redactable | WEEK SEVEN: MINGLE

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mingle

WEEK SEVEN: MINGLE

WEEK SEVEN: MINGLE
(21 remain)

Rise and shine, gremlins. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's the start of a new week. To the participants, yesterday's events may seem distant now—albeit not as distant as their life before this. Whether or not they notice, they will have lost a memory upon waking up.

As usual, the participants will find that their lodgings have changed, and should anyone check their PHS, Chiron, Ochako, Soo-won, and Dorothy's profiles have been removed. They may also find that they have difficulty recalling complete details of the past weeks.

Furthermore, it looks as though the rules have updated.

Not everything is the same as the previous pattern, though. The barrier to the north is back up, and once more, what lies beyond is an empty field. In contrast, however, participants may notice that they can finally access a place they haven't been able to before...

Additionally, it looks like the Leaders aren't around. No matter where the participants look, they're nowhere to be found. Should anyone try calling for them in the Planetarium, there will be no response—not even a message telling the participant that they're busy.

Finally, everything around the participants begins to... glitch? Buildings may suddenly blink out of existence and then back in, random items like chairs or cups may suddenly distort even while they're being used, and looking at any particular thing for too long may give someone a headache. It's worse than it was that one week, though: participants will find that it's happening to themselves as well. Body parts might suddenly glitch out of existence then back in, and there will be a shot of pain when it occurs. It'll happen randomly, but it also seems to occur more often if they're touching something or another person.

NAVIGATION

locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests
murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

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[ Ah, just like home. Hua Cheng turns, to say something, but either Xie Lian or Usagi touches the flower since they're closest - and then everything changes, which is great. That's fine, just like the week of memory bubbles. At least it's better than seeing your life play out on repeat.

Except there's something there again. And as he looks around at their new surroundings, his gaze lands on Xie Lian - eye wide, like he's processing, settling a piece into place with a resounding click. Everything too modern, but it doesn't matter, when all he can see, for a moment, is Taizi Dianxia - ]

- maybe it is. [ Right. Things to do. ]

[ she sure is the one who takes the flower..! unfortunately, the memory that returns doesn't include certain details. instead, a crystal tower blooms in her mind's eye as a certain small lady curtsies in her memories. ]

Ah-?

[ give her a second to process THE FUTURE before glancing up at the new location. h-hewwo? will things please stop changing before she's ready ]

This looks more like a house...

[ a very fancy house that might charge her for breathing the air ]

[ zuko has to take a moment, too, to remember uncle iroh -- every memory they've had together suddenly strikes him like a bolt of lightning, and he starts.... to tear up? ]

[ just give him a moment with this emotional support bird, he'll compose himself soon enough. ]

[ moment over! he wipes his face with his hand, he's good now. ]

... Let's go inside. I'm sure we'll find something.

[ he'll go on ahead so no one can look at his embarrassing cryface ]

[ After a few seconds of being where they are, the scenery changes. Suddenly, the building looks more rundown, with crude graffiti decorating the fence. While the day remains as bright as ever, the sun... vanishes? In fact, if they look up, they might be able to see what looks like a device suspended high up in the sky, providing light instead.

In the distance, voices echo: one unfamiliar to any of them, and one that sounds like Goat.

"Humans should go out during the day. That's common sense."

"... Can you imagine how much they must long for such a sky?"

Anyhow. If they go inside, the interior looks much like the (new) exterior. Whoever lives here doesn't apparently take great care of the place, and graffiti litters the walls. Some parts of the house looks like what you'd expect from a house (e.g. a kitchen, dining room) but there are also certainly parts that look more like a lab or a hospital. There are recreational drugs lying around, as well. Don't smoke anything.

If they head inside a room apparently marked as a tattoo parlour (according to the rough words spraypainted on the wall), they'll find... a bunch of corpses! Only of those horned people, though.

There's a flicker, and then a figure stands in the center of the room, dressed in all black with a shock of red hair. In his hand is a sword, drenched in blood, though that won't stop the weapon from being familiar to at least some of them, and definitely familiar to one. He turns his head just slightly, and they'll see—despite the hair colour, it's Goat.

And then, he disappears, as if he was never there. The dead bodies are still real, though... which is just a bit unfortunate, as people enter the scene from behind them. ]

Damn, you did this?

[ Again, voices echo, though these seem to be of the Demans here.

"You remember "the second ceremony"? He was banned that day. King of Demans... the silver-haired boy..."

"King of Demans? That's ridiculous. I know who lost his power and was thrown out like trash."

They look ready to fight, and the one with the arrow tattoo in particular steps forward first, but you know how this goes by now. Stabbity stab stab, maybe. ]

[ "anyway"

this... does not look like a hospital at first blush, but what does xie lian know. he keeps close to the group behind him (briefly pausing on his quest forward to hand zuko a small amount of thankfully unused tissues and to give him a smile) but otherwise presses forward into this strange building, poking around as carefully as he can. his danger senses are tingling with every step into this building, and, naturally, because bad luck is bad luck, he's the one to open the door to the tattoo parlor.

and he absolutely knows that weapon - (just learned the story behind it, even, the tale of conviction that went along with it) and xie lian starts into the room full of corpses with a --] Brother Goat - !

