spoofer: (piano)
Xistentia: Mod ([personal profile] spoofer) wrote in [community profile] xistentia2017-11-04 03:08 pm

War with D.E.S.T.I.N.Y.

Characters: Ensemble cast, any/all characters of Xistentia!
Summary: D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. comes to Xistentia for the first time, bringing with it violence and havoc. Combat against enemy agents, healing, emergency sanctuary, and "Drift Compatibility" happen here. Refer to the OOC plotting post and the mod announcement!
Date(s): November 4-18
Warnings/Notes: Violence, death, psychological themes, trauma. Please warn for anything else in your subject headers!

WAR WITH DESTINY
By headsman's blade or battle-axe
Fight For Your Life

Everything is, in short, super fucked. Era Ra's warning came at the right time, forewarning of some of the weapons and fighting styles that could be expected from D.E.S.T.I.N.Y.'s agents, but still, the people of Xistentia have not faced a force like this before. The ragtag combination of fighting styles and tactics promises both versatility and confusion.

For better or worse, D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. is in similar chaos.

The first to come are ships from the Western sea, bearing a mix of warriors in and monsters. Some wield old-fashioned steel swords and others bear laser blasters, and their armor is just as varied. Some creatures appear domesticated, while others are feral and snap at their own. However, one primary feature identifies the enemy: their war color is red, which adorns flags and uniforms. Interestingly, the sea and sky of Xistentia seem to be fighting back in their own way, massive waves and a storm, even animals pestering them as they attempt to land the beach. However, it's only a matter of time before the mainstay of their forces reach land, some two hundred fighters. It's then that sentient fires start to whirl into the forests, leaping from tree to tree.
You have the home court advantage. Even the foliage itself seems to cooperate with you, aiding in efforts for stealth by keeping you downwind, twigs failing to crack when you misstep. Soon, you're joined by Xistentia's other forces-- a handful of battered ships taking air, an odd assortment of elves and talking dogs, demons and aliens from outer-space, coordinating counter-attacks.
BATTLE MODE: ATTACK

You're locked in combat with a woman who seems oddly familiar, though you don't know her face and can't think of her name. You hit her in the head, and now a narrow slice of her face shows through her red-rimmed helm. She wields a rifle tipped with a heavy blade, though it crackles with electrical energy. She is a proficient swordswoman, deftly parrying and striking against you, her face eerily expressionless. Her blade has a switch that, when activated, will send out a net that numbs your limbs and drags you to the floor. Here's hoping you won't face this demon alone.

She's not your only problem. You may have noticed, that in every epic battle with evil wizards, there's always some kind of a problematically gigantic elephant. This is one of those days. At least, there's only one, its trunk as wide as a car, its feet moving slow, so that it might crush the trees rather than trip over them.

Fight one or both, or fight the hordes of nameless minions around them. Either way: there's plenty to do. Those of you who thought things were too quiet here? You'll be busy today.

SEEK SANCTUARY

Fighting isn't for you? Well, you'll want to get out of the way, then. The "wards" protecting the city are failing, and people are heading toward The Temple where the protections remain the strongest. Here, the injured need healing in the stone beds. The civilians do their best, comforting children, cooking food, trading intelligence, repairing weapons and armor where possible. Feel free to pitch in; they need all the help they can get.
BATTLE MODE: SUPPORT (PSYLINK)

And here, you've reached the Temple, you've laid yourself down on one of the many glass-and-stone beds within the safety of its stone walls. You know what the other Xistentia residents have told you about it— this is the next phase, after the memory share had raised shields against the psychotropic rain. This is the PsyLink. Through this bond, you are said to be able to activate special defenses. No one seems to know exactly what they are, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And beyond the Temple walls, times are desperate indeed.

Each drift requires at least two people. Your daemons will find and connect you, seemingly at random— and you may find yourself with the unlikeliest of partners.
Drift Compatible

The Kissing Booth participants find it easiest. Everyone else-- it's a wild jumble, finding yourself caught up in a firehose of not only your own memories, but that of someone else. Everything they think, everything they feel, is intertwined with your mind.

You can't get caught up in it. You have to let the memories of the past, your predictions for the future, and the terror of war flow in and out of you, without neither resistance or pursuit, gently tuning them out. And in this serenity, this psychic silence, this acceptance of not only yourself but the other other, you find perfect connectivity— harmony with your PsyLink partner.

