let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2022-11-13 04:42 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2022-11-13 04:42 pm
Entry tags:
- arc iv,
- arcane: caitlyn,
- arcane: viktor,
- better call saul: jimmy mcgill,
- doctor who: clara oswald,
- doctor who: the doctor,
- harry potter: hermione granger,
- kingdom of the wicked: emilia,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- legend of fei: xie yun,
- mcu: kamala khan,
- mcu: yelena,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- penny dreadful: vanessa ives,
- shadowhunters: magnus bane,
- star trek: leonard mccoy (aos),
- star trek: una,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- touken ranbu: kanesada,
- untamed: wen qing,
- warcraft: anduin wrynn,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- warframe: kahl 175,
- wheel of time: moiraine,
- word of honor: zhou zishu,
- x-men: charles xavier
hale and whole
Talismans burned, Serthica’s undeath reveals itself:
- ■ The dragon eye allows indefinite access to the undeath-sight pendant feature. Use it 15 minutes at a time, with a 45-minute cooldown.
■ Those who delivered talismans or the eye have residual immunity: they cannot be sensed by mannequins or by undead linked to the curse-sickness. This is transferrable once.
The Merchant presents the Serthica findings, recommending evacuation. Outvoted, he agrees to sponsor the group until the beacon’s annual start-up. To heal Serthica, the party must destroy the magical anchors of the curse-sickness, develop its science/herbal cure, then distribute it across the overground citadels.
BEHIND YOU
Courtesy of Five Hargreeves, the Child of the Unwinding you slayed his father, the undead lord Beastmaster. The burlap mannequins released from Remembrance actively hunt you.
- ■ They are constantly watching, stalking, hunting. You always hear the deep asynchrony of their footsteps. Some mannequins bear an uncanny human likeness: staring extensively chills you.
■ Most mannequins cover up in excess clothing and swarm you in crowded spaces to stab. They borrow your appearance, if they touch you. Some devolve into eldritch forms, mimicking voices or puppeteering husked corpses to lure you.
■ Each mannequin has a one-word code on its nape or right calf — once spoken, the creature glitches, letting you run.
A MAGICAL SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
The corrosive magic that spreads throughout Serthica is anchored in two areas: a port dock and a former Mouse House shelter. Cleanse it through exorcism, purification, healing spells, or by planting wards borrowed from Karsa.
This magic feels hot, asphyxiating, aggressively proliferating, intrusive. Uncontained, it gradually feeds off your power. It might drive you to anger, bitterness, doubt or violence.
To Arc III survivors, it feels like the overwhelming power native to the Ke-Sanwon volcano (not dark water).
- ■ Once you’ve destroyed both magical anchors, inhuman-looking mannequins deactivate. Human-presenting ones seem sluggish and inattentive.
■ Finn’s mannequin remains alive when supplied life or magical force (think 5% of someone’s reserves) — either through weekly transfers or a rewiring of the magic that sustains her (by a party magic user, or Finn can learn the skills in later travel.)
✘ WET OF THE DOCK'S WET
At first, locals don’t remember the putrid inactive dock exists as a distant extension of Serthica’s port, located past a familiar deserted marketplace. Here, rotten wood, a stench of perpetual moulding, torn ropes and rusted chains.
- ■ Thinking extensively about the dock before finding it incurs nausea, vertigo and the animal instinct to flee.
■ Persist, and you learn this dock was once used to smuggle in illegal arrivals from Ke-Waihu. Later, it loaded the bodies of the plagued that were burned at sea.
■ Rotten wood planks can break, dropping you into paralysing waters. The dead might reach out from the depths to drag you in.
■ You hear alluring, wind-born whispers of, How chilly it is, while the cold abruptly intensifies, and, It’s warm in the waters.. Won’t you… jump in?
■ Ships no longer call here — yet a small boat stops for you. You might feel compelled or curious to join the lone passenger — a man in white, whose features you forget after. As the boat drifts, attracting the swimming undead that seek to climb in, the man offers safe return, if you answer: What do you most want? Where would you stop to obtain it? Lie, and the boat capsizes, leaving you to swim back amid undead. Answer honestly to return unharmed.
