theafflicted | 00

00 - prologue

PROLOGUE

It doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing – something strange begins to happen. There's a sudden burning sensation that wraps around your right wrist and part of your forearm. If you glance at the affected area, you'll find that it's...glowing. The glow is pale blue, and it's so bright that it hurts to look at. The burn itself isn't so painful that you feel like keeling over just yet, but it does hurt nevertheless.

But before you have time to try to soothe the pain, you start to feel lightheaded, dizzy. Perhaps some of you may attribute this to any injuries you may currently be sustaining. For those who were previously unscathed, however, there's quite possibly no explanation for this other than the sudden appearance of the mysterious burn on your arm.

There is no time to mull it over, though, because it is the last thing that you see before the world suddenly fades to black.

-----

When you regain your senses, your vision is blurry; but when it starts to even out and you survey your surroundings, you find yourself sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair. Looking around you’ll see rows and rows of chairs, all facing the same way towards a desk, a podium, and an empty wall. A projector hangs from the ceiling and the lighting is bright and artificial... For some of you, it might be reminiscent of a college lecture hall. For others, you might have never seen anything like this before.

Your wrist, by the way, feels perfectly fine...though there’s now some kind of strange marking on it. It looks like a scar of some sort, and if you choose to touch it, it doesn’t feel inflamed or damaged in any way...but that doesn’t mean you don’t experience any pain. Perhaps the last thing some of you remember is a hard-fought battle, and the aches from your injuries still linger; some of you might not even remember getting hurt, and yet, your body aches like it has; for the lucky ones who feel fine, well. Pray that it lasts for a little while longer.

Because the moment someone gets hurt – emotionally or physically – there’s a small chance you’ll feel it, too. Where and who and what it’s coming from, though, is on you to figure out.

In front of you on the desk is some kind of device – a tablet, for those of you who are familiar. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be capable of doing much of anything right now, other than take photos and videos with the Camera app. There's also a translating app for those of you who need help reading some of the text around campus, as it is all in English. (Verbally, however, you can understand everyone in your own language. Tablets are also in characters' native languages.) It seems to be incredibly durable and hard to break, but you may want to be careful with it regardless.

Something shifts in your pocket (or...in your socks/shoe/what have you, if pockets aren't a thing) as you move around. Should you reach in and feel for it, you’ll find some kind of card – those who are familiar with modern technology will recognize that this is some kind of card you need to swipe. It has your name and a photo of you on one side, and the back of the card has the word "KEYCARD" on it.

There are also other people here, scattered throughout this mysterious classroom you’re in. In fact, there’re a bunch of you — 29 others, to be exact.

And now... you’re free to do whatever you want. Mostly anything, at least, given that once you step outside and explore, you’ll notice an ominous fog behind the various buildings within view. Still, this is a good time to get your bearings, check on what you have - and don’t have - and talk to the people around you until orientation starts.

-----

( OOC: Welcome to your Intro Log! The partner system is in effect for the Intro Log, meaning that yes, pain share is happening! For some notes regarding the partner system, your character will not know who their partner is upon arrival. It’s entirely possible that they find out now if their partner gets or is already injured, or if they can pick up on their mood. Otherwise, they’ll find out later today...!

Anyone who tries to leave campus grounds will have to enter through the fog, but no matter what, they will mysteriously wind up back onto campus grounds. And for clarification, the keycards are what characters need to gain access to their dorms!

Finally, we will have an NPC Reveal at 6pm EST today! )

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[he doesn't get the connection but, well, idia will shuffle to his feet and hunch over and then dutifully come into their room]

[he's waiting to say anything until that door is closed, OF COURSE!!]

... Well...?

[And, wow, it wasn't a ruse to just lure him in to a social commitment! The door actually shuts!]

So, like, Cay totes felt it when you tripped.

[Which sounds... really unbelievable and wild now that he says it out loud? But... is it really stranger than anything else today?]

