lifeaftr | December Event: No Rest for the Wicked

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December Event: No Rest for the Wicked

DECEMBER EVENT: NO REST FOR THE WICKED

Who: Anyone and everyone
What: Your trials by fire
When: December 15th - 18th
Where: On Maati and Ensō
Warnings: Character deaths and violence are both likely - please mark as you go!

The Trials: Only Then Can We Begin

As noted in the OOC info post, your Trials will all begin on December 15th. As many of you will not be deposited into your trials with food and water (or any items of your own at all, in most cases), the Trials will last only as long as December 18th. If you've failed to complete your Trial by this deadline but have not used up all the deaths allotted to you, you will awaken by Maati's mana pool at the event's conclusion. If you have not failed your Trial by using up all your deaths, this will not count as a character death, and you will not need to submit for a penalty; you simply won't be able to obtain the reward you would get if you had succeeded!

When your character wakes in their allotted Trial, they will discover that their starting chamber has been inscribed with the name of the Trial, the names of those participating, and the number of deaths they have remaining - though the latter aren't labeled in any way. You'll simply have to learn it the hard way; every time your character suffers a death, the number will go down by one. If it wasn't obvious what those numbers stood for at first, by the time the dying starts properly, it certainly will be. And you probably don't want to see it go all the way down to zero...

Should you reach the end of your Trial, you will step out onto the rocky cliffs of Maati, exiting from one of the seven doors set into the cliffs at the seven points of the island's star shape. You see, those doors you discovered earlier weren't the entrances to the Trials at all. They were the exits. And set into the towering cliffs...why, those house the winding mazes that comprise the Trials themselves.

There will be a top-level below for each Trial. Remember to plan with your groups and communicate with your thread partners! Whether you choose to do mingle-style threads or lengthier group threads is up to you.

Once you know the outcome of your Trial, success OR failure, please do let us know so that we can ensure your character gets the reward that befits their triumph...or lackthereof.

Remember also to let us know if your character uses up ALL their deaths during this event. While death penalties will not be inflicted during Trial deaths, if you use up all the deaths allotted to you and die for real, your death penalty will NOT be reduced.

The Water: Don't Let Them Get Away

The rest of you have plenty to contend with as well, of course. If you've opted out of this month's event, be advise that the waters creeping across shores of Ensō, along with the rest of the island, aren't going to take evasion kindly. They'll seek you out, spread along every inch of the island if they can, until they can find you.

There is a top-level below, if you're intrigued! Though if you end up top-leveling yourself, we may very well reach out and find you anyway...

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] December 15th: The Trials on Maati begin, and the water begins to rise.
[ ♆ ] December 18th: The Trials reach their end.
[ ♆ ] December 19th: Those who have "perma"-died in their Trials are revived.
[ ♆ ] December 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jules is so surprised he literally jerks and there's nothing he can do to try and hide the reaction. His eyesight has never been great, so at least that hasn't changed much. He can clearly identify Nezumi, not that it helps any. He's still in too much shock to think straight. He's automatic snarky attitude just kicks in by itself.

"Fucked something up, I'm sure. Pretty damn good at that. And fucking it up for everyone else too."

"Save your pity party for someone who cares," he says smoothly. That doesn't give him the answers he wants, and he desperately wants those answers. "I'm not interested in learning about your sad history, I want to know where I am, and why I'm here. Could you be so kind as to tell me?"

And why is his weapon gone?

"Who the hell knows where. As for why, because this place likes to fuck with us."

Honestly, Jules is far less concerned about the where and the why. He's more concerned about his physical condition. When he tries to get to his feet, he weaves a little bit. Even his balance is off. Just one more thing to add to the list.

For the moment, Neuzmi feels physically fine, but he worries about what's waiting ahead. None of the concern shows. He looks as cool and collected as always. It helps that this isn't the worst situation he's found himself in.

"I don't plan on waiting around and playing the Pawn for our illustrious king. I'd hate to seem like the bad guests, but I'll be finding the exit now."

Jules isn't the best person to be partnered with. Their first encounter did little to instill trust.

"Do you recognize this place?"

