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cetana2019-10-13 07:59 am
[open] there will always be a tomorrow
premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation
→ 10/16 Lockdown
As of the lockdown phase on the 16th of October, Terrence Nowell has gone missing. He seems to have vanished without a trace--the trace of the cinnamon smell that he always gives off is nowhere to be found. Something is a little different about this Lockdown period. Despite how it's the middle of the month, a strong and powerful wind will flow towards the residential area, where it leads people to a very dark alleyway that's hard to see through. The wind seems to stop at an open sewer hole that's still draining whatever water that's left around it, but it seems that there's less water here than everywhere else. Was that there before? No, but it's there now, and it'll be there every time Lockdown occurs. Watch your step, lest you fall in... For those who don't like following the wind, they'll find themselves battered in the head with the occasional flying cats. Given enough time during the lockdown, these cats will pretty much infest every corner of Hirajiro with all their incessant meowing and rainbow trails as they fly around. Though, of course, they'll always be gone when Lockdown is lifted.
→ 1st Floor
If you dare to venture into the sewer hole, whether you fell in or took the ladder on the way down, you'll eventually find the floor that is covered in thick smoke. It can't be blown off due to the sheer amount there is. Luckily, the Velvet Room portal is right there at the foot of the ladder for easy access. The sky appears to be blue, but the weather feels strangely stagnant for some reason. The scenery might as well be some rendition of candyland, with lots of sweets everywhere used as building structure, a long path made of taffy over the small hills that doesn't seem to stick onto your shoes, lollipops for trees, cotton candy for bushes... you get the idea. You can try to eat the sweets, but they all taste like dusty metal and don't break off. It seems like a relatively happy place, but once you start looking for the stairwell that leads to the next floor, you can't seem to find it.
Things aren't always what they seem to be...
SOMNIUM
Type
SHADOW Resists
NONE Weak
NUCLEAR
Only one will appear on the entire floor at a time. They respawn 5 minutes after the death of the previous one. More details below.
Small yellow bells and black fox masks can be collected as loot.
MORSUS
Type
SHADOW Resists
WIND Weak
FIRE, LIGHT
However, the above only applies when the illusion is broken. When under the guise of nyancats, they only smack people by running into them.
Small clear pouches of sparkling rainbow glitter (as nyancat) or torn bat wings (as bats) can be collected as loot.
Once the illusion is shattered by killing a Somnium, the characters will realize that they had been walking through occasional giant puddles of blood on the ground when the smoke clears from the ground, the sky is red, and all the little structures of candy were wrecked buildings akin to a post-apocalyptic setting. However, the illusion rebuilds itself after five minutes of the fox shadow's death, turning the entire floor into candyland again with flying nyancats in which characters are forced to go hunt for the respawned Somnium again. It's a very vast floor.
During the five-minute window of the broken illusion, characters will be able to find the entrance to the stairwell to the next floor. When the illusion returns after five minutes, the stairwell entrance disappears and reappears in a different location when the illusion is broken again. That's not the only problem with the stairwell...
To get to the next floor, each character has to answer a very personal and guilt tripping question that will make them feel absolutely terrible after. The barrier will come in the form of an invisible wall that cannot be broken until the answer is given. The answer doesn’t necessarily have to be objectively true, but it can’t be a lie. The question will be announced out loud in the nearby characters' heads, but it will be addressed to the character themselves when asking. If in a group, the walls are stacked upon each other and each wall will break after everyone present in the group has answered their own personal questions. If everyone in the group hasn't answered their questions in five minutes, it's back to fox hunting for you guys.
The wall only needs to be broken once by a character. It won’t reform the next time they come back to the dungeon.
→ 2nd Floor
On the next floor, you will be greeted by the red sky, even darker than the previous floor's. You stand on a very sturdy white square pillar, about 20ft x 20ft in size. When you look forward, you can see similar huge square pillars alternating in white and black that have risen from the void, all apart at a set distance away from each other, but it's very clear that you can't make it by jumping. To get to the stairwell to the next floor, you either need to have some method of air transportation to get to there safely, or take the intended method.