✘ (UN)SHELTERED
Visit the impoverished, underground Mouse House and avoid breathing in the thick, memory clouding sedative infusions. The grandiose shelter is familiar, its recalling the ruined mansion of the Unwinding. Locals say the house — which preceded Ma’am Mariol’s shelter as an orphanage — is haunted. The coal sickness spread overground after a child was adopted from here.
- ■ Spirits jump to throttle you or trip you down stairs, throw knives or lock you in claustrophobic rooms. Stair steps, window sills and roof beams readily collapse.
■ The last entries of house logs, found open on a library desk, mention seven freshly arrived children — six native to the Mouse House, including Gavroche, and one heavily burned boy from Ke-Waihu.
■ The ghosts of orphanage caretakers are enjoying a tea party. They ask if you are a servant or a guest. Answer ‘servant,’ and you must pour tea, as attendants stab you with cutlery when you’re within reach. You are dismissed once you finish pouring. Answer ‘guest’, and you must join them at the table and perform whatever they ask: slap yourself, dress up as a doll, answer inconvenient questions, etc. You can leave once someone else has poured tea.
■ Find the dark magic source in the house greenhouse that has been overrun by ruinous mould. While physically unharmed, you feel overcome by crippling fear, loneliness, abandonment or futility. Talking about it helps soothe it.
THE SCENIC SCIENCE ROUTE
The science-based cure requires retrieving resources and researching an answer. Godspeed.
✘ THE SEED & THE STORM
The Unwinding revealed strands of juniper and rosemary that cure the sickness. Cain d’Ubiq confirms quantities of each plant remain cryogenically intact aboard the Serthica Aerial Healing Unit ships that were caught in the crossfire of the Sibilant Sands, when Eidris and Minaras fought their last battle. Find the vessels to retrieve the goods.
- ■ Take your transport flier or one of Cain d’Ubiq’s martial, fire-breathing dragons to traverse the Sibilant Sands, roughly one day’s flight each way of Serthica. Expect a hard ride, amid the growing howl of winds whipping your face and the accelerating pulse of a breaking storm.
■ Martial dragons challenge inexperienced riders, but fly sturdily through intermittent sandstorms and whirlwinds.
■ The ships can be found near dragon bones and human skeletons, in stages of burial or disrepair, stranded between rocks, or threatening to collapse once rattled.
■ Beware serpentine barbed wire animated by dark water, which jumps up from the sands. Just as vile are buried vermin-like creatures that send their razor-blade-ended tentacles to strike out from below ground.
■ Members of protest group Remembrance are also unearthing ships. They plan to board mannequins on the vessels, pass them as Minaraian and attack Eidris once more.
■ Their volatile leader Chrichter is personally fixing a ship.
✘ THINK, TANK
Time to liberate a lab. Minaras’ foremost medical unit is the Conclave Healing Academy, comprising research labs, libraries, equipment rooms and sample collections, including some of the coal sickness.
- ■ The Academy connects to the centre that treatsZenobius and brims with healing apprentices. Bring juniper and rosemary samples, pose as a bright-eyed novice healer or a concerned relative of Zenobius, or barge in.
■ The Academy is cold, sterile, clean and swarmed by practising medics and academicians. Some even debate resurrection and immortality. Access is barred below, where you can hear occasional, sharp… growls.
■ Several basement laboratories are marked to study the coal sickness. Steal the entry codes from guards or tease them from a lowly medical intern — but don’t linger on the corridors long. Large clockwork hounds patrol and are attracted to sweat, a heightened or rapid pulse, shortness of breath or other biological signs of fear.
■ Take over a lab to concoct a cure elixir from the herbal strands. Test it against the coal sickness samples. Work safely, or the start of a blood cough might announce you’ve taken sick.
■ Hold the fort until your cure’s done, while guards and hounds try to enter your lab through air vents, windows or ram the door. Fight back, distract them or persuade the Academy protective droids they’re the enemy.
■ Anyone affected with the sickness can drink the cure without waiting to destroy the magical anchors. Symptoms fully disappear within 24-72h. Characters remain sensitive to the un/dead.
SPREAD YOUR JOY
Mass-production time: take over the former underground Remembrance headquarters, one of Cain d’Ubiq’s factories, or make potions in your back yard. The cure can be drunk or absorbed through skin and must be spread overground.
