subtract: you lose your mind (I-0013)
Add [ 𝙼𝚊𝚍 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚡 ] ([personal profile] subtract) wrote in [community profile] thenearshore2018-01-03 05:27 pm

[CLOSED]

Who: Add, Rin Okumura, Zelda, Oscar, Lenneth... and more TBA!
Where: The depths of Henir's temple
When: October 1st through the 2nd
What: Doing science on the spooky chaos temple core was never a good plan.
Warnings: Various degrees of mind control/manipulation, existential horror, and at least one death. Will update as needed.

Once the formal party is over, Add is already back at his temple making preparations. A pair of messages are sent to his "assistants" to ensure that they're aware of the date—a simple reminder and directions to his temple, along with the slightly ominous "Knock first, I'm not chasing you down if you get lost."

The outside of the temple is looking especially unkempt and overgrown today, but if Add's instructions are followed the door will open up into a wide dark space, blue cubes floating aimlessly about. Star-like lights glitter distantly in the abyss, occasionally blocked out by drifting dark shapes. Even further beyond that is a giant blue orb that never quite seems to stay in the same place. It's hard to miss, at least, but trying to gauge how big or far away it is might give you a headache.

Gravity appears to "stick" to the surface of each cube—any surface—but only as long as you remain in contact with them. So, get used to floating around and jumping between them. The meeting point is at the largest cube near the centre of the cluster, as per Add's directions.
hellskitchen: (pic#8046706)

[personal profile] hellskitchen 2018-01-14 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rin frowns, so Add still wants to mess around with the core? Even if this power is very compatible to his own, Rin couldn't help but get a sense that Add is also "disappearing". The more Add tries to understand and control the core, Rin feels the more Add is captivated by it.

Thankfully, Zelda acts as the voice of reason. If Lenneth's state isn't enough to prove their escape, then her words should carry more weight.]


It's as the princess says! At first, I thought I was a goner. When I was further out, I felt as if something was trying to get inside my head. Though I don't feel it so much now.

[He doesn't know if being closer to his God staves off the effect, or maybe it's Add harnessing the power of the core that distracts it away from him. Still...]

This place is givin' me major heebie-jeebies! If we have to fight our way, then let's do that!
nibelungvalesti: (hands clasped)

[personal profile] nibelungvalesti 2018-01-15 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
It... hurts...

[Add's statement coaxes coherent words out of the Valkyrie, if barely so. One eye half-opens, then the other, though her form has no strength in it. The pain she feels is not physical as mortals would understand it.]

Your souls... are in danger here.
sageprincess: (Warning glares)

[personal profile] sageprincess 2018-01-16 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
You will forgive us if we seem impatient.

[Said with a bit of bite to her tone. She has no idea what the fuck antibodies are, but they don't sound good, and Add's understated reaction sounds even less so. Perhaps that's why even when she feels the pressure of the void ease off of her, she doesn't pull back her own power in turn. She does the opposite, in fact-- letting more and more golden light spill from her hand, enveloping herself and Lenneth in it and fighting off the tendrils that still try to lick at their heels. Still, the intent remains passive for now, acting more as a shield defending the goddesses rather than a sword to combat the core with.

She is willing to give Add a chance to gain control of the situation, but the moment it seems like he can't...

She glances down to the near-lifeless valkyrie in her arms.]


Lenneth, how are you feeling now?
hellskitchen: (pic#8046623)

[personal profile] hellskitchen 2018-01-17 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
Fascinating? Yeah? More like creepy!

[Rin relents as his master advises them not to hurry him. It's only fair since none of them could connect with the void, and somehow control it. It's their ticket out of here, even if having to stay within the core any longer seems to be more dangerous. The shinki notices the toll it's taking on Add, his body becoming more cloaked by shadows. If he's not careful, Add could disappear within the darkness.

