Exploration Event: Neverwere

[lifeaftr_mods]

EXPLORATION EVENT: NEVERWERE

Who: Everyone!
What: Your wildest dreams come true!
When: May 15th to May 18th
Where: Ziziphus, those still on Ensō...and Mu
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Then Know That My Life Was Just a Killer Dream
You can find most of the information you need in the OOC info post! In the meantime, feel free to use this log as a catch-all for your dream worlds, as well as detailing your efforts to free one another. Whether they're on Ziziphus or Ensō at the time of the dreams' capture, your character is free to access as many dreams as you like, as the interlocking mental landscape allows for that sort of crossing over apropos of nothing. And time, of course, is very fluid in dreams - many days, months, and years can transpire in a matter of mere minutes.

Will you fight your way free from Ziziphus's vines or Mu's thrall, or are you content to die in your sleep?

Remember to let us know if your character dies during this event!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] May 15th: The vines make their move, ensnaring characters in ideal fantasy worlds
[ ♆ ] May 17th: The Storyteller will make contact with those they can, as well as issue information and a potential solution
[ ♆ ] May 18th: Those that have not freed themselves from the vines or from Mu will suffer a death

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Aster (Xion) | OTA (will match style!)

[attheclocktower]

[ The bricks are warm beneath your feet. The sky? Fading from a gentle periwinkle above to a warm, inviting gold near the horizon, the clouds that roam across the sky a rosy pink. The town itself is an odd mixture of feelings, small and tight-knit, yet somewhat urban.

There appears to be some kind of... celebration, going on in the streets. There's definitely a crowd, and decorations. Those who get here, who integrate more naturally, will remember that they were invited here for something of that very sort. The crowds are thick enough and Twilight Town itself is easygoing enough that an influx of out-of-town, or even out-of-universe visitors is likely to be overlooked, even the stranger-looking ones.

So you're free to wander this crowd as you see fit. There's probably plenty to do, food to eat, Grandstander or Struggle to play, if you're so inclined.

Of course, the longer you spend, the more likely you are to run into someone who knows you, who you certainly do not....

If you're looking for Aster herself - and your character will likely know where to find her, in this reality - she can be found up on the Clock Tower, sitting with sea-salt ice cream in hand. Should your character seek her out, she'll turn to see them as they step out onto the ledge, a huge grin on her face. ]

Glad you could make it!

[savedbyasong]

Wouldn't miss it. [Sunset, ice cream, his sister. This world finally made peaceful, being able to see her again. Be with her in a world that was not awful, where she was free to just... be a kid. Sometimes just looking at her made his heart burst with happiness for all she was, for all she had become.

He sat next to her with a smile, his own ice cream in hand and looked out at the setting sun] What have you been doing today?

[It was his favourite part of the day coming here and spending time with her, just talking. Fighting and fear were in the past now, they could just spend time together, talk about their day, normal mundane things that were precious gifts]

[attheclocktower]

[ She giggles. ]

Lots of stuff.

[ It's her first time to a festival, or at the very least this particular one. A lot of the locals have started to recognize her though, and have been able to point her in the direction of new games or food to try. And then there's all the familiar faces. ]

I'm taking a break right now.

[ C'mon Shion come sit with her. ]

[savedbyasong]

[He leans against her with a smile, it had indeed been a busy day full of food and visiting friends. He looked out at the sunset happily, it really was beautiful.]

Very specific. [He laughs as well.] Did you have fun?

[attheclocktower]

[ Well now that you're sitting down she can tell you all about it, silly! ]

Yup! I got to try so many different kinds of food! And the games too. And I got to see everyone.

[ Even the ones she'd been worried wouldn't be able to make it. It's so wonderful, truthfully. ]

[savedbyasong]

It's good that everyone could make it. [It was perfect, they got to see everyone again. He bumped his shoulder against hers.] Dad said that if you're not full from all the food dinners at his tonight.

[He laughs] I told him that we'd go as long as he let me cook. [Reno had many skills but cooking was not one of them.]

And Dreambreaking

[savedbyasong]

[He knew they didn't have much time. If they didn't stop this, ruin the dreams, wake their friends... kill Bliss. Their friends would die. Aster would die. That was not going to happen. He would drag her out of this place, out of this perfect world of her making and back to reality.

Doing so to Ceej had been painful, this... He wasn't sure he could. But he had to. It would hurt her. Hurt her so much but she would survive. Sometimes the kind thing was not the right thing.

This should be easy, he knew Aster so much better than Ceej after all. But wheras Ceej's world was one where Shion could unravel the threads of the dream, showing Ceej the islands, how he was not actually who his dream said he was. Here... in Aster's dream everything bad that had happened had happened, but they had suceeded, won. In this dream Shion was who he was in reality, himself, Aster's brother.

But he had to try. He stepped out onto the clock tower, sunset again. There she is, ice cream in hand. He takes a breath, fighting the urge to give her a few more moments of happiness. This is false, this is killing her.] Aster...

[attheclocktower]

[ Hearing her name gets her attention, easily enough. Her face is still bright and happy when she sees him. ]

Shion! You're back-!

[ But his face is different. She sees it immediately. ]

Is something wrong?

[savedbyasong]

[Of course she notices straight away. Even in this false land of lies she is his sister. She knows him better than anyone. They've been through so much together and she always knows. Even in this perfect dream world she knows him so well that he cannot keep anyhting from her, not even for a moment.

He kneals down beside her, hands reaching out for hers. He presses his head to her's.] I'm so sorry Aster...

[He's awful. This is awful. He wishes this were real, this place of happiness. But it's not. It's false and it's killing her. He has to get her out. He just wishes he could do it without hurting her.]

Everything's wrong... This place... It's not real Aster... It's just a dream.

[He forced himself to think of bad memories. There were pleanty of those they shared.]

[attheclocktower]

Wh-

[ She doesn't... she doesn't understand. How could this not be real? A dream? Why... why was Shion even saying these things? Everyone was fine here. Everything was perfect.

And yet next second, she's flinching away, scrambling away from the edge of the clock tower, where the ledge she'd been sitting on had turned from warm brick and mortar to a film-covered wireframe. And as Shion had pointed out, this wasn't a world where the bad things had never happened. It was where the bad things were already done. She knew what that was. And she knew somehow that Shion was causing it directly. ]

Shion, what are you doing?

[savedbyasong]

Saving you. [It was in many ways the epitome of stark reality. Everything stripped down to its very base, wireframe, film. Though here it was no more reality than the warm brick of the clocktower was. It represented truth though, harsh and unforgiving.

He let himself remember, to open the doors in his mind that he tried his best to keep closed. It didn't take much, they were jammed shut against memories that were in a constant struggle to break out and overwhelm him. He tried to focus to direct the memories.

Every time they had been fooled like this. The time everyone had believed they had been in the tower hundreds of years. Dreams that seemed terrifyingly real. The void, stealing their energy. He flung those ideas, the pain and suffering they had caused, into the dream. Letting them work into the gaps.] It's not real Aster. We never left the island. [Memories of the islands, they were in general nicer than those from the Tower but he focussed on the bad ones. The Story Teller had said hopelessness and grief. He could provide hoplessness and grief. The void was first, the bodies of children. Him lying crumpled on the streets of Ai'Tuoh after Laurent's attack. The ledge was still wireframe but the air took on the sort of grey despondent look it had in the void.] You've been on the islands six months Aster, I've been there for four. We never escaped, you never came back here. This is all false. Just a dream feeding off your hope. We're not with dad it's just us.