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𝚆𝙾𝚁𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙿 (𝙼𝙾𝙳𝚂) ([personal profile] uruz) wrote in [community profile] sacktime2025-09-01 01:28 am
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JERICHO ● SEPTEMBER 2025 EVENT/TDM

TDM & EVENT: JERICHO


Prologue: New Characters

You've been plagued with a reoccuring dream, as of late. Every time you sleep, the dream returns to you.

It always begins the same way: As a breath held for too long. As a pressure at the base of your spine. A silence that presses against the skin like confession, like prophecy. A ripple moves through your bones. A tide builds and pulls at your feet, familiar by now. You dream of a black, soundless wave, thick like oil and starlight, swelling across the horizon line. You've seen the wave before, countless times, always rising. With every night, it never reaches you. You always seem to wake before it does . . . That is, until tonight.

The wave moves slow, deliberate— like something ancient and alive. And when it finally crashes, there is no harsh impact. Only warmth. Only submersion. Rather than drowning, you are being claimed with saltwater that's sweet with myrrh. The darkness embracing you pulses with desire. Then, a voice envelops you.

"Come home."

It dribbles with honey-like promise, like a truth you've always known, whispered now from within your marrow more like temptation than a request.

"You are mine. You always were."

The voice offers purpose. Worship. Belonging. And when you wake . . . You wake changed, with a mask on your face you did not choose. Elegant. Sacred. Too important to remove. You have been given a gift. A new beginning.

Welcome home, new Vessels.


Sink Down Like Precious Stones

( content warnings: drowning, body horror )
Vessels awaken within the dreamscape as the black wave recedes from their skin like velvet falling off the bone, their masks in place over their eyes and left afloat in the watery expanse. All around them, the ocean stretches infinite and lightless— so still it mirrors the sky above, indistinguishable from the void. Far in the distance, massive obsidian walls curve inward, enclosing this vast seascape like a forgotten temple basin. And there, at the far horizon, one glow pierces the dark: a low-burning fire flickering within a half-sunken structure of impossible architecture— arched, ribbed, as though built from marble and cathedral glass.

This is a test, and it begins with belief.

Those with unwavering faith— whether in Sleep, another god, or even themselves— will find the surface beneath their feet holds firm. The sea becomes glass, and they may rise, and walk. But those adrift in doubt begin to sink. Precious stone creeps over their skin. Joints stiffen. Flesh cracks. Breath slows. It is not death, but it is close and might as well be hell. Your only salvation lies in your own conviction . . . Or the mercy of another Vessel who happens to walk.

Those who drown will not die. They will loop this moment— sinking, blackness, return, sink again— until belief takes root in some way. Alternatively, they may awaken in a later dreamspace . . . Changed.

NOTES:
• Pale white fish as well as glowing jellyfish may be encounted. The fish stare at vessels as they drown, and jellyfish may leave behind a shock that could temporarily stop the process of crystalization. But only temporarily— and their stings are excrutiating.
TOKEN EFFECTS:
• Magic becomes volatile— spells flicker, overcharge, or fizzle unpredictably when cast on or near the ocean.
• When you cast, your veins glow from beneath the skin, but not with light. It's writhing. Like something trapped under glass.
• When channeling magic, your mouth may fill with brine and blood.
OFFERING EFFECTS:
• The water responds emotionally— thrashing with fury or calming with yearning depending on the Offering's state of mind.
• The sea amplifies desire and instinct, making base emotions harder to suppress— rage, hunger, longing all churn just beneath the surface.
• The black water feels too warm, too alive, clinging to the body like memory; any stillness invites visions of Sleep's embrace, both reverent and consuming.


