January Event: Rejection Rooms

[lifeaftr_mods]

JANUARY EVENT: REJECTION ROOMS

Who: Anyone and everyone!
What: Rejecting your Light comes with dire consequences
When: January 25th - 28th
Where: All over Monsun
Warnings: Violence and possible character death; please note any specific content warnings if they come up!

You're Ruled by the Things You Feel

This log is primarily for the Rejection Room portion of the event, for ease and convenience. To quote our event post:

Characters intent on rejecting their Light will find themselves irrevocably drawn to Monsun's shores. They might not even be aware of it - driven by their rage, their paranoia, their fear, or all of the above, and more. Monsun, for its part, is happy to receive them. Its landscape has become so warped over time...and those parts of Monsun consumed by shadow will start to distort, molding into structures that such characters are only too happy to hide within: Rejection Rooms.

Those who challenge the Rejection Rooms need not worry about death for themselves - damage taken within the rooms will simply translate to exhaustion outside of it, with seemingly mortal wounds leading to expulsion from the room itself, and an inability to re-enter.

The same holds true for the boss of each Room. Failure to beat them into expulsion means that the Room will continue to feed from their wildly catastrophizing mind, until there's nothing left to save at all.

So, simply top-level below with your character if they've signed up for a Rejection Room and prepare for whoever wants to gamble a confrontation. We recommend linking to the comment that details your character's Room, for the benefit of others. Remember to communicate; if your character is still trapped in their Room by the event's end, they will suffer a character death, though characters who merely try and fail to free them will not.

If your Rejection Room opt-in comment did not receive any response or additional discussion from the mod team, consider your Room and moveset approved; we want to allow for retroactive edits to your comments and plans, if those become necessary!

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Some useful links, for reference:

[ ♆ ] OOC Event Post
[ ♆ ] Rejection Room Sign-Ups, for information on what Rejection Rooms look like
[ ♆ ] Deaths Page; death penalties have been reduced for the duration of this event, but remember to let us know if your character is still stuck in their Room by the event's end!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.
[ ♆ ] January 21st: Shadows of both initial variants appear.
[ ♆ ] January 23rd: Shadows of both initial variants disappear.
[ ♆ ] January 25th Lights and Rejection Rooms appear.
[ ♆ ] January 28th: Lights and Rejection Rooms dissipate. Those still trapped in their Rejection Rooms by the event's end will suffer a character death.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[shatteredlenses]

You can.

[It's hard to keep the words steady and confident when he hears the choked and muffled sound that Ardyn makes. He cannot see the miasma, but he can imagine it there and it breaks his heart.

Why must this pain Ardyn is feeling be the very thing that proves he can be more?]

Listen to me. You are worth it and you don't have to do this alone. I'm here and I'm not leaving no matter how many times you ask. You survived two thousand years of hate and rage. You can survive this too.

[scourgingstars]

You...you have no idea how near insurmountable such a task truly is. I just want everything to stop, I want to stop having to live this way. Don't you comprehend that I have no other option, I-I...

[He shook is head against Ignis' shoulder, words unsteady and shoulders trembling.]

...please. I can't bear it anymore. Not alone.

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis shifts his arms so that he can wrap them around Ardyn's head where it's come to rest against his shoulder. He then settles his cheek into the redhead's hair.]

You're not alone. You've not been alone for a long time. It's no two thousand years, this time we've been together, but there can be more if you will just give it a chance. The unknown and the confusion can stop if you can find just enough strength to reach out. I'm right here. You don't have to reach far. This task is not so insurmountable as you feel it is. I promise.

[scourgingstars]

...you won't stay. I'm not-...I'm not your king, I'm not the Chosen. I'm nothing and no one of consequence, just as I've ever been. Why should you stay with something like me, is it just because you take pity on something so wretched and broken?

[shatteredlenses]

No. You don't need to be either of those things to be of worth to me, to be loved by me.

[He runs his fingers gently through Ardyn's wild, red hair, voice a loving whisper.]

Or, if you must be one, then know you are Chosen. By me. Because I can see your value when the Astrals could not.

[scourgingstars]

I don't have any value--!

[Ardyn's voice cracked and broke off, an unsteady silence following for only a moment.]

...would you truly-...you want this miserable shell so badly that you would go even this far? Is that--even something I can believe to be possible?

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis tightens his arms around Ardyn, burying his head farther into the redhead's hair.]

Yes. Please.

