{EVENT #4} ADVERSITY 2933165.9475

[expiationmods]

AN EXAMINATION OF SPIRIT

MOD NOTES: Please direct any questions to the corresponding comment below. Note that character decisions and actions taken on these prompts will affect future events, storylines, and relationships with other peoples of Expiation. You can find the OOC poll here. Please pick from the corresponding options with the appropriate character journal. If you use a personal journal or a journal not part of Expiation, your votes will not be counted. Remember that if your character did something different than what is in the prompts given, leave a comment in the OOC poll entry and link to your comment in the option made available. We will provide an IC post in exactly ten days with the results of the poll that will wrap up the event. You may mingle on it if you like, but the most important purpose is to share the effects of character decisions on this event. The various prompts are, of course, optional.

WHEN THE FOG ROLLS IN

On the night of September 10, an impenetrable fog covers the town of Aldrip. When characters wake in the morning, they find that Aldrip has disappeared, replaced by a large, enclosed maze. 

Characters will wake up in one of three different levels of this maze, and they may—but don't have to—find that they are not alone. As they explore the maze, they will encounter trials and stumbling blocks both physical and mental. It seems the maze is testing them, poking at their fears, their past, their feelings. Confronting these questions about themselves and their very nature will allow them to progress through the maze in hopes of eventually finding the exit—and hopefully the town along with it.

While they do not all wake up in the same level of the maze, all characters do, in theory, have to complete all three trials in order to leave. This may not be so easy to achieve; due to the nature of these trials, if someone cannot get past one area, they may remain stuck there. Other characters are able to help them confront these issues, and may instead (or in addition) pass through that way if they choose to. Aside from the level where they wake up, characters may approach these levels in any order as they so choose.

THE GROUPS

GROUP A:
Serah Farron
Elidibus
Nakahara Chuuya
Tsunayoshi Sawada
Rei Suwa
Caitlyn Kiramman
Ragna the Bloodedge
Kotone Shiomi
Monkey D. Luffy
Yuja Wightshade (WoL)
Yosuke Hanamura
Astralin Turnont
Dazai Osamu
Ange Ushiromiya
Hythlodaeus
Ethlyn

GROUP B:
Violet (Vi)
Silco
Mizuki Date
Claude von Riegan
Noel Kreiss
Kazuki Kurusu
G'raha Tia
Jinx
Marianne von Edmund
Goro Akechi
Sooyoung Han
Saito Sejima
Nikolai Gogol
Erichtonios
Emet-Selch

GROUP C:
Yu Narukami
Pride
Sigma
Usagi Tsukino
William G Maryblood
Scott Summers
Gundam Tanaka
Quentin Quire
Akira Kurusu
Mitama Yakumo
Med'an
Ken Amada
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Izuku "Deku" Midoriya
Echo

EXPLORING THE MAZE

i. A WINDING LABYRINTH

     

The walls of the maze are made of stone slabs; tall, solid, and imposing. As far as one can see, there seem to be no cracks or seams in the wall. They're cool to the touch, perhaps a little dampened by the foggy weather. Some of the stones seem to glow with a dim, inner light. Most of the corridors are stable, but some are a little more risky. Walls or ceilings could collapse, leaving passages blocked and some Chosen trapped within tunnels or rooms of the maze. 

Some corridors within the maze are less built up, as well, more like dug-out caverns that look somewhat like mining tunnels. In these tunnels, you can find the raw form of those glowing stones, which seem to light the darkness, allowing the Chosen to see at least a bit. They're enchanting, and some may have a hard time resisting trying to pull them out of the walls.

Occasionally, characters may find larger rooms with small tables of food, equipment, and supplies set up. These areas seem to be safety zones, untouched by the trials, where Chosen can eat, rest, treat any wounds, and replenish their energy.

ii. PERILS IN THE DARK

     

As the Chosen progress through the challenges of the maze—both illusions and real—the air itself may begin to feel more oppressive and heavy, making movement feel very difficult at times. As the week wears on, characters may find themselves worn out faster or feeling more sluggish than normal. More than that, they may find that their emotional lows become more intense: characters may become more easily frustrated, paranoid, scared, or impatient. In general, this seems to exacerbate the worst parts of their personalities.

On other occasions, Chosen may feel as if they are being watched. They get the feeling that something lurks in the shadows of the maze, that they are being watched or followed. They may hear something scratching or skittering across the walls. When they look…there is nothing there, nor any evidence of creatures stalking them through the halls. Characters who had bad luck in the Casino are particularly prone to this feeling; occasionally, they may feel as if someone—or something—is tugging at their hair or clothes, or breathing against their neck. Try to keep your head, Chosen. The hardest part is yet to come.

