wastemods: (Default)
wasteyard mods ([personal profile] wastemods) wrote in [community profile] wasteyard2019-06-05 02:10 pm

BONFIRE LIGHTS IN THE MIRROR OF SKY.

WHO: Everyone in game.
WHAT: Our first event log!
WHERE: Anywhere in the world core.
WHEN: After the storms begin.
NOTES: Expect surreal horror and possible violence. Please use common sense when warning for other content.



Photo by drainrat

PREVIOUSLY, ON THE WASTEYARD.

The world remains divided into a land where either a hazy sun shines muted light above or a full moon casts silvery shadows below. They hang fixed, as if nailed in place, more like theatrical props than far-off heavenly bodies. And you can still see only one of them, depending on which side you arrived.

Meanwhile, the storm rages.

On both sides of the world, the rain starts and doesn't stop. The temperature drops, transforming torrential rain into icy snow. Gusts of wind become gales and spin detritus into shrapnel, man-made disasters turned natural. Shadows spin wildly—almost comically—in cyclones, before bursting into nothingness; if you aren't careful, the winds will snatch you, too. Out here, the only protection you might have is cooperating with each other.

Indoors, it's certainly warmer, but that just means water doesn't freeze. Buildings flood with chilly water that rises no matter how many stairs you climb. Architecture groans under the pressure of earthquakes, sending more water cascading through the ceiling before it disappears into cracks below. Is anywhere safe?

Well, yes. One place, splintered into many. The mirrors in ash-gray frames stand sentinel, scattered throughout the world. They emit warm light from the other side; sunlight spills moonside and moonlight reflects sunside. Water impossibly flows around and away from them, leaving behind untouched earth that stays still and silent. Standing in front of them gives you a respite, a tiny bubble of safety to wait out the worst.


INTO THE LABYRINTH.

Once you plunge indoors—unless you're really that determined to take your chances in the storm—you'll find every building with electricity experiencing a brownout. The overhead lights flicker and radios crackle with static, warbling broken news reports and tunes. They eavesdrop on strings of Morse code and private confessions on ham radio. If it's ever been broadcast on the airwaves, public or personal, you might hear it if you tune to the right station; you might even hear yourself, replaying a conversation you've had or will have. And sometimes the audio seems pointed, preternaturally so, as if tuned to your own thoughts and words.

Meanwhile, the waters continue to rise. The halls stretch long, seemingly infinite and twisted into knots. In some of them, no matter how far you walk, it seems like you never get any closer to the end; in others, you hit one dead end and can't stop hitting dead ends, no matter how many times you retrace your steps. None of that's unusual.

But if you delve deep into dark enough recesses (whether accidentally or intentionally), the world calms. The water recedes. Mirrors materialize in the dead ends, scratching out an "X" in the frame before your eyes. If you touch one, the glass falls away in ribbons, flowing like quicksilver and fleeing farther into the darkness. It reveals a hole on the other side, so deep a black it looks flat. Wherever it goes, it's so dark you can't see the other side.

And that's when you hear a sound like someone inhaling and then exhaling, steadily breathing around you. No...you feel it. A presence that has no form no matter how hard you look, but follows you in creaks and groans. It feels like being stalked by a monster in a maze.

Running from it only intensifies the feeling. Attacking makes it even worse. Calm acceptance is the only way to lessen or even neutralize it, but that's something you'll have to discover for yourself. In the end, there's no way to defeat it. You have to trust your instincts and believe it's there, despite the fact that you can't see or touch it.


CHANGING SIDES.

Elsewhere, it starts as a smell.

As the ground shudders and cracks, the stench of rot comes from the fissures. Mirrors and windows melt off walls, and a strong sense of vertigo comes and goes, like cresting waves. Looking out a window shows buildings and bridges breaking off of the labyrinth and drifting—or plummeting—away. They dissolve into nothingness as they vanish into the abyss, like they were bathed in acid. The already fragile world is falling apart.

It comes with a pervasive sense of wrongness, perhaps ironic in a world where everything is already wrong. But that's when it happens: You look up and realize you're no longer where you started. The sun or the moon, whichever you expected, is no longer in the sky. Instead, on the horizon lies its opposite.

It's a phenomenon unique to areas with high concentrations of ash mirrors and hallways, particularly when there's someone else on the other side. Sometimes the instability flips your positions, so one of you is now in the dimension where the other previously stood, while other times it drags you both together into the light of the sun or moon. It's like you resonate, magnets attracting or repelling each other in little pockets of peace.


THE LOCKED ROOM.

Amidst the chaos, as the world shifts and there's no telling where or when you are, you slip through a crack. Or maybe you're a weirdo who climbed through the hole left behind a mirror.

In either case, the fissure is both literal and metaphorical, influenced by the unstable world and your actions. Maybe you step through a door, crawl through a crevice, close your eyes, or do something else to take you between here and there. Whatever the case, you find yourself in a room unlike any others you've seen in this distorted world. Well...once you look closer, anyway. On the surface, it may just be another kitchen, ballroom, or cellar.