You can pursue your own ideas, but some suggestions on the house:
- ■ Take your dragon or hijack a Minaras airship and a diffuser to spray down an incense mix that contains the cure. Minaras airships sleep in secured bays you’ll have to infiltrate. Careful taking a dragon into Minaras or an airship to Eidris — local authorities may perceive this as a security breach.
■ Reprogram or con hapless droids to feed the cure as ‘novel vitamins’ to their owners.
■ Commandeer the Mouse House train that ferries supplies from the Serthica ports and spray the cure on produce and grains.
■ Minaras High Councillor Arabella has been previously targeted by Remembrance and could be subtly persuaded to help by her rescuers.
■ Vanessa’s contact, crime boss Artemius Bale, might also have his people sneak the cure into waterways — if you cut a deal.
■ …lemonade stand?
NOTES:
- ■ We need one finished thread of breaking the anchors and supplying, making and distributing the cure to get the Very Best Ending, but there are multiple other finale options too — link your threads by 29 November!
■ Thanks to Finn and the Doctor’s efforts to help Ma’am Mariol’s orphanage, enjoy tips, information and help with legwork from her street-smart urchins.
■ You can ask for Artemius Bale & others here or at the NPC inbox!
■ BACK TO THE TOP.
QUESTIONS
Don't cog it up.
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NPC
You can ask for Artemius Bale, Ma'am Mariol, helpful orphans or whomever else you want to rope into your definitely-legitimate-heist-adventure here.
Or you can hit them up at the NPC inbox!
→ yelena
( He's twitchy, Master Chrichter, bent over the long work of the plane engine he's eviscerated open, like a butcher gutting a slaughtered animal before he drags out its intestines.
He's found a long, lean, weathered rock to sit on, back coiled in a deep bend, hands slipping for all the oil he's drenched them in, to carry on his toil. Now and then, he hums, broken pieces of different, ill-fitting songs.
He never looks up, him. There's no point to it. He hears, and he knows, for all the large, stifling size of his helm should prevent him. )
Whooooo's her, eh? Whooooo's the liiitle birdie? ( Speaking, as one does, to cable. ) Pass me the thick wrench, won't you, eh? Birdie.
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→ wrathion
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Artemius Bale pls.
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TOIL & TALLY
Link your threads with the finished task by 23:59 GMT on 29 November. Note: you only need to have completed the mission assignment part, not the whole thread!
To get the Very Best Ending, we need 1 x herb retrieval, 1 x cure making, 1 x destroying magical anchor 1, 1 x destroying magical anchor 2 and 1 x cure distribution.
But other combinations can still lead to interesting outcomes, so do not worry! And blowing the place up is still an option.
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herb retrieval.
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number one ► star trek
☆ the seed & the storm
visual checks were the best they had to go on, tools she'd taken long ago from minaras in her bag as una moved out of the ship with companion in tow, wishing for a tricorder )
If we're in luck it won't take us too long to locate the right compartment, if we're not... hopefully it'll just take us a little longer.
( hopefully the access point wasn't buried )
☆ spread your joy
Wrathion | Warcraft
✘ Wangji: Docks
Presumably, that is why it was so egregiously painful to get directions. To find the right path. Others, too, have had this compulsion. This urge to leave, to avoid this area, to not even think of it.
The aggressive, hot magic here is certainly not a reason to stay. Wrathion takes a careful step out onto the docks, feeling wood bend beneath his feet. He can smell rot here, mould, and what he suspects may be death -- or undeath. They plagued other ocean waters, why not here? His head spins, and he feels as if voices are whispering to him. That, too, is familiar. The mermaids, the undead as they crossed other oceans all seemed to want to lure them in. He'd really rather not, the water is likely no more pleasant than the already putrid docks.
A sensation of being watched has Wrathion turn, study Wangji as he looms behind him. Not, Wrathion thinks, unlike a ghost.
"Karsa was right, some dark magic has been woven here. I can sense it drawing on me."
Unpleasant, but considering everything else here unsurprising. A chill passes over him, and he glances back out over the water.
"It feels familiar."
The heat, the aggression, the sheer strength of it.