---

THE TRIALS

     

iii. A DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL [TRIAL A]

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what location or event triggers the beginning of the trial; it seems to be different for every character. Chosen will find themselves in a long corridor, laced with fog. As they progress down this corridor, they begin to see and hear hallucinations and illusions that highlight their greatest insecurities: their flaws, their weaknesses, the darkness they suspect dwells within their soul. 

These illusions may come in a variety of different forms. Perhaps they experience voices or images of peers issuing criticisms that they fear are accurate, or they may face a shadowy figure that bears their appearance that embodies all of their worst qualities. The form these illusions take is up to you, the players, and whether other characters are able to see those illusions can also be decided between players. Confronting, challenging, debunking, and/or accepting these criticisms and claims is the key to exiting this level.

Once they have confronted this challenge, the illusions and hallucinations stop immediately. The fog lifts, revealing a turn in the maze they didn't notice before. They may progress in their exploration.

iv. THE SHAPE OF YOUR FEARS [TRIAL B]

Similar to the first trial, this seems to trigger with little warning or fanfare. At some point in their exploration, characters will find their way blocked by something representing their deepest fears. This can be literal—a dark hallway for those who fear the dark, as an example—but can manifest in a myriad of other ways, too. A character could see someone from their past that represents this fear, or a monster, or an object or memory of something that connects to that fear. These fears will be made tangible and visible to anyone around them, leaving them exposed and vulnerable. In order to progress, they must be able to pass by these fears, and may do so in any way the player chooses, whether it requires fighting a monster, negotiating with an authority figure, finding a light in the darkness, or anything else players and characters can imagine.

The nature of this trial can be as massive or mundane as you, the player, chooses. Whether they need to simply turn on a light to abate their fear of the dark, or whether they need to take down a massive beast to confront something bigger, the area they find themselves in seems to accommodate the size of their trial. Once they have confronted this fear, it disappears, revealing a hallway that might not have been there before, allowing them to progress.

v. IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE [TRIAL C]

As with the first two trials, this one seems to emerge from the darkness when a character is ready to face it. They enter a room lined with obsidian mirrors. When they approach these mirrors, characters are confronted with memories related to the crime they have been charged with. This can be a specific moment or a series of moments related to their crime either directly or indirectly. Characters may become lost in these memories and may need help navigating through them from other people: the longer they remain lost in these memories, reliving them again and again, the more they run the risk of losing those memories entirely, either permanently or temporarily. Only by addressing the crime, the way they feel about it, the relationship that crime has to reality and to who the character is, can characters be free of this particular trial.

Once they have surpassed this trial, characters find themselves able to step back through these obsidian mirrors back into the maze, where they can continue their journey.

Navigating all three trials elicits no special fanfare or celebration. Upon completion of the third trial, they find themselves in a foggy corridor, where they will find an exit from the maze.

---

OPT-OUT AND AFTERMATH

Those characters (or players) who do not wish to interact with the maze will occasionally find quiet corridors that mysteriously place them outside the maze, unable to reenter. They will find that the town is, indeed, gone, as are their living quarters—hope you don't mind roughing it for a while. However, thanks to recent efforts to bolster the town's supplies, some of the underground storehouses organized by Claude and Marianne seem to remain intact and are available as temporary emergency shelter, should your character choose not to camp out.

After one week, the maze will disappear and life in Aldrip returns to normal. As for the locals? They don't seem to notice that anything strange has happened at all. Maze? What maze? Strange weather we're having this week, eh?

WHAT ELSE YA GOT? (WILDCARD)

     

Just because there’s not a prompt for it doesn’t mean that your character’s actions aren’t acceptable. If you wish to do anything that hasn’t been directly addressed by the prompts, leave a message for the mod team to say what your character would do. If you choose to go down this path, note it as a comment on the OOC poll when it goes up, and leave a link to your threads so that we can take all actions into consideration for the next State of the Game.

Comments

c

[snowslip]

[ Marianne keeps her head down as she stumbles through the maze. She's trying not to look into the mirrors, too afraid of what she's seen and what she'll see there, but inevitably, she turns a corner and runs into yet another one.

That she recognizes who is reflected makes her pause, one hand reaching out to touch the glass trapping the figures inside. The moment her fingers make contact, she experiences a falling sensation like she's being pulled inside. When she gets her bearings again, Ange is telling her to go. ]

But what about you? You can't stay here.

[entreats]

I can't leave.

[ It's said with the kind of tone that implies Ange has already tried - but failed. She's trapped in here, and she knows it. This isn't even the first or the second time she's seen this memory play out all over again in front of her eyes, and nothing she does seem to stop it.

Ange swallows, looking at the other Ange - the one from the past - instead of directly at Marianne.

