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

[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.]

[Yeager really is outclassed here, and trying to hold a conversation while attempting to murder Alexei isn't really going all that well. Still, he's spent all this time fighting, so he's not backing down just yet. He can fend off Alexei's attacks decently well and occasionally get in some of his own, but it's not nearly as easy as he'd like.

But the fact that Alexei is trying to shut him down and shut him up means he's onto something. So naturally he's just going to ignore that question and pursue his own.]

It would be more likely that it's something you saw here... But if that was it, I don't see why you'd be so adamant about refusing to answer.

So let me ask you again, what happened in Zaude after I died?

I've already told you.

[It's sharp, but he's not back to yelling again, at least; that said, it's obvious from the sudden shift in strike patterns that he's irritated with the line of questioning - why the fuck won't you shut up, he doesn't want to fucking hear it.]

[Ah, there we go. If it was really all that outlandish a question, Alexei wouldn't be getting irritated. Aaaaand putting the pressure on in a way he's having trouble countering. Fine, he'll take a moment to transform the weapon again and try to put some distance between them, though he doubts Alexei will let him have it.]

You're doing a great job of convincing me that what you told me was true!

[...however, he is incapable of not being an asshole for even five seconds, so here we are.]

And what makes you think your opinions are worth anything? It is what it is, whether you believe me or not.

[Oh, fuck no he's not letting you have it - he is very rapidly approaching a point of just...not caring what happens anymore, after all, it doesn't fucking matter, does it.]

January Event: Rejection Rooms

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