[OPEN] Sandstorm Event + September Introduction Log

[soul_mods]

Given that the last time there was a sandstorm BREW had just...unceremoniously dumped the new arrivals outside to face the elements, Shibusen decided it would be prudent to send some people out to make sure the poor souls aren't left to flounder.

Outfitting their volunteers with the proper gear, they're allowed back into Death City not only to search for new arrivals but also to check for stragglers.

However, as the volunteers go through the city, they find more than just the expected stragglers and new arrivals. For some reason, there is the occasional Kishin Egg wandering around...

To make things worse, the sandstorm continues to rage, causing poor visibility and covering the streets with a thick layer of sand, making it hard to keep footing. A problem these Kishin Eggs don't seem to have when most of them are capable of diving under the sand to move like sharks.

Comments

NEWBIES THREAD

[soul_mods]

Usually people arrive at the Kishin Egg Chamber with a lot of helpful people to give them information.

Today, BREW dumps them outside in the middle of a sandstorm. Better try to find shelter quickly.

Open to Fujino Asagami and Raiden!

[theworstcrimeofall]

Gold was the high noon Sun in Paris, as well as the playful light that glimmered off the hoop in the Gypsy's left ear and the coins that gathered at his feet. He swept his hat off with a flourish, stretching wide his broken-toothed grin as a tiny girl, no older than five, broke away from her mother and ran forward, interrupting his deep and gracious bow.
"Monsieur Clopin! Please, once more with Petit Clopin!"

The Gypsy seemed to consider it, making a show of his consternation as he stroked his beard and peered down his long nose at the little one. "But I'm afraid it seems that I have lost Petit Clopin. He has fled my pocket and I wonder what mischief he is getting up to by his lonesome."

The little girl's hands clasped in horror over her mouth. "Oh, no!"

"Oh yes. But perhaps... I wonder if you couldn't help me?" He knelt, cupping a hand by his mouth conspiratorially. "I happen to know that Petit Clopin has a fondness for hiding in baskets, and you might check for me." He winked, glancing toward a basket well within sight of the girl's mother, and the little one squealed and rushed toward it, retrieving a puppet with the garb and face of a jester and placing it in Clopin's gloved and waiting hand.

No sooner had he closed his fingers around it than it was blisteringly hot, roaring wind and pelting sand forcing the Gypsy to fling his colorful arm over his mouth and nose in an attempt to keep from inhaling. A desert had no place in Paris, and Clopin had no place in the desert. His eyes narrowed against the natural onslaught as he slipped the puppet on more out of habit than immediate necessity. With his other hand, he reached for his boot, and the dagger hidden there... only to find it conspicuously missing.

"Dang," said Petit Clopin, voice thrown from between his puppetmaster's clenched teeth.

[sombrero]

"You must be new. Are you alright?"

Raiden asked this while looking concerned. The last thing Raiden heard from Clopin was the word dang after all. Perhaps something went wrong, he figured. Raiden didn't want to leave Clopin out here.

"We've gotta get going. My name's Raiden and I'm from the Watch. Our objective is to get you back to the shelters in one piece. What's your name?"

Open to Chika Daimon and Asuka

[like_a_dragon]

Chie knew that something was wrong before her eyes opened. The din of the air as the roaring sound of millions of granules of sand was the first thing. The harsh desert air and striking heat was the second. She was not surprised in the least that, once opened, her eyes was greeted with a sight wholly unfamiliar to her. She was surprised with how much sand in your eyes stung terribly.

She yelped, rising to a sitting position naturally and also naturally turning her head away from the direction of the wind. Her hands reached for her eyes and rubbed them vainly, as she found the sand covering and coating every inch of exposed skin and clothing. She was forced to be content with getting enough from one eye to be satisfied, though it bothered her terribly.

She reached for her glasses, the gift of a friend, and tried them on to see if they would provide any clarity in the storm. Only somewhat, she found. Though it did seemed to help protect her eyes. Shelter, her instinct told her. The first order of business was finding shelter. Then maybe she could get a better idea of where she was and how she got here.

