WE ARE UNCONQUERABLE.
» SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTER — INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Though the museum has been partially open for several weeks, residents will notice the lights coming on in previously inaccessible wings starting the evening of December 18. The doors to these areas will remain locked, but those with keen observation skills may notice the occasional shadow moving across a window, or perhaps new, hulking forms appearing on the other side of the glass where before there were only vast, empty rooms. If you press your face up against the tinted windows, you'll see curtains drawn across previously blank walls, sheets thrown over the vague shape of a display case, and signs hung from the ceiling that await proper illumination to be read.
At dawn on December 19, the devices of all residents will buzz and light up not with the usual friendly notification, but a white screen likely to blind those awoken by the sudden noise. You should be used to this now, the nearly blank page similar to the one that welcomed you on the train your first day here. There are no questions, just one bold phrase—STAND THE TEST OF TIME. Beneath it, your only option is to click the "OK" button if you wish to make your device functional again, because even if you turn it off and on again, that same message will be waiting for you until you accept it.
For those who willingly venture into the museum through the front doors, they'll find themselves in the middle of a large atrium with welcome desks and information centers—all empty, of course. There are no staff, nor even that many information kiosks besides a tall pillar in the middle with a map of the center's layout as well as a list of exhibits that are currently open to the public:
BODY WORKS: Get up close and personal with the inner workings of your body.
NATURAL HISTORY: Learn all about the world around you, from its weather to its fossil record.
THE HISTORY OF US: See the pasts of our fair city and experience history like never before.
Have a look around, enjoy the educational enrichment, and don't forget to stop by the gift shop on your way out! If you make it out.
The city's Science Discovery Center is a combination of a natural history museum and a children's discovery center, aimed towards cataloging knowledge pertaining to the city and its residents. Some exhibits focus on accurate information about the city's history and the biology of the people who have lived here, while other displays are a twisted version of facts.
The Center is large, and has plenty of room for smaller exhibits showcasing natural phenomena from all manner of home worlds and canons. Players are welcome to find mentions of their own species, depictions of native flora and fauna, or other tidbits of information that might get your characters asking questions. Inspiration was drawn from several sources, so please feel free to do the same! Some worthwhile mentions include:
Body Worlds
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared
Westworld
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WE ARE TERRIBLE AND SPLENDID.
» SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTER EXHIBIT — "BODY WORKS"
This exhibit is down the left-hand hallway that branches off from the entrance atrium. That is, if you choose to come to the museum of your own volition. For some residents, they will wake up to find themselves included as a piece of the exhibit, posed in a variety of non-lethal positions—riding a bicycle, playing guitar, wrestling a fake bear—within glass display cases. Don't worry, you're not trapped! Simply find the door on the back of the case and free yourself to go exploring through the rest of the exhibit. You're already here, so you might as well enjoy the free entrance fee and learn a thing or two about your fellow residents.
BODY WORKS is a mixture of informational displays and interactive activities that all focus on the body of sentient city residents, mainly humans though including other species that have called this city their home over the years. Through a winding maze of hallways and rooms, visitors can find informational plaques covering vampire digestion, genetic mutations in empowered individuals, moon cycles of werewolves, and human reproduction. The highlight of all these mini exhibits are the sample bodies, displayed in relevant poses and either bisected to show the inner working of the organs or stripped of skin to reveal the movement of key muscles.
Not all of the rooms within this exhibit are fully factual, however. Keen-eyed visitors, or anyone who passed middle school science, will notice there is a fair bit of misinformation as well. Most of this is concentrated in displays aimed towards younger residents—a felt model of the human body made to look like a house, the various organs pictures as nonsensical rooms or appliances. Similarly, one room is full of life-size versions of the popular game Invasive Surgery where plastic models of a human, an elf, a gray alien, and an anthropomorphic velociraptor all lay prone on individual table with their bodies ready to be operated on. Cavities are already hollowed out and filled with tongue-in-cheek representations of various body parts—the human male's Adam's apple is a literal apple, the alien's ribs look more like a rack of lamb, the elf's two hearts are bright pink love hearts, and the velociraptor's claw is represented by a box cutter.
