![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Fear and Loathing in Excelsior
Who: Balthier ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
portolan and anyone else!
What: A mysterious object leads to a horrific week of fear and misery
When: May 21
Where: Excelsior
Content Warnings: death, violence, phobias, memories of characters worst traumas – this is fear based; please tag specifics for your threads.
CWs: death, violence, phobias, memories of characters worst traumas – this is fear based; please tag specifics for your threads.
OPT OUT OPTIONS: Don’t be in Excelsior or don’t be hit by a spell yourself. Players may also limit to smaller scale fears, or avoid specific fear topics they don’t want to play out.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW —
Afraid of being ignored? Day 1 you might notice more people are ignoring you. As the spell progresses, no one is returning your calls or texts, people are avoiding you, and you are having trouble being served at coffee shops. By the end of the week, congratulations, you are no one can see or hear you!
EXAMPLES: One day 1, you might be increasingly aware of your significant other's flaws or the health of the relationship. By midweek, you may find yourselves hitting each others buttons and fighting constantly. By the end of the week, you both may be compulsively playing out every flaw the other person perceives you to have.
If you have a nemesis from your past who haunts you, you may find yourself having more memories and dreams of them on Day 1. By Day 3 you might start seeing their face or signs of their work around town, or impacts of their presence. By the end of the week, they may full-on appear in this world, with all their powers, threatening to repeat that terrible memory if you don’t stop them.
EXAMPLES: You hate the cold and can't shake a chill. By midweek, the temperature around you is literally 10 degrees colder than everywhere else. By the end of the week, you are the eye of a blizzard.
AFTERMATH —
portolan and anyone else!What: A mysterious object leads to a horrific week of fear and misery
When: May 21
Where: Excelsior
Content Warnings: death, violence, phobias, memories of characters worst traumas – this is fear based; please tag specifics for your threads.
CWs: death, violence, phobias, memories of characters worst traumas – this is fear based; please tag specifics for your threads.
OPT OUT OPTIONS: Don’t be in Excelsior or don’t be hit by a spell yourself. Players may also limit to smaller scale fears, or avoid specific fear topics they don’t want to play out.
FEAR AND LOATHING IN EXCELSIOR
An ancient artifact releases three pixies intent on spreading as much fear and chaos as possible. When they hit someone with their spell, their fears manifest, with effects worsening the longer the pixies are free. To escape the spell, characters must face their fears or be trapped in the fear cauldron. Once the pixies are captured, the captured souls will be released and the manifestations will fade, though the damage caused will remain.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW —
Downtown Excelsior may seem like an odd location to open an antiques store. One wouldn’t think that the chic youth of today would be interested in dusty relics of the past. Yet ask anyone and they will tell you this shop has been around for decades. Rue Moore once reported that it's particularly beloved by the Society and that was how it was able to stay afloat through the changing times, speculating that they use it to move black market goods.
Step inside the high end building and find yourself disoriented by the clash of differing time periods. French Rococo chandeliers, a pristine settee owned by John Adams, an honest-to-god suit of medieval armor, and a few framed sketches by Rembrandt and the like. There’s an electric thrill, as if you could reach out and touch history - though some of that may be the high number of protection magicks being employed.
Whatever you touch is probably worth more than your annual salary. You break it, you buy it.
Balthier is standing at an antique desk plucking away at a laptop as the first few volunteers arrive. He gestures for them to head to the classy bar tucked in the corner. You’re free to enjoy a glass of rich wine and high end appetizers, chatting amongst yourselves about the task at hand while the host finishes his work. As the crowd gathers he shuts his computer and ushers them into the back room, where even more antiques are carefully stacked. Among them are the offenders from the network post and a stack of additional concerning items.
Step inside the high end building and find yourself disoriented by the clash of differing time periods. French Rococo chandeliers, a pristine settee owned by John Adams, an honest-to-god suit of medieval armor, and a few framed sketches by Rembrandt and the like. There’s an electric thrill, as if you could reach out and touch history - though some of that may be the high number of protection magicks being employed.
