Adrien Agreste (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
modelcivilian) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
social_linked2017-08-21 11:04 am
modelcivilian) wrote in social_linked2017-08-21 11:04 am
Picture Perfect [Dungeon]
The announcement is gradual instead of immediate, but the signs of another disappearance are evident should they know where to look. Above the bustling main street of Shibuya, the sign displaying high above the crossroads displays a timer and emblem. It's simple - a thin circle around the silhouette of a butterfly; easily just like any other design. Though, it might have a few people talking, speculating, and generating rumors like anything advertised there.
After all, it was the symbol of the fashion design, Gabriel Agreste.
... But he's still present.
Adrien Agreste has disappeared on location.
Option A: Musée d'art moderne Papillion - Exploration
The dungeon, from the outside, appears compact. It's clean cut, rectangular, and seems like a building that would be open to the public, but perhaps hosting more formal events than general ones.
It's... clean.
White, pristine, and empty, empty, empty upon entry.
There are only five floors - five floors, but plenty of rooms that might as well be designed by MC Escher. Clean black, white, and gray nonsense loops, turns, and endless stairs that seem to make rooms and floors repeat. On walls, on ceilings, and from the floor, Shadows take the from of perfect-imperfect statues and surreal paintings that come to life and attack when approached - or when the group finds themselves coming out of yet another wrong turn far too close to them.
Sometimes though, there's one other visitor present in the gallery: a boy with blonde hair dressed in a flawless suit facing away and observing some paintings in the gallery.
"What am I missing? What do these have that I don't?"
His voice is contemplative and the tone is flat. He doesn't bother looking at the group before going on his own way, mumbling something about getting it right soon.
---
Option B: Fifth Floor - Mid-Boss Battle
Through the double black doors, the room bears immaculate black-and-white tiling alongside smooth white walls. Like floors before, it's far too vast for a single painting on the far wall: the first colored painting in the gallery really. Reminiscent of The Lady in Gold, the woman featured has blonde hair and green eyes alight with life, but clearly frowning. In her hands, there appears to be a key clutched tightly.
Like many of the other Shadow paintings, she probably moves too...
... but despite her and the many eyes adorning her golden robes watching, the hostile energy radiating in the room isn't coming from her, but nearby.
---
Option C: Ground Floor - Shadow Adrien
Conquering the mid-boss and navigating the maze of the Gallery Dungeon, the explorers will find themselves approaching another room on the Ground Floor. It's the Storage Room and Studio, but its initial discovery would reveal it was locked. Fortunately, the Mother in Gold has bestowed the key upon defeating the Mid-Boss Statue Shadow on the fifth floor.
With it, those who are prepared may enter.
It's the first and only room that's been messy; though, perhaps 'messy' was an understatement. 'Trashed' might be more accurate. Shattered stone fragments are scattered across the ground, mingled with black and white paint splatters and ripped canvas mats, their frames scattered and broken into splinters. All of this is around a single granite pedestal supporting a translucent box barely big enough for a person; and yet, there's Adrien Agreste sitting inside it, his knees up to his chest and hands covering his ears.
On the outside, one hand beating the box, is another Adrien with amber eyes - the same one who had been wandering throughout the gallery.
"Wrong... That's wrong. Stop being incompetent... Get up so we can get it right."
Hitting it a few more times, the Shadow looks down, but then slowly turns his head. His stoic face with narrowed eyes lock on the group.
"You again? First, you enter my Gallery and show without an invitation; then, you attack my security; and now, you're entering restricted areas? I'd have you arrested if the police weren't so useless."
---
(OOC: Explore to your content. Painting Shadows primarily use magic, all elements abound, but status abilities focus on causing confusion, daze, and exhaustion. Standard opposing elements as weakness apply. Statues use more physical attacks again with status effects centered around the same ones as the paintings. Mid-Boss and Shadow Adrien attacks/spells to follow as the battle does.)
After all, it was the symbol of the fashion design, Gabriel Agreste.
... But he's still present.
Adrien Agreste has disappeared on location.