And if Marianne looks over there too, she might realise that Ange isn't alone. She's standing in front of a classroom, but the classroom is suddenly all filled up again - the seats full of other young girls wearing the same school uniform as her, all of them staring at Ange. ]

.. I just don't want you to see this. [ The actual Ange admits, though no one seems to hear her. No one even seems to notice her or Marianne standing there. The attention of the girls in the classroom is all aimed at the Ange in the school uniform, all of them staring to jeer at her, one after another.

"Why do you neeever listen to us, even though we're talking about something so serious?!"

"In one ear and out the other, is it? Does anything get into that thick skull of yours?! Get a grip, okay?!"

"Are you really conscious of the trouble you're causing us?!"

"Until you really show regret of your own will, this seriously isn't gonna end, okay?! It's not just for today. It'll seriously keep on going tomorrow and the day after, you see? Don't you play us for fools, okay?!?!"

Some of the girls start picking stuff up from their desks - pencils, erasers, pencilcases - and start chucking it at the Ange from the memory as they keep on shouting, not a teacher in sight.

"I mean, why are you still even alive? Is it normal to go on living like this? If it were me, I'd just die!"

"You can't live like this, can you?! 'Cause you being alive just means getting in other people's way all the time, right? If it were me, I definitely couldn't live on!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'd die too. If doing that's better for the world, then I'd die right away!" ]

[snowslip]

Then we'll look for a way. I can't leave you here.

[ Although Ange showed little emotion about her predicament, Marianne is filled with worry. She doesn't want to turn around and leave her alone in this strange and upsetting labyrinth, especially after experiencing haunting voices herself. The classroom they stand in must be yet another production of the maze, and she can make out a familiar-looking girl among the students gathered.

Was she seeing a memory?

The Ange in the school uniform wears a look in her eyes that Marianne has seen on her own face before. When the other girls begin to pick on her, saying such cruel things, Marianne can't help but cry out. ]

Stop... please stop!

[ She tries to move between the bullies and the other Ange in an attempt to shield her from the erasers and pencils, forgetting that she is but a phantom presence in a memory. ]

[entreats]

[ Indeed - it doesn't seem like Marianne can change anything about the memory. Even though she bravely tries to insert herself there, the things the girls are throwing pass right through Marianne, like the items themselves are little more than ghosts - little more than projections of a memory from long ago.

But it's not like the other's action does nothing. The Ange from the memory doesn't seem to notice her, but the actual Ange - she does. She's staring at Marianne, a look in her eyes that's hard to place. There seems to be some surprise in it, especially compared to her usual pokerface, but there's something a little more.

Even as the girls keep jeering at the Ange in the memory, it's instead the actual Ange who speaks up, still wearing that complicated expression as she looks at Marianne. ]

.. why are you doing this?

[ Any of it. Staying here with her, insisting on it, even trying to protect that version of her from the past.

She doesn't get it. ]

[snowslip]

[ The thrown objects fly right through her, and Marianne's hands grasp only air. She feels anguish rising in her chest at her own powerlessness, and her heart hurts for the bullied girl who doesn't cry out even though she must be in pain. ]

Because it's too cruel. I don't know what happened in the past, but you shouldn't be made to feel your life is worthless.

[ In vain, Marianne tries to embrace the phantom Ange by the shoulders and protect her. She recognizes herself in the girl's pain. She was once in a dark place, too. A curse onto others, feeling all alone. Even now, there are days her despair resurfaces, hitting like a wave and threatening to pull her under. She might very well have let it if not for her friends. That's why she can't leave Ange trapped and fighting by herself. ]

[entreats]

[ The actual Ange is speechless. She never knows what to say or do in the face of kindness, after all - and this sure is one of those moments. All she can do is just stare at her shoes, looking more and more awkward with each passing moment.

But the Ange from the past, the one Marianne is trying so hard to hold onto even though everything seems to slip through her - she moves. For a moment it seems like she might be noticing Marianne's presence, but then it's obvious she's speaking to someone else entirely, when her voice suddenly raises to speak: ]

Then you die!

[ It's like the world freezes around them. At least the classmates are no longer throwing things - because it's like they're frozen too. Only the Ange from the past seems to move, and seven girls suddenly appear, hovering in the air and wearing some rather strange outfits.

And the past Ange is clearly looking at them and speaking to them, still sounding very upset as she continues with: ]

You Seven Sisters of Purgatory are incredible furniture that can massacre mere humans in a flash, right?! You're always boasting about it to me!! Then do it! Massacre them right now!! Right here, right now!!

[snowslip]

[ Marianne feels a chill down her spine when the younger Ange cries out. The world grounds to a halt and she finds herself surrounded by seven new figures. Her heart drops when she realizes where the scene is going, but she is a ghost in the memory. Her hand falls right through the younger Ange's shoulder, unable to reach out to offer any comfort even when Ange's pain turns sharp and pointed. ]

No...you can't...

