middleofsomewhere | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Neither stops. He is ignored which he had expected. There comes a point in any situation where a kirin is ignored. Where the world as they wish it to be conflicts with reality and that is why kirin do not rule, why they only advise, why when it comes down to it their kings can order them to do what is necessary even if it breaks their hearts.

They scuffle and Taiki pressed himself up against the wall, still watching with horror. Jingyi spoke and it broke Taiki out of his horror for a moment. Report. He could do that. "He just attacked out of nowhere... I don't know what he wanted, why he..."

It was senseless, no reason for the violence at all. "He cut my neck, I... don't think it's deep."

He can still talk, honestly it barely stings. If he were a human it wouldn't even be a wound worth mentioning.

But he's not and he's fighting blood sickness with every breath.

He doesn't have enough on him, and he grits his teeth, pulling on his waistband and jerking it free one handed, wrapping the man's hands, then as swiftly shifting and hog-tying him to his own legs. He's conscious, not capable of moving, unarmed, and silent, but his eyes are fevered and the mouth he can't open wants to form the words from before.

This, as swiftly as he can manage, because he recalls conversations, limits and challenges for a qilin, a kirin, which aren't familiar except that they're Taiki's. As of yet, Jingyi does not smell of blood; partly luck in where he's been involved with the temporal disturbances, partly because Lans are weapons trained to disable and to exorcise, and death dealing is only necessary when deemed necessary, not as a matter of course. He tugs a talisman from inside his robe, activates it with a flick of his fingers, and the area floods with scent, the brashness of vinegar that bites at the nostrils and pricks the eyes, which would make for an excellent prank if he were thinking about using it that way.

Right now, it's attempting a measure before he's kneeling before Taiki.

"There's some sort of compulsion. You're not the only one," he says, "Attacked. Taiki, does your body accept outside healing energy?"

At least the fighting has stopped. Jingyi has tied the other man up, ending the fight without further violence or death. Taiki is very glad about that. Whatever is happening, whatever made the man attack, they can figure it out.

He watched as Jingyi activated the talisman and the scent of vinegar filled the tent. It stings his nostrils and his eyes and clears his head slightly. It doesn't abate the sickness but he can focus enough to hear Jingyi's explanation and question.

"A compulsion?" He sounded sad, eyes flickering to the man. More people had been attacked?

"Yes, it can be healed."

He nods, humming affirmation while he points to his forehead with the first two fingers of his left hand. Qi burns light a gentle blue there after a moment, and then he pulls his fingers away, the light following them when he brings his fingers just shy of touching Taiki's neck where he's been cut. It isn't the finesse of a true healer, more like a warm balm that goes from gentle to almost hot, and it's his energy, partly divine, seeping into Taiki, following natural systems, focussed on supporting the healing of the body through the lending of outside energy to subsidize the process. For anything larger, it would help staunch flow; for something this small, there's a chance it will set the flesh to knitting, scabbing the injury over, if not healing it smooth.

He's not a healer. That is not his area of skill.

"What they're saying, I've been hearing it whispered across camp." A tip of his head, as if to indicate his ears. "Taiki, you need to get out of here. We're going to have to subdue the refugees. They will resist. People will be hurt."

Taiki isn't cut out for any of that, and he's already been injured, is already around blood.

The energy rushes through him, hot and smoothing away the sting of the wound, closing it with a scab, better than fresh blood by a long way. Taiki is extremely grateful.

But this was happening all over camp? People were being attacked. Worry gnaws in him, worry for his friends for those he had rescued.

Jingyi is right. This is no place for him. He can be nothing but a burden here in this camp that smells so strongly of blood, a smell that is only getting stronger.

People will get hurt, people will get killed. "I know..." His voice is tight. He hates leaving, hates that people are in danger and he will go and hide.

Hates that this is happening at all. "I'll... The train. I'll go back."

His fingers fall away again, Jingyi frowning, brow furrowed as he quickly scans Taiki's face.

"Can you?"

Not a question of doubt, but a serious one, asking after Taiki's present condition.

"The only fast way is to fly, and you'd need to land before you cross out of this region."

"I think so..." If he could fly through the camp... He could go fast and by the time he had to transform hopefully he would not be near any blood.

"I can keep going, until I get to the train." He has no doubt about that, he's good at staying upright until he is safe.

Sometimes pure determination is the only way to survive.

"Thinking so isn't enough. Will you do this?"

It's not fair to ask Taiki to sound confident, to offer anything like it, but Jingyi isn't interested in being fair right now. He's calculating needs, and accommodations, and how firmly Taiki believes in himself, muddled and suffering from bloodsickness as he is, is important.

Jingyi often required certainty. It was something Taiki found difficult. He isn't a certain person. Confidence is not an easy thing for him but he can understand why Jingyi needs to know. He needs to know if Taiki can make the journey.

"Yes... I... Yes. I will."

He's used to pushing through blood sickness. To not letting himself collapse until it is safe to do so.

He finds Taiki's hands, or at least one, and gives a reassuring squeeze.

Even as he tells him, "Good. Now go. And fly safe, Xiao Ki."

"Thank you." A knot of worry rose in him. "Please be careful, Shuǐlóng."

Especially if there were attacks within the camps. He felt terrible about leaving, but there was nothing he could do here except be a burden on his friends.

A gust of wind and there was a kirin beast, standing on very shaky legs.

Jingyi rose, reaching out a hand to offer Taiki his palm, if he were so inclined to nuzzle before leaving.

"You too."

Then he turned, and truly, both of them out of the tents would be gone.

He did indeed nuzzle at his hand, pressing his cheek to his wrist.

"I'll see you soon." He can only hope. His friends would be alright. They would meet up again on the train.

He blinked and then turned and galloped away, rising into the air. He just had to get to the train. Then he could rest.

Fissures of Time: Ongoing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject