Fissures of Time: Ongoing

[voidtreckermods]

---

FISSURES OF TIME: ONGOING

---

... POI 10-12

FOR SOME, THE MISSION HAS BEEN MORE MENTALLY EXHAUSTING THAN PHYSICALLY. Distortions sprout around the domain without rhyme or reason, and the camps must be moved every new day to meet them, as well as stopping a distortion from deciding to form under them from their presence.

While there's bare-bones vegetation, at least they have their own resources to help one another, as well as what can be retrieved from the Ministry base during return trips to take misplaced civilians to safety. It's straight-forward so far...

...but that wouldn't be standard for the Voidtreckers, and some in their ranks don't want straight-forward. Starting during the early hours of Poi 10, there will be occasional rumblings throughout the land. They last for a few seconds and then stop, seemingly for hours; but then they return, and as the days go on, so do the tremors increase.

It seems the distortions too have become affected...

THE UNQUIET CITY. (CW: People unable to die/rising from the dead, body horror)

A city of rubble and ruin stretches far out around them, where once there were hills and vegetation. Much of the rubble is still smoking as fires smoulder. The fighting isn't over, heard before it's seen.

It must be connected to the same skirmishes seen in other distortions, and so most of you are prepared to meet warriors on foot and mount. But what awaits isn't only the horror of bloodshed. No: the reason that the fighting still continues even as the city lies in ruin is because fighters fall and rise again, as if death were nothing but a short rest.

Puncture marks litter skin and armour, holes from weaponry and blessed-magic visible in torsos, even the spaces of where portions of one's skull and brain should be.

Yet they cannot stop fighting. They cannot fall to the ground, rest. Whatever drove them to fight this war still inspires them to continue, screaming as much in pain as in some sort of twisted ecstasy. Perhaps they are too shocked to do anything else. A city locked in eternal war, distorted in time, doomed to repeat itself.

It's hard to set the equalisers here. Not much is stable and fights are likely to break out wherever there are people. The people of this city have their factions, but they will not hesitate to band together to fight intruders.

EYE OF THE STORM. They might feel this distortion before they enter it. A spine-chilling thrill, the feeling one might get at the edge of a storm.

—For a storm it is. The moment they enter it their vision will be obstructed, winds howl around them and rain lashes down furiously making a swamp of the ground below them. It's freezing cold and as they walk they will feel something in the storm. Almost as if there are icy hands, reaching out to grab at them, to pull them further into the worst of the weather.

It's hard to know where to place the equalisers, hard to see where the edges of this distortion are. Easier, not by much, to move further in, to find the epicentre and try and take it down from there.

It's a treacherous journey, but the centre truly is calm, water frozen like crystals. Yet temperatures are dangerously low, so it's in everyone's best interests to set the equalisers quick and get out.

MEAN AND GREEN. As the rumbling continues, there comes a strange and worrying distortion. Worrying, as this distortion can be seen from the outside. A hazy blur that seems to move across the countryside, along the left side of the camp you're stationed at. It gets dangerously close at times, and when it does...

Green tendrils of plant life burst out, entangling people to pull them into the distortion. Or chains of flowers spread from the distortion out across the countryside. Beautiful and colourful in the otherwise sparse environment, but those flowers work as anchors, spreading the distortion, expanding it.

To get rid of it they will need to enter, and inside is a thick jungle of vines and bright colourful flowers awaiting them. The foliage is thick and the air musky and sweet. It's easy to get separated, and getting lost is only a matter of getting turned around. The leaves are sticky and vines move seemingly on their own, curling around unsuspecting limbs, trying to trap people in this colourful paradise forever.

And up in the sky above, a woman's laughter can be heard, the heat of the sun bearing down that becomes uncomfortable quick. But don't look up - you may find a large yellow eye - yellow iris, yellow pupil, golden yellow everything - peering back at you, and find yourself being pulled in by the very ground itself by a powerful force.

NO SANCTUARY. Protecting the camps hasn't been difficult, despite it being a Purple task. Other than rowdy refugees breaking out into fights, little else has appeared to disturb them.

'Eiiiiliiifii.... Siiiiliiifiii...
Merios? Herios?
Don't hide... don't hide...

Everything will be so perfect soon...'

People are woken abruptly in the early hours of Poi 11. If by some special sense, or by a grab at their throat, by a body falling on top of where they sleep, someone else stopping the refugee who was about to take a knife to them.