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✘ Hermione: Sibilant Sands/Flying
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✘ Anduin: Mouse House Shelter
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✘ Xiè Lián : A Tea Party
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✘ The Doctor: Ruined Mansion
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moiraine damodred ► the wheel of time
☆ think, tank
No one yet comes, should that change I'll let you know.
( her talent for eavesdropping came in handy when listening for whispers on the air )
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☆ (un)sheltered
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[ OOC: Wildcards welcome. Quickest way to reach me for plotting or anything else is cosmology#1563 on Discord. ]
thinks, tank, thank
Apparently, not everyone has managed to infiltrate the Academy at the same time, which is probably a good thing in hindsight. Fewer people means fewer chances of all of them being discovered? It's a suspiciously empty hallways, up until the moment she hears the scuffle up ahead, and the familiar sound of a body dropping to the ground. With a knot in her throat, she grasps her wand tighter and takes the corner -
And then ducks right back with a whispered: "Sweet Merlin!" Which, in translation is holy shit. Heart pounding, she looks around the corner again. That was English - accented, but English, and her communicator didn't light up the way it does when it's translating for her. So, she assumes this is another otherworlder she hasn't had the pleasure to.
"Yes, well, I nearly flung you at a wall," she says, making her way around the corner again, to spot the dropped guard. "Ah, so that's what was behind that entry." She looks up, and smiles. "Hi - hello."
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behind you
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the seed & the storm
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behind me 😱
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boat ride
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think tank
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Anduin Wrynn | Warcraft
It fills him with a heaviness that is difficult to shake off though, at first. There is a chance after all that these people are beyond their help. That the whole city is beyond their help. And when a vote is put up amongst their group, Anduin is torn on how exactly is best to proceed on it. The healer in him wins out in the end, of course. If there is a chance that they can save these people, or at least stop this terrible blight from spreading further than Serthica's borders... Then at least they must try.
It is the chance that they may just succeed in eliminating the disease -- and therefore the majority of the population -- that has Anduin initially convinced he should go to the leaders of the citadel and warn them of said possibility. But a careful conversation with Wrathion convinces him out of that plan. There is a history, in Azeroth, of cleansing the population of sickness with the mass slaughter of any who showed the slightest sign of illness. Anduin cannot take the risk that Arabella might choose to follow suit. Not when there may still be hope for these people yet.
((ooc: prompts are below! feel free to respond in either action or prose, i just default to the latter! also if there's something you want to write with me that i haven't written out here, hit me up by PM or find me in the discord!))
WET OF THE DOCK'S WET
Stumbling across the marketplace he recognizes from the Unwinding towards the dock, the scent of rotting wood and mold teasing at his nose, Anduin feels -- decidedly nauseous. And not entirely certain that he really wishes to continue on, even if the logical part of his mind is telling him that he must, that there are lives depending on it.
Pressing his eyes shut and forcing himself to take in a breath, Anduin attempts to steady himself.
"Can you feel that?"
((ooc: for reference, this will be anduin's "wish" on the boat))
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(UN)SHELTERED
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THINK, TANK
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❂ Clara Oswald | Doctor Who
❂ 𝐵𝐸𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐷 𝑌𝑂𝑈
𝐼𝐼.
❂ 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑜𝑛
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❂ 𝐷𝑂𝐶𝐾'𝑆 𝑊𝐸𝑇
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❂ (𝑈𝑁)𝑆𝐻𝐸𝐿𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐸𝐷
i.
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ii.
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i.
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Kahl-175 |⍓| Warframe
(Un)sheltered - Greenhouse
[Kahl checks around the door. He sees nothing, but it smells bad. Familiar bad. He sets his jaw and goes in, grakata at the ready.
The rot doesn't look like a Plague Star. Doesn't smell like one either. Those stink like corpses and metal and bad water. This smells like Murex. The not-flesh and sour dust of the black worm pits.
He's been back to other Murex since he escaped. Even back to the one he'd been trapped on, because it never stopped taking. He wanted to blow it all up, but he didn't know how. Every time, he broke everything he knew how to break, but Pazuul kept making more. More worms, more veils, and each time he found more dead brothers.
And each time he went back in alone, because he didn't want to lose anyone else. Just Kahl. And it never seems to get better.
