...

[She really doesn't think she has any of the right things to say.]

[unweathered]

[Schneider stirs a little, her brow furrowing but she turns instead, carelessly tossing her arm over Kaine's legs as she presses closer to the source of warmth. But she doesn't wake up; at least now she's soothed by the warmth.]

[moonshaded]

[Aw, come on. Kainé looks... a little disgruntled, since she's being put into a position to hold onto something so clearly fragile, and she doesn't know if she can hold it in her hands without it shattering.

She has dreams she doesn't want to wake up from, either. If someone got her up prematurely, she'd probably want to beat the shit out of them. So it's what she's prepared for when she draws the back of her hand down Schneider's cheek before rubbing her hand on the arm draped over her.]

Good dream? [Kainé says softly. If that's not enough to wake her, we'll have to see if she has eyes again.]

[unweathered]

Hmm? [Schneider's eyes flutter open and she looks up with a sleepy smile. She snuggles a little closer because she can] Very good dream now.

[moonshaded]

[Oh. That's dangerous. Kainé wants to see her like this, relaxed, in a way she really never has, but their surroundings have her suspicious of it.]

Know where you are?

[unweathered]

Mmm...a beautiful field, with a very beautiful woman.

[Schneider stirs a little and finally opens her eyes properly]

...I do not remember this place existing here before though.

[She smells oranges and lilies]

[moonshaded]

Blowing smoke up my ass like what when you just woke up? [The corner of her mouth twitches upward; she stays leaning over Schneider. Has she not been in this position before, too, waking up somewhere strange, disoriented, looking at the first person she saw and finding them beautiful?]

We're in a park. [Technically.] Trust me. This place is where you grew up, right? Not sure about the flowers.

What do you remember?

[unweathered]

Is it smoke when I'm being truthful? [Schneider smiles, slow and sensual but makes no move to get up]

...why are we back here? I remember...hm. I don't know.

[Everything is foggy]

The orange grove...yes, that's important to me. But...

[moonshaded]

Beats me. That's what we're going to figure out.

[Okay, it might not be a palace like the warped worlds created from the others' hearts and minds, but it's so obviously something quintessentially Schneider's. It counts. And she knows she's not any good at that, not good at picking up these pieces and making what gets formed out of them meaningful.]

You must've had a reason to want to be back here, right? After you said you were gonna stay. Playing me like a goddamn fiddle. [She says it without any anger behind it, but maybe there's hurt, maybe there's fear of something that's a lot stronger than a promise.]

[unweathered]

[Schneider is quiet, reading between the lines. She did say that. But it seems like situations out of her control have a tendency to make a liar out of her. She reaches up to grasp Kaine's hand]

Aren't I still here? [She says softly, linking their fingers together] I don't know. Maybe I still don't know my own heart very well.

[moonshaded]

You are. [Her fingers twitch in Schneider's hand, a reminder that she remains solid.] It's got a leak, though, so I guess it must be trying to tell you something.

[If they're really as alike as they've always seemed, Schneider must hate that. How can Kainé expect to help her put the pieces of her heart together if she's too preoccupied trying to control her own, which is beating just a little too fast? This sort of soft, lazy afternoon in a field can't be meant for her. If there are still missing pieces, they might be the only reason this is possible. Kainé exhales and reins it in, discarding her selfish desire to hold on to something permanently. She just can't bring herself to move just yet.]

So, what do you think it's saying?

[unweathered]

[ What if it is for Kaine? A vague hope born out of Schneider's heart she had seen briefly in Haruka's palace...but not quite either]

Hmmm...that I think Marian would like you. Of course, your style would scandalise her as much as mine does but...

[Oh. But Marian is.
..Marian is...

?

???]

[moonshaded]

[Right. What else could it be? The pieces of her heart that were torn away from her, the fear in the child-Schneider's eyes, and the tenderness she saw in the dream of that very last night even when fear was at its apex... that's where the gentle, soft version of this woman lives. Kainé watches Schneider's face and think she understands that something there is does not want to resurface.]

Would she? Maybe I would've scared the shit out of her. [But it's not said with the disparaging, self-loathing bent that it once might have been. It's just a fantasy, and she won't let herself get lost in it or in what could have happened. What they might have wanted to. But it is nice...to think of it.]

... I don't think forgetting's gonna keep them safe.

[unweathered]

She is the only one of my sisters who understood, even if in the end...[Schneider begins to stir awake a little more, her brow furrowing. They had escaped the dungeon, and she had placed Marian in the little potion maker's hands and then--]

...I...but, it was my knowledge that made them fearful of her.

[moonshaded]

["In the end..." Kainé thinks she'll reach it on her own. Maybe she has to. She's no good at tender touches, but she remembers what they felt like. She rubs her knuckle against that crease in Schneider's brow before stroking up into her hairline like someone tending a fever.]

Would not knowing have been any better? If you're ignorant, you just don't see it coming. [It comes just the same... wouldn't Schneider have rather tried to save her than have never known to save her at all?]

[unweathered]

Knowledge is power...in the hands of the already powerful.

[There was a crippling helplessness, Schneider thinks, in knowing your fate, knowing what came and being ultimately powerless to prevent it. Schneider turns into that touch with a soft exhale]

...and Marian, she...she was too gentle. Too soft.

[She remembers a vomit stained shirt, Marian's panicked screams as she failed to recognise her own sister.]

[moonshaded]

She had to be protected by somebody.

[She remembers the young girl's words, the Shadow's fingers clutching at the hem of her clothing as panic gripped her. That young girl is still here with her now. Maybe after the dream and after the orange grove, that's what she's realizing. She never stopped being that girl.

Schneider was so little. Wasn't she younger? But then... there hasn't been a single hint of anything thinking of her with the same protective panic.]

And you had to be tough to do it?