The first 3 weeks of school have been a delight. No big news to speak regarding the magic community, which has helped ease some frayed nerves on all fronts. While the magical and non-magical world still have a high amount of tension due to on going differences, the immediate danger seems to have passed. We had a great spirit week and a fun homecoming social that was held in the on-campus multipurpose room. With no incidents, the BoM presence at the school has relaxed considerably and is only keeping a single representative on site and the headmaster has approved an optional weekend fieldtrip to the Museum of Arcane and Natural history. Due to the reservations of some parents, it's considered an extra curricular activity and must have parental consent on the fieldtrip form.
Transportation from school is provided via bus (40 min drive down the mountain and skirting the city/suburbs to the foothills of the mountain next to ours) or students have the option of arriving on their own. Don't be late though or you'll have to buy yourself a ticket rather than get in for free with the school group. Once inside, students are allowed to roam free or in groups with a specified meeting place at 12 for lunch.
There are lots of things to see while you're here:
The grand entrance hall has a dragon skeleton hanging from the ceiling. There are other skeletons throught the museum of both magical and non-magical origins.
A room of ancient statues and artifacts. It has no windows and is on a lower level to maintain temperature and control light exposure so as to help preserve the things on display.
A room where the earth is constantly in flux, you can experience any type of season, terrain, and weather that is set in a predictable pattern. Don't worry it's just a very tangible illusion. Threads of mana are woven through. We ask that any anti-magic devices or dampeners (the term for someone who nullifies magic by existing) remain outside so as to not affect other's experience. When you leave the room you will exit in the same state you entered.
A room of spell books and arcane texts that may be perused but may not leave the room. To our knowledge, no dangerous spells are on display though there are some texts in ancient, dead languages that have not been translated yet. Someone is in attendance to ensure proper care is used. No photography or note-taking in this room.
You could consider this exhibit a giant crystal ball. In it's inert state, it shows a picture of the earth in concentrations of mana, giving it an etheral moonlight glow. There is a small dias beneath the suspended ball where a single person can stand. The crystal ball will shift in color according to the type of magic the person beneath it harbors. Interesting things happen with more than one type of magic and with seers, sometimes their visions will appear in the ball.
Not quite stonehenge. In the back, the gardens are quite odd. The big monolithic rocks are actually a very specific mineral which had been placed on intersections of arcane waylines running through the earth. Even non-magical people can feel the natural energy of the earth in this place. Touching the rocks connects you straight to this invisible, magical grid. Meditating in the center of the garden is said to help realign mana channels and purify chakra.
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 4:59 pm
Everything seemed normal and calm in the arcane museum- or as calm as it ever was for a place that held ages of magical secrets now brought to light for all to see. Most rooms had a particular hush about them, the same kind of quiet pressure that libraries had. The basement-like room Ed was in was no different. Without windows, there was no filter of outside noise to be heard in the room, just the stillness of the earth and the distant hum of electrical equipment to keep the temperature and humidity at a specific level. It felt drier in this room than anywhere else and more chilling. Stone rooms had that kind of cold that could seep into one’s bones, though one with a heightened intuition might pick up the sense that the stone wasn’t the only thing giving that room an unearthly chill.
Moving through the cavern, one would discover that a second cavern was junctioned onto the first. There were no doors or barriers between the two, but a dip in the rock that made the room narrower, to the size of an archway or a set of double doors before it opened back up again. In that room, the displays were newer. More recent items were on display. Some of the first magi-tech advancements from ATIN-Corp were on display, graciously donated now that newer and more functional models were on the market. There were other things added in the last decade, things engineered by new spells and open arcane exploration. With the magical world coming out of hiding, ideas were able to reach more minds, collaborations that would have never happened engineered never before seen things.
In the back there was a glass case that reached from top to bottom. Runes were inscribed in metal on the floor all around it. Anyone with basic literary skills would see it was an enchantment for the glass, which protected the real enchantments on the inside. A small pillar slightly higher than waist level held an orb on display. There were enchantments inscribed on the floor around the pillar that circled up the sides of the stone all the way to the top where a clear sphere sat. Golden markings gave off a mild light on the surface of what looked like ice and on the inside of the ball, a dark speck shifted and wriggled, stretched and pulsed. ‘Destined Death’ the plaque read, outlining the events of the rift and informing the material was contained as its destruction seemed impossible. With the containment orb, protective stand, and glass to keep everyone out and alert the personnel, it seemed prudent to put it on display. Perhaps someone with more information about it would see it and come forward.
Whomever would have thought these high level enchantments would only hold for so long. As misfortune would have it, Destined Death was not something that could be contained for an extended amount of time. If someone would have made their way down to this part of the exhibit and had the mind to watch the orb, they would see the black speck in the center expanding. The gunky, viscous-like material was pushing outward, stretching and growing and filling the clear space of the orb. The golden runes on its surface were flickering and dimming as the inky mass pushed from the inside, straining against its confines. Like an iced over lake rupturing in the spring, the surface of the orb cracked. Black fire licked through the jagged line, causing several more lines to rupture in random directions, where more flames escaped. Soon the ball was burning. A small droplet of ooze plopped onto the stand beneath which sizzled upon contact. The stone began to decay as the darkness spread over it.
An alarm sounded, but the ooze was escaping too rapidly now. The ball had melted and the curse has spilled over, melting down the pillar and it’s enchantments with black fire, rot, and smoke. The glass was filling up with smoke and the ooze was pooling along the inside edges of the glass. Security arrived shortly, looking first for a culprit and then in surprise when they spotted the disturbance coming from inside the case.
“What did you do?!” One of them barked at the nearest person, while the other stepped forward, peering close to the glass to try and see into the murky smoke. It almost looked like something was… moving…
BAM!!!
A decaying hand slapped against the inside of the glass, which hissed at the touch of the undead creature.
BAM!
The guard actually shrieked from the jump scare, to which his partner smacked the back of their hand against the front of his chest and nodded to the people in the room who were now looking in their direction. Not their finest moment. Whatever was happening within the glass, the first thing they needed to do was evacuate the room.
"Radio for the BoM and body block the display, I'll clear the room." They muttered under their breath and stepped forward.
"Excuse me ladies, gentleman, and enbys, it looks like one of our displays is out of order. In order to have things up and running as quickly as possible, we kindly ask you to move to another section of the museum so our maintenance team can come in and diagnose the problem. We hope to have things up and running by the end of the day." As they were making their speech, they were actively ushering people further and further from the back room and toward the exit. They approached Ed and attempted to shoo him away with the rest of the innocent bystanders in the area.
Meanwhile, the male security guard could be seen holding a finger against his ear piece, muttering furtively into it, and glancing over his shoulder every other second. He wasn't a member of the BoM so he couldn't just summon someone to their location. The entire museum actually had magical security set up to prevent anyone from teleporting into the building or garden area. Not only did it prevent theft and made security easier, but it kept the funding going. If any mage with an arcana book containing a teleportation spell in it could come and go as they pleased, they'd be in pretty big trouble. So his call only went up to the main office, who was paging the director of the museum while dialing up the Bureau of Magic.
What neither of the two in the artifact room took notice of, was how hissing sound grew louder as they attempted to manage the situation and the glass grew thinner.
