maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

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WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: De Chima
WHEN: Feb. 16
WHAT: This month's swear-in!
WARNINGS: Possibly some violence

A spiraling new skyscraper has just completed construction in De Chima and, to celebrate, the owners and several of the businesses renting space in the modern wonder have elected to host this month’s swear-in on the top couple floors. These floors can be reached be elevator, slowly strolling up the winding ramp that circles from the bottom to the roof or, if you can, fly or leap or use whatever other superpowers you have to get to the top or to reach one of the many open balconies and gardens available along the sides of the tower.

Though it’s a few days late, the theme of the gathering is still an unsurprising one for this time of the year: love. And, really, after the past couple of months who doesn’t need that in their lives? There are several activities available to celebrate the many stages of romance, all available in different subsections on the top couple floors. On the second floor from the top is where you enter and houses the business end of the swear-in, what you typically find at these gatherings. A lovely ballroom decorated to the nines in red, white, blue (and pinks) with an open buffet of finger foods, drinks, and various information pamphlets about local businesses, the government, and job opportunities for new imPorts.

Branching off the main ballroom are gorgeous balconies looking over the city, as well as a few indoor/outdoor gardens. These gardens range in themes from tropic jungle, to evergreen paradise, to desert oasis. They are all only about 600 square feet each, but they are a nice break from the socializing and whatnot of the main gathering. There are also special drinks provided by the Color Me Cupid company making their way around, both in alcoholic and virgin varieties. They have no clever names, sadly, but rather are labeled after the bright, almost glowing colors each is. A few sips just leads to a fizzy feeling on the lips, but have at least half of the drink and you’ll feel a few effects for the next twenty minutes or so:

Pink Drink: Sentimentality. You’ll feel a fondness for people, places, events, or even a nice piece of furniture. Cozy on up with this soft puppy love or platonic general desire to be near that person/item of interest.

Blue Drink: Melancholy. Alas, love isn’t all butterflies and sunshine. But this isn’t just being in a bad mood, wanting to go home. No, this is artistic, bohemian angst. The kind of mellow drama the poetic soul feeds on. Drape yourself over a table and opine on your lost loves, or stare tragically at the stars, sighing loudly until someone finally asks you to reveal your dark, mysterious past. Follow your tortured heart in getting that attention you suddenly need, just make sure to make a show of your inner turmoil.

Red Drink: Passion. Whether its for a person, a sports team, or a favorite hobby, you suddenly feel the need to share your enthusiasm with the world. Talk for an hour about a baseball game, or shout your love from a roof top. Or challenge someone to a duel over the hand of your loved one- or a balcony you really wanted to stand on. How ever passion works for you.

Green Drink: Jealousy. It’s an ugly part of love, but hard to escape. Depending on the person, this could induce feelings of neediness for attention from people you care about, to paranoia that others are out to steal what is yours.

Scattered throughout the main floor, a couple of the balconies, and along the twin ramps spiraling up to the top floor are two person tables, set for enjoying those finger foods and drinks. Also on each table is a stack of brightly colored note cards. These are important because, you see, the Loose Lips communication service is showing off one of their newest innovations in dating technology: Speed Honesty. When two people sit at a table, a small force field is suddenly erected around them. It won’t suffocate you or anything easy like that, no. It will simply stay in place, keeping you two at the table, until you pick up a note card and, worst of all, each of you must answer the question on the card. The speaker hidden in the table will evaluate your tone of voice, as well. No sarcastic answers accepted and, unless you’re a skilled liar, dishonest ones won’t do the trick either. The table’s AI needs to believe both parties have sincerely answered the question picked, then the force field will lower. Then you can either run or, if you wait more than ten seconds without moving, the forcefield will reactivate and you have to do it all again. This will happen every time two people sit at any of the tables, and sometimes an unwitting third standing too close may be trapped and must answer as well. Good luck, guys.

[[Questions for the cards can be found here or here, or you can OOCLy make them up for fun.]]

The top floor of the building is owned by the With Your Best Shot company and, trying to keep with the theme of the night, they have opened the (bullet proof) glass enclosed training areas on the roof of the building for duels. Hand to hand, with (dulled) swords, (paint ball) pistols, it’s all open for use so long as you declare your grievance against the person you are about to duel and declare what the winner will gain. These can be anything from traditional romantic items- the hand of the maiden fair- to silly things, like who gets the last soda in the fridge back at the apartment after this. Seconds are encouraged, but not required. There are viewing spaces for people to enjoy both the fights and the amazing view of the city below.

Enjoy the evening, imPorts. This month's swear-in appears to be going well until, later in the evening, the shadows seem to grow darker. Attendees might assume there's been a change of lighting to facilitate a romantic mood until hundreds of Heartless emerge from the darkest corners, intent on attacking imPorts and capturing as many hearts as possible.