The intended method from getting to pillar to pillar is kicking a can off the corner of the pillar, which makes a transparent skinny bridge to the next pillar that disintegrates very quickly over time. Only one person can cross a bridge at a time, unless you want to risk having people fall into the void. The can respawns at the same corner after the previous bridge fully disintegrates.
Those who fall off the pillars will fall unconscious and wake up in the exit of the dungeon (next to the sewer hole) with 1 HP and 0 SP and inflicted with a Forget debuff that lasts 15 minutes. Players have the choice to make their character forget whatever they want along with their Persona being skill sealed, whether that’s an important body function like breathing or a precious memory, or something trivial like what they ate for dinner last night. They’ll regain whatever they lost 15 minutes after waking up.
BLACK RAVEN
Type
Shadow Resists
WIND Weak
ELECTRICITY
Feathers and lanterns can be collected as loot.
ALT-VASSAGO
Type
F.O.E. Nulls
PHYSICAL Weak
LIGHT
However, if you need to buy some time, please take advantage of its messy rage debuff to lure and trick it into falling off the pillar. There will be one minute until the next one respawns on the same pillar, so you better get off the pillar fast.
It also has a tendency to repeat "kill them all" in a very creepy voice when under the Rage debuff.
NOCEO
Type
SHADOW Repels
LIGHT Weak
DARK, WIND
They also tend to make a hideously loud emergency siren sound when dying or falling off the pillars. They're also bunched up a lot in the last several pillars before the stairwell to the next floor. Maybe flying was a better option after all.
A small, black, still-beating heart can be collected as loot.
Just like the first floor, this stairwell has an invisible wall as well. Same things apply here, except you have all the time in the world... too bad you're on the same black pillar with all the Noceos and one Alt-Vassago. Better tell your friends to hurry it up before you get brainwashed or killed.
→ 3rd Floor
Once you finally arrive at the third floor, there is only a blinding, narrow, white room. It feels more accurate to say it might be a slightly wide corridor. It may be difficult to see, because of the absence of color on the walls. However, there is blood everywhere on the floor. The source is a humongous, tipped over blood container off to the side. The room reeks of the smell. Shadow Terry is at the opposite end of the room with his gold eyes and behind him is a low cage where the real Terry is trapped in with his powers sealed. There is no trace of the cinnamon smell whatsoever in this room. There seems to be another door behind where the Shadow is, marred with plain visible scratch marks with little blood here and there.
There's also a familiar melody (0.25x speed) for those who have heard it before that seems to echo, almost as if fading away, but it never quite leaves.
Shadow Terry tends to look slightly different than the Terry everyone knows aside from his eye color. He has a sharper look, but right now, it's hard to see. He's kneeling next to the cage that Terry is trapped in and quietly cries. When Shadow Terry hears you coming in, he turns to you, looking a little desperate from where he is when he sees you for the first time.
"Please help. I want Terrence to accept me."
→ Notes
⬥ There will be a time limit on subduing the Shadow. Terry needs to drink blood to extend his lifespan, which he hasn't done in a while, so characters will only have until the end of the 23rd (IC and OOC, 11:59PM EST) before Terry falls into a pseudo-death coma state. If characters manage to subdue his Shadow before that happens, they'll have a chance to persuade him into accepting the Shadow. There will also be a chance that Terry won't accept it, depending on how the persuasion goes. A new top-level will go up on the 24th if the Shadow hasn't been accepted by then. A note on any late Shadow interactions are here!
⬥ Since Shadow Terry and Dark Vassago are hard to deal with, characters are encouraged to fight, retreat, and try to fight them multiple times.
⬥ Since IC dates are very important, please include them at the start of each thread when posting under the Shadow thread.
⬥ Threads from this dungeon post can serve as Dungeon requirements for AC.
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[ Shadow Terrence is pretty much goading Rio to using Marin Karin again just to make Terry suffer. It's either that or Terry fesses up himself, which is pretty much a win-win for Shadow Terrence anyway. Terry knows that and he's scowling with whatever energy he has left. How else would a person feel if they only had enough strength to live for one or two more days and knew that they were dancing in the palm of someone's hand? He grits his teeth anyway. ]
... I was supposed to be a replacement for my original. He was supposed to lead a war between demigods. People tried so hard to make me be like him because they were desperate for someone like him to lead them. That... thing...
