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 Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:39 pm
Sailor YmirSomeone called his name. Tyr!
Ymir turned toward the river, where he thought the voice had come from. He saw nothing but the rushing water and the fallen trees.
His head hurt.
Slim fingers touched the side of his face. A hand cradled his cheek. His mother guided him back around, so he could look upon her again. Her eyes were full of concern. She touched his hair, tucked a lock of it behind his ear.
“Tyr,” she said. Perhaps it was her voice he’d heard. “You know it’s true. That man has deceived you.”
“No,” he said, but his voice sounded weak to his own ears.
“Darling. My poor boy. You’ve been so alone.”
She pulled him close, brought his head to her shoulder like she would when he was young. Ymir could smell her perfume.
He was alone. On Ymir, with the Council deciding his fate, with Uncle in control of every aspect of his life. Here, on a world he didn’t know, surrounded by people he didn’t care for. Except one. Eld was all he knew. Eld was all that remained of the past.
Everyone else was dead.
“You know he wants Ymir,” his mother said. “That’s always been his goal. Conquest. Domination. It’s the only thing he knows. He only cares for what you can give him.”
Ymir shook his head until it throbbed with pain. His vision swam, blurring his mother’s face when he rose to confront her.
“That’s not true,” he argued. “Mother, it wasn’t him that poisoned you. It was the Council. Uncle, he—”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she cut him off. Her smile grew tense, sitting awkward upon her face. “What reason would my own brother have to poison me? Your uncle has cared for you your whole life.”
“No, he—”
Tyr!
Ymir turned toward the river again. He knew it wasn’t his mother’s voice this time. It was distant, but familiar. Muddled, almost. Ymir shook his head again, then blinked. Everything seemed murky, distorted. His mother was here, she felt real, but she couldn’t be…
He shook her off and rose to his feet.
“Tyr!” she called to him. “Darling, what are you doing?”
Ymir stumbled to the river bank. He heard the rushing water, the wind, the rolling thunder. He heard the voice again, but saw no sign of its owner. Where was Eld? Where had Oberon and Perdita gone? What was happening?
A hand grabbed his arm. Ymir whirled around. He had an apology on the tip of his tongue, expecting to see his mother.
It was his uncle instead.
“Don’t you dare,” his uncle seethed, shaking him, full of righteous fury.
Ymir acted on instinct. He summoned his magic and threw sleet into uncle’s face, straight into his eyes. Uncle roared and reared back. Ymir jerked himself away.
He fell to his knees at the river bank. He forced himself to focus, forced himself to see.
Was that a hand?
Desperately, Ymir reached for it.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 9:34 am
“You can handle it?” Oberon scoffed, throwing the rope down in anger.
“Because that’s all you can do. You can handle things, but you can’t actually do them. You know you’re not really my friend, right? I don’t even like you. I was hoping you’d get more attractive as you got older, but -- I mean seriously, haven’t you ever heard of a pushup bra? It’s fake, but at least there’s something!”
He snarled at her, looking her up and down like he was disgusted.
“You’re pathetic. Worse than your brother. I bet he would do more than just handle things.”
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 9:43 am
Eternal Sailor Oberon“The way she mourned every time you left your family to do a job you didn’t even have to do?” Oberon growled, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.
He loved his dad, but he would be lying if he said he hadn’t wished desperately to have more time with him. He barely saw him growing up. It was never enough. And the worst part of it was that Beau Gallo did not have to work.
“I don’t care what you have to say. I already know you loved your job more than your family, because why else weren’t you ever with us? You never really got to know me, so I don’t care if you think I’m a disappointment. Maybe I learned how to take care of myself and get things done by myself because I had to. So if you’re Chaos or a ghost, I don’t care. If my friends are really dead, then what’s the point of mourning now?”
He kicked hard at one of the logs in the water, and then dug his fingers into the branches to try and break it free. He had to find a way to open up the water flow.
Besides, Perdita could handle herself. She had strong legs and he had no doubt would be able to swim to shore -- hopefully by the time he got the dam loose, otherwise the rapids would be much more difficult to navigate. The other two had been alive for so long, he really hoped they had some survival skills.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:57 pm
Super Sailor PerditaPerdita almost took Oberon’s words to heart.
It was instinctive for her to hear something negative about herself and accept it as true. Sometimes it was, and when it wasn’t, she was rarely confident enough in herself to argue. It often wasn’t worth it, anyway. What would defending herself against people who didn’t even know her accomplish, except waste time?