Residents who are suspicious of the city's newsletters and constantly opening attractions may go to bed somewhere expected and then wake up as a display in this exhibit of the Discovery Center. There is no rhyme nor reason to who gets transported and is left up to player choice—there simply is need to fill all of the displays in the museum, and some of those samples may be living residents rather than past ones. There is no exit from this exhibit, however, and it will loop visitors back around to the main atrium where they can either leave or explore the rest of the center since they're already here.
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BLEEDING THORNS, THE ENDLESS DILATION.
» SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTER EXHIBIT — "NATURAL HISTORY"
This exhibit is reached by taking the hallway on the right side of the atrium at the entrance of the Center. Visitors looking for an in-depth and scientific approach to the city's history may be disappointed to find that most of the displays here appear to be half finished and very rarely occupied by any helpful models. Life-sized dioramas line the walls and sit behind thick glass. They all boast highly detailed set dressings, but none of the wax models or taxidermy animals that guests might expect from this kind of exhibit. They also lack any plaques or other signage that would provide context for what is missing from the displays. In the middle of rooms and hallways are empty display cases, or in the rare chance that there is an artifact inside, it looks like an obvious replica. Fake fossils and artificially weathered ceramics fill these displays as if mimicking images from an old history textbook.
Other areas of this wing of the center focus on explaining natural phenomena, such as weather patterns, plate tectonics, and rock types and their formation. Charts explain the rain cycle going through evaporation condensation, and precipitation with small displays of each step—a secondary branch shoots off to explain how certain weather patterns can cause fish to be sucked up into storms and rained down upon towns. Large tables with levers and handles show the movement of different tectonic plates and the kinds of pressure that build up to cause earthquakes. A short video explains what gravity is and shows what would happen to all of the residents of a city if gravity were suddenly turned off. Everything has a slightly ominous tone to it, as if these examples are explaining possible natural disasters that could befall the city.
Players are encouraged to have their characters find any kind of display that might be included in their canon as if a display was created to show their own local customs or history. There is unfortunately not much of substance here in terms of true city history as the majority of the exhibit seems to be faked.
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THE FIRE THAT ALTERS NOTHING.
» SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTER EXHIBITS — "THE HISTORY OF US"
Taking the central hallway from the entry atrium and walking towards the back of the Science Discovery Center, visitors will be brought to a large circular room that is dimly light from lights sunken into the tall ceiling. Though the space is grand, it has an intimate and somewhat claustrophobic feeling thanks to the darkness and deep navy aint covering the walls and ceiling. There's easily enough space for fifty people to move about without brushing elbows, yet guests may find themselves seeking the company of others amongst the shadows that find home here despite the lack of corners and nooks.
The main attraction here are the framed photographs that line the rounded wall, forming a neat line from one end immediately to the left of the entrance from that hallway and stretching around to end at the right-hand side. A small paragraph of text is the only context given, explaining that these photographs are records of the city throughout its history and that the preview buttons beneath each frame will supply additional information.
Upon further inspection of each photograph, visitors will recognize the city they've come to know and love. Each photograph has a different event depicted, as described below, though the images are slightly muted as if waiting to be backlit. On the bottom of each frame, similar to name plates on portraits, is a small plaque, and beneath that is a silver button embedded into the wall. These are the preview buttons mentioned at the beginning of the exhibit, and pressing them will indeed provide guests more context of the images they're viewing.
After pressing a button, the photograph will light up in a more crisp, saturated version of its previous self. As viewers look more closely, the image will come to life around them until they are literally consumed by the contents of the photo, falling into that exact moment in time to experience it first-hand. These events range from earthquakes and tornadoes to alien attacks and dinosaur stampedes. There's no clear exit, no trick to escaping certain doom and find your way back to the museum—all you can do is participate in the past cataclysm around you until your death returns you home to current time in the city. It will be as if no time has passed at all; you simply spaced out a little staring into the photo and then, with a blink, find yourself perfectly intact as you were before.