[ He glares while glancing up at the cage where his Shadow is. Shadow Terrence only looks exasperated. ]
... is supposed to reflect a part of what my original was supposed to be like. Why should I have to accept something that was never mine in the first place?! Anyone else would hate something that they're forced to take despite not wanting it at all!
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Don't you have at least a little self-preservation instinct?
[C'mon now. And then, to Terry:]
He's "supposed to?"
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☈ You should tell that to him, Rio. I'm going to go for a walk.
[ This is Shadow Terrence flouncing, because frankly, he doesn't want to deal with Terry rejecting him again. His existence is supposed to get stronger with each rejection, but it hurts more. ]
☈ I'll be back later.
[ And with that, he's out the front door, not harming Rio in the process. Wow! Pleasant. Terry remains silent the entire time as his Shadow makes his way to leave. ]
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She watches as he leaves, nodding at Zashiki Warashi - keep watch and Marin Karin if he comes back. With that in place, she actually gets right up by the cage, crouching on the ground so they're more level - but also so she can still spring into action if needed.]
...Now that he's gone...
You're scared of becoming something you don't want to be?
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But maybe it's the fact that Rio isn't one of his closer friends, that makes it easier to spill. ]
... One time, I said that I'd rather die than accept Vassago because of what he represented. I didn't want to be like my original. He was a brutal douchebag that stopped at nothing from killing whoever whenever he wanted and he was happy about it. I spent... all my life in trying to avoid being like him--not even one thing. If I accept even just one thing, all the resolve I built up for years will have meant nothing. I can't even die here. I'll have to live with this forever.
[ Terry lowers his head so that he doesn't have to look at Rio. He buries it into his arm, caked with dry blood all over. ]
That's why I didn't want anyone to come here. It's useless. I would have been fine if nobody came.
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And it's actually a little more similar than she expected. Strangely so; the only people she could ever empathize with properly were the other Blade Children, because they were all in the same boat from birth. But she mostly dismisses it for now, because it's not the time to be worrying about any of that. Instead...]
That's an overly simplistic solution, isn't it?
People with anger problems can say they don't, but it doesn't matter what they say if they attack someone in the streets. [People with violence problems can swear they aren't like the other Blade Children, but it doesn't matter if they're driven to kill anyway.] You can't deal with it properly unless you face it head on. Acknowledging there's a problem to begin with is how you make sure you can mitigate it.
[Or at the very least, try.]
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[ He laughs as if he can't believe what he's hearing from his own mouth. It's broken and hollow. Terry already snapped a while ago. ]
I tried to find any and all methods except one to try and mitigate my situation, but in the end, nothing worked, other than me having to accept this shitty aspect that was forced on me that I never asked for. It's not as easy as just accepting them and just moving on, forgetting that I have this aspect or pretending that it isn't as important.
[ ... ]
My friend almost died because of this about two months ago. It's nothing good. I didn't even feel like myself.
no subject
If you seriously think there's nothing you can do, it's no wonder you're stuck.
Think about it again. If a person has anger problems, they have to learn how to manage it so they don't hurt people with it. It's still a part of them, and they have to face that, but it's not all they are.
Just because they're prone to angry outbursts, it doesn't define them as a person. They don't have to let themselves be controlled by it - they can learn to be able to choose when and how they let it out.
Of course you can't just forget you have those aspects, or try to run away from them. They're already a part of you, and they'll keep causing you problems - maybe even forever. But unless you look at them directly, grab them, and take responsibility for them, learn to control them...
You're just letting them run wild, ruining things for yourself and everyone around you.
1/2
[ His fists curl as tears run down his face. He's so angry and he finally looks up at Rio compared to having his face buried in his arms while lying down. However, his anger breaks down quickly and he can only laugh in an incredulous manner. ]
no subject
[ His voice sounds so frail. The world that seemed to shine had lost its color. He feels so alone with this problem that he made for himself and the room only serves to remind him that he'll forever be trapped in this room that he set for himself too--the walls in his mind closing in every single time someone tells him to accept his Persona and Shadow. Every time someone tells him that, he feels like he is being pushed out of a world that doesn't seem to welcome him anymore. He bites his lower lip. He's had enough.
