monstertruckers: (Default)
monstertruckers ([personal profile] monstertruckers) wrote in [community profile] memestertrucks2025-05-15 04:31 pm
Entry tags:

MAY TDM




Things are a little stranger than usual at the gas station and garage. Namely that gravity just isn't working as it should. Objects float, pieces of the floor float... Even unlucky new arrivals can also find themselves floating! It's going to be a challenge to get around without any scrapes or scratches... Though at least there's what looks like a hospital nearby? Granted, it's an upside down hospital, but it's better than nothing.

















01: SUMMONING CIRCLE


Drifters come to with an odd floating sensation hooked into their stomachs, and instead of laying on the concrete find themselves drifting a foot or two above the floor. An unfortunate few may be stuck on the ceiling. Whether they crash down hard into the floor (and the various vials, daggers, and broken glass scattered about) or remain floating in the air is a coin toss.

Still, it might be best to lend a hand with pulling them back to the ground, and hoping gravity will work as normal in another breath or two.

Once they make their way out, they can see a gas station and garage located in the midst of strange, floating rocks… And an upside down hospital close by, for those who had a rougher landing.

02: START UP
New arrivals will have a similar experience to before; a Convoy waiting for them, and a collection of vehicles, one of which feels like it belongs to them. The key to the vehicle may already be in the ignition, on the dashboard… It may have even been on their person, ever since they woke up in that garage. Either way, Drifters have the keys to the vehicle now.

…But there’s a few rough edges on these vehicles. Flat tires, cracked windows and mirrors, maybe some stuck doors and locks; all of them the sort of thing that requires two pairs of hands and supplies. The garage can take care of the (sometimes floating) supplies… Now it’s just a matter of finding some extra hands.

And hopefully no one's vehicle has decided to float. But one can never be sure in a place like this.

03: HUSKS AND HAUNTS
The inverted hospital seems to have trouble deciding the exact formation of its hallways, whether the new arrivals should be walking on the ceiling, floors, or walls. But one thing that is certain: this place isn’t entirely deserted. Warnings of “Beware the Husks” have been spray painted on the walls. Metallic bodies line those same halls, some of them broken open. A wet trail leads from the broken Husks to the rafters… Where several odd monsters wait to drop down. Some look like they’ve merged with the hospital equipment, while others look like they’ve been cobbled together from different body parts. And all of them look ready to turn the newcomers into a corpse, or part of a specimen collection.

Strange, malformed chimeric creatures that are Unknown stalk the hallways. Unknowns come in three different colors, red aligned with fire, green with poison, and purple with lightning.

Adding to that are the various screens flickering on, and diagnose new arrivals as infected. The screens declare the infection seems to be contained, but requires further study… And if the monsters aren't enough to worry about, there’s also the restraint systems trying to activate and tie the new arrivals down.
04: TESTING (CW: Needles)
The deeper someone plunges into the hospital, the more the building reacts to them. More defenses are deployed, treating them as thieves or intruders. Traps and monsters alike wait for them, with syringes melded into the forms of attackers, or lining places where someone might step or reach for. The syringes make a quick bite on skin… But it’s only a few minutes later where the effects become clear. Something in those syringes is now in the blood and forcing monster transformations. There might be an antidote amongst the supplies… Or the newcomers might need to rely on each other, in order to stay anchored.

The needles can also force temporary Swarm traits, along with:
+Group Mind: compelled to link thoughts with other Drifters, to share emotions, memories, and achieve cohesion.
+An increasing reliance on telepathy/empathy/etc in place of speech.
+Increasing collectivist mindset. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; this becomes more evident during high stress situations.
+Compelled to hunt and share their prey with others.
+Gravity Affinity: If possessing wings or the ability to wall climb, may freely hunt/traverse corrupted gravity areas.
05: LONG WAY DOWN
A portion of the gas station breaks away with groan and a rumble. And it is slowly pulled up and up, taking a portion of new comers with it! They (and anyone watching) will need to act fast, as gravity starts to go weird the further they rise. They’ll need to find a way back down, taking any supplies from the now-floating garage that they can grab.

What’s more, they are drifting closer to the broken moon, and that seems to be having a strange effect on those stranded on the new floating ruin. They may start to feel their control fray, and their forms shift, the higher they rise.

In terms of getting back down, there’s a handful of tow lines in the ruin that might work as ropes. There’s also a few pieces of rock that are floating up more slowly, and could work as stairs back down… Or there’s just jumping and falling fifty feet and hoping for the best.
06: PSYCHIC ECHOES
There's one last quirk to this area; a few scattered bits of odd plantlife, and the odd dead brain monster. While these things aren't a threat on their own (beyond being unnerving) they still pack a psychic punch; mainly in the form of temporary psychic abilities.

It's possible that after coming in contact with either plants or corpses, newcomers will find themselves gifted with either empathy (projecting or receiving emotions) telepathy, OR the ability to share their dreams with others, and having their dreams influenced by others in turn. This effect fades in just a day or so, but is still capable of causing mishaps.

