Science has gone too far!

[subtract]

Who: Anyone!
Where: Anywhere!
When: All of October 2nd
What: Add's experiment starts to affect the Far Shore, causing rifts and mutated ayakashi to begin appearing all over. Please refer to this post for details and questions.

Spatial Tears

The first few cracks are small, barely anything noticeable, but by morning the tears have widened enough to start leaking a chaotic and unsettling energy. Spend too much time around them and you'll start feeling strange. Memories get foggier, emotions start to run wild or go missing entirely... whatever's causing this, it's not good.

Luckily, magic seems to be enough to force them back, and a bit of holy water can seal up a weakened tear in no time. Better get to work!

Freak Ayakashi

Ayakashi are rare on the Far Shore, but not completely unheard of. The ones that linger too close to the tears receive a much more sinister effect compared to gods and shinki—the energy seeps into their bodies in the form of glowing blue patterns, granting the ayakashi even more strength and the power to spread more tears and corrupt energy with their blight. These ayakashi are aggressive and will attack heavenly beings on sight.

... but many of the ayakashi will be very familiar to the older of the outsider gods and shinki. A large number of small Noise ayakashi have ended up in the mix somehow, resembling the ones that escaped from the chocolates way back in March. They're small, but incredibly dangerous, and it'll take a coordinated attack to put any kind of dent on them.

Henir's Temple

A massive tear can be seen looming over Henir's temple, and it grows larger and larger as the day goes on. The temple grounds are a mess, and it seems like this might be the source of the trouble. Is there something inside the temple that might put a stop to all of this?

Later in the day, a piercingly bright golden triangle shines through the darkness of the giant rift. Whatever's going on in there, it's not just Add that's involved.

((If you want your character to investigate the temple, please contact me first! I can be reached on plurk at BlueFlewFedUQueen, by PM, or you can respond to the event OOC post. This is just to keep track of who's going where, so if you've already spoken to me about it in some capacity you're A-OK :|b))

Comments

[priforprince]

If you're quick about it.

[ She's the sort of person who carries around a lot of flowers. Hibiki is more interested in seeing what kinds she has on her than in listening to Zetta.

Purple roses, red roses.....Ah, these red lilies are lovely. What's their name again?

...Casablanca. There is no way that is not the name for these bright red flowers. ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Within an instant, the minion army has surrounded Hibiki -- not with weapons raised, but more as the conventional 'arena formed by people'. Also many of them have popcorn, because of course they do.]

The challenge is as follows:

[Out of the mass of body steps a Prinny, who strolls on up to Hibiki with a cheerful wave of one flipper, while Zetta speaks.]

Get through a conversation.

[The Prinny stops, then turns to face Zetta with a puzzled look.]

Dood, wait! Seriously? She keeps screaming and passing out every time I say anything...

[As the book glares balefully down, the Prinny lifts its flipper to its mouth thoughtfully.] Ohh, I get it now! Awesome plan, dood!

[priforprince]

[ Agh! There's that - that inexplicable pain again. Hibiki grabs at her head and glowers.

This book's reputation for villainy may not be exaggerated, but she isn't thinking about that right now. No, only one thought fills her aching head: ]

What is that despicable verbal tic?!

[badassfreakingoverlord]

I'm a Prinny, dood. From what they tell me, we all have the souls of people who led worthless lives in us, and now we've gotta work off our sins in the Netherworld for below minimum wage! It sucks, dood!

[priforprince]

WHY WOULD ANYTHING THERE MAKE YOU DO THAT?!

[ Pardon Hibiki if she doesn't care. She's too busy trying to protect her ears and failing. ] Make you add that....that....

[ Hibiki shudders. ] Is there even a word for that habit?!

[ ....Sapara. Ponora.

No. No, that isn't it. Neither of those are.

What is it?! Or, dare she not even discover that much?! ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[The Prinny ponders this, then shrugs its tiny penguiny shoulders.]

Comes with the territory, dood. [But then, with a careful glance at the Overlord, the Prinny leans in with one flipper to the side of its beak for confidentiality.] But it's partly translation! In Japanese we just ended everything with '-ssu', dood!

