ringleaders: (Default)
Lost Carnival Mods ([personal profile] ringleaders) wrote in [community profile] lostcarnival2017-09-21 09:11 am
Entry tags:

⇨ KERNER ISLAND

Who: Anyone who fits the stipulations below!
When: Day 160 - Day 169
Where: Kerner Island
What: Remember the Spectres? Now's the time to meet them, if that's something you want to do for some reason.
Warnings: Individually marked!

A GHOST TOWN

[This is a selective mingle log. Note: characters who are young, have flying dæmons or no dæmons at all, and/or have angelic aspect can come to Kerner. Others will feel the presence of Spectres too keenly to set foot on the island. Ask Joysweeper if you want to see what your characters find or talk to NPCs. ]

Kerner Island is covered in plants and animals not local to the reality, let alone the area. Most noticeably it’s absolutely overgrown with a version of kudzu which produces fuzzy kiwifruits. The vines half-choke trees and splay across buildings, creating deep cover for various animals, including shy, harmless rabbit-deer-rodents sporting tiny antlers. There are a few windows to other worlds scattered about, and during the day a couple dozen children ranging from ten to their mid-teens can be found ducking in and out of them. The oldest of them stays night and day unless persuaded to leave. The biggest concrete danger comes from blue tektites ranged in size from softball-sized juveniles up to beachball-sized adults. The children kill them whenever they can, seeing them more as a nuisance than a real danger - a twelve year old and their dæmon and a big stick can easily defend against several at once.

To children and unsettled teenagers the tektites and any new hostile creatures coming from other worlds are the only danger on Kerner. Teenagers closer to settling will feel a sourceless unease, and their dæmons will see things out of the corners of their eyes. The closer someone is to settling, the more they will be able to perceive Spectres, and the more Spectres will notice, passively leach from their souls, and be drawn to them.

The Spectres are intangible, insubstantial, noiseless, and nearly invisible even to adults. They seem formed out of tenuous things like mist, heat-haze, smoke, light reflecting on water, and have twelve-foot-tall shapes that are usually read as columns, or trees, or humanoids. Adults and settled teens can sense a Spectre’s effect on their soul and and pinpoint it by the feelings of nausea and wrongness. Spectres are mindless, drawn to consume souls in the same way fire is drawn to consume fuel. If they can physically reach a dæmon it only takes a few minutes to consume it; if they can’t they feed passively on the internal soul or the soul’s connection to the body, which takes hours to a day to complete. A Spectre’s passive range is much wider than their physical reach.

Having an adult soul and being anywhere near Kerner is unpleasant. Even a few minutes of passive exposure to Spectres leaves the soul worse off. It's more obvious with dæmons, which go quiet and appear to be in pain, but their bodies, and anyone who still has internal souls, feel it too. Most people experience nausea, disgust, weariness, and mounting despair often coupled with a desire to hide it and pretend nothing’s wrong. Even when safely away effects linger, but creating or building things, or spending time around other people, helps restore the soul.

Different kinds of magic can lure and direct some Spectres out of the way. They can’t be damaged physically or by most magic. Angelic magic has some effect on them directly and might destroy a few, but the Spectres are so thick on the island that staying to fight is just going to result in being overwhelmed. This is not a place of glory, unless you’re a kid.
bananaspeedrider: (sure whatevs)

[personal profile] bananaspeedrider 2017-09-29 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
[Berating himself likely isn't helping, since Tama sorts of echoes it sometimes. Not that the dragon-like teen has any way of knowing that. Yugo comes over and crouches, attempting to calm himself- though that's difficult when he doesn't know what's exactly going on with the kid other than it seeming strange.]

S'okay, we don't really since she's my soul and all. We just.... do that.
soft_focus: (OhGeezeOhShit)

[personal profile] soft_focus 2017-09-29 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
That isn't true..! [She replies, though it comes out more of a shout.] ...Everyone's split, you can still fight..! [She insists, taking deep breaths.] So one side is angry, and the other side is scared, or...or a different kind of scared, where I don't know what you're scared of..!
bananaspeedrider: (Worry)

[personal profile] bananaspeedrider 2017-09-29 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
Well are you okay? That's what I'm worried about.

[He's not lying, that's for sure. Though true it doesn't stop Tama's not-quite-lowkey fright about their surroundings. For very good reason however.]

