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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Alice heard rumors about this distortion, even before she headed in there.

But it is worse than she expected. Dealing with zombie-like people is something she has done before, but those zombies did stay down after a while. These ones here though? It's like they just keep coming and coming, no matter what you do. Even if you maim them, they just continue with the limbs they have left.

Alice is fairly sure that if you would behead them, they would just try to bite your ankles with their detached head.

At least she's not alone in all of this. She knows that Guri is right here with her, fighting alongside her - and there's no one Alice quite trusts to do that the way Guri does. She knows the other is incredibly powerful, and that Guri - on top of it, or perhaps more importantly - truly has her back.

But it doesn't mean it makes enduring the waves of warriors that just refuse to die a whole lot easier..

.. and it seems to really start to get to Alice, judging by the annoyed tone in her voice as she speaks up, whacking another zombie warrior to the ground with her hobby horse.

"How come there is no end to these things?!"

She'd shifted her weapons to their stun setting fairly early on. Kill shots weren't useful, not in the long run, so at least she could make use of some temporary stopping power.

Logically, she knew all they needed to do was hold the line, keep the combatants away from those planting the beacons.

"I can only speculate," she responds, taking a moment to hook a rock with her foot, flinging it at one that seemed to be getting too close to Alice's flank while her aim was elsewhere. "If these disturbances are temporal in nature, then perhaps they are in some sort of flux state - reverting back from injuries. There is no physical reason any of them should still be standing."

"Like believing eleven impossible things before breakfast.." Alice mumbles.

Because it is like Wonderland in a sense, isn't it? Because Guri is entirely right, and none of this should be possible. There absolutely is not a single logical reason for these people to still be standing, and yet they are. They keep going as if injuries that would kill a normal person are little more than a setback for them at most.

Her only solace in this moment is the fact that Guri is fighting right alongside her here. This definitely are the kind of circumstances that could be overwhelming even to a hardened warrior like Alice under the right - or rather, wrong - circumstances. But with Guri at her side, at least the steady stream of warriors approaching them is controllable in some sense.

Though it doesn't mean it's still not taking its toll on Alice. Partially in the sense that it's starting to make her more tired.

But exhaustion isn't the only thing setting in. No, this situation is also just ridiculous enough for Alice to get annoyed.

And without her realising it, getting annoyed does things to her. If Guri glances in Alice's direction at all while they are trying to fend off the warriors, she may notice that Alice's skin is starting to take on an odd reddish hue.

It helps that anything that gets past either of their ranged attacks is going to have a bad time of it against Guri's hand to hand prowess.

Unfortunately, she is contending with a rather bulky temporal revenant - as she is taking to thinking of them - prying loose its attempts to grab her by the shoulders and headbutting it to knock it back before shooting it with both barrels.

So, for the moment, the beginnings of a transformation go unnoticed.

The noise on Guri's end of the battle does draw Alice's attention though. It's very momentary, since they don't exactly have much time to spend looking at anything but the enemies constantly approaching them.

But Alice can't help it. That last bout Guri had just now did produce quite a bit of sound, and Alice wants to at least make sure Guri is alright..

.. only to quickly realise she doesn't even have the time to do that much before Alice is already getting attacked again. And that only annoys her further. What's the use of this dumb fight if she can't even make sure the one person most important to her in this distortion is alright in the middle of the fight?

Alice strikes the enemies once more, but she can feel the anger over it building in her gut. And it's like the anger is feeding on itself, breeding more and more anger, and her skin starts to slowly grow into a deep red.

But that's not the only thing. Slowly something starts to grow out of both sides of her head, the beginning of horns starting to form as Alice snarls while smashing another undead warrior's head to pulp on the ground.

She hears that snarl - and that is unlike Alice. She spares a look back and sees her entangled and...changing. Were she the sort, she would have sworn, quite loudly, at her inability for the moment to do anything about it.

Three bear down on her, clutching at her, trying to pull her down. The biggest simply screams incoherently while trying to hit her in the head. She simply moves her aim, dragging her arm across despite their best efforts. Inexorably, her blaster comes into line with the man's open mouth, and she pulls the trigger. Every hole in his head emits blue light as the stun blast goes off inside his skull, where it is never meant to be used.

