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kaisou2022-06-04 08:44 am
June Event Log
June Event
Dominant Element: Light
Waning Element: Shadow
※
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 CityWith 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 YouThe 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 TheseAt 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 DreamsUpon 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 RealmSpeaking 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 IdeyaWhile 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.
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.
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!
Moxxie | Helluva Boss | OTA
Ever since Moxxie had lost his wisdom, he'd been making some...impulsive decisions. For example, he needed new clothes since, at his new size, he had exactly one outfit. A single suit pulled off of a ventriloquist dummy he had as part of a school production. However, he had options. He could go to Undertown and see if there were tailors that catered to people with more...non-human builds. He could go online and order clothes for ventriloquist dummies or large dolls.
That, however, would require the wisdom that had been stolen from him. Instead, he spots an outfit he likes in the window of a toy store being worn by a ventriloquist dummy from a children's horror TV show, and he decides he wants that outfit.
So he decides to steal it.
It's somewhat tricky getting in, but he manages to slip in after a few customers enter and leave the door slowly closing behind them. Once inside he quickly dives into a pile of stuffed animals to hide himself. He waits there, silent, and as soon as the coast is clear, he scurries out, slipping behind a row of toys on a shelf. In this fashion, he slowly makes his way through the store until he finds a row of the dummies like the one on display in the window. Once he's certain he's not being watched, he quickly steals the clothes off of three of them, then begins working his way back out of the store. Passing by the 'life sized' barbie dolls that are actually only a little over two feet...which actually is life-sized to Moxxie these days, he decides to grab a couple changes of outfit that are on display. Sure, they're dresses, but in that moment he wants them, and so he's taking them.
He continues trying to sneak to the front, sneaking through. He's almost to the exit, just has to run out and escape until...oh, crumbs. Someone's staring at him through the clear glass door.
Laughing nervously, he backs up, glancing around and wondering how easily he can make a run for it.
Realm of Dreams
At some point, Moxxie decides to investigate his missing green gem, and this leads him to Zodiac and ultimately to the gate in Central Square. While he's not a huge fan of the jester costume he finds himself wearing, but he's quickly distracted from that by the fact that he's levitating. And by the fact that he's being addressed by a talking owl. At first, it's going quite well. Moxxie is polite to the owl. He's enjoying the flight, and experimenting around with various loops and maneuvers, really trying to get a feel for the whole thing and overall just enjoying himself.
When he goes through the door, that's equally...well, a dream. He finds himself in a beautiful park with a nice pond in the center. There's a canoe there for anyone to use and a couple of beautiful swans gracefully gliding across the water's surface.
He's enjoying it until...until he sees the creature. It looks like a baby with wings.
Suddenly a memory flashes in his mind. Three beings. Two are flying sheep, but the third...the third is a flying baby with white, fluffy wings. They're arguing with Moxxie and the other two demons that are always in Moxxie's memories. One of the sheep attack the female demon he's with, knocking her over the edge of the catwalk they're all on, while the other two pull out arrows and begin firing on Moxxie and the male demon that's in all his memories.
They run for their lives, knowing that if the arrows hit them they're dead.
Moxxie opens his eyes, staring at the creature before him. It's not acting like the cherubs in his flashback. It's just approaching, curious, but Moxxie's not thinking. He's only feeling. Reaching under his...well, instead of a jacket it seems to be a black and red diamond patterned top, but his holsters and the guns are still there. He pulls out one of the two guns he'd brought into this world, aiming it at the creature.
Nightmare Realm
After Moxxie calms down and accepts that these cherub like creatures are not, in fact, a threat, he's able to focus on trying to find his green gem. Unfortunately, after searching it become clear to him that his gem wasn't in the world of dreams. He'd have to go to the world of nightmares.
Maybe he would have been concerned at how much the Nightopians don't want him going into the darkness. Instead, with his green gem gone, he's only frustrated that something's stopping him from going where he needs to to find what he'd lost. Moxxie pulls out his gun again and they all scatter. This time, though, he doesn't point it at them. He has it at the ready as he heads into the darkness, ready to face whatever he'll find within.
Which, apparently, is clowns. Giant, terrifying monster clowns that loom over him to an even greater extent than regular humans do.
Panicked, Moxxie yells and points his gun, desperately firing at the clowns. "Get away from me you nightmarish abominations!"
Realm of Dreams
"Wait! Don't!" he cries, rushing forward with an unsteady yet determined flight. His first thought is to move between them... but then Souta remembers the talks he had after last month and settles for stopping nearby instead.
"They haven't done anything. Please, don't hurt them!"
no subject
"I...I saw something in a memory. A flying baby, like them, but he had a crossbow and was shooting at me."
But he's starting to realize, though he hasn't lowered his gun yet, that these might not be the same thing.
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Moxxie's response is encouraging. Clearly he's not aiming to harm the residents for no reason, so while Souta would very much like the gun to go away, he thinks taking it slow shouldn't be harmful.
He speaks gently in an understanding tone.
"That must have been frightening. Did you remember just now?"
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"Yeah..." He lowers the gun. "I'm...uh...guessing these are something different."
Well, that's awkward, and now the owl that had been showing him around before he pulled that stunt is ranting at him about the whole thing, but Moxxie isn't really listening. It doesn't really matter, either, because he's already realizing it was a mistake.
no subject
"These memories can be startling. It's no wonder you jumped to protect yourself," he reassures the odd horned fellow. Despite his odd appearance and weapon, he doesn't seem that frightening after all. Souta's gaze follows the Nightopians... or rather where they left, since most are now hiding. "I think so. They don't seem hostile at all."
The owl is certainly quite ruffled by the whole event. Souta listens to their rant nervously for a few moments, not usually the type to interrupt, but feeling bad about letting it go on when Moxxie clearly already realized his mistake. However, as the owl's just about to get another round in, Souta speaks up.
"We're terribly sorry, Mr. Owl. There was a misunderstanding." He steps slightly between the two, focused on the owl host. He glances back, offering Moxxie a look of encouragement. "It won't happen again."
no subject
The comment, he notes, almost mirroring something he said to another owl person in one of his flashbacks, and said in the same extremely polite tone. This may not be the same owl person as the one he'd worked for in his memories, but still it just feels natural to be polite to him.
Especially after threatening defenseless Nightopians after a misunderstanding.
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Souta breathes a sigh of relief. With the situation fully de-escalated, it feels like a weight off his chest.
"I guess we'll have to wait for the rest of the explanation."
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He feels like he should probably apologize to the Nightopians, but after that he'd probably just panic them again if he went anywhere near them.
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Possibly. They admittedly ruffled the Owl's feathers a good bit, but Souta has faith that it'll work out. After all, the situation has improved greatly from where they started.
"I'm just glad no one got hurt. Deep down, he probably feels the same."
no subject
At least he knows that his other self doesn't have any problems with owl people, so he won't have any unexpected issues on that front.
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Souta offers the compliment with a smile.
"Even if another memory starts up, we'll be here to snap you out of it."
He says without hesitation. Despite the challenges they've faced, he still has faith in Libra's hodgepodge collection of individuals.