acatamods: (Default)
acatamods. ([personal profile] acatamods) wrote in [community profile] acatalepsy_logs2018-09-19 08:25 pm

( the sickness: phase two )








the sickness ends.
the temple.
The Temple, shortly after Astoria's burst of energy, is in a constant state of growth. Trees are bursting into existence from seeds in mere seconds, flowers are growing wherever magic lands . . . and the Temple is abruptly a-buzz with energy, magic crackling throughout the air. You may find a tree in your house, or flowers suddenly growing along the walls, or plants wiggling their way through the stone walls of the buildings of the Temple. All of a sudden, the place looks very overgrown.

The Forest of the Fey seems to be responding in kind, too. Sprites are exceptionally active, darting out of the Forest and into the Temple with increasingly regularity, playing basic little tricks on the members of the Circle they can find. Flower crowns are made at an alarming rate, and there might be a few fruit-food fights that break out with the sudden abundance of peaches and apples that appear on the grounds. Learn how to duck!

With the magic comes the sudden fluctuation of energy: canon powers flicker on and off, as do the powers granted by Astoria. You feel more like yourself, you suddenly have access to energies you did not have previously in the Temple However, it's a double-edged sword -- it is not constant, and it may be more trouble than its worth.

And, remember: the Sickness is not fading immediately. If you make it to Stage 3, then you're stuck with sensory deprivation for at least another week or two. Sorry, friends.




lake dona.
Lake Dona is a massive body of water, stretching outward for so far that it almost seems like an ocean until you see that the water is fresh. It is surrounded by long, leafy trees that dip into the water and has a variety of ancient ruins scattered around it -- weathered stones set into circles at seemingly even intervals, old buildings that seem to mirror the Temple in construct.

In addition to the ruins, there are a network of caverns tucked along the water’s edge, just underneath the surface on the western side of Lake Dona, that appear to go underground into murky darkness. The actual entrance to these caverns seem to be underwater, seemingly guarded by merfolk, but poking around may seem to be more trouble than its worth.

There is plenty of wildlife to be found within the lake itself, ranging from freshwater mermaids who would rather you stay the hell out of their backyard to a rather large and suspiciously friendly plesiosaurus-like creature (some would say that she prefers to be called Nessie) that seems intent on checking out who you are. The lake teems with odd-looking fish, most of which seem to be okay to eat, and plenty of plant life! But who knows what lurks in the depths below . . . that giant sea-monster looking thing has to be eating something.
PROMPT IDEAS: Here are some prompt ideas for this new area! However, don't feel limited to such ideas! Feel free to fish, to explore, to swim, to poke around . . . it's always possible Astoria may check in on your character, too, once she is feeling better! ;)

1.) The Great Pumpkin The overgrowth of plants have caused a massive growth spurt in a lot of the trees, including the fruit trees that sprinkle themselves throughout the Temple. However, the fruit themselves seems to be growing at a rather . . . alarming rate, resulting in a few pumpkin-looking squash growing to the size of small boulders in the fields. Hope you have a lot of spare time on your hands to make a hell of a lot of Temple-pie, because these squash aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

2.) Food Fight!: Those damn sprites are at it again, and are collecting fruit off the ground and throwing it at people. Fight back, organize, and conquer! Or not. It's probably better to just not.

3.) Part Of Your World: The mermaids within Lake Dona are a suspicious lot, and they don't take kindly to strangers stomping through their territory. However, they are receptive to music, so if you are so musically inclined, they will definitely be more inclined to be a little more playful than territorial. If you aren't? Have fun getting tossed into the lake head-first by a bunch of pissed off mermaids who want you to get the hell of their lawn. They don't take kindly to your type around here.

4.) Nessie: Within Lake Dona is a massive plesiosaurus-type creature which seems to be . . . oddly friendly? It seems to pop up at the most inconvenient of times. Are you sitting on the edge of the lake enjoying the water? Enjoy a massive ass dinosaur sticking its impressively long neck out of the lake to check you out and also scare the bejesus out of you. That being said, Nessie is an extraordinarily friendly being, and will even give you laps around the lake if you ask nicely!

5.) Caverns: The caverns within the lake are dark, deep, and menacing The merfolk inform you that you cannot go there -- no one can, but the merfolk sure seem to be keeping a careful eye out on it. Testing the boundaries indicates a weird magical field around the entrance of the cave, that works like a bit of a forcefield. Weird, right?
lumberlady: (ショック)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2018-09-25 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
[Konoha thinks she might be using the bathhouse a little too much... but! She's never had the opportunity to use such nice facilities as this, so it's okay to spoil herself a little bit, right? She trots in innocently enough, closes the door behind her and heads in further... only to see flashes of bare flesh and a familiar hairstyle, and...