She took a protective glance on the horizon, looking for a shadow of what she hoped was a building of some kind. Or people. Either would be good. In the meantime, she knew that she would need to keep her eyes and nose covered. Or at least she was pretty sure that getting the sand would be a really bad idea.

One thing she didn't count on was how much she could shiver in a landscape that felt so hot...

[scatterflower]

If Chika hadn't hated sandstorms before this mess, she definitely did now. Things were just way too hectic with how the storm had been around Death City. And apparently BREW wasn't smart enough to not put newbies in the middle of this mess.

She was covered up a lot more than she usually would be in the beginning of July, which was doing enough to keep the sand out of her eyes and hair and stuff, but even so, she couldn't help but be anxious. Her heart was pounding rapidly, as she looked around and tried to figure out just what she was going to do when they managed to find the newbie. She turned her head towards Asuka, making sure to stay close to her. "We... if this gets worse we're going to need to have you switch to your weapon form." She knew that her voice was going to be muffled as heck with the scarf in the way. They probably should've already done that to begin with, but before Chika could think much more about that she noticed something.

Something that from far away looked like the shape of a person walking through the sandstorm. "Asuka, do you see that?" she asked, pointing over to what she saw. They hadn't been out there for long yet, but even so, Chika knew about what mirages were and wanted to make sure she wasn't seeing things before heading over there.

Open to Lezard Valeth and Lily Ivory

[sp8der8itch]

She was going to prove just who she was and no one was going to tell her otherwise. Vriska wasn't one to take the doubts of others to heart. Instead she chose to prove herself and do what she wanted according to her plan. Friends gathered around her, putting her down, choosing to leave her and follow their own paths, this didn't matter to her.

She stands near the edge of a cavernous cliff and stares down into the glowing lava that pools at the bottom. Against the others judgment she moves forward and dives off. It is here that her treasure hunting has begun and yet it takes an unexpected turn. Luckily she lands on her feet, but this was not where she expected to be. Sand whistles around and threatened her breathing. She was sent into immediate coughing fits, instinctively an arm comes up to shield her eyes from the whipping storm, her free hand clutching around her mouth.

She moves to reach for the dice that lay within her sllyadex and immediate surprise came to her face when she realized that her weapons were no longer there. In fact most of her precious treasures had disappeared. Fuck! This was not a good start. Her immediate survival instincts internally screamed at the danger she was in now. She flashes into a different outfit, almost like a glitch filtering in and out of reality, choosing her god tier outfit and finding her wings to be her only option. However this new place had taken away her flight and she could only hover just above the ground. Needless to say it only worsened her condition as she uncovered her nasal cavities and attempted to fly again and again before she fell back to her knees. Once more she began to cough.

[lezard_valeth]

"BREW's impeccable timing strikes again," Lezard chuckled dryly. This would be the second power surge from the artifact during inclement weather, at least, from what the records say. Though blustering dust and sand swirled all around him, he found the further advantages of reverting to one's Weapon Form: The spellbook had no eyes or anything to be irritated by the weather's conditions, but to his dismay he was getting sand between his pages!

But the city was under some form of siege, with kishin egg sightings reported. Again, the perfect time for BREW to attempt to fulfill Death the Kid's wish.

"Well at the very least, my sensory abilities still function. The range is reduced to 20 yards, however.... keep your eyes peeled."

[Takuto + Yuugi | heading towards Fatality Condos | open to Nanami]

[tauborn]

[Takuto and Yuugi are going to find Sugata and the Pharaoh, and judging by the weather, maybe the stragglers will be ready to head to the shelters. Takuto's not entirely out of the Shibusen doors and already he's starting to wonder if heading out into this is a good idea.

The sand is ridiculous and stings like sandpaper. It also makes it almost impossible to see. But... anything for Sugata is par for the course so he just tightens his hood around his face.]

