Mysteries Suck

[solar_flare]

WHO: Anyone involved in Mysterious Mystery and the ensuing fallout!
WHAT: A team of intrepid bounty hunters seeks out the weirdo hanging out near some decrepit cave ruins. BUT IT'S A TRAP! Caught in the mage's spell, the team spends what seems like a full year within a shared dreamspace. Meanwhile, search teams fan out in an attempt to find the missing adventurers.
WHEN: November 6th - November 9th
WHERE: Primarily Fayren, but searches could extend elsewhere.
NOTES: Feel free to handwave things as necessary, or play them out. Threads are in no specific order, so state when and where they're taking place. Or feel free to make your own log for something specific!


I SAID THERE'S NOTHING HERE!

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Dream Space

[solar_flare]

[The longer Yang remains in this world, the more restless and temperamental she becomes. The first week is fine; she roams through town, throws people out of windows if they're reluctant to talk, and explores the limits of their strange prison. After that, it starts to become clear that they're not going to escape, and their powers still aren't returning.]

[That's when she starts to lose her cool. She paces. She fights. She turns her gaze sharply on the castle since she knows the person responsible is probably going to live it up somewhere posh and luxurious if they really have that much control over their captives. It would be rash to stage an attack as a group, she knows. But she could do it on her own...]

[The first month she can still convince herself that the straightforward path is not the one to take. It's a lesson she's had to really struggle to remember. Smarter to work as a team. So she trains on the outskirts of town, trying to coax her aura to manifest itself, and her semblance as well. She can't activate the dust in her gauntlets, so the ammunition is no good, but she can still pack one hell of a punch with her false arm even without her semblance.]

[The second month is much harder for her. What if they can't escape? How is anyone supposed to find them?]

[And by the third month, despair starts to creep into her brain, insidious and subtle. The people she loves in Genessia might have given up on her by now. Moved on. Figured she'd been dismissed like all of the others and went on with their lives. They might have even been dismissed themselves and Yang would never know. Her father wouldn't stop caring about her, she knows that much. Her roommates? Might invite someone else to live with them, but she doesn't think it would really take all that much to be friends again. Maybe neighbors.]

[Mercury, though, that's the relationship she really worries about. Three months is a long time to hang onto an absent girlfriend. So is four months. And five. And six. They could still be friends, and...and it isn't as if she could blame him if he moved on. But they'd only just started, and it was already so good, and made her feel so hopeful that she could overcome all the trials and issues... She didn't want to give that up. Not without a fight.]

[At nine months she began to feel as if she had nothing further to lose. One morning she just got up, walked into town, marched up to the castle, and threw the guards into the moat.]

[Yang managed to take out a good dozen with her raw talent alone, but eventually she was overwhelmed, beaten down, and flung into jail. So now she was in a prison, within a prison. Not much change there, really. She did push-ups, lunges, and other exercises. And she glowered at the guards. After two violent incidents that led to a near-escape, they learned better than to get too close to the bars of Yang Xiao Long's cell.]

[And there she remains, until the day of their escape.]

[whiteas]

[ Sometime along the third month, they've been there for a while. Weiss is settling in despite herself, despite not wanting to get comfortable, but she knows that's because she has Sun and Yang both. And she misses people- she misses so many people. And it hurts because she just found Winter again, they just made up. This... this can't be where they're stuck forever, but...

But what she can do for now is come bother Yang. At the very least, she can make sure Yang is OK and not alone and maybe bringing her some brunia flowers she found from freaky dream land is a crappy gesture but it's something and Weiss honestly didn't know what else to do. ]

I found these right before the world loops back to town. Here. [ They're gray and kind of annoy her, she thought Yang would like them. ]

[solar_flare]

[Yang lifts her chin off of her knees, loosening her grip on her hugged legs. The sunsets in this world are pretty at least, and she likes watching the colors of the sky...especially that really pretty deep, rosy orange that paints everything so warmly.]

[So while gray flowers are drab in comparison, she does like them. But she appreciates that Weiss is trying to cheer her up much more.]

Oh...hey, Weiss!

[She injects some pep into her voice. It's not like Yang is any worse off than the rest of them, so she has no excuse for self-pity.]

Thanks. I don't see gray flowers very often.

[She starts to reach out with her right hand. Changes her mind. Uses the left. Then she tucks one into her hair just behind her ear because why not.]

Have a seat. It's pretty much the best part right now.

[whiteas]

[ She grabbed the gray ones because she thought they might remind Yang of Mercury. She wasn't exactly about to go do something full-Snow White and find red roses to go with it for the other person Yang likes most, but she found them and it made her think to bring them to her. It's something to try to cheer her up anyway.

