32 - Blow Your Top

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: A volcano eruption threatens the Western District
When: Jan 14 - 16
Where: The Western District of the Heavens
Summary: The Western District volcano is erupting again, endangering nearby temples and sending ash sprinkling down across the Heavens. Is it natural, or another attack? Those who dare climb the volcano can find out.






Earthquake Warning

On the morning of the 14th, an earthquake rattles windows throughout the Heavens. It's not strong enough to knock down buildings -- unless they're about to fall down anyway, like some of the older abandoned temples -- but it's strong enough to knock things off shelves and startle any late sleepers out of bed.

After the earthquake, strange sights abound around the Heavens. The poetic koi are swimming in organized schools in all of the canals, heading upstream towards the east. Springs of pure water burst out in some areas, and in others, normal springs or fountains have gone temporarily dry. Blue and green lights bob and weave across the landscape.

Falling Rock

The volcano begins erupting with a roar and a bright scarlet glow on the horizon. Ash and bits of rock fall across the Western district, and may even reach into the Southwest, Northwest and southern Central districts. Volcanic glass fibers that look like golden hair collect on trees, fences and buildings.

Trails and fountains of lava are also erupting from freshly opened fissures and wending down the sides of the volcano. Gods and shinki who live in the Western District are going to need some help clearing ash and glass from their roofs, trying to re-route lava flows (the good news is, if you cool one side down enough, you can turn them! the bad news is, that takes a lot of work) or just offering them a spare room to stay until things calm down.

Swamp Gas

It's not just lava and springwater erupting from mysterious new crevasses -- and it's not just mundane volcanic gases, either. Divine volcanic vents are blowing mind-altering fumes all over the Heavens. Anywhere across the Far Shore, but especially as characters get closer to the volcano, they may experience one or more of the following effects:

• Confusion
• Intense emotions
• Anger and irritability
• Impulsive behavior, loss of emotional control
• Hallucinations
• Unusually clear insight into other people and situations
• Coughing, eye and throat irritation, difficulty breathing
• Irresistible impulses to speak in poetry

Most symptoms will clear up after a few hours in fresh air, and all of them will be gone within 48 hours of the last volcano gas exposure.

Mountain Climbing

Natural disasters don't just happen like this in the Heavens... do they? Amaterasu's white-robed shinki are convinced that something is wrong, and they're organizing into search parties to go up the mountain and seek out the cause of this eruption. New and old gods and shinki are welcome to join them, or form their own groups. All of the hazards -- tremors, lava, ash, and volcanic gas -- will get worse as characters ascend the volcano. Strange little spirit flames, in shades of red and blue, dance on the rocks, dazzling, confusing and threatening to singe interlopers.

And there's someone up here, too. A mysterious figure with glowing red eyes is keeping watch on the intruders and vanishing behind boulders whenever someone turns his way. He won't let anyone traveling with one of the white-robed shinki get too close, but solitary gods or shinki might manage to lure him into conversation, if they try....

OOC: Please comment to the 'NPC REQUEST' thread below in order to talk to the mysterious figure on the volcano.

Those climbing the volcano will have a chance to battle the mysterious figure should their characters choose to do so. If you're interested in a fight, please comment to the 'NPC FIGHT' thread below before the top-level is posted. A top-level for the fight will go up on IC Jan 16/OOC Sept 4.

In Summary:

• Don't get rattled
• Help out the Western District with their volcano problem
• Watch out for volcanic gases
• Find out who's behind the eruption
• Have fun~

Comments

[revolutionfalcon]

That's what I always do. [There's something sharp about the way Shun replies to that, as if he's irritated by his inability to continue doing the same thing for this.] It's the only way to keep going in that situation sometimes. But fueling myself with loss to charge forward is what ended up getting them killed in the first place.

[If he hadn't left Heartland then, and if he hadn't forced Yuto to follow to prevent unnecessary collateral damage in Standard, they would have been there for it. They might have been able to do something about it.]

[lostinshadows]

Shun.

[His voice comes out just as sharp.]

