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.



calculo: (O N E H U N D R E D S E V E N)

[personal profile] calculo 2019-06-20 03:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Robbie.

( and the other guy. he's not introducing the other guy. )

The door's open, amigo. Getting mad ain't gonna bring it back. Maybe you could use all that anger to put a hole through the wall.

( before he did. )
snikthatch: (annoyed; got a problem bub)

[personal profile] snikthatch 2019-06-20 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Logan narrows his eyes at Robbie. There's something a little.. familiar about him. Maybe it's just the simmering anger that seems to be running under the surface of his voice. It makes Logan want to respond in kind. ]

Yeah? Maybe you oughta keep your opinions to yourself, bub.
calculo: (S I X T Y O N E)

[personal profile] calculo 2019-06-20 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I would but I don't have anyone else to talk to.

( not that's ever talkative but it keeps him out of his own head, keeps him focused away from what's inside of him. )

Who're you? Don't recognize you.
Edited 2019-06-20 16:30 (UTC)
snikthatch: (sniff; what)

[personal profile] snikthatch 2019-06-20 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
The name's Logan.

[ He snakts his claws back into his arms and stalks closer to the mirror, looking Robbie up and down. ]

You expect to recognise all the people you end up talkin' to in magic mirrors?
calculo: (S I X T Y N I N E)

[personal profile] calculo 2019-06-20 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Didn't say that. But I haven't seen you around before.

( and he'd seen or at least talked to a fair few people before ending up here. )

Didn't expect magic mirrors either.
snikthatch: (look; repeat that bub)

[personal profile] snikthatch 2019-06-20 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, well, there's a lot goin' on here you wouldn't expect.

[ Logan dismisses Robbie with a shake of his head, then starts peering at the mirror itself. He pokes at the frame with a fingertip, pushing it so it slides a little on the wall. The view of Robbie doesn't seem to change. ]

Door gone on your side too?
calculo: (N I N E T Y T H R E E)

[personal profile] calculo 2019-06-21 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)
No, I'm sitting in here because I want to.

( of course the door's gone, logan. robbie's tone says that's a stupid question. )

What do you think?
snikthatch: (roar; show your teeth)

[personal profile] snikthatch 2019-06-21 12:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Logan bristles at that. ]

I think you're startin' to piss me off, bub.
calculo: (S E V E N T Y T W O)

[personal profile] calculo 2019-06-21 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Why? Because I'm talking to you like a normal person?

( a somewhat normal person. )

Throwing a temper tantrum's not gonna get us out of here.

Bub.
snikthatch: (look; gonna cut you down)

[personal profile] snikthatch 2019-06-22 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Logan points at him. ]

A normal person would be lookin' for a way out of this place. Either you're some kinda shadow, somethin' new this nightmare is throwin' at me, or you're just as messed up as me and hidin' it a whole lot better.
Edited 2019-06-22 18:34 (UTC)
calculo: (S I X T Y F O U R)

[personal profile] calculo 2019-06-22 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Do I look like a shadow to you?

( though, maybe his shadows look like actual people. robbie doesn't know. robbie doesn't care. )

Guess you'll just have to figure out what I really am. But, I've looked for a way out of this place. There's a mirror. And unless you're going to shrink yourself down and climb through it, there's no other way out. Feel free to try it, though.
snikthatch: (fighting; ready)

[personal profile] snikthatch 2019-06-23 10:25 am (UTC)(link)
Fine.

[ Logan pulls back his fist and swings it, hard, at the mirror. It shatters around his knuckles and he feels the bite of the broken glass into his knuckles, but instead of falling to the floor it shimmers and.. reforms, like it's being pulled back in time. And there's Robbie's ugly mug again, just like before.

He blinks. ]

.. the hell?
calculo: (E I G H T)

[personal profile] calculo 2019-06-23 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice job.

( robbie had tried that too. it had done the same thing. congratulations, logan. )

Gonna try sweet talking it now?