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apocalypsehowcomm2023-09-16 08:32 am
Event - A Little Perspective
The citizens of Gloucester are abuzz with talk of the new town square in the heart of the city. After some miserable few months… years(?) for some of the citizenry, it's a welcome spark of joy. The prize at the center of the square is a perfect replica of Gloucester set upon a large stone slab for people to view and enjoy. Some small festivities have been set up around the square. Food carts with tasty local offerings–it's a lot of seafood–and hawkers looking to sell jewelry, paintings, and other sundries.
The new town square, itself, is bracketed by the General's Store on one side, other tourist-type shops on two others, and an open park field with benches and plenty of shade trees on the other side. There are planters with gorgeous new flowers and everything has a shining, new feeling to it. Ring out the end of summer with the tiny bells that adorn the mini-clocktower in the replica city!
(cw: altered perception of reality, existential crisis, possible starvation, isolation)
The disappearances don’t happen all at once, but they do take place over the course of a few, unremarkable, hours. One by one, seven people step through a door, cross a street, or go to investigate the brand new replica of Gloucester unveiled in the middle of town and vanish.
Except, to them, they don’t. It’s everyone else who vanishes. Whatever path they were on goes uninterrupted, but every other soul is gone, leaving the streets eerily silent. Perhaps you can find each other through calling out or through chance, but it seems only a few others have been left behind.
It’s not just the lack of anyone else that’s off. It’s there in the very sky, a fog-filled horizon leaves little else to see even from the tallest building in the city…if you’re lucky. Where there should be stars or roads or trees beyond the confines of the city, there are unimaginably massive shadows, creatures that loom and shift and seem to occasionally try to stretch their dark and foggy forms down to grab for people who stay outside too long. Surely inside will be safer.
And, for the most part, it is. There’s no running water, no food that isn’t made of plastic, and only the weak yellow glow of lights that seem to come on and off every few hours without any switches or plugs to be seen. Except then there’s the nightmares. There’s no rhyme or reason, no indication of which building will hold the nightmarish scenario that plays out. The only certain thing is that there’s seven of them…and they’re oddly specific, as though tailor made to one individual. Hopefully a friend or stranger can be the voice of reason needed to see you through, but even facing your fears doesn’t seem to set things right. If anything, as time goes on, it only seems to make the shadows get more agitated. More creative…
(cw: gaslighting, potential for sadism, potential for large-scale destruction and injury/death, body horror, nausea, vertigo, supernaturally induced dread)
For those fortunate enough not to be sucked into the miniature town at the center of Gloucester, there's still more than enough trouble to go around. Mainly, the matter of getting people out of the town, whether they be friends or strangers. You might notice the little figures darting about the replica streets or banging at the tiny windows of buildings. Unfortunate that most (or maybe all) of them run in terror at the sight of you when you try to reach out and the sound of you when you make to run.
Most ordinary people walking by don't seem to notice anything amiss like you do. To them, it's just a quaint little attraction to view for a few minutes and then move on. The people trapped within it go unnoticed or unremarked. Even some of the people who work for ADI can't see it, like they have some sort of blindspot that you lack.
Regardless, there's the matter of rescue (or torment for the more sadistic persons out there). The tiny town, itself is designed in such a manner as to make access to the deeper portions of it challenging. The raised platform and general size makes it all but impossible for anyone under 8 feet tall to actually reach the center of the town without having to climb up onto it. And that… has rather dire ramifications. Those seeking to simply pull apart the town or climb onto it with little regard to the structures will find that any time they disturb or destroy a structure, they have a sinking, horrible feeling in the pit of their stomach. If it's a building that's near to where they are, they might even hear the sound of the real structure in Gloucester buckling and breaking as people scream and flee. Some unnatural force seems to be destroying their town and they have no explanation for it. You do, though. You know exactly what you've done. Perhaps you'll even hear about the injured and dead the next time you happen to read, listen to, or watch the news.
With wanton destruction a less-than-ideal solution to get to the darting figures in the town, that leaves a few other solutions. You could gather a team of people to help you corral the figures. If your hands aren't enough, perhaps others will be. The figures are far faster than they should be when they're that tiny or maybe it's that you're having trouble perceiving the depth of the place and where they are in space. In any case… more hands.
