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

[soft_focus]

Ah... [She didn't comment to the idea of showing off pendulum-after all, Zarc was just loud, loud, louder...it was pointless.

But then Yuusei sets his own deck forward, and she stares. ...And slowly, using that same one hand, starts to flip each card over to look at it. One by one. One hand...only one hand....

Odd...]

[planetary_bonds]

[...Very odd. Even if Yuusei wasn't an observant sort of fellow, this would be decidedly odd.]

...Are you alright?

[soft_focus]

Um... [...] Yes?

...Why?

[planetary_bonds]

[Child. Don't try and bluff him.]

No duelist would handle their cards so awkwardly, unless they couldn't do so otherwise.

[soft_focus]

[Rude Yuusei, she's like 7, maybe she doesn't know better.

You were normal summoning fusions at that age yah butt.] ...I'm just going slow, [she insists, swallowing. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine...

Her hand is shaking...]

[planetary_bonds]

[There's a difference between a child wantonly mishandling cards and what this young one is doing here.

She's about to lift another card from his deck, when suddenly his hand comes down on hers, resting on it gently. Not a reprimand, but am inquiry...]

Oi.

[Fess up, kid.]

[soft_focus]

[Zarc is shouting. She's not paying attention to the words but his 'darkness' is starting to hurt again, especially in comparison to the seeming 'light' of the one beside her. When his hand touches her, she startles as a result; it is a sharp contrast, one that nearly burns, and leaves her panicked and wordless.

She can't move. She can't move. Why can't she move she's past this she's past this she's supposed to be strong now she's past-]

Ngkh- [She tries to pull her hand back, but all it does is spill cards everywhere, and with wide eyes she ends up looking to Yuusei as if expecting to be struck.

She made a mistake.

She didn't mean it.]

[planetary_bonds]

Ah-!

[The resultant mess causes Yuusei to stand up abruptly-but not to to pick up his fallen cards, oddly enough.

Instead, he keeps hold of her smaller hand.]

Are you alright?

[soft_focus]

[Her motions are telling-when Yuusei stands, she moves back, hiding the arm again. It was covered by table before, but standing would put it in view again and...well.

...She's quiet. Still staring, wordless, but eventually she nods.] ...Yeah. [...Why not the cards. Why not go for the cards..?]

[planetary_bonds]

[Because. You're clearly hurting, aren't you? Isn't that more important?]

...

[He's going to take a guess. You've shown up here, randomly. You're not wearing clothes akin to the locals around here, either. And you recognized his cards, which no one else has done before. So, were you brought by the same people, then? And in that case...

His voice is soft even as his expression remains impassive, only a small creasing of the brow giving away anything.]

Did they hurt you?

[soft_focus]

[Hurting indeed, but she shakes her head. Firey pain from darkness is not something easy to describe-and for that matter, there is very little anyone can do about it. She'd rather not draw ire toward those cultists either. Indeed, they're in the wrong.

But this is not their fault.] ...They didn't. ...They just locked me up with the others, [she insists, looking down.] ...They didn't do anything like that. [Hurting, she means.]

[planetary_bonds]

...That's worse, then, them taking you here, when you're in this condition.

[Don't make excuses for kidnappers, kid! Yuusei certainly doesn't seem to plan on it, at least, if the slight scowl on his face means anything.]

You should get someone to look at it, at least.

[soft_focus]

[She tries to steady herself.] ..I'm not hurt, [the girl repeats, even if she is still obviously favoring her left side. She brings her hand back away from his, looking to him again.] There's nothing wrong-there's nothing to look at.

[planetary_bonds]

[There's nothing to look at, is it?]

If there truly is nothing to look at, you wouldn't be favoring it so.

[Jeez, that stare's getting kinda intense, isn't it? It might be hard to meet those eyes.

..And if you do end up looking away, one of his own cards that dropped nearby seems to somehow grab at the attention, too. It's face down, but...somehow, it feels special.]

[soft_focus]

[Maybe so-but she has no words for that, instead chewing her lip and looking away again. And...

...Something is catching her attention. One of the cards, face down-she stares at it, and it seems to whisper back, prodding at her mind the same way some of the monsters would in her world. There is something about it...it's strange.]

[planetary_bonds]

[Sigh. Yuusei doesn't usually argue with stubborn kids, he tends to let them have their own way. And right now, pressing this little one doesn't seem like it'll get Yuusei an answer. He'll let go, reluctantly, and start picking up cards.

Looks like you're free to help out if you want, lass.]

[soft_focus]

[Well, she'll reach for that one at least. With her good hand, naturally. And when she touches it she pauses.

...There is... ....a very good heart in this card. But worse-she flinches, nearly dropping it, but clutching it tight.

She can hear it-

WHAT DO YOU KNOW? YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING YOU WEREN'T THERE..! YOU WEREN'T THERE!] Kghk-sfff-

[Mental arguments aren't fun.]

[planetary_bonds]

[While Reira's stalled on that one card, Yuusei's gone and picked up the others, arranging them neatly. It's when he turns to her again that he catches her expression. What's gotten into her?]

Oi. [Hand on shoulder.] What's wrong?

[soft_focus]

[They're LOUD is what- or at least one of them is, Stardust in her opinion is honestly being pretty reasonable. But the point is they're LOUD, LOUD, LOUD-]

KKNHAHHHHNN-! [She can't take it. She drops the card and clutches her head with both hands, gasping for breath as the internal screeching continues. It's like being boiled from the inside out, a massive pain and pressure not unlike when she had been present at Yuuya's duel, and the hand with claws digs into her scalp.

It hurts.]

[planetary_bonds]

Hey!

[Yuusei's other hand goes to her free shoulder too, trying to steady her.]

What's happening?

[The card she dropped is right-side up, now, and it easily catches his eye. Slowly, he picks it up.]

Stardust...?

[Did she...sense something from this card...?]

[soft_focus]

Nnghhkk... [Nothing happening now-just holding her head with one draconid hand and one normal one, breathing heavily and trying to make SOMEONE calm down...The dragon should be fine at least.

But it's herself that's the issue. It's not you, it's her.]

[planetary_bonds]

[Well...let's put that aside, just in case. Stardust goes back in his deck so he can look her over properly. That other hand...was that what she needed to hide? Let's just steady her and let her calm down, first...]

...

[soft_focus]

[It takes a few moments-quite a few, actually, and Yuusei might want to ready a chair so she can sit, as she seems to automatically try to do while calming down. Deep breaths as she brings her hands down-she's managed to cut into her scalp on the one side, sadly, and the blood trickles a bit along the claws and head. But with deep breaths, she manages to reel herself back in.

...And there's no hiding the sort of breakdown she just had, now is there. All she can really do is open her eyes a crack, and then look down, ashamed. There aren't really any words one can say, in this kind of situation.

None at all.]

[planetary_bonds]

[A chair is indeed gotten-the one Yuusei was sitting on before. Hey, it was right there. At least he looks slightly chagrined. He can understand, wanting to keep that hidden.]

Sorry. I shouldn't have been so intrusive.

[He was worried, you know. But now it seems he's caused more problems for you.]

[soft_focus]

...You didn't do it, [she says quietly, chewing her lip and looking down.]

...He didn't either, [She adds, glancing to where the cards have gone. It feels important that Stardust realize that too, after all.]