DUNGEON LOG: AMESTA FOREST

[phantasmods]

Hello everyone!

Up and the others think that we have enough stabilizers ready for the next expedition! We're going to the forest to the south this time, but it shouldn't be too far for anyone to walk. If you're REALLY going to complain, you can talk to Top on the roof and catch a ride on one of the drones like before.

The scenery's really nice, but there's definitely some kind of magical effect going on in there - as far as we can tell, the day doesn't progress inside the forest. It's stuck a little while after sunset - probably when the Fissure first appeared? (°ヘ°)

Be careful out there! Don't be afraid to call for help if you need it and we'll send a drone your way! o(^▽^)o And Strange says no stupid stunts this time, got it? (；¬д¬)

You'll probably see a big tree on your way there, before you're under the cover of the forest! That's the Infinity Tree, it's a really big willow. Charm can probably tell you more about the mythology if you're interested. He's gonna meet you guys there at the end of the expedition, so try to work your way in that direction as you go!

(｡･ω･｡)ﾉ See you when you get back!

After Down's message, characters will find things set up much the way they were last time on the roof. Top is making last-minute adjustments to the drones, and there's tables with food and medical supplies set out - the latter a little sparse compared to last time, so hopefully you kept your first aid kits from before. The table of stabilizers, on the other hand, is much more full.

On your way, you might also see some of what the construction drones have been putting together so noisily these last few days - there's the metal shell of a building, similar to but smaller than the Station, to the immediate west, just off your path to the forest in the distance. Nothing much indicates its function as of yet, though there are significantly more windows.

To the southwest stretches the border of Amesta Forest - about a mile distant, though still easily within sight. As promised, the Infinity Tree sticks up from the far edge, easily visible for those who need a landmark either now or later in the dungeon. If you get lost, you can probably find your way up a tree somewhere to get a perspective on it, and which direction to head in.

The silver mist doesn't begin until some distance into the forest, the time of day gradually changing to the eternal twilight mentioned as you approach the boundary of the Fissure itself. There's no distinct border, just a slow shading towards late afternoon and then sunset while the mist increases around you.

And as the mist wraps around you, and exhaustion you might have felt from the walk out here starts to evaporate... You've well and truly arrived, now. Better keep your eyes open.

Comments

[meowna]

Blossomgale (Request which flower you want for him, if you want one?)
[NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.

Those are big bees. Those are really heckin' big bees. God almighty those things are huge. One look at them, and Morgana is completely convinced he wants nothing to do with the giant flowers, no matter how pretty they are. Morgana is immediately backing away, straight into another patch of much, much smaller flowers, and hoping he's far away enough that they don't take any notice of him.]


Blossomgale BBQ
[Something smells amazing. And not just in the "flowers are really nice" way--in the "someone around here is a very good cook and is cooking tons of meat" way. Even from a distance, Morgana's stomach starts growling at the smell. He's quick to approach, a small tuxedo cat with softly glowing blue eyes, who's sniffing avidly and looking very interested in all the food being served. Who wants to spoil an adorable kitty with all the meat his heart desires?]


Fall's Heart (AKA probably the only mildly upsetting prompt on here)
[Maybe you're walking with Morgana, or maybe you spot him while you're out and about on your own--but either way, he steps in a puddle as he goes without meaning to. There's a distinctly displeased noise as he tries to shake the water off his paw, he looks down--

--and immediately yelps in fear at the Shadow that erupts from the pool, in a manner unsettlingly like his nightmare.]

Gyaaah?!

[Morgana abruptly recoils, falls on his butt, and scrambles backwards in bewildered alarm.]


Loot
[Do you hear the sound of someone eating? Or perhaps purring? If you look around a bit, you may see a long tail sticking out from under some low undergrowth, happily swishing away. Closer inspection reveals the rest of the cat; Morgana has found a plate of barbecued ribs and fries hidden low enough to the ground where humans were unlikely to spot it. Needless to say, he's absolutely going to town on it--his face and front paws are more brown than white right now, smeared as they are with barbecue sauce.

Or perhaps instead, you may see a rather puzzled looking cat circling a leaf pile nestled in a crook of the roots of a tree, examining a huge plastic bin full of granola that's half buried in it. What's this doing here? He stands up on his hind legs and unfastens the catch holding the lid shut, remarkably skillfully for someone with no real fingers or opposable thumbs.]

What's this stuff? Kibble?


TDM Continuations
[From here. Feel free to continue on those threads in here if you want points for the thread? Or if you haven't threaded with Morgana yet, feel free to reply to those prompts here anyway!]


