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

[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.]

[Now you're getting it!

He'd prefer the distance, but that's clearly not going to happen now. He'll swap over to the scythe and go back to attempting to use artes to deal enough damage, but it's really not looking good. In a fight like this, he's not going to be able to win.

Thankfully, there's still one tactic he hasn't used yet, and maybe that will help. It's not something he's going to resort to now, however.]

I don't believe you, and whether my opinion matters or not doesn't change the fact that I'm right. So what was it you saw then? Did the sky really break like that? Was there something up there, hidden just out of view this whole time?

[He doesn't answer.

The scythe gets him to back off a bit, though; guarding tends to at least not end in huge amounts of damage done to him, but he tends to have a hard time getting around it until Yeager's tired himself out some by swinging the stupid thing around.

So he'll back off and try to establish more distance; he does still have Brilliant Cataclysm, but he'd prefer to not deal with any of the scythe's bullshit while he's trying to cast it.]

[Distance is good, it'll allow him a moment to catch his breath and shift to the rifle; he'll fire shots from here and let Alexei approach him again, though he's sure the Mystic Arte will happen again if he doesn't try to remain on the offensive. He might be able to survive a second Brilliant Cataclysm, but he really doesn't want to risk it.

The smart thing to do would be to shut up and stop antagonizing Alexei.

Shame Yeager's never been one to do the smart thing.]

You do realize the silence speaks volumes, ja? That's practically a confession! So how did you manage to mess that up? Somehow I doubt you fired Zaude at the sky, so what happened? Did that genius mage manage to mess with it? Was it some miscalculation on your part? I figured things went poorly, but I never would have imagined they went that poorly!

[The shots that actually manage to connect hurt, but he doesn't seem to care; that sword is glowing bright in his hands again.]

My silence means only that I have nothing to confess to - I served my purpose, I did what was necessary, I regret none of it!

[Looks like you're about to find out if you can survive a second hit or not - that sword is being thrown in your direction again.]

Fly, o holy sword - [and then there's the glyph, and the blade drops in to the center and the entire sigil detonates upwards in bright, piercing pillars of light] - Brilliant Cataclysm!

[Ah, and here we go. Yeager barely manages to dodge the sword, but just like before, there's no dodging the Mystic Arte. He's not certain he can take the hit and remain standing, but even if this is where it ends, at least he's learned something very interesting today.

(And if he comes back, that's something else he'll have to deal with, but for now he won't focus on that.)

To be fair, by the time the arte's done he's not still standing, but he's alive, and he pulls himself back to his feet with the help of his weapon. Any hit will take him out, that much is obvious, and he certainly can't deny that it really hurts, but as long as he can still move, he can finish this.

After all, he's done playing around.]

Heh. Not bad. You certainly do put up a good fight. But I think it's about time we end this, ja?

[Alexei's had the advantage this entire fight, but Yeager's had plenty of time to build up his Overlimit, and he unleashes it now. He's not going to bother attempting to fight Alexei with it, he fires off the required artes and immediately launches into his Mystic Arte.

Yeager launches forward, swinging his sword at Alexei.]

Time to say bye-bye! [oh my god could you please pick a more dignified line] Caress of Death!

[And with that he'll transform the weapon into the rifle form and fire a powerful shot at close range.]

[The calling of the arte is the first thing that manages to register.

He assumes there was some span of time inbetween, but hell if he knows what happens during it - Brilliant Cataclysm tends to come with some nasty kickback that teds to hurt like hell, he can't focus through whatever's going on in his head, and then there's Yeager and whatever inane thing he's yelling before he sets his Mystic Arte off, and then there's a lot of pain and the...very vague awareness that he's been shot before there isn't much of anything anymore outside of the ground against his back.

It's weird and incoherent and incredibly hazy, and it's probably better that way. For a brief few moments he still seems at least vaguely conscious, though his breathing isn't doing much of anything and he doesn't seem inclined to move at all; it isn't long, however, before that drops off as well and Yeager will find himself quite suddenly back outside on Monsun.

...At least any injuries you may have sustained will be gone, though you'll likely want to sleep for pretty much forever, um.]

[So that's it. He won. He killed Alexei.

It would be a lie to say he feels nothing, although his emotions are just as muted as always. He's pleasantly surprised that he managed it, but mostly he just feels a dark sense of satisfaction. It's almost like he's finally done something he really needed to do for a very long time and just hadn't realized it.

That feeling won't last long, but his priority right now is to find a safe spot and rest. Probably for the next ever, since this whole thing was a pain and he'd very much like to never move again.

He has no idea what will happen next, and at the moment, he really couldn't care less. Whatever happens will happen, but he'll count today as a victory.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

January Event: Rejection Rooms

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