afflictionmods: (Default)
affliction mods ([personal profile] afflictionmods) wrote in [community profile] theafflicted2022-06-11 10:58 pm

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!





partymagician: (4)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-19 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He breathes out a small sigh of relief before moving over to the boy to help him stand. ]

Can you walk? I can carry you if you have trouble.
sicklysweet: (Default)

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-19 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's very shaky and very weak, and he clings onto Fai for a long moment.]

...

[...]

Are you sure it's okay?
partymagician: (77)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-20 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
To leave? I don't know.

[ He's not going to sugarcoat things like that to a child in a situation such as this. ]

But I do know that I don't mind carrying you.
sicklysweet: (Default)

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-20 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
Okay... okay.

[Time to just cling onto Fai like a koala and let himself be carried out.

Though...]


Do you think they'll be mad that I'm out...?
partymagician: (59)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-20 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ Fai holds onto him tightly. ]

It's entirely possible. May I ask why you were in there in the first place?

[ He takes careful, slow steps so that he doesn't jostle the boy while he keeps an eye out for any threats (and thorns). ]
sicklysweet: (Default)

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-20 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know... Is it because I did something bad?

[He sniffles, pressing his face into Fai.]

I was waiting for so long, though, and nobody came for me...
partymagician: (37)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-20 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ah. That hearts his heart... especially because he understands that exact feeling. ]

I'm here for you now.

[ And if the boy isn't sure that he did anything bad... hm. It's not like he should have been punished like this regardless of what he did either. ]

How long have you been here? What's your name?
sicklysweet: (pic#14878119)

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-20 11:51 am (UTC)(link)
[: )]

I... I don't...

[And then it starts all over again, the memory refusing to change that way turnabout is fair play, after all.

Fai is in that dark basement, and there's a body slumped against the wall. This time, though, there are voices, and the body seems much larger than the boy Fai met.]


I'm telling you, it's fiiiine. That whole thing about how they locked a wizard up in a basement is just a lie they use to scare the villagers.

[There's rustling on the other side of the door.]

If the story we heard was true, it'd mean that wizard's been locked up here for a hundred years without any food or water. Wizards might be wizards, but they're not immortal.

[More noise - it sounds like whoever it is on the other side is trying to open the door.]
partymagician: (77)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-20 01:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ah.

He had a feeling this would happen. Fai breathes out slowly. He hates this.

But he listens closely to the voices, watching the door as someone is clearly trying to open it. One hundred years, huh… He looks to the body, who now seems much older.

He approaches carefully. ]


Can you hear me…?
sicklysweet: (Default)

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-20 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[The conversation on the other side is flippant, the man still struggling with the door, but...

The body moves, shifting and groaning.]


Who...?

[The man - because the boy has grown up so much now in this past century - looks very much like Owen, but so much thinner and paler than the man already is. His clothing is tattered, and his brows furrow. If there's any recognition for Fai - if he remembers that attempt, if it ever happened - it's not apparent.]

How did you get in here?

[His voice is little more than a raspy whisper.]
partymagician: (59)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-20 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Through a portal.

[ Now that he's older, Fai recognizes that this is likely Owen.

Hm.

He really has been through a lot, hasn't he? And this is explains why he reacted the way the did to the rope. ]


I'd like to get you out of here, but I don't know if that's possible.
sicklysweet: (pic#14878129)

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-21 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
Magic?

[How else could a portal end up here?

He glances at the door, the men on the other side arguing - it seems they’re not the only ones who have heard voices.]


Please don’t leave me here. Please.
partymagician: (148)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-21 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. Magic.

[ Close enough, honestly.

If Owen has anything holding him to the wall again, Fai will try to remove them. ]


I'll do what I can to get you out.
sicklysweet: (pic#14878123)

of course i didn’t get this notif,

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-23 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[So the other man must be a wizard, then…

The shackles are still there, but they’re just as easy to remove last time. The voices on the other end pause, and one of them nervously asks “did you hear something…?”]


How long… has it been?

[But he can finally get out of here…]
partymagician: (55)

boos dw

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-23 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I have no clue.

[ But he removes those shackles, briefly looking at the door when it seems like they can hear he and Owen. ]

Hm... whoever's outside is getting suspicious.
sicklysweet: (pic#14878124)

cw mass death

[personal profile] sicklysweet 2022-06-25 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's obvious Owen panics, with the way he grabs onto Fai's arms.]

I-I can't stay down here any more. Please. You're my only hope... I've been waiting for so long for someone to free me.

[He doesn't want to be left behind any more. He can't handle the idea of it.

But... things have a way of working out as they should, even as the memory starts to fade away. Fai will be able to feel the magic, though - something powerful, cast in a moment of frenzied desperation. The last thing he'll see is the village hiding that basement...

Has been entirely destroyed. All of the inhabitants are dead - it's only Owen and the thorns, now.]
partymagician: (77)

[personal profile] partymagician 2022-06-25 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well.

Not a pleasant memory in any sense. He honestly feels bad for Owen, in the sense that he somewhat understands what he's been going through.

For now, as he leaves the memory, he thinks it might be best not to bring this subject up in the future. ]