MICRO ENCOUNTERS:

PLEASE NOTE! These are small bits of set dressing for players to include in threads if they wish, rather than full fledged prompts or events. You may handwave your exploration of these areas, or thread them out.

Broadcast: The garage contains a few burnt out monitors. But a handful of them are playing a message over and over again on loop, filled with static. It’s a recording of important looking people in lab coats advising people to remain indoors and avoiding all objects falling from the sky. Especially “moon shards.” They insist that they are working to contain and cure the infection, but the safest action is to remain inside.

Warped Air: As seen in Long Way Down, the air overhead has strange warped pockets in it. There seem to be slightly different shards hanging suspended in the air, looking more silvery than the surrounding rocks. Almost like it could have fallen from the broken moon overhead.

Medical supplies: Most of the medical supplies found in the hospital seem to consist of healing salves and potions, a handful of healing herbs, and a few antidotes for poison or sickness. As for reverting transformations… It’s advised that new comers be careful of taking any experimental medicine. It may revert a change. It may also leave them hallucinating nightmares and fears, and they’ll be wanting someone close by to help administer the drug.

NAVIGATION || RESERVES || APPLICATIONS













facethefacts: white is a bold color choice in the wasteland (Default)

Deacon | Fallout 4

[personal profile] facethefacts 2025-05-16 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
[Room with a view.]

Everything feels a bit upside-down.

It takes Deacon somewhere between ten seconds and three minutes (who can say) to realize that's because he is upside down. And only because he watches his own hair float away from him and bump off of a stranger before twirling back in his direction, unmarred and still perfectly swept into a pompadour. He scrunches his nose and reaches for it, fitting it back onto his bald head and then attempts to push himself off of the ceiling gracefully.

It's not a bad attempt, but gravity also isn't really working with him right now, so he won't be taking any critiques. He lands on his feet, but a floating shard of glass slices at his arm and he hisses, grabbing at it with his hand immediately.
"Every time I wear white." he mutters in frustration, immediately looking for something to use to dress the wound.


[Make yourself at home.]

"I feel very welcome, here." Deacon says blandly at the flashing images suggesting that he's infected, side-stepping what seems to be a malfunctioning restraint system. His eyebrows rise as he watches it reach for nothing and tangle in itself, then he nods a bit and wanders out to the hall from the medical room he'd just been scavenging.

An unknown creature shambles in his direction, and without hesitation he's aiming a wasteland-patented pipe gun in it's direction, firing a few shots as an appendage attempts sink its poison fangs into him. It coils back and he rushes down the hall, putting some distance between them while he reloads.

"Has that cozy 'feels like home' charm and everything."


[What could go wrong?]

She's seen better days.

Deacon can't explain why it's so important that he right-sides the old girl, but something tells him that she'll start right up for him when he does, and with the way this place is falling apart? He's going to need some serious wheels to get the hell out of here.

"I think we can get her back on her wheels with a chain if we hook it to the frame, I just need someone with a vehicle strong enough to pull it." he yells behind him to any fellow drifters within earshot. And if they're not, psychic echoes might carry the thought futher enough to get their attention.

"Trust me, I've done this before, it'll be fine." he continues, although his mind is distinctly projecting that he has not.
phantomshow: (or the rules they make)

ren amamiya } persona 5 royal } potential new kid

[personal profile] phantomshow 2025-05-16 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
husks & haunts b/w testing.

Whether you recruited him or he asked to join, there is now one (1) Ren Amamiya in your scavenging party, headed for the bizarro hospital. He doesn’t look like much - a quiet teenager with glasses and unkempt black hair in plain, unassuming clothes, no visible sign yet of any monster traits transforming his slim frame. At first glance, he likely seems laughably out of his element, a nerdy kid who should be in school with his nose in a book rather than tagging along to a monster-infested death trap.

Inside the hospital, however … he’s a different person entirely. He stealthily slinks around corners like a seasoned jewel thief, pocketing every useful supply he can carry and gracefully evading traps like an acrobat. When one of those hideous creatures comes into his sight … hoo boy, is he ever ready for a fight. Armed with a large bladed weapon he either found or made, Ren attacks with spinning jumps, slicing wildly, grinning like a maniac after the fight ends. If that’s not enough to fell the foe, Ren is joined by a giant, black-winged demonic figure wearing a top hat and wreathed in chains and blue flame, appearing after a summoning shout of ”Come, Arsène!” to dish out spells of incredible damage.

At some point, Ren does slip up - he’s not perfect, he’s still just a kid, and sometimes he gets a little cocky. A syringe sneaks up and sticks him - but it’s fine, he never expects to go into battle without taking some blows. Nothing about him physically changes, but mentally, he becomes a walking billboard.

dream: out of kindness (cw: blood, knives, death)


”This isn’t trivial!”

You find yourself standing in a room, crowded with large tables and benches to one side, a bar with five chairs on the other. Soft lighting tumbles out from underneath multi-colored domes of glass hung from the ceiling. Behind the bar, large glass jars full of coffee beans line the shelves of the wall. There is no music here, only heavy silence in the aftermath of the jingling bell over the door, the signal of a recent departure.