Rin looks over to the two goddesses, and Zelda's light seems to shine brighter. Did she have to increase the power just to ward off the darkness? The thought only makes Rin even more anxious. The core doesn't have much to feed on, since Rin lacks memories, but it does affect him. The more Add gets accustomed to the darkness, Rin feels an increase of that coiling, icy darkness from before. Slowly, but surely weaseling into his mind.]
nibelungvalesti: (grr)

[personal profile] nibelungvalesti 2018-01-17 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[The pressure had relaxed just in time to prevent the seal from truly shattering, though unknown to the Valkyrie, it had been dealt a mortal wound. But that wound is more like blood loss than simple destruction, and for the moment its inevitable failure feels like nothing. The pain has subsided for the moment, and she puts it aside angrily, infuriated at her own weakness.]

[Little of this crosses her face, save in a scowl, and perhaps it shows in the way she abruptly sits upright.]


Do you require my power?

[How she's feeling matters far less than accomplishing their task.]
sageprincess: (Kept secrets)

[personal profile] sageprincess 2018-01-17 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Lenneth!

[Zelda yells for the other goddess as she's snatched away from her arms, a high and slightly shrill sound edged with panic. She doesn't know Add, not really, but call it intuition, call it experience with the madness power inspires, but every passing moment Add is cradled in the void's embrace is one where Zelda feels their chances of escape slipping out of their reach.

She's the only one left floating out towards the edges of the core now. Well, almost the only one.

Oscar, take me as far away from the center as you can.

... Yes, mistress.

To the other three, her light seems to dim and grow smaller, but in truth she's floating farther and farther away. Perhaps... with the Triforce and Oscar's help, she can break out on her own. Perhaps she'll be able to get help. But it will be a gamble, if her suspicions are correct. She'll only have the one chance, she thinks, and if it doesn't work, well... she doesn't want to think about what might happen to her if it doesn't work.]


... Take care that you do not lose yourself to this power, Add. This is not how we intended to harness your temple's energy.

[... Even if a part of her so desperately wishes she could believe him, believe that they truly are just moments away from freedom.

She can't.]
hellskitchen: (pic#11941647)

[personal profile] hellskitchen 2018-01-18 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's a slimmer of hope now that Add manages to get the Dynamo within the core. The machine's presence mean they can get out of here, right? Even with the prospect of escaping the void, Rin still feels something is very off. The shinki could only be a spectator to the events that follow. Add's transportation of the Valkyrie to his side was quite abrupt. Before, Add wasn't able to navigate the darkness so well, but now his control seems to have increased.

Was it because of the Dynamo, or has Add adjusted to the core? Rin starts to become a little wary. Especially with Zelda's light dimming, it only adds to omnious feeling that looms over them. Rin's body tensing up as if bracing himself for the worse. At least now that the Dynamo are close, he may be able to implement the override code if things get out of hand.]
nibelungvalesti: If any of these icons need credit, tell me! (wings of a goddess)

[personal profile] nibelungvalesti 2018-01-18 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[Part of her expects this sort of treatment. Is that so surprising? Though the Aesir obey social niceties when it suits them, as a matter of simplicity and courtesy, the simple truth is that she exists as Odin's tool. Had he need to treat her thus, he would without delay.]

[Part of her is too harmed to protest, too pained and bruised to register the treatment as harsh or inappropriate. When one hurts, one expects to hurt further. That is simple logic, easily parsed.]

[Whatever the case, she offers no protest, no complaint. She merely reaches one hand out in silence, placing it into his. Her god power requires no effort on her part; it simply is.]
sageprincess: (Fearful realizations)

[personal profile] sageprincess 2018-01-19 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[You know what, she's just going to keep trying anyway because fuck it, she is the Princess of Hyrule and she's not going to let the void tell her what to do.

Also that black orb is concerning and she'd really rather keep her distances from it as much as possible. It's easier said than done with only her own and Oscar's power to draw from though, and her voice is strained as she calls out:]


Wh... What is that?!
hellskitchen: (pic#7887326)

[personal profile] hellskitchen 2018-01-20 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rin observes the growth of the black orb, and how it absorbs energy into itself. As that dark ball keeps growing, he feels as if he shouldn't be so close. Though he's unscathed for the moment. He could feel the gravity of the orb trying to draw him in, but there's a force preventing it.

