New World New You

[holographica]

-> (1)

It begins with a bang; then, disorientation, darkness, dismayed voices, and spells that weigh down your limbs like heavy shackles...

The people keeping you captive seem as unsure as you are of what just happened, and argue and mutter amongst themselves, though they don't hesitate to restrain you, chain you to a pipe in the wall of this bottom floor of an underground parking garage, or lock you alone into a smaller room of the abandoned building where the summoning was held. You seem to unnerve them; they don't want to look you in the eye, and if they have to touch you to lock you up, they do so gingerly, nervously.

But maybe, once they leave you to yourself to go and argue and regroup in private, you're not quite alone? You weren't the only person to come out of the array. You have at least one companion in your confusion, one person restrained like you and not wearing the cultists' strange masks. Take comfort, take inventory, and prepare for anything.


-> (2)

The Joyous were prepared for you to attempt escape. Their preparations don't quite match what they got, but even poorly calibrated spells will do something, and the effects of knockout darts and magically reinforced walls don't discriminate. It's time to blow this popsicle stand...

...But you may want to take a moment to comb the area - once the Joyous have had enough time and reason to weigh their options, they'll run, leaving behind the incriminating results of their "botched" summoning. Those less able to escape confinement under their own power may need a hand, or to band together, or, at worst, to wait quite a while for locals to stumble across them...


-> (3)

You step outside into an unfamiliar town; small, sparse, just off a major highway running through the Neloi Flats. A perfect place for a cult looking for an unoccupied building, because there are a lot of those here, as though the town's peak has come and gone, leaving behind rusty signs for roadside attractions and a main street retinue of shops made of sheer stubbornness and spite.

There's not much direction here. There are locals, who will be confused by you, possibly wary and disbelieving. There's a temple, small like the village but likely to have charity you need right now. There's a highway, and following it in either direction will take you to one of two very different cities.

There's a whole country of possibilities before you, in fact. What ones will you chase, and will you do it alone?



[[As of this mingle: go forth and RP! You can treat this post like a game intro, or like a meme post; follow the prompt/s exactly, or alter the details to suit your tastes, or pitch a completely different scene in your own top-level. Let's get some stories started.]]

Comments

[missleadingquestions]

Oh yeah! Especially since she died.

[nonchalant.]

It's pretty easy to get along with someone when you're only on long distance terms.

[She even giggles about this... completely morbid joke.]

[photoshooter]

[photoshooter]

[photoshooter]

[uH,,,]

[photoshooter]

I... okay? I guess? I, uh, wouldn't really know.

[MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM]

[missleadingquestions]

[This gets Maya to burst out in a short fit of giggles, quickly covering her mouth.]

You look like you've seen a ghost!

[She comments, to add insult to injury.]

Come on, you don't want me getting all sad about it, right?

[...She doesn't want to be sad about it, right now. She just wants to keep moving.]

Relax.

[Maya adjusts her sitting position so she can pull her knees up and rest her elbows on them, crossing her arms at the wrist and bouncing her hand to loosely watch the time.]

[photoshooter]

It doesn't bother you, though? That... I mean, that your sister...

['Cause it sounded like Maya loved her a lot, or loved being with her, if they spent time together doing soft things like cooking sweet potatoes in the mountains.]

[missleadingquestions]

Well, it's not like I don't miss her. But why would I be sad when I'm thinking about her?

She was the most important thing in my life, so... I just look forward to seeing her again.

[ . . . ]

That, and I'm a medium.

[photoshooter]

So you... fit into the clothes she left behind?

[S M H]

[missleadingquestions]

[She looks at him slowly, as if in disbelief, before snorting and giggling again. She can't even be serious if she tries with this goon.]

No!

[She tells him, getting up to go turn the potatoes over in the coals. As she stands again she turns to Prompto to explain--]

I mean, I can channel ghosts.

[photoshooter]

Oh--Oh! That kind of medium. I knew that.

[SURE.]

That sounds... kind of freaky, honestly. That doesn't scare you, at all?

[missleadingquestions]

Well, maybe sometimes. But I'm a big girl, don't worry.

[She winks.]

Besides, don't you ever do stuff that scares you?

[photoshooter]

Uh, not 'cause I want to! Usually that stuff kind of happens on its own and all I can do is try to stay out of the way.

[Says the guy who gamely wheezed and wriggled his way up to his feet with her, despite what's clearly a broken rib and other assorted boo-boos.]

[missleadingquestions]

Oh, I see. So trouble finds you.

[No wonder he stumbled upon Maya.]

Well. I guess it found a lot of us, this time.

[photoshooter]

...Yeah.

[And now, Prompto actually looks kind of concerned. Serious.]

I mean... okay, so, I'm just a normal guy, and it's weird enough for me to be caught up in... whatever this is. [He shakes his head and shifts in place, like he'd pace if he weren't seated.] But... did you meet the kids? Hallelujah and Reira.

[And, okay, he has no idea how to classify his new friend Bahamut.]

i got home and didn't like that one

[missleadingquestions]

[Maya's brows raise.]

The Kids?

You're, what, 18?

[photoshooter]

I'm an adult! I'm twenty!

1/2

[missleadingquestions]

--Oh, really?

Me too! I'm twenty.

nyeh now on the right comment

[missleadingquestions]

--That means you know I'm an adult, too! Ha!

[She'll concede if it means she also gets to be an adult...

real adulty here]

[photoshooter]

I don't seriously look like I'm still in high school, do I?

[He says, whining like a fourteen-year-old.]

[missleadingquestions]

You kinda sound like a middle schooler.

[heartless.

...she prods the... potatoes... before pulling them away from the embers a bit to cool.]

[photoshooter]

Razzum frazzum middle school...

[Cut him to the BONE, Maya.

Prompto looks away and sulks for a moment before interest in HIS mystery tubers brings him back.]

Huh. Are they done?

[missleadingquestions]

I think so.

[She's still not entirely sure what they are... or if they're edible...]

You're not thinking of diving in so fast again, are ya?

[photoshooter]

[Just casually stops reaching towards the sunchokes and crosses his arms again. Nothing to see here.]

What? No, of course not.

[Ahem.]

Anyway! Seriously, though, there's like, a high school kid here. And... like, a pre-schooler? Real smart, don't get me wrong, but you know. Teeny.

[missleadingquestions]

[There's a lurch of something like dread or hope (Maya can't tell which) for a moment before Maya reminds herself that the name of that little preschooler was Reira, which is nowhere near Pearl nor a name Pearl would ever give a stranger.

Maya shrugs and goes back to sitting, now that Prompto's been told to wait. She doesn't bother hiding her amusement.]

Really? What kind of weird spell summons a couple of little kids? Or, well, a kid and a teenager?

[Sorry Hal. She remembers what it was like to be a teen, it was awful go you man]