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expiationlogs2023-09-11 06:30 am
- !event,
- ai tsf: mizuki date,
- arcane: caitlyn kiramman,
- arcane: jinx,
- arcane: silco,
- arcane: violet / vi,
- blazblue: ragna the bloodedge,
- bungo stray dogs: nikolai gogol,
- bungo stray dogs: sigma,
- final fantasy xiii2: noel kreiss,
- fire emblem three hopes: marianne,
- fma:b: pride,
- magia record: mitama yakumo,
- original: astralin turnont,
- persona 3 portable: kotone shiomi,
- persona 4: yosuke hanamura,
- persona 4: yu narukami,
- persona 5 royal: goro akechi,
- umineko wtc: ange ushiromiya,
- x-men movieverse: scott summers
{EVENT #4} ADVERSITY 2933165.9475
| 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
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?
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.
no subject
( is this really the time to be a smartass? yes, because in jinx's logic, it's best to treat this situation like it's normal than something being unsettling and out of the norm. behaving like this is some sort of tragic and frightening thing might set off him/the beast more. or she could be entirely wrong and this only agitates things. it's a fifty-fifty percent chance. regardless, the teen carefully lifts up her hand again -- extending out for him to take. )
— Listen, Ragna. I don't care what you are or what you've done. 'Cause you're still my partner. And partners help each other. You can tell me to run away like a lil' kid and junk, but I'm not going anywhere. ... I'm not leaving ya alone like this. So whaddya say, huh? Let me take care of you this time.
no subject
"I'm not leaving ya alone."
"Let me take care of you."
This─ This is wrong, all wrong. This isn't how things were supposed to go. This whole "partnership" was supposed to be nothing more than an excuse for them to use each other for gathering intel, maybe supporting the other in a fight sometimes. The way she puts it, it's─ it's almost like they're friends or something. How laughable is that? He's not the kind of person who could (or, quite frankly, deserves to) have friends. What would even be the point? All it would bring them is pain and regret. And for her own safety, it's better for Jinx to stay away from him, too.
Ragna grits his teeth, his half-raised hand curling up into a fist. His eyebrows drawn together into a scowl, it feels like he's finally thinking clearly for the first time since the beast's disappearance. ]
I don't... need help.
[ He pulls his hand back, placing it on the ground instead and stubbornly attempting to prop himself up, albeit with limited success. He probably looks very stupid doing all this, but it's still better than accepting someone taking pity on him ─ or at least that's how it works in his head. ]
You've got... no idea what you're dealing with here.
no subject
Not knowing what I'm up against is half the fun. ( the girl turns her head to peer over to ragna, smirking warmly to him with her feet swaying from side to side. )
Remember when we lied together out in the open field sometime back? Preeeettttty relaxin' huh?
( a beat. )
Take a breather with me. ( the teen extends out her hand again but this time, pats the ground to coax him to rest. ) — Just for five minutes. Then you can run off all you want. I won't chase ya. Deal?
no subject
... I liked the meadow better.
[ He says in a complete deadpan. At least it looks like his dry sense of humor has returned? So there's that. Despite his sarcasm, there is something genuine to that comment, though ¬ he really does wish he was lying on the soft grass, surrounded by the rustle of leaves in the wind and sun rays caressing his face.
... It feels like the time when that was possible was a lifetime ago.
Ragna looks up to the sky, covered with clouds of smoke, silently wondering if it looked more like the image from that day in the forest in his memory until he came along, before finally speaking up again. ]
You sure like to live dangerously, huh?
cw: masochist + sadist
Ya know when a guy meets a girl who they really like and they finally get that big smooch they've always wanted. And then THAT smooch gets hotter and crazier with hands being everywhere with messy hairs and stuff? Then after that, they pull away and they're both out of breath 'cause it was such a big rush and it felt sooooo good?
( a beat, letting him sink that imagine in whether he wants it or not. )
— That's what living dangerously feels like to me. A constant satisfying thrill. Fire, explosions, destruction, everything and everyone going completely insane and out of control... it gives me pleasure. So does hurting those who wronged me and sometimes myself. Can't help whatcha into, ha ha!!
no subject
Instead, he moves his head to look at her, but instead of anger or disgust, his eyes betray a hint of... concern? As much as he doesn't want to admit it (even to himself), her flippant attitude towards her own safety worries him a little. And the whole thing about enjoying destruction... it all sounds eerily similar to a certain other girl with an absurdly long braid that he knows. He briefly wonders if, like in her case, Jinx is doing is as a call for help, too? A way to hurt herself, maybe?
Ragna bites his lower lip, turning his gaze away from the girl. After everything that's happened here, there's absolutely no way he could possibly criticize her, is there? So instead, he just settles for a warning. ]
... Careful you don't overdo that.