You Taste Like New Flesh

( content warnings: body horror, psychological horror, compulsion, unreliable reality )
The ocean path ends at a palace carved of pearl and spun silk, impossibly perched where water meets nothingness. Whether you have traversed the black sea on trembling feet or simply awaken seated at an impossibly long table, it makes no difference. You are here now, and welcomed, suddenly in attire fit for a gala. Around this table sit countless Dream-Vessels, many silent and still, faces unreadable in the flickering candlelight wearing generic, six-eyed masks. The table stretches beyond sight, arching beneath creeping vines that twist like ancient veins overhead, blooming with strange blossoms that beat with energy. Flames dance atop dozens of candles— some burn on brass holders, others hover, like fireflies caught mid-flight, their shadows flickering and shifting with an otherworldly rhythm. Around you, phantasmal forms shimmer on pedestals: Sleep's ancient Guardians are eternalized through memorial, monstrous and magnificent, lost to time yet enshrined in reverence. On the highest pedestal stands a still living One, silent and watching the feast with somber eyes. Sleep's voice whispers in your ear, encouraging a glance to, perhaps, see what you may become.

"Feast, My Dear Vessels. Until you taste like New Flesh."


The foods before you don not come unmeddled with. Each bite pulls memories from your bones to the surface— moments buried or erased, but these are not just yours. The banquet feeds on shared history, stirring secrets tangled between you and the others here. To eat is to open a door: to risk awakening something dormant, to invite others inside your buried truths, to forge bonds or betrayals that can never be unseen.
Eton Mess: Crushed meringue, tangled cream, and berries that bleed like bruises when bitten. Sweetness melts quickly, leaving your tongue cold. As you eat, a memory rises— but you don't experience it alone. The person nearest you sees what you see, hears what you hear, feels what you felt. Together, you can alter one key detail, and that change ripples outward, shifting how you both remember the event.

Deviled Kidneys: Spiced and seared, the metallic richness clings to your mouth, as if tasting old blood. Eating summons the echo of a painful or violent memory, but your partner experiences it with you.

Roasted Lamb in Mint Sauce: The sweetness of the meat is cut by mint sharp enough to sting the throat. Your act of consumption awakens a craving, but not in you— in the Vessel sharing this dish. They feel an inexorable pull toward your memory, even without knowing what they seek. The bond persists until the craving is confronted.

Honey Scouse: A thick, golden stew heavy with warmth, but beneath the sweetness, something cloying curls around the edges. Every shared spoonful spreads a slow, creeping influence between you and your partner: intrusive visions, subtle compulsions, small lapses in agency. Neither of you can tell whose thoughts belong to whom.

Starpit Fruit: Plum-sized and faintly glowing, the juice leaves your fingertips dusted in silver, like handling starlight. When bitten, the fruit releases the memory of a forgotten wish, not to you but to the person beside you. They see it clearly— and know exactly what you once wanted most, even if you had buried it.

Marigold Brandy: A golden spirit served warm, glowing faintly as though sunlight has been trapped inside the glass. When lifted, it releases a soft, floral scent. The first sip draws you and your partner into a shared burst of joy— a memory that makes you swell with happiness. The sensation is so immediate, so electric, that when the memory breaks, your bodies ache to move, to speak, to draw more positivity to light. You may feel an irresistible pull to get up and dance on the wide palace floors, even if no music is playing . . . And if others nearby drink as well, the effect multiplies.

Saints Breath Chalice: A dark, wine-thick cordial served in tarnished silver cups etched with symbols that shift when stared at too long. The liquid smells faintly of frankincense and something sweeter— blood-warm and alive. Drinking it floods you and your partner with the overwhelming sensation of being inside someone else's celebration, a memory that belongs to neither of you: a vast mass of black, with branching antlers and six, glowing red eyes. It reaches to sink its claws into your chest as she sings: One. Beloved. We were meant to be. It is impossible to tell whether you're witnessing joy or manic worship. There is chanting you cannot understand but somehow already know, drums that sync with your heartbeat until you can feel nothing else. Your limbs begin to twitch, then sway, then move without conscious thought, drawn into a dance you do not remember learning. If more than two people drink, your movements synchronize perfectly, your breath matching theirs, until the room seems stop to watch.

The table awaits.