Wildcard
[Hit me up with whatever you want~]


((OOC: Yet another new arrival, here since about halfway through the dungeon. Since they're away from the station's translating effects, characters can choose whether or not to hear meowing or intelligible speech while Morgana is a cat; while he's a mascot, they're guaranteed to hear him speaking normally. Feel free to pick whether you meet him in his cat or mascot form, too!))

bbq!

[nightcure]

[ Holy shit.

Holy shit, it's a cat.

Oh my god, it's a cat.

Noctis will absolutely spoil him. Noctis grabs a plate of the best meats he can find, and he kneels down, holding a bit of beef out on a fork. ]

Hey there. You hungry?

[meowna]

Starving!

[Because of course he is. Cats are always starving if they aren't being fed Right This Very Second. But there's no slow, skittish, timid approach, no furtive slinking and sniffing. His gorgeous collar is enough to prove he belongs to someone, and so is his boldness; Morgana trots right up to Noctis and daintily accepts the beef right off the fork, as though they've had plenty of time to get used to each other.

After all, anyone who likes cats this much can't be a bad guy, right?]

[nightcure]

[ This is the best day of his life. ]

Look at you. Whoever you belong to taught you good manners. You're a good cat, aren't you?

[ And another morsel of meat! This time, it's chicken. ]

[meowna]

I'm not a cat, but I am pretty amazing, huh?

[Omnomnom~ ♥ Just listen to that purr! Just like the Regalia when it's running smoothly, right? Actually, it does sound uncannily like a quiet engine.....]

[nightcure]

[ All he hears is cute meowing, and Noctis is in heaven. ]

Listen to you go. Which one do you like better?

[ And he gets a little of both on his fork. ]

[meowna]

An excellent question! As a connoisseur with a refined and discriminating palate myself, I'd have to say..... definitely the beef. The chicken is good, but the breast meat is lean enough that it doesn't get that perfect melt-in-your mouth tenderness as the fat melts. Wouldn't you agree?

[How many of his relationships would be vastly improved if they only heard him meowing cutely instead of being a little pain in the ass? Probably quite a few, honestly. As it is, his little discourse is nothing but a very chatty cat, with a paw held up to his muzzle like someone rubbing their chin thoughtfully.

But..... given that Noctis clearly doesn't understand him, he supposes he'll just give him the Cliffnotes version by eating the beef first, then the chicken. Good enough, right?]

[nightcure]

[ More than good enough. ]

Man, you're pretty talkative. [ Scritchy scritchy under the chin. ] So you like the beef, huh? I agree. You can have half of mine if you want.

[meowna]

I just have a lot to say, you know? Obviously you're a man of discerning taste, too.

[And one who knows how to pet well, to boot! Very impressive. Up goes the chin to bare more of his neck, and Morgana leans contentedly into Noct's hand. Half the beef sounds like an exceedingly fair deal~]

[nightcure]

[ He chuckles and indulges Morgana, scratching along his neck and chest. ]

You're really well-taken care of, too. Your fur's so soft.

[ Yep. He's in love. ]

[meowna]

[There is, in fact, no comment to that at all--just purring and a very satisfied mew as Morgana climbs right into Noct's lap. Protest all you want that you're not a cat, Morgana--you still turn into mush for someone who's really good at petting. ♥ Noct absolutely has a BFF for the rest of the meal.]

[nightcure]

[ WHAT A GOOD CAT.

He scratches Morgana between the ears. ]

You're really friendly, too. I'll take care of you until we find your owner, alright?

[meowna]

I don't have a master. I have a friend.

[Even that protest is half-hearted, though. If being taken care of until they can find Akira or any of the other Phantom Thieves means he gets all the food and petting he wants, then he's all for it. Just wait until he learns he can switch forms and you get to hear him talk, Noct.]

[makejapangreat]

(continued from here!)

[...

...???

He looks up in alarm.

Did that cat.

Did it talk?

He stares at Morgana, intently.]

[meowna]

[Morgana stares back at Shido, unblinking, as he raises a paw to his mouth and starts grooming the traces of blood off his toes. Gotta be pristine, after all, even after clawing up a politician's scalp and getting flung around for his trouble]

Surprised? I thought Akechi told you about me.

[makejapangreat]

[!!!

... Akechi told him...?

...! Realization dawns on his face, alarm fading to a more neutral expression.]

You're that Metaverse being.

[meowna]

Bingo.

[Cautiously rolling to his feet and stretching.]

That Akechi was a manifested cognition of yours, not the real deal, get it? So are all these other people. They'll get taken away eventually too, as long as you don't stare.