The refugees have become uncontrollable, raving about wanting 'their Gods back'. The ground rumbles as the woman's voice from the hazy jungle - ethereal, so divine - speaks from below. Grass rises and the sky above burns with a brightness like an approaching sun.

Setting an equaliser will calm the refugees, but only those in the camps. Starting from lunchtime, more warriors and civilians will be found appearing from the distance and from thin air, seemingly knowing where to find the Voidtreckers' camps - and after some very specific people.

Those with divinity, control over weather, nature, and death will be especially targeted, along with anyone who received blessings from the Gods.

OOC NOTES

OOC post. Ask questions here. Let us know about shenanigans here. NPC requests here, set up a thread here. Rewards go here.

TL;DR: Starting on Poi 10, there will be odd tremors around the domain, and more aggressive time distortions. From Poi 11 refugees will lose control of themselves and start attacking Voidtreckers, in and out of the camp.

It will happen abruptly to begin with, but some keen to reading energy will find that it is shifting; like something is breaking in from somewhere else (similar to the time distortions).

Extra equalisers can be picked up from the Ministry base and they will be there to help, but there are also more distortions happening around the domain, so they'll be dealing with those. The Ministry will advise that any non-combatants should stick to the base, and even use the scouting drones to help from afar, if they really need to help.

Undead warriors can be found outside of time distortions, and not all of the people outside of distortions will be 'permanent' people. Equalisers can be kept going for a few hours to keep these people away, but will also need go into recharge/cooling mode.

Don't worry if you're still busy with the Starting log! Or if you've been meaning to tag, jump in here!

Comments

[weifinder]

He helps, mostly by hooking a foot around a stack of chairs and dragging them back a bit more, but the space they clear is enough for her to work. He nods, patting his chest as if the sound of his hand hitting and the smack over the hollowness of his lungs is reassuring.

"I have your back," he says, and it's a promise that ends up manifesting with him tossing out a talisman for gravity bearing, pinning down an overweight man carrying a pot lid when he comes stomping up ranting about freed godly truths when she's halfway through setup.

"Nothing to worry over, he's fine! We're all fine!" he says, winding closer to take the pot lid out of reach and pointedly press a pressure point, so the man slumps fully down and starts breathing deep, like one in sleep. He then... farts.

Loudly.

Wei Wuxian raises his eyes to the sky and sighs, not quite as loudly. Glorious morning battles.

[jingyeets]

It's not like praying is going to do any good.

Jingyi freezes, something visible in the way his mane stops moving, his whiskers hold position, everything about him still as the air that tends to circulate his body goes as a thought creeps in, past the reason he was saying please, needing someone to be a bulwark against a fear he's fought all his remembered life.

Prayer, however, ties to gods, ties to the reason the Ministry is here, ties in so deeply that he practically shouts over Inigo's head some concept of an answer once it strikes in his brain, akin to lightning striking the pine that thrusts tallest over the ridge. What else happens overnight? What happens suddenly with no explanation? What influences reality here in sudden, unpredictable, but definitely 'god' linked ways?

"The tears! The gods responsible for those, the time issues, those are stabilised with the equalisers. Could it work here? Stabilise this place from that influence?"

Jingyi casts a silencing over all the gathered and netted refugees, plunging them into a much quieter area than it'd been before that point. Lan traditions could have upsides: and silence is a working he knows very, very well.

[to_rise_above]

Jin Ling gives Jingyi a brow raise for that question. If he had an answer, it was caught in his throat for the moment. He's not even sure himself. He knows that the thought is there, but he hasn't pursued it the problem since he's gotten here. To be fair, the burden feels less troublesome here than it does in the other place. Whether it's a good thing or not, he's not sure.

"I-I don't know, and no one said this was healthy to begin with..."

Since, that's the only answer he can come up with that doesn't sound too much like he's avoiding the topic, "As far as I know, it hasn't been bad and the wolf hasn't done anything... problematic."

Jingyi can hear the wolf demon laughing on the cue of those words. He must find Jingyi's question quite entertaining but chooses to remain silent while-- laughing.

"I don't think I've lost track of time here or anything. There aren't--blanks in my memory."