[scourgingstars]

...I'll kill you, you know. If I should ever so much as suspect you to turn your back on me, I won't hold back like I've done here. You'll die, regardless of whether that death should be permanent or not.

[shatteredlenses]

If you didn't, I would be disappointed.

[What might be a joke with anyone else, is completely serious here.]

If I ever willingly turn my back on you, I will wish for death because it means I've completely forsaken everything that makes me who I am.

[scourgingstars]

...I-I want--

[A pause, in which Ardyn struggled to steady the wavering in his voice.]

I don't...know what I want. But I can't stay like this.

[shatteredlenses]

Just take that first step with me.

[He moves slightly so he can press a kiss against Ardyn's temple.]

Accept and then we will find what it is you want. Together.

[scourgingstars]

And what happens when I fail? If all this comes to naught and I can be nothing but a monster? You'll only be proven wrong, in the end.

[shatteredlenses]

Why don't we wait until the end to assume that, hmm?

[Ignis presses another kiss to his temple, a small smile crossing his lips.]

Lets not go borrowing trouble. There is enough of it in this place as it is.

[scourgingstars]

If I do this--if I listen to you and attempt to learn how to act human again...I've one condition. Should things go wrong and should I be something needing to be dealt with, then kill me. I don't care what you do or how many times it takes. Just don't--

[Ardyn's voice cracked, his next breath coming shakily.]

...don't lock me away. Don't leave me alone somewhere and forget I ever existed.

[shatteredlenses]

[When they have come so far, Ignis hates that they still have to have killing Ardyn as an option, but he's already made this promise in a way, hasn't he? So long ago when Monsun appeared for the first time. So long before they had any of this, and if he could make that promise back then, he certainly can make it now.]

I promised you such when we first met on Monsun. In a little different form, but in the end, the intent is still the same. If death is the path we must take, then it will be. I will stay by your side until it is done so that I can guarantee you are not locked away and left alone once more.

[Even if it means his own death and depending on Ardyn's state, it very well could mean that. If it comes to that, he can only hope that Gladio will forgive him.]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn was silent for a long moment after that, hiding his face against Ignis' shoulder and clinging to him.]

...I'll...try again, one more time. No matter how I doubt it will ever work.

I'd like to go back to the desert, for a while yet. The light from that damnable rock hurts my eyes.

[shatteredlenses]

You know trying is the most I will ask of you.

[Ignis runs a hand over Ardyn's hair before wrapping his arms around the redhead again.]

I would like that too, though, perhaps we should stop by the cottage first. I can get you my sunglasses. Unless a certain chocobo has stolen them again, that is.

[Tired, bad joke, get? Yep.]

[scourgingstars]

No--it'll be fine. I...suppose I should get used to sunlight, anyway.

[shatteredlenses]

Tell that to your daughter the next time she runs off with them.

[Ignis smiles and presses a kiss to Ardyn's hair.]

One step at a time, beloved. If you change your mind, the offer is always open.

[scourgingstars]

...I'm sorry I hurt you.

[Sure enough, gradually the throne room began to dissolve back into the shoreline of the desert.]

I can't promise I'll not do it again, sooner or later. But I don't--I don't want to. I-...care about you.

[shatteredlenses]

[Oddly enough, the worst of the pain fades as the throne room does, leaving Ignis suddenly exhausted instead. He sighs softly, leaning a little harder into Ardyn than he was before.]

I think... Something just happened with the room, didn't it? The pain just faded. I'm more tired now than hurt.

[Still, he knows Ardyn means more than just physical hurt.]

Even people who have been together for years still occasionally hurt each other. They don't want to, but it happens anyway. Just remember how much you care. I will, and that is why I won't leave your side when it inevitably happens.

[scourgingstars]

[Something probably had happened, but Ardyn didn't look up to check. He was suddenly exhausted himself, still clinging to Ignis like that was all that mattered.]

Most people aren't bloodthirsty daemons.

[shatteredlenses]

Not the point, love.

[He bumps his head gently against Ardyn's, careful not to pull away from the hold the redhead has on him.]

The point is that if normal people slip up sometimes and it's okay, then it's certainly okay for--as you put it--bloodthirsty daemons to do the same.

[scourgingstars]

Except were I to slip, I'd be liable to injure you or worse. That's truly a risk you think me worth taking?

[shatteredlenses]

Yes.

[Once more, there is no hesitation in the answer.]

There is nothing in life without risk. Not serving Noctis; not working alongside Gladio; not loving you, but these are all risks I have chosen and I will not regret those choices.