She doesn't comment on Yang's choice of hand. Whichever she prefers is what she can use. ]

What, sitting? [ She quirks an eyebrow but sits next to Yang. ]

[solar_flare]

[Unfortunately, Yang is dense. She knows she likes the gray flowers. She just hasn't realized quite yet that it's the color and the warm nostalgic feelings that flow into her subconscious that makes her admire them, not the rarity.]

[But the fact that they also annoy Weiss should definitely have tipped her off that the flowers are Mercury themed.]

No...

[She chuckles, waiting for Weiss to get comfortable.]

The sunset. The sun itself is already gone, so it's just the colors left without the blinding light. It's one of the few things I actually like about this place.

[Yang lays the flower stems carefully across her lap, leaning onto her knees again but being mindful not to crush the blooms.]

You holding up okay?

Aftermath

[solar_flare]

[Yang's dark lashes tremble before slowly parting. She blinks. Blinks again. Her head feels woozy, but there's a foreign sense of clarity in the real world that the dreamscape lacked. Things just seem sharper here, more tangible. Had she really been gone so long that this is the place that feels weird?]

[She sits up slowly, but not slowly enough. The wooziness sloshes over into a throbbing dizziness. Her mouth feels dry, and her muscles ache from lack of use. Ugh... Yang lifts a hand to her head, fingers brushing past the communicator on her belt--]

[She has her communicator. Then she's really awake? This is real?!]

[It seems to shake off a lot of the fog that clouds her head, and she sits up straighter to glance around. The other bounty hunters are there, some stirring, some not yet roused. They're back...! They're home! That means she can call...!]

...

[The communicator is in her hand before she knows it, and she can see she had a few missed messages. Yang holds her breath, and thumb-swipes the screen to access her inbox. Four from Mercury, but dated well over a year ago. There's nothing past November 7th. Her heart sinks. Maybe he did give up on her. She accesses the communicator's list of names to examine the list of current residents, and his name is there. So is her Dad. So are Gwen, Pyrrha, and Mikaela. She should...contact them. She knows she could. She wants to. But there's that small stab of anxiety just the same that makes her hesitate for several moments.]

[No, she knows who she wants to call first. If anything, it's best just to get it out of the way. Maybe it's not as bad as she thinks, he's changed a lot. He might have waited. She just has to accept the possibility that he probably hadn't. Yang takes a deep breath, and clears her throat. Her voice feels strange and thick, and she mutters to herself a few times just to loosen up her vocal chords. She could text him, but it's too impersonal. She could use video, but it might be too painful. Voice it is, then.]

aftermath top-level (will add a dreamspace top after a lil more plotting is settled)

[whiteas]

closed to dreamers upon wakeup;
[ The feeling of waking up on the ground, covered in dirt and sleep crusties in her eyes, was thankfully not a familiar one. It made it very uncomfortable to wake up and for a brief moment she missed waking up within the dream (if it could even be called that) at least in a bed. After everything they had to go through, missing core parts of themselves and having to find their way back to who they were, it was funny that her first thought was of a comfortable bed. But once she sat up and realized hey, hey, they were back!

Weiss perked up and looked around for Sun. It only took a moment to find him- they came in together, he wasn't far. She reached for his hand. She'll wait for him to wake up with her before she moves. ]

If you don't wake up immediately I'm going to find some gardenias.

[ The other former dreamers could come over as they would, but Weiss wasn't budging until she knew he was just as conscious and safe as she was. ]

open to others;
[ Once they'd figured out that everyone was alive and well and present even if not everyone was 100% awake yet, it seemed like the search parties were finding their way to the cave. Weiss was getting up and trying to brush herself off to at least look as presentable as she could for having spent three days unconscious in a dank cavern. It's silly, but she's been seen looking under the weather enough that not actually being traumatized by the experience for once was a relief. Getting to worry about the strange possibility that some weird moss had tried to grow on her shoes while she slept instead of if there were bloodstains on her dress was an oddly welcome and low-anxiety situation. She'd still rather straighten her hair before she let anyone see her though, which is why she might be toward the back of the cave instead of toward the front when others arrive. ]

[aurabble]

[It wasn't something anyone knew, or something he would share, but Jaune always worried. He always kept track of how long it had been since he had heard from anyone close to him; it wasn't a habit he meant to have developed, but it was something he was aware of.

