lifeaftr | January Event: Rejection Rooms

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January Event: Rejection Rooms

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!

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Don't worry, he doesn't really like the damn corners either - less room for literally anyone to maneuver that way, including those on offense.

...He actually doesn't seem to be using actual artes on you, for what it's worth.]

Are you trying to make me feel guilty, Yeager? To make me regret anything I've done? An interesting tactic, from someone who just said there's no point in trying to change my mind.

[Well that's no fun. If you're not even willing to rush off the edge in an attempt to take him down, what's the point???

The lack of artes certainly is interesting. He's been using them occasionally, but he has fewer he can use with the sword. For now it's fine, though, and he's not having too much difficulty keeping up with Schwann. This version's probably weaker than the real one, which is also a bit of a disappointment.]

Do you really think I'd bother? I know you're not going to regret anything. Maybe I don't have any reason behind this.

[He'll transform his weapon as he's speaking, taking the rifle form as he executes an arte that launches him into the air. The shots he fires at Schwann are less important than his positioning, though they should buy him enough time to land safely. He's aiming to land behind Schwann, to put his back to the edges.]

[Mm. That will indeed put you much closer to the center of the room than the edges, which...certainly is a thing, isn't it. You'll certainly be able to land, because people generally don't...do that (unless they're Judith, we all suppose) and it's going to take him a moment to follow everything; he's still very much FIGHT ME, even moreso now that Schwann is not going to be happy about the potential of being forced back into the damn water.

Meanwhile, Alexei adjusts his hands against his own sword's pommel, taking it up properly and arming himself.]

...How pointless.

[His voice has shifted from that odd, sharp tone into something caustic, teeming with contempt and something that isn't exactly anger - it isn't running hot enough for that. No, this is simple, cold fury, rising in intensity as he speaks.]

The world's anger and hatred will be centered on me for what I've done, and I accepted that long ago. Of course I'm not going to regret anything; tools that refuse to serve their master are worthless, and regret would be wasted on you. You, Schwann, Estellise... Your vitriol is nothing, your loss means nothing to me!

If the world's hatred is the cost of its salvation, then I'm willing to pay the price! And if you or anyone else refuses to kneel, I will make you kneel before me - fly, o holy sword!

[That's... There's kind of a lot in there, but it's very likely that none of it is quite as important as the fact that he's shifted his grip on Dein Nomos, the blade glowing bright and hot as he throws it at Yeager as hard as he can.

Whether it connects or not hardly matters; what matters is the massive glowing glyph burning its way up from the ground, spreading from the center as the sword slams into it full force from seemingly nowhere - ]

Brilliant Cataclysm!

[The glyph immediately detonates upwards into piercing, sharp columns of light; it's not enough to be fatal, but it's probably not something you want to let hit you much more than that one strike.

Judging by the size of the strike radius, Estelle might barely live through it; Schwann is definitely going to be hit, and he...is not going to be moving after the fact, from the look of it.]

[Good, now he can angle to—

Aaaaand Alexei isn't going to shut up, of course. Fine, he's not entirely turning his attention away from Schwann, but he's not going to ignore Alexei either (as much as he'd like to), and it's a good thing he glanced over when he did, because that gives him enough time to dodge the sword.

There isn't any dodging Brilliant Cataclysm, though.

He manages to take the hit and remain standing, but there's no witty retort or taunt; he doesn't trust his voice to carry properly without any indication of how much that really fucking hurt. Unfortunately, the blastia does not prevent him from feeling pain, even if he can take the hit and keep moving. His left hand is over the blastia for only a moment (it isn't as though he needs to check; if it wasn't working, he wouldn't be alive to check in the first place, but it's a habit by now and one he's probably never going to be able to break) before he shifts the weapon back to the rifle form.

Schwann doesn't look like he'll be moving, so there's no time to waste on him. The princess isn't anywhere near a threat, but if she can heal Alexei then this battle is going to be long and Yeager isn't going to be surviving multiple hits like that. No, better to get rid of the healer first, then turn his attention to Alexei. He fires off a shot before switching to the crossbow and loosing a few more bolts, and by the time he's done that he's confident enough that he can move, so he'll pursue her. She can shield as long as she likes, he'll eventually break her guard.]

[Perhaps thankfully, he doesn't seem inclined to fire off Brilliant Cataclysm again right away - it's entirely possible that he could, given that he managed to do it without entering Overlimit and from a standstill, which likely doesn't bode terribly well, but he's holding off on it for now in favor of intercepting Yeager. Estelle didn't seem to take those shots very well, but she's still standing, barely; nobody likes Brilliant Cataclysm, let's put it that way.

It seems that Alexei is less inclined toward killing Yeager than he is toward stopping him; he does take a swing at him with Dein Nomos, but whether it connects with anything or not doesn't really matter = it seems closer to a warning shot than anything else.]

What are you doing here, Yeager?

[It's less caustic than he has been but no less agitated; he's noticeably trying to get himself to settle again, with...varying degrees of success.]

You won't get anything out of this; there's nothing for you here.