Anika Nyame Captain
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Anika Nyame Captain
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:00 pm
The interior of the main lobby didn’t offer much respite from the outside chill, seeing as the open doors invited the cold inside as if it were a familiar friend. That being said, Zenith intended to stay attached to Aella, adjusted the way he held her depending on the direction she chose to lead him in. And, while he was scanning the room himself, he also was quite aware of the way Aella took in the sights of the museum lobby area…catching her distaste for the draconic skeleton that hung in decoration above them. The golem offered the girl a gentle squeeze and no words…a small gesture of security…to remind her that he was in his arms. But,as she navigated towards the brochure shelf, the ex-mercenary couldn’t help but hide a severe look toward the dragon bones. No court of dragons were safe if it came between Aella’s freedom, and Zenith would ensure that his gluttonous blade would be held with the utmost conviction until every lizard that wanted to put her in a cage was cut down.
”Let’s go here!” Her excitement’s consequence was a charming and welcoming smile from the one horned golem, ”Ok,” Zenith answered simply before she escaped the way he held her and began tugging him toward the exhibit that offered a visual illusion of quickly changing seasons. He hadn’t done his research on the many things the establishment had to offer, but he hoped that the place would provide some summer warmth or at least a functional placebo that would help the girl warm up.
Upon arriving, they were welcomed with illusions that intended to paint a vivid and believable spring ambience in its beginnings. The frosted simulated flora were rapidly awaking as if the beginnings of a warm and moderate breeze had stirred them from their simulated slumber. The fact that the arcane deception displayed winter to begin with was beyond reason-because it was already cold as **** outside- but at least they found the place once the interior’s simulated climate began to slowly ease those in the room to a warmer setting so that any further increase in temperature met with the summer simulation wasn’t too jarring. Still, despite the blossoming of vibrant palettes and flora, practically painting the room with beauty and color intended to take the breath away from those spectating. ”Hmmm,” the one horned golem mumbled and then shrugged, ”I mean it’s cool and all, but I have seen far prettier things…”
His suggestive half lidded eyes suggested he meant her…and in all truth he really did. Even that stunning spectacles of nature paled in comparison to the beauty that was intrinsic to the elementalist to whom he had a undefined relationship with-and it was pretty clear to her that those were his feelings for her…but to give her a bit of playful grief was too good to pass up. After shooting her that kind and tender look, Zenith looked up at nothing in particular and tapped a finger to his chin. “Like that dessert bar we went to…god the food there tasted just as good too.” he looked back at her with a smile, denying her the compliment…but then followed it up with a motion to wrap her in his arms from behind and whisper a little sweet nothing in her ear, ”But if i wanted to see real beauty…I would have just looked your way…orrrrr I would try to lure you back into the warm sheets of my bed.” he teased…the final note in the statement carried on a suggestive and playful purr before his hold on her lightened enough for her to flee and enjoy the season that the room was displaying.
What Zenith began to notice, however, was that more people were beginning to bleed into the room...hushly speaking of some issue from another exhibit in the museum. Zenith's attention was stolen for a moment as he quietly contemplated what they were talking about and if it was important at all.
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:01 pm
______________________________
Location:Arfitfacts Exhibit With: Mood:Concerned, curious Condition:Good Current Outfit:Outift[/url
He had only just turned his attention back to the key exhibit when he heard an announcement. Closing down the entire area because one malfunctioning exhibit? That was annoying if he didn’t say so. But even more than that, the man was hiding something. Just under his veneer of professional calm was fear. Édouard could practically feel it flowing off of the man like a low-lying fog creeping over a cliff. Something more dire was certainly going on here and beyond interrupting his plotting, he was fighting the growing sense of mortal danger.
He nodded at the man trying to shoo him away but let his hidden eyes linger over him, letting the man know that he was suspicious. He turned and very slowly began walking his way toward the entrance of this hall. The man had moved on toward another group of people, a gathering of maybe four or five senior citizens who seemed agitated by his presence and didn’t so much walk as shuffle everywhere they went. Édouard say an opportunity. He slipped being a display that obscured him from sight from where the security guards were and once they had finally managed to usher the last remaining patrons from the area, they left a pair of guards outside of the entrance so no one could come in.
The others had filtered through the room giving it a hurried and half-hearted sweep before heading back toward the source of the problem. He hesitated revealing himself just yet. He wanted to make sure no one would notice his spying and perhaps he hesitated because he wanted to see if anything happened before he moved. After all, it’d be a dumb idea to pop out of his makeshift hiding spot only to have something bad happen to him right away. “Here lies Édouard Mass;” his tombstone would read “He should have waited thirty seconds.” He smirked and then craned his neck to see if he could hear anything. The voices of the security personnel were muffled but very obviously excited. He slowly peaked around the edge of the display, checking the entrance once to make sure those guards weren’t looking back behind them.
He couldn’t actually see anyone. This wasn’t the best vantage point if he wanted to find out what was going on in that room. Though, he began to question why he’d stayed behind anyway. He wouldn’t be able to steal the key in the middle of business hours. As he strained to hear anything intelligible he began to notice a sound. At first it was soft enough that the white noise of the space and the people talking washed it out but as the seconds ticked by it got louder and more pronounced. Édouard squint his eyes trying to single this particular sound out from the rest…a hissing sound. It almost sounded like air escaping from something—or a gas. That was less-than-ideal. If there was a gas leak that would explain a lot but he didn’t really buy that idea. Surely they’d have evacuated the entire building if it was a gas leak—not just this one room. He did another quick look around to make sure no one would catch him and quietly he slipped out from where he was and, doing his best to shield him from sight at the front, made his way closer to the short corridor leading to the source of trouble.
Anika Nyame Captain
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:03 pm
tab ❧ I'm the violence in the pouring rain.
This room was magic- not because it was actually made out of magic, but because of how pretty it was. Despite the cold, Aella couldn’t help but fall into a state of wonder. Being raised in the city with no opportunity to travel the earth, the imagery in the room seemed like something out of a movie or a fairytale, except she could feel it and breathe it. The icicles hanging on trees glimmered in the cool winter’s light and her breath came in white puffs before her face. Instinctively she tucked herself closer to Zen, looking to steal some of his warmth as she marveled at the scene around her and stepped through the crunch of snow beneath her bare feet.
Before they entered, their shoes and socks were put into a locker for safe keeping, making this exhibit unique in the sense that you were supposed to connect in a deeper way by feeling the changes through your well traveled soles. At first, the snow felt so cold that it seemed like it was burning her skin but then the sensation melted away and her numb toes were soon hidden in plush grass that rippled under a gentle breeze. The glittering strings of ice decorating the branches around them evaporated into fresh blossoms that soon flew off into the warm breeze. A giddy feeling bubbled up inside of her and she darted off from Zen’s side to frolic and twirl in the flora storm like a child. Tiny pink petals dotted her wild raven locks like fallen snow which bounced and wrapped around her shoulders as she slowed to a stop. Shattered irises sought out Zen’s through the flush of spring, connecting with him as a gleeful smile split her lovely features. It almost felt as if time slowed to stall those scant seconds where reality faded away and they simply existed within a dreamscape where no earthly concerns could touch them.
