Narciso Anasui (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
disassemblies) wrote2024-04-23 02:27 pm
disassemblies) wrote2024-04-23 02:27 pm
ignore this
CW: grief, depression, bullying, parental neglect, isolation, hopelessness
A blue-black-gold crack in the world greets you, hovering ominously in Caleb's front yard. Several of the mochi cat creations lay in tower-pile nearby, crying out mournfully while a concerned Delcatty tries to calm them. Every so often, a strange almost-spark crackles from the entrance and sets them off again. Caleb's Dewott seems to be trying to guard it, or at least keep the creations out of it. He'll stand down when you approach, though. You, at least, aren't likely to end up so much squished mochi cat if you go in.
So. You go in. And maybe you want to go back out almost as soon as you step in, because the place before you is unsettling in the worst way. You now stand on a dilapidated and unsafe train station platform, looking out over what might be a black sun and the ruins of a space station. There are holes in the platform and it looks like it might give way at the slightest provocation. It is dead silent. There is not a soul around.
At the end of the platform stands a train that once upon a time might have been gorgeous. Now it's rusted and dingy, the lights broken and the doors sealed shut.
And then you approach. What lights aren't broken flicker to life and the doors start to slowly, painfully creak open. A recorded voice rings out: "The Astral Express is now boarding. All passengers, please make sure you have all of your belongings and step aboard." The recording crackles, and then repeats. And repeats. And repeats and repeats and repeats, each repetition more and more degraded. By the time you all step on board, it's barely words. It's barely a voice.
You step aboard. The doors creak shut. The train jerks, and then off the Astral Express goes.
The interior of the train is...somewhat better than the exterior. The interior is covered in trash with a narrow path going from one end of the car to the other, but the benches all seem perfectly safe to sit on. The lights in the parlor car all work, as well.
Unhinged laughter comes from the stairs leading up to the platform at the other end. There stands Caleb, tired and clearly not doing so hot, and...another Caleb? It looks a little like him, but instead of a shock of black hair and bright blue eyes like the real Caleb, this one has half-silver, half-black hair and glowing gold eyes. His clothes look like they were run through a shredder before he got them.
The Not-Caleb laughs again. "Oh, great," he says with a sigh. "Guests. And here I thought we'd have all the time in the world to break you down, Caleb! Eh, whatever." He opens the door, tugging Caleb (who you can now see is tied to this Not-Caleb) along after him. We'll just continue our conversation somewhere else while they rot. Toodles~"
"No, wait, lemme--" Caleb's pleas are silenced by the door slamming shut behind him.
He looked terrified.
A blue-black-gold crack in the world greets you, hovering ominously in Caleb's front yard. Several of the mochi cat creations lay in tower-pile nearby, crying out mournfully while a concerned Delcatty tries to calm them. Every so often, a strange almost-spark crackles from the entrance and sets them off again. Caleb's Dewott seems to be trying to guard it, or at least keep the creations out of it. He'll stand down when you approach, though. You, at least, aren't likely to end up so much squished mochi cat if you go in.
So. You go in. And maybe you want to go back out almost as soon as you step in, because the place before you is unsettling in the worst way. You now stand on a dilapidated and unsafe train station platform, looking out over what might be a black sun and the ruins of a space station. There are holes in the platform and it looks like it might give way at the slightest provocation. It is dead silent. There is not a soul around.
At the end of the platform stands a train that once upon a time might have been gorgeous. Now it's rusted and dingy, the lights broken and the doors sealed shut.
And then you approach. What lights aren't broken flicker to life and the doors start to slowly, painfully creak open. A recorded voice rings out: "The Astral Express is now boarding. All passengers, please make sure you have all of your belongings and step aboard." The recording crackles, and then repeats. And repeats. And repeats and repeats and repeats, each repetition more and more degraded. By the time you all step on board, it's barely words. It's barely a voice.
You step aboard. The doors creak shut. The train jerks, and then off the Astral Express goes.
The interior of the train is...somewhat better than the exterior. The interior is covered in trash with a narrow path going from one end of the car to the other, but the benches all seem perfectly safe to sit on. The lights in the parlor car all work, as well.
Unhinged laughter comes from the stairs leading up to the platform at the other end. There stands Caleb, tired and clearly not doing so hot, and...another Caleb? It looks a little like him, but instead of a shock of black hair and bright blue eyes like the real Caleb, this one has half-silver, half-black hair and glowing gold eyes. His clothes look like they were run through a shredder before he got them.
The Not-Caleb laughs again. "Oh, great," he says with a sigh. "Guests. And here I thought we'd have all the time in the world to break you down, Caleb! Eh, whatever." He opens the door, tugging Caleb (who you can now see is tied to this Not-Caleb) along after him. We'll just continue our conversation somewhere else while they rot. Toodles~"
"No, wait, lemme--" Caleb's pleas are silenced by the door slamming shut behind him.
He looked terrified.
Boss Fight
Okay, so you're not back in the real world.
Stepping into the house is like stepping into a cavern. It's dark, the only light coming from the galaxies rushing pass the windows and a room down the hall, and your steps echo to a deafening degree. Nothing approaches you, at least, meaning the walk from the front door to the room with light is safe.
The room you eventually find your way too turns out to be Caleb's bedroom. There, Caleb and his Shadow sit on his bed, still tied together. Caleb looks tired and as if he's been crying. The Shadow looks somehow both gleeful and bored as he turns to look at you.
"You really, seriously came all this way? For him?" He jerks a thumb at Caleb. As he does, the floor breaks in front of him, leaving nothing but a massive endless canyon between you and them. You people never know when you give up, do you? What, do you need me to spell it out for you?"
The Shadow stands. The rope keeping him tied to Caleb melts away and a glass wall shoots up between the bed and the Shadow. The Shadow warp-steps over the canyon. "Caleb isn't leaving. He doesn't deserve to leave. He doesn't want to leave. Everything makes sense here, after all! No one's lying to him, nothing's changing, he can just stay here and never worry again! All he needs to do is admit it...but it won't. Because of you morons." The Shadow starts to grow and change. His hair lengthens, still a black-silver mess, and strange gold ichor starts to seep from his eyes. He laughs. "So I guess it's up to me to take out the trash!"
Fight!
[Each form will have a sub-starter, written as needed in case there's things I need to react to in the thread.
The start is a Nanook Form: this is a DPS check they just have to beat the shit out of. One attack is the Shadow hitting a baseball at them. Zelda Tennis it back to eventually move on to the next phase. Shadow yells about how no one understands what he's going through, no one else has had all of this happen to them in such rapid succession, fuck you, stop fighting him, Caleb belongs here with the Shadow.
Aha Form: gravity bullshit like from Something Unto Death's car. Weird gravestones like that fight as well, destroy one to adjust the gravity and eventually send Aha Shadow flying into the walls enough time (in between beating the shit out of it) to move on to the third phase. Shadow laughs about how it's fine, really, he'll be fine if they just let him stay here where things make sense! He's safe, so stop fighting!
IX Form: cold, so cold, and the Shadow just lies there in a shadowy blob crying about how he doesn't understand it all. Everything's changed, he's trying to adjust, but he can't, he just can't. He can't talk to anyone about this--Noct is dealing with way worse and everyone else was more Noct's friend than his and he doesn't want to bother Dan Heng or Blade or Jing Yuan. Just let it all stop. Maybe have the players roll to see if they feel that despair. Either way, the way to defeat the boss is to just walk up to him and help him to his feet.]