Whatever blood is left in the container starts draining at a frightening pace.
He's made up his mind.
Terry's hand reaches for the top of the cage; it goes through. ]
Come here, Shadow...
[ As if he didn't have a choice, Shadow Terrence appears in the room when he's called here by Terry. His eyes are wide with fear. ]
I'm here to accept you, just like how everyone wanted.
no subject
How much is this job really worth? Her life is one thing in a place where death doesn't matter, but her status as a Blade Child... information can't be erased so easily. Information lives even when the subject of the matter dies.
How much does she owe these people, really?
...]
If you really think no one can understand, you're a fool.
[Her voice is terse.]
no subject
[ Shadow Terrence glances over at Rio. What did you two even talk about for it to get this bad? But he doesn't ask that out loud. He thought he would have been ready for this--it's what he wanted all along, and yet... ]
I hate you so much.
[ Terry slumps after getting out of the cage, reaching for the pair of fancy scissors. He stabs himself in the arm, and all the wounds heal. The only trace they left behind was the dried blood on him. It's everywhere on him. ]
So, so much. But it looks like I need to take you in after all.
[ Even though he's healed all the way, his movements are slow as he stands upright. He knocks Shadow Terrence over and starts choking him. Compared to before, he has enough strength to do it, but this time, Shadow Terrence doesn't fight him off. He's also tired. He's so done with this scenario. ]
Even if I'll be a monster that'll be alone forever, at least I won't be around for it. They all want you here so badly. Isn't that great?
no subject
Terry being occupied with trying to kill his Shadow may just be in her favor, actually, because she raises that gun to shoot him. A shoulder will do, so long as it puts him out.]
no subject
☈ Stupid... you're the one everyone wants.
no subject
She hates this.]
They should've sent someone else.
[She shouldn't be involved here. She shouldn't get involved here. Money is one thing, but she has too many worries of her own to be able to worry for others, too.]
no subject
☁ Minato sent you here, didn't he?
[ Since she passed on a message from him anyway. Shadow Terrence throws Terry into the low cage, despite how he can easily get out when he's awake. ]
☈ This idiot here... he'll be dying by tomorrow. I have no say in it. After that, even if no one truly dies here, he won't be able to accept me after tomorrow. It's that kind of "death".
[ Shadow Terrence already thinks this is a failure. ]
☁ What you do with the info is up to you.
no subject
[She stays crouched on the ground, though she lowers the gun now that Terry's out. She watches as his Shadow tosses him back in the cage, as the Shadow explains what's in store.]
So tomorrow's the deadline for both of you.
[She shouldn't get involved. It doesn't really matter to her what happens to him. It doesn't even particularly matter to her that this is someone who helped her, because she purposefully cultivated that response, taking advantage of others' kindness to eke out her own survival. So no, whatever aid he or anyone else offered her, she doesn't feel obligated to repay it in kind.
But if she doesn't do anything, he'll die.
Rio's no stranger to death. She's bathed her hands so thoroughly in blood, there was no way she could possibly atone for everything she'd done.
But a new God had presented himself to her. A kinder God, who told her to rest rather than to be his shield, who answered her prayers and saved her precious friends from certain death.
She'd begged him for a solution where no one dies, and though he struggled, he'd produced one.
Could she face him again if she didn't try to do the same, even as a despicable Blade Child? The thought worms its way into her head before she can stop it.
After a moment of silence, she asks, not looking at Terry's Shadow.]
Are you... and him. Are you both capable of keeping secrets?
no subject
[ Since, well, he's sleeping. He doesn't think Terry would know anything the Shadow would either, since there have been a lot of signs that show that he doesn't. ]
☁ Things don't transfer either. If it could have helped him accept me, he probably should have heard it before he got shot.
[ Though the tone isn't accusatory. He sounds absolutely resigned. ]
☁ Did you want to pass a message to him too?
no subject
[She can wait this out. See if they can wake him up before time's up for the night.]