[That's what he thought, and that's a bit frustrating. Not only does Alexei get to have bodyguards with him, he gets to use his Mystic Arte without even going into Overlimit? That is completely unfair, and if he gets it in his head to start spamming it, then Yeager's absolutely done for.

Taking out the princess is his priority, but it's a bit difficult to do that with Alexei in his face. He could try to put some distance between them, but that sounds like a good way to get another Brilliant Cataclysm fired at him and he's really not here to deal with that again. So fine, he'll leave Estelle alone for now and focus on Alexei.

He blocks the attack with the shield, then transforms it into the scythe to give him a bit of breathing room, before launching into an arte and a series of quick slashes. The scythe is a bit better here, if only because Dein Nomos is a giant sword and Alexei doesn't always use it like a damn sword.]

What sort of answer are you expecting? I'm honestly not sure why you need to ask. You should know as well as anyone else that I do whatever I want, whenever I want, often for no reason at all.

[There's an edge to the words that he can't quite hold back, unfortunately. It's not like it particularly matters, though.]

[Ah, that's not very pleasant, is it - he's not really one for blocking more than attacking, usually, but if he's going to be fucking barraged like that then damn if he's not going to take the hint.

...He's also going to be taking quite some damage from that before he manages to back the hell off and get his guard up properly, which he doesn't seem to like but you know what, for now he'll deal.]

I know you want it to look like you do things for no reason.

[Good, he'll keep the pressure up, then. He can't spam artes forever and the scythe is fairly slow to swing, so he'll swap to the sword after a moment to try to keep Alexei on the defensive.]

My, and here I thought I was just a tool. I wasn't aware you analyzed your tools' motivations.

[Interesting choice. He thinks it's kind of stupid, honestly, but if you want to get in his face then get over here.]

And here I thought you'd never let me live the orphanage down. Or have you forgotten so quickly...?

[Of course, he'll be in your face until morale improves or something.]

It's a bit hard to forget something like that, you know! There aren't many people who are terrible enough to threaten to shut down an orphanage. I don't know why you bothered; it's not like you needed my assistance.

You would be surprised at how useful people can be when they think it's required of them.

[You know what, if you're attacking him then you're not attacking Estelle, who is about to get very annoying with the healing artes in Alexei's direction. She'll get one off without prompting or question; it isn't one of the larger ones, but it's something.]

[Oh come on... Well, at least it's not one of the stronger ones. Yeager transforms his weapon again, this time into the rifle form, and by the time it's done shifting, he's already in the air and firing shots at Alexei before trying to maneuver around him to get a better shot at Estelle. He won't hesitate once he's back on the ground, and he'll fire several shots off in her direction.

As for the words... Well, they're not getting a response, since he's more focused on taking her out so she can't repeatedly heal him.]

[Aaaand down she goes, along with the, like, two remaining HP that she had; meanwhile, the shots in Alexei's direction were annoying but not anything that was going to kill him - they delayed him a bit, but he's going to be taking another swing at Yeager shortly after Estelle is down.

Because he has a big fucking sword and he's going to be using it as one for the time being.]

[Look at you, actually using your sword as a sword in this fight, how nice. It's a little less nice slamming into the shield, but he's able to block it in time. With Estelle and Schwann both down, that means he can finally focus on Alexei, and unfortunately, he's not going to have fun here. He doesn't want to put any distance between them, so he'll once again shift weapons, and try to land a hit with the scythe.]

[He knows better than to think that he can get a full incantation out right now, so using the sword as a sword it is.

Or, well, using it to guard for the time being, because god, he hates the stupid scythe?]

[That's why it's his favorite!! It's annoying and no one knows how to fight against it since no one is crazy enough to use scythes. So this is totally fine, at least for now. He's not going to be able to keep up the pressure forever, and he's certain that the moment he tries to break away to catch his breath he's going to get another Brilliant Cataclysm thrown at him, but there really isn't much he can do to avoid that.

Thankfully(?) he'll have to jump back after a moment, shifting to the weapon's crossbow form to try to stagger Alexei for long enough for him to catch his breath. The bolts aren't particularly strong, but they fire quickly and they usually do cause a bit of stagger when they hit.]

[You know what, this is annoying but nowhere near as bad as fighting the band of idiot kids; you're one obnoxious person, the band of idiot kids tended to swarm.

He actually doesn't seem to be moving to approach when Yeager steps off, however, and he doesn't appear to be preparing Brilliant Cataclysm for the time being; he just adjusts his grip on Dein Nomos and drives the end of the sword into the ground abruptly as though preparing to cast.

And as soon as he does, the sky breaks.

It's quick to spread, a hexagonally patterned fracturing burning away the bright blue of daylight and replacing it with almost total darkness above; looking up to see what the hell all of that is will offer you a glimpse of...something high above, some sort of mass that's dark and heavy and oppressive, shot through with some sort of neon energy pulsing through it. It doesn't seem to be approaching, but it's up there, and you get the distinct feeling that it's alive.