But she knew Peter, and she realized, quite suddenly, that he would never say these things. Maybe he would be angry and frustrated. Maybe he could say something hurtful, if he felt the need. But attacking her appearance wasn’t an avenue he would take, because he didn’t care. Those weren’t observations he made. Those types of things weren’t what he looked for in a person. He’d never been so superficial.
Perdita spared a look around. She didn’t see any of the others. She didn’t know where they’d gone. She’d thought she’d landed near Oberon, but… maybe she hadn’t. Maybe in all the chaos she’d been trapped by Chaos. They’d been told this might happen. They’d been told the Chaos would try. They’d been warned what it might be like, though nothing could prepare them for it completely, not when the Chaos could look within their hearts.
In hers, it saw someone shy and self-conscious, someone who always put herself down, and it took the face of her best friend to do the same.
“Considering my brother texts me for dating advice, I think you see my love for him and overestimate his level of confidence,” she said.
Then she tested her theory by punching Oberon in the face.--------------------------------------- “You’re angry with me,” Empyrean observed.
He never sounded angry or disappointed in turn. He never even sounded as if Oberon’s comments hurt him. Everything he said was expected.
“I understand.”
Beau Gallo had been an absent father. A good man, surely — that much was obvious from Oberon’s love for him — but goodness and love didn’t make up for absence. Now he was gone, lost to a war he’d barely gotten a taste for, and Oberon mourned by pretending as if there was nothing to mourn, because for so much of his life, his father came and went, focused on duty more than family.
“You’re more capable than your brothers,” Empyrean said. “Wiser, I think. One made the mistake of following in my footsteps. The other has always been too compassionate for his own good. He would forgive me for anything. But you’ve always seen the truth. I may have tried to live my life with honor, perhaps I even did a good job of it, but my family has suffered as a result, and by the time I realized, I didn’t have the chance to make up for it, because I let my honor turn to arrogance. I thought I could guide a man who wasn’t even my son into becoming someone better.”
Empyrean continued to approach, but he was cautious in doing so, like he thought Oberon might lash out. When he was close enough, he placed a calming hand on Oberon’s shoulder.
“If it eases your pain to take your frustrations out on me, I won’t hold it against you.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:51 pm
The punch landed squarely in Oberon’s nose, and he immediately gasped and let out a shout of pain. A hand covered his face, but blood poured down his chin from the injury.
“What the <********> is wrong with you??” he spluttered, staggering backwards and curling in on himself. “This is why you don’t have any friends -- <********>, you broke my nose.”
He was pissed before, but he was pissed and in pain now. He didn’t do anything but take a few steps back and glare at her.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:56 pm
Eternal Sailor OberonOberon continued trying to work on untangling the logs from the flow of the river, but froze for a moment before shifting away when he felt the weight of his father’s hand on his shoulder.
“I don’t think my dad would condone that kind of violence,” Oberon growled at the older man -- the Chaos that took the form of his father.
It was a cruel trick, but he supposed he was lucky that he had the chance to see him again, even if it was just from his memories, or what the Chaos wanted to dig out of his heart.
He knew it was Chaos, but he couldn’t bring himself to hit him.
“I’d rather take my frustrations out on these logs,” he grumbled and went back to trying to force them apart. “Some truth I’ve seen,” he scoffed, because he knew there was so much he could do, and yet there was nothing he could do to stop the horrible things that happened.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2022 7:09 pm
Sailor Surtur”Ty--!” Surtur tried calling again. Whatever was pulling him, was holding onto him, dragging him under the water. He had to break free, had to keep his hold on the rocks. If he could only get Ymir’s attention.
He felt his grip slipping --
And then cool, thin fingers wrapped around his hand. He wrapped his own hand around their wrist, and coughed and gasped for air as he was pulled up.
Surtur felt relief wash over him when his eyes met Ymir’s, but knew they weren’t out of trouble yet. There was a man he thought he recognized. Someone related to Tyr. Someone who had caused him so much grief and heartache.
The moment Surtur was on his feet again, he didn’t care that he was still coughing up water. Instead, he launched himself at the man that was trying to get the sleet magic off of him. He didn’t hesitate in bringing his fist to the man’s face. He knew it was Chaos, but he didn’t care.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2022 7:11 pm
“I never said anything about violence,” Empyrean countered. “I merely said you’re allowed to take your frustrations out on me. Curse me, if you wish. Call me a bad father. You’re right. I should’ve been there for my family. I chose my career over you.”
He watched Oberon work at the logs, watched him loosen one, nearling pulling it free.
That wouldn’t do.