Aella left her frolicking behind to return to Zen, a playful bounce in her step and a glimmer of joy dwelling in her crystalline hues. “This place is amazing!” She proclaimed as one of her hands drifted towards him like a stray asteroid being pulled into a planet’s gravitational field. Delicate digits slipped between his strong, calloused fingers as he dropped that hazy, cliche rom-com line on her. For a moment she froze, like a deer in headlights too shocked to move out of the way. Zen would feel the tension ripple through her as her breath halted and her heart beat heavy in her chest. A glaze settled over her crystalline irises as they swiveled to look at him, searching for the intent behind the sappy words. Then all her questions were answered with the joke that followed. Aella's sense of unease melted away as she played into it.
She used their connected hands as a way to pull him towards her, a mock sense of irritation playfully twisted on her features. "Oh yeah? You like the dessert bar that much hmm?" As Aella pulled him toward her, her free hand snuck up and darted toward his chest in an attempt to catch one of his nipples through his shirt. That line was grounds for a purplenurple. Or it would have been if he wasn't so sneaky and sky as to wrap her up close so she couldn't get him anymore. Aella squirmed a little inside his hug trap, trying to ignore the way his breath crashing against the side of her neck sent shivers through her body. Two could play at this game... Raven locks tickled the tops of his forearms as her head tilted toward him, positioning her tacky lips near his own ear.
"If you tease me, I'm going to tease you all the way back again..." Her voice purred softly against him, heavy with the promise of sweet torture. It was hot now, sweltering. There was a splash close by of something jumping in a small lake that formed int he room. Several people were knee deep in the water but the cool liquid rushing over their bare feet stopped at their ankles. When she pulled back to get a look at his face, she expected him to be staring at her with his stirring, honeyed gaze but rather than staring her down with unbridled hunger, his amber orbs were sharp and focused and flicking across something in a different part of the room. *Now* he was really asking for it! The fact that he wasn't paying attention to her at that exact moment ruffled her feathers and heated her up inside. Seeing as how he was *soooo* distracted*, she shifted back to make enough space for her hand to slip in between them for the twisting pinch of death!
"What's so interesting over there?" Aella asked mid-attack, only half expecting to get an answer since boys were such babies when it came to their pecks.
Where: Sensory Display With: Zen Doing: heading to an exhibit Wearing:cute white summer clothes
Do not fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums and parks and monuments and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people.
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:04 pm
The ageless calm silence of these chambers of rare and treasured relics had been broken. Accompanying the ominous piercing alarm Dread, the artifact display hall's new master had taken hold of the room's ambience- it's unease filling every nook and cranny of the “out of order” exhibit. Each strike jarring a small instinctive jolt in their flight or fight response. Looking to his returning partner the guard tried to alleviate the sense of unease that enveloped them both.
He pushed one finger to his ear as the head of security updated them. “They’ve gotten through, someone's coming from the BoM. We just gotta keep things contained until they arrive.” One of the tentative museum security guards breathed a small sigh of relief between the series of sudden and violent slaps of pale and scarred flesh scraping against the smoke filled glass barrier. That task was easier said than done.
Following the next loud “BAM” a new sound emerged in tandem- the horrid splintering of cracking glass, slivers of fractures cascading in an unnerving crescendo as the final bastion of separation crumbled from the dissolving essence of the mysterious “Destined Death”. Through this threshold crossed an unwelcome evolution of the stale air. Fetid pockets of rot and decay from unknowable realms seeped forth from the fractured and melting glass. Foul incomparable stench invaded the sinuses of the two nervous security detail who were unfortunate enough to inhale the noxious odor. A slight gagging noise erupted from one of the guards' mouth, fighting down the need to vomit as they instinctively turned away from the source of the stench for a futile brief respite.
“The hell is that?!" Was all his comrade could stammer in confusion before the next foreboding occurrence.
“Dunno, but let’s set up an anti-magic barrier.” They both backed up to the open archway that sectioned off the back half of the room and rustled in their pockets for the ATIN-Corp sticky bombs which they began attaching around the entrance.
Black ooze, now free of its timeless shackles slowly traversed its way towards the two weary guards, its inky puddle a black portent of the tragedy to follow. From this sable molasses came the most perplexing element yet. Whispers. Incoherent speech, barely audible over the alarms that began blaring through the museum- and yet, strangely decipherable even through the cacophony of violent noise swallowed them. It seemed to permeate through the strange obsidian much toward which the tendrils stretched toward. Was it speech or just guttural chatter? It was hard to know for sure but given the situation there was little time to question such unfathomable dark origins for it was far from the worst of emerging horrors.
Hazy clouds of black choking smoke were already filling the room as the guards placed node after node. As the smoke thinned to a light grey haze as it drifted towards the guards a hellish malformation of rotted burning meat and bone was slowly revealed. Human.... might have been what it was called once...but that time was unthinkable given its current mutilated remains. Its chest cavity largely revealed entrails so overly rotten it was little more than a mound of crepuscular flesh. Where its eyes should have been long melted away to deathless and unnerving sockets, but somehow they were able to perceive the panicked guards' presence. Smoke blossomed from the unearthly flame that enveloped the undead creature, lambent flickers from its rotted skeletal orifices thoroughly placing any sense of former humanity behind the repulsive being. Monstrous snarls from this looming, shambling corpse- far more distinct than the ghostly voices which slowly encircled them.
One of the guards fumbled the last device, sending it rolling into the back half of the room. Without thinking, the guard darted after it, managing to snag it from the floor and duck as the slow shambler took a swipe at him. He would have made it, if he had better watched his step. One of his feet stepped just next to the stretching black goo on the floor, from which shot out a burning- skeletal hand that grabbed the guard’s ankle.
Screams bellowed the Artifact halls- limbs slowly feasted upon by the undead flame that jumped from the hand to spread rapidly up his leg. The other guard could only watch in horror as his partner writhed and screamed. Then he started. He would be next if they couldn’t seal off the area. They needed one more anchor to get the barrier working, but he was out. As luck would have it, another security member bolted down into the underground chamber, eyes rapidly assessing the situation. They pulled out one of their own devices and rushed to place it, activating them all at once to create an anti-magic shield.
“Hopefully that will hold long enough for the BoM to get here, I don’t have enough power to contain it by myself now that it’s spread this far.” Their hopes would be dashed soon. More shamblers arose on the other side of the barrier, coming out of the black puddle on the ground as if it were a portal to somewhere else. Unable to understand the invisible wall, they passed through the barrier one by one, falling to the other side in a clatter of bones. Despite the seemingly inferior mental processing, the ooze seemed to have a mind of it’s own and searched for ways to escape and expand. One of the tendrils found an anchor on the archway and began to sizzle away at the metal while another liquid arm rose up and attached itself to the ceiling where it (unbeknownst to the security detail) began to burn through the ceiling to the floor above where the sensorial exhibit was happening. Now the undead could escape into that room as well…
Anika Nyame Captain
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Anika Nyame Captain
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:05 pm
Aella’s suggestive warning had fallen on deaf ears, failing to elicit any response out of the distracted golem. It wasn’t intentional; in fact, Zen was trying his best to stifle this feeling of caution and unease. They were just gossiping…gossiping of something completely unrelated to the security of the situation. Yeah, that’s what it had to be. But why were so many separate groups of people exhibiting the exact same features of concern and discrete anxiety? Zen’s brows furrowed, his senses honed in on catching a wisp of their whispered dialogue as they bled into the room. Suddenly, something was coming for him in the scant space between him and Aella. There was no time for simple reasoning to determine that the only source had to be none other than the elementalist herself. Instead, his hand shot up and seized it. It moved so quickly that it had even caught him off guard. Luckily for her, it was not aggressive or oppressively tight of a hold, but rather gentle.
