Hijinks Mingle

[potentite]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Anywhere around the hub!
When: Days 103-105
Open/Closed: Open mingle!
Notes: See this post for details on the moon prompt and this one for the telepathy/dream/spirit prompts!



[A | Flower Gleam and Glow]
[The nearby moon is still passing close to the hub island, meaning the effects are still in play. Perhaps now is the time to stop and smell the large lit up sparkling moonflowers that have bloomed? Or be annoyed by the mosquito-like insects that came with them.

Alternatively, the deer seem to draw some sort of energy from the moon's light. Given their size, at least their sudden aggression and proximity to the base camp isn't the worst thing in the world but a kick would still break a rib or other bone so be careful! Possibly help each other deal with these cute but troublesome fauna.]



[B | Eavesdropping]
[For some reason, the telepathy will suddenly get rather wonky. Characters won't know why it's happening, though of course no doubt there will be ponderings, but it means characters won't be in control of their ability to broadcast — or more specifically, not broadcast — their thoughts. Time to find out secrets of an embarrassing nature. Or maybe something sadder is going on in your character's head.

If this wasn't bad enough, the area around the signet might experience burning or tingling. Just try to keep a lid on your brain for the day and distract yourself from any annoying pain.]



[C | Talking In Your Sleep]
[Or maybe your character just doesn't have the most interesting thoughts. Maybe they're busy thinking about pie instead of their upsetting childhood. That's fair. Pie is great.

But surely sometimes it haunts their dreams. With the telepathy running amuck, it's no wonder dreams and nightmares are leaking through, too. Of course, it doesn't have to be an accident. Feel free to grab a friend and share a fanciful dreamscape together on purpose! But for those nuts that are tougher to crack, accidents can and will happen.]



[D | Who You Gonna Call]
[Last but not least, as Friday rolls around, there seems to be something odd going on with the island. If your character is inclined towards the spiritual or supernatural, they'll no doubt notice the strange heavy thickness hanging around. There are whispers in the air and all of new energy just feels solemn. Might be good to give people a heads up and keep an eye on it.]

Comments

c; 1-3 ok if it comes up

[oneandmikleonly]

[> reflexively try to punch the puppet off the roof]

What in the world--?!

[splinten]

You attempt to punch THE RAD AND EXCELLENT C-MAN.

Fortunately, Lil Cal temporarily turns into a blur and is suddenly a foot to the side of where you attempted to punch. He is still smiling, and also staring. Many SEAGULLS fly around the apartment. One decides to land beside you.

Wind skims over the waters and around the metal beams on which the apartment stands. A familiar note is produced. It's the one Desolation plays to keep its instrument in tune.

>

[oneandmikleonly]

[he's not staying here with a potentially haunted doll. sorry for rejecting your love, Dirk

sidles directly into the ocean, giving Lil Cal the sideeye with every step]

[splinten]

Congratulations! You have successfully completed your ABSCOND.

Of course, your ABSCOND was into the goddamned ocean after an approximately 107 foot drop. Fortunately, this is a dream, and also you're a weird magic water creature, so you don't pay for your HEINOUS DISREGARD FOR VELOCITY DUE TO GRAVITY.

Yet.

Everything is quiet under the water. The supporting beams of the high rise seem to go deeper and deeper still into the depths. If you look closely around you, you will see that the ocean floor is covered in the RUINS of an ANCIENT CITY. Many similar apartment buildings to the one you were in have totally collapsed. A statue of a NOBLE STEED and his directionally challenged rider points to nothing but the seaweed strewn dirt.

[oneandmikleonly]

[what's a horrifying drop when there are ruins at the bottom, you've played Zestiria you know this is how it just goes sometimes in canon--

takes a moment to gather himself again (easier in dreams, where you don't always necessarily need to worry about things like oxygen), glances up toward the surface to make sure Lil Cal didn't horrifyingly follow him down, glances around at the ruins with something like wonder, and finally swims his way down to check out ye olde statue.]

[splinten]

It's a dude, he's on a horse. Being fallen is sad, but hasn't damaged the integrity of the statue, nor its ability to point. These were obviously the qualities Mikleo was concerned for.

There are a variety of ruins to explore. To the NORTH and WEST, the buildings seem to be in the same decayed pattern as those immediately nearby. To the SOUTH, the buildings seem wider and flatter.

The EAST seems odd. Don't go EAST.

