middleofsomewhere | Fissures of Time: Ongoing

Fissures of Time: Ongoing

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!

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The ground trembles under him, but not - at first - in the way it has been periodically. Like a shivering human body, skin harsh and coarse. The sun in the sky is hot above Ryo, and so is the ground.

But then is his hand. A heat settles across it, similar to when the sun pokes through a window, a fleeting gift. He feels a breath of life seep into his body, weary bones no longer so in a short few seconds.

--And then the ground shakes. One second, two, three; and then it starts to splinter into cracks as golden beams shoot out. They tangle around Ryo, spread out towards the camp, grabbing at everything and proceeding to pull it towards the ground - into the ground.

There is little way to fight the beams, unyielding ribbons of life surrounding him completely, pure divinity in every fibre of energy. But though this might be worrisome, a woman's voice speaks to Ryo's being, so kind and soft.

'You will be safe. You will all be safe with me... inside my cradle of Life.'

Help with be needed. Alerting the Gods may help. Others may be able to sense the large amount of divine energy from a distance.

Mina took the other seat and let out a sigh, shaking out her hair a bit.

“Much better. But, let’s not sit around. It could get worse before it gets better!”

Honestly, it was pretty stupid. There was this guy she had a crush on, some violinist, and he was in an accident or something. She blew her Wish on healing his hand, just his hand, so he could play again. She then completely failed to make any attempts to actually follow through on that because she read too many superhero comics and thought that you can only use powers for selfless reasons. We met when I tried to take Mitakihara as my territory after Mami died, we fought each other for equally stupid reasons, and the only reason I didn't put her in the hospital next to... Kyoichi? Was that his name? Anyway, she got back up after I put her down because her wish gave her regeneration and the irony is not lost on me.

I said some stupid things about how she could get Kyoto to herself, we fought again, we found out that our bodies are just horrific meat puppets piloted by our extracted and crystalized souls, and it all went downhill from there. I told her my tragic backstory, she decided she didn't care, and she basically took my olive branch and used it for kindling. Her fighting style got reduced to "hit it with my sword until it dies" after Kyubey told her she can turn off pain, she refused to use any of the Grief Seeds she got for some incomprehensible reason, and then she admitted she was an idiot as she became a Witch right in front of me.

[Kyoko finally stops for air, letting out an angry huff.]

So as you can probably tell, there are some unresolved emotions there.

Edited 2022-01-21 18:36 (UTC)

[Usagi listened to what Kyoko had to say about the entire thing and suddenly, she realized that she was following in those footsteps - that she needed to do things on her own, that she had to use her powers selflessly and not need anyone.

She closed her eyes briefly before she spoke again.]

It seems she didn’t think things through… and neither have I. I’ve been gunning through things with such a one-track mind, I had no idea I was such a disaster like that.

But, this isn’t about me…

Hey, you're still doing better than her. Sayaka was stubborn enough that everyone that tried to reach out to her was met with a backhand, not just me. Hell, she apparently told Madoka, one of her oldest friends, that she didn't have any right to judge her unless she became a Magical Girl too. Which brings me back to the whole "wasn't using her Grief Seeds" thing, because having a dark Soul Gem encourages negative emotions. Speaking of, I should probably offload after that rant.

[Kyoko's Soul Gem, which had admittedly reached the "roiling" stage of corruption at this point, lets the impurities flow out and form into Ophelia, but a different Ophelia than the one Usagi knows. The empty kimono has a vibrant forest pattern, and the beaded chains have been replaced by hanging vines. Viridian flames dance around where she floats, the plants around them gaining unusual vitality instead of burning away.]

Well. This is new.

[Usagi watched as Ophelia is summoned before her with such a drastic design.]

Wow, whatever you ate not just changed your normal powers but everything connected to it! Honestly, I think it would work with other powers, too!

[Your girlfriend went magical geek again.]

I knew the power of the Seed reached my Soul Gem, but I wasn't expecting it to get all the way to Ophelia. Guess I'd better make the most of this power-up while I have it.

I suppose reintroductions are in order then. I am Ophelia, the Doppel of Rejuvenation. My form is that of a Druid. May my healing flames serve both Kyoko-sama and yourself well.

This is insane... It's like I made a different Wish entirely at this point.

Edited 2022-01-21 19:32 (UTC)

[Note: thread retconned because too much collateral damage otherwise, oops]

Then, let’s make the most of it. We have a distortion to shut down and people to save.

And I guess this means we can cut loose.

Yeah, you're right. You hear that, Kolokifi?! We're not just going to let you do as you please!

[The forest writhes in response to Kyoko's anger, any plantlife not under the rogue god's direct control rioting against the chaos of the distortion.]

Let’s go!

[Usagi holds out her hand to summon up a set of ribbons to form into a sword before she charges into the path Kyoko made.]

the unquiet city: talisman flag duty

Wei Wuxian might have been working on talisman flags of the kind that were invented posthumously by himself (he will deadpan anyone who says that his inventions were not in fact run wildly with once he 'died,' because that started before he'd even 'passed'), but at present, he does not have those on him.

