kaisou | June Event Log

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June Event Log

June Event
Dominant Element: Light
Waning Element: Shadow

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Summer is here! Throughout the month, the weather will be warm and sunny. Very sunny in fact, the UV rays are a little strong this month, so you better make sure you have sunscreen or coverage or you'll find yourself getting sunburned pretty quickly! Still, not a bad price to pay for a little warm weather. At night, the darkness has turned to normal levels and the starlight even seems a bit more visible than normal. Take a special someone with you to go stargazing, if you're so inclined.

Summer Days in the City

With school out for the season, the school campuses are mostly shut down aside from any summer school or club programs. The rest of the city is full of life, however. Outdoor markets are in full swing, and it's easy to find an event in the park whether it be live plays or small concerts. There's also the anime convention that's taking place at the civic center during the weekend of June 18th! Grab your cosplay gear and your merch and set off for a wild weekend!

Around town, there's many new places to see. Buy some Japanese-style convenience store food at Ai-Mart, eat a burger at Big Bang Burgers (or take the burger challenge, if your stomach can handle it), or buy some knives at the new cutlery store! If you're hurt, you can swing by Bubu Pharmacy for some medicine. If you're more into performances, why not check out the Seisho Music Theatre Academy? Just whatever you do...stay out of the Dog Park.

If you take a trip out to Stardew Valley, the season has changed dramatically to summer there. Summer crops are all that are being grown. Even the vegetation is radically different. You don't remember there being any palm trees in the Valley before, but they're sure there now! The beach is now open as well, for anyone hoping to get some fishing in or gathering seashells! Perhaps taking a relaxing vacation to the valley is the perfect way to kick off your summer. And is you want to revisit some old spirit realm grounds, the gate to Kanto has returned to Blue Fish Lake Park. Go on some wild adventure and ~~get attacked by zubats~~ meet some Pokémon! Just watch out for the horrible goose that roams the same park.

Luck Be With You

The bright sunny days of June make the dark harrowing nights of May seem like a distant memory. It's pretty tempting to go out in the sun and just lay out. Be careful however, because throughout the month while you're outside- the Spirit Vein in the sky will flicker before dropping random items at you. Try not to get hit! Any fragile items will be magically spared - either by bouncing, having a little parachute, or having something (or someone) conveniently break its fall. Some people may also find themselves awake with new powers or changes to their appearance. Seems the Spirit Vein is once again acting up and spewing out some stuff from other realms. Oh well! Finders keepers!

Sweet Dreams are Made of These

At some point during the night of June 10th, either during an actual dream or as a sort of vision, you'll find yourself encircled by a set of five gems, all in different colors. They spin around you once or twice, long enough for you to get a good grasp on what they look like, before turning into small balls of colored light and flying into your chest, becoming one with you as they vanish. You don't entirely understand why, but you get the sense that they were always a part of you.

...Or, well, that's what's supposed to happen. For some of you, you may find that before the gems can become a part of you once more, a shadowy something will reach out and snatch one away, vanishing into the shadows before you can reclaim it. From that point onward, depending on the gem that was taken, you'll find that a part of yourself feels like it's missing, and you may find yourself changing as a result.

If the red gem was taken, you'll find yourself suddenly feeling unnerved by things that you never felt frightened of before, and you may find that your physical abilities and powers no longer function as they once did.

If the white gem was taken, you'll find yourself suddenly, and rapidly, growing older.

If the green gem was taken, you'll find that you no longer possess the impulse control you may have once had, and you'll find yourself leaping into situations without thinking them through.

If the blue gem was taken, you'll find that you just... well, you're just a bit less smart than you once were. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, things that might have once been easy to you, are suddenly much harder for you to grasp than they should be.

And lastly, if the yellow gem was taken, you'll feel yourself sinking into a deep depression. You may no longer be able to muster up the energy to do anything at all, because what's the point, or you may simply just be stuck viewing the entire world as a glass mostly empty.