So when Weiss hadn't been on the network a day after joining the bounty, he had tried his best not to give it any mind, but he was. When he messaged her and received no answer, and this time as far as he knew she wasn't mad at him, only made it worse. Finally, he gave in and messaged Sun. No answer from him either.

Without giving anyone a heads-up, he had begun his search. Forgoing sleep, food, anything that would waste his time, he kept looking in Fayren, asking anyone he could find and...nothing.

Please not again.

Eventually, he found a cave. He wasn't sure what he would find in there, if anything, but he had to look everywhere. So when his flashlight caught movement and he saw Weiss first, he froze in place, certain it was a dream.]

Weiss...?

[His voice cracked in relief and he broke into a run. She was okay. He had no idea what happened yet, but she didn't look hurt.]

[whiteas]

[ Truth be told, Weiss would've done the same thing for Jaune if he had gone missing. It's why she was so grateful that he'd told her whenever he went off to find himself or on some adventure, whatever the case was.

So when she wakes up and she hears Jaune, the fact that it took him a year to find her (it didn't, but she didn't realize that yet) should've been annoying- but it was mostly just a relief.

She'd gone through too much with Jaune for it not to just be a relief. ]

Jaune!

[ Weiss ran too, and something Jaune probably didn't expect was the fact that she was just going to hug him. Sorry about the dirt, Jaune. Also sorry about the weight, she's 100% off the ground right now on Jaune. #shorty4lyfe ]

[aurabble]

Weiss!

[He would have welcomed a hug, but he didn't expect one, or the force of her hugging him. The sheer shock had him freezing just briefly until a pressure lifted away from his chest and he hugged onto her tightly back, lifting her about a foot off the ground thanks to his tallness.]

You're here-- you're okay. [He couldn't help it. Tears stung at his eyes as he broke down a little at the relief that Weiss was alive and seemingly unharmed. Dirty, but not hurt.]

[whiteas]

[ It took her a moment, just holding onto her friend for a little while before she leaned back to try to drop down if Jaune let her go and push him in the arm. ]

How did it take you a whole year to find us? I expected to wake up in a hospital bed, not with moss trying to grow up my ankle!

[specialist_snowflake]

[Absent among those moving into the cave is Winter, who is steadfastly standing guard over the unconscious mage. If the others had failed to awake, he would be dead, impaled through the throat on her blade. But she can hear their voices, saw one of them rush past her, which means she can finally start to let go of the knot of fear and horror that's dwelled in the pit of her gut for the last three days.]

[The mage is bound and secured for the bounty team to do with as they please, since she assumes they managed to break the spell on their own, and thus they should have full rights to the credit of turning him in. His hands are cuffed, and a snowy white Ursa snarls quietly beside him ready to lunch on his head if he tries anything funny.]

[She wants to go to Weiss. But standing guard must take priority, lest they fall prey to the mage's wickedness again. So she remains tense, her face free of emotions, but definitely staring toward the back of the cave in obvious anticipation of her sister's emergence.]

[whiteas]

[ After she practically tackled Jaune and made sure to assure him that she was okay, Weiss heads out to go find Winter. She knows it's a bit of a delay, especially since others have already started to come out, but Jaune means a lot to her- she can't just ditch him to go run to Winter, especially since she realized they weren't actually gone a year as much as it seemed like it. ]

Winter, I don't think he's going to be waking up any time soon. We did a number on him in his own spell, but thank you for coming.

[ Is it- it'd probably be unwise to hug Winter while she's on guard with the mage, huh.. she'll save it. ]

[specialist_snowflake]

Unless you can guarantee it, I see no need not to be on our guard.

[But she is sheathing her sword, as she trusts her summoned beast to watch her back. She can see that Weiss is hesitant to approach, and after a few studious glances, Winter determines that it's perhaps her state of cleanliness. The girl is filthy (by Schnee standards).]

[Fortunately, Winter is a soldier. She's used to it. And she steps forward to place her arms around her sister's slim shoulders.]

I'm relieved to see that you are safe.

[whiteas]

[ Jaune's already told her it's only been three days, at least. She's trying very hard to keep it together because to her, it very much wasn't. The second Winter goes in for the hug first, Weiss has zero hesitation in leaning into it and holding on tight. Much tighter than someone who's only been gone for a three day nap should. ]

I missed you, Winter.

This will be a really short thread

[solar_flare]

[Yang, huddled uncomfortably on the floor and staring mournfully at her communicator, experiences a very drastic change the moment she gets a voice response. Suddenly she's perked up and alert. Then she's staggering to her feet and running toward the cave mouth LOL BAI.]