Whatever you touch is probably worth more than your annual salary. You break it, you buy it.
Balthier is standing at an antique desk plucking away at a laptop as the first few volunteers arrive. He gestures for them to head to the classy bar tucked in the corner. You’re free to enjoy a glass of rich wine and high end appetizers, chatting amongst yourselves about the task at hand while the host finishes his work. As the crowd gathers he shuts his computer and ushers them into the back room, where even more antiques are carefully stacked. Among them are the offenders from the network post and a stack of additional concerning items.
A Little Bit Of Pixie Dust
The biggest puzzle of the night is a medieval cauldron. Intricate carvings depict great tales of monsters and magic. The most notable carving of all is three human faces engraved next to three creatures: a fae, a shade, and a troll.
Search as they might, there’s no record of this object in any database. At the end of the day this one is the only one left identified. As the last remaining investigation team members turn away to pack their things, they miss three small lights slowly rising from the carving’s open mouths. As the door shuts behind them, they may miss the sound of giggling. Or the soft swish of a tricky spell hitting you squarely in the back.
Pixie Magic is unfortunately difficult to detect, after all.
But the first spell cast is a sign these fickle spirits are picking up an old game. Who can create the most chaos? They're powered by human suffering. All fear that they collect returns to their cauldron, making them stronger and increasing the distance they can travel from it.
They are not discriminating and their targets are random. Anyone hit by their spells will become the victims of their fear manifestation spells. Each pixie specializes in a different kind of fear.
The first specializes in internal conflict. Think you have a face like a horse? Well now you might be Bojack Horseman. Worried you’re annoying? Well now you can’t stop doing every annoying habit you’ve ever had. Terrified you might be stone-cold and heartless? Congrats! You're turning into a statue.
Search as they might, there’s no record of this object in any database. At the end of the day this one is the only one left identified. As the last remaining investigation team members turn away to pack their things, they miss three small lights slowly rising from the carving’s open mouths. As the door shuts behind them, they may miss the sound of giggling. Or the soft swish of a tricky spell hitting you squarely in the back.
Pixie Magic is unfortunately difficult to detect, after all.
But the first spell cast is a sign these fickle spirits are picking up an old game. Who can create the most chaos? They're powered by human suffering. All fear that they collect returns to their cauldron, making them stronger and increasing the distance they can travel from it.
They are not discriminating and their targets are random. Anyone hit by their spells will become the victims of their fear manifestation spells. Each pixie specializes in a different kind of fear.
The first specializes in internal conflict. Think you have a face like a horse? Well now you might be Bojack Horseman. Worried you’re annoying? Well now you can’t stop doing every annoying habit you’ve ever had. Terrified you might be stone-cold and heartless? Congrats! You're turning into a statue.
Afraid of being ignored? Day 1 you might notice more people are ignoring you. As the spell progresses, no one is returning your calls or texts, people are avoiding you, and you are having trouble being served at coffee shops. By the end of the week, congratulations, you are no one can see or hear you!
These fear spells may be defeated by the character facing their fear or someone where someone helping them see they are still wanted or safe despite their flaws.
The Second Pixie specializes in interpersonal conflict. Maybe your love life explodes. Maybe your worst nemesis returns to harass and humiliate you. Whatever it is, you’re having trouble with others.
The Second Pixie specializes in interpersonal conflict. Maybe your love life explodes. Maybe your worst nemesis returns to harass and humiliate you. Whatever it is, you’re having trouble with others.
EXAMPLES: One day 1, you might be increasingly aware of your significant other's flaws or the health of the relationship. By midweek, you may find yourselves hitting each others buttons and fighting constantly. By the end of the week, you both may be compulsively playing out every flaw the other person perceives you to have.