She freezes. Slaps her towel right over her face and tries to think about what to do as he... splashes around?, assuming he is fully nude and debating between trying to sneak past him into the women's section or just retreat, when. Oh, no, he noticed-]


I- I didn't see anything!

[Learn what now????]
extirpator: (pic#12564350)

[personal profile] extirpator 2018-09-25 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ ah, typical konoha.

he braces himself along the ledge of the bath, resting his head against the palm of his hand. ]


I have a towel on, Konoha. It's fine.

[ and then there's a raise of the brow. ]

Even if I didn't, I wouldn't really care.

[ and then he promptly flops onto his back, nonchalantly floating. ]

See? I learned.
abandonware: ([ 30. ])

[personal profile] abandonware 2018-09-25 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Out of everything he has said to her, this is what makes her look up, stricken at last. Horrified.

She did not know much of humanity, only stories like fairy tales, passed down between androids. Bolstering themselves through generations of war and endless suffering by trading stories, of what humans did, how they behaved. Their homes and families. Her own memories threaded through with that of a girl who had a grandmother, and a home, and loved them both.

She has enough context to understand what he's telling her. That he had been a child, and someone had —

(Mama, the machine had cried out in her head over and over again, a child too.)

— hurt him, in a way that could not be reversed. Couldn't be healed. Instead it festered over, like a sore.

(The machines had been enraged. Inconsolable, if such a word applied to them. She had to kill so many before she could make it out of the forest, and had ignored the way something stuttered in her chest when they cried out for their king.

They were worthless.

Their feelings were worthless.)

She can't think of what to say. None of the horrors she'd seen had prepared her for...

For what? The knowledge that her god was no better than her? Loathsome and terrible, and cruel? That she had fought for such a thing? That her friends had died for it?

Some part of her had known already though, hadn't she?]


Why?

[The hand holding her flower goes numb and nerveless. She lets it fall and doesn't even notice.]

Why would someone...
lumberlady: (赤くなる)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2018-09-25 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
I care!

[Oh. He's... decent? She probably should have checked before covering her eyes, maybe. Still!!!]

J- just because I kissed you doesn't mean I want to see your human man bits!

[The scream inside her head isn't going away, at this rate, and she doesn't pull the towel down from her face just yet, shaking her head into it.]

Learned swimming, right? We're talking about swimming?
extirpator: (pic#12570769)

[personal profile] extirpator 2018-09-25 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
..............

[ he stares, deadpan. ]

Konoha, what else would it be.
grawlixes: (pic#10058568)

[personal profile] grawlixes 2018-09-25 06:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ the mental image of it is, she can agree to that. ]

Uh-huh. Anyway, do you want a hand with killing them?
grawlixes: (pic#10058752)

[personal profile] grawlixes 2018-09-25 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
I'm alive now. Human now, too, thanks to you.

[ kainé stands up and stretches her arms out a little. there's no denying on what happened on each of their ends, their memories reflect something else and it's a fact that they're going to have to accept.

there are mixed feelings about him picking her over himself. on one hand, it's charming, but on the other hand, she doesn't believe herself to be worth sacrificing one's self over. it isn't like she's important.

she walks into the water now and stops next to neir where she places a hand on his arm. ]


If you want, we don't need to talk about it ever again.
abandonware: ([ 08. ])

[personal profile] abandonware 2018-09-25 07:01 am (UTC)(link)
Guess we'll both die then.

[Her own face is flushed from exertion.] Since you had to waste a bunch of goddamn time not cutting me free!

[She's winning this absolutely pointless argument! Is what she would be thinking, were she not trying to shimmy across the floor to Zero's sword, like she's trapped in the world's tightest and most awful Snuggie. It takes way more effort than it reasonably should, and she gives up for a second, about a third of the way there.

She doesn't even know how she's going to use the damn thing if she gets to it.]


Ugh.

[Ugh! This is the worst human yet.]
chromatized: (> the fools charge in)

would i ever lie to you

[personal profile] chromatized 2018-09-25 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
Really? [ sounds fake - who likes running to the bathroom that often? unless he's still recovering... ]

Well, maybe I could make some for you later. I know a recipe for get-well-quick tomato soup.

[ hm, is that a glint of mischief in Ludger's eye? nah, couldn't be, it's not like he has copious amounts of experience with tomato haters or anything like that. ]
extirpator: (pic#12412372)

[personal profile] extirpator 2018-09-25 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ the flower falls. he looks at her, and his heart aches — she reminds him of yonah, a white flower in bloom despite the carnage and chaos that surrounds her.

she is unlike him. pure and untouched. weathered, but untouched at her core.

he was neither of those things.

wordlessly, he turns back around, approaching her only to then crouch and delicately take the fallen zinnia into his hand.

he rises, eyes flickering over its petals. ]


He wasn't the only one who...