It's not the only distinct feeling that floods through your system - the fear that hits is artificially-induced, it isn't yours, but that doesn't mean it isn't real. It spreads quickly, starting as the sort of lizard-brain nerves that causes people to increase their walking speed while moving through a dark corridor and amping up quickly into sourceless, irrational terror the longer it goes on. The room itself is cast into darkness - not enough to ensure that you can't see, but enough to definitely cast a deep shadow over the field of battle.

It doesn't seem to be causing any sort of physical damage; probably for the best, because emotional damage isn't precisely a walk in the park either. Whatever it is, Alexei doesn't seem to be affected by it; whatever he's doing, you might want to try to get him to stop eventually.]

[He's expecting Alexei to cast (which is stupid, there's no way he can finish an incantation before Yeager can hit him), but then suddenly the sky is breaking and Yeager's left wondering what the goddamn hell this is. He's certainly never heard of any arte like this, and he's never seen Alexei use it before, and what the hell is that thing up there—

He's not even aware of the fear at first; the initial spike of wariness is normal enough under the circumstances, given that he has no idea what's out there or if he'll have to fight that too, but it quickly gives way to fear - actual fear, not the faked version he displayed as Regaey so frequently, and not the mild version he experienced with Alexei's threats. No, this is genuine and overpowering and not his. He's distinctly aware that it isn't his, because he'd be more curious than afraid, and even that would be so dulled now, it would only last for a little while.

It's unpleasant, and it brings back memories he'd rather stay hidden and locked away. The Entelexeia, what happened to Casey's soldiers, Casey fleeing and the brief momentary hope that she'd escape, even if it meant the rest of them would die—

No. No, he's not going to think about that. He's going to focus on whatever the hell this is and whatever is causing the fear, and he's going to put a stop to it.

It takes him a lot longer than he'd care to admit, but eventually his grip tightens on his weapon, and he forces his free hand from the blastia. He has no idea what's causing the fear, and it's almost overwhelming after ten years of feeling next to nothing, but he's got a moment to shoot Alexei, and he's going to take it. He fires off multiple shots from the rifle, and it's a good thing he does, because the fear and the way his hands are shaking causes several of them to go wide. He'd probably be mildly annoyed at that if he was able to actually focus, but as it stands the only thing Yeager cares about more than whatever the hell is up there and causing the fear is Alexei, and maybe killing Alexei will make it stop. If he's learned anything in the past decade, it's that he'd rather feel nothing at all than anything as intense as this.]

[Alexei doesn't seem affected by the actual fear aspect of this, but he does seem fairly...gone, really - whatever is happening there is apparently taking most, if not all of his focus, and while he's still looking at Yeager and his gaze seems to burn, there doesn't seem to be much under it.

Which is probably good, in that he can't seem to shake it off quickly enough to do much about being fucking shot at.

It drops him, though his grip on the sword allows him to catch himself before he straight-up hits the ground; it does force him to take a knee, though, and his breathing is hard and his gaze is remaining down for the moment. Whatever the room was doing dissipates immediately, the darkness quickly receding and the bright blue of the sky above Zaude is present and clear.

The fear, too, will dissipate quickly enough - or at least the source of it will, it doesn't feel like it's still being generated anymore.]

[The fear vanishes, and Yeager can't help but feel a little relieved. It's easier to focus now, and that... Well, that's something he really is curious about. He's curious, and he wants to know, but he's certain Alexei won't give him an answer.

So he does the perfectly sane thing, and takes the time Alexei needs to recover to close the distance between them and swing his scythe at Alexei, as you do.]

Care to explain what any of that was?

[...and also ask about it, but his priorities are in the right order, okay.]

[oh my god yeager either you can beat him up or he can reply to you there is not going to be a whole lot of both going on

That said, ow? Ow, fuck you. The sudden presence of a fucklot of pain does a lot for your recovery time, who knew; it gets a burst of...something out of him - possibly adrenaline, possibly anger, most likely some horrid combination of both - and he does manage to stagger upright and at least guard against any further attempts to beat the shit out of him.]

...It's none of your concern.

[That's still labored, and it's certainly not an answer, but it's something.]

[Well that's certainly not going to stop him?? On either front. So you can just deal with that scythe for awhile as he continues to question you, because this is a totally sane and rational thing to do.]

You can't tell me it's none of my concern when you just threw that at me with no explanation!

[Oh, fuck you, after a while he's going to start swinging back because holy shit, Jack Bauer, what is your damage - ]

And what makes you think you're entitled to one?

[Fine, fair enough, he'll block and counterattack whenever he's got the possibility of it, but don't expect him to stop talking!!]

It's incredibly rude to go around using bizarre new moves without explaining yourself! I doubt that's something you just made up either, so where did that come from?

Did it upset you that badly?

[He says, like an asshole who knows damn well that it did.

...He is also going to be going on full offensive for as long as he can maintain it, because he's tired of your goddamn talking. No full artes because he knows better than to do anything that takes time to cast or recover from, but he has his damn title for a reason.]

January Event: Rejection Rooms

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