[closed]

[axi]

Who: Kaname (axi), Messer (vartex), Lucina (lacyprincess), Prompto (this_loser)
Broadcast: No
Action: Drade, Islands and Mists
When: Friday, July 20th


[Exploring the mists somehow became something on Kaname's to do list, so of course Messer didn't want her to go alone. She mentioned the idea to Prompto, who decided to accompany her as well. Lucina was an invitation of her own. She liked the girl, and she'd serve as someone else for any of the rest of them to talk with.

Masks and lights (and weapons) in place, the four head out to the edge of one uninhabited island and begin their trek. Some ways in (maybe a twenty minute walk), they find what looks to be an old, abandoned village. It's not nearly as up to date as Veynar... maybe two or three centuries behind, it's hard to tell.

Kaname carefully makes her way into a stone building that was probably a home of some kind back in its time. The roof is mostly gone, and she's careful when moving under the pieces that still hang precariously from above. Something catches her eye, causing her to stop and crouch to get a better view.]

Messer, can I get a light? [From overhead. Because he's tall.] You should come see this.

[If and when Prompto and Lucina make their way over, too, they'll see a dull sort of carving etched into the floor in one corner. It could possibly be a creature hovering over a very small home, its mouth wide open. Maybe. If they squint.]

Comments

[vartex]

[Messer's never more than a few steps behind, so once she calls him he's there, lifting the light up so the stone is more clearly visible. His eyes narrow at the carving- not just the design, but the scale of it.]

The network's been busy with talk of that giant creature in the mist. We might be venturing into its territory.

[In other words, he's back on high alert. As if this place wasn't bad enough already...]

the search // cw for death/blood/violence

[vartex]

[The island's size is substantial, and the mist is thick and concentrated in the central area where Nami sent Kaname and her group searching for Messer. It's been this way for long enough that even here, the territory lies empty and abandoned, save for one man.

Three things are noticeable before anyone sees him- first, a soft, tinny jingling. Second, heavy breathing and the occasional aggressive snarl. Third, the mist parts to reveal a brutal cityscape of what must have once been a normal, thriving metropolis and is now just a mass grave of bodies scattered throughout the street. Men, women, children, humans and alien humanoids- the population is a blur of unrecognizable figures, with death being the only thing they have in common. Some of them have veins protruding from their faces, most of them are covered in blood. Some have no faces at all, too mangled for any features to remain. Whatever happened here was violent, brutal, and left little room for survival.

Any attempt to check on the bodies will reveal them to be a mere hallucination, and with enough searching, they'll find him: staggering through the center of it all is Messer.

He's been wandering for hours non-stop, and it shows on his face- gaunt and exhausted, driven forward only by the infection flowing through his body and the bloodlust it brings with it. His muscles stretch the clothing he's wearing, tense and pulsing with excess energy and adrenaline, the veins pronounced on his face, eyes bloodshot. The mask that hangs from his neck is even more broken than it had been when he'd left them, nail scratches like deep claw marks over the filters, bits of shattered plastic missing from the shell. There's remnants of blood on his hands but it's impossible to tell the source from a distance.

The tinny voice is a recording of Kaname's AXIA that echoes around him like a siren's song, faint and occasionally glitching, the battery of his bracelet running dry. Not that it was ever effective in this place, with the hallucinations and the madness of the mist too overwhelming to give him a chance. Even Kaname's real song hadn't been enough to spare him in the moment where the Var had taken over his mind.

He hasn't noticed anyone yet.]