There are bad people in this universe. People who will want to hurt you for their own benefit...I don't always understand why. I used to wish I did. I wanted to believe that people were good, even if they had hurt me, and I wanted to help them no matter what.

[ he hates them — humans. humanity. the people who had attempted to rob him blind of everything, including his own existence. he's dead. everything has already come to an end.

but for some reason, somehow, she makes him want to try. try to hope the way he once did.

so in this moment, he does. ]


...But there were many people...who gave up their lives to see me safe. I was an orphan who could do so little in a dying world, but the people of my village still tried to help me in their own ways. My comrades did everything they could to ensure that I'd know peace again...

And my sister...even when she was in pain, she couldn't ignore someone else's suffering.

Human beings are worth believing in. Even if they're cruel sometimes, even if they hurt you...they still love, and they still try to live in a world that doesn't want them to.

[ he motions the zinnia towards her. ]

White zinnias remind me of that truth...and that's why they remind me of you, too.
abandonware: ([ 34. ])

[personal profile] abandonware 2018-09-25 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
[The mini acrobatic show that Konoha goes through amuses A2 enough not to even try to help, though she does nod, in tacit approval, when it finishes.]

Good catch.

[She'd spoken to Konoha over the communication watches, but it's one thing to hear someone sounding better and another to see them. She looks much healthier than she had that day A2 had found her sprawled on the ground.]

And the... [She motions to the giant peach.] Whatever that is. It's a sort of fruit, isn't it?
grawlixes: (pic#10058568)

03.

[personal profile] grawlixes 2018-09-25 07:15 am (UTC)(link)
[ Food is a great way to finish off a trip to the lake and the smell of fish has made her stomach grumble out loudly. It's been a long day so it's not a surprise that she's feeling hungry and so Kainé will follow the direction of the smell.

She might as well check it out while she can. ]


Huh, so you're the one that's here.

[ It's good to see Konoha in the flesh. ]
extirpator: (pic#12333073)

[personal profile] extirpator 2018-09-25 07:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ he feels the warmth of her hand against him. kainé, always putting her own feelings before his — even when she had died, she...

his brows knit together, and he visibly struggles for a moment.

he, however, does not reject her touch. ]


No, I can't...

I can't forget something like this.

[ it's then that he turns towards her. ]

You deserve to live. No matter what. A world where you can't live is a world that isn't right, Kainé!

[ he bites his lip. ]

I'll find a way. I promise...that I'll save you.
lumberlady: (上過ぎ)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2018-09-25 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
Oh- Thanks.

[Konoha isn't quite sure it was a good catch for real, but without thinking she automatically just thanks her for the compliment, still a bit confused but... here is A2, here is a... slightly bruised but very big peach. Looking between the two, Konoha's brain catches up with events until she finally laughs a bit, delayed, sure, but the chuckle is real, hefting up the large fruit to weigh it in her hands.]

This? Yeah, it's a fruit! You don't have peaches in your world?

[Or was almost everything metal like in Struxta?]

Geez, I think this one weighs more than a baby...
grawlixes: (pic#10058552)

[personal profile] grawlixes 2018-09-25 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ she frowns in return, fingers kneading into his arm as her grip on it tightens.

this is certainly a tricky situation that they've got themselves into. ]


Is being here right now not good enough?

[ it's an earnest question because she's here and alive. being here is honestly a lot better than the earth they're from because she hasn't been judged (okay, just once) and isn't treated like some sort of animal. ]

Don't make a stupid promise like that.

[ while yeah, it is nice to know that nier cares about her that much, she'll never fully be able to accept she's worth dying over. she's just another miserable ant on this world. ]

Don't risk your life. If you do anything stupid, I'll hunt you down and beat you up myself.
lumberlady: (バイバイ)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2018-09-25 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
[Indeed, it's Konoha, looking exactly as she described herself on her network post. That is... "centaur", "the brown one", and "the girl one". Check, check, check. She's laying down on her belly, back legs tucked up and forelegs curled up to her chest almost how a human might excitedly pull their knees up to their chins when waiting impatiently for food in front of them to cook, occasionally reaching out over her knees to turn one of the skewers of fish stuck in the sand to make sure they grill evenly.

At the sound of approach she looks up... and blinks a bit in shock at how very daring the woman's clothing choices were.]


Who, me?

[Oh, wait- the voice registers a second later, and Konoha's confusion changes slightly more towards recognition, waving in greeting.]

Oh! You're the person who wanted to trade for meat, right? Hello!
lumberlady: (勇気)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2018-09-25 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know!

[Her heart was pounding, she hadn't been prepared for this sort of thing, okay? For all she knew he meant more kissing things, or- or- she doesn't know!

