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kaisou2025-07-13 02:41 pm
July Event Log
JULY EVENT
Dominant Element: Water
Waning Element: Fire
Full Moon: July 9th - July 11th
※
As July rolls in, the Spirit Vein's colours shift to hues of blue as the water element takes dominance. And with it, comes the most miserable month of the summer. On sunny days, it'll be hot and extremely humid, with the air feeling like a swamp. However these hot days are interrupted with heavy storms that will let loose at least a couple times a week. Take care not to get caught in a downpour, and make sure you don't have anything outside that could be blown away by straight line winds.
Adventurers beware!ALERT: NO SPIRIT REALM ANOMALY DETECTED
Element Classification: Water
Danger Level: None! :)
Designation: N/A
Zodiac has not detected any Spirit Gate this month. Have a wonderful month's break! Please visit the Zodiac offices for more information, but there's nothing to worry about!
Well, that's a weird announcement. Should you decide to drop by the Zodiac offices, staff look a mixture of confused, unsure or completely relaxed. Professor Barbie greets you and tells you that for once, Zodiac hasn't picked up on any anomalies or temporary spirit gates. While some staff members believe this is a terrible sign and are starting to fret what it could mean, most of them are honestly glad for the chance to have a break for once. They assure you that they'll keep an eye on things and send out an alert if anything crops up- go enjoy July! Check out the convention!
So off you go to enjoy the month, and everything seems to be normal. That is until you're in a group- perhaps you're at home, perhaps your place of work. No matter where you are, you and the rest of your group start to hear the steady beat of drums. Not everyone reacts to it- not even within your group. It seems only a select number of you can hear them, but hear them you do. They beat a steady rhythm, one that gets quicker and louder if you choose to move in the direction of the sound. Eventually, you find a wooden box with the name Jumanji carved on the front, along with some jungle scenes.
Opening it up, you will find a wooden board game, with board spaces spiralling around the board, all congregating into a glass orb in the centre. Inside a small box in the games lid, you will find delicately carved jungle animals made of ivory. Once picked up, they will immediately fly off your hands to starting positions on the board. There's also a pair of ivory dice - just begging to be rolled. On the inside covers of the board, the game proclaims:
A game for those who seek to find
A way to leave their world behind
Roll your dice to move your token, doubles get another turn
The first player to reach the end wins
The OTHER side of the inside cover holds a dire warning:
Do not begin unless you intend to finish
The exciting consequences of the game vanish
A player has reached Jumanji and called out it's name
Despite this, if you heard the drums, you do feel a strange compulsion to play. Even if you're not the sort of person who would normally play what looks like a genuinely sketchy game, you feel it couldn't possibly hurt. It's just a board game after all, what harm could there be in rolling the dice?
A game for those who seek to findAnd so roll the dice you do. There are seven games just like this, happening all around the city. And once that first dice is rolled? You have been caught in the game's trap. A barrier will form around the area you're in, keeping you, your fellow players, and any unlucky soul who happened to be in the space when the barrier went up tapped in that area. No one can get in, no one can get out.
If you're thinking at this point that perhaps you shouldn't have rolled the dice, it's far, far too late. Your little ivory token moves forward on the board of it's own free will, there's no pulling it off, no stopping it. The game has begun and it's clear that it does not intend to stop. Once the token has moved the requisite number of dice rolls, the orb in the centre swirls a little rhyme for you to read. Unfortunately, that's not all it does. Immediately, whatever you rolled is transported right into your area, and you will need to deal with it. The vast majority of what you roll will be actively out to prevent you from finishing the game- it's almost as if the game is purposefully making it as difficult as possible to complete, now its magic is being wrought on the world.
The designated game areas in the city are:
RANDOM PLAY
MEROPIDE: RANDOMISER WING
PERSEPHONE'S COTTAGE
CYGNUS ACADEMY
THE MORRIGAN
RIKU'S APPARTMENT
OOCly, please see your area-specific sheet found on each of your toplevels. This will allow you to see the dangers you have each to deal with as the game progresses, and how you want to play the game as a group. Please be sure to discuss with your game-mates about this so you're agreed on how you want to play!
A way to leave their world behindYou can fight and avoid the dangers that the game spews out as best you can- but for the most part they remain exactly where they are. The more you roll, the more comes out of the game, dangers piling on top of one another to distract you and keep you from finishing. But finish you must- the game was very clear that the only way to get rid of everything that it releases into the world is to finish it. You start to realise the barriers that have been put up are the game's doing too. If you ever want to be free of the barriers and all the nonsense coming out of the game, you are going to have to play to the bitter end.
If you're lucky enough to have bystanders caught in your area with you, they will be able to help you battle through what the game brings on you. None of them can play for you. Once the game has chosen its players, they are the only ones who can complete the game- and they must do so in the correct order. What is a board game without rules, after all? And so you must work together, protecting yourselves, each other, and trying to keep the game itself out of harm's way. It will be a difficult task, one that only increases as the game moves on and more comes out of it. You will need to function as a team in order to survive this particular board game night.