NOTES:
• Feasting becomes addictive. The more a character eats, the harder it is to stop. Gluttony may cause physical consequences: nosebleeds, twitching fingers, warping speech, uncontrollable confessions, or dripping nectar from their mouths.
• Those who refuse to eat at all begin to starve in a dream-sense: they lose color, smell burning, and feel the weight of Sleep's gaze. Her wrath isn't immediate— but it grows the longer you reject the feast. She takes offense.
TOKEN EFFECTS:
• Each spell cast after eating releases parasitic energy— manifesting as flowers, thorns, parasitic insects or rot— either from their own body or from someone they recently touched.
• Casting warps your limbs temporarily: too many joints, fingers curl the wrong way, nerves burn like wires.
• Touching others leaves sigils burned into their skin. These will briefly carry over into the waking world during next month's event. Runecasters will get the innate feeling that this symbol has a meaning summed up as "The Night Does Not Belong To God". How they interpret that is up to them.
OFFERING EFFECTS:
• The act of devouring awakens an overwhelming desire, often physical, but sometimes emotional or spiritual. This desire clings to another Vessel at the table, creating obsessive attachment or aggression.
• The more they eat, the more their monstrous traits subtly emerge.
• Consuming another Vessel's memory (if shared or touched) grants a brief glimpse of their deepest fear or weakness.

There's Something In The Way You Lay

( content warnings: sexual content, voyeurism, body modification, omegaverse traits, loss of agency )
Beneath its pearlescent halls, beyond the banquet of flickering candles and dream-Vessels who eat in hollow silence, a spiral staircase winds downward. Its steps are damp and velvet-slick. The further you descend, the warmer the air becomes— humid, cloying, thick with the scent of sweat, salt, and incense. The sounds reach you first: Slaps, gasps, the wet chorus of bodies and perverse intimacy. Laughter, muffled sobs, the echo of whispered names long forgotten. At the base lies a corridor of "private" rooms. Their doors swing open with dreamlike invitation. Inside, the scenes unfold: past dream-Vessels lost in tableau— arched backs, bitten lips, mouths open in prayer or obedience. Some are alone, coiled in worship. Others tangle in groups, indistinguishable where one body ends and another begins. Vines bloom across the ceilings, watching. The walls glisten with breath. You see their faces, but you can't quite distinguish what or who they are. You may not remember choosing a role, but the dream has chosen for you. α or Ω— and with the naming, your body changes. There is no shame here, only devotion made manifest. This is how Sleep is worshipped now: through cruelty and surrender, through the giving and the taking of flesh.

NOTES
• Masks may optionally offer a sort of glamour for Vessels who wander into these chambers— they will not be able to recognize each other. How much of that, whether it be appearance, voice, and so on, is up to you.
• Past dream-Vessels perform for no one, eyes vacant, movements perfect, as if only a ghost of a memory. Player characters may interact with them and even partake in intimacy with them, but be warned: they are emotionally absent and may cause symptoms of succumbence that could be remedied with a proper, player-character tether.
• Tools hang on the walls: Rods of all sizes, slick with heat. Collars that hum with low, seductive voltage. Blindfolds that intensify physical contact, There's no need for cuffs or chains when there are vines that seem to respond to the α party's mood— tightening, flowering, or reaching for skin. You are free to come up with your own items.
α perks:: Instinctive claiming (done through biting, rubbing, branding, etc), an almost predatory focus and obsession for those who interest them, pack gravity (the ability to attract one or more vessels at once), emitting a scent that ignites heat/rut in others, darker urges surge and a commanding voice.
Ω perks: High pain tolerance, instinctive yielding, emotional synchrony with those being watched, self-lubricating, hypersensitive, scent tracking, intense need to please or be filled emotionally, physically, and spiritually. When touched, glowing runes bloom across the skin.
TOKEN EFFECTS
• Spells cast during acts of intimacy may provoke a heightened sensation of euphoria for both caster and whoever is affected by the spell.
• Magic may manifest as misty appendages— extra hands, tongues, eyes, etc.
• Divine energy becomes volatile when passed through the body— ecstasy may border on agony, or vice versa, and Tethering becomes impossibly euphoric.
OFFERING EFFECTS
• Flesh becomes malleable mid-act— bones bending, jaws unhinging, skin blooming open, etc.
• Animalistic traits emerge: tails, claws, growls, tentacles, scent glands— all begging to be used.
• Feeding and Tethering are indistinguishable— hunger becomes worship, and worship becomes need.