“But if violence is what you want…”
Empyrean grabbed the back of Oberon’s shirt, fisting the material in his hand. He yanked him backward, away from the river, dragging him over the dirt. Then he threw Oberon through the air, flung him away toward the trees, using a strength that seemed greater than that of a mere Page. Empyrean stood there calmly and listened for the crash and thud that would follow.--------------------------------------- Super Sailor PerditaLet him glare. It didn’t faze Perdita now.
She did feel a little bad for breaking his nose, though. But only because he looked so much like Oberon! And sounded like him, but… It couldn’t be him. Or maybe it could, and she’d only convinced herself otherwise to make herself feel better.
Perdita couldn’t be sure. She didn’t think it was him, but she had no proof other than that Oberon had never been quite so mean to her before, even when they were kids.
“The blood looks good on you,” she told him. “Very rugged.”
She turned from him to run back toward the riverbank. There were still trees that needed to be moved. Perdita fell to her knees, reached as far as she could without losing her balance, and grabbed part of one. The bark would’ve been rough against her palms without her gloves to protect them. She heaved back as hard as she could, attempting to pull it free. With the strength of a Super Senshi, she was stronger then she would have been as a mere girl.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:04 pm
The air was thick with humidity, and electricity, and chaos. But, for a brief moment, there was something more.
Order. Magic. Something powerful. Something familiar, something good. A light in the darkness, Ganymede’s Purification magic surged from the Core of his world and the shadows, all connected, carried the blast throughout the Hall.
The shadowy illusions hummed, and for a split second, light shined through. It flickered along the illusion, like fire burning a thread. For a split second, there was a clarity that hadn’t been there before, an understanding–
There was a reason they were here.
They were supposed to do something. Clear–something...
The illusion was quick to restore, but it wasn’t quite perfect. The shadowy walls between them thinned, and they could make out other forms beyond a thin, gray wall. It was like looking through a shroud; the forms were obscured, but they were there. And then, maybe there was something just a little off about their would-be companion–like looking in a mirror, or like they had a filter over them.
It didn’t matter how quickly the illusions resolved themselves–there was enough to plant at least a seed of doubt or confusion.
Ymir’s block of frozen water was pushing into the largest of the tree, nudging it, but it wouldn’t budge. The water was backing up; already the flood waters had spilled over the water’s edge and claimed a few more feet. It would be moments, at best, before the water reached the Hall–and with the East Wall as damaged as it was, it wasn’t going to be enough to hold. Shadows danced around the area almost as quickly as the skies did. The rain was falling in sheets, only adding to the build up of water. Thunder struck again as if recklessly trying to destroy whatever it could, or knock down more trees.
The shadowy hands were rigid and distorted; the fingers were too long and had too many knuckles. Whatever blast had shuddered through the shadows had rendered them immobile–for now.
Quote: Characters can use this opportunity to have a clarifying moment that allows them to break through the spell of Chaos! If you are playing your own chaos manifestation, it may turn into a mirrored reflection of itself, or may shift forms in front of you; if you have any questions or want to see if something works, please let me know! If you want to continue speaking to your Chaos character or engage it in more than one post, please let me know when you quote me and I will try to tag back as soon as possible instead of waiting for the next prompt! If your character has already broken out, they might be able to help others in their group but please make sure this works for them before posting! If your chaos manifestation is not destroyed by the post on the 16th (sometime after 8PM EST) the Chaos will be forcibly destroyed around you but you will have a prompt to unclog the river and restore natural water flow. If you defeat your Chaos before this prompt, you can attempt to do this now or you can try to reunite with the others!
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2022 9:14 pm
Sailor YmirFor a moment, Ymir wondered if it might be a trick, wondered if Surtur, after attacking Uncle, would turn on him, too. After all, Ymir had nothing to offer. Surtur had no need for him. He was a capable man being weighed down by a boy who hardly saw any reason for being alive.
But the illusion flickered. At the same time Surtur’s fist connected with Uncle’s face, something in the air changed. Uncle’s image distorted. Suddenly, Ymir could see Oberon by the trees, and Perdita along the riverbank. Surtur’s image never wavered. He was real. Ymir had saved him. The Chaos would not fool or distract them again.
It tried. The figure of his uncle shifted, shrinking, changing its coloring, until it was a dark haired child staring up at Surtur, wide eyed, cradling his own face with a small hand, cheek bruised from Surtur’s fist.
“Papa, why?” the child wept.