[ and then he's gone.

...and then, echoing voices, too. it's so -

(the prospects are dim - because it's that one. can you believe it, xie lian got demoted within an hour of his ascension?)

-- familiar.

xie lian was the first to enter the corpse room, so he's at the back of the crowd - he grabs onto usagi wherever she is and puts himself in front of her, re-drawing his weapon behind team red coded zuko and hua cheng. ]

[ More things that resonate on a similar level to Ghost City - corpses included, when they're found. Hua Cheng doesn't pay much mind to the way that the surroundings seem to change as if suddenly aged, because after going on an excursion once he's getting used to this sort of thing happening, nevermind the memory bubbles. But he does at least note the changes, as he follows the group.

Xie Lian leads, and he brings up the rear, keeping watch of things. Which means he gets to see his reaction to the ghost of memories, the echo of voices, and he knows the familiarity.

They don't have time to focus on that for too long, though.

(No wonder, he'll muse later.)

Turning as more Demans join them, Hua Cheng just tchs softly and,,, sheaths... his sword? Wait, that's the opposite of what you're supposed to be doing -

- oh, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a very pointy, white gem, and the temperature of the room drops at the same time that he actually channels and uses it. Hope the Demans weren't planning on stepping any closer than that unimpeded, because deux ex machzia - he encases their feet in ice, and intends to let it take them all the way to their necks if Jan lets me. ]

[ she’s already a little pale from the excitement from before but More Corpses means she just goes shock white, no matter who in particular they may be. luckily, xie lian is there before she gets herself stuck in the middle of things and she clings onto him for safety. never go anywhere without your moral support god, kids.

which gives her ample time to look around while hua cheng does his half to the new group of enemies. Goat-san of the red hair, would you happen to be hiding upon the ceiling ]

[ zuko is not as close to goat and doesn't know his memories, but thrown out like trash does strike a pretty hard chord with him, and he frowns. ]

[ but there's no time to react, because they're surrounded by enemies, and zuko pulls out his sword once more -- he glances around the room, quickly, following the movements of his companions, and his eyebrow furrows in confusion when hua cheng sheathes his weapon-- ]

[ oh, wait. there it is. ]

[ with a smirk in hc's direction, he rushes forward to cut down any corpses not rooted down by the ice. ]

[ (except for one, which usagi can v-chop) ]

[ Goat is nowhere to be seen, unfortunately.

Hua Cheng can freeze them, though the one with the arrow tattoo manages to break free of the ice, using monstrous strength. Looks like he's the top one of the bunch. He gets cut down by Zuko for his trouble, though, sending a splatter of blood and... black goop? It's probably fine.

By which I mean that after a couple of moments, said goop then swallows up the corpse's body and takes the form of a giant multi-headed monster, necks long enough to extend across part of the room and mouths large enough to swallow a person whole. In fact, there are enough mouths for all of you!

Aka, with a roar, the monster sure is trying to eat each and every one of the four at once now. ]

[ "hm this is a sticky situation but we can handle it", i thought. five seconds later...

i mean. well! xie lian grabs onto usagi and gives her a push backwards - sorry for the corpse pile that you probably have to trip over. he reaches back for the stupid backpack full of guns he shoved between his back and his hat and yeets it at usagi, too, in the general direction he pushed her away - ] There are weapons in there, take one, quickly!

[ and with that, he's drawing his sword and immediately leaping into battle, jumping into the line of fire with the head that was going after usagi and his own, to try and draw their attention. sword up, he's leaping in the air and making a slash at one of their heads with his blade to try and take it clean off.

which will probably not work because i rolled a seven. bad. ]

[ Oh, of course.

What was a great red coded bonding moment quickly becomes hell, and he shouldn't be surprised. Hua Cheng stares at this multi-headed monster. Hydras don't exist in thank god it's god, but monsters that spawn new body parts (or even bodies) probably do, because it's wuxia-aligned, and that's just how it is. So without his abilities in place, he's not keen on trying to slice its head off right off the bat, personally, as he draws his sword again. ]

Do not let that shit get on another body! [ Just in case, as he - meets the head that attacks him head on, instead of moving, thrusting the sword forward to stab it right in the goddamn open maw. I rolled a 17.

Try to eat Crimson Rain Sought Flower, huh! ]

Eh?! Eh?????

[ she's yelling at his back (and subsequently screeching when he gets injured) but here she is digging through the bag to pull out a gun anyway.

rip in shit everyone.

but unluckily I rolled an 18? so somehow she gets the safety off and fires off a shot at the creature who may be trying to eat xie lian whole right now ]

[ sometimes you trigger a boss battle ]

[ anyway, zuko's first instinct after his fellow red yells at him is to kick the closest corpses away from the monster -- but he's got one of his swords out in a flash. xie lian is struggling a little bit, gunsagi's covering him -- hc's got himself covered, so he does his best to parkour away from the head going for him and slash at the one going for usagi! teamwork. ]

[ he's going for its eyes, for the record, and i rolled a 14 ]

[ The good news is that this is only a mini-boss battle.