[makejapangreat]

[To be honest, his attention has been mostly monopolized by the talking cat in front of him. But now, he looks around.]

This is the Cognitive World?

[meowna]

If it were the Cognitive World, these things would be a lot more dangerous, believe me.

From what I can tell, this forest is something like..... a threadbare place where the boundary between worlds has worn thin. A world governed by reality, yet where cognition is allowed to bleed through the cracks, like a daydream.

[It's almost like the inverse of a Safe Room, honestly--not that Shido would know anything about that.]

[makejapangreat]

[The boundary between worlds? A "threadbare place"? A mixture of cognition and reality? It's all a bit hard to swallow...

... but more importantly...]

Why are you telling me all this?

[He's the enemy, isn't he?]

[meowna]

Because you asked? And you're one of the few people who could actually understand the answer.

[Because he likes being a know-it-all show off, duh. B|bb You may be his enemy, but TBH, they're not fighting right this instant, so it's fine.]

The only difference it makes is that you're not attacking a tree anymore, anyway.

[makejapangreat]

I think more than a few wouldn't blame you for leaving me to my despair.

[He swallows thickly, and blinks hard.]

He... I couldn't find or get a hold of him after a point.

[He hopes now that it was just because he had done everything he could to get away from Shido. He hopes he was successful.]

[meowna]

Probably not. But knowing this all comes from you is its own kind of despair, don't you think? As long as you're in this forest, you'll be hounded relentlessly by your cognitions. You might see scenes like this dozens of times while you struggle to find your way out. Maybe you can run or hide from something happening in reality, but you'll never be able to run fast enough to outpace your own heart.

[Morgana grins--not quite maliciously, but certainly with a fair bit of self-satisfaction. He digs his claws into the nearest tree, climbing up to find a perch again; he'd rather not strain his neck trying to look at Shido from a proper height.]

That was a few days before you got your calling card, wasn't it? Your plan worked. You just executed it earlier than you probably expected to, that's all.

[You know what you did. Did you expect to have to do it in real life, or was it always your intention to take care of it in your own Palace?]

[makejapangreat]

[Its own kind of despair, indeed. He looks at Morgana with open horror, distraught.

He doesn't want to believe it. He doesn't want to believe he actually succeeded.

No. No no no no fuck.

Tears well in his eyes. His breath wavers. And finally, his hand comes up to brace against his face, a broken laughter escaping him as tears slip underneath his palm.]

I truly am the scum of the multiverse, aren't I?

[He doesn't even entirely know what the tears are from. Knowledge he'd ruined a child's life? That he had failed in every way he could as a father? Or was it something else?

Had there been a tiny light of something... something inside him for Akechi, for the only son he'd ever gotten to know? For the only family he'd had left?

The family he'd killed, just like the rest.

Serves him right.]

[meowna]

It happened in your Palace. Akechi fought us so he could take care of you himself. Once he was weakened from that fight, the cognitive Akechi--the image of him you'd built up in your mind--came to fulfill his mission and dispose of the real one. If Akechi hadn't sacrificed himself to ensure we could confront you, we probably wouldn't have made it out of there alive ourselves.

.....I don't..... actually know what happens to a body left in a Palace. We never had a chance to go back for him.

[Why is he telling you all this, indeed? Because there's very, very little that's crueler than the naked truth, when you have reason to fear it. Because you haven't hurt him personally, and he's already exercised his righteous rage on behalf of his friends that have been wronged--so any further pain he offers will be inflicted by Shido's own hands, not his. He's simply a messenger, teaching him what he had no opportunity to learn firsthand.

(And maybe..... because he wants someone else to know. He wants people to acknowledge Akechi's suffering and heartbreak, his anguish and despair, his sacrifice and ultimately heroic heart. He wants some tiny way to memorialize him, beyond those who indirectly witnessed his final moments--because a body never was found. Because a funeral couldn't be held. Because nobody had been given a chance to mourn, not really. Because the public..... hadn't seemed to notice or realize that he was gone, as much as they had appeared to adore him. They deal in a world of cognition--to speak and remember is to anchor an existence in reality, because it's important enough to remain real in people's hearts.)

.....Still, the truth isn't always merciless. Even if he doesn't know much about the subject himself, since it hasn't happened for him yet, he can at least correct Shido.]

I can't speak for any other worlds. But as much trouble as you've caused in ours, I'm told that there's some sort of evil god who's done even worse. That's supposedly going to be our next target, back home.

[Because a future Prime Minister wasn't a big enough challenge for them, they decided to literally fuck up a god, apparently. SLOW YOUR ROLL GUYS.]