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Mid-August Event
August 16-18
Three areas of Vitae ripple strangely if the city's inhabitants look closely enough. A candy shop in the Fairview Mall, the Clock Tower in the North District, and a lesser-used building in the University in the East District, specifically. If you look at them too long, they melt and distort into new, altered forms, color palettes changing, walls changing shape. Be curious, residents-- but be cautious. These distortions are not as simple as they appear. Outside of each location, Akira greets you, looking a little different than the everyday. He explains the situation-- things called Palaces in his world have shown up in Vitae. They're distorted thoughts or desires of their Rulers, and can be pretty dangerous. Anyone interested to come along can, so long as they're able and willing to fight whatever they come across.
[ᴄᴀɴᴅʏʟᴀɴᴅ ☆ ᴋᴜᴊᴏ ᴛᴇɴɴ]
Should you choose to explore the vacant mall shop, you enter a splendorous realm of candy. Everything is soft and sweet and brightly colored, though it's probably best to not eat anything. Everything within the distorted candyland has a real-life counterpart-- so that lollipop you're eyeballing might actually be a sale sign. As you make your way through the gumdrops and candy canes, you start to notice with increasing frequency that the candies all have words swirled into their colors, or written on their wrappers. They aren't always legible, and often swirl back into the colors normally before you can read them, but they all seem to make reference to selfless acts.
Be careful as you explore, as sometimes the candies come alive and fight back! They morph from their candied forms into Shadows of varying sorts, their attacks mostly based in Psychokinesis. After successfully making your way through the winding candy streets, you come upon a card, the back of which is blank until it is touched. Once it's been taken hold of, a formless, swirling mass of color behind it takes form.
At this point, Akira will make anyone infiltrating the Candyland aware that the donut must be stolen. Feel free to think he's crazy, but he knows what he's doing. Usually. If you choose to listen to him, upon theft of the donut, Kujo Tenn is released from imprisonment of his own distorted selflessness.
[sᴛᴇᴀᴍᴘᴜɴᴋ ᴄʟᴏᴄᴋ ☆ ʜᴇᴀᴛʜᴄʟɪғғ ʙʟᴀɴᴄʜᴇᴛᴛ]
The Clock Tower has become something straight out of an old steampunk novel. Everything is covered in gears and there is a constant ticking that permeates the tower from multiple clocks on every wall. Again, be careful what you touch, as everything within the distorted Tower has a real-life counterpart in Vitae! Don't try to take home and cool-looking clocks, they may be important things within the tower. The longer you spend in the Tower the more the incessant ticking starts to sound like words-- specifically, they speak to you in garbled, indistinguishable tongues that every so often drop hints of worthlessness and being unworthy.
As was the case in Candyland, some of the clocks will warp and shift and take form to fight you! They defend another swirling, colorful mass behind a blank calling card, and once the card is claimed the colorful swirling orb behind it takes form.
Once again, at this point Akira will explain the music box must be stolen. Except this time, rather than Heathcliff being freed from his distortion, a Boss Battle ensues!
You get to fight a Unicorn, guys.
Once you defeat the Unicorn (stat page here for anybody interested-- fight how you like, punch the horse in the face, I'm flexible), Heathcliff will be freed from his distorted sense of self-worth.
[ʙᴜʀɴɪɴɢ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsɪᴛʏ ☆ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍ ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ᴍᴏʀɪᴀʀᴛʏ]
Well, shit, that building's on fire. Should you choose to enter anyway, it's-- about as you'd expect. There are pathways and ways to maneuver, but there are also a lot of burning books and papers and it's all falling right the hell apart. As you explore deeper, you will find that many of the fires imbue a strong feeling of guilt as they burn. It's hard to tell why, and attempting to put out the fires doesn't stop the feeling-- in fact it only causes them to spring to life in the form of Shadows, which then attack you! This sometimes happens whether you try to put out fires or not.
Once you get far enough in the university, you come across-- you guessed it, another calling card! It looks the same as the previous two, and once it is claimed the colorful swirl behind it takes form.