[Hypothetically, this gesture should win some trust. He's in an unfamiliar place and Cater was the most "normal" thing he had except for, well, a tablet. The seeds of distrust grow deep roots, though, and like also Idia's a fucking idiot sometimes.]

That's what you invited me in for? To tell me you felt second-hand cringe?! Somehow that's more hurtful!

[Although, like, across their bond, it's more like a little "yikes" sting and Idia's comically exaggerating.]

[Look, as much as it sucks for Idia to say that Cater's the most normal thing here... try being in his shoes!! Where Idia is the most normal thing here!!! That's at least twice as bad!!

But, anyway, two whole idiots here.]

No, it was first hand cringe!! And also first hand, actual, like, hurt!

[But how to get Idia to believe him quickly without him spiraling into an otaku screed, anyway?

...Well. An unrelated one.

Ah. Right. He got some writing implements from the bookstore! Time to just grab one of the nice, new, sharp pencils and... jab it into his hand. Not hard enough to do any real damage, or draw blood or anything, but. You know. Still a sharp pointy thing.]

Man, Cay's gonna feel real stupid if you didn't feel that, too...

So, it was still cringe!

[Some part of Idia's brain recognizes that this isn't the kind of cheery teasing that Cater falls into with him normally. Like, the whole thing that was scary about popular people was that they called you cringe behind your back instead of to your face! So while he's openly defensive there's some part of him that gets something is up.]

[That's the part that can take over with Cater presses the sharp pencil into skin and,]

Ow! [a yelp of unexpected pain and Idia grabbing his same hand]

... o- .... ow?...

[the gears are turning]

You'd think it was cringe to watch anyone else fall, too, right??

[Don't claim you wouldn't, Idia! There's always some level of schadenfreude at watching someone else trip and fall flat on their face!!

The fact it was the only person he knows in a new and strange place just kind of makes it worse, though.]

Right?? Ow! That's not supposed to happen!

[Well, yeah, but... maybe he's very delicate and would like to be lied to right now! Still, it's not like he ever expected that kind of treatment from Cater. He wasn't really even prepared for that. It was probably for the best that they had a stupid argument about cringe. That was more normalish.]

[He can focus, instead, on what's been put in front of him.]

Is it some sort of magic that's been applied to us?

[How long they can continue to cling to "normalish" will truly be a test of willful denial. Good luck, boys.

...Or they can try to figure things, out. That's. That's probably a better plan.]

If it's magic, then a really strong mage brought us here, because I can't use any right now, myself...

Huh?...

[Idia looks confused, then turns and looks to his hand. He makes a gesture and,]

[nothing, nothing, nothing.]

F- fueh?! OP pls nerf?! Mana regen? Silence status effect?

[A spew of unintelligible references to express his sheer confusion.]

...Eh?

[References that your unfortunately normie roommate doesn't get, Idia, sorry!!]

Are those spells of yours or...??

You know we don't need a verbal component!! Please don't go turning me into the character that names their attacks and says it every time.

[please, normie roomie, PLEASE]

So, we've been linked, our magic has been jammed... what kind of torture is this...?

Some spells do! [Usually only the Unique Magic of the Most Dramatic Bitches, but. You know. Details.] But... you're not one of those types? Huh.

[NORMIE ROOMIE DRAGGING UR ASS.]

Do you know anyone who could, like, do something like this as a prank??

[Did you make someone mad online, Idia??]

[A- AT LEAST NOT IN PUBLIC... HE'S GOT MORE SELF-PRESERVATION THAN THAT.]

Someone that powerful and whimsical with motivation to do it to us specifically?

[...]

The headmage, I guess?...

[S-SMALL MERCIES...........]

...Totes wouldn't put it past him, but then, like, where's Gri-chan and the Prefect?

I feel like he would have said something already, though, he's too dramatic of a character to leave us alone this long without showing his face...

[The headmage is only mysteriously absent when he's needed, after all.]

Unless he went on vacation right after doing this...

[And, honestly, them being yoinked into another world is a situation where he's needed... Probably sending Yuu off on a wild goose chase to bring them home as they speak.]