I am not worthy

( content warnings: body horror, violence, gore, parasitic/invasive feeding, death )
Wherever you are, the palace begins to rot. First slowly, then all at once: vines swell with black fluid, splitting at the seams. They burst from beneath marble tiles, coil up pillars, slither across frames and vacant thrones like arteries choking a heart. The candlelight flickers. One by one, the flames throughout the palace float upward . . . And die. No smoke. No warning. Just wet silence. Then the Dream-Vessels begin to fall. They do not scream as they do. They collapse like marionettes, limbs askew. Their flesh splits open along wounds that should not exist— a rip at the neck, teeth marks prying open the ribcage, a bite that swallows half a torso. Bones jut like sculpted ivory. Entrails slither across the floor like garlands. Some burst mid-air, as if the dream demands spectacle. Others fold in on themselves until all that's left of them is a mound of flesh.

"I am not worthy."


One voice. Ten. A thousand—layered, glitching, sweaty. It echoes from the walls, the bodies, the seams in the floor. The corpses twitch in time with the chant, jerking violently. Some snap backwards, eyes wide, jaws unhinged. Others explode— blossoming in gore, raining viscera. From the heaving pile of ruined Dream-Vessels, something forms.

It lurches into being: stitched from tongues, teeth, torsos. Weeping. Wailing. Worshipping. A monstrosity of raw flesh and faith: all failures made meat. Its eyes (are they eyes?) blink out. Arms claw outwards, too many to count. Its scent is of copper, sweat, and sorrow.

When The Abomination chooses to feed, it seeks not flesh, but the softest rot inside you. An appendage uncoils from its writhing mass and unhinged jaw— veined, slick, and trembling like a violated root. It drives itself into your mouth, splitting your lips with obscene tenderness, and sinks deep into your throat, locking you still.

What it draws out is not blood. It siphons your doubts, your fears, your most secret self-hatred. Your inadequacy. Every buried shame. Your hate. Your negativity. Every flinch of unworthiness. Every moment you believed yourself unlovable, unseen, too small. It gorges on what you hide from even yourself, and the more you try to resist, the sweeter your sorrow becomes. The last thing it takes is your life force, and then your viscera, leaving you wilted and shrivled like a hollow log.

This death is violating and feels painfully slow. You're drained raw of your vitality until you're but a brittle husk that breaks to dust in the wind. It seems near impossible to destroy, always reforming into bits and pieces left smudged behind. Perhaps your best bet it to run, or attempt to wake yourself up from this nightmare.

One's voice repeats in choked sobs: I am not worthy.

NOTES:
• Wounds from the beast linger. You may wake bleeding or marked.
• If devoured, characters will awaken the following month extremely fatigued during the first 3-5 days of the month. They may also sporadically rigurgitate black sludge. Characters who die and are already in the game may requesta plot clue, that will be a vision your character will dream of before awakening.
TOKEN EFFECTS
• Magic recoils violently when used on The Abomination, backfiring with psychic screams or ripping into your flesh.
• Your hands glow uncontrollably, burning what you touch— even those you love.
• Magic becomes hungry; it demands pieces of your body to function. A tooth. A nail. A rib (and so on).
OFFERING EFFECTS
• The rage it stirs in you is monstrous. You begin to shift uncontrollably— flesh blooms, bones crack under strain.
• Your body begins moving before you decide to. Twitching toward The Abomination, and toward the scent of despair.
• During the chaos, you may develop a fixation with another Vessel's flaw. You can smell it on them. It entrances you . . . To the point that you may feel the urge to feed them to The Abomination.



OOC NOTES

➤ Welcome to Somnia's second TDM, which doubles as our third gamewide event!

➤ This TDM is considered game canon. You are free to have your character remember as many details as possible.

Only new characters are free to experiment with the Vessel options to your liking; this is a dreamscape, so multiple/different situations for you to really test which option you like most is possible. Current characters must remain as their chosen Vessel type unless you requested a switch, which can be done on the Taken page.

➤ All TDMs take place within a dreamscape, meaning characters can interact with the setting without needing to apply. Come have fun with us!

➤ Veteran players, I ask to please refrain from making post-event threads for the time being! We have some important information to take into account in next month's event when characters are slated to "wake up". At the very least, please wait for the information to be offered on the next plotting post. Thank you everyone for your patience!

