Sabra La Tau

Who: ???
Where: Your bedroom in the North Block of Sabra La Tau
When: Day ??????1 Morning
What:

[ You wake up in one of the terrible, cramped North Block rooms with a pounding headache. You remember it. You remember your te@%N~ati0n, you remember the Games and the G01010001101udges. You remember the stone. The whispers of rebellion. You remember . . . desperation. Next to you is a brass tube, where you can see yourself repeating one word over and over in a tiny garbled recording:


"willingl-willingl-willingl-willingl-willingl-" ]



((ETA: to clarify, you do not remember anything explicitly that happened "after" Sabra, and the events of the last weeks are vague at best.))

Who: Parrot, anyone
Where: PARROT'S NEW HOME
When: Year 20XX (Messenger Year 5)
What: PARTY!

[Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has received some kind of invitation from Parrot for a housewarming party. Whatever timeline you may be from post-sabra, you have either received the card personally from Parrot, with the venue and date and time written on it, or found a card left somewhere for you to find.

He bought a big house in the outskirts just for this (and his wife, of course). There's a buffet and drinks and alcohol. It's a party!]

Make yourselves at home, guys!

Who: Whoever's still alive
Where: A crumbling arena
When: Bad end, day zero
What: [His statue is slumped on the throne, sand trickling from his side through great cracked fingers. Red, searing light pours in from the cracks in the ceiling. Already it's nearly too hot to bare and the temperature is rising quickly.]


My, wasn't that bracing. Though I confess, myself, I'm feeling a little unbraced.

Duckies, if you have wishes, you had best make them quickly. I've little power left and less time. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave god, as it were.

Who: Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr (Valerian and Edge)
Where: an island off the shore of Cuba
When: October 23rd, 1962 (Messenger's Year 1)
What: the ending is just the beginning

[As in all things, rescue and return operations take time. The Enterprise had over a hundred new passengers on board, all coming from far flung places in time and space. It stands to reason it took at least a few days to return everyone to their homes. For two in particular, it took three. Three days spent doing not much at all; playing chess, eating food they didn't have to kill and skin themselves, sleeping, talking about boring things. It was, in a sense, a brief respite between two intense battles. One they had already made it through, battered and bruised but triumphant.

The other, they were about to slam back into.

There came a moment, on that wreckage and sand-strewn beach, where time stopped. The wind halted, raised voices were silenced, missiles in midair hung frozen. One man, rising from where he'd fallen, spoke to a figure who didn't belong there. Casting a glance back at the other for a long second, helmet-clad and halted in his fury, he turned back to the strange figure and nodded, taking their hand and stepping out of the world. Everything remained deadly still, suspended outside of time. And then, circles of light started flaring around the man still left there, and the place where the other had been before he left. A humming noise raised in the silence, and then faded out.

Time smashed back into force, and to those on the beach, the only things noticably out of place were two bright flashes of light where Charles and Erik were standing.

It's 1962, and the battle has only just begun.]

Who: Kururu (Messenger's Year 2), Chrono (Messenger's Year 102)
Where: Misericordia Girls' Junior High, Shinonome, Japan
When: 20XX AD
What: As I lay me down to sleep

[Behind the doors of the cathedral-like of the school, the gears of the Factory seem to stretch on and on, deeper and deeper. And at their core, under the shadow of a great clock tower, under a glass-domed view of the spreading night sky, clusters and clusters of piano and typewriter keyboards, cables, laptops and servers are spread on every available surface.

In the quiet, the sound of their fans, the hum of their drives sounds almost like music.]

[Endgame. The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.

It's ongoing mission, is to get a hell of a lot of people home. Deal with disturbingly well mannered velociraptors as roommates. Help get old ant workers used to two feet again. And occasionally jettison Horn off into space at random intervals.

To boldly seek out new universes and parallel dimensions. To party hard as it has never been done before.]

Who: Everyone
Where: The Arena
When: Messenger's Year 1, Day 1
What: Closing Time.

[Ptou reforms, sand solidifying into marble, the robes, tattered, become the tapestries of royalty and a thin, circular crown sits on his head.

He stares down at the ground a long moment, silent.]

Is that... it?

Is this what it's like?