Quite a few of the unwelcome guests are of the Shadow variety, stronger in swarms than they are individually, but still dangerous. The more fearsome Neoshadows are also in attendance, as are more colorfulvarieties -- some of which may have been people imPorts knew, before their own hearts were claimed.

Whoever they were and wherever the Heartless came from, attendees have three options: fight, run or hide. Whatever they do, they'll want to guard their hearts closely, or they may find themselves becoming the enemy.

[[OOC: Please ask any questions here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Of course it should, but does that mean all are smart enough to follow common sense? Where I'm from, common sense was a precious luxury in the company I ended up keeping.

[It's a wonder that tempers haven't gotten out of hand, these two seem to be getting on like oil and water.

He hadn't known much of arranged marriages back home, not even knowing if they'd existed in the present day.]

An arranged one would just be the worst kind.

Oh, now that's just not true, they're not all like that. In fact, I'd wager the surprise, mystery ones are the odd ones out! [she turns her head, frowning at the other people in their little conversation cages.]

No...no, more often than not, it's those spur-of-the-moment romances that yield that sort of fruit. Sometimes you get so caught up in someone that you forget...to be utterly yourself. And by the time you're so far down the line, it's too late to reveal it.

That's the worst.

I wouldn't know much of that, I never had the time for romance. Nor did I get allowed to do much of that with all the private tutoring I had to take over mother's company in the future.

[He shrugs, pulling another card, making a disgusted face at it. Of course he wouldn't eat food that fell on the floor!]

I suppose we should have another card then? Would you eat food that fell on the floor? I certainly would not, how disgusting.

[while she could make note that they relate on being rather sheltered and inundated with study, she's not interested in making friends with this weirdo and his...weird, weird hair. it reminds her of pasta. it's weird. she's not sorry.

she's not sorry and also disgusted by the question.]

Ew! What? What kind of question is that? Obviously not! Throw that card away -- what does that have to do with anything at all?

Some people... enjoy doing disgusting things like that. That card needs to be burned, not just thrown away. I'll never understand why people would do such things as eat food off the floor. Mother would have had a heart attack if I ever did that.

[He snorts in disgust. Cards like that being in the mix made him dread what else could be there, but instead of him drawing a third, he'd have the girl do it.]

You draw the next card.

Give it here.

[if he insists, she can oblige: taking the offending card, she pinches it between her index finger and thumb, rubbing her other hand's fingers over the corner of the card until it smokes and then bursts into flames, quickly crumbling to ash in her palm, which she just as quickly closes into a fist while she fiddles with a napkin to deposit it in.

she tsks, cleaning her hand once that's all said and done, squinting and plucking the next card up.]

How long is this supposed to go on, anyway?

[he huffs at the card burning after he's given it to her, glad to see the disgusting thing go up in flames. A shame there's probably more in the other piles,
or others just as disgusting in the pile on this table.]

As long as we'd want them to I assume. Until we both answer the questions correctly, that's all I'm aware of.

[she scowls.] I have been answering correctly, I don't know about you. [clearly the AI here needs to realize that there's honesty in sass.

she flips the next card up and squints at it with great suspicion.]

Hmph. 'When is it acceptable to lie to your significant other?'

As have I. [He wants to make a sharper retort, but elects not to. Behaving.

The question from the card takes him aback, shocked at what was asked. It takes him a moment to collect himself, not even knowing how to answer that because a lot of the adults around him lied. Frequently.]

Wh-why would it ever be acceptable to lie? But... I suppose... [he thinks back to when his father was still around, having planned a surprise for his mother and telling Gladion not to say anything or it'd ruin it for her.] When one is planning a surprise and doesn't want to ruin it?

[she opens her mouth to cut in and protest, then blinks, closing it shut.

she gives that some thought.]

No, I...I suppose that's fair. And mostly harmless? Unless a series of absurd tragedies were to ensue, I guess.

[she hesitates, then gives a testing poke at the forcefield, frowning.]

...Wait. What happens if this place gets randomly attacked like usual?

[yes this is an invite to dump and explosion of shadows, what of it]

[he thinks for a moment, then nods in agreement.]

I... would say that'd be acceptable. But too many and then it wouldn't be harmless, those would be lies that add up. That hurt everyone around you. [he frowns, as if he knows how that feels firsthand from someone close to him.] What do you mean 'like usual'? Do these events get attacked frequently?

[Almost as if on cue, or as if they're jinxed, the room grows darker as though someone has dimmed the lights. Black shadowy creatures with glowing yellow-orange eyes begin swarming the room around them. Some even floating and suddenly firing off elemental bursts of fire or ice.]

Nevermind my question. I assume you mean THOSE things.

Gyah-!