Which is to say, Xie Lian could've gotten a good hit, but then he rolls a sad, sad 7, so he just kind of uselessly slashes along the monster's head. Annoying, but it doesn't do much.

However, Usagi, with an 18, is lucky enough to randomly pull out a flame gun from the assortment of weapons in the backpack! Because I'll be honest, a normal gun would be pretty useless right now. She fires, shooting a beam of light that burns through the neck trying to eat Xie Lian. One head down! Despite Hua Cheng's fears, it doesn't regrow another one.

Hua Cheng stabs through a mouth, killing that head and dripping black goop down his sword.

Zuko stabs the eyes, causing that head to roar and swing around blindly. The head that was originally going for Zuko, before he parkour'd away, instead swerves for Xie Lian.

Also, important question: where is the unconscious falcon during all of this. ]

Edited 2020-11-19 01:50 (UTC)

[ well that's fine!! sometimes you just have to yeet a gun bag and it throws off your aim!

however, this time, i rolled a seventeen. so! xie lian's strike bounces off the top of the one monster, and he leaps back when it does. he's able to do some wuxia bullshit so his feet hit the wall, and uses the momentum to push back off and this time slice across the neck of the monster attacking him to try and take its head clean off, too. ]

[ Since it's dead, it's fine - he guides its momentum so that he can just drop it out of his way, to put a foot on the side of its jaw and pull his sword out with a fun gross noise. Usagi is... shooting guns, and Xie Lian and Zuko are both doing great, so he's not worried about them.

... he is worried about Usagi, but that's normal. ]

[ ........she did it? she did it! she absolutely was not expecting the legit firebeam of doom and yelps. miraculously, she doesn't drop the gun.

so with that, she shoots again at a 15 this time. ]

[ good job everyone! also zuko is still cradling and protecting poor lil sleepy falcon. he's just doing all his fighting with one arm. it's fine. he'll die before the bird does ]

[ now zuko's going to parkour jump up and over the heads -- whatever's still alive, he'll try to jump on top of and stab.... with a 9. hm ]

[ Xie Lian slices off the head! Just one more head to take care of, and it looks like Zuko's got it—wait, no, he doesn't.

The stab annoys it, but it's not down for the count, as it tries to swing its head and smash Zuko into a wall.

Usagi's shot lands, burning through another part of its body. This, at least, seems to slow it down as it swipes a blade-like hand at Hua Cheng. ]

[ we love monster goop! xie lian lands on the ground in front of usagi, sword up, other hand ready to guard, if necessary. a quick assessment of the situation, and, he calls out - ] San Lang, on your right!

[ --and then scurries to go help zuko, who is holding that poor falcon. he's practically vaulting over the corpse pile in the room to jab the monster in whatever body part's the closest with a quick sword strike and a solid 15.

let him assist his son!!! ]

[ Considering they're all a bit preoccupied, Hua Cheng can't completely mask the flinch in his expression when Xie Lian calls out to him. Gege is distracted it's probably fine.

But he still follows through on the warning, with a - rolls, a 15 also, wow, how romantic. He pivots to block, either with his saber or with his silver bracer, whichever the monster winds up hitting first. ]

[ with her beginner's luck, she will continue to keep pulling the trigger but... alas, I got a 7. which absolutely means she's about to eat shit on a mini boss so rip ig. ]

[ the monster hits zuko, but he braces for the hit, shielding the falcon, and hits the wall. listen i dont care if zuko gets the shit kicked out of him no one touches this bird ]

---Oof.

[ that's going to bruise! but he's up right away, gripping his sword and going for the other side of the head xie lian isn't attacking -- in tandem -- with his sword. pretend that makes sense i rolled a 14. ]

Edited 2020-11-19 03:09 (UTC)

[ You all did well, so once they attack, they ultimately succeed in killing the monster! They might have to slice it up in pieces, though, just to be on the safe side. But once it's dead, it collapses back into the odd black goop.

... Except for Usagi's 7, so her aim is off and she accidentally shoots a beam of fiery light in (rolls RNG) Zuko's direction. He might want to dodge.

Either way, everything falls silent. Dead Demans, dead monster, lots of gross goop (here's hoping it didn't splatter on anyone's clothes), and no Goat. Well, this was an unproductive trip. Eventually, though, they'll hear a voice calling from outside. ]

Hellooooo? Anyone there?

[ If they go to check it out, they'll find a human on a hoverboard. As soon as they exit, he points what looks like a firearm in their direction, before he relaxes. ]

Phew, you're humans, right? Or at least not Demans, whatever.

[ Oh, and a weird black thing might have followed them outside from inside the house. ]

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