Or, maybe you'll go for a more creative option. If hands won't work, then some tape or netting or other traps might slow your quarry down enough to snatch. Perhaps you're even the sort to construct elaborate, Rube Goldberg-style contraptions to catch the tiny figures without hurting them. Much.
Emotion might rule the day for you instead. If you can just find some way to communicate that you're not a danger, that you're there to help, maybe that would have the figure willing to approach you, to climb into your hand of their own accord. It's maybe the kindest and least terrifying route, but it's also likely to take the longest, and time is of the essence.
At least once you manage to pull a rescued person past a seeming threshold, they transform very suddenly into their full-sized self with all the pain, nausea, and vertigo that comes with the sensation of your body exploding from within. The sense of being too large may persist for just a few hours or up to several days for the particularly unlucky.
Those who spend long enough observing the tiny town will note that there is a small timer affixed to one of the buildings where a billboard is in the real Gloucester. It is steadily counting down and it carries with it a sense of impending doom. When the clock strikes zero, the entire display will simply vanish from the center of Gloucester, like it was never there. Anyone still trapped within will also vanish. All references in newspapers and news stories from the past few weeks will vanish.
Was it ever really there? Most ordinary people don't seem to think so. What an interesting suggestion. Maybe you should let the mayor know. A tiny version of Gloucester sounds like it would be a lovely little attraction in the new town square!
(cw: altered mental states; compulsion; painful transformation; dehumanization; being hunted; potential for violence, injury, and death, including gun violence)
There's a restless feeling about ADI headquarters, a strange sort of readiness and tension growing under the day to day office drudgery one always experiences in a lull between major crises. It's an itch in the back of one's mind, a half-noticed shift like the scent of blood carried on a distant wind. The longer the feeling lingers, the more unbearably dull all the paperwork and research and so forth becomes.
Then, all at once, it comes into focus. For some, it's sharp pain followed by a sudden feeling of terror, the knowledge that you are among predators that mean you harm. For others, it's that scent growing sharp and strong the moment you spot your prey.
The prey are easily spotted, at least within the bounds of ADI property, where Milo's glamour doesn't hide nonhumans and not-quite-humans from one another. The change is often small but always unmistakeable: a set of horns or antlers sprouting from one's head, still bloody from their sudden extrusion; the long ears of a rabbit, quivering with the effort to hear the hunters' approach; feathers that ripple out along one's arms in a mockery of wings; or the silky tail of a fox or mink, the mark of a predator long turned prey at the hands of humans. Any who find themselves marked as prey undergo one or more of these small transformations, gaining characteristics that clearly mark them as one of many animals traditionally considered to be game for hunting or trapping.
And if you're not prey? That makes you the hunter. The compulsion to hunt is overwhelming from the moment you spot a coworker, roommate, or even a dear friend marked as prey. Perhaps you're sly about it and set traps, or stalk them from afar. Or perhaps they run and you simply can't resist the urge to chase. What you'll do if you catch them…well, that depends on one's personality, or perhaps on luck. Maybe you'll snap out of it long enough to let them go. Maybe you'll try to lock them up–for their own good, of course, until you work out how to fix this. Or maybe just chasing them down isn't enough to satisfy the urge–the most obsessed hunters might attack, maul, or even shoot their prey if nothing stops them.
Everyone feels it, though. Anyone who isn't marked as prey will feel the compulsion to hunt when they see someone who is, and it simply will not stop as long as the mark remains. Even outside of ADI, normal citizens will even start to react the same way to something they can't even see through the glamour. The only way to end this curse is to remove the animal feature that grew from you–whether that's sawing off a pair of antlers or chopping off a tail.
Good luck…and good hunting.
