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songbird_slayer) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
songerein2022-09-10 12:54 pm
songbird_slayer) wrote in songerein2022-09-10 12:54 pm
Entry tags:
Player Event: "Imbalance" [OPEN]
Who: Everyone! Even the newcomers! What a time to jump in, huh?
Which: OPEN Dreamscape
What: On the night of the 10th a strange dreamscape appears, dividing some dreamers into two, each bearing just half of themselves... how will they pull themselves together?
Warnings: Probably a lot. I trust you fine people to please mark your content appropriately should your threads make mention of anything triggering. I'm watching you.
Quiet nights never seem to stay quiet. It began with the slightest flicker within the crystal lanterns, a ripple, perhaps the sound of coins clinking together.
Then, with a distant scream, there was a torrent of blue and orange flame. It's hot but it doesn't burn, swirling and dancing with the frenzy of a desperate dancer. It blinds to familiar surroundings, twin colors that seemingly never end...
Until one's feet touches sand-dusted stone and marble. The air is hot and arid, ripe with burning kindling in myriad torches that line walkways. The flames rhythmically sway, catching the glimmer of golden archways and decor that embed the city... palace...? That lay before you.
Something is wrong. Really wrong. Something in you feels... different. Blank. But before you can comprehend it much further, something is running down the pathway in the distance to enter the palace like the devil was on its heels. That something looks just like you...
You pursue this weird other you... or, you don't. Perhaps you were drawn to the palace's splendor and decided to explore, maybe find some sweet treasure while you're here. Whatever the case, nothing about this place smells dusty or aged. It feels brand new... lined with statues and tapestries of what appeared to be great warriors, all humanoid and bearing twisted horns atop their heads and long, craggy tails covered in scales. But some of them have been altered in some way... some are missing their heads, and one or two "lucky" ones have simply had large claw marks ripped across their face. What would put claw marks in stone was anyone's guess.
Those who tire of the architecture may find some doors are unlocked. Yes, such a lavish place seems all too eager to lay itself bare for you, perhaps bearing a sparkly trinket or two to your liking. (Note: Unfortunately, any treasures obtained in the palace will only come back with you in the form of candies shaped as said jewels, crowns made of shortbread, tapestries spun from candy floss, etc. It's all food. Enjoy!)
Deeper and deeper you delve, either arms full of treasure or having bumped into friends who don't exactly act like your friends normally would, you find more motifs of the warriors, more intact the further you head through this weird city-palace. Near the center are statues depicting two... figures... each holding a pair of scales.
Yet no matter how much you wait and watch them, the scales continue to sway from one side to the other. There's nothing on their respective plates, however... what could be throwing them off?
If you place anything on the plates and mend the swaying scales, you are given a single shard of a strange crystal rife with dreamotion energy with a sense of wholeness and connection. It shifts colors as you turn it this way and that in your hand. Maybe that'll help put some of these people back together if fighting or talking to them won't do it...
[ooc: Information and Plotting post is here for easy review. The shards are meant to simplify putting people back together if needed, but are the only thing that can be taken into the semi-waking world as a pretty bauble. Also, a reminder that this is optional. Enjoy!]
Which: OPEN Dreamscape
What: On the night of the 10th a strange dreamscape appears, dividing some dreamers into two, each bearing just half of themselves... how will they pull themselves together?
Warnings: Probably a lot. I trust you fine people to please mark your content appropriately should your threads make mention of anything triggering. I'm watching you.
Quiet nights never seem to stay quiet. It began with the slightest flicker within the crystal lanterns, a ripple, perhaps the sound of coins clinking together.
Then, with a distant scream, there was a torrent of blue and orange flame. It's hot but it doesn't burn, swirling and dancing with the frenzy of a desperate dancer. It blinds to familiar surroundings, twin colors that seemingly never end...
Until one's feet touches sand-dusted stone and marble. The air is hot and arid, ripe with burning kindling in myriad torches that line walkways. The flames rhythmically sway, catching the glimmer of golden archways and decor that embed the city... palace...? That lay before you.
Something is wrong. Really wrong. Something in you feels... different. Blank. But before you can comprehend it much further, something is running down the pathway in the distance to enter the palace like the devil was on its heels. That something looks just like you...