[oneandmikleonly]

[pokes around the statue for a while first, just to make sure there aren't any hidden switches; you never know, with these. sometimes you miss that one thing at the start of the dungeon and wind up going in circles for eight hours

...

he's not sure if he's going east or not but he's sure squinting in that direction, when he gets to it]

[splinten]

This is a WASTE OF YOUR TIME because you know damn well that there haven't been genuine puzzles in dungeons since, like, TALES OF HEARTS. The WATER TRIAL is an outlier and should not be counted.

It's darker to the EAST.

It is also, weirdly, kind of STARRY.

[oneandmikleonly]

[you can't just have an east that looks super out of place compared to all the other directions and expect someone NOT to go that way, come on

(he's going that way)]

[splinten]

You head EASTWARD. The further you go, the more the ruins break off from the ground and seem to float. Indeed, the further you go, the less and less convinced you are that there is any GROUND to speak of. The water has turned darker, and also strangely NOT WET.

You start getting a WEIRD FEELING. It's the weird feeling of kind of GLITCHING OUT. That is definitely a real feeling, and probably a HUMAN EMOTION while we're at it, and you are experiencing it with increasing frequency and duration.

>

[oneandmikleonly]

[uhhhh wow i super don't like this

stops at the first really bad glitch, taking deep breaths(?) to try and steady himself up, and calls out into the darkness]

Hello? Is anyone else here?

[splinten]

STRANGE WORDS appear before your eyes as if you are wearing pointy computer shades.

Hey! Pointy computer shades!

The words are hard to read for an obvious reason.

[oneandmikleonly]

Dirk?

[...can he take off the, pointy computer shades,

more to the point, can he use telepathy in this dream

he'll try both?]

Dirk?!

[splinten]

You take off the pointing shades.

Annoyingly, they are STILL THERE. They would like to deliver another message, because I did not spend an hour in photoshop creating this just for you to dodge around it by exercising free will. Wear the fucking glasses for one more conversation, Mikleo.



The glasses, if tossed away now, will not insist on staying. You're welcome.

>

[oneandmikleonly]

[he...takes them off again after reading...to try and wipe them clean with his glitchy-ass sleeve...and then puts them back on

that probably doesn't help.]

[splinten]

The message is still annoyingly glitchy. If you look around, you will realize that the world around you is PRETTY GLITCHY TOO.

There's a SUDDEN MOVEMENT BEHIND YOU. What's that?

>

[oneandmikleonly]

[whirls to face it, shedding pixels, shades still in hand for some reason]

[splinten]

Sup.

[It's Dirk! He is in his Godtier. He looks kind of badly pixelated.]

Sorry about that.

[oneandmikleonly]

Uh...

[offers him the shades, not sure what else to do here]

Are you okay?

[splinten]

Yeah, this is just a kind of fucked up time in my life.

[Dirk takes the shades and puts them back on.]

I mean that in a really literal sense. It's a period that is physically screwed. The fabric of space-time itself was boned super hard. It's giving its partner a serious lecture on bedroom safety and respecting one another's boundaries. It did not agree to that kind of Christian Grey bullshit and they are going to have a conversation about it or this relationship is over. Space-time isn't going to stand for this. Space-time has goddamned self-respect.

[a beat]

Yeah. That's all the glitching.

[oneandmikleonly]

...

I feel obligated to point out that this is a lot more coherent conversation, if not environment, than I usually get out of my dreams. I don't even know those references when I'm awake.

[clasps his own arms with uncomfortable lucidity--Dirk is in this case contagious. the glitch sparks off little fragmentary flashes of other around him, scales, the blue-white curve of some kind of weapon, the shine of something gold and green around one tense hand]

Maybe we should get out of here.

[splinten]

[Hm. He notices those.]

I've been assuming this to be an extension of our telepathy issue. If we move up, we might be able to kick my brain's gear into ocean ventures.

[Or maybe even find Mikleo's places? Either way, hopefully it will get them out.]

[oneandmikleonly]

Sure. Not that this isn't interesting, but looking into someone's head involuntarily is just weird?

[moves up not unlike he's swimming, which may help with the transition, if they can in fact trigger one]

[splinten]

[The space air seems to be getting more mass, so maybe?]

It takes the idea of invasive to a new and mildly psychedelic level. Let me know if you want in on more ruins.

[oneandmikleonly]

I would love ruins, but I also, um, don't want to see stuff you don't want me to see...?