➤ Please comment on the TDM's INVITE TL if you are a new player interested in joining the game, but don't yet have an invite. Current players or the mod may reach out to extend an invite. Once you've got one, please don't forget to comment on the Invite page so you may properly link it in your reserve and app.

➤ Questions? Please direct them to the designated questions comment linked below!

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potentialman: (Daddy issues.)

[personal profile] potentialman 2025-09-03 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Megumi pointedly ignores the age thing. It doesn't seem deliberate, the way it might be coming from someone like Gojo, but it also doesn't seem worth arguing. ]

Well, just sitting here isn't going to get me out either.

[ Asking for help from this guy isn't even on the table, in his mind. Megumi's bad at asking for help in the best of circumstances, but this guy in particular...no. He's already written him off as "not to be relied on."

And really, every word out of the man's mouth only goes to shore up that assumption. ]


Nobody's alive to care, anyway. Do whatever. [ He definitely wouldn't trust this guy to be responsible with a gun either, but nobody in hellscape New York has any fucks left to give. They're all busy with things like not dying. ]
revolts: (pic#16174615)

[personal profile] revolts 2025-09-05 09:38 am (UTC)(link)
Thought you said you didn't think this was the afterlife? [ toji asks this mildly, almost like he's making conversation about the weather rather than any serious attempt to puzzle out their situation.

he watches megumi make negative progress for a few seconds longer, but there really is something to him, especially from top down like this—

reaching out with one hand, toji plucks megumi up by the back of his shirt collar with all the effort it would take the average person to grab a piece of litter off the pavement. he dangles megumi in midair in front of him, lifting him high enough to peer into his face. ]


What's your name?
potentialman: (Wizard music.)

[personal profile] potentialman 2025-09-05 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
It's still a post-apocalyptic dump and the people who used to live here aren't. I don't see how that's a contrad--

[ He was not prepared to be suddenly yanked up, which just seems ridiculous even for someone whose muscles are bursting out of his shirt like this guy. Which is, now that he considers it, a bit familiar --

-- but no, Shibuya was a mess and he was already about to keel over when that guy had shown up. His memory of the whole night gets kind of fuzzy in places, and "stupidly strong" is hardly evidence of anything. He can't even see this guy's face.

It's nothing.

But the question -- that pricks at his memory, too. That voice, in that tone, asking his name --

-- no, that's stupid, it's nothing? ]


...Fushiguro.

[ He does his best not to squirm, although the temptation is immense. But as much as he's looking to be put down, if being put down means going straight down through the water again, this is (regretfully, embarrassingly) a marginal improvement. ]
revolts: (pic#16174619)

[personal profile] revolts 2025-09-06 01:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ yeah, no way that's a coincidence. but toji keeps his expression neutral, not a single flicker of recognition or emotion passing over the infuriating little half-smile on his face as he stands up from his squat, megumi still gripped by the back of his shirt. this movement probably chokes the poor kid a bit, and toji glances around as though trying to visibly weigh his options. ]

Fushiguro...? [ he replies, trying to prompt the rest of it even if he doesn't particularly need it. the kid, the attitude, the stupid fucking unruly hair toji gave up on when the kid was still a toddler, about three bottles of awful gel and spray product in. (there'd been a brief stint with a lot of bows, but toji can't remember exactly when. it came and it went, like every other brief glimmer of joy in his life, here and gone again. here and gone again.)

megumi looks too young to be dead.

the idea of it is making his chest so tight it hurts to pull air in, but he doesn't know exactly what to do with the information. he wraps the emotion up tight and shoves it down for later, for maybe never, and finally just tosses the kid over his shoulder to keep him out of the water and out of the way. he doesn't say anything else or do anything else, still waiting expectantly for a response. ]
potentialman: (Unfathomable stupidity.)

[personal profile] potentialman 2025-09-06 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Megumi can't quite stifle the little oof when he's hauled up, or the noise of indignation when he's tossed over the man's shoulder. What the hell? ]

Megumi.

[ What difference does it really make, he wants to ask, but he also doesn't particularly want to get chucked back into the water to sink or swim again -- because he's already seen how well that's going, and while he knows damned well how to swim in a normal body of water, there's an odd sense that he wasn't simply sinking from normal issues of buoyancy, but being...pulled.