Option A: Musée d'art moderne Papillion - Exploration
The dungeon, from the outside, appears compact. It's clean cut, rectangular, and seems like a building that would be open to the public, but perhaps hosting more formal events than general ones.
It's... clean.
White, pristine, and empty, empty, empty upon entry.
There are only five floors - five floors, but plenty of rooms that might as well be designed by MC Escher. Clean black, white, and gray nonsense loops, turns, and endless stairs that seem to make rooms and floors repeat. On walls, on ceilings, and from the floor, Shadows take the from of perfect-imperfect statues and surreal paintings that come to life and attack when approached - or when the group finds themselves coming out of yet another wrong turn far too close to them.
Sometimes though, there's one other visitor present in the gallery: a boy with blonde hair dressed in a flawless suit facing away and observing some paintings in the gallery.
"What am I missing? What do these have that I don't?"
His voice is contemplative and the tone is flat. He doesn't bother looking at the group before going on his own way, mumbling something about getting it right soon.
---
Option B: Fifth Floor - Mid-Boss Battle
Through the double black doors, the room bears immaculate black-and-white tiling alongside smooth white walls. Like floors before, it's far too vast for a single painting on the far wall: the first colored painting in the gallery really. Reminiscent of The Lady in Gold, the woman featured has blonde hair and green eyes alight with life, but clearly frowning. In her hands, there appears to be a key clutched tightly.
Like many of the other Shadow paintings, she probably moves too...
... but despite her and the many eyes adorning her golden robes watching, the hostile energy radiating in the room isn't coming from her, but nearby.
---
Option C: Ground Floor - Shadow Adrien
Conquering the mid-boss and navigating the maze of the Gallery Dungeon, the explorers will find themselves approaching another room on the Ground Floor. It's the Storage Room and Studio, but its initial discovery would reveal it was locked. Fortunately, the Mother in Gold has bestowed the key upon defeating the Mid-Boss Statue Shadow on the fifth floor.
With it, those who are prepared may enter.
It's the first and only room that's been messy; though, perhaps 'messy' was an understatement. 'Trashed' might be more accurate. Shattered stone fragments are scattered across the ground, mingled with black and white paint splatters and ripped canvas mats, their frames scattered and broken into splinters. All of this is around a single granite pedestal supporting a translucent box barely big enough for a person; and yet, there's Adrien Agreste sitting inside it, his knees up to his chest and hands covering his ears.
On the outside, one hand beating the box, is another Adrien with amber eyes - the same one who had been wandering throughout the gallery.
"Wrong... That's wrong. Stop being incompetent... Get up so we can get it right."
Hitting it a few more times, the Shadow looks down, but then slowly turns his head. His stoic face with narrowed eyes lock on the group.
"You again? First, you enter my Gallery and show without an invitation; then, you attack my security; and now, you're entering restricted areas? I'd have you arrested if the police weren't so useless."
---
(OOC: Explore to your content. Painting Shadows primarily use magic, all elements abound, but status abilities focus on causing confusion, daze, and exhaustion. Standard opposing elements as weakness apply. Statues use more physical attacks again with status effects centered around the same ones as the paintings. Mid-Boss and Shadow Adrien attacks/spells to follow as the battle does.)
no subject
It took some time traversing through this dungeon before Gwendolyn could piece things together. She adored Gabriel Agreste's work and hadn't realized he had a son until he disappeared. Now that she has, the valkyrie's getting an eerie sense of familiarity from all of this. She learned first hand how dungeons can drop personal info like no one's business, but this? The poor boy working so hard to try and please a negligent father...
This rang too many bells in her mind.
It also pushed her to keep on going, the gymnast determined to bring him back safely. She carved her way through the paintings with her spear in hand, her wings carrying her through battles and the dungeon itself. Truly, she embodied a mix of grace and ferocity. All it took was the wings of freedom.
The same king of gift she hoped to inspire in Adrien after stepping through those large doors, instead finding a beautiful painting of a woman. Such bright colors betrayed her gray expression, a point that draws a look of concern over the girl.
"Such sadness...it reminds me of the painting 'Sayuri.' She must've been someone important to him...."