- GENERAL - Players are welcome to play background NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompts should be sufficient and ordinary people will act like… ordinary people! You're welcome to make up any details for your specific scene. Also, please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
- SMALL FEARS (16-19 September) - Characters trapped in the tiny town will notice the buildings themselves, while sturdy and able to hold their weight, aren’t exactly built to code, almost like they’re made of various craft supplies and short cuts, even if the end result is very convincing. There’s no food or water in the tiny town, but enterprising characters might be able to collect dew outside and survive a little longer that way. Each character has their own ‘nightmare room’ across the various buildings in town and they won’t be able to escape their own nightmare room without someone else’s help. How they get out of the town through the various efforts of those outside is up to the individual player, but anyone still left in town after four days will either die of lack of resources or from the miniature town’s collapse. Please remember that death is permanent.
- BIG FEARS (16-19 September) - Players on the outside are welcome to enact as much destruction and mayhem on Gloucester and its citizens as they would like via the tiny town. Please just let the mods know on the OOC Post in the section dedicated to Town Destruction and Damage so that we can make note of it for future events/the final chapter of the game. Characters that destroy the town will sense the weight of what they've done, even if they don't see or hear the immediate effects. It feels bad to destroy the tiny town. Players are also welcome to come up with creative rescue solutions. The only limitations are that the tiny characters will not be able to understand their speech or anything written for them, so another form of communication may need to be found that doesn't use language.
- ONE FEAR (16-30 September) - Players are free to choose any variety of animal features beyond the ones listed, so long as a.) the feature is linked to an animal traditionally hunted and b.) the change is a discrete feature that can be removed, however painfully. Characters with animal features will find that everyone, not just offworlders and people within ADI, seem to feel the same compulsion to hunt them down until the feature is removed.
Elidibus | Final Fantasy XIV | OTA/Small Town
cw: megalophobia, shadowy horrors, impending (cheese) doom
[ooc: Tiny Town folk, will post a tiny exploratory atmospheric adventure responses. Feel free to pm/dm questions!]
descent
One day it is simply there. A shadow. Dark, forboding. Something that lingers in a persistent, inexorable manner that might be recognized as distinct. It blots out what little light filters through the fog, turning a particular block of the town dark... even pitch black in some places. Close to the town's true 'center'. Perhaps surprisingly close. But keeping the central point almost reassuringly 'safe'.
...as if something descends...
Yes, the shadow shifts and flickers but grows over time. Hours? Days? Such would depend on one's perspective, how long one watches. How those giant shapes from beyond the fog move in their minds.
landing
It comes with a soft rumble felt a few more blocks away. But those watching might see something different. Thick fog often dulls colors and this may be no exception; something that replaces the shadow as it comes through the fog. Something gray. Gray with red tones, slowly gaining saturation as time and size goes on. If some of the watchers were able to bring light, that red would become ever more vibrant when a sheen that suggests a harsh shine. Metal? Perhaps.
...it keeps coming...
With a small vibration through the earth, it lands. Odd that it doesn't dent the road with such obvious weight, perhaps. It rests there, an strange monolith with curvature.
But then the noise it makes. A PoPPiNG, SnAP-CRaCK. Something curved, with strange, shiny metalic surface settling to its new home? Or something more terrible?
II. So Above - Meanwhile, Big Fears
Elidibus can be often found in the new town square. Like many of the off-worlders who have heard the tales and witnessed myriad attempts to help those trapped in the tiny town, he was here to see what may be done. What may be sensed, learned. Of course it wasn't just curiosity.
A. Say Cheese
It's odd that civilians aren't paying any attention when he lingers on the side of the town model. Honestly it was worth a little magic to.... harmonize just a bit. This won't affect off-worlders or those ADI personnel who aren't already dissuaded by whatever keeps them from noticing the flurry of tiny figures moving around.
In his hand is a small Babybel cheese, still wrapped because this is, for the moment, a test. Elidibus carefully begins lowering it onto the model, while sometimes looking intently at a particular direction in the real Glouchester.
One may notice this is in the direction of where he can reach, hovering- quite literally, because he's an uncomfortably short person and tiptoes won't do- near the center of the model.
B. Trap
It's not as if there aren't other solutions, yes? Elidibus is inclined to not use magic to capture those within and try to win them free of the model. Too risky, too.. intricate, detailed work for what he can bring to bear these days. The model town is likely a maze of efforts to trap and draw out the tiny figures by now.