In fact, to anyone from home, this might be strikingly familiar, because Wei Wuxian running around in a shirt he's painted his own blood on to form the characters for the attract 'evil' talisman. Oh, he tried playing, to zero results. He tried to see if there were any 'blessings' that acted like powers, but no! So he is not a living lure, keeping angry warriors off the group setting up the equalizer.

"Coming through!" He shouts, literally running past in a polo shirt and pants and boots, with his own miniature mob trailing after. He's at least armed with... some kind of gun? Does he know how to use that. (Yes, but very recently, and this is all rather absurd anyway.)

You are, of course, welcome to help. Invited to, even. Or to get the equalizer up already. He isn't picky!

no sanctuary: no scrubs

In the course of dealing with another of the time displaced refugees acting out in rather violent ways, here, out of seemingly nowhere, is Wei Wuxian slamming into a refugee and tangling them to the ground.

"Quick! Find something to bind them with! Someone's working on setting up an equalizer, but we've half an incense stick before that's done!"

So, seven minutes or so, up to fifteen?

the other great equalizer: alcohol

In the process of getting the camp picked up for moving yet again after the refugees have been calmed, Wei Wuxian emerged with a shining, saving grace: alcohol.

And now he's offering it to you.

"I don't know about you, but I can use a drink after everything that's been happening."

If you're a Lan, or Tidus, he'll add, "But just one." Then wink.

Edited 2022-01-21 20:43 (UTC)

Planning? Things out?

That is not in Esteban's skillsets, if he's honest, he's more the type to rush ahead and figure things out on the go. It's why he's shouted already even though now he figures going quietly might be for the best? Honestly, he doesn't know for sure, but Romeo brings up a good point.

"Somewhere defensible." He rattles the first thing that comes to mind, really, even if he's not sure how to make that happen. They won't have the time for anything more than slap-dash, and the camps had been very temporary to begin with. "With water." Keep hydrated is probably the most important--

"Maybe turn the oxen carts on their side t' make walls?" Yeah, and let them climb all over. Maybe someone else is going to have a better idea, but Esteban is not it.

"What'd'you think?" He's still keeping Romeo's hand into his own, a way to track the child even as he steps back to the entrance of the tent. The fabric flutters as he takes a glance out, checking to see if there are any nearby threats. They won't be able to stay here long.

eye of the storm: ride the dragon

Once within the storm, Jingyi doesn't waste time; he's stripped and shifted dragon as soon as he can, meaning there's 25 metres of dragon turning to the people he's with and saying, "Get on, I can fly us through to the eye."

Because if nothing else, he knows storms, air is his element, he can protect and warm people, and this is going to go far faster if he hauls them all out there than if he goes it humanoid form.

no sanctuary: dragon limits

It's when refugees attack that he does what he can to cut down on damages, only in a more unconventional manner. There someone is, being targeted, when Jingyi steps in.

As a twenty-five metre long dragon, who dips his head down, gently and swiftly collects his fellow Voidtrecker in his teeth, and lifts them up and out of reach of their assailant. While his scales are rather ineffectually stabbed at.

"Hhhissss hish reediicuuuous!"

Honestly, with the sheer chaos surrounding the camp right now, it doesn't even really matter what weapon someone is carrying. Anything that can help to defend themselves is a good thing in Alice's opinion - and if anything, the fact that Rich is carrying a guitar of all things helps him to stand out.

It means that when Alice spots said guitar throughout the chaos in this crowd, she knows that it's not just one of these aggressive civilians, but instead someone she knows.

And considering what she knows about Rich, especially the fact that he doesn't seem like a fighter...

She quickly pushes her way through the crowds, over towards where he's standing.

"Rich," she says. Quickly, almost rushed, since chitchat is kind of hard in the middle of everything going on here - but there's a seriousness in her eyes. It's born from concern, though Alice would rather die than ever admit to that. "Are you alright?"

Honestly, Inigo is tempted to stay away from Taiki for the mission. And he knows that it's not the best idea, since his mental health is already going entirely down the drain. He knows that he's only hanging in there because he's working off sheer determination and a two-day goddess blessing. He's running entirely on fumes, and having the company of one of his best friends might help.

But he can't. He's fighting too much, and he doesn't want to be around Taiki when he's fighting.

Thankfully it has been relatively easy to avoid the other with how hard Inigo has been working anyway. It minimalizes his time actually in camp, where he knows Taiki must be helping out.

It's only inevitable though that they run into each other at some point - and apparently this is it. Inigo mostly still has the same serious expression on his face when he runs into Taiki as he's been carrying with him all this time, but something about it turns a little awkward around the edges. (Shameful, actually.)

"I was just getting some food," he manages to force out.

Even a direction like 'to the south' is kind of hard to follow in the middle of this chaos, but it does give Inigo a bit more of a direction, especially when it's combined with the fact that he can hear Ryo, that he can try to follow the sound.

Which means that after a few more moments of scrambling his way through camp, trying to avoid more of the people fighting, he finally reaches Ryo's side. His hand lands on the other's shoulder, as if to steady either Ryo or himself in the middle of all of this, and Inigo's hard gaze lands on the fabric with some mass underneath it that's lying on the ground in front of Ryo.