(( Links:

Part 1: osnap | Part 2: PSYCHE

WISH THREADS:

Wanjima Kaito | Snow White | Flonne/Victory | Elliot/Shrubbery | Red | Bombastic | Tide/Chrono | Himura Kenshin | Scowl | Edward Elric | Extreme/Kurono | Amy Pond | Kuchiha | Rapunzel | Minami Ikki | Kazuha | Trigger | Jace Beleren | Harmony/Alice | Chaz | Wanjima Akito | Yuta | Lark/Uchiha Obito | Jinx/Kaito | Sokka | Yayoi | Parrot | Spear/Itachi | Allen Walker | Kurow | Bond/Dean | Rory Williams | Claude C Kenni | Haruto/Humor | Mitsuru | Mao | Aven/Meta-Crisis Doctor | Nakamori Aoko | Kanda Yuu | Yoi-te/Night | Great | Aeris Gainsborough | Kudo Shinichi/Quartz | Trixie | Shinjiro/Thumper | Captain Kirk | Emil/Ratatosk | Ender/Nicholas D Wolfwood | Phoenix Wright | Maya/Cheer | Nico/Shield | Spark | Molotov/Amami Riku | Juuri | Akin | Apollo Justice/Badger | Kishitani Shinra/Harm | Lucky/Excel | Raenef/Apple | Lumiere | Santa/Crown | Edge/Magneto | Antillar Maximus | SASAGAWA RYOHEI | Impmon/Boomer | Sakura | Tazendra Lavode | Nia/Sparkles McGee | Lenalee Lee | Anchor | Royal | River | Rolo Lamperouge/Arsine | Sumeragi Kururu | Charles Xavier | Lulu | Ryougi Shiki | Zelgadis | Kohaku | Dagger | Franz d'Epinay | Tifa Lockhart | Rory Williams-Pond | Wisp/Miharu | June | Flames | Lotus | Rena | Kokuto Mikiya | Arianna | Razzy | Selendis | Kanou Taisuke | Watanuki Kimihiro | Albert/Simba | Elgala/Lovely Amethyst | Peter Parker | Aerich/Temma | Emiri | Haley/Hyatt | Daisy/Weed

FINAL DEPARTURE

If any links are misdirected or missing, PM Claude! ))

Who: ALL YA'LL PUNK ASS BITCHES
Where: THE ARENA
When: TIME FOR SHENANIGANS TO END
What:

[As Guardian meets his end and Mitsuru suffers his punishment for an ill-advised attack, a heavy silence fills the arena. The chess pieces, both sand and lava, collapse back into the floor and smooth out, melding back into it as though they'd never risen.

The next time you blink, King's statue has lifted its hand. Lightning, devastatingly powerful, arcs out across the entire arena, striking at anything and anyone it can reach. Where it strikes the floor and walls it leaves small craters. This is not going to be a light blow for anyone struck with it.]

Who: Everyone
Where: The Arena again
When: STOP. ZOMBIE TIME (part two, earthtime edition)
What:

[The battle continues, friend against friend, lover against lover and team against team. Staring down at it all, the King's face seems unusually haggard, hairline fractures forming every time another bracer shatters for those who watch closely.

It's every now and then, with no regular pattern or strength, you hear something rumble, followed by the ground under your feet shuddering.

But this really isn't the time to worry about that, is it? You hear a snap of fingers, and those who have been blessed by the King feel the quiet thrum of power, electricity at their fingertips.]

I think we've had enough games don't you? Ophiuchus, subdue the remainder.

Who: Everyone
Where: The Arena again
When: ????
What:

[It may have been ages, it may have been moments, but the soothing white room fades away...

The arena returns... cracks and distortions line the floor where a mad waltz had gone on, stepping lightly over the bodies of the fallen. The roof is now a single, solid white, the throne a little more elaborate, with a great carved crown at the top, behind the King's head, and the box that had nearly closed is now gone, keystone and all.

All around, people are getting up... while many, many others still lay where they fell on the floor or ceiling, still engrossed in their personal battles.

Messenger still stands, looking a little more haggard.]

"I'll say just once more... Let them go! There's no POINT to this."

((If your megabracer has been removed but is intact, you are reverted to complete blank status as per usual. If your bracer is removed and broken at any point, you are reverted to complete blank status but may have your memory jogged/jesused/punched/otherwise abused back in.))

((We begin again at 1pm EST tomorrow))

Who: ???
Where: ???
When: ???
What: ???

[You are in white space, floating gently on your back. It's comfortable and warm. The lassitude in the air seeps into your muscles, letting you truly relax. Pushed by something unseen, you rock gently in that empty space, as if floating on small, rolling waves.