The last three frames have no button beneath them, no past to relive, just questions to add to the list.
| Plaque Text |
Photograph |
| CE-01 |
A wide shot of the city sinking into a hole that perfectly runs along the borders of the outermost buildings' foundations. |
| CE-02 |
Residents, cars, animals, and anything else not bolted down to the earth float up towards the clouds. |
| CE-03 |
Buildings lean at various angles, some broken in half, as people run from falling debris and cracks open in the earth. |
| CE-04 |
People are strewn about in front of City Hall, slumped on benches or fallen to the pavement, hands to their necks and faces showing signs of suffocation. |
| CE-05 |
A group of people wearing rubber masks break into a ritzy apartment and brandish weapons at a man wearing a silk dressing gown. |
| CE-06 |
Horizontal winds wipe rain through the city, tearing up trees and stop signs and breaking the glass of nearby buildings. |
| CE-07 |
The city is almost unrecognizably arid, heat haze rising from the streets and all plant life withered and dead as dirt swirls through the air. |
| CE-08 |
Fire engulfs the city, setting buildings ablaze and covering the water with a layer of aflame oil and debris. |
| CE-09 |
A crowd of frenzied citizens attempt to murder one another in various ways, sometimes using weapons and sometimes resorting to their bare hands. |
| CE-10 |
Dark clouds unleash torrential rain upon buildings half sunk in floodwaters that climb up the sides of buildings. |
| CE-11 |
A group of cloaked figures move through the city in formation, carrying scythes in one hand and skulls in the other. Another group of people flee before them. |
| CE-12 |
Plant life covers the city, crawling across and through skyscrapers and apartment complexes, sprouting massive carnivorous blooms and vine piercing the bodies of frenzied citizens. |
| CE-13 |
A typical scene of city life is literally frozen in a second, ice forming sideways as a blast of cold deep freezes residents as they go about their days. |
| CE-14 |
The sky is darkened by a swarm of locusts that descend upon the city and eat up all plant life. |
| CE-15 |
The air is hazy with heat as human bodies melt into the pavement beneath a sky of bright reds, oranges, and purples. |
| CE-16 |
A gray cloud darkens the sky as it moves through the city, everything dissolving in its path as nanites destroy all matter. |
| CE-17 |
A wave taller than the city's skyscrapers approaches from the waterfront. People run from it, tripping in the proceeding flood waters. |
| CE-18 |
The city streets are filled with residents who look like they're dressed for a parade, wearing party hats and carrying balloons, but they're participating in mass murder rather than a fun event. |
| CE-19 |
A large mushroom cloud blooms in the background, buildings silhouetted by the blast. |
| CE-20 |
Residents sit huddled in heaps as their flesh is eaten away in vast chunks, falling away from their bones. |
| CE-21 |
A huge volcano stands in the center of the city, lava flowing from it and melting everything in its path as buildings sink into the glowing red rivers. |
| CE-22 |
The same large volcano, this time in the background of the city, spews hot ash into the air that chokes out the sun. |
| CE-23 |
Sickly green rain falls on the city, eating through the metal and glass of buildings and creating holes in the streets and pavement. |
| CE-24 |
A flash of light takes up most of the scene, the few areas of shadow depicting people evaporating in a split second. |
| CE-25 |
The city is covered in a thick layer of ice, doors and windows frozen shut inside while plants wither under rime outside. |
| CE-26 |
From out of frame, an avalanche of snow covers city streets and buries residents. |
| CE-27 |
Three tornadoes churn through the city, sucking up trees and cars and residents. |
| CE-28 |
Bodies sit beneath dead trees, sunburned to the third degree, as the sky roils with abnormal colors. |
| CE-29 |
The city is choked with yellow-gray haze, too thick to see through, that settles as oily filth on every surface. |
| CE-30 |
Residents run through the streets covered in dark red boils, clawing at their faces and arms. |
| CE-31 |
A small black hole hovers above the grass in the park, trees and people being sucked towards it. |
| CE-32 |
From the sky, a barrage of silver marbles rains down on buildings and people like artificial hail. |
| CE-33 |
Bodies fill the streets, writhing and contorted, their skin covered in black spots. |
| CE-34 |
Massive flaming meteors rain from the sky and punch holes through buildings and streets. |
| CE-35 |
A thick haze of pollen hangs in the air as residents find various ways to kill themselves. |
| CE-36 |
From the waterfront, a hulking waterspout spins towards the city, flashes of sharks visible within its swirling waters. |
| CE-37 |
People appear to be in the middle of going about their day, frozen in motion and turned to alabaster stone. |
| CE-38 |
Lumbering zombies fill the streets, attacking residents and destroying storefronts. |
| CE-39 |
People lay dead in the streets. There is no sign of struggle, nor environmental issues, nor other inciting incidents. |
| CE-40 |
A shot of inside a train car shows the horrific scene of piles of blood, viscera, and human bones oozing off of the train seats. |