Yuugi, you'll be better off in weapon form.

[mieru_mienai]

[During times like this Yuugi half-wishes he were a meister; it almost feels unfair, taking his weapon form now and letting Takuto do all the work. At least he'll be able to see for them both--somewhat--without having to squint into the storm.]

All right! [He has to raise his voice to be heard over the strong winds, reaching for Takuto's hand and a moment later shifting to his longsword form. The first thing Takuto might notice when they begin to resonate is Yuugi's gratitude to him for partnering up with him again, even temporarily.]

Don't overdo it--if it's too bad we'll just find a place to wait it out.

[He doesn't care for that option at all but as badly as he wants to see Atem it's not worth that great a risk. Of course, Yuugi has no idea what kind of welcome awaits them in the city today...]

[morecowbell]

[Covered practically from head to toe with garments to keep the blowing sand at bay Nanami trails quietly sticking to the walls behind the two just about twenty seconds behind. She pauses around a corner waiting for them to exit but she's close enough to see Yuugi's weapon form especially with how long it is.]

[Valentine + Albel | Around Death City | Open]

[niptuck]

General visibility on a good day was limited to a single eye at best, but the sandstorm definitely made it worse. Fortunately, being able to see wasn't a complete necessity for Valentine by now. If it was, a number of missions would've been failed. Whatever... She wasn't about to lose in another desert and to drones for that matter.

Landing on main street cobblestone, she felt the sand grind under her foot. Another person might slip and lose their balance, but again, another person. Turning her head, she found that this had been a lucky break. Sand was piling several inches to several feet around, boxed in by buildings and walls with the only escape being up. This was not going to be optimal fighting conditions; the sand was loose and she would be wielding a less-than fully cooperative Weapon. Fine, she'd credit the Kishin eggs with a slight advantage.

Speaking about Weapons, she glanced at the scythe in hand. They still hadn't found that right balance otherwise, he wouldn't be weighty as he was right now. Ironic for someone so thin in human form. Probably time to stop thinking about that before he picked up on it... again.

[wicked_captain]

Albel felt restless, glancing around the sandscape with sharp, unhindered eyes in his Weapon form- something he found fleetingly interesting before he turned his focus back onto locating his prey. He found Valentine's eyes on him and frowned internally, aggravated.

What is it? Spend more time putting those eyes to use, or one of those things will slaughter you where you stand.

[niptuck]

Eye. And even if one was in the current vicinity, we would have other problems.

Back to the road, her eye does narrow and she took a leap. Feet planted and a flip, they're on the roof now. Swift step and leap over, there was something suspicious enough. A literal dorsal fin was sinking back into the sand and moving with intent away from them. No no, a few feet wouldn't have contained something that size. If only Kishin eggs didn't dissolve on death, she wanted to do a little more than kill it, but oh well, may as well slice it to pieces.

[Nanami + Yami Bakura | Death City | Closed]

[morecowbell]

Fact, Nanami had completely lost site of Takuto and Yuugi somewhere ahead of her. Fact, the distraction had been caused by something rippling under the sand piled up against a building. Fact, said distraction was clearly a kishin egg in the form of a centipede which Nanami could easily make out through the whipping sand due to the close proximity of said creature as it came at her.

She never fathomed the fact that one would have the guts to show itself in Death City, generally that would be like a suicide mission but here they were taking advantage of the sandy city. This wouldn’t be her first bout against this sort of monster and she jumped to back and to the side getting used to the handicaps she’d been forced endure with the wind and sand shifting under foot. Luckily for her, the pharaoh had made sure she was equipped well for such things.

Screw it all, she was going to let loose and take out all her pent up frustration on this stupid creature. With dagger in one hand and her sword form at the ready, Nanami went on the offensive attacking the creature without letting up, only dodging when she absolutely had to. She put up a good fight for a while managing to slice a couple legs off. If she was going to deal with handicaps then so was this thing. The more legs she could yank off from one side of the thing the more it would have trouble keeping up.

