Prison World #3: Panultima (tw violence, torture, coercion)

[spoofer]

Characters: Ensemble Cast, maybe even you!
Summary: The third prison world in Xistentia is a terrifying subdimension where sentient people exploit each other in order to run technology that will fend off D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. The 'ruling' class, Primus, are bound to a system of coupling (see: fake dating!), legacy and nepotism, whereas the Servus are put through an elaborate media circus (see: Hunger Games). You're here to study this world. And perhaps even to free those captured.
Date(s): February 8-20
Warnings/Notes: Violence, torture, coercion

Panultima

You cursed your gods and died

The Primus Life

If you thought Earth was a tough neighborhood, welcome to Panultima. Here, life is sweet. At least, as long as you're one of the Primus class.

It's a sprawling city of wicked spires and elaborate canals, covered in a luminous, translucent shield. Rather than a circular planet resting in orbit, instead, it's a flat plane of matter suspended in space, the foundations of the buildings rooted in only a hundred feet of stone and unknown technology. But the vast majority of citizens care little for that. After all, the city has every amenity and experience one might desire.

Restaurants line the streets. Theater is at an apex in development, with a particular focus on integration of moral philosophical themes. Gondolas run the canals, whereas a railway races over the winding laser-track in the air. Fashion is diverse, colorful, characterized by wild shapes, patterns, and accessories. Food imported from worlds both thriving and dying across the multiverse. At the numerous colleges and institutes, premier technology and opera are under constant invention and reinvention.

COUPLE STUFF

Primus culture emphasizes couples. Trios. Larger groups of lovers than that, even. After all, with romantic love and loyalty to care for, and survival hanging on it... who has the time or energy to care about justice for all?

Not these guys!

In this world, the mission and pleasure roll together well. The implant picks up information, so your main job is to explore. Perhaps you and your partner might enjoy yourself a glow-in-the-dark cocktail in a smoky bar where a two-headed singer is providing the music, a tour of the massive shield generators in the sparkling complex. Or pick fruit from one of the hundreds of bonding trees in the city's central park— so named, because it requires successful completion of questions to "the newlywed game" for each before one of the luscious, sweet fruits is released from a vine.

THE SERVUS LIFE

But for the little guy, life is considerably shittier. Welcome to the arena, the fully manipulable bubble reality set up to torture the slave class. The emotions of pain, fear, anguish, and wild, adrenal victory.

Most days, it looks like a forest— incidentally, very much like Xistentia. There are dozens of hybrid creatures in it, most of which are edible, others toxic, several very dangerous. However, the ground below can change at any moment, turning into mud or belching acid baths. Or you might find yourself abruptly attacked by a bear with biological armor growing from its huge shoulders. The control room, operated by Primus, is concealed from view. Its role is to keep the environment challenging for those competing, shifting the settings of the place to advantage some and cripple others.

But the arena's programming isn't the only threat.

Instead, you have a motley host of macabre killers, other Servus locked up in here just like you. Some have survived in here for years, earning favor from audiences thanks to the amount of pure horror they squeezed out of their victims. Some of the better-known brands are the Bantam Butcher, a fallen angel whose first kills were those who took his wings, and now thrives on torture. The trapmaster seems to have control over environmental factors that rivals the control room. And the baker trio will eat the flesh from your bones if they catch you.

For infiltrators, the challenge is worse. Not only might you need to kill, survive, and explore the arena with your implant— but if you want to save the very same people who are out to murder you, how are you going to do that?

Breakout!

Several days into the mission, and that's when it happens-- the control room shuts down, under attack. And suddenly, there's pandemonium. Within the arena, some of the servus know immediately what this means— and they're willing to make a break for it, cutting each other down, crippling each other if it means that the Primus might have slower-moving people to contend with and allow them to escape. Others seem to have long since given up, failing to respond as the trees suddenly go dark and motionless, the birdsong dying into silence. After all, where is there to go? It's either D.E.S.T.I.N.Y., or to join the system that hates them, isn't it?

Are you inside the arena, or out? Are you there to help the fleeing Servus, or are you merely ready to scramble on home yourself and save your own skin?

Footnotes

1. Please ensure that threads are marked with appropriate content warnings!
2. The plotting post for this event can be found here, and the original announcement with some other details is here.

Comments

[varou]

( Of course Rafa doesn't listen when Shane and Hunter advise, practically beg him to reconsider his plans. And, even more obviously, of course Hunter follows him into the arena.

It's not even a question in Hunter's mind. He lets himself fall into line as servus, easily making it into the arena. His size alone garners attention. Everything else he can do? Just icing on the cake that is his "performance." It's what this all is, after all. Even if they're real throats crushed in his claws, it's not truly them he fights. It's those that scream for more. That hold all the cards in this game, and use them to pit those deemed beneath them against each other.

Hunter is a vicious and primal fighter. Where Rafa is quick, efficient, almost pristine in the neatness of his kills, Hunter is a savage. He was taught to use his animal even when he looked more human than beast. He uses that as a way to get lost in the arena. To let himself become something else that doesn't have to think about what this place is doing to his beloved. About how he knows Rafa is struggling, in and out of the arena, with his own ancient demons. He wishes Rafa had listened to him. More than anything.

Especially when the day finally comes that Rafa's put against the Baker trio.

Hunter sneers at the matchup. An attempt to unnerve his husband, he's sure of it. Three against one is unfair, but Rafa can do the work of twenty men in seconds. He doesn't worry that Rafa can't handle himself.

Still, he forces himself to watch the matches. Like he does every match Rafa is in. He watches, paces, waits until Rafa is officially crowned the victor.

