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spellgrinders2018-02-28 10:25 pm
spellbindmods) wrote in spellgrinders2018-02-28 10:25 pm
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( TDM #9 | FAUX 4TH WALL LOG )
You blink and that's all it takes. At first, the picture doesn't come in clear, like you're waiting for a screen to fully load -- more aptly, it's like you're waiting for a camera to focus so you can find image clarity. Before you happened to rapidly close your eyes and open them, your life was normal...well, normal for you, anyway. Fighting an alien, making a quesadilla, dying. And then that blurry picture suddenly takes over. There's a lot to take in here -- you feel weird, your surroundings are weird. Everything is just weird. For starters, there's that new piece of jewelry inserted in the space above your chest. That certainly wasn't there before you opened your eyes. For some of you, the shock is a bit more sudden. You've packed up your belongings and you've been escorted through the city into a building similar to the one utilized during the jailbreak -- down a pothole-like door that's extremely similar to the other one you might have been familiar with during that same incident. There's a long tunnel with no windows that you travel through, slowly but surely. It's dimly lit, and you can see others in front of you -- don't worry about any repercussions for cutting in line. You eventually get to a closed door and your monitor escort opens the large turnstile for you, gesturing for you to continue onward. The walk won't be much longer, they reassure you, but they won't be traveling with you from here. After a fifteen minute walk, you'll reach another door, though this one is much more manageable when it comes to opening it on your own. Once you step through, things are certainly...different.
That isn't to say these voids are endless. In reality, the space around you is tainted, but you still exist on this plane -- the outside of Shehui. Things feel very real, but once you force yourself to move outside of these spaces, you mind your shoes are firmly planted in grass that is inches long, potentially surrounded by other people with no idea what's going on; they too have just escaped their own little void. From here you can feel it near to you -- you can sense the magic that's seeping out of somewhere, and you can even see it if you squint. The air around it shimmers with a certain sparkle. It's, again, hard to accurately put into words. But you can see these voids once you really focus on them. However, you can't see the people who happen to be trapped inside. B ▢ Once you reach these safe havens of non-magic, raw and in its purest form, you'll find yourself in a reality that is somewhat...overgrown. There aren't any buildings outside of the giant dome structure of Shehui in the background, as far as you can see. There are trees and plains, grassy fields and the occasional oddly-colored deer. If you look hard enough, you can find a small pond here or there. Just watch out. Magic can leak into that water, and that means... C ▢ ...ingesting that contaminated substance carries that magic with you. Absorbing this magic directly into your body creates that void, except it's contained within you. Once you do, you carry around whatever you might see or hear with you. This might create a comical scenario, like you're ordering from an invisible pizza man. It may also trap you in something more sinister. This magic can use your mind against itself. Whatever is in that void, which can last for hours, is up to you...whether you can control it or not. |
[ OOC: For this TDM, characters testing in can create their own scenarios and interact with characters in very bizarre and imaginative ways. Want your character to be the judge in a murder trial, roping in other characters as defendant and accuser? Or maybe you'd like to do something different with your character -- age them up, give them different powers? Anything can happen in these voids of concentrated magic, and that also means anyone can appear. Your creativity can create any situation you'd like to put your character in, and these situations can also pull in other characters. Everyone is there, after all! Characters can also take a break and do some minor exploration -- though more info will come out about the setting and potential in a later post, don't worry. For ingested magic, the character will be in a scenario like the one mentioned above, except it won't be a potentially public experience. For instance, your character can project a horrible experience into the void in Prompt A, but in Prompt C? That horrible experience would be stuck in their own mind...speaking on the negative end of the spectrum, anyway! |
roy mustang | fmab
[ you find yourself, suddenly, in the midst of a cobble-stone street. there are cars, but they look old, to the modern viewer -- more model-t rather than anything high-tech. steam power seems to be in full effective, here, and there are people wandering around the street. narrow alleyways, stretching all sorts of ways. it's an impossible labyrinth.
should you wander about, you do, eventually, find roy -- who looks . . . well, certainly not uncomfortable, but definitely slightly confused. in his element, here, but he takes half a turn on his heel, to look down an alleyway, eyes flickering to the street names, the numbers . . . ]
-- it should be this way . . .
[ from what it sounds like, roy seems to recognize at least some small facet of whatever world he's found himself in, but something is not right. amiss, even. help him? ]
( a ): equivalent exchange.
[ it only takes one step before you vanish again. another scenario. another image. another room.
suddenly, you are ripped through time and space. it's an endless rush of wind, as you step into this next pocket of magic, and you suddenly find yourself within a brilliant white room, with two doors. a room that seems to have no exit, aside from these doors. and in the center of this room, a figure with no face, no eyes, but a grinning mouth, pale skin, with fuzzy black outlines to their form, and as it talks, it seems to speak to you: ]
Why are you here? You didn't choose . . .