[...And she's coming back, counting everyone, but stopping once her finger gets to Weiss.]

Weiss! They're here! Mercury and Winter both showed up. And one of them may or may not be threatening some guy in robes with a sword.

[Like Yang ever got close enough to the mage to recognize what he looked like.]

[whiteas]

[ Which means Yang's okay. Weiss gives her kind of a look though. She's excited, she is- and she'll end up running into Jaune before she reaches Winter at her little guard post. But when Yang says that she gives her the most skeptical look. ]

If we were gone for a whole year, they'd better not have only just found us now.

[solar_flare]

I didn't ask. I'm just glad they did find us!

[She looks down at herself, and pauses. Her dirty, unkempt self. ...Not really the way she wants to look when rushing out to meet the guy she's nuts about, but it's not like there's much she can do about it.]

Uh...is my hair okay?

[She's pulling it over her shoulder to make sure nothing gross crawled into it while they were unconscious.]

wakeup

[monkeystowaway]

[Sun's eyes remain closed even as he hears Weiss speak.]

You know, you can't control when someone wakes up by demanding them to. [Sun likes to think he is waking up on his own accord and not because she's demanding it. He opens one eye up and looks at her.]

And you know, you'd just end up suffering too if you did that.

[whiteas]

It worked, didn't it?

[ He pretty much always wakes up when she wants him to, though the methods have varied drastically. She scoots a little closer, not getting up yet and sitting on her knees in the dirt at his side. She's already dirty, she isn't worried about it. ]

If I kiss you, you'll wake up properly? [ Like a princess HEH ] No rashes required.

[monkeystowaway]

I think a kiss might be exactly what I need to get up properly. [So if Sun is the Princess in this situation, then that makes Weiss the Prince that has to give him a kiss to break the sleeping spell.]

Dream Coma

[liorafae]

[Something is very wrong. Liora can't describe what she feels when she wakes up, but something just seemed...off. She certainly doesn't recognize the city that she woke up in. Has she been transported to yet another world? She tries to stand, catching a glimpse of her arms as she does so. Then she notices the next thing that's wrong...her arms have skin instead of scales. She has more digits on her hand than she had before. She then sees the long blonde hair cascading down in front of her shoulders. Wait...she has hair??? Liora looks down at herself; she's now wearing a gold-color dress that matches the long silk scarf draped over the back of her neck. At least her jewelry is still intact; the jewel on her head, her bracelets, anklets, and belt. Her tail...wait, she has no tail! Which brings her to the next thing she's worried about. Carefully, she glances back over her shoulders. She tries to fly, only to realize...she has no wings either! What has happened to her!?]

[Again, Liora tries to stand, only to lose her balance and fall on all fours. She has to move, to find out what's going on. On top of being unable to stand on these bare feet, the ground feels so rough on the skin. She attempts to crawl on her hands and knees, only to find that the fabric from the dress gets in the way. So she resorts to crawling on her hands and knees as she explores the city, trying to find something or someone that she recognizes. And somehow, she needs to get a look at herself. While exploring, she comes across a large mirror on display just outside a shop. Liora struggles to stand once again, spreading her legs for balance. Finally, she manages to straighten herself, just long enough to get a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes widen...that person in the mirror can't be her, can it? Her hands move up to feel her face, her hair, her body, and then her dress. Sure enough, the movements of the reflection match her own. She can't deny it any longer – she's become a human.]

[Of course, the only appropriate reaction is to SCREAM, the sound of which echoes throughout the city. And then she promptly loses her balance and falls to the ground again.]

Dream Coma

[xlvii]

47 is still groggy himself when he hears the scream, which jolts him into full alertness instantly. He scrambles to his feet, navigating strange streets to find the source. When he arrives, he doesn't discover a bloody murder or accident as he expected... just a blonde woman clumsily flopped on the street.

"What happened here!?" After a moment of consideration, he approaches the woman, offering her a hand up. "Are you hurt?"

[liorafae]

Liora, still getting her bearings, looks up at the man. "I'm...I'm...human!! My tail...my wings...they're gone!!

She tries to stand again, planting both feet on the ground, spreading both arms for balance. Carefully, she tries to put one foot in front of the other to start walking again, trying to mimic the human's movements that she's seen. But she finds it harder than it looks, as she loses her balance again, and starts falling to the side with a shriek.

[xlvii]

He cocks his head. "Slow down. What are you talking about?"

When she begins to fall, he reaches out to grab her arm to keep her up. "Here, just... lean on me until you can walk." Hopefully she's not just drunk.