songerein | { mirror mirror }

MIRROR MIRROR

With the sleepwalking curse over, everyone will have some time to rest and recuperate—until Jack Frost comes barging in with news of a clue on how to help his beloved Ice Queen who still remains asleep. The clue was the mirror shard that was in her chest, and there are theories that it may have been a fragment of a much stronger, powerful mirror she had been given some time ago. Problem is, he can't find it nor can he remember who gave it to her. He does, however, have a magic incantation that will allow people to enter mirrors and hopefully find a trace. Unfortunately, this horrendously backfires and we have mirror chaos instead. Dammit, Jack.

More details on everything can be found here. We will request any thread submissions for certain prompts during AC .

I. REVEREIN

II. MIRROR WORLD

COMMENTS

I. REVEREIN

It all begins in Reverein, where there's a strange shift in the air upon Jack's attempt to cast the spell. But instead of affecting just one mirror, it reflects off the surface and spreads out to the entire town, hitting every reflective surface instead. Ripples can be seen before the surfaces still, but it's too late. Every reflective surface—glass, mirror, window—is under a different effect because of the botched spell.

And some are being unwittingly pulled into them.

Fortunately It is possible to communicate and even watch people from the other side of the mirror, but it's only through certain mirrors and at certain times. It also will be temporary, so while one mirror might work one time, it may not work again.

A. Strange Reflections. While some mirrors may still reflect proper images, many will have…unusual changes.

🪞 You are what you see. Whether it's an odd hairstyle, change in skin color, or style of clothing in the reflection, suddenly the viewer will look exactly like what's reflected. The most extreme is a different form entirely.
🏡 Glimpses of home. Everyone will have a rare glimpse of their home world, and these can be instances from the past, present, or even a limited future. They are just reflections and cannot be interacted with, and future reflections may be blurry to prevent the person from seeing too much. For those who have memory issues, such visions will also be blurry, but perhaps they can help stir some things…
🔮 Most desired. Mirrors that have a bit of a pink hue to them will reflect the viewer's most desired "thing." It could be an object, person, place, or even a general idea. However, if not careful the viewer may become trapped in a trance and will need to be removed or smash the mirror.

B. Clone Wars. Mirrors that do not show any kind of reflection are to be quickly taken away and covered as it will begin to create duplicates in Reverein of what is reflected within it. Yes, even people, and they will be very obviously fake: wrong colors, different voices, odd behavior, etc. and will usually be harmless. These "clones" will continue to appear and multiply until the mirror has been covered, and will need to either be destroyed or captured and shoved into the mirror, where it will lose its "no reflection" status and become a proper mirror again…only for them to appear on the other side in Mirror World.

C. Mirrorsnatched. A mirror with a black rim has the chance of absorbing a significant personality trait or memory of the one looking into it, and when this happens, the person will walk away feeling very muddle-headed and off. The mirror will "keep" this part of the person and someone from the Mirror World side must find their essence and "shove" it back out onto any mirror surface so that the original owner can break the mirror and retrieve it. The downside of this method is that breaking a mirror means one less mirror those on the Mirror side can use, so they need to choose carefully.

D. The Unknown. Appearing in both the Mirror World and Reverein will be a strange mirror masked, black cloaked figure called "The Unknown." It traverses through the mirrors and through the walls, seeking those with happy reflections and will try to corrupt them with nightmares. People on both sides of the mirrors will be able to confront and try to stop the Unknown, though beware its chocolate attacks.

II. MIRROR WORLD

Everything in this "Mirror World" is, in a word, chaotic. Imagine an AI-generated monstrosity based off of Picasso, Escher, and Dr. Seuss, where everything seems to be upside down, backwards, colors everywhere and nowhere, and everything feels so fragmented that one step feels like walking towards the edge of a cliff. In a way it's nightmarish in an unusual sense, and those inside can feel that touch of "madness" that seeps through the cold air.

Beware the strange creatures in the Mirror World. They are grotesque monstrosities, many of them looking as if they were stitched together from different parts. Fortunately they are susceptible to weapons and dreamotion and those inside the Mirror World will find they are able to use different abilities, especially those with reflective properties.

A. Fragment of their old self. In order to get out of the Mirror World, those inside will need to catch a small fragment of themselves that has escaped and is running around. This fragment is actually a piece of their old self prior to arriving in Songerein. For some, this self may not be so different, but for long-time residents, they may seem a lot more different. To make things more interesting, this self can be from any point of the character's past. It just has to be a version of the character from before entering Songerein. This version will also appear "homesick" and "want" to return to their original home, regardless if the character actually feels that way. Thus the fragment will seek out mirrors that will reflect anything of their home world. Shattering these mirrors will weaken the fragment until it can be caught. But that's only half the challenge. If the fragment is injured, the original will also feel the damage but to a lesser degree. If the fragment is destroyed, then the original will be "knocked out" for a few seconds before a new fragment appears. However, this fragment will be much more distorted and worse than the one before.

B. Distorted Memories. At random points while traversing, characters may come across strange pockets of the world that they will feel drawn to. Following said instinct will lead them to a shifted landscape that will reflect images of home from different points in time (past, present, maybe even future) as if they've just walked right into it, but just like everything else, they are distorted. The changes can be as subtle as the wrong color of clothes, having too many limbs, to something major like the sky now being the ground. The only way out will either be destroying the anomalies or correcting them, and they will be rewarded with a mirror shard that will aid in their escape.