But in these rooms, it doesn't matter which side of the divide you were on. Not only because you can't see whatever lights the sky, but because they lie between dimensions. There are no windows and no doors; you'll only find walls the same mottled gray as everything else in this place. Attacking them gets you nowhere. Any damage is there and gone, like the erased moments between flashes of a strobe light. There is no easy way out.

But there is a mirror. Hairline cracks run through its surface, shattering a single reflection into multitudes. Set in an ash-gray frame like so many others, it's left somewhere in the room, whether hanging on a wall, haphazard on the floor, or leaning against some furniture. It emanates the skin-prickling sensation of being watched. Turning away doesn't help; you can feel it gazing at your back.

The haunted feeling only subsides when you stare back. And you should stare back, because these mirrors are your escape route. Staring into them will reveal someone on the other side with the same predicament. Surprisingly, you can hear each other when you speak. It even comes translated if you don't speak the same language, although your mouths still sync to your native tongues. It's like a poorly dubbed movie.

Touching the mirror gives you the impression it's somehow leeching off you, trying to fill those cracks. Try to pull your hand away and you'll find it's a little difficult, like unsticking your tongue from a cold pole. Moreover, you'll feel a compulsion to tell the truth, to do something real.


THE GREAT ESCAPE.

For those of you left behind where the sun and moon still shine, keep an eye on your own mirrors, especially broken ones that seem to be influenced by something invisible. They display a room that most decidedly isn't your own, acting more like a window than a mirror. And whoever's inside, trapped, might call on you for help. You won't be able to hear them, though, so how are you with body language?

Meanwhile, for escapees...

No matter how you escape the rooms, you might notice something a little strange once you get back to the labyrinth. Well, stranger. For a brief window of time (one that grows longer with each room you escape), you'll discover the sun and moon occupy the same sky. The area you've entered is a temporary nexus of sorts, one that fuses the dimensions into something that almost seems stable.

It feels right, but the world isn't strong enough to hold itself together for long.



skaa: DNT.​ (071. ❚)

Vin Venture ( mistborn ) all prompts open

[personal profile] skaa 2019-06-12 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)
( a ) - escaping the elements



( no, one doesn't exactly plan to get thrust into a whole other world where the world itself seems hell-bent on trying to batter your spirits into submission. but if Vin could have planned this, she would have brought more vials.

currently, she clutches a vial in her hands as she tries to outrun the storm that hounds at her. what had been bearable rain now turns into ice that pelts against her skin. her cloak wasn't made for protection against the elements. it does nothing to lessen the pain of each droplet turned to ice shard that pricks her skin. then the winds pick up.

it takes everything in Vin not to down the vial she holds in her hand. pewter would help her bear this. pewter would make the cold not so biting and the shards less piercing. but somehow, Vin suspects these sorts of dangers won't be the last.

she grits her teeth and darts towards a door. any door at this point.

there's only one in sight. she slips and slides against the ground. she wishes that was intentional, but without pewter to aid her balance the elements win in bringing her down. she uses her natural grace to at least use the slipping to get her the rest of the way to the door.

then she thuds against it as she tries to open it. )


Of course. ( she snarls as she tries the handle and rattles it. something thick is pushed up against the other side. ) If anyone is in there, some help would be appreciated! ( she yells over the winds as she slams her shoulder into the only nearby door to try to pry it open. )


( b ) - into the labyrinth



( Vin hasn't really stopped moving in awhile. she's getting tired, but there's nowhere to rest. even the inside of this place seems to want to kill her. the waters rise up past her knees, teeth chattering in the silence as she sloshes onward. she climbs out of the water on a desk or a cabinet any chance she gets. but sometimes she has to brave the water to move on.

she just needs the labyrinth to slope up. something to get her further out of the climbing depths.

instead it seems to go down, plunging deeper and deeper. she's almost certain she's hit a dead end, destined to drown in a damn hallway. after everything, this is where it ends?!

then the waters recede. they seem to flow backwards and Vin lifts her head in shocked silence. she tries to look around for any sign of what's happening outside. instead she finds a mirror in front of her.

then she hears the breathing. )


Who's there? ( she calls out, though she doesn't yet look away from the mirror. maybe she can see the person breathing in the reflection. )


( c ) - escaping reality



( crawling through the mirror wasn't the most brilliant ideas, but Vin is ever the person to find out more by going in deeper. and the hole did perfectly fit her.

now this room, though...

a. it's large and there's very little light. she's not even certain she's left the mirror-hole until she finally sees a glow. by that point, it's too late to turn back. the room has opened up too wide for her to find where the mirror-hole entrance had been. she doesn't search that long for it anyway. after all, there's a light to follow.

underneath a table she shoves away she finds a mirror. she kneels on the floor, hovering over the mirror as she peers into another room filled with light compared to hers.