Sometime mid-morning the following day, Zodiac will send out an alert:

ALERT: SHIFTING GATE LOCATED IN CENTRAL SQUARE.
Element Classification: Light
Danger Level: Varied
Designation: Night Dimension
A new gate has been detected in Central Square. Initial readings are inconsistent regarding the presence of hostiles, so precaution is recommended. Further investigation is required.
Investigative reports, as well as retrieval of lifeforms from inside the realm, will be compensated.
Additionally, Zodiac has received some reports of this realm being accessed via the subconscious. Actual evidence of this as a possibility is sparse and inconclusive, however, so Zodiac has elected not to investigate further.

Stopping by Zodiac Headquarters, the place has calmed down a lot from the previous month. If anything, the receptionist looks exhausted from all the paperwork and all-nighters they had to pull. They keep conversations brief and allow you to borrow equipment, right before drifting off again. Professor Willow meanwhile seems to have more energy. It's been awhile since this particular gate has been spotted! He's heard it has the power to manifest your dreams, and it'd be really fascinating to see what kind of creatures would live here. He'll ask anyone to record their findings and bring it back to them.

True to form, there is indeed a gate in Central Square. From afar, it just looks like the entrance to a normal office building, but once you walk past the windows, you'll notice the reflection of something flying past you— it's hard to make out exactly what it is, but it's definitely purple and it's definitely not something that seems to actually exist among the crowd. The gate itself is a simple wooden door, and functions exactly as you'd expect.

Realm of Dreams

Upon entering the gate, you'll find yourself in what appears to be some sort of courtyard at nighttime. There's a lovely fountain at the center, surrounded by a ring of wooden doors not unlike the one you entered to get here in the first place.

...Or did you? As Zodiac mentioned, it's entirely possible that you might fall asleep and find yourself here, or on the other side of any of those wooden doors. Isn't that just lovely?

Regardless, the first time you arrive here, you'll find that it seems to be snowing. It's brief, only lasting long enough for some of the snowflakes to land on you and melt, but as soon as it's over you'll find that you feel somehow lighter... and if you look down, you'll find two things that might strike you as alarming.

For one thing, you will find that you are not wearing the clothes you came in with— instead, you're wearing some kind of fanciful jester or silly outfit (maybe a crappy halloween costume, or even a fursuit). The outfits vary based on people's personalities and aesthetics, but they all have a jester aesthetic or otherwise silly outfit. Thought you were too cool for cosplay huh?

For another, you're now levitating.

This is approximately the moment that you'll be greeted by a talking owl, who will ~~forcefully~~ helpfully inform you that you are now in the Night Dimension, and that some being named "NiGHTS" must have granted you the ability to fly while you're here. He'll give you some pointers on how to control your new ability, but you'll find it's easiest to control if you spread your arms out to either side and just allow yourself to glide along. Just don't think too hard about the trail of sparkles behind you while you're flying.

The owl will also inform you that the doors around the fountain lead to various places in "Nightopia," the world of dreams, and encourages you to head on through whenever you're ready.

What you see when you head through the doors entirely depends on what it is you'd like to dream about. You may find yourself in a gorgeous green landscape, with rolling hills and streams and blue skies. Or perhaps you may find yourself in an amusement park, or even on the streets of a city you've always wanted to visit. No matter where you find yourself, it's always bright and sunny (or a clear night sky, depending on the dream), and the weather is always perfect.

Naturally, you're not entirely alone here. While Nightopia isn't exactly bustling, eventually a couple of small beings, reminiscent of cherubs will poke their heads out and start to approach you curiously. These, as Owl fills in whether or not you want him to, are Nightopians, the denizens of this realm. They don't seem to speak any language, but interacting with them will reveal that they're sweet and rather childlike. They enjoy playing, nice food, and anything that inspires laughter, and they'll cry and flee whenever they're scared or hurt.

They only seem to react badly to some of the other creatures that you might find poking around Nightopia— things like weird sheep, or other strange creatures that look like they could only exist in a dream. They don't seem entirely out of place here, but they definitely aren't as friendly as the Nightopians and you'd do best to fly after them and take them out. They seem to be weak to being rammed into, or even just forming a loop around them with the sparkle trail from your flying. Weird weakness, but okay.