”Oh, uh…sorry,” Zen’s attention had snapped to the source of the assault that triggered his body to defend itself and gingerly released her. He took a slow breath and, mildly embarrassed and guilty, ”I…I didn’t mean to do that…is your hand ok?” he asked in a concerned tone as he reached out to her hand, this time in a much more approachable fashion. If she allowed it, he would gently hold her hand in his for a moment for a brief examination which ended with a gentle peck of his lips on her hand. ”I thought something was going on, but i think it’s all in my head,” It had to be…right? Zen didn’t like this feeling, no matter how infrequent it occurred. It was almost like a sixth sense of danger that flipped a switch in him. He shot her a warm smile…just before he began to think of the situation. Suddenly he glared at her suspiciously. ”Wait…were you going to pinch my ni-...”
Suddenly there was a scream, a shrill sound of shock as a woman suddenly was pulled underneath the virtual summer water. Zen’s golden irises flashed up and then went wide. Ahead of him…were a group of people in the water being slowly gripped by horror. Some called the girl’s name out, likely familiar with her, and began reaching under the water for her…And then Zen saw it. Reaching up to grab onto one of the males looking for the missing woman was a wretched thing, licks of black fire dancing on rotten fetid flesh. Its thin skeletal hands dug deep into the man’s arm, sinking into it with abnormal strength. The man and everyone else were momentarily gripped by petrifying horror…just before the man screamed himself.
”GET OUT OF THE WATER!” Zen yelled out, which sent the people in the water and nearby it into a chaotic frenzy to flee as more of the undead plagued with Destined Death began to breach the waters like some swamp ghoul movie. The scrambling was not effective, mob mentality possessing people to shove at each other and push people over to ensure survival. A little girl was pushed over, flopping into the water where she vanished momentarily before she stood herself up…but she was not alone. Another ghastly undead emerged from the waters as well, armed with a small broken knife. The girl, noticing something, looked behind her and instinctively shrieked…and just like that…Zen was gone.
Almost as quickly as she saw the monster, which was eager to sheath its weapon into something innocent and claim it so that it would join the legions that Destined Death controlled, Zen had appeared at the shoreline of the water…and shot his fist right through the face of the undead ghoul. The skull of the monster splintered beneath his knuckles, which had thick plates of obsidian growing from them…but something was wrong.
Zen operated quickly, his training succeeded in turning him into a soldier that could take lives with blinding speed…but Zen quickly grabbed the girl and teleported back to Aella’s side almost as quickly as he had intervened instead of fending off the other creatures that were still terrorizing the other people. Perhaps Aella could see it then…the hand Zen used to punch the creature…the stone was flaking off, revealing necrotic raw flesh beneath it. There were signs of being signed…but not as much as rot. ”Go…get out of here,” Zen told the girl…who didn’t think twice. The golem did something unusual then…his eyes flashing up…to several different positions. While doing that…his hand began to twitch…a dreaded reflex that he had told Aella about before. Maybe she would even notice that he was looking up at the cameras in the room.
His blade…was the one thing that tied him to all of the cold cases of the past…and he realized that it was the blade that would contribute to helping these people. ”Aella,” many people would try to tell their significant other to run…to flee…guarantee their safety…but Aella was not just some weak girl of interest, ”I-..I need your help.” Zen did not view her as someone so helpless.
Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2023 2:32 pm
______________________________
Location:Arfitfacts Exhibit > Other floors With: Mood:Tense Condition:Good Current Outfit:Outift
He heard the frantic back and forth of the two guards though he’d not really heard the words themselves as an alarm was drowning them out. The feeling gripped him even more intensely than before. Whatever was wrong was just on the verge of making itself known. He’d almost reached the archway when the horrendous sound of breaking glass caught his attention. It took only a few moments for the putrid emission to reach him and taken off guard he recoiled away from the arch and took several steps back further into the other section of the exhibit. It smelled like a slaughterhouse that had been left to cure in the summer heat for a month. Utterly rancid and leaving a sensation behind that some invisible residue remained on your skin even once the smell had abated. That is, if it abated.
This foul stench was followed by an assault of strange and unholy noises from whatever the source of this was. He inched closer and then heard something else over the sounds: a man screaming in agony. He glanced around the archway and could barely make out the writhing shape of the first security guard. He tensed up seeing the black oozing its way closer and closer and what’s more, he could almost see the hand clasped to the man as his life was being ripped away. For a brief moment the shear horror of the situation froze him to the spot but he heard a shout from the entrance of the exhibit and managed to break away from the ghastly scene so as not to be discovered by the security guard rushing down to help. This wasn’t anything he had prepared for and now that it was happening, he began to run through the options of what to do. Running out the entrance and leaving was the obvious choice.
He dismissed that almost immediately. Even if some eldritch evil was creeping up from a display, running didn’t seem the right choice—at least not for him. He could always just stay hidden and watch. But that didn’t really get him anywhere. Finally, a small voice in the back of his mind showed him the correct path: he had come to look into things he’d planned on taking from the Museum at some point. No time like the present. The security guards would certainly notice, but they had their hands full. He slowly moved from his hiding spot. They were too focused on keeping their little shield up to see him so he quickly walked over to the glass keeping him from the key. Édouard stared at the dim reflection of his figure staring back at him like some kind of ghost. He had to move quickly.
He looked around trying to think of what he could use to break the glass open and turned to see a stanchion for some rope being used to keep people away from some of the free-standing items near the center of the room. Grabbing hold of it and flipped the bottom end up and felt its weight and decided it would probably be enough, especially with him swinging away. He wound back and with full force let the metal fly forwards, shattering the glass with a loud crash. The guards could hear it and he could hear their reaction but he was just out of sight. Another alarm went off signifying one of the glass barriers had been broken but he was already making his way carefully toward the exit, key safely tucked in his breast pocket. He could tell by the shouts one of the guards had moved closer to make sure they weren’t being flanked by their inky antagonist behind the barrier. But there was nothing from stopping him so he kept on until his eye caught something of interest. The Crocea Mors, its point still sharp and deadly as it was in the hands of Caesar, sat almost begging to be saved from its glassy tomb. If today was the day ancient things were being released, why not the sword as well? He reached down and put the tips of his fingers against the crease where the wooden box housing the sword and the wood frame around the glass top met. It didn’t take much effort as the lock wasn’t all that well made. He’d no sooner wrapped his fingers around the hilt than a voice called out.