| CE-41 |
A few residents' bodies lay emaciated and crumpled in the aisle of a grocery store, its shelves completely empty. |
| CE-42 |
The city is barely recognizable beneath futuristic technological augments that cover buildings and people, yet all the lights are off and the screens are blank. |
| CE-43 |
A swarm of murder hornets flies through an alleyway chasing people and stinging them to death. |
| CE-44 |
In front of City Hall, a group of werewolves face down an opposing group of vampires, each brandishing fangs and preparing to fight one another. |
| CE-45 |
A stampede of dinosaurs, big and small, run through the city streets, trampling everything in their path and eating the fleeing residents. |
| CE-46 |
UFOs hover in the skies above the city, shooting lasers at buildings below. |
| CE-47 |
Humanoid robots march into an apartment building looking for human survivors to destroy. |
| CE-48 |
Blank |
| CE-49 |
Blank |
| CE-50 |
Rather than a photograph, this frame is filled by a mirror. A spotlight is perfectly aimed to highlight anyone standing in front of it. |
Pressing the button beneath a photograph will instantly teleport residents into the event depicted, either right before it starts or as it is playing out. Multiple residents can end up in the same event, either by viewing the same photo together or pressing the button some moments apart. Players are encouraged to embellish the disasters that are shown—an earthquake can cause a gas leak or a tornado can crush you with a car. The bottom line is that the only way to escape is through death, as if snapping residents out of the experience that might feel like a flashback upon their return to current reality inside the exhibit. Even characters who may no usually experience death from certain events—robots suffocating or merfolk drowning—will still be able to participate in this fun new perspective on mortality.
While characters can interact with NPCs in the events they enter, they won't be able to get any meaningful information out of them. Consider a stranger coming up to you and interrogating you as your world ends, and you'll be able to guess how these residents are likely to answer: panicked, pained, and generally in shock.
For any questions about specific photographs, such as what is being depicted and how a character might die in that scenario, please leave your questions below in the thread titled PHOTOGRAPH QUESTIONS.
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IN THE NIGHT'S WINDOWLESS DARKNESS.
» SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTER — THE BACK ROOMS
Throughout the various exhibits, visitors will notice doors with a STAFF ONLY label on them. These doors are painted the same color as the walls so that the eye is more likely to pass over them, blended in to avoid standing out. All of these doors are, unfortunately, very much locked and unable to be picked due to the lack of a keyhole or any other identifiable locking mechanism. If you're determined enough to gain entry through one, however, you might have some luck in the Natural History wing of the discovery center.
In the back of a room dedicated to how rocks are formed, there's a small annex with a sign above the entrance that reads LIVE SCIENCE LAB. While there isn't much live science actually happening here—just a lot of rock samples and microscopes—there is a staff door that opens easily with a twist of the knob. This door leads to a nondescript white hallway where your footsteps echo off the blank walls that twist and descend with a series of stairs. Eventually, a door appears at the end of the hallway, unlabeled but also unlocked.
Welcome to the animal science lab, a large and sterile-looking space sectioned off into smaller rooms via plexiglass walls and translucent plastic curtains. Some rooms are taken up by bulky machines that look similar to a loom, but far more technologically advanced and oddly dimensional. A few of these machines appear to have stopped halfway through running—the front end of a horse stands halfway out of the mouth of one machine, the wings of a raven spread out on the platform of another. For anyone brave enough, or skilled enough, to turn on one of these machines, they'll be greeted with a catalog of animals and a simple question: PRINT?
Other rooms have similar but smaller machines that are in various stages of completion with printing various items: a T-bone steak, a rack of ribs, a bucket of chicken wings. There are various meat samples in cold storage as well as vegan samples, and in one corner is a large bubbling vat of what appears to be blood. This lab appears to be stocked for printing a variety of animals as well as animal products and their alternatives for all manner of diet.
After the 3D printers have been booted up and restored to operational, characters may print animals! There is a limit to one animal per character, access by biometric scan (so no loopholes for double dipping). Though the catalog of animals is extensive, including a variety of sizes, shapes, and origins, the machines have all been locked to restrictions in order to save resources. Characters may pick from this catalog, or if they are skilled in 3d modeling or similar skills, they could create input for an animal from their canon that may not be included as a preset option.