You're a better person now than you were back then. You're not completely blinded by the loss and you can think more coherently now.

[Lavi frowns at him.]

You may not be able to bring back the ones you've lost, but you can still aim to protect the ones who are left.

[revolutionfalcon]

[This is all what Shun's already heard or already knows himself, and his grip on his sleeve tightens a little in irritation.]

I've heard all of that before. And if this was something normal, that would be all I'd need. But how much do you think that helps when the lost are right there--

[He gestures broadly to the area the spirits are occupying - it's a lot of them, given the amount of the area in front of them the indication covers.] --staring me in the face? Are you going to tell me they would've told me the same thing, as well?

[He's heard that one a few times before by this point, too, and it never really does anything for him.]

[lostinshadows]

If you knew any of them, then yes.

[He moves, standing in Shun's view.]

I don't know who you were before your war, or everything that ended up happening in between, but getting angry and blaming yourself for them will not help you and you know that.

[revolutionfalcon]

Don't act like you know any of them enough to say that. [It's not exactly a strong argument when Lavi doesn't know anything of his world. At the very least, Shun's not trying to move past him just yet, but he already looks that little bit more irritated when Lavi comes to stand in his way.]

Making weak arguments like that isn't helping me either. The last member of the Resistance I met tried to kill me, so standing there blithely talking about how none of them blame me for it is useless and fake.

[Kaito's circumstances had been different, but he'd also been Shun's friend once, and that means the reversal had been all the more noticeable and harsh. Sayaka and Allen were really too young to hold that kind of grudge, so Kaito is his main reference at this point.]

[lostinshadows]

It's a war Shun. Can you expect to be surprised by that?

[He doesn't look fairly unimpressed.]

You're a soldier. You do things you don't have to, so standing there and accepting the blame for what's happened isn't all on you. You are not their sole focus; there are soldiers to be blamed in a war because that's what survivor's guilt does to people. Can you blame your former ally trying to kill you when the circumstances that set you apart made you that way?

[He doesn't care if he gets punched at this point, but Shun's a soldier. He's been forced to become one and war often does that to people.]

You do not put that burden on your shoulders alone because of your mistakes because the more you do, the more you're going to break down and crash, Shun.

[revolutionfalcon]

Who else am I supposed to put it on!? [That comes out with a little more force than even Shun had really intended, and he tries to calm his simmering nerves, fists clenching into the fabric of his coat as he resists the very strong urge to grab Lavi by the collar.] Obviously the root of it all is Academia, and the weight of the blame on even one of them is higher than it could be on any number of the Resistance. But I made the decision to leave. I prioritised my own concerns over the lives of all of my allies. Nobody can act like putting any blame on our end on me isn't where it belongs, survivor's guilt or not.

[He's not going to claim it's not a factor - he knows perfectly well it plays into this. But he doesn't feel like that's exclusive to it still being his fault.]

If I was going to "break down", I would have done it by now. I'm not that weak.

[lostinshadows]

There are more ways of having a break down, Shun.

[His voice is calm, though he's tense, too.]

But you can blame it on yourself--on Academia--on whoever, but taking sole responsibility for what happened to your allies when you left isn't right either. Things happen and you don't know things would've remained the same if you had remained. If you had stayed there, then the chances of you being dead are probably higher. It's a lot of what-ifs but it's not just you who is responsible.

[And should Shun aim to give him that long awaited punch or grab his collar, Lavi's ducking out of his way. Neither of them are good like this when they let their emotions get the better of them and if need be, he will at least use his hammer to blow Shun out of this gas if need be.]

[revolutionfalcon]

If you're going to talk about ifs, you can't say that me staying wouldn't have changed anything. If I'd stayed, Yuto wouldn't have had to follow me, either, and we both know how that ended.

[With Yuto as a shinki and Shun uncertain of whether he'd been the one to cause his death in the end. Lavi might recognise the change of subject from last time Shun had been in a particularly guilt-ridden mood, though, as an attempt to turn Lavi on him.

At the very least, it seems like his anger has peaked, since he's still not trying to punch Lavi in the face, tempting as it might be.]