If you have a nemesis from your past who haunts you, you may find yourself having more memories and dreams of them on Day 1. By Day 3 you might start seeing their face or signs of their work around town, or impacts of their presence. By the end of the week, they may full-on appear in this world, with all their powers, threatening to repeat that terrible memory if you don’t stop them.
These fear spells may be defeated by literally defeating the other person, or by reconciling with them. They could also be defeated by accepting reconciliation is not possible but removing the person's access to you (or to destroying the city, RIP).
The Third Pixie specializes in person versus environment conflict: packs of angry chihuahuas. The weather. The sidewalk opening up to swallow your ankles. Awakening dormant magical creatures. A super volcano going off.
The Third Pixie specializes in person versus environment conflict: packs of angry chihuahuas. The weather. The sidewalk opening up to swallow your ankles. Awakening dormant magical creatures. A super volcano going off.
EXAMPLES: You hate the cold and can't shake a chill. By midweek, the temperature around you is literally 10 degrees colder than everywhere else. By the end of the week, you are the eye of a blizzard.
These fear spells may be defeated by overcoming the physical obstacle through whatever means necessary.
Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter...
Perhaps you failed to overcome this challenge. Just as you succumb to your worst fears, your eyes open and you find yourself standing in an empty space. Others are there with you, looking equally as forlorn and lost.
And then it transforms.
You and your fellow victims are now trapped in a HELLISH LIMBO. You’re living out one fear after another – whether it’s yours, or that of one of the others who failed to overcome their fear in the world outside.
In this hell your very worst fears are realized. And there’s no way out. The pixie’s magic brings things in, but it doesn’t let them out.
Those who have not succumbed to their fears may be drawn to the back room of the antique shop, finding the cauldron abandoned but overflowing with power. The magically inclined may be able to find the seam on this pocket dimension and ATTEMPT A RESCUE.
But more concerningly, the carvings on the cauldron appear to be glowing. What was once a fanciful depiction of ancient battles now appears to be a warning that the worst is yet to come.
These powerful creatures need to be defeated and returned to the cauldron. They have fanned out across the city and will be encountered separately, so teams may wish to form. They cannot be killed, but wounding them will bleed out their power until they can be re-sealed on the cauldron.
The only trouble is you need to find them.
And then it transforms.
You and your fellow victims are now trapped in a HELLISH LIMBO. You’re living out one fear after another – whether it’s yours, or that of one of the others who failed to overcome their fear in the world outside.
In this hell your very worst fears are realized. And there’s no way out. The pixie’s magic brings things in, but it doesn’t let them out.
Those who have not succumbed to their fears may be drawn to the back room of the antique shop, finding the cauldron abandoned but overflowing with power. The magically inclined may be able to find the seam on this pocket dimension and ATTEMPT A RESCUE.
But more concerningly, the carvings on the cauldron appear to be glowing. What was once a fanciful depiction of ancient battles now appears to be a warning that the worst is yet to come.
These powerful creatures need to be defeated and returned to the cauldron. They have fanned out across the city and will be encountered separately, so teams may wish to form. They cannot be killed, but wounding them will bleed out their power until they can be re-sealed on the cauldron.
The only trouble is you need to find them.
Transformation
As the pixies amass more and more power from the fear they’re generating, the range they can travel from the cauldron increases. The further they can travel, the more fear they can inflict. And where better to feast than a city built upon consumerism, where fear isn’t dealt with but bought off. Perhaps you may spot the flickering light of a pixie out of the corner of your eye, but it’s gone in a flash.
Eventually though, they trade speed for power. As their power crescendos the pixies begin to change shape. By the seventh day, all three of them have shape shifted into much larger and more imposing forms.
The first pixie will become a beautiful and terrifying fae. They make themselves at home in the city’s enormous man-made park and offer fae bargains to those foolhardy enough to trust them. Strength won’t overcome them, but a quick thinking mind might.
The second becomes nothing but a shade. It slides under cars and along walls, hiding in people’s shadows and whispers their darkest fears. This entity can’t be held down or stopped with physical force, but it recoils from the light.