[priforprince]

"-SSU" WOULD BE PREFERABLE!!

[ oh god it's doing the thing directly into her ear she feels like she's going to faint ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

What, you really think so? No way! Check this out!

[The Prinny claps its flippers together above its head, turns a shockingly neat rotation on one pegleg, then throws its flippers wide with a triumphant:]

Prinny, dood!

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki's eyes roll up in her forehead and she unceremoniously begins to pitch over. ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[You know, Zetta normally isn't such a jerk that he'd let her just topple down. Unless it was funny. But this is a challenge, so she earns her KO and everything that comes from it.]

[No one told the Prinny, though.] Dood! [It scrambles forward to try to catch her.]

[priforprince]

[ The helpful(?) Prinny will have to dodge, however, as Hibiki spreads her legs in the middle of falling to try and stop her own descent. Her shoes scruff across the ground, brushing up a suitable appropriate dust cloud.

She holds a hand to her eyes, taking a beat. Did she...manage? Did she....recover? ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

That seems unlikely. [Actually, it doesn't seem unlikely at all; Zetta had selected this particular challenge with the full knowledge that if Hibiki managed to overcome her, uh, vulnerability enough to survive the conversation, it would at least compromise one of her character quirks. Which is in and of itself a victory.]

[priforprince]

Relinquish me.

[ Hibiki is shivering. Her legs are splayed far too wide. Her hands are over her ears.

But she is standing. ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Yes, yes, very nice demonic willpower and all. Zetta clears his throat, despite not having one.] All right, all right. I, Overlord Zetta, do hereby grant...

...wait, what was your name again?

[Don't think for a second he doesn't remember. He's just evil.]

[priforprince]

YOU THINK I REMEMBER THAT?!

[ Had it been mentioned earlier? What was it....? ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Oh, well... how am I supposed to formally release you, then? Because I'm supposed to say your name as part of it.

[The Overlord may be stupid, but he's also evil. And petty. Sometimes those two traits in combination can cook up a clever plan... or failing clever, at least one that is bad for Hibiki's dignity.]

[priforprince]

Vile tome.....

[ Hibiki is going to try to grab Zetta.

SHE KNOWS YOU KNOW. This is! Not! Funny! ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Flattery won't make up for manhandling! [Grabbing the tome is no difficult task, since it's just floating there. As always, it is surprisingly heavy and yet not unmanageable.]

[priforprince]

Do you lose memories as well if someone removes pages?

[ Hibiki's fingers curl against the big, heavy book. ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Uh, there's meaningful chance that tearing pages out of the Sacred Tome would count as revising its contents, which would require your mana power to make manifest, which would kill you. And that's not a death of yours that appeals to me.

[He's not joking, honestly -- in fact, the Overlord sounds more serious than he ever really does. He isn't telling her this because he likes her or wants to see her not dead! But her just getting obliterated by her mana power being ripped out of her body isn't legitimately cool.]

[priforprince]

Then, setting the cover on fire would likely also count.

[ Hibiki sounds almost disappointed. ]

Perhaps I'll draw on it.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Uh, yeah. It would definitely count.

[Zetta can't quite get all shifty-eyed when his eyes are just blank white...]

But really, trying to wrestle your name out of me? You'd never even know if I was telling the truth!

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki doesn't answer. She just roots in her pocket to see if she has a marker in addition to the flowers (which she knows about).

She has...a flower.

And another flower.

And another flower.

And another flower.

And a glittery arcade ticket.

And another flower.

And a literal sword.

And another flower.

.....Argh. ]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

You, uh...

Do you have a problem?

[Seriously, that's a lot of flowers. He's totally okay with a sword in a pocket, because inventories are abstract and ridiculous, but that's -- a lot of flower.]

You need to talk about it...?

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki doesn't say anything. She just grits her teeth and pulls out a flower.

And another flower.

And another flower.

And a piece of paper.

And another - wait, what's written on this...

The last flower flutters to the ground as Hibiki reads the piece of paper she's found.

And smirks. ] Heh.

[ Smirks out loud, even. ]