Of course this caused the centipede to change tactics as it dove back into the sand looking for the right moment to attack her. “Damn,” she muttered trying to ascertain any clues to the thing’s current location through her goggles. It was only a matter of time before it attacked her back, she just had to get the timing right and in case it was a feint, well that’s why she had two weapons ready. It did come from the back and she managed to stab it while moving aside and even though it went in and the cut was long it wasn’t very deep. The centipede withdrew under the sand again.

So it was true after all, it’s darn near impossible to defeat a kishin egg without resonating, she had put her all into that strike. It was time to retreat and Nanami glanced around quickly looking for an exit while keeping an eye out for the next attack. She moved slowly toward the nearest building being careful to not back herself up against any walls.

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura had been watching the messy fight for a couple of minutes now, ducked into the shelter of a a cafe's entry hall. He was decked out in his own version of a gear suited for a sandstorm, hasty- and craftily made from the things he'd had at hand and found while he was staying in the city.

He had been planning to use the weather to make some acquisitions when he had picked up on the faint trace of Nanami's presence and followed it. While he didn't feel particularly concerned for her on a personal level she was one of his best tokens in the game right now and an useful, easily manipulated pawn no less so he had figured allotting her this much time would be justified.

That didn't mean that he was just going to help her without reservations, though. Stepping out of his shelter he stood there silently, waiting for the result of her race with the kishin egg. If she couldn't survive until she reached him she'd have been worthless for his goals anyway.

Auron and Genesis -- closed

[nofarplaneyet]

Bad enough that the sand made it impossible to see in the city or to go hardly anywhere. Worse still that there were people out there caught by the storm and the stinging winds. Auron buried his nose deep into the high collar of his shirt and trudged his way down the street. He thought he spotted someone with a coat, a flash of red. Was someone trapped out here, confused on where to go? "Hey! Can you hear me?" Auron yelled above the wind.

[recitings]

Contrary to what Auron was thinking, the person he's seeing in the distance was part of the team helping to survey the city and find stragglers. But it seems as if he was preoccupied with something. There's a glint of gleaming scarlet when Auron draws closer. The person is a weapon-- and it's quite a familiar weapon if he did see it. It's Rapier-- the form Genesis takes when he's in battle.

"Get closer! There's a Kishin Egg in the city!" Genesis yelled back.

[atem + sugata • death city • closed]

[peacocked]

Resonating with Atem was quite interesting, to say the least. It wasn't anything like his past resonance with Takuto (or Valentine, for that matter). But hey, they were able to work with what they had and were able to establish a decent resonance. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't exactly the worst either. Besides, he's sure the other could care less with the way the city is right now.

So here they are exploring the city for any kishin eggs. (because they probably heard/saw the commotion from their apartment complex or something. Anyway, here's hoping they don't overdo it though! Sugata would love to get this cast off whenever the week is over with. Though, after not being in his weapon form for a couple of weeks sure is something else.

Re: [atem + sugata • death city • closed]

[pregames]

As for Atem, he regarded Sugata about the same as most other weapons he partnered with before Yuugi. The channel within which their wavelength fits his small, conforming to his partner in a less than perfect capacity but he knows he can make up for it with technical skill. Fortunately Sugata wasn't some strange modern contraption that would be difficult to use not naming any names Eren..

The pharaoh was bundled up fairly well in fitted robes and a dense scarf that completely covers his head. Normally surviving a sandstorm required staying in one place, avoiding getting lost. Normally surviving a sandstorm didn't involve fighting with subterranean monsters either. So when they took to the streets, Atem was quick on his feet, drawing on his wealth of experience with desert terrain to navigate the shifting sands.

I thought there would be more from the way it sounded up above. He was not about to risk actually trying to talk above all this.