[she startles, pushing away from the table and out of her chair very quickly -- and just as quickly bumping her noggin on the top of the forcefield.] OWH! Gawds! Great! We're gonna die in an invisible box! Perfect!

[he frowns at the force field being up still, clearly unable to let any of his pokemon out without overcrowding them. Why hasn't it dropped yet? Then, he thinks back to the first question about marriages.]

I don't think the table ever decided what we were saying with the marriages question was true or not... or... because this place seems to have gone to hell, destroying the table might get us out of here. It's worth a shot. Not the most polite but I don't think these creatures are going to be polite.

[His voice is strangely calmer than what someone trapped in a box's should be, but he's thinking, trying to come up with a plan that could get them out safely.]

It is worth a shot, yes.

[beat.]

...You can break the table without my having to resort to setting it afire, yes? I'd...rather not suffocate us with smoke. [he's a teen boy, right? teen boys do all kinds of hoodlum nonsense like destruction of property!]

I... Believe so, yes. Step back, please?

[he doesn't have the patience to get complained at for impoliteness, even though the 'please' was just tacked on to make it a question.

He looks for where the table could be weakest or where the absurd mechanism would be most vulnerable and then slams his elbow down on it, flinching briefly from how it smarts, but shaking it off. The deed was done and the barrier drops. Immediately his Pokémon pop out of their Pokéballs to surround them both defensively.]

I don't think it would be wise to go off alone with how many of them are around. It may be wise to stick together until we're safe.

[Cecelia flinches in tandem, squeaking a little and hugging her arms to herself in a bid to be as inoffensive as possible...at least until she hears the hum of the mechanisms that kept that field up fizzle out. then she breathes out, stepping away, arms out just in case--

--and nearly swats one of the monsters that appears.

she squeals, recoiling.]

GYAHHH! What now?!? Help! [she grabs onto Gladion's arm, her hair frizzing with some static electricity building up.]

[the sudden latching on to his arm startles him and makes him jump from it. He's not used to people touching him, let alone being suddenly touched.

Snapping out of that quickly he heaves a sigh, pointing to the four Pokémon surrounding them.]

These four won't harm us, they listen to me. They're not any of the monsters around us at all. See? [he snaps his fingers at Sneasel, who takes out one of the shadow heartless that was creeping closer with a Metal Claw.] They're on our side.

Edited (I'm braindead and typed the same thing twice lmfao) 2020-03-16 10:39 (UTC)

[she squeaks again at the metal claw show, refusing to free Gladion's arm despite assurances.]

Warn me next time, will you!? I almost conjured a lightning bolt! [huff!!]

A-anyway, can they, like--carve a path? Or something?

[he should have warned but when these things are coming at you faster than a Volt Tackle, it's hard to warn.]

The only one in trouble of an electrical attack would be Golbat there. [he gestures to the large bat closer to them than the others.] And yes, they can carve a path for us to get out of here.

[he remembers a very important detail he should have given before all of this: his name.]

Err. My name's Gladion, I should have introduced myself earlier, but it's too late for that. Could you tell me yours?

What-?

[she looks taken aback, as if introductions were out of the question right now. but really?

it's kind of in the question. probably.]

Cecelia. Hi. Um, anyway, let's get out of here!

[not the time or place indeed, but it's better to have a name to a face, no? He'd rather not call her 'girl' or anything rude. He knows better than that.

He glares around, searching for a way around the swarm, or even out of it. No exit, but a less intense swarm.]

This way! [he points towards an emptier area when they could breathe easier]

[it's a damn shame that STR is Cece's dump stat, because even panic-driven athletics is a real challenge for her! so by the time he's steered her toward an emptied-out employee area, she's wobbly-kneed like a newborn deer, having to catch herself on a countertop before toppling over.]

Gods...godsdammit! [she puffs, slumping.] I really wish...I could go outside one time...and not have to be running for my life!

[a good thing that Type: Null is around, it could carry a couple of people if need be.

Gladion's a little out of breath, but not anything terrible.]

If you have a hard time running, Null here can give you a ride. It can fit us both and the other three can help clear an escape route.

[at mention of the beast, Cecelia gives it a wincing look-over.

honestly? it's...hideous. maybe it's a handy steed? but, ugh? she'd prefer the stupid fat unicorn pony from home.

not that she's in any position to complain.]

Um. O-okay...cool. Thanks? [she isn't making any grand moves to touch it, though.]

[gee Cece you could stand to be more grateful, a ride is a ride after all! A shame Gladion can't just summon an Arcanine or Rapidash from thin air.

He stares at her flatly, debating whether or not he wants to run his mouth, but ultimately decides against it. Now was not the time.]

Null is fast enough to avoid most of these things and get us to safety, and by the looks of it... you look like you could use a ride.

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hearltess time then! Sorry kiddies!

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