"Yet the difficulty stems in being unable to affect the buildings themselves, lest it causes damage to Glouchester," he might say to someone nearby. "While they are free to enter those buildings and hide. Have you found aught which is effective?"
III. One Fear - Feathers
cw: body horror, predation, compulsions
Weakened. Vulnerable. They were feelings Elidibus has become keenly aware of since his arrival on Earth. It came in particularly sharp relief during the last few days. To make a proper, permanent limb for Sheppard? As everything, it took far more than a snap of the fingers or an afterthought. With Emet-Selch's aid, neither had completely drained themselves. It had been for a good, well-reasoned cause.
Sheppard's mutated crab arm was worth the cost, though. And there were other benefits to look forward to. Yes. Well worth. There was so much to learn and no stone should remain unturned. Or was getting the crab arm a personal benefit and the creation magick the true aim? Ah, no matter. Elidibus would make use of it all.
But it has lead to limited means to escape pursuit.
Feathers. Raven and cream feathers- some even a gradient between the two- mix with silver hair. Not as ornaments, but growing out, replacing? It's hard to tell, but they are real. Glimpses of his hands show similar patterns of downy fluff. One may presume there is more. But white robes cover a lot. When he had first felt the unease and approach of danger, he had teleported away from the dubious safety of his apartment to someplace, anyplace else and at home he wore his robe.
He knows something is wrong with his feet. The shoes are... uncomfortable. The changes being wrought have had stabs of pain- feathers itch, a sense of... ache in his bones. Something undefinable about his calves. But not yet worth removing and checking. Not when there's something coming. The worst part is how Elidibus knows his behavior is irrational. He still has the capacity and intelligence he was born with. But the impulse was undeniable. Predators were near. And he... he would be hunted. Cornered. Inevitably...
"I know you're there." a predator might hear him say aloud at one point in his stunted efforts at flight. Like a bird whose wings will not lift him to safety.
But should he stumble across other prey instead? There is nothing but silence at first. A glance at his fellow and a stillness that belongs to a bird on alert, waiting for any sign to give way to a hunter.
One Fear
He knows, too, that there is but one way to restore their power. One that will, unfortunately, require time and patience.
Still, it's not unease that he feels. No, it's the opposite. The urge to hunt, to stalk, and that it is only made worse by the appearance of feathers peeking through Elidibus' hair is something that doesn't even really register. But he is patient, millennia of experience sliding hand-in-hand with the more subtle methods of the Dark and so it is that he waits. Waits until he knows that Elidibus is alone and as unarmed as any of them ever are, and only then does he make his move.
"I know."
Emet-Selch's voice echoes from out of the very shadows, the man himself all but unseen as he leans ever so slightly on the power the Dark has granted him.
"I have always known."
no subject
At least that is how it's supposed to go.
Elidibus was no fool. He quickly understood why he was willing to immediately use his flagging magicks to teleport away from the safety of the nest the two had made on this star. Yes there was compulsion to flee from anything that was a predator, that was not prey like him. But would it not have been somewhat tempered by reason?
Thousands upon thousands of years had instilled the indefatigable paradigm of being one of three who were what mankind once was. It had not been arrogance to think they were more powerful, more experienced, more... whole than mortals of their world. It was baseline fact.
On Earth that fact was mostly moot, their potency bound far closer to humans than the even mortal vessels they sometimes inhabited on their star. But it was not like that paradigm was easily shaken either. It would have been easier to reserve his power and be more clever and perhaps even fight the compulsion to form a plan to overcome the predator. So he can tell himself.
But not here. Not one faced with another one of the Three. Though Elidibus knew what was in the shadows, what had sent him without a single thought on the run, the normally rational figure still fears in a way he has rarely known. The hem of his robe sways as a boot slips backward half a step from the shadows- frighteningly close- where Emet-Selch lingers.
There is a slight, harsh scrape as if something sought to cut through the soft leather. Something like claw. Or talon. Elidibus clenches his hands into fists to still the tremble and the urge to escape again. Emet-Selch could simply follow the same way.
"...I will be no easy quarry." He states to the Dark-bound hunter. Tells to himself.
no subject
Still, it is not the choice Elidibus chooses, and Emet-Selch cannot deny that it is perhaps the better choice. The safer choice.