He trails off, not sure why he's explaining it in detail to Jingyi, but it is probably because of the way Jingyi asked, and Jin Ling figured there is no point in hiding the facts. Jin Ling takes one more look around the area and is content that all the people in danger are now knocked out. Jingyi even released his hold. He supposed it is a job well done for the both of them and Fairy.

[jingyeets]

"..." Jingyi's fur stands on end, his lips curling back off his teeth in a very canine way, compared to the fact of his very scaled body. He doesn't quite come to rumbling out a growl over the way Jin Rulan speaks about it, but it's close.

"You don't think. You don't know. Jin Rulan, what progress have you made in even figuring out how to separate both of you? Demon, how thin is your face that you're not looking for a better solution now that you have access to answers from hundreds of worlds?"

Not that the situation of the demons on the world Jin Rulan had been on, along with one of the Wei Wuxians, had been explained in too much depth to Lan Jingyi. Too many other things come up instead, but it galls him that a spiritual affliction persists and rides around and possesses even here and now, when it should not. When there should be a break away. Two whole beings, not two cleaved overfull with each other.

[luckydragonsfoot]

Did that wooloo give an insulted snort in reply to that whisper? Who knows. It's a mystery!

But they will follow at least...for now. They seem to roll strangely close behind, but it's probably nothing to worry about. Probably.

At any rate, Katsuya himself will be found sitting off his exhaustion some distance away, having finally quelled whatever chaos was happening at that stretch of camp.

Suffice to say he sees Amar before he sees Tidus.

"Nyhhh...huh?"

[fennu]

As if he isn't already half-way there, given his experiences with the matchmaker and Wen Qing. None of those things have made him feel as though he has any particular chances in the future.

All the same, he shoves his brother gently and moves to slump down, settling with a huff.

"One of them gave me this," he tugs at a little charm on his belt, fingers brushing over it gently before he sighs. "I see the other one less. It is easier to adjust to a strange world without your uncle breathing down your neck, I'm sure. I am just here when they need me."

When he's needed, which is rare. He misses being home, misses having work to do, something to manage, work to do. It makes him feel particularly useless here, adrift and weightless.

"But I am here. It's better than not being here."

[springforth]

Of course. Of course Madoka questions her. Persephone has never done anything more impressive than that spring and that wasn't about force, it was about saving. She's never been put in the position of defending herself in front of Madoka.

"I can. I promise. My powers aren't very useful in combat but I can defend you. I did it just now."

Already, she can feel the guilt about the thorns still wrapped around those people from her tent. If they're even still okay--she doesn't think about it. Everything is pushed to the back of her mind as she focuses on the task at hand.

[marvelous_murderbot]

"Because you will be overwhelmed and killed if you continue," she replied, evenly.

The hand stays offered, unwavering.

"Let me lead you back, please."

[weifinder]

He leans in, wanting a closer look at the charm in question, lips pulling up into a smile even as he eyes it.

"They'll always know where to find you," he says, agreeing without needing to make it more explicit, "And they've friends to get into trouble with, and back out again. Or that's my sense of things."

Straightening out of his bending to look at the charm, he laughs.

"I'm thankful, ah? That we've had this time." The two of them, with all the pain of their sister (martial, blood, adopted, Jiang Yanli a spectre of their hearts throughout), the time with people who they might have not had around in any reflection, the limited time with Wen Qing. Finding children of their own in a wayward, unanticipated manner, and being here, whatever that meant in the end.

[to_rise_above]

Jin Ling gives the other a raised brow for his sudden change of mood. He's sure that Jingyi is never happy about the fact that some parasitic demon is in his body, but that hasn't and still isn't a priority for Jin Ling. He has a lot of other important things to be concerned about.

Though, he's quite aware as anyone that being in this sort of give and take relationship with a youkai of all beings is not exactly the most ideal, or the safest. He will never know what will happen if his guard is let down or when the demon will take control of his body. He doesn't have the ability to stop or control that. He frowns at the statement.

"Of course I know that! I know what sort of resources we have with from all the different hundreds and thousands, if not more worlds! How could I not be aware? You think I want to walk around with him living inside my head?"

Jin Ling is aware and he knows that the okami youkai is the same. They both want similar things. In fact, despite his sarcastic manner, the youkai hasn't done anything that truly made Jin Ling upset. (At least, not yet).

To Jin Ling, the wolf responds:

You foul use of words hasn't changed very much, child. Here, I thought that you have given up hope.

