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

[piercetheheart]

It's... complicated? Fuck I'm not even gonna pretend like I understand all of it. Yeah my Spark's the reason I even decided to give you a chance.

But there's so much I didn't know, we didn't know. Couldn't have, really. I'm not making judgments on the fucked up information I've been fed anymore. So I'm here, I'm trying to help and that's not going to change. Even if the best I ever get outta you is tolerance that'll be enough.

[scourgingstars]

Explain yourself.

It doesn't make sense. What I am, all that I've done--to your world, your kingdom, your friends, to your beloved Founder, Tonitrus, and Crepera--what is wrong with you to make you want to care so damn much? Or at least to act like you do.

[piercetheheart]

You are what circumstance made you, that's not fair.

You've been fucked over so hard by everything we were brought up to believe in and it's bullshit. So I chose to care for the person behind the prophecy and not the stupid fucking gods' chess game, okay? You're more than what they made you but the only way you're ever going to be able to learn and accept that is if the people around you can too.

Noct might have been The Chosen One but he was still my friend. A stupid kid who liked video games and fishing and hated veggies and cared so godsdamned much about people it broke his heart. So yeah you're the vessel of the Scourge, sure, but you're still a man who's been hurt, who loves chocobos, and...

[And he's going to trail off there with a shrug. He doesn't need to state that one trait Ardyn and Noctis shared, does he?]

[scourgingstars]

...

That doesn't...change anything. It doesn't change what I am now, and I can never again be what I was.

[piercetheheart]

The fuck it doesn't. You're so caught up in being this... ugh like embodiment of prophecy you're not giving yourself any room to just be. No you can't just go back and be who you were before, there's been way too much pain and no one's asking you to.

But you don't have to "be the Scourge" [Yeah he does the air quotes.] You can just be Ardyn, wherever that ends up being in between. Even if that's scary, even if you don't know who that is yet. We're both here to help you figure out who that is.

[scourgingstars]

...There's no such person that exists anymore. He's dead, and this is just a shell playing at acting human. Nothing more.

[piercetheheart]

No.

[Oh he's going to die one way or the other, what does it matter.

So he shifts up onto his knees so he can grab Ardyn by the shoulders and give him a squeeze if not a shake.]

That's not true.

You've changed but that doesn't fucking invalidate your existence. Fuck the Astrals.

Fuck their prophecy, fuck their expectations. You've got just as much right to be as anyone else. Chosen or Ac- Scourge or whatever you're more than what some douchebag god says.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn winced as Gladio gripped his shoulders, cold as a corpse just like always--though it looked like surprise and discomfort rather than outright pain.]

Whether I have that right or not is irrelevant. I cast it aside long ago, and I do not know how to be anything but what's left.

[piercetheheart]

Then be what's left! But don't hold yourself to some fucked up ideal to avoid dealing with what you feel.

[The wince enough to make him ease his grip, let his hands slide lightly down his arms, reassuring as he knows how to be without just crushing him into a bear hug. (Which certain people have informed him recently is not always reassuring)]

No one, no matter how broken they are, is purely evil.

And no one, even the Oracle herself, is pure good. It's not black and white like that, it never has been and we're all blind fools for listening to that version of events. You don't have to justify everything you think and feel and do by "but is that what the Scourge should do".

[scourgingstars]

I don't know how to simply ignore it. You can't understand what it sounds like, how loud and all-encompassing this thing is in my head.

I-...I can't be human anymore. It just isn't possible.

[piercetheheart]

So you're not totally human, so what? You bleed black goo, it's weird.

Doesn't negate the fact that you have feelings. Doesn't change the fact that you're more than a symbol of evil.

[scourgingstars]

But I-...

I'm not. I'm nothing more than that now.

[piercetheheart]

[He tugs Ardyn closer, just a little, just enough to thunk his forehead down on the redheads shoulder in exasperation for a moment.]

But you are?

Do you really not see that or are you just being a stubborn ass because I'm not so sure.

[scourgingstars]

...I don't understand why you're here. Why any of you care. I'm a monster, I have been one for longer than I was ever human, and I...I can't change. Even if I wanted to.

[piercetheheart]

Because you deserve better. Because I want to be here? I want to help. I want to help you be happy, or as close to it as you can get. Because you two are fucking cute as shit and I want you both to be able to enjoy that sometimes.

[And if he kinda sorta leans in to make the head thump more of an actual hug hopefully it won't end in shanking.... yet.]

[scourgingstars]

I don't know how.

[Ardyn did not in fact stab Gladio; instead it seemed like most of the energy to fight just evaporated like a daemon in sunlight.]

I've no ability to recognize happiness if I felt it. And even if I could, what would be the point? Such a thing is barely even temporary.

[piercetheheart]

[Whether Ardyn will admit it or not that alone says a lot and Gladio slides an arm around his shoulders, tugging him down to the floor of the throne room with him. Just sit your ass down, but the weapons away, and accept some godsdamned affection.]

What would be the point?

Come on, Ardyn. The point is to find the things that at least make you less miserable and repeat them. So you don't need to sleep, doesn't mean it's not nice to curl up with Ignis and take a nap sometimes. To let the crap up here [A gentle ruffle of already horribly messy hair.] shut up for a bit and just be held y'know?

So maybe it's not happiness the way you think it's supposed to be. But if it makes anything better, even if just for a moment or two... that doesn't make you less human, dude, that makes you just like the rest of us, fumbling through life trying to figure out what makes it worthwhile and then repeating that action as many times as you can. Like spending time with Hresvelgr, seeing how pretty she's grown up.

Not all happiness is this blindingly bright burst of joy with a singing choir and trumpets. Most of it, the best parts of it, are the things that just... make you feel warm and content in the moment.

[scourgingstars]

And what is the point of something so immeasurably short? You would have me suffer endlessly in this ruined existence just for some fleeting seconds of something else, something I could never hold on to no matter how I tried?

Don't you see that living like that is torture without reprieve?

[piercetheheart]

What's the point of any of it? Whether you've got centuries or days, why do we do any of it?

[There's an arm around his shoulders. Just... stay with him for a moment.]

It's the only thing that makes the rest of the shit worthwhile, Ardyn. There's no guarantee that things will work out ever. For anyone. So you've gotta take what fleeting seconds you can get and cherish them for what they are.

That's not torture, that's life.