He needs to burn this place. They have magic stuff to make it stop. But now he doesn't know if it'll ever be enough.]
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hermione granger (harry potter)
THINK, THANK
[ooc; If you have something particular in mind that can't fit into these three scenarios, feel free to poke me here, or just bring your own scenario. I'm always down for S H E N A N I G R A N G E R S.]
(Un) Sheltered
Meimei
[ Yes, he's awfully quiet. Hasn't she learned that by now about him? ]
Are you alright?
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think, thank | I was not going to touch this scenario but this is too funny
oh no
oh yais
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wildcard.
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think, thank
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bubble bubble
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password please
The password is cupcake
sorry for the long delay, it's been a crazy few weeks
a. the password is 12345
I kept trying 00000
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think tank b
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Xie Yun • Legend of Fei
[ Of course when it comes to the Mouse House he's bound to head inside. Especially when his wife had been very passionate when it came to Ma'am Mariol and those children. Something that he, himself, had been passionate about too.
He's quiet as he heads through, if him and his companion suddenly find the greenhouse... then so be it. ]
Think, Tank
[ It's possible due to his 'job' that he doesn't have a problem getting in to study the coal sickness. After all, when one deals with coal and mining, it can be used to one's advantage, right? So, if someone needed a lab for a cure they could possibly come find him.
He will do whatever he can to help and keep guards and hounds at bay, if need be. He won't hesitate to protect those trying to come up with the cure. ]
[ OOC: If you want something else, or something catches your eye, PM me or throw me a starter and we'll go from there! ]
(Un) Sheltered
We move swiftly and gather any and all we find, agreed?
[Even if by "gathering" that means carrying. Zishu is ready to do that too. He refuses to leave any children behind.]
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wen qing | the untamed
The tea party this time is not much more enjoyable than the first tea party Wen Qing encountered in this mansion. The guests, sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued to a fault, are no more delightful than the murderous ones of days past. Perhaps even less delightful, as those sharp, ghastly eyes gleam, and one guest asks Wen Qing what she is.
Guest is the wrong answer but the one that comes out, and Wen Qing is dragged to the table, ghostly hands pinching her cheek. "A delightful doll, isn't she?" one coos. "My dear, you aren't dressed for the part. Hurry, you must change," another says, while shoving a dress into Wen Qing's arms. "We don't want to disappoint."
This is how Wen Qing finds herself at the table, a teacup in front of her, waiting for someone to pour tea while she sits through a nightmare:
"Dearie, when do you plan on getting married? You're not getting any younger, you know. How old are you?"
2. THINK, TANK
A sprig of rosemary in hand, Wen Qing carefully strips it of leaves, making sure not to drop any of them. It would be wasteful otherwise. While people are bringing back more and more of both rosemary and juniper, it's likely they will need great quantities of any cure they devise.
Wen Qing is a familiar face around the academy, often having slipped into the labs to work on potions and salves under the guise of her role as a rehabilitator, but this work on a cure has led her deeper into the Academy. Luckily, there are people around, and someone else was able to liberate the lab. The pounding on the door is annoying, but she's worked through worse.
"Hand me the mortar and pestle, would you?" she asks anyone nearby, hands still gloved as she works with the plants, a veil over the bottom half of her face. No need to risk sickness, not now.
3. WILDCARD
[ nothing here works? let me know and I will be happy to write up a starter! or, alternatively, throw a starter at me. ]
2
Which finds him in this lab with a very focused woman working on the cure. Cool.
The fools banging almost incessantly at the door? Not cool. He glances around the room before settling on a nearby bookcase and drags it in front of the door to barricade it. Who knows how long the door would last on its own, otherwise? This whole place is a mess.
When the woman asks for assistance, Kanesada looks around again and finds what she needs, handing it over. "How long you think you're gonna need?" How long will he have to expect to hold everyone off?
(un)sheltered
1!
lan wangji | the untamed
( All ota, but nudge if these don't work for you and you'd like something else o/ )
behind you | this man is dry like the desert
( Half the afternoon come, gone, the better part of Serthica trawled for indications of transport to the Sibilant Sands. He has loitered too long in Minaras to presume he will help flight efforts beyond guaranteeing this provision. All men must know their limitations, and while Lan Wangji can negotiate the grudging cooperation of a donkey and the effusive enthusiasm of a legion of rabbits, he has made little progress with wooing the dragon kind.