[ She's realized by now what she says can't be heard by the actors before her, but still she tries. Had someone been there for Ange, surely it wouldn't have come to this. ]

[entreats]

[ Though the younger Ange continues ranting to the girls in the air, the actual Ange is just quiet. There's something about Marianne's words that almost pokes more at her than the actual scene she's witnessing - for the umpteenth time, too, considering it just seems to continue to loop in front of her eyes. ]

.. Sorry.

[ She finally says, speaking up.

Her voice is softer than it usually is, perhaps only audible above the exchange between the younger Ange and the floating girls - who are busy trying to tell the younger Ange that they can't carry out her commands. ]

I guess this must totally ruin any impression you've gotten of me. [ This Ange isn't speaking to the younger Ange, or to any of the girls.

She's just talking to Marianne. ]

[snowslip]

[ Her words fall short of reaching the phantom Ange, and Marianne can only look on and pray that Ange's friends would be able to calm her down and comfort her. There was another girl here, though, who her words could reach. Perhaps it was even the Ange of the present that needed to hear it the most. Marianne straightens up and turns to her now.

The scene loops around again while she's grasping for words, sadness in her eyes. ]

I'm sorry. It's awful how they treated you.

[ She begins quietly, uncertainly, but even if her perspective has shifted with new understanding of the girl who never showed much emotion, one thing remains clear to Marianne. Her voice grows stronger. ]

I know now why you wanted me to leave, but I still don't want to leave without you.

[entreats]

I don't think there's a choice.

[ It feels easier to address this than any other part of what Marianne is saying. It's hard to think of all the crap that happened to her in any other way than 'it sucked' before it starts to get too heavy for her to bear, for one. It's a little bit hard for her intentions to be seen through so easily as well.

This is easier. It's factual. ]

.. I can't leave. I'm stuck.

[ So Marianne will have to leave without her, is the implication. Ange wouldn't want to trap anyone else here along with her. ]

I guess it's since it keeps starting over before it shows my actual crime. [ Surely there's a reason for that.

The problem is that Ange doesn't want to think about that reason. ]

[snowslip]

[ Was there truly no way for them to escape together? Marianne had been able to walk right into the memory. There were no physical walls separating this space from the maze, but perhaps there were emotional ones. She looks from the present Ange to the younger one and begins hesitantly. ]

What if you tried to talk to her? My words can't reach her, but if it's you...

[ Ange might be the only one capable of reaching out to her younger self, and at the moment where she needed it the most. ]

I can leave, but I'll wait for you.

[ She doesn't want to intrude on a private moment any more than she has, but that doesn't mean she will abandon her. ]

[entreats]

[ Ange's jaw drops a little bit at the suggestion. Nothing too huge or comical, but it's still visible, especially since it's coupled with a shift in her gaze. She was looking a little bit more emotional than the usual already, but it was leaning a little bit more towards sad, towards something hollow.

This is different. Her initial reaction towards the suggestion is surprise, and then it seems to settle into something a little more awkward or uncomfortable as she glances between Marianne and her younger self, before settling on looking at the former for now. ]

.. what do I even say?

[ She sounds so uncertain.

And - really, it's not like she thinks Marianne knows either. The poor other girl tumbled right into these strange circumstances, after all. Most of this probably doesn't even make sense to her.

And yet Ange can't help but ask. Because she truly doesn't know. ]

[snowslip]

Maybe...you can tell her what you needed to hear at the time.

[ Marianne thinks back to her younger self, to the days where the world felt impossibly cruel and her existence meaningless. Her only solace had been the goddess. Maybe it would have helped her to hear that it would get easier, that even she can change, find meaning in life, and not give up.

She can't say for certain whether things will be fine for Ange, that life will turn out for the better if she just endures. Marianne doesn't know what the right words are to release her from the memory, she can only trust Ange to find them, but she hopes her words can encourage her even a little. ]

Just promise me you'll be kind to yourself.

[entreats]

[ It seems like things aren't that easy, even with Marianne's suggestion, since Ange is still quiet for a moment, staring at a seemingly very interesting spot on the floor.

(Or, you know, maybe it's just that she doesn't really want to look at Marianne, nor at the other version of her still there.) ]

I'll try. [ She finally says, her voice a lot more quiet than her usual.

When she continues, Ange sucks in a breath before daring to look up at Marianne again. She can't quite muster up her usual poker face, but she tries to keep at least some of the vulnerability she feels contained as she says: ]

.. And.. um, thanks. [ ... ] For being so nice about this.

[ Even though Ange feels like one of her uglier sides has been on display here. All the emotion she usually tucks away carefully, out of sight for anyone else. ]