In the jungle you must waitPerhaps you got it into your head that you'd cheat to try and finish the game. All it would take is making sure you drop the dice so they land a certain way, right? Or trying to tilt the game board at just the right moment to make sure your dice turn at the last second to a more favourable number. It would end the game quickly and you can all be free of it, right? And given how much danger the game is throwing at you, it's only fair that you can play dirty too, right?
Unfortunately, Jumanji very much does not approve of cheating. Any attempts to cheat in the game will result in an angry message appearing in the orb:
And then you feel your whole body being pulled. If you look down, you can see your body being pulled like taffy, even if it doesn't hurt, it's frightening to look at. It's even more frightening once you realise where you're being pulled to. Your whole self is being trapped into the orb in the centre of the game. No matter how much you fight it, no matter how others might try to pull you back, the game is determined to see you punished for your transgression.
When the game stops pulling you will find yourself in a massive jungle. Unlike the game, which only pulls dangers into the world based on dice rolls, this is where everything comes from. As such, there are countless dangers you will have to face. You will get almost no rest in this area, as almost everything is actively out to kill you. Nothing you do will get you out of the jungle- it seems to stretch on forever. All you can do is try to keep yourself (and anyone who was trapped with you) until someone managers to finish their game. Only then will you find yourself back in the area you were originally dragged away from.
When a player finally gets their token to the center orb, the whole thing glows a bright green. The word JUMANJI appears in middle of it. Speak the word out loud as the instructions told you, and a sudden whirlwind will pick up around you. Everything that was brought out of the game gets sucked into this whirlwind (causing extra damage as they slam into the area, of course), everything turning faster and faster, before being sucked into the orb. When the last danger vanishes away, all the damage that was caused by the game magically vanishes in the blink of an eye. Any injuries the game inflicted are gone. It's like it never happened at all. The barrier around you drops, and you're finally free. Of course, you now have seven extremely cursed board games to deal with, but at least for now, the ordeal is over.
OOC plotting post can be found here.
no subject
I get it, I do. Just like I know it was your duty to save their lives even- even at the risk of your own.
[Which he hates- not the action itself, but the consequence of it. It's swirling uncomfortably in his chest and he tamps it down. He doesn't want to panic or start thinking about how close they came to Jun just being gone. How, in one second, he'd almost lost an integral part of his existence. He closes his eyes, pushing it down.
In a rarity for them, Jun won't feel surges of emotion from Varian. It's not quite the muted fare Jun himself puts out. This is something muffled, something struggling, something being held back desperately. ]
The analogy works well, mein herz, I do get it. It has to feel awful to not be able to help them. But there's nothing we can do about that. Not- not at this moment in time.
[He wants to help, but he can't magically make Jun better enough to fight. If he could, they wouldn't even be having this conversation, Jun would have been fully healed and into the fray already. ]
How can I help? If there anything I can do to make you feel less... helpless? Can I give you something to do? Nothing strenuous, but something to do with your hands? Something like helping organise what we brought from your closet? I can bring them in here.
no subject
[If he was superstitious, he'd claim that it was fate working against them to make their task harder. But... nah, it's not really his thing to blame the fates like that. Unfortunate physics seems more like the culprit here. Still, he wanted to make it clear he had no intention of leaving Varian. Not for a second.
But... he does notice the muffling of his emotions. Varian must be truly really hard to keep himself together. He'll reach over to take his hand, quietly showing support]
I know it can't be helped. I'm just airing my frustration where the rest of the team can't hear me. They have enough to worry about as it is. [Better to voice it to someone he trusts than to let it bleed into his correspondence with the rest of the group. He's not expecting Varian to do anything about it but... when he makes that offer, jun raises his eyesbrows]
... Mm, really? Sure, I could do organizing- and anything else that could be worked on from bed to assist you. I do have some crafting skills, and my hands are fully mobile. [AS HE MADE CLEAR]
But... don't feel like you have to make up work for me to do, okay? I'm frustrated, yes, but if required I can handle it.
no subject
[Less of Varian having to face Jun's mortality full on. Varian doesn't want to call it fate, either. It was just... terrible, awful bad luck. Just the wrong turn of a body, the wrong sort of gun, the wrong angle- multiple little things building up to make this one, big awful thing. He gives his partner's hand a squeeze as it's taken- because he knows. He knows Jun would never willingly give up his life like that.
He takes a deep breath- tamping it down again. Once this is over, once Jun has seen the doctors and had the bullet removed, once Varian knows that everything is stable and it can't get any worse, then he'll let the flood waters rise. He'll let all the feeling he's putting back come in and let it drown him for a little while. He'll let himself cry. But not now. Not yet. ]
I know they do, and you know I'm always here to listen. Help you... help you get some of the weight off.
