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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! |
maes hughes | fmab
[ The library never ends. Each row only circles back upon itself and every time you try and find your way back to the main aisles? You're looped right back around to bookshelves. The titles on the shelves themselves appear to be different, giving you the sense that you're getting somewhere, but no real distance is being covered.
Well, until you run face first into someone else. Maes holds up his hands in surprise, a bark of laughter rumbling out of his chest. ] Whoa! Hey there. Where'd you come from? I've been walking this place for hours now...
[ He's going crazy. He has to be, right? ]
(cw: blood! )
a. you called, i can't hear a thing
[ The night air slowly drops in temperature. The night sky overhead fills to the brim with stars, twinkling delicately against a dark backdrop. You might think so many stars don't belong in a city, but the lampposts flutter to life, illuminating a cobbled street and high, bricked buildings with dimly lit windows.
Just as you round the corner, the lampposts flicker and a sound sharp and shrill crackles through the air. There's a man standing at the door of a telephone booth and blood pools out of it, around his feet, onto the sidewalk, as though endless. The man stares down at his own hands, bloody and sticky, then to the ground, then up at you. ]
Someone's been shot. We need to find them, we need to get them help.
[ What he doesn't realize is that the one that's been shot? Himself. ]
b. the grass just won't stop growing
[ Whatever pseudo dream he'd been trapped in before has left Hughes feeling a little more than disoriented. The tall grasses hiss in the breeze and although everything feels real enough, he doesn't quite trust it. No less there's multi-colored deer and creatures wandering about.
When he starts seeing others come to, he approaches one, reaching a hand out to steady the shoulder of the person blinking back into reality. ] Hey... you okay? Careful, the grass makes it hard to see. Guess no one's been looking after the lawn for a while, huh?
[ Sorry for him. ]
HAHAHAHA u know the one. 1/2
he's been through hell before. a few hallucinations aren't too bad. and so he finds himself within another magic spot, his eyes adjusting to the new scene. and it's a familiar street, one that roy is intimately familiar with. perhaps it's part of his grieving process, but he spends a lot of time here. confronting the reality of the situation, and all that.
he knows he shouldn't approach the phonebooth, but he does -- and he immediately starts, when he sees the blood. and inside his head, he tells himself that this is likely a figment of his imagination, but for a precious two seconds, he is struck absolutely dumb at the figure standing at the phonebooth: ]
Maes?
[ it's a hoarse tone, questioning -- but his eyes flicker to the blood, and to the phonebooth, and then he hears maes' request.
we need to get them help -- of course he would be focused on that but -- no, this isn't real. none of it is -- ]
2/2
-- fuck. ]
-- you're right, we need to get help. [ focus on the immediate problem, and figure out the rest later. he puts himself between maes and the phonebooth, so maes has something to look at, and roy immediately moves to put pressure on the wound he already knows is there, because he's read the autopsy report so many times that he has it memorized. ] I'm here. Focus -- can you hear me?
no subject
Roy? You can't be here, it's—
[ Sharp, intense pain. Pain that makes his vision flash dangerously white, that drags him back into the reality of the moment. He sucks in a sharp breath and raises his eyes to his friend's face, surprised and confused. ] Fancy meeting you here. [ Making light of it, but the sick realization that blood flows down his own chest, onto the ground, filling the cracks of cobbles and pavement makes his head spin. ]
I was just— [ His vision dances again and he wobbles on his feet, face ghostly pale. It's fear, more than anything, because he'd just been fine moments ago. Until he heard the crack of gunfire, until he saw the blood...
His eyes swing back to focus on Roy's face, eyelids heavy and lazy as he fights against the sharp, pulsing pain in his chest. ] Can hear you loud and clear, Colonel.
no subject
[ it's said forcefully, to cut him off, to cause him to focus. his hands immediately press against the wound, to stem the flow of blood. he bled out slowly, if roy remembers correctly, from the report. envy had struck him and immediately left, and by the time they had found the body, maes was already gone.
he can fix it, and slow it down, until he can find a healer. cauterize the wound,
maybe. but he needs a healer, someone, to make sure he'll be fine.
the colonel causes the weight in his chest to double, because he hasn't been that for such a long time -- but he sucks in a breath before grabbing hughes' hand with one of his own, to press it against his own chest. to stem the flow of blood. ]
Keep your hand there, I'm going to help you move. We need to find the -- Lieutenant. [ it's only half a beat of pause, for roy to remember what riza was to maes, back then. and he quickly pulls maes' other arm over roy's shoulders, to give him support, to move him away from the phonebooth. he needs to find the edge of this magic pod, to get him to safety. ] And then we'll find someone to fix this. Stay with me.
no subject
Moving. Right, they're moving, and he tries to put one foot in front of the other as his vision doubles, blurring dark at the edges. ] I have to tell you—
[ There was something, wasn't there? There was something he remembers he needed to say. The arm over Roy's shoulder causes him to cry out, makes him pause to lurch a little, weight shifting into the man a little to heavily.