[ the creature does not move. should you try to open the doors, they will not open. no, the doors will only open when it is time to take their price. and the being in the center of the room is debating that. what should it take from you? you get a feeling of dread, the longer you stay in this room. and surely, by now, roy has figured out this is not real. another pocket of magic, another scenario, another vision.
but you're going to have to find him, first. he is within the room, near one of the doors, and is relatively easy to spot once you tear your eyes away from the truth. but when you do find roy, who has his hand pressed against the stone of the wall, fingers gripping the transcription, the carvings on the door you are going to have to help him move.
he may not be able to see. ]
central
Retrocity.
Someplace old. As she rounds a corner, she spots Mustang, waves casually. ]
Hey big man.
[ Maybe Roy's too distracted to see her hand shaking? ]
no subject
Amanda. [ warmly enough, relieved to see a familiar face. and if roy notices her hands shaking, he doesn't say a word. instead, he moves closer, within earshot, to make sure she's relatively okay. ] At least we wound up in a relatively safe area -- are you alright?
no subject
Safe but real confused, man.
no subject
[ as he looks around the city-scape, with a quiet frown. ]
This is home, to me. Central, in Amestris. Obviously not real, if you're here. [ his eyes wander to the street signs, to the buildings, to the cars moving down the streets. ] But close enough to being real to confuse anyone who wouldn't know any better . . . it's safe, here, in comparison to most places in Amestris. You'll be fine as long as you don't wander off.
no subject
[ They could be in Amestris or Germany or... whatever. ]
I mean, if it was real it'd be pretty balls to just shove me off to where you're from, but either way I oughta stick with you right? This can't last too long.
no subject
[ roy is a born and bred city kid, and this feels like home. but he knows amanda is from much farther in the future, and far be it for him to argue. ]
Sticking with me will at least get us to the military base. Hopefully whatever boundaries of this imaginary world or whatever Shehui has done to us don't stretch for too much longer . . . feel like taking a walk?
no subject
It's, ah, classy...?
[ And old. ]
Hopefully there aren't imaginary dream guards to give me funny looks, so sure.
no subject
[ roy is A Big Deal (tm), or so they say, and he's rarely harassed or bothered in central. if anything, people get out of his way. still, he can see amanda is nervous, and he inclines his head down a street. in the far distance, you can just see the peaks of what appears to be central command. ]
If this place is the same Central as I know, or at least modeled off of it, we can head this way. We'll find our way out eventually.
no subject
So we just get a nice stroll and nothing else out of this.
equivalent exchange
..and then it stops. He blinks, the whiteness of the room a sharp contrast.]
What is this place?
[Waver looks around and then at the door itself. Those are symbols he knows, he's run across them in alchemy textbooks before. Which means that if he doesn't know what this place is then...
...then he knows who the hell to look for. To the creature, Waver states his purpose clearly.]
I didn't. But I have to find someone who's here. Excuse me.
[And so he starts to walk. He yells, rather loud.]
Mustang?! You in here?!
no subject
[ the creature seems to answer regardless of waver's pursuit of roy, turning its head to watch waver walk past, to explore the seemingly endless yet claustrophobic room. indeed, the creature seems to always be there, regardless of how far waver walks. ]
People come here because they need something that equivalent exchange can't give them. You need the Truth, for that. And you can see it, for a price.
[ it's an . . . unsettling feeling, that this creature gives. like it's peering into your very soul, but you're not entirely sure what it's seeing. or what it's pondering to take away. ]
Most people walk through the doors because they want something I have, but the Truth is the Truth. Choice or not, there's a toll for the --
[ but the creature pauses, to incline his head toward the far door, where roy is leaning, his shoulder pressure against the stone. it seems to predict something. perhaps roy's voice, which calls out, loud and clear, though the brigadier general isn't looking at waver, or at the truth. but he does seem to know where they are. ]
Waver, stay away from it, and move toward me. Quickly.
[ he sounds remarkably calm, all things considered, but it is definitely a forced calm.
roy wants to leave. ]
no subject
He knows that to try and adapt systems requires time and study and all kinds of luxuries that this place doesn't have. And then there's Roy's voice cutting in through all of Waver's thoughts, and he's able to pick up the pace.]
Got it.
[The gap closes quickly. Waver's feet doesn't scuff against anything, he can't clock if his feet are making any sound at all. But he's in front of Roy soon enough.]
no subject
He's curious, Brigadier General. Are you going to let him learn?
[ it's a sly tone, which roy seems to ignore as he takes half a step forward, his fingers grazing waver's sleeve before he grasps the boy's shoulder. and now, if waver pays attention, roy's eyes seem to be closed. and when he speaks, his tone is low. quiet, and curt, and to the point. ]
This scenario, or whatever Shehui has done, is not real. [ waver is a smart kid, and he knows that waver will know at least that much. that being said: ] But if this operates anything like the Gate in my world, there is only one way out of here, and it's through these doors.
[ assuming, of course, that they'll open. ]
I need you to tell me what the doors look like. In explicit detail. The one directly behind us.
no subject
[That's a lie to himself. To fend off curiosity, to keep him from going down a bad path. Waver's gotten better at self preservation since the coven, the same lack thereof that made him think the Holy Grail War was a great idea.]