He would need to hear it. But you still didn't answer my question.
[Can they keep a secret?]
no subject
Shadow Terrence looks surprised. He thought she would have left after Terry fell asleep. He looks at her a little and looks back at Terry. ]
☁ If you tell him that it's a secret, he'll take it to his grave.
[ Whether that this dungeon is his grave... time will tell. ]
☁ As for me...
[ He just kinda looks at Rio. It's not like he'd have anyone to tell anyway. She says that Terry needs to hear it, so maybe it'll help. He'll swallow whatever words he was going to say next. ]
☁ ... Sure, I won't tell.
no subject
But words are still fickle, frail things, so easily forgotten the moment they become an inconvenience. It's entirely possible her decision here will just lead her down a path of bloodshed again in an effort to protect herself.
But... maybe she can defy her own blood a little more, this way. Maybe she can escape the grip of that curse by just a tiny bit, in this secluded place where no one even knows what the Blade Children are.
Until now, anyway.]
Alright.
[She sits by the cage. It'll be harder for her to spring into action this way, but she's forcing herself to relax. These words make her more vulnerable than her actions do by a mile anyway, so what's the harm in a little rest?
Gently, she places a hand over her chest, still not looking at the Shadow properly.]
If that's the case, I can be his proof.
Proof that you can accept what you were created for without succumbing to someone else's will.
[For now, at least.]
no subject
That surprises him though. Even the Shadow can tell that whatever she's about to reveal isn't some lighthearted secret. He knows that Terry's misconception of what he actually is has been doing them all a disfavor, but even so. The misconception doesn't even have to be cleared. His acceptance can even be built on that misconception.
Terry finally wakes from his impromptu nap and jolts up. It doesn't look like he can leave the cage, seeing as his back hits the top lid easily with his attempt to sit up. ]
☁ Rio has something important to say to you. You better listen, or you'd be more a scumbag than I thought.
[ Terry looks over at her, waiting to hear whatever she's going to say. ]
no subject
Will this be enough?
Will this allow her to atone, in some way? Or will it end in just as much bloodshed as the rest of her life?
Turning, she looks into the cage, locking eyes with Terry if he'll look at her.]
He's right. But first, I need you to promise me you'll never tell anyone else.
[This is important. She can't proceed unless she gets even that spoken guarantee.]
no subject
[ He sees no reason to refuse, though as the Shadow said, he'll take it seriously until he dies... whenever.
Though he feels like he'll fall back asleep, he'll do his best to stay awake. It's hard to keep his eyes open when he's basically on death's doorstep. ]
no subject
"The moment of truth," they say. But it's never only a moment. The consequences of that truth will continue far beyond the initial decision. The consequences of her curse followed her all over the world, no matter which country she lived in, no matter what she did.
And now, it may just follow her here.
When she does speak, her voice is carefully level.]
I should introduce myself properly. My name is Rio Takeuchi, one of the accursed Blade Children, created to annihilate humanity.
[Her hand rests once again on her chest.]
I'm one of the children of the Devil, Yaiba Mizushiro, created as the result of an experiment he led to trick humans into giving birth to their own demise. At the age of twenty, my switch will be "flipped," leaving only a ruthless devil whose only purpose is to slaughter all humans.
[To anyone else, it may sound like a ridiculous fairy tale, and yet... for Rio and her friends, it was their harsh reality.]
Well, that's how it's supposed to be, anyway. Some children have already lost themselves and died for it. [Others hadn't lost themselves, but still died simply because they couldn't be trusted not to murder.
It's a horrific mess.]
But... if you want proof that you can accept everything you are and everything you can possibly be, and still live shouldering that burden and everything it means...
I'm your proof. Because I've lived seventeen years without succumbing, even though I've killed. Violence comes as easily as breathing to me, but it doesn't control me. I decide when it's necessary, and when to stop myself from indulging in slaughter for slaughter's sake.
And no matter how bleak it seems, I'll keep seeking it. A future where I can retain my own sense of self, with or without that instinct, without simply acting according to the will of my blood.
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