The envelope is addressed to Sherlock Holmes, and just as in palaces previous, Akira advises everyone present that it must be stolen. When it has been claimed, in the same way as Tenn Kujo's Candyland, William James Moriarty is freed from his distorted Guilt.
With all three Palaces cleared, the distortions on the areas of Vitae all go back to normal at once-- only to abruptly become extremely concentrated and drag everyone into a small maze of mirrors. What's this, you ask? There wasn't a fourth palace? Ohho, but that's where you're wrong.
[ᴍɪʀʀᴏʀᴇᴅ ʜᴀʟʟ ☆ ᴀᴋɪʀᴀ ᴋᴜʀᴜsᴜ]
It's impossible to tell which direction is actually part of the maze-like hall and which is just another mirror. You're constantly looking at yourself, and anyone beside you, behind you, in front of you. It's dizzying. You start to lose your entire concept of self. Who are you, again? What does the mirror say?
There are no Shadows here-- no resistance. It's strange, and atypical to the other three dungeons. When you reach the end, there is no calling card. This time, Akira himself has to walk up to the treasure while it remains a swirling mass of color, and when he touches it, it shocks him backward. This time, there's nothing to steal. The swirling mass of color takes the form of another person-- another Akira. The one on the ground who some of you may have befriended or come to know isn't afraid, isn't angry, he doesn't take up a battle stance. His eyes turn briefly yellow, and he stands up to brush off his clothes. They're his normal civilian clothes again, the Akira standing before them dressed as he was before.
He rubs the back of his neck. "Didn't see this one coming."
☆☆☆☆☆
[ᴏᴏᴄ ɴᴏᴛᴇs!]
You don't have to have signed up to infiltrate to participate in this event! If you didn't see the OOC post last week or didn't have a chance to reply, that's fine, feel free to file in accordingly. I will make a top-level comment for each individual palace, and anyone can reply to those threads except for the Palace ruler until we reach a point in the thread they have been freed! Unfortunately, if you did not sign up for a palace before this event went up, I can't add one retrospectively. This is all very fast and loose, and I want everyone to have a good time, so feel free to assume whatever you like within the themes of each palace wrt Shadows, and feel free to think up some fun designs for a "Phantom Thief" costume for your characters if you like!
All characters' phones work normally during this event, and all NPCs involved in the event will disappear as of Wednesday, August 18th in-game!
ᴄᴀɴᴅʏʟᴀɴᴅ ☆ ᴋᴜᴊᴏ ᴛᴇɴɴ
You are basically looking at this for however long you choose to be until you steal a donut. Please don't eat anything.
sᴛᴇᴀᴍᴘᴜɴᴋ ᴄʟᴏᴄᴋ ☆ ʜᴇᴀᴛʜᴄʟɪғғ ʙʟᴀɴᴄʜᴇᴛᴛ
Feeling that aesthetic yet? Steal the music box.
no subject
Hey, uh. There are so many different clocks and that makes me wonder...what's the correct time?
Do you know?
[ Time seems really fake right now. ]
no subject
[The incessant tick-tocking gets his scratching his head a lot more furiously then he normally would, though.]
Man- all this noise is giving me a goddamn headache!! Let's hurry and take out whoever's running the place!
[And by that, he means running down some random corridor, oops.]
no subject
[ oops. Nier is chasing after him now. ]
What a strange place. This wasn't here before.
no subject
[Shit, the clocks are getting to him more and more; he snarls in frustration.]
Dammit, I seriously can't concentrate!!
[He stops- only to throw a punch at the nearest clock...which suddenly spasms and warps into an enemy. Double oops.]
no subject
[ Nier draws out his spear with a flash of light and gets ready for battle. ]
Do I know you from somewhere? Not before.
I get the feeling I've met you in the past.
no subject
[He's about to answer when more enemies spring up; the one he's punched throws one right back, though he narrowly dodges it.]
I think? Maybe?? Man-
[Ash doesn't get to finish as another enemy socks him in the sides and he goes down on his knees immediately.]
Shit!!
[ʙᴜʀɴɪɴɢ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsɪᴛʏ ☆ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍ ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ᴍᴏʀɪᴀʀᴛʏ]
We went with "abandoned" for this image because funnily enough, moodboards of burning universities don't exist. I think I'm sort of glad for that.