[Takuto + Eren | somewhere in the city | closed]

[tauborn]

[Of all the things to happen, Takuto didn't expect to be in the middle of a raging sandstorm looking for lost pets. And now he'd lost Sugata in the storm, too, so he was without a weapon, searching fruitlessly, hoping there weren't any Kishin eggs nearby to try to eat him, his best friend, his dog, or his best friend's cat.

Up ahead, through the whirling sand, he spots movement. He darts towards it, trying to use the wall for cover, and maybe--maybe it's a person? He has to shout pretty loud to be heard over the wind.]

Hello!

[He's attracted the attention of something else without realizing it, though. A manta ray-like Kishin egg swims through the sandy street behind him, the only sign of its presence a small, moving bump of sand.]

[Hamel + Raidou: Death City]

[the_great_hero]

Hamel had been going stir crazy. People kept giving him weird looks when he sewed in the corner and there was a lot of glaring going on when he tried to engage people in conversations [read: acted like an obnoxious jackass]. So he'd offered to go out in the storm to look for people. They'd have to be grateful if he saved their lame asses right? Right?!

Of course he wasn't allowed to go out alone so he was slogging through the sand with his partner, his cowl pulled up over his nose and mouth and his hat yanked down hard over his head and pinned there so the wind couldn't whip it off. He'd considered bringing the violin but he wasn't sure the sand wouldn't blast it into nothing and Olin, that old pervert, wasn't around to fix it. Thank fucking god. Who knows what that guy would do to him while he slept.

But this seriously sucked. He couldn't see more than three feet in front of him and he had to squint to keep sand out of his eyes. And he couldn't HEAR if anyone was nearby because the wind and sand were a steady moan. And he should have left his fucking cloak behind only it was at least protecting his arms while he wrapped it around himself.

"Do you have any fucking idea which direction we're going?" He yelled to his companion sourly.

[timelessummoner]

While Raidou was less vocal about his annoyance, he would have been lying if he said the storm didn't frustrate him. Searching the entire city in this weather was impossible. What if there were still people trapped here by the time they had to return?

Wwll, complaining wasn't going to get them anywhere. Whether his companion agreed to that, he wasn't so sure, but he had worked with demons before; he could work with one sullen man.

"The Mall -- it would provide shelter and food for anyone still trapped here!" he called back. It was as good place to start checking as any.

Morgan | Casualty Communal Lobby | Open

[pirateninja]

[Being from the Caribbean, Morgan had seen more than her share of hurricanes. So, the sandstorm hadn’t seemed that much different other than being much drier and having worse visibility. She hadn’t really been bothered by the power going out either; it wasn’t as if electricity was common in her time and she was used to hot weather anyway so she hadn’t bothered following the evacuation orders the day before.]

[But the bounty hunter was irritated by the fact that it kept her inside and further delayed her from taking another job.]

Ugh, when is this stupid storm going to be over!?

[If anyone else stayed or passed by outside in the storm, they might find a crabby pirate hunter in the lobby at Casualty Communal, arms crossed and scowling impatiently at the clouds of dust blowing by outside the doors.]

[takuto + sugata • death city • closed]

[peacocked]

[sugata was pretty bummed out having to go back home so suddenly. but hey, what can he say. he understands where takuto's coming from, and he'd be pretty mad at himself as well if he had to stay in that cast of his any longer. but still. he wanted to help out! he had enough of feeling pretty useless.]

Do you know how far we are?

[tauborn]

With the wind against us, it's far enough.

[There's no way Sugata can't feel the lingering worry in Takuto's soul. He'd gone to Sugata's apartment and found no one there, and then had tried to track his best friend down in the middle of a sandstorm with the sudden revelation that there were things in the storm. Kishin eggs.

And Sugata has a broken arm, no less. Even if it's mostly healed, that doesn't mean Sugata's in any kind of fighting shape! Sugata can be as bummed about heading home as he likes, but Takuto isn't going to budge on this.

He holds up a hand to try to better shield his face as he takes a look around to get a better idea of their surroundings. And it's basically sand everywhere.]