A figure stands in front of you: tan trench coat, red plaid scarf, black gloves. His face is featureless, impassive, like that of a mannequin, framed by soft brown hair. Behind him, through the glass-paned café door, you see snow gently falling onto the street, darkened in the night.

I will carve my own path for myself, the figure in front of you says, his voice warped beyond recognition, slicing through the silence. His tone is calm and even as he explains: I refuse to accept a reality concocted by someone else, stuck under their control for the rest of my days.

“But then, you’ll … “ Your throat is dry, tight, refusing to let you finish the sentence.

So what? the other person snaps. That’s the path I chose.

Your heart is a leaden weight in your chest as you raise your eyes to meet where his aren’t. “Are you sure?”

He nods. All you have to do is stick to your guns and challenge Maruki.

You fall silent. He makes it sound so easy, like making the choice to end his life is the same as deciding whether to make a cup of coffee.

Your silence angers him, and he takes a challenging step forward.

Are you really so spineless that you’d fold over some bullshit, trivial threat on my life? he demands to know, seething.

“This isn’t trivial!” you shout, head snapping up as enraged white heat shoots up your spine and collects at the base of your skull.

It IS! he insists, shouting back at you.

You shake your head. “Don’t oversimplify this,” you say, and it feels like begging, even without the please that goes unspoken.

Do you think I’d be happy with this? Being shown mercy now, of all times?

You again drop your gaze to the floor, and again say nothing.

I don’t want to be pitied - this isn’t something I’m debating with you!

You don’t answer. He never had a problem debating with you before. You want to leave, to walk out that door and start running and never stop. Let someone else take the lead and make decisions for a change. It’s not fucking fair that you have to be the one to break your own heart.

Your indecisiveness on the matter is essentially a betrayal of my wishes.

… He’s right. You know he’s right, and you know what you need to do. But knowing doesn’t stop it from making you feel like you’re being torn apart from the inside.

I want to hear you say it aloud … what do you intend to do?

He moves toward you, steps close in front of you, places both gloved hands on your shoulders. Those hands feel heavier than the weight of the entire world.

I won’t wait a moment longer, Ren. Answer me.

The heaviness of your heart shatters like glass. Some small part of you will never forgive yourself for this. That same part of you may never forgive him for making you choose this, either.

“We’re stopping Maruki,” you answer, calmly, and without warning, you jam a double-edged knife as big as your forearm into his chest. Blood seeps out around the blade, staining his coat as it spreads. You give the knife a hard twist and yank it free.

“I won’t fold,” you say, and this time, you shove the knife into the surface of what should be his face. It shatters like porcelain, and the figure before you falls to the floor in a heap at your feet.

“I won’t fold,” you repeat, and the knife drops to the floor with a loud clatter. You stare down at your hands, now covered in blood, and watch silently as the blood thickens, wraps tightly around each finger, and transforms into a pair of red leather gloves.

Outside, the snow continues to fall.


wild card? wild card.
[Want something else? Feel free to hit me up! PM or gothmoth @ plurk. Happy to do prose or brackets.]
warneverchanged: (3)

Nora/Sole Survivor | Fallout 4

[personal profile] warneverchanged 2025-05-16 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
Summoning Circle

[Nora had been working on scrapping parts of a pre war truck, shouting at her companion to hand her a tool before everything went black. Coming to, she felt like she was leaning on something, maybe her partner had propped her up. Opening her eyes, she soon realized she was staring at the floor.]

What the fu-- [And then she fell. Luckily missing the junk littering the floor. Groaning, she sat up, looking around the room she was in.

This wasn't the Red Rocket Station.]


Oh, what now?!

Start Up

[After getting her wits about her, Nora left the strange garage. Outside, she finds the convoy, with so many cars she hadn't seen since the war... most she hadn't seen outside a book. She walks over to one that catches her eye, going to check out what needed to be repaired. A tire, one of the doors was stuck, a few minor cosmetic things.

It looked like her pre war vehicle... but with a combustion engine. And the keys were in the door.]


Man, combustion engines went extinct for fission yeeeears ago. I can't tell if this is going to work or not...

Long Way Down

[There's a rumble while Nora is looking at the car, causing her to pull her head out of the mysterious engine and toward the garage again. To see a part of it floating upwards.]

Shit! [She runs over to try to grab one of the chains. She didn't know if they could pull it down, but she had to try. So, she turns to someone nearby.]

Get over here and help me!

[ooc: Hi! I'm waffling between wraith and an ice elemental for Nora based on FO4 lore. Also, feel free to throw me a wildcard curveball! I will also match prose or brackets... brackets was just easier for me tonight, lol.]
Edited 2025-05-16 01:44 (UTC)
warneverchanged: (12)

What could go wrong?

[personal profile] warneverchanged 2025-05-16 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
Deacon more than likely hears her footsteps before he can see Nora walk up... she's not trying to actually hide them. She pauses near the strangely shaped vehicle, looking it up and down before looking over at him.

"Deacon. What is that?"

