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.



sorrypardonyesthankyou: (14)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-15 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Ruth snorts, shaking her head. No one needs to be a psychic to realize what an empty offer that is. Generous, but it still ends with Ellie trapped in a room alone, with the broken body of whatever that thing was.

"You found pardon anyone locked in one of these lately? Sorry." If one of them is stuck, both of them are stuck. "There's yes, there's gotta be something..."
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (played tricks)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah," Ellie says, shrugging. "You can't hear 'em through the mirrors, but they're there. Just- don't fuckin' do whatever made your nose bleed again."
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r30)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Not gonna pardon," she says, and something in her chest contracts. "No, no-- I can't save you sorry, not if I leave."
ascocarp: pt1a14.k | sad (74563)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
Ellie sighs. "It's not about that," she says, feeling very tired and old. "I can tough it out on my own. You're having more trouble."
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r17)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
She pauses, more curious than offended. This...isn't unusual, as a response, but people are rarely so forthcoming about it. Ellie still relies on the usual kind of implication, but less of it. What she says is closer to what people usually restrict to thinking. And it isn't strictly untrue--only one of them is carrying homemade bombs around, and it isn't Ruth.

(For a moment, she's reminded of Dani Moonstar--minus the beating she'd taken in that fight.)

"The door isn't moving. Pardon." Unless it is, in which case, please let her know, Ellie. "You no, sorry, you don't have to do this alone. No."
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (then the earth)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
Ellie shrugs, remembers Ruth can't see it, and isn't sure what to do to fix that. "I don't have to, sure," she says. "Nobody has to do loads of things. But I can. And you're sick, whatever other crap you say, you've got it bad. This is the smart choice. Adapt and survive."
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (07)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not pardon, I'm not sick." Her voice goes a little flat. Sickness is the one thing she has under control right now--a nosebleed and a slight headache are nothing compared to what was happening to her a few days ago. "Splitting up...sorry. It doesn't seem no smart."
ascocarp: pt1a14.k | unsure . sad (34567)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
"We're already split," Ellie argues, because telling the sick girl that, yes, she's sick, seems like a lost fricking cause. "If something attacked you, I couldn't help. This is making sure you can use the way out before it disappears. Shit's always disappearing! If you don't use the door, fucking who knows if you'll get another chance."
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r98)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
"If something attacked yes, sorry, yes--" There's a little fluster to her voice now. "I know, pardon, I know how to defend myself. Sorry."
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (with a voice)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
"So fucking do I," Ellie says. "See? We're already not helping each other."
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r29)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
"But we could be." It comes out quick and hard, decisive. This is a stupid argument to even have, which of us is going to get out of this easily? "There has to be another way."
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (began to call)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
"You're thinking leaving me is the worst thing," Ellie says, bristling slightly with the offense of what she knows she's about to say. "I've been left behind before. I'm still here."
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r34)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
"So? Doesn't mean I'm gonna leave you now." She's getting genuinely annoyed with this entire argument. In the time they've spent debating the issue, they could've already done something about the situation. "That's not how teams work."
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (was an old)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
It comes immediate and harsh. "We're not fucking on a team!" She should be embarrassed. She will be later. Not now. "If you really wanna help, fucking leave! You're not doing shit for me here!"
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r95)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
Which is clearly untrue, if only because they're both stuck in this idiotic puzzle-box set of rooms. The only thing either of them can rely on is each other. But Ellie sounds pissed, and Ruth is pissed, and the most satisfying thing she can think of is to shake her head.

(Tempting, continuing to yell. But stupid, especially since that headache's lingering longer than the nosebleed.)

"No. Pardon." She walks away from the mirror, back toward where she remembers the desk being, and picks up the ink pot Ellie'd admired. That'll probably be okay in her bag, if she keeps it at the bottom--but she's just going to have to hold onto it. "Find yes your way out."

She'll wait.
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (stand til we fall)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"I will," she practically growls. "I fucking always do. But I'm not gonna, until you fucking step out that door!" Now, she's just being stubborn. But she also knows it's what Joel would be doing, in her situation. That is immensely gratifying.
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r113)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-16 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sorry. No." Because what would David do in this situation? Whatever the hell he wanted. And he'd probably end up getting what he was gunning for.

She can do the same--better, maybe, since she's not about to manipulate anybody. There's a chair right here at the desk, and she has a bag of goldfish crackers in her bag. All she has to do is sit and wait.
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (wanna chuck some rocks?)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-16 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)
"You're fucking putting your life at risk," Ellie hisses. "For what? Your pride? This shit's gonna get you killed. You're wasting time."
Edited 2019-06-16 13:28 (UTC)
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r129)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-17 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
"One of us yes, one's wasting time." Bold of you to assume she cares much about getting herself killed--what's even going to do it, in here?
ascocarp: pt1a14.k | sad (74563)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-17 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah! It's fucking you! I can't do shit, remember?" Ellie throws her hands up, not caring that Ruth can't see it.
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r95)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-17 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
"No--sorry--" she says, her voice sharpening again. "You're the one dragging this out."
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (i put you on hold)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-17 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"And what," Ellie says, voice more hash and blunt than sharp, "should I fucking be doing, princess?"
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (12)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-17 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Working together yes." Duh, Ellie. This is basic Danger Room stuff, one of the first lessons you learn: you need other people. "One getting out no, pardon, it's not enough."
ascocarp: pt2a16.k | (wanna come to my house)

[personal profile] ascocarp 2019-06-17 02:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"I fucking worked together with you, I got you an out. You bled on the carpet." Now she's just being mean. She doesn't care. "There's nothing else we can do, unless you pull out some fucking voodoo, and if you do any shit that makes you bleed again I'll..." Sigh. "I'm fucking gonna be pissed."
sorrypardonyesthankyou: (r129)

[personal profile] sorrypardonyesthankyou 2019-06-21 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"Did I?" she asks, her attention going vaguely towards where she'd been standing. If she bled on the carpet, she almost certainly got blood on herself. (And sure, Ellie might just mean it metaphorically, but she's tired of walking around in blood-spotted clothing. Better just to check.) "Pardon. There must be another way--"

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