"I would expect no less."
Lahabrea, perhaps, would have been. But even as he had deteriorated, the majority of his strength had remained. Enough that perhaps there would have been a worthy adversary there, had he been here instead. But he is not, and instead it is left to Elidibus to stand as the focus of this fear. This focus, for something that would not normally be anything that Emet-Selch himself would have preferred.
(But perhaps there is something of a reason it had come out so strongly in one of his descendants.)
"Though I wonder... can you fight, as you are?"
He heard that brief scrape, as Elidibus' foot had slipped. Something that no mere shoe would have offered, and nothing that a normal human foot would have either.
no subject
I would expect no less. How sinister it currently sounds to his own ears. As though it were not a compliment to a peer, but as if Emet-Selch were truly saying, 'I'm excited to have such a challenge in my hunt.' It is a phrase that brings a sharper pang of fear and makes Elidibus wish to flee. So much so it near seems as though his vision darkens under the strain to hold his ground.
He knows well were his conscious to fade, he would be subject to the terror and instinct of flight again.
Can he fight as he is? Elidibus might wonder that himself but as if this were no more than a passing exercise of friendly debate so common among their long lost kin, he simply offers an answer in the context of their current predicament.
"Prey, when cornered, is capable of a strength unrealized under the weight of their normal lives." Yes, he acknowledges what he is. "How often have we borne witness to such in the millennia we have guided the path of our Star?"
He doesn't necessarily speak of an analogy to their confrontations with Hydaelyn's heroes. But time and again, both in the Unsundered past and especially the shattered fragments, those hunted and those preyed upon would display behaviors that defy the presumptions of their roles.
With a faint smile that is assuredly not reflecting his true emotions, Elidibus casts a graceful motion with a lightly feathered hand and brings into being a temporary creation. Not sword and shield but rather something which might be taken as staff or spear. Something with reach.
Something using his magic in such a way that would make it more difficult to escape and thus purposefully inciting his instincts to feel ever more cornered.
"Forgive my ill manners, my friend. I fear I have lost much of my normal capacity to discern a clear path towards a better solution."
Or perhaps, that it's Emet-Selch and not some other, lesser threat he could trick or incite fear within in order to build the reserves he needs to ward against whatever influences them both. And he knows his colleague is in no better shape.
no subject
"Time and again. And many failed."
Many had been the would be heroes who had all but dashed themselves against the breast of darkness. Who had sought to undo they who were undying, unending. Who had striven and yet still failed.
But Elidibus is greater than they. Made of sterner convictions and a power that many would not, even if it is nothing that either of them can meaningfully reach, just at the moment.
"But perhaps I can clear your path."
The words are light. The weapon he calls forth is anything but. A greatsword, to match Elidibus' spear - reach to counter reach, for all it is just as temporary as Elidibus' weapon. But it is more solid than a staff, and will at least match the drain of Elidibus' creation rather than needing to reach for his magics instead. Nor does he care to use the magic that has ever been his, the predator in him wishing for something more solid. Something that he can feel the weight of, under his hands and there's a smile on his face as he takes a step out of the shadows.
One that has absolutely nothing to do with anything pleasant.
no subject
"You would have me flee a while longer, then?" Elidibus questions. This time he manages to stand his ground. Yet the fear drifting in the air and offering a tantalizing crumb to the hungry hunter, tells of Emet-Selch's success.
A pity it is, that he, just as Elidibus, would never be able to feel satisfied by what may be drawn. A watery tea, an airy, dry bite of something with little nourishment. Such is the fear one can draw from off-worlders. And why it is so much better to focus one's efforts on the native mortals of this reality.
But here and now, it may simply add an ache of frustration and impetus to further provoke the prey in hopes of actually obtaining a proper bite.
It's foolish indeed to have any hope that Emet-Selch would have a purely altruistic motivation right now. Yes, both would likely want to find a solution from their predicament, drawing this out longer so that perhaps it could be found. But like a double-edged blade, Elidibus knows giving quarter would be as much akin to a game of coeurl and rodent... cloudkin rather. It would be better if he were to flee on his own terms rather than the one Emet-Selch dictates.
