exsiliumlogs | [OPEN] a wheel 60ft in diameter of mass 45000 kg is rotating at (1/3) rev/s

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catsovi e viciro (original)

[OPEN] a wheel 60ft in diameter of mass 45000 kg is rotating at (1/3) rev/s

Date & Time: any time between beginning of JUNE and end of JULY, or AUGUST 21ST - SEPTEMBER 14TH -- please specify date in the subject line!
Location: outlands
Characters: the misery and friends (you)
Summary: there's a huge winged wheel rolling around in the outlands, go touch it or something
Warnings: n/a

[ ONE FINE EXSILIUM SUMMER DAY YOU'RE OUT ON A LOVELY STROLL THROUGH THE RUINS THAT ARE THE OUTLANDS WHEN SUDDENLY YOU MAY OR MAY NOT COME ACROSS A SCENE THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

hey, dude, you can't just dissolve and look into someone's roof like that, how rude

The fuck is that?! Better get a closer look. Come on, buddy, come a little closer. Closer. Closer. WHOA WHOA NOT THAT CLOSE. SERIOUSLY, GUY, THE THING'S LIKE SIXTY FEET HIGH, WHAT'RE YOU DOING ALL UP IN ITS FACE

That's the misery.

It's a big ol' thing. It's a big ol' wheel, to be precise. The main body appears to be made of carved stone, which is partially covered by a writhing black mass covered in twitching red eyes. It has two more eyes that free-float around it and occasionally zip ahead of it. It has wings that are probably, like, several years overdue for a professional grooming.

It can float in the air and spin and shit. It can not float in the air and wheel about on the ground like any proper gravity-abiding citizen should, helplessly crushing buildings and slow-moving wildlife as it goes. It can also do other normal wheel things, like continuously cry a viscous red liquid from its two free-floating eyes that corrodes or burns through everything that it touches (is it blood? blood can dissolve rock, right?).

But worry not!! Should you choose to approach it and catch its attention, it will actually go out of its way to avoid spilling its gross gross blood-tears on you. It will, in fact, shield you with its wings or its body if necessary.

And, by the way, if you have inherent powers of any sort -- superpowers, magical powers, whatever -- they'll be noticeably dampened in the misery's presence. This dampening happens in about a 100-ft radius of the thing. Sorry. It's really sorry. It can't help it. Seriously, it would if it could. :(

Anyway...

For most of June through the first half of September, the misery is just sort of floating around in the Outlands, exploring the ruins and the sparse wildlife, sometimes crushing them, sometimes crying on and dissolving them. It's fairly slow-moving. It doesn't seem particularly alert. It makes all sorts of noises, varying from *CREAKY STONE WHEEL* to *LOUD SOUND OF EIGHT WINGS BEATING* to *EXTREMELY SAD WHALE NOISE*.

It will approach you if it sees you, as non-threateningly as a wheel monster can.

It will not talk to you, because, uh, it can't talk. Or write. Or really communicate in any way other than sad whale noises. But you can talk to it! It'll lend an ear to all of your problems!! So come say hello please come say hello oh god it's so lonely pl ]

[ whale noise ]

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[ Feferi doesn't come to the outlands very often, but when she does... giant wheel monsters. She wasn't expecting that. But the easiest way to win her sympathy is by sad whale noises, so she makes some attempt to approach... though it's kind of hard not to. It's so big... and there. She doesn't even know if it can hear her. Too many eyes, not enough ears, but she waves her arms and shouts anyway. If it's sad, she wants to find out why. ]

Hey! Are you okay?

[ Immediately all twenty-billion or so eyes swivel towards Feferi, with the body of the creature following soon afterwards. It turns away from the dried-up lakebed it'd been inspecting, tilting itself parallel to the ground to hover directly over its visitor, peering down at her through the haze. Its two crying eyes circle above; its tears drip directly onto the back of the wheel. Feferi is shielded from them.

It releases another great groan, low-pitched, rumbling. ANOTHER SAD WHALE NOISE. Accompanied by lethargic wing-flapping. Its feathers are distinctly droopy. ]

[ Well that's not much of an answer, and it only worries her more. She wonders for a second... ]

Can you even talk? --make one noise for no, two for yes!