The third rampages throughout the business center in the form of an enormous troll. Like the other two, this entity cannot be stopped with force. Excelsior’s artificial weather systems may be needed to slow this beast down.
Eventually though, they trade speed for power. As their power crescendos the pixies begin to change shape. By the seventh day, all three of them have shape shifted into much larger and more imposing forms.
The first pixie will become a beautiful and terrifying fae. They make themselves at home in the city’s enormous man-made park and offer fae bargains to those foolhardy enough to trust them. Strength won’t overcome them, but a quick thinking mind might.
The second becomes nothing but a shade. It slides under cars and along walls, hiding in people’s shadows and whispers their darkest fears. This entity can’t be held down or stopped with physical force, but it recoils from the light.
The third rampages throughout the business center in the form of an enormous troll. Like the other two, this entity cannot be stopped with force. Excelsior’s artificial weather systems may be needed to slow this beast down.
AFTERMATH —
Once the pixies are restored to the cauldron, their fears in the city fade away and trapped characters are released, physically unharmed but mentally shaken. The damage any fear manifestations did to the city remain, but any people or objects they conjured fade away within the day.
The cauldron cannot be destroyed, so something will need to be done to keep it from wreaking havoc again.
The cauldron cannot be destroyed, so something will need to be done to keep it from wreaking havoc again.
IN SUMMARY...
- Balthier asks for help identifying magical objects. Characters interacting with one object in particular awakens sleeping magic inside.
- When the pixies first awaken, they must stay close to the cauldron to sustain their power.
- Each pixie's fear spell works on a different kind of conflict (though characters can be affected by more than one, or cured and then affected by another). As the week goes on, the manifested fears will worsen.
- Characters can defeat the fear spells by facing their fears or by someone else helping/interfering.
- The pixies must be defeated and returned to the cauldron.
- Comment HERE if you'd like to be involved in taking out the pixies!
Questions!
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OOCly I obviously don't mind if there are other ideas and this one isn't the one that's gone with! But I would love to thread him arguing with people about it icly if there are other plans hahaha
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Pixie Final Blow Sign-Up
Please sign up by Wednesday, May 25 at 9pm PDT.
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Fae Pixie
Re: Fae Pixie
Shade Pixie
Re: Shade Pixie
Eddie Brock + Venom | OTA
cw: abandonment, self-deprecation, toxic relationships
cw: acrophobia
cw: potential allusions to physical abuse, underage drinking, emotional trauma, and child death
( alone )
so he seems startled at being asked, but his expression softens in compassion. ]
Uh, sure. You okay there?
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( accend )
Hey! I'm coming up to get you! [She calls this up to him, then takes a running leap towards a wall and grabs on to a handhold, tapping her Focus and watching her environment light up around her. Okay, the path up is going to be a little tricky, but that's fine.
Her biggest concern is distracting this guy from how high up he is, so:]
What's your name, by the way?
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adrenaline—
he ignores him as he scans the room. it wouldn't be hard for him to break out of here, but he's kinda curious, you know? so instead, he pulls out the chair on the opposite side of the table, flips it around and sits down on it, resting his arms on top of it. )
What am I not safe from exactly? Because between the both of us, I'm not the one in handcuffs right now. Just saying.
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AC(C)END.
so, almost completely misses someone calling for help. he stops, looks around and when he sees no one who needs anything, he finds himself glancing up and that's — )
Eddie?
( clint's brow furrows and he turns in a circle, gaze still up on eddie just...floating there. )
Hey, can you move at all?
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alone;
He doesn't remember this guy– wait, Eddie, the reporter guy– coming up to him. Too distracted. Dangerous. He has to pay more attention. But hey, he said the magic word. "Coffee. Yeah, sure." he's still distracted, still looks a little too paranoid for someone as young as he looks.
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ii. absolve
I just wanted to check all this with you before I jumped into things!)