...Wrathion’s sometimes set ample example of why he should not even make attempt.
But then, the night’s drawn, buildings loom down like jutting corpses or chipped teeth, the white-hot glare of their lights absurdly violent. Candle or oil lamps would have diffused light more pleasingly. Here, they aim to sabotage more than assist men caught a-wonder, come moonrise.
He does not ask, when their paths cross and intertwine and linger, if his companion and he both chase the same cause. They’ve fallen, as a group, into stiff comradery, the efficiency of men and women whose main professional and leisure activity of choice is to interfere, to steal or to kill.
Strange, how alleyways whittle down to silence, from the stifling morning agglomerations, stoked by cries of market merchants, of fishermen, of sellers of paltry metallurgy and their squeamish, knee-sized ‘droid’ friends — ...to nothing. Dust, strips of shadow.
And a tinny rippling of sound, like the strike of a bell. He thinks he hears — a name. Hardly his own, but plaintive. Then, a call for a mother, a father, a caretaker. Then, pleadings for help, only come take a look, come here. )
...you spoke?
( No, no. ‘tis but the work of the emptied stitchwork of skin peering from the building corner at the end of the alleyway, eyes gouged out, mouth agape. From friendly distance, she — he — ...it seems childlike, until it rises on knees of far too many joints, morphing into an adult. )
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docks: investigation | this man is close to getting splattered
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docks: ruining your boat date | this man is cannonballing
what a terrible date
he brought flowe -- ...he forgot the flowers.
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(un)sheltered: greenhouse | this man is dripping
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(un)sheltered: the roof | this man is getting buried wet
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spread your joy: waterways | j/k this man is wet and gross again
Stop jumping in water, you're not a fish
this is how you end up with bae in a cold spring, it's all a #conspiracy
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I love her
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McCoy | Trek (AOS)
think, tank - for hermione
Once in the lab, he takes stock of what's available, keen to organize with others, to decide on their plan of action together and delegate the necessary tasks between them.
He's relieved to see Hermione arrive, eyes crinkling over his mask when he looks up over the work station he's rapidly assembling, notes out and formulas ready. )
Hermione. ( not 'Miss Granger', not as her magical skills here outstrip him by a mile, ) It's good to see you.
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vanessa ives | penny dreadful
DOCKS } the man in white drops us off at the edge
If she was with someone else when on the boat, she seems to momentarily forget their presence, staring deep into the waters that beckon once the man in white has departed. She knows she can't ever get such a wish granted, not in the way she wants. To be loved for what I am. If God could not deliver such a miracle, then who could stand a chance?
The waters would be so much warmer than the chill permeating the air. It breathes through her heavy skirts and gloves to prick at raw skin. The sea has always called to Vanessa. The ocean's depths have seemed sweet to sink into since she was young, but the pull just now is beyond even her dark yearnings of youth, back when she thought of being one with everything. What, now, of being one with nothing? Of joining the undead that beckon from the depths?
She takes a step.
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(UN)SHELTERED } a little friendly neighborhood possession
(UN)SHELTERED } tea party with charles (closed)
Jimmy McGill | Better Call Saul
(un)sheltered
Jimmy plays with his watch the whole train ride, snapping it open and shut like he has a big date, a looming appointment. Even during the recharge period he's checking to see whether the magic's kicked in again. With the spell in effect he scopes out other passengers: the old man cinching his coat closed in a skeletal claw of a hand is shockingly alive; the young woman looking resolutely out the window is flecked with black. Does she know?
He messes with it less in the Mouse House—he needs his hands to ask about the creepy old orphanage. The closer he gets, the lower people's voices sink, until it feels like he's following their silence more than any kind of directions.
The yard is choked with weeds. Naturally. Jimmy hesitates at a rusty, crooked gate that comes up to his waist. One more time, he takes out the pocket watch, training it on the house. Nothing, this time. No crawling mold, no bloody handprints. Nothing to match twist he gets in his stomach just looking at it.
It's a nice watch. He could turn it into a pair of tickets out of here, easy. With a good story and a little prep work, even more than that.