Players may pick one animal up to the size of a golden retriever, and while some animals can be scaled down in size, they cannot be scaled up—characters could have a "mini" great dane, but not a massive pet ant. These animals cannot be fully sentient (think Pokemon) nor can they speak. They are also not protected by the city's respawning safety nets—if they die, they will stay dead, so be careful to protect your new pet. They are, for all intents and purposes, real animals that will need food, water, rest, and medical care. Choose wisely, and make sure you're prepared to take responsibility for your furry/feathery/scaly friend.
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WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.
This month's event headers come from Dedication by Franz Wright.
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citylogs2023-12-19 09:00 pm
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[ The fairy tales have proven that much. He has a feeling he knows what will happen if he presses a button, and he's prepared for that. ]
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Then I'm coming too.
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...alright. Pick the one you want to press.
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And after a long moment... she pauses in front of CE-39.]
... What happened in this one?
[... Maybe that's worth trying to discover.]
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His attention turns back to Altria when she speaks up, and he stands next to her to look at the photo she's examining. People laid on the streets, clearly dead, but there was nothing else wrong with the environment. Strange. ]
Could they have suffered something similar to suffocation? Or perhaps something caused them to drop dead where they stood. Some sort of psychic attack?
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... Then... it should be this one, shouldn't it? We can learn something new just by going in there.
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Whenever you're ready.
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[She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes for a moment, and then lifts her chin. By pressing this button, she's condemning them both to death--if a temporary death.
But... at least Yuu won't be dying alone.
And so, with that last moment's pause, she pushes the button, dumping them both into a completely different version of the experiment they're in.]
CW: starting from here, suicidal ideation
It is eerily quiet—even moreso than it usually is. There is absolutely no activity. Nothing moves. There is no wind to whistle past the skyscrapers and the sun is blotted out my clouds. The city is painted in a dull, dreary gray.
For a moment, that's all there is. And then it slowly creeps up on them. A dread—is this it? Is this how the city is without life? And even slower, but it crawls in all the same—despair. What if they're fated to be stuck here forever? Was there any point in anything they did? Nothing matters in the end. They should just give up and die.
Despite the tough front he puts up, the Wanderer is not someone who is especially strong against mental attacks like this. But this despair—it's familiar to him. He's questioned his own existence before. He's not completely caught off guard by the feeling suddenly rising up again. It leaves him speechless though, trying to grapple with his emotions. ]
...
[ He curls in on himself slightly, breathing shakily. Hopefully, Altria was faring better. ]
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... She can feel the atmosphere pressing down on her, suffocating and oppressive, but she isn't yet at the place he's at, doesn't yet feel the need to just crumple to the ground and give in.
His shaky breathing catches her attention, distracting her from how she'd been looking around with a furrowed brow. He's curled in on himself, expression almost pained, and her eyes widen.]
Yuu! Are you okay? What's wrong?
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She had become so precious to him, but he was going to lose it all again, no matter what he did. There wasn't any point to struggling. He should just give up and die.
—no. This isn't—this despair isn't his, he thinks. Emotions were being forced onto him again. He had a reason to continue. His sins would always be his to atone for. If nothing else, he had that. He doesn't want to die—can't die, not yet.
With a breath, he stands up straight. The despair is like a weight pressing down on him—but not yet. He can still fight against it. ]
Do you feel it? The despair they're forcing on us.
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...
She drags in a deep breath, straightening, and reaches out for both of his hands.
Her own inherent resistances probably won't last forever, or even long, knowing how this place works. It's never saved her before, and it undoubtedly won't save her now. Besides. She thinks... she'd hate to live here, alone, indefinitely, without him there. It's not a healthy thought, but it's hers, and she knows it's true.
She nods.]
Mm... a little. I think it's sinking in.
[......]
Then it's... they're forcing us to feel a certain way? [They can do that?] That's so... cruel.
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I'm surprised it took you until now to notice.
[ Said with a small huff of a grin, though it falters slightly from the overwhelming need to stop caring about anything. No, he does care. He does. About many things. ]
They've been manipulating our emotions since the beginning. Remember the park? It forcibly calms you.