The security guard was standing about twenty feet away demanding to know what he was doing. Édouard didn’t respond. That creeping sensation was again pressing itself on his mind. Whatever they were doing to try to contain this…whatever it was wasn’t going to hold much longer. There were other sounds now from beyond the stairs that led to the main hall—screaming. The undead were spreading through the museum. The security guard took a step forward when his partner let out a pained yell. The man half turned and it was then that Édouard came to a grim realization. The lone man wasn’t going to hold back this assault and this man was a witness. His cold blue eyes examined the room around him, there were cameras but he was going to deal with that, as well. In the chaos of whatever was going on he’d be able to take care of covering his tracks starting with…
The security guard had caught the movement but had only turned a quarter of the way back toward Édouard before the impact of the boy’s fist made contact with his jaw. The man was out instantly and dropped were he stood with heavy thump. It was unfortunate for him as the black creeping fluid had eaten its way through the last anchor. Even without knowing the state of the shield, Édouard wasn’t going to wait to see if the horde of shambling corpses broke through. He could hear the last guard calling for his coworker but there would be no reply. His wake up call would be the icy grip of death as the rotting hands of the undead laid hold of him. Édouard turned away and paused a brief moment. He was leaving this man, who didn’t do anything wrong, defenseless. Édouard was leaving this man to die. His face was cold and stony as he stared down at the security guard. For a moment he wrestled with himself over the choice. But ultimately, the cold pragmatism of needing to get rid of the person who saw him taking the key and the nice souvenir sword won out and he moved toward the exit. This was encouraged by the increasingly distressed calls coming from the archway. It wouldn’t be long now.
Quickly he made his way up the small flight of stairs and into the main hall to see crowds of people heading for the front entrance. He did a fast scan of the masses to see if he recognized any faces and seeing no one he knew, he instead began heading for a stairway that led down another level. Once on the floor he wanted, he ducked behind some shelving to let a couple of panicked employees run past. Making sure the coast was clear, he moved over across the space to a door marked “Maintenance.” He grasped onto the handle and gave it a twist. Luckily for him, it was unlocked. He poked his head in to see if there was anything he could find useful and his eyes gravitated toward a jug of ethyl alcohol. There were also a lot of building controls in there as well. He eyed one that stood out: the water mains and a back up for the sprinkler system. He rushed over and immediately flipped the switches for both systems off. He didn’t want his plan getting literally rained on. Satisfied that would be enough for what he needed, he went on.
He grabbed the jug and a rag and left the maintenance room and darted down the dark concrete floor toward another room—the security office. He passed several areas where items that weren’t ready to be put on public display were kept. Normally it’d be interesting stuff but not now. As he got close to the office, he could hear shouting from down the way. He’d have to be quick. Not only did he not want to get caught but he also didn’t know how badly compromised this place was. It’d all be pointless if he destroyed the video evidence and then got trapped in the office by a ravenous group of semi-rotted skeleton creatures from the blackness. He stopped just outside the door and listened. The door was cracked open and the room itself was still and silent. The man stationed there having rushed out to help evacuate visitors. Silently, the blonde boy slipped into the room and beheld the security feeds. Things were bad, but they were only going to get worse from what he could see.
He wasn’t going to dawdle. He quickly set to work smashing the computer servers and then he set the jug down and pulled out his lighter. By a stroke of luck, several boxes of papers had been stored in here in a back corner. He gave a little smirk as he poured the ethyl alcohol over them and then, lit a crumpled paper and tossed it onto them. The caught instantly and he made his way over making sure the spread some of the flammable fluid over the main security desk and finally, he stuffed the well-soaked rag into a space between parts of the servers and doused them in it too before carefully lighting the rag. With a sizeable fire now started in the security office, Édouard carefully looked out the doorway. No one was in sight so he began to step out. When he did, he saw something and an impulse took over him. Black steel piping that ran along the wall opposite the security room. There were labels but he had a good idea what this was. He moved about ten feet down from the burning office and grabbed the pipe near a juncture where two pieces were fitted together and pulled the one end free, ripping it out of its connector. There was an immediate blast of foul smelling air—this wasn’t just any pipe. This was a gas line.
Édouard turned and ran up the stairs back to the main lobby but there were too many people for him to get to the doors. So, instead he’d go the opposite way everyone was running. He wasn’t sure how long it would take for the gas to reach the fire, but when it did you’d be able to fit the contents of the security office and probably much of the basement in a coffee cup. True, it would cause damage on the ground floor as well, but it wasn’t the main so the explosion that resulted shouldn’t be large enough to kill that many people. In fact, if luck was truly with him, the office and that part of the basement were under staff areas on the main floor and they’d all be out trying to evacuate anyway. Plus with the other issue at hand, casualties were going to be inevitable anyway.
Édouard finally could see the entrance to the sensory exhibit. There was quite the commotion in there and he quickly judged by the stale coldness he sensed that indeed, there were unfriendly characters on the attack inside. Perhaps that wasn’t the way to go. After all it had one way in and one way out. He wanted some place with an ease of escape. The idea struck him that perhaps he should try to make his way up to the roof. After all, he didn’t need to worry about jumping and hurting himself. As he was making his way onto the floor looking for some easy way further up, a panicked girl came stumbling out of the exhibit and running toward him. Her face wore the unmistakable expression of deep, primal, fear; the kind of fear that awakens only when one is in mortal danger and being driven by self-preservation. She had seen terrible things in that room. He watched as she blew past him and began running for the main entrance. Clearly, the exhibit was not where Édouard wanted to be. But as he was about to return his focus to escape, he heard foul, dark, whispering. From vents and seams in the floor and the walls of the exhibit it slowly seeped and oozed out, pooling into ever-expanding puddles of inky, oily, malevolent, fluid. It would only be moments before it was large enough for the corpses of the damned to come rising out of it.
Damnit! Why could she never, ever catch him unaware?! It was so damn infuriating! Aella couldn't help but growl softly under her breath, not because she was actually mad- it was pitched higher than actual anger. Play mad, pretend frustrated with maybe just a pinch of real frustration lingering in there. Now she was going to make him feel guilty, maybe he'd give her a free shot. Plush lips puffed out into a sultry pout and she batted her lashes up at him, rubbing the part of her wrist he had grabbed out of reflex. Was she hurt? Nope, not even close, but she was going to milk it to see if maybe he'd give her a free sho- Something was happening.
Zen was no longer focused on her, which was unusual. As a boyfriend, he was great at giving her as much undivided attention as she could possibly want so seeing him divert so much was a sure tell that he was worried about something. And then the screams happened. Her head was mid-turn, body twisting to look behind her at what the commotion was about. What she didn't expect to see were more of those undead monsters Ash had summoned before they managed to purge his curse. Hadn't that been taken care of? Aella was pretty sure the BoM had contained and purified the problem- that what she read anyway. Her memory went blank shortly after she was hurled through the sky like a football. Still, even if that wasn't the case, why was it happening here?! Ash wasn't around so she could think of any good reason this would be happening.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any time to puzzle out the why. Zen was already in action, punching the undead in the face to save a little girl. Of course she didn't disapprove of him saving the kid, but did he have to use his fist?! Then again, Aella realized most people wouldn't understand the corrosive spread. His skin wouldn't be just charred but infected in a way that would slowly rot away at him like some flesh eating bacteria.