C
Gwen's grip on her spear is firm, eyes looking between Adrien and his shadow. Too readily does her mind think back to her own shadow, the Ringleader's taunting leaving her curled up on the ground and trying to will this all away. It's painful, facing yourself like this; she couldn't have done it alone.
Thankfully, she didn't have to. Now, it's Gwendolyn's turn to pay it forward.
The valkyrie points her weapon at the shadow. "Release him at once, shadow."
C
"And who are you to make demands? Again, you're the one trespassing."
Standing straight, it scoffs.
"I suppose there always has to be some purveyor in imperfect pieces."
no subject
He could see it's effect on Gwendolyn. He wasn't sure he had the words available to comfort her, and his eyes remained on the artwork before him.
"If I could hazard a guess, it's probably his mother," A careful and almost hesitant squeeze to her shoulder, before he let go, moving a step or two towards the painting, "She went missing several years ago, according to the file on him."
He eyed the key she was clutching, feeling that hostile intensity coming from somewhere. Was she trying to protect the key?
no subject
When she saw the symbol displayed on Shibuya's billboards, her heart sank. There was no way she wouldn't know the symbol of her favourite fashion designer, especially when she was here in Tokyo with his program. At first she thought something happened to Gabriel, much like the public had thought. But no, he was fine, he hadn't been targeted.
When she realized it was Adrien, her heart sank. The socially-awkward boy with the kind heart and the friendly demeanor who had completely stolen her heart without even realizing it, harbouring enough inner turmoil to produce a Shadow and a Dungeon? It was horrible... and Marinette wanted to help him as soon as humanly possible.
She normally took fighting the Shadows with determination, but always offers moral support and even a few jokes every now and then. This time, there's a seriousness to Marinette that wasn't there before, a single-minded drive to get through the Dungeon.
C
Given the pristine, immaculate interior of the rest of the dungeon, the trashed Storage Room was a jarring shock. It put an uneasy feeling into Marinette, and she knew that they had to hurry in order to rescue Adrien.
Once the party reaches the pedistal, Marinette gasps at the treatment. She remembered how her own Shadow had taunted her, but seeing this... her heart hurt to see such a display. Her fists clench and she steps forward.
"Stop it! Let Adrien go!"
C
The Shadow smirks, amber eyes narrowing at the sight of her of all people.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'm not surprised that you've decided to come... Too bad you've wasted your time for this. This has to be the lowest quality of the Agreste line."
no subject
Turning her attention to Adrien, she tried calling out to him. "Adrien, listen! This thing, it's just turning your worst fears against you!"
no subject
Adrien was listening, but when Adrien listened, it was both Marinette's voice and his Shadow's, and he didn't want to hear the latter speak. "It's a position he chose because he realized that's all he is. No one wants Adrien; everyone wants Agreste."
no subject
Was he really hurting this much inside?
"Adrien, this thing is just trying to scare and bully you. There may be a part of you that agrees with it, but that doesn't mean it's right!" She remembered her own struggles with her Shadow, how it laughed and taunted her, how cruel its words were. But she had overcome it, and she had grown stronger for facing it, not letting it dominate her.
"Your Shadow is just using your insecurities against you. You're better than what it thinks, Adrien!"
no subject
"S-Stop it..."
The first words that Adrien had spoke and he already sounded on the verge of tears. Scare and bully - it was already under his skin and in his head; he didn't know how to deal with this. How wasn't anything it was saying not right? He didn't know; he didn't want to believe, but he didn't know.
"What I think is exactly what he thinks. It's no use."
no subject
She could see that Adrien was on the verge of tears, and were the Shadow not there she would have immediately gone over and hugged him. But she had to help him get through this, had to get through to him somehow.
"Do you remember the time when I got mad at you because I thought you had stuck gum in my notebook the first day I was interning with Gabriel?" He would know the day; Chloe had come to visit while they were working and she had found gum worked into the pages of her notebook, effectively ruining it. She had thought it was Adrien, hadn't even given him the chance to explain himself. Not until he got her alone and explained, in his own way, how sincere he truly was.