[ It echoes its previous noise. Just once. No talking, but it understands Feferi just fine.

Then it drops a little lower over Feferi, just a few inches, and starts to quietly spin in place. The black mass that covers it starts to shift, gathering together above her head. ]

[ Awww, look how cute it is! So cute. And so in need of culling. ]

Okay then. Let's stay with that, one for no, two for yes. Next question, are you hurt? You are bleeding an awful lot.

[ It makes a low rumble, long and drawn out, and continues dripping. No? Yes? Who knows? The black mass has gathered most of itself above Feferi now. Red eyes swarm above her, seemingly fighting each other for a better view.

The first rumble stops. A second starts. ]

[ Squints.

It's really hard making eye contact like this. Or eyes contact. ]

You... are hurt? Is it something I can help with?

[ The Misery stops moving entirely, except to lower one of its floating eyes down towards Feferi. The path of this eye is slow, careful -- it's still oozing blood from its tear ducts, and it's quite obvious that the Misery is doing its best to spare Feferi from contact.

But it also seems to want the eye as close to Feferi as possible. ]

[ Syll's pet carrier pigeon, Oka, got itself lost about a week ago and that's about the time it took for Syllona to worry enough to go looking for it. Not in the city, not in all the places she could think a bird might go. So... maybe the Outlands?? Going there herself is honestly stupid but Oka alone in a wasteland full of monsters is just not gonna fly.

So imagine her surprise, trekking out on the lookout for little white wings she spots some very not little wings. And far too many of them.

It's all very horrifying and she's kind of stuck in shock, watching it from half behind a dead tree. Her feet are ready to run whenever the rest of her catches up with them. ]

[ This is, unfortunately, not a carrier pigeon. (Also unfortunately, the misery hasn't seen any carrier pigeons about in its travels. Though there's a good chance that it just missed it. So tiny!)

When Syllona finds the misery, it's lying face-down on the ground, and exhibits no movement other than the occasional twitch of the black mass and, somewhat more frequently, slow wing flaps. But it gets up eventually, righting itself, rim resting on the ground. It turns away from Syllona. It keeps turning. It turns almost 360 degrees, and then it spots Syllona behind her tree.

It makes a low noise, and, with a great rumbling, starts to roll towards Syllona. ]

[ the misery's movements are alien enough to keep Syllona watching until it starts coming towards her. Then she makes a noise of her own, something like a cross between a yip and a shriek. Or at least it would sound like that if she didn't keep her mouth firmly shut. It comes out much more like a whine a dog might make.

Can she even out-run the thing?! Highly unlikely, but that's the furthest thing from her mind when she turns tail and bolts. ]

[ the misery just steadily starts to quicken its own pace, revolutions going faster and faster, the gutted ruins of an old city cracking like eggshells under its weight. But the loudest cracks of all come from itself -- it's going too fast, and its wings aren't beating fast enough to keep out from under its rim. The feathers are getting caught and dragged under, and soon its rolling has taken its toll -- all eight wings are completely mangled by the time it reaches Syllona.

Undeterred, it swerves ahead of her, directly into her path. ]

[ syllona slides to a halt, because like hell would she let herself barrel right into this behemoth. The mystery of that terrible cracking noise is solved now that she's so close -- she has to crane her neck back just to see past the first crushed wing directly in front of her. It's too bizarre,
and by this point she needs to buy a little time to think up a next course of action.

She calls up, already scrambling back from it as she does so. ]

What do you want?!

[ This time, it lets her scramble away, and settles in deeper into the ground -- accompanied by more cracking noises -- resting there, still and peaceable. It makes no other noise. It only continues to stare at Syllona.

After a while, it slowly extends a snapped wing towards her. ]

Me? [ That comes out a little more shrill with panic than she was hoping for-- not good form in front of a monster! She pauses to try again, still catching her breath. ] U-um, I don't see a mouth on you.

[ An awkward silence stretches. What's going on? Obviously it could kill her easily and hasn't, but it also isn't interested in letting her leave. Syllona watches it right back as bravely as she can muster, squinting an eye suspiciously. ]

The wings. You just... did that to yourself?

[ It flaps its extended wing. A few more bones shift out of place, the air briefly laden with small, splintering sounds.