As someone who's worked with him, my personal opinion is...

[dramatic pause]

If he was the cause, he would have stopped by to comment about how magnanimous he was being. I say this with 98% certainty!

[... back to normal slouching posture]

So, it's likely he's not the cause. I agree, though, that we also can't rely on him to rescue us.

[You know what, hearing that assessment...

Idia sounds pretty dang spot-on.]

So... what do we do? Wait it out?

[And he'll promptly flop back on his bed with a heavy sigh. On the one hand, getting themselves out sounds like a whole heck of a lot of work - if it's even possible - but on the other hand... what else are they supposed to do?]

[Here's the part he's not good at. When there were clear solutions, he could execute them pretty quickly. When he knew what people should be doing, he could tell them. mostly. from behind a screen. In this situation, though, there was no obvious Main Quest to follow. Did they need to trip a flag? Maybe it was time-based.]

W- Well... [with a lot less certainty]

I looked into the tablets we were given... this is apparently some kind of university. It doesn't match the name of any big-name places. There's a network connection but right now I can't get outside the school network, otherwise I could have more ideas...

[And on his side, Cater's usually okay at thinking outside the box and coming up with solutions, but... he usually has to at least have some passing familiarity with what's going on. All this? Brand new. Unsettling. And he can't even use his magic to scour the whole place for some kind of clue.]

You're totes ahead of Cay in investigating all this, yanno? I didn't even know where to start, and you went and did all that with the tablet, good job, good job~

[Does that sound just the tiniest bit bitter? Probably. Is Idia emotionally competent enough to pick that up? ...He's hoping not.]

[Is Idia emotionally competent enough? The answer is no, gamers. He can understand his own feelings of powerlessness but not apply them to other people or realize how it might chafe against them. In terms of his own talents, that's also always just been a non-issue. He can't change how talented he is just in case people were upset about it.]

... I feel like I should have been able to crack the whole thing open. Whatever is isolating this place might be both magical and technological.

[also fog what fog you think idia dared to try and wander off campus? idia shroud?]

[You know what, that's fair! And expected! And if he was emotionally competent enough to notice - and say something, then Cater would probably just expire on the spot.]

But, like, you cracked it a little, right? That's waaaaaay better than Cay'd ever be able to do. Go, go, Idia~~

[So the cheering is a little bit sarcastic, but also a little bit genuine.

...Fog what fog, you mean that spooky shit around the campus? He definitely hasn't wandered off, either... yet.]

[Well, he can pick up on a little sarcasm there, he would probably perceive that as sarcastic even if it was 100% genuine! It's still not much of a salve for the fact he thinks he should be able to do better. He doesn't run into systems he can't crack. It's like an unwinnable boss fight.]

... we might just have to hunker down for a while. So...

[turning back to the deer-in-the-headlights Idia]

So, please, don't do anything reckless like just keeping our door open! People might think they're free to stop by whenever they like! That's going to make whatever amount of time we have to spend here even more torturous!

[See, that's why Idia is the best classmate he could have. He's hardly around, and he doesn't read too deeply into things he says! He probably won't even be clingy when they graduate, either! If they keep in touch at all, it can just be casual and pleasant.

...If they pass this unwinnable boss fight, anyway.]

Eh?

[Deer-in-headlights Idia, meet sunshine boy Cater once more!]

But then how are we supposed to get to know our neighbors? Cay totes doesn't mind people stopping by, unless they turn out to be, like, suuuuuuper unbearable, you know? You should let people meet you, too, just in case!

[An oblivious, self-centered nerd. Idia didn't consider making friends with anyone at school. He didn't really want to make any friends here either!]

Isn't that what the community lounge is for?! You could be that kind of guy!

[That was a great place to socialize. Hypothetically. He assumed it was. Meanwhile, he had one place to hide himself! And it was currently under attack from a "call me anytime~" kinda guy!]

I stand out like a sore thumb so I don't really want to do any side quests.

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