He's going to die here.
The realization is real and vivid and he tries to will some life back into his body, tries to will the blood back into his chest where it's freely flowing. The adrenaline kicks in and he grips Roy's shoulder as tight as he can, fights through something that should have immobilized him ages ago. ]
You have to stop them. You have to— [ He coughs, a line of blood starting from his mouth to his chin. ]
no subject
at best, he's finally saved hughes. ]
I know I do, I know. [ it's said in a quiet aside, mostly just to prove to maes that he is listening, as he pulls him forward. the details of the street are beginning to grow a little fuzzier, a little less there. roy is close to the edge of the bubble, and he presses forward. ] I'm going to rip them all apart and bring it all down, I promise.
[ he's not there, yet. but he's close. ]
You're going to be fine. Focus on that, and I'll kill the son of a bitch who did this to you later.
[ no, he doesn't. it's a bold faced lie. but hughes doesn't need to know the truth, yet. ]
But until then, you're no good to me dead. Understand? I need you here.
no subject
They're making a circle. [ He barely chokes it out, the injury stealing the breath out of his lungs, his hand falling away from the chest wound. His vision blurs and his fingers dig into Roy's shoulder, sharp and urgent and desperate. He needs to stay on his damn feet. His own two feet. He needs to keep walking. ]
Turning the whole city into— [ A gasp, a hand flying to the wound in his chest again, the radiating pain that starts in his chest and surges outward. But he drags his feet, one foot in front of the other. ]
I can't. [ His voice is nothing but gravel now, sweat stippling his brow where the blood hasn't been smeared. ] Roy— [ Sharp, commanding, a side of Hughes that rarely shows itself but there it is in the form of a bleeding, shaking, dying man. ] You've got to stop this. Them. [ A ragged inhale, shallow exhale. ] I'm sorry.
no subject
they're nearly out of this magical hotspot, roy can feel it. and hughes still feels solid. the grip on his shoulder is strong, and the closer they get, the more roy seems to realize that this, like edward had told him, might be another example of time playing tricks.
he needs riza. ]
Don't talk so much, you're making it worse. [ curtly, as he continues to pull hughes along. so close. ] I know what's going to happen to Amestris, I was told, I know. I'm going to stop them. King Bradley's head is going to be on a pike in my front yard when I eventually retire and reduce myself to domestic hell.
[ it's easier to be snippy than to show the fear, and as roy takes one more step, suddenly, his feet hit grass -- and they are out of amestris, and in wherever the hell shehui threw them. trees, overgrowth, water, and roy exhales abruptly before moving to set hughes to rest against a tree, making sure hughes' hand is pressed against the wound before he immediately rips open the bag that he's been carrying since the eviction, to dig through it, for medical supplies. supplies he's used too frequently, since arriving on this damn world.
christ, how long did it take for hughes to bleed out? not long, not long, not long, hurry, roy -- ]
I am not going to let anyone ruin our country. [ it's said quietly, as he shifts to undo hughes' jacket and shirt as quickly as he can, to get at the wound itself. ] And I'm not going to let you die. [ roy presses a folded padded up bandage against hughes' chest. ] Hold this against it and stop writing your own damn obituary while I figure out what to do. Let me think for two seconds.
[ roy is clever, he's a genius, he can come up with a solution to this while stranded in the middle of some shithole forest. think, think, think. it's a clean wound, through and through. much like lust's had been, with roy -- cauterizing the wounds had saved his life, but it had hurt . . . better to be in pain than dead.
except he doesn't have his gloves. just the magical ones he had looted from the prison.
shit. ]
Do you trust me?
[ he has to ask, as he's digging through the bag again. painkillers, there are painkillers in here somewhere, he had bought them in shehui. ]
no subject
Roy Mustang in domestic hell. Who'da thought.
[ What more can he say? It's like all of this is some backwards dream. He'd been shot moments before by a creature that could change form, and here he is now, bleeding out in a sunny pasture, being tended to by his best friend. His best friend, mind you, who should be climbing his way to the top and restoring their country to what it should have been all along.
He grips the bundle of bandage to his chest all the same, though, as if it wasn't some fever dream. As if Roy might actually be across from him, as if he hadn't just heard his voice on the phone receiver. It's not possible. None of this is possible.
Do you trust me?