It's the tree of life, a variation of the Sefirot. [However the fuck Jewish mysticism got into Roy's world is a question for another day.] There's two circles, connected by a single line. On each side, there are four branches. The top circle is crowned, the bottom has ten different roots coming out out of it. I'm going to read each one and describe the position based on left or right side. Here we go.
[Waver is nothing if not precise. He has to be, it's his stock and trade, and the way he reads it's more like he's reciting a spell than giving dictation. Either way, his tongue falls into a familiar pattern. It's easy. It's natural. This is where he thrives.]
no subject
but he doesn't interrupt waver, instead absorbing the information. trying to wrap his mind around it, to get a good grasp on where he is in the room, and, more importantly, how to get out.
which involves a little bit of -- well -- truth. ]
This is the Gate.
[ it's said quietly, his hand still on waver's shoulder, to ground himself. ]
You come here after you violate the taboo of alchemy, the one rule any of us have. I've been here once before, not through my own doing. [ it's a long story, but the way roy says it, he wants to make it clear that he has never voluntarily performed that disgusting ritual. ] You're allowed to glimpse the Truth, an impossible store of knowledge, but you always pay a price. Typically, pieces of your body, or abilities you have.
[ he pauses. ]
You're my eyes, until we manage to get out of this mockery. Ignore the thing in the center of the room. Listen to me. Can you do that?
[ the truth, at this point, is silent, but is definitely watching. curious, to see how this plays out. but there's a slow grin emerging, at the notion that roy thinks he can just leave. ]
no subject
[Waver's fine with Roy leaning on him. With the situation, actually, because it requires being clever rather than just a powerful spellcaster. He has an idea, but he has to make sure it swings.]
We didn't. So there's no reason that we have to exit through the gate too. We're dealing with localized magic, not the real deal.
no subject
so he pauses, rolling that idea around in his head, thinking about it, pondering it, testing it out inside his head . . . ]
I'm listening.
[ you're on a roll kid don't stop now. ]
no subject
[Waver grins.]
So just hold on and we walk. Otherwise my question is why is this the place of all places? And can the atmosphere be changed at will? What powers this place?
no subject
the truth, it seems, remains silent as they move, but it definitely watches. and occasionally, the same taunting voice trails past their ears, as they walk. ]
This place is the heart and soul of alchemists, those who seek the Truth. This is the place of all places.
[ but roy, as it seems has been his way, ignores it, instead choosing to answer waver's questions. ]
I don't know why it brought us here. Perhaps whatever controls this place leeches off of our memories. [ roy, indeed, has been here before. ] Or it may be random. This is the second or third scenario I've encountered, one was familiar, one was not. But whatever it is must be powerful, and know more than we think it does.
[ he pauses. ]
This place brings more harm than good. The sooner we leave, the better.
no subject
[Waver's response is...cheerful? No. It's angry, but the kind of faux cheery angry that really translates as go fuck yourself. It's foolish to engage with a spectre like this, but Waver wants to throw it off it's game to make sure his insane theory is working.]
Okay, so. While we're walking, let's do an additional experiment. Think of any place else with a strong memory. Literally anywhere else. I'm gonna try too, see if that at least transitions us away from this place.
[Waver keeps walking on and on in the white nothingness, his eyes always ahead. In his own mind, he thinks of London. Of rainy streets, of the Clock Tower library where he spent so much of his time writing his thesis.]
equivalent exchange
So, of course he'd wind up walking into some weird, empty space. There's some amount of confusion for a long moment, even after the entity in the middle of the room speaks. Whatever this is, he... he doesn't like it. The dread, he could've ignored on its own. By sheer virtue of who he is. But in tandem with the silence, his nerves start to feel a little frayed around the edges.
It's then that he notices that the strange creature has company, by the doors. ]
Mmmn... [ Yeah, he might not have chosen to come here, but he's going to choose to head over to the man that's just standing there. Even with how strange that is, it's not the presence that this room has itself. ] What, is it not opening?
no subject
[ the voice answers the question, floating through the seemingly endless room, but roy -- when leo finds him -- inclines his head toward the new voice. roy's own eyes are closed, and his hand is still tracing along the lines of the the ancient text, to attempt to get a vague idea of how this is going to work. how he can open the door.
roy ignores the voice, instead focusing on leo's. but he doesn't turn fully to face him. ]
So you found your way here too.
[ quietly enough. how frustrating. ]
Ignore the thing in the middle of the room. [ that's step one. ] What's your name?
no subject
Guess so..~ [ Cheerful, despite the situation, he looks back at Roy curiously, examining him. There's a strain to his voice that belies the actual nerves he feels, though. But, he's a trooper anyways. And observant to boot.
His own eyes focus on Roy's closed ones, processing. Then he looks to the doors. ]
This was such a surprise, I almost forgot - but there's a crown here, on the door, so, that makes it easier to remember. [ Right, name. ] I'm Leo. Who're you?
no subject
leo. easy to remember. ] Brigadier General Roy Mustang. [ but he offers a slight wave of a gloved hand, his lips twisting into a frown. ] Roy is fine -- are you alright? Nothing hurt you, on the way in here?