In Jules' mind, that's literally doing exactly what their dear tormentor wants them to do. Clearly they weren't imprisoned here since there's an obvious exit - even his screwed up eyes can tell that. This is all a game even though he doesn't know the rules.

"Sure, let me just pull the map out of my damn pocket. But wait, the only reason I would recognize this place is if I'd been imprisoned in it before, and trust me, none of the places I've been imprisoned in have been anywhere near this nice."

"Don't get too enamored with your guilded cage. It's no less safe for not looking worse."

So, no familiarity. That's a pain.

"Then, I'll have to find the exit myself. If you like it so much, I won't drag you along. At least the solitude fits you well."

Jules bursts out laughing.

"Oh yes, because you would definitely know, oh expert of prisons."

Honestly, Jules hasn't had the ever loving shit beat out of him yet, which makes this place a hell of a lot safer than any other one he's been in. With the amount of time he's been here, anywhere else he would have been beaten near to death more than once already. Not that he would consider this place safe. It's not. At all. The problem is though, he fully realizes that this prison isn't any more dangerous than the island, which is truly a prison just the same as here. This is just another part of it.

"Solitude has always suited me. My problem is all the dumbasses that decide to interfere with it."

Nezumi knows about prisons. He's been within them. In many ways, his life was a prison as well. When he was young, the bars are more flimsy, but he didn't feel like he could escape. Now, he couldn't live a different one if he tried. Really, that was probably true for most people.

He'd been in the literal ones as well. He doesn't deem it necessary to share that information.

"Lucky for you, I'm not a dumbass."

He tosses a hand up, as if waving goodbye.

"I'll even grant your wish for solitude."

Jules' eyes flicker up to their names written in glowing ink on the wall.

"Somehow I doubt that's going to happen."

At least not in the long run. His abilities may be gone, but he still has a gut feeling that there's more to this than they've discovered so far. They're going to be thrust back together again somehow. He's sure of it.

Of course he's also considering going after Nezumi just to be sure he stays safe. Nezumi can be as pissed about it as he wants, but Jules cares about Shion too much to allow someone who is clearly his very close friend get hurt.

Neither has much of a choice. As Nezumi approaches the nearby door, he finds that it doesn't open with a simple push. Of course, there's a button but pressing it seems to do nothing. The button on the opposite side shows the same outcome.

It doesn't take a genius to solve the puzzle.

"It seems we're tied together after all. Fate is such a cruel Queen. Come on. The door takes two people to operate."

"Of course we are. The games this place plays are never ending."

He'd known. He'd freaking known. At least this way it will be easier for him to keep an eye on Nezumi. Of course with how Jules is feeling he isn't going to be of any help to anyone. His balance is incredibly off even though it probably doesn't look it as he walks toward the door and hits the button.

The door slides open to reveal a long hall full of stone. If the one puzzle is any indication, they'll need two people to open further doors. Nezumi would feel a lot better if he didn't have to drag along a stranger he trusted even less than usual, but he's done worse things for survival.

"Their game looks like it's probably two-player so don't do anything that means I have to ditch you."

Reaching out, Nezumi runs a gloved hand along the walls.

"I don't plan on failing whatever test they're having."

"You should be less worried about me and more about the shit this place is going to pull. Reality doesn't exist here."

Which is why it pisses him off so much. There are literally no limits to what could happen. Nothing is safe. He could put his back against a wall to protect it and something could manifest from the wall and stab him from behind anyway.

Edited 2018-12-30 03:12 (UTC)

"I'm not worried about anything."

He refers to his preparation as precautions, as intelligence. Worry implies a weakness that Nezumi can't afford to exude.

"But I do have better places to be."

Nezumi steps into the hall, which seems to be mostly made of stone for now. There are several branching sections. They can't even split up if his hunch is right.

Pick a wall. Follow it. That's always been the easiest to find an exit. Without consulting his new 'partner', Nezumi takes the closest right.

"Should be."

Jules certainly is. There's no way to win when you don't know the rules. Worse yet, he's not sure there actually are any rules. Givens are given in this place.

He isn't going to argue with Nezumi's directional choice. The only thing he would have to go off of to pick a direction is a gut feeling, and his gut feelings can't even be based on Trisani knowledge anymore.

