theafflicted | 04 - week four

04 - week four

WEEK FOUR

Saturday comes to a close, and it’s time for some rest and recovery. Perhaps the TLC you deserve will come this week, or perhaps the nightmare will continue. It’s hard to say with things being so strange around you, from Wei Wuxian’s disappearance to the sudden addition of objects and places and creatures from your homes. Who knows what this week will bring? Nothing ordinary, that’s for sure.

You wake up on Sunday to an increase in those little glimpses you saw yesterday. What were snippets of songs, locations that might’ve seemed familiar, and creatures that were dormant, are now all alive and whole. When you go to the karaoke bar, the songs you once knew are there. Monsters and animals are alive and sentient. New business are abound. Vehicles are operable, and perhaps some of your old belongings are back, too.

However, some of these things aren’t even things that should exist outside of your dreams. They may be far too strange and unusual to be real, or just things you don't remember ever seeing. The only thing you remember about these things in particular is that they were, quite literally, in your dreams this week.

That being said, every few hours, all of these things from your homes and dreams fade out and get replaced by new sounds, places, beasts….only to maybe come back again at another time.

Well. At least there's one constant here: You’ve got a handful of new locations to look at, with the fog having spread once more, and they aren't going anywhere. There aren’t as many new places that are native to Estelline this time around, but that may be for the best, considering everything going on.

SETTING TRACKER

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

NEWSPAPER SUBMISSIONS + EDITION #1

SAGE / FLORENCE / LORELEI

MEM SHARE DETAILS

OOC NOTE

OOC: Details on this week can be found here!

Also, we have a lot of participants for the news activity from last week. Neat! Everyone who participated in some capacity will have a small polaroid camera delivered to their doorstep. There's limited film, though - 10 photos per camera. It doesn't seem like there's any extra film at this time, either.

Finally, there will not be any weekly tasks this week. You guys are going to be busy with memshare and dreamscape stuff; instead, enjoy the Estelline University Newspaper!

FULL NAV

(CODE)

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[Shin's absolutely nonchalance, combined with that explanation, seem to temporarily disarm this Phantom. He looks at him in utter confusion.

Portals are... well, that might as well happen. Why not.]

If you're another world traveler, you would be wise to leave quickly. This world of lies is on the verge of falling apart at the seams.

[Hm. Okay, he stands corrected. But also, it's Phantom so he should've expected no less, or something? That warning does get him to reciprocate with a slightly confused look of his own though.]

What do you mean?

[There is just a lot to unravel with that one statement alone, really. And while it should probably be an alarming statement to hear, at this point Shin is well aware that this is a recreation of a memory--something he can't change. If the world is going to crumble, then that's what will happen.]

Exactly as it sounds.

[He gestures towards the crystal-riddled Kaleidoscope, which... that doesn't explain anything, actually? It's okay, he's still in peak monologue mood at the moment, so:]

Using the energy I've gathered with this, I'm going to bring down the shield around this world and build a new one on its ashes. And I have no need for anomalies in the world I'm constructing.

[Thanks Phantom, for your love of drama and monologue because he would be totally lost here otherwise. This really sounds like a classic villain speech though, and it's... new? He's never really met anyone who would say this kind of stuff with a straight face before...]

And how certain are you that it's going to work out?

[Well, it's never too late for him to work some high-quality villain cackling in there. Then it won't be with a straight face at all! Phantom is just being so helpful right now.]

Entirely, obviously. I've already exhaustively tested every element of it.

[Wait for it.]

Now all I have to do is wait for the last piece to come directly to me.

[:')]

[Don't let him down now, Phantom!! Go for the gold in the villain Olympics!!! Anyway, silly meta aside.

Yeah, it really is like a line you'd find out of a novel... or that show Frederica likes.

So Shin thinks as he silently stares at the Kaleidoscope again, which is at least pretty impressive on its own. He's not entirely sure what else could be added to something like that, but...]

What is this last piece you're waiting for, then?

A person. The target for this-- well, the improved version of this. This one, unfortunately, won't be doing much more.

[Phantom gestures expressively towards the Kaleidoscope, though where Improved Kaleidoscope 2.0 is is a mystery. It's kind of nice to just be given all these monologuing straight lines? Shin is a great audience.]

She should be here any minute now.