You pursue this weird other you... or, you don't. Perhaps you were drawn to the palace's splendor and decided to explore, maybe find some sweet treasure while you're here. Whatever the case, nothing about this place smells dusty or aged. It feels brand new... lined with statues and tapestries of what appeared to be great warriors, all humanoid and bearing twisted horns atop their heads and long, craggy tails covered in scales. But some of them have been altered in some way... some are missing their heads, and one or two "lucky" ones have simply had large claw marks ripped across their face. What would put claw marks in stone was anyone's guess.
Those who tire of the architecture may find some doors are unlocked. Yes, such a lavish place seems all too eager to lay itself bare for you, perhaps bearing a sparkly trinket or two to your liking. (Note: Unfortunately, any treasures obtained in the palace will only come back with you in the form of candies shaped as said jewels, crowns made of shortbread, tapestries spun from candy floss, etc. It's all food. Enjoy!)
Deeper and deeper you delve, either arms full of treasure or having bumped into friends who don't exactly act like your friends normally would, you find more motifs of the warriors, more intact the further you head through this weird city-palace. Near the center are statues depicting two... figures... each holding a pair of scales.
Yet no matter how much you wait and watch them, the scales continue to sway from one side to the other. There's nothing on their respective plates, however... what could be throwing them off?
If you place anything on the plates and mend the swaying scales, you are given a single shard of a strange crystal rife with dreamotion energy with a sense of wholeness and connection. It shifts colors as you turn it this way and that in your hand. Maybe that'll help put some of these people back together if fighting or talking to them won't do it...
[ooc: Information and Plotting post is here for easy review. The shards are meant to simplify putting people back together if needed, but are the only thing that can be taken into the semi-waking world as a pretty bauble. Also, a reminder that this is optional. Enjoy!]
I've been there friend, no worries
"Alright. I'll bite. Why can't I use a Persona?"
"Not a clue?" He titlted his head. "That's the wrong question, Bargain-Bin. We only have until this Dreamscape collapses... so I'll ask for you." The Shadow leaned in, making no move to attack, but mere inches away from Joker's face, eyes lingering for a moment- before peering at the boy behind him. "I'd say listen to him, since he knows better than you seem to- but this? Has. To come. From you.
Who are you?"
"... I don't know."
"Look. I promised Yoshizawa I wouldn't hit you and I've only done that one time so far which I think is a very fair compromise, don't make me upset her- Who. Are. You. Shido's bastard?"
"No."
"Really. You could've fooled me. Bitter, angry, murderous... fundamentally alone. That sounds right, but you tell me. Who are you? Yaldabaoth's prized knight, his perfect little witless agent of ruin?"
"No." Akechi snarled, kept for the moment at bay by Ren's presence between them.
"Now that was the closest thing to a feeling you've shown all damn day. Should we go down the list of everyone who's ever manipulated you, played you like a damn fiddle, can we cut to the chase, or am I going to have to beat this incredibly. Simple. Lesson into you. What's left, when you take away everything forced on you, everything you were twisted into being, everything stolen by people who think that people like you are less than dirt. What name did you carry with you, even though everyone around you told you the name of a dead whore was worth less than dirt?"
"This is pointless. I know what you're getting at, and we've already established that I'm not him. He's dead. None of this matters."
"So what?" In contrast to the previous near-scream, the quiet tone from the Shadow's mouth was like a slap in the face. "So your life is meaningless. In what way is that any different from anyone else? He's dead, but you- we- remain. Doesn't that mean that we're- finally- able to make that meaning ourself? Is that who you are, a sad little footnote on Takuto Maruki's rap sheet?"
"No," came the whispered response, and the Shadow's expression softened, a gloved hand coming up to remove the twisted mask.
"No. I know you know the answer, because... I know it. But you need to accept it. You're the best of him- the brightest, all that's left... of Hinawa Akechi's son. You have a second chance, something that precious few people ever get. You have his memories, his experiences, and even if Maruki made you like this, that doesn't have to define you- any more than Shido did. You can just... move on. We can just move on. I'm not saying it won't be hard, because it will-" he glanced at Ren, smiled softly. "But what the hell has been?"