Though flailing between the pull of the orb, and the power that keeps him still, is a little unpleasant. Rin grits his teeth as he braces himself against the two opposing powers.Even as the orb amplifies in size, it still seems manageable enough for Add to harness. He doesn't get what's going on, but there's no immediate danger yet.]
nibelungvalesti: If any of these icons need credit, tell me! (wings of a goddess)

sorry for the delay, everyone

[personal profile] nibelungvalesti 2018-01-22 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
We are being stopped.

[The Valkyrie is not 'radiant', for no light truly seems to shine from her. Her presence illuminates nothing nearby. Yet she is clearly visible in the darkness, as if light shone on her and nothing else. Energy streams off her like a corona, tugged but not drawn into the void they face.]

Is that intentional?
sageprincess: (Royal authority)

[personal profile] sageprincess 2018-01-23 08:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[His words break Zelda's heart.

That's the portal? That swirling, incoherent mass that sets her every instinct aflame? That's supposed to be their way home?

... She should have known better, she thinks, fleetingly. She should have known it could never be this easy. But she was blinded by her desire, her desperation... just as she had been seven years ago. How truly, truly foolish of her. She allows herself a moment of mourning for the hope she held, then swallows her resolve.

It's time to end this.]


... Ancient creators of Hyrule!

[Her voice rings out across the void like a bell, clear and commanding for all who might hear it. The light of her magic, once concentrated at a point on the back of her hand, now radiates from her entire being as she prays, shining brighter and more ardently with every passing second, as if her body can barely contain it now that she's decided to unseal it.]

Hear the prayer of your chosen! Hear the prayer of the blood of the White Goddess! I beseech you, lend me your power!

[She burns like a sun against the darkness of the core, for that brief moment its equal and opposite in every way. There's no way to tell if the Golden Goddesses hear her desperate plea, so far removed she is from their sacred land, but as she lifts her hand, the symbol of the Triforce is emblazoned onto the nothingness above her, glowing a molten gold in stark contrast to the pitch blackness that surrounds them all.]

Now, Kageki!

[Then-- she begins to move, pushing towards the edge of the void with as much speed as Oscar can muster. And with a cry, she concentrates her power into a beam much like the one she blasted the core with when they were still on this outside, this one obviously a much more potent force than the previous. Before, she still had hope of being able to control and contain the core's energy, but now...

If she breaks the damn thing, so be it. She only has one chance at this.

This power is hers to wield as she chooses.]
hellskitchen: (pic#8046663)

[personal profile] hellskitchen 2018-01-24 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ If the situation didn't seem so bad before, now Rin's convinced that shit is getting out of control! Panic courses through the shinki's body, making Rin very antsy. Rin tries to fight against the force that keeps Lenneth and him from being lured into the gravitation pull of the orb, but it seems useless. The exponential growth of that orb just sets alarms off in the teen's mind. It doesn't relieve him that Add wants to keep going. How can Rin believe Add, when he says, "there's nothing to fear"? Things look pretty fuckin' scary from where he's standing!

Zelda must have presumed the same thing. He sees that brilliant light consume her, and it cuts throw the darkness like a knife. Yet, she focuses her power to the outer parts of the orb. Maybe she's abandoned the plan, and decided to bore a way out of the core? If their predicament has come to this, then...was it the right time to use that override code, or was it already too late? There's no time to debate, Rin just shouts it out.]


Dynamo! Code: Paladin!
nibelungvalesti: (what?!)

[personal profile] nibelungvalesti 2018-01-25 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[She accepts it all placidly, because she is damaged. Where the others feel fear, she feels only raw emptiness, flat dullness. The metaphorical blood her soul has shed now lies in a cooling layer across it, smothering everything else that might otherwise claw its way out.]

[The sudden gathering of power behind her draws her attention, and she turns slightly to see what in Asgard's name is going on back there.]