[ooc:freaking weinermobile I am dead.]
maidhem: (scared)

Felicia | Fire Emblem Fates

[personal profile] maidhem 2025-05-16 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
3...2...1... Start!

[It was a small toy in the shape of a kunai that dangled off of the key and buttoned device that Felicia found in the pocket of her long, pink plaid coat that she pulled off of the rack in the depot, worried more about the frilly layers of her skirt and blouse being ruined than she was about the elements. Standing amid the wreckage of the stone fort that contained a multitude of rusted metal carriages, Felicia repeatedly pressed the buttons and followed the unnatural chirps that echoed throughout in sync. She didn't recognize where she was... But this wasn't the first time she had traveled through strange lands in search of Corrin.

Why should this be different?

It wasn't long before she found the source of the chirping-- a very cute, very pink cartridge with round glass plates on the front.]


Um... How do I get to it?

[she asked, tilting her head.

It was floating up against the ceiling.]


Free Falling

Uwauwauwa!!! We've got trouble!

[Strange realms weren't new to her. Flying wasn't entirely new, either, but fortresses that floated above the ground-- higher and higher-- were not something Felicia was well versed in. Clutching the hem of her coat in her hands, she leaped around the debris that started to float around them and looked around desperately for an exit.]

Flying like this isn't good, right? Ohhh, she scares me, but I wish Princess Hinoka were here!

wildcard

[Ooc: don't see a prompt you like? Make one up! Hmu on Plurk at [plurk.com profile] woodrift to plot!]
Edited 2025-05-16 01:58 (UTC)
androidvictoriam: (what in the goddamn)

what could go wrong, 2.0

[personal profile] androidvictoriam 2025-05-16 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
"...It's remarkable to have actual real-time evidence that you're lying."

It's drier sarcasm than most people can usually wring out of Danse, but if Deacon were 'most people'...well, that hypothetical is far enough from reality that Danse can't even really fathom it, and he has better things to do than try.

His truck would be ideal for this, and he's not really going to refuse just out of spite, but it feels fair and a bit cathartic to leave Deacon in suspense about that rather than jump immediately in with the offer. It would be more effective if his background thoughts weren't already projecting his logistical consideration about where to get the chain and how best to attach it.

"Are you sure you even want me to? If that thing were mine, I might just cut my losses and leave it."
cantgetoverit: (pic#17835509)

Maggie Rhee | The Walking Dead: Dead City

[personal profile] cantgetoverit 2025-05-16 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
1. Summoning Circle

[It doesn't hit her immediately upon waking that she is floating. The first thing that comes to Maggie's awareness as she begins to come around is that she is not at home. This ceiling is not the same ceiling she fell asleep staring at, and it's disconcerting enough that it takes a moment to register the absence of anything firm beneath her, and it's only when she tries to roll over to upright herself that it hits.

She's floating in midair. Only a couple of feet up, but enough that a sudden drop would mean an unpleasant landing.]


The hell!?

[It comes out as a startled yelp, and she claws at the air as though trying to find purchase to right herself again as she takes in her surroundings: the state of the dilapadated room, and broken glass and discarded vials lying about the floor. Her eyes land on a figure partway across the room, and without another clear option, she calls out to them.]

Hey - Hey, do you mind giving me a hand over here?

2. Husks and Haunts Pt 1

['Beware the Husks' says the writing on the wall. Maggie has no idea what a husk is exactly, but it seems like sound advice. Beware of everything seems fairly reasonable in this strange place that feels like something out of a twisted funhouse, except minus the fun. Sometimes the walls are the ceiling. Sometimes the ceiling is the floor, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, but sometimes the only way out is through and she's certainly not about to let the strange surroundings get to her.

She crouches down near one of the husks for a closer look, hunting knife in hand in case it moves, but the cracked-open shell of what she thinks was probably at some point a human being remains still.]


What is this...

[It's murmured mostly to herself as her gaze follows the slick trail that leads up to the rafters. Maggie freezes as movement catches her eye, and one of the creatures shifts, a tangle of too many limbs that looks like it was cobbled together by someone who only had the vaguest idea of what a person should look like.

Her eyes don't leave the creature as she rises slowly to her feet. Maybe, she hopes, she can just back away and it won't notice her. She is alone, she doesn't know how strong that thing is, and the occasional movement in the shadows of the rafters suggests there's a lot more than just one. There's a chance these are not great odds.

One cautious, slow step back, and then another, and just as she thinks maybe it hasn't seen her, the creature drops and lunges.]


3. Husks and Haunts Pt 2

[Flight is the better choice, she quickly learns. The monsters that were hanging from the ceiling are strong - not impossibly so - but strong enough that one against many makes for very poor odds, and while she doesn't take stock of exact numbers, there are enough for her to classify as 'many.'

The tangle of mismatched limbs is enough to slow down the creature that first dropped down from the ceiling as it chases after Maggie down the hall. She rounds a corner and hauls open a door to what looks like some kind of exam room and slips inside. If there's another drifter also seeking an escape from the monsters, she will hold the door open long enough to let them slip past her before slamming it shut and locking the deadbolt behind them.

She leans against the door with a sigh of relief, safe for now, it seems.]


