thenearshore | Science has gone too far!

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))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Vile tome.....

[ Hibiki is going to try to grab Zetta.

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

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.]

Do you lose memories as well if someone removes pages?

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

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.]

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

[ Hibiki sounds almost disappointed. ]

Perhaps I'll draw on it.

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!

[ 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. ]

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...?

[ 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. ]

Seriously, if the mean flower man is hurting you, this is a safe space...

[Zetta trails off, then tries to turn slightly to get a view of that piece of paper. What's up with it?]

[ Hibiki lets Zetta go, stepping back. ] You've escaped harm. But now you have to give me what I want.

[ She turns the paper around, revealing what's on it. ] Do release Hibiki Shikyoin.

[ SHE'S SO PROUD OF HERSELF

for carrying her? birth certificate?? with her everywhere????? ]

[That is super weird actually.]

[But Zetta has one more card to play before he admits only partial victory. (Compromising her ridiculous 'oh woe is me someone has a verbal tic' attitude is a victory no one can take away from him now.)]

...Really? You think that's your name? Is it... really cool enough for it to be yours? And March 27th is a pretty boring day too...

It's International Theater Day!

[ Yes, she remembers this trivia and not her own name. Don't sweat it. ]

That is adequately impressive!

Oh sure, maybe on your home world. But this is the Far Shore. Shouldn't you be born on, like, The Ultimate Multiversal Performance Day of Magnificence? And have a middle name of, say, "Elegance" so you can actually say something like, "'Elegance' is my middle name" and then whip out your paper to prove the fact to whatever pleb doubted you? This just seems so low-key for you!

[ Hibiki isn't sure what's more annoying: the fact that Zetta is obviously trying to stall for time or the fact that some buried part of her soul deeply agrees with some of this logic. ]

...Are you going to release me or not?

Oh, sure, whatever. You're released. You know, till you lose another battle again.

[No ceremony. No need for that name. He'd been yanking her chain all this time, which should be no surprised to anyone -- he's a freaking Overlord, after all, and evil through and through.]

[If he doesn't seem too bothered -- if in fact, he's smiling, well. He's gotten Hibiki's number reasonably well after their few interactions.]

You know, when you actually remember yourself properly, you're going to realize that you really agree with what I've said, and it's gonna drive you nuts.

I've already forgotten it!

[ The stuff you've said. That, Hibiki feels, will be the best revenge against this outrage that has clearly just been committed against her person.

Was she even ever....?

But no. To consider he might have been playing her false this entire time takes her down a path she'd rather not tread. She turns around. ]

I'm leaving.

...Hey.

[Despite his hesitation, Zetta manages to get the word out -- in a completely serious tone of voice, completely at odds with his usual tones.]

One more thing.

[ She shouldn't stop. Hibiki knows this. He hasn't said a single useful thing yet. There is absolutely no reason to stop.

And yet, her steps slow. That change in tone - that sounded like a Dramatic Development. Something within her causes that to appeal. ] ....What?

[ She makes a point of at least sounding appropriately displeased, suspicious, and testy. ]

...Don't get yourself in the same situation that I found you in again.

[For all that they'd gotten distracted down entirely other tangents, Zetta had not forgotten that he'd accidentally rescued her.]

[ Somehow that's almost more shiver-inducing than if she'd been mocked again. ]

Hmph.

[ That, apparently, is reassurance. Because she's out. ]

Science has gone too far!

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