Dear God or Merlin or whomever, please let this work... She thought as she reached for his wrist and yanked it toward her. Aella wasn't the praying time, but desperate times and all that. If there were a piece of wood, she'd likely knock on that too just in case there actually was a tree spirit in there that could help her out. With a deep breath, she exhaled slowly over his hand. This was how it happened that one time, well it was more like a kiss, but she was too scared to actually try and kiss the necrotic spread in case it got on her fa- it was actually working. Her eyes took on a soft glow as well as her breath- only she wasn't actually breathing anymore. A golden, mist-like substance flowed from her mouth but it didn't travel with air since she was no longer breathing. The light crashed against the raw, rotting flesh and purified the spreading infection, counteracting the decay and rot by using her lifeforce as a cure. Unfortunately not healing it. As it was explained to her, this wasn't something she wanted to do en-mass. Life force was a finite thing, unlike holy magic and other forms of purification, but Zen was worth it and she needed him to keep his hand.
"I'll do my best, but try not to touch them directly." She said as one attempted to grab at them, forcing Aella to jump closer to Zen. Speaking of which: they needed to get the ******** out. Aella began to tug on him, trying to incentivize him to run to the door with her. "The portals will keep spreading and I don't want to get trapped in here!"
She shouted as they ran, her voice urgent as they passed into a dark room lit by black light. This was the area they stowed their shoes in before they entered the sensory room. No time to stop though, she didn't stop dragging Zen until after they exited the exhibit.
"Okay, what's the plan?" She asked, eyes darting around at the chaos unfolding around them. Blackness was starting to ooze from the vents. <********." She tugged on his shirt, pointing to one. "That's going to open more portals." But that wasn't the only problem! As if undead weren't enough! A huge boom rocked the building from below. Aella lost her footing and fell to her side, one arm raising to shield herself from the chunks of plaster that began falling from the ceiling. The fire Ed started had met with the gas line he ripped open in a volatile way that collapsed the main floor all the way down the entire tunnel beneath it. Now a huge trench cut off those on the back and sides of the museum from the front entrance- which had been the main escape route.
Where: Outside of the Sensory Display With: Zen Doing: trying not to die Wearing:cute white summer clothes sans shoes
Do not fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums and parks and monuments and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people.
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2023 8:40 am
“What a mess.”
The dust settling from the explosion fell upon a dark clothed figure walking into the sensory exhibit. With hands in his pockets and a look of general indifference, Shingen Madea looked about the collapsed area before him. A rock candy stick stuck out from one side of his mouth while he spoke through the other. The gift shop didn’t have his favorite flavor so he had to go with blackberry. Walking up to the edge of the trench that now lay before him, he bent down to try and peer into the now flooded artifact exhibit. He wondered if the guy running the opposite way of everyone else had anything to do with all of this and if he had come in with that sword he was carrying around. He’d seen weirder things. It was a crazy magical world after all.
Shingen could barely see into the exhibit below but it was apparent that they were dealing with a plague of a sentience that continued to spread. Biting down on the last of the black rock candy, Shingen pulled his hands out from his pockets, he threw them forward, one over the other in the shape of a cage. Suddenly, a blueish, glasslike box of magic appeared. It took up as much of the artifact exhibit as it could and rose as high as the sensory exhibit’s floor as to be able to cross the chasm before him. He needed to contain the creature until all victims and bystanders could be pulled away although he risked trapping them inside his containment barrier as well. The undead had been toppled by the blast but were now rising to their feet once more and so he had to be quick, he wasn’t sure that there were other hostiles in the area.
With the sound of alarms and screams in the area, Shingen had to raise his voice, “Is there anybody down here?!” He shouted, knowing there were casualties. He continued to scan the area, noticing a few bodies that had been entirely engulfed in the accursed substance or ripped apart. The shambling of the ghouls nearby might indicate if there were any survivors but he didn’t wait much longer to act. Releasing his hands from the cage sign, he began to swipe away in the air in front of him in the direction of each walking corpse. Each hand formed into ‘guns’ with two fingers as barrels, ‘firing’ upon the cursed creatures. Blue boxes surrounded each one that he pointed to, matching the same material as the large one around them. Once he could find the source of the outbreak, he could put an end to the carnage but for now, all he could do was contain the spread.
When Shingen was done, the box barriers suddenly shrunk into nothing, with exception to the large one, crushing whatever was in them. He played with the small bamboo stick in his mouth as if it was a toothpick, keeping his mouth busy as he worked. Kneeling down to the large box below he placed his hand on it. He would give it just a moment longer to give anyone else below a chance to escape what was coming but not a moment more. Here I thought I was going to have an easy day. And what good is a body guard if you can’t guard anyone? He thought regarding the other BoM asset that had been assigned to the school.
Location: Museum>Sensory Exhibit With: Aella, Ed, Zen Outfit:Plain Clothes
Location:Oustide exhibit With: Mood:Tense Condition:Dusty Current Outfit:Outift
The explosion had packed a bigger punch than he’d anticipated. One moment he was standing there contemplating his next actions as the black substance oozed out in front of him, the next he on the floor covered in dust and chunks of ceiling material that had shaken loose. Rising to his feet he began to brush himself off and glanced around. He couldn’t see much of the collapse itself because it was still too heavy a haze obscuring it. It was then he noticed someone moving toward the entrance to the exhibit. Édouard didn’t recognize him but he seemed far too relaxed to be a normal visitor.
Then his eyes dropped to the familiar figure of Aella covered in plaster and dust. He didn’t see any sign of her companion. Noting those two, he let his vision wander to the areas he’d seen black goo just moments before. The vent was now covered with debris as was the soupy pool that’d been growing from it. If nothing else that bought a little time. He glanced back at the others and saw the unfamiliar man who appeared to be swiping at the air with his hands. He couldn’t see much of what this fellow was doing for where he stood but he assumed it was some sort of magic and if the man was trying to stem the tide of undead, he’d leave this Good Samaritan to it.
Édouard turned away from the exhibit intent on doubling back only to realize just a few feet in front of him, the floor was gone. Of course he immediately knew what had happened. He walked over to the edge and peered down. There wasn’t much to see but the murky forms of the building material that had fallen inward. Still he let his blue eyes slowly scan what he could make out from the smoke and ruin. For a few moments all he saw were chunks of stone but something caught his attention that didn’t seem to belong; a smattering of color he assumed to be clothing. Glancing around, he swiftly hopped down into the collapse and with little effort made a feather-soft landing on a large broken slab of floor. He couldn’t help but smirk a little. Had this been before that island training trip, a jump down into this pit was a guaranteed broken ankle—not something you’d want with the undead about.
He made his way over the uneven debris pile, doing his best not to injure himself as he came closer to the spot in question. At last he saw a sliver of brightness and desiring a better look; he grabbed a chunk of stone and rolled it aside. A small arm listlessly flopped into view. He couldn’t help but recoil from the sight. Small little tendrils of blood snaked their way down to a point where gravity took over and tiny red droplets fell onto the jagged rubble below. There wasn’t any need to see more. This was a child—a dead child. He let his eyes drift up along the trench as far as he could and then slowly he turned the other way to see where it began just beyond him. It would have followed the underground passageway he used to get to the security room and that meant part of the main lobby would have given way as well.