He leans his head back against the tree and closes his eyes, his whole body feeling heavy, his face pale. But there's the tiniest hint of that lopsided grin. He's dying. God, he's dying here and all he can think of is how he wishes he was back in Central, back with his wife and child, back in the office with too many books and papers and dead ends. ]
Only if I have to. Just do it.
no subject
[ murmured absently, talking just to talk and distract, as he takes hughes' insult for permission. but as he talks, he quickly undoes the bandages to gauge the wound. it's clean, through and through. but he didn't die immediately, he bled out, which means if he stops the bleeding, he has half a shot . . .
but he doesn't have his gloves, nor does he have access to alchemy. all he has are these magical ones, which he's pulling on now -- black, with a slight shimmer. they are nowhere near as accurate, and now, he's silently cursing to himself that he didn't allow waver the opportunity to pull them apart and really see how they look. too little, too late, now -- he just has to make due with what he has. ]
Alchemy doesn't work here. It's not going to be as clean as -- [ when what, roy, when you did it to yourself after lust used you as a human shish-kabob, hughes doesn't know that. ] It doesn't matter. You're probably going to pass out. [ why is roy still talking. it's a nervous habit. ] When you wake up, Lieutenant Hawkeye will be here to tell me I did it wrong, and we can talk.
[ he hesitates before snapping his fingers, flames coming alight to dance across the black shimmering glove of the gloves, a white-hot focus on his fingers. there's a million things rushing through his head, of things he wants to say, and things he never got the chance to say, but all of that is irrelevant now. he has minutes, maybe, to fix this. and so he sucks in a breath: ]
I'm sorry.
[ -- and begins the work of carefully cauterizing the wound. he tries to make quick work of it, but it is an excruciating handful of minutes that feel like hours. in time, he does get the bleeding to stop, but at the cost of a patch of now burnt and scarred skin, which roy quickly covers with a light gauze bandage, and a shuddered breath.
it will work. it has to. ]
a.
Under other circumstances, Vex'ahlia might be delighted by a library, though she is by no means the level of nerd that some members of her party are. coughPercycough But the simple fact of the matter is, this is not a place familiar to her, and while she hasn't been walking for hours, a good thirty minutes with no end in sight is enough to set her teeth on edge.
That she turns a corner and then walks right into someone just takes the cake. ]
Whoa--!
[ At least the laughter is better than a counter strike, and Vex leans against one of the ceiling-high shelves to catch herself as she takes in the other man. Vex is perceptive as all Hells, but she had no idea Hughes was there. That there was anyone else here, for that matter. It takes a minute to reign in that adrenaline spike.. ]
Well, I believe back there is a fully stocked reference section about animal husbandry, with a turn to some sort of non-fiction about..tell-e-vision? [whatever that is] You're the first anyone I've met since I got here.
no subject
[ No. No it doesn't. Hughes tries to make light of it all, a laugh behind his words. He keeps his distance from the other, just in case. He'd rather not try and fight it out in an endless library. No winning would come from that. ]
All I had going for me were romance novels and a whole section dedicated to the anatomy of cats. Really exciting stuff. Didn't happen to see a way out of here, did you?
no subject
As it is, she appreciates the distance, straightening herself up and offering him a smile in return. ]
Maybe if you wish to farm book worms. Or wyrms. I wouldn't put it past a strange library such as this. [the smile does fade a bit at his question, however] If I had, I'd be long gone. Best as I can tell, I started at a T-junction of shelves.. This place is a maze.
no subject
[ Now that he thinks about it, he might have simply opened his eyes and found himself here, lost from the start. Which calls into question how they'll find their way out. ]
Yes, it is. But if you've gone that way and I've gone the other way, it seems we've reached an impasse. [ He points over his shoulder to another T-junction, where there appears to be a light on somewhere in the distance, a little lamp. ] We could try this way. Leave a trail of books for the places we've been.
no subject
[Vox Machina does not have the best of experiences with doors]
Hmm. Would could. Though if you came that way, and I came this way.. Perhaps the only option now is to make our own path. [gaze slides to the bookshelf she was leaning on moments before] How many shelves would fall in a tow if we were to push this one, do you think?
b.
... well, Hughes is Hughes. Leo is Leo. He doesn't even bat an eye. ] You're going to have to be my eyes, then, because I can barely see over it! ☆
[ You're 5'5" it's not that hard, Leo. ]
no subject
Guess I could give you a leg up if you want? Though I'm not really sure which direction we should go in. There's grass for miles! [ And he knows he'd stumbled into myriad strange things here already, and he'd be worried to do the same thing again. ] I'm not sure where we are, but it's definitely an adventure.