soul_logs | [OPEN] Sandstorm Event + September Introduction Log

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[OPEN] Sandstorm Event + September Introduction Log

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.

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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.

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.

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...

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.

"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 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.

"You'd think someone wished for that cotton-pickin' contraption to cause the most inconvenience possible. Of course, it has to pick a time when it's so dusty the rabbits are digging holes six feet in the air!" Lily grumbled as she made her way through the streets, trying not to lose her footing in the piles of sand that had accumulated over the cobblestones. She was better prepared today with a dust mask and goggles but the blowing sands still made seeing anything further than a few yards difficult.

Was that movement further down the street? Another pair out searching or a new victim of BREW's whims? She glanced down at the dark blue tome that was Lezard's Weapon form tucked into the crook of her arm. "Did you see that?"

Proceeding cautiously, she called out, voice muffled by the dust mask and the wind. "Is somebody there? Are you okay?"

"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?"

She perked up at the sound of someone approaching. Immediately she prepared herself for the worst and raised her guard. However her guard lowered when they showed concern for her welfare. Slowly she rose to her feet, trying to make herself appear visible and easier to locate. Perhaps these beings could help her and give her the information she desired. Her arm once more comes to cover her nose in mouth, her eyes slimmed to try and see through the blistering sand.

"Over her-" she cried out, but fell back into short coughing spurts.

Lezard would merely observe at first. He had sensed something, but not exactly what it was. The response didn't bear a malevolent light... not on levels he could detect, anyway, but a kishin egg's soul is a beacon of hunger and malice. No, this was definitely someone lost in the storm.

With voice confirmation, he nodded from within the soul space. "One of the spare scarves, my sweet... the girl appears in need. The infirmary is filled enough with patients suffering from dust inhalation and minor silicosis, wouldn't you say?"

The bright colors were dulled by the sand but Lily was able to make out someone in orange and hear the cry which turned into a series of coughs. She rushed over, reaching into her bag with her free hand to grab a scarf.

"Here. Take this and wrap it around your nose and mouth to keep the dust out." As she held the material out to the girl, she realized that the skin was a grayish shade. A troll?

Vriska peered through her closed eyes, just long enough to grab the scarf and wrap it tightly around her nose and mouth. Her eyes remained slimmed as she took in the appearance of her rescuer and book. Of course she hadn't heard the book speak, nor did she know the customs of this universe and so concluded that there was only one who had helped her.

"Thanks, umm?" She muffled through the cloth.

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.

One thing at a time, he supposed. Perhaps a talking book was unusual for the gray-skinned girl's world. He focused his energy on scanning for anyone else nearby.

"There is a chance we will not be granted peace for much longer. The interference strengthens... I think a surge in the storm is coming soon. With hope a nearby building is unlocked to wait it out and give our new guest a little information."

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.

"I take it you weren't expecting a sandstorm." The storm had been going for three days now so surely if the girl had been in the city before, she would have realized it was a bad idea to go out without something to cover her face.

Lily wiped some of the grime from her goggles with her fingers and scanned the area around them. Where were they anyway? It was a bit difficult to tell when the landscape had been transformed into one of dust clouds and miniature sand dunes. Was that one of the apartment buildings a bit further down the street?

"You have questions, I reckon. But we should get inside first." She gestured for the troll to follow and started towards the building, hoping the doors wouldn't be locked.

Vriska was a bit taken a back by the sound of a book...talking. "Um, did.... Did that book just talk?" Even her words were hard to believe. Maybe it was just the shock of a new world and the disorienting sensation that came with loss of control, but this book talking was very surprising. She shakes her head and hangs it low, "Whatever. Doesn't matter if a book can talk. Information sounds like a much more needed thing to understand right now." With that she follows after the female, trying to get a glimpse of her surrounding through the sandy setting.

[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...]

[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.]

It may be a bad storm, but it's still just a storm. [Takuto says the words out loud but Yuugi probably hears them much better through their resonance. And his wavelength wraps securely around Yuugi's familiar one. The gratitude is more or less shrugged off--did Yuugi really expect him to avoid him because of his decision? Because that's silly.

He steps into the storm, holding Yuugi's hilt tightly and leaning into the wind. His sunglasses are hardly helping to keep the sand from his eyes but they are the best he has.]

[Yuugi focuses far more on what's ahead of them, trying to be Takuto's eyes and ears in the storm, than what is behind, and that's the reason he doesn't immediately notice that they are being followed by a very bundled up Nanami. The sand whirls violently through the air, giving the whole city an unnaturally reddish hue; it shifts beneath the meister's feet, biting into anything it can, and Yuugi just wants to make sure that they make it to Atem's and Sugata's apartment as quickly as possible and without incident.]

It looks so weird...

[Almost like being trapped in another world. At least they have the familiar buildings to guide them, even if they can barely see down the street.]

"One of many questions to answer, rest assured," he replied loftily, though his impatience can be felt through his connection with Lily. He was getting grit in his spine and pages and it wasn't the most comfortable feeling in the world.

Once nearest the building, he rubbed his chin. "Should the doors be locked, I've a back-up plan, but it would require my form shifting once more. Of course we could always brute-force it if need be. That would make the situation a tad more interesting than the howling wings slowly deafening our ears!"

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.

"It's a long story." Lily sighed behind her dust mask as they approached the building, the sign outside bearing the ominous name of Murder Manor. She could feel her partner's impatience through their link and it made her wonder a bit if he'd end up with sand in his shoes and clothes when he changed back.

The door refused to budge when she tried it. "Locked." She glanced down at the book. "You weren't thinking of that under the door trick again, were you?" Hopefully, it would go better than last time! Was there even a crack under the door that he could fit through? Crouching down, she brushed away at the sand that had collected at the base of the door.

She eyed their actions carefully, standing a well enough distance away form them in order to continue to check her surroundings. Trolls, living in a society where death and opponents could threaten you at any second, made it a common practice to be aware of their surroundings. Especially Vriska, who had a history of careful planning and making sure nothing went wrong as long as she could help it.

However in her current situation this was only to prevent any unnecessary fights. She was weaponless, but death was not something she feared being that she believed she was still dead, not yet aware that BREW had brought her back to life. She would need a mirror to figure that out. Back home death didn't change much, the only difference was you were no longer part of a main timeline and you drifted through your past memories in a world you created. Who's to say she just was drawn into a new world, but her dead composure was still very real?

Only time would tell. She grumbled under her breath and stomped her foot in impatience, "Coooooooome on can we hurry it up! Why not take the talking book and slam it into the door, with enough force it is sure to open!"

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[OPEN] Sandstorm Event + September Introduction Log

NEWBIES THREAD

Open to Fujino Asagami and Raiden!

Open to Chika Daimon and Asuka

Open to Lezard Valeth and Lily Ivory

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

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[Valentine + Albel | Around Death City | Open]

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[Nanami + Yami Bakura | Death City | Closed]

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