In this space, you find yourself having strange conversations. You and your partner will share ghostly images, some of which seem to be images from the past— while others seem to be present-day moments from the battle outside, fighting the enemy, as if you are somehow in two places at once. You must find traction and stay in the now and stay calm, but it's harder than you think.

The instant you latch onto that memory or emotion, it's a mistake... but you forget.

Your shadow is here. Whether out-of-context, or right here where it was meant to be, it's trying to kill you.

But you're not trapped here alone. Someone is calling your name, a familiar voice in the pandemonium. That voice comes from your drift partner. It's up to them to pull you back, remind you of who you are, and balance you. Hold on to them - they're your anchor, but you'll have to do the same for them. A successful drift means helping each other. Do it well, and you'll help to power the temple's defences. Fail, and there'll be trouble for everyone seeking sanctuary here.
servomotor: (turn turn turn)

a. fighting!

[personal profile] servomotor 2017-11-18 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Joker feels the blast of air-- not the searing heat of fire, which had been approaching from his right. But from above. That would be Iron Man's repulsors, in his boots as well as his gloves for stabilization. Yep. Iron Man. Repulsors. Shit like that is real in Xistentia, and probably no more unbelievable than semi-sentient natural disasters or spacecraft, but definitely up there.

He looks like a robot, something out of sci-fi. But there's something undeniably human about it, when he drops squarely onto the sodden jungle earth beside Joker and asks,]
Need a lift, soldier?

[He'd recognized that belly crawl. Nobody does it like the United States Armed Forces, no matter what branch or era. Of course, it's marine and not soldier as far as Joker goes, but he doesn't know that. He extends a glove toward the young man, expectant. No more glowing white force coming out of his hand.]
jungianthing: (some people call me maurice)

[personal profile] jungianthing 2017-11-18 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
( there's something outright humiliating about being so far below someone – or something, whatever, he saw forbidden planet – the first time you look at them, and joker's not used to it. he plants his hands in the dirt and pushes himself up to stand, spine straight just so he can regain a little metaphorical ground.

weirdly, this isn't the strangest thing he's seen all day, so in the spirit of making the best of a bad situation he reaches out his hand, gets the proffered one in a tight grip, and shakes it. his rifle is easily slung over his shoulder, barrel pointing straight up. out of nowhere, his face breaks out into a stupid, teeth-flashing grin, and he laughs. )
Yeah, alright. Why the fuck not. Outstanding.
servomotor: (hup)

[personal profile] servomotor 2017-11-25 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[What a good-natured little fellow. Tony always appreciates that in guys— probably why he gets along with military men as often as he doesn't. He's a crabby bitch in all the ways that Rhodey isn't, and a haphazard jokester whenever Rhodey's trying to be serious-- a dynamic that tends to get mirrored with one Steve Rogers.

One hopes for less drama with this guy.]


You armed, kiddo? [It's a short, sweet query, the instant after Tony wraps his armored fingers around Joker's hand— and before he abruptly launches off the ground. Bracing the man's shoulder enough that it doesn't dislocate, he hoists him up, higher, against his armored chest. Princess carry! It's practical, not embarrassing.] What's your combat tactic of choice?
jungianthing: (off the florida keys)

[personal profile] jungianthing 2017-11-25 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
( he only manages to get out a ) Muh— ( before he's yanked off his feet, which he should have seen coming. it throws him, anyway. it doesn't last long - he's adaptable, if nothing else, and it's easy to fall into routines when that's all you've been doing for the last year or so - and then he's modulating the volume of his voice to finish answering like it's perfectly normal to be yelling against the sound of wind resistance. ) M-16 and a pistol! Combat tactic's to shoot the bad guys until they're dead!
servomotor: (turn turn turn)

[personal profile] servomotor 2017-11-29 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[What an adaptable human. Tony's favorite. He picks fights-- or ends up in them so often with the politicians, the naysayers, the sundry idiots of the world back home, it's always nice to meet a rando who isn't an old friend or an Avenger, remember what he's fighting for. And that he isn't the only fucking one, not by a long shot.]

I'll get you the advantage of higher ground, [he says.] Flush them toward you.

[And he does just that. There's some kind of two-legged, walking tank of a combat machine out there, its pilot already killed and removed from the cockpit, which is shattered open, all open glass. But it's a high vantage and armored up beside, sitting mid-step in the dense cover of forest trees. Tony swoops down to settle the young marine on top of it. There are people coming on horseback.] Sound good?