"Should I now? "

His voice is falsely pleasant as he walks down the halls, steps both graceful and careful as he searches for traps. Though his steely eyes focus on their environment, he's always hyperaware of Jules as well.

"What would worrying do? Will it make me safer?"

"Indirectly, yes. Normally I'd agree with you that worrying won't do shit. For you, at this moment, that's not the case. You don't know enough about how this freak-fest operates. Worrying would do you good. The most ridiculous, unrealistic worst case scenario here would actually be possible."

And hardly worst case. It's why Jules keeps staring at the walls as he passes like something invisible is going to jump out of them.

"There's a difference between preparation and worry. I'm prepared for the worst things imaginable, and I have a very good imagination. That doesn't mean it scares me."

That isn't entirely true, but worry is a weakness, and it's been drilled into his bones to never show any form of weakness. Always seem confident, as if you can handle anything. There's a very large disconnect between what he thinks and what he projects.

"But if there are dangers, it will likely be against both of us, if they want us to work together."

Then again, maybe the next puzzle will disprove that theory.

"Your imagination still works on principles of realistically possible. This place doesn't work on those ideals."

Which is the primary issue. You can't be prepared for things you've never seen or worse, that should never be possible.

"Doubt it. If they want us to work together they'll target one of us and screw us over if the other doesn't help. This place loves screwing people over. It's never in the game to help."

"If it's going to have double traps, why would it be different on anything we'd have to fight?"

It's all speculation, especially when they haven't even confirmed this trap was set out to force two people to work together. They don't even know they'll be anything to fight. All of it is still so questionable.

"Whatever it is, if we both have to be alive to reach the end, don't do anything stupid. I don't mind what you do once you're out, but I won't fail because of you."

"If I were going to screw you over, I would be killing you and not myself. You're not that important, princess."

And here people thought he was an ass. Really. Jules tends to piss people off if they piss him off first. He isn't going to purposefully harm an innocent. That had only happened once in his life, and it was an accident he would never forgive himself for.

"Excuse me, good Sir, for not giving you my complete trust. I do hope you can forgive my assumptions."

The passively dangerous voice gives away to something smoother, sweeter in a near-instant. Before he can say anything else, another door stands in their path. Instead of buttons, there are holes. This time, a sign hangs with instructions.

'Reach inside the darkness to find the way forward. If the buttons aren't pressed at the same time, the loser will receive a painful surprise.'

"That's straightforward enough."

A fang toothed smile spreads across Jules' face, and it isn't a pleasant one. The laugh comes next. Slow and low at first, then growing in volume and intensity.

"Ah chizzi, that just tells me you're too trusting. Despite the minsid shit you've been through, and I know some of it, trust me, you're still too naive."

Jules hadn't exactly been suckled at the tit of all evil itself, but that was only because she wouldn't nurse him. The concern isn't killing a partner now. Oh no. That is too easy. Too expected. And really it serves no purpose. The best choice is to use someone first. Then when they reach their expiration and are no longer useful, you kill them. And right when success is presumably achieved too. It's extra brutal that way, and it's what Jules' grandmother would do no question. Lucky for Nezumi, Jules isn't his grandmother.

"All the more reason not to trust it."

Sure, Jules is cynical, but the reality is there could very well be a trap waiting in that darkness. Like something about to bite their hands off.

"Don't act like you know anything. I know mind games when I hear them. You might trick other people with your silver tongue, but I won't buy it so easily."

His eyes never leave the door as he examines the holes. Nezumi sincerely doesn't believe in Jules abilities to get into his head. It's a good thing for both of them that it seems like an informed ability.

"And no one would agree with you about my abundance of trust. Maybe you're right, but I don't trust in you. I trust in human nature. You want to get out as much as I do. If you fail the tests, you're as stuck inside as I would be. "

"Silver tongue? You're the only person in multiple universes who would believe that."

He's certainly never been accused of that before. More the exact opposite.

"Not abundant, but your level of paranoia is barely above the halfway mark on my scale."

The whole time he is speaking he's looking around to try and find something, anything, that he can stick in one of those holes as a test. It's certainly not going to be his arm.

Warnings for language

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