Meanwhile, a hand sank into Ymir’s hair and dragged him along the ground, through the mud, away from the river. Ymir cried out and looked up. There was Uncle again, eyes burning, face twisted with rage, but there was something insubstantial about his figure, as if he existed on some other plane and could not quite hold himself together on this one.
“You filthy whore,” Uncle sneered. “You’ve betrayed your own people. We should’ve had you executed, but I argued to spare your life. That was my mistake.”
Ymir stumbled in shock, then mustered his own rage and disgust. He fought. He thrashed wildly, striking Uncle with his fists, with a stray stone, with whatever branches and twigs he could get his hands on. He surged up onto his feet and clawed at Uncle’s eyes, tore at his face, punched where he could. Uncle seized him by the arms and shook him, then slapped him across the face.
It was a weak hit. Ymir fell anyway, away from his uncle’s hands, away was his snarl and his hatred. He struck out with a foot and kicked as hard as he could, knocking Uncle to the ground.
Then Ymir was up and running. He went back to the river, back to where he could see Perdita heaving one of the trees. His magic had a strange, unexpected effect before. Maybe it would again. Part of the water was still frozen, nudging the largest tree.
Ymir sloshed through the rising water. He put both hands to the current and lashed out with his magic, striking the tree with as much power as he could muster from his finicky reserves.Quote: Sailor Scout Attack: Strike A target of Ymir’s choosing will find themselves struck by a barrage of small pellets of sleet for 30 seconds. These pellets cause a stinging sensation, and can result in thin, paper-cut-like injuries if the player chooses. Any pellets that find their way into the eyes can cause discomfort and temporary impairment. This attack can be used 3 times. (NOTE: This is the last available use!)
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:03 pm
Eternal Sailor OberonOberon gasped as he was grabbed and thrown. He could feel the scrapes of the branches down his back, and groaned as he crumpled to a heap on the ground. He didn’t want to fight his dad. He didn’t want to take out his frustrations on him. He knew his dad was dead, and he knew he did his best. And even if he didn’t… Oberon really just wanted his dad back.
But it was Chaos that took him from them.
Shakily, Oberon pushed himself to his feet. He could see the shift in the Chaos as he felt the wave of what must have been Ganymede’s magic. He could see where Perdita was doing what she could at the riverbank -- could see himself with her. And he could see Ymir and Surtur handling their own chaos, however briefly.
“I don’t want violence,” Oberon said as he made his way back over to where Empyrean stood. “But you need to go.”
Like Alastor told him once before, maybe he should lead with his Eternal attack. He aimed it at the figure of his father. “See you, dad.”
He took no joy in watching the figure of his father be tortured under his attack until it turned into shadow and dissolved, but it was Chaos and needed to be dealt with. Quote: Eternal Sailor Attack: Spirit of AdventureLike with any good adventure, his targets finds themselves facing a danger they must overcome, and they are hit with a crippling rush of adrenaline, as if forced to face one’s greatest physical fear; jumping from an airplane, or facing a pack of hungry wolves, or being caught in a wave, unable to surface, about to be sucked into the vacuum of space, etc. Like in all dangerous situations, fight-or-flight kicks in, but the attack itself removes the ability to physically react to that response. The physical symptoms may be comparable to that of an anxiety attack for some; shortness of breath, increased heart rate, dizziness. Chills and sweating are experienced, as if having a high fever, and chest pain as though in cardiac arrest. Other symptoms are unique to each individual. There is no outward damage done by the attack, but those that experience it get to "survive" their worst fear, and are left weakened and psychologically drained. The attack itself builds up to its peak around 45 seconds and can be used on a single opponent within a twenty foot radius. It could be used twice if absolutely necessary, but is physically draining and only used as a last resort. _____________________________________________ Enraged, Oberon rushed after Perdita to attack her, to shove her in the water, to pull her back by her hair -- it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to be talked to like that by some dumb girl.
Except the real Oberon had a problem with that, and Oberon collided head first into the figure of himself, bringing him to the ground before it could reach Perdita.
“Keep going, Deets! You’ve got this!” he encouraged, and then punched the image of himself, furious for whatever reason Perdita thought it necessary to break his nose.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2022 8:52 pm
Something pure, something powerful surged through the area again.
At first, it was a wild blast of magic, strong and destructive.
The chaos in the air drew back significantly, like it was recoiling in pain. Stretched thin from the blast of Phantasia’s Court Magic at the West Gate, and battered already by Ymir, Surtur, Perdita, and Oberon, its hold at the Dam was weakening. The illusions faltered; the walls between everyone came down.
The chaos manifestations evaporated.