We gotta block this door somehow.

[She trails off as her eyes are drawn to the flickering of the screens as they come to life.]

What...

4. Long Way Down

[There's some measure of comfort to be found in familiar things, and Maggie is very familiar with scavenging for supplies, so it's easy to throw her focus into searching the garage along with others for anything that might be useful on their journey.

The rumble catches her off guard, and for a brief moment, she thinks it's an earthquake with the way the ground pitches under her feet, throwing her off balance. It's only as the garage starts to rise into the air that she realizes it's something completely different.

She scrambles to the edge as the garage floats upwards, then quickly back again as she realizes how high up they're getting. Her breath catches in her throat, eyes widening at the distance to the ground.

Eyes up, Maggie, before you toss your cookies.

She can practically hear his voice in her head as a wave of dizziness threatens to overwhelm her, and she hates it. She takes another step back as she fights to steady her breathing before daring to take another peek over the edge to see if she can spot a way down.]
undyingcrow: (melancholy)

dream

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-16 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
The bell on the door rings. Foosteps approach. Akechi walks in, perfectly human, in his school uniform. In a dream, he need not bare talon and fangs, horn and barbs...

At least for now.

It was a brutal sight to see, certainly. No Hereward. No renewed conviction. Just murder.

Certainly not undeserved. Akechi nearly killed Ren. It's an eye for an eye. A fate well deserved...

But not his true fate.

So Akechi walks closer. "Really, Ren? You and I both know that's not what happened."
phantomshow: (so hold on tight)

[personal profile] phantomshow 2025-05-16 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
Ren looks up from his gloved hands wearing an expression of absolute anguish. It’s his dream, and he doesn’t need to be the calm, collected, poker-faced Ren of the waking world anymore.

“Wasn’t it?” He shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter if I killed you myself or just stood by and let you die, the result is the same. You’re dead and it’s my fault.”
undyingcrow: (irritated)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-16 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Ren, we already went over this." He's still moving closer, trying to keep his composure. Damn Ren's dreams for tormenting him like this. "I survived to February 4th. I didn't contact you, and that was entirely my mistake. You didn't kill me."
androidvictoriam: (little hidden smile)

start up

[personal profile] androidvictoriam 2025-05-16 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nothing is ever a coincidence around here. Whoever or whatever is responsible for abducting everyone here seems to think they're being clever about it, because when it rains for someone, it really pours.

Had Danse not already spent two months now trying and failing to pull rank on Angel for her own safety, and found himself being rescued from a haunted hospital's clutches by none other than Deacon a few hours ago, he might be shocked to hear another familiar voice. Now, it's easier to handle. ]


That's precisely what I said when I first arrived. It hasn't been a problem, though. It's just the principle of the thing.

[ He sounds...well, happier to see her than Danse ever sounds about anyone, honestly, even if that's a low bar to clear. He'll even smile a little--though not so wide as to make his wolf-like fangs visible yet; he's far too self-conscious about those with someone he actually knows. But then, she's already seen him in far worse and more humbling circumstances than what this place likes to inflict. ]

It's...good to see you again.
senateperor: (11)

Free Falling

[personal profile] senateperor 2025-05-16 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
It was curiosity that had led Palpatine to the ruined hospital, a burning desire to learn something about this place that had entrapped him, even though outwardly he was nothing but an unassuming older man who did not look like he could handle himself in a fight. But others were there he could rely on for protection, and he could recognize the building as a hospital, albeit one woefully beneath Core standards. But if there was a chance of finding anything, he had to take it.

And now the entire thing was rising into the sky and the Dark Lord of the Sith found himself trapped with a panicking servant. He keeps his anger and disgust in check, however, and assumes the role that he has become so used to playing.

"We don't appear to be rising too quickly." He notes, gazing out a window. "If we work briskly, I'm sure we can find a way down before the situation becomes untenable." Fortunately, his connection to the Dark Side still seems strong here; the Force has a presence? Now that is useful information he will promptly keep to himself, but it allows Palpatine to expand his senses outward, guiding him to an exit.

"...That way, I think." He points. "Let's hurry, my dear."
phantomshow: (when we were young)

[personal profile] phantomshow 2025-05-16 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
“It felt like I did.”

Ren stares down at his hands again, fingers spread out in front of him.

“For weeks, I had to choke on my regrets and pretend I was fine. I had to keep living in a world where you were gone, again.” He breathes out a laugh - bitter, truncated. “I had to fix the world for everyone else, but I couldn’t fix it for me.”

His fingers curl into fists, the fists drop to his sides, and Ren looks up at Akechi again, dark eyes dull with pain behind the mask of his glasses.

“You mean so much to me. Why can’t you care about that, even a little bit?”
undyingcrow: (shock)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-16 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
Akechi's eyes draw wide in alarm. Before words, a strained grunt leaves his lips. Tension grips him from head to toe.

"After everything I've done to hurt you and the others..."

His chest slowly inflates with a deep, silent breath.