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a(c)cend
He's got his own problems, of course, with a concerningly large army of spider-drones that seem to be following him around. They haven't hurt him or anyone else yet, but you never know, right? They're not particularly dangerous just when there's one. He thinks. He hopes. But there's not just one. There's…a bunch, hovering in a cloud above the skyscraper.
Peter — as Spider-Man, obviously — clings to the side of the building as easy as thought and calls out to Eddie. ]
Hey, um…do you need a ride back to the ground? That doesn't look safe.
loki odinson | mcu
( ii. mad titan's ghost ) cw: mentions of strangulation, death, thanos being thanos and possible violence.
( iii. wildcard )
i
Or so he tells himself, but really he's just kinda hoping to see Loki embarrassed.
Loki, for his part, now appears as a man around 40 by Midgardian standards. He's 6'4, with a fur cloak draped over his shoulders. Seeing that his other self has just reverted to his Jotun appearance, he looks unimpressed.]
Really? This is what you're worried about?
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i.
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ii.
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ii for meeting
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( ii. mad titan's ghost )
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i
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Ii
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jinx - arcane - ota
She can't help herself, you see. She is drawn to the antiques the way a magpie is drawn to little glimmers of silver. Something, somewhere, might be useful. It might be the next greatest thing she can change and make anew. Instead she meanders around, brushing close to the cauldron before she leaves, quietly unseen and back to her life.
The first fear to manifest, is her fear of being abandoned. Invisible; unneeded. Alone. No matter how hard she tries, none of her messages will get through. The people she wants to be noticed by are nowhere to be found, even if they are right in front of her. A touch will be the best way to bring her out of it - after all, she can sense a lie through it.
But as it progresses; the longer she is without contact Jinx becomes visibly and noticeably more unstable. Prone to angry outbursts, talking loudly to herself (or, soon, the ghosts of her pasts). She will be snappish, miserable and easily provoked into violence. Especially after the fear wears off - she will be vulnerable and paranoid. ]
There are other ghosts: Vander is rarer, but when he is there, it's usually to ask her why. Why did she leave her room that night? Why did make him turn himself into a monster? Why did kill all of them? Why, Powder, Why? Sometimes there are Firelights with their masks, asking why she would betray them? Why would she choose Silco? Why, why WHY POWDER, WHY?
Why, indeed. ]
Reconciliation is a hard thing - and the threads that hold Jinx together are dwindling, fast. Tread with caution. ]
isolationism—
most people would give her a wide berth, but luckily(?) for her, kai isn't most people. instead, he slows in his tracks as he tunes into what she's saying, all the while shoveling a large spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. innocent passerby here.
he... doesn't really care what's going on with her, but it smells like magic and, more importantly, he recognizes her. call him curious. )
You okay?
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ii
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ripley arkwright | oc
( ii. sunblind ) cw: panic attacks
( iii. wildcard )
ii
At first he makes to apologize, but then he sees the shaking, hears the sound in his voice. It's not the first panic attacked he's soothed. Hell it's not even the first one this month.
He puts his hands firmly on Ripley's upper arms, pitching his voice low and gentle. ]
Hey, you're alright. I've got you. We're going to step back, nice and easy.
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David Alleyne | Marvel-616 | OTA
I. Fae Feelings | CW: Emotional Distance, Manipulative Behavior
II. Shades Stalking | CW: Demonic Presence/Violence, Possible Verbal Manipulative Behavior
III. Demonic Dilemma | CW: Violence, Blood
IV. Wildcard
[OOC: Got another idea? PM me on
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Still, he's free from any direct effects when the fighting ramps up. As he thinks he's not very well-suited for elemental or magical fights, Tommy's self-assigned himself what he does do well: parameter, searching for smaller skirmishes that have split off from the main fight, etc.
Which is how he has arrived here, skidding to a halt in the space between David and the demon, both arms still a blur because he's trying to wrench Belasco's axe away from him.
"How'd you even get out of hell? There's no freaking doors."