Then, with mighty effort, it executes an eight-winged shrug.

It goes completely still after this. The wind stirs through its feathers. Its eyes blink, slowly, out of sync with one another. ]

[Truthfully Amelia hadn't expected to encounter a whole lot of anything out here, although her curiosity was strong enough to warrant a bit of a stroll to just go see what was out here with her own two eyes. And while she's got her lance in her hands in the event of running into someone or something hostile, it's been empty enough thus far that she hasn't really felt like she needs something.

Right up until she spots... well. That. Upon spotting it in the distance all she can really do is just stare at it for a moment, lance clutched in one hand as she slowly opens the visor on her helmet with the other, eyes widened in something between awe and pure horror. She's seen horrible things, she's fought the very King of the Demons himself. And to be honest? Formortis wasn't half as terrifying looking as that thing.

Maybe she's dreaming. That seems like a pretty distinct possibility.]

[ By pure luck, when Amelia first catches sight of the misery, it's looking quite poised and imposing -- gliding along the ground at a unusually brisk pace, two eyes frantically orbiting around it and trailing tears as they go.

Then one of them doesn't manage to zip out of the wheel's path quickly enough, and the misery manages to crash straight into its own eye.

The eye drops like a rock into the ruins below, the rest of the misery wobbles to a halt, flaps a few wings in uncoordinated bewilderment, and makes a sound like a fog horn. ]

[Elmer is dumbstruck when he spots the creature, transfixed for a few minutes as he watches and listens to it.

Whatever it was, where it might have come from, was it dangerous... all good questions, surely. But this is Elmer C. Albatross. This thing sounded sad, and we can't have that!

So instead, he climbs the tallest tree he can find - and he's a very good climber - to get a better look at it. He also starts yelling and waving his hands, making a further spectacle of himself than being the guy 20 feet up in a dead tree wearing a bright yellow raincoat.]

Oi! Oooooi! Can you hear me?!

[ It's lowering itself down to slip its way between two derelict buildings when it hears Elmer. His call prompts it to return with a call of its own, a little higher-pitched than the noises it'd been making before, and also prompts it to try and wheel towards Elmer. It obviously intends to roll out from between the buildings.

Unfortunately, the passageway between the two buildings narrows, and the misery manages instead to get itself wedged quite solidly between the walls.

It calls out again, three times, in rapid succession. The floating eyes hover above it, dripping blood all over the wheel's rim. Both of them look up to stare directly at Elmer. ]

[Elmer watches it in stunned amazement. It did hear him! Incredible! The grin on his face couldn't get any bigger. Oh, but is it stuck? How terrible! Elmer waved an arm at it, motioning it backwards.]

Back out! I don't think you can fit that way, yeah?

[ SHUT UP ELMER IT TOTALLY CAN!!!!!!! For the moment, it stubbornly chooses not to heed Elmer's suggestion, and keeps struggling to push forwards. Its wings flap in distress, beating uselessly against the solid walls.

Then the wings go limp. At that point it finally tries to back out, but it's too late -- its gotten itself quite stuck, one way or another. Beaten, it makes a pathetic noise. THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE REST OF ETERNITY FOR THE MISERY. STUCK BETWEEN SOME WALLS. ]

[Elmer climbs down out of the tree and starts heading over. Not that there's anything he can do. Maybe just keep it company until it gets itself out? Give it some encouragement?

He stands a handful of years away from the buildings.] Is there anything I can do to help?

[ It reply, it raises the wing closest to Elmer, folding it against the wheel rim, then extending it, then repeating the motion a few times. Not exactly a flap. All eyes are on Elmer, staring, unblinking, as if expecting him to act. ]

Ah! Ah... I don't know if I can get you unstuck! You're quite big.

[Elmer ventures ever closer, now checking out the buildings it's trapped between. Maybe if they're abandoned, he can somehow knock out some of the boards to loose it up?]

My name is Elmer! Do you have a name? Do you talk?

[ No response to those questions, but there's a little more wriggling on the Misery's part, its wings shivering and flapping against the walls in a half-hearted attempt to escape.