He shuts the watch, returns it to his pocket. At the sound of approaching footsteps he turns—a little too quickly. “We just walk in? Right through the front door?” The doubt in his voice overwhelms the fear.
ii. why did it have to be tea?
Coincidences are really starting to pile up—too-familiar carpet pattern, a glimpse of a greenhouse somewhere, the back staircase he finds without thinking—by the time Jimmy stumbles into the tea party. For a moment he stares, mouth half-open—as if there's a word for this situation, but uttering it would require him to unhinge his jaw.
This is it. It's the house.
Automatically he takes a step back, recoiling from the scene—but wouldn't you know it, there's someone at his elbow. Very kind of you to join us, the man intones, something in the way he says it stirring up more deja vu. He's shorter than Jimmy, tips his head back to study him. His eyes are light—you get the feeling that at the right angle you could see straight through to the back of his skull. Are you a servant or a guest?
He sifts frantically through memories he had, up until thirty seconds ago, been more than happy to dismiss as a dream. In the end he just goes with his gut, and his gut says: lie. “A servant. A humble servant.”
(Laying it on a little thick.)
Before he picks up the teapot—the fucking teapot—Jimmy steals a look around the table, jabs a finger at the one living person seated there. “I didn't vote for this,” he snaps. It comes out harsher than intended, real anger bubbling up.
iii. parsley, sage...
He's jumpy in the rest of the house, but the greenhouse—for some reason, the greenhouse really gets under his skin. Burrows in there. He spends endless minutes sizing up the plants, tracing convoluted paths that steer him out of their way. And they're everywhere. Something brushes his face and Jimmy makes a revolted noise, flinches back. He stops to stare up at an elaborate hanging planter, dangling tendrils and cascading flowers all spotted with mold. It draws the light strangely, in glimmers and fragments, and it slowly dawns on him that he's looking at the plant-choked remains of a chandelier.
The whole place feels like it's slowly being strangled to death.
Jimmy shoves his hands in his pockets, hunches his shoulders—a posture built for bracing winds blown off the lake, although if anything the greenhouse is uncomfortably warm. Unthinkingly he starts to whistle, a tune that grows more melancholy as time ticks by.
You may even catch him in a much-too-casual attempt to leave.
ii.
SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT it took this long for me to stop laughing at your tag
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iii
kim
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john constantine | ota.
d.
Grief over. As she continues, she hears someone disparage a good book. Not what she expected, as she looks for the source. ]
The Thomas Fern novel?
[ When she finally sees a man sprawled out, she rushes over and kneels beside him, trying to see if he's hurt anywhere. ]
What do you have against classic lit? And what happened here?
c.
the doctor ► doctor who
✘ magical sequence of events | under the boardwalk down by the sea...
Then again, aren't his friends often in danger when they journey with him?
"There I go again," he murmurs to himself, kneeling by the shoreline close to the docks. "Not a good idea, that. Me alone, I mean. See? Talk to myself too much. Oh, that's terribly dull. Do I always sound like that?"
As he rambles, he's leaning in closer to the docks, examining the wood, the rope, the chains. He will even swipe a finger across a rusted chain and touch that same finger to the tip of his tongue to check...something. And he makes a face that quickly passes, though he seems to be lost in thought now.
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✘ think, tank
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✘ spread your joy
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kamala khan | mcu
[She shouldn't go looking for trouble. Once Kamala knows what's going down, she can't help it. She can't do anything about sickness and widespread undead people. She knows how to stop bad things from hurting people. Kamala start sneaking around in her Ms. Marvel costume to see if she can track some down aka patrolling. Is this bad? Good? Who can say? Kamala is trying to help. This is the only way she can see how for now.]
spread your joy
[Her next attempt to help is simpler. They need to spread a cure? Cool. Kamala knows how to get people to ingest something they did not watch being made. She sets up a lemonade stand. It works with her cover. A protestor would suck up to the masses by handing out free drinks to spread good will for the cause.
Feel free to grab some or say hi while she gets the job done!]
spread your joy
A lemonade stand! Possibly the best idea yet. No hang on, not decisive enough for a compliment. Pretend I didn't say that. This is the best idea yet.