He then addresses Jingyi.

Then what do you propose we do? It's rather nice up in here. I don't have to worry about disappearing and the boy gets some degree of protection. I wouldn't say it's that terrible. I may be a youkai, but I have my own sense justice and morals.

Their existence is obviously not normal. If he can find a body of some sort to put himself in, along with that demonic mask, maybe he can find some peace. For now, the okami seems to find the conversation quite-- interesting. The child certainly has a lot of people who care a lot about him.

He reminds himself to not get on their bad side, since he can't handle all of those cultivators by himself.

[longforgottenpromise]

If Tidus has one then that is good and it means Taii doesn't have to move. Which is good because he feels slightly dizzy, he doesn't want to move away from Tidus though, not when Tidus is hurt.

He looks up at him as he shudders and nods, regretting the movement the moment he did so. "Yes." He whispered.

"It didn't hurt me."

No more than some bruises, being bashed about a little. He's fine.

[longforgottenpromise]

He wished he knew a better way to help him, but it probably would not happen on this mission. There was no way he would find a way for Inigo to smile again, to be his usual overdramatic self, when his heart was hurting so much.

"We are trying. It feels so little, compared to all the problems but all the little things add up."

And if a fruit pastry is the difference between a terrible day and just a very bad day, well that is something.

[longforgottenpromise]

He nodded, trying to get himself under control. He's trying not to be too upset, after all he doesn't want them worrying about him. It's enough that they are here, when they surely have much more important things to do.

But he can only be glad for their company, especially since it means he can check on them and make sure they at least rest for a moment. He held onto Inigo's hand tightly as he blinked at Tidus.

"It might... But please don't trouble yourself. You two must be very tired."

[flatteries]

It's an idea.

And it's not like it's an idea that could hurt, so Inigo acts right away. Thinking for a moment about how far away he is from where the nearest equalisers are stored, and then--

"Can you hold them? For just a bit longer? I'll contact--"

He doesn't finish his sentence, too rushed, figuring that Jingyi will understand what he's doing as Inigo flicks up the wrist with his SCA on it. Just pushing the button of the general channel and speaking into it, for anyone in camp to grab an equaliser and fire it up. Inigo figures that it's bound to work faster than him working his way away from Jingyi and over towards a tent that still has those things around. Surely someone will hear the call and get one working. Hopefully someone will trust him without him having to explain Jingyi's own thought process between how those might help.

There's an answer, thankfully, and so Inigo quickly glances back over at his friend.

"Someone ought to be turning on one really soon, just hang in a few moments longer!"

If it works, that is. But Inigo thinks that it has a pretty good shot - moreso than anything else he can think of in this moment, anyway.

[jingyeets]

Nothing in Jingyi can be easy with this, so his answer isn't easy either. Not aggressive, because there is too much still here to do, but not forgiving, either.

"Find you another vessel. Bind you to where you needn't fear this disappearing. Though I can't say I'd mourn you if you did," he says, unlikely to lie even if he were inclined to the concept of lying in the first place. "But the boy doesn't need your version of protection, not here, not in his world. You're both out of the hell you came from, and we have to finish dealing with this shit, so let's go."

Leaping up, he catches himself in the air and flies forward, not providing Jin Rulan with a ride, only a direction in which to chase.

[happyends]

The sound of someone approaching - something even Madoka can't miss, as she's staring at the device - isn't enough to make her look up. It does seem to startle the girl a little, since she shivers as her hands are moving to press the right buttons, to set the entire thing up, but she's doing her best to trust the man. If Wei Wuxian says that he will keep her safe, then.. surely he'll do his best.

He's done his best to listen to her before, after all. To take her concerns seriously. That should mean that he'll also take her safety very seriously.

But while she can at least trust him enough to keep working while it sounds like he's dealing with one of the very agitated people...

.. it's a little harder to do so when she hears a totally unexpected sound.

Madoka immediately turns her head, staring at Wei Wuxian, her mouth hanging open.

(Is she assuming that he was the one who let it rip that loudly? She's staring like she's dumbstruck!)

[jingyeets]

Jingyi lands with that, his talons pressing against the earth in a literal grounding. He strains his hearing through the camp, but it's overwhelming, too many sounds collectively, too much to hear and not at first enough to pick out as one specific. The sound of an equaliser being set up is covered by so many others, and centimetre by centimetre, his talons press down into the earth.