A crack forms, high up in the left wall. The Misery shifts itself to press against that side. Now it groans again, and all of its eyes blink in unison before flicking down to stare at Elmer once more. ]

I guess not, eh? Many eyes but no mouths. You should learn to blink in Morse code! [Elmer what. Not now. He comes over to where the crack in the wall is. It's out of his reach, but he can see it.] Ah, there you go! It might hurt, but I think backing out against this building is your best bet. It doesn't look particularly strong. You can do it!

[It isn't often that such a large creature is found in the outlands, nor one so..outlandish. The dragon's keen sight easily picking it out amongst the ruins below as he flew high above.

Just what was this creature, or construct? What threat did it impose on those that near it. Indeed, was it hostile at all? All questions he sought to answer as the massive bronze tilted on wingtip, circling lower down over the strange creature.]

[ the misery quickly senses Crucible descending, and flips itself upwards, rotating its body parallel to the ground to observe the dragon with all of its many eyes. They widen in unison when they lock on Crucible. Obviously curious, the misery then begins to circle, too, counterclockwise, moving upwards all the while.

Its ascent is slow, but its two detached eyes take a burst of speed and rocket upwards towards Crucible. ]

[Crucible slows his decent the moment that it was clear that the large construct had noticed his presence. Watching its ascent with a measure of his own curiosity, mixed with a measure of caution.

A measure of caution tested when those two eyes rocket up towards him, yet he holds back a hostile reaction. There was a chance yet that this creature or construct may yet not be hostile, and indeed may be intelligent in nature. After a moment the dragon's deep voice booms forth.]

Greetings. I mean you no harm, however should you attack I will defend myself.

[ At this warning, the misery draws its eyes back itself and it comes to a halt, still well below Crucible. It continues to spin in place, but it has stopped rising.

It makes a loud noise, a low screech, and switches to a clockwise rotation. ]

[It could understand him, good. Crucible continued his decent for a moment longer before drawing to a hover a respectable distance above the creature, his large wings beating a steady pace.]

Thank you.

Can you speak?

[ Crucible receives dead silence as an answer, and another switch in rotation direction. Then, apparently unable to restrain its curiosity, it starts to draw up towards Crucible again. At a practically glacial pace. ]

[Crucible took the answer as a clear no. That it held such curiosity was a curiosity in and of itself, the hovering dragon allowing the approach for the moment as he studied it. With a measure of curiosity of his own, Crucible reached forth with his magic to better determine just what the construct was. Yet the moment he tried it was clear that something wasn't quite right, even drawing on such small amounts of magic seemed to take greater effort.]

Just what are you, I wonder?

[ what started as a standard scouting run goes horribly wrong, and it begins with a pain in her chest.

it's barely noticeable, nothing like what she had to deal with before all of this began - but it's there, it's there at all, and that means something has gone wrong. she leaves the building she is in and makes her way to the roof, wincing as the pain gets stronger and stronger, and then

she sees it.

for a moment she is unable to react, her relative peace in exsilium having dulled her nerve - but it's only for a moment. she transforms without another word, an m72 law dropping into her hands in preparation. (it's heavy - far heavier than usual. or is she growing weaker...?) she looks down to the soul gem in her grip, only for a moment, and is shocked to find it a dull, lifeless purple.

she looks back up to the thing, towering as high as many of the witches she's already seen (but with no discernable magical traces or barriers), and quietly speaks. ]

Just what are you?

Edited (grammar I SWEAR THIS IS THE LAST EDIT...) 2013-09-01 01:13 (UTC)

[ The building that Homura stands atop of is the only real thing of interest in this otherwise barren part of the Outlands; the misery had spotted it from miles away and had been slowly making its way over since. It only stops moving forwards when it spots Homura on the roof, and from then until she speaks, it remains hovering in place, bobbing up and down just slightly as its wings twitch and shudder.

It says nothing and makes no noise in reply, but her question does prod it into motion once more. It starts to draw closer to Homura. Slowly. ]

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[OPEN] a wheel 60ft in diameter of mass 45000 kg is rotating at (1/3) rev/s

how about like, today. that's a good day.

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8/23

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I honestly don't have any icon that can come anywhere near describing her expression. Also, today!

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holy shit this looks amazing??? ALSO august 26th!

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