"I never said I didn't care. You are putting words in my mouth."
infernalengine: (bring it)

Karlach Cliffgate | Baldur's Gate 3

[personal profile] infernalengine 2025-05-16 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Summoning Circle
It probably says something about Karlach's life that floating a few feet above the ground in a strange stone space littered with debris is not the most disorienting way she's woken up. Even were she the type to go for introspection - and she is decidedly not - there isn't time to decide exactly what it says, though. Gravity reasserts itself, and she twists enough to take the brunt of the fall on her shoulder. Something crunches beneath her, and she pushes herself up with a low grunt, grimacing as she eyes a shard of glass embedded in her upper arm. She reaches up to pull it from her skin, then glances around. Her sweep may not turn up anyone familiar, but her gaze does land on another tumbled Drifter.

"Hey. You okay?"

Husks and Haunts
The sound of fighting around the bend in one of the hospital's hallways - clanging metal, a human-sounding shout, an alien screech - suggests someone has fallen afoul of some of the monsters haunting the twisted structure.

Anyone following the noise will find that one, as they turn the corner, gravity shifts so that the innermost wall is now the floor, and two, it looks like maybe the stalking creatures are the ones who've fallen afoul of their intended prey. One, a twisted wreck of tubing and flesh, with too many eyes and scalpel-sharp talons, is already down, cut nearly in half at what might be the waist, mouth agape and tooth-lined tongue lolling. A tall, muscular woman, red-skinned, horned, and terribly scarred faces off against something with three legs and far too many arms. It reaches for her, and she brings down a huge battle axe, severing one of those grasping limbs, which falls twitching beside two more of its kind.

Above, on what should be the outer wall, there's a shift of movement.

Start Up
Eventually, Karlach does circle back to the convoy and the nagging sense of rightness that comes with the battered vehicle that someone from the right period on Earth might recognize as a heavy-duty Jeep, and that she recognizes mostly as some kind of transport. She stares at it for a long moment, consternation clear both on her face and in the waves of emotion hanging like heat haze in the air around her.

"What am I supposed to do with you?" she mutters, and while she could be talking about the fact that two of the tires aren't just flat, but missing entirely, she really, really isn't.
Edited 2025-05-16 03:41 (UTC)
phantomshow: (so hold on tight)

[personal profile] phantomshow 2025-05-16 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
“You don’t have to say it for it to be true. I never said I wanted you to stay, with me, but I did.”

Ren sighs deeply, and his shoulders slump forward even more than usual. He has kept these thoughts locked away in his heart for too long.

“I let you go, because it was what you wanted. You didn’t want me.”
senateperor: (5)

Sheev Palpatine | Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

[personal profile] senateperor 2025-05-16 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
Summoning Circle

As Palpatine wakes, he immediately realizes something is wrong. The first is that he is no longer in his office in the Senate building.

The second is that he appears to be floating a few feet in the air. A Jedi trap? But how—

Further contemplation of how his enemies could have captured him so easily are cut off when whatever is keeping him up suddenly cuts out, and he falls to the ground in a heap. For a man who tries to project an air of solemn, if grandfatherly dignity at all times, it is quite pathetic as he flops on the ground, red senatorial robes in disarray.

And it nearly throws his back out on top of it. The loud gasp he makes on hitting the ground is quite audible.

Husks & Haunts

The hospital was the most logical place to try and get some information, and as it seems other "Drifters" are headed there as well, Palpatine wagers it will not look out of place for a man seemingly as harmless as he to go help look. After all, he's just trying to help. It will be good cover for his real purpose; to try and find any scrap of information or knowledge about this place. Clearly, there's a power in this world; just look at the chaos that has been let loose here. And while the Dark Side is a pathway to unlimited power, Darth Sidious has never been one to say no to more if he can get the chance.

...It also will allow him to scan this motley assemblage of scoundrels and scum in the small possibility that there is someone here who might be useful to him. Certainly not on the level of his soon to be Apprentice, of course, but a...temporary replacement. He does need a new one of those since the unfortunate loss of Darth Tyranus, after all.

Unfortunately, while searching for administration offices or perhaps some sort of security room, Palpatine is ensnared, not by one of the monsters prowling the halls, but by the security defences. Restraints lock around his wrists and waists and pull him into an operating chair. He could probably break free on his own, but that would risk someone seeing him do so, and he's not prepared to play that card just yet. Though other Drifters close by find Palpatine, strapped into a chair as an automated syringe prepares to inject him. All things considered, he's still keeping fairly calm. His eyes flick towards whoever it is that has spotted him.

"Be careful. I think there may be other defences."

Long Way Down

It seems the time has come to abandon the gas station, or at least this section of it. Palpatine has gathered what supplies he can carry, and has made his way to the edge of the island, to consider his routes. He dismisses trying to use the smaller bits of debris as stairs as some others have chosen; as it stands he'd have to call upon the Dark Side to assist making some of the jumps, and that would be noticed. So instead he picks up a cable and takes a steeling sigh.

"Just like climbing the cliffs in the Lake Country when I was a boy. I'm sure I'm not that rusty."