Everything is calm and comfortable. What were you just doing? You can't quite fish up the memory but you have a vague, muted anxiety that it was important.

Something urges you quietly to just give it up, just forget.

As you drift... you see someone sitting next to you, calm, understanding...]

Claude | Lenalee | Tazendra | Edward | Maya | Zelgadis | Trixie | Chrono | Alice | Chaz | Rory | Rapunzel | Kenshin | Kurow | Arson | Scowl | Tailmon | Red | Mitsuru | Crown | Razzy | Badger | Shiki | Itachi | Yayoi | Akin | Sharks | Kazuha | Jinx | Lucky | Merry | Ikki | Link | Aoko | Aeris | Kaito | Taisuke | Hizumi | Flonne | Quartz | Parrot | Jace | Kurono | Anchor | Bombastic | Trigger | Flames | Amy | Thistle | Haruto | Allen | Violet | Dean | Almaz | Gray | Blaze | Kohaku | Tifa | Mikiya | Lotus | Poppy | Emil | Apple | Peter | Elgala | Albert | Emiri | Erik | Charles | Impmon | Kururu |

Who: EVERYONE
Where: The Arena
When: >(
What: YA'LL ARE DICKS

[Lightning arcs through the air, spreading out just over the heads of the gathered blanks with deafening thunder. Where it strikes the walls the marble chips and cracks, leaving small craters dotting the pristine surfaces. The face of King's statue is contorted in plain displeasure. Each time you blink, his gaze falls on a different person.]

That is quite enough. Let's have no more of these childish shenanigans. My patience has worn thin enough already, blanks.

Will you be handing over the keystones, yes or no?

[React || TRICKSTER || King Keystone Retrieval ]

Who: All Ophi, traitor and loyal, all Blanks. Good ended DO NOT hear the call, but can come
Where: The Arena
When: :)
What: Ladies and Gentleman, we understand that you have come to bear witness to the sound of drums and bass.

[As you enter the arena today, it is like you have stepped into a gala floor. Round tables with black and white checkers are arranged in a semi circle around the southern corners of the room, leaving the vast majority of the marble floor open for dancing. Austere marble pillars break the expanse of the floor in neat rows, affording a couple a moment of privacy as needed. Against the east wall, a bar is set with several classy appetizers, and a single platter of ten shrimp next to a crystal punch bowl.

At the very end of the expansive room, a black marble stage has a band set up, and ready to play. Behind that, stretching up and up, is a regal black throne. No one sits on it yet.

The double doors close after the last of you with a certain finality.]

Welcome, my dear blanks. And welcome to your guests as well! Quite unexpected to see so many familiar faces again. It does bring back memories, doesn't it?

I do hope you'll find the festivities to your liking. I know we've had our differences in the past, but I've put quite a bit of effort into ensuring that everything goes perfectly. As long as everyone, and that does include the delightful guests you've brought along, stays on their best behavior, I think we'll get along quite nicely.

((OOC: WE BEGIN! First event begins in an hour 8PM EST.)

[ Mingle || HORN!!!! || Rules :) || PART TWO])

Who: Everyone
Where: Everywhere
When: Immediately following this
What:

[So, are you excited? Ready to grab your newly returned friends and have a final party before the final party? Well, unfortunately it's high time to cut that light and bright mood short.

It begins with a grinding noise, the sound of stone grating against stone. The walls, the floor, the ceiling; all of it begins to tremble and quiver with a building energy. The stone of the caverns begins to smooth out, all the rough and craggy natural formations sinking away before the eyes of the blanks, and it doesn't end there. As the surfaces all smooth out, natural formations that jut out from the floors and ceiling, from the walls . . . They too begin to sink away with a screeching, rasping noise.

The grinding begins to sound more and more like metal on stone, and then metal on metal. The natural curves of the walls and tunnels begin to realign themselves. The ground quakes as the entire cavern—the whole of Sabra la Tau reshapes itself. It's no longer caverns and tunnels, it's great rooms and perfectly straight halls. Stairways form in the side of hills and inclines that level themselves into smooth floor at the top.

The grinding becomes less deafening, easing into the uniform, mechanical sound of gears and clockwork. Everywhere, the earthy browns and green tones of what used to be a cave are leeched away, replaced with stark black and white in artistic, straight-edged geometric patterns. Where there were once gaps and natural openings in stone walls, there are now crystal clear panes of glass. Even the torches have changed. In their place are simple indentations spaced evenly along the walls and in the ceilings, each emitting a bright white glow to light the areas.