...Is she resisting?
sageprincess: (Pushing forward)

[personal profile] sageprincess 2018-01-26 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's working-- it's working, her body feels like its on fire channeling this much power, like a wire carrying an electrical current too strong for it to handle, but it's working, she's broken through, she just has to push a little more and they can find help--

All her hopeful thoughts are cut off by sudden and excruciating pain. Zelda screams, wordlessly, in abject agony as the shadows pry at her mind, her soul, her very existence, her light sputtering and flickering as she struggles against the icy bite of the core's wrath. It's only because she's so self-disciplined that she's able to maintain any kind of focus at all, that her light isn't extinguished then and there. This is the kind of pain that leaves men hollow shells of themselves, she imagines.

It stops, eventually, after what feels like an eternity, and Zelda does indeed takes the chance to breathe. Something... is happening down there, between Rin and Add, but she can't quite comprehend what exactly, her nerves too overcome with relief that, for however briefly, the pain has stopped. She runs a mental checklist on herself instead as she recovers; she can still feel her fingers, her toes-- she can still see, for whatever value seeing has in this place, and--]


Os... car?

[Something's missing. She can't-- she can't hear Oscar's voice, she can't sense his feelings... He's still alive, she's sure of it, somehow, but she can't--]

Where... [Her voice is hoarse from her crying, but her tone is still one that demands an answer.] Where have you taken him...?
hellskitchen: (pic#8046589)

[personal profile] hellskitchen 2018-01-28 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
[ Add isn't in the right state of mind. Rin gets that when he goes after Zelda, and stops her from trying to escape. Add wields the darkness as if it's an extension of his hand, and it feeds on his desperation to succeed. Now he's pissed at him from shutting down most of his dynamos, but it does nothing to stop the orbs growth as a whole.

Rin cringes as the darkness around him start to tighten. It's not enough to do damage, but it did make it that much harder to breathe and relax. His adrenaline already surging with the events happening around him. Now the void is squeezing Lenneth of her power, and it makes him even more restless. Rin has nothing else on his arsenal to use against Add. The only thing was trying to reason with his god.]


I don't understand how you feel, but this isn't how you want to do this! You don't want to hurt anyone! But everyone is in pain, don't you see that?

[ This isn't Add. It's not the same person who was so unwilling for him to go, because Rin could potentially lose his life.]

This isn't worth the sacrifice of your friends, you know that!
nibelungvalesti: (hands clasped)

[personal profile] nibelungvalesti 2018-01-30 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[Her voice is uncharacteristically soft. Not because of the power drain, which she permits without complaint, nor because of her troubles and pains and bleeding soul, which she barely registers. She is quiet because she must admit that perhaps she had misjudged.]

...Is there still a chance?
sageprincess: (Distressing damsel)

[personal profile] sageprincess 2018-01-30 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[It hurts.

It hurts.

It hurts.

Her light flickers like a firefly's between the pulses of pain that course through her body, just barely enough to keep herself from being completely caught up in the void's clutches. As she thought, she won't be able to pull off that stunt again. Despair curls around the edges of her mind, thoughts of surrender gently tempting her to give in, let go, why bother fighting anymore when you've already lost? It would be so much easier. It would make the pain stop.

She can't.

She can't.

She can't.]


He's... lost his mind...

[But what can she do? What can any of them do, when the very space around them is their enemy?

She finds her thoughts drifting to Link.

Zelda prays.]
hellskitchen: (strangeprogam @ lj)

[personal profile] hellskitchen 2018-01-31 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rin realizes that his words have no impact on Add.Trying to reason with his god only gives Rin uncertainty in return. The doubt starts eating away at him, making his mind more susceptible to the infiltration by the darkness.

It's true, after all. He doesn't know Add very well. It's possible this was his god's intention the whole time.Maybe, Add's showing his true colors now?

Of course, he's simply a tool. What value does someone, who doesn't remember their past, and has already died, have? He should just give up, right? There's no use fighting anymore.

As the void squeezes around his form, the resistant spirit that Rin possesses, begins to yield. The mental strain of the core paralyzes him. He closes his eyes, feeling weaken by the abyss's influence. His consciousness slips with the numb coldness of the core trying to consume him.]

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