Sabra La Tau

Who: You
Where: The Arena
When: Day 206, late afternoon
What: Game 125

[King sits on the throne today. Before him is a sight most spectacular, with two of the most majestic creatures you've ever seen swimming gloriously through a sea of rainbows and sparkles.]

( That is, if you CAN see them... )

Who: Everyone
Where: The Arena
When: Day 205, early afternoon

[Little has changed since you left, other than the light suffusing the Arena is brighter, in time with the day.

As the last of the teams file in, possessions in hand, pushed or pulled behind, the water seeping into the Arena seems to simply be drawn out.

The eastern doors groan, shudder and swing shut with a final, echoing boom. The soft sound of sobbing and water halts just as suddenly. One of the helper ants begins chewing on a wall idly.]

That out of the way! Lets get a little organized, shall we? Please head to the Southern Gate, and line up by partner teams.

Ah, and yes, Cepheus and Lacerta are now partners. Moving on!

Who: Everyone
Where: The Arena
When: Day 205, Early in the morning
What:

[Those who answer the Call today are some level of muddy or wet, having had to slog in through ankle deep mud or knee deep water.

There is very little pomp and circumstance to this particular Call. No unusual setup, no grand sweeping changes as you enter. It is merely bright, full of a dawning, sourceless light and the throne sitting in the middle of the usual ruins and barren spaces you find in the Arena normally.

The King, himself, sits upon the throne.]

Fill in, now. Don’t stand in the doorway. Lets make it snappy.

((HEY KING SAYIN STUFF!
sayin more stuff to Canis and Orion))

Who: Everyone
Where: The Arena
When: Day 200, very early morning
What:

HaHA! Well, that’s enough of that, isn’t it?

[You awaken. You are lying on the Arena floor, in exactly the same health as when you answered the last Call. It seems like ... everyone is here, though some are slower to wake that others.

As you lift your head... you see possibly the most enormous spider you could ever imagine... were it intact and not well broken and torn to pieces, ichor covering a great deal of the Arena. As you watch, it is crumbling, becoming sand... and simply falling away as if it never were. Beside it, an empty loom cracks and falls apart piece by piece as well.

Enormous bloody pawprints lead away towards the Arena doors.

The King is on the throne.]

Up a little late aren’t you? I would run along now, if I were you.

[Once again, that strange patchwork of light and reality bathes the arena. Deep, impenetrable darkness wars with scattered rays of light, illuminating tiny slices of some seemingly unconnected scenery. Here a patch of lush, bluish tinged grass is warmed by the sun and blown by the breeze. There half of a delicate stone fountain is bathed in the first morning light... And over there you see a strange, fuzzy creature skittering and scrambling up a sheer rock face, ducking nervously in and out of shadows.

Scenes like this are scattered throughout the entire Arena without any sense of rhyme or reason... But as you walk further, you find yourself having to step on or around more and more thread. Fourteen shades of fine thread loop, scatter and tangle, condensing and congregating below the throne... leading to fourteen looms, each with a primitive, fuzzy picture coming into view, line by line- starting with the sky at the top.

When you look directly at the throne, it seems empty. It is only out of the corners of your eyes do you catch fleeting glimpses... sometimes fingers twined with thread... sometimes a face: matured with age, but warm and kindly.]

W... d...seek.... ?

Who: Ophiuchus
Where: In the snake's chamber
When: Day 197, evening
What: It IS kind of unusual that the Guardian calls in the evening...

[It is just as the torch's magical lights begin to dim for the evening that every Ophiuchus hears a summons, floating across the surface of their thoughts, seeking their return.]

Gather and heed well: there sssssshall be new ordersssss.

Who: Ophiuchus
Where: Deep under the Arena
When: Day 193, early morning
What: Reassignments

[Last night, Ophiuchus felt more keenly than any other area the rumblings and ravages of the earthquake. However, before the rumble even became a roar, the stones mended themselves, drawers righted... and the snake hissed its agitation and displeasure.

It would say nothing of the events... Only that he would speak to the King in the morning. As the torches start gathering light, the Guardian begins the evening with a fainter rumble than the night previous, and those Ophiuchus waking up, will find those changes again. Uraeus has once again reclaimed the top, while Uroboros is just a little behind. Caduceus...]