But he'll certainly take a lot longer to rise without an intact head. She flings off another, holstering one blaster to grab the last by the shoulder and bodily fling him away.

She makes it two steps towards Alice before another one closes the range, forcing her to turn, grab him, and fling him to the ground.

"Alice!"

That's another sign of the fact that something is off with Alice. Another big sign, really. Because there's no way she wouldn't usually have turned around to look at Guri's situation with all the sounds coming from her direction. She would be way too worried to not see what's going on with the other. To check up on Guri, to try and help her keep safe.

But there's none of that now. Alice doesn't look back at her in the slightest. She doesn't even look back when the other calls out her name like that.

Instead the horns just grow bigger, making her form look more twisted. She growls, diving into the group of warriors before her, and starting to rip them apart with her bare hands.

At least it does make the forces around Alice and Guri thin a little, making it easier for the latter to reach Alice - but on the downside, Alice doesn't seem to be paying attention to anything anymore other than shredding these undead warriors to tiny bits, if that's what it takes to keep them down.

It'll take her a moment, as more pile onto her, trying to stop her. Her face contorts, and she reaches up a hand to the one on her back, gripping his chest and simply squeezing with all her might. His ribcage collapses and the sound from his chest changes abruptly.

She'll break free. She'll get there.

She just has to wonder if it'll be too late by then.

The good news is that Alice at least doesn't seem to shift further. Despite the fact that there are some very obvious non-human features about her now, it's not like she's totally losing her human form.

The bad news? It's that Alice is still very much focused on the battle, more than anything else, and it looks like she's about to move even further away from Guri in order to chase down some of the warriors a bit further away.

Guri will have to act fast if she does want to get to Alice in time, before the other might get lost in the crowd.

The last person holding onto her is grabbed and bodily thrown into another, approaching threat. And then, face set, she runs.

She has to catch Alice before she wades too deep into that crowd - and she'll tackle her if needs be. Because once she's lost in there, the odds of her being carried away and overwhelmed by sheer numbers increase.

"Alice!"

Maybe Guri will have to tackle Alice, honestly. Because the oddest thing about all of this is that Alice doesn't even seem to react to her own name. Not even to the sound of Guri's voice calling it out.

She doesn't turn back towards the other. Instead she just seems to keep trying to move forward, smashing anyone who stands in her way over there. It's a weird, almost single-minded kind of movement. Like Alice isn't thinking of anything other than to get rid of anything that stands in her way at this moment.

The upside is that there is one thing she can always, almost without doubt, do: and that's outrun people. She pounds across the ground, arms pumping, sliding to a stop in front of Alice, holding out her hands.

"Alice! Alice, stop."

It's true. Even in this form, Guri is easily more quick than Alice. Especially since the shift in form doesn't seem to have done a whole lot for her speed as much as it seems to have done to her physical strength, considering the ease with which she's sweeping enemies aside.

But the brainlessness with which she's sweeping these enemies aside is what's coming into play here. Because even though she at least doesn't seem to be attacking Guri directly - maybe she just looks too different from most of the enemies they're facing here for her to register as one to Alice.

But she still doesn't verbally reply. Instead she just tries to get around Guri, her hands - now claws - lashing out in the direction of the enemies still moving behind Guri.

She pegs the last of those after Alice's slashes, quickly moving to make sure her weapons are secured before stepping right in front of Alice.

"Alice," she repeats, her voice gently pleading.

For a moment Alice's gaze still seems kind of hazy, like her mind is far away from her body. She looks like she's still about to move, but then something does shift when Guri says her name.

Just a little bit though. Her appearance is still the same, and she's still not quite looking like herself in other, more subtle ways as well. She's still frowning, looking much too angry. The look in her eyes is still.. off.

But her gaze shifts. Just a little bit. But just that little bit is enough to actually look Guri in the eyes, rather than straight up ignoring her presence. It's an acknowledgement of the fact that Alice did hear her name being called, and that she actually recognizes it.

"What," she simply says, the same anger still present in her voice.

It's a start. And so she steps within range of those claws, risking the next step.