Still, she doesn't think he'd be mean enough to pull such a prank as lying to her about the state of his nudity, right?, so, she cautiously begins to peek out over her towel.]
extirpator: (Default)

[personal profile] extirpator 2018-09-25 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ he doesn't respond. it's characteristic of her. it's all so terribly fitting, and a part of him thinks that this is undoubtedly a dream, a figment of his own imagine to cope with the reality of his own existence.

nier pulls away from her grip. a silence hangs in the air.

and then he wraps his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. ]


...For now, I'll take it.

[ he can't tell her that he won't do anything. he knows well what the truth is: that he would forfeit anything for her. ]

I've missed you, Kainé.
theseuschip: (im not a robot im asking for a friend)

i

[personal profile] theseuschip 2018-09-25 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ with great, A2-sounding emphasis (it’s strange, how much he could see 2B in her when he met her; how he still can, sometimes, and other times, like now, when she’s screaming “fuck”, it’s as if the resemblance is absence entirely; just the same face, the same number)

-comes great nosiness.

Simon isn’t sure what he was expecting to see, but it wasn’t this. ]


A2?

[ this is the most bizarre position he’s ever seen an android, someone as fiercely serious as A2, or all of the above in and he just has to process it. His bewilderment at what he’s looking af is actually edging out his general dislike of vine-, tentacle-, and coed-like things. He approaches warily, though, expecting that anything that could do this to an android could... attack, somehow. ]

How did you... what the hell happened?
extirpator: (pic#12508320)

[personal profile] extirpator 2018-09-25 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
....

I didn't realize you had thoughts like those, Konoha.

[ he says this almost entirely deadpan, because he's asking to be murdered. ]

It's okay. But I meant it when I said I'd learn how to swim. So you can stop worrying now, alright?
theseuschip: (+ ^A_TVA ALIVEuv§)

[personal profile] theseuschip 2018-09-25 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ At first he tenses, frozen in place with the edge of the lake lapping at his feet, seeing nothing but a dark figure covered in tentacles and black.

But it’s nice that she’s as pleasant in speech as when he first met her, because otherwise it would take Simon even longer to recognize her under all the... stuff. He does, and his posture slackens slightly, making him one of the maybe few people who can say seeing someone and discovering it’s this lady is a relief??

He shuts off the light — hands-free, it just goes... off — and rolls his eyes. It’s visually conspicuous as hell, naturally, but without malice. ]


All right, take it easy.

[ he looks her over. that’s, uh, some considerable fuckedupness. ] What happened to you?
grawlixes: (80)

[personal profile] grawlixes 2018-09-25 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ if he didn't take it, she would have just beaten it into him.

she doesn't reject the hug because it is comforting for the pair of them, more for him than yourself. physical contact is still a motion she gets a little weird about.

but, thanks to her friends, she's been able to grow used to it. ]


Let's hope you don't regret those words.

You're stuck with me here now.

[ it's unlikely that he'll have regrets. they've been through hell and back and no matter what, nier has always seen the good inside of her. ]
abandonware: ([ 28. ])

[personal profile] abandonware 2018-09-25 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
[A2 has tried, valiantly, to break free. At the beginning there had been a surge of power she recognized, her abilities returning to her in a rush — and she had struggled, and struggled mightily. But then the power had gone out, like a short in a bad battery, and she was left like this.]

Why does it matter —! [Then she remembers her promise to 2B, and makes a frustrated noise, and manages to roll over so that she's staring at him upside-down.

She looks pissed off, but at least it isn't directed toward him this time.]


I shut down — [She grunts and wriggles about and when the vines tighten again she winces, her features tightening briefly in discomfort.] — for maintenance. Woke up like this.
theseuschip: (_NRECLAIMug Z  Wa7)

[personal profile] theseuschip 2018-09-25 08:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ Okay, he saw the giant fruit and stuff, but this is something else. Astoria clearly fixed things too hard.

Simon thinks little of her self-aborted hostility, except that maybe she’s just getting used to him. Pretty promptly after A2’s explanation, if you can call it that, he just says, ]


I’ll go get a knife.

[ and walks away

to go look for the biggest, most suitable-looking knife in the kitchen he hardly goes into.

Some hold music would probably be good right about now. ]
grawlixes: (pic#11183589)

[personal profile] grawlixes 2018-09-25 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ How to react to the sight of her is a tricky one. Thankfully, Kainé isn't going to start sprouting weird stuff because she knows what it's like. It's hard to wrap her head at how someone like Konaha exists, but she doesn't question it.

There are weirder things in the world. ]


Yeah. Kainé. I guess everyone is checking out this place.

[ Which is fair.

It's rather nice out here, fresh and new by the sounds of everything so it's only natural that people want to spend time out here. ]