Inigo did say hold on. He's holding.

His qi nets are likewise holding, but those he doesn't need to concentrate on, not now that they've been established. Even the silence wards working to keep their captured refugees from overwhelming them with sound doesn't help for anywhere beyond their arc of netting, for better and worse.

Then he hears it, the humming sound that doesn't quite ring and definitely itches his inner ear without doing that at all. Jingyi's head whips around, facing the direction his ear had picked out as the one responsible for the noise.

"There." His whiskers lifted, not wafting in wind, but frozen in an upward lift now. The tip of his tail twitches with nerves coursing through him, and he reminds himself, this is not possession as the refugees try shaking the bars of the qi netting, and then...

... well, it's not fully instant, but the ones closest to the direction he's looking stop struggling and mouthing off in their enforced quiet so violently, start to slump, to look confused, to look frightened as they come to terms with their present situation. Jingyi drops the silence ward, and while some are still shouting about gods, or almost being right or fixed or whatever it is, more are starting to look confused.

[myblueskies]

Romeo reached out to grab the higgledy, hugging him close as Tidus shouts the plan. He nodded. "Okay!"

They needed an equaliser, to stop the storm and that would require a bit of organising.

"Let's go to that flat bit over there!" Not so far at all, only a few steps.

[weifinder]

He blinks, then pointedly gestures toward the fallen man, somewhat overdramatically. No, that wasn't him! It was that guy! The guy who, after a moment of gesturing from Wei Wuxian, lets out a final, conciliatory toot, which doesn't sound any less like it might be coming from Wei Wuxian.

His pained look is utterly unfeigned, and he gives up gesturing with a sigh, even as said refugee, now out for the count, starts very softly snoring. He nods his head to Madoka, then looks to her progress with the equaliser, and then...

... The passed out man passes gas one more time, and he simply gives up on today on every level, including the concept of dignity. He catches sight of another person incoming, though they're tripping over a sleeping bag they're still wearing, feet peeping out of the bottom, head out of the top, and holding a rock that they attempt to throw with their arms still caught up in the sleeping back.

It's not a big rock. It's about palm sized. It also falls flat before them with a thump, and they look down, muttering. "The truth will be known, this falsehood will end, we will... rock... you?"

[myblueskies]

He hoped he could get better with practice because then he could heal more things, make sure his friends never got hurt for very long!

He tilted his head at her, frowning slightly. "I know. I get sad when my friends are hurt too..."

He doesn't want to make her sad. "It doesn't hurt too bad though, so you don't got to worry about me."

[myblueskies]

"Okay sir." He could agree to that. Teamwork was always important and sticking together was how teamwork was meant to go.

He pauses thought before he goes, before he casts his spell on himself. "What's your name? Your full proper name. 'Cause if I know it I can make you invisible too."

Two sneaky invisible people were better than one invisible person and someone trying their best to be quiet after all.

[myblueskies]

"It did before. When we were in that city. Um. When we all had powers. Diagad but it wasn't actually Diagad."

That place! He tilted his head as Idia began to clean up his hands and then blinked.

"But I can help them! If I do this then they won't hurt anymore!"

Re: No Sanctuary

[najaran]

When Mina dropped, Najaran pulled free and drew a Card.

"LADY NAJARAN! They're not Cepters! You know better!"

She seemed to be ignoring Goligan, fury and pain on her face as she threw the card into the air. It exploded into light and then resolved into Thunderbeak, standing between them and the attackers.

"Najaran! You cannot attack them!"

Najaran turned on him glaring, and since he was with Mina, she saw the full force of that pain filled glare. She scooped Mina up as best she could and climbed onto Thunderbeak's back. The large creature pushed off the ground and flew towards the train.

"Oh..." was the small sound that escaped Goligan.

Re: sure!

[nobodys_puppet]

She kept him as close as she could, closing the end of the portal they entered through as soon as she could, rushing towards where she hoped Axel would be waiting. Well as much as she could rush, given she was doing her best job of carrying Taiki. Which probably would have looked comical under other circumstances.

Re: Leia Organa | Star Wars | Blue Team - OTA

[nobodys_puppet]

"Moderation?" she asked, confused.

But at the other question, she tilted her head. "You mean protect you while you work?"