Nightmare Realm

Speaking of being scared, no matter where you find yourself in Nightopia, you'll inevitably find that if you go far enough, you'll find what seems to be the edge of the world— a sharp drop into inky nothingness. If you try to approach, the Nightopians will latch onto your arms and legs, trying to pull you away from it and making increasingly upset noises. Even Owl won't get too close, but he does tell you that the darkness leads to the realm of Nightmare.

The name itself more or less gives away what it is, but Owl does provide one last tidbit: Those gems you saw before the gate opened were called “Ideya,” and it's only here that they can take physical form. The Nightmaren, denizens of Nightmare, have been stealing Ideya from visitors— and if you've already lost one, Owl deduces that must be what's happened to you. He doesn't know why they're doing it, but he does note with some sadness that visitors who lose all of their Ideya aren't able to wake up again.

Of course, you're welcome to ignore all of their warnings and head right in, but Owl and the Nightopians won't be coming with you.

What you'll find in Nightmare depends entirely on you, but the basics are always the same: Darkness, coupled with twisted, impossible geometry. The rest of the realm begins to build itself based on your worst fears. A person with a fear of snakes might find themselves in a den of vipers, while others might find themselves caught in a traumatic memory.

The Nightmaren here are nowhere near as cute and cuddly as the ones that must have slipped out into Nightopia. These take the form of strange monsters that are, unsurprisingly, torn straight from your nightmares— giant twisted spiders, mutant clowns, et cetera.

If the nightmares become too much for you, don't worry! Before you can get killed, you'll hear the sound of a flute before you pass out. When you wake up, you'll be back in the entrace way of the dream world. Seems someone was watching out for you.

Taking out some of the stronger Nightmaren may or may not release some of the captured Ideya, but will definitely net you some information: the Nightmaren work for a “master” deep at the center of the Realm, and he needs to collect Ideya from visitors like yourself in order to gain the power to make it out of the gate and begin conquering the waking world.

Retrieving Your Ideya

While many of the Ideya have been taken to Nightmare, a few fell out of the Nightmarean's hands and got scattered across Nightopia instead. For these lucky folks (IE, the ones who aren't quite ready to face their nightmares), they'll find their Ideya to be free for reclaiming … if you can catch them, anyway! They seem to be teasing you, flying away from you and leading you through an obstacle course of Nightopia's natural scenery, as well as rings that will appear in the sky for you to make your way through. Complete the obstacle course and catch the Ideya, and it's yours!

For those less fortunate, you'll have to travel into your Nightmares to reclaim what was lost. For some, this might mean facing off against your own nightmares. Some who do that will find their Ideya as a reward for their bravery. But for many, even that won't be enough to garner their Ideya, and they'll have to travel deep into the realm itself to face off against the Master of the Nightmare Realm.

The closer you get to the center of the realm, the stronger the nightmares become, and the more personal you'll find the nightmares becoming. What were once generic scares are starting to take more and more realistic forms— twisted versions of people important to you, whether that importance is positive or negative. All that matters is that they're targeting you, specifically, and they want to break you before you can reach their master.

If you can make it to the center of the realm, though, you'll find that it's quite a bit different from everything else so far. In fact, it just seems to be Kaisou's Central Square at nighttime. There's one problem with it, though— you distinctly remember there not being a skyscraper-sized metallic man with six hands in Kaisou.

This, as he'll introduce himself, is Wizeman the Wicked— Lord of Nightmare, and the cause of all your strife this month. If you can defeat him, you should be able to free all of the captured Ideya… but can you defeat a being that can wield your deepest, darkest fears against you? It'd be best to work together and possibly target some of those hand eyes.

Aftermath

Eventually, though, Wizeman the Wicked must fall. He threatens that he'll never truly be gone, not so long as darkness lives on in the hearts of men, but whatever. He's dealt with for now, and that has to count for something.

Any characters that help to take down Wizeman will have their Ideya restored upon his defeat. The rest of the gems will go flying away, presumably back to their owners who couldn't make it this far into the journey. Characters who lost a piece of themselves will find themselves whole once more after this point, whether or not they went into the Spirit Realm.

Nightopia will remain open and accessible for the remainder of the month, and all of the Nightopians will be celebrating your victory. You're welcome to join in on the party! Zodiac and Professor Willow will be happy to compensate any information you bring back. However, any items you try to bring back won't survive outside the realm and fade away - like it was a dream.