He had kept his weapon in one hand. And just as Emet-Selch steps out of the darkness fully, yet without much chance to adjust to any shift in light, the darker tip of the weapon is thrust to the ground. Elidibus sends a surge of power to the upward, lighter tip, causing it to radiate a blinding burst of light.
He will already be in flight - running, not truly flying, well before the flash has faded.
Let the hunt begin.
no subject
It helps less than Elidibus might hope. Emet-Selch still has his soulsight, and Elidibus' soul is so, so easy to spot, even amongst the sea of other offworlders.
Emet-Selch waits only long enough for his vision to unblur enough that he won't trip over unfamiliar ground and then he follows, gaze focused unwaveringly on Elidibus' soul. If it is a hunt Elidibus wants (that the predator in him wants) than a hunt it will be, and he is not the one whose feet might well be changing into something else. And with Elidibus returned to his original form, even the advantage of height is yet Emet-Selch's. Height, and the greater stride that comes hand-in-hand with it, driven inexorably on by both the urge afflicting them and the fact that the fear Elidibus is offering is no more than airy nothings. A fleeting taste, there and gone again.
But he can be patient. Will be patient, and Elidibus will find himself hard-pressed to throw Emet-Selch off the scent.
no subject
Or other predators join the hunt.
They know each others' strengths and weaknesses. Possibly too well. Elidibus's shorter stature is a physical disadvantage when he can't really be more than humans of this Earth. Everything they do, from magic to creation magic, to being more than mortals of this world, all relies on how much fear they have caused in others. Emet-Selch would easily catch up in a footrace like this.
Yet blinding and running out of sight was not simply to gain an edge. Elidibus can still think, still plan for now. And he had hoped to give his hunter cause to rely upon soulsight to trace his whereabouts. It would not be much of an advantage and even now Emet-Selch will probably expect traps. But there was still a difference however slight between watching the world through its aether and with physical vision.
Pity of all people one of the best at this nuance is Elidibus's pursurer. But if it would serve nothing more than to drain the predator's own reserves...
Off the main route, down a darker alley. Another risk, but one with more obstacles. A small sigil placed when the silver haired man splashes a puddle, that will activate and cause a well of gravity to rapidly draw in the loose detritus and lighter weight object toward the center of anyone that foolishly triggers it.
But that would be so easily seen, by a sorcerer of Emet-Selch's repute, right? Easily avoided.
Which is why Elidibus takes precious moments to shift a purely physical set of wooden pallets to topple across the alley. A now precarious pile to climb over... or to destroy or simply effortlessly soar over.
A full glimpse of Elidibus's figure rounding another corner will certainly be the cost. Emet-Selch is catching up.
no subject
Fortunately, the darkness helps, in that regard. While he cannot truly see in the dark, even with the blessing of his patron, it does serve to give his eyes time enough to recover from the earlier blast of light. Enough that he does not need to rely solely on the form of sight that will only serve to drain his powers.
The sigil is still trivial to see, even so. Something that would barely have posed a challenge and though he is yet being ridden by the compulsion to chase, he knows Elidibus will be well aware of his aetherial sight. Enough to have his eyes flicking across the alley instead, and the purely physical barrier standing between him and his prey.
It takes him no more than a moment to decide. The sword he bears is only going to be a drain, and with surprising accuracy, he throws it at the sigil; the resulting explosion of magic dissipating the sword itself as it triggers the trap, neatly clearing the path for him.
He does not resummon his weapon. He does not need it. Not here among the shadows, and that single glimpse of Elidibus rounding the corner is enough, as he reaches for a darkness that is not directly fear-touched - the shadows themselves. Shadows that Elidibus will find rising up off the ground as if to trip him, or snag on stumbling feet and hold.
no subject
It all settles and while the sword disappears because it's no longer sustained, the wreckage is scattered and quite easy to navigate around and continue upon the chase with nary so much a hesitation.
Elidibus has adapted to the awkward gait. But not, when Emet-Selch extends his reach and causes his prey to stumble for a moment, one he can deftly avoid. The almost-corporeal shadows slip and clutch over now-shredded shoes and something more akin to bird feet than man. He catches himself against the wall, but he is held momentarily fast. Once more his weapon is wielded. But like the sword, it will be dispersed in a gambit.