The dorms are changed as well, when you arrive upon them. Sixteen rectangular, white buildings sit, perfectly spaced apart from each other, each only distinguished by a tasteful carving on the black door. Within, there are three rooms each evenly spaced, a parlour, a bedroom with beds evenly spaced apart... and in the back, a storage room where all the unique items you've collected have been thrown into.

Finally, your uniform washes out, becomes smooth, clean and standard. A simple white top, black slacks regardless of gender, and a tie bearing your team's colors.

As all of these changes finish completing themselves, an oppressive atmosphere is left hanging in the air. The weight of your actions hangs heavy from your shoulders. Try as you might, shaking the knowledge that there are rules—that there will be consequences for breaking those rules is near impossible to do.

The sound of gears ticks onwards.]

[OOC: ALL UNIFORMS ARE CHANGED. ALL. EVEN SPARES. Dorm-stone lining is no longer present and any dorm stone used to make them has fallen out. Likewise, if you are carrying more items than you can hold in the pockets of the new uniforms (there are two pants pockets only) it is either loose in your shirt or falling out of your pants.

Entirely unique clothing that was never originally a uniform is still okay.]

Who: Those who have lost those who have held what is gone those untouched Come noble bear, come beast of the sea, come many feathered flock, come pretty bird
Where: The dorms, the arena, beyond
When: King's day days day 109501
What: A new

[This time, when the darkness comes, there is no warning. No flickering of the torches, no telltale dance of shadows. Night falls with the force of a hammer blow, cutting off sight and muffling sound in little more than the space between breaths.

This time, for the first time, the doors of the dorms do not lock.

And this time, after a time (how much? How twisted is it now, how long have you been in the dark?), faint in the distance yet close enough you know you could make it, it wouldn't be far . . . a pale grey light beckons, a warm breath of fresh, dry air calling you close.]


[[[Open forever, including backdating; ping Kururu if needed.]]]

Who: Claude, Lizardking, others Anyone
Where: Lizardking, other places Anywhere
When: The Night/Day Before The Decisive Battle
What: Last chance station

[ time for all those final character cutscenes/party skits/Private Actions/what have you before we go for the final boss battle

Having prepped all his gear, Claude for one is looking for the rest of his party members, wherever you may be :T ]

(( OOC: OPEN TO ALL, put locations in comment titles, use post for all your Parting Words needs! ))

Who: ???
Where: The Arena AND BEYOND
When: Day ۞۞۞
What:

[There is, in many ways, a strange anticipatory silence and darkness in the Arena before games. It's often hard to put a finger on, and those who've gone in and searched the ruins or forages for small branches, might have a hard time defining why THEN is different. A bit like they should be holding their breath, or be wary at their own torchlight.

However, today, instead of the spreading of a false environment of a Game... a shower of lights materializes in the Arena, near the South Block doors... as it fades, it leaves behind a group of people who never really expected to be here again.]

Who: Anyone
Where: Anywhere, but near Lacerta's garden specifically
When: :'D
What: the end is nigh


[And this Cetra, for one, is where she always is: in her garden. Today is a little different, though. Whatever she's saying to her plants isn't going above a whisper, and she is gathering their seeds into a small pouch.]

((HELLA PLACEHOLDER POST but play amongst yourselves if your heart tells you to))

Who: You. Yes, you.
Where: In your dreams :)
When: Who even knows anymore? Sometime while you're sleeping
What: So remember how you guys offed the god of dreams and left the one who likes nightmares? Remember how she feeds on fear and there's end-of-the-world panic going on? About that.

[My goodness. There sure are some awful dreams floating around.]

((OOC- Nightmare mingle post! Haunted is messing with everyone's dreams, twisting them into nightmares. Anyone affected will be unable to wake, and teammates watching them sleep will note that they take physical damage during the dream- until, at the very end, the nightmare breaks and you wake up, completely healed and with your beds mysteriously covered in blood. Go crazy, guys. Troll your teammates. Shared dreaming is enabled if you want it, with as many people as you want it with. :|b))

((ETA- to clarify, we are not running nightmares, this is all mingle. Share your private terrors with your teammates and friends, GO GO. /o/))

Who: Hydracula
Where: Hydracula
When: idk
What: the final hydraculing??? ;o;

[Something smells fantastic! Is that pork Lucky is cooking?]