You're uh... Reira right?
soft_focus: (-curls-)

[personal profile] soft_focus 2017-09-29 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
Mghk... [Well, she's starting to calm down at least. Mostly because having to be thoughtful is, well. Helping. Also, that seal is no doubt Very distracted with firing lasers at spectres.]

...'m Okay, [she says quietly, breathing deep.]

...Yeah, Reira. [How'd you know she never actually met you right-]
bananaspeedrider: (straight face)

[personal profile] bananaspeedrider 2017-09-29 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[How splendid, now that such a disastrous episode is over, maybe Yugo's relief and cheer will be infectious as it comes back. Or perhaps not long enough because all those spectres are threatening to make them flip in the opposite direction. And this one is even worse at hiding his own feelings than a certain someone else with his face anyway.]

Oh good! See, Yuya told me about how you were a part of the carnival now and wanted some help from people he trusted in keeping an eye out for you. Not that it looks like you do, right now.

[As opposed to the idiot standing here at a spectre-infested island with a settled daemon and nothing but angel power to delay being eaten instantly? How true.]
soft_focus: (this seems like a BAAAAAAAAAD idea)

[personal profile] soft_focus 2017-09-29 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
.....

[Well, the cheer at least helps her calm down faster as well. And her daemon is back to being things like baby deerbunnies and what not....though.

Reira's eyes look over Yuugo, then over Tama, and then over the various 'void' areas in the sky that are occasionally fired upon.
] ...Um.... ....shouldn't someone else have come here then...?

[r u saying he's shit, reira-]
bananaspeedrider: (Oh..?)

[personal profile] bananaspeedrider 2017-09-29 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
Well I mean, the main reason I'm here is because I wanted to-

That has no weight on the matter because this was a terrible idea and so we should leave.

[And Clear Wing voices their agreement very clearly. Plus the spectres seem to be getting bolder as well as swarming more thickly to where Yugo shoots his own energy blast at a cluster looking too close to Tama.

....... Which still isn't doing much, like trying to swat a cloud of flies away with just one's hand.]
soft_focus: (extra 03)

[personal profile] soft_focus 2017-09-29 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh good they're in agreement. In fact, if you weren't in agreement already, Reira can be nice and creepy to add to the whole matter.] ....All of the empty spaces keep coming toward where you are... [She starts worriedly.] ...This isn't even half of the ones that were around the island already....

...If they can see you...that's not good...
bananaspeedrider: (straight face)

[personal profile] bananaspeedrider 2017-09-29 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
Empty spaces?

Oh is that what he's calling them?

[.... Someone wasn't updated on the news it seems. Not that such a thing is very relevant to the imminent danger either.]

So you can't see these things?
soft_focus: (-bites lip-)

[personal profile] soft_focus 2017-09-29 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
....Kids can't see them.

And We are Female, [Adds the daemon, with a betrayingly male voice.]

....but if you can...

....then they can see you. ...And they want to eat you...
bananaspeedrider: (HAAAH...?!)

[personal profile] bananaspeedrider 2017-09-29 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
I WILL NOT BE EATEN AGAIN!!

[Again?]

Okay okay, point taken...! This was a bad idea!

[Oh sure, it's only now that the banana-haired lizard boy finally admits what his soul has been saying the whole time.]
soft_focus: (Extra32)

[personal profile] soft_focus 2017-09-29 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
....

....that's not the same as being eaten by an empty space, [Reira says to that particular outburst, blinking a few times. Honestly, you at least still Kind Of exist when you're eaten by Zarc, but getting eaten by these things will just leave you....Well.

Empty.
]
bananaspeedrider: (OKAY THAT'S IT!)

[personal profile] bananaspeedrider 2017-09-29 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
IT WAS AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE NONETHELESS!

[But hey, let it be known that the idea of being eaten in some fashion makes Tama lose their cool even if Yugo's not expressing the same feelings just as loudly.]
Edited 2017-09-29 03:01 (UTC)
soft_focus: (-bites lip-)

[personal profile] soft_focus 2017-09-29 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Hey, Tama. The being shouty? The getting touchy? You're making the kid flinch-grimace again.

It honestly does hurt, guys.
] Mgnhhk....

...Y...you should still probably leave here...