[ The fact his partner trusts him with the honesty is something he truly treasures. He lets out a soft, amused snort, leaning in to less a kiss on Jun's forehead. ]
It still doesn't count. [ Yes, this is the argument that is going to get them through this hell, thanks for asking! ] But don't worry, I won't make work- it's stuff I could actually use help with. We just grabbed what we could from your closet, but it's your stuff. You know it better than anyone. If I can bring a box over for you to organise into stuff I can actually use, that means I can use my time in actually making things.
[ It's a time saver for him, and keeps Jun sane for him. ]
I still want to make you a stretcher- we need to get you out to the hospital eventually - no that's not up for debate - and even then, I wanna be prepared just in case this place stops being safe. Then I figure the rest can be helping them get through this. Pretty sure I can fashion a gun at least with what we have. Maybe a grappling hook?
no subject
[Take more precautions to avoid getting hurt in the first place, rather than just assuming he'd heal up from whatever thrown at him. Because they can agree that neither of them want this to happen again. Because even if he's trying to stifle it, Jun can see how upset Varian is and.... he does not want to cause such feelings in his partner. ]
I know, and I appreciate that. And I'm here for you too. To carry the weight... even if that's not literal right now.
[Was that an attempt at dark humor? Probably. But the sentiment holds true]
It does count. It's counting right now. [Yeah that argument sure is getting them through this. He considers that idea, nodding] Makes sense, I can definitely do that.
[Then Varian continues talking. He does make a face about going to the hospital, but he won't argue this time. ]
... Sounds like a logical order of operations. I'd probably make a second stretcher, I have a feeling I won't be the only one who needs carrying out by the end of this. [Whether he means Haru or someone else, he's not clarifying] ... And the fact you can make a gun out of cosplay items and some crosses truly shows what a talented craftsmen you are.
[Look, he can still praise Varian]
no subject
[ He doesn't want to have to worry each time Jun goes out into battle that he's going to have to find him like that again. He never wants to see his partner like this again, not for anything. He lets out a dry laugh at the dark humour. ]
Har har. You're a comedian. But I know, mein hertz. You always are.
[ He just can't let that flood water out just yet. Not while they're all in so much danger. ]
It does not count. You only want it to count to make this less serious than it is. [ He catches the face- bracing himself for an argument and is glad when it doesn't come. ] I know you hate it my love, but I mean it. I made you a promise and you know I don't break those. I'll be with you, soon as you wake up I'll be there. They won't be able to make me leave for anything.
[He nods, glad to have a plan of action. Something he can focus on other than the worry threatening to rise up and swallow him alive. This is good. This is work he can do and he'll feel... less useless. ]
That's a good call. Haru's not looking great and even then... well, who knows what's gonna come out of that game and cause people injuries. It's better to be ready than not. Luckily your many, many crosses are perfect support structures for that!
[Thanks for the cross-hoarding, Babe! It's helped a lot. It turns out that even as worried and stressed as he is right now, he can still get charmed by his partner complimenting him. A tiny smile crosses his lips as he ducks his head. ]
Hah. Well, it helps I always carry a little flynnolium with me too. [ He says, like he didn't invent the entire chemical compound himself anyway. ]] But thanks. Just... just glad to be able to do something. I'll grab you a box of stuff to organise, okay?
no subject
Laughter's a strong panacea. [Thus, the jokes. ]
No, I'm objectively assessing my injury levels. Paralysis of the limbs would indicate spinal damage. Which would be worse. [Spines take a lot of work to heal!! He pauses at the mention of the hospital a concerned look on his face] ... I'm not worried you'd choose to leave me there, I know you would never do that by choice.
[Just like he's sure his siblings never chose that day to die and get separated. It just. happened. What if something happened and his world was ripped again again.
But he shakes his head, indicating he doesn't want to talk about that right now. Better to focus on the task at hand now. Particularly the remarks about the crosses]
That doesn't surprise me. While the Romans did use it to kill Christ, I have to admit they were talented at architectural design.
[That. Sure was a sentence. He was about to agree to Varian's statements before it sinks in... something Varian said]
.... Isn't flynnolium that really explosive stuff you made? Why do you have it on you?
no subject
He lets out a little snort, leaning into it. Because it really is a strong panacea. ]
Oh, is that what you're calling it now? So it's not you trying to show me how not injured you are?
[It's a clearly teasing tone- though his smile fades at that. I know you would never do that by choice. That one sentence alone solidifies all of Jun's fears. But it's clear his partner doesn't want to get into it right now. Jun has respected Varian's need to keep it together and avoid the subject of how bad he's feeling right now, so he can do the same for his partner, too. So he just nods quietly, letting it be shelved for now. They'll have plenty of time to hash out all of this, once everyone is out of danger. ]
That's- definitely a way to put that, Babe. I mean. Not incorrect, but still!
[He shrugs his shoulders. ]
You never know when you need it. It saved me- briefly on the Event Horizon - I never carry enough to cause a big explosion. Just a little one. And I keep it safe! But - [ he gestures to the kraken currently going to town on the poor Morrigan outside.] you never know when you might need to defend yourself.