So, this is where it stands. Willing to jump into a fight with a Lord of Hell because he recognizes his boyfriend's - ex-boyfriend's - never boyfriend's coat; more willing to talk said Hell Lord than to David.
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Balthier | Final Fantasy XII | OTA
[ Any volunteers (paid or otherwise) will be ushered into the back room to help test, sort, and store objects. It’s a long day of work, but they make their way through the inventory. One item, of course, eludes identification.
Strange things start happening toward the end of the day. People are snappier or more fatigued than they realize or may experience random inconveniences seemingly from nowhere. Unbeknownst to them, the pixies have gotten free, and anyone in or near the shop has been hit by their first spells. Including Balthier. ]
At some innocuous comment, he snaps, “I’ve always done it that way.”
II. Bedtime Stories
CW: reference to narcissistic parent + prior abuse, derealization, self dead-naming of non-trans identity
[ It’s not uncommon for objects to simply surface at the shop. Discretion is of the highest value, and old clients have their ways. But this delivery is particularly strange: a pair of old books, bound in a style that seems distinctly, well, Ivalician. Or at the very least 18th century Earth, but in much too good of condition for that to make any sense.
Anyone who comes into the shop today will find Balthier pouring over these books, unable to stop reading. If they don’t catch him there, they might find him at a coffee shop, the set grown to four or even six, and he can’t stop reading. This is his whole life, exaggerated, yes, but there it is, like some story. Not like his adventures were memorialized, no -- Like he can’t be real. Like everything he remembers about himself is just a lie, a bedtime story spun to make himself feel better. The worst part is the author: Ffamran Mied Bunansa. A member of the Archadian government and high-ranking but unremarkable official who mostly acts as a pawn of his father’s. The person he was supposed to be. The person he’s increasingly cetain he actually was. ]
“Have you ever heard of these before?” he demands. His hands are shaking, but he hands you the book.
[ The cover is very clearly a stylized version of him as a sky pirate. Which by comparison is making the real thing look dull and lackluster. His clothes don’t seem to fit quite right, and his usual grace and charm are replaced by an awkwardness that is unsettling fitting on him. He’s entirely unimpressive. ]
III. I Was Never the Leading Man – Closed to David
CW: reference to narcissistic parent + prior abuse, derealization, self dead-naming of non-trans identity
[ The house is a disaster, every cabinet and drawer open and contents strewn about. He’s been looking for anything that came through with him, anything from Ivalice. But there’s nothing. He can’t even remember what he arrived with.
What he does have is a house full of memories and relics of his time with David: their gifts and letters, the framed poem with David’s illustrations on it, furniture David’s helped move a hundred times, the contents of the emergency migraine kit, and a slew of items either purchased for David or left here by the other man.
As they pile up, the twisting feeling in his gut that he’s been fighting all week slowly gets the better of him. They’re fighting. They’ve been fighting since that night Tommy arrived, since David chose Balthier, and the truth is he chose wrong.
Balthier doesn’t exist, and Ffamran is nothing. Everything David loves is a lie, a dream made real for far too long.
He at least owes it to the other man to come clean, to let him go. But he’s too much of a coward to call, and so he sends a text. ]
I never meant to lie to you, but I know that doesn’t fix anything. I’m letting you go. It’s the least I can do.
I’m sorry.
IV. Like Father Like Son
CW: reference to genocide/leveling of a city; narcissistic parent + prior abuse, possible violence, references to patricide, possible second patricide, reference to loss of mother
[ Late in the week, he’s gotten free of the fear that he’s Ffamran. Well, the truth is, he is Ffamran. And he’s also Balthier. Both of those are true. They always have been. But he is an evolving narrative, one he gets to keep shaping.
That does little to shore him up for the next fear manifestation. He literally runs into the man, things scattering around them, and for once in his life he can’t find his voice.
His father. A man who should be dead. Balthier tries to have it out with him, months of things he should have said coiled on his tongue. Cid only laughs, flashing Nethicite before heading for the center of town. That’s the material he used to raze a city and kill two million people. Including Balthier’s mother.
