[ ic ] [ ximilia ] top level tdm.

●●● PART II, 5.0 — sunlight room ;

[ This past month ... has been something of a whirlwind. After ten years of relative calm, peace, hell — borderline ennui — it's been a lot to take in, a lot to process.

And now he's here, on this station in the middle of who-the-hell-knows-what-galaxy, sitting with the fact that he might have just made a deal without quite realizing its impact. But it could change ... a lot. It could change his whole life, everything that had happened to him, his sister, their family. Maybe it could be the domino that... undoes some of the things that happened.

Shang-chi closes his eyes, feet spreading apart, and moves one arm upwards, hand poised to gently cut through the air before he switches sides to echo the motion.

There's a closed, wooden box not far from him, settled in the soft, dry grass while the leaves float around like perhaps he has some kind of influence over them. He opens his eyes then to spare the box a quick glance, maybe to make sure it's still there, or maybe because he's just noticed you stepping into the sunlight room too.

It isn't that he's self-conscious or anything, but ... okay, maybe he's just a little self-conscious. ]

Hey — [ He sounds apologetic, then straightens and gestures to himself as though to explain the Tai Chi he'd just been doing. ] It — uh. Helps me relax.


●●● PART III, 9.0 — carnival ;

[ There was this one time when Shang-chi and his best friend had gone to this escape room for the first time, played with some of the VR elements, got really, really drunk, and then banned from ever going back again.

Fun times.

Stepping into the simulation room reminds him of that memory, and he relives it with a kind of silly smile on his face, even though he knows this place is just an illusion, unlike those beers he'd somehow managed to sneak in. He can be found wandering past the booths, maybe grabbing a bag of popcorn along the way (how the hell does this taste so real?), maybe playing a couple games.

It's when he spots you at one of the game booths, maybe struggling to hit a bulls-eye or slam the mallet down to hit a bell, that he heads over. ]

Hey, need a hand?

[ Look, those prizes seem pretty cool, and there's nothing wrong with carrying a gigantic plush bear around even if they might not get to keep them once they leave this place, right? Besides, one of the goals they'd been tasked with involves winning those Carnival games, so it's time to put that to the test. ]


●●● PART III, 9.0 — graveyard ;

[ Later, Shang-chi will make his way past the Carnival, mostly because he's curious to see just how far this simulation goes, and maybe because the rhythm and repetition from the circus music playing across the fairgrounds is starting to give him a bit of a headache.

It's faded now that he's all the way out here, and he's got no idea how the fog and mist manages to feel so cool against his skin, but he's going with it. Grass and twigs crunch under his feet (sporting Nike AJs) as he wanders into ... great.

A graveyard. As if things didn't feel spooky enough.

There are names he doesn't recognize, and most of them can be easily ignored. But one of them — no. No, that can't be. ]

How the hell — [ He hastens his steps, approaches said particular tombstone, and crouches to his knees to brush the dust and grime off of the text engraved into the stone in black. ]

This isn't real. [ He reminds himself. ] And this is a pretty sick joke.

[ There's his name — 徐尚氣 — scrawled across the stone, clear as day. ]


●●● WILDCARD ;

[ ooc: as per always, feel free to leave any manner of the above prompts below with changes to suit, or hmu with something completely different! if you want to plot out any details feel free to find me over on plurk (thwip) or journal PM! ]