... Caduceus... Keepersss of the wessst.

[It is a summons, rather than a statement.]

Who: Any
Where: The Arena
When: Day 191, evening
What:

[The Call to the Arena today is loud and distinctive. Some of you may have even heard it before... the air seems to fill with the wild chords of electric guitars, heavy, thrumming bass, and someone really having a great time pounding out a rhythm on the drums. The vocals are missing, but it is unmistakably rock and roll, at that verge of edging onto metal.

Banners of brown and white stretch over a distinctly divided room. To one side, it could easily pass for an austere Victorian dining hall. A lacquered black table stretches out with a few ornamental ceramic pots of steaming water, and a varied selection of tea leaves to strain. Small pastries sit on ornamental plates, and the main dishes seem to be some kind of small marinated bird. To the other, the table becomes far more rough hewn, and the surroundings a bit more like a Medieval hall. Heavy chairs and a few stumps have been pushed up to the table... and the main course seems to be something that smells almost like lamb, and a wide variety of vegetable fare. There are two washbasins, one with water and the other with blood.

In front of both Van and Mikaila's places there are special dessert plates that have not yet been filled. But more importantly, there is a side table dedicated to alcohol.

Outside of the immediate area of the table, there's a small table filled with french fries, onion rings and punch.]

Who: Mirror, Flowers, Tokitoh
Where: In front of Hydracula
When: Day 176, post-game
What: Attempted kidnappings + cockblockings + hairpullings

[Just after the game has ended, there's a Judgely presence fishing around for the final piece of her Vulpecula collection. And there's Tokitoh...]

Good morning.

Who: Any
Where: The Arena
When: Day 166
What:

[The Call that resounds from the Arena is loud, echoing even to every part of Sabra. A regal crescendo of notes and then anticipatory silence. Should you follow it today, the Arena is not any landscape you have seen before...

Simple darkness fills your vision, no delineation of up or down, walls or even the floor. You can only see the throne in the far off distance, and four pathways each covered with a lush carpet: Brown, Green, Black with gold trim, and Yellow. They bear the sigil of a hare, a lizard, a skeletal snake biting its own tail and a club embossed into the weave. Should you turn around, there is no exit yet, but there is a small table, filled with punch, and several large party platters filled with cold cuts, olives and the occasional odd vegetable.]

[However, should you follow any of the pathways, the landscape begins to change...]

Who: haHA
Where: The Arena
When: Day 154, NOT MUCH LATER
What: haHA

[There is a sudden flux in pressure so strong that those without highly robust sinuses may find their noses bleeding. The looms unweave themselves and crumble to dust. There is a SHUNK! and a POP! and all that was strange stops and the Arena settles back into what's familiar.]



Haha! Oh that Trickster. Why, that wasn't even a proper game by his standards. Well, what can you do? I'm sure you're all tuckered out, so why don't you all just head on home now, and we'll get a better game for you out soon.

Who: Any
Where: The Arena
When: Day 140
What:

[The Call that resounds from the Arena is loud, echoing even to every part of Sabra. A regal crescendo of notes and then anticipatory silence. Should you follow it today, the Arena is not any landscape you have seen before...

Simple darkness fills your vision, no delineation of up or down, walls or even the floor. You can only see the throne in the far off distance, and three pathways each covered with a lush carpet: Green, Black with white trim, and Yellow. They bear the sigil of a hydra, a skeletal snake and a club embossed into the weave. Should you turn around, there is no exit yet, but there is a small table, filled with punch, and several large party platters filled with cold cuts, olives and the occasional odd vegetable.]

[However, should you follow any of the pathways, the landscape begins to change...]

((OOC note: We're trying something different this time! You can walk towards any other landscape to get to that table! Ophi and Hydra's tables require no walking between, really.

Judges, feel free to show up as you will, same rules as usual!))

Who: Any
Where: The Arena
When: Day 127, noon
What: The going away party of Frey Wilhazen and Charlie Crews

[At the very peak of noon, there is another Call to the Arena, heard by any outside and faintly through the door for those inside. It is unusual, like no other Judge you might have heard; the sound is heavily strings and woodwinds, picking out and carrying a complex, soaring melody and counterpoint. While not the rousing anthem of Pyxis' win, the music reverberating through the caverns of Sabra is no less a call of victory, gracefully climbing through minor chords and spinning its own thoughtful counterpoints.