Had many visitors yet?
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spread your joy.
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Daenerys Targaryen | A Song of Ice and Fire
[It's Drogon's screech that wakes her, high pitched and sharp, breaking the silence. Having spent hours watching the incubator, Daenerys wasn't even aware that she had fallen asleep until she was jolted awake by Drogon's cry. Searching around, her focus failed to notice what was watching her, stalking closer.
Danger was close. She didn't need to see it, trusting the hair that stood up on the back of her neck. Gathering the incubator and strapping it to her side, she darted out of the dragon housing, feeling the beating of Drogon's wings at her back.
She scurried, casting a glance back over her shoulder, searching for whatever threat Drogon warned her about. She near collided with someone else, not stopping her speed.]
I apologize! You need to run before it gets you too!
Wet of the Dock's Wet
[The smell of mold and rotting wood is the only thing that grounds Dany in this moment. Even the heat from the incubator is nothing more than a whisper against her skin. She was still rattled, a dazed look on her face as she watched the waters. There was no sign of the strange boatman and vessel that had carried her to the middle of the waters. She shivered, no longer feeling warm but the cold fingers of death.
The soft wood shifted under her feet, pushing Dany to at least move, breaking her daze. She spied someone ahead and glanced over her shoulder, worried the boat would return again.]
Be careful. There is someone out there.
behind you
Someone nearly crashes into him, and he sees a flash of short silver hair.
He reaches out to grasp her shoulder.]
Dany! It's me. It's me. Who's trying to -- ?
[To get you?]
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Beitang Moran
[It's not that Moran is not scientifically-minded, because he is, but his interest in it is more because everything interests him and his knowledge, while more extensive than that of a layperson on many subjects, pales in comparison to that of the actual scientists they now have in their midsts.
And as a royal, if there is one thing Moran is good at, it's delegating to people who know what they're doing far better than he does, while he does what he is the best at : making sure they get every resource they need.
One may have wondered why exactly he insisted on upholding the pretense of his 'job', teaching rhetoric and public speaking to the aspiring and in-place members of the political elite of Minaras. But it comes in just fine now that he needs favors and that a great number among them would be just glad to slip a little word to someone they know for their esteemed teacher.
Several locales have bene procured but they need safeguarding, either actively, which people can do bodily, or through more administrative means, which is is very equipped to do.
Supplies need acquiring, and as it happens, he knows someone who is very good at trading and getting things for a good price.
Time to leverage some political muscles here.]
((OOC : we are super late, don't mind us. This is open for any shenanigans regarding procuring places to experiment or ingredients, happy enough to write custom starters below if needed but I juts needed this bit out.))
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Quite accidentally, and fortunately, the Doctor happens upon a familiar face. Or, what he thinks is a familiar face. ]
It's you! Excellent, good to see you. Brilliant day for concocting a cure, eh? Just need a few ingredients, of course. And a partner. And here we happen to be! Fortunate turn of events for both of us.
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closed starters
anduin
Step Nineteen of however many was in process. He picked up the bucket, moving to the waterway they stood by.
"We've done the flyovers and examined the waterways. Get enough in here and we're treating the Academy and it's sands at minimum, most this side of the citadel at maximum. After this, pull what we can by wagon load into the other side, we can repeat this process there. Unless you've got access to a flying ship?"
Here he paused, looking to Anduin for confirmation or denial.
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closed starters
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"Paper," he said, as if this should summon some depth of feeling in his companion. They've had a very paper defined relationship, in a certain manner of thinking. Licyn wasn't presently amused by this fact.
"Here's the storming forgotten dock, plaster these things all over it. Then we leave. Agreed?"
The scent and feel here was wrong enough to have the hairs on his neck standing on end, as close to having his wolf's ruff standing upward as a human body managed. Not waiting for a reply, Licyn strode forward, and proceeded to start tucking one paper ward into a crack in the wood.
He had stone wards too, but those were the ones he didn't want to drop. They could go second, after this whole process was begun.
(He heard the water lap beneath them. He didn't hear the fingers that sluiced upward, reaching for what was out of grasp, then slide back into the foaming froth of the sickly lapsed dock and fallen portion of the port, finger pads wrinkled from a death remembering drowning.)
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