[ᴍɪʀʀᴏʀᴇᴅ ʜᴀʟʟ ☆ ᴀᴋɪʀᴀ ᴋᴜʀᴜsᴜ]
Trippy. The only real difference here is Akira's "treasure"-- and you'll see how that shakes out.
shakira shakira
Suddenly he's– somewhere? Yeah, somewhere, and before him on the floor is... himself. Akira's well aware that cognitions exist, of course, but he's never encountered one of his own, much less under such unusual circumstances.
He'll work out the hows and whys and where the fuck am Is later. For now, he steps forward, offering his hand to the boy on the floor.]
Can you stand?
[His unexpected arrival must've knocked the poor thing flat on its ass.]
no subject
Standing, check. [His glasses are gone.]
no subject
Also assuming this cognition has been here longer than himself, Akira slots a hand in his pocket and tips his chin towards the walls. Mirrors... So many mirrors. Akira can barely tell who he is, let alone differentiate the "himself" that's speaking to him from the rest of his mirror reflections.
Once the boy's up on his feet, Akira withdraws his hand.]
Happen to know where we are?
no subject
Here specifically with the mirrors, no clue. The city's called Vitae. [He has a running theory, from the fact that one of the mirrors made his eyes yellow again as he looked at himself in it. That's usually Metaverse shenanigans, but...]
[Oh. He crouches, keeping his eyes on Akira's leg so he doesn't lose him, and picks up his glasses. It looks like they were just knocked off. Maybe in lieu of him having not been wearing his mask over his eyes when Akira popped out of the treasure like a daisy.]
no subject
He takes this information with a slow nod, easing his other hand into his pocket. Huh. That sounds decidedly not Japanese, so instead of an answer, Akira's left with more questions. He's in his rebel attire, so this must be a Palace, buuut–]
Where's the exit?
[He wants to go home, please understand. He has shit to do. Colleges to apply for. As curious as he is about why the Metaverse has returned, he'll need to return to his friends and bring the situation to their attention before anything can be done about it.
He begins walking, but where... is... the exit...? Again, his expectant gaze turns to his Shadow. Come on, man. Is this not your stomping ground?]
no subject
[He watches him walk by, looks from him to their reflections, and pivots to follow.] This is gonna sound crazy, but I don't think there physically is one. [It's a puzzle, sort of.]
no subject
Alright. Then let's get smashing.
[And unless Cogkira has any other bright ideas, Akira's gonna begin looking around for things to shatter the mirrors with.]
no subject
[Though really, he doesn't. Maybe he isn't immediately supplying the full truth, but he's yet to lie. He watches him seek something to use to break mirrors, considering for a while.] ...isn't that bad luck?
no subject
[Seriously though, it'll be his bad luck, not this cognition's. No need to worry.
Unfortunately, Akira isn't finding much. He'd rather not bodily throw himself into the mirrors in an effort to shatter them, but what else can he do? If this cognition doesn't know the way out, then they're kind of fucked. He'll keep looking for now.]
I'll help an old lady cross the street and cancel out my bad luck. That's how it works.
[is it tho......]
no subject
...so I dunno if you're thinking anything like what I'm thinking. [Maybe tell him what you're thinking and he can tell you??]
no subject
I'm thinking about bodying this mirror. If you have a better idea, let's hear it.
no subject
The same one, at the same time. Both of us. I'm-- given you're the one in the costume, I'm assuming I'm the cognition, probably? Hard to say, I'm not quite that self-aware.
no subject
Ah, but he can't help the barest hint of a smile from tugging at his lips when his cognitive double begins questioning himself. Akira knows of cognitions, yes, but he doesn't know much about them beyond the superficial. At the suggestion that he isn't quite that self-aware, Akira's smile tugs wider.]
Probably. I thought cognitions knew what they were.
[As an aside, the mirror thing's a good suggestion, so Akira steps towards one and motions for the other Akira to follow.]
On three.
no subject
[He walks up to the same mirror with him without prompting.] Your count.