"If Darkness rises, so must Light respond. And thus Balance is restored."
And so the weapon falls apart and Elidibus brings balance, striving to nullify the risen shadow and free himself again.
But it is all the delay Emet-Selch really needed.
no subject
He does not try. The light cleaves the darkness in twain, shadows wisping away to nothingness under the magic Elidibus wields. Nor do they rise again, but there are greater problems at hand. Namely, the fact that Emet-Selch is closing in quickly, making the most of that momentary delay and the utter failure of Elidibus' trap, and though he is not yet so near as to be able to reach out and take hold of his prey (not with more than shadow anyway) he has still very neatly eliminated any advantage Elidibus might have gained by his earlier flashbang.
"Even you cannot run forever. Balance or no."
Though Emet-Selch can admit that Elidibus' light has certainly been effective, and a weapon that he cannot easily defend himself against.
no subject
Such as he so often strives for.
As if an echo, thus does his earlier abundant use of light fall back into balance when Emet-Selch finishes closing the distance. This was inevitable and it is accepted.
"No I cannot," Elidibus agrees. In the shadowy alley the faint light within the irises of the two are more in contrast. But that means it shows that even when his voice is calm, they dart around often, as if looking for escape. It is not like him.
"I need only do so for long enough."
But has it been so? Will he be capable of escaping again? There is light from a distant lamp. Enough reaches the silver haired man's position to shine on beads of sweat.
no subject
He makes not even the slightest attempt to acknowledge it. Instead he simply approaches, slow and inexorable. A darkness that will not be denied forever and that has all the time in the world.
"Has it been? Will the light answer your call again, if you ask it?"
Emet-Selch gestures, fingers of one hand curling up as if to pull something and the shadows quiver under his command, stretching and curling in turn. Reaching out just enough to make it clear that though they have been banished they are not quiescent - and more importantly, that Emet-Selch has not yet reached the ends of his power, though he knows all too well that the gesture will cost him, even as it might serve to deepen the bone-deep instinct running through Elidibus, unnatural though it is.
"I know you had little enough to begin with."
no subject
Would it be enough to balance Emet-Selch again? That was uncertain. What is easy to discern is that it would be the last.
Elidibus flinches when Emet-Selch continues to draw ever closer. This time it's something even an amateur would notice. His step back was nearer a skipping hop one might attribute to a startled bird than the subtle shift of robe. He wants to flee and it would take only the slightest of efforts to break his control.
"Who can say? You are welcome to test what remains of my strength, should you choose."
A little bit more talk. Something to calm him down; something to delay the inevitable by encouraging Emet-Selch to answer. Though not without a third purpose. Perhaps a fourth or more. But it is clear he is buying time as much as probing.
"And yet I would be left to wonder. What urges you to hunt me?" Is it an influence pressed upon Emet-Selch as the role of prey has fallen upon the vulnerable Elidibus? Or is it part of what has befallen younger of the two which draws the elder to hunt him?
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Though in fairness, neither is he thinking about it. Not when he very much has noticed that flinch on Elidibus' end and the hop-skip of his step back - something he very much knows to not be something that Elidibus would normally be prone.
"Oh, but I hardly need to. The fear has you already; but one moment, and you would flee, would you not? A moment denied only by strength of will."
Still, for all that Emet-Selch draws nearer yet he does not test the remains of Elidibus' strength. Does not batter himself against whatever Elidibus has to offer, and the gesture is as much one that is calculated as it is a desire to spare his strength. To make the most of what little he has, and dashing his strength against Elidibus' shields when it is what Elidibus is prepared for is hardly an effective use of his limited power.
The appeal to his more inquisitive nature, on the other hand, does at least have Emet-Selch pausing in his approach. Even if his answer is not particularly helpful.
"What is it that urges you flee?"
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Far from it.
But right now? His mouth was so dry that he had to swallow before speaking again.
"My thoughts are upon the transformation I have fallen victim to," Elidibus does not remark that his friend and colleague and hunter had not given an answer in the traditional sense. It's enough right now that Emet-Selch had paused.