"Is that it?"

The bandits - threat - Ryo was speaking about, he means. Inigo knows better than to stab right away, since it might just be that Ryo was instead trying to help someone innocent get out of a collapsed tent, and killing an innocent person certainly is not a mistake Inigo wants to add on top of all of the chaos.

"You think so..?"

Madoka sounds a little uncertain - yet at the same time, she doesn't sound like she's disbelieving what Nozomi is saying here. If the other genuinely feels this way, then Madoka is willing to put some stock in it, especially when the other seems confident about it.

And yet.. the uncertainty lingers, especially when she glances out at the people who are still headed in their direction.

"Then.. what can we do to help them..?"

".. huh?"

It's a surprised little noise that comes from the girl when she realises that the person who was lunging at her for an attack suddenly isn't there anymore. Madoka, who was covering her eyes in fear, slowly removes her hands from her face to spot that her assailant indeed isn't standing in front of her anymore.

Instead she spots him laying there on the ground, vines wrapped around his feet, which the man is frantically tugging at to try and get them off him.

Unsure of where the vines came from, Madoka quickly scrambles to her feet, looking around, until she spots one of the few people she knows who can suddenly make plants appear nearby. Her eyes go wide with surprise and relief.

"M-Miss Persephone..!"

Jiang Cheng only looks vaguely miserable, which might be an improvement on his general mood more than half the time.

There's no stopping the scowl that settles on his face when he sees Wei Wuxian gallanting around and offering people alcohol, but he's also clearly not in the position to say no to it - not when he can reach out and take it, trying to keep his huffing under control. It's not as easy as it looks.

"You could always use a drink."

And he is still cursed with an idiot for a brother.

Nozomi looked out towards the group again. She bit her lip before sighing.

“I’ll stop them. Don’t worry, I won’t kill them - Pretty Cure don’t kill, we protect.”

With that, she pulled out her CureMo and transformed into Cure Dream.

“You know? Maybe one day I can make you a Cure, too…”

Jingyi, for his part, has been raised for violence, within violence, and very aware of when not to use violence. It doesn't preclude the use, but instructs wisdom in it, but the problem that's arisen in camp is one that couldn't precisely be prevented. It wasn't an infiltration, it was a whisper, a shift, and then the movement of the refugees to do... what?

He's moving far before he answers that question, intent to disarm, to disable, not to kill. Using wind, and speed, and his sword; and it's his sword that comes down, slid at an exact angle, tapping the blade at Taiki's neck away in the moment where he wraps his arm around the assailant and pulls them up, off, away. He's strong enough for this, and then he's tossing his sword aside to wrestle with the person trying to stab him, the refugee shouting, angry, desperate.

It's been relatively safe in camp. There sure isn't as much danger around here as there is for the people who actually head into the distortions.

Still.. It's not as if no threats at all escape those distortions, wandering into their reality in the domain, even if it's rare. And it's even rarer for one of them to slip past the people from the purple team trying to look after the camp..

But it's happened anyway. Sure, the threat was taken down quickly enough, but it's still led to Madoka having a cut on her hand. A cut on her hand that she's still staring at, trying to think of the best way to deal with it, given the situation..

.. but then Romeo has apparently already spotted her. Madoka glances over at him, her eyes momentarily going wide with surprise before she instead looks a little sheepish.

"Ah.. Um, I guess I could use one.. It's not that bad though!"

But it definitely is bleeding.

Sizhui's still completely baffled as to why the refugees have suddenly turned and started attacking them, but despite this, he doesn't hesitate to protect those who need it. He's sporting a cut on his cheek from one attacker, a bruise across his throat from another and there's someone coming toward him now where he's standing with his guqin ready; although it feels real bad, fighting individuals he'd been helping not that long ago, he'd feel even worse if innocents got injured during the crossfire.

Fingers strum deftly over strings, sending out a burst of magic that momentarily incapacitates one assailant, but following close behind is another, readying their weapon. Before he can prepare another attack, his feet are abruptly leaving the ground, earning a surprised gasp and causing both of his arms to wrap tight around his instrument. Sizhui curls slightly into himself, attention downcasted to the refugee who's attacking dragon scales though to no avail, then he glances backward over his shoulder at Jingyi, brow furrowed.

“You can say that again!” But maybe do not, just in case he accidentally slips out of Jingyi's mouth.

"Then.. that means.."

Madoka knows what it means. The word 'non-combat' is very obvious, after all.

But it's as if the girl doesn't want to say it out loud. Like the very idea of it sits badly with her, and she casts her gaze downward, staring at her shoes. Her eyebrows are knitting together into a worried frown.

She doesn't like anything about this situation.

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Page 6 of 43

Fissures of Time: Ongoing

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sorry for wall of text, kyoko has opinions

Wow, she does!

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wei wuxian | the untamed | blue team

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lan jingyi (au) | purple, helping everywhere

poi 11

camp life

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B

alcohol!

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again for the lack of sanctuary

back in camp

no sanctuary;

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