That isn’t going to happen again. Balthier won’t let it.
But the worst part about being on this world is that Balthier is, essentially, useless. Magick that once ran the gambit of combat abilities is now just illusions, stories spun as expertly as he is, but only stories. So he flags you down, because what is pride in the face of perishing? ]
“I need your help. That man is my father and he’s going to blow up the city if we don’t get that stone away from him.”
V. Beware the Fae
CW: manipulation, gaslighting, possible violence
[ They have to stop the three pixies. Balthier knows he’s not much use in combat, so he goes after the fae; maybe his tongue will be a useful enough weapon here.
He’s taking backup, though; he’s not an idiot. That’s where you come in. So here you both are, entering the largest park in Excelsior, where a being so beautiful it freezes the words in your throat waits on a jungle gym that’s somehow become a throne of tree branches and metal. ]
“What a long week,” [ they say in a voice so soothing you feel your whole body relax. ] “We could trade that for something much sweeter.” [ Visions of whatever your heart desires, the remedy to all this pain, creep into your mind. ]
“Careful,” [ Balthier warns you. ] “It’s not real.” [ But the conviction in his voice is weak. ]
[ OOC: I will match brackets or prose! If you want something else or want to chat about any of the above,
i
[On another day, Otto might have been able to react a little more calmly. He's not one to take things lying down, but normally he'd have tried a little harder not to snap back. Right now, though, an ill mood seems to be permeating the room - Balthier's ill mood, he thinks, somewhat uncharitably.]
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IV
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ii. bedtime stories
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III - Somehow I never noticed this and I apologize
I was such pudding this week you’re probably getting better responses this way
your tags are always lovely
Looking forward to David finding this conversation in his phone later
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iv
yessssss
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I THOUGHT IT WAS YOUR TAG ON THIS THREAD SOZ
no worries ~~
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V
Re: V
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( wildcard )
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boo this didn't post
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Otto Octavius | OTA
ii. voices (cw: body horror)
iii. cauldron
iv. wildcard
ii
Loki teleports to the top of the building he's climbing and peers down at him. He gives the man a little wave like they're colleagues meeting for lunch.]
Hello Otto! Won't you join me up here? The view's lovely.
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I - If you're chill with him hitting Otto up
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III
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Number Five | The Umbrella Academy
As the day drew on, the voice seemed to just get worse. More insistent, like it just really wanted to be listened to. Five is more stubborn than some disembodied voice. He goes to the coffee shop and gets more coffee than he should for a single person. He considers texting Harry, but opts against it for now. He talks with his sister about nothing particularly important. The only important part of that situation is Allison. She's here and she's fine (ish).
Whole, at least.
In one piece, at least.
Alive, at least.
The worst ones, of course, as is always true with things like this, were the ones that decided to strike when he was alone in his room at night. Sleep hadn't been something he'd been great at doing, ever. The Apocalypse he'd lived through made it harder.
This wasn't any better.
Eventually, he stops lying in the dark, staring up blankly at the ceiling with guilty thoughts playing unwanted scenes in his mind on repeat. He flicks on the overhead light and grabs a notebook, scratching equations on a piece of paper. He'll just work the night away instead.
. not all wounds heal
Maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe it was just the natural evolution of the whispers to grow into something harder to ignore. Whatever it was, it started small like these things tend to do.
A glimpse of something in the corner of his eye that was gone when he looked.
A creeping familiar feeling he couldn't name or place, but that just felt empty and desolate and raw.
It's one horror after another as he keeps stumbling onto another body, and another, and another. If you catch him at the first glimpse, he might just seem very confused, or very lost, looking wildly around his surroundings like he couldn't possibly be where he is.
If you catch him later in the day, you're more likely to see all of the walls crumbled, his heart broken wide-open on display for the world to see, the body of one of his siblings in his lap. He's curled over the image of them, muttering soft nothings. You might catch, "...always end up like this.." or "...can't I ever save you?"
iii. wildcard
HMU on Five's HMD / @ loyalwolf[#3540] on plurk[/discord] for something specific!