"...Though I cannot say you are not similarly afflicted with the drive of a predator, when I fled our apartment, I knew there were others who would hunt me, given the chance. Even now..."
The area may be more remote, but Elidibus knows there are other threats beyond the one right in front of him. Emet-Selch is the priority.
"It... is dangerous to remain." For a moment, the emotive quality of the Ancient's deep tones is more transparent. Urgent some might think. A creeping panic in truth.
"The longer I stand before you, the less I find myself able to consider what else draws near." ...a deer in headlights "And yet... were I to attempt now to divest myself of this influence, I fear you would strike. It was my error to flee in the first place."
From the apartment, in the initial panic, instead of standing his ground and using what power remained to him then to try and divest himself of the burgeoning transformation.
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IIB
For the moment, those efforts seem to have hit a pause. Or perhaps she's just waiting for something.
"They are so small, anything that will effectively trap them runs the risk of harming them very badly, and we still don't know how to make them a size that will let them be treated."
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Let's hope it stays that way.
"I'm inclined to agree. Communication seems to be the priority. There are some possibilities. Messages on paper then diminished to an appropriate size. Yet they would likely find it difficult to quickly return such missives." If not find their origins suspicious. Perspective is a curious thing and they have little knowledge of how those below see those above.
"Do you know any of the missing personally?" he then asks of Yelena.
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She gives the town a hard look, then sighs. "I know one of the people trapped in there well. The others, less so."
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At least he's not judging Yelena for doing it. Someone had to. As she brings up the creator, Elidibus turns what might be construed as a look of intrigued and subtle admiration to the town model.
"It is truly an impressive work. One must admire the skill it would take to establish a second world with such precision." Well Elidibus has proven himself to be a spellcaster of sorts so maybe it isn't surprising he speaks with a level of professional enthusiasm. And curiosity. He would very much like to study the construct itself in more detail. Pity there are more pressing matters.
"Admittedly I wonder if it was intentional or necessary that our perspectives be so divergent. Or simply a nature of the Fear that empowers it." After a moment he shakes his head and moves on briskly. "No matter. Have you a camera? One which records a video."
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This wouldn't be the first time one Avatar or another sent a test volley before striking in earnest. It wouldn't even be the first time it seemed aimed specifically at them, and not the town as a whole.
"I have my phone. You should have one too, unless ADI's equipment has gone downhill incredibly quickly."
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"Just so."
Pulling out his own phone, the silver-haired man turn turns to the matter he brought up the camera request for.
"I hoped you might aid me in catching recordings of the individuals. If these videos can made and slowed, we might be able to glean some idea of the condition our allies find themselves in. If not their perspective then at least their current health."
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Which is a drastic understatement. Still, she pulls out her own phone, the little hourglass charm attached to its case glinting cheerfully in the sunlight.
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"I understand it may bear no fruit. Yet it if even a small glimpse could be afforded, it is worth the effort to untangle the distortion. If you are willing, place your phone as close to the streets of the model without disturbing its elements as you can."
Accordingly he does so himself, looking to catch sight of one of the fleeting, darting forms and nesting the phone itself upon one of the many streets, camera deeper into the model. Though Elidibus will move from time to time to record different angles and no doubt experience the distortion described (perhaps even before touching the model in general), he still patiently continues for the next twenty minutes or so.
Plenty of time to ask questions.
"Tis a strange phenomenon in itself. Unlike others, it seems explicitly targeted toward our kind. Other than the consequences of disturbing the model's constructions, I have yet to hear of any disappearance among the.. civilian populace. Nor of any noticing. There are even many amongst the ADI employees who were not aware of this occurrence."
Though he has to speak up should Yelena move away he doesn't seem concerned at all that he's going to be overheard. Which is probably not surprising in itself; he'd been obviously doing something to remain ignored (unperceived?) by passersby before.
Odds are also good that he might have extended whatever he's doing to include Yelena as well as a courtesy. He does have a habit of not asking permission for these things, doesn't he?
But it will probably be something that eventually becomes noticed, just by the behavior (or lack of reaction thereof) to Yelena's presence persists.