He went back to looking at the arm. There were still a lot of people trying to get out that way. Who knew the exact number? The explosion (his explosion) had been more powerful than he’d thought and now there was collateral. He took a step back and felt his hand trembling. The heat had left him as if it’d seeped out through the soles of his shoes. What he’d done was far more serious than simple theft and some arson. Still, did it really bother him? The shock of seeing the arm was naturally going to cause a reaction but deep down, he was already mounting a comeback against the natural instinct of revulsion at what he’d done. No one knew he was behind this. This would be chalked up to whatever was happening with the undead and whatever that thing was in the other exhibit. Besides…he’d knocked that one guard out knowing full well he was leaving that man to die a horrible death.
If he really wanted to split hairs over fault and blame it really fell on the museum administration for housing whatever the hell that was. And then hands of judgment could fall on ATIN Corp for clearly substandard devices. Finally, the BoM oversaw protecting people from magical entities and whatever was making the black goo was certainly not from the non-magical realm of things. Why hadn’t they kept closer tabs on the thing in the glass case? He let out a soft sigh looked up and to his left. There was no real point in staying down there especially when he had no idea when and where the ghouls would show up next.
He had intended to simply leave the trench but he heard voices now. He didn’t want to defy gravity with any witnesses around. The guy making finger guns or some random tourist was one thing, but if he just up and left and Aella saw him leaving her behind and she managed to survive, he’d never hear the end of it. So he scaled the side the best he could and pulled himself up out of the collapse and onto the main floor. Though he couldn’t help but look back at it. He knew being distracted by something he couldn’t do anything about was dangerous so he decided to be a good classmate and go over to check on Aella and see if anyone else from the school had been in the exhibit when everything went bad.
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:58 am
tab ❧ I'm the violence in the pouring rain.
Thunk A large white chunk crashed atop of her, cracking in half as it hit her raised arm and split from the impact. Because it was plaster, she was relatively uninjured with only the promise of a few bruises along the sharp edge of her ulna. She prayed nothing heavier would fall as she kept her eyes shut tight, protecting them from the dusty powder that showered down from the ceiling and to her luck, nothing did. Once the shaking stopped from the explosion, thick dark lashes cracked open to peer out at the wreckege and recalibrate what to do next. Everything on her seemed to be intact so that was good. Other than a dull ache in her forearm, she was more or less fine. Urgency dictated she get moving as she didn't know when the undead would catch up to them or if another explosion would occur, so she shot to her feet, and began shaking herself off. White powder covered her nearly from head to toe and a few larger pieces of drywall were tangled into her loose curls.
"Do you think that was the-" She began but the words turned to ash in her mouth when she realized she was alone. "Zen?" Aella called. "Zen?!" She spun in a circle, looking for the one horned golem and coming up with nothing. His teleportation wasn't working in the museum due to their internal security or whatever so he couldn't have gone anywhere, but even if he could- he wouldn't have left her. Which meant... he'd fallen into the trench when the floor collapsed. Aella rushed to the side of the chasm then, fingers curled around the the raw edges of the trench echoing the raw edges of her emotions as she stared down into the wreckage. She couldn't see any sign of him in the collapsed maintenance tunnel. The weight of worry settled heavily on her chest, mingling with the chaos and panic that surrounded them. Her eyes, wide with fear, locked onto the chasm where he had vanished.
The scene before her was like a painting of despair, a canvas splashed with the chaos of falling debris, shattered concrete, and the ever-spreading blackness that threatened to engulf everything. Ed was too far down on the other side of the tunnel for her to notice at the moment, as she had a singular thought pressing into the forefront of her mind. Stormy irises flickered rapidly through the collapsed flooring and her breath caught in her throat, hands clenched into fists at her sides, knuckles white against the backdrop of chaos. She needed to rush forward, follow him into the trench, dig him out, and pull him back to safety. "Zen!!!" Aella shouted, hoping she could see something shift or hear him call back to her, but everything beneath her in the hole was still and there was too much chaos filling the building to hear any muffled responses.
The arrival of the BoM went completely over her head. Shingen would find his boxes did the trick for now, but he could feel the curse pushing against his magic barriers, slowly eroding them from the inside. It would be a difficult task to maintain his concentration on the boxes whilst trying to evacuate people, but he should be able to hold it back single handedly long enough for backup to arrive. The more pressing issue was the hole in the ground now. With the main route to freedom cut off, he was going to have to figure out how to direct people through other, smaller doors leading to the outside. Additionally, his containment boxes could only catch so much. Because the inky substance was already in the duct system, it was impossible for him to seal off every vent unseen from simply standing in the main doorway. No doubt the viscous substance would be pouring into rooms unseen be his eyes. For now he would see the open chasm taking up half of the main hall, dividing him from the people he needed to rescue- including a girl shouting down into the wreckage far off to his left.
By the time Ed approached Aella, she had turned herself around and was trying to hand herself over the ledge backward. The goal was to dangle and then drop down but she couldn't find anything that would anchor her well enough to ease herself into the hole. Other than the pieces of crap littering the floor, it was perfectly smooth with no ridges to dig her fingertips into, which is why seeing Ed shoes come up on her in her peripherals was perfect. She didn't recognize them right away so her gaze followed his legs up to his face before familiarity struck. "Ed!" Aella exclaimed, actually happy to see him for once. She waved him toward her. "Quick, lower me down!"
Where: main hall With: Ed Doing: trying to get in the trench Wearing:cute white summer clothes sans shoes
Do not fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums and parks and monuments and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people.
The larger part of the curse had been contained but it only slowed it’s spread as it’s furthest tendrils had already spread into the building’s ventilation system and seeped through. He could see some of the vents bleeding the accursed substance nearby. Shingen could feel the acid-like properties eroding the walls of his barrier as well, forcing him to constantly focus on reinforcing it. Whatever curse had been released was quite potent and the fact that it found nooks and crannies to fill made it much worse to wipe out all together. Damn. It’s everywhere. I’ll never clear this thing out with everyone trapped in here.
Quickly looking around, he noticed a girl nearby. Off to his left, she was frantically calling out to someone who had likely fallen into the hole below. Shingen figured that there were casualties down below and could not risk closing his barriers in on them just to destroy what goo he had contained. Standing just over the girl was the blonde guy he saw earlier. If he had any ill intention, it certainly didn’t seem like it now as he appeared to want to help. “Hey! Get her out of here! I’m going down there to look for survivors!” Shingen shouted.
Shingen looked to his left and to his right and suddenly stood to his feet, simultaneously throwing his hands out to the side. Blue rectangular prisms appeared in the walls to the left and to the right. Then, Shingen drew his hands in and the prisms shrank to nothing, leaving behind holes in the building that let out to the outside. He shot both palms forward next, doing the same all the way through the back of the building. The makeshift hallways were approximately three persons wide and a person tall, allowing for larger traffic to evacuate.