C. Warped Sense of Self. The longer a person stays within the Mirror World, the less "coherent" they will feel, and sometimes sound. Their memories will slowly become more disjointed, their personality feeling a bit "off", and they may even forget who they are or where they are from. Even their physical selves will start to twist and change, starting with something subtle (e.g. eye color) and then growing more drastic as time goes on (where did those extra fingers come from? Or why are they suddenly much shorter?) Finding those reflections of home will help with these anomalies, but those weak of heart be warned: the distortions may only exacerbate the issue and make them believe that they are the truth instead. Help anyone who might be caught in fixing these so that they can recover.

D. Finding an exit. To leave the world, those inside must find a mirror that will connect back to Reverein, and those on the other side can also try to help by posing as "anchors" for those inside to recognize. Otherwise, there are many mirrors in the Mirror World that will lead to different places within Songerein—presumably. However, perhaps due to the magic or needing something else, they will be unable to pass through any mirrors that are not connected to Reverein. This is where players have the fun opportunity to make up whatever kind of location or place the characters may see reflected on the mirrors. They could be existing locations in the game, or new ones that could be explored in the future. One unique place we can mention will be reflections of a city covered in night.

Only upon finding a mirror that leads back to Reverein, but they will also need help from the outside. Someone from within Reverein must also be there to physically reach in and pull them out—while hopefully not accidentally be pulled in themselves.

I. REVEREIN

II. MIRROR WORLD

COMMENTS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“Maybe we go with the lady inn keeper first then we can go to Sir Owen and we can discuss about Chimeno next,” Anya suggest to Naja.

Don’t worry, she is very much patient to the bone.

"Sure!" she said happily. "She was super nice! I stayed at her inn when I went to Soron. She was one of the very first people I met there. She worships Tethys, and makes really amazing food. She has a big heart and is very supportive, and forgiving when someone honestly tries to make amends."

“Wow, she must be a very loving and caring woman one can have a good time with. Her kindness sure knows no boundaries and I do think that she would make for a great friend to have. She does remind me a lot of someone I know back in my world. She is a really great person to hang out with and very kind to go shopping with too.”

"Oh? Tell me?"

“Sophie is an amazing and beautiful friend. She was apparently a friend of my Grandmama during her time in Paris before I got to meet her a few years ago. Even though we only just met each other then, she is very much welcoming and friendly to any visitor who comes to her. Knows her way around fashion and the arts, especially the ballet. I think that she and another friend of mine had this thing for each other as soon as we arrived at her place.”

"What is ballet?"

“Ballet is a very popular type of dance from my world. People would would perform graceful movements on their toes on stage and dress in a variety of beautiful costumes, even the simpler outfits can be made gorgeous when being designed properly. A lot of countries in there have been getting their own ballet dance groups for a while now especially in France and Russia, the latter of which is where from I’m from.”

Inspired, she tried to get up on her toes. She managed it for all of a second before her hands started windmilling and she panicked, trying not to fall.

Anya watches on with worry as she sees Naja going in a panic before she launches herself to help her to get her bearings back to normal.

“Hang in there, I’m coming to help.”

"Thanks!" she said, accepting the help. "Guess I'm not much for that ballet thing..."

“That's okay. Not everyone is going to get dancing ballet right the first time. It does take a lot of training to perform such intricate moves. Even though I’m a good dancer myself, I doubt that I would be able to dance on tip toes as good as the professional dancers.”

"You need training and practice to... dance?" she asked, mildly horrified.

“It does appear to be the case,” she admits to her while trying to avoid looking at the mirror reflection if she can help it, “Some people would take a long time to perfect their dance skills. Me though, I’m just an amateur in comparison.”

"Being a Cepter is training enough for me," she said, slumping down. "I'll never dance again."

“Yeah, it is probably for the best. I can’t imagine going through hours of extensive dance training and not losing my cool at the end of the day. Being a seamstress, painter and violinist is more than enough for me to handle,” she nods back in return.

"Being a Cepter is too much for me some days," she said ruefully. But she wouldn't trade it.

“I suppose that there are some days where things can get very hectic and busy at times and having to deal with customers and their various orders can be tiring at times.”

To be fair, Anya had her fair share of rude customers, coworker antics, and stressful days. But she too wouldn’t trade that out for anything as well.

"Customers?"

“Oh dear, I almost forgot to explain that last part. I currently work at a store called Madame Blackbird’s. They usually sell clothes, music boxes, and furniture in there. My employer tends to incorporate a lot of stories and themes into her store inventory, including clothes, especially during major events and holidays quite often.”

"Oh! That sounds like an interesting shop. Do they sell food too?"

“Unless you can count the faux food as decor items, unfortunately they don’t sell any actual edible food as now. But it doesn’t mean that Madame Blackbird herself won’t consider adding actual food and snacks into the shop product line in the future. I might want to ask her about that when I get to see her at work tomorrow.”

"Oh... you should. Food is really important, after all."

“Good suggestion at that. I’m pretty sure that the customers I work with will greatly appreciate a new product that they can purchase in the store.”

She nodded, happily.

{ mirror mirror }

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Good place to wrap?

Yes we can end it here.