Psychic Echoes-Always Two There Are

Darkness and cold surround you. You're kneeling, as is proper, and expected. One day, you will not kneel. All will kneel to YOU, one day. But for now, you are the learner. And unlimited power is not given freely.

The shadows take form in front of you; a hooded figure, face shrouded in darkness save for piercing yellow eyes that stare out at you, laying bare all your weaknesses, and frailties, your shortcomings, your regrets. Cold, and imperious. You are NOTHING before Lord Plagueis, and he knows it. When he speaks, it is as a sepulchral whisper.

"Tell me what you regard as your greatest strength, so I will know how best to undermine you; tell me of your greatest fear, so I will know which I must force you to face; tell me what you cherish most, so I will know what to take from you; and tell me what you crave, so that I might deny you."

Fail to answer, and Plagueis will strike you down without pity, or remorse.

There is only one bright light in this all-consuming darkness, high above. A shining moon. Or...is it a moon? The darkness clouds everything around you, and the object high in the sky is strangely difficult to focus on. As if some sort of Force is preventing you from peering too deeply into matters that should be hidden.
Edited 2025-05-16 04:24 (UTC)
buffylives: (pic#17819378)

Buffy Summers | Buffy The Vampire Slayer

[personal profile] buffylives 2025-05-16 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
02. Start Up
[A few hours into this and she's still confused, the garage is quiet, save for the sound of tools hitting objects and the floor. She finds herself looking around the garage for someone else, anyone else but can't find not a soul.] I feel like I'm supposed to put this back together.

[There's a car not far from where she is, a jeep, it's red and old, not ancient...just 1980's kinda jeep. Not something she would be interested in driving but she feels like it's hers. She walks over to it, placing her hand on the hood. It needs fixing but she has no idea how to fix a car.] Hello! Anyone here?

05. Long Way down
[She goes further up and up on the rocks, jumping from one to the other; as she watches the moon pieces float about, something in her wants to pick them up and splice them back together but she knows there's no way how. She stops on one of the rocks, looking down and realizing something in her is trying to break free, her heart speeds up and the inner beast or monster or whatever it is, is whispering to her.

She takes a deep breath, wondering where Willow, Xander, Dawnie and the rest of her friends are. Is this a dream? It feels like a very surreal dream to her. She feels fangs extend between her teeth and gasps just a little.] What's inside me? There's no way... this reality can't be that cruel!

[But it is. It's very cruel. She ends up falling down into another rock, then ends up hitting each rock on the way down. Her body doesn't feel so good and she's trying to stand up on the last rock.

Then she starts transforming, it hurts to do so. Her whoe mouth feels like it's on fire. Her skin takes on a paler than usual pallor. She's hateful at the moment. Hateful of whatever brought her here, she hopes it dies bloody and broken and alone.]

06. Psychic Echoes
[As she punches a fist through the last monster, its face bleeds everywhere and crumbles, it falls to the ground and she blinks as she suddenly hears thought after thought entering her head. Tons of thoughts, not million just about a couple dozen. She frowns a little, wondering where these thoughts are coming from.

She steps along the forested road, trying to figure out who she is hearing at the moment. It's someone she suspects isn't having a good day. Can you hear me? I'm... I'm here to help. That makes sense right? That she's here to help. Even if it's just an ear to listen.]
undyingcrow: (glare)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-16 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
"You're doing it again! All these assumptions..." A ripple of frustration pulses around him, courtesy of the sagebrush, but there's something else sprinkled in. Guilt. Shame.

He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to calm down. "Have you even considered what my wish was? Dr. Maruki may have used me as a bargaining chip, but that doesn't mean I was exempt."
senateperor: (3)

Summoning Circle

[personal profile] senateperor 2025-05-16 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
"As...well as can be expected." Palpatine manages. He likewise took a bit of a fall and his senatorial robes are a mess. It takes a minute for his eyes to focus through the pain at the large Devaronian(?) woman he landed with. At least the pain helps him focus.

"I don't think my back took it very well."

phantomshow: (i'll find you)

[personal profile] phantomshow 2025-05-16 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
“What else am I supposed to do when you won’t talk to me?”

He steps forward, wildly throwing an arm out in his own frustration.

“What else am I supposed to think when you keep pushing me away?

He feels the knife solidify in his hand again, but he won’t, he won’t use it, not against Akechi, not again -

“What could you have possibly wished for that Maruki would’ve given you?”
phantomshow: (so hold on tight)

06.

[personal profile] phantomshow 2025-05-16 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Ren has had worse days, true, but it’s also true this is not his best one, either. It’s hard enough being a bleeding heart protagonist when he’s able to keep it mostly under wraps of a well-practiced poker face, even harder now that his sense of empathy has gone into overdrive and he’s silently broadcasting his feelings everywhere.

He had to get away from the others, for their sake as well as his own. While he can sense Buffy means well, he still mentally recoils from her as she draws nearer to him, sitting in a clear spot on the ground while he tries to re-bottle all the pain he’s been picking up.]


Hm?
undyingcrow: (distant)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-16 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
"Think, Ren. Or do I really have to spell it out for you?"