Only this time he smells the change before he sees it. It forces him to whip his head back to attention, only having glanced away for a second. Light streams into the arena, and Rafa's caught under it. The smell of his charred skin is too strong for Hunter to ignore. He growls as Rafa manages to get away. He's up against the doors leading to the arena. Only meant to watch, but now threatening to go through them as he watches dance around one of the trio that swings for him.

Then another flash of light.

Three against one and sunlight caging Rafa. Hunter snarls, no longer holding it back. He seems almost thicker, his fingers sharpening to claws, his eyes turning sharp, and his teeth becoming points. He tears the door from it's hinges before it can be stopped, never once thinking that maybe they wanted it this way.

He rushes into the arena. ) Rafa! ( He cries out, running straight for his husband. )

[mordacita]

[ Rafa snatches at plans, at strategy. It's not working. Without these changing light patterns, he could have taken them, both of them. He might even have killed them, just to hear the noise of the crowd. Now, the crowd is louder than they've been all day. They love this new challenge, but it's more than that. They scent blood on the air.

It turns out they aren't the only ones.

Hunter is there before Rafa can think about it, before he even realises it's an option. Suddenly there's a werewolf beside him in mid transformation, and the Baker boys, to their credit, are backing off. Suddenly their odds have don't look so good. Rafa's immediate reaction is one of such intense relief that he can't quite think past it.

And then he realises that the clouds have stopped parting, and there's no more light beaming down on them, and there has to be a reason for that and the reason is stood beside him. ]

Hunter, no! You must go back, they cannot see!

[ But it's too late for that. Rafa already knows that it's too late. Even the Baker boys seem to know it. Is that the real reason they're backing off? Are they doing that because their job is done? In the next second, there's another change to the arena. The clouds don't part this time, but all around, doors are appearing from nowhere, and guards with electric batons are rushing out of them. Rafa curses, and moves at once to stand back to back with his husband. If that's how this fight is going to go, then fine. That's the fight he'll live with. There's a distinct hush to the crowd now, and nerves prickle on the back of Rafa's neck.

He feels like they've played directly into their enemy's hands. ]

[varou]

( He knows. )

I know.

( He knows.

He snarls as he feels Rafa reach his back. His teeth bared at the guards, Hunter reaches behind him to grab Rafa. He pulls the other man around to his front, clutching him close to his chest. He growls again, taking a strong defensive stance that nearly towers over Rafa, an intentional move. It's too late, he knows he's already played out what they really mean to each other. So with that card finally on the table, he embraces it further.

The guards don't push in, though. They stand stock still, a solid block to any route he and Rafa might try to take out of this hell. )

Ladies and gentlemen!

( Hunter's head snaps up as the voice booms loudly over them. )

Have we got a show for you. Two of our strongest monsters, finally brought together before your eyes.

Unfortunately, the rules of the arena still apply. Only one of them is free to walk out, this evening.

( The hum of the crowd whispering as they stare with fascination has Hunter clutching more possessively at Rafa. )

As we always say, boys- the show must go on!

( The voice cracks off and one of the guards near an exit shouts the official command.


Fight.

They're now the entertainment. )

Rafa.... I think we're the entertainment tonight.

[mordacita]

[ Rafa's breath catches as he finds himself beneath Hunter. He's unused to this. He always fights his own battles, despite having plenty of guards around him. Despite having Hunter around him, Hunter who is the greatest of all Rafa's warriors. Now, though, there's no arguing with Hunter. He's right, Rafa knows he is. It's too late for them to undo this. It had been too late the moment Hunter had run out. Rafa goes still, unwilling to make this worse for his husband. He stays where Hunter put him, his own hand curling in Hunter's shirt.

Then without any effort at all, it does get worse. The guards encircle them but push no further, and then...

That announcement.

Rafa understands at once. He's fought this fight ever since he was a child; of course he understands. ]

No!

[ He pushes forward a little and stands straighter, a possessive hand still curled around Hunter's shirt. ]

Not him. Give me anyone else! I do not care, just not him.

[ No movement. Rafa's fist tightens. ]

I said no! Do you hear me, all of you! This will not happen. I won't.

[ He makes a move towards one of the guards. He barely gets a step, before the whole ring of them slams their shields down into the ground, sending out a jolt of energy that throws Rafa back against Hunter. Then, above them both, the skies open again.

Sunlight beams down, searing another burn across Rafa's cheek. He skitters back, fear exploding behind his eyes. ]

No. [ He looks up at Hunter now, eyes pleading. ] We cannot let them do this.

[varou]

( Of course nothing they try works. They've walked into the belly of the beast, and there's no escaping what comes next for them.

Hunter knows this, even as Rafa tries to fight against it. So when the beams start to part, he's already pulling Rafa under him, curling over him to shield him. There's less places to hide with the guards restricting how far they can go from each other. He can take the sun more than Rafa can.

And he uses the chance to dip his head close. )

Snap my neck, Rafa. ( He growls, his teeth sharp and claws extended again. ) Anything.

Just give them what they want. Do it. Now. ( He snarls the last word. )

[mordacita]

[ This is a nightmare. The clouds open, searing beams of sunlight that might as well be lasers to Rafa. Hunter's body keeps him in shade, but Hunter's body won't be able to take this for much longer than Rafa's. This is not a solution. It's just buying them time.

But time to do what? Fight each other, hurt each other? Rafa can't treat Hunter like his other opponents. He's aware of the ring of guards pressing closer, and of an electric charge in the air. The guards won't be weaponless, and it's clear that they're tightening their vice.

Rafa stares up at Hunter, fear solidifying behind his eyes. ]

No! I won't, I won't hurt you. I don't care what they do.

[ He can take it. He doesn't care if they torture him with the sun, with relics, with whatever they want. They won't make him hurt his husband. Rafa touches his face, holding it gently, but he remains resolute. ]

I can't, Hunter.