[It's true, he can be a good listener when he cares enough to pay attention. Thankfully, all of this is just Weird enough for him to not instantly slam the ignore button, so Phantom gets all the mileage here.]

All right.

[Just gonna. Step to the side and then look over to where Phantom seemed to be expecting the person to come in. Time to wait patiently?!]

[Well. It's only slightly weird doing this with an audience, but after a glance or two Shin's way to see if he's really not going to interfere... a final boss confrontation resumes as planned!

Good thing Phantom got a dry run of his monologue in on Shin...]

Pathetic! The world you're trying to protect is nothing more than a cobbled-together illusion! It is the same as I—no, it's WORSE! It is a mirage upon the sands wrought by the deceptions of that vulgar woman! Why protect a monument to her hubris?! Do you not despise the fact that you were forcibly born into this world awash in layer upon layer of lies?!

[Is Shin going to popcorn a bunch of heroic teenagers calling Phantom a whiner and then pulling one of these.]

[Honestly, even if he did want to interfere it's not like he has anything he can fight with besides his own body. And with people throwing lightning and turning into divebombing firebirds, it seems like a bad idea to run into the middle of that?! Maybe if he had his mech, but... nah...... magic man will do what a magic man does, which is get beaten up badly, apparently.

It's hard to say if any of this resonates with Shin, but it's not hard to tell that Phantom has some... issues, to say the least. Something to ponder about perhaps, once they get back to the real world. For now though, he'll just see how this progresses. Phantom probably wouldn't be here if he was dead though, so he figures he'll probably be fine.......???]

[Probably... fine...? At least, Phantom's still picking himself up again after being set on fire a little bit to resume cackling.]

So long as the Biqe lives, I, too, am deathless.

[He's happy to continue to monologue for his captive audience, because it's completely possible to sound imposing while yelling about a guy named "Phil."

Then the tiny Phantom-lookalike with the mirror shard shows up to give a thoughtful callback to the doppelganger moment with a "Farewell to you, my second self!" Phantom's not getting up again after this one which might be... ominous? And whatever happened to the rest of the people is a mystery to Phantom, so the memory grows hazy and then dark, until it brightens slowly again to the likely familiar lecture hall of Estelline, with the original group in various stages of waking up.

Welcome home?]

[Honestly, it was kind of wild watching Phantom act like... all of that in front of that crowd because he has not nearly been as dramatic here (also this is the second time he's learned that someone here is immortal/functionally immortal? wth) as far as Shin knows.

But since he sees the rest of the group here, he's still in the memory he guesses...? Which means his memory self is also here somewhere... yeah, he's going to just wander over to where Phantom is instead because he doesn't want to deal with that in case this keeps going. Anyways, if he manages to reach him, Shin will just go:]

You're alive.

[Just in case memory Phantom thought he was dead or anything. Yes.]

[At least no one else in the memory is taking any notice of the two of them, but memory-Phantom blinks at Shin in hazy unrecognition before the connection seems to click. He presses a hand to his forehead briefly and winces.]

How...? Did you bring me here? A portal, you said...

[Shin may have unintentionally given Phantom the impression that he saved his life in this confused splinter memory. That's probably fine, he owed Shin for various things anyway.]

[oh my god. fortunately for Phantom, Shin's not the type of person who would take advantage of this, but this sure is the trouble with memories being like this huh!!]

There wasn't a portal this time. I don't know how we got here either, but... [A pause.] Anyway, this shouldn't be happening.

[It'd get really weird if things kept going like this, so!! Maybe if this memory is like a dream, he get out by slapping Phantom or something... Shin will grab him by the shoulder and shake him a little.]

Wake up.

[More things Phantom wants to lodge a complaint with if anyone would tell him where!!]

Naturally this shouldn't be-

[Defensive snarkiness is engaging again, so at least some Phantom systems are coming back online. He startles back a little, but not out of grip range...

Luckily for Phantom this strategy is going to work before Shin needs to progress to slapping. The rest of the memory blinks away into darkness, and the portal appears again.]

[Clearly they just gotta send a petition with all their signatures to Lorelei!!

But okay good, success. Just going to peek into that portal to make sure it leads back to Estelline and not throw him into a void or whatever, but he'll step through and consider what he learned about Phantom which... honestly it brought up more questions than anything else.

But the magic was kinda cool.]

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04 - week four

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Rays Arc 1 finale spoilers

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