The dreamscape ripples, and with another wave of frustration, the cafe itself shifts into an odd amalgamation of Leblanc and...

The engine room.

An image of Akechi in his princely garb stares through the present day Akechi and straight at Ren.

I wonder why we couldn't have met a few years earlier, Ren...

The real Akechi winces. He didn't intend for this to happen, and yet...

"Imagine, a world where my crimes never transpired. A world where I wasn't so 'broken.' Maruki offered it to me. Surely you remember..."

Akechi-kun! Don't throw away your life! If you're with Amamiya-kun and his friends, you could begin to atone what you've done!

"...But in such a world, I'd cease to be 'me.' Everything I am... I'm certain he'd wipe it away, leaving me a hollowed out husk. I wouldn't have been the same Goro Akechi you knew. The death of the self is still a form of death... and you spared me from that fate."
brewedwithspite: wings, jumping (Action003)

Lucanis Dellamorte | Dragon Age: The Veilguard

[personal profile] brewedwithspite 2025-05-16 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
The presence of floating objects and upside-down buildings are actually quite familiar to Lucanis. He's been living in the Fade for some time now, his eyes always a fairly pink hue from rubbing at them, but they don't itch the same way now, the presence of magic different than that he's used to.

Many of the objects in the garage are unfamiliar to him; mechanical bits unlike those from his world, but he takes what he finds useful to him and moves onward to the larger building, intrigued by it and hoping to find answers.


BEWARE THE HUSKS

A Crow's keen senses are always on alert, and Spite sniffs out the presence of something strange and inhuman long before it shows itself. Lucanis is graceful in the way he fights them off; acrobatic even without the aid of Spite's wings. A mangled mass of limbs tumbles in his direction, and he evades its attack, using those wings to carry him as he runs along a wall, trails of feathers floating behind him and falling like ash in their wake. It's cornered and sliced at with a swift movement of twin blades until it goes limp, but he isn't expecting the next falling monster to have metal implements for arms, and parrying at the last second, he relies on his footwork to get him off-line.
Lucanis grunts as he thrusts his rapier forward to the creature's chest, knocking it's needle-like arm aside with his dagger, it's other arm sliding along the blade but well over Lucanis' shoulder. He smirks, lunges, and then retreats, pulling his sword from its chest so that it drops to the floor.

A moment of triumph is barely awarded to him before several more monsters get the drop, and he finds himself surrounded. He doesn't panic, exactly. He has, of course, once successfully killed a half-dozen Venatori in an elevator. How hard could this be? Still, he's outnumbered, and he doesn't love his chances.

"Mierda." he hisses, raising his dagger to his chest in defense, his rapier arm extending again as the creatures begin to move in.


MY SHADOW'S STUCK

The last time Lucanis had been strapped down and prodded at, it didn't end well. His blood had been drained into a phylactery that would later be used to control him. He had been fed something rotten. His body and fate had been sealed to a demon against his will, against both their will. When he comes to, he begins writhing immediately, all the panic he'd suppressed before bubbling to the surface as he tries to grasp his surroundings.

Spite stares at him from across the room, where only he can see him. His shadow self, its glowing purple eyes somewhat empty and defeated.

We had. An agreement. it rasps for only him to hear, and Lucanis growls, attempting to throw his weight to break free from the contraption that holds him. "Can't you see that I'm a little tied-up right now?!" he yells, aggravated.

RISING TO THE OCCASION

The gas station seemed like a safer place to rest after the monster-filled hospital, but at least Lucanis was able to stow away some medical supplies for himself. There's a loud crack, then the groan of rubble breaking free as part of the station lifts away, the screams and cries of the drifters floating away on it piercing his eardrums. Lucanis acts quickly. Death may be his calling, but these are innocent people, and he cannot imagine their fate should they be stranded in such a way. Spite's wings unfold from his back as he leaps into the air, scaling the side of the exposed rock until he can lift himself atop it.

"Quickly!" he shouts to someone nearby, "Take my hand."

He's assessing the others with a scan of his eyes and already running the numbers. He won't be able to save them all... but he can try. "Be ready- I'll come back for the rest of you."

A SPACE IN BETWEEN

It's becoming more clear to Lucanis that he isn't lost in the Fade. This is another world, altogether, unlike any he's seen. He'd spent a year trapped beneath the waves and broke free, only to be imprisoned somewhere else entirely. He's busy brooding as he walks along the road, away from the caravan. Spite scurries at his side, antagonizing him as he tends to, but Lucanis has already began to tune him out, wincing as he steps around the carcass of an unusual brain creature and determines it best to head back. He has a better chance of survival if he stays with the group, after all, and it's getting late.

Lucanis doesn't often sleep, but without the convenience of good coffee and the caffeine withdrawals making his head pound in pain, he finds a corner to doze off in. Even Spite feels too weak to take control of his body, but they do dream, walking together in an ever-changing landscape that seeps into the minds of others, melding dreams together into intricate, woven patterns.

"Where are we?" he asks softly, not to Spite, who stands beside him with his head tilted to the side like a confused pet, but to the figure before them who in this plane of existence can see and hear them both. "Who are you?"

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