Wiping sweat from his brow he turned back to the two from before. He didn’t see anyone else calling out to anyone and leaned over the edge, looking to the pair. ”Zen, right?” He said before he fell into the chasm. Just as he was about to hit his barrier, he swiped his hand upwards and ‘sliced’ an opening that let him slip right through before it closed up behind him again. Black shoes met with an angular blue plane, tilted enough to let Shingen slide all the way to the floor below. Dust and debris met him below, although he knew he was now caged in with the worst of the curse.
Location: Museum>Sensory Exhibit>Ruins of Artifact Exhibit With: Aella, Ed, Zen Outfit:Plain Clothes
OOC:
Anika Nyame
Artan Zuill
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:30 pm
______________________________
Location:Oustide exhibit With: Mood:Tense Condition:Dusty Current Outfit:Outift
By the time Édouard had come to a stop, Aella was trying to drop over the side into the collapsed section of the exhibit similar to how he had a few moments prior. That was not a wise move to make as there wasn’t any way for her to get down without a pretty harsh drop and a hard landing on jagged and uneven rubble. She’d destroy and ankle for sure. Just then she looked up to see him. A little spark of excitement seemed to ignite in her eyes. She asked him to lower her down into the darkness below. He let his eyes drift past her toward the trench a moment before returning his attention to her.There was no time for him to answer her one way or another; in fact his mouth had only barely opened to reply when someone rushed up, dust covered and bleeding, pointing toward the figure making new exits in the walls.
He turned his gaze toward Shingen about the same time the man turned his attention their way. Édouard raised an eyebrow as the man who’d been making finger guns told him to do the sensible thing and pull Aella up onto her feet again so they could leave. The otherwise unassuming figure asked the name of the person she was looking for, that Zen guy. With that, down he went and into the ruins of the first floor he disappeared in the dust still loitering in the air. He’d have been lying if he said this guy’s little box finger trick didn’t impress him. That was certainly one way of getting down without injury. He then looked back at Aella. That tiny flame of hope was still there but the air of desperation was hard to ignore. Clearly she wanted to go down there too and find her man. But that was far from prudent. He crouched down so he was closer to face level with her but still above her. He adjusted the sword and sheath he’d haphazardly stuck in his belt to be a bit more comfortable and then reached his hand toward her.
“This is no place to stick around.” He said, hoping but somehow doubting she’d do the reasonable thing. He heard movement and saw the injured man shuffling toward one of the new hallways. “See?” He said nodding that way, “There’s a way out.” His sunglasses, though there was some dust on them, reflected her face back at her surrounded by a distorted darkness not unlike the ruination below her. He thought a little more prompting was in order so he took a deep breath and gave her a forced sympathetic smile. “Look,” he began “If your friend is alive down there, he won’t be all that happy that you put yourself in more danger when there was a path to safety available. We don’t know when those things will start to show up again or if there’ll be another explosion. Who knows what that blast did to the foundations of this place? The entire museum could be minutes away from coming down on top of us. We need to leave, Aella.”He had little confidence that he’d overpower her will to somehow get down and start digging through chunks of stone with her bare hands but at least no one could say he didn’t try that approach.
He gave a little snort and looked around him. “You'll only be a hazard and just get in the way of rescue efforts in that mess...But if you’re dead set on going down there, I won’t stop you.” He would tell her going down into the trench was a stupid idea; after all, it was Édouard. If he wasn’t doing something to rain on her parade and spill her milk to some extent he wasn’t doing his job. But at the end of the day he’d gotten what he came for and then some. Once he figured out if his two companions were alive, he could return to Rengoku none the worse for wear. He wasn’t going to risk all of that trying to drag a distraught Aella with him. As he was crouched there, through all the background noise he could pick out faint cracking and crumbling noises. It only reinforced his assertion that the building was now unstable. “The explosion was too strong.”he muttered to himself look up toward the ceiling hoping not to see signs of damage. Thankfully he didn’t. But how long was he going to wait if Aella dug her heels in?
One would think that Ed could make himself useful for once. Well, perhaps useful wasn't the correct term. There had been several times in the past when she encountered him and he'd been useful, however most of the time he chose to make the general situation harder for her. The only time he hadn't done so was when his own neck was on the line. That time, he'd been super helpful. Seeing as how chaos was abound, Aella thought that maybe, just once, he'd do something for her- something she wanted him to do. But no. No he just had to make things more difficult for her.
"Yeah but-" Aaaand the guy was gone to do BoM things. And Ed was trying to talk her out of it now. Just ******** great.
Of course he'd listen to some random stranger than acquiesce to her request. Sure, the guy was BoM which was more or less a police officer, but it wasn't like her request was against the law or anything! And he sure as hell wasn't giving her pushback because he cared. Sure, they were friendly, but Aella had no illusions that he would be cracked up if something back were to happen to her. If anything, he'd probably sigh, comment on how it was too bad, and continue on reading the newspaper or whatever he liked to do for fun. She assumed most of his hobbies were on that same level of boring.
Shattered irises blazed with an intense, fiery resolve, locked onto the locked onto the icy blue of Ed's hiding behind his shades. She couldn't see them, but she knew were there as unfeeling and chilling as ever. Unfortunately for him, Édouard's attempts to reason with her fell on deaf ears, and she remained steadfast in her quest. The turmoil of the chaotic scene around her faded into the background as Aella's unwavering determination eclipsed all rationality. "Good." Was the response he got after giving her the spiel.
"So can you help me down, since you're here and all?" Honestly, the time it took him to try and warn her off, she could have been down there already. That BoM agent might actually find Zen, but if he did, would he bother to rescue him once he realized he was a golem? Golem's were generally considered property, artificial creatures without a soul, basically a robot. Would the agent really risk himself upon realizing what Zen was? And if so, what if he was identified as Blood Echo? Zen hadn't gone into much detail, but she knew he'd been a mercenary or an assassin or something and was possibly wanted but that was all behind him now. He'd made a new life for himself, he suppressed the cursed blade. If the officer recognized him, Zen would be going right out of the hot pan and into the fryer.
No, she needed to get to him first. If Ed refused to help her, Aella was willing to risk the harsh descent into the collapsed exhibit, fully aware that it could result in injury. Her legs and stomach would get scraped up from sliding over the rough edge of the broken floor and her landing would be nasty, but nothing else mattered in this moment; all that existed for her was the overwhelming desire to find Zen and ensure his safety and she was decently confident she would break anything. Probably.
Where: main hall With: Ed and Shingen Doing: trying to get in the trench Wearing:cute white summer clothes sans shoes
Do not fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums and parks and monuments and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people.
The interior of the main lobby didn’t offer much respite from the outside chill, seeing as the open doors invited the cold inside as if it were a familiar friend. That being said, Zenith intended to stay attached to Aella, adjusted the way he held her depending on the direction she chose to lead him in. And, while he was scanning the room himself, he also was quite aware of the way Aella took in the sights of the museum lobby area…catching her distaste for the draconic skeleton that hung in decoration above them. The golem offered the girl a gentle squeeze and no words…a small gesture of security…to remind her that he was in his arms. But,as she navigated towards the brochure shelf, the ex-mercenary couldn’t help but hide a severe look toward the dragon bones. No court of dragons were safe if it came between Aella’s freedom, and Zenith would ensure that his gluttonous blade would be held with the utmost conviction until every lizard that wanted to put her in a cage was cut down.