He's seen enough of Sleep's bullshit to have suspicions about the kind of things that might be lurking under the water's surface. No, thank you. ]


You going to give me yours, or what?
revolts: (pic#16294482)

[personal profile] revolts 2025-09-06 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[ and there it is. that tightness in his chest worsens and his teeth audibly click together as they gnash, but the good thing about having the boy tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes is that he can't see the boy's face any longer, and the boy also can't see his.

megumi. megumi.

their little miracle, their new beginning, their blessing.

even when no more them remained, megumi was still— ]


'Or what.' [ toji repeats this with a forced grin, offering megumi no hint at his own identity. he moves them right along instead, looking around to see where they might go from here. ]

Should we head for the light or is that a bad idea?
Edited 2025-09-06 18:08 (UTC)
potentialman: (Da clerb.)

[personal profile] potentialman 2025-09-06 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ God, does this guy have to work to be this frustrating? Megumi twists his head up to glare daggers into the back of the man's head.

It's not going to do...anything, but he needs to vent his annoyance at the utter indignity of getting tossed around like a bag of rice somewhere. ]


If this is anything like the last one...it's going to be bad news whether we go there or not.

[ Although he's inclined to say they should go, because while he's not sure there's anything useful to be learned from this dream, if there is, it will be there, and not found by standing around in the middle of an empty expanse of water.

Also, if they find dry land, maybe this guy will put him down. ]


I'd say go for it.
revolts: (pic#16174615)

[personal profile] revolts 2025-09-06 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ toji being this frustrating is his natural state of being and takes no energy at all! in fact, he experiences some energy gain when he's being a horrible little shit to absolutely everyone. much like the man who actually raised you, megumi. what does that say about you? impossible to tell. ]

Great, love to hear it. [ is that sarcasm? yes. does toji sound a little too into it nonetheless? also yes. grinning faintly to himself, he... pats megumi's rump not entirely unlike someone trying to soothe a baby. ]

Hold onto your ass, kid.

[ and with that warning, he's off like a shot, sprinting across the water like he's trying to outrun a bullet train, all of megumi balanced over his shoulder like the kid weighs nothing at all. ]
Edited 2025-09-06 18:43 (UTC)
potentialman: (Girls.)

[personal profile] potentialman 2025-09-06 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Did he seriously just --

-- and there's no time to think about it because then they're off, and Megumi has to twist his head back around to something normal instead of awkwardly trying to glare at his...rescuer? (sigh?) before he sprains something.

There is a loud harumph coming from behind Toji as they continue, though. ]
revolts: (pic#16174619)

[personal profile] revolts 2025-09-09 10:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ they cut across the sea like a homing missile, toji's stride swift, purposeful, and unbroken. his gait is, perhaps, surprisingly graceful for someone his size, someone with his broad build and coarse personality. he does not stop for anyone else, does not pause to give any of the other drowning or the damned any attention at all. it's impossible, too, for him not to see them, as his path threads between every figure standing upon the sea and every break in the water of someone struggling, no matter how subtle or small. he takes it all in, and he avoids them, because he already has the only thing that matters.

she wouldn't be here. he'd have to tear it all down bare-handed and bloody if she was, so she can't be. she isn't.

megumi's presence, well. there's some kind of saying about the sins of the father, and toji has too many of those to count or name.

sorry, kid.

he doesn't stop until they're on the far shore, and there— he sets megumi down, without production or ceremony, and sort of... shoos him forward with one hand. ]


There. Go find your little friends or whatever.
potentialman: (Waiting till marriage.)

[personal profile] potentialman 2025-09-09 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Every person they pass, Megumi takes notice, and stays silent. It's not his decision, when he hasn't even been able to save himself, and it doesn't surprise him at all that this stranger doesn't spare a moment for them.

Really, the only thing Megumi still doesn't understand is why the man spared a moment for him.

And when they reach the shore, and he finds himself dismissed...that's not really a surprise either, and Megumi doesn't bother asking why he bothered. If he couldn't get a name, he's certainly not going to get that much. ]


...thank you.