eventually, she sees another soul wander into the room. )
Hello? ( she tries, not certain if the other person can hear or see her at all.

b. she's lost track of the rooms. one room she broke out of. then she fell into another room. then she crawled through the cracks in another. she's not even certain of the order she's done each room in. they're starting to blend together.

at least this room is decently lit.

with a heavy sigh, she finds the next mirror and sits down, leaning her back against it. she waits patiently, hoping someone eventually shows up. that's about the only thing she's figured out so far in all the rooms. there's always another person, and she can never find even a crack without someone else there. )



( d ) - wildcard



( open for any and all other prompts. message me at magickal on plurk or vaineglorie#1372 on discord if you have any questions. )
Edited 2019-06-12 20:56 (UTC)
swordliest: (your oppression reeks)

c-a

[personal profile] swordliest 2019-06-14 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
[The other room is a dining room: a little, cramped one suited to a modest house or cottage. Carver hasn't noticed the mirror yet, lying abandoned on the floor against the wall; he's more preoccupied with where the exit should be: a door, or window, or something.

He twists at the sound of her voice, and has to search a second or two to find the source.

He's seen people on the opposite sides of mirrors before. He's even communicated with them before. But he's never heard them before.]


Hello? [Echoing her, but a little more aggressive, a little more urgent. He takes a few impulsive steps toward the mirror, and then stops, warily, not coming any closer.] Can you actually hear me?
skaa: DNT.​ (083. ❚)

[personal profile] skaa 2019-06-28 01:44 pm (UTC)(link)
( oh good. this worked.

how it worked is beyond her. things work here that shouldn't really work.

still she has his attention, and that's a start. she's leaning over the mirror that's resting against the floor, and nods her head, hair spilling around her face. )
I can hear you. ( she squints slightly, trying to get a better look at his location. )

Are you in a room like me? One without a door?

( ooc; sorry, moving took more time than i thought, if you'd rather not continue i understand! )
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (through the heat)

b.

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-14 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[This is, what, the fourth room she's gotten locked in? The fifth? Ellie's lost track, and it's all so stupid, anyway. It was anxiety-inducing the first few times, but after she didn't die, didn't get injured, didn't starve, she's just annoyed.]

It's Ellieeeee. [Said in a drawn out groan of teenage annoyance. For a good measure, Ellie knocks her head against the almost sticky cold surface of the mirror.] Look in the mirror.
skaa: DNT.​ (090. ❚)

[personal profile] skaa 2019-06-28 01:44 pm (UTC)(link)
( Vin hears the voice. followed by a dull thud that makes her frown a bit.

it takes her a minute to find the mirror. she always has to find the damn mirror. okay no wait, once the mirror was in plain sight. this one is close to it. it's behind a tall wardrobe, but only just barely behind it. at least Vin doesn't have to try to move the wardrobe. she doesn't have the strength for that.

she kneels on the ground, finding Ellie leaning against the mirror. )
You're the one I talked to before? About the world that's ended? ( she's trying to keep people straight without having everyone's faces from the radios. )

It's Vin. You're stuck too? ( it's more of a tired question. so far everyone is stuck on both sides. no one seems to be lucky enough not to be stuck. )

( ooc; sorry, moving took more time than i thought, if you'd rather not continue i understand! )
Edited 2019-06-28 13:44 (UTC)
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r32)

c.b.

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-15 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ruth's starting to feel like she's hollowing herself out. Minimal sleep, thanks to the rain and the floods, just enough food to keep searching for more, as little a sense of her surroundings as she can close out of her head. It's hard not to feel like a body moving in endless, meaningless circuits, occasionally running into other bodies, then leaving them again.

She's stumbled into a room, the consequence of reaching into a crack out of curiosity and finding herself unable to go any other way. Escaping the press of of it, moving into the open (if musty) air of a room full of hard benches in endless rows, leaves her gasping but grateful. It's not a space she recognizes by touch: a chapel of some sort, whose altar features only a mirror, propped up against the front of it. Not the easiest piece of furniture for her to find, so after a minute or two, she gives up.]


Pardon. Yes. Are you sorry out there?

[You being whoever's supposed to be on the other side. Is this another one of those damn rooms without exit? She's nearly certain it's one of those damn rooms.]
skaa: DNT.​ (144. ❚)

[personal profile] skaa 2019-06-28 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
( ooc; sorry, moving took more time than i thought, if you'd rather not continue i understand! )

( Vin is tired by this point. not so much physically, though there is that. someone's a bit of a pewter addict. she denied it, but stripped of pewter entirely she aches for the comfort of it. the natural balance and stamina it brings her. the ability to survive these harsh conditions with minimal efforts.

anyway.

beyond the physical, she's just mentally drained. she keeps climbing through cracks and breaking through mirrors and she's just in an endless tunnel filled with rooms.

with her back against the mirror she's sitting on, she almost misses the other person. until they speak. she recognizes that voice, that manner of speech. )


I'm here. ( she turns to look at the other girl. ) Are you okay?