[ He remembers her looking clueless when he'd asked. Perhaps this was one of her inherent abilities, a protection against mental manipulation. How nice. Maybe he wouldn't have fell for Dottore's deception if he had had something like that... but he's just a worthless, useless excuse of a puppet. Something that never should have existed, for it was his presence that brought tragedy to Tata—
He sharply exhales and closes his eyes. This is thoroughly unpleasant to bear. He squeezes Altria's hands, grounding her presence in his mind. Just. Focus on her, and don't think about anything else. ]
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For once.
He closes his eyes and she winces to see him this way. He's holding tightly to her hands, at least--which means he's a lifeline for her, too, no matter how long this lingers.
Because... she can feel it too. It didn't hit her all at once, not like him. But there's a slow, insidious drip of it, like water down her spine. Why did she think coming along with him was a good idea? Why did she think she'd be able to help him at all? She's never been able to do anything for him, not like he's done for her.
... It's so dangerous, because she could easily believe those thoughts to be her own. But she shakes her head firmly, squeezing her eyes shut as well, teeth grit.]
... Our feelings... our thoughts and things... those are none of their business.
[This, over anything... this crosses a line.]
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[ He laughs bitterly. How much of his past and the wounds he still bore was put on display like some kind of freak show? How much has he had to show to the world, when he hadn't even been ready to confront them himself?
He leans in, pulling her hands up to his face, still clasped in his own like a prayer. Was there any point in struggling against their captors? He... can't see a way out. Not anymore. What could they do, in a simulation under their full control? What if they weren't even real? What if they were just duplicates of the real versions of themselves?
It is perhaps a good thing that this is just a temporary state, he thinks vaguely under the pressure. This was just one of those photos. If they just... gave up. Maybe they'd be free to return to the regular city. ]
Altria... [ Softly spoken, so tired and hopeless. ] I can't bear this for much longer.
[ But he doesn't want to leave her alone. For that one reason, he's still struggling against the despair. ]
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Is it possible to pray to the archon he cares so much about? She has no gods of her own to reach out to, so would that be okay? She can't help but wonder. But perhaps his archon is not the sort of archon one prays to. She's never asked. Religion is so foreign to her in every way. But in this moment, when he sounds so painfully hopeless, when he clings to her hands as if they're all he has left, she wishes that she knew.
She'll have to ask, she thinks distantly. When they get out of here, even if she knows what has to happen for them to "escape".
But... at least she can do one thing for him. She can't pray to his archon and she can't save him. But... she can make sure that he doesn't see her die first. It is the first and only time she's been grateful to have been born as this kind of faerie in her life.
So she meets his eyes and she smiles, expression soft. She has to smile for him. What else can she do?]
... It's okay. It's okay, Yuu. [They'll come back. They'll come back. He'll come back. She has to believe in that much.]
I'm... right here. So... [At least he's not alone right now. Don't think about the despair. Don't think about that slow, seeping dread, pulling strength from her limbs.] ... it's okay. I'll see you soon, right?
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There's still a part of him that desperately tries to fight, unwilling to leave Altria alone, but the despair is overwhelming, and all he wants is to close his eyes and let go. It wouldn't matter in the end, because she would join him soon after.
That tiny part of him that still clings to Altria swells in his chest, giving way to a desire to convey the depth of his affection for her. She is so kind to him (and what if the photos work differently and they don't revive after? The past does not predict the future) and he hasn't adequately expressed his—ah.
Oh, he thinks, this is love, isn't it? It's like the love he had for Tatarasuna, and Niwa, and the nameless child. The all-encompassing desire to keep them close, make them happy by whatever means possible and protect them from danger. He loves her. And he hasn't told her. He wants to tell her, before he goes.
He squeezes her hands one last time before he lets go, and instead uses his hands to gently caress her face. He looks at her, taking in every last detail—her vibrant, golden hair, her beautiful green eyes, like the foliage of Sumeru. The soft expression she makes as she gazes at him, gentle and affectionate.
He loves her, he thinks again, and in a moment of impulsivity, as his desire to convey his feelings overwhelm him, he leans in and gently, so very gently, captures her lips with his. ]
1/2
But not to him. Anything but that happening to him. Given the chance, without anything getting in his way, he could live for centuries longer, right?