II
somehow Tina has managed to avoid getting hit with any fear spells maybe because she has the chaos energy of a gleeful fear pixie herself but the sight of someone roughly her age crumpled over a body freezes something inside her and for a moment this hyperactive acid squirrel princess is entirely still.
she goes and sits next to Five and puts her arms around him in the most awkward-but-loving-little-kid-hug.
because she has held three people like that and you never get better. neverneverneverneverneverneverdeaddddddeeaaaaadddddddd.... ]
i'm laughing that he tries to blink away and brings her with, lmk if i need to edit lmao
this is the exact chaos i want
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River Tam | OTA
She can feel them. Tiny pinpricks all over her. Just a small pinch, won't hurt a bit. But it does, it does when it's a dozen times a day. Taking samples, injecting her with whatever concoction they've come up with today to keep her calm or keep her focused, depending on what they need her for.
River brushes frantically at her arms, her legs, then covers her eyes with her hand. "No, no. You can't stick pointy needles in my eyes and ask me what I see!"
ii. Aphenphosmphobia: fear of physical contact
The corner is safe. As safe as she can get, anyway. Protected on two sides by wall. She's sitting with her knees against her chest arms wrapped tightly around her body. River doesn't much like to be touched on normal days, even the good ones, but today is not a good day. Today is a very, very bad day.
Which is why, if you get within a foot of her, she flinches hard and closes her eyes. Like you might disappear if she can't see you. "It's getting very crowded in here."
iii. Autophobia: fear of oneself cw: mentions of past torture, mentions of violence, possible discussions of brainwashing and gaslighting
"Show me off like a dog," she says, her voice small. "Man covered in blood and no memory of how it got there." She makes a pained noise and buries her face in her hands. "Wind me up and watch me go. He says that it's gone now, that I'm safe, but I'm never safe when the danger is me."
iv. Wildcard
[throw something my way!]
ii.
"Hey... It's just us two. Well, three. With Venom. But... But don't worry, We're not going to hurt you." He can promise that much, because Venom is on a no-murder diet. "You hurt?"
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Marc Spector/Steven Grant || MCU
☾ ii. mother dearest (marc); [cw: domestic abuse]
☾ iii. wildcard;
ii.
this week has been sucking for everyone, it seems, and while marc is seeing visions of someone from his past becoming more prominent, eddie is doing his best to deal with the opposite, dealing with the loss of someone who should always be there. he hasn't been alone in what feels like forever, and he doesn't know how to be. he doesn't know how to exist without the belligerent, obnoxious, brute of an alien that normally dwells inside of him. without his other, eddie feels like nothing, like no one.
but someone is coming up to him, which is proof enough that he still exists with or without venom's presence.
he's being asked for help and, oh, god, eddie can't help anyone. he can't even help himself. that's what venom has done for him; what the hell can eddie do on his own? he can't fight. he can't jump from building to building. if there's any monster in this fight, eddie is positively useless.
but he can try. when this guy is close enough — and maybe he recognizes him — eddie hold him by the shoulders. )
Hey... hey, man. It's cool. We're cool... I'm here.
( eddie tries remember a version of himself before venom. what would he say? how would he help? )
We're— ...I'm going to do whatever I can do. What d'you need? You need to get out of here? ...You need water?
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ii
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Darth Nox | OTA
(CW: Nothing significant. While the bulk of this would end up taking place inside of Nox's mind, aside from a few rambunctious dark side ghosts being awful--lying and manipulating to get their way, the usual--nothing serious should come up. Although said ghosts will try to kill anyone brought in to help out, sooner or later.)
II. Enemies on the Other Side
(CW: Probable/Eventual talk of mass murder / genocide, torture, mind control, and abuse. Definite discussion of the mass murder in the voice sample linked.)