But it wasn’t just that the Chaos was losing its foothold, it was that they were getting a second wind. A Royal Senshi’s signature flared, and then Ida’s Royal Magic spread in all directions and gave every Order ally a boost of strength. They weren’t completely revitalized, but it helped restore some of the energy they’d lost.
It helped focus them.
As the Chaos manifestations lost form, it became crystal clear–they still had something they needed to do.
With the shadowy walls down, they could all see each other again. A little worse for wear, but alive. Thin tendrils of shadowy darkness writhed anxiously but it looked like it was torn between trying to slide past them or retreating.
The wind roared around them, and the clouds were darker than ever. The world around them was dim, and all of their lighting seemed to have lost much of its potency. The flames were nearly burned out, and the lights were flickering badly. The rain was coming down in sheets, as if there was still hope to wash Alastor’s allies away.
The shadowy hands were falling apart, like a burning sheet of paper turning to ashes and scattering in the wind. But, they were still there. Ymir’s magic hadn’t melted, and the water had risen severely–only, now it was almost to their advantage. The currents had picked up and the water was slamming against the blockade, and with Ymir’s new magic, the tree itself seemed to freeze over in the middle. It was cold and brittle, and the water he’d frozen earlier smashed again into it and snapped it in two. The frozen tree broke easily–and there were plenty of things still to hold onto to make sure they didn’t get swept away in the current. More water was flooding through the river–they just needed to destroy the shadowy hands and dislodge or destroy the rest of the debris to make sure the water stays away from them, and away from the Hall.
Quote: The chaos manifestations have been destroyed; if you are playing your own you can write out how you want them to disappear or assume they exploded in a burst of black shadows. A Court Attack has been unleashed on the battlefield and done heavy damage to a wave of shadows trying to breach the wall, and Ida’s Royal magic has given everyone an energy boost; due to the fluctuations of magic in the air, it can physically restore a character or restore some previously used magic. The closing prompt will be some time after 8PM EST on the 18th and will lead to an optional closing ORP!
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Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 5:06 pm
Super Sailor PerditaPerdita heaved until the log came loose. She let it fall to the riverbank. There were other trees still obstructing the water flow, but they’d made progress. When she looked, she saw that the Chaos figures had mostly gone. Chaos itself seemed to be retreating, almost. With every surge of magic that rent the air, Perdita felt her confidence rise.
She threw a smile at Oberon as the false figure of him dissolved beneath his fist.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
Ymir was there, too. And Surtur. None of them had been lost to the river, though they were drenched and covered in mud, and the storm around them had not eased.
Perdita put a foot against the discarded tree and braced it against the ground, wrapping her hands around a sizable branch and snapping it off. She used it for leverage, wedging it through gaps in the debris to dislodge as much as she could.
“We’ve almost got it!” she called to the others.
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Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:10 pm
Sailor SurturSomething was betraying the shadows. The image of his own child had him hesitating, his fist pausing. And he hated that he wasn’t strong enough to attack the Chaos that he knew was responsible for his family’s deaths.
He wrapped his hands around the small child’s neck instead, rage burning through him.
“How dare you,” he snarled at the form of his son, even as it broke his heart. But that was what Chaos did, and his heart had been shattered hundreds of times over.
And then, the form was gone. Whether it was from the assistance of the other magic in the air, or his own doing. He didn’t care. He watched the child fade, and he felt an emptiness inside of him as he stared at the shadows as they scattered into the wind and rain.
But Ymir needed help, and he pushed himself up so he could jump down into the water, ready to grab hold of Ymir and pull him back up once the logs began to give.
He didn’t have offensive magic like Ymir, but he at least had brute strength. Surtur kicked at the frozen logs, trying to force them apart, or break them like the other broke. And while he was at it, he punched the shadowy hands reaching up, keeping them out of the way as well.
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Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:13 pm
Eternal Sailor Oberon“Yeah, I’m okay,” Oberon answered when Perdia called to him. He wasn’t okay, but he hadn’t been okay for the past several months. Physically, he was relatively unharmed, other than the scrapes down his back, but he would worry about that later.
He gathered up the rope he’d had before, tied it in a quick loop and tossed it to Perdita.
“Put this around your waist. Then try to wedge yourself between the logs and use one as leverage for another. I’ll keep you from getting washed away,” he promised as he wrapped his end of the rope around his wrist.
If anyone had legs powerful enough to push the logs apart, it would be Perdita.
He wanted to ask if she was okay too, but knew they only had so much time before the river became unmanageable.
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