However, you'll find that if you try to approach the entrance to Nightmare again, you'll find that it begins snowing as you get closer and closer, until you find yourself in a blizzard so thick there's no way to proceed. Seems like that snow that granted you your flying— “NiGHTS,” was it?— doesn't want you to go back. Ah, well… maybe that's for the best, anyway.

OOC Notes

The dominant element this month is Light! Anyone with an affinity to the light element will find themselves boosted throughout the month. This could mean a boost to their power, having more energy, feeling more inspired with creativity, having better luck on different attempts -- the boost can manifest in all sorts of different ways. By contrast, anyone with an affinity for Shadow will be experiencing the opposite. Perhaps their powers will be weaker, they have less energy, they're having a creative block or general worse luck - again it can manifest in all sorts of way and players are free to play with this mechanic as they'd like.

This event is meant to be a chill "pick your own flavor of trauma". If you want your character to face their deepest nightmares, great! Otherwise they are welcome to just play in the happy dream land of things. Do as you like!

The original OOC plotting post for this event can be found here. Free gacha is obtainable for any character, including new ones, through June 30th!

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[Varian has listlessly brought himself through the portal and to the shore. Not out of any real...desire to be here. His pointless walking found him here. He's sat on the sand, staring out at the sea. At Moana's question, he raises his shoulders in a shrug. ]

I dunno. Spent any time at a beach when you were young?

[ She can't help a little snort at the question, not even bothering to wonder how Varian is there. ] Please. I was born in Hawaii, I practically lived at the beach.

[ A voice in the back of her head reminded her that Varian probably wouldn't have known that, but that didn't seem important enough to mention either. ]

But this is...different. It doesn't look like any of the beaches back home.

I don't know where that is.

[Tragically, she is correct. Varian heaves out a sigh, flopping backwards to just...lay in the sand. It's fine this is fine. ]

They're not like the beaches back home, either. Not cold or rocky enough.

[ In any other circumstance, Moana wouldn't hesitate to explain all the wonder and amazement that is her home of Hawaii. But for some reason she can't muster her usual enthusiasm, because it doesn't feel like it really mattered at the moment.

Taking a seat beside him, she pulls her knees up to wrap her arms around them as she stares out to the sea.

...See the line where the sky meets the sea... ]

There are some beaches like that too. But I've always preferred the sandy kinds.

[He turns his head a little to look at her. He genuinely likes Moana a lot and would normally be able to muster some genuine interest in what she's saying. Right now though, he looks mostly despondent. ]

Figures that's not what you get to have here. This is just a beach of disappointment for both of us, I guess.

Yeah.

[ This feeling is so strange, so...empty. A part of her knows this isn't like her at all, but she can't bring herself to really want to do anything about it.

Still, they also just can't sit here and do nothing. So eventually she manages to get to her feet and hold a hand out to him. ]

Come on. We might as well look around a little bit and see if there's a way out of here.

[Varian heaves out a sigh, staring up at the sky.]

What's the point? All we'll do is end back in the weird city where nothing makes sense. Being here is just as awful as anywhere else right now.

[ Normally she'd want to argue, but she's hard-pressed to come up with anything to say right now. It just feels...weird. Shouldn't they be more worried about this?

Instead, she just sits back down next to him and stares out into the ocean. ]

...I didn't like being there either. In the city, I mean.

[He turns his head slightly in the sand to look at her.]

Right? I mean, sure the technology is cool but it's so loud and there are so many people everywhere. I think there's more people in this city than there are in the whole Kingdom back home.

[ Moana shrugs a little, dragging her finger in the sand and making little shapes. ] Most modern cities are like this, honestly. I guess it's a lot to get used to if you've never been to one like it.

But my family and I had moved here from a different city, and it just...it doesn't feel the same as the one back home. Even with all the buildings and stuff, the city we came from just felt more open, and nicer and... [ She sighs a little, resting her chin on top of her knees as she hugs them to her chest. ] Sometimes I still wish we could move back.

Nooope, never. I grew up on a farm, this is about as far removed as what I'm used to that you can get.