As before, the instruments sound just a little off from anything you may have remembered, a touch of something deeply foreign keeping you from identifying the source of the instrument.

When the Blanks finally reach the Arena, soft pink banners are strung across the expanse of the Arena. A large table with enough chairs for Pyxis and Cygnus set in the very center of the Arena, directly under the gaze of the King, who sits again in the throne.

Covered dishes, filled with dark, pink centered meats, a clear white beverage that smells delicately alcoholic, and oddly oval slices of a bright yellow fruit and an assortment of thick greens. A small, delicate glass cup of chocolate cream is in front of each plate, and in front of two plates sit rich, red velvet cake, the insides filled with a berry mix that both Frey and Charlie will immediately know as theirs.

Again, there is a small space laid out for a traditional dance, and a small, far less elegant table, filled with fingerfoods, punch and this time, there are several masquerade masks of a rather wide variety of creatures, caricatures and more abstract, simple masks.]


((OOC: Judges, same rules apply for appearances! Please contact us for any questions! Everyone enjoy~))

Who: Everyone
Where: The Arena
When: Day 121, Evening
What: Game!!1

[There is that vaguely familiar pull to come towards the arena today, a low barely audible melody that calls you to it, and when you arrive the lights are dimmed and there is a mansion that most of you probably have seen before. Today there are no doors at the front though, and instead there is just one small door, standing slightly ajar, on the side of the building. If you take a peek through it, all you can see are a pair of completely white stairs descending down into a seemingly empty room in the same colour. The headless statue is present as before.]

Today we will play a simple game…

((Mingle
Ousted Post
Basement Post
Endgame
Memories))

Who: Anyone
Where: The Arena
When: Day 117, evening
What: The going-away party of Gaius Octavian

[Today in the arena, a very particular Call was given out, heard by any outside, and those inside who might have been listening.. It is a strange octave, almost regal, with the deep sound of brass horns and cadence of drums. As one gets closer, they might hear something a bit like winds, but of a strange harmony that doesn't match any instrument a Blank may have remembered. Strings on a slightly different chord and pitch, the range dancing at a joyous counterpoint to the solemn, majestic trumpets.

Those who have heard, one in particular, and all those following the unique sound, will find the Arena unusually appointed. Banners of all teams colors stretch overhead, red taking the pinnacle spot.

Without the trappings of a game, what seems to be laid out is a long table, a multitude of chairs and covered plates sitting upon table cloth of Pyxis red and Cygnus pink. The music seems to come from all around, and the general area before the tables seems to be open, inviting for those inclined to dance. There is a less austere table, far to the back, which seems to have simple snacks, one single platter of fruit, and some juices and wines.

In the throne, presiding over it all is the statue of the King, expression thoughtful as it overlooks the festivities.]

((If you wish to play a JUDGE in this post, #sabra_la_iudex

Mingle
Pygnus
Everybody else
Memory pie
King's doing something.
Fin.))

[the war rooms open. no one is squished.]


Well played everyone. I, for one, am quite impressed. Your memories will be forthcoming momentarily.

Who: Everybody
Where: The Arena
When: Day 98, with the call coming just as people are finishing up in Pavo
What: Oh my, what a strange coincidence...

[Trickster's statue sits in the center of the Arena. Around him, twelve war rooms (?) in the appropriate colors.]

Everyone enjoyed the War Rooms game so much last time, I thought you might like to play again. Explain it to the young ones, won't you? Hee hee~♥

((MINGLE
THE WAR ROOMS

By the way, anyone who tries to discuss strategy in the mingle thread will find that their mouth automatically sealed shut. :) ))

Who: Anyone who'd be in the Ophi barracks
Where: Ophi Barracks
When: Day 93, late evening
What: Post-work recovery

[so after all the killing, maiming, raptors, punching, and petty theft, the members of the illustrious Black Team are probably heading home.

Cain, for his part, is sitting at the bar, nursing a beer]

Who: Ophiuchus
Where: Ophiuchus dorms
When: 85 morningish
What: A bear, a tray of cupcakes, and several unmarked baggies filled with unidentifiable dried green plant matter.