EVENT: Heartless Swarm

[fatedhearts]

Things have been fairly peaceful for a while now as everyone has settled into their current lives on this new world. But one day towards late summer, that all comes to an end.

One of the portals in the sky suddenly opens again, an odd glowing light surrounding it as it ejects creature after creature. Then it closes, followed by another glowing portal elsewhere in the sky emitting the same creatures. Small and black, mostly, with odd antennae and glowing eyes. Some here will know them. The Heartless, creatures of the darkness who seek hearts. Those they attack, if they give in to the darkness in their hearts, will become Heartless themselves.

Where is a Keybearer when we need one?!

OOC INFO

Heartless can be encountered anywhere! They're pouring into Edge, the Midgar ruins, Kalm, Wutai, and everywhere else. Balamb Garden won't be spared, but if they're able to seal everything off in time and take flight, they may be safe from the majority of the creatures and be a safehouse for anyone desperate to escape them.

Anyone familiar with Heartless is encouraged to try to defeat them (or control them, if they're lucky enough to possess that ability). But they may find something else will push back if they try. Did someone deliberately send the Heartless through the portals? Who, and why? Does someone on the other side of those portals know what's happening here? And why are the portals glowing when they open? Is there any important significance in that?

(And yes, this is a very significant event that will have a deep bearing on the overall plot!)

Before anyone asks, having your character become a Heartless is probably not a good idea, given that it would be very difficult to get them back to their normal selves at this point in the game. But we welcome intense situations of Heartless trying their hardest to claim hearts before they're stopped!

The event is scheduled to run through August 10th, but backdating and backtagging is encouraged for as long as everyone wants! Post toplevels to this post or create new posts!

Comments

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

"... Ah. That's interesting," Sephiroth said. "I hope the fireplace wasn't on when Frostpine sat in it." Deadpan.

"Dare I ask what Niko's full name is?"

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"What do you think scared them?" Daja asked with a laugh.

"Niklaren Goldeye," Tris grumped.

"We all owe our current lives to him," Sandry said, feeling the need to defend him.

"Doesn't make him a peacock of a bag," Briar said with a laugh.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

Disturbing.

"And he didn't get burned?"

He raised an eyebrow at the name but then shrugged. "Some people find my name odd."

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

Daja shrugged. "He and I are both Smith mages. Fire isn't really a concern for us."

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

"That's useful," Sephiroth said. Magical fire wouldn't likely affect him, but normal fire would burn him.

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"There are limits though," Daja murmured, rubbing the metal on the back of her hand absently.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

"Yes, I wouldn't think people would be completely immune," he remarked.

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"Anyway," Sandry said, "We were able to help when we were there, hopefully we can help when we are here as well."

"No offense to anyone, but I'd rather we could just go home," Briar admitted.

"Now that we know about the problem, we ought to help," Sandry said, firmly.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

"I would like to go home myself," Sephiroth said. "We're always trying to find the way to properly reactivate the portals so everyone can return home. If my powers weren't being partially blocked, I could return everyone home myself, including the Heartless."

And perhaps they would resume listening to him then.

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"They... have a home?" Daja asked, latching on to that.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

"Well, they're from my world, so I just meant I'd send them back there," he said. "Hopefully they would listen to me again if I had all my powers available to me. I would order them to stop bothering people, as I have before."

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"How do we help the people they came from?" Sandry asked, quietly.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth sighed. "As I said, both the Heartless and the Nobody have to be defeated for that to happen. I know of no other way. And there's never any way to know if one has defeated both the Heartless and the Nobody of a specific person. Unless, of course, you're familiar with the person and know they suffered those fates and then they suddenly reappear."

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"What exactly is a Nobody?" Briar asked. "Sounds like bag talk for rats."

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

“It’s the body and soul of a person minus their heart,” Sephiroth said.

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"Wait, that's different from heartless how?" Briar asked.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

"Heartless is the heart," Sephiroth said. "I don't know who named them. Zack commented once that it would make more sense for a Nobody to be the heart and the body and soul to be the Heartless."

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"So heartless is the damaged heart and no body is the damaged body?" Sandry asked.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

"Yes," Sephiroth said.

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"Because that's not confusing, a bag musta named them. Bags are all crazy," Briar said.

Sandry raised her brows.

"My point exactly," he said.

She tossed a napkin at him and it wrapped itself around his face.

"HEY!" he protested, pulling at it.

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth was about to ask what was meant by "bag," since he had heard it a lot by now, but he jumped, startled, when the napkin prank happened. He didn't find this funny.

"Is he going to be able to breathe if you do that?"

He wasn't sure he would ever get used to their love of tormenting each other. He hoped they wouldn't ever treat him like that.

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"And talk, sadly," Daja teased. Then she softened and shook her head. "Sandry would never hurt any of us, not intentionally. And anything woven is in her control."

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

He grunted. "Good." He didn't have much else to say on the matter.

Re: *Briar

[4_lumps_of_thread]

Sandry studied him a moment, considering.

Tris snorted rudely. "It's probably me," she snapped.

Sandry shook her head. "I'm not so sure," she said thoughtfully. Then to him she asked. "Do you find us discomforting?" she asked quietly.

"Again, it's me, everyone seems to freak out around me, he was fine before I came down wasn't he?"

Re: *Briar

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth shook his head. "Not precisely. I'm simply ... unused to your brand of teasing each other." He looked to Tris. "I have nothing against you."