escordvi | [open] 🐺 cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars

Who: Zack Fair & You
Status: Open!
Where: The Seventh Heaven, Eltrut, wherever these threads happen.
What: And open log for Zack for the month of January! A closed prompt for crewmates and some quests.
Warnings: ~~i've seen enough to know where tentacles go~~

[🐺 a: snowfall: closed to crewmates]

[The constant snowfall is no joke. For a world that’s mostly (arguably) tropical, the recent snow and ice storms feel wildly out of place, and relentless. By morning, the Seventh Heaven lies buried beneath a fresh white sheet, and the ship itself can’t leave port until at least some of it has been shovelled clear.

That’s where Zack is now! Bundled up in some light winter gear, shovel in hand, sending snow sliding over the edge of the ship’s deck. When he spots you, he breaks into a wide grin and saunters over, pressing a spare shovel into your hands like it’s an invitation rather than a chore.]

Come on, up and at em. This snow won’t shovel itself. Let’s get this snow off the deck so we can ship out later.

[🐺 b: fleamaster mooshka]

[Zack is more than used to random quests being… well, random. Catching fleas isn’t anything new. Even if herding tiny bugs is a first for him. In theory, it should be pretty easy to find and capture bugs… But ones that are this tiny?]

Actually? Serious question. How exactly are we supposed to go around catching bugs smaller than a ladybug?

[Eltrut is also a massive place to search. Who knows how far these fleas have escaped to, and who knows how long it’s going to take to find them. Zack starts at the Eltrut docks and he plans to comb his way up through town and probably into the outskirts and woods too. It’s a hefty task but Zack wants to do it right.]

Alright, let’s do this.

[🐺 c: no rift out there]

[Out of nowhere, one of those peculiar shinning rifts appears. At first, Zack thinks it might be one of the usual rifts that’s about to spit out a new Riftfarer from another world. Over the years, Zack’s become used to the task of helping out the newbies, no matter how far they come from. A rift is a rift. And just another day in Escordvi.

It’s for exactly this reason that Zack barely thinks twice about the rift. He steps closer, already reaching out to help whoever might come sprawling through it. Only for a long, black tentacle to snap out without warning, coiling around his neck so fast he barely has time to react.]

Tch!?

[Zack struggles instantly, yanking at the tentacle with all his strength, trying to force it to loosen its grip. It’s much stronger than it looks. He ends up grappling with it instead, fingers slipping as he fights to gasp in a breath.

The slimy limb around his neck tightens, crushing, and the slick tip of another tentacle writhes upward, trying to force its way past his lips. His chest burns. The air won’t come. Breathing gets harder and harder and panic claws in as his vision starts to blur...!!

This is so gross!!]

[🐺 e: wildcard]

[got something else? feel free to wild card me here too. Or find me at michrure for some plotting.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The island they are exploring is icy and mountainous, and the quest itself is straightforward. Explore the land and chart whatever they can. Zack and Tifa have worked together plenty of times before. By now, cooperation comes naturally, even on something as routine as basic island exploration.

Still, as they land on the shore, Zack senses something unusual in the air. He cannot quite put a name to it, but it feels ... too peaceful? Quiet and serene in a way he has not experienced in a long time.]

Seems pretty quiet out here. ... Almost too quiet?

[If that makes any sense.]

[Even if there are others that she knows are exploring the island, she, too, feels something a little bit off about all of this. Namely—]

Where is everyone?

[She expected that there would be more people working near the ships that are anchored here, or at least others that are charting out the territory to help move things along, but... there is not a single soul here.

She glances at Zack, and then towards the trees, and there's trepidation in her step because yes, something feels very odd about this place that she can't quite put her finger on.]

Let's try going around the beach first? See if we can find anyone? We can draw out a path on the way.

[ Perhaps there's something to be said about bad luck...

Because what other explanation could there possibly be for her to constantly be finding Zack when the horrors were all around? Fortunately (or unfortunately, depends on how you look at it) there wasn't much time for Betsy to really think about that. Not with the entire tentacle quickly taking away his ability to breath.

And live.

That's bad too.

She rushes over to it and summons up a weapon, a glowing magenta sword, and slices straight through the tentacle wrapped around him. ]

Why did it have to be bloody tentacles...

[ because slicing one leaves quite the smell. Like burned calamari. Burned metallic calamari. Yum. ]

Are you alright? [ Now that he can potentially breath again. ]

[He's become more of a facet on the ship since he agreed to join the crew with Cloud, not that he's told anyone. If someone had taken a look at the roster, they'd know, but he's not talking.

He doesn't seem too effected by the cold, either, clad as he is in his usual leathers and cape.

He looks down at the shovel thrust in his direction then back to Zack.]

Why would we sail in this?

[Snow wasn't new to him. Being a cryo user, he had seen ice and snow plenty of times where he could create a foot of it if he wanted to. So when he was given a shovel, he looked down at the deck before nodding.]

...I wonder if I use my cryo vision will it make the snow disappear faster.

[Hopefully this strike of lightning (literally) will be enough to wake him out of that stupor and knock some consciousness back into him! There's a flash of bright light and the sound and awful smell of something sizzling as the tentacle unravels itself from Zack's neck and withdraws back into the rift where it came from. Lightning stands there in horror, watching it disappear, before rushing over to catch him, grabbing his arm to sling it around her shoulders to support him.]

The hell are these things!?

[Rhetorical because she figures that no one has the damn answer to it right now.]

Can you stand?

[open] 🐺 cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars

closed to tifa lockhart 🌹

no subject

c

a. snowfall

a

c!!