She wants, more than anything, for him to live.
That's all she can think of, tamping down as best she can on the dread and despair that she can feel starting to weigh her down. It's unpleasant, but not the first time, not really--and she's so focused on that, on the deep, hopeful, desperate wish that he'll wake back up in the City after all of this, that it takes her by surprise when he lets go of her hands.
When he lifts his hands to instead cup her cheeks, her wide eyes meeting his.
When he leans in, and ever-so-gently, with all of that kindness she constantly insists, and knows he possesses, and kisses her. And for a moment, all of the fear and despair and worries melt away into nothing but a warm sort of static. For a moment, blessed as it is, there's only him, a warm sort of glow deep in her chest, and then she's kissing him back.]
2/2
But this isn't that sort of narrative, and Altria knows it keenly. That's the stuff of storybooks, and Altria's never believed in them.
The despair creeps back in, and Altria has to pull back, if gently, because it's getting hard to breathe. She doesn't want to, and there's reluctance in every single movement, but... what else can she do?
They're running out of time, and she knows it. (But oh, how she wishes stories were true, and that love were enough to save him. Just this one time--)]
I really... really...! [--love you.]
--You'd better... make it back safely, okay? You'd better...!
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He embraces her, slowly pulling them both to the ground, where they could sit and enjoy their last moments together. He presses his face against her shoulder and allows his hat to fall to the wayside. It's comforting and grounding to hold her. He doesn't want this to end, even though he knows the end is coming. His body feels heavy, his thoughts are starting to slow, and his senses are growing fuzzy. ]
I'll see you soon.
[ He mumbles quietly, and closes his eyes. He listens to the sound of Altria's breath and heartbeat, until that too, disappears. And then he sinks, deep, into an eternal sleep. His body falls slack against hers, and the arms encircling her drop. His breathing ceases, and he's as still as a doll, much like the way she'd found him in the Discovery Centre.
There's no way to tell if he's truly dead, other than the fact that no matter what she does, he will not wake again. ]
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She falls to her knees and doesn't feel the impact, his body slack and unmoving against him. She knows it, deeply and irrevocably--he's gone, and he won't be coming back. Ideally, if all goes according to plan, if all is as it should be, he's safely back in the City.
But there are no guarantees.
There isn't anyone here to see her, or the tears that fall from her eyes and splash against his face. She remains there, huddled over him, and urges the despair to hurry up already, to get to her too, to take her out so that she can either wake up with him again, or no longer have to feel this way.
But being the Faerie of Paradise has never worked out in her favor, and this is no different. It feels agonizingly slow as she cries over him, waiting for the end to come. She's alone, and she's so sick of being alone. She doesn't want to be alone anymore--that's something she knows for certain. Just like with Oberon. Just like with Cnoc na Riabh. No more, she wants to scream, but instead her breath just hitches wetly in the back of her throat as she swallows it back.
... Still, slowly but surely, the despair--and the end--comes. And when she finally slumps over, the last breath leaving her body, arms loosening around his, it's a relief.]
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Immediately, he turns to look for Altria. Where— ]
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--And then there she is, coming back to herself as if also waking from a dream. Her face is clean, but she still immediately scrubs at it with an arm, dragging in a shaky breath...
And then she straightens, turning to look at him. He's... okay. He's here. Just like he promised. Just like he needed to be.
She steps forward and just... rests her face against his shoulder. She's not crying, but... he's tangible, and moving, and okay, and for a moment, she just needs to remind herself of that.]
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It's not as if he wasn't affected by the apocalypse scenario, but it'd hit him far faster than her, so his memory is hazier than he'd like. All he can recall at the moment is the overwhelming desire to give up, and a desire to convey his affection to Altria. He...can't quite recall how he did that though, but that doesn't matter. Probably an embrace. He's already hugged her once or twice before. He's hugging her now.
He absentmindedly runs his hand in a circular motion against her back. It's supposed to be a soothing motion. He learned this from a mother in Tatarasuna, though it's only now, centuries later, that he recalls the lesson. He hopes it will soothe her, even if only a little bit. ]
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... Did she imagine it, in the depths of her emotions, as he was dying...?
... She takes a shaky breath in, and straightens, offering him a weak smile.]
S-sorry. I'm okay! And... we're both back. That's what matters, right?
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