"And you have to stop, now," she says, softly, offering a hand. "You need to come with me, and rest for a spell."

"Why."

The downside is that there doesn't seem to be too much consideration of what the other is saying on Alice's part. Her answer comes out quickly, almost instantly, right after Guri finishes saying what she's saying over here.

It's like she doesn't see the point of it. And that's because she doesn't - not in her current state. She's so occupied with just wanting to get rid of these people, these people who keep fighting her, who keep fighting Guri, who's important to her.

And within that single purpose in her mind, there's no time to go back and rest. So she just glares at the other, only speaking that single word.

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

The hand stays offered, unwavering.

"Let me lead you back, please."

See, this right here. This is the problem.

It would be so easy to just keep on fighting. It's so easy to just keep feeding into the rage, considering for how long she has already felt it. But it's only that easy when she meets the usual kind of resistance - the kind she can deal with.

The kind that isn't unusually occupied with stuff like her wellbeing - because it is that kind of opposition that leaves Alice temporarily unable to say anything. Unable to process it in her current state.

"I have-- to fight," she says, though a little more slowly now. Like she's mentally struggling, her rage state still overpowering her. "Isn't that why we're here? Isn't that why that train took us?! If I can't even fight, then what's the point?!"

It is easy. She knows that very well. Having the strength to crush a man's skull in your bare hands is a useful one, especially with a brain designed to find efficient solutions. But that's why it's all the more important to think things through.

And she can see that Alice is having trouble with that.

"We are here to defend," she replies, a little more forcefully. "To hold the line and help. Fighting is important, but not all it is. And if you persist in this berserker fury I will have no recourse but to forcibly retire you from the field."

She pauses.

"You can't help people if you're injured or dead."

".. Why does that matter?"

At least she sounds a little less angry now. It's not enough to make her form change back to normal, but at the very least there is obviously some of it seeping out from her tone, retiring for the moment.

At the same time, it is most likely her current form that is making her so direct about this in the first place.

"Why does it matter whether I am dead or injured or not?"

After all, it has never mattered in the past, back home - and those are the memories that come back to the forefront of Alice's mind first in this form, when she is only running on her anger and resentment.

She finds the answer unusually irritating, frowning. It's hard for her to discern precisely why. But she finds herself speaking from there, suddenly and with more emotion than she usually speaks.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt! You matter to me!"

That does seem to stop Alice.

In fact, it is almost as if she just totally freezes up on the spot. She doesn't move, she doesn't say anything - completely stopping her attempts to try and get around Guri. Instead Alice just stares at the other, her now oddly-coloured eyes wide.

Perhaps this is something she has already known deep down, considering all the care the other has shown for her before. But hearing it said so bluntly while she's in this sort of mental state is enough to knock her straight out of the anger that had overtaken her. Alice's skin starts colouring back to its original hue around the edges, the horns starting to retract.

"You.."

It's as if Alice is still incapable of talking. She looks absolutely flabberghasted, like she can't quite wrap her head around those words in the middle of all of this.

".. you mean that?"

"Of course I do," she replied, her look just a little bit hurt. She'd thought it was obvious by now. Or that she'd made it so.

Maybe she had to do better at that.

"Of course I mean it," she repeats. "You mean the universe to me, Alice."

Honestly, under regular circumstances Alice might have realised as much. But right now, when her own mind has been pushed so far towards the back of her mind, buried underneath all the rage that takes her over so easily, it's so much harder to realise things.

After all, Alice's anger has always been born out of a lack of anyone at all caring about her. Born out of a need to always - violently - having to take care of herself in a way too violent world.

".. Fine."

Something about her voice - and her breath - shakes a little, like she's currently fighting herself. Trying to fight the urge to keep fighting, to keep on going, to not back down from this battleground. "If it is for your sake.."

It's hard, but she slowly manages to make the transformation come entirely undone, leaving the usual Alice behind--

Though the transformation apparently took so much of her energy that she just promptly falls forward, collapsing against Guri.

"Ugh-- Sorry."

Fissures of Time: Ongoing

closed to guri, poi 10;

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cw: violence

Re: cw: violence

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CW: Violence

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cw: not quite suicidal nihilism, but close

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