"I thought you were just another spoiled, rich brat at first. But then you changed my mind. You showed me just how kind a person you really were. And since then, I paid more attention to you, and I saw the real Adrien, not just the Adrien that the magazines know. Your Shadow is right that the world doesn't know the real Adrien, but that doesn't mean the real Adrien is worthless! You're more than just a face on a magazine, Adrien! And I know that people would love to meet the real Adrien Agreste, not just the image that's been built up."
no subject
Adrien was looking at her now, his green eyes glistening from unshed tears. He wanted to believe the girl - she had been so willing to listen to him when they were finally alone. She gave him a chance, but then... but then...
"What real Adrien? There is no real Adrien. There's only another Agreste. As long as society desires Agreste, that's all I am. As long as he deems Adrien an imperfection - a failure to the name Agreste - I am a failure. I must be perfect."
no subject
"Will you stop saying all these lies?!" She snapped, not wanting to hear another word the Shadow had to say. In a fit of frustration, she pulled out her yo-yo and spun it rapidly, before launching it at the Shadow.
"You have to stop polluting Adrien's mind with all these fears! You keep bringing up these ridiculous worries, and you're right! There won't be an Adrien left, because he'll be so busy hiding because of what you're telling him! You have to back down and let him be who he wants to be!"
no subject
"But I'm not. I am his Shadow; I am already here because he has these thoughts. If what I'm saying is a lie, I don't have to be here... In fact, at any time, he can send me away. You should know how it works at this point."
no subject
"I do know how this works! I know you're taking his fears and using them as a weapon against him!" She snapped. "You're exaggerating reality! You're twisting what he's thinking into... into wild beliefs that no one wants!" She turned to Adrien.
"Adrien, I know what it's like to be overwhelmed with thoughts like this. I had to go through this too." Her gaze faltered briefly and she looked down, remembering the overbearing nature of her Shadow. She shook her head and looked back at him. "You think you're Shadow's right. You think that everything they say is right, and that you're nothing, just like they say you are. But it's not right, Adrien. You're Shadow is twisting your feelings and twisting the truth, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you realize it has no power over you."
no subject
"... It's not true? It's... it's not."
He doesn't sound very sure. Meanwhile, the Shadow's lip curled and his eyes flicked. Denying him? The aura around him grew and he placed a hand on the scarf curled around his neck. "I suppose... what's a little more mess to clean up...? I don't mind having a few unique pieces, but I will have perfect order in this gallery."
no subject
"You're the only one who needs to clean up his act!" Marinette countered, pulling out her yo-yo and spinning it defensively.
no subject
"I'll make sure you wring that improper attitude of yours out. Then... you'll be perfect to display in my gallery as well." The Shadow was enveloped by its dark pulsing aura and growing in size. All that could be seen through the darkness was its eyes; the blaring amber gold around slitting pupils.
no subject
"Don't worry, Adrien. We'll get you out of there!"
no subject
When the aura faded, it left a taller individual standing. Still bi-pedal, still human, and still wearing a suit - it shouldn't even be surprising it looks like another from Gabriel. However, there's claws, there's a tail, and there's ears. The collar is also 'broken', undone around his throat.
A 'purebred', a show cat with a cane and his face obscured by a black-and-white expressionless mask.
"I am a Shadow. The true self..." It growled, eyes briefly glowing, slit pupils becoming visible through the black eye holes briefly before fading. "If the only way I can earn anyone's attention is by being another piece in a collection, than so be it. Your unexpected addition will undoubtedly earn his attention though."
no subject
She would move in when everyone else did, swinging her yo-yo at the bipedal cat and summoning Minerva to her aid. But while normally she moved with a careful gusto and a clear head, this time Marinette attacks with more abandon, swinging her yo-yo almost wildly. This time, things were personal for her.
no subject
"Feeble..."
Tapping its cane twice, the room grows cold as the Shadow casted Bufula.
no subject
Marinette gasped as the Bufula spell hit, and she felt her legs give out as she fell to her knees. She grits her teeth and shivers with the cold, and forces herself to stand. She'll have to be more careful...
"I-It'll take more than that to put me down..!" She growled, pulling out a card and crushing it. "Minerva!"
Her persona appeared, and with a flourish cast an Agilao spell in retaliation.