[He idly watches her drawing her shapes in the sand, brow furrowed. He knows he was trying to get them out of this situation. That the people who didn't belong here had a way home. But right now it all seems so...pointless. ]

I can understand that. It's a big change, especially to a place like this. Why did you guys move?

[ She manages a faint, humorless chuckle. ] Yeah, I'd imagine that'd be very different.

[ In any other circumstance, she'd feel a bit bad for him, being forced to live in such an unfamiliar place, so different from his home. But it was almost like all her feelings were just dulled. ]

The company my father works for transferred him to a branch here. [ She can't help a snort. ] He took the job because he said it'd be good for me to experience something new, and that'd I'd have some good opportunities for my future here.

[Varian lets out a snort of his own.]

Dads, am I right? They always think they know what's best for us, without even asking for like, a tiny bit of input from us about what we might like from our own futures. My dad was like that for so long.

[It's better now, but Varian is still a teenager and can be mad about that for a good few years yet.]

Do you think you have "good opportunities" here? For a future?

[ She snorts a little. ] Tell me about it. And it's not like they listen when we do try to tell them things either! It's always, "I'm your father, I know what's best for you", but come on. It's not like he's spent enough time to get to really know me, y'know?

[ There might be a bit of tension with her dad that Moana doesn't usually talk about.

Considering his question for a moment, she shrugs. ] I don't know. I mean, I do have some good friends here. But I don't see anything about the school here that would've been any different back in Hawaii.

RIGHT? Oh my god, yes. My dad did that all the time. He really hated all the science stuff for like...so much of my life. He's come around now, but still! It's cool, he should have given it a chance sooner!

[And also provided Varian with basic emotional support, but that's neither here nor there.]

I guess that makes sense. I mean...I get this is a big city and all that, but surely you'd have just as many opportunities back there, too? Especially if you don't even know what you wanna be yet.

Exactly! Like, sorry I'm not into the same stuff you are, Dad! Excuse me for wanting to live my own life.

[ Realistically, she knows she's being a little unfair towards her father. But he's not here right now, and she can't really get herself to stop now that she's started. ]

Yeah, for sure. There's plenty I could have done if we'd stayed there. I didn't need to be taken away from all my friends and my gramma just for some potential opportunities for some unforeseeable future.

Fttt, exactly. We're allowed to be our own people!!

[They're allowed to be moody teenagers about this too, wow!!]

Wow, you got taken away from your grandmother too? [Varian doesn't remember his grandparents on EITHER side of his family tree- it was always just him and his dad, but being purposefully deprived of one sounds...mean.] I'm sorry. That must be hard.

Right! [ She huffs loudly, almost dramatically, but her mood sobers a bit as he offers his condolences. ]

Well... [ She looks down, hugging her knees a little tighter as she watches the waves stretching up along the shore. ] She's already...passed away. But she's buried back home, and moving away just meant I wouldn't be able to visit her very often.

[ It's a bit more complicated than that, but she doesn't feel like really explaining it right now. ]

Oh...I'm sorry.

[That's said a lot softer this time. ]

Maybe you can try writing her letters? I- I mean I know obviously she can't read them, but it might help with feeling separated from being able to see her grave.

It's okay.

[ It isn't really, because she misses her grandmother a lot. Her grandmother understood her in a way that not even her parents did, and it's been so difficult without her. But that isn't really something she wants to get into right now. ]

Oh...y'know, that's not a bad idea. I kind of just talk out loud at night before I go to bed, like I'm talking to her. But writing letters might be a bit easier.

Yeah, just...I don't know. Something a little more permanent. Like she's really there.

[And he might be dealing with serious despondency right now, but he still offers a small smile.]

And I'm always here to uh...talk. You know, if you need that. I don't mind.

[ She nods. ] Yeah. I like that idea. Especially because then I'll have something to bring when we do go take a trip to Hawaii and visit her.

[ Glancing back towards Varian, she manages a small smile. ] Thanks. I'd really appreciate that.

See? Works all kinds of ways!

[He's genuinely glad to see her smile.]

Hey, anytime. What are friends for?

[ That manages to get a small laugh from her. ] Yeah, you're right.

[ Honestly, she is feeling a lot better. In fact, it's probably the most she's felt...anything for a while. ]

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June Event Log

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